by Stone, Wendy
He waited until she was through, handing her the towel and letting her wipe her face. Sweat and tears dotted her cheeks and she stared at him mutely.
“Better?” he asked, lowering the lid on the toilet and flushing before he rose. He leaned down, lifting her in his arms easily, turning to sit on the lid of the toilet with her cradled against him.
She nodded, wiping her eyes with the towel.
“Bad dream?”
She sighed and a sound suspiciously like a sob left her mouth. “Terrible,” she managed to say.
“Going to throw up again?” he asked, feeling her shiver.
“No,” she whispered, shaking her head.
He hugged her close for a moment before setting her on her feet and steadying her when she swayed. “Wanna brush your teeth before we get back in bed?”
“God, yes.” She shuddered at the terrible taste in her mouth.
“Stay here.” Brady hurried back into the other room, gathering up the small bag of personal toiletries he’d managed to buy early this morning, before they’d rented the room. They’d dumped the car they’d stolen from Wal-Mart in another parking lot, walking five or six blocks before stealing another car. That car sat around the block in yet another parking lot, in a different motel. He wasn’t taking any chances.
Pulling out the toothbrush he’d bought her, he loaded it with toothpaste and handed it to her, standing behind her and holding on to her waist while she brushed and rinsed and then did it again.
Then he picked her up, carrying her back to bed and tucking her under the scratchy sheets and thin blanket. He joined her and held her until she stopped shivering. “Ready to talk about it?”
“I don’t know if I’ll ever be ready to talk about it,” she said softly, remembering the look in Parnell’s face as he’d climaxed inside of her, filling her womb with his seed. A shudder of disgust shook her and she wrapped her arms around her stomach, rocking as much as Brady’s body would allow.
“It was a dream, Molly. Nothing more. Telling another person about it will release the grip of fear it has over you.” He stroked red hair back from her pale face. “You know, I’m terrified of clowns.”
Molly blinked, staring up at him. “Clowns? Well, I guess those red noses could be a bit scary.”
Brady faked a shiver. “They’re evil, with the white faces and red lips. Ick!”
“Evil? Don’t you think you’re pushing it kind of far? I mean, I always loved the circus.” She looked up at him, watching his face suspiciously for a moment. Then she pushed at him as he broke out laughing. “You’re a dick, you know that?”
“I’m sorry,” Brady said. He ducked his head like a boy being scolded, but a smile was still on his handsome lips. “I was just trying to make you feel better. Did it work?”
Molly shook her head. “Men,” she sighed, though she did cuddle up against him more.
“Am I forgiven?”
“No, absolutely not. You think a little I’m sorry is going to do it. No way, mister. I want flowers and expensive gifts.” She smiled even as she scolded him.
“I brought you your toothbrush. Does that count?” he asked, running his hand down her arm and letting it rest on her flat stomach.
“Yeah,” she sighed. “I guess I’ll have to forgive you.”
He snuggled down against her, sharing her pillow. “Good, now tell me about the dream.”
“You don’t want to hear about that,” she said quickly, rolling to her side so that her back was against his chest.
Brady stared at the back of her head suspiciously. “Sure I do.”
“No, it’s finished. I don’t want to think about it again.” She reached behind her, grabbing his hand and pulling it around her. Cupping his unresisting fingers over her breast, she moaned softly. “Couldn’t you think of something more interesting to do than listen to some stupid dream of mine?”
“Molly?”
“What?” she asked, arching into his hand and reaching behind her to let her own roam over his thigh.
“Spill it. I know it has something to do with me, I can tell by the way you’re trying to squirm out of telling me.”
She sighed. “Okay, fine. This is going to sound so damned cheesy and stupid.”
“I don’t care. Cheesy and stupid is my life.”
“We...” she paused, sighing again.
“Molly...”
“Okay!” She pulled away from him, turning to sit with her back against the ugly headboard. Pulling the covers up to her throat, she stared down at the paisley print on the spread. Yellow and green warred with a putrid shade of purple on a cream background that was so ugly, she would probably have nightmares about it, too. “We were in bed together. You... aww hell, you told me you loved me and called me Molly Knight.”
She glanced up into his face, then back at the spread, feeling like a high school girl with a crush. “I was wearing a wedding ring and you kissed it and told me you wanted to become true mates.”
“True mates? What does that mean?”
“My people believe that when you find your true mate, you take a bit of them inside of you. We truly mate with a non-wolf when that person wants to become like us, wolf pack. We share blood.” She turned and looked at him. “You wanted that in my dream. We began the ceremony.”
“Ceremony? Like being married?”
“No. We have sex, I guess you would consider it doggie-style. While we are connected, I bite your wrist and take some of your blood into me. Right before you come, you feel my wolf growing inside of you, becoming yours. Your fangs would grow and then, well, you’d bite me, back here.” She dropped the spread and moved aside her hair, showing him the nape of her neck.
“Okay, so what’s so scary about that?”
“Because, when I was... was coming, I turned and looked at you but it wasn’t you...” She took a deep breath, fighting the nausea that boiled in her stomach.
“Who was it?”
“P-Parnell,” she stammered. “He was laughing, my blood dripping from his mouth. He’d gotten what he’d wanted out of me. He kept laughing even as he... he came inside of me.”
“God, Molly,” Brady said, gathering her stiff body back into his arms. He held her tight, rubbing his hands over her back, trying to warm her cold skin. “Now I know why you kept yelling ‘not you’.”
“Tallie was there.”
“Tallie... why was she there?”
“She wasn’t in the dream, Brady. She pulled me out of the dream.”
“Like astral projection or something?” he asked, nuzzling his face in her neck.
“Her aura was so bright, so warm and good. But she was pulled away.” She pushed herself from him. “We’ve got to help her. If Parnell ever finds out how to become a wolf, Tallie’s as good as dead.”
“We will, Molly. We’ll find her and free her. I promise you.” He pulled her back into his embrace, feeling her relax against him. Brady could only hope he wasn’t making promises he couldn’t keep.
* * * *
Tallie kept her eyes on her feet, trying to ignore the presence of her captor as he stamped around her.
“What do you know about this Brady Knight?” Parnell snapped at her, startling her enough that she glanced up at him. “Well, bitch? Tell me!”
“Let me, sir. I know how to make her sing,” Ronald said softly, walking up behind Tallie, her chain looped around his fist. He tapped a riding crop cruelly against his booted leg, then licked her cheek. “She loves to sing for me sir.”
“Back off, Camden.” Parnell moved in front of Tallie, grabbing her chin in his big hand and holding her so she had to look at him. “Have you been in contact with your sister?”
Tallie couldn’t help the surprise that came to her eyes. She dropped them almost immediately, hoping that Parnell hadn’t seen it.
“Yes, I know you can communicate with each other. The stronger the relationship between the two animals, the more of a connection you share. You and your sister have a very st
rong relationship, don’t you?”
“Y-yes. She is my litter mate.”
“Litter mate? You were born from the same womb?” Parnell took a notebook from his breast pocket, scribbling some notes before he looked up. “Well?”
When she didn’t answer quickly enough, Camden yanked on the leash, choking her for a second.
“Y-yes. Molly is oldest.”
“How many were in your litter?” Parnell asked, pacing in front of her.
“J-just t-three. My mother couldn’t bear a bigger litter.” Tallie shivered, feeling Camden behind her. His hand brushed against the back of her thigh, lifting the tattered edge of the paper gown she’d been given to wear. She turned her head, her eyes meeting Camden’s for just a moment, long enough for him to hold his finger up to his lips.
She knew what would happen. If she made a noise, he’d use the whip on her later before he raped her again. Instead, she forced herself to be still, feeling his fingers push between her thighs, sliding up and into the dryness of her ravaged flesh.
“W-what?” she asked, realizing that Parnell had asked her something she’d missed.
“Were you the runt?” he repeated, emphasizing every word as if she were an idiot.
“I-I was the l-littlest.” She wanted desperately to pull away from the fingers that were pushing and prodding, hurting her. She felt his thumb push against the small rose of her bottom and a tear fell down her cheek.
“Camden, leave the wolf alone. We are going to need her in shape to run later.” Parnell looked at the man over Tallie’s shoulder. “That means no fooling around with this one. Not today, got me?”
For once, Tallie felt gratitude towards Parnell, but it evaporated quickly at his next words. “When I get Molly and her companion tonight, you can have the sister then.” He chuckled, watching the expression on Tallie’s face. “Until then, I need her strong. Feed her, and then let her shower. She reeks.”
“Yes, sir,” Camden said, though he was obviously unhappy. He pulled his hand away slowly, flicking his fingers over her clit one last time before moving away. Tallie was forced to follow him, as he still held her leash wrapped around his fist. “Come on, bitch. Let’s get you fed and washed.”
“Wait!” Parnell called. He walked up to her, lifting her chin in his hand. “Did your mother nurse you?”
“W-what?”
“Did she breast feed you and your litter mates?”
“Y-yes, I-I think s-she did.”
His hand turned quickly and before Tallie could move, he’d grabbed the neckline of her paper gown, ripping it downward, exposing the entire form of her body to everyone in the room. There was one long whistle, and Tallie jerked, but she didn’t try to cover herself.
Parnell ran his hands over her, starting at her collarbone. He pushed and prodded, squeezed and twisted, moving over her breasts and her nipples, which were hardened by cold and fear. Lifting the small mounds in his hands, he felt under them and then down over her ribs. “Curious,” he muttered. “I shall have to have you get pregnant.” He squeezed her hips, his hands measuring the space between her hip bones. “I’m curious about the litters. Perhaps I shall even father them,” he said, almost to himself.
Reaching between her thighs, he fingered the soft, pink flesh, ignoring her startled cry. “Yes,” he whispered, sliding one finger inside of her. “It even feels human.” He pulled away, lifting his hand to his nose and breathing in her scent. “When we get you back to the lab, I think it’s time to take the experiments to the next level.”
Tallie stared at him, beyond astonished. If these were his plans for her, she’d make sure she didn’t make it back to the lab. She would be better off dead than mated to Parnell. She was still staring at him when Camden yanked on her leash once more, cutting off her air and hurting her already tortured throat.
“Come on, little mama,” he said sarcastically. “Daddy wants you cleaned up.”
* * * *
The trees were thick, cutting out any sunlight that might have shone upon them. But since the clouds had grown thicker and a steady rain was pouring on the leaves above their heads, Molly was glad of the overgrowth. She held her flashlight in front of her, pointed at the ground, scared to give any hint of their presence in case the guards were still patrolling this area since her escape.
“Are you sure it’s this way?” Brady asked again, the tenth time in as many minutes.
“Yes, I can still smell my scent. It’s faint but it’s there.” She swung her flashlight beam toward the top of a hill. “Up that way. We should see the compound soon.”
Brady glanced at his watch. They’d been hiking since about one o’clock; it was close to six and she hadn’t found the compound yet. He was about to call it quits for the day when he heard a noise.
“Turn off your light,” he hissed, doing the same with his own. The sound of two men talking could just barely be heard above the sound of the rain.
“I saw a light, Fred. I’m serious.”
“You’re seeing things. No one comes out here. Not even the hunters like this area. I think you’re sipping again on duty.”
“Hell no, I know I saw a light. It was down there. Come on, come with me to check it out.”
Brady caught Molly’s glance, nodding toward a small dip where a rotten tree had come to rest. He grabbed her hand, pulling her along behind him as he tried to stay away from sticks or anything that would betray their presence.
Pushing her down first, nodding toward the slight depression under the tree. “Get in there and be quiet,” he hissed. “And pull up your hood.”
It was a tight fit, but she wiggled under the tree, yanking up her hood and tucking her hair under it. “Come on,” she whispered.
“No room,” he hissed, shaking his head. He pulled a pistol out the back of his pants, slowly ratcheting the slide back.
“Brady,” she whispered. “I’ll make room, please!”
He knelt, scooting down as far as he could, pulling some dead leaves over the two of them. They were pressed together in a space barely big enough for one. They could hear the two men, walking down the hill, the noise of their descent enough to keep track of their position. They were getting closer.
Molly turned her head, finding Brady’s eyes. Her terror was evident in the green of her eyes and in the way she grabbed his jacket with both hands. “It’s okay,” he mouthed, wishing he could be sure he was telling the truth. “It’ll be okay.”
The men were almost upon them. They were arguing, the one wanting to go back up the hill, the other wanting to continue the search. “I know I saw something. Come on, you wouldn’t want to be the one responsible if the boss was right about that she-bitch wolf coming back to the compound and we didn’t find her.”
“I think you’re both nuts. And those things Parnell experiments on are freaks of nature. Nobody normal can change into animals. It’s some kind of freak show that the Doctor is running and we better hope that the zoo don’t get turned loose. Especially not the big boy. He could eat his weight in people easy.”
They moved a few feet closer and then the conversation cut out completely. Molly strained to hear something, anything, but there was no noise. She lifted her head, peaking out through the leaves, trying to control the harshness of her terrified breathing.
A loud crash made her gasp just as Brady’s hand came down over her mouth to stop the noise.
“Okay, we see you in there. Come on out and we won’t have to shoot you.”
Molly looked at Brady, her eyes like green fire. Brady shook his head, refusing to move.
“Out! Now!”
Chapter Eight
“Out!” the man shouted again. Molly was about to move, to give up, when a rabbit burst from under the brush in front of them, streaking past the two men.
Both men jumped back, then began laughing. “Stupid fucking rabbit,” Fred said, chuckling. “I guess you were right. There’s no one out here.”
“Good, I’m glad you see it my wa
y for once. Now come on, I’m starving and it’s Dan’s turn to cook tonight. He’s making chili.”
“Shit, I think I’m out of antacids.” Fred slapped at his chest pockets. “Every damn time he makes chili, the bunk room smells to high heaven for days.”
“What’s a little gas between friends?” They both laughed, heading up the hill, Fred grabbing for a tree as his foot slipped.
Molly and Brady waited until they were gone, finally crawling out from under the rotted tree. “I can’t believe that rabbit was there. I didn’t see it before,” Molly whispered, brushing herself off.
“It wasn’t. It was the only thing I could think of at the time.” Brady chuckled as Molly stared at him. “It wasn’t real, it just looked real to them.”
“And to me,” she said, awed. “Maybe you have a reason to be so cocky.”
“Told you I was good,” he said, then bent and kissed her gently. “But you’re better.”
“Nicely said,” she laughed.
They started up the hill, carefully watching for anything that would make noise and give them away. At the top, Brady motioned her back, using brush and other cover to get a good look at what the men were guarding.
For a moment, he stood there speechless, not believing that what he was seeing could possibly be true. There was a compound stretched out in the valley below him, surrounded by a high fence and security cameras. Men walked the perimeter, some with huge dogs, others just packing pistols and rifles.
From where he lay, he could see how the trees had been cut back and away from the fence, making any kind of secretive entrance all but impossible. Brady sighed. This wasn’t going to be easy. Turning back to Molly, he motioned her to come up. He put his fingers to his lips to indicate silence and then motioned to the huge facility below. “Is this where they kept you?” he hissed, his voice barely audible.
She nodded, her eyes taking in the walls, fences and the guards below. “They’ve doubled the guard since I escaped but it doesn’t look like anything else is new.”
“This isn’t going to be easy. There’s only one reason you build a research lab way out in the middle of nowhere. You don’t want the government or anyone else to know what you’re doing. This doctor you told me about probably doesn’t have government sanctions, otherwise he would be in a nice tidy laboratory instead of out here with his hired thugs.” The man in the tower glanced their way and Brady ducked back. He noticed that Molly’s hair might be what caught the guard’s eye. It shone brightly in the afternoon sunshine. He tugged up the hood of her sweat shirt. “We’re going to have to come back, Molly. We’re going to have more company in a minute and we don’t want to get caught.”