Isaac sits alone at a high, white table. He’s holding a steaming coffee mug in one hand and swiping a tablet screen with his other. He looks comfortable, relaxed, unaware.
The open concept kitchen, dining and living room is a picture of minimalism and brightly lit from the floor to ceiling windows. Tanikka gave me a brief tour yesterday, so I know the two open doors on the opposite side of the room lead to the large, equally bright bedroom and bathroom.
I level my gun with his torso and take a step forward. When I’m halfway across the room, he turns toward me with a casual smile. Sipping from his mug, he looks at me with a comfortable ease that makes it clear he is not surprised by my presence.
“Hello, Elite Whisper,” he greets me with a confident tone, like he’s not at all affected by the weapon pointed at him. It makes me want to squeeze the trigger. Just once.
“Tell me about the girls that are being taken. Tell me about Horizon Zero.”
With a deep breath, he leans back in his chair, cracking his knuckles as he appears to consider my question. He’s not at all surprised by my presence, nor my inquiry. I can’t accept that Tanikka warned him. He must have her office monitored. Possibly my suite, as well. Heat rises up my neck as I think of the things he would have heard or seen over the last couple days.
“Is this worth your job, Elite Whisper? Do you plan to sacrifice your title for something you can’t possibly comprehend, let along stop?”
I hate that I hesitate to answer. Exposing him as a criminal won’t hurt my career. If anything, it will give me some serious points. No more filler positions. They might actually see me as a valuable part of the Elite program.
“What do you know about the girls?”
“Well, let me think now. Are you referring to the Companions?” He looks at me as if needing clarification, but I don’t play along. “If so, I’m aware of a company that connects unfortunate young women with individuals, or families, in need of their services. They’re called Companions, and serve many purposes including childcare, companionship for the elderly, and housekeeping. Great care is taken to ensure the right fit is found for all parties involved.”
That’s how he sells it. How he keeps the Elders satisfied and the books above the table. But I don’t think for a second I’ve conveniently found myself living in the home of the man behind it all. This prick is a politician through and through. I doubt he’s ever even seen one of those girls in person.
“Sounds like a perfectly respectable business, Isaac. How about you give me an address and a couple names, so I can look into hiring someone for my grandmother?”
“How about you put that gun down first?” He slowly picks up his mug and takes a sip, keeping his eyes on me. He sets it down again, then shows me his palms in a gesture of surrender. “I can assure you I value my life over my loyalty to but one of the many companies I work with. I’ll give you what you want, if we can talk about it like adults.”
“You can talk just fine like this.”
I lower my aim to his thigh. I don’t plan to be up for any murder charges, but I’ll gladly give him a nice, clean wound to the leg and a limp to remember me by.
“Fine. Have it your way. Hunter.”
The moment he speaks, there’s blur of movement to my left. A massive form erupts from behind the kitchen counter. I squeeze the trigger, hearing a roar of pain just as the body of a fucking tiger hits me like a bus. I go down hard, the sound of my head hitting the tile resonating like an explosion behind my eyes.
I see nothing but black as I slide my knife from its holster on my thigh and swing. The fucker must dodge me, because I hit nothing but air. Jaws close around my arm as a heavy paw pins me to the floor. I grit my teeth to keep from screaming as teeth sink through the skin and threaten to break bone.
I claw at the beast’s eyes with my free hand as I kick upward with my legs. He shifts his stance, one paw pinning my other arm as he settles his weight down on top of me.
I stop struggling. It’s futile, and giving in to panic won’t get me anywhere. Pain sears in my arm where his teeth are still buried in my flesh, but it’s not broken. As I relax, my vision begins to clear.
The vibrant orange, black and white strips of a tiger Shifter come into focus. He’s four, maybe even five hundred pounds. His massive head is next to mine as he maintains his grip on my arm and his thick, lush fur is absolutely stunning. I have the sudden urge to run my hands over him; find out if he’s as soft as he looks. He’s fucking beautiful, even if he is holding my life in his jaws.
I turn my head carefully to see Isaac leaning against the counter, his face twisted in pain as he ties a belt around his bloody thigh. He’ll survive.
I will myself to stay relaxed, breathing deep and denying the instinct to fight back or escape. The pressure on my arm eases, though doesn’t release fully. I’ll heal. My Medic will see to that. I won’t panic. It’s not over yet.
I know Shifters enough to know this one has no desire to kill me. He could have ended this in an instant if that were his goal, but he’s only following orders. He’s talking through his Link, I can see it in his big, golden eyes. But there’s no Agent here. Only Isaac with no trace of implant tats on his neck.
“What’s a politician doing with a Shifter?” My voice sounds pathetically weak from the weight on my chest. “You’re an impressive creature,” I add, because it’s true and because it can’t hurt to earn some favor from the one sitting on me.
I feel the vibration through my body as he growls low in his chest, a satisfied sound that tells me he doesn’t mind being complimented in the least.
Fucking cats.
A menacing growl fills the room as a mass of black fur collides with the tiger. He releases his grip on my arm, answering with an earsplitting snarl that’s thick with fury. The moment the weight is off me, I gulp in greedy breaths and scramble out of the path of the clashing felines.
Damon. Any relief at having him back is immediately shattered by the scene in front of me. The tiger is almost double Damon’s size, though my deadly panther is far more agile. He succeeds in opening some serious wounds with his initial attack, but it’s not long before the bigger cat has him pinned. Massive jaws crush down on that silky black neck as blood pools on the white tile.
“Damon!” I scream his name as if it will make any difference at all, scrabbling for the gun that is nowhere to be found. I retrieve my knife, hurling myself toward the tiger with no coherent thoughts, only sheer desperation.
Run, little one, his voice fills my head as pain erupts against the back of my skull and my world fades to black.
Purpose
I reach my hand across the empty bed, stretching my fingers in search of thick fur or soft skin. Memory hits me like a knife to the heart. I sit up, throwing the covers off as I stumble to my feet. Stars swim across my vision as my lungs struggle to take in enough oxygen to keep me conscious.
“Whoa lady, take it easy!” A man jumps up from an armchair at my bedside. He’s tall, thickly muscled. “Call the boss,” he instructs a second man standing by the door.
Damon! I call through our Link, putting as much force into the word as I can. “Damon!” I yell out loud, desperate to get any response at all from him. Just tell me you’re okay. Please.
“Good morning, Elite Whisper.”
Isaac’s voice is smooth as silk as he strides into my suite. His gait is steady, without so much as a limp to remind him of the bullet I put in his thigh. It shouldn’t surprise me. He had no tat to indicate he was paired with a Shifter. There’s no telling what other modifications he’s concealing. To carry an implant without the corresponding tattoo on your neck is a serious crime. This asshole clearly thinks he’s above the law, and I would love nothing more than to show him how wrong he is.
My own arm feels fine. Just a bit of soreness and probably some fresh, pink skin where the wounds had been.
“Where’s Damon?”
That final image plays on loop in my mind. My beautifu
l panther being crushed under the jaws of a tiger. My stomach lurches. He’s hurt. He’s injured somewhere needing my help.
“Your Shifter’s dead. Such a waste of a magnificent creature. I offer you my sincere condolences.”
The knife in my heart twists, and the floor sways. Asshole. Fucking asshole. If he thinks he can break me, he’s going to think again.
“Bullshit,” I spit at him, satisfied with the way he steps back as I start toward him.
His meat shields move to block me, and I know I’ve got zero chance of reaching him. But it’s that look on his face that I want to see. That look that says he knows damn well if it were down to just me and him, I’d have him by the balls in an instant.
“It’s true. You saw for yourself. He was no match for my Hunter.”
Damon! Answer me!
It’s not true. It can’t be because I’d know it if he were dead. I’d feel it. Fuck, why did I have to pick a fight with him at Kelseys? If I hadn’t been such an asshole, he would have been by my side like always. He would have smelled the tiger. He would have talked me out of this entire shitshow.
“Bullshit,” I say again.
Isaac holds out his hand, palm up, and time stops.
My body goes cold, the rhythm of my heart beating in my ears the only sound I hear. He’s still talking, I can see his lips moving, but my whole world has been reduced to the tiny, oval object in his hand.
He passes it to one of the men between us, who drops it in my outstretched palm. A microchip. The number 6423 is etched plainly in its casing. It’s the chip they put in Damon the day he received his first implant. Deep in the muscle under his shoulder. Permanent.
“No,” I say, as if my words can make this all go away.
“I thought of bringing you an ear or tail as proof, but I think we both know there’s only one scenario where this could be dug out of a body.”
I begin to shake, a tremor that starts in my hand and spreads over my whole body. I grip the chip in my fist as I sink to the floor. Nothing matters. I can’t even remember what seemed so important moments ago. He’s gone. My partner, my best friend. My lover. He was everything to me. Everything that should have mattered, and I risked his life to get to the top of a broken ladder.
He stood by me because he loved me. I treated him like an animal, like he was less than human. I pushed him away because I was too fucking damaged to see how whole we were together.
Come back, Damon. Come back to me and I swear I’ll love you like you deserve.
I feel it now. The emptiness of the Link that meant I was never really alone. He’s not there. He’s not there because he sacrificed himself to save me.
A drop lands on my hand, and swipe at my face with a clenched fist. Tears. I swipe them away frantically, but more cloud my eyes and stream down my cheeks. I thought I was broken before, but here I sit in a place worse than death, and I realize I never really knew what broken was.
“Well, I can see that you were very attached to your Shifter. For what it’s worth, I am sorry it had to end this way.”
I don’t feel any anger, any urge to fight back or take revenge. I just want to sit here, sink into the floor and fade into nothing.
“There’s still one little matter we have to settle. Your Shifter’s body will never be discovered, that’s not an issue. But you on the other hand... you have the potential to cause me a lot of headaches I don’t care to deal with.”
He pauses, as if expecting me to comment or have an opinion. I’m listening, but only so I can hear the punchline. The part where he says this is all a joke, a test, anything at all that means Damon isn’t really gone.
“Let’s be reasonable, shall we? You attacked me, and your Shifter died as a result. I think we can call that even. I’m even willing to offer you a second chance. You can keep your job, and I won’t say a word about this to anyone.”
I look up at him, and the smug grin on his face says he thinks he’s giving me an offer I can’t refuse. I keep my title and my reputation, and he keeps me close enough to ensure I don’t cause him any more trouble.
He keeps talking, but I can’t focus on his voice. After a while, I’m left alone. My world has been reduced to darkness, my consciousness revolving around the tiny, smooth chip in my hand.
What have I done? What was the point of any of this?
I entered the Academy to escape my life; to become an Agent and make sure I never had to live under the heels of men ever again. I accomplished my goal. I graduated, got steady jobs working under Charles. I found Damon and bought us a home.
I had everything.
Why couldn’t it have been enough? What childish, naive, pathetic part of me actually thought that I’d get here and be content? How could I have honestly believed a title and a change of address would change anything that really matters?
The things I said to him.
I crawl up onto my bed, burying myself in the covers and wishing I could turn my mind off. He was my Shifter, and I loved him. Then he became a man, and I treated him like something less than human.
I pushed him away until he finally listened, and he left.
If only he had stayed gone. But he would never have done that. He loved me, and I was too selfish to see what that meant.
I open my eyes to a dim room, the lights of the city spilling through the windows along with the perpetually cool breeze. I feel numb. Drained. Pointless.
A memory slices through the haze, something I haven’t thought about in a very long time.
“What’s the point?”
My brother’s thin lips twist into a smirk. I lower my eyes, focusing on a crack in the floorboards so I don’t have to look at him. I hadn’t planned to tell any of them, not yet. But he pushed me too far, and I opened my big mouth.
He laughs at my silence.
“Because when I’m an Agent, I’ll be able to protect innocent girls from dick-less assholes like you.”
That makes him laugh even harder, and I clench my fists and grind my teeth to keep from saying more.
“You honestly think they’d ever let you in? Even if they did, you’d never make it through. You don’t have what it takes to become a Protector.”
I lift my chin, raising my eyes to meet his. “Yes. I do. I will do whatever it takes to make a difference.”
I brace for his response, but none comes. He shakes his head and walks away.
I rub my temples, feeling the ache of a rare headache. I remember my thirteen-year-old self thinking he had finally taken me seriously. That they would all take me seriously now that I was on my way to becoming an Agent. It had been a foolish thought.
But that’s not what sticks with me now, when I think back to that day.
I said I wanted to become an Agent to help people. I said I would do whatever it took to make a difference. I don’t remember ever thinking about what I would get out of it. I knew without ever having stepped foot out of my hometown that there were others like me... girls whose lives were made hell by the men who were supposed to love them. I wanted to help them.
Somewhere along the way, I lost sight of that goal. It became about me and what I deserved. Being an Elite on Solar One... it became a beacon in the darkness, the ultimate symbol of freedom from oppression and abuse. I stopped thinking about what I could do for others. I never thought about being happy. I only cared about being powerful. Untouchable.
Then I had a brief taste of happiness in Damon’s arms. A few precious moments when he showed me what it felt like to be loved. No amount of power could compare to that. I didn’t let myself believe it was real, and now it’s gone. He’s gone.
I care nothing about being a part of this fucked-up system. Not anymore. But I set out on this path, I became a weapon, for a reason.
A soft knock against my door makes me pull the blankets over my head. I stay quiet, hoping whoever it is will move along, but the door slides open anyway.
“Whisper?” Tanikka’s hushed voice calls into the room.
/> She’s the last person I want to see. I consider pretending to sleep, but a new idea begins to take shape. It’s crazy, it’s...
“I’m here.”
She steps cautiously into the room, dressed impeccably as usual. There’s no sign of the stressed-out, beaten-down woman I saw last time we talked. She stops, standing in the middle of the floor and fidgeting awkwardly on her feet.
“I’m sorry about Damon.”
I cringe at the sound of his name on her lips.
“You never told me about his Shifter.” I watch her expression closely in the dim lighting, catching the flash of guilt that crosses her face as she sucks in a breath. “You told him I was coming.”
Her eyes drop to the floor as she crosses her arms.
“I... I didn’t think...”
“I loved him.”
Her eyes snap to mine, and I don’t even know why I’m saying this, I just know I need to. I owe it to him to say it out loud at least once.
“Damon wasn’t just my Shifter. He was a man... we were... I loved him.”
I wait for the grimace of disgust on her face, but it doesn’t come. Her lips part slightly, as she moves to perch on the edge of the chair near me.
“Oh, Whisper.” The sorrow in her voice makes the breath catch in my lungs.
“I know it’s not right... I know they’re not supposed to take human form...”
“No, stop.”
She sits up straighter, her hands clasped in tight fists and a new look of determination on her face.
“Before I married, I worked as an assistant at BioSol Labs. I would have stayed on as a researcher, but Isaac wanted me home and I wanted to make him happy.” She sighs, shaking her head at the memory. “I found something in the Shifter’s DNA that didn’t fit with the explanations of where they come from. Do you know the official story?”
“I know they come from off-world, that they’re genetically modified animals.” My voice hitches at the last word, as fresh pain shoots across my chest.
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