Sharp Change

by Milly Taiden

  “Sophia—”

  “We can’t ruin the whole operation because you guys stray too close. They’re not going to do anything to me until they have their hands on my work, which means at some point they are taking me back to the lab.”

  His heart sped up in his chest. “I’m not letting you put yourself in danger.”

  “I’m not going to be in danger, you’ll follow behind us. I’m not going to do anything stupid to get either of us hurt. Since they don’t know I only need to use my fingerprint and voice command to open the safe, I am going to work them to take me to her so that we’re both together. That will give you guys a chance to stop this once and for all.” Her soft voice tried to pacify him, but he knew things she didn’t.

  “Sophia, if anything happens to you—”

  “Chase, stop. Nothing is going to happen to me, because you will make sure of it. I’m going to call them in exactly one hour to give you guys enough time to be in place before they come for me.”

  He snarled.

  “Chase? I…I love you. If anything does happen, I just want you to know,” she whispered and broke off the communication with him.

  Chase shifted into his human form and growled.

  “Well?” River asked once Chase had changed.

  “Sophia was contacted by whoever has Tryx. They want her in exchange. She wants to do it and for us to follow from far away until they reach wherever she’s being held so we can retrieve them both at once. The foolish woman is walking right into their clutches, and nothing I said would change her mind.” He ran a shaky hand through his hair.

  He tried to dress quickly, but his hands shook and made things slower.

  River stood quiet for a moment. “This is the best chance we’ve had so far of finding Tryx.” He clasped Chase on the shoulder. “Don’t worry. We’ll make sure nothing happens to your mate.”

  Chase lifted panic-filled eyes to his brother. “It’s not just her I’m worried about.”

  River lifted his brows waiting for him to elaborate.

  “She’s pregnant. It’s what has made it harder for her body to adjust to her change.” He wished there was something else he could do to keep her safe. Some way he could take her place and keep her and their children from harm.

  Tightly gripping the chair in front of him, River’s eyes widened. “Does she know?”

  Chase shook his head. “No. It’s been so difficult for her body to adjust to being a shifter without me throwing in that she’s going to be a mother too. It’s hard enough to keep her from trying to shift.” He paced around the confines of the room.

  River’s face paled. Determination quickly replaced the worry that lined his features. “Then we need to make sure we do this right. Let’s call everyone and get in place.” He smacked his brother on the back and pushed him out of the room to join the others and make plans.

  * * *

  Sophia hated how far she’d pushed Chase, but the man needed to learn she had a brain. They were supposed to mates, which implied a partnership. So far, he’d told her what to do at every turn, and she’d followed along because his judgment made sense. Now, it was time to follow her lead.

  He contacted her through his wolf. He told her they were in place and to go ahead and make the call.

  He got her to promise not to do anything to get herself hurt and to leave all the fighting to them. Then he implicitly told her not to try to shift, to which she reluctantly agreed. What she didn’t tell him was that if the need did arise she was going to give it a try and to hell with the consequences.

  She picked up the phone and made the call at the time she’d been instructed to by Chase.

  “Dr. Reese. We’re going to—”

  “Hold on a second.” She tried to calm her nerves and remember what she was supposed to say. “I am not giving you my work until you take me to the wolf and let me see her. I want to make sure she’s still alive and not hurt. You’ll have to bring her with us when we go to my lab.”

  “You are pushing your luck, Doctor.”

  “Tough. You want my research, I want Tryx. So you take me to her and I will gladly give you all my samples, plus my written data without complaint or any trouble,” she promised.

  “Very well, since you are agreeing to be of assistance, I see no reason why we must make things difficult. We will bring you to see the wolf first. My men will be there to get you in a few minutes. Be ready to walk outside with no weapons or electronic devices.”

  The line went dead.

  Sophia had to take a deep breath to calm the sickening pain in her stomach. She ran to the kitchen and grabbed a sandwich hoping the food would calm the cramps. As a last thought, she darted to her room and gave herself a spritz with a body spray she’d stopped using. She hoped to confuse their sense of smell. She was glad Chase had a lot of her stuff brought over to his place, and she was able to use the body spray.

  Almost gagging at the strong scent, she tried to adjust by walking away from the fumes. She knew she would either have to put up with it or wash it off. After the majority dissipated, she was able to handle the clinging scent on her body. It was not something she’d be using again after this.

  Ten minutes later, she heard the roar of engines pull up. She brushed her sweaty palms on the sides of her jeans and walked out of the house. She saw two wolves on the ground outside the door with darts protruding from their necks. She looked at each of their chests and noticed the faint rise and fall, indicating they lived. She walked away feeling marginally better.

  Four large men stood by a black delivery van and a green pickup was parked right next to it. She walked slowly and steadily, holding her head up. She looked each man in the eye.

  She stood in front of the one she figured was in charge and lifted her chin. “Let’s go,” she ordered, putting her hands on her hips.

  The man looked her over and then sniffed the air around her. His eyes narrowed, and she lifted haughty brows at him.

  “What? I smell like the wolves you guys hate so much? I have been staying with a bunch of them in case you hadn’t noticed genius.” She prayed her words were enough to keep the man from taking any closer sniffs of her.

  He considered her for what was surely too long, causing her palms to perspire once again. She kept herself calm knowing they could sense it if she was nervous or lying.

  He opened the van door and allowed her to sit inside. There was one large man to her right and another to her left. She assumed it was to ensure her cooperation.

  * * *

  Chase and his men were located on a cliff overlooking his house. It made it easy for them to watch what was happening without being scented by the enemy.

  His heart had frozen for a moment when the hyena had taken a whiff of her scent. He should’ve told her about her condition, but he knew that keeping it from her would prevent her from lying and then getting caught from it.

  Through his binoculars, Chase had seen Sophia say something. The man had stared at her and then opened the door to allow her inside.

  Exhaling a sigh of relief, Chase watched the van take off. He contacted one of the five teams he was working with.

  They made their way slowly down the cliff, giving the vehicles ahead of them enough room not to call attention to themselves.

  His eyes never veered off the van carrying his mate. He listened to the voice through the walkie giving updates on the roads and exits their target was taking.

  He was going to spank Sophia’s delectable ass for putting herself in this kind of danger. Grinding his teeth, he focused his body into combat zone. Everything inside him cleared of all emotions other than aggression and cold-blooded calculation.

  * * *

  The black van carrying Sophia arrived at a small building that sat on an empty lot. There was nothing in the surrounding area. She peered at the dilapidated green structure and shuddered. She hoped they really had brought her to meet up with Tryx, or she was sure this was all going to have been for nothing.

&n
bsp; Taking deep breaths helped her keep her calm. The man who she had spoken with opened the door for her to exit. He tightened his hold to keep her from falling on her face, and she gave him a small smile.

  Inside the building there were two men. They opened a door and motioned for her to go down the hallway.

  So far she had counted six men in total that Chase and his team would have to get rid of.

  Slowly making her way down the dark, dank passage, she came to a large room with multiple windows. It had the look and feel of a basement but was just a regular room. The plastic covering the windows was what gave it the dark dungeon feel.

  Realization dawned that she was at the same place she had seen in the video. She gazed around the corner of the dingy room and found Tryx gagged and tied with a chain to a chair. Next to her, a big man stood by and kept watch over Tryx. Sophia walked until she stood a few yards in front of them and stopped.

  “Dr. Reese, it’s so good of you to join us.” The man was clearly a hyena shifter with his whiny voice, but he had to have a rat in there somewhere because his kind of ugly face didn’t happen naturally.

  She didn’t care what anybody said, not even a mother could call that cute. He had beady, red eyes and a pointy nose. His big ears really didn’t help him with his attempt to look mean.

  She would have laughed at how ridiculous his face looked had it not been for the gun he held in his hand.

  “Yes, well a promise is a promise. So I am ready when you are. Just let her go, and then we can go to my lab.” She hoped he didn’t get a whiff of her, although from what she knew, rats had an amazing sense of smell.

  “This here is a dangerous animal, Dr. Reese. I couldn’t possibly let her go.” He stared at her, and she wanted to slap the leer off his face.

  “Look let me talk to her. I promise you I can get her to behave if you give me a second alone with her, and if she does, we can take her with us. If not, then I guess you can just let her loose after you get what you want from me.”

  She looked at the man with the biggest, most innocent eyes she could muster.

  The man jerked his chin toward the video camera in the room, and she turned to look. Once he saw that she’d noticed their every move was being recorded, he continued walking. He got to the door and stopped. At the entrance, he told her there would be someone watching the cameras in case they thought to escape. He told her he would unlock the chains when he returned if he believed the wolf would really behave.

  Sophia knew he lied. He continued out of the room and locked them inside.

  She moved to stand in front of Tryx and removed the gag from her lips.

  “Sophia, what are you doing here?” Tryx sniffed her and horror filled her face. “Does Chase know you’re here?” she hissed.

  “Shhh, yes he does.” She whispered so low she knew only Tryx could hear her.

  “How could he let you come here as you are?” The pixie wolf growled in anger. She muttered how stupid her cousin was for such an intelligent man.

  “What are you going on about? Be quiet and listen. Here’s the plan. Chase and his guys are probably outside now. We’re going to be good little girls until they get us out of here, and if the need arises then I’ll shift and help him out.”

  “Are you insane? You can’t shift!” The little wolf almost bit her head off with her growl.

  “And why not?” She wondered why everyone kept telling her the same thing. She was getting really tired of being ordered around.

  “Because…” Tryx sputtered, “You’re pregnant.”

  “What?” She yelled. A bout of dizziness overwhelmed her and made her legs weak. She sat on the floor and lowered her head to her knees while taking deep calming breaths.

  “Shhh. You’re pregnant, didn’t you know?” The surprise in Tryx’s voice shocked her even more than the question. How could she have known that unless she was a freaking clairvoyant?

  “You can tell? How the hell can you tell and I can’t? How would I have known?” Something wasn’t adding up.

  “Well maybe you wouldn’t have, but Chase sure would have. I mean he’s like a damned bloodhound,” she muttered under her breath. “His sense of smell is so acute he could probably tell you were pregnant the minute you conceived. The only reason I can tell is because my sense of smell is almost as good as his. Not to mention you’ve got two strong babies in there, and their scent is drifting and mingling with yours.”

  Sophia shook her head in a negative while Tryx nodded gloomily.

  “No, no way. Chase wouldn’t have kept that from me.”

  She thought back to their conversations. He insisted it wouldn’t be a good idea for her to try to shift because they wouldn’t know how her body would react to two animals.

  Always pushing for her to wait, and then he’d even made her promise not to shift… He wouldn’t have withheld from her that she had two very precious tiny lives inside…would he?

  “That son of a bitch!” she growled.

  What if she had attempted to shift with no one around? She had been all alone earlier, and thank goodness she hadn’t thought to try, but what if she had? She could’ve hurt her babies.

  “Calm down, Sophia. Anger isn’t good for one baby much less two.”

  Sophia’s head jerked up, and she peered at Tryx while she tried to piece it all together. “So do you think they’re the reason why I’ve been so hungry every couple of hours and so exhausted that I’ve slept for days?” She hoped it wasn’t anything that would put her children in danger.

  Tryx smiled and nodded. “Absolutely, being a shifter can be draining when you first change until your body adjusts, but you have two animals so it’s probably even more so. Add to that the fact you now have two babies draining you more, I’m surprised you haven’t passed out and fallen on the floor yet. And yes, you should be shoveling food down your throat every few hours.”

  Tryx laughed when Sophia lifted her brows in suspicion. “It’s true. We shifters eat a ton since our metabolism is much faster than that of a pure human. I’m sure you’ve noticed you’ve not gained any weight with all the extra eating you’ve been doing. But when a female is pregnant she eats even more than normal, so again to add to your case, you’ve got two babies draining your body of energy as they grow. You’d be putting yourself and them in danger if you didn’t eat enough to supply them with the nutrition they need to develop.”

  Relieved, Sophia sighed. “Oh, thank God. I’m always starving, and it was starting to worry me. That being the reason, I’ve got no problem eating a horse if necessary, as long as it keeps my babies safe. You did say it was two correct?”

  She and Chase were going to be parents. A growl worked its way up her throat. It was still up in the air if he would live long enough to see his children grow, but it was so exciting she felt a stupid grin working its way onto her face.

  Tryx sniffed her and smiled. “Yes, a boy and a girl. Congratulations, although this is probably not the right time for this. I still can’t believe Chase let you come here in your condition.” She frowned again.

  Sophia glanced down and kept her voice low, “I didn’t give him much of a choice. I told him he either cooperated or I was coming on my own. No wonder he was so angry with me.”

  It made her feel better to know he wasn’t just trying to tell her what to do. He was worried for her and their offspring. It didn’t stop her from being angry with him for not telling her about her babies.

  The door rattled, and the big hyena man walked back inside. Their time was up.

  Chapter Ten

  Seff, Chase, and a group of pack members and enforcers broke into two teams. Eight of them stayed in skin, weapons ready. The other seven shifted and took the lead. From the layout they’d gathered of the place, Chase mentioned he had a feeling Sophia and Tryx were located somewhere on the ground floor.

  They swarmed the place through multiple entrances at once. Blasts of gunfire erupted when the men inside started shooting at the intruders. Seff and C
hase did a full walk around the building to see if either could scent Sophia and Tryx.

  When Chase moved to a side entrance, Seff’s wolf readied for combat. Down a hallway, Seff heard faint screams and quickened his steps. He scented both women and a male shifter inside the room. Using hand signals, Chase motioned for Seff to go ahead inside. Chase indicated he would go through one of the outer windows in a surprise attack.

  When Seff broke down the door, he found a large hyena and rat mix shifter in between both women. The rat held a gun to Sophia’s head, and Tryx was tied down by heavy chains.

  The rat pushed the gun into her hair. “Come any closer, and they’re both dead.”

  “Let them go. They don’t have what you want,” Seff said while scanning the windows for movement.

  He turned his gaze back to the enemy. If necessary he would tear the man limb from limb. However, there was no way to ensure the women would not be hurt or killed if he attacked the rat shifter.

  Seff watched the rat grab a hold of Sophia’s arm. “No. This one has what I need, and I’m taking her with me.”

  He saw her wince when the rat squeezed her arm roughly. Seff growled and took a step forward only to stop when the man jerked back, holding her tight. “Stop, or I’ll shoot her and drag her out of here bleeding.”

  All of a sudden, Chase jumped through the window, breaking glass and creating a loud ruckus. In an automatic reaction, the man turned to look toward the unexpected noise and in the process released Sophia’s arm long enough for her to quickly step away. Seff, who was prepared for Chase, pulled Sophia out of harm’s way.

  Seff released his claws and swiped at the hand holding the gun. The sharp cuts forced the rat to release the weapon with a yelp. Seff pushed the man back with so much force it propelled him right into Chase.

  Seff watched as Chase’s large canines and massive claws cut into the rat numerous times. Chase’s wolf snarled and went for the man’s neck tearing at the hands that tried to block the attack. The rat-man kicked and shoved his bloody arms, but the fight went out of him, and he fell to the ground.