Brandi

by Donna McDonald

  She winced when Diane narrowed her gaze. Finally. She thought the woman was never going to emotionally react. There probably wasn’t much time before the second guard would return from delivering Jon.

  When the tranquilizer gun got aimed at her chest, Brandi laughed at the threat. Ego smarting, a quiet click signaled Danger Brain Diane pulling the trigger. She shifted into her wolf and out of harm’s way while the dart full of knock-out juice went flying into the guard behind her.

  “Fucking Randall… he actually did it,” Diane yelled before laughing.

  As she raced around Diane Crane’s legs, Brandi noticed the scientist’s frantic gaze swung around the room looking for help. She was annoying the woman on purpose while she waited for the tranquilizer to take full effect on the guard. The guard teetered and finally fell to the floor, the gun clattering from his hands as he went down.

  When Diane stepped in the direction of retrieving it, Brandi ran between the real gun and the scientist, growling a warning. Diane lifted the tranquilizer gun in her hand and aimed it a second time.

  “So Randall made human wolves after all. How fascinating. I can’t wait to get you on my autopsy table to see how he got it to work.”

  Brandi braced herself to jump when another wolf sprang out from nowhere. The tranquilizer gun deployed, but she saw no second dart shoot across the room. All she saw was Diane springing away and dashing for a nearby desk.

  Brandi watched her yank open the drawer and pull a real gun out of it. She growled a warning at Gareth’s wolf. Instead of going after Diane, he growled back at her.

  Diane laughed. “What a day. I got my best experiment back and Randall’s wolves.”

  Run. The command popped up in Brandi’s head and had her shaking her muzzle. She blinked and looked around. Across from her, Gareth’s wolf fell to the floor, landing motionless on its side.

  Gareth? Her wolf whimpered as she moved closer to him. I can hear you in my head.

  She got in a lucky shot and I’m fading. Fucking run, Brandi. Go get help.

  Her head raised quickly when Diane Crane took a step toward them, holding the real gun with a very practiced hand. Whatever the woman’s story was, she really was far more than a scientist.

  Brandi moved to get between Gareth and the gun, growling louder. Fangs lengthened in her mouth as she faced the threat to him. Saliva pooled along the edges of her lip as she showed her lengthening fangs to Danger Brain Diane.

  The woman’s adrenaline spiked at her show of sharpening teeth just before a blood-curdling scream came from down the hall. When Diane Crane’s head lifted to the door in stark surprise, Brandi chose that moment to pounce. She bit hard on Diane’s wrist, her teeth sinking into skin and drawing blood.

  The gun flared and its shot ricocheted off a wall before being dropped. Diane’s scream of pain incited her further. Her need to completely bite off the woman’s hand was what finally shocked her into turning loose. Only part of her was an animal. The other part wanted to remain sane and to do the job she was trained to do.

  She shifted back to human form and pressed a heavy knee on Diane Crane’s chest while the woman struggled to figure out what happened. Diane’s wrist was now bleeding profusely. Brandi was surprised at the mild nausea she felt looking at it. What was happening to her? Blood had never bothered her before, even though she’d learned lots of ways to kill without shedding a drop.

  “Randall failed more than you realize. Now you’ve failed too, Diane. And your brother, Shitty Sheldon, is just going to have to grieve another of his fucked up siblings because I refuse to let you live to do this crap to anyone else.”

  Brandi reached down and lifted Diane Crane by the hair. One quick neck twist and it would be over. Before she could finish her intended action, Fallon ran in and skidded to a stop.

  “Stop. Just leave her for now. You have a bigger problem… and I do mean bigger.”

  “She’s killing innocent people, Fallon. I can’t let her go,” Brandi declared.

  Fallon huffed out a breath. “Of course not.” He jogged over. “Hold her head up high for me.”

  Brandi yanked hard and hoisted a yelling Diane Crane’s head off the floor while the woman swore viciously at her. Fallon reached behind her neck and did something she couldn’t see. Seconds later, she felt Danger Brain Diane go limp in her hands.

  “Hey, that was awesome. What the hell did you do to her?”

  “We can swap secrets later. Come with me now,” Fallon ordered, running back to the door.

  Chapter 17

  Ignoring Fallon’s demand, Brandi climbed off an unconscious Diane and instead went to Gareth’s wolf. She pulled the dart out of his chest and tossed it aside. She ran a hand down his coat and shivered in awareness. She wanted to lay her head down on him. She wanted to hold him until he woke up. They had many differences and might never agree on anything, but everything in her said she needed Gareth in her life.

  Long fangs descended in her mouth backing up her thoughts. It was on the tip of her tongue to order Gareth to shift back to human form so he could explain what the hell was going on with her teeth.

  “Brandi, damn it. Agent Jenkins… you must pay attention. There is no time for you to at last get a clue about Gareth. Your mate is not truly hurt. He just sleeps. However, I need your help most urgently.”

  Shaking her head to remove the images of herself hugging Gareth’s wolf, Brandi stood on wobbly legs not wanting to leave yet. Duty called to her through Fallon’s barked out orders, but for the first time in her life, she wanted to tell her sense of duty to take a fucking hike.

  Brandi glanced once more at Diane before walking reluctantly to the door of the lab. Snorting, Fallon yanked her forcefully out of the room and shoved her shoulder to start her running down the hall. Pissed at being manhandled by a pseudo-jungle cat, she almost took a swing at him.

  “Go that way. Your new bear friend just brutally killed a guard.”

  “Why would I care about that? Good for Jon. I hope to hell you killed the other guard outside because they all seem to be packing automatic rifles. The guards are hyped up on something too. They don’t need to be running around loose.”

  “Why would you doubt me? I did kill the one outside—thank you very much. We will have beers and compare our fighting prowess later. Right now we must hunt bear,” Fallon declared.

  Together they jogged the length of the hall. Soon a trail of blood and body parts appeared. They tiptoed through the mess, careful not to slide on anything. Though Brandi had seen her fair share of gruesome over the years, seeing stray fingers and toes now caused her to want to heave.

  What in the world was the matter with her? She was turning into a big weenie about her work and had no idea why. Plus there didn’t seem to be anything she could do to stop the process from happening. She rubbed her stomach as she ran.

  The bloody trail finally led to the first cage room full of hostages, exactly where she’d been earlier. What was left of the guard had been tossed down and discarded in the middle of the floor. A giant brown bear leaned tiredly against the cage while a sobbing, but still human Susan petted his fur through the bars. His tortured, and still very human gaze, finally turned in Brandi’s direction. She swallowed hard. Jon had become a Crane hybrid after all.

  She held up her hands. “Jon… I know this seems bad, but I swear it’s going to be fine. This is just your first shift. I understand how frightening it is to turn into an animal.”

  Brandi stumbled back in terror when an angry Jon roared loudly and rose to his full height on two legs. He towered over Fallon by a good four feet and was nearly as tall as the cage holding his wife. The other bears joined Jon in a cadence of growls and snarls. The noise was near deafening and made her wince.

  When the commotion died down, Brandi looked at the other occupants in the cages. She jumped again when Jon growled and roared even louder. Clapping her hands over her ears in preservation of her hearing, she grinned when she saw all the caged animals and hum
ans hush instantly.

  Inside her gut, her wolf danced in alarm and wanted out again to help. Apparently her inner animal had no clue that she could be easily taken out by a giant bear. Holy fucking hell. How was she going to survive ten years of this shit?

  “Jon! Dude, shut the fuck up. I get it. You’re bigger, badder, and mad as hell at the world. Well, that isn’t going to undo any of this. So think about your human self and shift back. You’re scaring your wife… not to mention the rest of us. You’re a Russian Big Brown now… whatever the hell that is in the bear world.”

  Brandi lowered her hands when Jon abruptly stopped roaring and plopped down on his ass like a trained circus bear might do. Her wolf growled low in warning again, but she need not have bothered. Cuddly Jon was not and she wouldn’t take his momentary calm for granted. But she sincerely hoped somewhere inside the bear Jonathan Clark still lived and was the kind, gentle man she had met. Only that version stood a chance of truly surviving.

  She heard Jon grumbling in his throat and sighed. Behind her Fallon was dragging something across the floor. Even though she suspected what it was, Brandi tried not to think about it. Retching seemed imminent if she didn’t ignore Fallon’s activities. She frowned and felt ashamed… for nearly everything. Apparently her emotions and sensibilities were riding a roller coaster today.

  “I’m really sorry I didn’t find you sooner, Jon. I found Susan first. But look at her, Jon. She’s a human now—not a bear anymore. You can be a human again too. That has to be true. Don’t let Danger Brain Diane have the last say.”

  Brandi swept an arm out, careful not to look at the wall near the door where Fallon had piled the guard’s remains.

  “Look around you, Jonathan Clark. You’re over ten feet tall now and these animals all shut up when you roar. That means you’re their leader. You can change yourself back… and you can order all these people to change back too. They need you to show them how to survive what you’ve all become. You can do this, Jon. I know you can.”

  Brandi watched Jon turn his gaze to the cage where Susan sniffed and nodded hard. His wife gripped the bars of her prison. “Please Jon. Do what Agent Jenkins says,” she pleaded.

  Jon hung his head and looked around. Silent now, he rose to his full height on two legs again.

  “That is one big man now. I’m guessing he’s more like twelve feet tall. Did you not take math in school?” Fallon asked in a whisper.

  Brandi snorted as her elbow connected sharply with Fallon’s gut.

  Jon growled, howled, and roared until it was his own voice coming from a human throat. A short time later a naked man at least eight feet tall stood in front of her. His waist length blonde hair and trim beard were Viking worthy… and very attractive. She couldn’t stop a smile from lighting her face.

  “Eyes up to his face, Fallon. Quit ogling the man’s assets.” Brandi’s elbow connected to Fallon’s gut to make sure he paid attention to her order, though her gaze had also dropped to admire Jonathan Clark’s manly assets as well.

  “I am looking no harder than you,” Fallon declared, laughing in her ear. Brandi sighed and started forward.

  “When you get better at shifting, you can probably learn to keep your clothes on. My alpha hasn’t learned to do it yet, but I did it after the second try. You just have to visualize your clothes coming back on your body when you change back. Don’t over think it.”

  From inside the cage, Susan giggled at her lecture. Jon’s snort over his nudity had his head turning to admire his wife’s naked form. Knowing he’d just figured out both of them were naked, Brandi’s grin was wide as she reached out to pat Jon’s attractively furry chest in satisfaction of how things were turning out.

  Across the room, she heard a low, feral growl that set off all her inner alarms. Brandi turned wide eyes toward the door and instinctively stepped in front of the naked man as a large, growling wolf advanced on them both. Her fangs dropped as heat flashed through her. Oh hell no… now was so not the time for her fang problem to be torturing her.

  “Damn it, Gareth. The man was a bear two seconds ago. There’s nothing like that going on. Shift your jealous ass back to a human and shut the hell up.”

  Brandi pointed at her mouth and glared at him.

  “Do you see these damn things in my mouth? I can’t fucking talk for them, Gareth. So whatever it takes to get rid of them, we’re going to have to do it. But nothing at all is happening until you get a grip on yourself.”

  Gareth’s shift after her complaint was instantaneous… and without clothes. Brandi’s gaze dropped to his aroused body as she stepped forward to shield his reaction from the view of others. A low possessive growl rose in her throat. She slipped her arms around his waist as his arms locked like a vice around her. Evidence of his desire throbbed between them.

  “Make that go away right now. You’re embarrassing me.”

  Gareth snorted. “No. Now you know how I really feel. Deal with it.”

  Brandi shoved at his chest, but couldn’t break his hold. “Turn me loose, moron. The smell of dead guy over there is making me ill. I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but you’re not making it better. My nerves can’t take much more of this chaos.”

  “You’re feeling ill?” Gareth repeated the words as he searched her face.

  Brandi shivered in his arms when he buried his nose in her neck to sniff. When he lifted his face from her shoulder, there was an amused grin on his face.

  “It’s going to be okay. You’re not pregnant yet, just in full-blown mating heat. The feeling of weakness and neediness will lessen in a few days. I’m sure you’ll be back to your old caustic self in no time.”

  Brandi shoved hard and broke his hold at last. His erection still jutted, but she decided to ignore it. If Gareth wasn’t embarrassed by it, then damn it, she wasn’t going to be either.

  “I better not be pregnant… not if you want to keep that thing pointing north.”

  Gareth laughed. “It’s not pointing north. It’s pointing to you, Agent Jenkins.”

  Brandi rolled her eyes. “I got bears that need to be human, an unconscious mad scientist, and a testosterone poisoned guard. Tell your equipment to stand down and point later. I have no time to deal with you… or it.”

  “But you will make time soon, right?” Gareth demanded.

  Brandi felt a clutching in her midsection. Her fangs sharpened and grew longer. She clapped a hand over her mouth.

  “Yes… uck… ou,” she mumbled behind her hand. She glared as Gareth grinned, shifted to his wolf, and then shifted back fully clothed.

  She turned to a still naked Jon and waved her hand. “…ee?” she demanded, fingers clamped over her fangs.

  Jon snorted, but nodded.

  Then she made the mistake of looking over at the wall by the door. Fallon hadn’t exactly been elegant when it came to piling the guy’s guts on his mangled form. Dizziness and nausea washed over her. Her hand dropped away from her mouth, letting the world see what was happening to her.

  She looked at Fallon, and then at Gareth, but they were no help against the wave of dizziness she could no longer fight. Apparently, she’d seen all the death she could take for one day.

  Her eyes rolled up in her head as she blacked out.

  Chapter 18

  Brandi woke with fangs extended to her bottom lip. There was also a terrible ache in her pelvis. She moaned as she rolled to her side and drew her knees up trying to ease it. She was madly craving sex again, which seemed to happen all the time lately, especially when she was around Gareth. The longing was as intense now as it had been during her burning time.

  When consciousness returned fully, Brandi suddenly remembered the lab, the bear hybrids, and passing out at Gareth’s feet. Panic had her jumping from the bed to the floor… stark naked she rapidly discovered. She looked down at her nude body and started checking for… well, that was odd. She didn’t know what to look for, but she almost never slept in the nude. Her breasts ached. Her nipples were
hard and sensitive. What the hell was happening to her?

  Looking around, she saw she was in a strange place she’d never been before. Fortunately the strange place had a restroom, which she badly needed now that she was upright. She slipped into it and quickly made use of the facilities. The absence of towels was odd, so she washed and wiped her hands on the single washcloth lying on the sink.

  The painful ache in her gut still radiated to her groin and was now making itself felt every moment. Coming back out of the bathroom, she shoved the pain aside and looked for clothes but found none. None in the closet. None in the drawers. No shoes. No gun. Literally nothing.

  Which might explain the absence of bath towels, she decided, especially if someone had wanted to make sure she couldn’t leave unless she did so naked.