He heard her curse. For as long as he's known her, he never heard her utter the word "fuck." Today, she spit out a string of profanity that would make a sailor blush.
"My head feels like it's going to explode," she muttered.
"I'm afraid she has a large part of it. You see we are very interested in the breeding process of mates. Why are the young so much stronger between mates? What makes a couple true mates? How does the interbreeding of species affect this power and skill? Is there a difference when non-true mates produce offspring? It's important we access this and understand."
Winter sat up and spotted him. She rubbed her eyes as if not believing he was there. "Tristan." She stared at him as if confused.
"Baby, I'm sorry. I'll get you out of here, I swear it."
A thunderous snarl sounded on the opposite side of where Winter sat. Moments later, the partition creaked and slowly slid back along a track, disappearing into the slot along the back wall. Sudden bright light illuminated another room next to Winter's cell, revealing the large man that paced inside. No, not a man, a shifter.
With his gold, glowing almond-shaped eyes, partially shifted features, and long sharp claws, Tristan guessed a cat. His assumption was confirmed when the male let out a sudden ear-piercing roar.
"Jesus, he looks feral. Are you insane?" Tristan snarled. He yanked at the bars. "Let me in there. I have to protect her. Please," he begged.
"Oh, he's mad all right," the scientist's voice returned. The cat eyed Winter. Lust burned in his gaze. He licked his lips and ran for the bars like a linebacker making a tackle. He struck the steel hard. "Not to worry, the reinforced bars are far stronger than the cat. We can keep them separated until we are ready for the breeding experiment."
Winter's eyes widened as the shifter continued to ram the steel. "If you think I'm mating with him, you're out of your damn mind."
"Oh, I'm quite sure you will comply. Our medications have been tested and prove to be highly effective simulating a female's heat. I'm positive you'll procreate with him or any other male given to you."
Tristan growled. "You sick bastards. If you put him in there, he'll kill her."
"I admit. His dose of breeding drug worked stronger than expected. He's not as large as the bear shifter we originally sequestered for this project. His unfortunate demise was indeed disappointing. The cat's faster metabolism sped up and intensified the drug's effect. We will have the dose adjusted and perfected in time for the live tests."
"You're insane." Tristan flashed his canines. His wolf paced along the edge of his control.
"Actually, we are quite logical. We are merely assuring the safety of our kind in a clean clinical way. The introduction of supernatural beings is a threat we must contain."
"Introduction? We've been around for decades…centuries even without world domination. And humans still run around like they own the fucking place." His body began to shake. "We are no threat to humans, but I'll tell you one thing, you son of bitch. You hurt that woman in there and there is nothing and no one that will save you from me."
After a pause, the scientist said, "Your testing will begin tomorrow." Tristan found satisfaction in the slight fear he heard in the human's voice. The speaker clicked off and silence settled over his room.
Tristan roared. "Fuck." He kicked the metal gurney into the wall. It twisted from the impact.
"That isn't going to help anyone." Winter turned toward the crazed cat. She edged closer. "Shh, be at ease, lion. Be at ease." She lifted her hand and her palm began to glow.
In an instant, the wildness in the cat's gaze settled. Still breathing hard, his shoulders loosened. Reaching through the bars, she rested her hand on the cat’s shoulder. He shuddered and sighed.
Tristan knew the comfort her power caused, and he longed to feel the warm soothing magic himself.
The fact she offered it to a stranger and not him made him grind his teeth. Yeah, it was selfish to feel jealous at this moment, but damn, he envied the cat.
"Thank you," said the shifter. "My name is Jaxson." He offered a faint smile. "Friends call me Jax."
"How long have you been here?" Tristan eyed him with mistrust. Jax tensed as another wave of the drug struck him. His eyes shut tight. Winter once again, gave a wave of her wrist. He calmed.
"Not sure." His voice sounded tight. "A few weeks, I think. Feels like an eternity. They've been poking and prodding me since they forced me in the room." He growled. "Fuck, my body burns." His eyes locked on Winter again. "I don't want to hurt you. I fear I will. My blood is on fire. If they put me in there—"
A growl rolled up Tristan's throat. "You will do nothing. She's my mate. Drugged or not, if you touch her. I'll kill you. Even now my beast is struggling from the waves of lust rolling off you."
Winter closed her eyes and an instant sense of calm came over Tristan. Jesus, she had become powerful. She wasn't even touching him. He moaned at the intimacy the touch of her magic gave him. She stood at the edge of his cell. He hadn't even seen her move toward him, but he felt her now, surrounding him with her comfort. He wanted to grab her, hold her in his arms and never let her go
"Baby," he whispered as he placed his hand over hers through the slots. Their fingers locked together. His eyes closed at the warmth of her soft skin against his palm.
As if burned, she ripped her hand away. "Are you calm now? We can't have you losing it, Tristan. We need to get the hell out of here before they turn me into a breeding machine."
He nodded. They'd talk about them, once they were free. First, they needed to escape.
If he could shift, he would have taken out the humans without a problem. But the collars made it impossible. He focused on the cat. "What are we up against? Do you have any idea where we are? What kind of building we're in?"
"They never move me without drugging me to some extent. They open a damn slot and fire a dart at me. I can't even fight it. This fucking collar has imprisoned my cat. I don't even smell the humans." Once again, Jax began to pace his cell.
Yes, Tristan found it odd as well. The humans lacked scents, so he couldn’t pinpoint their numbers and locations. He doubted the collar was to blame. The metal band merely kept him from shifting. The humans had found another way to hide their scents, a fact he found alarming.
"Have you noticed any patterns in the guards’ shifts?"
"The guards that take me away are never the same as the ones that drop me off. They must have shift changes, but I don't know when exactly."
Tristan frowned. "How do you know it's different guards if you're drugged and can't scent them?"
Jax moved closer. He lowered his voice. "I can't focus visually, but I hear things. The voices are not the same. They think I'm a stupid animal and can't comprehend, but they are wrong.
"I've heard them talk about the high tides eating away at the Peconic shoreline and then they mentioned a storm that might prevent the boat from docking for a few days. My guess is we're on one of the islands in the bay."
"Have you scented other supernaturals? I can't smell past the stink of chemicals and drugs."
"Yeah, I've caught a faint scent of shifters in the halls. Also, in the exam rooms they take me to. Their scents are stronger there. Whoever the other shifters are, they're kept in another part of the building, but are being tested often. You two are the only ones I've seen since I've been here." The cat's gaze landed on Winter and began to glow once again. "I'm fighting like crazy to ignore the lure of her scent."
"Well, fight fucking harder." Tristan growled.
The cat snarled and stalked farther away from her, toward the other side of his room.
"They're probably watching us. Listening to us as well," Winter warned. "That's why they kept the links open between our rooms. They study us like a damn science experiment." She glared at the security camera.
Both men nodded.
"I see they haven't bound your powers." Tristan smiled at her.
"My animal linguistics skills are working, b
ut the rest of my magic is out of reach."
Tristan glanced at his hands. They started to glow. "Looks like we're in luck. What you say we light this place up." He lifted his hands.
The slot in Tristan's room dropped. A rifle end peeked through. Swish. A dart hit his neck. The fire in his blood hit him in an instant. He fell to his knees as his cock grew as hard as a diamond.
Jax hissed. "They shot him with the breeding drug. I can smell it."
"Fuck." He heard his mate's seductive hiss.
“Yes, fuck. That's exactly what I want to do." Tristan licked his lips and tasted her sweet scent. He groaned.
"Being his mate," Jax observed, "he may not be as receptive to your calming touch."
Mate. Mine.
Her irresistible scent flooded his scenes. A unique fragrance he'd never forgotten that made him starve for more. His gaze lifted and focused on the source of his intense hunger. He stared and growled, "Mine."
Chapter 7
Winter refused to take her worried gaze off Tristan. She'd known him all her life and she'd never seen him so untamed.
Unease and something else, something completely inappropriate, built inside her. Her nipples beaded, moisture dampened her panties, and a painful ache began to build between her thighs. She hadn't felt this level of arousal in years.
I'm a sick woman, she thought. Imprisoned by crazy scientists and her damn traitorous body wanted to jump Tristan and ride him into the sunset.
They must have drugged her too. It's the only explanation for her out-of-place horny reaction.
Tristan's sudden smirk assured her that he knew how he affected her.
"Come to me, mate." She shivered at his purely masculine demand and took a step forward before she managed to stop herself.
Jax tapped on his bars. "Winter, that's your name, right? He's very dangerous right now. Come over here. He's your mate and it's clouding your judgment."
She chuckled. "Oh, and you're safer?" Her eyes locked back on Tristan. "He would never hurt me." Not physically at least.
"Those drugs mess you up. You have calmed me, because the drug was already fading, but I know what I was feeling when they first shot me up. He was just dosed. He won't be himself at all for a while. You have no idea what he might do. Come closer."
Winter reached out with her powers. She hit a wall of aggression, arousal, and need. The cat was right. Tristan wasn't Tristan right now. It was as if his wolf had regressed to his baser nature. Any traits of humanity buried beneath natural-born instincts.
His canines flashed when he noticed her stepping back.
Tristan rushed the steel separating them. "Where are you going, female?" Tristan's hands began to glow and the cat behind her swore. "I can't wait anymore."
"How powerful is his magic?"
"His mother was from one of the ancient families." The ancient families were the oldest and purest of the witch bloodlines.
"Typical ancients don't interbreed."
"Tristan's mom is no typical ancient." She took another step back toward Jax. Tristan snarled. "She didn't give a crap about politics and mated with her true mate."
"We're truly fucked." Jax's wide eyes fixed on Tristan.
Winter nodded just as Tristan shot a ball of power at the bars between them. The energy exploded in a shower of white sparks.
"Tristan," she snapped. "Get a hold of yourself, damn it. You're an alpha. Act like it."
"Hurts." He howled and fell to his knees. "Need you. Mating heat."
A voice sounded over the loud speaker. "Most unexpected. The vampire failed to tell me the wolf also had witch genetics."
The small panel dropped, a rifle took aim, and another dart shot into Tristan's throat. He fell hard to the tiled floor. Two more darts hit him in the shoulder.
He didn't move. The door to Tristan's room slid open. Two guards hurried inside, lifted him up by his arms, and dragged him away.
"Where are you taking him?" Winter demanded.
"I'd be more worried about your own future." The human's cold words echoed in the room as Tristan's feet disappeared through the doorway and the door closed.
She backed up to the wall behind her and slid down, plopping on the cold hard tiles. Tears burned her eyes, but she forced them back.
Guards never cried. They kept their emotions in check. Be strong, maintain control, merciless resolve, were her unit's creed. She'd make them proud.
The cat stalked closer. "Don't cry, sweetheart. Your man is strong. He's an alpha. You said so yourself. He'll get us out of here. It's his job to take care of his people."
"He's not my man." The denial felt wrong, but she didn't rebuff it. She couldn't think of what Tristan and she had once meant to each other. She needed to concentrate on their escape. Nothing else. "And I'm not crying. I'm pissed as hell." She sighed. She glanced at him. "Where are you from?"
The cat lowered his gaze. "I'm from nowhere."
"No pride? No pack?"
He sat on the other side of the wall. "Nope. I'm a lone lion."
"Sounds lonely."
"It's easier that way." She noticed a deep sadness in his pretty eyes. She reached out, but he didn't accept her aid this time. Instead, he erected an impenetrable wall.
"There's some pain we must carry, Winter. From it, we deserve no redemption." He spun on his heel and moved to the farthest corner.
Silence settled for what felt like an eternity. Suddenly, the creak of Tristan's door broke the dead silence. Winter leaped up and rushed toward the bars that separated them. Two guards dragged Tristan in and tossed him on the hard floor. He didn't move or make a sound. A smear of blood ran down his chin and his eye looked swollen and bruised.
"What did you do to him?" She noticed Tristan's scent had changed slightly. Sweeter, more masculine, if that was even possible.
The guard glanced up with a smirk but said nothing as he strolled out with his friend.
"It's nice to know…you still care." Tristan's sudden gruff voice surprised her. He pulled himself up but fell back down seconds later. "They gave me something to counter the other drug. I feel like a truck ran me over and then backed up to finish the job." He crawled a few feet to the bent metal platform. Planting his hands on the corners, he used it to help him stand up. "They bound my magic somehow. I can't reach it now."
She glanced around, a deep frown settling on her face. How they managed to bound her magic and Tristan's was disconcerting, to say the least. Only a witch had the ability to bound another's magic. The possibility of others of her kind helping her captors made her ill.
"We have to get the hell out of here." Winter glanced around.
"What's the hurry, princess? Need to get back to your boyfriend?" Tristan frowned.
She rolled her eyes. We're trapped in a damn science experiment from hell and he's got time for jealous sarcasm. "Really, can you act like an adult long enough to get us out of here?"
"Boyfriend?" asked the cat. Confusion crossed his features. "He's your mate and you're dating someone else?"
"Messed up, isn't it." Tristan cracked his neck.
"Can we focus here?" She growled. "We need a plan."
Jax held up his hands in surrender.
Tristan sat on the floor hard, leaned against the far wall, and stared at her.
Winter rolled her eyes. If the possibility of popping out random shifter's babies wasn't enough incentive to escape, she had the probability of spending the remainder of her days subject to Tristan's scowl.
On that note, she cleared her mind and let her training guide her.
Chapter 8
Days later and they were still not any closer to escape. Winter doubted her family had any clue to her location. They must be frantic. Her father and mother had a fierce protective loyalty to their children. They would stop at nothing to find her. She worried they'd get captured, too, and prayed that their need to find her didn’t cloud their judgment.
Winter glanced around her cell, fighting the hopelessness threa
tening to consume her. She wrapped her arms around herself, hoping to chase away the chill of her room and the heat burning between her thighs.
The experiments had continued, although, thank the Goddess, they haven't forced her in a room with either Jax or Tristan. That didn't mean she hadn't suffered the effects of the drugs they were pumping in her. The injections were making her desperate to mate. Not just any man, but with Tristan. She forced the painful desire back, refusing to let him see the way his mere gaze made her thighs clench and her panties wet.
Sure, he probably scented her need, but he doesn't need to know it was him that intensified it.
She glanced at her wolf. Wait, he's not my wolf.
Her possessive thoughts had become numerous. Not to mention irritating. Her knees started to shake. She locked her legs in place, cursing the damn drugs running through her veins. She hugged herself tighter.
Why did he have to age so well? Tristan was as handsome as ever. Older and more distinguished, he had lost the boyish charm and replaced it with pure alpha strength and virility. Lean muscles filled out every square inch of him. Even his scent had grown stronger, a deeper masculine musk that had the power to make any woman surrender to his will.
He continued to pace. His thick thighs tensed and flexed with each heavy step. With a groan, he raked his fingers through his waves. His short coffee-colored hair appeared much different than the long style he wore when she left him all those years ago. The layers picked up the light as he walked beneath them. An alpha male in his prime, he must be chased by every single female shifter in the state.
The thought made her frown.
Jax's cell door slid open and they shoved the limp cat inside. He hit the floor with a loud thud. She eyed him with concern, worried he hadn't made it through whatever experiment they forced him to suffer.
When Jax lifted his head and shook off whatever clouded his mind, she breathed a sigh of relief. He dragged himself over to the bars. He didn't speak for a long while.
Winter reached through the bars hoping to offer him comfort. He purred as she stroked his hair. She smiled. "Are you okay?"
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