Strategic Vulnerability

by Mandy M. Roth

  Autopsy?

  Kim caressed Wilson’s chest ever so slightly. No one would harm him. She would see to that.

  “How is it he came to carry the DNA of a rat? I don’t remember reading rat as being part of the test list,” the other man said.

  Rat?

  She froze. It couldn’t be.

  “According to the information Parker gave us, there was an accident at the lab during the days Wilson was there, undergoing treatments to be America’s version of a super-soldier. Wilson had been pumped full of the drugs necessary for introducing something new to his makeup, and somehow a test tube from a lab rat was switched with that of a tiger. He was injected and the rest is history. Though,” Krauss’s voice dropped, “I am dying to know how it is he ended up with a blend of Fae, wolf, and panther as well. Parker never mentioned that so I’m thinking he didn’t know.”

  “The child will be one of our greatest successes. Its father is already a mix of supernatural DNA, and its mother carries Fae blood in her. It would also appear they may be natural mates as well. This is almost too good, Krauss. The backers will love this new revelation.”

  Wilson was the father? And he was a wererat?

  She wasn’t sure which she should pick to panic about first, so she decided on neither for the time being. It took all Kim had not to reach down and protect her stomach. She wouldn’t allow them to harm an innocent child—her child.

  “Perhaps we should assure that they are true mates prior to taking this to the backers,” Krauss said. “Contact Paquin. Have him sedate Wilson. We’ll remove him from the cell and introduce another female to him who is ovulating—not the last female. He had no interest in her. We can introduce another male for Kimberly as well. Perhaps Vic again. He seems most curious as to her whereabouts and unable to control himself when injected with the serum.” He let out a twisted laugh. “Perhaps we should chain Wilson and observe him as he watches another male take Kimberly.”

  “If he is her true mate, he’ll kill himself trying to get to her and she’ll do the same trying to reach him, Krauss. You’ve already gotten a pretty good idea of his behavior with the Lividita debacle. Are you willing to risk losing a matched pair? We’ll think of another way. But I will say that I think we should attempt to at least separate them. She doesn’t need to get used to him being around—not if we’re going through with exterminating him.”

  “Agreed,” Krauss said, his voice low. “Send for Paquin. Sedate Wilson and, if need be, use a mild one on Kimberly. If Wilson gives you a hard time, shoot him in the heart. I want his head intact to study. Just hold off on terminating the current pregnancy until we’re sure Wilson will be around to plant his seed in her again—this time on his own.”

  It took all Kim had not to scream, shout, anything to let them know they wouldn’t harm a hair on Wilson’s head. She decided to go with another approach. She dropped her voice so low it was barely there and whispered, “Swear to me that you won’t be afraid of me.”

  Wilson stiffened. “Kim?”

  “Swear it.”

  “I swear.”

  “Time for plan B.” Kim clutched her abdomen and moaned, pretending to be in pain.

  “Kimberly?” Krauss asked, the sound of keys rattling following close. “Get the door open, quickly!”

  She rolled off the cot and onto the hard, concrete floor. Her shoulder took the brunt of the impact, but Kim ignored the pain, focusing instead on getting the men into the cell.

  The sound of more people approaching left Kim on the verge of panicking. She’d only planned on having to overpower Krauss and the other scientist with him, not guards. It was too late to stop now.

  “Kim?” Wilson asked, sounding very convincing. “What’s wrong?”

  “Sedate him!” Krauss yelled.

  Kim peeked out to see the tall, thin man with gray hair headed for Wilson. Two beefy guards moved in behind him. She recognized one of them instantly. He’d been the one who shot Wilson. The man got within a foot of her and she swept her leg out. The large guard went airborne and Wilson was suddenly above her, striking out at the man.

  In the blink of an eye, Wilson was in possession of the man’s gun and fired at the other guard, taking him down as well. Kim rolled onto her side to find the man she’d kicked lying there with his neck bent at an odd angle. His eyes were wide, unmoving, dead.

  Something seized hold of her hair. The next thing she knew, Krauss was there, pressing something sharp to her neck. “One move, Wilson, and I inject her with enough sedative to take down an elephant. She won’t survive that. Neither will your child.”

  Kim’s gaze went to Wilson. She saw the hesitation on his face and knew he’d give up his chance to get away for her. That was unacceptable. He tossed the gun aside and put his hands in the air. “Don’t hurt her.”

  Laughing, Krauss tipped her head back farther. “It would appear I was correct in assuming he is your mate. It appears I can control the beast by simply controlling the beast’s bitch. Now that he’s no longer a threat—”

  She glared at him. “I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about, but know that you won’t have to worry about Wil coming after you.” She let her power up enough to make her green eyes swirl with white. People had told her it was beyond unnerving to witness. From the look on Krauss’s face, they were correct.

  He gasped. “What? How? You’ve never shown any signs of actually being able to wield magik.”

  Ignoring him, Kim focused instead on the syringe in his hand. She let her magik coat it and Krauss’s arm. His hand shook and his eyes widened. She smiled. “Time to administer your meds, Professor.”

  “No,” he said, doing his best to fight back but failing. “Kimberly, think about this. I am offering you the opportunity to make history. To be the Madonna of the Millennium.”

  Increasing her magik, Kim didn’t let up. “What you’re offering is to kill the father of the child you saw to it I now carry. And you’re offering the chance to let you and your men kill an unborn child all for the sake of science—to see if you can re-create the results naturally.” She let her gaze go hard. “No.”

  “Put the syringe down, Krauss,” Wilson said, taking a step toward her.

  “I-I can’t.” Krauss’s hand shook and the needle broke her skin. She didn’t move. “Do not make me do this, Kimberly. Lift your power. I don’t want to harm you.”

  “I won’t live in a cage or allow my son to be born into this. Wil is leaving now.” Kim tossed magik at Wilson, coating it with the compulsion for him to leave her behind and never look back.

  He shook his head, somehow fighting off her power. “I’m not going anywhere without you. Come with me.”

  “Your gut instincts told you I’d slow you down. I know that’s why you refused to go when we had the chance before.” Unshed tears filled her eyes. “Go!”

  “Not without you, hon. Not without either of you.” His gaze slid down her body. “What Krauss did was wrong, but it doesn’t change the fact it’s our child at risk now. Please don’t ask me to leave you or our baby behind.”

  Guards poured into the hallway and Kim openly sobbed. “Wil, he’ll kill you. I can sense it.”

  Wilson didn’t seem to care. “Honey, please don’t do this.”

  The syringe poked farther into her skin. She let her magik loose, no longer bothering to keep a hold on it. It reacted violently to the situation, thrusting Krauss and the syringe far from her. Krauss hit the wall with a thud as she pushed to her feet. Kim planted her body in front of Wilson’s a second before a spray of gunfire came at him.

  Putting her hands out, Kim directed her power in front of them, catching the bullets in mid-motion. She tipped her head and stared out from swirling eyes at the men who had tried to kill Wilson. As much as she wanted to release the bullets and spray the men with them, she wasn’t a natural-born killer.

  Wilson’s hands slid up and over her own. He pressed his body to hers and put his lips to her ear. “Close your eyes and
I’ll direct them where they need to go.”

  She didn’t question what he was doing for her, steering her power to eliminate the enemy so she wouldn’t have to. She just did as she was instructed. The sound was loud as the bullets sprayed back at their original owners. Kim kept her eyes closed tight.

  Wilson had her hand wrapped in his before she could so much as exhale. “Come on, hon. Just follow me. Don’t look. Just let me—”

  Kim opened her eyes and locked gazes with him. His chocolate gaze made everything seem better. He offered a soft smile. “That’s my girl.”

  They moved through the facility quickly, Wilson holding her hand with one of his and a weapon he’d taken from one of the guards in the other. From the ease with which he handled the weapon, she suspected he was in law enforcement of some sort. Of course, the whole rat DNA thing might mean he was into something even bigger, but she didn’t want to think on that at the moment.

  He stopped at a closet, punched a hole directly through the wall and then proceeded to unload weapons, handing her two handguns, a knife, and a strap full of grenades. Her eyes widened. “Wil!”

  He took the grenades from her and tipped his head, putting them over his neck and through one arm. She watched in awe as he took on a Rambo vibe. She’d seen enough movies to recognize the weapon he grabbed next. It was an AK-47.

  “You said you were down here on business.” She pointed at the AK-47 in his hand and the grenades over his shoulder. The ones he looked entirely too familiar with for her liking. “What is it, exactly, that you do for a living?”

  He arched a brow. “Uh, I’m a postal worker?”

  “Wilson.”

  He grinned. “I kill the bad guys, honey.”

  “Men like Krauss?” she asked, holding the handguns like they might bite.

  Nodding, Wilson took the guns and tucked one into the back of his pants. He held the other, popping the clip and then sliding it back in. He held it out to her. “This is the safety. It’s off. Point and shoot at anything that gets close.”

  “Wil, I can’t—”

  His gaze landed on her. “Decide now, Kim. It’s them or it’s us.” He ran his hand over her lower abdomen. “I’m not blowing smoke up your ass, honey. I want you and the baby…our baby…safe.”

  “What’s a mate?” She needed to know and now seemed like as good as time as any to ask.

  Wilson stilled. “You’re a supernatural, Kim. What do you know of how other supernaturals marry, reproduce, and all that good stuff?”

  She bent her head and averted her gaze. “Not much. My father is tight-lipped about everything outside of the Fae community. I’d heard of shifters, but never actually met any before.” She gasped as what he was trying to tell her sank in. “They take a spouse for life—and have one perfect match.”

  Wilson gave her a tiny nudge and offered a smile. “You okay with this? With, umm, with me? With us?”

  A shot whizzed past her head, cutting off her train of thought. Wilson grabbed her and spun her behind him, pointing and shooting with a precision that was both amazing and scary. He grabbed several more weapons, shoving them in varying places—his boots, his pockets, down the front of his pants.

  “Vic and Brad are here somewhere,” she said. “We have to get them out.”

  Wilson shook his head. “I heard them moving them yesterday, Kim. I don’t know to where. We need to get you out of here and me to my team. My men and I will come back in to free everyone. We can’t risk anything happening to you or the baby.”

  He was right. She nodded.

  Kim held tight to his hand as he pulled her through the building, leading her out and past a large home. He rushed toward a jeep and ushered her in, only to realize there were no keys in it. Kim, though shaken from the events unfolding around her, wasn’t too far gone that she couldn’t help. Putting her hand on the steering wheel, she released her power, starting the jeep instantly.

  Wilson leaned over and gave her a chaste kiss on the cheek. “Yep, that’s my girl.”

  He gunned the jeep, tearing down a worn path and going deep into the jungle.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Wilson stared at Kim while she slept. He was afraid to close his eyes for fear Krauss’s men would show up and take her from him. No longer did he care about his safety. Now he worried only about Kim and the piece of him she carried.

  His mind raced back to the files. The minute he’d read the genetic makeup of the father of Kim’s child, he’d known it was him. He didn’t even need to get to the name. He had little in the way of clear memories of the weeks prior to Kim’s arrival. It was entirely possible, and plainly obvious, that they’d collected semen from him.

  He couldn’t help but laugh at the irony of not only finding his mate—which he was fast beginning to suspect Kim was—but also knocking her up without having had sex with her.

  The rest of the I-Ops would love knowing he’d not been with Kim that way, yet was going to have a family with her.

  A family.

  Never had he considered settling down and having kids. In fact, seeing his friends mate off, one by one, had sent Wilson into a panic, afraid he’d catch the mating bug. Now that he had a full-blown case of it, he couldn’t imagine going back to not having Kim in his life.

  The snapping of a twig in the distance alerted Wilson to the fact they were no longer alone. He listened closely, trying to gauge how many of the enemy were there. Whatever Krauss had doped him up with did hamper his normal abilities. Something tickled the back of his mind and for a split second, he could have sworn it was the I-Ops. That was ridiculous. Protocol dictated that even if they had thought he survived the initial attacks, months ago, to only search for him for a certain period of time. That time had passed.

  Kim moaned and he went to her side, worried something might be wrong. She jerked awake and grabbed his hand, seeming to calm herself when she found he was with her.

  “Get some sleep, hon.”

  He looked around, sure he sensed someone near. No part of Wilson wanted to worry Kim or put undue stress on her.

  She caressed his hand. “I’m sorry I’m so tired. I used a lot of power to cover our tracks.”

  “You did what?”

  “Don’t be mad at me, Wil. I knew they’d hunt us down if I didn’t.” Her eyelids fluttered, and Wilson knew she was exhausted.

  “Kim, how much power did you use?”

  “Enough to make them think we went in the other direction and enough to completely cover our tracks in this direction.” She released his hand and fear slammed through him.

  “No, honey. No!” The idea that Kim could have overexerted herself nearly did what Krauss’s men had tried. It nearly broke his spirit. Wilson smoothed Kim’s long black hair back from her face and noticed how badly his hand shook. “K-Kim.”

  She blinked, looking beyond tired. A slow smile spread over her pale face. “I’ll be okay. I just need to rest.” She yawned. “I think the baby might be draining me a little too. You’re worrying so loud that I heard it in my sleep. Stop.”

  He nodded but had no intention on obeying. “Are you sure you’re going to be all right?”

  The tiny bit of Fae magik that he carried within him lashed out and ran through her hand. Wilson tried to jerk his hand free of Kim’s but couldn’t. She turned into him, a smile still on her face, and began resting evenly. He wasn’t sure what had happened, but whatever it was, Kim seemed better. Bending, he pressed his lips to her forehead and savored the knowledge she would indeed be okay so long as he could get her out of the jungle and away from Krauss.

  Reluctantly, Wilson stood to make his rounds. He didn’t want to leave her side. He couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was close, but his body was unsure as to whether the person was a threat or not. He patted one of the many weapons he now wore, and it calmed his nerves.

  He walked the edges of their campsite, listening closely for anything out of the ordinary. The tickling in the back of his mind happened again, c
ausing Wilson to draw his weapon and crouch, positive something was nearby.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Kim woke to the smell of food and sat up slowly, her joints aching from having slept the wrong way. She glanced around and found Wilson crouched near a mound of rocks. It took Kim a moment to realize that cooked meat lay upon the rocks. She looked around for signs of a fire but found none.

  Wilson turned his head, and as his gaze landed on her, she could see the relief on his face. “You’re up. Feeling any better?”

  “I am.” She pushed to her feet and had him on her in an instant, trying to help. Kim laughed. “Wilson, I’m pregnant, not dying.” Kim stilled as the reality of it washed over her. “I’m pregnant.”

  He touched her cheek. “We’re pregnant.”

  Arching a brow, she stared up at him. “Oh really? You planning on squeezing him out in nine months?”

  Wilson grinned sheepishly. “If I could, I would. You know, that’s the second time you’ve referred to the baby as a boy. It’s too early to tell, isn’t it?”

  Kim touched her lower abdomen and shrugged. “I don’t know. Yes, I guess. Doesn’t change the vibe I get when I think about the baby. I just think ‘him.’ If that makes any sense.”

  “Makes perfect sense. My friend Melanie can tell the sex of a baby too. She’s Fae as well. Might be something to that.”

  Kim couldn’t help but feel a pang of jealousy at the look in Wilson’s eyes as he talked about his friend Melanie. She tried to push the feelings away but couldn’t. Knowing it was best not to dwell, she opted for a change of subject. “So, where do you call home, Wilson?”