“Best get on with it then.” Samuel stepped back, not as far as Bull would have liked, but far enough.
Bull released the lock and barely had time to step aside before the wild wolver charged. Hands locked together, Bull put his considerable strength behind the two fisted blow that should have landed on his quarry’s neck. Shit! The guy was fast. The strike landed on the man’s lower back, over the hips, and Bull felt the shock of it travel up his arms and into his shoulders.
Knee bent and braced beneath him, the target’s leg absorbed the blow. He pushed off on the same foot and lunged for the door. Naked, there was no shirt or waistband to grab. Bull dove with him, riding his back, using his full weight to drive him to the floor. The fucker’s momentum carried them both into the door. Pain lanced through Bull’s forehead as his skin split with the impact.
The power within him rose with the pain and his anger. The moon was rising and his wolf wanted out. Bull couldn’t let that happen. The burst of energy that came with the shift often created a chain reaction among the wolvers in a pack. One flash followed another from strongest to weakest. His power would ignite the bastard’s and he couldn’t let that happen. Outdoors, this was to Bull’s advantage. Here in the confines of the room, it would be a risk of exposure.
He grabbed the wolver by the hair and slammed his head into the ground. Except for a grunt, the move had little effect. The feral rose beneath him and tossed Bull from his back. Bull rolled to his feet, ready to charge back in, when the feral stiffened, jerked upright, and then collapsed to the ground.
“Sorry, son, but it had to be done,” Samuel said to the unconscious wolver whose body still twitched with the current running through it. Samuel tossed the prod aside with a look of disgust. “I hate the damn thing, but you two were making too much noise. Had to wait until you broke apart before I could use it. Didn’t want to zap you, too. Damn shame,” he said, shaking his head. “I know you don’t want to believe it, but he was a good packmate, a good mate to my Molly and a good daddy to his cubs. Living in that damn cage was more than he could bear.”
Bull didn’t have time for sentiment. “Get dressed. I’ll take care of him. We need to move.”
Samuel didn’t need to be told. He was already tying the drawstring at the waist of the grey cotton pants. “You’d better go tell your woman everything’s all right.”
“She’s not my woman.”
Bull slipped the shirt over the unconscious wolver’s head while Samuel went to the sink.
“You keep saying that,” he said as he washed off what dirt he could from his face and hands. “What’d you say your name was again?”
“Bull.”
“Hmm. I thought it might be Blind.”
~*~
“And I don’t want to hear it from you,” Tommie said to the growling somewhere in the vicinity of her stomach. “We are not like them. Do you hear me? We do not kill people. We help them. If I’d wanted to be a murderer, I wouldn’t have spent all that money on college.”
She marched up the hall, folders in hand, muttering to herself. Two orderlies, walking in the opposite direction, snickered once they were past. She turned and called to them.
“You two,” she snapped, “Yes, you. Let me see those badges.” She made a show of writing down their names, pleased that it made them nervous. “What’s your business here?”
“We were, uh, just going for a smoke.”
“And is it your break time?” she asked, mostly because they looked guilty as sin. “I don’t think the Gantnor Clinic pays you to smoke and I don’t have time for your nonsense. Where are the research offices?”
They pointed out the way and she tapped the folders with her pen. “Thank you. You didn’t see me and I didn’t see you.” She paused. “Unless I see you loitering about down here again.”
She did a little skip-hop once she was out of sight. “Act like you belong, and people will think you do.”
Gantnor would be here tomorrow. With her escape and now Samuel and Eli’s, a raid on his file would be the next logical step. He’d be prepared. Bull’s return tomorrow night would be a fool’s errand.
“So it falls to me to take care of the fool.”
The door was locked, but Tommie had watched Bull do it and knew where to strike. She, having no broad shoulders or massive muscle, used a fire extinguisher hanging on the wall.
The computer on the console in the corner was exactly as she expected to find it, long unused and covered in dust. Her father used to tease Ray, the modern scientist, about refusing to use modern technology.
“A computer can be hacked. Only I can read my notes,” Uncle Ray would laugh back.
He wasn’t kidding. With the exception of official Clinic records, every file and notebook Tommie pulled from the drawers was scribbled in a shorthand that looked nothing like the real thing. File after file was thrown to the floor; each toss an expression of her growing anger.
She wanted to know who she was, where she came from, and how Gantnor found her. Did her parents know the truth? She searched her memories for anything that might give her a hint. Her name came immediately to mind. She’d always accepted their story as true, but was it? Mortimer was a family name and yet she’d never met any family and when her parents died, she found no references to family among their papers. Did they really love her or was that, like Gantnor, another violation of trust? Had Gantnor robbed her of that, too? There was no one she could ask and no one she trusted.
“Bull,” the voice inside her argued.
“Bull-shit.” He couldn’t be trusted either.
The last six-drawer cabinet was locked, but that too, was no problem. Tommie had only been in this office once and she wasn’t fully conscious at the time, but she saw no reason why the good doctor would change his habits.
As a youngster, Tommie loved visiting Uncle Ray in his office upstairs. The top drawer of his locked cabinet was filled with what he called his petty vices and the key was hidden behind one of the diplomas and awards that hung on his wall. She used to win an extra candy bar if she guessed which one. She didn’t see then what she saw now. He was buying her trust.
She found the key taped to the back of an award for Animal Behavioral Studies and the top drawer held more than candy.
“You’ve been holding out on me, Doc,” she said aloud, and laughed bitterly at the irony of her comment. He’d been holding out a helluva lot more than the contents of the drawer.
In addition to the expected candy bars, the drawer held two bottles of Scotch and a carton of cigarettes, ashtray and lighter. The other drawers held more files, most of which she was sure were hers, but could read no better than the others. The files were dated, beginning with the year she was adopted and they’d estimated her age at two. Each file was labeled SUBJECT. To Gantnor, she wasn’t even worthy of a name. It didn’t make her feel any better to find the files in the bottom drawer marked SUBJECT 2 and SUBJECT 3.
In this new wolver context, everything Gantnor had said over the years now made sense. She was special. The ‘problems’ her parents had were passed on to her. He knew the thing inside her was real. He knew the voice inside her head was real. He knew what she was, even if he had no name for it. He’d referred to it over and over. He’d assured her, while he had her locked in that cage and living in filth, that all she had to do was reveal that inner beast and she could be free and famous, too. She thought he'd been talking psychosis, not wolves. These files proved otherwise.
She, Samuel, and Eli were nothing more than lab rats to him; an experiment that might someday make him famous.
She tossed their files on the pile with the others. Her fury grew with the pile.
There was only one thing of value to be found in the drawers and it held her ticket to freedom and escape. She no longer needed the big Bull. Dr. Gantnor had saved her purse.
Tommie looked over the mountain of paper she’d created in her frenzied search. She added every diploma and award on the wall. Finally, she went back to the top drawer
, stuffed her pockets and purse with candy and grabbed the lighter. The scotch was an afterthought.
She closed the door behind her saying, “This is how you solve a problem, Mr. Bull-headed. No killing.” Though even as she said the words, she wondered what her reaction would be if she ran into Raymond Gantnor in the hall.
In just two short days, so many things had changed; so many things were explained. Yes, her limited knowledge of who and what she was brought new worries and concerns, but it also brought understanding. At that very moment, her beast, her wolf, stirred inside her; her human body ached with desire, but she no longer thought in terms of sexual deviance. It was the call of the moon and simply knowing its cause was a natural occurrence made it easier to tolerate and control. She would no longer need to hide away in frustration and shame or make medical excuses that didn’t exist. She had questions to ask and things to learn, but there was a bottom line to it.
She was a wolver. The idea of being something other than human should frighten her, particularly in light of her psychiatric history. It didn’t. It brought her a joy she now celebrated with the being inside her.
It also made her hungry and what better way to celebrate than with chocolate. She fished a bar from her pocket, ate it in three bites, and was starting another when Bull came barreling up the hall.
“What the hell are you doing?” he demanded, looking, Tommie thought, just a little wolfy.
“Eating chocolate.” She offered him a bite, which he didn’t take, and then started to tell him what else she’d done, but he cut her off.
“I told you to stay put and you promised you’d do what you were told,” he said angrily. “I had visions of you being captured and caged.”
“Really? I had the same vision of you.” It was like a sign and she had a sudden urge to wiggle her tail. This called for more chocolate.
He grabbed her hand before she could reach another bar and began pulling her along. “While you’ve been indulging your sweet tooth, I’ve been going crazy looking for you. There must be a half dozen security guards down by the laundry, looking for our unconscious friend, no doubt. I’ve got Samuel and Eli stashed away with him. We need to get gone before they start checking doors or Eli wakes up.”
“Eli? He’s alive? Thank you, oh, thank you. I knew you weren’t a killer.” Tommie threw her arms around his neck and kissed him.
For a moment, Bull held her so tightly she couldn’t breathe and then he peeled her arms away and stepped back. “We’ve got to find another way out and the only way is past the infirmary to the elevator or the stairs. We’ll be seen. There’s no way around it.” He lifted his nose and sniffed. “Do you smell smoke?”
Tommie’s hand flew to her mouth. “Oh my God, I forgot.” She ran to the red metal square on the wall and yanked the handle down. The fire alarm immediately sounded.
“Looks like we’ll have to take the stairs,” she said.
“Holy shit, spitfire, what have you done now?”
“Found us a way out.” Tommie began to run and called over her shoulder. “Don’t stand there gaping, Bull. We have to get Samuel and Eli.”
Chapter 14
There were a surprising number of people in the stairwell, but no one gave their little group a second look, even though Bull carried the unconscious wolver over his shoulder. Bull was sure someone would point and scream.
“There he is! There’s the one they were asking about!”
Climbing the stairs behind him, Tommie poked him in the ass with her finger. “Act like you belong,” she whispered, clearly aware of his discomfort and just as clearly amused by it.
She didn’t know the half of it. He’d come within an inch of losing it down in that hallway. Her quick kiss had been one of gratitude, a thank you he didn’t deserve. His wolf didn’t understand gratitude. It overreacted to what the animal thought was an invitation to ‘play’. Bull’s body went along for the ride.
That he wanted to fuck her wasn’t surprising. It was the full moon and the call was strong. The need for sex was normal. His reaction to her was not.
Her body was warm, her lips soft, and she tasted like chocolate. Tommie’s kiss reminded him of things he tried hard to forget. He didn’t want to remember blazing fires on cold nights, or the hot mugs of cocoa held by freezing fingers. He didn’t want to feel that inner warmth that came not with that first sip of chocolaty goodness, but with the looks his parents exchanged as they watched over their cubs. He didn’t want to think of family and home. Bull had no family and no home. He didn’t want one.
When they emerged from the stairwell, the flow of human traffic began to merge with those exiting the front of the building. Hospital staff herded the crowd forward and shouted directions for where each ward should meet for a head count. Small fights broke out over pushing and cutting in line. Bull took advantage of the organized chaos and steered his tiny group away, ducking into a short hall and quickly turning down another.
A security guard was checking offices, turning out lights and closing doors. Just what Bull needed. At Tommie’s insistence, they’d dragged the previous semi-conscious guard along with them, claiming he’d fallen in his haste and whacked his head. Halfway up the stairs, a kindly nurse had taken over his care. Now they’d have another one to drag along.
When he saw them, the guard looked more annoyed than suspicious. “All patients need to exit up front. That’s the rules.”
Bull took a step forward, his body tense, ready to drop his burden and strike the blow.
“Rules be damned. We have injured patients here, Officer,” Tommie snapped. “They need immediate emergency treatment and I will not have this clinic accused of negligence. I’ll take personal responsibility for these men. All you need do is step aside.” Samuel groaned painfully and she added, “Now, Officer, before we all die of asphyxiation.”
“Yes, ma’am.” The guard stepped aside.
The guard looked like he was going to salute and if he had, Bull would have lost it in laughter. He shook his head and smiled. That skinny assed little wolver was something else. He just couldn’t figure out what.
“Mate!”
The smile died.
They exited into the Physician’s Parking lot. Moonlight bathed the small area to the side of the building with a high fence around its perimeter and its own guard shack and gate. Bull lowered Eli to the ground, propping him against the building.
“I’ll go see if our exit’s clear. Samuel, can you handle the gate?”
“I got it, boss.”
Limping slightly, the older wolver started for the gate when it started sliding open of its own accord. A car sped through, barely clearing the opening. It stopped at the end of the sidewalk in front of them and the driver’s door flew open. A man in a trench coat almost fell out in his haste.
“Open the door. I must get inside,” he shouted angrily and then stopped abruptly, sensing something was wrong.
This time Bull had no choice. A staff doctor would immediately recognize that Tommie wasn’t a colleague. He stepped forward to take charge.
“Gantnor!” Tommie shouted at the same time as the doctor yelled.
“Stop her! She’s a patient trying to escape!”
~*~
At first she thought the flash of blinding light was the result of her own flaring anger. Tommie blinked, heard an incensed animal roar, and saw the dark shape of a wolf leap through the air and onto Raymond Gantnor who fell back, arms windmilling. She heard the thunk as his head hit the sidewalk.
“Down!” Samuel yelled. He yanked her arm in that direction.
Tommie fell to the ground as another burst of light followed the first and another wolf followed. This one didn’t leap, but charged straight ahead, plowing into the first wolf and knocking it from Gantnor. The two wolves tumbled over and over, a swirl of black and brown, snarling and snapping viciously. They broke apart. One turned and tore off across the parking lot. It sailed over the fence to freedom.
“Fat’s in th
e fire now.”
Samuel muttered something else, but Tommie wasn’t listening. She was staring at the remaining wolf that was suddenly surrounded by the blue-white light. She saw, or thought she saw, its body shimmer and then the light was gone and Bull was standing where once was wolf.
“Find a way out and meet me at the truck,” he shouted, “And take care of Tommie.” He turned, ran, flared, was wolf, and was gone over the fence.
Tommie sat on the sidewalk, legs splayed in front of her, finger raised to question. Her initial gasp was still stuck in her throat. Her mouth opened and closed and opened again.
“He...How...Who... Wha..?” Neither her mind nor her mouth appeared to be functioning properly. Her questions either tried to come all at once or wouldn’t come at all. Who could speak after witnessing a miracle?
Samuel tugged on her arm. “Come on, Missy. We better get a move on. Cora and Molly are probably worried sick.” When she stood, he left her to check on Gantnor. “He’s alive,” he said, sounding disappointed. “Though I suppose it’s a blessing. At least I don’t have to share the trunk with a corpse. Can you drive?”
She nodded, not quite following. She was still staring at the fence that seemed impossibly high. Words finally formed.
“I can drive, but can I do that? That flashy thing I mean.”
Samuel sounded impatient. “Of course you can. You’re a wolver ain’t ya?”
Tommie shrugged. “So I’ve been told, but I’ve only been one for two days. I still have to learn the ins and outs.”
“So you been told? Don’t know what the world’s coming to, I can tell you that,” he muttered. He shook his head and continued shaking it as he leaned into the car, searched for the right button and popped the trunk. “But maybe we better save this conversation for later, because it sounds like it’s gonna be a doozie and my Cora’s going to want to hear it, too. Lord, I’ve missed that woman. Sweetest thing that ever walked the earth, she is, standing out there day after day so I won’t feel alone. I kept telling Eli...”
Wolver's Rescue Page 12
