“Stop it!” D stopped dead in his tracks on his way to attack the holder of the prod. The female voice sent heat soaring through his limbs and directly to his cock. But this wasn’t a normal hard-on brought on by attraction. This was something more. He’d found the one thing every shifter both dreaded and anticipated. His mate.
Backing further into the shadows, he reached deep into his psyche to the years of training. Years of lessons to enable him to feel nothing, to show no emotion, and to stay neutral. He took calming breaths to suppress the growing need to claim the woman he hadn’t even seen but only heard. Fuck, fuck, fuck.
What, what, what? 7 mimicked.
Closing off the ability for his twin to read all his thoughts, he focused on allowing him to only hear and see what he filtered to him. We have a serious problem.
On my way.
No, you continue what you are working on.
Seriously? Do you think I don’t know you are blocking me?
No. His brother would come no matter what now—if for no other reason than to annoy him. The icy snow crunched beneath the feet of the captives. Emerging from his hiding place enough to get a better look at the group, he stopped mid-step as a female, his female, stopped and glanced his way. After a moment, she caught up with the group and followed them until they turned to enter a large modular. Continuing forward, she removed a cover under the trailer wheel, revealing a small cage. Throwing her brunette hair with hints of red over her shoulder, she stretched once before yelping as an annoying beep sounded then climbed into the cage and locked herself in. Only then did she shift into a beautiful alabaster wolf and lie in the corner of the metal cage.
Why are you seeing red? 7 asked.
These shifters are treated worse than dogs. If he stuck to the truth, then perhaps he could hide the fact his mate was one of those being treated poorly. He wanted to keep this to himself, at least until he met her formally. He didn’t need 7 meeting her first.
He could smell his brother long before he sensed him. You reek!
Do you know how hard it is to wipe elephant shit off your paws?
D sensed his brother shift to human form, but the smell remained as strong. Try damn it!
Who the hell is that? 7 asked over D’s shoulder.
“I think it’s Natalie.” He didn’t dare use their private path to communicate when they were so close and the connection was at its strongest. Better to do it this way—less chance of him giving himself away.
“She is definitely wolf.”
“What gave away her secret? The fur or perhaps the tail?”
7 joined him. “Woo, who pissed in your coffee? I merely made a general observation. I think I’ll go and check out the animals in the larger building. I should be able to pinpoint which is the bear, and the lioness. I’ll call if I can’t figure it out.”
“Sev…wait. Fuck.” No way this would work. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d sniped at his twin. Ten years ago, maybe more. And now he wanted to tear his mirror image apart. If finding a mate made him this crazy in a few minutes, he would be happy to drop her off as soon as possible. But, in the meantime, he couldn’t sit here and watch her shiver in a rusty steel cage. At a loss, he remembered the box in the tree trunk where the driver dropped them off. Perhaps it held something useful to their quest.
He waited until his brother entered the animals’ trailer before shifting and heading at full speed to the drop-off place well up the road. Hidden inside the large tree trunk lay the camouflaged metal container. Opening the lid, he found a note.
Good, you found the supplies. Do not give too much food to the shifters at once. It will make them sick. Any items such as blankets need to be back in this box before the asshats wake up in the morning or they will question where they came from. Oh, and do not try a rescue without me. ~Z
After decades, Z still managed to surprise him with his abilities. How the fuck does he do this?
What did Z do this time? 7 asked.
He left supplies for all the shifters. Do you need anything in there? D sifted through the supplies.
Don’t think so. The elephants have not located their food, yet. I’ll help them find it later. Z’s right. They are in bad shape. But I can’t communicate with them, so I can’t get real close. They are feral at this point.
Can elephants be feral?
You know what I mean. It looks like big brother left food and meds for all the animals in the trailers. They’re expecting us, but not for another day.
Good, then perhaps the Testas won’t expect us either. Simply saying their name, even in his head, made his blood boil. Never had he come across a couple less worthy of breathing the same air as everyone else.
The bear’s itching. Is there…?
Yep, some cream in a bag labeled bear. Z is so frecking anal. He has stuff for each of the captives. Including new shoes for when they make an escape. And a small metallic emergency blanket in Natalie’s bag of goodies. Putting everything into a bag he could carry in wolf form, he closed the box and re-hid it before shifting and making his way back to the camp.
First stop, dropping off the cream. He entered to find all the inhabitants still in human form. 7 and a lioness held the paw of the black bear, preventing him from scratching. The poor creature had already clawed the skin raw. Shifting, he grabbed the bag before it could hit the floor. “Here.”
The lioness looked up with grateful eyes. “I don’t know who you both are, but thank you.”
“Don’t mention it.”
“There is another one. Natalia. Can you check on her? They keep her close, under their mobile home.” The lioness smoothed on the ointment. “The guards circle once an hour, on the hour. They will check on her then, but, otherwise, they can’t be bothered.”
Thankful for any bit of intel, D checked his watch. He had twenty-three minutes before the guards’ rounds. He left the building and made his way to where his destiny lay caged and shivering.
Chapter Three
Natalia sensed his approach long before she could hear or see him. This one she could feel deep within her, as if they held a connection. He had run all over the camp since she’d returned to her cage, and every time he had drawn near, butterflies formed in her stomach, only to dissipate as he passed her by. But, this time, he made his way toward her, and excitement buzzed within.
She shifted to her human form. The black wolf moved with a grace and agility she had never seen, carrying a bag in his mouth. Had she not been alerted to his presence by this odd internal alarm, she wouldn’t have noticed him at all. He paused when their eyes met, as if he sensed this connection between them as well.
“Who are you?” she asked, crawling to the back of the cage.
He dropped the bag and pushed it until it hit the cage before moving back a few steps and shifting. Her breath hitched. She had dreamt of this man so many times she wondered if she was awake. “Natalie?”
“My name is Natalia.”
“I think it used to be Natalie.” His deep voice sent shivers up her spine.
“Who are you?” she asked again.
“My name is D.”
“As in the letter?”
“As in the letter,” he confirmed. His white teeth gleamed through the darkening night. He eased in so his back rested against one of the tires. She watched, entranced, as he brushed snow off his knees before focusing on her. “Do you remember your old pack?”
“Pack?” She remembered very little from before the Testas had taken her in.
“Your wolf pack?” His voice, though gentle and soft, held an edge of disbelief.
She rubbed the bridge of her nose. “I don’t know what you are talking about.”
He paused before continuing. “Take the blanket. You are shivering.”
“I will, but David and Benji are due to walk through in a couple of minutes. They won’t check on me more than once if I pretend to be asleep.” She indicated a cluster of boxes behind her. “You ca
n hide behind those until they pass.”
“Do you not know what a pack is?”
She shook her head. She could read but only because Jill, another wolf, had hidden her own education from their captors. Jill took Natalia into her care, taught her to read, helped her fit in, and added some warmth in a life of frigid loneliness. Like all the shifters, Natalia had hawked cheap souvenirs, popcorn, and hot dogs until the shift happened at adolescence. Then they went from indentured servants to slaves. The collar went on. Jill explained they could never let a human see their change; she helped her through the first few moons. She didn’t want to remember those teen years. After her fourth moon, Jill had disappeared. Natalia, a mere teenager, found herself in charge of aging elephants, bears, and a slew of young shifters who had yet to reach adolescence.
“How much do you know about your kind?”
“Very little.” She couldn’t hide it. She hadn’t seen another wolf shifter in ten years, since Jill left. Not until she saw D coming at her, and then she knew immediately he was like her.
“A pack is a wolf group. It’s your family.”
“I have neither.”
“That’s not true.” D sniffed and shifted and, a second later, disappeared into the darkness under the trailer, taking the bag with him.
Her shift was far slower, and she lay down in the corner of her cage at the same time the cage door opened. The odors of the two guards filled her nostrils. She didn’t need to see them to know they squatted and gawked, as always. “She’s asleep.”
“Shame she is a freak. In human form, she could be such a hottie, if they would feed them something. But I would never fuck an animal.”
“I’d fuck her. Right up the ass.”
Swallowing the bile forming at the back of her throat, she was overcome by a flash of red behind her eyes as well as warmth embracing her. The darkness returned as the two men walked away. Only then did she open her eyes to see the black wolf, hackles up.
She took advantage of his distraction to check him out. She itched to reach out and run her fingers through his thick, shiny black coat. The color rivaled his human form’s hair. So black it appeared blue. He snorted then shifted. Their eyes met before she could turn away.
“Blanket.” He crawled over to where he had dropped the bag and shoved the blanket through the slot in the cage. When their fingers met, a spark lit the dimness. “You are freezing.”
Freezing? Her skin burned from the residual jolt. Unfolding the metallic sheet, she pulled it around her shoulders.
“Damn it,” he groaned, unlocking the door and climbing in with her. He removed his coat, placed it over her, and pulled her into his arms. “You are shivering so loud the Testas are sure to hear you. How do you manage?”
Her teeth chattered. “I stay in wolf form. But even that isn’t enough.”
He wrapped his arms tighter around her, tugging the jacket and the sheet over them both. “Do they not give you a blanket? Heater? Anything?”
Coffee. He smelled of coffee beans. Her lids fluttered closed as an unfamiliar sense of security flooded her, combined with a warmth she had nearly forgotten possible. Exhausted, she murmured, “I am being punished.”
“For?”
“Trying to escape.” Curling into her dream protector’s arms, she let sweet sleep take her.
***
The battle between lust and the all-consuming need to tear the two people in the building above them apart, piece by piece, warred within him. Her breathing evened out, alerting him she’d entered REM sleep. His feet had long ago lost feeling, and he had sweated more in the last hour than he had in years, but his mate slept soundly and, he believed, in warm comfort for the first time in he couldn’t begin to guess how long.
He couldn’t see her shock collar, and his fingers had yet to find a way of getting it off. At one point, when he placed a finger between it and her skin, the item beeped. Natalie tensed, as if anticipating the shock to come. He ran his fingers through her hair until she relaxed once again in his arms.
Well now that escalated quickly, 7 said, laughter in his voice.
So caught up in the new sensations rushing through him, he completely missed his twin’s approach. She will be hypothermic by morning. It’s well below freezing.
Need me to take over so you can stretch your legs?
His brother embracing his mate? Not hardly. How are the others?
There is no way they can escape on their own. Maybe the lioness, but even she isn’t in great shape, and certainly not in this weather. 7 leaned against the same tire D had earlier. I can tell you they spent a hell of a lot of money on these shock collars, and, until we find their controllers, they are stuck here.
In the morning, one of us will need to get into the building above us.
You think the shocking bay is up there?
It’s the only place I can think of. If I were them, I would keep it close to where I slept.
Okay, then. Since you seem to have a sleeping partner for the night, I’ll take another look around. See what I can find.
Have fun with that.
Tomorrow night, I get to hold the pretty lady while she sleeps, and you can maneuver the minefield of elephant dung.
D’s inner beast roared. No one would hold this woman, not even his brother. The fierceness of his reaction shocked him. And from his twin’s wide eyes, it shocked 7, too. “Holy shit,” he whispered.
“Hush.”
7 approached the cage. You found your mate?
It appears so.
Does she know?
I don’t think so. She senses something, but I don’t think anyone in this camp has a mate, and as we were briefed on the way, they were all brought into this life of servitude so young, none of them have the knowledge to understand what happens when a mate comes along.
Do any of us know what to do when it happens before it happens to us? Do you?
He shrugged. The elephants trumpeted, followed by a second more frantic sound. 7 shifted and ran full out toward the elephant enclosure. Damn these assholes.
Do you need me?
I’ll let you know when I get there.
D adjusted his mate so, should the need arise, he could get out there to help his twin as soon as possible. The door above them slammed open and then slammed shut; the whole trailer shook with the power of it. You have company coming your way.
Of course I do. A minute later, 7 cursed. Lee is here with a prod. Fuck them. I think they are trying to rile up these shifters so if they end up dead in the morning, they can try to convince Z the animals are at fault and not them.
D snorted. I would love to see anyone try to pull one over on our big brother. I am on my way.
No, wait. I don’t want them to know there are two of us. To be safe, stay there. Your mate needs you.
His mate? Wow, seemed odd to have his brother speak of it so easily when he was still coming to terms with it. Okay, but the first sign you’re in trouble, I’m coming.
Fair enough. I am assuming where elephants are usually from in Africa they are speaking Shona. How I wish I had paid attention in our foreign language classes just a little. There might have been a chance at least I could communicate with these two.
D didn’t speak a word of Shona. He didn’t doubt Z did, but his expertise didn’t help them. This woman who grew up here had to know some words to communicate with the other animals. She spoke to lions, so maybe she could also understand the elephant. He shook her gently. “How would you tell the lions to calm down?”
Natalia’s eyelids fluttered open. “Podza, why?”
“Curious. What about friend?”
“Are you planning on hitting on the lion?”
“Not at all…. I am trying to say the word friend.”
“What about Andile?”
“Andile? Is that how you say friend?”
“No, Andile’s the female elephant’s name. Are you planning on hitting her? I
promise she is pretty attached to Urayai.”
Trying to get information out of a half-awake sleep-deprived woman while being vague was confusing them both. Perhaps the straightforward approach would be best. “Can you tell me what friend is in Shona?”
“What the heck is Shona?”
“It’s the language local to the areas where those elephants likely came from, and probably the lion. So can you tell me how to say friend so I can help them without being trampled in the process?”
“Oh, try shamwari. It should work.” She snuggled into his chest and fell back to sleep.
7 sent him a thought. Fuck! I am not a vet, and I don’t have the knowledge to pull this off. But I did find the bag Z left outside the enclosure. I guess none of these assholes have ever seen a vet working on their prisoners, so how would they know if I know what I am talking about anyway.
Sev, try—
I actually doubt any of these have a fourth grade education, let alone a doctorate in veterinary studies. Is that even a real thing? I need to research it when I get back.
Sev, you need—
Perhaps I can use the vet gig as a new way to get into packs. How crazy would that be? Dr. 7, animal doctor.
Shut the fuck up! Okay, mental yelling was a bad idea. His words bounced around his head over and over.
What? And ouch. Let’s not do that again.
D rubbed the bridge of his nose, wondering if they annoyed everyone the way his brother annoyed him right now. He could imagine Z saying yes and cringed. When you approach the elephants, use the words podza and shamwari.
When did you start speaking Shona?
I don’t, Natalie does. Well, at least a bit.
You didn’t happen to get their names, did you? Not the ones these idiots call them. Somehow I think calling them Kimbo and Jumbo isn’t going to go over well.
Urayai and Andile.
All righty, going silent. If you sense I have passed out, I suggest you come because it means my chest is under the very large gray foot I am staring at right now.
The likelihood the large animal, even in the best of health, would outmaneuver his agile brother seemed unlikely. He hadn’t seen them shift and wondered if 7 had.
The Virgin's Infiltrator Page 3
