Primal Claim

by Marie Johnston

  Dani nodded absently.

  The bank errand went fast. More signing papers, more women drinking in the sight of Mercury. He was oblivious and that was the only reason both he and the women remained unharmed. The stress of the day and the emotional upheaval left Dani feeling like her nerves were frayed, smoldering, and ready to blow. In her crazy uncle’s words, her fun meter had been pegged.

  The edginess increased as she wandered around the drugstore. Mercury must’ve felt the same way, leaving her to shop with a quick kiss and he was gone to check the perimeter. He and the other Guardians were still using radio communication until they tested their telepathy more, not wanting to broadcast unintentionally right into an Agent’s mind.

  They’d given her a few of her weapons back, but she wasn’t wearing any. That would’ve been a little awkward during the doctor’s exam, so they were stashed in her bag.

  Mercury hadn’t gotten back yet so she wandered as much as she could, finally purchasing some personal care items and, since she couldn’t help it, a little lovey for the baby – a yellow scrap of the softest cloth she’d ever felt that was attached to a fuzzy ducky head.

  Now what? No Mercury and she’d already paid so she couldn’t really keep wandering the store. She had to blend. What would a normal person, not hunted for their baby, do?

  Dani headed to the front door. She could make it look like she was waiting for a ride while trying to catch sight of any of the Guardians. Her concern was mounting. Mercury had to have found something amiss if he wasn’t back yet. Or maybe the other Guardians had run into trouble and were briefing him. Where were they?

  Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a sidewalk sign for the bookstore next door. What would it hurt? Sigma wouldn’t look for her in a bookstore and she’d start giving off shoplifter vibes if she lingered here much longer.

  Closing her eyes she pulled up an image of Mercury, Bennett, and the commander. Then she sent out a mental, Heading next door to look at some books. She hoped that if she did really pull off that mental trick, she didn’t broadcast it to the square block area around the store to any being with latent telepathy talent.

  Quickly ducking out of the drugstore and into the bookstore, she stopped to take in her surroundings. Exit to the alley in the back of the store, stairs to a musty smelling basement in the middle of the store, and an elderly man and woman manning the cash register. The only other people in the store were checking out and they didn’t set off any of Dani’s spidey senses. Cool, this shopping foray might not end badly.

  Dani made her way to the end of the first aisle when she spotted a book. It was a new math tutoring aid that she thought might be more beneficial to Mercury than the ancient texts he was using. The book had many graphs and pictures, and catered to a younger audience that might be at the level Mercury was now. Dani squatted down to get a good look.

  “Chick lit’s in the next aisle, Doll.”

  Shit! Dani flew upright face-to-face with Agent X, who was browsing through a random book pulled off the shelf. Oblivious in her browsing, Dani had wandered away from the front door, and away from the employees to where she could be easily cornered.

  “Not that math can’t get my girl juices flowing, but some of the new romance is pretty saucy.” X put the book down and faced Dani with her hands on her jean-clad hips. Her raven hair was slicked back today, showing off her buzzed sides and her belly-bearing shirt read Team Jacob.

  “Mercury’s here and so are the other Guardians, X,” Dani warned her so she wouldn’t try anything. It certainly wasn’t because X was the closest thing she had to a friend other than a few chats with the other females at the lodge.

  Regret flashed through X’s eyes. “Doll, I know you’re bluffing. We captured him out back. He’s on his way to the compound now.”

  Disbelief rocked Dani. X was the one bluffing. Had to be! Mercury could not land in Madame G’s hands. The things she’d make him do!

  “You’re lying,” Dani challenged.

  X’s eyes flickered behind Dani and then back to her face. “You were the distraction today. They would be occupied with protecting you, not thinking one of them was our target.”

  Anger coiled in Dani’s belly. The air felt electrified around her.

  X’s eyes flickered behind Dani again, an eyebrow quirked.

  “Good thing, too. His claiming stench is all over you, but no matey-matey yet. That would’ve pissed Madame G off, wasting all that blood.”

  “I will kill you,” Dani’s voice shook. “And I will level that living hellhole getting him out of there.”

  “Are you sure you want to do that to me?” X’s plump lips rounded into a pout. “After all I’ve done for you?” Her gaze once again went behind Dani.

  Dani clenched her hands and glanced quickly over her shoulder expecting to see Agent E, or even the Guardians closing in. Instead, books floated off their shelves and hung agitated in the air. The more her rage and despair rose, the more the books quivered.

  That was her way out.

  Dani turned back to face X, her face a mask of calm. “Who said words never hurt anyone.” Then mentally commanded, Hit her!

  Books flew past Dani, so closely they lifted strands of hair. She spun a full one-eighty to sprint for the door.

  Soft thuds and muttered curses followed Dani as X tried to run through the barrage of books hitting her.

  Ignoring the shouts of the employees, Dani crashed out the door and sprinted to the end of the block.

  Her chest heaving, she stopped to look around. No sign of Mercury, no sign of Bennett or Commander Fitzsimmons, no sign of Agent E, just a few people frowning at her dashing to the corner.

  Looking back at the store, Dani gasped. Standing just feet behind her was X, discreetly wiping her bloody nose with the back of her hand.

  “Nice trick. I told the bookstore owners they better make sure to balance and level their shelves before I sue the shit out of them.” X squinted into the partially clouded sun, drew some sunglasses out of her back pocket and donned them.

  “Now what, X? You take me out in the open?”

  “Maybe if you ran out the back into the alley, but nah. There’ll be other times.” Her voice took on a grave tone, “But don’t ever think Madame G will give up on that baby, not as long as her blood flows in it.”

  “What does she want a baby for?”

  “Because she likes changing diapers and late night feedings. I don’t fucking know. Find out what Madame G wants, then you’ll figure out what she needs a baby for.”

  Squealing tires pulled Dani’s attention away from the Sigma female in front of her. A black sedan she recognized as Bennett’s came whipping up to the curb.

  He jumped out and ran to her.

  Dani looked back to the empty spot where X had been standing. Was the female’s ability flashing? No, she had a form of mind control but was weak at it. Or was she? Dani was starting to suspect many more levels to X than the Agent liked people to think she had. And only vampires could flash. Dani never heard of a shifter having the ability, though they did have superhuman speed.

  Turning back to the Guardian and seeing the blonde’s face filled with grim concern, she gave him the dire news. “They have Mercury.”

  Mercury woke to a draft chilling his bare flesh. Why was he naked?

  Keeping his eyes closed, he opened his other senses up around him as he tried to remember why he was here and where “here” was.

  An enclosed room. The draft must’ve have come from the female who just entered, the only other being in the room. He was stretched on a metal table, a wrist bound at each corner in silver cuffs, same with the ankles. The cuffs were the kind that severed limbs if they were tampered with. Well, shit.

  Dani. Did they have her too? He remembered giving her a kiss before going to check on the back exit of the drugstore. He’d felt uneasy, concerned Sigma Agents got past their surveillance.

  The memories came back in a rush, his brain finally pushing past
the mental fog of the drugs they’d shot him with. Seeing movement when he peeked out the back door, he was digging out his hidden radio to notify Bennett, who was the closest.

  Then those bastards shot him in the back. Someone had gotten into the store and lay in wait. Mercury dimly remembered the radio fumbling out of his hand, his mind trying to send out a mental SOS, but the haze had already settled in too deeply.

  Inhaling deeply, Mercury scented the female. Young shifter female, probably less than fifty years old. There was fear residing in her, like it was a steady state of her condition. She also smelled…tainted.

  Opening his eyes, he zeroed in on her.

  Sensing he was awake, the female met his stare, going from a bored fear to sultry temptress in less than a second.

  “Well, well,” she purred, moving in on him. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”

  Mercury kept his stare passive.

  Seeing he wasn’t immediately aroused, she straightened, attempting to make her bosom more pronounced. Mercury noticed she was wearing a leather bustier attached with garters to sheer black stockings. Were those panties crotchless?

  Comprehension dawned on Mercury. Sigma couldn’t get to the baby via Dani, so they would attempt to make more babies.

  “It won’t work,” barely recognizing his own gravelly voice, still groggy from the meds.

  Mistaking his rough speech for passion, she sauntered up next to the table, leaning over so she was touching as much of his skin as she could, and palmed his manhood. Her hand cupped and rubbed as she licked a trail up his stomach.

  He remained flaccid.

  A perplexed look crossed the female’s face. She doubled her efforts on him, massaging, manipulating, trying both hands.

  Not even a twitch.

  Now she looked downright offended. Mercury smelled a spike in her fear.

  “If I don’t sleep with you, she’ll kill me,” the female looked at him, her blue eyes watering with unshed tears. “You have to help me,” she whispered desperately. One tear slid down her cheek.

  “Madame G won’t get rid of a shifter female who’s been working for her for years,” Mercury said flatly. “How long did it take for her to convert you?”

  The female’s face turned to stone, she put her hands on her hips and leaned in close, her fangs dropping as she hissed, “And when shifters turn to the mighty Guardians for help finding their lost little girls, how long did you look for them?”

  Without hesitation, Mercury replied, “We never stop. We never give up. We will free you, if you want to be free.”

  The female let out a bark of laughter. “To be welcomed back by the clan that traded me for their security? No. I will take the power Madame G gives me instead.”

  “Being a fangbanger does not equal power.”

  She leaned in until her head was next to his. “If you do it right, it does.” Her tongue rimmed his ear in one last attempt at seduction. Seeing the frown on his face, she turned to stomp unfemininely out of the room.

  “Female.” She turned to sneer at him, her hand hovering above the fingerprint pad to unlock the door.

  “If you truly were traded to Sigma, name your clan. When I get free, we will make them answer for their crimes.”

  She narrowed her eyes at him and turned away to drop her finger down on the sensor. The door clicked and unlocked.

  Before the door latched shut behind her, he heard the words, “New Moon.”

  Chapter Twelve

  “What do you mean we can’t go in after him?” Dani was incredulous. “That’s absurd.”

  Bennett gave a sharp inhale and a little shake of his head to warn her off. Didn’t work, Commander Fitzsimmons was talking crazy. Fucking Guardians.

  The commander leveled her with a stern glare. “We’re meant to police our species, not invade enemy territory. We don’t have the manpower. The twins are up north, two of us are new, two of us are human – one pregnant – leaving me and Bennett. Even with Kaitlyn and Jace, it would be a suicide mission.”

  “What about Master Bellamy and Irina?”

  If possible, Bennett fell even more silent and dropped his head so low his chin almost touched his chest. The commander’s jaw muscles ticked and his superhuman teeth probably cracked under the pressure.

  “He’s outta the game,” he said finally. “Irina has no field training.”

  “But my new powers – ”

  “Are unknown and unpredictable.” There’s that stern, steady glare again as he patiently waited for it all to sink in.

  They were screwed. Dani had seen enough during her brief time actually residing at the compound to know what they would do to Mercury. He wouldn’t be the same if he ever came back, not if he spent any amount of time imprisoned there. Madame G wanted him to pay and wanted his semen. Tears welled up and threatened to spill. Oh God, aside from the torture, the morbid experiments, he would be made to –

  “If you would’ve let me finish in the first place,” Commander Fitzsimmons crossed his arms over his chest, the biceps bulging in their black long sleeves, his piercing hazel eyes softening – just a little. “I brought you in here so we could talk about your telepathy.”

  Dani hastily wiped her eyes, nodded and trying not to sniffle on top of the tears. “That time in the woods was the only time.”

  “You told Bennett you tried to use it in the drugstore.” When Dani nodded, he continued, “Mercury was probably already knocked out.”

  She shrugged. “I tried to project to both of you two, but it didn’t work. I’m not a telepath.”

  “You’re not telekinetic either, but you mentally threw half a bookstore at Agent X. Whether it’s a byproduct of the baby or latent powers coming awake, you may be the key to getting Mercury back.”

  Mercury was given a reprieve until another female entered, human this time. The scent… Mercury inhaled again to make sure…tainted. She was dressed like the first, meant to entice him. Like the first, it didn’t work.

  “She’ll kill me,” the girl whispered, tears streaming down her face.

  Any pity he may have felt for the trapped human dissolved when she drew out a syringe and slammed it into his thigh.

  Mercury twitched more from the shock of her action than that of any actual pain.

  The human’s lips curled smugly. “Resist the cocktail of love, Guardian,” she taunted pointing at his manhood. “In two minutes, you won’t be able to keep that monster down.”

  Mercury kept his eyes trained on the drab ceiling, waiting for the effects the aphrodisiac to kick in, while the recruit kept talking.

  “When I took on this assignment,” her finger trailed down his chest, “I only wanted to climb the ranks, even if it took growing a mutant inside of me. But you are delicious.” She bit her lip, swirling her fingers around his side. “I will enjoy this mission.”

  That’s right, little recruit. Keep talking. The more his captors thought they would win, the more information he could siphon.

  “Madame G will never respect you after sleeping with a shifter. You’ll get thrown back to the bottom of the pile.”

  The woman made an oh please face. “She’s invested plenty in me. I’m invaluable.”

  “Keep thinking that.”

  The open-handed smack she gave his thigh echoed off the walls in the bare room.

  “You like it rough?” she purred, when Mercury’s eyes momentarily opened wide.

  “Maybe with the right girl. You ain’t it.”

  That pissed her off, the echoes of the second slap louder than the first.

  The heat from the drug was curling its way through his body, threatening to make his mind hazy, trying to suggest the slender, brown haired woman was like his Daniella. The thought of his mate was a lightning bolt to his groin, making his cock twitch. No more thoughts of his mate.

  Forcing calm, even breaths, Mercury could have bored a hole in the ceiling with the intensity of his gaze. He drowned out the prattling of the woman, refusing to be distracted fo
r even another tidbit of information.

  Breathe in, breathe out. Think of cleaning up the recruit massacre at the lodge a few months ago. Think of scrubbing floors, replacing windows, dirty laundry.

  The heat pressed harder, the woman was cooing into his ear all kinds of naughty sayings. His mate was not here, there was no reason to get hard. Mercury kept that thought in his head as he closed his eyes, willing his body to burn off the drug faster. He felt his metabolism spike, tiny droplets of sweat broke out on his chest, the heat reached a crescendo, his mind fogging, threatening to lust for his mate.

  Breathe in, breathe out. The coolness of the room began to seep into his body once more. The breath out was a sigh of relief.

  “I don’t believe it!” the woman was one part incredulous, two parts pissed.

  “I think y’all have a shit chemist,” Mercury’s voice was rough, betraying his cavalier attitude to hint at the extreme internal struggle he just faced.

  She slapped him again, this time on the stomach, followed by another, and another. The slaps turned to punches, her screams of outrage echoing through the room. The beating didn’t last long, she wore out quickly. It was more of an irritation to him than painful.

  Her hair a mess, her lip bleeding from biting it, she stood back and huffed at Mercury and then stormed out.

  Hours passed. Mercury dozed, sleeping off the rest of the drug; the cold metal table not as uncomfortable for him as his captors planned. There was no point struggling...yet. The silver would weaken him so he’d wait. Eventually, they’d release him; for a bathroom break, for transport, it didn’t matter. He’d wait it out and make his move. His senses told him his Daniella was not at the compound, therefore he could be patient.

  He sensed evil before the door opened. Well, shit.

  This time there was no pretending he was asleep. He’d need all his senses for this.

  The door opened and she walked in. Tall, with ink black hair pulled back into a high ponytail. Her hair was so dark, like it swallowed not only any light that hit it, but the life-giving essence of the air around it.