Tied to the table and in panic mode, all she ever saw was the woman bringing needles and scalpels to show her before using them.
If she ever saw her pack again, she was going to beg Ariel to teach her to fight and Brandi to show her how to stay on guard. She was so tired of this.
Her wolf went down and the last thing she felt was the cool tile of the room against her muzzle.
It was dark when Heidi woke in the cage again. She blinked her eyes and lifted a hand to make sure it was as human as it felt. Since she couldn’t see it well, she had to feel around to be sure.
Disgusted with herself when she realized she’d lost her fight, she groaned and rolled over. That’s when she felt the collar around her neck. She lifted her fingertips to touch it, but just as quickly pulled the burning digits away. Her nanos scrambled to fix the injuries, but not with their usual enthusiasm.
“Damn it. If I hadn’t stopped to analyze her level of crazy, another mad scientist might be dead by now.”
A voice from the next cage sang out loudly in the dark. “My best friend in pack was healer. Is hard for her to kill. Memory last long time and make bad saving work. Best to keep clear conscience. I kill for you when I get chance.”
“Yana?”
“Da. Is me.”
“If you ate the food they sent, they put sedatives in it. I don’t think they put it in the water.”
A soft laugh from Yana had Heidi rolling over to face the direction it came from. She blinked, but still couldn’t see through the absolute dark. It was even worse with the collar around her neck. No wonder Katarina had such a hard time dealing with it. She could maybe remove the collar, but that would just give Diane Crane one more secret to use against her.
“Is okay about sedative. My father poison me as child because I was not born male. Human medicine not work on me now. Yay me.”
Heidi smiled at the youthful positivity hidden in the sarcasm. Yana’s story was so much like Katarina’s that she felt an instant empathy for the woman.
“Do you know what the scientist did to you today? If not, do you want to know?”
There was a long silence, then an indrawn breath. “Da. She told me. That one brag and brag. She knock me out before it happen because I would not lay still.”
“She failed to make you pregnant,” Heidi said firmly. “Your body wouldn’t let you be artificially inseminated.”
The silence was broken only by a soft sob of relief—then another indrawn breath. “I am happy she told you. I could not tell and I fear worse thing.”
“I’m happy she failed too,” Heidi said back.
There was more silence. It lasted so long, she thought Yana had gone to sleep.
“The other Russian woman…” Yana began.
“Katarina?” Heidi prompted.
“Da. Her. She kill my older brothers. My father lose mind over dead sons and try to kill me because he think I am like her. My mother—she send me to aunt who live with other pack—remove me from danger. After twenty winters, I never see real family again. A few months ago, my aunt say she hear my father kill my mother so he can get new mate. Grief make me stupid. Handsome bastard come and woo me. I kiss. I fuck. I go with him. Now I am in cage.”
“Did Travis say anything to you?”
Yana snorted. “He say I good fuck. That’s why I go with him. His dick nothing great. Bad all around decision.”
Heidi smiled. She was sorry for Yana, but secretly glad Travis hadn’t impressed the werewolf. “Did he say anything else?”
“Nyet.”
Travis was twisted when it came to families. Hanuk’s influence still lingered with him. It didn’t surprise her in the least that he’d had gone after Katarina’s sister—a sister she was fairly certain Katarina didn’t know existed. Messing with Yana would be just the thing he needed in order to feel he’d gotten even for Katarina running away.
Heidi sighed at the sadness of the situation and looked in Yana’s direction. “Do you want to hear Katarina’s story? I don’t think she’d mind me telling you since I don’t know if either of us are going to see her again.”
“Don’t give up, Healer. We escape or we die. Only two choices. Tell story. It help pass time,” Yana ordered.
“Katarina said her father banished her from the pack because she was born Alpha. She said something about the pack thinking female Alphas were bad luck. At some point, her father made her brothers publicly challenge her. She killed them both, but it made her situation worse. Her father couldn’t outright kill her without losing the respect of the pack members who’d witnessed her victory, so Katarina willingly went back to her banishment. She’s lived packless among humans most of her life.”
Yana grunted. “Males lucky they have dick. Women have soft hearts and not kill good ones.”
The comment wrenched a reluctant laugh from her. Yana had to be Katarina’s sister. She just had to be.
“You look a whole lot like her, Yana. She’d just escaped from Travis when we found her a couple weeks ago. She was heading to the pack in Alaska that Nicolai Vashchenko joined.”
“Nicolai the Visionary? His name is whispered in secret to this day. He is long ago uncle to me—a brother to my mother’s father. Those who knew him say he was good man.”
Heidi snickered. “He must have been. Katarina prays to him.”
Yana snorted and then laughed. “I refuse to claim stupid sister. Even in fantasy.”
Heidi laughed too. “Katarina said she prayed to his spirit and then we came and found her. I never had the heart to tell her that our visionary—my pack mate who sees things—dreamed of her. Brandi had us all out searching for a woman who was running away from kidnappers. Travis had put a silver collar around her neck. Her wolf’s reaction to it was worse than most. It was killing her. We got to her just in time.”
“You take off collar without hurt?”
Heidi thought before she answered. They were for sure being watched. What if they were being recorded? “Maybe the spirit of Nicolai undid the clasp for us. I don’t know. Maybe he’ll come help me get mine off tomorrow. I attacked the scientist today and they put one on me. I’m wearing it now.”
A genuine giggle erupted in the otherwise soundless space.
“You tell great story. Maybe my sister not so stupid. She found friends among foes. This is high success in all Russian literature. Tolstoy. Dostoyevsky. Chekov. You should become writer. Give me famous writer name so I can sing praises.”
“My name?” Heidi chuckled. She sobered at the thought. Then she smiled. This was only fantasy after all. “Calder. That’s the name I was going to use one day. It’s the name of the man I saved.”
Yana was quiet for a bit, then she spoke firmly. “In fantasy any name good. You publish story under Heidi Calder, yes?”
“Yes,” Heidi said firmly, bringing Ryan’s face to mind. “I will publish my life’s story under Heidi Calder, Reluctant Werewolf, But Happy Healer.”
“In Russia we say what not kill you, make you strong.”
“We say that in America too. I’m not sure I want to be any stronger than I already am,” Heidi admitted.
“Bah… woman. I pray to Nicolai for your fainting of heart. He come help us both. Then I meet this evil sister who look like me.”
Laughing, Heidi closed her eyes and let sleep claim her once more.
13
It was near midnight and the dark now hid both Ryan and the building he watched. They had found three entrances and each taken one to watch.
Ryan had a hell of a time keeping his wolf under control when Travis exited the door he’d been watching. It irked him Brandi had been right in her warning, but he had to admit the female agent had skills in human form that he couldn’t begin to understand. If there had been time, he’d have found a way to kill the bastard—skills or not—but killing Travis wasn’t his priority at the moment.
Hidden behind a large tree, Ryan listened to a truck engine start. Travis spoke to someone briskly, then climbe
d into the car. Moments later the vehicle rumbled loudly down the road leading out of the area.
Ryan eyed the entrance warily as the door opened again. This time it was only a guard coming out. The man propped the door open and then walked a little ways away to have a smoke. Keeping watch over the smoking guard, Ryan sent Gareth a text on his cell phone, letting him know Travis had left. Gareth’s reply was positive. It also urged him to get some rest, but that wasn’t going to happen for him until Heidi was free.
Ryan looked at the crack in the door and made a decision. If help showed up, he couldn’t let that decision lead back to Brandi and Gareth tonight. He removed the fancy watch Gareth had given him and then shifted into his wolf form. He buried both the watch and his now turned off phone under the tree, raking leaves and debris over it.
When he was satisfied his technology was out of sight, he crept forward, keeping low to the ground. His wolf’s multiple shades of black and brown let him easily blend into the scenery.
The bear guard lifted his nose once into the air and sniffed when he got to the edge of the building, but with cigarette smoke wafting around the man’s face, his attention was quickly drawn back to his puffing. Ryan got extra lucky when the man stepped further away so he could relieve his bladder on some nearby shrubbery.
His sleek fur coat let him slip almost silently into the opening. For once he was glad his wolf was lean instead of bulked up like Matt’s. Chalk today up to a hard learned lesson about macho envy.
Padding down a dimly lit hallway, Ryan scented Heidi after the first corner he took. Following his nose, and his instincts, he headed to rescue his mate.
The tranquilizer dart came out of nowhere. He turned as it sunk into his hip, but never saw who’d taken him down.
Early the next morning, Heidi sat up when someone snapped the overhead light on. She blinked as she held a hand up to shield her eyes. A smiling Diane Crane walked into the room. Heidi climbed from her bed, standing so she felt more like the smirking woman’s equal.
“You’re turning out to be a bonus capture for me,” Diane said happily.
Heidi said nothing back, just looked at her, blinking herself into being awake. The sedatives in her food had taken more effect than usual the night before. Was it because the silver collar was weakening her nanos as well as her? Not a good possibility to consider. She hoped that wasn’t the case.
Diane tilted her head. “Do you know he’s here? Can you sense him?”
Heidi snorted. She often got sarcastic under pressure and it slipped out at the worst of times. “Somebody didn’t take her anti-crazy pills last night, did she?”
“Are you saying he’s lying?” Diane demanded. She shook her head and crossed her arms. “I believed him because he was so sincere.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Heidi said.
Diane snorted and glared. “Your mate. He’s here. He came after you.”
“Ryan?” Heidi exclaimed, clutching the bars. “What have you done with him? You better not have hurt him.”
“As if you could stop me,” Diane chastised.
“I’m not kidding,” Heidi declared.
When Diane laughed, Heidi glared at her. “It’s not funny.”
Diane waved a hand in the air. “Oh, don’t kick up such a fuss. Your would-be hero is sedated and tucked away… for now. What I do with him is still yet to be determined,” she said, pacing in front of the cage. “Perhaps we can come to an agreement about his usefulness to me.”
“What kind of agreement?” Heidi demanded.
Diane stopped pacing to shrug. “I need a werewolf infant. Perhaps the two of you can make me one. In exchange, I won’t kill him… or you.”
“Or Yana?” Heidi asked.
Diane laughed. “Let’s not get carried away here. She’s not related to you nor is she part of your pack—yes, I know all about those. Travis has been very helpful in teaching me about your kind.”
Heidi swallowed hard. Her kind? There were only three of her kind as far as she knew and Ariel said she didn’t think their nanos would allow any of them to conceive and make more. Having seen her two pack mates survive heat cycles without getting pregnant, she’d accepted that as a truth.
Heidi gripped the bars with cold fingers. Ryan. Diane Crane had Ryan. That knowledge was too frightening to worry about how he’d manage to find her here. But were the others here too? They had to be. She nodded to the sound of Diane’s voice. She had to buy them all some time.
“Are you sure you know what you’re agreeing to? You seemed to space out there for a moment. This will only work if you commit to carrying through with my request.”
Heidi narrowed her eyes and glared hard. “You know I’d do just about anything to save Ryan’s life. I traded myself to keep Travis from killing him. If you want me to try and make a baby with Ryan, fine—I’ll do that. Just don’t experiment on him.”
Diane nodded. “Very good then. I’ll arrange for you to be taken to his room. I’ve learned to take a few more precautions with determined males. First though, I’m going to need to make sure both you and your werewolf making uterus are in a highly receptive mood. Artificial insemination didn’t work, but through that failure, I did learn how to get the female werewolf body interested in conception. The effect only lasts a day, but that amount should suffice for our purposes.”
Diane Crane turned to walk away and something dark rose up inside Heidi. Bloodlust, she thought. She flinched again to feel such a strong desire to kill another creature. Heidi gripped the bars tighter. A warning growl rose in her throat. Her fangs extended. Her claws nearly broke through. She spoke from her heart.
“If you hurt Ryan, I will see that you pay. That’s a promise, not an empty threat.”
When the woman snickered over her statements, Heidi felt her wolf rise up higher to the surface, fighting against the dampening effects of the silver collar. She suddenly knew her wolf could defy it if it meant ending Diane Crane’s worthless life. Nanos scrambled out from wherever they’d been hiding themselves. Heidi took a deep breath, then took another. Now was not the time for heroic action, but she would wait and be ready when it did come.
“You fascinate me more than Agent Jenkins did because you’re such a quiet little mouse most of the time. When you show your aggression, it makes you sexy as hell. The little hairs on the back of my neck rise to attention. No wonder the sneaky wolf was willing to risk being shot dead by one of my guards. Tell me… what’s it like to find that perfect male you can’t live without. Humans don’t typically have that much loyalty to their spouses, do they?”
“You should reflect on my warning, Diane. It might be the only thing that saves your life,” Heidi warned.
Laughing as if she’d told a joke, Heidi watched her torturer stride out the door. Yana slept on, not yet waking. They must have increased her dose of sedative last night too.
Sighing, Heidi went back to her cot and sat heavily. She wanted to think about Ryan and what she was going to have to tell him. Until they were rescued, they had no choice but to play along with Dr. Crazy.
In the meantime, she needed to remain rational and calm. Unfortunately, at the moment, all she could think about was how much she despised Diane Crane.
She looked down at her fingernails and watched them extend into claws without her permission or the usual order. Her fangs hadn’t retracted either. Was she actually able to slow down her shift to something in between? Now how interesting would that be?
“There’s no getting around it. His tracks lead down there. I’d say Ryan took the first opening he could to sneak inside the facility.”
Brandi snorted. “Stupid lovesick bastard.”
Gareth nodded. “Yes, and I’d have done the same thing. That’s why I was so opposed to him coming along. Ryan couldn’t resist that voice in his head chanting that Heidi is his to protect. It rules his judgment about her.”
Brandi glared up at him. “What if they torture him into admitting we’re o
ut here? We could be dead before our back-up arrives.”
Gareth snorted. “Guess we better not let them find us, eh?”
Walking away before she took a swing at him, Brandi fisted her hands on her hips. She heard Gareth crunching leaves and swearing behind her. She turned to see him kicking at the ground.
“Why don’t you make some more noise? Then we can make sure they come after us,” she spat in a furious whisper.
Gareth snickered and knelt by a tree. “I think Ryan buried something back here.”
Heidi rolled his eyes. “What? His poop maybe? Please don’t dig that shit up.”
Chuckling, Gareth dug in the dirt a moment, then grinned over what he’d found. He pulled out Ryan’s phone and the agent communication watch they’d lent him. He held them up for Brandi to see.
Brandi snorted then. “Well, score one for our boy. At least he didn’t take anything damning in with him.”
Gareth nodded. “Yes. I told you the boy’s smart—most of the time. He’s being an idiot about Heidi, but that sort of comes with the mating madness.”
“Don’t start excusing him with that mating shit,” Brandi declared. “What Ryan did was rash and stupid and could still bite us all on the ass.”
Gareth grinned. “And probably will. I’m sure everyone thought we were going to kill each other before we worked things out. It does excuse some things.”
Brandi huffed. “Who says we’ve worked anything out? That’s just a rumor our Alphas tell people to make them feel better. Even the kids know nothing has changed between us. A couple of bite marks don’t make a relationship run smoothly.”
Gareth grinned wider as he walked to his mate. He buckled the spare agent watch around her free wrist.
“Maybe not, but I still like knowing you’re mine,” Gareth said, risking a hasty kiss. “I’ll keep his personal phone. Ryan’s trying to buy a house. As his Beta, I wouldn’t want his deal to slip away over him being captured. Heidi’s more apt to listen to his other offers if he can give her a place to call her own, don’t you think?”
Heidi: Nano Wolves 3 Page 10
