Smiling tightly, Heidi nodded. She went back inside Yana’s cage and took the weapon from the guard. Then she walked to her former cage and made the man inside pass his over.
She handed both guns to Yana. “If you know how to use these, they will be more effective on the bear men than fighting them as wolf.”
“Da. I shoot. Why you not keep one?”
“Because I don’t know how to use them,” Heidi said, as they moved to the door and out of the camera’s sight.
“I worry for you with no weapon,” Yana said.
Heidi closed her eyes. She asked her nanos to bring up her wolf, but not let her out. Her fangs lengthened. Claws replaced her fingers. She felt her face shift, but could not tell how much.
Yana made a strangled sound and backed up.
Heidi held up a hand that looked like it belonged in a horror movie. “It’s alright. I’m still me.”
“Let’s hope looking like nightmare is fixable,” Yana whispered.
Heidi felt a moment of affection. “Go,” she whispered.
“I pray more for you,” Yana said, ducking her head as she ran down the hallway.
Heidi lifted her snout in the air, sniffed, and ran on surprisingly strong legs in the direction of Ryan’s scent. She crept to the lab door and peeked inside. Diane was nowhere to be found. She flinched when a dart zinged by her head, thankful for the guard’s bad aim.
“What the hell are you supposed to be?” the guard said, pointing the gun at her again.
“Healer,” Heidi said firmly, leaping forward instinctively and yanking the tranquilizer gun from his hand. Startled, the guard swore and ran.
Now this was a weapon she could safely use, but she needed fingers. She looked at one of her hands, pleased when it returned to normal as she watched. Lifting the gun in it, she took aim and fired. Her wolf senses fortunately made up for her lack of expertise. The guard hit the lab floor, taking stools and trays along with him.
Two more came in while she stood there watching what she’d done in pleased shock. Their swearing brought a genuine smile to her greatly disfigured face. She used their genuine alarm to fire two more times and they went down too. She was liking this form more and more.
Bravery exhausted for the moment, Heidi turned and sniffed the air again. Following her senses, she loped down the hallway. Stopping in front of Ryan’s door, she closed her eyes once more. That first number still eluded her… until she remembered the beeps. They all had a sound. It had to be one of the first five. She keyed in several sequences getting it right on the fourth one.
When the door swung open, a rabid werewolf jumped her and knocked her down. She lay still when his jaws clamped around her neck. Her nanos scrambled. Her partial shift retracted. Ryan whined as he let go and moved away. But he didn’t shift back. He just blinked at her in shock.
Heidi shrugged her shoulder, happy her clothes had returned with her shift. “I figured if I had to live a nightmare, I might as well embrace looking like one. I’m sorry I’m ugly in that form.”
Ryan’s wolf shook his head as he paced away. He walked in circles, pacing and whining. When his wolf snorted in disgust, she glared at him.
“Thanks,” Heidi said dryly. “Thanks for the support. In case you missed the heroic stuff, I just let your trapped wolf ass out of that damn room, you big ungrateful dork.”
Leave now.
She glared at Ryan. “Since when can you talk to me in my head?” she demanded. “Do not be reading my thoughts. It’s bad enough I have to put up with that from Ariel and Reed.”
Stop complaining and run.
“Are Brandi and Gareth outside?” Heidi asked.
Yes.
Heidi looked back at the lab. “Then I need to go find Diane and keep her here. This has to end, Ryan. Brandi was right. And it’s what Ariel would want as well. No more involuntary nano wolves. And no more altered wolf babies.”
She has men with guns who smell like bears. Wolves can’t fight bears, Heidi. We aren’t able to take her down without help.
“I just took out three bear men on my way to freaking free you,” Heidi exclaimed, glaring the werewolf who called himself her mate. “Maybe I can’t stop her completely, but I can slow her down enough for Brandi and Gareth to do it when they get here.”
Anger and frustration and a host of other emotions swept through her like a cathartic tsunami.
“My instincts say do this,” Heidi insisted. “I know I’m not an Alpha or a trained agent like my Beta. I know in the Nano Wolf pack that I’m the wolf most likely to get her ass kicked, but once in a while I’ve done some surprising things. I’m not running from anyone anymore, Ryan. Not you… and not that crazy bitch trying to kill me.”
Shift then. You’re safer as a wolf.
Heidi shook her head. “My wolf is a healer. My nano nightmare is not. Brace yourself—things are about to get ugly again.”
She closed her eyes and once more turned within for help. With less pain than it had caused previously, her fingers lengthened into claws. Her fangs pushed down and her legs changed even more than they had earlier. Apparently her nanos were getting more creative with her partial shift physiology.
When the nanos finally stopped buzzing, she looked around, noting her senses were even keener than earlier. Ryan blinked startled wolf eyes at her once more. If she could have stuck her tongue out at him without risking her fangs punching holes in it, she would have. Ryan was going to have to get used to a way more sarcastic version of herself. Diane Crane had forever changed her attitude.
Huffing at her mate’s continued staring, and sounding more like a bear than a wolf to her ears, she growled as she turned and trotted back down the hallway to the lab.
16
The guards were still on the floor where she’d left them. Heidi went to retrieve their weapons, tucking two more tranquilizer guns in her now oversized armpit.
We don’t need those.
She looked at Ryan in disbelief. Could she get into his head too? She searched her mind and found what looked like a vibrating line of light. Huh. Werewolf telepathy must be like a string between two tin cans.
How do you think I took out these three on the floor?
If Ryan was surprised she spoke to him telepathically, he didn’t let it show.
Thought you couldn’t shoot, he said. And she knew it was to irritate her.
I can’t, but the nano nightmare seems decent at it, she said, looking around the lab.
On one wall, several hooks held spare lab coats. Diane Crane’s scent had to be on one of them. She went from coat to coat until she came to one that made her stomach knot. Now she could find the scientist. She had no idea what she’d do if she succeeded, but she needed to take the risk.
Want to sniff? She held the coat close to Ryan’s nose
Oh, so now you need my help?
She glared at his defensive macho answer which had to be way more effective given how she must look. Attitude is not helpful, Ryan. Stop acting like your stupid brothers.
She walked to the door and leaned out into the hallway to sniff. It didn’t take long for her highly sensitive, yet grossly deformed nose to do the job. Found her.
Great. Can we go now before another bunch of guards show up?
Heidi shook her head, only then feeling her long hair. She lifted a claw and pulled a few strands around to look at them. Frizzy didn’t even begin to describe what she saw. She let it go and sighed roughly. The nano nightmare was certainly ugly.
Hopefully they’re still out chasing Yana, she said.
Yana?
Heidi nodded, not looking at Ryan. She’s the werewolf Diane Crane tried to artificially inseminate. Fortunately, her body rejected the efforts. I think she’s Katarina’s younger sister, but they don’t seem to know each other.
It’s not surprising that the egotistical bastard went after someone else in Katarina’s family in retaliation. Travis is a sick minded bastard and a traitor to our kind.
Heid
i nodded, her frizzy hair moving with her head. He’s far more dangerous to us than Diane because Travis doesn’t need us for anything any longer. We were just a walking paycheck to him, but he already collected for us.
Wait. Go back to what you said. I never heard of a female being able to stop conception before. Can any female do that? Ryan asked.
Heidi looked at him then. His worry was probably that she might reject his child the way she had him. But she wouldn’t. She would be a nervous wreck about what kind of creature it would turn out to be when it was born, but she’d do her best to mother it. Who was she to judge? Look at what she’d just turned herself into.
It’s a natural process called selective breeding. Many species have the capability. I don’t know what triggers its usage. Yana was knocked out to keep her from fighting. Her body made the decision for her. Maybe the natural werewolf heat cycle overrides the normal reaction of a werewolf female’s body to sperm. The artificially created heat cycle didn’t force any override though. Diane Crane was very disappointed in her results. I’m going to ask Eva about it when we get home.
Home sounds good, Ryan said.
Ryan… I would never get rid of any child we made together.
Ryan’s answering whine told her volumes about his concerns.
I don’t think conception will ever happen for us, but if it does, now you know where I stand on the matter. You’re the one who might have second thoughts. I don’t know what kind of life is ahead of me. That’s something I’ve had to face even more after being captured by Diane Crane. Look what I’ve become.
Ryan trotted to her side and rubbed against one of her ugly legs. She reached a clawed hand out and stroked him carefully. They had a lot to resolve between them. She hoped they found the time to do so.
Heidi stuck her head out of the lab and looked both ways. She lifted her snout in the air and moved in the direction of the sickening scent she’d found clinging to the lab coat.
Yana tucked the weapons in the back of her slacks to make running easier. She was fast, even in her human form. Luckily the bears following her were much slower, but their number had multiplied as she’d moved farther away.
She braked hard when one of them popped out from behind a tree and pulled the trigger on his weapon. Calling out, she dove sideways, the dart ripping across her sleeve without stopping. Her body hit the ground, but she rolled up to her feet in seconds, ready to shift to escape.
She pulled both guns from her pants and aimed them at the eight or so guards advancing on her. Shooting first before one of them managed to hit her, she watched with satisfaction as two hit the ground. That left six of them and one of her. Shifting was now her only option.
“My apologies, Heidi the Healer. Today is not good day for Yana,” she muttered, frustrated to be failing in her escape. She growled in frustration, and then her senses went into full alert.
Though she’d done nothing else to defend herself, another two guards suddenly went down. Two more followed those. Finally… down from the trees dropped four saviors. Both she and her wolf breathed a sigh of relief.
“Gareth, grab a fucking tranq from one of the downed ones. That shit in those darts will stop the bears for sure. Lars, there’s six more heading back to the facility. Don’t let them make it. Kill them if you can’t neutralize them.”
Yana watched in shock as the last of her pursuers were stopped. She sniffed the air and the scent rolling off the woman, smelling the strangeness she’d found so interesting in her fellow captive. “I am Yana,” she said, introducing herself. “Heidi was right. I pray hard and Nicolai send help to us.”
Brandi snorted. “Are you related to Katarina?”
Yana shrugged. “Some would say. I never met her.”
“You look just like her, only with smaller breasts.”
Yana looked down at herself. Small? She’d never thought of her breasts as small. The woman’s laughter had her gaze returning.
“Is Heidi okay?” Brandi asked.
Yana nodded. “She stay behind to save mate.”
“Great. She’s a lovesick idiot too,” Brandi said tersely, turning to Gareth. “We can’t wait anymore. My gut says Heidi’s in serious trouble now. We have to get in there.”
Yana watched a tall man with silver temples walk bravely toward the swearing woman. He smiled and looked handsome, but it did not seem to soften her.
“I’ll phone it in,” Gareth said. “Maybe they can drop them from the air when they arrive. If we got lucky, maybe we took most of them out in this ambush.”
“No. Half more left there,” Yana said reluctantly, hating to be the messenger of bad news. “I smelled over thirty… plus wolf that betray us all. And crazy bitch scientist.”
“The betrayer has to be Travis… and we know the scientist,” Brandi spat, looking at Gareth again. “Do we have cover? Smoke? Anything?”
Gareth shook his head. “No. Lars and Fallon said the team was bringing everything we needed.”
Brandi let out a tense breath. “Any suggestions?”
“Not if you don’t want to wait,” Gareth replied.
“I can’t,” Brandi declared, heading back in the direction of the facility. “I can’t let Diane Crane get away again.”
Heidi shifted back to human, almost dropping the guns she carried, when they heard men shouting and running. She and Ryan stepped into a dark room, closed the door, and hid until they ran by. She was about to step back out when Ryan growled softly.
What? She sent the question to him like she had before, but could tell he didn’t hear her this time. Her telepathy must not work when she was human.
“What is it?” she whispered softly.
Her gaze followed his but her eyes were struggling in the dark. She blinked several times and then she saw what he’d already noticed. Forgetting the danger, she hit the light switch and then wished she could un-see it all. In jars and containers were fetuses—all dead, she assumed—or at least she hoped. They were in various states of changing into creatures. Some changes were recognizable, but most were not.
And in the middle of the room was a baby bed, an incubator, and a medical table with straps small enough to restrain infants.
Heidi reached out blindly and turned off the light. She slid to the floor in shock. Ryan whimpered as he partially pushed into her lap. She wrapped her arms around him and clung.
“How can the world be so cruel of a place?” she demanded. “She doesn’t even have a good reason, Ryan. She’s doing all this awful stuff just for the sake of stupid space travel.”
Ryan shifted back to human and was scooping her up just as the sob of despair wrenched out of her chest. He pressed her head against his shoulder. She bit her lip to keep the sound of her terror and disgust from growing louder. This was the worst time in the world to be having a meltdown, but she couldn’t seem to help herself.
She was a Healer, not a fighter. All she wanted was to make the world a better place.
The man she trusted above all others held her close. He was her only anchor to reality at the moment.
“We should never have come in here. This room makes everything worse.” Heidi shuttered out a breath. Would haves. Should haves. Could haves. Regrets wouldn’t make this any easier to accept. The Healer in her was stunned by the atrocities in this room. What was in the others?
“Brandi and Gareth know about this, don’t they?” she asked.
Ryan nodded against her hair.
“Ariel too?” Heidi asked.
“She’s a scientist. I imagine she knows now, even if she didn’t know how widespread and horrible it was in the beginning.”
“They both kept this level of knowing from me. I even understand why. All I ever talked about… all I ever wanted was to help people heal, Ryan. This room—this whole place—is about hurting people and making them into monsters. I wish like hell I didn’t know about any of this.”
Heidi closed her eyes, focused on Ryan’s scent. It made her feel secure, but tha
t was an illusion. None of them were secure with people like Diane Crane running around. She huddled closer when more footsteps ran by. Then there was yelling and swearing and general mayhem. It sounded like they were leaving.
She heard Diane’s voice calling out in alarm, asking what was happening. She heard Travis telling her to get her ass moving because he’d spotted agents closing in. They sounded like they were right outside the door. The chaos going on was probably the only reason they weren’t being discovered.
“But what about all my research? Do you know how hard it was to catch back up? I can’t start over again,” she heard her torturer say.
“Are you willing to die for your research?” Travis demanded. “You’re wanted in several countries, dead or alive, Dr. Crane. I’ll gladly use your dead body to collect my next bounty if you’re that anxious to give up your life.”
“Fine. Let me at least grab my computer. I’m sure we have ten minutes,” Diane Crane said angrily.
“Nothing is sure. It probably Jenkins and Longfeather coming after the Healer. Meet me on the helicopter pad in five. I sent the rest of the men off to slow down the ones coming in,” Travis ordered.
Heidi turned her face into Ryan’s shoulder. If they sat here just a few more minutes, Diane and Travis would leave and help would come. If they sat here and didn’t move, both Diane and Travis would also likely get away. If Diane Crane escaped this place, there would one day be yet another room like this somewhere with more deformed babies floating in jars.
Only it would be her fault this time.
Heidi pushed herself out of Ryan’s arms and off his lap. Standing up, she held his gaze while he rose from the floor too. “I love you, Ryan. But as much as I want to stay in here and hide, I can’t do it. I can’t just let Diane Crane leave and do not nothing to try and stop her.”
Ryan reached out a hand and cupped her cheek. “No, you can’t—we can’t. I want to keep you safe, but none of us will be truly safe if Travis and her get away.”
“They’re headed to two different places,” Heidi whispered. “Travis will have guards helping at the helicopter. Katarina mentioned having had to kill a pilot to escape.”
Heidi: Nano Wolves 3 Page 12
