by Sarah Makela
Not only did I have to worry about myself now, but I needed to make sure Kelly shifted. The first time was always the most painful.
I brushed her hair aside and nibbled her earlobe. “Babe? They’re gone. Take off your shirt. You need to shift forms now. We both do.”
Kelly jerked in my arms like I’d just told her something shocking. Maybe it was. I’d never been human. This was always my life. Like the scientist said, I was born into being a werewolf, not changed.
“What… no. I can’t.” She tried to push me off her and run, but I’d been around other new wolves. I could handle this, I hoped. With time running out, I couldn’t be sure.
“Yes, you can. Just breathe deeply. Relax your mind and get on your hands and knees like this.” I knelt next to her and took a few deep breaths. If I relaxed too much, my careful control might slip. I didn’t want to dominate Kelly into changing. That made the experience even more painful and scary.
She mimicked my position, but her body shook. There was no way she’d safely do this if she didn’t calm down. One of the many dangers of a bad shift was being caught between forms. If the Pack were with us, the Alpha would be able to help the trapped wolf through his connection to the wolves. However, I highly doubted, I’d be able to offer her that.
My muscles spasmed in a sudden punch. The wolf was tired of waiting.
My jaw ached as it lengthened into a muzzle and sharper teeth protruded from my gums, pushing out my human teeth. One moment, my eyes saw better than humanly possible, the next I had my wolf’s keen eye sight. Everything was different, sharper.
My spine lengthened, and I took deep breaths, trying to gain control and relax. The pain eased a little as the prickle of fur protruding from my skin swept over my body. I held on tight, focusing on each body part at a time, until the transformation was complete.
A small yelp sounded beside me, and I turned to see Kelly with her back pressed against the wall. She clutched her arms around her, and her eyes were wide. For a moment, she smelled like prey because of the fear wafting from her.
Mate.
I growled and jerked my head to the mattress. I wished this had been different, but struggling with my beast for control put her at risk. She needed to change in case my restraint slipped. While I doubted I’d hurt her, I wanted her to be safe.
Instead of her doing as I’d asked, she slid further away from me.
Lunging for her, I tried to stop myself, but the wolf gripped the reins. Within a matter of seconds, I gripped Kelly by the back of the neck, pinning her against the mattress. Dominance. My beast was trying to help.
She froze beneath me, her breath coming out in harsh pants. “Jacob, I can’t. I tried. Maybe I’m not a werewolf after all.”
My jaws squeezed a little harder, but I loosened my grasp.
She took deep breaths, but her body wasn’t relaxing. While she had every right to be scared, she had to push the fear aside and focus.
“This reminds me of Twilight for some reason.” She burst into laughter, but derision laced the sound. “Hey, your name is Jacob too.”
I snarled, my tolerance for joking around nil. This wasn’t a laughing matter.
Her body buckled, and she cried out. “No, what’s happening? Ahh!”
The scent of her fear rose to terror, and I hated that she was going through the shift this way. I released her, not wanting to distract her from what was to come. Her body jerked at odd angles, and tore itself apart with a crippling ferocity.
“Jacob! I—” Her words broke into a whimper. Minute after agonizing minute, she transformed from a beautiful woman to a stunning wolf with white and grey fur. She laid on the mattress, frozen as if unsure what to do.
I licked her muzzle to comfort her, then curled up beside her. She rested her chin on my back and whined. Everything in me wanted to run wild through the forest with her, but we were locked in this cage as wolves on display.
The closing of a door drew my attention to the one-way mirror.
“Good job, Dr. Peacock. Seems you were right about these two. They will make an excellent addition to our program. Ah, the possibilities. We’ll need to monitor them since we haven’t witnessed their natural mating behavior before. I wonder if they will become more territorial, or perhaps, more aggressive? Those would be excellent traits for our infiltration programs.”
“Thank you, Dr. Zeaman. Now that they have mated, they might proceed with more aggressive behavior, but I’m not sure that the traits would be beneficial to our program. The military prefers male subjects. Then again, in this day and age, who knows?” He cleared his throat. “To be safe, I would like to have fluid samples from her. Let’s start with the blood work and seminal fluids first, and move to a spinal tap afterward. I would very much like to see those hormone levels.”
“Not sure I agree with you, but we should see the results. If she’s as powerful as we think she is, this might be a perfect match.” Papers shuffled in the other room. “Keep up this level of work, and you’ll be on your way to the top. Disappoint me, and we won’t be as generous. Ask the right questions or none at all.”
I moved from where I laid and put myself between Kelly and the door. That made nuzzling her and watching the entrance a little harder but not impossible.
“Get the tranquilizers ready. There’s much to do. I need a team ready in the lab for blood and fluid samples. Have a team obtain them and send them to me. I’ll be expecting the results within the hour,” Dr. Zeaman said dryly before the sound of his voice vanished with the loud bang of a heavy door.
A few moments later, heavy footsteps clomped toward the door to our room. Peacock had spent little time in following his orders. While I knew they were trying to study their new subject, their tests were invasive. She was my mate, and no one would touch her unless I couldn’t stop them.
Tranquilizers. The thought of being unable to protect her after all she had been through angered me.
The door opened, revealing a few guards and what looked like a lab technician. Without a word they walked toward the cage. Nervous sweat poured off of them. I pulled my lips back from my teeth, instinctively, warning them to stay away from us, but they paid me no heed.
The guard closest to me loaded a dart into his long barreled rifle.
There was little I could do to keep either of us safe, but the beast inside me refused to listen. I darted to the edge of the cage before the rifle loudly fired. To their ears, it was no more than a puff of pressurized air leaving the barrel, but to me, it sounded like a shotgun blast. The world slowed down as the dart struck me in the chest.
A haze clouded my vision, my legs felt heavy as if I were trudging through water, weak and slow. A second dull thud followed the first, and Kelly slumped to the old mattress.
My mate.
Before my eyelids became too heavy to hold open, I threw myself at the cage’s bars, snarling to keep them away. Even as the first zap from the cattle prod hit me, I never backed down from my duty of guarding her.
The struggle was over before I could do much more. Two more darts smacked into my torso. The slow-motion action before my eyes was replaced by a veil of darkness as my last bit of strength failed me, and I fell limp to the floor.
CHAPTER NINE
Kelly
I laid in the cage next to Jacob, listening to the steady ebb and flow of his breathing. His sleek tan and white fur was thick and soft. Part of me wanted to run my fingers through it, but with the beating he’d taken earlier, I didn’t want to hurt or disturb him.
I looked down at my hands, surprised to see they were human once again. I’d gotten use to my paws, so being amongst the two-legged again seemed surreal. The shift back must have come over me when I’d been unconscious from the tranquilizers.
Jacob had been so strong and protective of me when they’d come to take samples. I cringed, not wanting to think back to seeing them beat him before the drugs knocked me out.
He whimpered a little, kicking one leg out and bum
ping into my thigh. I hated hearing him in pain, and I couldn’t help but feel totally to blame about all of this. If only I hadn’t started the fight and then opened the door without checking who was there.
And, to top it all off, he’d come to rescue me. Now we were trapped in the same cage, and they’d hurt him. If we didn’t get out of here, I didn’t know how I’d live with the regret of him being dragged into this. Then again, I might not have to worry about living at all.
A door clanged shut down the hall, and snarls broke out in the fiercest, meanest tone I’d ever heard. The low sound of male voices said words I couldn’t hear in response to the growls.
A loud bang cut off the growls in a sharp whimper, and my heart thundered in my chest. Was that a gunshot? I froze laying as still as I could, closing my eyes.
When they no longer had use for either Jacob or myself, we would be thrown away just as quickly. That much was made apparent from Brad and Lloyd had said in the van. I only hoped that Jacob knew how we were going to get out of here. I hoped his family knew Jacob was missing and knew where we were. They needed to help us escape from this hell before we paid the price with our lives.
The door opened to our room, and I feigned sleep.
The scientist. I could smell him. He was in the room. Part of me didn’t want to show the horrible fear I felt after hearing what happened. Maybe I was overreacting. It could have been a tranquilizer gun, but after being shot by one, I knew that hadn’t sounded like a tranq gun.
What if Jacob was aware of me and how I was behaving? However, I didn’t want the scientist to have the satisfaction of knowing I was scared.
I refused to show weakness, at least when I could help it.
Jacob’s breathing was slightly labored, and the scent of chemicals coming from him stung my nostrils. His body must be focusing all of his energy working through whatever the tranquilizers, holding him in the wolf form. Occasionally his paws twitched and his eyes fluttered as if he were trying to regain consciousness but failing.
Dr. Peacock muttered something incoherent under his breath. Anger pulsed from him. He was obviously not happy about the state Jacob was in. The multiple shots were probably not part of his careful plan for us.
After a few minutes, he walked to the edge of the cage. Scratches of pen on paper gave away his note taking. I watched the scientist beneath my eyelashes as he scooted half a step closer, intently examining Jacob. He held his breath and before letting it out slowly. His heartbeat calmed, proving he was gaining more confidence.
Jacob’s words came back to me. If we gave them a reason to come close, we might have a chance to break out of here. I just needed to pretend not to be a threat. Lure Dr. Peacock in, then snatch the keycard. Before I’d been brand new to my newly found speed, now I had a reason to make this chance count.
The scientist took the remaining few steps toward the cage. The bastard even sighed from relief as Jacob let out a winded huff, reacting to his presence.
My predator snapped inside me. With Dr. Peacock’s attention locked on Jacob, he was blind to my attack.
Fluidly rolling to my feet, I closed the distance between the two of us. Before the prey turned its head, it was already too late. Once again, the dance classes I’d taken were worth the money. I snaked my right arm through the bars, grabbed him by the collar, and smashed his face into the metal.
He dropped to the ground like a rock. The beast wanted to sink her teeth in his throat, but she slowly subsided. Her thirst for vengeance mostly sated.
I knelt beside him, my fist still clenching his collar. The slow realization that I had nearly killed him with little effort, and enjoyed doing so, made me shake. What was I becoming? A killer? If I hadn’t stopped myself, who knows what the wolf part of me would have done.
Jacob yipped behind me. His piercing gaze stared straight into me. It was as if my distressed wolf had called out to his, bringing him back from dark drugged dreams. I put on Jacob’s t-shirt while he slowly changed back to human.
I shut out the sound of his shift, focusing instead on getting Dr. Peacock’s keycard and sliding it over the reader. The door slowly slid open.
“Are you okay to run? I can carry you,” Jacob said, his voice sounded low and rough. He wore his jeans sans leather belt. His blond hair tumbled over his forehead, looking like he just got out of bed.
I blinked at Jacob, surprised by how protective he was of me, but more than a little grateful too. “I can run.” Boy, could I ever, if the way I’d moved in the cage was any indication. My muscles were warmed up and ready. The idea of running made my heart beat faster, driving joy and anticipation through me.
He smirked. “Good. Let’s get out of here.”
The slightest draft of air from the vents nearby blew like hurricane winds in my ears. My nerves bunched as we opened the door to the hallway. We couldn’t get caught. I refused to get back in that rancid cage.
Sticking to the few shadows, we moved further from the room, keeping our backs to the wall.
Jacob lifted his head a few times, trying to scent the air here and there, but each time he pinched his nose and shook his head as if to rid himself of the bleach-laced air.
Here and there, we heard movement behind other doors. My heart hurt for the other people trapped in here, but neither of us were willing to take the risk of the rooms being guarded. We were already on borrowed time, so we continued on our way.
We traversed the maze of hallways, dodging out of the sight of a few guards who talked about last night’s football scores. We hid in a closet for a moment as they passed. Once their footsteps had almost disappeared, we continued down the hall. It’d suck to get caught when we were so close to escape.
One of the guards suddenly stopped. Hesitantly, I touched Jacob and pulled us to a nearby intersecting hallway. To my relief, this hall was clear of guards, but my heart still pounded in my chest. Had the guard seen something suspicious? Was our luck running out?
In the distance, the telltale clicking of keys was an answer to my unvoiced question. We waited until the door opened and finally thumped close. I let out a soft sigh. Our escape was still unnoticed.
The security cameras couldn’t be helped. While we were trying to be stealthy, we knew we needed to leave before they realized Dr. Peacock was unconscious in our room. It was only a matter of time before someone needed him elsewhere in the facility, or until he would regain consciousness.
Once we hit the side door, a loud siren sounded behind us, and the heavy metal door started swinging inward to lock us in. Jacob held it open for me, groaning at the strain of the door’s insistence on closing. His thick muscles bulged under the weight, but he managed to keep it open.
Behind us, a sharp yell of alarm came from a guard who had stepped out into the hallway. Jacob pushed the door open a little further, allowing him to move his frame through the crack. Gunshots followed us outside to the fresh cool air. The door slammed shut as we made our way along the side of the building.
“Code Red. The south side of the lab has been breached. All personnel be on alert. Subjects escaped through the inner containment door. Tranquilize and return if at all possible,” a man’s voice said crackling through the loudspeakers on the perimeter in the otherwise quiet night air.
The feel of non-recycled air in my lungs was amazing. Each breath I took held fresh new scents, unhindered by bleach or other chemicals making me more aware of my surroundings than I’d thought possible. The flow of air brought with it the scent of old sweat, oil and tobacco. I jerked back to see a guard scouting around the sharp corner of the building.
Jacob grabbed a nearby rock and threw it on the roof. The man changed directions, trying to follow the sound of the rock hitting the tiles above.
The wolf in me grinned. Our prey had fallen victim to a very old ploy. With our bare feet soundless on the pavement, Jacob and I ran toward the corner, facing the dumbfounded guard.
Before he could react, Jacob smashed his elbow to his face. One immed
iate threat down, but I knew more would soon follow.
The fence closest to us seemed impossibly tall, but Jacob picked up his pace as soon as his feet hit the grass underneath. No more did we have the luxury of being in the shadows. Now it was run or die, something my beast innately related to.
Following his lead, I barely noticed the joy of the grass underneath my feet as men yelled around us demanding we give up. Paying them no heed, I tried to keep pace with Jacob.
Bullets sailed past smacking the ground at our feet as we took off running from the research facility. Fear rushed to the surface, nearly choking me, and for a moment, I thought about stopping and surrendering.
“Jacob, I don’t know if we’re going to make it.”
“We will. Trust me, Kelly.” He gripped my hand, pulling me along with him. We kept picking up speed until I felt like I was flying. My feet barely touched the ground. The tall fence with barbed wire on top looked to be another problem though. “When I give the word, jump with all your might.”
“Are you crazy?” I tried to pull my hand from his, but he held on tight.
“Jump!” Wind surged through my hair, and I looked down to see the fence a half foot below us. I couldn’t believe this. We landed seconds later, and my knees nearly gave, but Jacob pulled me on. I had no idea where we were going now. Only that we were still not out of danger.
The two of us tore through the woods bordering the property. We ran as if a wild pack of dogs chased us, faster and farther than I’d ever gone before. Branches whipped my arms and legs, but I kept going. My ability to run like this had to be from becoming a werewolf. Any other time, I would’ve been doubled over and gasping for air.
Instead, the forest seemed to increase my vitality, the pine scented air filled my lungs over and over again. With each step further into the forest, my eyes adjusted, my ears opened and my nose twitched. Was this what it was like to be truly free? How could I have been so blind to my senses before?
Lost in my thoughts, my foot sank into a soft patch of soil, sending me pitching forward. I smacked the leafy ground with force and bit back a groan. Even though my ankle ached, I pushed myself to my feet.
