“What’s in the bags?”
Tane ignored the look on her face as his eyes stopped on her breasts watching them heave up and down.
“Miss me?”
“No, just wondering how long I would have to wait until I could negotiate my freedom.”
“That eager to die?”
She frowned then looked sad for a minute before shaking her head.
“Just wanna give you the best chance to live.”
“I doubt that, beautiful. If you wanted to give us a chance to live, you would never have driven on our property. But you’re just beginning to realize what you are. I have something for you.”
He handed her the bags.
“Go ahead take them back to the room and take a look at them. I think you’ll like what’s inside.”
She took the bags and walked out the door looking over her shoulder amazed when no one followed her. Finding the room wasn’t hard, her animal automatically made mental notes of where everything was.
She closed the door behind her before dropping the bags on the bed. Three deep breaths then she leaned against the wall. It had been so tense in the living room she thought she might lose it.
Her eyes zeroed in on one bag. What could be in there? She slowly approached it reminding herself he wouldn’t blow up his own home so it had to be safe. Opening the first bag, she gasped pouring the silky lingerie onto the bed. God they were gorgeous. Had he really found all of this in that little town? Quickly she went through the other bags to find shirts and pants, the kind that she would wear if she wanted to dress sexy but lethal at the same time.
In the end it was what was in the last bag that touched her heart. There were five different colors of nail polish and a bottle of nail polish remover. What man bought nail polish? How did he even know? She dashed at her eyes—the unexpected gesture touched what she had left of a heart.
Chapter Four
It wasn’t easy knowing what to do. In the end she took off the remainder of the nail polish and painted her toes a bright orange. One of the marvelous colors he bought for her. Why? She shrugged. A well-dressed super hero needed polish and a moment to feel feminine. Thoughts of long days pampering herself brought a sad smile to her face. She had been so alone in her former life. Not how she wanted to live, it was just a pattern she fell into.
Now she had this new life and she was still alone but she was scared too. Running for her life and wondering if she would ever have that middle ground where she had true friends and a man of her own. At this point she should be happy to be alive, but meeting Tane made her want more.
Once her polish was dry, she zipped off to take another shower and used the lotion she found in the bag with the other toiletries he gave her as a gift. She dressed in a pair of simple leggings and a cami. It was a nice low key outfit. Before she ran she would change into the cargo pants he bought her and the army camouflage shirt. It would help if the shirt wasn’t a sweet pink. It had to be his idea of a joke.
Taking a deep breath, she made her way out the room. How long could she hide in the bedroom? All day if given a chance but she wasn’t a coward.
Jay looked up as she entered the living room. “You look cute. I must admit I miss the shirt, but at least you don’t smell like Tane anymore.” The smile he gave her was big.
Tane walked over to her pulled her into his arms and assaulted her mouth making her knees weak. The kiss made every bone in her body soft and he placed her in a chair before she could even catch her breath or register the kiss.
He looked around the room meeting the eyes of every male.
“I was just kidding, Tane,” Jay shook his head.
“You listen here.” She pushed herself to stand not sure if her legs would buckle or not. “I’m not yours and you can’t treat me as if I have no say in what happens to me. I’d rather be dead,” she tossed out.
“The kitten has claws. Good, don’t let Tane get away with it. He’s too accustomed to being in charge as it is,” Dai said with a smile and a wink.
“I’m serious, Tane.”
“I know you are, Sweetheart, and I will try to remember it. Now you may want to sit down before you fall dawn.”
She glowered at him before giving him a grunt and reluctantly sitting. He was right.
He glanced at her toenails and then gave her a bright smile.
God save her from alpha males.
“Leza, I have a problem, and it’s what to do with you. The easy answer continues to plague me. Kill you. Although that would solve my problem, I have noticed you’re not a fan of that solution.”
He raised his hand when she opened her mouth to speak. Nodding she stayed quiet, and allowed him to work out his inner thoughts.
“We could keep you here. Something you also don’t seem to be a fan of or we could let you go. The last you like, but only because you really don’t understand the jeopardy that places you in. As well as the jeopardy that places us in when we have to mobilize to rescue you.”
Tane paced as his eyes swung from the others to Leza then back again.
“Tell me how you escaped.”
“They moved me. It was something they never did. I was chained in the car until one day they brought me into a diner and they had to take the chains off of me. I remember sitting there eating, wondering how I could get away. One of my guards went to the rest room the other got a phone call and took it outside. I was sitting there unchained and alone. I ran. Out the back door until I saw a car. I didn’t know if I could still do it but I tried. I hot-wired it, something I learned in my youth, and took off.”
“So they let you escape.”
“No! I…yeah I guess they did. That was way too easy. At the time I was so focused on freedom that nothing else registered.”
“Why did they let you escape, Leza?” Tane drilled her, still pacing the floor.
“How am I supposed to know?” She shouted the question at him.
“Think Leza, you’re smart. They don’t pick the unintelligent for change. They can’t handle the animals. I bet you have a high IQ. Why did they let you escape?”
“They wanted something and they thought I had the best chance of giving it to them.”
“Perfect. What did they want?”
She raised her eyes to look at him. “You.”
“We have a winner. They wanted me so they sent you in. If I didn’t kill you then they would know they were on to something. But how would they know your still alive, Leza?”
“I don’t know.”
“Tsk, tsk let’s try that again.”
“They planted something on me in my skin.”
She jumped up her hands running over her skin as she looked for something out of place.
“You won’t find it that way.”
She backed up at the look on Tane’s face.
“Grab her.”
Dai caught her on one side, Dev on the other and they dragged her between them following Tane as he opened a door and went down a flight of steps.
“Stop fighting,” Dai hissed. “It’s not just your life, it’s ours. He won’t hurt you; hasn’t he shown it by keeping you alive?”
She’d like to believe that but both her and her animal were fighters when it came to their lives and Tane wasn’t looking friendly. The hospital bed with the iron cuffs on them in front of her guaranteed she would fight.
They wrestled her on the bed and cuffed her before turning on another one of those lights that didn’t give off any illumination.
“This light,” Tane patted it, “Interrupts any carrier waves that you might be omitting.”
They were smart. She bet they had lots of devices like that across their home she would never know what they did. Dev set up a machine over her body.
“This is like an X-ray machine. It’s a little more advanced and won’t hurt you with the rays it gives off so you don’t have to worry. It will allow us to see if you’re carrying anything in your body that would either transmit what is said or a locator chip
,” Dev explained, keeping the words as simple as possible for her frantic mind to grasp.
“Just let me go then you won’t have to worry.”
Tane shook his head no and then nodded towards Dev to continue.
Dev turned on the machine and she lit up like a Christmas tree.
“Damn,” Dai said. “There are five of them in her and we still need to turn her over to check just to make sure some aren’t hiding.”
“But first we dig these five out of her. Dev, knock her out,” Tane’s rough voice ordered.
“No, Tane please.” He turned his eyes away from her but moved stiffly as if he couldn’t help himself until he was by her side. He reached down and held her hand tight even when she was no longer awake.
“Dev, can you get them?”
“Yeah, they were placed hastily as if the plan was newly hatched and it probably was. The general probably got a good look at her and thought ‘I can use her to get my prize back’.”
“We’re all his prize. He doesn’t just want me he wants us all.”
“I know, but if he has you, he’s almost certain the rest will follow.”
“Well he’s wrong. If I am recaptured, I want every one of you to move on to our plan B. Do not, I repeat do not, come after me. Understand me, Dai?”
“I heard you, Tane. If I am captured, Dai, come and set me free.”
Tane growled under his breath. His twin never listened a day in his life which is why he was in this mess. If he had listened, at least one of them would have a normal life to live.
“I can hear you.”
That was the benefits of being twins, Dai could read his mind. With the others they could pass images around or even a thought if they directed it to someone but nothing like him and Dai. They were in and out of each other’s mind all the time.
“Last one out,” Dev announced.
Tane sighed, she looked like a pin cushion. Dev finished bandaging her and then they turned her over. Tane cleared the room when he realized he would have to undress her. After pulling a thin sheet over her, he called Dev and Dai back in.
She had seven more in the back of her body and one buried in her spine and that’s the one that caused them the worry. She was going to have to be awake for that one.
Dev took his time pulling out the seven he found and patching her up. They did one more scan of her to make sure there was only one left then woke her up.
Her eyes snapped open as if she had been roughly pulled out of sleep.
“Are you all done?”
“No,” Tane answered her. “You have one more in your spine and we need you awake for it.”
“No, just no. Please let me go, Tane. I swear I won’t tell them anything.”
“Leza, you had five devices buried in the front of you and seven in the back and then this one in your spine. Do the math, they were never letting you go. They won’t let you go now. Death is the only way out. We have to get the one out of your spine which means you’re going to lie on the table and take the pain because you can and your animal is going to heal you, but we need you awake in case Dev gets too close to your spinal cord. You’ll be able to tell him by the tingling. Sweetheart, we’ve all had one imbedded in us in the same place. Dev has steady hands. He’ll get it out.”
“Who got Dev’s out?”
“Dai.”
Dai took a bow off to her side bringing a shadow of a smile to her lips. What choice did she have? They weren’t going to let her waltz out. Besides they were right, even if she got free she would be recaptured because of the tracker in her spine, and her life would only get worse.
She took a big breath. “Ok, Dev I’m ready.”
Chapter Five
Dev made his first cut, praying quietly. He hated working on the spinal cord. It had been his hope, his secret prayer, that once he finished on his brothers there would never be another reason for him to do this. Now there was a woman and suddenly he hoped there were plenty more where she came from.
He wanted to blast himself for being a sick fuck, but when you were deadly and told that you would tear a female apart if you tried to mate with her, all that was left was the pitiful hope that there was a female like you out there.
They’d only been free a year; still the need to sink into soft flesh was overwhelming. None of them had given into the lust but how much longer could that last and now Tane had claimed the only female like them.
His next cut was deeper, still far enough from the spine not to worry him. Now he would pull the skin back and begin to slowly move the muscle back until he isolated that glowing piece of metal.
Leza grimaced biting her lower lip but never moved. The local Dev gave her helping some but still allowing her to feel. The pain was just subdued.
Her spine was malformed much like all of theirs, but it may not be enough for her to be able to change into her animal. He didn’t think so but one never knew. All he was sure of was that the tracker needed to come out soon. It wasn’t just a tracker but it was a kill switch; if anyone got antsy hands, they could kill her before he was done saving her life.
Tane knew but he hadn’t told her that. No use in riling her up more than she was. Besides there was nothing they could do and he couldn’t go any faster. Dev touched her spine deliberately testing how sensitive it was.
Her body jerked as she pulled in a deep breath trying to stay as still as possible.
“Sorry, just testing your spine.”
“It works, thanks.”
Giving a half smile, he started the more delicate work. They had imbedded the tracker in her spine; as he moved nerves around he watched as she twitched trying not to sever anything she might need later. Who was he kidding? She needed it all especially with an animal sharing her body.
“When this is all over where do you want to go?” Tane asked her in a casual voice.
“Me? I don’t really know. Part of me wants to go somewhere I can see awesome waterfalls but the other part of me wants a private beach with pristine sand that I can walk on and see my own foot prints with waves rolling in. Kind of selfish that I don’t want to share it with anyone.”
“Not selfish at all. Sometimes we just need time to ourselves.”
“What about you, Tane, where do you want to go?”
“I’m not real sure. Some days I think of camping but that’s not much different than living here. Other times I think I’d like to go somewhere like you said maybe see a waterfall or the Grand Canyon.”
“That would be a nice place to go.”
Leza cried out as Dev moved her spinal cord.
“Easy, I see the tracker but they wanted to make sure it didn’t come out. I’m going to start pulling on it now and hope nothing has grown around it.”
“And if it did?”
“We cross that bridge when we come to it.”
She stayed silent; what else was there to say? Her teeth clamped on her lower lip as she tried not to move. The pressure from Tane’s hand helped her to feel secure. Now all she could do was trust that Dev had enough skill to do this.
“Here’s the tricky part, Leza. Stay as still as possible.”
She could feel the movement along her spine as he lifted the tracker straight up. Small bits of what must have been muscle was clinging to it, not wanting to let it go. The pressure was becoming unbearable and her mouth opened to pant but she refused to cry out. This was her new life filled with both danger and pain. She had no choice but to deal with both of them.
It was Dev’s sigh that allowed her to breathe easy. “Did you get it?”
“Yeah it’s out now all I have to do is put your back together again. Your one lucky female.”
“Why is that?”
“Your nerves tried to engraft onto the metal. I think your animal helped in the operation, changing your body enough to give me the room to be able to work. Amazing to say the least.”
“I’m going to put you under. When you wake up you’ll feel a lot better.”
*~*~*~*
Leza woke up in Tane’s bed. She had done this so many times now it was beginning to feel right. Her body felt like one big bruise, but at least there were no trackers or listening devices in her. That meant she had a chance for the first time, she could actually be free of the men chasing her. Where would she go? What could she do?
Slowly she pushed herself up. There was a large bandage wrapped around her torso. Man, she looked like a mummy or at least the start of one. She eyed her clothes that were laid out on the chair. All she needed to do was get up, get dressed, steal that jeep she saw, and she could be on the other side of their property making for the highway and freedom. Not like she owed anybody anything.
So what they took thirteen trackers out of her. Can you say overkill? It’s not like she asked them to. So what Tane was hot and made her want to get wild with him, there were lots of men out there. None like him, her animal whispered.
Her hand went through her hair pulling a few strands in an effort to think straight. Tane’s scent from his sheets was messing with her, calling to her. How would she live if she walked away from these males? Maybe she could get a job waitressing, get paid under the table. People did it every day didn’t they?
With a sigh she lowered her body back into the bed. She wasn’t going anywhere until she healed. That meant she had a day or two before she could run again. And maybe in the process she could learn a thing or two to help her or at least give her leverage.
The door opened and Tane walked in shutting it softly behind him.
“Did you make up your mind?”
“What are you talking about?” She tried to bluff her way out.
“Are you running or staying?”
Of course he knew. It was probably what he would be debating in a similar situation.
“Staying for now.”
“Smart choice.”
“What did you do with the trackers?” She turned her head to see the moon high above, a sliver of its light came through the window.
“I put them in your car and then took the car and trackers far away. That will give the military something to track for several days.”
Tane's Mate: A Paranormal Shifter Romance (Shifter's on the Run Book 1) Page 3
