“They’re not our mates. My animals want nothing to do with them. They catalogued them in passing as passable humans, but not as a threat,” Dai said as he took a bite of his food.
“The food?” Leza asked.
“If they poisoned it, it’s odorless as well as tasteless,” Dai said.
“I’m probably just paranoid,” she picked up her food and began eating. They waited throughout the meal but there was no unexpected lethargy or falling out.
The waitress came back again to give them refills on what they were drinking. She handed Leza a coke.
“I wasn’t drinking that.”
“Sorry,” the waitress murmured, her face going red at the mistake. “I can bring you something else.”
“No, thanks I’m done.”
“The check, please.” Tane asked eyeing the drinks on the table.
The waitress handed it to them after offering them dessert. No one touched their drinks taking their cue from Tane.
After leaving a tip on the table they went to the register.
“I’m going to hit the bathroom one more time since my bladder doesn’t seem to hold as much as the rest of yours.” Leza smiled and gave Tane a small hug.
“I’ll come with you.”
“Why? We’ve already established the bathroom is safe.” She went up on her toes and kissed the side of his cheek before strolling off.
No one was in the rest room while she made short work of using it. When she came out to wash her hands, their waitress was at the sink. Leza gave her a polite head nod and turned on the water to wash her hands.
The waitress jabbed her with a needle before she knew what hit her.
“All you had to do was drink the coke.” The waitresses voice went cold and hard before Leza passed out.
*~*~*~*
“She’ll be ok,” Dai said as he came behind his brother clapping him on the back.
Tane nodded and watched the front of the diner. “It’s different now. I feel her deep within me as if my life and my well-being now revolves around her. I wonder if this is how the race is perpetuated. I can’t stop thinking about what will make her happy and wanting to do that very thing. It’s sort of what I always thought love would be like but on a grander scale.”
He sighed when he looked at his brother and his brother-in-arms. “I think you have to experience it to understand.”
Tane turned to look at Dai. “You know how we loved mom?”
Dai nodded.
“It’s bigger than that.” Dai’s hand covered his chest rubbing at the ache there.
“She’s taking a long time.” Tane turned to stride towards the bathroom.
“That’s because she’s a female,” Jay laughed. “They do that thing in the mirror where they come out looking like freaking runway models. She’s doing that thing for you.”
Tane’s lips were lifting up into a half smile when his body hit the ground in pain. He doubled over while still trying to find his legs to stand.
“Leza,” he called out in a pained voice.
Jay lifted him up while Dai was already running towards the restroom. Tane and Jay behind him. They kicked open the door only to find it empty. Sitting on the side of the sink was a tube of lipstick that Leza kept with her all the time. Tane roared. They spread out to search the facility. Leza was gone as were the waitresses.
Chapter Twenty-two
Dai pulled Tane out of the diner before he destroyed it with his bare hands. Jay was sitting in the back of the SUV trying to control Tane. He bellowed reaching for the steering wheel time after time.
“You’ll kill us, Tane,” Dai hissed as he drove faster putting as many miles between them and the diner.
Tane was already dead. He couldn’t feel Leza no matter how he reached out. He felt moisture in his eyes and didn’t care. The one person he lived for was no longer with him. The whole world needed to cry with him. He looked within himself finding a hole that Leza used to fill.
Thoughts of her laughter and her smile tried to comfort him to no avail. He kept seeing her as she went all dominant on him taking control of their lovemaking, her teeth sinking into him changing his world forever.
The soft look she had whenever she looked at Amy. The fierce need she had within her to protect. How her breath caught, a sound that was beautiful to his ears. He was a monster. That’s what they called him and he even agreed until she came along. He needed her to keep the animals in line.
“You have to tell us where she is, Tane.” Jay tried for rationality.
“I don’t know.” It came out in a scream of pure pain. “I would tell you if I knew. I can’t feel her. It’s like she’s dead.” The last came out as total resignation, as if his life were over.
“She’s not dead, Tane. They want her alive because they know you will come looking for her. What they don’t know is that you’re connected to her. Whatever they used on her and believe me they used something, knocked her out to the point that her body is feigning death. Why? Because her animal is busy trying to push it out of her system.” Dai talked fast. He needed to get to his brother before he bought into the she was dead theory.
“Then what do you suggest we do?” Tane asked his brother.
“You should consult me more often. We’d get into less shit that way,” Dai said in a voice that tried to be light but failed. “I think we should find a place to hole up. Leza’s going to wake up and when she does you’ll know it.”
Tane nodded. Dai found a motel on the side of the road. Jay went in and came out with keys to one room. Tane and Dai would take a bed leaving the other one to Jay although they would sleep in shifts until Leza woke up.
Dai forced Tane to rest. He fell into nightmares of Leza being tortured with him unable to help her as he searched frantically to find her.
*~*~*~*
The lights were all she could see, shining harsh and bright in her face. Leza slammed shut the eyes she just opened. She tried to bring a hand up to shield her face, but it was stuck at her side. The other one wouldn’t move either. She opened her eyes partially only to realize she was in a white room. Lifting her head, she realized she was tied down to a table.
Memories came blurring back…the diner, the coke she wouldn’t drink, the restroom, the waitress who wasn’t a waitress. Dropping her head to the table, she mourned what she lost.
She’d never see Tane again because she had to protect him. There was no way she could let him track her here. If only one of them could live free so be it. He would always have her heart, but she wouldn’t see him locked up in a cage poked and prodded like some lab rat.
With a smile meant to signal retribution she closed her eyes and looked for the link between her and her mate. She found it practically glowing. She reached for it and pulled at it trying to destroy it. It twisted and turned evading her. He couldn’t come rescue her; it was a fool’s mission.
She yanked on it as her animal clawed her up on the inside. He will come anyway! No! she argued back, trying to get the upper hand while she felt the need to double over with what her animal was doing to her.
Yes. Listen to me. If you break this connection or damage it you will hurt him more than being in a cage will hurt. And still he will come. He will never give us up now. The minute he can feel us again I know he will come.
He couldn’t feel us? No, and we couldn’t feel him. Leza calmed down and her animal stopped tearing her up on the inside. For someone who couldn’t shift, her animal was frightening in what it could do to her.
She needed a plan, but what could she do being tied down to a table.
“You’re awake. Welcome back to hell.”
She cocked her head to see Dr. Baker looking at her. The one who said he would take care of her back problem.
One day she would get free and separate his heart from his body with her claws.
“I’m not staying; I just needed a little sun and heat. Thought I’d compare this place to my condo in Florida.” Leza gave a careless shrug to her
shoulders to let him know he didn’t intimidate her.
His face jacked up in an evil smile. “You’ve served your purpose, so let’s hope you bring Tane in, or you’ll be seeing what the inside of a box looks like real soon.”
“Death threats. My condo’s sounding better all the time. Since we’re making threats maybe I should make a few of my own. When Tane comes he’s going to free me and whoever else you have trapped in this hell hole. You will think I’m so desperate that I ran away, but you will be wrong. I’m going to stalk you like prey until you piss your pants in fear. Then I’m going to keep coming until you’re on your knees begging for mercy. After I tire of the game, I’m going to snatch your still beating heart from your chest and watch as it dies in my hand.”
His face paled and his hands shook as he looked towards the cameras and the guard in the room to make sure he was safe.
“Until that day comes, I’m going to run some tests.” The bravado with which he spoke was laced with fear.
That’s when she realized her feet were in stirrups. He cracked them apart until her legs hurt and she was put on display.
“I wanted everyone to see what you looked like.”
She looked up at the one-way mirror trying to hide the mortification on her face.
“It’s going to be hard letting you kill him, when I want his head.”
“Tane?”
“It’s me.” A soft hand caressed her mind.
“How?”
“Must have happened with the claiming.”
She wanted to smile even as she could feel the evil hands of the doctor violating her.
“Don’t smile. They don’t know about this.”
She had to remember not to nod in response. “All right. What do we do now?”
“Do you know where you are?”
“No. I was out when they brought me in. This could be the same place I was held before or a different place. All the labs look the same, white and sterile”
“I can feel you. We are driving in your direction. The bond between us should lead me to you faster. Hold on, Leza.”
“I have a doctor to kill, I’ll hold on. You hold on.”
“I have a mate to love, I’ll hold on.”
He whispered bye to her before the connection broke.
“Why I believe you have signs of sexual activity. If we had known you wanted to be fucked, we could have provided that right here.”
She looked up at him, but refused to rise to the bait.
He released her legs and tied them down to the table before he looked at her smiling. He dragged the sheet that was covering her body away revealing nothing but her naked skin. Standing over her, he lifted a scalpel. She never even blinked as she prepared herself for a world of pain.
They would refer to this as a tissue sample. Seeing if anything had changed with how her skin kept her safe. Checking, he once told her, for her DNA composition and matching it up to what her blood samples would tell them.
All normal procedure he assured her. None of that ever made her understand why he needed to squeeze her breast or finger her during her vaginal examination. That she put down to the fact that he was maladjusted and no women in her right mind would ever let him touch her. He was sick.
*~*~*~*
She woke up in a cage, not that she expected anything different. They put her under when they moved her to confuse her senses and keep her from figuring out where she was.
There were six other unoccupied cages in the room with her. Were these for Tane and his men or were they already spoken for, but the other occupants were being tested or trained?
With a heavy sigh she closed her eyes as she waited for the last of the drugs to leave her system and the lethargy she was feeling to disappear. She could see her mother rising up in front of her pulling her in for a hug. She missed her parents, the way they loved her.
Her mom was one of the sweetest people she had ever known; her eyes were so light that Leza used to think she was magical. Her dad was dark skinned, stood tall with the widest shoulders and the whitest smile. She still remembered the last time she saw them.
“Honey, it’s not too late for you to come with us. You have a month before school starts.” Her mom gave her a smile that made her heart stop.
“Mom, you and dad have been talking about this cruise forever. You don’t need your nineteen-year-old hanging around.”
“Quick, Holly, buy her a ticket. We can’t leave someone that young home alone,” her father’s deep voice spoke with a slight edge of panic to it.
Her mother’s feather light laughter had joined with hers as Leza hugged her dad tight.
“I’ll be safe. I just want the two of you to have fun.”
“I’ve been waiting for this forever. Your Dad and I are going to have a blast.”
After a kiss for both of them, she took their car. They said she could drive it if she wanted while they were away even though she had one of her own.
Going home that night had been rough. For reasons she could never pinpoint she was a loner. She never liked to just hang out with people or party. The music was too loud for her. Her mom would kiss her and tell her it was ok; people like them felt more comfortable when they were by themselves, or with a few true friends.
People like them. Leza always wondered what that meant. She called Pam that night. She truly was one of her few friends. They talked on the phone all night then made plans to meet the next day.
She was almost ready to leave when her phone rang. It was her mother.
“Mom, how are you calling me? You’re supposed to be in the middle of the sea.”
“The captain made port, said there was a rough storm and he wanted it to pass. We’ll be leaving in a couple of hours. I just wanted to remind you that your dad and I love you and make sure you know where the paperwork is if anything happens to us.”
“Mom,” she could still feel the lump of fear she felt when she talked to her mom. “Maybe you and Dad should come home and go next year.”
“Nonsense, I didn’t mean to scare you. We’ll see you in a couple of weeks.”
The next call she got was from someone from the cruise line telling her there had been a freak storm. Something no one could have predicted and all aboard the ship had died. She had been alone ever since, until she crossed Tane’s property.
If they thought they were going to take the family she was just getting to know, they should think again.
Chapter Twenty-three
The sound of footsteps pulled Leza out of her planning stage. Six males walked in. They were tall and brawny, obviously ex-soldiers and now they were shifters just like her.
She watched as each walked to his cage, opened the door, and climbed in. Then, without a thought, they closed the door behind them and settled down as if they were content to be where they were.
Her mouth opened as she gaped at them. One solider walked in. One. Solider. He walked up to each cage and set the electronic lock. What was happening here? Was this a dream? More like a nightmare. Why weren’t they fighting demanding their freedom? The solider turned and grinned at her liking the look of confusion on her face before he turned and left the room.
Not knowing what else to do, she turned to study the six males with her as if they were a zoo exhibit.
“Who are you?” The male with jet black hair and blue eyes as bright as cobalt asked her.
“Leza. Who are you?”
“Rim. Why are you here?”
“Because these…they caught me and brought me here.” She took a steady breath reminding herself there was no need to take her frustration out on them. They were as much a victim as she was.
“I don’t like you around my men.”
She took a look at his men who were eyeing her up like she was dessert. She didn’t like being around them either.
“Don’t worry; I plan on breaking out of here as soon as possible.”
“I can’t let you do that, Leza.”
“Let me?”
Her finger changed to claws. “You won’t have anything to do with me gaining my freedom. So take your let me and shove it.”
Were they newly made? Maybe that was why they seemed to be loyal to a cause that only wanted them dead—after they defeated some of the cause’s enemies.
“Have you tried to escape?” She looked around meeting each male’s eyes.
“Why would we do that?” Rim asked her with surprise lacing his voice.
The other males made sounds of agreement and support for Rim.
“You’re a scientific experiment. One they plan to aim at whatever enemy or threat they perceive. Once you’ve been victorious a few times, you will either end up on a lab table being dissected or in a breeding program to create more of you.”
“You’re wrong. We are the wave of the future. We are in these cages until we can prove that our animals are stable. Soon we will be given new quarters and allowed to come and go like we did with our unit.”
“They’ve done a number on you to get you to believe that. They stole you from your life. How can you think they plan on treating you as equals?”
“We volunteered.”
That took the steam out of her sails. She sank to the floor of the cage as that little bit of news sank in. Had the government changed? Was it treating the shifters it was creating as valuable citizens? The horrors of her exam came back to her and she shook her head. No, they were using these males.
The door opened letting in a guard who brought a try laden down with food. He passed plates through a slot in each cell. When Rim took the top off his plate, the smell of steak made Leza’s stomach growl. Each shifter got a plate like that. She received a bowl with slop in it, a bottle of water, and a glass of soda.
“Bon Appetite,” the guard said to her with a sneer before leaving.
Rim looked over at her plate and shrugged before tucking into his steak.
She gave a disgusted look at her slop and then poured the soda out in the bucket they left for her to do her business in.
Tane's Mate: A Paranormal Shifter Romance (Shifter's on the Run Book 1) Page 14
