“Why did you do that?”
“Because somehow they are controlling us with it.”
“You really do have issues, woman.”
“Female.”
“What?”
“They stopped referring to me as a lady or a woman or even a human when they placed this animal within me. Now I’m a female and you know what? I’m ok with that. And just so you know, you’re no longer a man. You’re a shifter commonly known as a monster to those in charge. You’re a male shifter and you will never be a man again.”
She sat down picked up her bowl smelling it before she took a taste. Grimacing, she took bite after bite until it was all gone.
“One day you and every member of your team will get this to eat. There won’t be a fancy steak and potato dinner because they won’t need you anymore. I don’t expect you to believe me but do yourself a favor. Make escape plans even if you only do it as a game. One day you’ll thank me.”
She stood and walked to the edge of the cage where she sat down again. Her eyes were focused on the door as she made her first escape plan. From now on she would be the weapon the military wished it had.
*~*~*~*
“Are you sure we’re going in the right direction?”
Tane threw Dai a look before concentrating on the road ahead of him. Not that he really needed to look. There was nothing but wide-open space. They hadn’t seen a car in hours, something that would have posed a problem if they hadn’t brought lots of extra gas with them.
“She’s out here somewhere. I can feel myself drawing closer to her.”
“How did they think you would find her? This isn’t a place we would trip over,” Jay asked as he scanned the darkening horizon.
“I think they were going to set up a trap. Not sure how. They had our general direction. Maybe they were hoping to follow us to where we were planning to build a life then set a trap to draw us out. Or at least draw me out. They have no idea that with the mate bond I can find her. I didn’t know either but I feel her calling to me. I know I can find her anywhere they take her. Underwater too.” Tane gave a smile more feral than human and Dai sat a little closer to the door.
“Sorry,” Tane muttered as he wrestled with the animals that were pushing at his skin.
“We could call in reinforcements,” Jay said softly.
“No,” Tane said. “I won’t have anyone else putting themselves in danger. Our chances are better with a small group than they are with a bigger one. We are going to get in there and out of there with Leza.”
“What about the others?” Dai looked at him.
Pain lashed across Tane’s face. “We can’t save everybody. Once we know where the facility is we can come back. We will come back.” Dai closed his eyes for a moment and nodded.
The openness of the plain was coming to an end. Up ahead of them were trees lined so thick he wondered at first if the vehicle would go through until he saw the road.
“Follow the yellow brick road,” Jay’s voice came out in a song.
Sure enough the road was now yellow but it wasn’t brick, it was concrete. It looked like someone had come out with one of the machines they used to paint lines on the road and painted multiple yellow lines almost connecting them into one yellow paved road.
“Why is the road yellow?” Dai asked scanning ahead.
“It must be easier to see yellow from the sky,” Jay speculated.
Tane cut the steering wheel to the right taking them off the road.
“Do you think someone is looking for us?” Dai had rolled down the window and was now seated on the window checking the sky.
“If it was daylight and we were overhead, which one of us couldn’t see the road when we were human?” Tane waited before going on. “So why paint the road unless you plan on watching it at night?”
There was a loud noise that drew Dai’s head back up. “Aww shit.” He slid back into the car.
“You’re right. There’s a huge bird flying overhead. When I say bird I mean from the land before time. Looked like a dinosaur to me.”
“Dinosaurs are extinct,” Jay said helpfully.
“And shifters don’t exist.”
Jay rolled his window down sticking his head out for a better look.
“Well, man.”
“Tales of their death have been over exaggerated.” Tane and Dai laughed softly as they raced away from whatever was patrolling the sky.
It took them all night but they finally stopped at the edge of the tree line. Before them was a huge compound looking more like a penal facility.
They turned and looked at Tane
“We spend the day in the tree’s taking shifts sleeping.”
*~*~*~*
Leza tossed and turned unable to get to sleep on the floor of the cage. Finally, having nothing better to do, she sat up to watch Rim and his males.
They were curled up into comfortable looking balls on the hard floor of the cage, looking like they did this every night. Because of course they did do this every night. The room was silent except for their breathing and one soft snore.
“Why did you escape?” Rim asked her, letting her know he wasn’t asleep.
“I went in for surgery on my back. When I woke up I was strapped to a table with an animal inside of me.” She turned over to her side and pillowed her head on her arm so she could see Rim better.
“It was horrible at first, the bloodlust. Eventually I learned to control it. Then the testing came. Bloodwork, then skin samples followed by internal exams. And of course vaginal and breast exams where the freak of a doctor felt me up whenever he liked.”
“We had exams the first month to make sure our bodies were accepting the changes.”
“Do you really think you’re not being tested on?”
“We would know if we were being tested on.”
“Then you have no new scars?”
“I have one I received yesterday when we were in training. It is on my abdomen.”
“Tell me about it.”
“What?”
“Tell me how you got the scar. I love a good training story. Military, hot men, sweaty bods. Tell me all about it.”
“My men and I were fighting. Knives were our weapons of choice. I divided us into two groups. This is one of our favorite games. Sometimes we use guns but the last time we did someone loaded them with real bullets. It was a mistake of course.
“We always enjoy this game; it gives a chance to strategize as well as stretch our bodies. We were in the field made of nothing but rocks. Our job wasn’t to injure, but to capture. The fewer the causalities the more successful the mission.
“I dropped to my hands and knees placing the knife between my teeth and crawled around the boulder seeing the back of my intended target.” Rim put his hand to his head.
“What’s wrong?”
“Headache,” he said through gritted teeth. “I can’t remember anything else. There’s just this pounding in my head.”
“Then tell me what came after the knife wound.”
“Pride. I remember the feeling. I captured my opponent and never needed to use my knife. There had been no casualties and I didn’t suffer one wound. I was already preparing to tease my men about it.”
“Then how did you get a knife wound?”
“I don’t know.” His hand went back to his temple.
“They operated on you, Rim. Somehow they hid the memory. You’re no different than me. They just don’t want you to know yet.”
Leza closed her eyes and thought about her best chance to escape.
Chapter Twenty-four
A guard with a gun trained on her opened the door to her cage.
“What, no breakfast? I’m giving this place poor reviews.”
He cocked the gun and motioned her to come forward. The others were standing in a line looking like good ol’ boys who could do no wrong.
“You don’t trust me?” She screwed her face in outrage as she walked out of the cage.
“Get in line
.”
“I’ll stand behind this good ol’ boy. I’m sure little ol’ me won’t be any trouble at all.” She was pissing off the guard but she was pissed off at being back here.
They walked out into the hallway to see the armed escort that waited for them. From the in drawn breaths of the others, which she only caught because of her hearing, she knew this wasn’t the reception they were used to.
The hallways were white and sterile, only wide enough for two people to walk shoulder to shoulder. Overhead were tube light fixtures. Something she felt was more appropriate in an office space. The hard glare made her want to squint.
They had a total of ten guards marching them through the compound until they came to a mess hall. They were ordered to stand in line. The guards watched as they grabbed trays and breakfast.
The mess hall was made out of concrete bricks making her think they may be underground. The rows of tables with chairs looked like they were from a different decade. The women cooking the food looked like they were a little scared of them. She took a sniff. They were definitely scared of them and the guns the guards were carrying weren’t reassuring anyone.
“I get to eat what the elite soldiers eat today. It must be a special day for me.”
“Why do you antagonize them?” Rim asked her in a voice that was much too low for the guards to hear. His lips barley moved giving nothing away.
“They expect it,” was her reply.
She watched as he nodded his head, his blue eyes darkening. He had no idea why she was doing what she was doing.
The last time she was captured she was vocal about her captivity. If she changed her behavior now, she was afraid the guards would start to suspect something and start watching her closer.
She took a seat at the table managing to sit next to Rim. He gave her a slight frown but refrained from saying anything. A grunt came from him reminding her of Tane. A smile hovered around her mouth as she thought of him. Glancing at her plate, she picked up her fork and began to eat her over cooked eggs and bacon.
“Do you think something’s funny?”
Leza looked up to find a guard staring her down. Ignoring him, she picked up a piece of toast and worked to eat it as well as drinking the glass of luke warm water that had been provided.
“I’m talking to you, slut.”
That was rich. What made her a slut? The fact that she would never sleep with him or the fact that she slept with Tane? It wasn’t like she could hide that little bit of information after the test and finger probing she received yesterday.
She went back to her meal making an effort to eat it all before the guard with the gun took it away. The last swallow of warm water trickled down her throat before the cup was knocked out of her hand. If it had been glass it would have shattered.
A slow blink was all she had to give the guard as she stared up in his face.
“I asked you a question. What do you have to smile about?”
“I was thinking of a time in my life when someone made me laugh.”
The guard grunted, funny it didn’t remind her of Tane.
“That time in your life is over. I suggest if you want to keep your head you don’t smile.” He backed away after touching the end of his rifle to her forehead.
“Too bad you’ve already lost yours.” Her voice came out softly as if it was a simple prayer on the wind instead of an oath she had taken.
“Up.” The guards gestured to them.
They stood up and followed them. Leza concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other as her animal made hasty maps of the floor plan and noted every turn they made. A door in front of them opened allowing sunlight and air to rush over their bodies. Her eyes took in the area they were now occupying. They were outside with a stone wall surrounding them maybe a hundred feet high. She would only need one foot-hold if she planned the jump right to get over that wall. She could ditch this place if she could make it to the wall and find what she needed before one of the guards got itchy fingers.
Instead she studied the wall with lowered lashes as she half listened to what the guard in charge was saying.
They were going to play war games. War. Games. She actually had to stop and pay attention at that point. What did they think this was? What did they think they were?
“In order to make the games even, someone has to sit out,” their lead guard spoke.
“I volunteer.” Leza shot her hand up like a kid in kindergarten. They ignored her.
A male she didn’t know was pulled to the side before being pulled back into the door. She knew what that meant even if the others didn’t.
“Form two teams. The first to capture the other team will be the winners.”
The guard moved back until he was standing in front of the door with two other guards. All had a gun in their hands.
“I’ll be team captain,” Rim said.
“I’ll be the other team captain,” Leza said, poking her chest out.
Rim looked her over. “Sure why not. Sorry boys.”
“You know why they took your boy, don’t you?” Leza asked, having picked two of the four men left to be on her team.
“It’s not what you think,” Rim said, casting a look at the guards.
“Yes it is. Even now they’re strapping him down to a table. He’ll come back with the same hole in his memory as you have. They’ll make him scream as they operate on him without anesthesia because that’s how they get their kicks. They’re sick.”
“Shut up.” He looked at the guards again.
“What are you worried about? They can’t hear us unless they have the yard bugged. But since you males have been so cooperative, why would they do that?”
“My man is inside taking it easy until it’s his time to play.”
“Is that what you tell yourself so you can sleep at night? Hey!” Leza raised her voice calling out to the guards. “Where are the knives? It would make taking hostages easier.”
One guard cocked his gun and fired over their heads.
“I guess that means no knives. Do you really think they gave a bunch of animal shape shifters knives the other day? The kind of trust that must take.”
She took in the field where they were. It was totally level. No trees, buildings, or even boulders to hide behind and yet they wanted them to trap the other team. Looking at her men, she needed an idea and fast.
Gathering them in a circle they huddled together. “Looks like we are going to war. Hand to hand combat.”
“No offense but how do you expect to take on anyone from the other team?”
What was his name? Liam that was it. He stood somewhere around six feet with grey eyes and shaggy blonde hair. The other one was Den. He said his full name was Denmark.
“Liam, I can hold my own. You and the others should be weary of me. All of you drank down whatever was in that cup they brought you last night.”
“It was soda, nothing wrong with that.” Liam flashed her a smile full of white teeth.
“Except they did something to our bodies and they’re using a chemical in the soda to control us. No matter, you will see what I’m talking about.”
Her team gave her a look that said a mad woman was captaining them. She shrugged, gave them the smile of a predator, and squared off with the other team.
“Rim is mine,” she said softly. “Capture but do not maim them, understand.”
They both agreed then stood flexing their considerable muscles.
“So how do you want to do this?” She called out to Rim.
“Why don’t you just give up; my team is the best.”
“Tell you what, why don’t you come and make me?”
Rim gave her a smile smelling victory as he sauntered over to her. Leza stood, her legs spread, she was never the best when she needed to start a fight. She always felt guilty about starting a fight and now that she was lethal she felt even more guilt. But she could end a fight and she never felt guilty about that. It was the one thing her father had insist
ed on when she was young. She had a red belt in Karate, now she wished she’d gone for the black.
Her team separated themselves from her giving her room to battle with Rim. He reached out to grab her like it was all in the bag. She caught his arm, leaned back using his forward motion and flipped him over her head. He hit the dirt with a bang. She could have ended it right then because the wind had been knocked out of his lungs but she wanted to have some fun.
She swayed side to side on her feet like she was a boxer and made noises for him to get up and come get her. His eyes flashed just for a second but she saw his animal was struggling to take over. Good, she smiled, her animal was scratching at the walls of her body. It was the first sign she saw that he was a shifter. She had started to think that maybe she was wrong. Whatever they had done to him buried his animal deeply.
“Get mad Rim, come get me.” Her fingers turned into claws as she lifted her hand for him to see. The fear in his eyes almost caused her to trip.
Her mind worked overtime as she realized that Rim really didn’t know what they had done to him. No wonder they surrounded them with guards. What could keep them from knowing? Some type of new drug?
He balled that big fist up as he chased her. If he connected she would be knocked out. She ran until she came to the wall; she ran up it using a toe hold she found earlier and flipped over his head landing behind him. He turned and she kicked him in his balls hard enough to take him down but not hard enough to maim him. She had her claws at his neck as she declared herself the winner.
The guards came over eyeing her. “Stand against the wall all of you, face forward. Hands in the air.”
That’s when she smelled it, a whiff of some kind of toxin. She reached out to Tane hoping the mental connection could help her defeat the gas.
“Tane,” she reached desperately.
“I’m here.” His voice sounded like he had been a sleep. She told him quickly what was happening.
“Slow your breathing like you’re going under but it will keep you from inhaling too much of the toxin.
She did falling to the ground. That’s when the guards approached. They side stepped her and went to Rim. One leaned over and began to talk into his ear.
Tane's Mate: A Paranormal Shifter Romance (Shifter's on the Run Book 1) Page 15
