by Golden Angel
Jesse felt guilty even looking at him, because she knew it was his suffering which led to her hope... but he didn't seem to mind.
Big, muscly, and protective, his eyes were dark with worry as he stared at her, holding out the form for her to sign.
"Your aunt is still asleep," he said softly, his eyes darting over to the other bed where a sheet covered Aunt Penny's slumbering form. "But I heard the doctors... none of you are going to last much longer if you don't try the procedure. You need to sign the consent form so they can do it today."
Reaching for the pen, Jesse tried not to show how it pained her to hold such a tiny object. "Can I sign for Aunt Penny too?"
Looking regretful, Brady shook his head slowly. "You can sign for you, and Daniel as his legal guardian, but she has to make his own choice. I just wanted you to be able to make yours without having to deal with pressure from her."
Because Brady already knew what she wanted. She wanted to live. She wanted a chance. She didn't care if it was unnatural or if her aunt disapproved; she didn't even care that Brady's entire family had suffered at the hands of the doctor in order to provide her with this chance... she wanted it and she would grasp it with both hands.
Or, one super shaky hand which she could barely lift, with fingers that felt further seared the longer she held the pen.
"You're going to sign, right?" he asked, anxiously.
Jesse gave him a wane smile. "If you can move the paper under my hand where I'm supposed to sign, I'll do it right now. I mean, there's new wizarding world movies coming out. I can't miss those."
His slow smile as he moved the clipboard gently, sliding it carefully under her hand, distracted her from the sparks of agony. "I finished the third book last night."
"Ooo, I love that one, but I'm really excited because the fourth one is where shit starts to get real!" She kept her voice as lighthearted as she could, focusing on him and the hard angles of his handsome face, the short-cropped dark brown hair on his head - she bet it would feel fuzzy if she could run her hand over it - and the curve of his lips. Noticing how ridiculously sexy he was didn't do anything for her libido, because it was hard to have a libido while slowly dying of searing pain, but it did help distract from the agony.
"It seems pretty real already. I'll take your word for it though."
"You'd better, I'm the expert." With a small gasp, she dropped the pen, her muscles shaking from the use. "Did I do it right?"
Her eyelids felt heavy as she blinked, her arm on fire from the simple use. How did her aunt think they could keep living like this while searching for a cure? A cure hadn't been found in years. This genome change thing was their only hope.
Brady held up the clipboard and smiled at her. "Perfect," he said softly.
She made herself smile back even though what she really wanted to do was wince when she saw the shaky, barely legible scrawl she'd produced. Jesse used to be proud of her signature, dammit. It had been readable.
"I'm going to go tell Eli you've signed. You'll be better in no time, Little Bit."
The ridiculous pet name he'd given her made her smile, because she was average height for a woman. Actually, at five feet, seven inches tall she was on the high end of average height. It was just that Brady was so darn huge he made everyone else around him seem small. Even next to the other soldiers he was the tallest she'd seen so far.
"I hope so," she murmured, her eyes closing as he left the room. Exhausted, she slid back into the dark and endless flames.
******
Hurry, hurry, hurry, the beast inside Brady's head urged. It was as worried about Jesse as he was. Brady ignored it, since he was already walking as quickly as he could through the halls. With his long legs, walking quickly was pretty close to someone else's run.
Not that he disagreed with the beast, but as big as he was, once he got moving it became difficult to dodge out of the way if someone came around a corner unexpectedly. Not ideal in a hospital situation. Jesse and Daniel weren’t the only patients in Lakewood’s hospital; several other sick, prey-animal shifters were there, having heard of a cure just as Jesse’s family had, but she and her brother were by far the worst off. They literally couldn’t wait for tests to be done to see if Dr. Montgomery had lived up to his promises; they were going to have to be the test subjects themselves if they were going to make it.
It had been all he could do to put a smile on his face and pretend like everything was okay while he got her to sign. If he was the type of man who hit women, he'd want to smack Jesse's aunt for haranguing her. Despite being older, the aunt was deteriorating at a slower rate, which meant she hadn't hit the same pain levels her niece and nephew had, and apparently she was blind to the lines of torment etching her younger family members' bodies. Brady was just enraged she would put them through any pain over some stupid notion of purity. Hell, especially since being so insular and keeping the bloodlines "pure" had been what caused the inherent weaknesses in the smaller animal shifter communities anyway.
Then again, from everything he'd seen, Jesse's aunt was a crotchety thing. She was also the only family Jesse had left, other than her brother, so everyone was nice to her anyway, even though she was of the obvious opinion that anyone who wasn't a squirrel wasn't worth her time. Thankfully neither Jesse nor her brother were like that.
Everyone loved Jesse and her brother. They were brave, kind, funny, and didn't seem to care that Brady and his brothers were some kind of twisted science experiment. If anything, they both seemed to feel guilty that they were going to benefit from the research done on him and his brothers. Not that there was a guarantee, but Brady was pretty sure it would work. If it didn’t, then he would get to kill Dr. Montgomery, so there was plenty of motivation for the doctor to get this right.
Brady didn't mind that Jesse and Daniel would be benefiting from the pain his own family had gone through. Neither did either of his brothers. Or his two sisters, who were back in the town they'd first been brought to when they were rescued – one of them had mated the alpha of the pack. To the Bunsons, even though they were incensed at having to keep Dr. Montgomery alive - the man who had headed the experiments on them after they were taken from their home and their parents killed - at least their suffering was actually going to mean something. Not just for them, but for others. Their suffering could help save lives.
It didn't make the years of captivity worth it. It didn't make the loss of their parents any less (Brady was still convinced The Company, Dr. Montgomery's bosses, had something to do with that). But since it had all already happened, at least some good could come out of it.
Especially if it saved Jesse.
From what Brady understood, she wasn't his true mate. His sister Bethany had met her true mate when they'd been rescued from Dr. Montgomery's lab, and Steele Raymond had immediately known Bethany was his mate from her scent. Apparently finding a true mate didn't happen very often, most shifters fell in love, got their animals to approve, and then gave each other a claiming bite, giving up any chance of ever finding their true mate. A few, who refused anything less than a true mate, grew old and died without ever finding their mate. It hadn't been like that when he'd met Jesse.
No, his liking for her, his feelings for her, had grown over the past few weeks. He and his brothers had fucked like the bunnies they were (well, sort of were) since being released from captivity, but once he'd met Jesse he'd found his interest in other women waning. At first he'd just admired her courage in the face of pain, the brave front she put on for her brother, the way she looked out for him and her aunt, and the kindness she showed to everyone who helped them, no matter how much agony she was in. He'd been spending time with all the patients being brought in, it helped contain his rage at Dr. Montgomery and remind him why they were allowing the scientist to live. But even among that group, Jesse stood out in a special way, at least to him. After the first week of spending time with her, he'd realized he didn't want to sleep with any other women.
He wanted a
chance with Jesse. Not just for sex, but for something more.
Surprisingly, the beast inside him had been in full agreement. It liked Jesse too. So he was back to abstinence, which was not a comfortable place to be for a horny man who'd already had seven years of abstinence while he was being experimented on. While paid women had been brought in for him and his brothers, they'd coldly turned the offer down. None of them wanted to accidentally provide Dr. Montgomery with another generation of Bunsons. Considering their high shifter sex drives, the doctor had been fascinated with their refusals and seemed to take it scientifically, which meant they hadn't been forced. One small mercy in a sea of horrors.
"Brady! Did you get it?" Eli was pacing the room, rather than sitting behind the desk where he normally was. He looked hassled, despite the pristine condition of the suit he was wearing. Eli always wore suits unless he was out in the field. "Did she agree?"
"Yes," Brady said, holding out the clipboard with the form Jesse had signed. Considering what they were offering, consent had been mandatory. Thankfully he'd managed to get Jesse to sign it while her aunt was still asleep and unable to argue, and Jesse was still strong enough to hold a pen. He'd seen what that effort had cost her. The glow in her pale, freckled cheeks had waned over the days, her auburn hair had become dull and brittle, and her eyes were always awash with misery, even when she smiled. She'd gotten skinnier and skinnier with every passing day, and her body type had been slight to begin with. "Signed off for her and Daniel."
"Great. We're doing it today, then, as soon as possible," Eli said, hurrying over to his desk and sitting down.
"Are we sure we can trust the doctor on this?"
Bleakly, Eli looked up at him, his normally lively green eyes flat and unhappy. "From everything our own scientists say and understand, this is her and Daniel's only hope."
Brady pressed his lips together, his heart feeling tight in his chest. "I hate relying on that man for something this important."
"He's insane and completely unethical, but he's also the only one who's managed to find something that might work," Eli said, typing quickly into the computer.
From Brady's understanding, Eli was pretty high up in shifter society. He was the contact with the government for all of the shifter mercenaries, as well as being the one to make decisions about where each of the mercenary troops went. It had been under his orders that Dr. Montgomery was allowed to live and that the sick, small animal shifters had begun to be moved to this location, in hopes that Dr. Montgomery might actually be able to help them. Brady definitely knew that Eli felt responsible for all the shifters, no matter what type.
That meant using Dr. Montgomery. The man was human but he'd once been mated to a shifter, a fox, and had lost both his mate and his kits. While Brady could feel some sympathy for that, he didn't feel any for what happened next. The scientist had become so obsessed with finding a way to save small shifter species, he hadn't cared what he needed to do it. Kidnapping an entire family and experimenting on them hadn't bothered him in the slightest - as far as he was concerned it was for the greater good and they were his success stories.
"Ok, we're ready to roll," Eli said with a sharp nod. "They're bringing the doctor up."
Fury cramped Brady's stomach, the way it always did when he knew he was about to have to face the doctor. The man liked to see his "success stories" regularly. Interview them. Ask them questions about their training, the way he had back when they'd been in the lab. Brady and his brothers tolerated it because it kept the man working.
As if he knew they'd be tempted to kill him the moment they no longer needed him, Montgomery kept far too much of his knowledge inside his own head. Still, if it saved Jesse and her brother, Brady would tolerate the doctor's continued existence.
Chapter 1
Pain...
There was a furnace inside of her, but that felt small compared to this new torture.
Like her bones were moving. Like her skin was crawling. Like her muscles were tearing. Even her teeth hurt.
Jesse screamed.
"- hold her down -"
"- she's waking up!"
"- back under..."
" - quick - "
" - I've got you, little bit - "
" Where's the needle?"
" - pulse is racing!"
" - Now! Do it now!"
Release...
Blackness...
Blessed numbness...
A deep voice followed her down into the void. Not the words, just the sound. The soothing, soothing sound.
******
Everything ached. Ached like she'd used all her muscles at once and strained them. Ached like she'd run several marathons in a row. Her very bones felt like they ached. Her gums ached. Behind her eyelids, even her eyes ached.
But nothing burned.
Jesse almost felt like laughing at the irony.
Had she traded one torment for another one? she wondered as she slowly roused. Whimpered, slightly. Admittedly less awful, but still painful.
In her head, her squirrel chattered reassuringly, chuffing happily, which made her blink. It had been so long since she'd really felt connected to her squirrel - so if nothing else, even if she ached for the rest of her life, she'd take that as an improvement. Besides, aching had nothing on feeling like she was burning alive, and she'd put up with anything to have her cheery little other self back.
"Hey, I think she's waking up!" The deep voice sounded excited and then more distant, as if it had moved away, echoing slightly. "I think she's waking up!"
Forcing her eyelids open, Jesse found herself looking at an excited, younger, slightly smaller, less-stern, blue-eyed version of Brady. "Hey Jesse! You're awake!" Brice grinned at her, obviously thrilled.
She opened her mouth to say, "I know", but ended up practically choking instead.
Immediately Brice looked contrite, holding up a small cup with a straw sticking out of it. "Whoops, they said you'd probably have dry mouth from the drugs. Here, the water will help."
Lifting the straw to her lips, Brice just kept grinning at her as she took her first, weak sip. Her squirrel perked up as her ears caught the sound of boots, moving quickly through the hall, coming their way. The strides were long and fast, and moving very quickly. Jesse blinked and then there he was; larger than life and filling up the entire doorway. Her squirrel crooned like the lovesick little rodent it was. Apparently it didn't matter that that part of her had been basically incoherent by the time she'd met Brady, it remembered him and decided it liked what it had seen.
Jesse blushed at the emotions filling her. Emotions she hadn't had room for when she'd been sick and filled with fire, but which were now bubbling up as if someone had put her emotional side on boil now that her physical side had cooled.
"You're awake." His hazel eyes glinted with happiness, and Jesse tried not to let the way her heart fluttered in response affect her. After all, his youngest brother had been just as happy to see her and she hadn't responded that way. Apparently they were all taking an interest in her recovery, which wasn't surprising, considering how the worst events in their lives had made her recovery even possible. It only made sense they'd be interested in her wellbeing and his happiness didn't mean anything more than that.
Right?
Her squirrel chittered angrily at her. Don't be dumb! Like Brady.
So helpful.
******
Color filled Jesse's cheeks for the first time in days and Brady felt like shouting hallelujahs to the world at large. His brother was grinning, a dopey, goofy grin, and it took Brady a moment to realize that he was doing the same.
Already he could tell Jesse was doing better than before, and not just because her temperature was finally normal for the first time since he'd met her. Her eyes were clear, no muzziness or pain, there was no furrow on her forehead or around her eyes from holding back against the burning agony, her lips were full and not pinched, and she no longer smelled like anguish. Emotions had to be very s
trong to be discernible to a shifter's nose, but for the first time he could just smell her and not her pain. And yeah, maybe she needed a bath, but he didn't care, it just made her natural scent stronger.
"You look good, Little Bit" he said, not thinking before he spoke.
Jesse giggled as the straw dropped from her lips. "Somehow I doubt that."
"Well, you know, good compared to... I mean... shit." He smiled ruefully as she giggled some more at his words; Brice was just straight up laughing. Brady hadn't felt this awkward since high school. "I'm just going to stop talking now."
"That's probably for the best," Brice said, still laughing.
"Shut up," Brady said, coming in and giving his brother a shove as he reached for the cup Brice was holding. "Here, I'll do that."
More color rose in Jesse's cheeks, turning them a bright pink. "Oh... you don't have to do that... I mean, if you don't want to..."
"No, it's fine, I want to," he reassured her, stumbling over his words again as he replaced Brice in both his seat and cup holding position. Brice chortled.
"Don't worry, Jesse," Brice said, his amusement clear in his voice. "Brady definitely wants to. In fact, I'm pretty sure he's mad he wasn't the one here when you woke up."
Brady coughed. "Shut up, Brice," he growled, turning his head slightly as if that meant Jesse wouldn't be able to hear him, even though he knew she would.
"I mean, we could barely drag him out of here for food and a shower," Brice said jokingly, slowly making his way towards the door. Way, way too slowly. "I thought Brock was going to have to hit him over the head. He even slept here while you were out. It’s been two days – he really need a shower."
"OUT!" Brady barked. His younger brother scampered, still chortling madly, secure in the knowledge Brady wouldn't bother to chase him when that meant abandoning Jesse.
