by Terra Wolf
“It’s all right, Mr. McAbbot. You are just going to fall asleep now.”
I vaguely realized that Dr. Tyson had left the room. I fought the blackness that was pinpricking the edges of my vision. Before I passed out, I needed to get a message to Lydia.
I grabbed the phone that was sitting beside me that I had hidden from Dr. Tyson. I pulled my hands up and quickly typed a message to Lydia.
Know that I love you. And pick up Lucy.
I dropped my phone and succumbed to the blackness.
19
Lydia
After meeting at the station with Marco, Logan, and their captain, I finally felt a bit of relief that we had a plan. Marco, Logan and Garrett were going to enter the hospital tomorrow and pretend that that there was a warrant out for Shane’s arrest. They would halt any procedures being done on him and start the transfer process to a hospital closer to the prison where he would await his alleged trial.
In the meantime, I would go back to the hospital and speak with Dr. Evans. Because of the trust we had felt for her, the squad wanted me to befriend Dr. Evans and convince her to use her testimony along with Shane’s and mine to bring down the hospital. All of that, along with the proof that the most recent body found was at the United Hospital of Portland, the squad believed that they would finally be able to bring a case against them and stop them for good.
The only thing left to decide was how to save the rest of the shifters that were in the abandoned wing.
“We can’t just leave them there. What if by the time we have the case, they end up killing the rest of them?” I asked.
Marco walked up to me and placed a strong hand on my shoulder. “Lydia has a point, Captain. We can’t just leave them there.”
Their captain let out a long sigh. “I agree. I don’t want to leave them there to die any more than you do. But I’m not sure we can stop their procedures without arresting the doctor, and we don’t have enough evidence to arrest him.”
I let my head drop to my hands. There had to be a way to save them. As much as I wanted to get Shane out of there as quickly as I could, I knew that he wouldn’t leave without the other shifters safe either. If only we had someone that was a doctor on the inside that we could trust.
I shot up from my chair. “What about Dr. Evans? Do you think she would be able to change their dosage and at least wake them up? Or get her to accuse Dr. Tyson of something so that all of his patients would be questioned?”
Logan smiled at me across the room. “That might work, Captain. If we could get a complaint on him specifically we would have Lydia and Shane’s statement to help us push a warrant for Dr. Tyson.”
“Lydia, are you sure that Dr. Tyson was overseeing all of those patients in that wing?”
I smiled brightly. “I am positive. I took a picture of their IV bags, because I knew I wouldn’t remember what they were. And each of them has the prescription on it along with Dr. Tyson’s name.”
Marco patted me on the back. “Smart thinking, Lyd!” My smile widened, knowing that I was smart in snapping those pictures.
I sat back down and felt the phone vibrate in my purse. A sense of relief washed over me knowing that we had figured a way to get the other shifters out. I pulled it out and swiped to my messages.
Shane’s message popped up on my screen and all the blood drained from my face. “Pick up Lucy” had been the code phrase that Shane had taught me in case something bad happened at the hospital while I was not with him in the room. He made me write it down hundreds of times so that I would remember.
I reached out and grabbed Marco’s arm.
“Shane is in trouble. You guys need to get to the hospital right now.”
I followed Marco, Logan and Garrett in the police cars to the hospital. They had their sirens and lights on, which helped me speed through traffic behind them as if I was famous and had a police escort service. Any other time I would have loved this. But now all I could think about was Shane. I hoped that we were not too late to help him. I shook my head. We couldn’t be too late, because I wouldn’t allow anything to happen to him.
We arrived at the hospital within minutes. I rushed inside and ignored Marco’s screams to wait for him. I was so close to shifting but my fear for Shane was what kept me in human form.
I reached Shane’s door just as Dr. Evans was walking out. Dr. Evans looked up and gave me a sad smile. Fear coursed through my veins. Please don’t let them have already killed Shane.
“Mrs. McAbbot, I was just about to give you a call. It seems that Shane’s condition has worsened and we had to medically induce a coma to allow his body to heal.”
I grabbed Dr. Evans’ arms and pulled her close. “Were you the doctor that issued the coma?” I urgently asked.
Dr. Evans looked at me with a surprised look. “No, I wasn’t. I was checking on some other patients, but I can assure you that Dr. Tyson knows exactly what he is doing. He was with Shane when his condition worsened and made the decision to induce a coma.”
Marco, Logan and Garrett ran up behind me. Dr. Evans quickly took notice of them in their uniforms and gave me a questioning look. I shot Marco a look and hoped he would realize that we had arrived too late.
“Hi, ma’am. I’m Officer Santiago and these are my colleagues from the Portland PD . Would you mind speaking with us privately?”
Dr. Evans slowly nodded. I could tell that she was a bit shocked by the police, however she was handling it well. “They just transferred Shane to another wing, so his room is currently empty. We can speak in there.”
I fought the growl forming in my throat and the need to shift and tear down the hallway to find Shane. I knew that shifting wouldn’t do me any good, but I hated that my mate was in danger. We followed Dr. Evans into Shane’s old room.
“Is someone going to tell me what this is all about?” Dr. Evans asked. I looked to Marco for direction and he nodded for me to go ahead and tell Dr. Evans everything.
“Shane and I aren’t actually married. We were a part of an undercover operation here at the hospital to find out what the hospital was actually doing to shifters.”
“What do you mean what the hospital is actually doing? We’re healing them!” Dr. Evans said.
“We believe that some of you are actually trying to help them, while others have some ulterior motives.”
“What does this have to do with Shane?”
“Shane was never truly sick. He had taken pure theobromine to make himself sick enough to get in here.”
Realization crossed Dr. Evans’ face. “So that would explain his seizures.” Dr. Evans quickly grabbed Shane’s chart, which was still hanging on his bed, and flipped it open.
“So if it was just the theobromine, he would have just needed to get it out of his system and he would have been fine. There should have been no reason to place him in a medically induced coma.”
Marco cleared his throat. “Exactly. Which is why we believe something else is going on here. Lydia found an abandoned wing of the hospital that had several rooms filled with shifters in a coma. Do you know anything about that?”
Dr. Evans slowly shook her head. “I must admit, I was a little confused when Dr. Tyson mentioned he was taking Shane to that wing, but I assumed that they had started using that section due to the overflow from the emergency room.”
“We have to get him out of there, Dr. Evans. Along with all the rest of the shifters that are in that wing. We don’t think any of them are safe,” I pleaded.
It felt like hours as Dr. Evans contemplated what we had told her. Finally, she spoke.
“I’m in. How can I help?”
20
Lydia
We followed Dr. Evans down to the abandoned wing of the hospital. She wanted to find out how many shifters were there and what conditions they were in. From there, Marco,Logan and Garrett would find a way to distract Dr. Tyson and his team to give Dr. Evans and I enough time to rescue as many shifters as we could, and most importantly, find Sha
ne.
As we reached the wing, I heard Dr. Evans gasp. There were at least twelve rooms in this hallway with shifters being held. I used my advanced hearing to listen for any signs of Dr. Tyson, and Marco, Logan and Garrett all nodded in agreement that the coast was clear. I rushed down the hallway and looked through the small windows in the doors, searching for any sign of Shane.
I reached the last door in the hallway and let out a long sigh of relief when I saw Shane’s familiar, strong frame lying in the hospital bed. I pulled open the door and rushed to Shane’s side. He looked so peaceful sleeping there, but I knew that this coma was anything but peaceful. I looked up to Dr. Evans for answers.
“Can we wake him up?”
Dr. Evans quickly looked him over while Marco, Logan and Garrett stood guard outside. Dr. Evans grabbed the IV bag and took note of what was being pumped into his veins, and felt his neck for his pulse.
“It seems that he was only given this a short while ago, so if I pull out the IV, he will eventually snap out of it as clean blood pumps through his system.”
I sighed in relief. “Yank that damn thing out then!”
Dr. Evans smiled and slowly pulled the needle from Shane’s arm. I held my breath as I watched over Shane. Within a few minutes, his tan skin regained some color as the clean blood rushed through his body.
Suddenly, Shane jolted awake and let out a loud growl as his eyes shot open.
“Shane, baby, it’s all right. I’m here,” I said.
I noticed Shane’s eyes soften as he took in my features. His eyes then became panicked.
“What are you doing back here? Dr. Tyson can’t find you.”
“It’s all right, Shane. I brought back up with me. Marco, Logan and Garrett are here to take you out and we have a plan to get the rest of the shifters awake and Dr. Tyson under arrest.”
Shane reached up and grabbed my face gently. “I love you, Lydia.”
“I love you too, Shane.” I pressed my lips against his. I felt the spark between us ignite and our gently kiss deepened into something more passionate.
Dr. Evans cleared her throat and I quickly broke the kiss and blushed.
“Sorry about that.”
Dr. Evans let out a laugh. “It’s quite all right. I think we just have some other shifters that could stand to be woken up before Dr. Tyson returns.”
Dr. Evans was right. I walked over and opened the door and let Marco, Logan and Garrett know that Shane was all right and awake. They both smiled and let out a sigh of relief.
“Time for phase two,” Marco said. Logan and Garrett nodded and they all took off down the hallway. I knew that they would be able to find Dr. Tyson fairly easily with the nasally voice he had, and once they did, he would be in for a big surprise with three angry grizzly bears towering over him.
I walked back inside and watched as Dr. Evans helped Shane out of the bed.
“I will need both of your help pulling some of these IV’s. I’m not sure if more things have been done to the rest of the patients, but at least if we can get the drug out of their system that is keeping them under, we can at least have them coherent.”
We nodded and pushed open the door and started to run from room to room, pulling out the IVs of the other patients. I smiled as I noticed the color returning to their faces, and knew that some of them would be awake soon. Once I reached the last room, I ran back into the hallway to meet Shane and Dr. Evans. Instead, I was met with a strong arm across my neck blocking my airway.
“Well hello, Mrs. McAbbot. How nice of you to join us today,” Dr. Tyson said behind me. Shane ran out into the hallway with Dr. Evans and let out a low growl in warning.
“Let Lydia go, Dr. Tyson.”
Dr. Tyson let out a nasally laugh. “You know, even if you do stop the experiments that I’m doing here, you aren’t stopping the whole operation.”
“What do you mean?” I growled and felt Dr. Tyson’s arm tighten around my throat.
“I mean that I am not the only one working for Purest, Inc. that is studying shifters. We are a lot larger than you think.” He let out an obnoxious laugh.
Shane slowly started to move toward me. I shot Shane a look that made him stop in his tracks and mouthed that I could handle it. A small smile spread across Shane’s face, because he remembered that Dr. Tyson had no idea that I was a shifter myself.
I closed my eyes and let my bear take over. My bones strengthened and my teeth and claws grew sharper. Dr. Tyson let out a yelp and staggered backward as he lost his grip around my neck. I turned to face him and let out a loud roar. Dr. Tyson cowered against the wall as I swiped my sharp claws across the chest. He let out a loud cry in pain and crumpled to the ground.
I turned back around and noticed Shane in his grizzly form standing behind me. His mouth went slack as he tried to smile and we both shifted back and ran for one another.
Dr. Evans stood at the end of the hall in shock as Marco, Logan and Garrett rounded the corner.
Logan bent down and felt Dr. Tyson neck, and shook his head, letting us know that there was no pulse.
I smiled at Shane and kissed him passionately.
“Dude, what the fuck are you doing with my sister?!” Marco yelled.
I broke the kiss and laughed. “I forgot to mention that one small detail, Marco. Shane is my mate.”
Shane pulled my face back toward his own. “That I am.”
21
Shane
It had been a few weeks since the incident at the hospital and the majority of the shifters that we had saved were healing nicely at a human hospital that was not owned by Purest, Inc. Dr. Evans, along with several of the other shifters that were fully healed, were all set to testify in the trial against the hospital that was coming up in the next few weeks. As soon as our story had hit the local news, hundreds of shifters came forward with complaints about the hospital and how they had treated them or their loved ones.
It felt good that we had actually made a difference. However, Dr. Tyson’s statement that they were more powerful than they knew still haunted us. I hated to think that there were other cities out there where shifters were in danger because of Purest, Inc. However with our case, we would help bring to light what Purest, Inc was doing and we would work tirelessly to finish them off.
I picked up the phone and dialed Gio’s number.
“Shane, how’s it going?” Gio asked.
“Things have been good here. I just wanted to let you know that we’re in the process of taking care of the hospital. You were right about them all along.”
“I’m glad to hear it, man. I knew something was off about them.”
“Stay safe, Gio, and watch out for any company that is associated with Purest, Inc.”
Gio let out a laugh. “Trust me, I will. Have a good one.” He hung up the phone.
I hung up and walked toward Lydia, who was hanging out in the living room. I sat down next to her and pulled her body close to mine. I couldn’t get enough of having her next to me.
She leaned her head against my shoulder and let out a long sigh.
“I am so lucky to have been placed undercover with you,” she said.
“I am too. Otherwise I would have never found my true mate.”
Lydia moved her body to face mine and she gave me a big smile.
I reached into my pocket and pulled out an engagement ring. Lydia gasped in surprise.
“Maybe the next time we go undercover, you can actually be my wife. Will you marry me, Lydia?”
Lydia grabbed my face and kissed me deeply.
“I’m guessing that’s a yes?” I asked in between kisses.
Lydia let out a laugh and nodded. I couldn’t image spending my life with anyone else.
Turn the page for a peak at Undercover Tiger: Sarge!
1
Giovanni
I set my hands down on the table, feeling its wood grain beneath my fingertips.
“This is taking forever, guys,” I said, exasperated. We’d
been looking at the same paperwork for hours. And this was the third time this week. There was nothing there, nothing that was going to help resolve this case anyway.
“We’ve got to find something; our captain is going to have our asses if we don't,” Shane said, looking just as frustrated as I felt.
“I gotta get back to my precinct soon, guys, I’ve already been here for two weeks. I can only imagine the damage that Harrison's been doing since I've been away.” I laughed, mostly to myself. The guys didn't know the shifters at the Seattle PD like I did. We ran our own unit, just the three of us, Gavin, Harrison, and myself. I was the highest ranking, as Sergeant. But I trusted Harrison enough to leave him in charge for the past couple weeks while we were working on this case together—money-laundering from some big company in Seattle that crossed over the state border into Portland. They were having a hell of a time trying to figure out how to fix their situation. I offered my assistance, but that was only when I thought I could help them. Instead, I felt like more of a hindrance, as I hadn't found out anything that they couldn’t have learned themselves. And after three days of doing nothing but looking at paperwork, I was starting to feel like my efforts would've been better spent at home. I needed to get my hands on a good murder case, away from all the math and numbers. I wasn't any good at them. I didn't have the patience.
“Listen, Gio, if you have somewhere better to be…” Shane said to me, raising an eyebrow.
“No, it's not that, guys, it's just I don't really feel like I'm being very helpful. You give me a body and then I can do some serious damage. Looking at all these facts and figures? That’s just not me. I mean, isn’t that what you guys have tech for?” If I was lead on this case, that’s exactly where all this paperwork would end up.
