by Jenika Snow
“We’re getting out of here alive.” That elusive hope that he didn’t think he’d have in this place sprang up.
She stared at him, and after a second swallowed hard and nodded. Maybe it was because he had growled out those words, or maybe she saw the flash of his animals come to the surface. But whatever she saw made her not fear as much what was to come. He could smell that much from her.
“I won’t let them hurt you. I will die trying to get you out of here and get you back to your mom, okay?”
For the first time in his life he actually cared about someone beside himself.
****
Three days later
He had been sleeping when he heard the footsteps. Roake opened his eyes and stared at the two panther guards that came to his cell and opened the door. He shot up, fully awake now, and put himself in front of Annabelle. She was tired and weak, and the few scraps of food they had been given barely nourished them. When she heard them come into the cell she stood, too, but she was weak and shaky. What he had to do didn’t sit well with him, but if they hoped to get out of this he had to have enough strength to fight them off, for both for their sakes. So, he had eaten only enough to have his strength grow, and feed her what she could stomach. But the wounds on her back were not healing, and anything she did eat usually was thrown back up. The scent of her strength came through, but there was also her fear that was just as strong, and he wished he could take that away from her.
“Come on, Tion, O wants you in the lab.” The panthers came forward, grabbed his arms, and then one of them jabbed a needle into the side of his neck.
Instantly Roake felt whatever drug they had given him move through his veins. He fought them until his arms and legs felt like they were made of cement and the sound of Annabelle’s harsh breathing was the only thing he could hear. But they left her alone, and for that he was thankful, because Roake couldn’t stand to see her hurt anymore than she already had been. He might have only had her in his cell for a short time, but all he could think about was making sure she was protected. She had no one in this godforsaken place except him, and he was going to make sure she knew that he would do everything in his power to see her safe, even if that meant he’d die trying.
The panthers dragged him out of the cell, and it was hard to keep his head up, let alone have his eyes open. Once the cell door was shut again Annabelle went over to him and wrapped her hands around the metal bars. Whatever drugs they gave him never knocked him out, but they did make him submissive to whatever these sick fucks were going to do to him. He was dragged into the lab, not far from his cell. The smell of old blood and sweat, of shifters that had been brought in here and killed, filled his nose and momentarily had life renewing in his body. He struggled again, snapping and baring his teeth. But that moment of strength vanished as soon as it had come, and then he was weak once more.
They tossed him up on the lab table, and strapped his arms and legs down. And then the bastards left him alone in there. For several minutes he tried to his bearings, tried to have his animals push the drugs through his system faster so he could focus. But all he could do was feel the sensation of being strapped to this cold, hard, and unforgiving table, with the scent of death surrounding him. And then there was the scent of O, the man that ran this place, or so Roake had assumed since he appeared to lead everyone. The cheetah shifter stank of deceit and vileness, and the closer he got to Roake, the more his inner animals fought to come out.
“I so do enjoy our time together, Tion.” O went over to one of the tables pressed against the wall, and grabbed a syringe filled with something white and milky in appearance. Roake could only lie there and watch as O put rubber gloves on and walked up to him.
“You motherfucker,” Roake said, or at least those were the words that played out in his head. What actually came out was unintelligible, which had O laughing.
Roake’s animals came out in full force, snapping, growling, and trying to end this male’s life. He had caused Roake a lot of anger and pain in the last year, and had hurt Annabelle in a way that would forever scar her. O placed a gloved hand down on Roake’s forearm, cleaned the crook of his arm with a small square of gauze and alcohol, and then injected him with whatever was in the syringe.
“You know, we have been testing you and your kind’s resilience to some of the most lethal drugs out there to take down a shifter,” O said almost absently. “You think the purebreds are this evil society,” O looked at him and pulled the needle out of his arm. “But the Brotherhood only wants to keep our bloodline pure.” O turned his back to Roake and went over to the table to set the syringe down. “There are men, humans and shifters, far worse than me and my kind, that would take pleasure in exploiting you.”
“You mean there is something worse than what you’re doing to us now?” Roake said with thick sarcasm in his voice. He didn’t know if O had understood him, but when the bastard faced him once more and grinned, Roake knew he had understood him just fine.
“Tion, in the end we will do the humane thing and exterminate you, but if others got a hold of you, they would exploit the disgusting existence of your life to others.” O came closer, and he narrowed his eyes. “They’d keep you alive and profit from you.” O leaned in close so they were eye to eye, and the stench of the murder that surrounded him cleared Roake’s head slightly. “So, yes, you may think we are cruel, but in fact we are more humane than others, you hybrid fuck.” O backhanded Roake, and his head cocked to the side. The tangy metallic flavor of blood filled his mouth, but there was no pain. He was too fucked-up on whatever they had given him.
“You know, this may very well be the last visit you have in this lab, Tion.” O attached some monitor on Roake’s bare chest, documented whatever he found, and then set down his pad and pen. He then took skin and blood samples, labeled them and stored them in this metal briefcase, and turned to face him once more. For a few seconds he only stared at Roake, but finally took off his gloves and went over to the rusted out sink to wash his hands. “If I’m being honest, the only reason I have kept you and the female hybrid alive so long was because you two seem to be an anomaly.” He turned and stared at Roake as he cleaned his hands. “You have more animal instincts than any shifter I’ve seen, and your strength is that of both your lion and tiger. It’s like you have no human in you.” He tossed the rag to the side and stepped closer. “And the female, well, she is quite the interesting specimen, what with her dual colored eyes. We plan on taking both of you with us, and using you as a breeding experiment. We want to see exactly how both of your hybrid genetics transform and create the fetus. I also want to see what will happen to the unborn hybrid when we give the mother the same chemicals we gave you, and the effects it has on the fetus.”
Roake snapped and growled and strained against his bounds.
O laughed and shook his head. “This will be the last time you see her before we move to another compound, but have no fears, because once we reach the new facility we will give you both enough drugs that you won’t be able to resist each other. Nature will soon take its course.” O grabbed Roake’s face and leaned in close. “I enjoyed our time together in this compound, but we can’t stay here any longer.” O stared at him for several seconds. “Why is it you’ve never asked what was in the syringes I gave you?”
A wave of nausea slammed into Roake, churned in his body, and had his mouth salivating. He’d vomit soon, and then the real sickness would take over. “It doesn’t matter,” Roake said and closed his eyes. He felt his lion and tiger grow weaker, and felt them get pushed back deep inside of his body.
“You’re right, I suppose. But just so you know, you’ve been our little guinea pig.” O walked closer again. “We wanted to see if there was an immunity that could be made with the drugs that are used on shifters that deserved to be on this planet.”
And O meant the shifters that were purebred only, that was for fucking sure.
“You would be surprised at the drugs that the humans that h
ate shifters have created, ones that literally have the flesh and fur burning away from the body like water on soap. Everything is just washed away from the inside out.” O started chuckling, but it was a dark sound that held no amusement. “So, we have been testing these drugs out on you, seeing the reaction you have, and trying to find out how to create an antidote to them. And soon we will do the same to Annabelle and the demon spawn child of yours she will soon carry.”
“You’re a sick fuck,” Roake said, but right after the last word left him he turned his head and vomited. His whole body stared shaking uncontrollably.
“Take him out of here before he makes an even bigger mess,” O said to the guard standing by the door. “And I want one of you monitoring his reaction and documenting the findings.”
The panther guard unstrapped him from the table, and Roake fell to the ground. He was dragged by his arms back to his cell, and then thrown inside. The gate was slammed shut behind him, and once the footsteps of them retreating faded, he sensed Annabelle coming closer.
“Oh God, Roake.” Annabelle was by him and pushed his hair away. “What did they do to you?”
He couldn’t respond, and wouldn’t have told her the disgusting things they had planned anyway. The shaking intensified, and the throwing up increased. And he knew he had this to look forward to for the next several hours. He should have been used to it. God, he should have been used to it.
Chapter Two
Emma brought the basket full of eggs inside the farmhouse and set it on the table. She washed her hands and grabbed a rag, and as she dried them she looked out the kitchen window. Her brother Jason was bringing in their mare, but the horse was having a hard time walking, and Emma knew her old age was catching up with her. It was a shame, and sad as hell, because Mop-Top had been her mother’s horse. Emma sighed, knowing that this was all part of life. Hell, she’d lived on a farm her whole life, had been raised around animals being born and dying. It was the circle of life and all that, but it didn’t make it any easier. She glanced at the wall, and stared at the picture of her mother and father. The photo had been taken the day her father had given her mom Mop-Top. In the picture they stood by the horse stable, with her mom, Maria, holding onto her new baby’s hair. That was how the mare got the name Mop-Top, because her mane was a wild mess of dark waves. Her parents looked so happy, and Emma could always look at that picture and smile. It had been five years since they passed away, both of them dying only a week apart from each other in freak accidents. For a long time she had been in this rut, not knowing how to function. It was like she was in this hole, not knowing how to live anymore. She finally told herself that she needed to be there for Jason, the farm, the animals, and herself.
The sound of the front door opening and closing came through loud, and she turned and glanced at her younger brother Jason. He was filthy, with dirt covering his hands, face, and body, but looking upset. She knew it was about Mop-Top. Even though Jason was twenty-three, two years younger than she was, he was six-foot-three, and looked like he was part of the defensive line in football, she still saw him as her little brother.
“She’s not doing well,” Emma said about the horse.
He shook his head and walked over to the sink to wash his hands. Being clouded leopard shifters meant she could pick on others’ emotions as well as if they were her own. Jason was upset, angry, sad, and when he looked at her over his shoulder she saw those emotions written across his face. “Yeah, Mop-Top probably won’t last much longer, which fucking sucks since every time I go out there next to her I feel like Mom is with me.”
“Oh, Jason.” She wanted to tell him to stop thinking that way, that it had been five years since their parents died. But then again she still hurt, too. There was no set time on when the grieving process ended, or if it even did. Most days she was fine, and she knew Jason was, too. But there was always those times when she swore she smelled her mother’s perfume, or the scent of the grease on her father after he’d come in from working in the barn. She dreamt about them also, sometimes ones that had her smiling when she woke, and others where it felt like she was suffocating from the sadness. “I know, and when Mop-Top finally goes it’ll be damn sad, but we need to focus on living, little brother.”
He stared at her for a moment, and then chuckled. “I can’t help but laugh that you call me little brother. I’m like a foot taller then you, and have one-hundred pounds on you.”
Now it was her turn to laugh, and she was glad that the conversation had shifted to something lighter. “You want steaks tonight?” she asked and poked him in the wide, muscular chest. They looked alike, with their black hair, light green eyes, and slightly Asian appearance they got from their mother’s side. Their leopard genes were from their father. Their mom hadn’t been full Korean, but she had a distant relative that was of that descent, and because of that the appearance had been strong and passed down.
“You gonna make that peach cobbler?” Jason grinned.
“Will that keep that goofy smile on your face?” She chuckled when he nodded. “Okay, I’ll pick up the ingredients when I head to the store. I have to take the eggs, milk, and apples into town to deliver to the diner. I should be back in a few hours.”
Jason nodded, turned, and grabbed an apple out of the small bowl on the counter. He tossed the Red Delicious in the air, caught it and grinned, and then took a bite out of it. They grew a lot of things on their land, and were able to sell them at Farmers’ Markets, and to some of the local establishments in town. They certainly didn’t make enough produce to be rolling in cash, but what they did sell helped them keep their parents’ land, and support themselves, along with the money their parents left them after they passed away. It was hard at first trying to do everything on their own, being around their mother and father’s things and knowing they weren’t here to help with it. But they had pushed through it, because no way were they going to let their parents’ hard work go down the drain. So they had ended up hiring a few of the young men from town to help out. But it wasn’t just the fact farm work was grueling and hard, but because every time they did something that had to do with keeping this place afloat reminded them of their parents. Hell, just walking outside and tending to the animals brought back a lot of memories. Just being inside of the house did that, too. Maybe she had just never grieved properly, or handled how she felt well, but five years had passed, and they hadn’t lost the farm. In fact, they were doing very well for themselves, and she knew her mom and dad would be proud in knowing that.
The crack of Jason biting into the apple again seemed loud, but she had been lost in her thoughts so she supposed most anything would have been loud enough to pierce through her memories.
“Fin and Nate are coming over in about an hour to help me fix the tractor, so when you come back I’ll most likely be out in the barn.” He finished off the apple and tossed the core in the trash.
Fin and Nate were the two younger guys they had hired on an as-needed basis to help with whatever needed to be done at the farm, but with the fall just around the corner they’d be heading off for college, and Emma and Jason would need to figure out what to do then. Possibly hire a few more kids, or see about cutting back.
The feel of something butting up against her leg had her glancing down and seeing Tubs rubbing his big body on her calf. She reached down and picked up the Maine Coon, and nearly grunted from the weight of him. Tubs started purring and rubbed his head against her cheek now.
“Take that little asshole with you,” Jason said and curled a lip at Tubs, but Emma could tell he was teasing. “I swear he’s coming in at night and just watching me sleep.”
She rolled her eyes and gave Tubs a kiss on the head before setting him down. The cat was huge, slightly overweight, and did like to get into shit he shouldn’t. “Keep your door shut at night, Jason. Besides,” she looked at her brother, “he just loves you and wants to sleep in your bed.”
“No, just hell no. He’s like a damn hairball, all big and
fat, and he gets that shit all over my bed and sheets.”
She waved her hand in dismissal. This little “feud” Jason had with Tubs had been going on for five years, but she had a suspicion that Jason secretly liked the fat cat. Yeah, he was big, fluffy, and at times probably fucked with Jason because he was an asshole, but that cat had helped her through a lot of her emotions after her parents died. “I think it’s because you two are both felines, and trying to play the alpha card.” She grinned at her brother, grabbed her purse and keys off the counter, and headed out the door before Jason could say anything. Once in the beat-up truck she started the engine, and headed into town.
****
It had only been a few days, but Roake had taken that time to focus on healing, resting, and plotting out what he was going to do. All he kept thinking was what O said he had planned for them. Hell no was he going to put Annabelle in that situation, or an innocent child. He may not be sexually attracted to her, but that didn’t mean O didn’t have drugs to make them mindless creatures intent on breeding. He wasn’t going to be put in that situation, which meant he needed to get them out of here, and soon. He might not be as strong as if he was fully healthy, but the lack of daily beatings, and the semi steady, if meager, food helped his strength enough that he felt he might be able to get them out of here in one piece. The fact these fuckers were clearly preoccupied with something else, most likely getting shit ready to move, allowed Roake to try to form some kind of realistic plan of escape.
He glanced at Annabelle. She was weak, tired and hungry, and the wounds on her back weren’t healing properly. “You holding up okay?”
She glanced up and nodded, but her cheetah and leopard were fading, and he knew that if they didn’t get out of here soon she’d die. That was not something he was going to let happen. He had told her she’d be back with her mother, and he was going to fucking make sure that happened. The sound of heavy footsteps came through the long corridor, and then the heavy metal door opening had his animals rising up. He turned and reached into the small crevice in the stone wall where he kept the shiv he had made. It was rough around the edges, but he had managed to sharpen an end of one of the plastic pill bottles Annabelle had brought. It was now sharp enough that it could do some serious damage.
