by Dena Christy
“True, but I’m also sure the Order rarely annihilates all but one person when performing a raid,” Lee said as he looked his boss in the eye. Cadric grimaced at the reminder.
“I will get to the bottom of what happened in the warehouse and do what it takes to ensure it doesn’t happen again. I assure you I will be the one interrogating her and she will not be harmed any more than she already has been.”
“Already has sir? Are you telling me she’s hurt?” Lee stood again as his eyebrows drew together in a scowl. He refused to sit down when Cadric indicated the chair with his eyes, and his boss sighed when he reached for a report he shoved aside minutes earlier.
“According to the preliminary report, she tried to run when the agents cuffed her and slipped in some blood and hit her head on the floor. She lost consciousness and vomited in the van when she came to.”
“She could have a concussion, and you are letting her sit in a cell?” Lee shouted as he turned toward the door and grasped the handle.
“Where are you going Lee?” Cadric asked from behind him.
“I have to see her,” Lee said through his teeth as he squeezed the door handle. He heard his boss sigh behind him, but he refused to turn around.
“Ok. Here is what will happen. You will go to the cells and see if she needs any medical attention. It may be best if you talk to her first. If she is Simone, perhaps she will be more forthcoming with you.”
“I won’t interrogate her,” Lee said as he spun to face his boss with his hands clenched at his sides.
“You will do as you are told,” Cadric said with an edge of steel in his voice. “See if she needs medical attention and find out what you can. The more you learn from her, the less I will need to ask. And I have every intention of interrogating her, Lee. She may know where Dany has gone, and if he has any other facilities we are unaware of.”
Lee nodded. He didn’t like her being questioned by Cadric, but if it was Simone sitting in the cells, then she was involved with his father’s Dark Wolf operation. He didn’t understand what could have brought her to such a pass, but he intended to find out.
“I’ll learn what I can. It may not even be her,” Lee said as he tried to reconcile the woman he knew with the one who was here. He would only be certain if he talked to her.
Cadric waved him out the door, and Lee wasted no time bolting from the office and sprinting to the infirmary. He grabbed a spare medical kit and made his way down to the cells. He slowed his pace to a walk as he rounded the corner where Roger, a burly were-bear, sat at the security desk.
“Cadric wants me to look over the prisoner,” Lee said, his voice firm despite the dread churning in his stomach. For the sake of the memories he held so close, he didn’t want the woman in the cell to be his Simone.
Roger said nothing as he stood and led Lee over to the cell. Lee looked in the window and saw a woman with long dark curly hair sitting against the wall. His heart ached with how much she looked like Simone. Concern lanced through him when he saw the blood staining her clothes, but Cadric had said she had slipped in blood when she was at the warehouse, so perhaps it wasn’t hers. He made a sound of impatience as Roger looked for the proper key.
“Hold your horses, doc. I got the key right here,” Roger said as he inserted the key into the lock and twisted. He pulled the door open and swept his arm out to show that Lee should go inside. “She’s all yours.”
Lee stepped into the cell and turned his head to look back as Roger closed the cell door behind him. He turned back around, and the sound of the door closing had alerted the cell’s occupant. She lifted her head, and she looked directly at him with eyes so familiar it made his gut ache. He closed his eyes and bowed his head for a moment. He looked at her again. It was her. He would know those bottomless blue eyes anywhere. She sighed as she appeared to recognize him too.
“Hello Lee,” she said with so much sadness in her voice he thought he would drown in it. He swallowed hard as he remembered other times hearing that voice. She’d been full of such joy and light, and it had reflected in every word she’d ever spoken to him. Now she sounded broken, and he could feel it inside him.
“What happened to you?” he asked, almost to himself. She gave a sharp bitter laugh as she looked at him with a frankness that took him by surprise.
“Your father happened,” she said, and she leaned her head back against the wall and closed her eyes once more.
Chapter 2
Lee went over to her and squatted down, placing the medical kit on the floor beside him. He reached out to touch her face, but she flinched away from him.
“I won’t hurt you,” he said, stung that she would assume he would do anything to cause her harm. “You hit your head and vomited in the van on the way here. I need to check if you have a concussion.”
“I’m fine. I hit my head, yes, and I get car sick unless I sit in the front seat as you are well aware. Being bounced around in the back of a van while handcuffed would make anyone sick. Why are you here?”
He captured her chin in his hand and looked into her eyes. Her pupils appeared normal. “Are you experiencing any dizziness or blurred vision?”
“No,” she said. “You haven’t answered my question. What are you doing here?”
“I’m a doctor, I work here,” he said as he moved his hands to the side of her head to feel for any bumps. She jerked her head away and pushed him hard enough to send him sprawling on his ass. He looked up at her as she got to her feet.
“Please stop, I’m fine.”
She moved away from him, and he stood and reached out, grabbing hold of her wrist. She cried out, and he loosened his hold and took a step toward her.
“What’s wrong with your wrist?”
“They put me in silver cuffs,” she said as she pulled back her sleeve to reveal red, raw rings around her wrist.
“You will need to have that dressed,” he said as he turned to grab his kit. He inclined his head toward the cot that rested against the wall, and to his surprise she sat on it and pushed up her other sleeve. “You said my father happened to you? What did you mean by that?”
“Your father sent David after me, and he attacked me,” she said with a bland expression on her face. “I only have David’s word to go on, but he told me that your father sent him to kill me. He turned me instead. I guess I should be grateful for small miracles.”
Lee stared at her. His father was capable of evil, horrible acts, but it had never occurred to him he would send someone to kill her. “I sent David to find you a couple months after you left, and he told me you were dead. I should have looked for you myself.”
“I was already a werewolf by then, so there was nothing for you to do.”
He shook his head. He should have tried to find her but didn’t because the pain of seeing her and not being able to have her would have been too much for him. Or so he’d told himself. He should have sucked it up.
Cradling one of her wrist in his hand, he applied an ointment that would numb the pain and help the wound heal with minimum scarring.
“He’s dead, if it’s any consolation,” Lee said as he wrap a gauze bandage around her wounded wrist before turning his attention to the other one.
“Who? Your father?” she asked in a tone he didn’t recognize. It was so unlike her that he looked up and searched her face. She still held the same neutral expression, but there was a light in her eyes he didn’t like seeing. It was almost as if she was experiencing joy at his father’s death.
“No, David is dead,” he said as he watched her closely to gauge her reaction.
“Oh,” she said, and she seemed to sag a little, before pulling herself up straight again.
“You don’t seem very surprised by that,” he said as he applied a bandage to her second wrist.
“I felt my connection with him sever, so I already knew he was dead.”
A stab of jealousy pierced Lee's gut, but he shook himself. He had to be twisted to want to have the connection she
had with David. The only way she had gotten it was by David turning her into a werewolf. It had not been done with her consent, and Lee would never have done that to her. Even if she had wanted it. It was too risky. Perhaps David had bitten her, hoping she wouldn’t survive the change and he could do Dany’s bidding without having to kill her directly.
“Is he the one who got you the job at the warehouse?”
“Yep, I blackmailed him into doing it. Told him I’d pay Dany a visit and he’d learn that David hadn’t obeyed him. He didn’t count on that, honestly. He was shocked when I turned up at his doorstep after I went through the change.”
“Why?” Lee asked. Despite the way she looked, the cold hard woman sitting in front of him in no way resembled the Simone who loved him so much that she’d walked away from him because loving her was tearing apart his family. “Why would you want to work there? I’m sure you had no idea what my father was doing, but why would you want anything more to do with him or David after what happened to you?”
Simone gave a bitter laugh, and she looked him in the eyes, her gaze icy. “I want your father dead, and I will do whatever it takes for that to happen.”
Lee closed his medical kit with a snap. He turned away from her.
“You’ve changed” he said to himself, but with her sensitive hearing she heard him.
“I’m not that woman anymore Lee,” she said with an edge of sadness in her voice. “Your father and David took something from me I can never get back.”
“And killing him will heal the wound you are carrying inside?” he asked sharply as he turned to face her again. He longed to reach out and touch her when heartbreaking sadness came over her face. She seemed so resigned to the path she was on that he didn’t know what to say to get her off it. Maybe being captured by the Order would make her see the senselessness of her mission.
“What else is there?”
“There’s your sister,” Lee said, hoping that knowing about Kate would give her something else to focus on. Her desire for vengeance would only destroy her. It had come close to doing that tonight, and she wasn’t even on his father’s radar yet.
“What are you talking about?” she asked, and for the first time since he’d walked into the room, her face showed an emotion other than anger or despair. Curiosity lit her gaze, and he sent up a silent prayer of thanks that she wasn’t so far gone that she couldn’t be brought back from what she intended to do.
“There was a woman held in the warehouse, she escaped and made her way here. She’s your sister,” Lee said as he came to sit beside her. He was careful not to sit too close, lest he shatter the moment between them.
“She’s my sister? My parents told me I was adopted, but I didn’t realize I had a sister. I thought it was strange that we looked so much alike, but you know what they say, everyone has a doppelgänger. I thought she was my double. My parent’s talked little about my blood family. I think they wanted to pretend that I had no other family, and I never pushed it. So she’s okay? You’ve seen her?” She had such hope in her face he was tempted to lie and tell her that Kate was fine. But although he hadn’t seen her in a year, he couldn’t lie to her then, or now.
“Simone…” he said, not knowing quite where to start.
“What is it?” she asked as she reached out to grasp his hand. “Please tell me. Whatever it is, please just tell me.”
“She’s here, in the infirmary,” he said. He didn’t want to mention his father’s involvement, but he couldn’t see any other way around it. “My father took her, and he stabbed her.”
She gasped, pulled her hand free and brought it up to her mouth. He hastened to reassure her. “She will be okay. She’s been given the best medical care while she is here, and she will be fine.”
Her hand dropped into her lap, and her face was so pale he thought she would faint. He reached out to steady her, and she avoided his hand and stood. “Would it be possible for me to see her?”
“Simone, I doubt Cadric would let that happen,” he said, and she turned toward him, looking so heartbroken that he wanted to do anything to take that from her. He sighed. He had never said no to her before. “I can take you up there but we pretend that I need to treat you. Take the bandages off, and we’ll wipe off the ointment. I’ll tell Roger that the stuff I need is in the infirmary.”
Before he finished his sentence she was tearing at the bandages, and he reached out to still her hands. He carefully unwound his handiwork and wiped off the ointment, stuffing the used bandages in the pocket of his lab coat.
“Look as weak as possible. I don’t want them sending a guard up with us,” he cautioned. She raised an eyebrow at him.
“You’re a full grown, male werewolf. Do they not think you could take me?” she asked as the corner of her mouth kicked up. His breath caught in his chest at the sight of the ghost of his Simone. He swallowed hard and cleared his throat.
“I’m medical staff. I have no idea if they think I’m good for anything other than patching them up,” he said as he got himself under control.
She must have noticed the moment between them because her face sobered.
“I’ll try to look as helpless as possible,” she said and she sagged against him when he took her arm. His heart pounded at her closeness, and although her scent had changed with her turning, she still carried enough of what he was familiar with that he had to fight to keep from burying his face in her hair. “Lee?”
“Right, we’re going,” he said as he led her to the door and knocked on it.
Roger came over and unlocked the cell. He looked at him and then at Simone.
“She’s not to leave the cell,” he said as he folded his meaty, tattooed arms across his massive chest.
“I need to take her to the infirmary. Whoever used the kit last didn’t replenish the supplies, and the stuff I need for her wrists is up there.”
Roger looked down at Simone’s raw wrists and winced in sympathy. Simone chose that moment to sway and Lee braced her against him. “I’m really not supposed to let her go, but she looks like she needs medical help.”
“If you're worried, I’ll take full responsibility,” Lee assured him, and he knew Roger would agree when he heard him sigh.
“Okay, but don’t be long. She will be interrogated soon, and I would prefer it if she is where Cadric assumes she is when he comes for her,” Roger said as he made his way back to his desk.
“Thanks Roger,” Lee said and the other man waved him away.
He hustled Simone down the hall to the stairs. When he got to the infirmary floor he peaked through the door but saw no one around. He pulled her quickly along until they came to Kate’s room.
“You can only go in for a minute. Then we'll put bandages on your wrists and get you back before you’re missed. I’ll watch and make sure you aren’t seen.”
He opened the door to Kate’s room and turned his back to watch the hall while Simone went in. He was waiting for only a minute or two when he felt her hand on his arm. She looked pale.
“Are you okay?” he asked as he reached out to steady her. She quietly withdrew from him.
“Can we get my wrists bandage so I can go back. I don’t want you or the guard to get in any trouble,” her voice carried no inflection, and she had the same blank expression he’d seen on her when he first entered her cell.
“I know Kate looks bad, but trust me, she will get better,” he said, thinking that perhaps the sight of Kate in the hospital bed hooked to medical equipment had disturbed her.
“Can we go,” she whispered.
He took her to an empty exam room, found the ointment and bandages, working quickly to cover her wounded wrists. He took her back the way they came, and Roger looked relieved to see them both.
Lee took her over to the cell, but he couldn’t guide her into it. It wasn’t right that she had to be in there.
“Lee,” she said as she reached up to touch his face. “Please go.”
She turned and walked into the c
ell. She went to the back of it, sinking down onto the floor with her back against the wall, so she was sitting in the same position he’d found her in. It was if the time they’d just spent together hadn’t happened.
“You done here doc?” Roger said, and Lee jumped at the unexpectedness of his voice. Tearing his eyes away from her, he nodded at the were-bear. He turned on his heel, hurrying down the hall while trying to block out the memory of her looking like a broken doll sitting in that cell. He flinched when he heard Roger shut and lock the door. As he walked away, he damned his father for what had been done to her. And he damned himself for bringing her into the vicinity of his poisoned family.
* * *
The door to Simone’s cell opened, and she didn’t bother raising her head off her upraised knees as she sat against the wall. She had no idea how long it had been since Lee left her, but she hoped he wasn’t back. Seeing him, the same as he had always been, while she was so different was hard to take. His gentleness with her was almost her undoing.
Someone cleared their throat from the door of the cell, and Simone sighed and lifted her head. It was the guard from the desk.
“They want you upstairs, and I’m supposed to bring you,” he said as he stepped forward. She looked him up and down to see if he was carrying silver cuffs, and he had none visible.
“Are you going to cuff me?” she asked as she unfolded her body and stood up.
“Not unless you plan on taking off. I figure your wrists have been punished enough, and I would hate to undo the doc’s handiwork. Can I trust you to behave?”
Simone nodded as she stepped forward. Not wearing silver cuffs was incentive enough to do as she was told. Besides, even if she made it past the huge wall of muscle that was her guard, where would she go? Her parents were dead, and she’d lost touch with her friends when she’d been turned. Lee was the only person from her former life that she knew, and he was right here.
“What’s your name?” she asked the guard, and he looked at her, startled.
