The DarkWorld SkinWalker Series Box Set Vol II: The SkinWalker Series Books 4, 5 & 6: Blood Promise, Scorched Fury, & Fate's Edge (DarkWorld: SkinWalker)

by T. G. Ayer

  Denise shrieked and scrambled backward, trying to get away from them, but they passed her by and fixed their eyes on me.

  Right. This is it. My only chance.

  As soon as they opened the door to my cell, I surged to my feet and slammed hard into both the orderlies. They stumbled, the taller one falling to his knees, the second hitting the floor hard, his skull bouncing on the white tiles.

  One down, one to deal with.

  But as I spun around to make sure the other orderly won’t hinder my process, a blast of energy struck me hard. I blinked, confused as I looked around. Was the orderly a ShapeChanger?

  As I turned, still gripped within the electricity flowing around me, into me, I met the shadowman’s eyes. At first, she looked like Mom, and then her features melted and she looked like Mel.

  The sight of Mel’s face put terror in my heart, but the shadowman wasn’t done. Mel’s visage shifted in pattern and form only to settle into Cassie’s likeness for a brief moment.

  At last, his true form appeared, and I stared at the man before me, his face pale, high cheekbones, chin covered in a dense beard with thick dark eyebrows to match. His almost porcelain skin was covered in writing that resembled old Norse, short jagged patterns that looked far too much like lightning bolts for my liking.

  Still caught within the lightning power, I focused away from his true form, and realized then that the shadowmen knew who three of the Ni’amh were. But he wasn’t threatening me with Nerina or Darcy. Which meant the two of them were safe.

  Relieved, horrified, confused, I tried to lunge for the ShapeChanger, and strangely enough, I managed to move a few inches, but he remained just out of reach, electricity still sparking from his fingers.

  His lip curled into a sneer, and it looked like he was about to say something. But in my peripheral vision, I caught movement and then a woman came into view.

  She pushed her glasses higher onto her nose, and studied my contorted face. Her expression was bland as she put her hands into the pockets of her lab coat, and walked over to one of the autopsy tables. “Bring her over here.” Dr Lucy Havens—according to her ID badge—reached for a box of latex gloves and pulled them on, watching as the shadowman released me from the electric cage, and I dropped to the ground.

  I tasted bile in the back of my throat, and my chest was tight with every breath I took. I barely registered the orderly’s movements as he dragged me up and carried me over to the table.

  He dropped me, not caring that my head hit the hard metal and bounced off. I stiffened my neck and rested my head down, but I remained on edge and aware as I glanced over to the shadowman-slash-ShapeChanger. I’d never known that to be possible, for the two species to overlap so seamlessly. I frowned, wondering if he’d been experimented on too, merged or spliced DNA, or whatever it was that researchers did.

  Beside me, Dr Havens was preparing a syringe filled with a green-tinged liquid. “Hold her still. I can’t have the needle breaking in her arm if she struggles.” The woman’s voice was soft and sweet, so utterly not suitable for the horror that she caused.

  The existence of the autopsy tables told me more than I needed to know, and the need to escape had just catapulted into the stratosphere.

  “I need to draw some blood first.”

  They held me down as Havens strapped my arm and tapped for a vein. Her movements were smooth and practiced, and I barely felt the prick of the needle. It was over before I even knew it, and she turned her back to label the vial and set it in a small rack on the counter.

  When she returned she held the syringe, and again she wasted not a moment, taking my arm despite my desperate struggles.

  “Stop. You don’t know what you’re doing,” I yelled at her, lifting my head to make eye contact with her.

  She merely glanced up at the orderly who held me down as she injected the serum into my bloodstream swiftly. She seemed to be adept at administering drugs to struggling patients, and that in itself made me both more terrified and more determined to get the fuck out of there.

  With the serum coursing through my veins, the doctor lifted a smart tablet and began to input data, swiping, tapping and expanding images as she worked. Some of the data was reflected in her glasses, but I was unable to make out any details.

  I lay there thinking. It also seemed the more the electric power of the shadowman was administered to me, the more its effects were beginning to fade.

  And at this point, I was desperate enough to try anything.

  As the serum took hold, my bones began to surge and shift, and I found I had little control over the change. Something else was driving the shift from human form to panther, and I was just along for the ride.

  I fought it hard, hard enough that I felt the veins in my forehead bulge to bursting. It would be so easy now to die of an aneurysm. But I didn’t plan on doing that, if only to not satisfy the scientists by providing them my body for their experimentation.

  I gave one last shove and rolled over, landing on the floor beside the doctor. She let out a shriek, but it was too late. I rose from behind her and extended a claw, holding it to her jugular. “Move, and I kill her,” I said, almost surprised at the growling rumble of my voice.

  “What the hell? This isn’t supposed to happen,” Havens said, panic making her voice high.

  “Did you dose her correctly?” came a voice over the speakers. So we were being observed.

  “Yes. Exactly as we’d decided,” she yelled, her shout cut off as I pressed hard enough to cut her skin.

  “You know what to do,” came the voice over the speakers.

  At first, I wasn’t sure what the man meant, but then the doctor held out her hand. “No. Don’t. Just wait.”

  “You heard him. I have my orders. Sorry, Lucy.”

  Before she could say another word, the shadowman sent a burst of lightning into her. The power coursed through me as well, not killing her instantly. He’d used her to conduct the electric blast into me even knowing she’d likely die.

  Seemed these guys didn’t value the lives of their people. Everyone here was dispensable. Which meant that there was likely a failsafe. One that would probably gas the occupants of the room to death if need be.

  Even with the lightning flowing through me, I was able to control my movements, bringing the doctor to the ground slowly. Her eyes were open, blood dripping from her ears and her eyelids. Searching for her heartbeat brought me nothing.

  I got to my feet, now that my arms and legs were slowly transforming, my tail swiping left and right behind me. I launched myself at the shadowman, relishing the shock on his face as I moved despite the electricity surging through me.

  I enjoyed the look of confusion as he stared at me.

  He no longer had power over me.

  Chapter 44

  I swiped hard at the shadowman’s neck, tore his jugular open and then turned on the orderly.

  He raised his gun, pointing it at me. “Move, and I’ll shoot,” he screamed.

  I wasn’t about to obey. Ducking behind the autopsy table, I avoided the first of his bullets and tried to push it at him. But the wheels had been securely locked and the levers to release them were on his end of the table. Instead, I lifted the table and ran at him, using the long metal surface as a shield and a ram.

  I hit him hard, and he went down with equal force. With everyone else down and out in the room, I made for Denise, who had witnessed the whole fight, and was staring wide-eyed at me.

  Good thing because she’d never been a fan of the Odels, and even less of me.

  I opened the door to her cell and said, “Shift. You’re going to need the speed.” She dragged off her clothing and shifted while I did the same and completed my transformation beside her.

  The cameras would have caught that for posterity, but I was past caring about being careful. We needed to get the hell out of that room and fast.

  A low hissing sound caught my ears, and Denise sniffed the air. “Don’t inhale it. Keep low,
and take shallow breaths.

  I stared at the room, aware that the only way out was through the double doors, passed the biometric scanners.

  I spun and ran back to Havens, shifting my hands so I could grab hold of her. I dragged her back to the door and lifted her to scan both her eyes and her forefinger.

  The door clicked, and an alarm blazed. The lights went out, while red emergency lights spun from high up on the walls, lighting the way, but also reminding me of the impending dangers.

  “How do we get out?” Denise growled beside me.

  “Did you see anything on the way in? I was unconscious.”

  “An elevator. We’re down a long way.”

  “We’re underground?”

  She grunted, and I took that as a yes. The hallway before us remained empty, and at first, I wondered why nobody had come for us. Until I saw the thin gas floating near the ceiling.

  “They’ll be coming. If we’re underground, there must be a ventilation shaft somewhere here.”

  “And the gas? Won’t it be in there too?”

  “No. That would mean they’d have no way to pump in clean air. They’ll have a different extraction system, like the air conditioning but more robust.”

  Denise didn’t answer, but I wasn’t waiting for her. I looked up and knew we were both in trouble, and had a way out.

  “Denise. We need to go back inside the room.”

  “Why are we going backward? We need to get out of here.”

  “The ventilation ducts are in the ceiling. Too high to jump from here. The room has shelving we could try to climb.”

  Without a word, Denise turned and ran inside, her claws clicking on the floor. I shoved the door closed after I entered and studied the walls and ceiling.

  The room had one ventilation shaft, near the far corner of the lab. “There. We need to climb the gurney and jump.”

  I felt relieved and terrified at the same time, the sense that escape was so close at hand, but knowing too that anything could happen to stop us.

  I shifted hands and feet and scrambled for the second autopsy table that was still intact. I released the levers on the wheels and pushed the table closer to the ventilation shaft in the far corner of the room, on the other side of the glass cells.

  I shoved the thoughts out of my mind and secured the wheels of the table. “You want to go first? Just remember to not breathe,” I asked, offering Denise a chance to be out in front.

  She shook her head. “No. You go first. I’ll follow you.” I had the feeling she was speaking from self-preservation, hoping that if we ran into trouble, I’d be the first to go.

  I silenced a laugh and readied myself, using my hind legs to boost me up onto the table. The wheels were solid, and didn’t move at all, for which I was all the more grateful as I boosted myself for a second time, holding my breath as I soared through the air. I hit the ventilation grate hard. It crumbled and fell, clattering to the ground loudly.

  With the way clear, I glanced at Denise one last time and received a shake of the head. I boosted myself up, springing as high as I could, entering the opening with ease. The space was small but easy enough to move around in. But even better, it was clear of poisoned gas.

  Shifting to my human form, I glanced down. “Hurry,” I said, watching as Denise followed my lead and sprang up onto the table. Her second jump was interrupted by the double doors slamming open, and a blast of gunfire that filled the room.

  Denise shrieked and almost fell, but I grabbed hold of her hand, my human fingers wrapped around her panther forearm. At least she had the presence of mind to shift her arm, and grab a tighter hold of my wrist. I tugged her hard, pulled her into the shaft so fast that she landed solidly and hit her head against the metal siding.

  Surprisingly, all she did was thank me and then ask which way. I pointed, and she followed close on my heels. We hurried a few yards before coming to a vertical shaft with a narrow ladder fixed to one side.

  I scaled the ladder as fast as I could, aware that it was possible we could be miles underground.

  Thankfully, we weren’t.

  We reached the exterior vent within a hundred yards, and I punched hard to remove the grating. I pushed through and rolled onto my feet in a smooth move, expecting a military force to have surrounded me already.

  But instead, I found Cassie and Horner running toward me. They grabbed my arms and hurried me away, and I barely paid attention as Denise scrambled out of the shaft and fell to the ground, sobbing.

  “Glad you’re alive.” Cassie patted me on the shoulder.

  “Ditto,” I replied with a smile.

  I looked around in search of Mel and Cassie said, “If you’re looking for the jumper, she’s a little tied up.”

  “What happened? She left with Mom and said she’d come back for me. She owes me a breakout.”

  “I’ll let the chief tell you in debrief. It’s a little too complicated for my tiny brain.”

  “Okay,” I said slowly, knowing my face had paled.

  Cassie squeezed my shoulder. “She’s fine. And she said to tell you to get your ass moving. Saleem can’t wait forever.”

  I let out a soft laugh, and got to my feet.

  Cassie cleared her throat.

  I scanned the area, noting the factories and other industrial buildings around us. Thankfully the darkness had hidden our escape, though a few of the agents scurrying around wore lights on their helmets or carried low-light flashlights.

  “Err, Kai?”

  “Yeah?” I asked.

  “I know you’ve been through a lot, but I think you’ve forgotten something.”

  I glanced over at her, frowning at her cheeky grin. “What?”

  “You’re naked.”

  Epilogue

  Things were a little anticlimactic when I returned home. Lily was pacing in front of the empty fireplace. The moment I entered the room, she threw herself into my arms.

  “Dear Ailuros, I was so scared.” She squeezed me tightly and then released me. “Are you okay?” Tears shone in her eyes.

  “I’m fine. A little drugged, but I’m good.”

  Dad and Cassie entered the room. Cassie took a sofa and curled up, while Lily went to her side.

  Dad came to me and curled an arm around me. “How’s Mom?”

  “Sleeping.”

  “Will she recover?”

  He nodded, though his eyes were dark. “She’s been through a lot. But she’ll be okay. We’re all here to help her get better. She’s safe now.”

  I shook my head. “What about the Walker Council and their bulldog Jones-Barnes?” I still had the urge to rip the man’s head off his shoulders and was glad he wasn’t in the room.

  “No sign of him. He disappeared.”

  “Just when the going was good?”

  Dad shrugged and glanced at Cassie who looked over at me. “Horner said he sicced a top-secret team on him. A few hours later, he evaporated into thin air, all trace of him gone.”

  “Leaving the Walker Council case in trouble, I assume?” I asked, feeling a lilt of expectation.

  “All charges dropped,” Dad said with a grin. “Justin’s now in charge.”

  “Way to go, Justin,” I said, pursing my lips.

  That Justin was now running things wasn’t a surprise, although I was pretty sure it would be temporary. The old laws stated that the alphas could not sit on the council permanently.

  Dad nodded. “He’s already cleaning up. He confirmed that Trapper and Wade claimed to have been misdirected, but without Jones, they have no proof or support for their defense. We’re considering charges against them, but we wanted to check with you first.”

  “Are they still on the Walker Council?” Dad shook his head in response to my question. “Then perhaps banishment to a nice, icy place for a few years would be good. I believe we have a wilderness park and a frozen lake in Alaska that needs tending.”

  “Already on it,” Dad said, smirking. “Inclusive of ankle monitors, of
course.”

  “Nice thinking, Dad.” I smiled then paused. “What about the people feeding information to the council?”

  “Delia and Trapper gave them all up in return for a more lenient sentence.”

  “And the shadowmen? I think Mel also had a feeling something was wrong with them. I suspected they weren’t true supernaturals when the shadowman in the lab turned into a ShapeChanger.”

  “Yeah, Mel conveyed her opinion on that, but we’re fresh outta luck. They scrubbed their drives before we could even hack them.”

  I sighed. “Well, at least we know that the game is up for us. Probably means we need to get onto creating a good cover story.”

  “Can you sweet-talk your reporter contact?”

  I nodded. “I think I can. We just need to vet him first.”

  “I’ll get that sorted.”

  I nodded at Lily. “How did it go?”

  Dad smiled, his eyes shining. “Total success. She needs to learn control, but she’s well on her way to being as non-Pariah as she can get.”

  “And what are you going to do with the treatment?” I asked, a little hesitant to dig deeper.

  “We’re going to have the serum freely available to all shifter communities.” Lily’s voice rang across the room.

  Dad waved a hand at her. “We’re a ways from that yet. We still need to move into mass production, but Lily and I are going to work together on the project.”

  “Wow. I go away for five minutes, and this happens?” I asked, pretending to be offended and then broke out into happy laughter. “This is awesome.” I was thrilled at the sight of the joy on Lily’s face. She’d finally become whole, become the shifter she’d always wanted to be, the shifter she’d always deserved to be.

  I knew she’d be thinking about her parents who’d, for all intents and purposes—turned her out. What would they say if she went home and announced she was finally normal. I didn’t think she’d do that though, not when she harbored such resentment toward them, but who knew. Children always sought out the love of their parents. But all too often the ones who were treated the worst were the children who’d lay their lives down for those parents, despite the abuse they suffered.