by Milly Taiden
“It’s nothing. Just been doing some thinking about my life and the future with my mate,” Russel said.
“That doesn’t sound good. You’re not giving up on her, are you?”
“No, it’s not that as much as making her happy.”
“What does that mean?” Devin asked. “I’d do anything to keep Marika happy.”
“Yeah,” Russel said. “It’s just that I realized I don’t think I want kids.”
Devin stopped in his tracks. “Why not?”
Russel shrugged. “It’s a long story, man. One you don’t want to hear. I’m worried that it will keep my mate from wanting me. Maybe she already knows and that’s why she’s playing hard to get.”
Devin laughed. “She’s not playing, dude. She is hard to get. And who knows, maybe she doesn’t want kids either.”
“Come on,” Russel said. “What woman doesn’t want kids?”
Devin turned to him. “My advice—unless you’re really, really against something, let her have her way. If she wants kids, suck it up and get it up. Otherwise, shut up.”
His coworker smiled. “I like that, man. Kinda rhyme time and all.” His smile faded as he sank back into thought. Devin could only hope fate was on Russ’s side when it came to happiness.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Devin and Russel reached the reception desk on the hospital’s main floor and asked for the room number for Melody Harpin, their cat burglar. The elevators were to the right, then left on the fourth floor. Each man kept to himself, lost in personal thought.
Upon entering the room, they saw Charli and a tall man dressed in a white coat, stethoscope around his neck, talking.
“Hey, guys. This is the doctor. Chief Charter called and okayed for him to tell us about Ms. Harpin’s condition.” She turned to the doctor. “This is Agent Devin Sonder and Agent Russel Mayer. They are also working the cases concerning our female.” The men shook hands and the doctor continued.
“As I was telling Agent Avers, Ms. Harpin’s brain damage is like nothing I’ve ever seen. The brain works on a series of synaptic connections and neuron transmissions.”
“Getting close to losing me, Doc,” Russel said.
“Sorry.” The doctor cleared his throat. “Let’s try this. There are lots of bridges connecting one side of the brain to the other side. In Ms. Harpin’s case, many of her bridges are missing. Destroyed.”
“How can that happen?” Charli asked.
“I’ve seen several things affect the connections: illness, cancer, damage from injury, concussion—”
“Amnesia?” she asked.
“Amnesia is a symptom, not a cause, as such; you get amnesia from a concussion or injury. Another unique situation with the patient is that her frontal lobe is nonfunctional. There’s no damage or anything I can see to cause this. It’s as if someone went in and zapped her brain in certain places to turn it off. Only the vital functions are operating normally.”
Devin saw and smelled Charli’s worry. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and squeezed. “Barry is very different from this lady. He’s conscious and thinking. He’ll work out his problems, then come back to you.”
Charli nodded, rubbing her face along his shirt. It’d be a little wrinkled, but he’d get by. He hoped Marika didn’t have to be a messy person. Hopefully what he saw in her home had to do with lack of time and being at the lab long hours. Yeah, he preferred to think that. Anything else would drive him crazy. He liked everything in its place. Hopefully, she could easily adapt.
Devin released his hold on Charli and turned to the doctor. “If I understand correctly, there’s little to no chance of her becoming cognizant enough to answer questions.”
The doctor frowned. “There is no chance of her ever coming back. She is permanently in a vegetative state. If relatives aren’t found soon to give advice on her immediate future, then we will have to go to the medical board to get instructions on how to proceed.”
Charli sucked in a breath. “Are you saying you’re going to kill her? Take her off life support?”
The doctor once again didn’t look happy. He probably dealt with this type of issue every day. Life and death was his world. “We’re hoping for a living will to give us direction in how the patient wants to be taken care of, Agent Avers. Please be assured, we won’t kill her.” He glanced at his watch. “I have an appointment I need to leave for. If you have any further questions, please e-mail me. You can get my address from the nurse stationed out front.” He nodded to each with a smile. “Nice to meet you all.”
“Oh, Doctor,” Devin called out, stopping the man. “Can we have someone draw blood from Russel here for me to take to the FAWS lab? One of the researchers asked and we haven’t had a chance to stop anywhere to have that done.”
“Absolutely, I’ll have one of the nurses come in here for that. And tell Marika Paters I said hi. We went to medical school together and I haven’t seen her for a while.”
Devin’s panther nearly sprang out of him. Both Charli and Russel grabbed one of his arms and smiled at the doctor. “We sure will tell her, Doctor,” Charli said. “Thank you.”
With that, the doctor walked out, the door slowly closing behind him. Charli bopped Devin on the head. “Stop that.”
He hadn’t realized he’d been growling until he stopped.
The three agents stared at the comatose lady lying in the bed. She looked moments from death as it was.
“Well,” Devin said, “I don’t think we’re getting much help from her.” He watched Charli take the woman’s hand in her own. He’d never seen his fellow agent use her ability. Maybe this was it. After a moment of silence, he said, “What do you see, Charli?”
Her lovely face twisted with sorrow, anguish pouring from her. “Such pain, such sadness. Her cat desperately wants to be released. Can’t be trapped in this bodily cage to die so slowly.” Tears rolled down Charli’s cheeks. “This never should’ve happened. Never should’ve been forced together. Unnatural.”
Devin thought about Barry and how he hadn’t been a shifter when he’d been Perry. Someone was doing this. Someone was making shifters.
“Oh fuck,” he whispered. Was this what the mayor and Klamin were doing? If so, how did the pipeline fit in with that?
“What?” Russel asked.
“I was thinking about the mayor and Klamin. Thought maybe Klamin—”
Charli screamed, dropped the cat woman’s hand, and nearly collapsed to the floor. Russel caught her and scooped her up, then settled her on a chair in the room.
“What happened, Charli?” Russel asked, squatting in front of her knees. “What did you see?” He dried her tears with his thumb.
“That name you said—Klamin. Her cat freaked out when hearing it. It screamed, ‘Kill him, kill him, kill him.’ And pain like I’ve never felt before shot through me. Who is Klamin?”
Devin shared a look with Russel. “We don’t know, but he seems to be in the middle of all the mysteries we’ve got going on,” Devin said. The door opened and a technician walked in with a tray filled with needles and paraphernalia. Charli paled and tears formed when she looked at the needle. Devin wasn’t sure why.
“I think we’re done here, guys. I’m heading home to wait for . . .” She grabbed her purse and hurried out. Russel sat in the chair Charli vacated and rolled up his sleeve.
Devin moved toward the woman in the bed. He felt sad for her. No family. No friends. Nowhere to go. All that because of one person: Klamin. A lot of details floated in his head from the murder scene, the senator’s home, the strange wolf, Rupen and Barry, the mayor’s phone call, and now their cat woman. And his day wasn’t even over yet.
He longed to see and hold his mate for just a moment to revitalize his spirits that had been brought down by the ugliness of the world.
Then it hit him, right in the groin. “Russel, I’ll run your blood to the FAWS lab for immediate analysis.”
Russel barked out a laugh. “Whatever, man. You just wa
nt to bang your mate again.” The technician cleared his throat, trying not to show a smile.
Devin lifted his chin. “Well, she’s my mate to bang. So there.” Both men at the chair laughed. The tech stuck a cotton ball in the crook of Russel’s arm, then slapped a Band-Aid over it. He put the vials in a bubble-wrapped package, sealed the top, and handed it to Devin.
“All done, guys. Have a great bang. I mean day.” Devin rolled his eyes and took the package from the tech’s outstretched hand.
“Yeah, thanks.”
Russel worked on getting his sleeve back into place. “Since you’re heading south, can you drop me off at the department? I need to visit my mate before it gets too late. Milkan wanted me to get with her. Can’t go against the boss man.”
“Nope, can’t do that. Especially when he tells you to do something you really want to do, huh?” Devin teased.
Russel smiled. “You betcha.”
Devin slapped him on the back. “How long do you think you’ll be with your lady?”
“I don’t know.” Russel shrugged. “Could be five minutes before she kicks me out, or an hour if I can handcuff her to something.” His grin turned sly.
Devin laughed again. He could never be ready for all the weird things this multishifter would throw at him. “Okay, how ’bout I call you in a little while? I need someone to bounce ideas off and put some order to all the info we got. A beer would be great.”
They left the room and headed down the hallway toward the elevator.
“You’re on.” Russel pushed the elevator button. “I could probably use more than a beer after my meeting.”
CHAPTER THIRTY
Marika placed the cold, dead organ on the scale and noted its weight. “Same thing for the heart, Rupen. Noticeably larger than a normal shifter’s.”
“So that makes what”—Rupen counted on his fingers—“lungs, veins, muscular system, and heart. The essentials for a bigger creature to function at high capacity.” He leaned against the counter and pressed his lips into a white line. “The question is why the small brain, and what is the larger wolf for?”
“Technically, that’s two questions, sir,” Marika said. “But when we find the answer to one, we’re probably close to finding the answer to the other.”
Rupen picked up the fur pelt piece from the dead wolf’s body. “This material is more fascinating than anything else. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Marika returned to her microscope. “I don’t think this skin is natural. It has too many abnormal elements to come about through evolution. It has to be man-made.” She adjusted the scope. “What I can’t believe is that it’s bulletproof. It’s so thin.”
Rupen poked and prodded the furry patch. “I agree. But look here.” Marika looked up. “When I push my fingernail into it, the fur lets it make an indention in the skin.” His finger continued to slowly slice through the material, creating a hole. “What the hell?”
Marika’s shocked eyes met his. “How can your finger go through, but not a bullet?” She went back to her microscope and jabbed the material with a pick. The tool barely made an imprint. Rupen repeated his actions, creating another puncture.
Marika took his piece and replaced the sample under her scope with it. Again, she stabbed several times, never getting past the top layer. Then she saw something she couldn’t believe.
“Oh my god, Rupen. Look.” She stepped back and he bent at the waist to look into the eyepiece. “What do you see?”
He was quiet for a moment, then said, “Amazing. It’s repairing itself. The jagged edges are melding back together. Could it be the material is self-mending? Even if the animal is dead?”
“Shifters are naturally fast healers, but not this fast,” she said. Then a memory came to mind. “Are you familiar with how stem cells work?”
“Not really. Just that organs can be repaired or diseases cured using the umbilical cord. How does that relate to this?”
“Notice how the skin is coming together.” She stepped back for him to observe through the lens.
“It’s like water rolling onto the beach. Material just flows together, filling in the hole. Is that different than normal?” Rupen asked.
“Very different. Think about it like this.” She crossed her arms and leaned against the cabinet. “A shifter’s skin heals in layers, one cell at a time. The wolf skin flowed closed completely in seconds.”
“Fascinating idea,” Rupen said. “Minimizing bleeding would keep the animal alive longer when fighting. How do stem cells relate?”
“That type of cell regenerates body parts. So what if the wolf’s blood carried some kind of component that allowed for regrowth?” She could be onto something momentous. Her special research work concerning the creation of shifters hit a snag at this point also. What was she missing?
“Regrowth?” Rupen asked. “Like a new leg grows if one is cut off? Like a lizard that can regrow its tail when it’s snapped off?”
“Yes. Exactly. But what triggers the growth? Maybe those shiny things in the wolf’s blood have something to do with it. I thought it might be multishifter related, but maybe not. I’m waiting for a blood sample from a multi. Then I’ll know.”
“But if bullets can’t cut through the skin material, what can?”
“Your finger did.”
“Yes, we’ve established that. But how?”
Marika returned to the scope. With the pick, she slowly pressed the material instead of jabbing quickly. The tool slid through with ease. “Holy cornstarch. That’s it.”
Her boss looked at her with a quirked brow. “What?”
“Haven’t you ever played with cornstarch and water?”
“No. What’s the significance?” he asked.
She thought for a moment how best to describe a non-Newtonian fluid. She looked around searching for things she needed for this special demonstration. “Take this”—she handed the commander a beaker—“and fill it with water.” She pointed toward a cabinet with a sink, then rushed around gathering up an armload of stuff. “Let’s go outside.”
Rupen followed her to the side of the building where a large garden area was enclosed in a chain-link fence. “What’s this all used for?”
Marika unlocked the gate and went inside. “Sometimes we have experiments where we need to see how natural processes act on something. Like how long does it take for fly larvae to grow in a dead body left outside. Cool stuff like that.”
Rupen froze midstep. “Are you saying we’re walking on decaying bodies?” He looked down at his shoes.
She rolled her eyes. “No, silly. This is where we get ground material for testing in a controlled environment.”
Rupen put his foot down. “Thank god.”
Marika headed toward the front corner, which looked over the guest parking area. She set a bowl on the ground, then churned up dirt using the metal pick like an ice pick.
“Pour in half the water, please.” Rupen followed instructions while she scooped dirt into the bowl. She mixed the water and dirt to create runny mud.
“Okay. You’ve seen what I’ve stirred together: dirt and water.” He nodded. “Now watch.” She slowly dipped her fingers into the mixture and pulled them out dripping with mud. “Moving slowly, my fingers sank into the material. Watch what happens when I quickly stab at it.”
She poked several times, fast and hard, at the same muddy water and her finger didn’t go deeper than the top of the mud, like she hit solid material.
Rupen’s face lit up. “Oh, you’re talking about colloidal material. Sure, I know what those are.” He proceeded to slowly push his fingers into the mud, then stabbed his finger, only penetrating the very top layer. Very strange material.
Her superhearing picked up footsteps coming from the parking lot. “Looks fun, guys. Can I play too?”
Marika squealed with delight and popped to her feet, then ran through the fence gate to literally jump on her mate. She locked her ankles behind his back and peppered kisses over
his face.
Devin smiled. “I like that kind of hello. We’ll have to practice that every day.”
A sly twinkle entered her eyes. “Yeah, and see how much more welcoming we can be.” She felt his cock twitch under her ass. Her body temperature skyrocketed. Suddenly, it was very hot.
“Keep it in your pants, both of you,” Rupen said as he gathered the tools from the experiment. “Now get inside before someone sees you and wonders what really goes on inside these windowless walls.”
Marika giggled and hopped down. “Yes, back to the lab.” She turned to her mate. “Did you ever play with cornstarch and water when you were a kid?”
“Is that where it’s hard if you hit it, but soft if dipping slowly?” he asked.
She smiled and kissed him on the cheek. “You are so smart, my love.” She noted muddy handprints on Devin’s shoulders. “Oops.” She looked down at herself to find her lab coat covered with mud. How had that happened? She’d barely touched the stuff. “I need to get a clean coat from my office. Come with me?” she asked Devin.
Rupen rolled his eyes. “No hanky-panky. I want to finish up this wolf and get out of here. It’s been a long day.”
“Agreed,” she said. “We’ll be back in a jiffy.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Devin smiled at his mate’s enthusiasm for life. She always had a smile on her face and a twinkle in her eye. Seemed that way, anyway. Technically, he’d only seen her three times. But each time she was smiling and had that sparkle!
He brushed at the dirt on his shoulders that his mate accidentally put there. If that’s what it took to get her legs wrapped around him, then his cleaning bill would go up with no concern on his part.
As he followed Marika to her office, he straightened his jacket and tugged on his shirtsleeves to get them perfectly aligned. Just like his desk and home, everything had its place. He prided himself on the fact that he had mastered the no-clutter, highly organized habits of a good mate. So many other men were slobs, and their mates always complained about picking up after them. His mate would delight in the fact that she’d never have to clean up after him.
