“It will be quite interesting.” He gave a slow smile that caused a creeping sensation along her spine. He stood. “Come, Miss Stanfield.”
She didn’t want to obey but something compelled her to get up as if she couldn’t help herself. When she stood, he studied her body in a way that made her feel as if he was stripping her bare. The leather halter-top she wore was tight enough and low enough that generous cleavage showed and her midriff was bare. The leather pants fit snugly along her curves.
“I can see what males find attractive in you.” He let his gaze linger on her breasts. “There is something about you…some kind of pull.” His eyes met hers. “Perhaps we can explore that further once we are finished with our little experiment.”
Instead of embarrassing her, she felt her cheeks go hot with anger.
An amused expression crossed his features. “Come,” he said and started toward the doorway.
Again she felt compelled to obey and she followed him out of the drawing room and into the wide hall, her wrists still bound in front of her. He took her through the house and to a set of stairs that led downward. She remained behind him as he descended. When they reached the bottom, they were in a large basement with concrete walls and floors.
At the far end of the room was a chair that looked like a dentist chair but with straps on the armrests and straps for the legs as well.
Her heart beat faster when she saw a small clear bottle and a syringe on a table beside one of the chairs. They were going to shoot her up with a drug, maybe the same one that they’d been using on humans to give them powers.
“Welcome to the control room.” Dawson smiled at her. “It is here where we will experiment on you, Selena’s latest pet.” Loni stopped, refusing to budge when Dawson reached the chair. He scowled and said, “Come here, Miss Stanfield.”
When she didn’t move, he extended his hand and she felt a sudden pull that jerked her toward him. She stumbled and nearly fell as she was dragged forward. She fought against the pull but it was useless. The chair loomed before her and then she was beside it.
“Get in the chair,” the sorcerer said in a cold, hard voice.
She set her jaw and glared at him. He raised his hand again, but this time he backhanded her hard and fast.
Her head snapped to the side and stars sparked in her mind. She felt blood trickling from her nose onto her lip. He placed his hand on her chest and shoved. The backs of her legs hit the chair and she fell into it.
The next thing she knew, she was pinned to the chair by an invisible force. The magic ropes that had bound her wrists together vanished. She had no chance to react as straps magically secured her arms and legs so that she couldn’t move no matter how hard she struggled.
Her heart pounded harder and her throat grew dry. Dawson pulled up a swivel stool positioned at the height of the chair she was in. He dabbed blood from her nose and upper lip with a tissue before he tossed it.
“Propara is a mixture of a drug made from the pituitary gland of a paranorm and an additive that makes a human extremely loyal to me.”
Her eyes widened. “You’ve been the one murdering paranorms and drilling into their skulls?”
“Yes.” The sorcerer smiled. “The drug made from the gland is quite addictive once the human gets a taste of it.” He added, “In addition, the additive that I have put into the drug is designed to make it even more addictive as well as create an unbreakable bond between myself and the human subjects. Like a dog to the person who feeds it and trains it.”
“This version of Propara was created from the pituitary of a paranorm who had the ability to perform telekinesis, telepathy, and was clairvoyant.” He picked up the syringe. “You will be loyal to me regardless of the results of the drug once it is in your system.”
Her breathing grew harsher and faster as he inserted the needle into the bottle and filled the syringe with the drug. She felt light-headed as she watched him. The thought of having a drug inserted into her system was horrifying as was the threat that it would make her loyal to Dawson. The fact that it was made from a murdered paranorm made her beyond sick inside.
“Samuel was useful at administering Propara,” the sorcerer said. “It is unfortunate he had to be killed, but quite necessary.”
Loni swallowed, trying to force down her panic.
“Do not pretend there is no effect from the drug,” he said. “Because I promise you, I will know.”
“Please don’t.” Her voice shook as she begged him. “Please don’t do this.”
“Do not beg, Ms. Stanfield. It is unbecoming of you.” His hands felt cold as he touched her. He focused on her inner elbow and searched until he found a large vein to shoot the drug into.
She bit her lip, wanting to beg him again, but knew it was useless.
Tears leaked from her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. She winced from the pain as he slid the needle into her vein.
The fluid burned as it entered her system and she gritted her teeth to keep from crying out as she watched him inject the drug. She was shaking so badly she wondered if the needle could snap off in her arm.
The burn traveled through her body and her skin started to prickle. She felt something change inside of her. Something so fundamental that she knew she’d never be the same.
Her gaze met Dawson’s and he smiled.
Chapter 16
Disgusted with himself, Alec left the drug dealer’s home, his boots thumping down the front stairs as task force emergency vehicle lights flashed red and blue over the scene. The rain had stopped but clouds still obliterated the moon.
Damn. If Dawson’s men hadn’t gotten to them, Samuel might not be dead and they’d have him at task force headquarters, prying whatever information they could out of him.
He reached the bottom of the stairs and stood on the walkway now lined with trampled flowers and he closed his eyes for a moment. More importantly, Loni wouldn’t be missing and Lyle wouldn’t be dead.
“You doing okay?” Rider came up beside him and Alec opened his eyes.
With his thumb and forefinger, Alec rubbed his temples. “We’ve got to find Loni.”
Rider gave a nod in the direction of the street. “Big Boss is here.”
Alec turned, letting his hand fall away from his temples and watched Max walk through the front gate toward them. When Max reached them he paused to spit tobacco onto the perfectly manicured grass on the side of the walkway.
Max eyed Alec. “What the hell happened here?”
Alec explained what had happened and Max just listened.
“I think we might have a bead on the sorcerer’s location,” Max said when Alec finished.
“Where the hell is he?” A surge of hope shot through Alec. “How did you find him?”
“I’ve had a couple of task force detectives on Dawson’s trail for months now.” Max adjusted his John Deere cap. “They believe that after a lucky break they found his place. It’s in the desert just north of Fountain Hills off of 87. Pretty remote. He lives off grid and has a generator up there.” The Chief Enforcer’s southern accent seemed stronger. “His little compound is gated and locked up pretty damned tight from the information I’ve received.”
“We’ll get in,” Alec said with determination. “Nothing and no one is holding us back or keeping us out. We’ll get Loni and we’ll take out Dawson.”
“Need you to bring in Dawson alive.” Max held up his hand before Alec could protest. “I know he killed your daddy along with a hell of a lot of other paranorms and humans. But he’s got a lot to answer to, and the justice system will make sure he does.”
Heat crawled up Alec’s neck. “You know that’s a bunch of bullshit.” He shook his head. “There’s no bringing Dawson in.”
“That’s the word from the higher-ups.” Max hooked his thumbs in his belt loops. “Of course if he puts up a fight and tries to kill one of my Enforcers, then all bets are off.”
“Understood.” Alec gave a sharp nod. “Now tell me wher
e I can find him and Loni.”
Rider stood beside Alec as Max gave him the details. When the Chief Enforcer walked away, Rider said, “When do we leave?”
Alec shook his head. “I’m going this one alone.”
Rider snorted. “There’s no way in hell that any one of us is going to let you do that.”
“You don’t have a choice.” Alec clenched his hand on the hilt of his sword. “I call the shots.”
“Afraid not this time.” Rider slapped Alec on the shoulder. “Don’t forget I just got directions from Max, same as you. If you try to leave us behind, we’ll just follow.”
Alec looked away then back at Rider. After a moment he said, “A small team is all we’ll take for now to do some recon. We can’t afford to take more than a few Enforcers out of the city at this time and leave the Phoenix area unprotected.”
“I’m sure Petra will want to come along and I’ll grab Erick, too.” Rider nodded toward the house. “I’ll let them know we’re leaving.”
“I’ll bring around my SUV.” Alec put his hand on Rider’s shoulder. “Thank you.”
“We’re in this together,” Rider said. “And don’t you forget it.” He turned and headed back toward the house.
Blue and red flashing lights made patterns on the ground and threw shadows at the night. Alec walked away from the task force team and headed a ways down the street toward where he’d parked his SUV. The air was clean and cool from the rain and a flicker of moonlight made it through a gap in the clouds.
His mind worked over everything that had happened then turned toward making plans for infiltrating what amounted to a fortress according to Max. He reached his SUV, climbed in, and started the big vehicle. The engine roared as he drove it then pulled up in front of the drug dealer’s house.
Rider opened the passenger door and hopped in. “Erick’s riding in Petra’s car. I filled them in and gave them directions.”
Alec nodded, spun the SUV around and headed back towards the highway. Alec flipped on the blue and red strobes that would allow humans to think he was with one of the local police departments as he raced through town. What should have taken him an hour, he made in thirty minutes.
When he was in the vicinity of Dawson’s place, Alec switched off the strobes. It was darker in the desert just out of the Phoenix metro area and they ran the risk of drawing attention if they drove closer to the house. He found a place to park off the dirt road cutoff to the sorcerer’s. The glitter of lights not too far from where they’d parked probably came from his fortress.
Alec and Rider climbed out of the SUV, stepping onto the muddy ground, then opened the back as they waited for Petra and Erick. Alec revealed the secret compartment under the seat and displayed the host of weapons at their disposal. It was likely going to take more than a sword to get to Dawson.
Rider picked up a handgun as Alec holstered a Glock in his weapons belt. He glanced up at the dark clouds that threatened more rain.
Was Loni all right? Had the sorcerer done anything to her? He gritted his teeth. He’d slice Dawson into little pieces if anything happened to her.
The purr of an engine came closer and in moments Petra and Erick pulled up in her Mustang. They parked off the road, beside Alec’s SUV.
“Nice stash, Alec.” Petra came up beside them and looked over Alec’s collection of weapons.
“Help yourself.” Alec stepped back.
Petra nodded. “You bet I will.”
When they were armed and had secured the vehicles, and each had their earpiece in place, they started down the road toward the lights. The earpieces wouldn’t do any good for Erick and Alec when they were in animal form, but when they shifted back into human form they would work.
Erick shifted into a hawk, one of his many forms, and he soared up and toward the house. Rider, a winged marauder, spread his wings and vanished behind his own glamour as he took to the sky to do some recon, too.
Alec gave Petra a nod before he transformed into a wolf form and loped along at the witch’s side as she jogged along the dirt road and then among mesquite bushes and cacti. She would pull a glamour, so that no one could see her, once they were closer.
It didn’t take long to reach Dawson’s fortress. His house blended into the desert and was surrounded by a fence that was difficult to see in the dark. It wasn’t an ordinary fence even though it had the appearance of one. Virtually invisible beams of black light traveled in between the barbed wires of the fence. The beams continued high above the fence line.
“Might as well be a solid wall.” Petra studied the fence and followed the black light beams that went well over her head. Something about it tells me it would be very dangerous to try to transport through this. “But I think I know how to do it another way.”
Alec shifted back into his human form, rising up to stand beside Petra. “Are you certain?” he asked.
“Yes.” She looked at him. “More or less.”
“It’s the less I’m worried about.” He turned his gaze to the fence. “I’m not sure what this could do to you.”
She picked up a dead branch from a mesquite bush that was lying a couple of feet away. “Let’s find out,” she said as she cleaned off twigs and broke the branch in half so that she was left with two sticks of about a foot long each.
An iridescent bubble shimmered around her and the sticks as she moved toward the fence.
Alec almost told her to stop, he didn’t want to take any chances, but Petra was an Enforcer. She knew what she was getting herself into.
She took one stick and reached out with it. The silver shimmer that was around her extended to coat the stick she stretched out. She touched one of the black light beams with it.
The beam made a sizzling sound, but nothing else. She pressed down on the beam and it lowered with the stick to the barbed wire below it. Alec tensed, concerned that the black light beam might have a reaction with the barbed wire, but nothing happened. She pressed down on both the beam and the wire so that there was a gap in the fence.
She then used the other stick to raise the strand of barbed wire and black light beam above the first set. When it was wide enough, she looked at Alec then turned back to the fence and slowly stepped through the opening.
He didn’t realize he’d been holding his breath until she was all the way through. He let it out on a slow exhale. “Hold it open,” he said.
She didn’t move her arms, still holding the wires and beams apart with the sticks, but shook her head. “I can’t extend my magic to you unless I’m touching you.”
“You won’t need to.” Alec focused on shifting into a bobcat. He gritted his teeth as he transformed into the animal. He was large for a bobcat, but smaller than his tiger form. As a bobcat, his tail was short and stubby so he didn’t have to worry about it touching one of the beams.
“All right,” Petra said, holding the wires and beams as far apart as she was able to. “Be careful, please.”
He crouched, eyeing the opening then sprang and easily leapt through it.
This time Petra let out a loud exhale as she carefully lowered the wires and beams. “Thank goodness.” She let the silver shimmer of magic fall away from her and set the sticks beside the fence.
They started forward, through the mesquite trees surrounding the sorcerer’s place and Alec padded beside Petra in his bobcat form.
Rider and Erick had arranged to meet at the south side of Dawson’s house and see what they could learn. Petra and Alec were taking the north. Petra pulled a glamour as they closed in on the house. Only the other Enforcers would be able to see her.
They paused several yards from the house, where the line of mesquite trees ended.
Guards wielding HK submachine guns stood outside the front door on the west side of the house. Cameras were situated around the place.
Petra and Alec eased through the darkness, continuing to the north side. She was invisible to the cameras, but he was not. However, in his bobcat form, he was less likely to be
seen.
When they were in a dead zone, outside the range of any cameras, Petra and Alec paused and he shifted back into his human form and settled on one knee. She knelt beside him.
He touched his earpiece. “Rider. Erick. Check in.”
“In place.” Rider’s voice sounded low and cool. “Two guards at the back entrance loaded with hardware and there are a hell of a lot of cameras.”
“Got a couple of guards in the front with HKs,” Alec said. “With this many cameras, Dawson must have a paranoid streak.”
“I’d have to say he’s earned that,” Erick said.
Petra nodded. “No kidding.”
“Now we need to find a way in.” Alec shifted. “Any ideas on your side?”
“When I flew over the rooftop I didn’t see any cameras,” Rider said. “That might be a good location to go in.”
A shriek of pain came from inside the house and Alec’s heart dropped.
Loni.
Chapter 17
“Make it stop.” Loni fought against the straps holding her in the chair as pain ripped through her. Tears flooded her eyes. “Please make it stop!”
Dawson reclined against one of the tables in the room. “You will be fine.”
She’d never be fine again. She felt as though her head was going to explode. As if her whole body was going to tear apart.
And then suddenly her body went limp as the excruciating pain vanished. Her body ached and she felt sore and weak, so weak that she could barely hold her head up.
The sorcerer called over his shoulder. “Richmond. Carter.”
The man who’d taken her from the drug dealer’s house came forward beside another man she had never seen before. They stood at one end of the lab while she was at the opposite side.
“Let’s see what you can do.” Dawson unstrapped the bindings on her arms and legs and she was free. “Now get up.”
She didn’t think she was going to make it, but as she rose she found a new and different strength overtaking her.
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