Bearing It All (Grizzly Affairs Book 1)
Page 26
Not waiting, she rushed to the large door. Tugging on the rusty handle she gritted her teeth as the door refused to budge. Letting her hands fall away from the handle, her eyes studied the door for a hidden lock when her eyes fell on the seemingly new security scanner. Rushing to it, she jerked her badge out of her pocket with her fumbling fingers. Quickly sliding the badge over the scanner she was surprised with a low hum echoed as a red light flashed across the scanner. Trying again she got the same despairing result.
Groaning in frustration she found herself shoved aside by Jason as he slowly studied the scanner. After what seemed to be a few seconds, his strong hands gripped the sides of the square electronic and simply ripped it off the wall. Bright sparks exploded from the wall with his violent action. Not a second later sound of the door unlocking echoed around them. Giving Jason a surprised look he simply shrugged his shoulders.
“I'm impatient.”
Chuckling, she shook her head at him. Moving to grip the handle, the second her fingers curled around the rusty metal a blaring alarm sounded above the stairs. The ear bursting alarm had both her and Jason reaching up to cover their ears with pain while their eyes darted around fearfully. Without warning the light bulbs above them flickered down to practically no light at all. Gripping the firearm that he'd lifted off the fallen soldier, Jason made his way back to the stairs before turning to look back at her.
“I'll take care of anyone that comes this way. You go on and save your mate.” He said with an indicating nod toward the door.
Nodding her head, she turned back to the door. Her teeth grinded together as she struggled to pull the door open. Slowly with a high pitch groan, the door opened. As soon as there was enough room for her to squeeze past the door, she darted through the thin opening and into the lit room. The heavy door slammed shut behind her with a resounding bang.
Blinking against the bright lights of the room, her eyes immediately fell on horrifying sight before her. Gasping in horror, she rushed forward, uncaring to anything other than reaching him in that moment.
“My God. Doyle, what have they done to you?”
Doyle didn't respond to her voice. In the center of the room his tortured body hung limply from the metal beams above him. Two monstrous looking meat hooks had been skewered through his biceps, ripped through heavy muscle until the unforgiving hooks caressed his exposed bones. His chest was bare with the exception of dark blood that painted him. Malca had done her work on him. Parts of his chest were covered in a black patch work of burns. Others were thin welts from a recent caning.
Reaching up to touch his bruised face, Aria felt tears fill her eyes. Both her hands cupped his cheeks as she willed him to open his eyes. As soon as her thumb reached out to caress his skin, his eyes lifted lazily. One of his eyes refused to fully open as it was swollen shut, but the other held her worried ones instantly.
“If you are...here to play nurse it may have to wait.” He breathed out with heavy breaths before groaning in pain at the slightest movement. Shaking her head at his flirting words she moved around him to figure out how to lower him to the floor.
“Go…now.” His pain filled words whispered from behind her as her eyes fell upon a crude looking pulley mounted to the metal beam above. Threaded through the rusty pulley was the length of chain leading from the hooks that held Doyle suspended in the off the ground. The remaining feet of chain was weaved amongst the rafters and out of reach.
“You need to leave. It's you that she wants. I'll be fine. I was planning on breaking out of here soon anyway.”
She rolled her eyes as she jerked the glasses off her face and tossed them aside. “You know this never would have happened if you would have listened to me. But no; you had to be the man and take care of the problem. Now here I am; having to ride to the rescue to save your stubborn hide.”
Along the side wall she spied a cranking mechanism. Rushing over to the wall her hands quickly began turning the protruding handle. With a dialing click, Doyle groaned in pain as the hooks jerked in his wounds. With jerking motions, his body was lowered from its risen position. Once his bare feet touched the floor, his knees folded beneath him. As he fell forward, he found enough strength to catch himself with his hands before hitting the hard floor.
Rushing back, Aria fell to her knees beside him. “Take a breath.” She warned placing one hand on his shoulder while her other hand gripped the meat hook. Her lips thinned in disgust as she jerked the smooth metal from the wound in his upper arm.
Doyle bit out a groan of pain as the unforgiving hook was ripped free. Taking a deep breath, he reached up and gripped the remaining hook before ripping it free with a savage jerk. Pulling his left arm across her shoulder, she wrapped an arm around his bare waist as she helped pull him onto his feet.
“Can you walk?” She asked as they started across the room to the door.
“Do I have a choice? You shouldn't have come. It's you she wants.” He said, repeating his earlier words.
“So you've said,” she responded dryly.
As they came within a foot of the only door, she froze as the heavy metal door screeched as it was pushed open. Her free hand jerked to grip the gun concealed against her back. Pulling the gun free she took aim at the door as a dark camouflage sleeve curled around the edge of the door as it was pushed. As the door opened wider, she found herself pointing her gun at Jason. Stepping through the door, Jason still held his firearm in his hand.
Glancing at her raised gun he narrowed his eyes at her. “Mind lowering that, sweet cheeks?”
Slowly lowering her gun, she rolled her eyes at him. “Let's get out of here. Is the way clear?”
“For the moment, but we got to move quickly. I don't think that was a test drill. They probably already know we're here.”
“Who the hell are you?” Doyle growled out as his eyes flashed dangerously.
Narrowing his eyes at Doyle's aggression, Jason smirked. “I'll be your escort for this evening. So, let's get going.”
"You’re a wolf.” Doyle responded with a sneer. Just what he needed, the one type of shifter that he wouldn't trust in a million years now held his and his mate’s lives in his mangy hands.
Slowly peering through the cracked open doorway, Jason checked to see if the way was clear. Nodding with satisfaction, he turned to look at Doyle's disgruntled face. “You'll get over it. Let’s go.”
Shoving the door open, he moved out first. Aria followed a few spaces behind while still holding onto her firearm and Doyle. Moving up the stairs, Jason slowly inhaled the air in all directions around him. His head tilted to the side as he listened. Looking back down at Aria as she waited with Doyle at the bottom of the steps, Jason nodded as he continued up to the landing.
The hall was still dark and empty which only offered little comfort for Aria. If their presence was known, there was no way Malca would let them just walk out the door. She'd be waiting for them with an army to stop them. But Aria had something to fight for now and she'd kill Malca if she had to.
Coming to the end of the hallway she was surprised to see that the stretching hall was brightly lit now but was still deserted. Jason motioned forward with a flat hand. Slowly they moved around the corner and down to the reflective elevator. As she and Doyle past in front viewing window, Aria paused as she saw the room was still lit up but everyone, including the unconscious captives was gone. Where was everyone?
“Why are you stopping?” Jason hissed out as he stood by the elevator.
Clenching his hand on her shoulder, Doyle drew her attention. “What is it?” He whispered as his eyes filled with concern.
“Where'd everyone go?” She asked. Her suspicious gaze flickered around at the luminous area.
“Who cares? Let's go.” Jason hissed while his face tense with frustration.
“It matters. This place is always crawling with people. It's never empty.” she insisted urgently.
“Quite right.” a soft voice echoed from behind them.
Spi
nning around, Aria held on to Doyle as she raised her gun. Around a corner, half way down the hall. The sound of clicking heels echoed as Malca stepped out. Her hands were tucked into the pockets of her lab coat. Taking slow calculating steps, she pulled her hands out of her pockets to clap her hands mockingly.
“Very good, Arianna. You know, you almost went unnoticed the way you sneaked in here. If it wasn't for someone ripping the security pad off the wall, I may have missed you.”
Turning his head to look at Jason who stood behind them, Doyle raised an accusing brow. Not moving his raised weapon, Jason mumbled, “My bad.”
“Don't worry, I’ve got perfect aim.” Aria stated with her aimed weapon.”I won't miss.”
Flashing a wide toothed smile, Malca shook her head. “That's true, if you were going to actually shoot me.”
“You think I won't? You manipulated me. You held me prisoner. You experimented on me.” She said bitterly as her hand tightened around the gun. Malca's lips thinned into a soft smile as she lifted her hand to snap her fingers. The entire time she met Aria's narrowing eyes unflinching at the gun pointed at her. Within seconds, Aria found her eyes jerking left and right as more than ten armed soldiers filled the area before them.
Laughing, Malca shook her head as she stuffed her hands back in her pockets. “If you recall correctly I didn't do anything you didn't volunteer for. Now I own you and your furry friends too.”
“Over my dead body,” Aria bit out. Her eyes glanced at each of the stone faced soldier's that held the three of them at gunpoint. Even if she shot Malca, there were still ten other guns aimed at the three of them.
“That won't be necessary.” Turning to look at a head soldier beside her, Malca motioned at the three in front of her. “Process them. I want them on the next flight out with the new recruits.”
Giving Aria and her raised weapon an ungratified look over, Malca turned and disappeared down the hall. The sound of a door slamming a moment later made Aria all too aware that unless Doyle suddenly got his strength back, they were in trouble.
“Lower your weapon.” The head soldier ordered with a thundering tone. This was not a man that would pull his punches.
After Malca's departure, she had refused to lower her weapon, but instead she placed her aim on any soldier looking to move closer to their huddled position by the elevator. Making no move to lower her weapon she moved a step back with Doyle still leaning heavily against her shoulder. She could feel her lab coat becoming damp with Doyle's blood. Her mighty grizzly protector wouldn't be much help to them now.
“Got a plan?” Jason asked as he took moved his aim around as the head soldier demanded they lower their weapons.
“You're asking me? You're the werewolf.” Her accusation hissed out under her breath. Tilting his head weakly towards her, Doyle's pain laced breaths caressed the side of her face.
“I don't suppose your mind control trick would come in handy at this moment?” His voice escaped sluggishly. With all the blood Doyle had lost and was still losing, she wasn't sure how much longer he'd be able to stand on his own.
“It won't work on Malca's soldiers. I don’t know why it did on Raoul, but trust me when I say it won’t work. Jason and I can shoot them but that will only get us so far.”
“And so dead,” Jason commented dryly.
Taking a slow step forward, the head soldier glared at them as he holstered his weapon at his hip. “Arianna, isn't it?” He asked with no real interest. Aria narrowed her eyes at him. They couldn't hold this stand off for long and it appeared that he was making his move. How she played her move would result in their lives.
“Aria,” She corrected with a defiant tilt of her chin.
“I served with your brother, Tyler. You can call me, Daren. Why don't you and your friend put the guns down? No one needs to get excited here. All Malca wants to do is check you out and then I'm sure you and your friends will be freed. However there is a protocol to this—as you know.” His words were as logical and seemingly harmless as a snake's conversing with an uncooperative meal. Not that she was buying it.
“You will have to kill me if you think I will go back to those labs.” She hissed out.
Shrugging his wide shoulders, he smirked at her statement. “Have it your way.”
Motioning to the other nine soldiers with his pointer finger they all moved forward like a flowing wave. They all began moving as one, their guns raised and ready should either of them make one wrong move. With her heart lodged in her throat, Aria squeezed her hand tighter around her weapon. She wouldn't go back, but what choice did she really have?
Her trigger finger began to increase in pressure, she was prepared to kill as many as possible in hopes of escaping with her mate and their tag along wolf. Before she got the chance, a loud boom sounded above them and shook the floor beneath their feet. As they fought to stay upright as the foundation shook, the ceiling above them split in a long jagged arch. Three of the soldiers broke ranks and rushed toward them a split second before a section of the concrete above them broke away and fell on the foolhardy men. The thick cement slab crushed the three with a deafening wet kiss.
As the other soldier's scrambled forward as well, other things began raining from the ceiling above other than concrete. Smoothly dropping in front of them was reinforcements. Standing amongst the dust cloud that fanned around them was two massive grizzly bears flashing their dangerous looking fangs at the stunned soldiers. She could only assume that the two bears were Robert and Colin. A moment later Mark dropped down holding an automatic rifle in his hands as another armed body fell from the room above. Raoul.
“Are we late?” Raoul asked as he glanced back at Aria's smirking lips.
“I'm sure there's more to go around.”
Realizing that they were outnumbered, the other soldier's quickly dropped their weapons with little hesitation except for the head soldier whom took off running down the hall. She took great joy in watching him being chased down by Robert's bear and dragged back by the scruff of his neck a moment later.
“Aria...” Doyle's weak voice echoed through the chaos around them and instantly gripped her attention.
His complexion had faded to a gray color as his limbs felt cold. Aria's eyes widened with fear. Calling out to Mark for help, Aria and Mark quickly moved Doyle's slumping form into the prepping room and onto an empty bed. His breath wheezed past his parted lips as though an unseen weight was crushing his chest. All his strength drained from him as his eyes slid closed. Looking down at his ravaged body, she saw that his wounds on his biceps had begun to draw together but were slowly bleeding again. Was she too late?
“Doyle!” She yelled as she bent over the bed, her hands cupping his face tenderly. Her soft fingers soothe against the skin under his swollen eye.
“I'm alright,” he muttered softly,
He was too weak to lift a hand out to touch her as he longed to do. Instead he struggled to open his eyes. He felt so tired. Never before had he been without the strength of his bear. As the pain of his body grew, he felt weaker. His eyes locked on Aria's concerned ones as she leaned over him. Doyle could feel Mark inspecting his wounds but his entire focus was on Aria.
“Stay with me.” She urged tenderly.
His eyes lowered as he struggled to fight off the black void that sought to pull him away from his mate. “Does this mean I am forgiven for drugging you?” He asked with a grin.
Narrowing her eyes at him she shook her head. “Not even close.” Wincing as a smile curled on his split lip, Doyle felt himself float down into an involuntary rest as Aria's comforting hands still soothed his face. Her soft voice floated around him as darkness covered him.
“Stay with me. I love you…Stay with me….”
20
“Don't even think about it.” Aria scolded unwaveringly. Smirking at her from his position on the couch, Doyle shrugged his shoulders.
“I'm not doing anything.” He insisted, not that she believed him for a second.
She had been surprised when Raoul had asked to stay with Doyle's pack. He'd longed for freedom for so long and now he seemed to find where he belonged. But she still she couldn’t shake the feeling that he was still hiding something from them. The rest of the pack welcomed him with open arms and curiosity. The only problem was now she would never be rid of him.
Since rescuing Doyle from Malca's clutches almost two weeks ago, she was finding him to be the most stubborn and most amusing patient she'd ever seen. Whatever Malca had injected him with had somehow slowed his ability to heal as well as the use of his other abilities. After three days, he had begun to regain his ability to shift as his strength quickly returned. However the pack's healer had urged him to take it easy while his body finished healing and left Aria in charge of seeing that happened. A task easier said than done.
At every opportunity he had baited her with a reason to roam outside in his bear form or any reason to get out of bed. Then there were the times he would try and trick her to join him in bed. As much as she missed his kisses and the feel of his hands on her body, she was forced to hold herself back.
For the moment, she was sitting on the couch beside Doyle as she had to occasionally slap his wandering hands away from her. Instead of placing a mound of pillows behind his shoulders she should have used them to build a wall between them. He was impossible. Jerking the news paper between her tightly clenched hands, Aria tried to focus on the article she'd already read four times now. Just as she thought she'd reach the last sentence a warm hand moved under the quilt that covered them both and slid across her cotton covered thigh.