by Lori Devoti
There was a spark in her eyes. He could see he had her. Then she pulled back. “What’s the catch? How are you going to escape?”
He stared at the window where he had last seen Samantha. “No catch. We are doing exactly what the doctor wants, giving him exactly what he wants. Me.”
Staging Anita’s comeback over Caleb really wasn’t that hard. At least not after she regained enough strength to stay upright.
Caleb had stormed out of the cafeteria building as if something inside had angered him beyond control. Anita followed, throwing herself on his back as he moved. She’d grabbed him around the neck, bitten and clawed at him.
He’d made an act of jerking at her and falling, allowing her to land on top. Then he’d let her punch him full in the face. He’d heard the cartilage in his nose snap, smelled and felt the warm blood stream down his cheeks, and then as she jumped to a stand above him, he had closed his eyes and pretended to lose consciousness.
There was silence for a moment. Then the pack erupted into yells and howls.
Their alpha had defeated an interloper. It was cause for celebration.
After a few minutes, Caleb was grabbed under the arms and hoisted to his feet. He kept his head hanging down and his eyes closed.
Frigid water, laced with ice cubes slammed into his chest. He jerked his head up. The two wolves baring the now empty cooler took a step back.
Anita raised one hand. “Don’t be concerned. He has no bite left.” She stepped forward and poked him in the chest with one finger. “Isn’t that right, rogue?”
The wolf inside Caleb raised his lip. Caleb’s body mirrored the action. One of the men holding him loosened his grip and stepped back.
Anita whirled on him. “I said not to be concerned.”
She stared the male down, her second, the man who had witnessed what had happened between Caleb and the alpha inside the kitchen.
Caleb bent his knees again, let his body sag. The man had no choice but to tighten his grip.
Anita shoved her fingers up into the hair on the top of Caleb’s head and forced his face up to hers. “We take him to the cave.”
The cave. Caleb should have known. Where else would a werewolf and a zombie doctor do business?
Chapter 20
S amantha moved her fingers over the ropes that were wrapped around her wrists. She was bound ankle to ankle and wrist to wrist. A cloth had been shoved into her mouth, as well.
Something had hit her in the back of the head as she’d fled the kitchen. Caught up in her discovery, she had been oblivious to what had been going on around her. So oblivious she had apparently missed the stench of zombie.
But lying on the cold floor of this cave, there was no missing it now.
A dozen of the creatures lined up against the wall. There might be more, but bound as she was, her view was limited.
They stood like statues, not breathing, not moving…at least not their bodies. Only their gazes moved, roaming over her.
Her skin crawled under their attention. Lust. It was the only word she could think to describe what she saw in their eyes. But their attention wasn’t sexual. It was hungry, starving, like she was a buffet of delicacies each and every one of them died to dive into.
If their brains had still worked, she would have thought they were dividing her up, carving her into pieces with their minds, choosing which select tidbit they would dive for when the feast began.
But their brains didn’t work, not like hers.
And right now, she wished hers didn’t work quite so well. She wished she wasn’t capable of envisioning exactly what the creatures could do to her.
Pain shot through her hip where it pressed against the cold, hard-packed earth beneath her. Her head ached, too, but the physical pain she was feeling was nothing compared to the anguish of her thoughts.
She closed her eyes to the sight of the zombies and forced her mind to other things. But there was nothing pleasant to focus on—not with reality pressing down around her.
The worst had happened; what Caleb had warned her of had happened. She’d been caught by zombies, and tied as she was, she couldn’t do what she should have done for Allison.
She couldn’t end her own life.
Allison and Caleb. Thinking of them only increased her pain.
Samantha squeezed her eyelids more tightly together. She had let them down. She had in some way deserted them both.
And now she couldn’t make it up to either of them.
There was a shuffling noise. Despite the suspicion that it would be better not to know what was happening, or about to happen, Samantha opened her eyes.
Something white flickered in the corner of her range of vision. She didn’t turn her head; she didn’t have to. She could tell by the way the zombies turned theirs and watched with rapt attention that the doctor had joined them.
He was different than she had expected, with strawberry-blond hair and a ruddy complexion. His eyes were brown and his features even. He was as normal-looking as a hundred men she had passed in the mall and never glanced at twice.
He padded forward until his crepe-soled shoes were inches from Samantha’s face. Then he knelt and patted her on the back. She stiffened.
“So, Allison is dead, truly dead. The hunter fixed it so even I can’t bring her back.” He removed his hand and glanced over his shoulder at the zombies. He pointed at two of them. “Go outside…hide as best you can. When the werewolves come, present yourselves. Defend yourselves if attacked.”
When they had shuffled out of the cave, the doctor looked at Samantha. “I hate to risk losing two more, but it’s the easiest way to know when the wolves arrive and if they are working with me or against me. Your hunter is in the mix now, you know. He wouldn’t be able to resist killing a zombie, even if it alerted me to his arrival. Do you think?”
He paused as if waiting for her reply, but with the wad of cloth still shoved between her lips the best she could offer was a grunt and she didn’t even do that.
He leaned closer and whispered in her ear. “I’m not giving away any secrets now, am I? It’s why you ran, isn’t it? Of course I’m not. You were there when it happened, weren’t you? When the hunter destroyed our Allison?”
Samantha flinched at his use of the word our. Allison wasn’t his. No matter what he did to her friend’s body after she had died, Allison would never be his.
“Oh, but I forgot. He didn’t kill her with a gun or a knife. He used his teeth. Is that why you ran? Because you realized he and the others are werewolves?” The doctor leaned back on his heels and studied her. “Which bothered you more, friend of Allison? Seeing her die or realizing monsters are real?”
Samantha glared at him, wishing she could tell him she already knew monsters were real, had realized it when she’d first seen him on the video online.
He patted her again. “Don’t worry. I want to stop the hunter as much as you do, and guess what? You get to help me.” He reached into the pocket of his lab coat and pulled out a knife. “Did he grow fond of you while you were together? Just a little? I’m hoping so. I’m hoping once he knows I have someone close to him, he’ll see the wisdom in working with me instead of against me. He lost people close to him once before. I don’t think he will want to do it again, do you?”
His questions didn’t really seem to be directed at Samantha. They were more like mindless prattle; the kind of words people said to their pets knowing the creatures didn’t understand them.
Except Samantha did understand them, all too well. She wouldn’t, however, give him a reaction, and she wouldn’t be used as a tool against Caleb.
She lifted her chin. If the doctor drove the blade into her heart, he wouldn’t be able to make her into one of his monsters like he had Allison and he wouldn’t be able to use Samantha against Caleb. If she wanted to make up for the mistakes she had made, it was her only option. Not pausing to allow herself to think more, she thrust her body forward and rammed the doctor with her head.
Tied as she
was, she had no hope of injuring him, but that wasn’t her goal. Her goal was to get him to use that knife, to take her life instead of whatever else he had planned for her.
He fell onto his back. The knife rattled onto the ground. Seeing an opportunity, Samantha dove on the weapon and managed to grasp it between her hands.
The blade was pointed toward her. All she had to do was bend her elbows and plunge the knife’s tip into her own throat, or, easier, fall onto it.
She took a breath and prepared to collapse forward.
A hand sank into her hair. She jerked and the knife tumbled from her fingers.
“Get it,” the doctor told one of his zombies.
His fingers still wrapped in her hair, he pulled her backward so he could once again mutter in her ear.
“What would that solve? You have your whole life ahead of you. Maim yourself and you still have life ahead of you. I will see to that.”
Hot tears of frustration leaked from Samantha’s eyes.
Of course. Death wouldn’t solve her problem. Even it couldn’t save her from the zombie doctor. What could?
“I’m here to make a deal.”
Samantha’s heart jumped, and despite the doctor’s tight hold on her hair, she managed to twist her head enough to see who had spoken.
Anita, the bitch who ran the camp, stood in the opening of the cave. The zombies the doctor had sent to stand guard stood on each side of her, but Samantha’s attention didn’t go to them. Her eyes locked instead on the man being towed behind Anita. Caleb.
He was naked from the waist up, and dressed only in his fatigues. Wrapped around his wrists, ankles, chest and throat was a thin chain of silver-colored metal.
No, Samantha corrected herself, not silver-colored metal. Silver. The kryptonite of a werewolf.
Anita had Caleb under her control and she was about to turn him over to the zombie doctor.
Breath passing his teeth in an inward hiss, the doctor inhaled. He stood, dragging Samantha with him.
As soon as he was on his feet, he seemed to forget her. He dropped his hold of her hair and took a step forward.
He didn’t, however, forget the knife. He motioned to the zombie whom he’d asked to retrieve it, and then slipped the weapon back into his pocket.
“A deal?” He stood with his hands in his pockets and his back to Samantha. He was excited; he practically hummed with anticipation.
She clenched her hands into fists. This couldn’t be happening. Caleb couldn’t be standing beside Anita helpless.
“What type of deal do you think to take? You already owe me for the clients I lost…or the return of the money I gave you. What could you possibly have that would compensate me for fifty eager volunteers?” The doctor asked the question, but Samantha could hear the hunger in his voice. He was just like his zombies, lusting after Caleb as his creations had lusted after her.
She glanced at Caleb. He was looking at her. She didn’t know what she expected to see in his face, but she knew what she wanted to see: regret, love or some message that everything would be all right. But none of those feelings were there, only cold disregard.
She flinched as if struck. Then she dropped her head.
She had turned away from him, run from him when he had done nothing she hadn’t wished for the strength to do herself. Run from him because he was, what—a werewolf? Did that change who she knew him to be? Did that make the man she made love to…loved…a monster? She lifted her gaze and stared him full in the face.
No. That was impossible. She had been a fool.
She willed him to look at her again, to see her remorse, to give her a chance to let him know how wrong she had been, how much she regretted her actions. But it was as if he knew she was watching him and refused to give her that little bit of relief. He kept his attention locked onto the doctor.
“Don’t be cute,” Anita said. “We both know what you want, and I’m here to give it to you—at the right price.” She flicked her gaze at Caleb and then back onto the doctor.
“Me? Be cute?” He laughed. “We both know I already paid, and if I had to guess, you’ve already spent my money.” He wiggled his thumbs over the tops of his lab coat’s pockets. “Am I to guess you want me to accept one werewolf for fifty—” He glanced at Samantha. “Forty-nine willing patients? The math just doesn’t seem to add up.”
Despite his words, Samantha couldn’t miss his excitement. He moved back and forth in a swaying motion, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.
Anita didn’t miss it, either. She started to turn, grabbing Caleb by the bicep as she did. “Fine. I’ll get your money.”
“Wait!” The doctor’s body moved forward a foot with his exclamation. As Anita rotated back toward him, he pulled in a breath and settled into his calm facade. “Money means nothing to me. I need subjects, and a werewolf…that would offer a new line of study. You have a deal.” He strode forward, made it two steps before Anita held out a hand to stop him.
“Don’t jerk my tail. We both know he’s more important to you than a thousand of the pathetics you feed on. I’ll give him to you, but I want another ten thousand…” Anita scanned the space as if looking for something else to demand. Her gaze landed on Samantha. “And her.”
If there was any doubt of the werewolf’s intentions, the slide of her lips over her teeth and the glimmering stare she directed at Samantha ended it.
If the doctor looked excited at the possibility of getting Caleb, Anita looked ecstatic over the same chance to get Samantha.
A line formed between the doctor’s brows as he stared at Samantha. After glancing back at Anita, he smiled. “No more cash, but I am happy to transfer possession of my…guest.”
Of course he was. He didn’t need her, not with Anita handing him Caleb draped in silver. Rage tore through Samantha. She jerked at her binds and chomped at the cloth between her teeth. “Bitch,” she screamed, but it came out muffled, indecipherable to anyone except herself.
Or maybe not. Anita’s eyes glittered. Her hand still on Caleb’s arm, she gestured to the doctor. “You have the numbers. Hand her over first and I’ll leave him behind.”
The doctor glanced around the room as if surprised to find her words to be true. For a second, Samantha thought he would back out of the bargain, claim Caleb and her, have his zombies attack the female werewolf, but he only smiled. Then he grabbed Samantha by her bound wrists and tugged her forward. “It is so nice to deal with someone intelligent. I would have hated to lose our working relationship. Perhaps next month you can make up for the clientele I lost. Shall we say one hundred recruits?”
Anita scowled. “That’s impossible. We had to span out to Oklahoma to get fifty.”
“Go to Mexico, Guatemala, the South Pole. There’s an entire world for us to recruit from. Why limit ourselves?”
The way he said it made it sound as if they were a team. Samantha looked at the female werewolf, a new loathing building inside her.
Anita glanced at her, too. She seemed to read the hatred in Samantha’s eyes. Scowling, she grabbed hold of Samantha’s ties and jerked her from the doctor’s grip. “Fine, one hundred. We’ll find them somehow.”
Without even glancing at Caleb she strode from the room, dragging Samantha behind her—or trying to. Samantha had no intention of leaving Caleb behind. She dropped to the ground and lay there, nothing but dead weight.
Anita bent over her and hissed into her face. “You don’t know much about werewolves, do you? I could pick you up and twirl you over my head if I liked. Of course, I also might snap that delicate little human spine of yours into a million pieces as I did. We aren’t the most careful creatures, you know. And we do so like to play with our food.” She flashed her teeth. They were white and very human-looking, but somehow she made them look more sinister than a mouth filled with daggers.
Not far away, someone growled.
Without looking to see who, Anita growled, too. “Get up,” she muttered. “You are ruining everythin
g.” She jerked on Samantha’s arm.
Samantha stared at her, realization hitting.
It was a trick…a trap. Caleb was here to save her. The chains were fakes. Once she was out, he’d go into hunter mode, slay the zombies and kill the doctor. The nightmare would be over forever.
Hoping she hadn’t already ruined everything, she let Anita pull her to a stand. She didn’t object when the other female bent at the waist and levered her onto her shoulder.
Then her head dangling over Anita’s back, she groped for a hold on her belt and waited for the sounds of Caleb’s attack behind them.
Anita strode from the cave, walked out into the sunshine and began jogging down the uneven rock path that led away from the place. But there were still no sounds behind them and no signs of Caleb.
Her body bouncing up and down, Samantha did her best to hang on to the werewolf’s belt, swearing with each jostle that if this wasn’t some trick and Caleb didn’t walk out of that cave leaving a pile of dead zombies behind him, she would kill the female werewolf herself somehow.
Chapter 21
A nita tossed Samantha onto the dirt. Without bothering to untie her or remove her gag, the werewolf turned to tromp toward a cabin.
Ignoring the sharp pain shooting through her back from her abrupt collision with the earth, Samantha flipped onto her stomach and inch-wormed to a stand. In their travels, the gag had loosened. Using the tips of her fingers she tugged at the bunched material. After a few seconds of twisting her neck and spitting out cloth, she managed to free her mouth.
“Where are you going? Where’s Caleb?”
The werewolf halted. Midstep, Anita twisted in place, one foot still extended in front of the other.
“Excuse me?” Her voice was haughty and her expression cold. She was doing her best to let Samantha know her place.
And Samantha didn’t give a damn. She hopped closer, teetered and almost fell, but regained her balance enough to grind out. “Caleb. What is the plan?”
