Changeling Dawn

by Dani Harper

  “That’s crazy,” retorted Nikki.

  “Is it? She’s been here one day and already we have werewolves trying to look like people.”

  Kenzie narrowed her eyes at Gessler. “We are people.”

  “Only when it suits you. The rest of the time, you’re killers.”

  “If you’re so sure of that, why isn’t Nate Richardson in a cage? He’s a werewolf too.”

  Gessler laughed out loud. “Sure he is, and the pope wears a thong. Nice try, lady.” He was still chuckling when he left the room.

  “I need to look after Six,” said Nikki, and she turned to leave.

  “It’s Dempsey,” said Roy suddenly. “He has a fucking name. Dempsey.”

  “Dempsey, got it.” She hurried across the room and out the door.

  Roy slid down the wall to sit on the floor. “Damn that Gessler. He’s the one that should be in a cage. Tell me why we’re in human form again?”

  “Nikki might help us,” piped up Sam from the end cage.

  “Might,” snorted Roy. “And then Gessler will just dart us or shoot us. I don’t think he cares which.”

  “They don’t know that Nate’s a Changeling?” asked Kenzie. “They honestly don’t know?”

  “Richardson’s got himself a sweet racket. Nobody at IBC can tell if a human is Changeling or not. So he’s taken full advantage of that. Pretends he’s a psychic and that’s how he can find us and turn us in.”

  “I think we should turn the tables on him,” Kenzie said, folding her arms. “I think we should expose him for what he is.”

  “How? You saw how Gessler took it when you tried to tell him.”

  “We could show them. There are enough full-grown Changelings in this room. If we all pushed at Nate at once with our mindspeech, we could order his wolfen side to come out and play.”

  Roy looked at her openmouthed. “Holy shit, lady,” said Sam. “That’d be a neat trick if it works. Where the hell did you learn about that?”

  “My family’s part of a Pack. It’s pretty basic stuff, although you use it only in an emergency.”

  “Well, I’d say this qualifies. But it’s not as basic as you seem to think,” said Roy, recovering somewhat. “What we know, we’ve had to learn on our own. There’s not a lot of Changeling Packs in Alaska. In fact, I don’t think any of us have ever been part of one in our lives. Land of the rugged individualist and all that.”

  Sam nodded. “Probably why it was so damn easy to grab us.”

  “Probably why we’re still here, too,” Roy said wryly. “Nobody’s looking for us.”

  Kenzie sat in a corner, rested her elbows on her knees and closed her eyes. She was lucky to have more hope than her fellow prisoners. Stanton had told her that Josh was going to get her and Anya out, but it was hard to imagine how anyone could get past Gessler, his goons, and who knew what other security. Still, Josh had once told her she needed to have a little faith. She certainly hadn’t shown any in their relationship. At the very first obstacle, she’d turned on him and pushed him away. Her inner wolf had permitted it only because it was fixated on finding Anya, and perhaps because it was inexperienced. After all, she’d never had a mate before.

  Sadly, she didn’t know if she had one now. Josh was the kind of guy who would rescue her and Anya whether he knew them or not, and whether he liked them or not, just because it was the right thing to do. So maybe he planned to free her and then walk away. She could hardly blame him—after all, her last words to him had been pretty ugly. All because of her own fears.

  Kenzie sighed and ran her fingers over the steel mesh of her caged run. She’d told Birkie that fear serves a purpose, it can keep you safe. Ha. The joke was on her—all her fears hadn’t kept her the least bit safe. In fact, every fear she’d ever had about humans had just come true.

  And, thanks to Nate, should she now have fears about Changelings too? Good and bad in both species, just like Birkie had said.

  She hoped she got a chance to tell her friend how right she’d been.

  Chapter Twenty

  “Helluva way to meet the in-laws,” whispered Stanton, obviously enjoying Josh’s discomfort as they waited at the side of the highway in Stanton’s jeep. The old vet had managed to locate the hidden turnoff to the road—not much more than an overgrown goat path, really—that meandered to the compound.

  “They’re not my in-laws.”

  “Not yet. You have to impress them first.”

  “I’ll settle for them not killing me. Tell me again how this isn’t a bad idea—we’re asking civilians to help break prisoners out of a high-security compound.”

  “They’re werewolves. They’ll take care of themselves, trust me.”

  “That’s not comforting when all of the prisoners we’re trying to rescue are werewolves too. And somehow they managed to get themselves captured.”

  “They were alone at the time they were picked up. You send werewolves in a pack, it’ll take a tank battalion to stop them.”

  “How big’s a pack?”

  “Anything more than one,” Stanton grinned.

  A full-sized pickup truck was slowing as it approached. A few moments later Josh—who was accustomed to being taller than anyone he knew—found himself looking up at a blond Viking with murder written in his blue eyes. Two men flanked him, twins, their faces grim. Suddenly, a small white-haired woman stepped down from the driver’s seat of the truck. She was dressed in camo coveralls and her eyes contained immense intelligence—and something like amusement—as she surveyed him. He didn’t miss that she edged herself in front of the Viking. Her gaze lingered for a moment on Stanton before she extended a hand with many silver rings and bracelets to Josh. “I’m Birkie Peterson. We talked last night.”

  When he’d called Connor Macleod’s office, he’d expected a recorded message to give him a home number for emergencies, as Stanton’s clinic phone did. Instead, the machine forwarded to this woman. He’d had no intention of discussing the situation with anyone but a Macleod but Kenzie had spoken fondly of Birkie—and said that she knew all about Changelings.

  “I had a feeling my girl was in trouble,” she’d said, but otherwise had seemed unfazed by a complete stranger’s calling in the pre-dawn hours. Josh ended up explaining the entire situation to her, but certainly hadn’t expected her to show up in person. The three men were clearly shapeshifters, their strong auras glowing blue. But Birkie—he looked down at her slim hand clasped in his and saw a shine that had nothing to do with the jewelry she wore. Incredibly, her aura was as silver as her rings. What the hell was she?

  As if she knew what he was thinking, she winked at him and retrieved her hand. “These are Kenzie’s brothers. James”—she waved at the glowering blond giant—“and Culley and Devlin.

  Although a smaller force was better suited to stealth operation, three men—even shape-shifters—did not seem like nearly enough. “I thought there were four of you. Where’s Connor?”

  “Kenzie said he’s the one with the newborn, remember?” Stanton whispered from over Josh’s shoulder. “Werewolf imperative. Can’t leave if there’s young to guard—not for a while at least. It’s a biological thing.”

  “It’s Changeling, if you don’t mind,” said Culley. “But you’re right. He had to call another veterinarian to fill in for a while because Connor can’t leave his mate’s side. Actually, it’s starting to drive Zoey crazy—” Elbowed by Devlin, Culley shrugged and fell silent.

  “There’re more than enough of us,” said James.

  Out of the corner of his eye, Josh saw Birkie reach behind her and place a restraining hand on James’s much bigger one, the one that was balled into a formidable fist at present. Josh wasn’t sure if James was pissed at him because he was casting doubt on their ability or questioning Connor’s absence. Both, he decided.

  “We’re here to get our girl back,” Birkie said to Josh. Her voice was as friendly as ever, but he could hear the resolve and the certainty in it. “And we will. Like James sai
d, there are more than enough of us to do the job.”

  “Like Texas Rangers,” added Stanton.

  One riot, one Changeling. Josh fervently hoped his friend was right. “Let’s get down to business then. We’ll want to reach the facility before sundown.”

  “Wait a second. I want to know how my sister ended up a prisoner in the first place.” It was James again, his voice still low and dangerous. He obviously thought Josh was to blame for the situation. Stanton narrowed his eyes, about to say something scathing no doubt, but Josh signaled him back.

  Best to meet this one head on. He locked eyes with the bigger man. “Kenzie went after Anya alone while I was checking another trail because we’d had an argument.”

  “That so? And just what were you giving her a hard time about?”

  “That hard time was pretty mutual as I recall, and the subject’s none of your business—it’s between me and Kenzie.” Josh didn’t miss that the twins almost took a physical step back, as if expecting an explosion. “You want to go a round with me, James, that’s fine. Name the place and time. But it can damn well wait until Kenzie and the others are safe.” Josh deliberately turned his back on the big man and spread out his maps and papers on the hood of his truck. “Culley, I hear you’re the electronics expert. I’ve got a live fence around the compound and the power shed appears to be here on the north side ...”

  As Culley peered at the map, his face had lost its threatening demeanor. In fact, Josh could swear that he was trying not to laugh. The others circled around and a moment later, James silently joined in.

  Four more Changelings now stood on human feet. Only three remained as wolves, and of those, Beau and Rico were still unconscious. Kenzie was worried about them both—whatever they were being drugged with was heavy-duty stuff. And, hours later, Dempsey still had not been returned to his cage.

  A couple of handlers had brought in fresh deer quarters, using butchers’ chainmail gloves as they shoved them through the narrow steel flaps in the cage doors over the brackets that held the food dishes. Kenzie decided she needed to keep up her strength. She couldn’t stomach raw venison as a human any more than she could handle pizza as a wolf. So she Changed as soon as the men left and gobbled down the fresh meat, even cracking the bigger bones and licking out the marrow. The others followed suit.

  Nikki came in as Kenzie finished eating and gingerly approached her cage. “Dempsey is in ICU. I think we’ve got him stabilized now, but he’s had a rough time of it. The tranq obviously affects you differently when you’re in human form than it does when you’re a wolf. I’m so sorry.”

  It wasn’t going to hurt anything to shift her form in front of the young vet; she already knew what Kenzie was. And maybe it would be a gesture of trust between them. Kenzie stood and resumed her human form.

  The others followed her lead, and for a few moments, blue sparks rained in the room and unseen vortexes of icy air spun wildly about.

  “Oh. My. God.” Nikki’s face was awestruck. Her sleek black hair was mussed from all the static electricity. A pair of blue sparks winked out on her lab coat. “I didn’t think it would be so fast. That was amazing.”

  Kenzie noted with satisfaction that, except for Beau and Rico, every one of the Changelings had now put away their wolfen forms. After all, brute force wasn’t going to get them out of their cages. But a little charm and some opposable thumbs just might....

  The crash of the door on the far side of the room dispelled her optimism. Gessler strode in, obviously enjoying his noisy entrance, and handed Nikki a thick sheaf of paper. “New security rules, Dr. Yeung.”

  “What are you, a secretary now? I don’t have time to go over this bureaucratic—” she began but Gessler put up his hand.

  “It involves you and your staff,” he said and pointed to a paragraph highlighted in yellow. “For your own safety, you’ll be accompanied by one of my men each and every time you enter this room.”

  “Since when? What the hell is this about?”

  “It’s about our research subjects assuming human shape in order to elicit sympathy from the real humans. You could be seriously wounded or even killed in an unguarded moment, Dr. Yeung. This is for your own protection.”

  “That’s a load of horseshit, buddy, and I’m going to the top about this right now.” She stalked from the room.

  Gessler turned a mocking smile on Kenzie. “Whatever you’re planning isn’t going to work,” he whispered, and sauntered after Nikki.

  “I hate that guy,” said Roy.

  Kenzie clenched her fists in frustration. “Not nearly as much as I do.” Just then a voice popped into her head. It was Stanton, only it was so much easier to hear him than it had been before. She listened carefully, then beamed at Roy and the others.

  “They’re coming,” she announced.

  Roy looked toward the door. “Who is it now?”

  “No, no, not from here. My friends on the outside. They’re coming to get us.”

  Whispered cheers came from the other cages. Dan and Shaggy Sam high-fived each other through the mesh.

  Kenzie paused as Stanton continued. “He did what? Omigod.” He couldn’t have.

  “What’s wrong?” asked Roy.

  “Josh called in my brothers.” And even Birkie had come along to help. The mix of emotions was overwhelming, almost dizzying, and Kenzie sat down to try to make sense of them. Elation and relief warred with stark fear for her loved ones. Kenzie didn’t want her family anywhere near this terrible place. Astonishment that a human would take it upon himself to apprise her Changeling family of her situation blended with worry—what if they blamed Josh? After all, hadn’t she reacted the same way when she’d discovered Anya missing? Of course, her brothers were more accepting of humans than she was, and with Birkie on hand, maybe they wouldn’t do anything to him.

  Maybe.

  The road was little more than a bulldozed path through thick forest, most likely created when the facility was being built and left to its own devices after that. Josh felt a headache coming on, partly from the constant jarring of driving over deep ruts and potholes, and partly from his own frustration at not being able to travel faster. His hands were tense on the wheel, wanting nothing better than to break someone in half over Kenzie’s imprisonment, even as he knew emotions clouded judgement in battle. Still, his feelings refused to be quelled. The lowhung sky matched his mood, the dark clouds roiling like his gut. Fury at her captors warred with hurt over her parting words. What if she’d been telling the truth and couldn’t love a human partner? What if she really didn’t want him?

  Then she doesn’t want me, he told himself sternly. But I’m getting her out of there so she can tell me that herself.

  He envied James and Devlin, who had shifted to their lupine forms and run on ahead as scouts. They didn’t have to follow the road and could make far better time. Stanton and Culley were in the second truck but Birkie had elected to travel with him.

  Josh was apprehensive about her company at first, but she didn’t interrogate him, simply talked about the rest of the Macleod family and their life in the small rural town of Dunvegan. He relaxed after a few minutes, and allowed her to distract him a little from the maelstrom of emotions that battered him.

  “You’re not a Changeling but you sure seem to know a lot about them,” he said finally.

  She nodded. “I’ve been acquainted with Changelings my entire life.”

  “So tell me, can a shapeshifter have a successful relationship with a human?”

  If she was surprised by his question, she hid it well. “Can and do, all the time. James’s wife was human when he met her. So was Connor’s.”

  What? “There’re humans in Kenzie’s family?” He’d make a point of bringing that little gem up in their next argument. And by God, there was going to be one.

  “Plenty of them. Even her father was human when Gwen met him. Most Changelings find their mates among humans. For one thing, there aren’t that many shapeshifters around
. And for another, Changelings are human, really. They just have a few extra talents. And a few special needs—they mate for life, you know.”

  “So do I.”

  Birkie nodded but there was a satisfied grin on her face as she gracefully changed the subject.

  It was dusk when they ditched the trucks about a mile from the IBC compound, pulling them into the forest and covering them with branches. Stanton had brought a veritable arsenal—Josh figured it represented a sizeable chunk of his friend’s personal collection—and distributed rifles, handguns, and tasers.

  “Holy crap,” said Culley.“The government let you register all this? Hell, they let you buy all this?”

  Stanton chuckled. “It’s Alaska, son. No gun control here on the frontier.”

  “That’s it, I’m moving here,” he sighed.

  “Use nonlethal force if you can,” instructed Josh, taking one of the tasers. “But since we’re dealing with people who think kidnapping’s A-OK, chances are they won’t hesitate to shoot us. So do what you need to do. Anybody have a problem with that?”

  No one did.

  Culley had his own contribution, holding up a camouflage hood. “IBC has more money than God. So everybody keep your face hidden at all times. I’ve got enough hoods for everyone, but if you don’t want to use one, wear face paint, sunglasses, something that will obscure your features. Because if they catch you on a security camera, there’ll be more than legal ramifications to worry about. Number one, they’ll suspect you of being a Changeling and hunt you down later, and trust me, they have the resources to find you anywhere on the planet. In other words, your life is ruined if they see you.”

  “Encouraging pre-game speech there, coach,” remarked Devlin.

  Birkie passed out tiny leather pouches on rawhide cords. “This should take care of that little problem. Made them myself.”

  All three Macleods looked relieved and immediately put them on. Stanton scrutinized his, even sniffed it, then shrugged and followed suit.