by J. C. Diem
“Who decorates these places?” Kala queried. The living room to our left was furnished with bright red leather couches and a matching rug. The coffee table, dining table and chairs were stark black. The decor was trendier than usual.
Mark shrugged. “I have no idea. My only concern is that our equipment remains up to date.” As always, the equipment met his needs. The coms room upstairs looked exactly the same as the ones in our other compounds. Kala’s main concern was that we had a gigantic TV and cable so she could watch the latest movies.
“Did you call your girlfriend and tell her we were leaving Lilydale?” Kala asked Flynn.
He looked alarmed. “I didn’t even think of it.” Taking his phone out of his pocket, he headed for the spiral staircase. “And Silvia is not my girlfriend,” he said over his shoulder.
“I love teasing Flynn,” she confided to me when he disappeared into his room. “He’s so easy to wind up.” So was she, but I didn’t point that out to her.
As usual, our prints needed to be scanned before we could open any of the doors. We followed Mark up to the coms room and took turns placing our palms on the computer table. With that task out of the way, we dispersed. Flynn was still in his room, presumably chatting to McSweeny.
Not in the mood to watch TV, I decided to go for a run. Running wasn’t something I’d ever been interested in before I’d become a shifter. Now I liked to feel the wind in my hair and the ground beneath my feet.
Changing into shorts and sneakers that hadn’t been chewed up and spat out, I left the building and headed out to the back of the compound. Zeus came running to meet me. He was as joyful to see me as if we’d been apart for days rather than minutes. I kept my pace slow enough for him to be able to keep up, but he didn’t have my stamina and eventually gave up. Free to sprint at last, I ran until I was covered in sweat and was panting for air.
As I slowed to a jog, I admitted to myself why I felt the need to run. I was full of pent up sexual energy and had no way of acting on it. Reece had made it clear that he wanted time to think about our situation. I hated to admit it, but Kala was right about sex with alphas. It was addictive, but apparently not for Reece. Maybe being with me wasn’t that amazing for him. The thought didn’t exactly boost my self-confidence.
The sun was setting as I trudged back to the base at a slow walk. I realized the difference between Reece and I might be greater than I’d believed. If he felt the same way that I did, he’d have trouble keeping his hands to himself. Instead, he held me at arm’s length without any effort at all.
Feeling morose, I let Zeus inside and he wandered over to sit at Kala’s feet in the living room. She absently leaned down to pat him as I climbed the stairs to get cleaned up. I headed back downstairs just as Mark was about to serve dinner. I made sure to feed Zeus so he wouldn’t bother us while we were trying to eat.
“How did your girlfriend take the news that we had to leave town?” Kala asked Flynn.
He sent her a level stare that didn’t bother her in the least. “She didn’t believe me when I said we had to leave because of an emergency.”
“Women,” she said with a shrug. “We’re naturally suspicious of men and their lies.”
“We don’t all lie,” Mark said in defense of his gender.
“Sure you do,” she said cheerfully. “Men lie and women manipulate you into doing what we want. It’s the way the world works.” Her philosophy was skewed, but no one could outright refute it. “I can have a chat to her, if you like,” she said to Flynn.
He paled slightly at her offer. “No! That won’t be necessary.”
“What?” She pretended to be wounded. “Don’t you trust me not to ask her for details about how you measured up in the sack?”
“Of course I don’t trust you. That’s exactly what you’d do.”
“Yeah,” she grinned and revealed a mouthful of mashed up carrots. “You’re right. I totally would ask her.”
Emotionally drained, I had an early night and was up early as a consequence. I went for another run with Zeus. He managed to keep up with me for a full circuit of the property this time. I rewarded him by playing fetch with him for an hour.
Everyone else was up when we headed back inside. When Mark finished eating breakfast, he went straight up to the coms room. I presumed he was thinking about how we were going to tackle the ghoul problem. He was reluctant to enlist the help of other PIA squads. If they saw us in action, they’d figure out pretty quickly that we weren’t human. He wanted to keep our true identities a secret from all but the upper echelon who had allowed him to create the TAK Squad in the first place.
After the others had finished eating, I brought up a topic that we’d all been trying to avoid. “I need to learn more control over my wolf,” I said. “I don’t want to lose it and accidentally turn when it isn’t the full moon again.” I shivered at that prospect. I’d been so angry to see Kala beneath Cole’s power that I’d completely lost my ability to rein in my wolf. Reece had been teaching me to get a hold of the rage that all werewolves seemed to have, but I hadn’t mastered the ability yet.
“What do you want us to do?” Kala asked. For once, she put all joking aside and was being deadly serious.
“I need you to push me to the edge. It’s going to be brutal for us all, but I think this is the only way.”
Flynn sought clarification. “I’m not following. What exactly is your plan?”
“You and Kala need to work me into a rage so Reece can teach me to control it,” I explained. “I think this will work faster if you both attack me together.”
Flynn and Kala looked appalled at the suggestion. Reece didn’t like it either and shook his head. He knew I’d already made up my mind so didn’t bother to voice his protest out loud.
“What if watching us beat Lexi up makes you go crazy again?” Kala asked him. He hadn’t had another episode since we’d left West Virginia, but we couldn’t be sure that the danger was gone.
“No one is getting in my head again,” Reece said grimly. I wasn’t as certain as he was about that. I might not be able to penetrate the mental barrier that he’d erected, but something else had been able to.
“We can try it,” Flynn said reluctantly. “If it doesn’t look like it’s going to work, we can stop.”
“I know it’s going to suck, but this is the only way,” I said. I wasn’t a fan of pain, but it was a powerful motivator. I felt bad for Kala and Flynn. They were going to go through as much hell as I was during our sessions.
Just as I’d figured, the next four days were brutal on all of us. We didn’t want Mark to see the new level of training that I was undergoing. We only sparred when he was upstairs in the coms room. Luckily, my cuts, bruises and broken bones healed quickly. It wasn’t fun being pounded by both Kala and Flynn at the same time. Just as I’d asked, they were ruthless.
The first session was the hardest. I lost my temper fairly quickly and descended into a rage when Kala shattered my cheekbone. My wolf surged to the surface and Reece had to spring into the ring and wrap his arms around me to calm me down again before I could begin to change. Time and time again, I lost control and he had to bring me back down. It was exhausting for all of us.
On the fifth day, I came so close to changing that not even Reece could talk me down. It took all three of them to use their tentative link so Reece could invade my mind and force me to stop in mid-change.
Using his sleeve to wipe away the blood from the scratches that I’d left on his face, Flynn shook his head wearily when I regained my ability to think again. “If you’d had actual claws, you’d have left permanent scars on my face.”
Remembering the fine network of scars on his back, I was ashamed of my lack of control. He’d already suffered enough and I was putting them through hell. I resolved to try harder to quell my wolf the next time she tried to rise.
It wasn’t easy, but I wrestled against the urge to tear and kill when they ganged up on me again. Reece had been trying to show m
e how to harness the rage, but I hadn’t fully grasped how. It had been easier to learn when he’d used his mind rather than words to teach me. Now that I was alone in my head, I focused harder than I ever had before.
Kala rushed at me and I sidestepped her attack. Flynn was on me and I lifted my hands to defend my face. Instead of aiming for my head, his foot connected with my stomach and my breath whooshed out. Falling to my knees, I deflected a kick from Kala and dived at her feet. She went down with a startled sound and I caught Flynn’s punch and pulled him towards me. Planting my foot in his stomach, I pushed him away and sent him sailing out of the ring. He landed on his back with a thump, but I’d already turned my attention back to Kala.
Twisting around to face me, she sent a series of punches at my face. I blocked most of them and merely bared my teeth when she broke my nose instead of allowing my rage to surface. She grinned at my self-control then showed me just how much they’d both been holding back when she attacked me next. Her hands were a blur of motion that I could barely follow. Crushing blows struck me, smashing my cheek and jaw then it was my turn to be sent flying out of the ring.
Landing on my face, I lay there, fighting for air. Reece knelt beside me and rolled me over. He sent a dark look over his shoulder at Kala before turning back to me. “Are you okay?” he asked.
The pain was already fading as my bones knitted back together. “Yep. That was awesome,” I lied. “Let’s do it again.”
Flynn and Kala appeared and offered me their hands to help me up. “How did you manage to stay in control that time?” Flynn asked. I detected a hint of pride in his voice.
“I couldn’t stand the thought of giving you any more scars,” I said quietly.
His expression grew haunted and Kala put a hand on his shoulder. “Lexi needs to know what they did to you,” she urged him.
“She doesn’t have the clearance level,” he argued, but I sensed that he wanted to tell me.
“I’ve just rectified that,” Mark said as he joined us. I hadn’t even heard him descend the stairs. “You’re now level five, the same as the rest of the squad,” he said to me. He noted the blood on our clothes and in the ring, but made no comment. I had the feeling he knew exactly what we’d been up to during the past five days. He might not approve of our methods, but he must have believed it was necessary to teach me control.
“It was the scientists from EERI, wasn’t it?” I asked.
Flynn nodded and his haunted look intensified. “I don’t remember much about it, just pain that never seemed to end.”
“How long did EERI keep them captive before you rescued them?” I asked Mark, fighting back tears for Flynn’s suffering.
“Six months,” he said.
“Why did they cut him?”
“According to their research, they cut Flynn with a silver blade. Their intention was to see if the scars would fade once he turned when he became fifteen.”
I swallowed down the lump in my throat before asking my next question. “What else did they do to them?”
“Nothing,” he said, to my relief. “Not that I could find in the records anyway. They took Kala and Flynn from their families, injected them with the virus then one had the bright idea of scarring Flynn. The PIA received a tipoff from a concerned EERI employee who didn’t agree with their methods.
“I was sent in with a team to rescue them. I didn’t realize that they’d been experimented on until after I’d read the files. I found Reece only a short while later and pretended he’d also been held captive by EERI. It took some convincing before my superiors agreed to let me raise them. They’d never have been able to live normal lives with regular human families. All three expressed an interest in becoming PIA agents when they were young. I made sure they received the training they needed.”
“He didn’t just save our lives when he took us from EERI,” Kala said. “He became our new father.” She put her arm around Mark’s waist and rested her head on his shoulder. My tears threatened to fall again. They’d lost their families and had gained a new one in Mark. He’d become their father, their mentor and then their boss. They were so different on so many levels that they shouldn’t have been able to function as a team, yet they made it work. Mutual love and respect was the glue that held them together.
My gaze slid to Reece, who had distanced himself from us slightly. The glue was falling apart now that he’d seen his true family. I wondered how much longer it would be able to hold.
₪₪₪
Chapter Thirty
“I’m glad to see you’ve gained control over your wolf,” Mark said to me. “Make sure you keep up the training. I don’t want to have to explain your ability to change outside of the normal moon’s cycle to my superiors.”
“I take it you haven’t told them that Lexi and I were bitten by a vampire,” Reece said.
Mark was horrified at the thought. “That would be a very bad idea,” he said succinctly. “If they knew the possible fate that you two are facing, they’d order me to exterminate you both.”
“We should probably try to avoid that,” Flynn said with a straight face.
Mark ignored his wacky attempt at humor. “I’ve come up with a tentative plan to take down the ghouls, but you might not like it.” He addressed that remark to Kala.
Her expression immediately darkened when she realized what he meant. “Please tell me you’re not going to ask Cole for help.” She stepped away from him and crossed her arms.
“I said you wouldn’t like it. I’ve been thinking about your idea to attack the ghouls while you’re in were-form. You’ll be much stronger and far more deadly then. If you were to team up with the lions, it will be far easier for you to eradicate the ghouls.”
“What if Cole takes her over again?” I asked.
“I don’t think he will,” Flynn said. “Cole seemed to realize that what he did to Kala was wrong. He wants to make it up to her and this can be his chance for redemption.”
Reece was doubtful about the plan. “We can’t predict how he’ll act when he turns. He might not be able to stop himself from taking control of her again. He could mark her and then we’d never be able to free her from him.” As a lesser feline, he wouldn’t let her mark him in return. That meant she’d become his sex slave forever. The worst part was that she wouldn’t even know she was a captive at all.
“I don’t think he’ll be able to take me over again,” Kala said. “Not if I renew my bond to you guys. I came out of my daze as soon as you both bit me. If we all bite each other before we turn he won’t be able to bamboozle me so easily.”
“Then we’re in agreement of the plan?” Mark asked. No one was happy about it, but we nodded. “I’ll make the call.”
He retreated upstairs to call the Nightstalker Club. We took a break from training and listened in to his end of the conversation. Cole himself came to the phone and agreed to assist us. They worked out the details then Mark hung up and came downstairs again.
Kala put a mug of coffee in front of him when he sat down on the couch. “I take it he agreed?” she asked.
Cradling his mug, he nodded. “Cole wants to make restitution to you. He promised he wouldn’t try to bring you back into his harem.”
“Can we trust him?” I asked.
“I’m afraid we’ll have to,” Mark replied. “We can’t take down the ghouls alone and we can’t allow them to grow in number again. They’ll be forced to kidnap living humans again eventually.”
“Aren’t we going to have a major problem if we team up with the lions when we turn?” I queried. “Don’t we tend to fight to the death when we encounter other shifters?”
“Usually, but I’m hoping that won’t be the case this time,” Mark replied. “You and Reece have already demonstrated that you can rein in Kala and Flynn. As a Rex, Cole should be able to fight his instincts to protect his territory. We already know that he can control his pride.”
“What if he can’t fight his urge to protect his turf?” Flynn as
ked. “They outnumber us and they’ll tear us apart.”
“Alphas of all species have the intelligence to be able to decide what is best for their pack,” Mark explained. “As long as you remind him of your mission, he should be able to remember that you’re his allies rather than his enemies.”
“Will he be able to stop his cats from shredding us to pieces?”
“You saw how strong his control over Kala was,” Mark said. “Rexes tend to be heavy handed when it comes to ruling their prides. Cole might seem vain and shallow when he’s in human form, but as a werelion, he’ll have absolute control over his felines.”
I hoped he was right. As a human, he would be in the greatest danger. He’d be a lone fragile man facing ravenous shifters. With one snap of our jaws or swipe of our claws, his life would be over.
With less than two weeks left before the full moon now, I was relentless in getting Flynn and Kala to train me to control my rage. We were all left exhausted and emotionally drained each night. Even Reece was feeling the strain and he never laid a finger on me, except to help settle me down when my anger was riled.
Kala and Flynn didn’t enjoy inflicting pain on me, but the harsh and cruel method was working. I was able to focus my anger and defend myself with far more skill than I had previously.
Zeus was never inside during these training bouts. I shut down the link between us so he didn’t feel my pain. If he became aware of what was happening, he’d have turned on the others. I didn’t want him to end up hating them when they were only doing what was necessary.
Two days before we were scheduled to leave for the long drive back to Lilydale, we had what would be our final training session. I was used to being ganged up on by Kala and Flynn by now and I was adept at either dodging or blocking their blows. I hadn’t come close to losing control for several days now. Apparently, they took this as a challenge to try to break me.
I wasn’t prepared for it when Flynn caught me from behind and pinned my arms behind my back. He held me so tightly that I couldn’t move as Kala stalked up to me. Her eyes were without expression when she punched me in the face as hard as she could. My nose broke and blood sprayed. Her fist shot towards me again and I jerked my head to the side so her knuckles only skimmed my cheek. She caught my chin in a viselike grip so I couldn’t avoid her next punch. After several more blows, my eyes began to swell shut. Somehow, I kept hold of the rage that tried to escape from me.
