“How do you know it’s a juvenile?” the girl on the phone wanted to know.
Rat’s control on his temper slipped a little. “Because it’s not tried to eat my fucking face yet. Just get Cal and his brother down here. Now.”
Clicking the phone off, he slid it back in his pocket and stood in one movement, pulling Coffee Girl up with him. Still cooing at the creature in front of them, she tried to shrug off his grip but he pulled her in tightly. Lover tight. She was human and so far under the unicorn’s glamor, she only saw what it wanted her to see—the small, cute, defenseless creature.
Glamor didn’t work on demons or pixies. Which meant Rat saw the white coat was splattered with blood and the lips curled back to reveal, not the flat teeth of an herbivore, but sharp, pointed teeth designed for tearing flesh. The teeth of a carnivore.
Equus Ferus Reem, known in mythology as the unicorn.
As often happened, though, mythology had gotten it wrong. Unicorns weren’t all light and fluffy sweetness. They were vicious fuckers always looking for their next meal.
Their food of choice? There was a reason for the virgin thing. Male or female, it didn’t matter which. Like demons, unicorns were fascinated by innocence, and the only human who had a chance of surviving an encounter with a unicorn was a virgin. Done the down and dirty? You were a goner quicker than you could say the word fuck.
By that reckoning, Rat had been done for a couple of centuries ago.
“Can you dance?” he asked quietly. “Or sing? We need to distract it.”
But not by running. Even a virgin would become a meal that way, the unicorn’s predatory instincts taking over like a shot. Dead virgin running.
Slowly, she nodded. Her eyes were wide, gaze riveted on the unicorn in front of them. His continued touch started to negate the creature’s glamor and she could see it for what it was. He felt her heart hammering in her chest where she pressed under his arm.
“Slowly then,” he advised, taking a half step back and away but keeping his hand lightly on the back of her neck.
If he let go, the glamor would reassert itself, and she’d run forward into the creature’s embrace. From there, it was anyone’s guess what would happen. Beguiled and enraptured, the creature probably wouldn’t hurt her. Probably. There was no definite when dealing with a juvenile unicorn. An adult male—and they were always male—would have been a different matter. They were more interested in fucking virgins than eating them, unless it was in a fun way.
She started to sway. Graceful, delicate movements that drew the interest of the unicorn. Unleashing a little of the power within him, he started to hum softly—a melody she picked up and wove into her dance. Despite himself, he smiled.
They might just get out of this alive…
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Ariel: Nano Wolves 1
Book Description
Being a living experiment wasn’t part of the scientific career she’d planned for herself.
Despite her sharp scientific mind and her degree in bio-molecular genetics, Dr. Ariel Jones hasn’t figured out how her life changed so much in a single day. Before she can blink and ask about what is going on, she is injected with a billion nanos and some very potent wolf blood.
Now she can suddenly turn into a giant white wolf with the bloodlust of a starving animal. And she’s an alpha…or so she is told by the even larger, very male, black wolf who was used to create her. Hallucination? She wishes. Whether human or wolf, Reed talks in her head and tells her how to handle things…or rather how to kill them…starting with the men who hold them all captive. Too bad he can’t tell her how to put her life back like it was.
Admittedly, there are perks to being a werewolf, such as meeting sexy werewolf guys like Matthew Gray Wolf. Science labs aren't overrun with sexy men in white coats. She also doesn’t mind learning about a side of herself she never knew existed. It's great changing into a real wolf whenever she wants, but being a living experiment wasn’t part of the scientific career she’d planned for herself. Neither was falling for the local werewolf alpha, but what else is a newbie werewolf caught in her burning time going to do?
Excerpt
CHAPTER 1…
Dr. Ariel Jones blinked at the bright lights overhead as she woke. Finding herself naked and strapped to some sort of gurney, she turned her head and saw two women similarly strapped to gurneys beside her. One was weeping steadily. The other was glaring at a fixed spot on the ceiling.
Her scientist brain got busy immediately, trying to figure out what had happened since she’d come to work that morning. Her typical day at Feldspar Research always started at five in the morning to accommodate the light limitations of living and working just outside Anchorage, Alaska.
She had processed the new set of blood samples waiting for her in the lab and instantly reported the unusually rapid cell mutation she had seen happening under the lens of her microscope. Then at about ten o’clock, she’d gone for a direct meeting with Dr. Crane, who had asked to speak with her in person about what she’d found.
One minute she had been drinking coffee and talking with a colleague. The next she was waking up naked in…where was she anyway? Looking around more, she finally recognized the place. It was where they had brought the giant wolf.
Sniffing the air, she could indeed smell the pungency of the trapped animal. It was what had bothered her most. From what she knew, he’d been here longer than she had worked for Crane. The one and only time she’d seen the wolf in person had been more than enough. He was the biggest animal she’d ever seen and bigger than any she could have ever imagined.
Now she was here—in the same room where they had kept him. The discovery brought her back to her own pressing problem of waking up naked and restrained without knowing why. A thousand thoughts raced through her mind, none of them pleasant.
“So good of you to join us at last, Dr. Jones. I’ve been delaying things and waiting for you to wake up. I didn’t want to start the injections while you were still under the effects of the mild sedative we gave you earlier.”
“You put drugs in my coffee this morning,” Ariel stated, somehow sure of it even before her bastard employer nodded and smiled.
“The sedative was the fastest way to obtain your physical cooperation. Time is critical. We don’t know how long the window of opportunity from your findings will remain open. You told me several weeks ago you had come to Alaska because you craved more out of life than sitting in a lab doing research. Well, I’m about to make your dreams come true in a way you have never imagined.”
Ignoring her accelerating heartbeat, Ariel decided she wasn’t going to get emotionally alarmed until there was a greater reason to do so than simply being naked and unable to free herself. She was used to thinking her way out of bad situations. She just needed to remain calm, ask questions, and figure out what was really going on.
“I would like to know the purpose of your actions. Are you planning to take physical advantage of my helpless condition? Who are the two women next to me? What role do they play?”
Dr. Crane smiled. “So many questions. Of course, I expected someone like you would have them. You’re going on a scientific adventure or at least your body is. The three of you are about to become the next step in the evolution of our species. But I guess it’s rather bold of me to theorize such a result without any proof yet. Part of the excitement is considering all the possibilities. Now I know your circumstances are a bit alarming at the moment, but if this experiment works, you’ll become an extremely valuable asset to our military. Even the most highly trained K-9 units won’t be able to compete with your animal skills. Alaskan wolves are quite superior to canines in nearly all areas. Everyone studies their predatory actions for just this reason.”
“I still don’t understand, Dr. Crane. I thought Feldspar was testing wolf fortitude to glean survival information for living in ex
tremely harsh environments,” Ariel said, discreetly testing the restraints around her wrists again.
“Oh come now, Dr. Jones. That sort of work is barely fit for a second year university student. You are here because you personally possess several strands of DNA in common with our latest Feldspar wolf acquisition. He’s been rather solemn since we informed him of your findings. He’s glaring at us steadily which I take as the highest compliment about your discovery. It’s as if he senses what we are about to do to the three of you.”
“Dr. Crane, are you saying you’re communicating with a wolf? Don’t you think that assumption is a bit odd?” Ariel asked.
“Not at all. I sincerely wish we could be communicating with his human side, but we’ve purposely kept him from shifting back to his human form by the silver collar around his neck. I think it helped greatly to leave the six silver bullets someone put into him too. He was initially impossible to capture in his wolf form. If his pack had been nearby, I doubt we would have. In fact, I don’t know who exactly did capture him. I found him both shot and tranquilized with a note pinned to his collar when someone activated the alarm on the back door of the lab.”
“I’m sorry Dr. Crane, but you sound like some crazy mad scientist out of a movie. What are you going to do to us? Seriously? You don’t have to make up such wild stories. I assure you I won’t be reduced to hysterics by hearing the truth,” Ariel demanded.
“Still the skeptical scientist, I see. In just a moment, I’ll happily explain the rest to you. Since what’s going to happen to you is beyond your control, I don’t see any benefit from not telling you the whole story.” Dr. Crane waved at the man assisting him. “Proceed with injecting the weeping one on the end. I cannot tolerate a weeping female. She is highly distracting. I can’t talk to Dr. Jones over her constant whining.”
Ariel’s head whipped over, straining to see the gurney at the end. She saw the woman’s body arch when a plunger was placed at her neck directly on the carotid artery. Whatever was in the injection, they wanted it to hit all parts of her body quickly. To her surprise, the man rolled the woman’s head, and shot a second plunger directly into the woman’s brain stem. The woman seized, strained at her straps, and then fell silent. If the second injection didn’t paralyze her spine, its content would be in every brain cell in less than ten minutes.
“Now administer the sedative and move Heidi to the last cage. Come straight back and process Brandi next. I’ll take care of Dr. Jones personally.”
Ariel looked back at the man speaking so calmly. He looked at her and offered a shrug.
“The sedative is to help keep you calm during the worst of your genetic transmutation. We’re not completely without conscience. I see no need for any of you to suffer more than necessary. Since you’re the first of your kind, we don’t exactly know how much the transpecies mutation process hurts. Our captive wolf shifter has been quite unwilling to share any information, assuming he can still speak in his wolf form. We haven’t been able to ascertain it one way or the other.”
The woman directly beside her was still as quiet as ever. So far, she had not made a sound. Ariel listened to the gurney with the now unconscious Heidi being pushed to the far end of the room. She listened to a cage door being opened and straps being undone.
“Please continue your explanation, Dr. Crane. Did I find something important this morning?”
“Yes, you did. I applaud you for being as smart as your resume indicated. People usually lie on those you know. Somehow I knew right away when we met that you were being honest. It was quite the stroke of luck your blood also showed excellent—most excellent—counts of nearly everything required for the experiment. When I personally saw the metamorphosis strand in your DNA, I was literally as giddy as a schoolboy. The strand is missing from your fellow subjects.”
“I did my doctoral thesis on the metamorphosis strand. Most in the scientific community don’t even think its real. But I’ve seen it. People who have it tend to die fairly young. It’s one of the reasons I left New England and came here. I wanted to explore the world a little before I came down with some disease I couldn’t survive.”
“Yes. Human subjects with the strand do tend to die young. But extending your doctoral hypothesis, I also believe the strand has a higher purpose in those who possess it. So when I saw from the extensive health exams Feldspar required that you personally had the strand, I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity. Roger, I said to myself, what would happen if someone extremely intelligent suddenly became a wild animal? Would the person be able to control their carnal nature enough to use their intelligence in their animal form? The chance to discover the truth was just too much to pass up. Now you get to benefit from the very discovery you made this morning, Dr. Jones. It’s too bad the global medical community will never know anything more about you except for the unfortunate accident which burnt your body to ashes today when you went into Anchorage for lunch. Alaskan winters can be terribly challenging on vehicles, as I’m sure your gurney mates can also attest to since they suffered the same fate.”
Ariel flinched when she heard the woman beside her hiss and swear at the depression of the plunger at her neck. When her brain stem was shot, the woman shrieked loudly and nearly broke the straps with her arching. The sedative calmed the woman instantly, but it had the opposite effect on Ariel. Starting to panic at last, because she knew the same fate would be hers, Ariel renewed her efforts to escape and twisted against her restraints. Unfortunately, she lacked the strength to break them.
She listened to the second gurney being wheeled down the hall. Again a cage door opened. Moments later, she heard it close and a key turning in a lock.
“Who gave you the right to do this to us, Dr. Crane? I came to Feldspar to do research for you, not to be your research. What you are doing is illegal and immoral.”
“I know. I do feel a little bad about hiring you under false pretenses, but your discovery this morning stacked the odds in favor of your participation. My benefactor is most anxious to see some evidence that the transpecies mutation process can work. If even one of you survives the change, he will fund me for at least another two years.”
“You’re the sickest, sorriest excuse for a scientist I’ve ever met,” Ariel declared.
Dr. Crane nodded as he lifted the first injection into the air above her. “Not anymore. Now I’m the scientist who has figured out how to make werewolves. As far as I know, I’m the only one like me on Earth. My services will be highly sought after when I show them a brilliant scientist in her wolf form.”
Ariel called out and felt fire crawl under her skin as sizzling hot liquid entered her bloodstream. “Nanos? You injected me with nanos? It feels like a billion ants crawling on the inside of my skin.” She saw Crane lift an eyebrow at her knowledge, but then so did she. She wasn’t even sure how she knew what they were giving her.
“You’re very sharp, Dr. Jones, much too sharp to spend your life doing research. I picked women as initial test subjects because they could be physically restrained the easiest. I did not plan on using a woman who would be able to figure out what was going on. But that’s what makes life interesting. Now the next injection has to go directly into the brain steam for best results. I’m sorry for the extreme pain it causes. Judging from your fellow test subjects, the pain won’t last more than a few moments.”
Ariel fought as the assistant turned her head and held it still while Dr. Crane positioned the plunger. The depression happened quickly. Pain more intense than anything she’d ever known shot through her head and had her calling out. Before her consciousness faded, her last thought was that Dr. Crane had lied to her. She had been spared nothing. Her head exploding from the inside was what dropped the eventual black veil over her thoughts.
She never felt the sedative working at all.
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Other Books By This Author
Alien Guardians Of Earth
Bad Panther
Mad P
anther
Dad Panther (Coming Soon)
My Crazy Alien Romance
Tangling With Topper
Touching Topper
Timeless Topper
Topper’s Magical Christmas
Nano Wolves
Ariel
Brandi
Heidi
Reed (Coming Soon)
Aliens In Kilts
Matchmaker Abduction
Nate’s Fated Mate
Shades Of Darcone
Cyborgs: Mankind Redefined
Peyton 313
Kingston 691
Marcus 583
Eric 754
Forced To Serve
The Daemon Of Synar
The Daemon Master’s Wife
The Siren’s Call
The Healer’s Kiss
The Daemon’s Change
The Tracker’s Quest
Jezibaba Saga
All Fired Up
Not Fairy Common
A Howling Success
Baba Yaga Saga
How To Train A Witch
How To Date A Dragon
To Yaga Or Not To Yaga
About the Author
Donna McDonald published her first romance novel in March of 2011. Forty plus novels later, she admits to living her own happily ever after as a full time author.
Her work spans several genres, such as contemporary romance, paranormal romance, and science fiction. Humor is the most common element across all her writing. Addicted to making readers laugh, she includes a good dose of romantic comedy in every book.
Mad Panther (Alien Guardians of Earth Book 2) Page 18
