But I hadn’t.
The night we’d spent together as mates, she’d told me she loved me, and I hadn’t even said it back.
While I was brooding over my loss, Cash peeled off his clothes and spread his wings, taking off before he’d finished shifting into dragon form.
“I have to do something,” I said, grabbing my head with both hands as if I could shake her awake through our bond. “I can’t just stand around while some fucking vampire is holding my mate hostage.”
“It could be Dante,” Owen said. “Since it doesn’t smell like vamps, maybe her master came back for her.”
Rage swelled inside me, and my wolf rippled toward the surface again. Dante had kept her prisoner for years, forcing her to fight for her life and his entertainment. He’d hurt my mate, almost broken her, before I rescued her from his clutches. I’d let him get away that time. If he’d snuck in and stolen her in the night, I wasn’t going to make that mistake again. When I’d found her, I’d been so anxious to get her to safety that I hadn’t gone after him. She’d been my number one priority from the moment I laid eyes on her.
That might change the next time I saw the warlock.
“We should check both Dante and the vampires,” I said. “We can call Jett to check on the vamps. He’s got all those connections and spies.”
Just then, Cash appeared over the treetops and skidded to a stop amid a cloud of dust and pebbles. He shifted partially, his wings still extended. “I lost her,” he growled. “The trail ends when the dirt road meets the highway. Too many cars have passed since she was taken.”
“Then it must have been sometime in the middle of the night,” Owen said. “There’s not a lot of traffic on that highway. A half dozen cars might pass in an hour.”
“Over four or five hours…” I said, thinking of all the cars that had worn away the scent of the tires we needed. Cars that had passed, their occupants oblivious to what they were doing. We’d just have to find her some other way. Whatever it took, we would do it. We would never stop until we got our mate back. They’d erased Ariana’s trail, but no matter what anyone did to her or to us, they could never erase her from our hearts.
3
Ariana
The soft click of a door broke through the fog of sleep encasing me. I shifted on the hard metal digging into my spine. I tried to call back the memories of what had happened, but the pounding in my skull scrambled them like eggs. My tongue was heavy in my mouth, which was filled with a nasty coppery taste. My throat ached along with my temples, beating in rhythm with my heart.
I groaned and reached for my head, clutching my hair as another bite of pain shot through it. Slowly, I curled onto my side to wait out the pain and fog.
After what felt like an hour but had probably only been a few minutes, I risked opening my eyes. Bright overhead light speared my skull. I squeezed my eyelids closed and pressed my palms against my eye sockets. Something about this was familiar. Flashes of a human face with rugged facial hair and ruddy, pocked skin flashed behind my eyes.
Humans.
My heart skipped, and my eyes flashed open. Humans had done this. All this time, we’d thought it had only been vampires after me, but humans were getting in the game now, too.
Fuck me.
A growl rumbled in my throat. My fists tightened, and hot anger flared through my chest. As I moved to sit up, I realized the haze in my mind wasn’t clearing. Though my anger normally woke beastie from her slumber, she was silent in head. My heart raced as I searched for my wolf, but she too remained distant.
“What the hell?” I hissed. Panic gripped me. They couldn’t be gone. They were as much apart of me as my arms or legs. And yet, when I called them, I only felt the faintest brush of my beasts in my mind.
Gritting my teeth, I finally sat up. I was in a metal room that felt more like a cage. There was a mirror on one side, almost half the size of the wall, and a door stood on the far side. Besides a small commode in the corner, the room was otherwise barren.
I was captured again. I’d spent almost my entire life in a cage, and now I was back in one. Unlike my previous cell, at least I could get up and move around without my shoulders pressing against steel bars. I slid off the table at the center of the room. Cold metal met my toes, and I recoiled. They’d taken my shoes and my clothes. Instead of the pajamas I’d gone to bed in, I was dressed in a white tank-top and loose fitting white cotton pants.
Someone had dressed me. Which means someone took off my clothes. My skin crawled, and my body went cold. I shook myself and rubbed the goosebumps from my arms. I didn’t want to consider how vulnerable I had been. They could have killed me, or worse. At least I was alive. That meant they needed something from me.
Steeling myself, I slipped off the table. I had to find a way out.
My heart pounded in my ears as I raced around the tiny room. I felt along the edges of the door, looking for a seam I could slip my fingernails under, but I couldn’t find any. Next, I inspected what looked like a keypad beside the door. It was too tight to the wall, and I couldn’t get a grip on the underside of the metal box.
An irritated growl rumbled in my throat, echoing in the quiet room. I tried the mirror next, but it was embedded in the wall. After a good fifteen minutes of inspecting my new prison, I resigned myself to the fact that there was no easy way out.
Whoever wanted me, I was theirs. But what would humans want with a shifter?
I closed my eyes and inhaled slowly, trying to get my rational mind back in place. This was not the time to freak out, no matter how tempting it might be.
Again, an image of the human in the back of that van flashed through my mind. What had he said? They’d been looking for me for a long time. But why? I ground my teeth, trying to pull back the memory.
Before I could, a click echoed through the room.
My heart jumped. Instinctually, I slipped to the far side of the room, putting the table that was anchored to the floor between myself and my captor.
The door slid into the wall like some kind of science fiction movie. A woman with white hair tied up into a messy bun appeared on the other side. She had metal rimmed glasses balanced on the tip of her nose, barely holding on with her head tipped down to the clipboard in her hands. As she stepped over the threshold into my cell, she finally looked up. Blue eyes met mine and widened with delight.
“Ariana. You’re awake,” she said, her voice breathy. “You shifters are far more resilient than I suspected.”
I narrowed my eyes at the petite woman eyeing me with a mixture of awe and scholarly intrigue. “Who are you?” I demanded. Again, I reached for the beasts inside me, but they were strangely quiet.
Her lips parted in a surprised ‘o’. “Oh, forgive me. How rude of me not to introduce myself!”
The woman took a step forward, clutching her clipboard to her chest. She wore a long white lab coat, so I assumed she was some kind of scientist or doctor. What did a human doctor want with me?
“I am Doctor Muriel Siegfred, head researcher for the Human Conservation Association, or HCA. I specialize in supernatural species and phenomena.”
I blinked slowly at her. None of that meant a thing to me. A flurry of questions filled my mind, but first and foremost, why the hell had they kidnapped me?
Muriel’s lips pressed together in a firm line. “Apologies, Ariana. I’m sure this is all very overwhelming. We didn’t mean to scare you, but the very survival of the human race is at stake here.”
“Um… What now?” I raised an eyebrow.
She nodded gravely. “Supernaturals of all species have been growing exponentially over the last hundred years, I’m sure in reaction to our own growing population.” Muriel took another step inside. “HCA was created to assess and research the supernatural world while also guarding the secret from the human population. Can you imagine if word got out that shifters and vampires were real? There would be mass hysteria.”
I narrowed my eyes. “What does that have to
do with me?”
Muriel’s gaze lit up. “That, my dear, is the winning question. First, allow me to explain. While shifters and witches have never opposed humans directly, vampires feed on our kind.” Her grip tightened on her clipboard. It looked like Muriel liked vampires about as much as I did. “I’ve searched for a cure for vampirism for the last twenty years, to no avail. Then, I receive word that vampires who had attacked a young shifter had reverted to their natural human state. I couldn’t believe my ears—until I saw one for myself.”
The longer she spoke, the faster my heart beat. I didn’t like the delighted look on her face or the crazy glint in her eyes. “You want to use me,” I said flatly.
Of course she did. I was so not surprised by her explanation. I’d been a commodity for most of my life. Only Maximus had saved me from that. Only he and my other mates had wanted me as anything more than a weapon in their games.
“That’s not a very nice way to put it.” Muriel cleared her throat and adjusted her glasses. “But in a sense, yes, we want to use your blood to cure vampirism once and for all.”
I could see the future Muriel spoke of. I’d be locked in this cell, forced to donate blood or bone marrow or whatever the fuck they wanted until I died. As a shifter, I would heal quickly with every needle in my vein. There would be no life for me, only a long, torturous death. And for what? To cure a bunch of vampires who probably wanted to remain what they were as much as humans wanted to stay human?
I didn’t like vampires any more than the next person, but these humans wanted to annihilate an entire species. What would be next? My chest squeezed painfully. What about my mates, their clans, and their families? Would the humans try to destroy them, too? Maybe wolves didn’t want to drink their blood, but they wanted territory. What happened when humans decided we were encroaching on their land, or that they wanted to build a subdivision in the bears’ beautiful valley?
I shook my head. I couldn’t let them do this. I had to get out of here.
I took a step forward, and Muriel instantly backpedalled. At some point the door had swished closed behind her. I inspected her white lab coat until I found a plastic identification card attached to her pocket. There was a barcode along one side. Maybe that would work on the panel beside the door.
My pulse sped as I approached the doctor. Muriel blanched, her eyes wide as she backed against the wall.
“A-Ariana? What’s wrong?”
I slammed my palm against the door, inches from her head. “I’m a prisoner, that’s what. Now, you’re going to let me out of here, Doc.”
“I-I can’t do that.”
My lips pulled back in a snarl. Somewhere deep in my belly, Beastie rolled over, awakening from her slumber. “Wrong answer.”
I grabbed the keycard from Muriel’s coat.
She made a grab for her card, but I had her wrist in my hand before she could blink. I pulled hard, yanking the doctor off of her feet. She crumpled to the floor as I lunged for the panel.
I swiped her keycard over the small metal box, relief crashing through me as it blinked green and beeped cheerfully. My heart leapt as the door whooshed open.
“Wait!” Muriel called.
Too late.
I was already leaping through the door—and right into a hallway full of armed guards. My nostrils flared as the scent of humans filled my head. Beastie rumbled inside me, and heat consumed my chest.
I had no idea where I was, or how I was going to get out, but fuck if I was going to stay. I was getting the hell out while the getting was good.
As a dozen assault rifles lifted in my direction, I let my anger fill me. My beast roared to life, her scales forming on my arms and smoke filling my mouth.
Pain slammed into my skull, halting my transformation. I fell to the floor with a grunt. Darkness speckled the edges of my vision, pulling me towards unconsciousness.
“You all right, Dr. Siegfred?” someone asked.
Muriel sighed and crouched over me. “I’m fine, but it looks like our patient won’t be quite as cooperative as we thought. On to plan B.”
Plan B?
My mind raced to make sense of what I had just heard, but before I could get out a word, a sharp pain pierced my shoulder as a needle pricked my skin, and once again, darkness overtook me.
4
Ariana
I crouched in a tree, watching my mates race around in the forest below, calling my name. I opened my mouth, aching to answer them, but I couldn’t make a sound.
I knew I was dreaming. I hadn’t climbed a tree in years. Most wolves didn’t like climbing, preferring to keep their feet on the ground instead, but I’d always loved it. I wished I’d gotten a chance to climb a tree the way I had as a kid, when my parents would watch my shenanigans with sadness in their eyes that I didn’t understand. In my bid to keep their attention and erase the resigned sorrow I saw in the people I loved, I’d grown to be quite a daredevil.
But in the dream, I wasn’t being daring and reckless, swinging from a high branch by my knees and calling for anyone to look at me. Instead, I was frozen, panic clawing at my throat. Why couldn’t I speak?
I searched for the pack bond, finding it strong as Maximus called my name from just a few feet away. And because it was a dream, my parents were suddenly there, too. They were all calling. I found Maximus’s strong Alpha signal and snatched at it.
“Maximus,” I screamed in my head. “I’m right here. Help me!”
I woke with a start, sucking in a breath and trying to bolt upright.
Strong bonds gripped my arms, and I swore as I realized where I was.
Fuck. I was in a lab where humans planned to experiment on me. As if that weren’t bad enough, now they were treating me like a criminal, chaining me to the bed. I jerked as hard as I could against the straps holding my arms and legs. Though they were padded so they didn’t burn into my skin, I knew they were silver when I couldn’t even begin to rip free of them.
Something else was wrong, though. What had they done to me? I felt so weak. Less than a minute of straining against my bonds left me slightly out of breath, and my throat burned every time I swallowed. And damn, why was I so tired?
Was this how humans felt when they got sick? Shifters didn’t get common colds or other human ailments, and if this was how they felt, I wanted no part of it.
A shock went through me as an idea struck. If my blood could make vampires human, what if their blood could make me human? Had the doctors injected me to see what would happen, and now I was a fucking human?
“Maximus,” I whispered, pain needling my throat when I so much as whispered. I remembered my dream, though. I could use the pack bond. I called for Wolfie inside me, but she was cowering in fear. Still, I closed my eyes and concentrated, sending out feelers, reaching for my alpha. Where was he? He couldn’t be close, because I couldn’t find so much as a whisper of his signature. There was only silence where my pack had been.
Opening my eyes, I jerked at the straps again, letting out a furious scream despite the pain that went knifing down my throat when I did.
As if summoned by my banshee screams, the door slid open and the doctor appeared again.
“Ariana,” she said, looking a little more wary this time than she had before. “You’re awake. I’m glad to have you back with us.”
“I bet you are,” I snarled. “Now let me go, or you’ll pay for this. My mates will find me. They won’t stop looking until they do, and then you’ll be sorry.”
“I am sorry,” Muriel said with a resigned sigh. “I don’t want it to be this way. If you’d just cooperate, we wouldn’t have to restrain you.”
I bared my teeth at her. “Cooperate? What does that mean? Give you my blood until I’m weak and helpless? That’s why I’m so weak, isn’t it? You’ve been taking my blood.”
“For now, we’re only running a few tests,” she said.
“Then what did you do to me?” I demanded.
“How about this,” she said.
“I’ll answer your questions if you answer mine.”
I narrowed my eyes at her. “What questions?”
I seriously doubted I knew anything that could help her, but I wasn’t about to waste my chance at getting something in return. If she thought I knew something, I wasn’t going to correct her unless it would get me out of there.
“We just want to know a few things about where you came from,” she said.
“I’m from New York,” I said. “And I don’t need answers. I need freedom. Now untie my arms.”
“Can you be more specific?”
“Can you take the silver chain off my right arm first, and then my left?”
She gave a slight smile. “I meant about where you were from.”
“I answered.”
“We already knew that,” she said. “We’re after new information.”
“Fine,” I said. “If you’ll untie my arms, I’ll give you my whole life story.”
“And you won’t attack me when I do?”
“No,” I said. “I’m not an animal. I can control myself.”
“Very well,” she said. “Proceed.”
“My parents belonged to a warlock, the father of one Dante Ryse. Maybe you’ve heard of him. He’s a real gem.”
She pulled a pen from her pocket and scratched something down on her clipboard. “You were born in captivity?”
“Yes,” I said. “Their offspring were part of the bargain.”
When I was young, I didn’t understand the sadness I’d seen in my parents. As an adult, I understood it all too well. They hadn’t wanted to bring a child into the world, knowing I would be owned by warlocks just as they had. But then I’d shown up, and they had loved me despite my unplanned existence.
“Did you have any siblings?”
I cut my eyes toward my arm and jerked my chin at it. Muriel sighed and reached beneath the armrest thing to snap open my cuff. She jumped back like I might attack her with only one arm free. I wasn’t that crazy. “And this one?” I said, waving my left hand.
Her Bear: An Urban Fantasy Romance (Silver Shifter Book 3) Page 2
