by Kim Fox
Mack puffed his chest out and raised his head as the four shifters flanked his sides.
General Hunt stepped off the desk, gripping the wand by his side with white knuckles. He raised it in front of him and swung it from shifter to shifter.
“You can only get one of us with that wand,” Hardy said with a triumphant tone in his voice. “The rest of us will rip you apart.”
Mack’s chest hardened as General Hunt grinned. “Don’t be so sure.”
He watched helplessly as the General flicked a switch on the metal attachment on the end of the wand and then let it rip.
The magic zapped out and surrounded Irish, suspending him a foot off the ground. But that wasn’t it. It then flowed over and surrounded DeMarcus and then Mack. He grimaced as the painful crackling energy engulfed him once again. It quickly flowed to Caelum and then finally to Hardy, trapping them all in the excruciating hold.
All five of them were suspended in the air, unable to move as the biting magic ripped raw through their bodies.
General Hunt looked thrilled as he approached with a grin on his face. He had figured out how to harness the magic. He had modified the wand and now they were hopeless and in his hands.
Mack’s mind went to Kara. He hoped his mate was driving away, speeding as far away from this place as she could get.
He was in a horrible position, but he was thankful that his crew wasn’t there as well. Everything had happened for a reason—that’s what Kara had told him—and he was starting to believe it. If he had come here with Grant, Ryder, Logan, Amélie, and Tempest, they would be trapped too. They would be suspended in the air, having to live through this unbearable pain as well. He hoped that they were driving back to Montana. He hoped they had abandoned him completely and wouldn’t ever return.
General Hunt paced in front of them with a grin. He was enjoying watching the look of pain on their tortured faces. “You like this little attachment I designed?” He glanced down at the metal piece on the end of the wand and grinned proudly. “This is not my only new toy. I have something else. Something better.” His face darkened. “Want to see it?”
Mack was filled with dread as Hunt walked around the office with a spring in his step. He was a grandfather with salt and pepper hair who must have been in his sixties, but he looked like a young kid on Christmas morning the way he was so excited.
This can’t be good…
“I’ve been waiting for a chance to test it out,” he said as he picked up the landline on his desk. He dialed some numbers and waited. “Yeah… Send in the B-27. My office.”
His grin widened as he hung up the phone and waited.
Mack felt the energy leaking out of him. The longer the magical energy surrounded him, the more it seemed to suck him dry. And something told him that he was going to need all of the energy he could muster to face the threat that was coming.
General Hunt burst back out from around his desk, practically giddy as he waited.
“It’s my best work yet. Enhanced metal skeleton with the latest Artificial Intelligence software running through it. Tungsten spikes, ultraviolet vision, enhanced speed, enhanced strength, and that’s just what I did to the human component.” The door opened behind Mack and Hunt’s face lit up as footsteps thundered in. “Presenting my latest cyborg—the B-27!”
Mack’s eyes were pinned forward, but he could see a man’s huge frame walking forward through his peripheries. He tried to move his eyes as he walked to Hunt’s side, but it was hard with the magic coursing through them.
All he could see was thick sculpted muscles, giant arms, a strong chest…
Until Mack slowly inched his eyes up the cyborg’s massive frame to his face.
No…
Staring back at him with a blank face was a ghost.
Staring back at him was Bryce.
Chapter Eleven
Kara
Kara’s mind was racing as she waited in Mack’s truck. He had parked a few miles away on a dark secluded road surrounded by frost and leafless trees, and she was waiting there, driving herself crazy with worry.
Drive and don’t stop until you get to Argentina, he had said. Had it been forty-five minutes?
She wasn’t sure. It was taking them a long time to return. She hoped something bad didn’t happen. She hoped they were okay.
It was four in the morning and pitch black outside. The harsh November wind was loud and scary as it swirled around outside and Kara ducked down inside the truck still remembering how it had felt penetrating her bones the night before. She closed her eyes and pictured herself spending the night in a warm bed with Mack’s strong arms wrapped around her instead.
I hope he’s okay…
It would be too mean of the universe to present her with her mate only to rip him away a few hours later.
And then there was Hardy. Seeing her brother after all of this time sparked joy and a longing to be home that she had long suppressed.
Those two were the toughest men she’d ever met. If anyone could break into that facility and get her family out, it was Hardy and Mack. She could remember the thrill of watching her older brother playing ball on his varsity baseball team. Kara still hadn’t heard anything so loud as when the whole school exploded into cheers when Hardy cracked the game winning homer into the parking lot. Her brother had always been her hero and she hoped that he could save everybody now.
Then there was Mack. Wild, protective Mack. He would come through for her even if he had to kill himself to do it. Kara hoped that it didn’t have to come to that.
She still believed that she had escaped for a reason and she was beginning to believe that the reason was to bring Mack and Hardy—two bitter rivals—together so they could free her family.
Sitting here was torture. She wished she could do something to help.
Bright lights in the darkness caught her attention and her eyes darted up to the rearview mirror.
“No, please…”
There were two military trucks approaching from behind. Maybe it was Mack and Hardy returning, or, maybe…
She straightened up in her seat and fastened her seatbelt while she kept her eyes on the trucks that were approaching.
They slowed to a stop behind her and Kara felt nausea creeping up her throat when she saw through their windshield. It wasn’t Mack or Hardy with her family. They were uniformed soldiers from the facility.
Her adrenaline spiked and she turned on the truck’s engine and threw it into drive. The tires squealed on the cold pavement and she was off, racing down the road with the two trucks following close behind.
“Dammit,” she said as she sped down the road with the trucks on her tail. She might never find the boys now. What if they returned with her family? They’d be stuck in the cold like she had been.
They’re not coming back.
The cruel voice in her head was like a slap across the face. If these soldiers were here, it meant that they weren’t coming back for her. They had been captured and now she would be too.
She pressed down on the gas even more, but when her tires hit a patch of ice, her truck went spinning off the road.
Kara squeezed the steering wheel and clenched her jaw as the truck flew off the road. She braced herself as the truck crashed into a tree, taking her breath and cracking her nose as she slammed into the exploding airbag.
Her head was thumping and warm blood was leaking down her face, dripping onto her shirt as she looked up, dazed and unsure of where she was.
The door was yanked open and all of a sudden, strong hands were on her, pulling her out of the truck.
She threw weak punches and wild kicks, desperate to get away, desperate to stay away from that place, but one swift hit to the back of her head had her eyes closing before she hit the cold hard road.
Chapter Twelve
Mack
It can’t be…
Mack couldn’t believe that Bryce was staring back at him. It was him, but he looked so different.
When he had last seen the little twerp, Bryce had the scrawny body of a teenage boy—now, he looked like something else.
Bryce looked like he had aged five years and had been eating nothing but steroids during that time. He had a wide powerful frame with broad shoulders and thick sculpted arms. Mack swallowed hard, thinking that the kid might be able to beat him in an arm-wrestling match now.
Mack was suspended in the air, engulfed in the painful magic, but Bryce didn’t seem to care. He just stared forward with cold lifeless eyes. Everything about him was distant, emotionless, detached, machine-like. This wasn’t a living breathing person anymore, this was a cold uncaring cyborg.
Even his eyes were different. Instead of the warm golden color they once were, they were now a bright green, and as Mack looked more closely at them, he was horrified to see that the green was actually little strings of computer code racing over his irises.
General Hunt grinned as he released the magical hold on them. The five shifters dropped to the floor, wincing and gasping for breath.
Mack was breathing heavily—clutching his chest as he looked up at General Hunt with hatred burning in his eyes.
“What did you do to him?” Mack was furious. His pulse was speeding as he pictured ripping Hunt’s head clean off.
“I perfected him,” Hunt replied with pride as he looked at his creation. His eyes roamed up and down Bryce’s muscular body as if Bryce were a sculpture or a painting that he had created.
“He’s nearly indestructible.” Bryce didn’t move—didn’t even flinch—as General Hunt slapped his arms and then his legs. “His quick healing bio-tissue is the perfect component to house an AI-powered cyborg.”
Mack was horrified at all of this. It was so unnatural. So wrong. How could any of this be real?
“Is he still in there?” Mack asked with a hard swallow as he stared at the lifeless stony body of the boy he once knew. “Is he still alive?”
General Hunt shook his head. “No. There’s no trace of him left inside. He’s composed of pure code and it’s all controlled by me.”
Hunt looked thrilled as he pulled a small tablet the size of a credit card out of his pocket. The maniac could barely control his grin as he began pushing buttons on the flat screen. “B-27.”
The cyborg silently turned to him and awaited orders.
Mack hated to admit it, but he thought that General Hunt must be right. There seemed to be no trace of any human left inside of him. It was eerie and creepy the way he stood there, unmoving, uncaring, just awaiting orders like a machine.
“Phase.”
Bryce methodically began removing his shirt and then his pants. He stared straight ahead with indifferent eyes as his hands moved efficiently, unfastening buttons and pulling down zippers.
This was beyond spooky. This was horrifying. The bright-eyed kid that Mack once knew was acting like a serial killer or something even worse.
Mack watched as he stripped. His chest was pure muscle and his stomach looked rock hard with perfectly sculpted abs. He calmly pulled his pants down and Mack couldn’t believe how big his muscular thighs were. They were so different from the scrawny twig legs he used to have.
Once he was naked, Bryce began to shake and morph into a lion. There were no twists of pain on his face or grunts of discomfort. His face was neutral—detached—as his body ripped itself apart, letting his lion come out.
Mack was expecting to see the familiar lion he used to hunt and wrestle with. The playful cat who used to lunge onto his back and bite his ears, but this was no playful adolescent lion. This was a beast. He was huge.
General Hunt had made some enhancements to his lion as well, including some new sharp metal claws.
Mack couldn’t believe his eyes. The lion looked all grown up with a long golden mane flowing proudly around his perfectly still head. He hoped for any movement from the animal, any sign that he was still alive, but the cat just stared ahead as the bright green computer code ran over his eyes in tiny symbols.
“You are a monster,” Mack hissed at the General. He had taken such a beautiful soul and turned it into this.
“No,” Hunt snapped back. “I’m just a military scientist who does what everyone else refuses to do.” He turned to the lion with a look of frustration on his face. “B-27. Take out the traitors.”
Irish, Caelum, DeMarcus, and Hardy suddenly started moving beside him. Mack had been so distraught that he forgot they were even there.
“Once I finish with you,” Hunt said with a sneer. “Your families will be next.”
Hardy let out a loud furious holler as he ripped off his shirt and let his grizzly bear come.
Caelum’s eyes flashed white and then returned to normal as he stared at Bryce’s lion with a frustrated look on his face. “I can’t get in!”
Hardy’s huge bear ripped out of him and he surged forward.
“Attack!” Hunt screamed, pointing at the charging grizzly. “Kill-mode.”
Mack’s knees wobbled when he heard that. He knew he couldn’t hurt the kid, even when he was like this. He just couldn’t.
Bryce’s lion leapt forward, crashing into Hardy’s grizzly bear and tackling him backward. The bear looked stunned—like a train had just hit him—as the lion landed on top. All ten of his sharp metal claws sunk into the grizzly’s body and the bear roared in pain.
DeMarcus ran forward as the cyborg lion opened its powerful jaws—about to sink his sharp teeth into Hardy’s neck. DeMarcus arrived just in time, slamming his round shoulder into the lion’s ribs and tackling him off.
Hardy’s bear was bleeding heavily from the ten deep wounds. He struggled to get up, but his back paws slipped on the blood and he fell back down.
Irish’s wolf popped out of him and he rushed over to help in the fight. DeMarcus was still in his human form, getting all scratched up as he tried to manhandle the lion.
Mack knew he couldn’t hurt Bryce so he turned to the General instead. He rushed toward him, wanting to get ahold of his neck, but Hunt quickly raised the wand and zapped him with the magic.
Not this shit again, he thought as the crackling energy burned him from the inside out. Hunt raised the wand and flicked his wrist, sending Mack flying across the room. The magic hold was released, but Mack slammed into the thick cement bricks that made up the back wall.
A flash of darkness shot through his brain, sending stars to cloud his vision as he struggled to get up. He shook his head clear and then ducked just in time as Irish’s wolf came flying at him. The poor wolf slammed into the wall over Mack’s head. He smashed into it with a crunch, cracking the cement bricks and sending little pebbles raining down all over Mack.
The wolf collapsed to the ground with a whimper. He was hurt bad.
Mack looked over his shoulder at the others and winced when he saw DeMarcus’s polar bear and Hardy’s grizzly fighting hard, but getting nowhere. Bryce’s lion was just too fast. He dodged each swiping paw easily, and landed his own like he was playing with them.
Irish’s wolf tried to stand up, but collapsed back down with a sad yelp. His ribs were broken and jutting out of place. He looked up at Mack in pain.
Everyone needed his help. He glanced back at the guys as he dropped to a knee in front of the wolf. The lion was fighting ferociously, but not in a wild kind of way. He was fighting in a cold, calculated, machine-like kind of way—countering each swipe with precision, calculating each lunge and moving out of the way with meticulous speed and agility. Caelum grunted as he picked up a large metal filing cabinet and threw it at the lion. Bryce easily dodged out of the way and it crashed harmlessly beside him.
Mack turned back to the wolf who was whimpering and kicking his paws in a bicycle motion. He was in bad shape. “Okay dog,” he said softly as he gently placed his open palms over the jutting ribs. “This is going to hurt. A lot.”
He pressed down in a hard sudden push, popping the broken ribs back in place where they could heal properly. The wolf cried out with a paine
d howl, and Mack felt bad for him, but he also knew that they would probably be all hurting a lot more than this once this was over.
Somehow, Hardy and DeMarcus had Bryce’s lion pinned into a corner when Mack turned around. The lion had his head lowered as he looked from bear to bear with the bright green computer code clouding his eyes.
That’s not Bryce. Not anymore.
Mack knew they needed his help, but he still couldn’t bring himself to lay his hands on him. He had made a promise to himself and a promise to Bryce to always protect him. He had broken that promise once, and couldn’t do it again.
The two bears leapt on the lion at the same time and landed on his back, pinning him to the floor. Hardy and DeMarcus had some powerful bears, but Hunt didn’t seem concerned. He seemed excited.
Hunt pressed a button on his tablet and a loud shlang filled the air.
The two bears stiffened and then turned limp with a whelp. Bryce’s lion shook them off and they collapsed to the ground with several deep puncture wounds in their bodies that were bleeding profusely.
“Oh, shit,” Mack whispered when he saw the lion stand up on four legs. Bryce had long bloody spikes trailing along his back just like Grease had. He stepped over the two still bears with a calm cold-blooded look on his face.
“No!” Caelum shouted when he saw his friends on the floor. He charged at the lion, but a quick swipe of Bryce’s metal claws had him crumpling to the floor and bleeding from his chest.
Irish’s wolf bounded past him as Mack stood frozen to the spot in shock and dread. The lion leapt onto the wolf as he approached, landing with a crunch as he crushed him under his tremendous weight.
Mack’s stomach dropped as he saw the swipe of a paw and the wolf go limp.
General Hunt was loving it. He was watching with a mad grin on his face as he checked his watch. “That was the best team I had ever put together and my new toy went through them in twenty-six seconds.”
Hunt’s hard eyes settled on Mack as the lion awaited orders.
