19. Vivianna
VIVIANNA
Ispent the rest of the day trying to come up with a plan to get the fuck out of this place.
Everything I thought of was made impossible because of Hope.
I knew how to fight and defend myself, and I was back to full health with nothing blocking me from my wolf.
We could easily shift and rip apart anyone who tried to mess with us, but where would that leave Hope?
She couldn’t do anything other than cry out if something happened.
I’d talked to the nurses about why she couldn’t shift, and they told me it was very unusual for shifting to happen so young.
They mentioned that Faulk said something about Violet being the offspring of a hybrid wolf.
There was no denying that she had been Orion’s, with that tell-tale purple haze on her fur, but did they know he was a demi-god or just that he wasn’t a werewolf alone?
Faulk and Vadik both had seen him half shift, but I don’t know if they would have seen the signs of Okami taking over his body during the fight.
Shaking myself out of that train of thought, knowing if I kept dwelling on them, I would shatter.
There was no way to know if they were dead or alive, but with my heart already broken, I couldn’t take the chance of losing more of it to a lie.
Everything I had left to give needed to be directed towards getting out of this mess.
Killing everyone of course, was the best choice, then no one could come after us again.
The biggest trouble I had was not knowing where I was or what to do once I got out of here.
Would I go back to Kursar? No, the Collective was trying to take it over and that I truly believed could happen.
There was no way I could go back to London.
with my father and his pull, I would end up back with Vadik in a heartbeat.
It seemed without my mates I was alone in the world with no support.
I’d never been good at making friends, being far too determined to do well in school, hoping it would gain my father’s approval.
Now, knowing he wasn’t even my father, explained so much in how he treated me.
One thing at a time. We need to get out of here, find out where we are, then we can make a better plan.
True, the first thing I need to do is just get out from under their control. Hope will be safer no matter where we go at this point.
Good, now try to get some sleep, you need to be on your A-game tomorrow.
Surprisingly, I was able to drift off to sleep and Hope even let me get a good solid five hours in before needing to wake me up.
“They will be here in an hour to pick you and little Hope up,” a nurse informed me as she set clothes on the bed. “Here are some clothes for you to change into, I hope I got the right sizes.”
“Thank you it will be nice to have real clothes on after wearing shapeless gowns for the past six months,” I said, giving her a soft smile. “Oh, do you by chance have a way I could pump? I don’t know how far we will be traveling and that would be easier than having to stop somewhere to feed her.”
Honestly, I wouldn’t give two shits about whipping my boob out to feed my child, but I was hoping this would give me a feel for where they were taking me.
“Oh, well Dr. Faulk informed me that you would be switching to formula, so you don’t have to worry about that,” she turned to a tray and handed me a small paper cup with two pills.
“These will help to dry up your milk, so they don’t hurt you too badly.
Take two twice a day for the first week then only once a day until they are no longer producing.
If things get too swollen and tender you can either pump, bind, or some women let their mates help get out the milk. ”
I tried to keep the look of disgust off my face at the thought of either of these fake mates drinking my milk.
Hmm, but it could be the best way to get them close enough to kill...
Okay, that had a small amount of appeal.
“Here are some pads to put in your bra to help with any leaking, it’s the worst when you soak through a bra and it shows up on your shirt.
Thank god, I’m so past that stage of motherhood.
I kept three shirts for myself and at least four outfits for my son, because who knew what he would get into.
You should be glad you have a girl, they seem to be so much neater,” the nurse chuckled.
“Let me know if you need anything else.”
Looking down at the pills, I crumpled the cup in my hand then tossed it into the toilet and watched it get sucked away.
Did they know that using pills like that could give women breast cancer...
well I guess that wouldn’t happen in werewolves, but still.
Besides, I wasn’t planning on letting them take her from me, so no need to change what was happening.
Looking at the clothes she brought in, I found a pair of black yoga pants and a simple white t-shirt along with undergarments.
Finally feeling like a human after so long, with the simple gift of pants and a shirt, I pulled my hair up into a messy bun and wandered over to where Hope was sleeping in her bassinet.
I might not have planned on being a mother this soon in my life, if ever, but now that I looked down on this precious child, I couldn’t imagine my life any differently.
The smile on my face fell away, as I pictured Violet sleeping there next to her sister, that would make this even more perfect.
A tear trailed down my cheek as I took a moment to let myself feel the grief that I kept having to shove away in a box, so I could focus on protecting Hope.
I knew I wouldn’t be able to do that much longer, because the pain of her loss was only growing the more I pushed it off.
Wiping the tear from my cheek, I sniffed and turned away from Hope to glance around this sterile white room.
All too soon men dressed in black military uniforms entered the room, they were even carrying guns on their hips.
It made me wonder if they had silver bullets in them, it wasn’t until Dr. Faulk had told me about the silver scalpel that I’d known that urban legend was real.
No, they need me to bring magic back to the world they wouldn’t kill me... right?
You know I’m all for doing whatever it takes, but maybe this time we lean to the more cautious side of things.
Now I know I’m a mom, if you’re saying stuff like that.
Aw hell, do what you want. We can just blame it on the hormones.
“Dama, we are here to escort you and the child,” one of the guards said, his face blank of emotion. “If you would follow us, we will take you to your transportation.”
The man gestured for me to head out the door after the second guard, who gave me an impatient look, like I was the one dragging him off to some undisclosed location.
“Can I know where we’re going?” I asked as I scooped up the still sleeping Hope.
“No.”
Wow, they must require everyone that works for them to be an asshole. What the hell kind of manners is that when talking to a Dama? I say we knee him right in the balls and see if he can still keep a straight face.
Not yet, we need to get out of this room first. We can’t chance them locking us up here forever when they think it’s too risky to move us again.
Fine, be that way.
They led us down a long white hallway, that reminded me so much of the hospital that I once worked at.
It had many open rooms ready and waiting for patients, it seemed that I was the only person who had been on this floor.
Once in the elevator, I saw that we were on the third floor, but when they hit the ground floor the elevator moved up, telling me we had been underground.
Why is every evil lair underground? Don’t you think it’s a little cliché at this point? I’m waiting for the day it’s in the middle of the ocean or something cool like that.
Let’s hope we are not in the middle of the ocean, how would we run away?
You just have to suck the fun out of everything today, don’t you?
I just rolled my eyes at her and stepped off the elevator into a busy lobby, filled with people in business suits and military uniforms.
I felt my eyes widen in surprise. Where the hell am I?
One of the guards grabbed my elbow with a grip so tight I knew I might bruise.
Clearly, they didn’t want me to make a scene in front of all these people and I was trying to decide if it would help or not to comply.
It was then it struck me that I wasn’t in Europe anymore, this was the US.
Vadik had brought me to the other side of the world to keep me hidden from my mates.
I had to hand it to the bastard. It was a smart move taking me from all the connections I had, but he seemed to have forgotten that I spent almost all my childhood here, thanks to dear old ‘daddy’ sending me away.
I knew how to navigate and blend in, this settled some of the anxiety, giving me a spark of hope.
Escorted out to the front of the building, I noticed two black SUV’s waiting with the engines running.
Dr. Faulk and a nurse were there as well which set me on edge, there shouldn’t be any reason they needed to come with.
Both Hope and I were doing just fine, unless this had to do with what Jason had told me my role in the future would be.
“Vivianna, so good to see you out and about,” Dr. Faulk greeted, his odd toothy smile. “If you could hand Hope off to Megan, so that we can get her settled for the drive, we’ve got the best car seat they make here in America.”
The fuck that’s happening.
“I don’t understand why would I need someone else to put her in the car seat? I’m sure I can figure it out myself,” I countered holding Hope closer to my chest.
“Please don’t make this more difficult than it needs to be,” Faulk started. “Vadik has decided it would be best that Hope remains with him while you go with Jason.”
Shaking my head frantically, I started to look around for someone who would help. I caught the eye of a man walking into the building ,but when he saw the guards he dropped his gaze and ignored me.
What the hell is going on here? Does no one care that a woman and child are in danger?
“Dama, you can either hand the child over or we will take her from you, and I guarantee you won’t like how we do that,” the stern guard rumbled, placing a hand on my shoulder.
I glared at him over my shoulder. “Over my dead body will you take her. Now unhand me or I will scream and alert everyone inside to what’s going on out here.”
“Go ahead, see if they care,” the second guard sneered. “These wolves are all loyal to Jason they won’t interfere with us.”
Oh hell no, that’s it, time for plan B.
What plan was that?
The one where they all die.
And where in that plan did you have Hope?
I can’t do all the thinking here, this is a group effort now do your part.
Fuck off.
You first. Now get going.
“Sorry boys but this isn’t going to happen,” I answered.
When the one guard frowned at me, I shifted Hope to my left side, tucked in tight, and spun to face the one who was directly behind me.
Thrusting my knee right into his balls, he dropped to his knees with a pained grunt.
The area around me was flat open prairie land with no cover in sight, but that didn’t stop me from taking off like a shot.
I could see a garage behind the building and had to hope there was something there I could use to get away.
It wasn’t at all what I’d planned for but never had it occurred to me that they would take Hope from me, and that had been my biggest mistake.
I could hear feet pounding behind me as they were in hot pursuit.
The snarl of a wolf told me that one of them had shifted and my luck was running out, because I couldn’t outrun a wolf on two legs with a baby.
A baby who was now crying at being woken and jostled around in my efforts to get away.
Sharp teeth bit into my calf causing me to pitch forward.
I curved myself around Hope twisting so I landed on my back holding her as tightly as I could to keep the impact from harming her.
As the dust settled a wolf stood over me, his muzzle far too close to Hope’s neck for my liking.
I caught the wolf’s eye and let my alpha energy out. “You will back off...now.”
The wolf flinched and took a step back, but growled at me, baring his teeth, letting me know he knew what I was doing.
I heard the tell-tale sound of a gun being cocked and looked past the wolf to see the other guard his pistol trained on me.
Dr. Faulk and the nurse Megan hurried to my side as I laid there, eyes locked with the man pointing a gun at my child, a growl rumbling in my chest. Before I could act I felt a prick in the side of my neck where Faulk injected me with something.
Megan extracted Hope from my arms as the sedation took affect, paralyzing me as I struggled against its hold.
“No, you can’t do this to me.” I roared as one of the guards followed after Megan and Hope while Faulk stayed with me.
Faulk reached out and stroked my hair. “There, there, Vivianna. All will be well, she will be looked after with the best care money can provide. You will see her again when you earn that privilege, but you have to stop doing things like this. It only makes them mad, and when they’re mad they take things from you. ”
“Those men are fucking monsters.” I screamed at him feeling my wolf surge and my hands twitched.
That’s it, whatever you’re doing is burning off the sedation faster.
Hold tight this might hurt.
Like I give a fuck, we have to stop them—
I was cut off from what I was going to say when my wolf burst forth, causing me to shift faster than I’d ever done before.
It was as if she exploded out of me, freeing me from the constraints of the medication.
Without thinking, I darted forward at the guard with the gun.
A shot went off, but I didn’t flinch. Latching on to his throat, I thrashed my head from side to side until I ripped his esophagus from his body.
Blood squirted everywhere, but I dropped the bloody pound of flesh and tore across the open land to the SUV that was now speeding down the driveway.
I shut off everything else around me and focused everything on that vehicle, my paws digging into the ground alongside the gravel road.
But it didn’t matter how fast I ran, there was no way I could catch up to a car that could go a hundred miles an hour.
I followed them as far as I could, then they hit the main road and they were gone in a cloud of dust.
I stood there in the middle of the road and let out a long howl full of all the rage and pain I felt.
They were all going to die.
Each and every last one of them.