Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
Itook in the five men who were clearly non-shifters.
Being a doctor who dealt with humans on a daily basis and living so far away from my pack, I’d gotten used to dealing with men and women who couldn’t shift.
Power emanated from the men who entered the apartment I’d commandeered as a triage center.
I’d never told my friends or pack members about my ability to sense when things were going to happen before they did.
Afraid they wouldn’t believe me, or worse, think I was crazy.
My parents had told me to keep my ability to see things to myself, lest others think I was tainted.
However, a month ago, I started having dreams of my once best friend, Breezy, being stalked and chained to a concrete wall by a crazed being, and I knew I had to return.
If my dreams turned out to be nothing, at least I would get a nice family reunion.
A week ago, I’d woken up from a sound sleep covered in sweat, the image of a blond wolf standing over a broken and bloody Breezy too much for me to ignore.
It had taken me five whole days to work out a family emergency and threats I’d quit in order to get out of Kansas City.
Even then, I wasn’t sure I’d be returning.
The small practice I shared with two other colleagues had started out great, until they began wanting more, and by more, I meant they wanted me. I shuddered. Not happening. I wanted, needed a dominant man, but not two that wanted me to submit to them at all times. Nope, I wanted a wolf.
Kellen, alpha of the Iron Wolves, stomped in, making the air still for a moment.
My wolf, which hadn’t come out in over two years, not since.
..I pushed aside memories that were too painful to think about.
The alpha would never look at me if he knew what happened to me.
What I allowed to happen. The fact he stood with his disapproving scowl on his face was proof enough.
“Laikyn. How long are you here for?” His gaze didn’t stray past my chin.
“A couple of days or so,” I answered. He remembered. Kellen, the man who always looked a woman up and down without a bat of an eye, couldn’t stand to look at me for more than a second. I watched his face close up, then turned to focus on Breezy.
“How’s she doing?” Kellen asked Xan.
Xan helped Breezy sit up, wincing at the bruising on her face. “She’s pissed but is doing better.”
“She’s right here,” grouched Breezy.
Kellen’s booming laugh startled me. It had been so long since I’d heard it.
I used to love to listen to the cadence of his voice, whether he was talking, yelling, laughing, or just plain growling at someone.
His voice had always sent shivers of delight down my spine, making all my girly parts wake up.
No other man, or wolf, had been able to do that for me.
Even when I’d walked in on him and his numerous conquests doing the dirty, or as he and Xan so eloquently put it, bouncing on their cocks, I still fancied him as my mate.
My wolf eagerly agreed, the tramp. Always wanting to lift her tail and submit.
I’d gone to the clubs to learn how to be submissive, dressed how I’d seen he liked, but the only thing it had gotten me was in a predicament I couldn’t get myself out of.
Now, he looked at me with nothing but loathing, and maybe a little pity.
Yeah, I was going to die mateless, and it was my own fault.
“The effects of the tranq are wearing off. They either planned for her to be out for a short period, or they had another dose and would have shot her again, or their location is close. None of those options is good. If you shift, your face and the rest of the drugs will leave your system quicker.”
Breezy nodded. Xan stood in front of her. “Everyone out. My mate is not getting nekkid in front of you assholes.”
I laughed. “All right, you heard the man. Out.” I made a shooing motion with my hands, making sure not to touch or get close to Kellen.
“We will wait outside. As of now, nobody runs the grounds outside unless in groups of five or more. Feel me?” Kellen looked over my head. I pretended like it didn’t hurt. I’d gotten good at hiding my feelings. Heck, my wolf was in hiding, so it was just my human side I had to control.
“Good plan, Kell.” Xan agreed.
“I’ll wait outside, too.” I started to step out.
“Lake, wait.” Breezy held out her hand.
“What’s up?” I looked between the newly mated pair.
My friend cleared her throat, looked down at their clasped hands, not looking like the secure woman I’d known since childhood.
“What if I wanted to...you know,” she paused.
“Start a family? Would that drug or whatever have any lingering effects on my child or me?” Breezy’s blue eyes brightened.
A shaft of envy hit me, but I squashed it and took a deep breath, trying to see if I could detect that faint scent of new life.
Xan waved his hand. “She’s not pregnant yet. We just wanted to make sure that if and when we decide to start a family, it won’t be a problem from whatever this sick fuck has done.”
I nodded. “I’d like to run some blood tests, but I don’t have a lab here, so I’d have to send it off to see what was in you, which could cause some questions.
Do we have the needle she used? Maybe there will be some traces, or if we’re lucky, we can get some answers out of her.
” That would be the best way for all of them.
Xan looked at the closed door. “The vet here in town has a lab that could do the blood scan. Draw it, and we’ll see what Kellen can get from the she bitch.”
With a nod, I got my supplies out, glad my dreams had given me the knowledge to pack accordingly.
Of course, if my partners did a count of the supplies, I might have some explaining to do, but I’d cross that bridge later.
Or more than likely, that bridge was already burned.
Damn, I hated when I thought of things so ominously.
After I had the needed blood from Breezy, I listened while Xan called Dr. Davalari.
He’d mated an older she-wolf years ago but had never been turned.
He agreed to run the blood work and promised to be there shortly, barring traffic.
I waited for Breezy to get up. “I’ll leave you two alone.
You should shift and then rest for a couple of hours.
Whatever is left in you should work its way out during the shifting.
If you need me, holler or call.” I wrote my number down on a slip of paper, then gave Breezy a hug. “I really missed you.”
Breezy teared up. “I missed you, too. You stayed away too damn long.”
Wiping under my eyes, I turned to the door.
“Now, don’t get up to anything I wouldn’t do.
” I winked, thinking that was the most absurd statement.
If I were closed up in a room with my mate, I’d be.
..well, I’d be in heaven or hell, depending on whether I froze up like the Ice Queen I’d been dubbed by the men I’d tried to date.
I eyed the little she-wolf with disdain.
There was something familiar about her that niggled the back of my brain.
As the alpha, I couldn’t dismiss it. I waited for her to wake up, to see she was held captive by the very ones she’d betrayed.
We’d moved her to the back garage, where we did custom work.
After I’d dismissed the other members of my pack, I’d made sure she was properly tied down.
Arms and legs were strapped to the metal chair right next to the oil drain.
A very effective way to wash away any blood and bodily fluids, and clearly a fear-inducing method as well.
She was held immobile from chest to knees, with silver chains even the strongest wolf couldn’t break without serious injury.
I didn’t think she was the strongest, yet she’d been cunning enough to get into my pack without detection, and I wanted to know why and who sent her. Defiant eyes opened, the color a cross between hazel and brown.
“So, is this when the torture begins? I won’t tell you a thing, so you might as well kill me,” she rasped.
So rebellious. I couldn’t wait to see what she did next.
I lounged in a comfortable leather chair a few feet from her, my legs sprawled.
The syringe she used dangled between my fingers.
I waited but didn’t say a word. Sometimes the wait was worse than the yelling.
The air filled with her panic. I kept my expression blank, twirling the needle in my fingers.
“Say something, asshole,” she growled.
I quirked an eyebrow. “Such language. I’m waiting for you.
Seems to me you have all the answers, while I have.
..nothing.” I looked at the offending object.
Good. She appeared to be thinking she had a bargaining tool.
Her arms shifted, the silver chains hit her wrists, and the scent of burning skin reached me.
Her scream of pain did nothing but amuse me.
Let her suffer. Until I got answers, her torment would continue.
I had not an ounce of sympathy for the traitorous cunt.
“Help me,” she cried.
I crossed my booted feet. “You’re the only one who can help yourself.” I tossed the needle in my hand up in the air, catching it in my palm. “Tell me what I want to know, and I’ll end your torment.” I wouldn’t allow her to leave, but I was a man of my word.
“I don’t know anything. I was just supposed to grab the bitch and...” she clamped her lips shut.