Chapter 17
Chapter Seventeen
Idris woke to find himself back in his nightmare.
Strapped to cold metal table. Unable to move. A bright light shining in his eyes. However, this time, he didn’t wake alone.
A shriek had him trying to turn his head, not that he needed to see to recognize Svetlana, and boy did she sound pissed.
“You asshole!” she screeched. “What is wrong with you?”
“I was testing to see if injury would make you shift like the other therianthropes.” Dr. Levy actually replied, a change from the last time Idris found himself prisoner. “And it worked, so stop your whining. You’re perfectly fine.”
“I wouldn’t call being a lab rat fine,” she spat.
“Behave and maybe you’ll earn some perks. Unlike the general, I see merit in rewarding those who cooperate.”
“I would rather die.”
“Then I guess you won’t be getting television time or pudding then. Perhaps your lover will be more accommodating.” Dr. Levy crossed the room to stand over Idris.
“Welcome back.” The man dared to grin.
“You’ve got to be the most sadistic fucker on this planet.”
“Still bitching, I see. I wonder if your weak emotions are why it doesn’t take much trauma for you to shift. Although we did notice you needed more than a needle prick this time. You must have been practicing.”
It shouldn’t have shocked they’d been poking while he slept, but Idris couldn’t help a feeling of defilement. What else had they done while he’d been knocked out?
“I don’t suppose you’d care to explain how you managed to find another bear?” Dr. Levy looked at him over his glasses.
Svetlana answered. “Wasn’t hard. He came to our show.”
“Ah yes, your brother, the dancing bear. I’ll be honest, when your act first came across my desk, I thought no way a therianthrope would degrade themselves in such a manner, nor out themselves so publicly.
The general, though, he had a feeling there might be more than met the eye.
Never imagined that us tracking them down would lead us to Patient Seventy-six. ”
Hearing himself reduced to a number punched Idris hard. How could you argue with someone who didn’t see you as a person?
“What are you going to do with us? We’re already bears,” Svetlana pointed out. “I thought your project was about creating shifters.”
“Creating turned out to be easy. Adjusting and perfecting requires understanding. Until now, we’ve only had one natural-born therianthrope to base our studies on. You and your brother will finally allow us to properly study the differences.”
“Patient Zero,” Idris murmured.
“Yes, although technically, he wasn’t the first. His nephew was.
Alas, we lost him due to overly vigorous testing of his limits.
The general’s fault. At least, by the time I came on board, he’d located two other family members.
The female, the original’s sister proved to be emotionally weak, but their uncle…
He’s been invaluable to our research even if he can’t explain the process or origin of his ability. ”
“Because it’s magic,” Svetlana stated. “A gift from the gods.”
“Spoken by someone who would have fit in well a few hundred years ago when everything was because of deities and spirits,” mocked Levy. “Shifting is biological.”
“If that were true, then everyone could do it,” countered Svetlana.
“Everyone can, some just more easily than others. The protocol unlocks the animal inside a person, allows them to be more than just human.”
“What monster lurks inside you?” Svetlana asked.
“I don’t know yet.”
Idris couldn’t help but blurt out, “Why not? You know your procedure works. If it’s so great, why haven’t you used it on yourself?”
“Because.”
“Because you’re afraid,” surmised Idris. “You’re worried you’ll end up one of the creatures that dies when they shift because they can’t breathe air. Or that you’ll be something ridiculous.”
“Enough.” Levy leaned over him with a scowl. “I’ve heard enough from both of you. It’s obvious you’re not ready to understand the greatness I’m bringing to mankind.”
“Shouldn’t that be beastkind?” Svetlana mocked.
“Go ahead and laugh. You won’t find this so amusing later.”
Levy kept his word in that respect. They definitely weren’t chuckling hours later when they woke in their cell.
They’d been tested repeatedly. Idris with various inflicted wounds to test his control over the shift, which diminished the more they made him change.
Svetlana received much more serious injuries before her body cooperated.
No wonder she lay curled in a ball on the mattress.
Idris rubbed her back. “It’s over for the moment.”
“Until the next bout,” she huffed before turning over so she could look him in the eye. “I can’t live like this.”
“Don’t do anything rash and don’t give up hope.
” He couldn’t tell her about the message he’d sent.
For one, those spying on their cell might hear, and second, he didn’t want to put too much hope in it because, for all he knew, Takhi might never have received it.
Even if she did, she might not be able to trace the origin of the text.
“Never said I was giving up, but I am not going to be some docile guinea pig either.”
“His offer of television and dessert didn’t sway you?” he teased.
Her lips quirked. “Depends on the dessert.”
“At least they dressed us.” Being naked each time they had him swapping fur for skin had been embarrassing, mostly because he knew Svetlana could see. Would she think him weak?
“Ah, yes, the latest in lab-rat fashion.” She grimaced down at the cotton scrub bottoms and top. “Do you think Yuri is okay?”
“Knowing your brother, he’s probably got one of Levy’s female assistants fawning over him and bringing him steak.”
“Oh god, not another Olga.” She flung herself down on the mattress. “I told him she’d be trouble.”
“And you were right.”
“I killed her,” she softly admitted. “My bear did, I mean.”
“First time?”
She hesitated before nodding. “First time for me. We’ve had issues in the past where someone accidentally caught on to Yuri’s secret, but he was the one to take care of them.”
“You okay?” He knew the toll taking a life could take—in the beginning. After a while, it got easier, which he’d yet to decide was a good or bad thing.
“Yeah. I mean she totally deserved it. It’s just…” She paused before peeking at him shyly. “I don’t feel bad about it, and yet, I should, right?”
“Olga is the reason you and Yuri ended up captured. I’d say you were justified.”
“But when I killed her, I was already caught. It didn’t help my situation. I did it out of anger.”
“Let me ask you, if you knew she lived, and gloated about setting that trap, how would you feel?”
Her lips pinched. “I’m glad she’s dead.”
Savage, but Idris didn’t mind because he understood. “Welcome to war. Only this time it isn’t us fighting for a country but ourselves.”
“Hard to fight locked in this cell,” she grumbled.
“Never lose hope. Look at me, I managed to escape once. Who’s to say I won’t do it again?”
“Last time, you had your friends to help.”
“Who were also prisoners.” He swept a hand. “You think we’re alone in wanting out of this place?”
She glanced to the ceiling. “Should we be talking about this with them listening?”
Idris tilted to stare at the camera. “Let them hear we won’t go gently or quietly. Let them toss and turn at night wondering if it’s their last. Let them tremble in fear knowing they will deserve the revenge coming their way.”
Svetlana stared at him before smiling brightly. “You are much more violent than I expected from a Canadian.”
“I’m many things, and I look forward to showing you all sides of myself. Now come here.”
“Why?”
He held open his arms. “Because you look like you need a hug.”
“I’m fine,” she groused even as she slid into his lap and let him envelope her.
“No, you’re not. Neither am I, but at least we have each other.”
Although that might not last because the next time he woke in a lab, Dr. Levy made it very clear why he’d put them together.
“I’ve noticed you and your female roommate haven’t copulated. Unacceptable. You were placed together for a reason.”
The statements had Idris gaping at Levy. “You’re joking, right? This isn’t the time or place to be indulging, especially seeing as how you’re always spying.”
“Monitoring.” Levy quibbled over the word. “And I am being deadly serious. We’ve yet to achieve a viable pregnancy. Artificial insemination has thus far failed, and so we’re interested in seeing if more natural means will be more successful.”
“I am not impregnating Svetlana for your sick research,” he huffed.
“You might want to rethink that position because if you’re not going to fuck and get Patient One oh three pregnant, I will put her with someone who will.”
Knowing Levy, he would go through with the threat. However, at the same time, how could Idris agree or cooperate?