Everything. Hurt.

Darce groaned, rolled onto his side and cracked open an eyelid.

“Fuck. Shit. Crapping hell!”

Pain drove hot knives right through his skull as he lay on the metal floor. What the hell had they hit him with? He remembered the fight and the hybrid beating the ever-loving crap out of him. Then the lights had gone out, lycans and bloods crashing through the doors to tear into the crowd gathered around the cage baying for blood. His blood. In the end, it had been theirs washing over the concrete floor.

The second the screaming had started, the hybrid had laid off him. Instead of pounding Darce into a bloody mush, he’d simply sat down in the middle of the cage and started to meditate. Fucking meditate, of all things. Darce had staggered against the cage for a second. Simple relief at not being attacked anymore had surged through his veins while he quietly dripped blood on the floor. He’d managed to recover and was trying to get out of the cage when the soldiers had come pouring in.

Shots had filled the room, the thrown grenades chugging out thick clouds of greasy black smoke. Each breath had been like inhaling razor blades, whatever was in the stuff eating him from the inside out. Infiltrating his blood, making his body sluggish and even sending his wolf into slumber.

Then he remembered nothing.

“Breathe,” a deep voice advised. “Sickness’ll pass in a while.”

Darce rolled his head until he rested against his temple and risked opening one eye again. There in a cage opposite was the hybrid. Still sitting cross-legged, he rifled through a bowl in front of him, nose curled as he sorted the contents. His claws clicked against the sides each time he reached in and selected a morsel. Darce grimaced. Even from here, whatever the hybrid was eating smelled terrible.

“Ugh, if you say so.” Darce swallowed. His throat felt like sandpaper. “Wanna keep it down to a dull roar? What happened?”

Darce rolled his head forward again, resting against the cold metal. His limbs felt heavy and strange, almost like they didn’t belong to him. Felt…disconnected somehow. He reached for his wolf but the creature grunted back sleepily, the merest trickle of energy coming back when before the thing had been a powerhouse, throwing out more heat than a furnace. No help there. Shit. He racked his memories, thinking back to all the other times he’d been drugged. Had he ever felt so weak…so human again before?

“Hit us with some kind of new gas. Dropped us like stones.”

Click-click-click. The hybrid continued to ferret in the bowl, each little tic like nails jammed through Darce’s skull.

“I swear to god, man. If you don’t stop that noise, I’m gonna ram that bowl up your fucking ass.”

A deep chuckle answered him, followed by the slide of metal over metal. “I was done anyway.”

A grunt of effort escaped Darce’s lips as he rolled onto his side. The simple movement left him weak with his head pounding. This time when he opened his eyes, the light didn’t feel like someone had taken a jackhammer to his brain. He lay for a while, head turned to watch the technicians and guards outside the cage. They were twitchy, the technicians constantly looking over their shoulders while the guards stood by with their fingers resting on their trigger guards. A door banged and at least three whirled around, rifles on their shoulders to scan for the threat.

Darce chuckled and dropped his head back. One woman had done that. His woman, and he had to find her. Although he’d told her to leave, to go and find his pack, he knew she wouldn’t have. He’d seen it in the flash in her eyes. Damn stubborn woman.

He closed his eyes. Concentrated. Marshalling every ounce of his energy, he wrapped it around the trickle of power from his sleeping wolf, pulling more from the creature and feeding back in a perpetual loop. Slowly at first, but gaining in speed, the charge in his body built and built until his blood sang and the tiny hairs on his skin lifted. Pain warred with the power. His teeth chattered and his bones ached, but he held all the energy in at the core. Drew it tight. Then, in one almighty rush, he released it, dumping the whole lot into his veins.

Power rushed through him—a Juggernaut on a seek-and-destroy mission for every last drop of the sedative in his body. Hot and cold chills raced over his skin like butterflies in spiked boots, drawing sweat up and through his pores. The sharp stink of chemicals and medication filled his nostrils. He turned his head away to try and escape the stench but it was no good. The stuff crawled from him. Even the skin between his nose and his lip was wet with the stuff.

“Nice trick.”

Darce opened his eyes to see the hybrid watching him. Of course. With both blood and lycan combined, he could probably scent a flea fart at six hundred meters.

“Thanks. Hurts like a bitch, though.”

He sighed in relief, feeling the last of the stuff slough off his skin to evaporate within seconds from the metal underneath him.

“Hey, man, what do I call you?”

The hybrid grunted, moving farther back in his cage at the sound of a door somewhere behind them opening. The sound of boots approached. Darce groaned and scooted back. Anything to make the bastards work for it more.

“Name’s Steele. You?”

“Foster.”

“Cool. Nice to meet ya. Heads up, they’re bringing injured in.”

Darce craned his neck to see, not arguing with Steele’s assessment of the situation. The guy had been here a lot longer than he had. Four soldiers walked toward them, boots loud on the concrete. Each pair dragged a woman. The first was on her feet, terrified and shaking, but walking. The second was slumped between the two men, head down, feet dragging on the floor behind. Blood dripped steadily, leaving a deep black trail.

His heart stuttered in his chest and he slammed against the front of the cage before realizing that he’d moved.

“Oh fuck…no no no.”

It was Toni.

“Back up, dog.” One guard held a weapon covering the door as it opened and his partner bundled Toni through. Darce got to her before she hit the ground, catching her slender form and wrapping her up in his arms. She whimpered in pain. He cradled her close to his chest and scooted to the back of the cage. In the darkness, away from prying eyes.

“Shhh, sweetheart. I got you,” he murmured, trying to keep his voice soft. No hint of the panic rolling through his bigger frame was in his tone. Shit, she was covered in blood, and the rich, deep scent filling his nostrils told him it was hers.

“You’re safe now. I promise. I got you. Where does it hurt, sweets?”

She didn’t reply, a whisper of a moan passing her lips. Her head lolled against his shoulder and he winced at the bruises across her face and throat. Blood trickled down her jaw and neck from a deep cut on her lip. He lowered himself to a sitting position, holding her carefully. Even her breathing was labored, each intake a struggle that ended with a rattle.

Arm supporting Toni’s back, he set her in his lap and used his free hand to lift her top. His breath hissed from his lungs. Her sides and abdomen were black and blue. Whoever had done this had worked her over good and proper. Anger boiled in his veins. His brain listed all the internal injuries and problems such a beating could incur. But almost as fast, his mind went blank. Shit. What could he do to help her?

Her lips pursed and she made a small sound. He lifted his head to find her looking at him, but her eyes were off focus—even when she tried to smile—and he knew she wasn’t really seeing him.

“Hey!” He pitched his voice to carry, catching the attention of a nearby guard. “She’s hurt bad…”

The guard swept a disinterested look over the bruised and battered woman in Darce’s arms. “Yeah, and?”

 Darce grit his teeth. “She needs to see a doctor.”

The answer was a short bark of a laugh. “Yeah, right. For a blood? Bitch needs a vet, not a doctor.”

Darce snarled in a crouch with Toni pulled protectively beneath him. One hand was still in her hair, cradling her head while the other one sprouted a set of claws any movie monster would envy. Just one hand shifted, not the one in her hair. Something he’d never been able to do before but he wouldn’t risk a hair on her head.

“Whoa!” The guard stumbled backward, snatching at his rifle to aim it at them. “Back off, dog. Or I’ll blow both your brains over the back of that cage.”

“Foster!” the hybrid barked from the cage opposite. “Do it. You’re no use to her dead.”

Sense filtered through the red haze over his vision. The claws retracted and the snarl trailed off, his lip dropping back to its normal position. Steele had a point. Pushing the guard was only going to get them dead. Fast. It would solve the problem—Toni wouldn’t be in pain anymore—but wasn’t the solution he was looking for.

“Yeah, that’s right.” Emboldened now, the guard surged forward, shoving the muzzle of the rifle through the bars threateningly. “You back down, or I’ll put you both down.”

It almost killed him to bow his head deferentially, but Darce managed, hand up in the universal gesture of surrender. “I’m down. Honest, man. Don’t shoot.”

“Woods,” a voice shouted from farther down the room. “Stop fucking about and leave the subjects alone. Or I’ll have you shifted topside.”

“Yes, sir!” Woods gave Darce a warning glare but then pushed away and walked off.

Darce watched him until he was out of sight and then turned his attention back to Toni. She lay under him, unmoving. His heart stuttered again and he shoved his fingers against her throat. Crap, no. She couldn’t have left him. Not yet. Panic threatened to overwhelm him, the darkness rising.

Then he felt it. The smallest pulse against his fingers. Her heart still beat. Slow. Weak. But still there.

“Hey, doll. Hang on for me. Let’s get you more comfortable.”

He laid her down gently and then reached over to the ratty pile of rags in the corner that had once been a blanket. A quick sniff assured him that they’d been clean when they’d been shredded and there was nothing objectionable on them. He made a soft bed of sorts, and moved her carefully. His heart wrung with every small sound of pain she made, but she didn’t fight him. Luckily. He didn’t think his heart could take hurting her, even if he was only hurting her to stop her from hurting herself.

He got her settled and she opened her eyes again when he curled around her. This time they were clearer, a soft smile curving her lips before her eyelids fluttered closed again. She reached out, her hand brushing across his ribs before falling as though she were exhausted. A small gesture but his heart leaped. She knew who he was and that eased the ache deep within.

Still he swore under his breath. Why the fuck couldn’t he have been a doctor or something useful? Instead, he’d practically been born a soldier. Which meant all he could do was make her comfortable.

“Make her bite you.”

“Excuse me?”

Darce couldn’t keep the surprise out of his voice as he looked at Steele. The bigger man was in the back of his own cage, arms wrapped around the other woman they’d dragged in with Toni. He cradled her gently against his broad chest, rocking her as though she were an infant. From the movement of her shoulders, she hadn’t stopped crying yet.

“She needs blood,” Steele said bluntly with a quick glance at Toni, his voice at the deep level the humans around them had trouble hearing. “The kind of damage she’s taken, she needs blood to repair. I’m not seeing this lot lining up a transfusion anytime soon so, sorry, bud, you want her to survive, she needs to get a little fang happy with your neck.”

Hell. Of course, why hadn’t he thought of that? She was a blood, she’d need blood to survive—

“Right, you lot, who’s up first for the honeymoon suite?” One of the doctors broke in over the conversation, cackling at his own joke and rubbing his hands. “Let’s see if we can’t get this show on the road and get the colonel some little freak babies to cheer him up after the FUBAR mess today has become.”

He crouched down to peer in the cage at Darce and Toni, looking owlishly over his glasses. He clicked his tongue against the back of his teeth and pursed his lips.

“She’s not much of a looker, is she? Ahh well. A shower will make a lot of difference. Clean clothes. If all else fails you can turn the lights off.”

“There’s a shower?” Darce couldn’t help the quick question. A shower meant clean water.

“Yeah, even a bed rather than the floor. All the luxuries.”

A bed meant sheets. And sheets could be ripped up into bandages.

“We’re first.”

Darce was already clambering to his feet, his precious burden held close to his chest. She was light, too light, like her weight was related to her belligerent attitude. She’d seemed taller when she’d faced off against him, as though her personality had made her seem bigger.

“Excellent!”

The doctor smiled in approval, as though this was routine and he wasn’t involved in some morally dubious shit. Shit that would get him sacked and imprisoned had he tried it in the real world, or that would have him burning in the hell of the world’s major religions.

“Okay, guys, give them some space and let’s get them into room one.”

The guards all stood back while the cage was unlocked and the pair emerged. Darce had to duck his head to fit through the low door, the cage more suited to containing a large animal than a guy over six feet tall. He tried not to jostle Toni, tucking her head against his shoulder to brace her against the movement as he walked. The guards kept their distance, but the fingers against triggers warned him not to try any funny moves. They were so twitchy that they’d cut him down in a heartbeat, probably putting enough lead in him to drop a herd of rhinos.

On his own, he might have risked an escape attempt. Now though, with his mate in his arms, the thought was the furthest one from his mind. All he wanted to do was to get her into a shower, tend to the wounds he could see, and then get her to bite him to deal with the ones he couldn’t.

The corridor passed in a blur until the doctor paused at an open door. He folded his arms over the clipboard against his chest and smiled again.

“Now, try not to be nervous. Let things take their natural course. Stress has been shown to be a major cause of inability to conceive. We’ll give you twelve hours. That should give you guys enough time to get acquainted.”

Was this guy for real? Darce lifted an eyebrow and nodded tersely as he stalked through the door. Quickly. In case Doc Happy started offering sex tips.

He ignored the bed in the room and only registered the door closing because of the metallic click of the lock. He was more focused on getting her into the shower.

“Nearly there, darlin’…I got you,” he promised, walking them both right into the large enclosure. He juggled her in one arm and against a lifted knee so he could trigger the shower. Then he turned suddenly to take the first blast of water across his bare back in case he’d fucked up and it was cold.

He got lucky. The spray was lukewarm, quickly warming to pleasant. The water driving needles into his skin, he sank to the floor with Toni.

She gasped as the water cascaded over them, her eyes opening to latch on to his. They focused and he winced at the pain in them. He’d kill whoever had done this. He’d hunt them down and rip their guts out through their assholes. Slowly. Rage tightened his hold until she winced, crying out and reaching for him. Instinctively. The way a mate should.

“Shhh, it’s okay. It’s all going to be okay,” he promised, wiping the blood from her face. Blood. Steele had said blood. His blood.

Lifting his hand, he punched fangs through his gums and tore into his own wrist. The pain was nothing compared to the possibility of losing her. Blood welled, pouring down his arm to join the water swirling into the drain.

“Drink, darlin’,” he urged, pressing his wrist to her lips.

She murmured in protest, turning her head away. Scarlet smeared her cheek in a dark stain before washing away in the needle-fine spray. He moved, cradling her head in the crook of his arm, the heavy muscles holding her immobile while he forced his wrist against her mouth.

“Come on, sweets. Drink,” he begged, easily quelling her struggles when she fought to escape him.

Each pained attempt tore at his heart, but he held firm. He knew Steele was right. She was a creature of blood and darkness. She needed the stuff for her survival…and he was going to provide it. Whatever she needed, anything she needed, he would provide. Even the thought of her going to another man, sinking those delicate little fangs into another guy’s neck, was enough to bring his wolf rushing to the fore, snarling with possessiveness.

She was his. End of. And if those fangs were going in anyone’s neck—

“Ahhhhoooohh.”

She turned her head and struck, forcing a gasp from his lips. It was weak, admittedly, but she still struck. Sank fang into the ripped flesh of his wrist and sucked. Pain flared for a second before immeasurable pleasure flooded his body on a hot tide from his head down to his toes. She shifted in his arms, her hands coming up to wrap around his wrist. Holding it to her lips so she could swallow. Each pull stronger and stronger.

Darce shuddered and leaned back against the tile while she fed from him. Every swallow sent tingles through his heavy frame, the heat in his body coalescing into a tight band around his waist that reached down to encircle his balls before rushing to his cock. He was hard in a heartbeat, stiff enough to fly the stars and stripes from. With an effort he held back. Concentrated on lying passive while she took what she needed from him, despite the fact that all he wanted to do was lay her down and cover her with his body. Part her thighs and sink into her…take them both to heaven and back.

Darce gritted his teeth and slammed his head back against the tiles as her pulls slowed. He shouldn’t be thinking about sex. She was hurt, and he was a pervert.

Her grip gentled on his wrist and her hands fell away. Another hiss of pleasure escaped his lips as she gently detached her fangs and then swiped her tongue over his skin in a lazy movement that sent another jolt of heat through his groin. He ignored it, his heart stolen anew when she purred in contentment and snuggled deeper into his arms.

She was gorgeous.

Darce sat in the shower. The buzz of blood loss sang through his body but he didn’t care. He had the woman he loved in his lap, drifting off to sleep. Already her color was better, his blood surging through her system bringing a pink wash on her cheeks. He had no idea what his virus-laden blood would do to her, but already he saw changes. The cut on her lip had been red-raw but as he watched, it went pink, then lighter, until it looked like it had been healing for weeks.

He extended his claws and cut the remains of her top and pants, carefully washing the remnants of blood from her skin. The bruises faded while he worked, and he had to pause just to watch in amazement. He’d always known the bloods healed quickly, some quicker than lycans, but this was something else.

And then there was her scent. Even over the shower and the cheap, generic, mass-purchased soap, he could smell it blossoming. Changing. Going from what it had been, alluring as that was, to something deeper and richer. Like her body combined his scent with hers. Smelling himself on her was the most erotic thing he’d ever scented. Like he’d marked her, owned her and her body had accepted his claim by mimicking his scent.

He left her underwear on and washed her as best he could. He couldn’t remove it and retain his sanity. Not with her finally in his arms and the arousal from her bite still surging through his body.

“Nearly there, doll.”

He reached up to snap the water off. The room was warm, fan heaters had kicked in when he’d turned the water on, so she didn’t shiver when he stepped out. To be sure, he grabbed a couple of towels off the rail and wrapped her up in them. The last thing he wanted was for her to catch a chill on the back of whatever injuries she’d already sustained.

She murmured when he lifted her into his arms. Making soothing noises, he carried her through to the waiting bed and laid her gently on its surface. They still had at least eleven hours, so screw Doc Happy—he was going to make sure she slept. Then they would formulate a battle plan.

Because she was getting out of there.

Even if it killed him.