Chapter 1
This sucks. Abigail Elizabeth Monroe shifted the ungodly stack of papers from one arm to the other. Filing was just one of the many boring duties in the description of the job that the temp agency had given her. The sounds of voices filled the large open office where men and women worked from cubicles. She’d held this job for two days. Not a record, but it was a start. Some of the employees talked about their weekends while sipping coffee as she walked by and others were talking about the latest football game they’d watched on TV. She might as well have been invisible to these people who didn’t even bother to ask her name.
Abigail settled on top of a little stool and placed the papers at her feet so she could start filing. Several papercuts and hours later, she sucked the blood away as she shoved the last filing cabinet shut. Her entire shift had come and gone. She stood with her hands on her hips and stretched the kinks out of her neck.
Laughter floated to her ears as a group of woman stood around, purses on their shoulders, deciding where they’d meet after work for drinks. When they turned and spotted Abigail, she froze.
“Hey,” Carol called. She’d been the supervisor in charge of giving Abigail her duties for the day.
“Me?” Abigail asked, glancing over her shoulder to find no one else behind her.
“We were just debating where to go for drinks.” The woman grinned.
Hope blossomed in Abigail’s heart. Were they going to ask her to join them? Had someone finally grown a kind bone? “Yeah?”
Carol pointed over to her desk. “That stack isn’t going to file itself.”
And just as quickly as the idea and hope for acceptance had taken form, it vanished, shriveling and wilting away like flower petals on a cold winter’s day. Carol led the giggling women out of the office. Not one bothered to glance back with even a morsel of pity.
It was official. Abigail’s life sucked, and worse than that, she’d hit rock bottom. It had started that morning years ago she’d found both of her parents murdered in a vicious home invasion. Her life had gone downhill ever since.
Abigail took one more look at the stack of papers and rolled her eyes. She didn’t have time for self-pity. Her emotions weren’t going to pay the bills. She grabbed her purse, leaving the stack for Monday.
“It’s not going to file itself,” Abigail said in a mocking tone as she headed to the elevator and jabbed the call button.
“We’re going out for drinks,” she continued, mocking Carol as she stepped into the empty elevator. When the doors opened to the garage, the disappointment welling up inside had slowed to a simmer.
“These people don’t matter,” she repeated to herself, keys in hand as she headed toward her car in the dimly lit garage. The concrete structure was eerie with no sunlight shining in. This morning she hadn’t been able to find a parking spot because the place was so full. Now the cars sat few and far between.
A man whistled in the distance echoing through the concrete tomb, startling her to a stop. A shiver skirted down her spine as her gaze darted around the cars and shadows dancing on the wall. A killer could pop out from anywhere. Chewing her bottom lip, she stood frozen, debating whether to return to the building or move on to her car. Visions of her parents’ bloodless and unmoving bodies on the living room floor flashed in her mind. Her whole body tensed.
When the elevator dinged behind her, and a group of men and women walked out, she finally let out the breath she’d been holding and continued on to her car. If someone were to attack, at least there would be others around to hear her screams, even if they didn’t know who she was.
Her steps quickened into a walking run until she reached her car. She clicked the Fob and slid behind the wheel quickly locking the doors behind her before shoving the key into the ignition.
I’m safe, she repeated over and over in her head as she slowly rolled through the parking garage, her gaze darting into every corner to see if she could find the source of the whistling.
Abigail drove straight home and parked her car as close to the front of the apartment building as possible. Her neighborhood wasn’t in the best part of town, but it wasn’t the worst either. It was just a place she could afford. She slid out of the car and scanned the lot. A couple of teens she’d noticed before were the only ones loitering nearby. She took the stairs two at a time until she reached her third floor. The familiar old, musty scent of the worn-out carpet drifted to her nose, and the muscles in her shoulders started to ease as she stepped inside her apartment, throwing the deadbolt into place behind her.
“Home sweet home.” She dropped her purse on the table and walked directly into the kitchen, making herself an iced tea while she started her frozen dinner in the microwave. This was her life. It wasn’t glamorous, but it was hers.
Abigail settled in front of the television with her nuked, cardboard-tasting dinner and flicked the news on. A story about a woman flashed on the screen. “Another abduction?”
“This makes the third person to disappear in the last three days,” the reporter stated in a serious tone. “This abduction occurred just hours earlier in the Dawson Cliff area. Local police and the Shifter Investigation Division are on the scene, blocking the area. At this time, it’s unclear if the missing person was human or a member of the shifter community. Police are urging everyone to take extra precautions and watch your surroundings when by yourself or to travel in groups to be safe. If you have any information, please contact Crime Stoppers or the police department at (555) 221-4376.”
“I bet the asshole whistles while he’s snatching them,” she mumbled around her next bite of food and flipped the channel to a detective show instead. She loved a good mystery and watching bad guys being thrown in jail. The fact that police still couldn’t explain how her parents had their blood drained, and the fact that they hadn’t charged anyone with the murders, made her stomach churn. Someone, somewhere, knew something.
Abigail took her dishes into the kitchen and cleaned up after herself. She walked over to the sliding glass door and looked out at the little garden on her balcony. Night had settled in, the moon shielded behind a foggy sky. Thunder rolled as lightning flashed in the distance. A storm was brewing and headed their way. She went to pull the curtains closed and glanced down into the parking lot. The boys from earlier were gone. Two men were leaning against a black van with blacked-out windows. Each was smoking, neither speaking as they glanced casually around the lot. The larger of the two looked up and met her gaze as the last blind closed, blocking his view. She shivered before heading to the door and making sure she had locked it tight. She grabbed a bat from the hallway closet and took it into her room before changing and sliding into her nice warm bed. Closing her eyes, she tried to remember her father’s face and her mom’s laugh, clinging to happier times when they’d been alive. Slowly, sleep carried her away into a dream state.
****
Abigail’s eyes flew open, and her heart raced. Fear gripped her body, and her muscles tensed. The man from the parking lot looked down on her. His lips tilted up in a smile as he held a rag over her nose and mouth. His leg pinned one of her arms while the other was being held down by large fingers digging into her skin. Unable to turn her head, she could only make out the faint outline of the other man in the room. She felt the sharp prick of a needle in her arm and tried to scream and pull her arm free from the unyielding restraints.
“Don’t make this hard on yourself. Just breathe,” he whispered.
Panic struck hold, and she sucked in deep breaths, hoping to prolong her life. The medicinal scent hit her in the gut, clogging her nose and dulling her senses.
The men’s voices sounded clogged and distorted to her ears as they spoke back and forth, and her lids turned heavy as she fought to keep her eyes open. Her blinking slowed.
Her world turned dark, and the voices in the room quieted as the blackness sucked her into its web, cloaking her in the void she feared.
She drifted in and out of consciousness to the sound of a beeping machine. Her eyes slid open into the darkened room. The machine hooked up to her beeped to the rhythm of her weak heartbeat. Bags of blood hung from a pole nearby, the line going into a port in her arm. She felt a prick in her other arm. Her eyes felt groggy again, and she was unable to keep them open. They slid closed.
“Which are you giving her now?” a man growled from nearby.
“The cougar,” a man answered from her other side. His raspy voice seeped down to her bones; wrapping around her and making her feel safe. A feeling she couldn’t understand.
The what? Her mind raced to process the information. Her tongue felt too heavy and thick to ask.
“Where are the other vials?” Asshole One growled again.
“I moved them to a secure location. We don’t want them tainted,” silky-voiced Asshole Two answered.
“Make sure you give her all of them except the bear. Boris plans to bite her himself. He thinks the DNA in his saliva will work faster.”
“That wasn’t the plan,” Asshole Two was quick to say.
“The plan changed. Just do as you’re told or you’ll be joining her,” Asshole One growled.
She heard his retreat and the click of the closing door. Her head lolled to the side because she was unable to hold it straight, and she moaned as the light dimmed, sucking her back into the dark void.
“Shit.” Asshole Two whispered into her ear. “You’re not supposed to be here. Fuck, you aren’t even twenty-four yet.”
She turned toward his voice, unable to open her eyes.
“Just hold on one more day, and I’ll get you out of here.” She felt his palm on her forehead and heard a low whistle like what she’d heard in the parking garage.
Darkness sucked her under, and all talking ceased. She never even saw the face of the man who promised to help her escape.
****
Pain radiated from her neck as a large body pressed down over her chest. Straps tore at her stomach and legs as she fought to get free. Her arms were strapped down by her sides. The only movement she had was in her fingers. She jerked at the confinement, and her eyes slid open. A large man was leaning down over her, his chest heavy on hers, his head buried deep in her neck. She screamed.
“Shut this bitch up,” the man growled around his teeth which were lodged in her neck.
A hand covered her mouth, and she turned her head to see another man in a white lab coat. He stared back at her, pity in his eyes. He shook his head as if trying to still her.
“Don’t move. It will only be worse.”
Her whole body jerked, trying to dislodge the man’s weight and his grip on her neck. She felt the tear of her skin, the ripping of her tendons, and an unbearable pain shot through her whole body as wet liquid ran down her neck. Bright white shot behind her eyes, leaving her gaze clouded and unfocused as tears slipped down her temples.
“Serves her right,” the asshole growled, lifting up off of her. “I’ll punish her for that when she’s done turning. She needs to be taught a lesson.”
“Boris,” she heard Asshole Two yell as he entered the room. “Stop. You weren’t scheduled to bite her until tomorrow. Are you trying to kill her?”
Her body grew weaker by the second. Her limbs went limp. She was dying. She knew it.
“Be mindful, boy,” was Boris’ only answer. “Patch her up. If she dies, so do you.”
Abigail welcomed the darkness this time as the pain engulfed her. She was ready for the numbing bliss. Her heart beat slowed as she waited for her death.
****
Voices faded in and out as feelings in her legs and arms started to return. Her eyelids still felt too heavy to open.
“You’re going to kill her,” a new voice announced as she felt another person at her neck. She felt the pull of the blood leaving her body as she slipped back into the darkness where time stood still.
Abigail pushed her way out of the gray haze toward the sound of the machine matching her heartbeat. Her weak body gained some strength as she fought to open her eyes. A palm rested on her forehead. An older man’s face was her only view.
“You’re a lucky girl, Abigail. We weren’t sure you were going to make it. I’m Dr. Tanner.”
Fear returned as memories surfaced of what Boris and the other assholes had done. Her gaze darted around the room as a scream bubbled to her throat.
“We’re not going to hurt you. We’re here to help you,” Dr. Tanner announced, lifting his hands and stepping back. “This is Colton Trapp. He’s the chief of SID, the Shifter Investigation Division.”
“Where am I and how do you know my name?” Abigail shrieked while scurrying as far away as the IV’s and machines would let her from the men. “What did you do to me?”
“An anonymous tip.” The doctor answered with a frown while looking at the other man in the room before meeting her gaze again. “Whoever helped you escape left you in an alley, behind SID. You’d lost a significant amount of blood.”
Abigail rubbed her wrists from where the restraints had scathed her skin. “I was abducted.” A tear slipped down her cheek. “Those assholes…”
The man named Colton stepped forward and lifted a reassuring hand before dropping it back to his side. “Will die for what they’ve done.”
She looked up into his eyes and knew he meant what he said.
“You’ll kill them?” Her voice came out a whisper.
“They’re killing innocent people. I’ll do what’s necessary, Abigail,” he reassured her.
The skin on her arms tingled with a sensation she’d never felt before. She glanced down at her fingers. Her normally short nails were long and sharp. Orange and black hairs had started to sprout on her arms. Warmth radiated through her chest. Her heart raced, and her eyes widened as she held up her arms. “What did they do to me?”
“Take several deep breaths and fight your change. We need you coherent.”
“What change?” Her voice rose an octave. “What are you talking about?”
“Calm down, and I’ll explain.”
Abigail took several deep breaths and closed her eyes, trying to will her heartbeat to slow down. She opened her eyes. These men weren’t restraining her. She was safe.
“For as long as I’ve lived, there have always been people from opposite ends of the spectrum; they either hate shifters and want to destroy them or are looking for ways to be just like them. It’s nature. Our intel suggests that the group that abducted you was trying to transform humans into shifters as a way to build an army. They’ve altered your DNA in an experiment to see if they could change you from human to shifter.” He paused. “And they succeeded. We need your help to stop them from doing it to anyone else.”
She looked down at her pale skin. Her voice was a whisper in the room. “They’ve ruined my life.”
“Abigail,” Colton said.
“Abigail’s dead. Those bastards killed her,” she growled and lifted her gaze to meet Colton’s. “And I’m going to return the favor, even if I die trying; you can count me in.” Starting with the man named Boris.
Colton gave her a determined nod. “You aren’t alone anymore, Abigail. I’m going to help you, train you, teach you, and turn you into their worst nightmare.”
She pressed her lips together as hatred seeped into her bones, curling around every fiber of her being. They’d screwed up. They should have killed her while they had the chance. She wasn’t weak anymore. She could feel the shimmering of the beasts stirring to life inside her body. They were just as thirsty for revenge as she was. She might not know how to control them yet, but she would. It was just a matter of time before she could return the pain they’d inflicted on her. The only difference was they wouldn’t be saved, not from her. She slid her legs off the bed, trying to stand for the first time, and Colton stepped forward as if to catch her in the event she fell.
“Abigail, are you okay?”
Her eyes narrowed into slits. “I said Abigail is dead.” She paused as the hot anger swept through her again. “Call me Elizabeth.”