Valli felt on edge and slightly ridiculous as she cautiously opened the door of the examination room and peeked into the hall. She didn’t know what was up with Scott, if he was actually attempting to hold her against her will or what. She didn’t think he had any ill will toward her... Why in the world would he? But his overwhelming concern for her, and no doubt some level of romantic crush, was highly obnoxious and downright creepy.
Thing was, though, she didn’t want to have a protracted argument about either issue. Not when she was anxious to get her things and call Blade to come and get her.
Avoidance, it is.
Hating herself a little for sneaking away and not just telling the annoying doctor it was her body and she’d get it checked when she wanted and with whom, Valli quietly entered the hallway and crossed to the side exit. She paused to ensure she wasn’t being followed, then with a burst of speed, she darted across the street and down the block. Five minutes later, she was pulling open the glass door of the restaurant and skidding to a halt in the center of the dining room.
Instantly she felt better and, strangely, safer. She breathed deeply of the familiar scents of warm bread and freshly baked pies as she heard the pitter-patter of Fran hurrying out of the kitchen.
“Valli,” the woman breathed, eyes going wide as she moved forward, wiping the flour off her hands. “Oh, lordie. Oh, hun. I’ve been so worried.”
Valli’s heart squeezed with both guilt and affection. She hated that she’d made this woman upset. This woman who’d done nothing but care for her. “I’m fine,” she assured her.
Eyes soft now, Fran reached up to pat Valli’s cheek. “I’ll judge that for myself,” she said in her classic gruff tone.
After she’d looked her over for a solid minute, the older women left her side and scurried toward the door. She turned the sign to Closed and clicked the bolt into place. “Now, we won’t be disturbed.” Turning, she waved Valli to follow her. “Have a seat and let me get you a slice of pecan pie. I want to hear everything that’s been going on.”
“I’m really not hungry,” Valli said, even as she slid into one of the chairs in the small dining room. She needed to call Blade, even just to let him know she was all right.
“Nonsense,” Fran protested, fluttering in and back out of the kitchen with an energy that made Valli’s head spin. “Everyone is hungry for my pie.”
Valli swallowed a sigh and grinned. Fran wouldn’t be happy until she’d eaten her pie.
“I’m sorry if I worried you,” Valli said, her mouth watering as Fran set the plate in front of her, along with a large glass of cold milk. She’d lied when she said she wasn’t hungry. It’d been a long time since breakfast. She’d just been so anxious to get home, back to Blade. “I didn’t consider the fact that I just disappeared. I wasn’t thinking.”
Fran took a seat across the table, studying Valli with a searching gaze, as if assuring herself that Valli was unharmed by her recent adventure.
“I’ll tell you it gave me a right start to see that creature carrying you away,” the older woman admitted. “What was he doing back there?”
Valli lowered her head as she took a large bite of pie. She didn’t want Fran to see her expression.
“Looking for me.”
Her eyes widened. “You know him?”
Valli took another bite of pie and then a drink of milk before answering. “It’s a long story.”
No doubt sensing Valli’s unwillingness to discuss Blade, Fran curbed the subject, folded her hands in her lap and cleared her throat.
“Well, I didn’t know what to do, but Dr. Richards said that he would go to the Wildlands and demand that you be returned to us.”
Valli grimaced as she pushed aside her half-eaten pie and drank the last of the milk. She felt a slight twinge of guilt for sneaking away from Scott. Creepy and crushing on her aside, he had spent days trying to find her, get her back to Fran.
“Yes, he’s the one who brought me back to Bonne,” she admitted.
Fran smiled. A smug, satisfied smile. “Ah, I knew I could depend on him,” she murmured. “He’s a fine man.”
Valli gave an obligatory nod of agreement, then instantly wished she hadn’t. Her head suddenly felt as if it was too heavy for her neck. And worse, her brain was starting to spin.
“He clearly cares about you a lot,” Valli said, trying to shake off the strange sensations.
“And you,” Fran said, pulling her phone from the pocket of her apron. “But you’re not keen on him, are you?”
“No, not at all,” Valli agreed, her heart missing a beat at the thought of Blade. “I have someone waiting for me.”
Fran curled her lips. “One of those animals?”
“He’s not—” Valli bit off her words, her head pulsing strangely. She wasn’t going to waste her time arguing. She wanted to be back in the Wildlands with her man. Her mate. The father of her child. “Doesn’t matter. I have to pack my things.”
“No need. I’ve already boxed them up,” Fran told her.
“You did?” Valli said in surprise, though her voice sounded oddly weak and raspy. Had the older woman assumed she wasn’t coming back? Maybe she’d already hired a new waitress and rented out the room upstairs.
“Yes. You can take them with you.” Fran lifted her phone and spoke to some unseen listener. “She’s here. Hurry up.”
Valli shoved herself upright, gritting her teeth as her dizziness intensified. What the hell was wrong with her? Was this one of the same old dizzy spells she’d had before she left?
“Who was that?” she demanded, apprehension snaking down her spine.
That feeling...the one she’d had in the car, and—damn her—in the clinic...hummed inside of her. Something wasn’t right. She wasn’t right. And her child...
“My contact with Benson Enterprises,” Fran said simply. “He’s promised me a very lucrative payment to hand over you and that abomination you’re cooking in there.”
Valli blinked, her breath stalled inside her lungs. She blinked again.
Fran looked the same, her long red hair coiled into a knot at the back of her head, her hooked nose and bright brown eyes.
But it was as if Valli was seeing her for the first time.
She shook her woozy head. “No, Fran...”
“Now I know it’s a little premature,” she went on as if nothing had changed between them, as if what she was saying was the sanest thing in the world. “I’d hoped to wait until after you’d given birth. I’m sure I could have demanded an even higher price. But now that the animals know where you live, I can’t take the risk that they might come looking for you.”
Valli lifted a hand to her head. It was buzzing now, like a hundred flies were inside of it. She couldn’t think clearly. Couldn’t move.
“I don’t understand.” The words came out in a whisper.
The older woman rose to her feet, a smirk twisting her lips.
“Of course you don’t,” she said in mocking tones. “Poor, pathetic Valli. So desperate for a mother to love her.”
Valli grabbed the back of the chair, her knees feeling weak. The baby. Her cub...
“How do you...” she struggled. “How do you know Benson?”
Fran shrugged. “He gave me the money to start this restaurant with the understanding I would regularly send him young women he can use for his experimentations.”
Oh, God. Her heart dropped into the floor. How was this possible? And how could she have been so stupid? Hadn’t life taught her that no one could be trusted?
No one but Blade.
She had to move, get out, run...before they came... She had to get home to Blade.
But nothing was working. Not her mind or her legs. Fran had drugged her with that goddamned pie and Blade didn’t know where she was.
“Fran, please don’t do this,” she rasped, trying anything she could...her tongue so thick that the words came out slurred. “I know you cared about me.”
Fran dropped her phone on the table and untied her apron, as if she was preparing for company.
The thought made Valli’s stomach cramp with terror.
“Once a year I would ride the bus around the state, waiting to find a suitable test subject,” Fran explained. “They were specific in their needs. She had to be young, fertile, and without family ties.” She flicked a dismissive glance over Valli. “You were perfect.”
Perfect?
Struggling to stay upright, Valli shuddered. She’d been drugged, forcibly inseminated, and hypnotized into believing that she’d been raped by the father of her child. And now, this piece of shit she’d allowed herself to believe in and trust was trying to send her back. For what? To be a lab rat? To have her child taken from her?
“Why didn’t you take me straight to the clinic?” she demanded, pushing the woman to talk so she could think, try to figure a way out.
“You had to be given hormones before the actual procedure. They expected me to ensure you were properly prepared.” Fran heaved a sigh, as if she’d been unbearably exhausted by the process of betraying a young, innocent woman.
Forcing her gaze around the room for anything she could use as a weapon—butter knives, glasses—Valli lifted a shaky hand to press it against the soft swell of her stomach. Inside, her baby slept with peaceful oblivion.
“I didn’t take any hormones,” she protested.
Fran shrugged. “Course you did, hon. I slipped them into your evening tea.”
God. She’d been so epically stupid. She’d actually looked forward to the nightly tea and scones she’d shared with this woman.
And all the time Fran was simply priming her to become a caged lab rat.
She needed to get to the kitchen where the butcher knives were kept. Maybe it was being in the Wildlands with the pumas and their Hunter nature, maybe it was the puma she carried inside of her...but she’d changed. In just a few days, she’d changed. Sinking a fierce, sharp blade into this woman’s heart sounded like bliss.
“So that’s what made me sick and dizzy,” Valli choked out, using all her remaining energy to inch toward the next table.
“No.” Fran chuckled, looking exceptionally pleased with herself. “That was a special ingredient that I baked into your scones. Once you were close to being finished with the hormone treatment, I had to get you to the client. The easiest way was to convince you that you were dying. You would not only be eager to go to Baton Rouge, but you would let the doctors do whatever they wanted.”
Valli swayed, her knees close to buckling. She grabbed onto the back of the chair at the next table. She had to make her move quickly if she was really going to have any chance of escaping.
“How many others?” she abruptly demanded, releasing her hold on the chair as she gathered her fading strength. The kitchen was close. She could do it. But she’d have to run.
Fran lifted a puzzled brow. “What?”
“How many women did you send to the clinic?”
“Oh. Nine. Maybe ten. But none of them got pregnant.” Fran’s smile widened with blatant anticipation. “You, my dear, are my ticket to retirement.”
The woman’s complete lack of regret sent a burst of fury through Valli, giving her the strength she needed. But not to run away. The Pantera were inside of her now. They didn’t run from their enemies.
They attacked.
“And you are one evil fucking bitch!” she screamed before leaping forward to grab the woman by her neck and slam her against the nearby counter.