KNIGHT
Chapter 18
“First, let’s do a thorough exam,” Piper said, snapping on latex gloves. “We want to make sure you’re in tip-top condition.”
“You so much as breathe on me, and I swear I’ll tear you limb from limb,” Alexia spat through gritting teeth, viciously yanking at her restraints.
“Oh, don’t worry, Alexia. I’ll be very gentle. I’ve come to be very practiced at this. Forgive me if I don’t have any female nurses in attendance as is standard protocol. We have to cut corners in this particular little clinic. Shall we get started?”
Alexia pulled even harder, screaming out her raw hatred for this evil monster. Every ounce of fury welled up and wanted to explode out of her. But there was nothing she could do, not without endangering her father. She had no choice but to tamp down the growing need…
I have shifted now, Alexia! Erik’s voice suddenly popped into her head. The serum has worn off, and they did not inject me again in time. They will never inject anyone ever again, in fact.
They’re dead? You killed them?
Every last one of the Arcan scum.
His mental voice was dark and dangerous. Alexia was so proud of him.
Painfully, I hope, she remarked mentally, narrowing her eyes on Piper. Because he was next.
Oh, yes. Their blood still drips from my jaws, and it tastes very sweet.
Good for you, daddy-kins. Now get out of there as fast as you can.
Unfortunately I still cannot get out of this locked room. But I am no longer in immediate danger, and you are free now to escape without worrying for my safety. Please, Alexia. Escape however you can. Do what you must.
Will do. Then I’ll find a way to get you and Catrina out, I promise.
That was all the assurance she needed. Her father was safe, but not for long. Not until she shifted and cut the head off this putrid Arcan snake.
Within seconds her eyes fired, her belly clenched, her vision drained of color as the details zoomed in clearer. Maybe it was the hot adrenaline or gut-burning hatred for these scumbags racing through her veins, but Alexia felt the shift coming faster and harder than ever before. This wasn’t going to take long.
A low guttural growl rumbled from her throat as her teeth enlarged, her body grew and expanded, transforming in seconds. The restraints snapped one by one and cloth ripped as her body continued to grow. And grow. And grow!
This was not the same shifting she did the last time. This was something entirely new. Different.
Scary.
She felt incredible strength and power surge through every changing muscle and bone in her body. Everything around her grew smaller as she grew larger.
“Oh God, Alexia! C-calm down! Just calm..!”
The sound of metal rattling filled her perked ears, and her eyes narrowed to the puny little human cowering next to an overturned surgical tray, steel instruments littering the floor. She scented the glorious aroma of fear rolling off of him like sweet molasses. She licked her razor sharp, drooling chops.
Alexia loped off the table on all fours and shook out the fur covering her like thick armor. She barred her enormous sabre-teeth canines and sent another loud threatening growl.
Scott Piper was dead meat.
And his blood was going to taste so very good.
Whining, he scooted away as she took one step forward, lowering her muzzle. Alexia could smell the acrid stench of urine that truly delighted her in its meaning. What a cowardly piss-ant.
“Alexia, I-I didn’t know you learned how to shift. Wow, you probably can’t control yourself yet, right? It’s fine. We’re friends, remember?”
Oh yes, it was very fine. But no, they were no longer friends.
And she planned to make his death last a very long time.
Piper grabbed up a ten-blade scalpel and raised it as he slid along the wall. “One step closer, and I’ll use it. I swear. It’s made of silver. It’ll kill you!”
Idiot. She knew what these instruments were made of. She’d been a medical student, for crying out loud.
Another bad trait of hers—she couldn’t stand to deal with morons.
Particularly ones she wanted to kill painfully.
Piper dived to the right towards the door. He managed to push the steel door open and squeeze through, then slammed it closed. Dang these enormous paws that didn’t have flexing fingers and semi-deposable thumbs to turn the frigging round knob.
Guess she was going to have to do things the hard way.
Her jaws clamped down on the knob and yanked on it again and again until the entire locking mechanism and housing broke into pieces. She spit out the knob and a chunk of the metal casing, but the door itself was still shut tight. It took a few thunderous ramming pounds from her shoulder, but then it finally popped open like a soda can, and Alexia was out into the dank empty hallway alone.
Dim fluorescent lighting gave the place an eerie feel, a few ballasts strobing periodically. She raised her nose and detected Piper’s scent in both directions, but it was stronger coming from the right, which probably meant more recent.
So he wanted to play hide-and-seek?
Awesome, she was up for that.
She kept her nose close to the ground where his scent was most pungent. She came across her own cell now propped open and empty. Immediately Alexia looked across to Catrina’s on the opposite side and rose up on hind legs to peer through the small, high window.
A sleek dark-haired woman her age sat on a corner army cot. Alexia barked, drawing her attention. Her eyes widened, a huge smile splitting her lips as she ran up to the window, pounded on it with her palm. Alexia would have worked to pull her lock off as well, but she couldn’t afford the time just yet. She just hoped her wolf-form reassured her cousin that she would be rescued after these Arcan slime balls were taken out.
Alexia huffed and whined, wishing badly to be able to verbally explain her plan. But Catrina nodded and stepped back, then gestured that she should go. Alexia couldn’t be certain, but she believed her cousin understood and was encouraging her to continue. Guess she’d been speaking wolf a lot longer than Alexia had.
Her front paws slid back to the ground as Alexia looked up and down the long hallway of cell doors. Erik had to be behind one of them. Maybe between the two of them in wolf-form they could clean out this nest of plague-filled rats.
One by one she rose up on her hind legs and peered through each high tiny window. Finally she saw Erik sitting on the corner army cot. In human form. Three men hovering near him playing games on their cellphones.
His eyes shot up to hers. His expression first registered shock at her wolf-form, then apology for the fact that he was not. Which meant the message he sent her was a lie. His anti-shifting serum hadn’t worn off, nor had he disposed of his captors.
Although fortunately they weren’t hovering over him either, too distracted by their video games. Guess they assumed Alexia was still helplessly strapped down in Frankenstein’s laboratory, and the need to threaten his life to gain her compliance was no longer needed.
Wanna tell me why you lied, daddy-kins?
Erik looked away, so as not to draw the other men’s attention to her. Oh, Alexia, I would do anything at all short of murder to save you, my sweet one. Maybe even that. I am only glad that you took advantage to gain the upper hand. Now go. Leave this place while you are still able.
Okay, how could anyone be mad about that?
And she would leave. But not before rescuing her family, both him and Catrina, from these scum buckets.
Speaking of which, there was still another more pressing matter to attend to.
I’ll be back. Sit tight.
Alexia, get out now! Please! For your mother! For me! I cannot lose you to these monsters!
She whined and licked the glass. Love you, dad. Try not to worry. I’ll be fine.
Alexia Madison Raine, I demand that you—!
She blocked out his desperate, furious order for her to stop whatever foolish, dangerous plan she was attempting. Too bad he couldn’t have a nice long chat with Jonathan Raine right about now. They could commiserate over a large bottle of Jack Daniels about their frustrating, obstinate and very stubborn daughter.
Back down on all fours, Alexia continued her manhunt. Actually this was kind of fun now. In a twisted, death match sort of way.
Her nose to the ground, she followed Piper’s scent, up one hallway, down another, in and out of the maze of open connecting offices. It was so easy that it almost took all the challenge out of it. He practically left searchlights for her to follow.
Muffled rustling to her left brought her head up and ears forward.
She scented the air. Someone else was coming. Several of the scumbags, in fact.
Oh boy, games were always more fun with multiple players.
She heard and jumped around just a millisecond too late as the men who previously held Erik rushed her from behind.
Dang it, the distraction to her left was a common strategy, and she was furious with herself for falling for it.
But not as mad as she was at the sight of the thick syringe one of the goons held above her. She was so done with syringes that she could chomp it and its bearer to bits!
She twisted around him and jumped far over the others’ heads, spinning around and crouching with her lethal canines barred. Now they were on the defensive as she stalked them slowly around the various desks and chairs.
Just as the group hit the back of the office, they yelled and scattered like cockroaches. But not before Alexia lunged and clamped down on one of their bony legs.
“Byron, help me! It’s gonna kill and eat me, man!”
Hey, that was a great idea. Why didn’t she think of that?
Oh yeah, he wouldn’t taste very good.
Or so she was told once. Maybe she should test that theory.
His trusty pal just ignored his pleas and took off squealing like a scared little bunny. Alexia’s prey tried to frantically claw out of her bear trap jaws, and she guiltily admitted that she stood there holding him a couple minutes longer than necessary, amused at watching his inept attempt at escape. So much fun.
He yowled in agony as she clamped down on his ankle bone a little harder. Then he frantically tried to reach for the syringe near his head. Alexia easily batted it so hard it flew across the entire room and into the next.
“N-nice d-doggy,” her frightened prey cried as he tried to twist around to face her with shaking hands raised.
Doggy? Did that stinking gutter rat just call her a dog?
As if he was some international beauty queen.
“W-we’re friends, remember?” he squealed out, trying desperately to yank his ankle from her teeth. “D-deena must’ve not…I mean, so you can change just like the others, huh? That’s so c-cool. So why don’t you be a good friend and let me go, huh? Promise I’ll help you get outta here.”
Deena?
Vague recognition sifted through the red and gray haze of her bloodlust. Then Alexia cracked a huge wolfy grin. Steven Webber just made the biggest mistake of his now very short life by confirming his identity, as well as his betrayal straight to her big doggy, furry face.
Oh, this was going to be really fun now.
Her jaw released his ankle long enough for him to scoot into the corner. He cursed as he clamored to his feet, his wide stare not leaving hers. Edging cautiously along the wall, his eyes shifted to the right, and Alexia waited patiently until he made his very predicable move.
Damn, he couldn’t even be creative about it.
Steven turned and ran for the echoing hallway, but Alexia’s agile reflexes and speed were so lightning fast that she even impressed herself as she took three long strides and leaped over his head, spinning around to face him with a clawing swipe across his rotten, lying mouth.
He spun a full three-hundred sixty degrees and went down from the enormous impact. As he lay there gurgling from the blood pouring from his facial lacerations, Alexia took one forward motion to step her enormous paw onto his trachea, cutting off his airway completely.
He thrashed and clawed at her leg as his face grew red and puffy, but it did no good. Three minutes later, his arms and body fell limp onto the cold linoleum floor, his stare glassy and vacant.
Steven Webber hunted his last lycanthrope. And lost.
That one’s for you, Deena.
Okay, now back to her original manhunt.
Alexia stepped off the lifeless carcass and scented all around, catching the exact right note. She padded down the hallway and turned left at the open door, then halted in her tracks.
The large room was bathed in complete darkness. Although she could see details well enough with her night vision, her senses went on high alert.
Her ears perked forward hearing the faint breath. She wasn’t alone.
Worse, this human wasn’t terrified of her in the least. She would have to be extra cautious.
Lowering her muzzle, her nose detected someone familiar—not Piper.
Careful not to make a sound, she scanned the area filled with desks and computers and file cabinets. It was apparent that she was not the only predator in the room, and no telling what type of trap he had in store.
Clanging metal came from the left, so she snapped her attention to the right. Because instinct told her that she was being played for a dumb mutt again, and the man forgot that she could reason like a human. A very smart one.
Alexia waited several beats, listened hard.
At last she heard it—the rapid heartbeat from the closed door of the wall closet. The door cracked an ultra-thin inch, but enough for her to see the detestable beady eyes looking back.
It was amazing how fast her brain could work when challenged. She wondered how long he planned to stay in there. But she was patient and in no hurry to kill him. Yet.
Then she smelled it, her entire frame going rigid.
Silver.
Whatever he held inside with him was made of pure silver. So he wasn’t playing anymore. That was just fine. Neither was she.
She padded two steps to the left, crouched behind a desk. His tiny liquid eyes held hers the entire time. He was just waiting for her to make a move in order to make his.
Just then she caught the fresh scent of Piper somewhere nearby. Maybe even be in the very next room.
So close.
So the Hack Man was being protected by his bodyguard hiding in the closet, was he? Waiting in the shadows like some revolting spider in its corner web.
The closet door cracked open a little more, and Alexia could finally make out the owner of that rancid, offending smell. It was Ape Man in all his sweating, putrid bulk, and in his hand was a filled syringe. Only this time it wasn’t any tranquilizer. It was silver nitrate for a permanent nighty-night.
Okay, so now they were at a stand-off. She needed to get past him to reach Piper in the next room, but he was holding her personal kryptonite. And he was a closet case with nowhere else to go that didn’t end with him in pieces. So what now?
Use your gift, Alexia.
She growled low and deep in her chest at Erik’s mental words. It doesn’t work on him. He’s got some kind of blocking thing on his head.
You are more powerful now in your enhanced Wolf form. You can overcome whatever they have developed. You can do this. I have faith in you.
Alexia never thought about trying her mental manipulation while fully wolfed-out. And she was obvious scary wolf, not just a small timber wolf right now.
It was worth a try.
She concentrated hard for several seconds, building up the rage deep inside. If she was going to push past whatever kept her from entering the guy’s brain, however, she would have to be so absolutely, unequivocally, royally pissed the hell off. She just had to think of something…
Then Alexia remembered his disgusting hand on her thigh and what he threatened to do to her while she was strapped to the surgical table.
Fire burned her eyes, and she swore they must have lit up the entire room. Her teeth enlarged even more if that were possible. Alexia knew that no matter what happened, this repulsive slime bag was not going to be left breathing for five more minutes.
Inject your brain with that syringe. Stab it into your repulsive eye and push that plunger down until there’s not a drop left inside. Now!
Alexia waited. Repeated herself for good measure.
Ape Man gasped, grunted a curse.
Finally he slumped out of the closet, his body shaking with snaky convulsions on the floor, foam drooling from his thick sloppy lips. She padded a bit closer, just to be sure as his quaking movements grew sporadic, then stopped altogether. Ape Man lay still and stiff, the syringe still sticking out of his eye.
Guess the stuff works on sub-humans too. Good to know.
The rattle of glass and metal drew her attention to the next room. Her prize was now within reach.
And Scott Piper was going to get what all super villains deserved—a reckoning.
Slowly Alexia stalked forward, stepping over the cadaver, careful not to make a sound that Piper’s deaf human ears could pick up. The door separating the two rooms had a large frosted glass window. She crouched low so as not to allow him to see her.
Now to make her grand entrance.
Decisions, decisions. Should she chew off the doorknob and make him wet himself? Or should she leap through the window to scare him out of his ugly gourd?
“I know you’re there, Alexia!” he called from the other room. “You can’t get to me, you know. I’ve got a gallon of silver nitrate laced with wolf’s bane that I swear I will douse you with if you don’t get out of here now! You hear me? I swear I will!”
Something to consider.
Something she hadn’t counted on.
He obviously had the chemicals on hand if Ape Man’s syringe had been filled with it.
Use your gift again, Erik encouraged. It works best when you are full wolf. Use it now!
Alexia considered that, considered it seriously. But something told her that Piper’s evil genius brain could probably withstand her mental onslaught when the other morons couldn’t.
No, she was just going to have to do this old school.
But just in case it didn’t work…
I love you, dad. Please tell Neil that I love him too.
Alexia, don’t do—!
Like a cellphone, she mentally clicked off the connection. She didn’t want him to talk her out of it, and she couldn’t afford to lose focus in case this wasn’t a bluff. Either way, this slug of a human being had to die today.
Alexia took two running leaps and crashed through the door window, landing on all fours in the middle of the room.
Piper was behind a counter littered with glass beakers and other lab paraphernalia, and he was holding up a large container of thin whitish-gray liquid. She didn’t have to smell it to know he had made good on his threat.
“You know what this is, don’t you, Alexia?” he said, edging back towards the wall. He swirled it for effect. “You know it will kill you on contact in this strong of concentration. One step closer, and I’ll throw it at you. I swear I will.”
She growled and gripped a chair with her teeth, threatening to do the same. He was a monster, the real kind, but he wasn’t stupid and knew if she hit him first he was a dead man.
“Seems we’ve come to an impasse,” he said, backing against the wall, looking this way and that for any possible escape.
Fortunately, Piper built his own prison too well, and he was thoroughly cornered like last week’s prey.
“Or we can make a deal,” he tried, cowering further into the corner. “You can walk out of here right now, and I swear I’ll call off my guys. They’ll be here any second. Decide fast. This deal isn’t going to last long.”
Her lips curled over her teeth, and a loud growl rose from her chest, for her, for her family, for all the terrified men and women he had previously kidnapped and tortured and killed in this godforsaken Nazi death camp.
“Y-you told me that you didn’t want to be werewolf,” he rasped. “I’m working on something right now that can turn you to full human. I can. We’ll work on it together. Then we can wipe out all lycanthrope beings. I know you want that.”
No, he had no idea what she wanted. At least now. Because she kind of liked being a werewolf these days.
Especially right now.
She flung the chair with all her strength, knocking the container from Piper’s grip. It crashed against the wall, raining glass shards, the smoking liquid splashing across the floor.
Piper yowled and cringed further into the corner. Alexia growled low, leaped up onto the counter separating them as she looked down on him with fiery eyes. She focused on the perfect area to strike, and the psycho-moron was stupid enough to tilt his head just right to give her full access.
He screamed as Alexia pounced and latched onto his neck, her sharp incisors ready to plunge into his pulsing artery. The taste of blood would be so thick and hot and sweet. But just a little at a time. She wanted him to feel every drop of life that drained from his repulsive body.
“Alexia, no!”
Her teeth clamped down harder as her sharp, colorless sight shifted to the door, a warning growl rumbling from her chest and throat. The other predators she sensed rushing into the room would not steal her prey. She would fight them for it. To the death, if necessary. She earned this right.
Alexia heard Russian words shouting from two of the other predators, and she narrowed her eyes at Moustache now running into the room.
God, could she never shake that beast from her life? Maybe he should be her next victim.
“Duran, help me, please! She’s gone crazy!”
She gnawed down on Piper’s throat just enough to silence him, and he let out a strangled, gurgling whine.
“I should let her tear you apart, Piper,” Neil said as he cautiously approached. “But then justice wouldn’t be served. Alexia, we need to interrogate him along with the other Archans. We need him alive, but only for as long as his usefulness lasts. Then he dies. Painfully. I promise you.”
She snarled at him, clamped down harder.
Neil knelt down, focused into her eyes. “Let go, Alexia. Let him go, sweetheart, and I’ll take it from here. Trust me.”
When she didn’t, he added, “Did I tell you the most important natural wolf law? It’s about true mates. A wolf always finds and protects his mate. Even against herself. Don’t do this, Alexia, because you’d never be able to forgive yourself. You’re a healer, not a killer. Let me do that for you. Your mate is asking to let him do this for you.”
It took a minute to see through the bloodlust and truly comprehend Neil’s words. It was his delicious, familiar scent that finally unhinged her jaws.
Alexia snarled as the scum dropped from her mouth and collapsed onto the ground in a whiny heap. Now she wanted to gargle an hour with mouthwash so she would never taste his rotten betrayal ever again.
She sat back on her haunches and lowered her muzzle. Neil laid a hand on her head, then waved over his enforcers who rushed in and roughly hauled Piper away. She lowered her front paws to the ground, and Neil breathed with great relief rubbing the fur behind her ears and kissing her head.
“Shift back now, babe. I’ve got you covered. Everyone, get out! She’s earned her privacy.”
It took several long, painful minutes to change back into her human form, Neil coaching her every step of the way. He then pulled off his shirt to cover her, helping her to her feet. She ducked her face into his chest as he slung his arm around her and led her out of the room, down the dimly lit hallways, and finally out of the crumbling building and into the fresh, cool morning air.
Erik rushed up to her as they walked outside, hugging her tightly. Alexia wept openly in arms, grateful for his presence.
“Don’t ever lie to me again,” she finally said, swiping away the tears. “Even if it’s for what you think is a noble cause. Promise me.”
“We do what we must for those we love, Alexia.” He kissed her forehead and gave her another hug. “But that is a promise I will do my best to keep. Unless I cannot.”
Even peeved, how could she not instantly forgive him for that? He was her father, after all.
Catrina ran up to Alexia then and hugged her too, crying and rushing out something in Russian.
Alexia looked to Erik who translated, “She thanks you very much for your brave rescue, and she is very pleased to meet her dear cousin for the first time. She would like to get together under better circumstances.”
“Awesome,” she said, and Catrina smiled wide and nodded. Guess there were some universal terms that didn’t need translation.
Alexia turned to the red haired man walking to stand next to her, and nearly fell over. She had seen Neil kill him that first day! How could he still be alive?
“Pleased to meet you, cousin,” he said, slinging an arm around Catrina. “I am Sergei Talanov, and you know my sister Catrina, of course.”
“Oh. Hello.”
Right. Brother of Sasha, the one who Neil had killed for trying to kidnap her. Not twins, but close enough to shake her for a moment.
“When you did not show up at the arranged time, I called Bryant back to accuse him of duplicity,” Sergei said. “After a lengthy conversation, he at last believed I did not kidnap Erik, and I understood he did not kidnap my sister in retaliation for our attempt to rescue you from the Bryants.”
“Rescue me?”
“You are born from the Talanov Pack after all,” Sergei said. “You are family, and blood loyalties run deep. I am sorry if there was a misunderstanding between us.”
“After your little disappearing act, everyone searched the entire Ridge for you,” Neil explained with a look that said they were going to have a private chat about this much later. “Since you spoke with Deena Hudson earlier, I figured she might’ve had something to do with it. She told me about your escape plan with Webber, along with how he was able to get past the security of the Ridge. Sergei told us he had nothing to do with the computer hacking that granted Webber access, and it didn’t take long to put it together that he was connected with a branch of Arcan Hunters who must have kidnapped all of you.”
“Both of our Packs were compromised by these Arcan monsters,” Sergei added. “So we proposed an alliance in order to rescue everyone, along with a truce. At least for now.”
Alexia turned back to Neil. “But how did you find us? I wasn’t wearing your tracker.”
He arched a brow. “Yes, you little renegade. One day I’m going to figure a way to tattoo a tracking device onto you. In the meantime, I inserted a tiny chip inside your shoe this morning before you woke up. You never wear anything but those tired old Reeboks. Of course, I’m probably going to have to figure out something else now.”
Catrina spoke rapidly to her brother who listened and continued to nod. He then turned to Alexia. “My sister wishes to extend an offer.”
“What is it?”
“You are family,” he said. “And we wish to make you a higher member of our Pack if you are willing to join us. I understand like your father Erik that you possess a very unique gift. That would make you revered and well taken care of. You will want for nothing.”
Catrina smiled and nodded eagerly.
Alexia clutched her cousin’s hand and smiled. “Thank you for your very generous offer, but I’m still not sure where I belong yet. But you are my family, and I would like the opportunity to get to know you all better. Now that both Packs are friends.”
Sergei translated, and Catrina’s expression fell, but she smiled and nodded her understanding.
“Thank you. Oh, one more thing.” Sergei arched a brow at Alexia’s pending question. “You need to call off your collection squads on both me and my father. Permanently. Please. Call it a favor for rescuing your sister.”
Sergei looked from her to Erik, then finally nodded. “Done. You will always have a place with us if you change your mind and want to join us, Alexia. Remember that.”
“I will. And thank you again.”
He called to his enforcers, guiding his sister towards one of several SUV’s parked haphazardly around the dirt road leading up to the old building in the middle of open farmland. Moustache looked at Alexia, then cracked a thin smile and winked. She had to smile back with a little wave. A truce, after all.
Neil gave her shoulders a light squeeze. “Ready to go home?”
“You bet. Lead the way, General.”
“Level One Alpha Enforcer,” he corrected.
“I have another name to call you if you don’t get me out of here now.”
Neil chuckled, then called to his men. Jake walked up to them, then pulled off his own leather jacket to give her additional coverage and hugged her before going into full commando Alpha and rounding up his own enforcers. Alexia smiled, finally believing he would actually make a great High Alpha someday.
If he could just learn to keep it in his pants for five minutes.
Everyone finally piled into various vehicles. Neil all the while didn’t take his arm from around Alexia. Which was good since she didn’t plan to let go of him. Ever again.