Cee Cee blinked a few times, trying to follow the conversation. Kent knew her uncle? And why the hell was he implying that he would have been the one to bite her?
Then again, how the fuck does Kent know it was a cheetah who bit me? He wasn’t there. Was he?
She and her uncle barely tolerated one another. So, if he was interested in this there was only one reason for it, he thought he could get money for it or some experiment for the military. She avoided him at all costs, especially if he was anywhere she was. She would leave first, knowing the all-important general wouldn’t dare let a mere woman chase him from any place. Especially his fat, stuttering, embarrassing to be seen around niece.
Needing her camera more than ever, she inched back only to freeze when he slammed her with those cold blue eyes. She clenched her jaw, so it wouldn’t chatter. He’d always scared her. Loud. Big. Threatening.
And he’d never liked her. When his brother had been dumb enough to sleep with her mother and gotten someone beneath them pregnant, it had all gone downhill from there. It wasn’t that he gave a damn her father had fucked her mother; it was that her father hadn’t been smart enough to wear protection.
He’d pretty much disowned his own brother, especially when her father refused to leave them and return home. It had all gotten worse from then on.
“Come here,” her uncle demanded.
She couldn’t fight him and stepped toward him only to find Kent in her way.
“She’s not going anywhere with you unless she wants to.” He put his warm gaze on her. “Look at me, Cee Cee.”
“Don’t call her that horrid name. Get out to my truck, Crystal!”
She didn’t know what to do. That wasn’t true. She did know. She had to go with him because Kent wouldn’t want her. Uncle Reggie had a way of making people always come around to his way of thinking which would be that she wasn’t good enough for a man like Kent.
“You don’t have to go.”
“I do,” she mumbled. “You don’t know him like I do. It’s best this way. I don’t want him to hurt you.” Digging deep, she forced a smile. “Thank you for saving me. Say goodbye to the boys for me.”
He reached out for her but she avoided his grasp. Swiping her bag, she shuffled out the door, head down and flushed cheeks with her uncle’s disapproving glare. Loud voices were apparent but as she slid into the passenger seat, she couldn’t hear them any longer.
She fiddled with the strap on her bag, debating if she should just get out of the truck and walk into the wild and let whatever find her out there do with her as it would. It would probably be easier on all. She was just so damn tired of being a disappointment to people.
If I do that, who will speak for the animals? That’s where she drew her strength. She would persevere and return to doing what she loved. It began with wolves and moved on to cheetahs.
The front door slammed and she snuck a peek to see her very large, extremely angry uncle coming in her direction. A low growl emanated from his lips as he sank behind the wheel. “I can’t believe you did this to me.”
“I-I’m sorry.”
“I had a dinner to attend tonight but instead, I’ve been out all damn day looking for you because you never returned to your hotel and got back in touch with that spineless excuse of a brother I have.”
“D-don’t talk about my father like t-that.” She wiped at her eyes, furious how her stutter was getting worse. “He’s a wonderful man.”
“He should have left you and your whore mother in the gutter where he found her.”
The first angry tear splashed on the back on her hand. “Then w-why did you bother coming? Y-y-you could just tell them a cat killed me. Then you c-could wash your hands of me f-forever.”
“Is that what his bite did to you, gave you a spine, a backbone? I mean you’re still a stuttering little bitch but you’ve never had the balls to stand up to me before.”
She hadn’t and while she longed to snap at him, defend herself, she never did. “Why would a bite do that?” This was the second reference to that and she didn’t get it, just like she hadn’t understood why he’d been so angry when he thought Kent had done something to her.
The truck skittered around a corner and she slammed into the door, wincing as she was reminded by more than just words of the wound on her shoulder.
“Never you mind. I’m putting you on the first plane back to the states I can and you will never set foot on this continent again.”
Her heart shattered at the thought of never being able to see the cats running free. “No.”
His laugh was anything but amusing. “I wasn’t asking. I was telling. Sit there, shut up and do as I say.” The man leaned over her and slammed down the lock. “Not that you have a set to jump but on the small chance you do, I don’t want that to happen. I have plans for you. You’ll live the rest of your life in a facility, so we can learn about you and see if that bite is going to turn you into one of his kind. And if so, we will breed you to make our own race of soldiers.”
His kind? She tried once more to unlock the door as fear poured through her. His maniacal laugh was the last thing she heard before he clipped her unconscious.
When she woke, she was strapped down on a gurney with three men in lab coats staring down at her.
Beyond them and the bright lights, she saw her uncle standing there, a deviant expression on his face. Inside her, something fought to get out. It ripped at her but she didn’t understand it and did her best to fight it.
I’m coming for you, Cee Cee. Hang on. For me. Hang on.
Kent’s deep husky voice moved through her, calming the panic and she listened to him. All she had to do was hold on for a bit longer.