Hard To Bear (18 page)

             
“She can’t be dead…she can’t be!” He let out a low, anguished groan and snatched the bloodstained cloth from her. He swayed where he stood. The expression on his face was blank and disbelieving.

             
Perfect! Now was the time to comfort him. He’d fall into her arms gratefully, she just knew it.

             
She threw her arms around him, hugging him with all of her strength.  He felt so good in her arms, so right…but he angrily shoved her away from him, pushing so hard she stumbled back several steps.  He clutched the cloth, letting out a low, keening moan.  Melinda might as well have been invisible.

             
Hurt bubbled up inside her, burning like hot lava.  She felt her throat closing with grief, and she let out a low, heartbroken whimper.  Why must he be like this?  Maybe it would just take a little while for him to get over the surprise of Coral’s death.  Then he’d let her comfort him.  He’d turn to her in his pain and grief.  Only her. 

             
One of the Enforcers, who was a wolf shifter, sniffed at the bloody patch of cloth.  “She’s not dead,” he said.  “A dead body gives off a certain scent.  This person isn’t dead.”

             
Melinda gave a strangled cry of rage, as Flint’s eyes lit up with hope.  “Take me to where you found her,” he demanded. “I know she’s not dead. I’d feel it if she were dead.”

             
“What?” Melinda cried out, stumbling back.  This couldn’t be happening. No. She’d planned so carefully.

             
“Take me there, now! There’s still time to save her! I know there is!”

             
“Absolutely not!” Flint and Rory and the other shifters crowding around them turned to stare at her, and she frantically struggled to think up a reason why not.

             
“You need to concentrate on your mission!” she said stoutly, folding her arms. “You’ve let that wolf distract you for far too long.  We all need to go to the ley line intersection, right now.  The wolf was miles away from there; you’d have to abort the entire mission to get to her.”

             
“I’m going,” Flint snapped.  “She’s my fated mate. I can’t leave her.  Rory, you and the men go on ahead. I’ll meet you there.”  Rory nodded in agreement.

             
His fated mate? No! He couldn’t think that!  Melinda whimpered low in her throat. 

             
It’s okay, she tried to comfort herself.  Dr. De Rossi had evacuation plans in place.  Military helicopters were ready and all of the test subjects, including Coral, would be loaded on them and headed out within minutes, now that they knew the Enforcers were on their way.  Coral would be taken to a secret lab and dissected; Flint would never find her.   

Flint couldn’t mourn for her forever, could he?
  He’d come around.

             
“I’ll go with you,” the wolf Enforcer said.

             
“Thanks, Clay,” Flint nodded at him.

             
Rory and the Enforcers resumed their forward charge, heading north.

             
Melinda took a deep breath, and began jogging west, with Flint following at her heels.  “Faster,” he snapped, and she shoved down the urge to lash out, to strike at him hard for hurting her like this.   She was so tired of hurting, of wanting what should be hers.  Everything about them fit. Why couldn’t he see how perfect she was for him?

             
It could still work out, she thought.  She knew the areas where De Rossi had his guards stationed.  What De Rossi didn’t know was that she had planned a double double cross.  She pretended to betray the Enforcers to him, but because she knew exactly where all of De Rossi’s men were, she could save Flint’s life – again. 

             
Sure, lots of Enforcers were going to die today because of her actions – because she’d just radioed ahead and let De Rossi know they were coming.  That wasn’t her problem.   All that mattered was getting Coral out of the way for good, and showing Flint how much he needed her by saving his life again. 

             
This was actually good, she thought, as they loped through the woods.   It would be easier for her to personally protect Flint when they were separated from the rest of the Enforcers.  She’d lead him towards a group of guards, and then kill the guards before they could kill him.

             
“Hold it!” Clay stopped suddenly, and Flint stopped too.  He tipped his head up in the air.  “We’re going the wrong direction.”  He grabbed the patch of cloth from Flint and sniffed it, and then sniffed the air again.  “Her scent is very strong.  She’s this way.” He pointed north.

             
Flint whirled on Melinda.  “What the hell are you trying to pull?” he roared, eyes blazing with rage.

             
“Nothing! I swear!” Tears filled her eyes and ran down her cheeks.  “He’s wrong! We’re headed the right way – just follow me!”

             
“I trust his nose more than I trust you.  I swear to God if I find out you had anything to do with what happened to Coral, I’ll kill you,” Flint said. 

             
Melinda let out a strangled cry.  How could he speak to her like that?

Flint ignored her misery
, the way he’d ignored her love for him.  That bastard. That stupid, ungrateful bastard. 

“Let’s shift,”
he growled to Clay, and in seconds he was in bear form, exploding out of his clothing.   He was massive, at least eight feet of bristling brown fury. Clay followed suit, dropping to all fours and shifting into a huge gray wolf, and the two of them ran off, leaving Melinda doubled over and howling with hurt and fury.

             
Melinda fell to her knees, pounding the ground with her fists in rage and letting out a terrible, heartbroken roar.  Her fists became paws.  She shifted, the cloth of her shirt and pants splitting and falling from her body.  Her rifle strap burst and her rifle fell to the ground. 

She leaped to her feet
and began running.   She had to get there first, had to get to Coral and kill her if it was the last thing she did.  Coral and Frederick.  They both had to die.  Nobody could ever know what she’d done.

Coral and all of the shifters in the room were alone.  De Rossi had gotten a call from one of his mercenaries that had made him go pale, and he’d rushed from the room.

             
Again, Coral strained at the straps that pinned her down, but this time, something happened – just not what she expected.

             
Something moved over the open space where the ceiling had been.  Tree branches.  They were growing at an incredible pace, and at the same time, roots exploded up through the floor, rocking the tables that some of the shifters were on.

             
I’m doing that, Coral realized.   She could feel a thrumming connection to the plants around her, as if they were part of her body. 

She concentrated, focusing all of her energy, and roots shot
through the floor and twirled up around the table she was on.   They swirled around the straps that held her down, and she concentrated harder, sweat beading on her forehead.  The roots began tearing at the straps, and she could feel the straps begin to loosen.

             
She heard roars of rage echo through the room, and looked around to see animal figures struggling on the tables.  Marie was a huge, growling wolf, and a panther near her leaped up, tearing free of its bonds.  The panther was far too big, at least twice the size of a normal panther.

             
They shouldn’t have been able to shift, not with copper restraints, and yet, they were, and they were all freeing themselves now, and the room was filled with howls and roars and snarls.

             
Coral’s wrists were free, and she sat up and concentrated on the tree roots that were tearing at the straps on her feet.  

             
Several guards rushed in to the room, leveling their rifles, but before they could fire, freed shifters hurled themselves through the air.  Shots cracked through the air, and she heard the yelps of injured shifters and the horrified, gurgling screams of guards.

             
The shifters who’d been shot were scrambling to their feet, and the smoking holes in their bodies were healing rapidly.  They shouldn’t have been able to do that.  The guards undoubtedly were using silver-coated bullets, which should have killed the shifters within minutes.

             
All of her straps were ripped to shreds now.  Coral scrambled off the able and ran over to Frederick, who’d shifted into coyote form but was still normal size. 

             
Frantically, she looked around for Blanche and Maybelle.  The beds they’d been strapped on to were empty, turned on their sides, and two grizzled gray wolves roamed the room, snarling and snapping at the retreating guards.

             
The ley line flare up was affecting them all differently, she realized.  It had turned the descendants of Original Shifters into gigantic shifter monsters. It had given Frederick the power to shift into animal form even though he was restrained by copper. And it had enhanced her formerly puny magic powers to an incredible degree.

In his animal form, the straps were too big to hold Frederick, and he leaped to the floor.  More guards were rushing in to the room, and one of them paused and aimed his rifle right at Frederick.

Coral concentrated hard on the vines that were shooting over the walls, and one of them snaked around the guard’s neck.  He let out a strangled scream and the shot went wide, missing Frederick by several feet as the vine hauled the guard up into the air, and left him dangling there.

*  *  *

She’s not dead, she’s not dead, she can’t be dead, Flint thought frantically, loping in to the grove.

Up ahead, he could see the other Enforcers, rushing towards an astonishing scene.

At first glance, it looked as if there were a hillside rising up in the forest, but it was clearly a camouflaged building covered with vegetation. 
No wonder the Enforcer’s flyovers hadn’t been able to locate Metamorph’s facility from the air.

Vines were swarming up over the side of the building like snakes.  Tree roots were shooting up out of the ground, wrapping around men in camouflage.  The front door of the building lay on the ground.

There were close to a hundred armed mercenaries there, and two choppers lay on the ground.  Flint could see vines wrapped around them, pulling at them, as if the vines had risen from the Earth and grabbed the choppers from the sky.

There were a dozen enormous shifters battling with the mercenaries.  The shifters were impossibly huge, like something out of a movie.   Gunfire cracked, and shifters fell and then staggered
to their feet.

Flint and the other Enforcers dove into the fray, shooting mercenaries, shouting at them to surrender.

But where was Coral? Flint looked around frantically.  He couldn’t see her anywhere.

“There!” Rory shouted, pointing.

Coral, stark naked, with a bandage on one leg and bleeding from her arm, stood in the middle of the fight.  She held up her hand, and roots shot up from the ground, and wrapped around a mercenary who’d been aiming his rifle at an Enforcer.  The mercenary let out a strangled scream and then the roots pulled him down into the ground and he disappeared into the Earth.

As Flint raced towards Coral, he saw a flash of brown burst through the bushes, heading straight for her.  Melinda. 
That crazy bitch.

He knew now what had happened back in India. They’d never been able to figure out who’d betrayed them to the local bandits.  Clearly, it had been Melinda – she’d set them up so she’d be able to rescue Flint.  Enforcers had died because of her actions.  She’d be going to prison for the rest of her life.

He shouted a warning and raced to intercept her, reaching her just before she closed in on Coral.   She swung towards him, her eyes glowing a strange, crazy red. With mighty blows from his paws, he knocked her down and slammed the side of her head so hard that she slumped unconscious into the dirt.

Then, quickly, he shifted back to human form.

“Are you all right?” he cried out.  Coral turned to look at him, dazed. 

“Did you see what I can do now?” she asked.  She turned back towards the fighting, which was dying down.   A mercenary was running away, heading for the tree
line, and she pointed her finger at him. A tree root shot up, tripped him, and then wrapped around his ankle.  The root climbed higher and higher, and held him dangling upside like a piñata ten feet off the ground.

With a moan, she fell into Flint’s arms, and he hugged her, his heart pounding so hard that he thought it would explode.  She was alive.  She was in his arms, and he’d never let her go again.

“Am I a freak now?” she whispered, swaying, her knees ready to give out.  He held her up easily.