Galen (3 page)

Generally he didn’t go for women who got their jollies man hating. However, he didn’t think this woman hated all men, only those who attempted to kidnap her. He couldn’t blame her. Besides, she had a killer set of legs and he was definitely a leg man.

“I’ll take the north. The rest of you split up any way you see fit. Contact telepathically, stating that you’re giving up for the day and heading back to the rendezvous point if you find it. No cute covert messages like,
the package is found
, or anything like that. They’ll figure out we mean them and run. I want this bastard this time.” Galen stared at the younger men for a moment. “Do you understand?”

“Yes, sir. We understand,” Jackson replied. “I don’t think any of us want that crazy asshole turning any more people. Being a were-being shouldn’t be something that you get just because you have the serum to inject into someone. It should be in our control because not every human has the character to be a good shifter.”

“You’re learning, Jackson,” Galen said with a smile.

“Hey. What happened to your glasses?” one of the MacDonald twins asked.

“I took them off. I don’t need them. Besides,” he said with a grin. “Why would I want to emulate a dick like that fucking doctor? He wears glasses and he’s a first class asshole.”

Galen shook his head. “That doesn’t mean that all men who wear glasses are assholes.”

“I know that.” He looked away and pressed his lips together with a chuckle. “But who wants to take the chance?”

Four hours later, Galen was alone, tired, thirsty and still hadn’t found anything. He felt like giving up and going back for a working GPS. However, just as he climbed a craggy hill covered with cactus, he spotted a compound in the distance. Lifting his nose into the air, he took a long sniff and…nothing.

Damn it.
He was going to have to get closer and he was already thirsty as hell. There was no stream in sight and he didn’t think he would get a drink from anyone at the compound. They wouldn’t mistake him for a dog, the way most humans would. They would assume he was a shifter and shoot first and maybe, if he was still alive, ask questions later.

Slowly, he made his way down the other side of the hill and loped toward the fence. After another painful mile, he found himself on the inside of the fence. Two men stood guard outside one of the buildings, talking. Slowly, he circled around the back of the building and dashed toward another in the distance. On the other side, he saw a spigot and licked his dry lips. He had to risk it. Otherwise, he might not make it back to where they left the vehicles parked.

He reached out on their telepathic link, making sure he sounded weak.
I—I can’t take this anymore. I haven’t found a thing. I’m heading back to the rendezvous point. If I’m not there by sundown, assume I’ve perished in the desert sun.

None of the others answered. It was a good thing. The less their enemy knew about their numbers, the better. All they knew now was that there were shifters near, and they were looking for something, but hadn’t found it.

Quickly, he shifted into his human form, cracked open the spigot and took a long drink. Turning the water off, he glanced around, changed back into his wolf and loped off toward the fence. Now that he knew where they were, Galen would bring his team back after dark and rescue the woman. It was just too bad that they weren’t able to get to her before they changed her life. That should have been
her
decision, not that of a madman.
 

Chapter Five

Kendra held her hands over her stomach as she stared at her cell. It appeared rather large, but the clear glass walls surrounding it on three sides added to the illusion of space. Perspiration beaded upon her brow as she sat down on the queen-sized bed. She leaned her head against the cinderblock wall painted a light cream.

Nausea threatened to make her retch. Pain filled her, burning from the inside out. Wrapping her arms around her middle, she watched her captors leave the room, closing the thick clear door behind them. A lock snicked into place and she closed her eyes. No matter what they wanted from her, she was determined they wouldn’t get it.

“Why are you doing this?” Her question came out on a sob as another wave of burning pain blazed through her stomach and seared her intestines.

Of all the things to worry about, all she could think about was her house, her job…her class. Who would give her students the holiday party she had promised them?

“For lack of a better way to put it, you are yet another of my test subjects—a guinea pig, if you will.”

“Test subject? What kind of test?” She stared at the Englishman. The wild gleam in his eyes grew brighter when she groaned. The sound startled her. She sounded more like an animal than her normal self.

She pinched her arm—hard. Why couldn’t she wake up from this nightmare? Any other time, she managed to will herself awake once she realized her situation wasn’t real. “Wake up, wake up!” She chanted the words over and over. “You’re having a nightmare, Kendra. Wake up!”

Another wave of pain hit her and she screamed. Lying down, she brought her legs up and curled into a ball. Tears streamed down her face as the pain spiked yet again. “It hurts. God, it hurts so bad. Help me, please!”

Even her hair hurt. The fine hairs on her arms and legs felt alive. It moved. It felt as though something crawled beneath her skin, searching for an escape.

The two men stood outside the door. The old man nearly danced with glee while Martin watched silently, his face devoid of emotion.

Wave after wave of pain wracked her, coming at ever-shortening intervals as they grew more and more intense. Each wave sucked the energy out of her. Each wave stole her will to fight.

For one short, blessed moment the pain subsided. Kendra knew it was a short reprieve. Soon the agony would start all over again. She turned her attention to her captors. It no longer mattered that this was nothing more than a dream. All that mattered was that she know what was happening to her and why.

“What have you done to me?”

“We have made you better, dear girl,” the old man said. “You’ll thank me soon enough.” He grinned, the action making him look crazier than ever. “You’ll see in just a few moments.”

He grew more excited when another wave of pain hit her hard. Her face ached. It felt as though her jaw had just split apart.

“Do you see that, Martin?” The man pointed at her, excited. “Her jaw is lengthening. Do you see it?”

“Yes, Doctor,” Martin said dryly. “Did you expect something else? It’s not as though she is your first…test subject.”

“You’ll see, Kendra Mortensen. You’ll soon see. I’ve made you better. Just look at yourself in the mirrors. You’re turning into a wolf!”

Now she knew the so-called doctor was a lunatic. “People don’t turn into animals, you nut.”

Though she knew what the man said was totally bizarre, his statement made her feel better. No one was
that
crazy. It only proved that no matter how painful this was, it was just another of her strange, post-Halloween nightmares.

Really, Kendra. You just
have
to stop watching those damned horror flicks around Halloween.

Another wave of pain struck, then another and another. One after the other, the waves hit, giving no relief. Her bones ached, her fingernails narrowed and turned dark. Thick, black hair grew on her arms and legs.

It’s a good darned thing this is just a dream. Otherwise, I’d be pretty cheesed off about getting that Brazilian wax Wednesday.

Had she known that she would be suffering like this in a dream, she would have forgone the bikini wax. It wasn’t as though anyone would have seen it anyway.

Why can’t I wake up?

Kendra heaved a sigh as she stared up at the cameras mounted on the walls. The blinking red lights told her they were on and recording. She’d worry about just what they were recording if she didn’t know this was a dream.

Looking down at herself, she noticed the fur-covered legs and paws. Her clothes hung off her like too-large rags when she stood. It didn’t really surprise her when she tripped as she took a few steps.

Shaking her body, she dislodged the hold her clothing had on her. She had to hand it to herself. She obviously had a great imagination. She actually
felt
as though she had four legs.

A noise from her left caught her attention and she growled at the two men who still stared at her.

That crazy old man who called himself a doctor beamed as though she had just made his year.

Kendra lay down on the bed, panting. She stared at the two men and wondered where she’d seen them before. She must have seen them somewhere because she just didn’t credit herself with enough imagination to come up with that sexy voice and totally scary old man picture with which this nightmare had saddled her. She shivered and laid her head on her front legs. At least this was a dream. If this had been real, she would have been out of her mind by now.

No way was any of this possible by any stretch of the imagination. Knowing that was the only thing that kept her from going into a meltdown.

Closing her eyes, she decided to ignore the creeps staring at her. Maybe, if she was lucky, she could fall asleep within her dream again and when she woke, she would be back at home in her warm bed. She opened her eyes again, just in case things changed. Nope. Everything was the same. She was still here on this bed and she was still locked in this glass partitioned cell. She sighed and closed her eyes again. It was probably a good thing. She could use a nap.

Chapter Six

Galen and his men crept stealthily up to the nearest building. They’d seen several men enter and several exit the small structure. In fact the structure was too small to hold
that
many people comfortably and there was no visible air conditioner. It looked like a storage shed.

Randy MacDonald crept toward him. He attempted to wave the man off. Either the human didn’t see him or he ignored him. Either way the other man continued his approach.

Damn it! The idiot is going to try to storm the place before I give the order.
Galen scowled. His brother, Kalen, had said the two were order takers. It didn’t look that way to him as Randy MacDonald continued his approach.

He watched the human with a scowl that should have given the man pause, but the asshole kept coming.

“You should have held your position,” he said to the man who looked exactly like his brother.

“We can’t go yet.” Randy glanced at the building for no longer than two seconds. “There are four guards.”

Galen glanced back at the building himself. “I see nothing but desert now. The guards have all gone inside.”

“You goddamn shifters and your feeling of superiority.” Randy shook his head. “I’m telling you they’re out there. Cameron says they’re out there as well.”

“I would scent them, just as we scent you.”

He watched as the other man grimaced. Apparently, when the twins first started working for the pack, they found it a bit unnerving that the shifters could tell them apart. It wasn’t until Bastien explained that they could only do so when they could smell them. Their scent gave them away.

“You make it seem as though all humans stink, or something.”

Galen grinned. “You don’t stink. Believe me. In fact, you usually smell good enough to eat.”

“That’s just gross, man. Don’t even joke around about stuff like that.”

“Who’s joking?” Galen asked as he peered across the expanse of empty desert. “What makes you think there’s a guard out there?”

“Not a guard. Four guards,” Randy said as he sat with his back against the huge propane tank they hid behind and checked his rifle and side arm. “If both my brother and I say there are four guards out there, you can better damned believe they’re there.” He grinned. “Our vision is kind of like your sense of smell. That’s why we both became the best sharpshooters in our units. We can see farther than anyone we know.”

That was an interesting tidbit.

“Okay,” Galen said. “I’ll bite. Where are they?”

Randy glanced around the tank for another two seconds or so. “One is on the roof of the building about six-hundred feet to the north. There are two hunkered down in the grass, half-buried and covered with tumbleweeds just west of us.” Randy shook his head. “I’m surprised that none of you brainiacs noticed that the weeds aren’t a-tumbling like the rest of them. And number four is over there, to the east about fifty feet from the door. You should be able to smell him that close, but you probably can’t because he’s half-buried in the sand with a fake prickly pear cactus attached to his helmet.”

Carefully, Galen checked the positions. He could see every one of them with the exception of the one with the cactus. “Damn it all! How in the hell are we supposed to fight against people who can do this sort of thing?” He glanced at Randy. “Well, I’ll be damned. They would have picked us off if you hadn’t seen them.”

“That’s why you brought us, friend.” Randy readied his rifle. “Cam and I will take out three of them. Cam will take the one at six-hundred yards. He insists he’s better than I am at distances. I let him take him.” He grinned. “He might be better at distances, but I’m better at taking out multiples. You only need to concentrate on making our prickly pear guy fertilizer for that cactus on his head. It was mighty nice of him to bury himself and everything, wasn’t it?”

“Saves us the trouble.”

“My thoughts exactly.” Randy picked up a pinch of sand and let the grains fall from his fingers before he adjusted the sights of his rifle. “We’re all going to shoot on the count of three.”

“How in the hell are we going to do that? We need to maintain radio silence or they’ll know we’re here.”

Randy gave him another grin. “Didn’t you know that twins have a mental bond?”

“That’s an old wives tale. Humans aren’t telepathic.” At least Galen had never heard of them being so.