Taken by the Wolf King (Gladiator) (9 page)

Finally, one of the soldiers fired an electrically charged weapon. Two wires protruded from Leif’s chest. The big man seemed to hardly notice as he batted the electrodes away only for them to be replaced by two more. Then more. Another pair. His muscles seemed to contract and spasm even as he roared in fury, unable to break the hold of the currents going through him.

“Knock the bastard out!”

“With what? Damned dog is too strong for the Tasers.”

“Get a fucking rock then! Just knock him the fuck out!”

“No!” Elsa screamed. “Leif! No!” She couldn’t watch this, couldn’t see them bash him into unconsciousness.

Leif’s eyes met hers as the rock came down, stunning him. He shook his head, his gaze blurry but returning to her eyes unerringly. “Betrayed…me…” he managed to grit out between his teeth.

“I’m so sorry! Ah, God, Leif! I’m sorry!” She sobbed brokenly, but she could tell it didn’t affect him. In fact, he looked murderous.

“
I will make you pay
,” he managed.

Right before the rock came crashing down one last time. Then he lay on the ground limp. Covered in the blood of his enemies.

One of the men who’d accosted her in the street earlier approached her, a satisfied smirk on his face. “Well, I can’t say you were exactly
un
cooperative. You
did
lead him to us,” he said to Elsa, clearly debating whether or not to hold up his end of the bargain.

“You have him,” she cried, about to lose her shit completely by this point. “Where are my children?”

“I suppose it’s only fair they be returned to you.” He gave her an evil smile. “It’s not like we won’t have them back soon. “

A chill went through her then as she recalled the situation that had driven her into Leif’s arms in the first place. “There’s no reason to put them in the accelerated program now,” she pleaded. “They’re both highly intelligent. They’ll make good trade workers.”

“Oh, I think not,” the man sneered. “Just remember how vulnerable they are every time you think about hunting down the other shifters with this group and telling them where their king is. Once they leave this realm for good, assuming both your children are still…uninjured…I’ll think about returning them to you. My advice would be for you to use whatever influence you have on your new subjects to get them to leave. For now, because you cooperated, you have one night to get them ready. Both will leave for the camps tomorrow morning.”

Before she could process everything, Jaccob and Surriah burst from the trees and into her arms with a cry. Surriah was weeping uncontrollably, Jaccob trying to keep himself together for his sister, but tears still stained his cheeks. For several moments, all she could do was hold her children to her, breathing a silent prayer of thanks that she had them back.

And a silent vow never to be parted from them again, no matter the cost. She’d already sacrificed the one person in this wretched place who was likely to help her. How much worse could she do before her sins were irredeemable? For her children, though, she’d do whatever it took. She just had to trust Leif was strong enough to endure whatever the chancellor’s men dished out to him until she could figure out a way to save him.

 
The scent of blood was heavy in the air. Always the coppery scent of blood. His blood. Leif tugged at the bands holding him to the metal table. For weeks he’d been cut, burned, and beaten. All so human scientists could study his rate of healing. Pick him apart. Most days, he was certain they tortured him to enjoy his suffering more than to learn anything from the vivisection. At least that was what he thought while he could still think past the next incision. After the endless days of pain, regenerating, and more pain, Leif wasn’t at all sure of anything anymore. In a way, the days he was left alone to heal were even more torturous than when they actually sliced him open. The anticipation of pain was sometimes worse than the pain itself. Always, he was kept bound and naked, allowed no modesty or dignity.

As time passed, Leif’s existence became nothing but a mass of torture and horror. The humans seemed to be determined to find the secret of a shifter’s healing abilities, to find out if they could regenerate
any
injury if kept alive long enough. These scientists seemed to crave that knowledge above all things. To the point of performing the same experiments on shifter children, increasingly younger in age to see how old a shifter had to be before their regeneration abilities manifested themselves. Leif had seen more than one child rolled down the corridor on a gurney, shrieking in fear. Enough time went by that Leif began to wonder if his life before had been nothing more than a dream. They’d even cut off appendages, limbs, to see if he could grow another. He had, but the pain had been nothing short of maddening. The only thing that kept him focused on anything other than misery and grief was the thought of retribution. He would get free. When he did, he would unleash hell. Not a single human would live.
Not one.

Except maybe
her
. Elsa’s betrayal hurt nearly as bad as the vivisections. Leif would have taken her as his queen, had already proclaimed her his mate in front of his people. Now, when he escaped, he would make her pay in the worst possible ways he could devise.

As he lay there, knowing his time would soon come again, he heard the shrill, frightened scream of a child as they dragged her down the corridor. With a roar, he thrashed against his bonds, desperate to get free. The bitter twang of fear from the child filled the air, making him retch. If he, a battle-hardened wolf king, knew fear, Leif could only imagine the terror the children lived through.
Not bloody one…
he thought again. Unable to do anything to help the young one, Leif roared his support, hoping he didn’t scare the child more, but needing to make sure they all knew they were not alone.

Do not go near those portals without a full contingent of trusted guards.
Brandwulfr, the Guardian of their people, had warned him.
And do
not
trust
any
of them.
Meaning the humans. Well, he’d found out some of his warriors couldn’t be trusted, and he feared he knew who. He also found out his judgment had been greatly compromised where Elsa was concerned. Unfortunately, every time he was lucid enough to replay that night in his mind, to try to make sense of everything that had happened during the fight that had taken him captive, the humans came for him again.

A sound caught his ears. Dread seized his heart. They were coming again. Each time was worse than that last. Tied to a gurney deep in the bowels of this place away from the sun that gave him strength, he was too weak to kill them, too weak to escape. Now, knowing a child was on the way to be sliced open—or worse—he’d never needed to escape as badly as he needed it now. They’d promised him this time they’d take his liver. See how much of it he could regenerate before he died. Leif had no doubt they would do exactly what they said. And if he lived, they’d cut something else out. All he had to do was shift to his battle wolf, and he could escape. Except that was why they chained him down. They wanted him to shift. They wanted to see what made him tick. So he’d steadfastly refused to let the beast within him free though it prowled inside, stronger with each passing minute.

How much longer could he keep it up? How many more times could he allow a child to be harmed? He tried to think of the greater good.
Sacrifice one so that many may live.
His father had taught him that, taught him that sometimes it was necessary to allow bad things to happen to good people in order to protect the kingdom. The longer he stayed in this place of horror, the less that reasoning made sense. Hell, when it came to children, it made absolutely no sense whatsoever. If he let his battle wolf free, if the beast took over completely, could it break the chains that bound him? Could he free not only himself but the children held here as well? Or would he simply give these sadistic bastards one more creature to vivisect?

Sweat soaked his skin, and he hyperventilated. It was impossible not to. It was all he could do not to whimper. Had he ever been so afraid? And it was fear. Fear of the pain to come. Fear the humans would see that fear and use his weakness against him in some way he hadn’t even conceived of. Fear he couldn’t save the frightened child they’d dragged off to experiment on.

Waiting, heart pounding, Leif closed his eyes, trying to steady his breathing. Trying to regain control before his wolf rose to defend him. It took every ounce of self-control he possessed. Especially when he scented the perverse excitement of the man coming for him. Straining against his restraints, Leif used every ounce of strength he had left trying to free himself, to no avail.

“If the beastie survives this, the captain will likely burn him.” Leif recognized the guard’s voice. The bastard enjoyed torturing every shifter in his care. Even the children. Not for the first time, Leif vowed retribution on the low-life son of a bitch.

“They never survive the burning,” another one said, the voice distinctly female. “Though, if any of them could, it would be this one.” Leif couldn’t tell who the second guard was, but she sounded wary, afraid. As she should be.

“Bah! He’ll cook, and that will be the end of him. He might think he can withstand anything, but he’s not been to the fire.” The man sneered. “He’s finally begun scarring. They never last long after that.” Leif couldn’t help the fine tremor that ran through his body. Thankfully, they were still outside his cell. He’d have a chance to compose himself before they took him. If only they’d remove the restraints and lead him away like they did in the beginning! Leif had been saving his strength for an escape attempt. If they would just loosen one of the straps holding his arms to the gurney he would be free before they realized what had happened.

The door opened abruptly. To Leif’s utter disgust, the guard he recognized was grinning from ear to ear. Obviously, the whole exchange had been for Leif’s benefit. To further distress him. Likely they were hoping he’d change into his beast form. If he knew their exact numbers in the facility, he might risk it. As it was, he couldn’t chance being caught and experimented on in his beast form. Once shifted, he wouldn’t be able to fight the beast for control until the danger to him had past. Until Leif was reasonably certain of escape, he couldn’t risk that kind of loss of control. Leif bared his teeth, snarling like the wolf he was.

“Ahhh, the beastie’s awake. Ready for your appointment with the doctor, beastie?” Leif hated the man. Carson, his name was. The guard’s sneer was just too smug, too confident. If nothing else, Leif had to prove to the man why he’d be right to fear a wolf. He might not be able to kill him—yet—but he’d find a way to make him less cocky.

“Let him be, Carson,” the other one, the female, said. “This is bad enough without you being a bastard.”

Carson merely chuckled. “Can’t take the heat, huh, newbie? Well, you’ll learn. It only gets worse. Wait until you have to bring him back after he cooks.” Carson actually laughed. “The stench is horrible, but, like you said, he might live.” He winked at Leif, as if it were all some inside joke. “For a while, anyway.”

“That’s enough.” A third guard entered the cell. The guy wasn’t nearly as big as Carson’s burly, hulking build. Slight of stature as this new comer was, Leif wondered exactly what they expected the bastard to do. If Leif tried to escape—or kill Carson and the woman—this small man couldn’t do a thing about it except maybe die first if he got in Leif’s way. “Just take him in. Taunting him only creates unnecessary stress on the subject. If he’s not prepared for what lies ahead, there is a chance he will shift once it happens.” The little man actually pushed thick horned-rimmed glasses up higher on his nose with his middle finger, a writing instrument in his hand where he’d been scribbling notes.

Carson shrugged. “You won’t be here for much of the barbeque,” Carson continued. “You just have to start somewhere.”

“I’m not sure this is for me,” Newbie female said, her gaze shifting away from Carson back to the corridor. Leif had been in this position many times since his capture. Carson—or some other lackey—would wheel the gurney down the long hall to a surgical suite. There, someone sliced him open for various experiments. Up until the last three times, Leif had been able to keep from screaming. Then they’d begun probing deeper into his body, into his vital organs. Something in Leif urged him to follow the conversation between Carson and the woman, but he was already dreading whatever the surgeons had in store for him, his mind seizing on the pain soon to come.

“Don’t be a pussy! This is child’s play.” Something about the phrase struck Carson as particularly funny because he guffawed loudly, wiping tears from his eyes after a moment. Leif had the distinct feeling it wasn’t that Carson found it funny he’d called a woman a pussy.

“I don’t seen anything funny about that, Carson. Whatever is in store for this creature can’t be pleasant. He’s already showing signs of stress. How am I supposed to calm a child if they are exposed to something so horrible it frightens even an obviously battle-hardened adult shifter?”

Leif’s attention was abruptly snared. They spoke as if he weren’t in the room with them or like he was too dim-witted to understand. But this human had been brought here to train to handle shifter children? To calmly walk them to their torture? He swung his gaze to the new comer, appraising her better now that he knew the female’s function. And that she would soon have to die.

Inhaling to catch the scents of the men in the room, Leif detected the sharp twang of disgust from the “newbie.” Carson, as usual, carried the bitter smell of crazed excitement. He loved his work, probably because he was a bully at heart. If actually confronted and forced to fight, the man would likely run like a scared rabbit. Clinging to his hate, Leif vowed he would disembowel the sick fuck. What he did to the new kid, the woman, remained to be seen. While still treating him like a dumb animal, at least she had some compassion. Didn’t mean she’d live. Just meant she’d die quickly. Maybe a quick snap of her neck.

“Don’t be silly. It’s just like Pavlov’s dogs. We’re leaving the cell. He always experiences some kind of pain. It wouldn’t matter if you were taking him out to hose him off, he’d still expect pain and react to it. Lighten up, Beth. They’re animals.”

“Are you blind?” This Beth finally showed a burst of temper. “These people are no more dumb animals than you are.” She glanced at Leif, who had no hope of suppressing a good eye roll even under these circumstances. “Okay, so that was a bad analogy,” the woman muttered, acknowledging Leif’s reaction. “But he understands us. If he wasn’t gagged, he could talk with us. This is… I don’t even know what this is!”

“If you two don’t shut the fuck up, it will be your turn on the gurney next time.” This from the third guy, who’d been mostly quiet. He might be slight in stature, but he was obviously in charge. Strangely, there was no sickly sweet rush of adrenaline from him, or disgust or excitement. Only determination.

“Sorry, Raymond,” Beth apologized. “I’m just saying I think there’s more to be considered here.”

“It’s not your job to ‘consider.’ Now, get moving.” The coldness in the man’s voice chilled Leif to the bone. Of all the people he’d observed in this place, Raymond was the most dangerous.

Still, fucking Carson had to get in one last barb on Beth.

“Well, if you want to take off his gag and risk getting bitten, be my guest.” Carson seemed unaffected by anything Raymond said, taking it all in stride. Kicking the foot brake on the gurney off, he pushed Leif out of the cell down the corridor…

Straight into hell.