Through The Veil (10 page)

“Thank you, but I’m fine, thanks to all three of your
Warriors’ care. I can’t thank you enough for allowing them to help me.”

“Well, good. You can consider us even after you’ve told me
how you managed to get through the Veil.”

This woman didn’t hold any punches which made Lori want to
deal with her directly and honestly. “I’m sorry. I can’t tell you that.”

“Can’t or won’t?” The woman looked at her shrewdly.

Lori pursed her lips.

“Okay, I understand you came to us hurt and scared. We
aren’t going to hurt you, but you have to understand my side to it.” Bethany
swung her hands out. “These are my people and we’ve obviously changed in the
last eighteen years. I can’t let a single person within my care fall into
danger. I have to protect them, which means I need answers. I need to know if
there’s a threat coming.”

Lori’s body shuddered at the thought of what could happen to
any of these beautiful people if the scientists from the ES got hold of them.
She knew firsthand at how awful those scientific
probings
could be, but that didn’t mean that she would open herself up to the same thing
here.

As she debated it in her mind, Bethany leaned forward with
gathering concern.

“I’m sorry.” Lori shook her head in true remorse. She wanted
to be able to trust them. “I just can’t, but I can assure you that there isn’t
anyone else who has the ability to do what I did. Your people are safe and I
won’t do anything to compromise that. I promise, I won’t betray you.”

Her fever and the subject matter were getting the better of
her as a round of shivers rolled over her body.

Aaron walked in with the tea and handed a mug to each lady.
Lori grasped hers and tried to regain control over her shivering body.

Suddenly, she heard Marcus in her head.
“Are you okay? I
can feel your distress.”

“I think my fever just spiked. I can’t get warm and
can’t stop shaking.”

“I’ll be right there.”

“That’s not necessary,”
she told him.

No answer. Suddenly she realized the room had quieted. She
looked up to see both Aaron and Bethany looking at her with concern.

“I’m sorry. I’m really not feeling very well suddenly.” She
couldn’t stop her teeth from chattering loudly.

“Aaron, can you please go grab a blanket from my room?”

He strode off just as Marcus arrived and rushed into the
room.

Lori stood and the room started spinning. She really had to
stop passing out in front of this guy. Marcus caught her before she hit the
floor.

The next thing she knew they were flying again, although
this time Marcus carried her wrapped in a blanket like a baby. Another shiver
wracked her body as she reached up to touch his face where the muscle in his
jaw clenched. “You really are a beautiful man.”

He looked down at her in surprise. “Is that why you keep
collapsing at my feet?” He frowned at her and she wondered what a genuine smile
from him would look like. She got the feeling that didn’t happen too often.

“Sorry about that. The last few days have been a bit much
for my body to handle, I think.”

He gazed down at her and she could see the concern and
something that looked like fear in his eyes. “Malcolm’s meeting me at the house
and he’ll help you feel better.”

“Okay, just don’t leave me. Promise…”

“I promise. I won’t leave your side.”

She nodded and let oblivion flow over her, knowing that
Marcus would take care of her.

* * *

Lori surfaced through sludge while she tried to regain
consciousness. The fact she even realized that little detail didn’t bode well
for what was happening to her. She knew it would be bad when she woke up and
that made her want to burrow further into her unconscious, but safe, mind. But
they weren’t going to allow her that luxury.

“Come on. Wake up.” She could feel a hand slapping her
cheeks. When that didn’t convince her to open her eyes, the cruel hand grasped
her naked breast.

Her eyes flew open in alarm, but immediately squinted
shut again from the bright light in the room. Again the hand pressed at her
breast. They kept her naked during these experiments to humiliate her and so
she couldn’t escape.

From the other side of the room came a low threatening
growl of the panther. Oh no, they’d brought William in for this. She hated it
whenever they brought in any of the Others to be tortured to convince her to go
along with the testing, but William hovered on the verge of breaking. He’d been
here longer than most of them—eleven years—and was already more than a little
wild because of his existence as an animal shifter. Now he lived in danger of
becoming completely feral. They all worried for his sanity.

She tried to reach out to him telepathically, a connection
they’d managed to keep hidden from their captors, but her mental push just
caused him to growl more.

As an animal shifter, William could shift at will except
when captive. If his hands or paws were restrained, he had to stay in the form
he appeared in when they restrained him. It was a weird quirk of nature that
the scientists and doctors in the lab took full advantage of.

Her eyes flew open again and she glared with contempt at
the man smiling gleefully in front of her. A short man with a wide girth and
balding head, Dr. Henderson was one of the most sadistic of all their doctors
who conducted the experiments. He got a special twisted kick out of causing
them pain.

She looked down at the instruments in his hand. The
forceps.

“It’s nice of you to join us, Ms.
Renshaw
.”
His smile emanated pure evil.

Her gaze flew to William again. While in panther form,
they took pleasure in removing his claws by force to punish her when she didn’t
cooperate. He found it extremely painful and left him incredibly vulnerable
when in animal form. They’d even gone so far as bringing other big cats in to
attack him after pulling out his claws. It had been horrific and William still
carried the scars from it.

“I’m sorry to say that it’s never a pleasure to join
you, Dr. Henderson.”

He backhanded her and pain ricocheted through her head.
She really should know better than to provoke him by now, shouldn’t she?

Her brain scrambled trying to find a way out of this.
She could just cooperate and would, if it had been any other doctor. But Dr.
Henderson wouldn’t be satisfied until he hurt one or both of them, regardless
of whether she cooperated or not. He needed that from these sessions.

She reached out again to William’s mind. “William,
listen to me. I’m going to remove your restraints, but I need you to be ready
because he’s going to grab for the tranquilizer gun. I’ll try to get to it
first, but am not sure I’ll have any power left after freeing you. Protect
yourself, William. He’s going to hurt you.”

Manipulating her power from this distance was difficult.
If she had physical contact with the object she found it much easier, but she
had a connection with William and he touched the cuffs so she could work
through that connection. She turned her attention back to Dr. Henderson. He wanted
her to melt down a piece of metal on the table. Fairly easy stuff for her, but
they didn’t know that.

She looked at the object like she’d begun the process on
it, but then switched her attention to the cuffs around William’s paws. It took
a great deal of work to manipulate all four cuffs at the same time, but she had
to so William would have the benefit of the surprise to get to Dr. Henderson.
Finally, she felt the metal of the cuffs begin to give and she worked to twist
them open without hurting William.

She could feel him along their mental bond, tracking her
progress. They didn’t sedate him because the sick bastards wanted him to feel
the full pain from their torture, so he’d be ready to go as soon as she had him
free. Finally, the last resistance from the metal let go and she yelled to
William along their mental link. He didn’t need the push as he leapt through
the air at Dr. Henderson.
 

The doctor never stood a chance as the animal attacked
him in full fury. As William ripped into the doctor’s throat, she couldn’t even
feel sad about the loss of life. Dr. Henderson was one of those people who
didn’t deserve to be part of the human race.

While William dispatched him, she tried to work the
metal of her own restraints, but her efforts on William’s cuffs had drained all
her energy. Dr. Henderson’s screams finally ceased and William stood in front
of her, naked. He’d shifted back to human form to help her. “William, you need
to go. Get out while you can.”

He looked up at her with pained hope in his crystal blue
eyes. “I can’t leave you like this.” His voice sounded deep and guttural after
being in animal form for so long.

“Yes, you can. I’m too drained to be of any use to you.
I would just hold you back. You need to go. Run. This may be your only chance.
You know that. Get out now and maybe someday you can come back and save us
all.”

His tortured eyes broke her heart. It went against
everything in his nature to leave her here. As a shifter, he had pack animal
instincts and she had become part of his pack. But he’d been here long enough
to realize this may be the only choice he ever had.

Slowly he nodded, reached forward and kissed her
forehead. “I’ll be back. I promise.”

She nodded as she watched him slide back into his
panther form and slink out of the room.

She sent a message to Savannah. “William’s escaping.
He’s in panther form. Anything you can do to help would be great.”

“Already on it.” As their mental guru, Savannah usually
knew what happened in their heads whether any of them—including Lori—wanted it
or not. She could read and manipulate minds, and her ability was the most
powerful of the group. Their captors had her on really strong drugs to control
her, but they couldn’t completely suppress her, especially when she wanted
something badly enough.
 
They all really
wanted William to escape. Individually they each needed the hope of the
possibility of escape. As a group they knew it was the only way William would
survive.

Secure in the knowledge that she’d done everything she
could, she finally succumbed to the sleep pulling at her and passed out.

* * *

Marcus worried as Lori thrashed around on the bed. The fever
had her fully in its grips and she had the hallucinations to go along with it.
At least he hoped they were hallucinations. She’d been mumbling about panthers
and a doctor. Then she’d screamed at people named William and Savannah. Her
strong emotions and terror over the events occurring within her head pummeled
at him.

Lying down on the bed beside her, he drew her fevered body
into his arms, sending soothing emotions along their mental pathway. She seemed
to calm when he held her.

Her fever had raged for over twenty-four hours now and
Malcolm didn’t know how else to treat her. It worried Marcus. He could feel her
energy lagging, especially after the impact of one of these nightmares.

He rubbed up and down her back and she snuggled into his
warmth. “Marcus,” she mumbled incoherently into his chest and it made his heart
clench. She continued to sense his presence.

“I’m here, sweetheart. I’m not going anywhere.”

He was so tired. He’d been up the entire time since she’d
passed out at Bethany’s house the day before. Now he felt the lure of sleep
pulling at him, too.

The next thing he knew, he stood in a cold sterile room. It
reminded him of doctor’s visits from his childhood before the Veil. Looking
around the room, it had hard tile floors, cinderblock walls painted a light
grey, and several pieces of large medical equipment. As he searched around the
room, he spotted Lori and rushed over to her. “Lori?”