Forever's Fight (5 page)

“You’re being stupid. Dad taught you better than this.” Dean stood on the other side of the room shaking his head.

“We don’t know they mean us any danger.”

“I thought that once too, and then this happened.” He turned toward her, allowing her to see the full impact of his injury. “I tried to save one of the captives when I knew they were going to kill him, and what did I get for my troubles? This! He attacked me. Maybe the government is right in some of the things they’re doing. Not all of it, but maybe some. Shifters are dangerous.”

“You got that because the shifter was drugged,” Patrick said. “He didn’t know what he was doing.” He sank down onto a chair as Blake lit two small candles and placed one on each end table. With the curtains drawn, no one would see the tiny flickering lights from outside.

Dean spun to look at him, his body tight with anger. “How would you know that?”

“Because I know what goes on in those labs. I’ve seen the documentation of what torture these so-called doctors are putting my kind through. When they’re done with us, we’re incinerated alive. You’re going to stand there and tell me the government is right in their actions? How would you like to be tortured and then burned alive?”

“How do you know?” Clarissa asked. “Those labs are locked and heavily guarded. Did Andrew tell you what happens there?” They would kill him for leaking the information. Even though she barely knew him, the thought of it made her ill, especially knowing they’d torture him first, because that’s what they
always
did.

“No, I’ve seen these places firsthand.” He and Blake shared a glance before he turned back to her. “My sister was held in one of those labs.”

She sucked in a deep breath. After what she had seen, she hated to think his sister had suffered the same fate. “Was she…did they…burn…”

“No, we rescued her just in time and destroyed the lab.” He leaned forward, placing his elbows on his thighs. “That’s part of the reason I’m here. I have an offer for you.”

“What sort of an offer?”

“Don’t take it, Clarissa,” Dean begged. “I’ll figure a way out of this for both of us.”

“I’ll make sure you’re safe in exchange for some information on Hathaway Medical,” Patrick said, ignoring him. “We want to take the lab down and rescue any prisoners. You need our help, so this is a good solution for both of us.”

“Why do you think I’ll help you?” She pulled her legs under her, tucking herself against the sofa. “Even if I do, how can I be sure you won’t cast me aside once you have the information you need?”

“I think you’ll help me for the same reasons you didn’t stay at Hathaway Medical. You couldn’t stand to see what they were doing, and you wanted no part in it. If I’m wrong, then I’ve come a long way for nothing and risked our secret further.”

“Even if she doesn’t help us, they’ll find her before they find us.” Blake stood near the fireplace, his arms crossed over his chest. “It won’t be long before they catch her scent again.”

“They, as in shifters? Are the people behind Hathaway Medical actually using shifters to track me?”

“They’re drugged, heavily guarded, and chained, but…yes.”

“He masked your scent from town, but we don’t have long before we need to get a move on if we don’t want them to find you,” Blake growled, deep and throaty. It scared her enough that she reached over to grab the gun, only to have her wrist caught by Patrick’s hand.

“There’s nothing to fear. He’s not going to shift, just once again voicing his displeasure at me.”

“For what?” She glanced between the brothers before finally settling her gaze on Patrick.

“Because we couldn’t rescue the shifters they were using. It would have been too dangerous in town, with the residents around, and we had to get to you before you moved on.” He removed his hand from hers and adjusted in the chair.

“Then we should have killed them,” Blake said. “Death would be better than being on the end of a chain like some fucking search and rescue dog.”

“I have to agree with him.” She nodded toward Blake. “That’s no life, and what’s being done to them at Hathaway Medical is even worse.”

“Sounds like you’ve made your decision.” Dean shook his head. “I risk everything to come to you, and you’re willing to trust someone else.”

“We can help you too, Dean,” Patrick said. “You’re welcome to come with us, but you’re going to have to make a decision soon.”

“I want you to come with me,” Clarissa said. “Please. Take Patrick’s offer. I’m sure whoever’s on our tail knows I have a brother, and they’ll be looking for you.”

“You’re really going to do this?” Dean shook his head. “How do you know they won’t turn on us?”

“Call it intuition. Plus, I want to bring down that lab, and I’ll risk my own life to do it.” She turned to Patrick. “If I help you, can you promise to close the place down, keep others from suffering?”

“You have my word.”

“I’ll blow the building sky high,” Blake agreed.

Consequences be damned, she was going to dive in head first. “Then I’ll help. If we can get to a place with electricity, I can charge up my laptop and that will give you all the information you need.”

“We’re going to need the layout of the building, the guard schedule, that sort of thing, as well as your files. That will help us determine the best course of action to get in and out. We’ll need to go over all of that with Austin.”

“Like I said, everything you need will be on my laptop. I put a virus on their system that will give us complete access. But who’s Austin?”

“The next oldest of the O’Reilly family after me. He’s former military, that’s how he knows Andrew, and he’s the best when it comes to strategy and planning.” He leaned forward. “A computer virus? If it’s not completely untraceable, you’d have risked yourself further.”

“It’s untraceable,” Dean said. “I designed it. The South American government is beginning to think like ours, and they’re planning to open laboratories like we have here. The company I was working for began to take on freelance jobs almost a year ago, and I was sent to Brazil in order to prepare their computer systems. I was given access to the systems here to be sure I understood what was needed. It would seem as though the two governments are going to work together. With that in hand, I was able to create a virus that would go undetected by their security measures and give me complete access. In case…well, in case a situation like this arose.”

“A computer expert.” Patrick smirked at Blake. “We’ll have to see how Luke handles some competition.”

“Luke’s another brother and the geek of the family,” Blake said. “He’s the only one who ever took to the coding, and all that computer crap, which is why he runs a lot of our stuff. He’s the reason we found you.”

“What?” She raised an eyebrow in question. She’d been so careful. How had someone she didn’t even know find her, and what did that mean for the people who’d been hot on her trail since she left?

“He tried to narrow it down based on where you were when you left, the two calls you placed to Dean, and anywhere that’s familiar enough to you, locations only you’d know about. He found this cabin, and we left immediately to find you.” Blake stepped closer. “If you’re up for it, I suggest we leave soon. We don’t have to make the complete journey tonight, but we need to get more space between us and them.”

“I’ve been on the run for nearly a week, I’m exhausted and sore, but I won’t stop now. Dean?” She looked over at her brother to see if he was willing to go tonight or if he wanted to rest.

Dean glanced at each of the brothers before shaking his head. “I can’t fully trust them, not yet. They have to earn that.”

“Dean—”

“It’s okay,” Patrick said. “It’s understandable.” He hit his hand against the armrest of the chair. “If we’re going to leave, Clarissa, I need you in the bedroom. There’s something we can do to block your scent and give us more time.”

“Absolutely not.” Dean’s voice raised a few notches. “I won’t let you have sex with my sister to mask her smell.”

“What?” She looked at them with wide eyes. She couldn’t have heard them correctly.

“Not sex.” Patrick gave her brother an incredulous glance, seeming annoyed he’d jump to conclusions. “Blake, get the spare clothes. I borrowed a few of my sister’s things. You’re going to need to change into her clothes. The smell of her will throw them off of your scent. Once you’re changed, I’m going to make sure there’s nothing left of your scent.”

“How?”

“You’ll find out once you’ve changed and are laying on the bed.” He smirked before adding, “There’s little choice unless you want to risk them following us, and I won’t put the rest of my family in jeopardy.”

She nodded, grabbed one of the candles, and took the clothes that Blake held out to her. If they were willing to help her get her life back, and out of this crazy mess she’d found herself in, then she’d do whatever they asked.

Through the glow of the candles, Patrick caught a glimpse of Dean staring at him with what appeared to be uncertainty and possibly hatred in his eyes. He wasn’t sure what to make of Clarissa’s brother. His technical skills could come in handy and would give Luke a break, but Dean would have to understand who was in charge.

“If you’re coming with us, you’re going to need to change as well.” Blake dug into the bag and began to pull out a pair of jeans and a sweater.

“Why? They don’t have my scent.”

“You’ve had contact with Clarissa,so her aroma lingers on your clothes
.
It’s a precaution. We don’t want to take any unnecessary risks.” Blake held out the clothes. “These should fit you.”

“We’ve all had contact with Clarissa,” Dean pointed out, remaining still. “Will the two of you change as well?”

“No.” Needing to stretch his legs, Patrick rose from where he was sitting. “Our natural animal musk will overpower everything else. It will be all the shifter trackers will be able to smell without getting close to us.”

“Animal musk.” Dean shook his head and finally took the clothes from Blake’s outstretched hand.

“You seem to have a problem with our species. Are you sure you wish to entrust your safety to us?” Patrick watched Dean closely, trying to decide exactly where he stood when it came to shifters. Would he become a threat?

“How can I not have some reservations about your kind after what was done to me?” There was a heat of anger in Dean’s eyes as he stared at Patrick.

“Have you ever been drugged and tortured?” He didn’t give him a chance to answer. “I doubt it, but it’s a normal reaction to strike out at someone when you’ve been through what they have. They didn’t know what you were doing, what your intention was, so they fought.”

“How do you know so much about it?”

“Besides the fact I’m a medical doctor, it’s just clear logic.” Patrick pulled his long-sleeved shirt from the waistband of his jeans and tugged it up midway to reveal his scars. “The other reason is because something similar happened to me.” He stepped closer, showing Dean the evidence.

“What happened?”

Patrick ran his hand over the scar closest to his heart. The smooth skin was puffed out a little more than the rest. It might have been the smallest of the scars, but it was the one that held the most meaning to him. “You can’t possibly understand what the captive shifters go through, but I can. Jade, the youngest of my siblings, was captured and held in one of those labs. She was tortured as they conducted test after test on her. It was pure luck that we got to her in time. When we went to take down the lab, we had no idea she was one of the prisoners.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”

“You wouldn’t have.” He let his shirt fall back down. “Jade fought me when I tried to pull her from the cage they kept her in. They had her so drugged that she didn’t recognize me or our brothers. But things got worse as the drugs began to leave her system. My medical training didn’t prepare me to see my sister so strung-out, belligerent, and fighting us at every move. She was convinced we were going to kill her. Two nights after we rescued her, she screamed out in her sleep and I went to her. That’s when she stabbed me.”

“She just missed his heart,” Blake added as if he realized Patrick wouldn’t admit how bad it had really been. “Even though shifters are harder to kill, if our heart is destroyed, we’ll die.”

“Your own sister tried to kill you?” The disbelief was clear in Dean’s voice.

“She didn’t intentionally try to kill me, she was only lashing out in fear. She grabbed what was closest to her and stabbed me.” He shoved the bottom of his shirt into his jeans, closing the matter.

“I’m changed.” Clarissa stood in the doorway separating the living room from one of the bedrooms.

“I’m coming.” He turned to Blake. “I want to leave when we’re done.” Knowing his brother would see to Dean, he turned on his heels and strolled toward Clarissa. Seeing her in the candlelight, clad in low-slung jeans and a yellow sweater, made her look so young and innocent. It made his inner beast stand up and want to protect her.

Thoughts of her had his lion purring, and he remembered something from before that hadn’t registered at the time. Physical heat had poured through him when he wrapped his arm around her waist to keep her from pointing the gun at Blake. His beast had been so preoccupied with trying to ensure her safety, that he hadn’t even pushed for more contact. The heat in their touch could only mean one thing.
Clarissa’s my mate.

“Why are you standing there looking at me like that?”

He blinked, bringing her back into focus. “Come on.”

“What are we doing now?”

“You’re going to lie back on the bed and I’ll do all the work.” He smirked.

She slipped past him and into the bedroom. “That sounded sexual, and you said this wasn’t about sex.”

“You’re right, it isn’t, but it
is
very intimate.” He stalked forward, letting his inner lion out enough to get another taste of his mate.

“Intimate? I don’t know you…maybe this isn’t such a good idea.”

“It’s the only way we can get you away from here and somewhere safe.” With each step he took toward her, she retreated just a little farther into the room until the back of her thighs were pressed against the side of the bed. “I promise it won’t hurt a bit.”

“I hadn’t thought of pain.”

“Lie back.” He brushed the front of his body against hers.

“Wait…maybe…maybe I should know what’s going to happen first.”

“You’re going to lie back and I’m going to press my body against yours—”

“Oh, no you don’t. That sounds like some cheap trick.”

He placed a hand on her arm, just below the shoulder, and instantly the heat he remembered feeling earlier sparked back to life. The first signs of mating would only get stronger the longer they were together. “You don’t trust me, and I understand. I’d have asked Dean to come in to make you more comfortable, but from the way he’s reacted to me so far, I suspect he’d pull me off of you before I could finish.”

“Why?” She bit her lip and gazed up at him with big, honey brown eyes.

“Because he wouldn’t want me touching you. His fear that I’d hurt you would get the best of him. Or because of the intimacy of it. Take your pick.” He nodded to the bed. “Now, please, we don’t have much time.”

She hesitated for another moment before she finally sank back onto the mattress. Their eyes met as she reclined. She pulled one of the pillows beneath her head. “Now what?”

“I need to replace your scent with my own. It will only mask it for a short time, but it will be long enough for us to get far enough away without them catching a whiff of it and following.”

“How are you going to do that? Isn’t my scent a part of me?”

“It is, but my beast can mask it temporarily.”
It would mix with yours if we mated, throwing them off your scent permanently.
But that wasn’t an option. Not yet, anyway.

“Beast?” She rose up to rest on her elbows. “You’re going to shift?”

There was a mixture of terror and excitement in her eyes that made him want to tease her, but he resisted the urge. “No. My beast is always within me, even when I’m in human form. There’s no need to shift.”

“What a relief. I’m not sure I’m ready to see your animal yet.” She paused, averting her eyes. “Mind if I ask what your second nature is?”

“Second nature. So proper.” He smirked. “I’m a lion.” He spoke with ease because unlike the rest of the world, he didn’t see the animal side of him as a curse or an experiment gone wrong. To him, it was a blessing, something he was proud of. Though times were tough right now, things would get better. He’d see to it.

“I wasn’t sure how to word this…this…ability.” Seeming nervous, she bit her bottom lip. “I’m not even sure
ability
is the right word.”

“Shifting is a magical thing, and even though the world thinks I should be ashamed of it, I’m not. My lion is as much a part of me as my internal organs. The human society that we live in just doesn’t accept those who are different, but we’re here just like everyone else, and we want to live in peace.”

“That almost sounded like a public relations statement.”

“I just want you to understand who my siblings and I are. We’re no danger to you or any other human. We’re always in control of our animal, no matter what form we may take. That’s what Hathaway Medical and the rest of the government organizations don’t understand. We shouldn’t be experimented on, nor should any other human.” He hated that he sounded like he was lecturing her, but if he was going to take her back to Forever Creek, she need to understand his kind. He didn’t want any surprises later that would send her running. Once she knew their location, if she got spooked and ran off, she’d be a liability.

“But the government doesn’t classify you as human.” With that statement, she wasn’t able to meet his gaze.

“What about you? Do you think I’m human?” Silence thickened the air until he wasn’t sure she’d answer.

“You look human enough to me.” She reached out and laid her hand on his chest. “You feel human, too. That’s all that matters to me.”

He placed his hand over hers. “This is just one side of me, kind of like a coin. Will you still feel the same way when you see my lion?”

“If I felt any different, then I wouldn’t have left my position at Hathaway Medical. What the government is doing is wrong. I’d like to do something to fight it, but what can I do? I’m just one woman against the government. There’s nothing I can do, but I don’t condone their actions.”

“My family and I are fighting against it, and you can help. We’ll take everyone who’s willing to help, and stand against the government. We’re creating an army to fight for our right to live our lives without fear.”

She pulled her hand from under his and leaned back on the bed. “I can’t. What chance do I have to fight them? What can I do to aid you or your family? The answer is nothing.”

“You’re a scientist. We can use your skills.” Even if they couldn’t utilize her, he’d have found some reason to keep her out of danger. She couldn’t just return to society. After all, she was a wanted woman now. The government would keep it under wraps for now, but once they lost her scent, they’d go to the media with her picture and do whatever else they had to in order to keep their secrets safe. As long as she was alive, she was a threat to them.

“You said before that you’re a doctor, so you don’t need me.”

“I have a medical degree. Before my family went into hiding, I had a family practice. While I might be able to handle some of it, especially how drugs hit our systems, I can’t do it all. I could use your knowledge.”

“Should I feel cheap that you just want to use me? I’ve been wanted for my brain before, but normally it’s by an employer.”

“Cheap, no…but valued,yes.
”
He reached down and took her hand into his. “I’m sure you’ve heard about the drug they’re pushing out to the military and first responders. It will be in the hands of the general public before long.”

“Lycan Ultra Neuro Acid, right?”

He gave her a quick nod. “Yes, LUNA. I’ve got a sample coming and I need to determine what’s in it so we can counteract it. Help me do that.”

“If I say no, what then? Do you take away your promise of protection?”

“No.” He gave her hand a gentle squeeze. “You’re as much of a threat to them as I am. They won’t give up until you’re dead. As long as you don’t put my family in jeopardy by doing something stupid, like running off and telling the world where we are, we’ll protect you. If you’re stupid enough to do something like that, you’d get what’s coming to you, but it wouldn’t be by our hands. You would be at the mercy of the government and their hired hands. If they thought you had information about us, they would make sure your death was a slow one.” A shiver of fear vibrated through her body, but he held tight to her hand.

“Are you trying to scare me?”

“Not on purpose, but it’s time you had a dose of reality. The world is screwed up right now. People are scared, and instead of thinking logically, they’re lashing out with that fear. You need to understand what will happen if you don’t follow every order I give you.” He squeezed her hand and let the heat of their touch caress over him. “I’m going to get you through this and make sure you’re safe.”

“
Every
order?” Her lips curled up into a smirk that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Hmm, I’ve never been very good a following orders. Dean says I have this unnatural need to push the limits on everything. He also says I’ve never met a boundary that I didn’t try to push or break. So, you might have your work cut out for you.”

“I’ll make you a deal. You don’t push the boundaries until I get you somewhere safe, and then I’ll cut you a little slack. I understand this is new to you and you’re scared, but right now the most important thing is to get us all out of here before they have a chance to find us.” He nudged her knee until her legs were on either side of his. “Now, are you ready?”

“Just one more question. You mentioned you saw them in town, so why haven’t they made their way here yet?”