Primal Claim (17 page)

Then those bastards shot him in the back. Someone had gotten into the store and lay in wait. Mercury dimly remembered the radio fumbling out of his hand, his mind trying to send out a mental SOS, but the haze had already settled in too deeply.

Inhaling deeply, Mercury scented the female. Young shifter female, probably less than fifty years old. There was fear residing in her, like it was a steady state of her condition. She also smelled…tainted.

Opening his eyes, he zeroed in on her.

Sensing he was awake, the female met his stare, going from a bored fear to sultry temptress in less than a second.

“Well, well,” she purred, moving in on him. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”

Mercury kept his stare passive.

Seeing he wasn’t immediately aroused, she straightened, attempting to make her bosom more pronounced. Mercury noticed she was wearing a leather bustier attached with garters to sheer black stockings. Were those panties crotchless?

Comprehension dawned on Mercury. Sigma couldn’t get to the baby via Dani, so they would attempt to make more babies.

“It won’t work,” barely recognizing his own gravelly voice, still groggy from the meds.

Mistaking his rough speech for passion, she sauntered up next to the table, leaning over so she was touching as much of his skin as she could, and palmed his manhood. Her hand cupped and rubbed as she licked a trail up his stomach.

He remained flaccid.

A perplexed look crossed the female’s face. She doubled her efforts on him, massaging, manipulating, trying both hands.

Not even a twitch.

Now she looked downright offended. Mercury smelled a spike in her fear.

“If I don’t sleep with you, she’ll kill me,” the female looked at him, her blue eyes watering with unshed tears. “You have to help me,” she whispered desperately. One tear slid down her cheek.

“Madame G won’t get rid of a shifter female who’s been working for her for years,” Mercury said flatly. “How long did it take for her to convert you?”

The female’s face turned to stone, she put her hands on her hips and leaned in close, her fangs dropping as she hissed, “And when shifters turn to the mighty Guardians for help finding their lost little girls, how long did you look for them?”

Without hesitation, Mercury replied, “We never stop. We never give up. We will free you, if you want to be free.”

The female let out a bark of laughter. “To be welcomed back by the clan that traded me for their security? No. I will take the power Madame G gives me instead.”

“Being a fangbanger does not equal power.”

She leaned in until her head was next to his. “If you do it right, it does.” Her tongue rimmed his ear in one last attempt at seduction. Seeing the frown on his face, she turned to stomp unfemininely out of the room.

“Female.” She turned to sneer at him, her hand hovering above the fingerprint pad to unlock the door.

“If you truly were traded to Sigma, name your clan. When I get free, we will make them answer for their crimes.”

She narrowed her eyes at him and turned away to drop her finger down on the sensor. The door clicked and unlocked.

Before the door latched shut behind her, he heard the words, “New Moon.”

“What do you mean we can’t go in after him?” Dani was incredulous. “That’s absurd.”

Bennett gave a sharp inhale and a little shake of his head to warn her off. Didn’t work, Commander Fitzsimmons was talking crazy.
Fucking Guardians
.

The commander leveled her with a stern glare. “We’re meant to police our species, not invade enemy territory. We don’t have the manpower. The twins are up north, two of us are new, two of us are human – one pregnant – leaving me and Bennett. Even with Kaitlyn and Jace, it would be a suicide mission.”

“What about Master Bellamy and Irina?”

If possible, Bennett fell even more silent and dropped his head so low his chin almost touched his chest. The commander’s jaw muscles ticked and his superhuman teeth probably cracked under the pressure.

“He’s outta the game,” he said finally. “Irina has no field training.”

“But my new powers – ”

“Are unknown and unpredictable.” There’s that stern, steady glare again as he patiently waited for it all to sink in.

They were screwed. Dani had seen enough during her brief time actually residing at the compound to know what they would do to Mercury. He wouldn’t be the same if he ever came back, not if he spent any amount of time imprisoned there. Madame G wanted him to pay and wanted his semen. Tears welled up and threatened to spill. Oh God, aside from the torture, the morbid experiments, he would be made to –

“If you would’ve let me finish in the first place,” Commander Fitzsimmons crossed his arms over his chest, the biceps bulging in their black long sleeves, his piercing hazel eyes softening – just a little. “I brought you in here so we could talk about your telepathy.”

Dani hastily wiped her eyes, nodded and trying not to sniffle on top of the tears. “That time in the woods was the only time.”

“You told Bennett you tried to use it in the drugstore.” When Dani nodded, he continued, “Mercury was probably already knocked out.”

She shrugged. “I tried to project to both of you two, but it didn’t work. I’m not a telepath.”

“You’re not telekinetic either, but you mentally threw half a bookstore at Agent X. Whether it’s a byproduct of the baby or latent powers coming awake, you may be the key to getting Mercury back.”

Mercury was given a reprieve until another female entered, human this time. The scent… Mercury inhaled again to make sure…tainted. She was dressed like the first, meant to entice him. Like the first, it didn’t work.

“She’ll kill me,” the girl whispered, tears streaming down her face.

Any pity he may have felt for the trapped human dissolved when she drew out a syringe and slammed it into his thigh.

Mercury twitched more from the shock of her action than that of any actual pain.

The human’s lips curled smugly. “Resist the cocktail of love, Guardian,” she taunted pointing at his manhood. “In two minutes, you won’t be able to keep that monster down.”

Mercury kept his eyes trained on the drab ceiling, waiting for the effects the aphrodisiac to kick in, while the recruit kept talking.

“When I took on this assignment,” her finger trailed down his chest, “I only wanted to climb the ranks, even if it took growing a mutant inside of me. But you are delicious.” She bit her lip, swirling her fingers around his side. “I will enjoy this mission.”

That’s right, little recruit. Keep talking. The more his captors thought they would win, the more information he could siphon.

“Madame G will never respect you after sleeping with a shifter. You’ll get thrown back to the bottom of the pile.”

The woman made an
oh please
face. “She’s invested plenty in me. I’m invaluable.”

“Keep thinking that.”

The open-handed smack she gave his thigh echoed off the walls in the bare room.

“You like it rough?” she purred, when Mercury’s eyes momentarily opened wide.

“Maybe with the right girl. You ain’t it.”

That pissed her off, the echoes of the second slap louder than the first.

The heat from the drug was curling its way through his body, threatening to make his mind hazy, trying to suggest the slender, brown haired woman was like his Daniella. The thought of his mate was a lightning bolt to his groin, making his cock twitch. No more thoughts of his mate.

Forcing calm, even breaths, Mercury could have bored a hole in the ceiling with the intensity of his gaze. He drowned out the prattling of the woman, refusing to be distracted for even another tidbit of information.

Breathe in, breathe out. Think of cleaning up the recruit massacre at the lodge a few months ago. Think of scrubbing floors, replacing windows, dirty laundry.

The heat pressed harder, the woman was cooing into his ear all kinds of naughty sayings. His mate was not here, there was no reason to get hard. Mercury kept that thought in his head as he closed his eyes, willing his body to burn off the drug faster. He felt his metabolism spike, tiny droplets of sweat broke out on his chest, the heat reached a crescendo, his mind fogging, threatening to lust for his mate.

Breathe in, breathe out. The coolness of the room began to seep into his body once more. The breath out was a sigh of relief.

“I don’t believe it!” the woman was one part incredulous, two parts pissed.

“I think y’all have a shit chemist,” Mercury’s voice was rough, betraying his cavalier attitude to hint at the extreme internal struggle he just faced.

She slapped him again, this time on the stomach, followed by another, and another. The slaps turned to punches, her screams of outrage echoing through the room. The beating didn’t last long, she wore out quickly. It was more of an irritation to him than painful.

Her hair a mess, her lip bleeding from biting it, she stood back and huffed at Mercury and then stormed out.

Hours passed. Mercury dozed, sleeping off the rest of the drug; the cold metal table not as uncomfortable for him as his captors planned. There was no point struggling...yet. The silver would weaken him so he’d wait. Eventually, they’d release him; for a bathroom break, for transport, it didn’t matter. He’d wait it out and make his move. His senses told him his Daniella was not at the compound, therefore he could be patient.

He sensed evil before the door opened. Well, shit.

This time there was no pretending he was asleep. He’d need all his senses for this.

The door opened and
she
walked in. Tall, with ink black hair pulled back into a high ponytail. Her hair was so dark, like it swallowed not only any light that hit it, but the life-giving essence of the air around it.

Madame G gracefully moved to Mercury’s side, coming up even with his head. Deep, black eyes – unhuman eyes – stared down impassively. “You are making this difficult.”

“Sucks to be you.”

Displeasure rippled through her porcelain features.

“We are offering you a new start, with a new mate. One that isn’t full of lies and deceit. I tried with a female shifter, but since you picked a human initially, I sent one for you to try.”

“I have only one mate.”

Madame G cocked her head, looking at him imploringly. “Do you?”

Hiding his confusion, Mercury held her stare. Still wearing absolutely nothing, still tied at each corner, yet Madame G never spared his body a glance. He was nothing but an experiment, an animal to be tested. A means to what end, they needed to find out.

“Daniella was quite the Agent, I hated to spare her for this mission. Her natural disgust of your species when she popped up on my doorstep was refreshing. She learned quickly how to kill your kind, performing each task with such zeal.”

“Liar, liar, pants on fire.”

Madame G drew back, surprised at his easy disbelief of her portrayal of his mate.

“If Dani was still your faithful Agent,” he continued, “and you didn’t fear your mission ruined, there would’ve been no need to bring me here.” He lifted his hands as far as they could go in the cuffs, looking up at them. “Yet, here I am.”

The tall, vile woman set her expression, “I will give you one more chance to give up your seed. Otherwise, I will talk to our doctor about going in after it.”

She was turning to go, Mercury’s words stopped her. “What will a baby net for Sigma? Power? Control?”

Madame G gave a derisive snort. “Sigma wouldn’t know what to do with this kind of power,” she spit out. “They are weak, their
grand
plan not grand enough. Why wipe out shifters when I can use them to rule the world?”

One last look of greedy disdain and she spun, heading to the door. Not a hair on her high ponytail even fluttered, the fabric of her standard long, blood-red kimono silent.

Mercury debated his next question. She wouldn’t kill him, he was too important. They’d keep him strapped to this table, do unholy things, but not death. Not intentionally anyway.

“What did you sell your soul for?’

Madame G froze. The light in the room seemed to dim, like an invisible vacuum opened around the dark lady, thinning the air, making breathing difficult.

As soon as it started, it was over. Madame G slowly turned back, moving with eerie stillness.

“What do you know of souls?” her soft voice half sneer, half innocent inquiry.

If he wasn’t tied down, Mercury felt like he’d be pinned to the table top by her black stare alone. Her thin red lips in a firm line, her porcelain skin highlighted along the cheekbones by an angry blush. So Madame G wasn’t impervious after all.

“I can see you are no longer in control of yours, sucking life out of the world around you.” How else could he explain the effect she had on the very air around her? He lived for fifty years running in nature, surrounded by living, vibrant creatures. And then another hundred years working for his people, who sought to live in harmony with the earth and worship her blessings.

Seeing he was affecting her, albeit negatively, he pressed on. “Was it not enough? Is that why you need a baby?”

One long, fine-boned hand lifted out of her robe, her fingernail colored black, transformed before his eyes into a long, tapered claw. She rested the tip against his shoulder, not breaking any skin. Yet.

“I do have a soul, Guardian,” she nearly hissed. “It’s growing in your little mate, dark and strong. Your baby is one third you, one third Daniella, and,” the claw dug in and she slashed down to his navel, “one third me.”

Mercury made a point of not flinching. Burning like salt had been dumped in the wound and washed away by acid, blood welled up and dripped down his sides. Madame G brought her claw to her mouth, showcasing an impressive set of fangs, and swirled her tongue around the tip.

“Mmmm. They knew how strong you were. Did you know that?”

Mercury stilled, dreading the feeling she was going to drop a big, stinky, can-I-believe-her, shit bomb on him.

“Your precious Lycan Council didn’t know what to make of the clan with not only unusual abilities, but the rumors that they could choose their own mates.”