The Alpha Men's Secret Club 5: Final Capture: A Shockingly Hot BBW Paranormal Shifter Romance (3 page)

6

Kate waited, as she always did, for her visitor at Finnegan’s.

When Rita Cunningham appeared, she was a totally different person. At least, she looked different. Her normally curly hair was now done up in waves. Instead of being a redhead, she was now blonde. Her clothes and shoes were different too, and she now wore makeup.

Rita Cunningham, the most famous investigative journalist in the world, had turned into a total sophisticate.

“Hi, Kate.”

“Hi, Rita.”

Kate almost expected Rita to air kiss her cheeks, but luckily, Rita settled for her usual handshake.

“You look good,” Rita said. And then she did a double take when she saw Kate’s swollen belly. “Woah.”

“Woah is right. Sit down, please. God knows I need to.”

“Yes, you’d better.” Rita sat down on the high stool cautiously. “Obviously, this happened . . . lessee . . . at least four months ago?”

“Yes. I’ve tried to keep it under wraps. But I don’t think I can anymore. That’s why I need your help.”

“You’re dispensing with the small talk. I admire that. A woman after my own heart.” Rita’s eyes sparkled with the thought of an exclusive scoop.

“And you’re still the most persistent reporter in the universe.” Kate remembered how Rita resorted to blackmail, and her cheery smile faltered. “You’re very famous these days.”

“I know. Have you seen my Pulitzer? Oh wait, I didn’t bring it. It’s enshrined on my mantelpiece. Can you believe I actually acquired a new 19
th
century mantelpiece from England and had it transported brick by brick to my new townhouse?”

“Life is treating you well.”

“I went out and grabbed the bulls by the horns.”

“I know you do. Which is why I need your help.”

“If there’s something in there for me, you can always count on me.” Rita lowered her eyes to Kate’s tummy. “Are you going to give me first dibs on that?”

“Better. You’re going to get first dibs on everything. But you’re going to have to do a lot of legwork.” Kate leaned forward. “And I mean really a lot.”

“OK. Shoot.”

“They are going to take me in soon for multiple reasons. And this is what I would like you to do.”

7

Alyssa watched Rust through the hidden cameras in his bedroom. He was sleeping on his large bed. He had been sleeping a lot in the past five days.

She was worried about him.

Although he checked out OK medically after the electroshock stimulation, there was still something ‘off’ about him. Maybe she should send in a shrink to talk to him.

A shrink to talk to a shrink.

She had checked with the other handlers as to the progress of Rust’s parents. They were just as stubborn as he was with what they chose to reveal. His father, in particular, offered to go under the knife for them to get tissue samples from all his major organs for analysis – just so that his wife and son wouldn’t have to go through with it.

She felt really bad for being part of the organization which was tearing his family’s lives apart, but it had to be done in the name of discovery and mankind.

Still –

She composed herself, walked down the corridor to his (locked) apartment within the complex and rang his buzzer as was the custom to allow him to get decent, if he wasn’t already decent.

She waited for a moment, and then she swiped a card, scanned her retina with the camera mounted on the panel beside his door, and let herself in.

Rust was sitting up in bed when she entered.

“Hello, Rust.”

He did not acknowledge her.

“I know you’re angry with me,” she went on.

“Why should I be angry with you?” His expression was neutral.

“Because I tortured you to get a reaction out of you.”

It was best to have it out in the open. She hated cat and mouse. And ‘reaction’ was an understatement.

“You were doing your job,” he said.

She was aware that he was playing mind games again. Placating her. Trying to catch her off guard. What was he playing at? Didn’t he know there was no way out of this?

“Sometimes, I hate my job,” she said.

“Sometimes. But other times, you absolutely soak in the power you have over other people.”

“Are you trying to tell me that I have power over you?”

“Isn’t that obvious?”

“Do you resent it?”

“I resent having a gun held to my head, and I don’t mean it only as a metaphor.”

“I know. I have experienced the full brunt of your resentment towards me. I find it interesting that, out of all the people in the room, you would make a beeline for me.”

“You haven’t experienced the full brunt of my wrath. If you had, your head would be unattached from your body.”

Was that a threat? Her pulse took an uptick. She was aware that he could transform in this instant and tear her throat apart. If he wanted to.

She said, “Is that wishful thinking or are you planning to carry it out in the near future?”

“I’ll leave that for you to psychoanalyze.” He sat up straighter in bed and the sheet fell off, revealing his well-structured chest. He always slept naked, as if he knew she was watching and he wanted to mock her attraction to him.

Perhaps he knew she was very attracted to him.

Which was what she came to talk to him about.

In a way.

“Thank you for your cooperation so far.”

“I wish I can say ‘my pleasure’, but you and I know better.”

“Your ‘pleasure’ is what I came to talk to you about.” She pulled a chair to seat herself beside his bed. “We want to stimulate you. Pleasurably. To see how you would react.”

He smiled wryly.

“So you are suggesting you’d volunteer to give me an orgasm?”

“Are you flirting with me, Professor O’Brien?”

“How would you interpret it?” His manner did not suggest he was flirting. In fact, he was very matter-of-fact about it.

“You tell me.” She refused to be drawn into his psychoanalysis.

“I think you will do it to me, one way or another. So why don’t you just set the date, bring out the bottle of champagne and get on with it?” His tone had turned belligerent.

She thought for a while before saying, “Thank you for agreeing to do this. We will get back to you on the date.”

“You are welcome.”

She got up to leave hurriedly before he could psychoanalyze her obvious attraction to him.

*

Rust was back in the glass chamber.

He was seated and he was naked. His penis was covered with six electrodes, all which were connected by wires to an Electrostim machine. The scenario was set as before. Tranquilizer guns trained on him. Scientists observing him from the safety of another fortified glass wall.

A lump clogged her throat.

He was so beautiful. And so tragic.

But she must push aside her empathy for him. She had a job to do.

She said, “Rust, we are going to stimulate you. We are going to gradually increase the intensity.”

He did not reply.

She told the enforcer, “Do it.”

“Okaayyyy,” Stan said, and pushed a dial.

Rust visibly jerked his body as a very mild and very pleasurable electrical current was channeled to his penis. His cock immediately became tumescent.

“Erection observed,” Stan said.

“I don’t think he will transform,” Alyssa remarked. “He can’t . . . surely . . . because he has a human girlfriend. I don’t think he will transform during the sex act.”

“You don’t know what they do in bed. Wanna bring the girl in for questioning?”

Alyssa pondered this. Kate Penney was another issue. There was many a time Alyssa wanted to haul her in for questioning already. The girl had probably seen other shifters – a fact Alyssa suspected without a doubt, and was now trying to tease it out of Rust – and interacted with them. In fact, Alyssa suspected the entire Mitchell family of being shifters.

Nevertheless, the powers that be did not want to stir up the investigation yet. ‘Yet’ was the definitive word. Kate Penney was not related by blood to Rust and the Director did not want to create further media and public speculation on what they were doing by hauling civilians up.

But it would happen. And happen soon.

Alyssa said, “We will. Soon. But meanwhile – ”

Rust exploded.

Not in the literal sense of the word, but in his metamorphosis.

He became the tiger again. But this time, he was immobile. At least, as immobile as a tiger in a glass cage could be. He did not hurl himself at the glass wall and he did not pace. He merely stood there and
glowered
at her.

“Holy shit,” Stan said. “Shall we chalk it down as another stimulus to his change?”

“No,” she said. “I think he’s playing us. I think he willfully shifted.”

Stan could only stare at the tiger helplessly.

Alyssa said, “This is his way of giving us the middle finger. I think it’s time we called in his girlfriend.”

8

Kate gazed at the attractive woman across the table in the interrogation room.

“Am I a prisoner?” Kate said calmly.

She knew she was protected by her Miranda rights.

“No. You are here as a witness.” Alyssa Foley was blonde. Ethereal-looking. Very pale, like a ghost. “We have some questions to ask you.”

“Can I see Rust?”

“Perhaps. If you cooperate with us.”

“I need to know if Rust is OK. Are you torturing him?”

“Why do you use the word ‘torture’?”

“It’s what you guys do to tear the truth out of people.”

“Not everything is as it appears on TV.”

“Some things are worse, I believe. Anyway, I would like my lawyer to be present.”

“It is your right, of course. However, we are not arresting you . . . nor are you a suspect in any crime.”

“You haven’t answered my question. Are you torturing Rust?”

“He is collaborating well with us.”

“That is not an answer.”

“He has consented to everything he has participated in.”

What about his parents?” Kate liked both Connor and Moira, even though she hadn’t known them that long. “Did you make them consent too?”

“His parents are given the same conditions.”

“Meaning that they are being tortured too?”

“Your words, not mine.”

Kate appraised Alyssa. She knew she was no match for the seasoned interrogator. Sooner or later, she would have to cut to the chase.

“Why did you bring me here?”

Alyssa smiled. “Would you consent to a lie detector test?”

Kate caught her breath. “Why?”

“There are secrets you and Rust are keeping buried. We would like to uncover those secrets in the interest of national security.”

“Why is this a matter of national security? How is Rust a threat to you?” Kate knew she had to tread very carefully here. She didn’t know what Rust had or hadn’t revealed.

“If you have nothing to hide, then a lie detector test wouldn’t be a problem.”

“I have the right to refuse, and you can’t prove that it’s because I’m keeping secrets.”

“Then we have a right to refuse your request to see Rust. It is after all a matter of national security.”

Kate felt helpless. They were going around in circles.

Alyssa’s gaze dipped down to her abdomen. “Congratulations.”

“Thank you.”

“Truth be told, we were expecting something like this to happen,” Alyssa said. “I take it the baby is Rust’s?”

Kate was trapped. “Yes.”

“We will need to run some tests.”

“What if I refuse?”

“We both know that’s not in your best interest. Either yours or Rust’s.”

“Are you threatening me?”

“You have made a lot of inferences in the past ten minutes that you have no proof of. Collaborate with us, Kate. We are not the enemy. We are here for a common purpose.” Alyssa leaned forward in earnest. “We need to study this phenomenon for the good of mankind.”

“How is that for the good?” Kate’s heart was sinking lower and lower, because she knew the answer. There were so many things humans could learn from this.

“You’re a college student and you’re smart. Don’t let anything else, like your love for Rust, blind you to the fact that a lot of good can come out of this. We haven’t even touched the tip of the iceberg. How do the human cells shift? Can we use this particular mutation to avert certain diseases, like cancer?”

Kate’s hand involuntarily went to her tummy.

She said, “But you’re going to hurt him to find out the truth, aren’t you? You’re going to have to hurt my baby.”

“It’s in our best scientific interest for you to carry the baby to term. Why would we want to hurt your baby?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know what you’re going to do to us. I’m scared, and rightly so.”

Alyssa hesitated.

Then she said, “You have my word that nothing will be done to you without your consent.”

There was a steadfastness in her voice, and an underlying tone of something else that Kate couldn’t decipher. And yet, it was there – a sixth sense warning which niggled at her. She sensed that the FBI interrogator might have said the same thing to the O’Briens.

Besides, she desperately, desperately wanted to see Rust.

Kate said, “All right.”

Oh my God, what am I doing?

“Good choice,” Alyssa said. “You won’t regret it. Now, I hope you’ve packed some of your belongings. If not, we have everything you need right in this facility.”