Therian Prisoner: 3 (Therian Heat) (18 page)

“The conflict is inconvenient, so he gets a bye for treating me like a piece of property?”

They faced off in the center of the compound. The unique circular room was framed by wedge-shaped cages, allowing numerous animals to be accessed from a central location. “I’m not here to defend his actions. He’s the only one who can explain why he did what he did.”

“You brought it up.” She crossed her arms over her chest, clearly annoyed by the subject.

“Actually, I brought up conflict in general. You focused on Kyle.”

He thought she’d continue the argument. Instead, she heaved another sigh and unfolded her arms. “I told Kyle I’d talk to him tomorrow and I will. I don’t want this to drag on forever either.”

“Good.” He encouraged her attitude with a smile, but when he moved closer, she moved away.

“I need to take a look at the new tigress before you take me to the Garrans’ clinic.”

“Why am I taking you to see the Garrans?” No wonder she was still tense. Under the microscope had to be the last place on earth Devon wanted to be right now.

“Apparently Dhane is still trapped in wolf form. The energy and sex stabilized his condition, but he can’t release the shift.”

“They think whatever they injected you with is to blame?”

“It makes sense.” She walked along the curved bank of cages, pausing at each one to look over the animal’s chart. “Besides, I’m the only other person we have access to who was exposed to whatever they’re tinkering with.”

All he could do was nod. Every protective instinct he possessed urged him to fly her away from danger and possible harm. She’d been through so much already and her recovery was still too fragile. He didn’t want the Garrans to undo what he’d managed to accomplish. With a little help from Dorothy, he amended.

Devon faced one of the tiger cages as she flipped through various forms secured within the metal chart. “We basically have no information on her. How bizarre.”

Erin had mentioned the mystery tigress, but he’d been too busy chasing after Therian females to give the tiger female much thought. “She was spotted wandering around in Aurora. The locals didn’t know what else to do with her, so they called your mom. She agreed to board the tigress until someone claims her or a permanent home can be found.”

“How long ago was this?”

He shrugged. The days had all run together while he was focused on missing women. “Ten days, maybe two weeks.”

“And no one has called about her?” Devon glanced at him then slipped the chart back into the slanted compartment beside the gate. She knelt and kept her arms close to her body, making herself as small as possible.

“She probably got away from a private collector who didn’t have the legal right to have her in the first place. That sort of thing happens more often than people realize.”

“In Aurora?” She looked up at him then shifted her gaze back to the tigress.

“That’s where she was found. We have no idea how far she’d wandered before someone called it in.”

The tigress was curled up in the back corner of the cage, watching them with alert golden eyes.

“Come here, girl,” Devon motioned through the bars, her voice gently coaxing. “No one will ever harm you again. You’re safe. I guarantee it.”

Ian couldn’t help but smile. He’d been the one whispering assurances just a few days before.

Suddenly emotions stabbed into his mind—fear and anger, hopelessness and grief. He staggered back as his knees nearly buckled.

“Are you all right?” Devon straightened and turned toward him.

He lightly scanned her mind but found no echo of the toxic emotions he’d just sensed. She grasped his elbow, steadying him as he shifted his attention back to the tigress. “Are you sure she’s a tiger?”

“Cougars don’t have stripes.” Her playful tone belied the concern in her expression. “What’s the matter?”

“I’m not sure.” He rubbed his eyes and shook his head. “Empathy can be tricky. Sometimes emotions linger long after the person’s gone.” That was true, but the shadowy echoes he was talking about were never as strong as the emotions that had just assailed his mind.

“What did you feel? It didn’t seem pleasant.”

“Far from it.” He took a deep breath and looked at the tigress as he said, “You name it and I felt it. Fear, sorrow, fury and pain. The kind of emotions that make a person unable to trust anyone.” He watched the tigress carefully, waiting for any hint that she understood what he was saying.

She looked right into his eyes, her gaze cautious and searching.

“Most of the animals here have been abused in one way or another.” Devon slipped in under his arm and pressed against his side. “You probably picked up on a mixture of all of their emotions combined.”

“Probably.” Except he’d been in this building hundreds of times before and he’d never sensed anything from any of the animals. He tried to scan the tigress, but he sensed nothing from her. Which was as it should be. Animal thoughts and feelings resonated at a different frequency than human or Therian emotions, making them undetectable to his empathic receptors. “How long does it take them to realize they’re safe and we’re here to protect and help them?”

“Depends on the animal.”

He only nodded but his gaze remained on the tigress. He was nearly certain the emotional spike had come from her, which meant she wasn’t really a tiger. Was she trapped in animal form, like Dhane? Or was she hiding, too terrified to reveal her true nature to anyone?

Meticulously scanning for an opening, he located a weakness, a section of her shielding that was paper-thin and ready to crack. He could force his way inside and confirm his suspicion, but instead he honored her choice.

You’re among friends.
He carefully pushed the thought into the tigress’s mind.
We will protect you. As soon as you’re ready to rejoin our world, we will assist in any way we can
.

The faintest hint of Therian light glimmered in the depths of the tigress’s gaze. Then she lowered her head to her folded paws and closed her eyes.

Chapter Nine

“Where the hell is my son?” Nate’s authoritative voice cracked like a whip, echoing off the walls of Heather’s small office.

She startled so violently her knee smacked the underside of the desk.
Here we go again.
She closed the inventory program she’d been updating and took a deep breath before she looked at her father. Overlapping voices and muffled music bled through the walls from the main room of the Clubhouse. She couldn’t decide if the semipublic setting was a mercy or an additional hazard.

“I don’t know.” She did her best to sound calm, yet confused. “I told you, my lead was a dead end.”

He crossed his arms over his chest and pinned her in place with his stare. “What were you doing in Idaho Springs?”

Knowing he could span the distance separating them with one large step, she pushed back her chair and stood. She’d been on the receiving end of her father’s legendary temper too often to take it sitting down. “Do you have someone following me?”

“I don’t, but apparently I should have.” His voice dropped to a menacing growl. “Answer the question.”

“You gave me an ultimatum, so I took my best friend to Beau Jo’s so she could help me think through my options. They have the best pizza in Colorado, or hadn’t you heard?” She crossed her arms over her chest and mirrored his glare. “Either that or I’ve got Dhane stashed in a motel down there just to piss you off. Which makes more sense to you?”

He lunged forward and backhanded her so hard she lost her balance. Pain exploded through her head and lights distorted her vision. Then her hip slammed into the corner of her desk, sucking the pain in a different direction.

“Utter another lie and I’ll convene the council.”

She pressed her hand against her burning cheek as she fought to think through the throbbing. How much did he know? Had his spy seen Jake or just her and Lexxie?

“Who was the dark-haired man in the SUV? Why did Lexxie spend the night with him?”

He’d inadvertently given her enough information to build an alibi. Even so, she chose her words carefully. Nate Fitzroy didn’t make idle threats. If he didn’t believe her story she would find herself in front of the council, and their judgments had been especially merciless lately.

“You know Lexxie. She doesn’t always think before she acts.”

“Meaning?”

“Lex met him in a bar down in Denver and one thing led to another.” Her legs began to shake, so she took a step back and collapsed into her chair. Better to sit than to end up on her knees. “He’s human, so once the alcohol wore off, she wasn’t sure she wanted him to know where she lived. She called me. I went and picked her up.”

“What was she doing in Denver? There are plenty of Therians willing to scratch her itch. What was she doing with a human?”

“Therian males expect their females to be obedient and docile. Sometimes Lex needs someone willing to indulge her wild side.”

Nate scoffed at the idea. “That’s not natural.”

Ignoring his obvious distaste, Heather remained still. Each of her movements intensified the pulsing in her temples and the last thing she needed was to throw up in her lap. “Natural or not, she was protecting the pack. She knew last night was a mistake and she wasn’t going to make it worse by bringing a human into the heart of your territory.”

Silence stretched between them as she tucked the hair behind her ears and stubbornly blinked back tears. She would not give him the satisfaction of seeing her cry. Her father was a bully and she hated bullies. Little by little his violent tendencies were eroding what was left of her loyalty.

If she joined the rebels, Dhane would doubtlessly follow. And then there would be no one left to lead the pack. At least no one to which Heather would willingly pledge her allegiance.

“Why did you lie to me?” He sounded disappointed, not angry, and Devon almost smiled. The ploy used to work when she was a child. Now he’d used it so many times the ruse had lost its effect.

“She’s my best friend. What was I supposed to do? She didn’t want the entire pack to know she’d been playing around with a human. No one respects her as it is.” If he had other clues, she needed to know about them now. “Why did you presume this had anything to do with Dhane?”

No such luck. He just shrugged and reiterated what she already knew. “The hunter saw Lexxie get out of the guy’s SUV, but he was at the wrong angle to see the driver clearly. He said Jake Parlain drives the same make and model, so it sent me down the wrong path.”

“Jake Parlain? The tiger-shifter from Aspen?” She rolled her eyes as her heartbeat lurched. Had she dodged the bullet or was he still probing? “What would Lex be doing with a cat?”

“That’s what the hunter wanted to know.”

“Which hunter has been carrying tales?” She concentrated on her annoyance, knowing her father would smell fear. “And what was
he
doing in Idaho Springs?”

Nate suddenly laughed, the warm sound as out of character as it was unexpected. “Actually he’d just had lunch with some other pack leaders and you’ll never guess where they ate.”

“Beau Jo’s?” If her face didn’t hurt so bad, she might be able to enjoy the irony.

He nodded. “Tell Lexxie to stick with her own kind. If it happens again, I’ll let the hunters know she’s not getting enough action.”

* * * * *

A needle slowly pushed through Devon’s skin and she gritted her teeth. The momentary sting was inconsequential, but this had happened way too many times in the past month. Blood tests and biopsies, tissue samples and scans. Each time she’d fought her captors with all her strength and each time she’d failed to prevent them from taking whatever they wanted. They’d violated her freedom so many times, and in so many ways, it had all become a horrific blur.

Warm fingers curved around the back of her neck and gently massaged. She looked up and tried to smile at Ian. The expression felt more like a grimace.

“You okay?” His gold-flecked gaze was warm and caressing, but worry thinned his lips.

“I just want this over,” she whispered.

“Understood.”

Paul Garran pushed a cotton ball against her skin as he smoothly withdrew the needle. “Press down on this for me,” he instructed, and she complied. He disconnected the last vial from the butterfly needle, dropped the needle into a sharps container then reached for the piece of tape he’d stuck to the edge of the tray earlier. After taping the cotton ball in place, he bent her elbow to maintain pressure on the tiny wound. “Do you have any questions for me?” His gloves made a sharp snap as he pulled them off and tossed them in the trash can.

With kind, dark eyes and slightly shaggy gray hair, Paul made the perfect country doctor. The clinic was quaint and soothing, obviously designed to put the patient at ease. A much larger research facility was in an adjacent building. The lights had been on, indicating activity, but Ian brought her directly to the clinic. There were two houses on the property as well. The Garran family had dedicated their lives to the Therian nation, so the networks made sure they had cutting-edge technology and a generous operating budget so they could continue their work.

“I have plenty of questions. You just won’t have answers until you’ve had time to analyze all that.” She motioned toward the capped swabs and vials of blood on the tray beside him.

“It’s our top priority.” He paused for a smile. “We’ve about run out of options with Dhane. We’re hoping the new data will shed some light on the mystery. You’re a very brave young woman. Tell your mother I said hi.” He gathered the samples and departed, leaving the door open behind him.

“That was fun.” She picked up her purse and stood as she swung it onto her shoulder. “If I never see a doctor’s office again, it will be too soon.”

Ian allowed her to brood as they drove back to the sanctuary, but he stopped her before they went inside. “If you want the bed to yourself tonight, I understand. But until we know who took Carly and why, I’m not leaving you alone.”

“Suit yourself.” Devon shrugged and headed for the side door of the visitor center. Even as wonderful as sex was with Ian, she was in no mood for intimacies. All she wanted was to crawl between the sheets of her own bed and go to sleep.

She lived above the classrooms, which were on the second floor of the visitor center. More or less a studio apartment, her bedroom was separated from the living area by an open archway. He preceded her up the stairs and checked each room, the windows and closets before he let her enter.

“Paranoid much?” She dropped her purse onto a chair and kicked off her shoes. “We might not know who crashed through that window, but we know who sanctioned the smash and grab. We had one of the backers’ minions and they wanted her back. There is really no mystery here.”

“I’m not convinced it had anything to do with the backers.” His features were tight, yet his expression concealed the direction of his thoughts.

“So tell me about this silver-haired ghost.” She’d heard Ian’s description of the intruder, but Kyle had interrupted before she could ask Payne why he thought the intruder was a ghost. “What would she want with Carly?”

His agitation grew, setting him in motion. He paced her small apartment, looking very much like one of the animals caged downstairs. “The woman I saw is dead, so it couldn’t have actually been her. I suspect it was a relation. Perhaps a daughter or granddaughter.”

It was obvious he didn’t want to talk about the specter, which indicated that the memories were unpleasant. She didn’t have the energy to coax the details out of him, so she just asked, “And what would the daughter or granddaughter want with Carly?”

“Information, same as us.” Ian’s phone vibrated and he pulled it from his pocket. After a couple of text exchanges, he said, “Payne needs me. We’ll be just downstairs.”

Too tired to think up another sarcastic remark, she just waved him on.

He took a step toward the door then stopped. “Let me have your keys. That way you can lock up and go to bed. I don’t think this will take long, but I don’t know what Eli found.”

She dug her keys out of her purse and handed them to Ian. “How did Payne know we’d returned?”

“He didn’t. His first message was asking our ETA.” He rotated the handle lock but told her to slide the deadbolt after he shut the door.

The precautions still felt silly. She was just too tired to argue. After locking the door, she undressed in the bathroom and slipped on an oversized t-shirt. She scrubbed her face and brushed her teeth, then climbed into bed. She was about to turn off the lamp when she noticed one of the sacred journals on the corner of the nightstand. Her mother was the only one with a key to this apartment, but when had she placed it there?

Curious by nature, Devon picked up the leather-bound volume and reverently opened it to the section marked with the connecting ribbon. Neat lines of English filled the page and Devon felt a pang of sadness. This wasn’t one of the actual journals. It was her mother’s translation of the sacred text. Teaching Devon the ancient language had been grueling and frustrating for them both, but Erin obviously doubted that Devon had retained the knowledge.

She snapped the book closed and set it back on the nightstand as old resentments compounded her fatigue. Granted she hadn’t been the perfect student, but her mother was too quick to dismiss her accomplishments. Not only did she maintain a personal journal as her mother had always insisted she do, she recorded her thoughts, feelings and observations in the ancient language.

Whatever her mother wanted to teach her would wait until tomorrow. With a frustrated sigh, she reached over and turned off the lamp.

* * * * *

Using her wings to redirect the moonlight away from her body, Zophiel cocooned herself in shadow. She perched on the roof of the visitor center and peered in through a small window. Devon was alone in the small bedroom, but for how long? None of these windows were large enough to wrestle a struggling woman through and, from everything Zophiel had been told, Devon was guaranteed to struggle.

The raptor had just left but he couldn’t have gone far. No Therian male would leave his woman unprotected and their body language made it obvious they were a couple. Careful to keep herself concealed within the protection of her wings, Zophiel climbed down the side of the building. The windows on the ground floor were large enough for her purpose, but undoubtedly they were rigged with some sort of alarm. A surprise attack had worked for her once. It was unlikely she’d get away with it again.

A light switched on in the back corner of the room, drawing Zophiel’s attention. The raptor used a keypad to deactivate the alarm then opened the back door. Rather than leaving, as Zophiel had expected, the raptor stepped aside so his visitor could enter the room.

Zophiel narrowed her gaze on the newcomer as her heart lurched with disbelief. It couldn’t be, and yet she’d know that face anywhere. She’d seen those sculpted feature contorted in agony and watched as release clouded those amazing golden eyes.
Payne
. His name echoed through her mind and his head came up, his expression suddenly alert.

She ducked to one side of the window and pressed back against the building. Why was he here? His pride was in Europe. No, an even better question was, why was he still alive? The average Therian lived one hundred and twenty-five years. He should have died decades ago.