TherianPromise (7 page)

Chapter Three

“I need another beer,” Nate Fitzroy snapped and his youngest
son Dhane scooted out of the vinyl booth and rushed toward the bar dominating
the far wall of the dimly lit room.

“Was I ever such a kiss ass?” Bruce, the oldest of Nate’s
three sons, asked as he tossed back a shot of whiskey. Bruce was ambitious and
mean and couldn’t be bothered with pleasantries.

Years of necessity had taught Nate how to temper his
impatience with diplomacy and he’d about given up hope that Bruce would ever
learn to control his violent tendencies. A Fitzroy had been Blue River Pack
alpha for seven generations, but times were different now, far more
complicated. Strength and aggression were no longer enough. An alpha also
needed stealth and strategy. It was a lesson Bruce needed to learn if he hoped
to survive, much less rise to power.

Dhane returned with a bottle of beer in one hand and a shot
of whisky in the other. Trying to rack up points with his big brother as well
as his father? Nate fought back a smile. Bruce was right. Dhane was a
world-class kiss ass.

The bar was teeming with people, most of them human. If this
had been an official pack meeting, they’d have gathered at the Clubhouse, a
private hideaway where Blue River Pack was free to indulge their wilder
appetites. But Nate wasn’t sure what he wanted to do next and he never allowed
his pack to see his indecision. An alpha must be strong and decisive, always in
command.

Dhane slipped back in beside Bruce and slid the beer across
the table. “If you don’t believe Robert’s explanation, what do you think
happened to Ava?”

Robert claimed that he’d finally found the cabin where Ava
had been hiding, but before he could capture her she’d literally vanished right
before his eyes. “I think Kyle Lashton beat us to the finish line and Rob is
afraid to admit it. I’ve heard stories of cats who can teleport, but I’ve sure
as hell never met one. Besides, Ava is still latent, which means Rob is full of
shit.” Nate took a drink of beer while his sons reacted to his statement.

“Then Rob should be afraid,” Bruce sneered. “He begged for
the opportunity to prove himself. If he fucked this up, the others will make
him pay.”

“I’ll decide what happens to Robert,” Nate stressed. “We
need to reposition our efforts, refocus. If my sources are accurate, and they
usually are, Carissa has been defined.”

“I said all along that we didn’t need Osric. All he did was
slow us down.”

Nate waved away Bruce’s conclusion. It was more evidence of
his narrow-minded view of life. “If it weren’t for Osric, we would have been
kept in the dark.”

“As usual,” Dhane muttered. “Cats dominate both councils. We
only have what power they allow us. It isn’t right.”

It was an oversimplification. There were more cats on the
Alpha Council simply because there were more cat clans. As for the Prime
Council, two of the four members were cats. But Kyle’s strongest ally was Ian
Douglas and he was a bird.

Rather than correct his son, Nate said, “That’s why it’s so
important that Bruce define Ava.”

“What?” Bruce set the shot glass down, gaze narrowed and
intense.

It was time for a test, a final exam, one that would prove
Bruce worthy of his heritage or leave him at the mercy of his own failings. The
mission Nate was about to propose would require a calm, strategic mind. If
Bruce rushed in filled with blind arrogance, the cats would destroy him. But if
he took his time, gathered facts and chose his course wisely, he would secure a
prize coveted by every unmated male in the Therian nation.

Controlling an Omni Prime would shift the balance of power
like nothing else could. Nate would do it himself, but it would have to be done
by force and Nate had never possessed the stomach for rape. Bruce, on the other
hand, was not only amoral enough to commit such a loathsome act, he’d probably
enjoy it. But first, he’d have to steal Ava away from Kyle Lashton.

He looked into his firstborn’s cold hazel eyes and fought
back a shiver. “We’ve screwed around long enough. I want you to take care of
this personally. Figure out where Kyle has taken her and then fuck her into
submission. And I mean
only
fuck. I still want to try the ritual, but
I’ll choose the six men who participate. I’ll say it one last time. Fuck her as
often as you like, but if you define her, I’ll kill you.”

“I get it. She can drink my come just not my blood. At least
not yet.” Cruel anticipation made Bruce’s eyes gleam. “Lashton isn’t just going
to let this happen and he’s got the backing of the Prime Council. Do I have
permission to kill a network Prime?”

“They’ll declare war on us,” Dhane muttered, his gaze
shifting from his father to Bruce and back.

Already disappointed with the direction of Bruce’s thinking,
Nate kept his expression blank. This was the right thing to do, the only thing
to do. Bruce needed to prove himself once and for all or pay for his
impertinence. “The cats already have one of the sisters. We cannot let them
control both. I’ll deal with the consequences. All you have to do is bring me
the girl.”

* * * * *

Carly squelched the last twinge of pity stubbornly
compressing her heart and pushed the needle into the IV tubing. Before her
conscience could resurface, she squeezed the syringe and watched the light blue
liquid flow toward the patient. The new test subjects were all so damn young.
She’d chosen the oldest of the three, the one who appeared least traumatized by
their capture, and still the girl was little more than a child.

“What will this do to me?” The young woman stared up at her
with wide green eyes. She was surprisingly composed given the circumstances.
She’d been darted like an animal and brought to a paramilitary complex. Now she
was strapped to a treatment table while an unknown chemical flowed into her
vein. Through it all there had been no hysterics, no pleas for mercy or
terrified tears. This one had been protective, frequently using herself as a
shield when the guards or technicians ventured too close to the other two.

According to project procedures, Carly wasn’t supposed to
answer questions. She was supposed to give directives and remain emotionally
detached. “You’ll be fine.” The lie tasted bitter on Carly’s tongue, but
Life
as you knew it is over. You’re now the property of the backers
sounded so
pessimistic.

“Will I be released when you’re finished with me or do these
tests end with an autopsy?” Her lips trembled and tears gathered behind her
thick lashes. Somehow she managed not to cry.

Carly rotated her body so her back was to the camera then
whispered, “If you die, I’ll be punished. We need you alive.” It was the only
reassurance she could offer and she wasn’t even sure it was a mercy. Before the
girl could speak again, Carly snatched her tablet computer off the foot of the
bed and hurried from the room.

Damn it. She could not let herself be affected by their
plight. Their suffering was for the greater good. If their mutative powers
could be understood, and ultimately reproduced in humans, the possibilities
were endless. At least that’s what the backers were fond of saying. Scientific
advancement never came without sacrifice. She could not lose sight of the
long-range goals.

She rounded a corner and collided with Osric. Her computer
slipped from her hands and she gasped. He caught the tablet half a second
before it crashed onto the floor.

“Where are you off to in such a hurry?” He loitered in the
intersection, teasing her with the small computer.

“My office.” She straightened and smoothed her skirt then
stuck out her hand with obvious expectation. Milliner had promised to change
the security code to her office and her apartment so Oscric couldn’t barge in
on her. She was anxious to find out if the general had kept his word. “I just
injected the refined formula into one of the new test subjects.”

“That’s right. Milliner dropped off three new test subjects,
didn’t he?” The announcement about Carissa’s definition had likely distracted
him. “Are they male or female? Have you been able to identify their clan?”

“They’re tigers.”
Just like you, asshole
. “Maybe you
know them,” she added with a casual shrug.

“I better not know them.” He seemed anything but amused by
the possibility. “The backers assured me that no one from my bloodline will
ever be touched unless I approve the acquisition.”

“All I know is they’re from one of the tiger clans and all
three are female.” He stared off into the distance, clearly lost in thought, so
she quickly snatched her computer from his grasp. “I need to transfer the
girl’s information and then type up my observations, and I left my external
keyboard in my office. Call me old-fashioned if you like, but I still can’t
type worth crap on the touch screen.”

“So upload the readings off your tablet and use the desktop
in the observation booth to document your observations.” It wasn’t a
suggestion. She heaved a sigh and fell in step beside him. “Have you been
avoiding me?”

“I’ve been busy.” She hadn’t intentionally set out to avoid
Osric. Preparations for the next phase of testing had made her less accessible
than usual. But the change in her schedule worked perfectly with her new
strategy. Operation Hard to Get had officially begun.

“Your workload hasn’t kept you from me before. Perhaps I
should reassign some of your responsibilities.”

He sounded petulant, and it was all Carly could do not to
laugh. Every child wanted most whatever they were forbidden. “I thought we
settled this before. I’d prefer to keep things professional between us.”

They stepped into the observation booth and the door closed
behind them before he responded to her statement. “And I’d prefer you naked and
on your knees.”

“Then I’m afraid we’re at an impasse. You want—”

The phone rang, the distinct tone identifying the caller as
someone from security. With a muttered curse, Osric pushed a button and
activated the speaker. “What’s so urgent?”

“Delta team just returned with Charley team in tow,” Barns
informed him. “They’ve got a fascinating story. Figured you should hear it for
yourself.”

“Send them here.”

“Yes sir. They’re on their way.”

“Who is he talking about?” She figured it had something to
do with the tripped perimeter alarm, but Barns could be even more secretive
than Osric.

“Charley team was sent to check out the phantom intruder,
but they never returned. Delta team was dispatched to figure out what happened.
This better not be bad news. I’m really not in the mood.”

Two uniformed guards arrived a few minutes later. They
nodded politely to Carly then waited for Osric to speak. “What did you find
out? And what the hell took you so long?”

The younger soldier had a nasty bruise on the side of his
face. On closer inspection, Carly discovered that the older man’s temple was
bruised as well.

“We found two hikers, sir. One female, one male,” the older
guard began. “They pretended to be lost until I told them to accompany us to
the vehicle so I could verify their identities.”

“And then they jumped you?” Osric’s tone verged on flippant.
He really could use a class in non-confrontational communication.

“Yes sir.” Though the soldier’s posture was stiff and his
shoulders squared, his gaze remained downcast. Was he humiliated by his failure
or did Osric make him uncomfortable?

“Were they armed?”

“Not in the conventional sense.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

The soldier raised his chin, but he stared straight ahead.
“The male was inhumanly strong and fast, sir. I believe he was one of the
shifters.”

“And the female?”

“We had no actual interaction with her, but Barns showed us
a picture of Ava Seymour and this female looked very much like her. We also
found this.” Hand trembling, he held out a white, lace-trimmed bra. “Apparently
we interrupted their activities.”

Osric stepped closer and snatched the bra out of the guard’s
hand. “Describe the male.” Menace infused every word.

The guard swallowed hard then licked his lips before he
answered, “Dark blond hair, light eyes, either green or blue. I’m honestly not
sure which. He was about my height and a whole hell of a lot stronger than he
looked.”

“Too vague,” Osric snapped. “Did he have tattoos or scars?
Did Barns show you an image of Kyle Lashton?”

“He did, but I couldn’t be sure. I’m sorry, sir.”

“Spent more time looking at the woman than the man?” The
guard didn’t respond to the provocation. “Did they leave on foot?”

The soldiers exchanged wary glances before the older one
admitted, “They took our Jeep, sir. Barns has people trying to track them, but
they’ve got a good head start.”

“Unbelievable.” With the bra crushed in his fist, Osric
swept the workspace with his arm, sending plastic organizers and file folders
catapulting across the room. “You’re useless. Get out of my sight! Both of
you!”

The soldiers eagerly complied and Carly moved to the far
side of the console, unsure if Osric would take out his frustration on her. A
long moment passed in tense silence. Carly split her attention between Osric
and the door, trying to calculate her chances of slipping past him.

He raised the bra to his nose and inhaled deeply then
growled and threw the undergarment across the room. “She was here!” Osric
pushed his hand through his hair as he shook his head in disbelief. “She was on
this property and those fools let her get away!”

Carly waited for a moment, hoping his fury would subside.
Then suddenly curiosity narrowed Carly’s eyes. “But what was she doing here? It
seems like an odd place for a romantic tryst.”

“If they kept that bastard from screwing her, I might let
them live.”

As usual, he was missing the point. “The guard said they
were on foot. It would take days to hike back in here. Why were they out there?
How did they know where to find you?”