Cold Moon Rising: A New Adult Paranormal Romance (Cry Wolf) (3 page)

CHAPTER FIVE

Kelly

I jerked awake, a shiver chasing through me. Someone had stripped away my shirt while I was knocked out, leaving me in my bra and skirt.
Fucking perverts.
My bare shoulders pressed tight against cool metal bars, and I looked up to see a familiar face.

Brad held me upright with thick gloves covering his hands up to his elbows. His shiny baldhead almost glowed from the bright florescent lights. It seemed like he was doing everything in his power to keep his distance. This couldn’t be the same man from my apartment or the van. That man would’ve been all over me, flexing his need to intimidate. The last thing he would’ve done was stay the heck away from me.

Suspicion warred with relief. Why would he do that?

He flicked his gaze over my shoulder. A feral growl sounded behind me, and Brad’s face went white as if he’d just seen a ghost. Maybe it was better that I faced away from whatever it was. I bucked and shoved at Brad, but he hardly registered my struggle. His gaze was locked on whatever prowled in the cage at my back.

The snarl became a deafening roar of one pissed off beast. It carried the scent of blood and terror, something that resonated with the primal side of my brain. If I didn’t get away as fast as possible, I would live to regret it.

“Let me go, you ass—” Pain seared me from my shoulder to the small of my back, and I screamed.

Brad covered my mouth with his hand, which gave me just enough leverage to leap away from the cage once the sizzling agony allowed me to move. The torment was almost more than I could bear. My vision blurred, and I crawled a few feet before collapsing to the tile floor. The creature continued to growl, but it backed away from the bars, not giving me a good view of what attacked me.

A small pool of blood spread out around me. So this was it. This was how I’d die.

“You, idiot. You nearly alerted everyone.” Brad threw me over his shoulder. “Get a mop and bucket, Lloyd. Clean up that puddle before someone walks in here and sees that mess.”

The movement shot intense pain through me, darkening my vision and making my limbs go limp.

When I woke up again, I was alone in a cage very similar to the one where I’d been mauled. This time, all of my clothes were gone. I pushed into a sitting position, wincing as my muscles ached in response. Droplets of blood splat on the floor, but not nearly as many as I would have imagined after the brutal attack.

How long had I been unconscious?

The anguish in my back had faded a little. I wasn’t dead, and I wasn’t sitting in a huge puddle of blood. Reaching around my back, I touched the area where the beast had attacked expecting an open wound, but my fingers brushed against a thick, slightly bloody scab. Constant pain pulsated around the scab barely masking an itch that crept outward over my body.

The smell of the cage around me reminded me of the many times I’d visited the zoo as a child. A strong feral scent engulfed the small area, barely covered by bleach seemed more fitting in a wildlife rescue than anywhere else. Otherwise, the concrete floor and bright white walls greeted me in every direction. I couldn’t see any windows, but the wall opposite the cage had a large mirror that reminded me of an interrogation room in cop shows, as if purposefully set there to observe me whenever they wanted to.

From the mirrors, I saw my dark hair sticking up at all angles and bruises on my arms from where Brad must’ve dragged me into the cage. I groaned and turned away, not wanting to see the horrible state I was in.

It didn’t make sense. I’d have to have been unconscious for weeks for the injury to be in this state. The conversation in the van drifted back to me.
The shifters might be able to infect a human with either a bite or scratch.
“Shit.” I’d been scratched, or bitten. I didn’t know which, but it had hurt like hell.

“So good to see you’re awake, Caitlyn.” The man in a white lab coat held a file in his hands and smiled. “You were good. I have to admit it, but we were better. No more running. Now I’ll be able to begin my tests. Finally.”

I pressed my knees to my chest, cradling my legs and trying to hide my nakedness. “You’re mistaken. I’m not who you think I am.” Caitlyn wasn’t my name. I couldn’t even be sure if that was the same name from the wrong mail I kept receiving. It sounded familiar, but I had stopped paying attention.

“Tsk, tsk. Sorry, dear, that’s not going to be work. I know who and what you are.” Smugness radiated from his satisfied smile. “My boss will be pleased. The next super solider will be created in this very lab, and I’ll be the one who pulled it off. The world will be a better, safer place from your sacrifice.”

Super solider? What had I stumbled into? Was this some kind of sick joke? The military couldn’t be behind something so disgusting as this.

“One thing I’m curious about is that I don’t see you’ve become as beastly as the others so far. You must have impeccable control, especially since the full moon will be at its peak tonight.” He looked me over again, his gaze lingering before he turned back to the clipboard. “My research has proven time and again that your kind must shift to your animal forms during the full moon. There’s no way to escape what will come, Caitlyn. I’ll get what I want.”

“I’m not Caitlyn. I have no idea what you’re expecting from me, but you’ll see soon enough that I’m not what you’re after.” I rested my chin against my knees, hoping beyond hope that they would realize their mistake and let me go, but the more time I spent here, the more it became crystal clear that the men in the van were right. Letting me go was out of the question. They’d be more inclined to kill me than let me leave.

The worst part about it was I couldn’t help thinking about what a jerk I’d been to Jacob. Yes, he’d pushed me out of my comfort zone, but I should’ve handled it better. Now I’d never be able to make things right between us. He’d been my saving grace and now... now I’d be locked away with the burden of guilt and regret or dead soon enough.

My family probably wouldn’t even notice my absence. No one else would, except him... maybe.

The clicking of hard heels on the tile floor drew my attention to the cage’s entrance. My eyes widened at the sight of the scientist with one of those tranquilizer guns.
No, no, no... Not this again.

I jerked to my feet and dodged the dart, shocked at the speed in which I’d moved. One moment I had been sitting in the corner, the next I was on the opposite side of the cage. What? I could hardly comprehend what was happening.

Anger rose within me, sharp and violent, not at all how I normally reacted, but then again, these were unusual circumstances. The scientist’s talk about the full moon had nothing to do with the emotions going through me right now. At least, that’s what I’d keep telling myself.

The scientist backpedaled from the cage, mere milliseconds from me grabbing hold of him. My fingertips had even brushed his coat.

“Calm down, Caitlyn. If you don’t, you might end up hurting yourself. You don’t want to be tranquilized again, do you?” His pulse rate filled my ears, beating rapidly in his neck. “That might hurt my plans. Damn.” The idea of chasing him down and sinking my teeth into that thick vein sounded so sweet.

I jerked away from the cage, disgusted by the thoughts running through my head. What was I thinking?

Full moons, shapeshifters, and werewolves tumbled back to me. This couldn’t be happening. Did this crazy scientist really thinking he could turn werewolves or whatever the hell other shapeshifters they had hidden away here into their next super soldiers? That meant... that meant... me...

I grabbed the small cot they had in the cage and threw it against the bars. Rage and fear mixed in a potent cocktail, sending me spiraling into a red haze of emotions. One moment I was ripping the cot apart and snarling the most guttural sounds I’d ever heard, and the next, my body was dropping to the ground.

When I woke up, the cot was gone, replaced by a flat mattress that was speckled with, what looked like, dried blood. I jerked off the mattress and touched the new bandages on my back. The wound was becoming less of a problem.

My body burned in a new way. Fire rose between my legs, giving me an unquenchable need for sex as if I were an animal in heat. This couldn’t be happening to me.

I sank my teeth into my lower lip. Moisture dripped down my chin, and I licked my lips.
Blood.
I must’ve bitten down a lot harder than I’d expected. At least it distracted me—barely—from the need eating at me. If I didn’t find relief soon, I’d go crazy.

My body ached with the desire to be filled. If Jacob had been here right now, I would’ve thrown my morals to the wind and jumped him.

CHAPTER SIX

Jacob

Pain lanced through my skull, and I watched the doors shut behind me. They hadn’t taken my I’m-an-unfortunate-guy-with-a-broken-down-car angle very well. Well, the guy at the gate had but no one else. I let them manhandled me, so I could get inside.

If it weren’t for the fact that Kelly was counting on me, I would’ve stripped off my clothes and shifted. My wolf howled at me with a frenzied need to shed my human skin, fight back and run free in answer of the moon’s call. But I couldn’t do that. I needed to fight my instincts if I were to win her back. There was still time before my beast took matters into his own hands at the moon’s peak but not a lot, so I had to work fast.

The man in the lab coat strolled into the hallway where two guards were holding my arms and another aimed a gun at me. To be honest, I was surprised by their level of hostility. These people were prepared. There had to be more than meets the eye here. Cameras and guards were everywhere. This went beyond government security. Besides, these men weren’t wearing military uniforms. They were dressed in black fatigues. They had to be guns for hire.

From their steady heartbeats, I could tell the men around me were completely at ease, confirming my suspicions. This was something they dealt with regularly. However, none of them smelled like the two men at Kelly’s apartment, but I’d seen the van drive through the gates. They had to be here.

“Listen, guys, I’m just trying to find a phone. It’s late, and my car broke down a few miles back.” I tried to sound like a young, confused, college guy who got stranded, but they weren’t buying it. Either that or they just didn’t care.

The scientist shook his head. “Who was the imbecile that decided it was a good idea to bring this young man in here? What the hell are we going to do now? Did any of you think about that?” He gave each of them severe looks in turn, and the guards actually flinched at the scolding.

Surprising. My hunch was right. This cocky scientist was someone none of them could afford to piss off.

“Uh, sir, I’m sorry. We figured he might be trying to steal secrets, so we decided to question him further.” The one who held the gun on me spoke, but he fidgeted a little, the wind taken from his sails. “What would you like us to do with him?”

The scientist stared back at me, lifting his chin. “Well, the new subject I brought in has been reacting differently than expected. I had to tranquilizer her, which may interfere with my experiments. Hmm...” He narrowed his eyes, and a smug grin curved his lips. “However, maybe we can see how our new subject takes to the trespasser. If my calculations are correct, we’ll only need to worry about scraping his remains off the cage’s floor. Send someone to deal with his car, we don’t need any asking questions.”

I widened my eyes. I didn’t even need to feign surprise. Maybe I was overreacting, but I hoped they weren’t researching shapeshifters. No one should’ve known about my species. We kept our secret fiercely. There had to be some kind of mistake.

Besides, I knew Kelly wasn’t a werewolf or any kind of shapeshifter. I would have smelled it on her.

The guards dragged me down the hallway from which the scientist had emerged. I remained vigilant, making sure I kept track of how we got to where we were going. The scent of bleach masked anything else I could hope to discover with my nose. When I broke Kelly out, I needed to make sure we could get out of here as quickly as possible.

In the distance, I could hear something pacing around, but they were too far away to know whom, or even what, it was. The ventilation in the building steadily drowned all but the loudest of noises, so I couldn’t make sense of much by sound alone. This place crippled my heightened sense of hearing as if they knew what my kind were capable of.

We turned another corner, and the scientist pushed past us to unlock the door. “In there,” he said, his lips a tight line of annoyance.

A snarl and the rattling of bars drew my attention to the cage. The sight of Kelly naked and locked in the cage shattered me. I needed to keep my calm if we were going to see this through.

The cage door used a keycard, so I’d have to steal the scientist’s without him noticing. Damn it. This didn’t get any easier, did it?

Kelly finally looked in our direction. Blood drizzled down her chin, and she smelled different from when we’d been making out in her apartment. However, the overpowering scent of her arousal threw me for a loop.

Hunger ripped through me, stirring my beast, but right now, that would be the worst thing to happen. If my beast got loose, the chances of us getting out of here weren’t as good. Although, these men would pay the price of subjecting Kelly to this.

She opened her mouth as if to say something, but I shook my head discreetly. If she spoke, the scientist and guards might suspect my real reason of being here.

The scientist eyed me, satisfaction gleaming in his gaze. He obviously wasn’t reading Kelly’s body language very well. “I think you better say your prayers now, son. You won’t live long enough to do so once you’re put in there.”

“She seems nice enough. More than I can say about you.” I wanted the talk to be over. I needed to be with her, to comfort her, and to get her the hell out of here.

Shaking his head, the scientist swiped his keycard, then he let it dangle back on his hip with one of those retractable ID holders. The guards shoved me forward, and before the scientist could move, I rammed into him with humanly force. My fingers brushed the keycard, but the scientist pushed me inside the cage before I could snatch what I wanted, then he slammed the door shut. “Idiot youth. Now I know why I stay in the lab.”