Taming the Fire (26 page)

She stiffened, her spine going steel-rod straight. “You know, I have no idea. Thanks so much for… well, nothing.” With that, she turned on her heel and stomped into Dev's office.

Marlena looked at him like he was a total ass.

“Yeah, yeah,” he muttered, as he sauntered past. Figured that even Marlena, who had a tendency to get along with men but not women, would come down on Meg's side. He must really be an asshole.

K
IRA
K
NIGHT WAITED
impatiently at ACRO's animal facility as the steel crate was unloaded off the truck. The jet had landed half an hour ago, and once Ulrika had been taken off the plane, she'd been delivered to the huge facility that featured kennels, stables, pastures and habitats for several species of animals—many of which had arrived after Kira had. She had a way of picking up strays, and not all of them could go home with her to the country house she shared with her husband, Tom, and their three-month-old triplets.

Triplet girls who were, at the moment, at ACRO's new day-care facility until she finished getting Ulrika settled in. Today was supposed to have been the start of her monthlong vacation, since her spring fever was due any day now, and it was becoming harder to work with the distraction of her heightened sexual state. Not to mention the fact that every man who came near became instantly aroused and extra-attentive to her. Fortunately, with the exception of her supervisors and husband, no one understood why.

Tom definitely knew why, and he'd glued himself to her for the last couple of days, was even now on his way back here after being called away by Dev for some sort of meeting. He'd be taking the month off with her, because once her heat started, she'd need him almost constantly.

A black Hummer pulled into the parking lot and next to the truck, and Trance and Annika got out. As Trance walked past the crate, a vicious snarl came from inside, and the whole thing rocked violently.

“We sedated her,” Trance said, looking like he hadn't slept in days, “but it isn't very effective.”

Kira nodded. “It was hard for the vet to estimate the dosage without knowing exactly what Ulrika is, so we had to go light with the meds.” She walked with him and Annika toward the building while four security guys carried the crate. “Is she still wearing the collar?”

“Unfortunately. I was going to mess with it while I had her restrained, but Ryan said any attempt to take it off could detonate the explosive charge inside.”

“Dammit,” she breathed. “Those sick bastards.” Not that this was news to her. Itor had wanted to do some seriously twisted things to Kira too.

A bloodcurdling wail came from the crate, and a wave of pain blasted through Kira's brain, making her stumble. Trance caught her just before she cracked her knees on the pavement.

“Kira? Hey, you okay?” Trance held her up, which was good, because her legs felt like rubber.

“She… Ulrika… hurts.”

Trance drew in a sharp breath, and Kira swore she saw a flicker of worry in his eyes. “What's wrong? Did she hurt herself?”

“No.” Kira shook her head, trying to clear it. “It's emotional. She feels trapped. Betrayed. And she's terrified.”

“She needs to get over it.” Trance's voice was harsh. He dropped his hands and backed away from Kira. “If that's all you need, I'm out of here.” He didn't wait for her to say yes or no, just walked away without a backward glance.

Annika shrugged, gave Kira an apologetic look and went after him.

“Where do you want her, Kira?” Sancho Rodriguez, one of their new animal handlers, called out to her from where he held open the door to the facility.

“Put the crate inside the largest of the cages in the east bay.” The east bay had been emptied out in preparation for Ulrika's arrival. They hadn't wanted any other animals to be disturbed, nor had they wanted her to be unsettled by other animals.

She followed the men inside, and as they pushed the crate into the cage and attached a chain to allow the door to be opened from outside the twelve-by-twelve structure, she ignored their heated glances, the casual brushes against her, the light, friendly touches. Thank God Tom wasn't here. He wouldn't care that her pheromones were affecting them, and he'd be breaking some fingers. Or worse.

“Thanks, guys,” she said, when they'd finished and closed the door to the cage. They all smiled and offered to stay. “I'll be fine.”

They left, but as the last one walked out the door, a tall blond guy came in, his blue eyes focused on her, a cocky smirk turning up one corner of his mouth. She'd never seen him before, but the orange name tag pinned to his black BDUs identified him as a trainee.

Gabriel.

Zach Taylor, her boss, had told her about him, said Dev had assigned the guy to work at the animal facility as part of his training program. Apparently, Gabriel was a little high-strung, and Dev thought that working with animals might help settle him down.

“You're Kira, right?”

She sighed. She'd argued with Zach over the wisdom of this—it didn't seem like a good idea to have someone work with animals if they didn't want to—but her protests fell on deaf ears. “Yes, I am.”

“I'm Gabe. Zach told me I should see if you need help with the… beast thing.”

“She's not a thing,” Kira said. “And no, I don't need any help.”

He shrugged, leaned against the wall, but didn't leave. Whatever. She tugged the chain hanging from the ceiling, and the crate door swung open. Immediately, the beast inside scrambled out and lunged at her. Her long claws missed Kira by no more than an inch.

“And I thought I had anger-management issues,” Gabe muttered.

Kira ignored him to squat down on her heels, putting her in a nonthreatening position, and she gestured for Gabe to do the same. Ulrika stood on all fours in the middle of the cage, growling. Her huge jaws, something like a cross between a wolf and a bear, were open, revealing long, sharp teeth. She was massive, would probably stand seven feet tall on two legs, with thick, red fur and wicked claws as long as Kira's pinky fingers.

She was beautiful, the way a tiger was, and every bit as deadly.

“Hey, Ulrika,” she said in a low, soothing voice. “Can I call you Rik?”

“Can she understand you?” Gabe asked, scooting closer.

“I don't know. I communicate with most animals through images and scents, but since she's human, I figured I'd try this way.” Kira tried again, this time using her mind to send the message.

Rik. I'm Kira. I'm here to help you
.

No help. Only pain
.

Horrifying images punched Kira in the brain with such force her head snapped back on her spine. The poor wolf-beast had gone through hell in Itor labs. God, they'd experimented on her, tortured her, beat her until she couldn't stand. Tears sprang to her eyes.

“They hurt her so badly,” she whispered.

I'm sorry they did that to you. So sorry
. Kira pulled in a ragged breath.
We're not like that. We want to help, not hurt
.

Another image came to her, of Rik in human form, locked in an intimate embrace with Trance, kissing him, her head thrown back in pleasure. And then again, chained to a table and Trance standing over her. And then she was in beast form and Annika was shocking her, and Trance was jabbing a needle into her thigh.

“Damn,” she breathed.

“What is it?” Gabriel asked.

“I don't know if I'm going to be able to get her to understand. We need the woman, not the animal.” Kira wiped her damp palms on her BDUs.
I know you're confused, but I think we can work this out. If you'll let your human come back, we can put you both in more comfortable quarters. Won't that be better than a cage?

Liar!
Rik snarled and lunged, crashing into the cage hard enough to make the floor vibrate.

Gabriel jerked back. “What's her malfunction now?”

“You're a real sensitive guy, you know that?” Kira huffed and tucked her hair behind her ears.

Gabriel cursed softly and slid her a hesitant glance. “You know, you're not my type, but for some reason—”

“Yeah, yeah,” she muttered. It was so time for her vacation. “Okay, I'm going to give this one more shot, and then I think we need to leave Rik alone for a little while.”

I know how hard this is. I didn't want to come here either. But they've treated me really well, and I'm very happy
.

Let us go!
Rik threw herself against the cage again and again, working herself into a frenzy.
Let. Us. Go!

Kira's heart broke wide open. God, she wanted to help, but she was only making things worse. Quickly, she came to her feet and tapped Gabe on the shoulder. “Come on. Hurry. She's going to hurt herself.”

They dashed out of the room, and once the door was closed, a mournful howl echoed through the building.

“What the hell was that?” Gabe asked, and Kira collapsed against the wall, unable to stop the case of the shakes that came over her.

“The beast is protecting the human. I don't know how to get the human out. That's not really my thing.”

A door at the end of the hall opened, and Zach approached. “How'd it go?”

“It didn't.”

He peeked through the window in the door and grimaced. “We'd better tranq her.”

“No. That'll make things worse.” Kira bit her lip, remembering the image of Trance touching Rik, kissing her—and then chaining and drugging her, and Kira realized a lot of the pain she'd sensed had its roots in how Ulrika had been captured. “Let's give her the night to settle down, see if she shifts back by morning.”

“If not?”

“If not, we'll need Trance.” And something told her that Trance was not going to be happy about that. Not one bit.

Dev didn't trust himself to bring Gabriel to his house, but he needed the privacy. A trip from the boss to the training quarters would cause a stir, and so he had Marlena bring Gabriel to his house after dark.

He hadn't bothered reprimanding Marlena for bringing the young man to him last night—if he was totally honest with himself, he'd wanted that.

He was sitting out back by the pool when Gabriel came through the sliding glass door. With the light from the kitchen shining behind him, the boy looked like some kind of handsome, angry angel. The black BDUs fit him well, and he let his eyes roam over the hard body.

Gabriel flushed but stood there under Dev's appraisal for a few seconds more before he asked, “I'm flattered as hell, but I don't think you brought me here to stare.”

Dev opened his mouth and closed it. He'd rehearsed what he would tell Gabriel about Oz, short and sweet and that would be the end of it. Once the younger man knew that this was all some crazy manipulation from the great beyond, he'd be out of here.

But Dev couldn't say a word, sat there like an idiot, until he realized that Gabe was kneeling on the ground by his feet.

“I know who Oz was to you,” Gabriel said. “Marlena told me—so did Creed—but even if they hadn't… well, you were whispering his name that night… when I stopped you.”

Shit
. “It's not what you think.”

“So your dead lover isn't trying to set us up, then?” Gabriel had one eyebrow arched, spoke as if Oz picking him up in a ghost car was a normal, everyday occurrence.

Maybe he fit in here more than Dev thought. “I don't know what in the hell he's trying to do.”

“And you think I'm attracted to you because Oz wants me to be.”

The more Gabriel spoke, the stupider Dev felt. “I never said that. But this—whatever you think is happening between us can't. Won't.”

“You can't stop how I feel.”

“You stopped yourself the other night.”

“I wouldn't now… now that I understand.”

“You don't understand anything,” Dev told him fiercely. “It's complicated.”

“You're in mourning. Not so fucking complicated.”

“There's so much more to it. Things I don't want to share.”

“I'm tired of secrets,” Gabe muttered.

“No, you're not. You've got a lot of your own, so don't give me that bullshit.”

Gabriel's head snapped back, so his chin jutted stubbornly. “You've read my file. You know everything about me.”