Wolf Born (18 page)

“Too bad you didn’t.” The elevator door opened. He shoved her through so roughly, she nearly tumbled headlong. “Let me tell you something, sister. Being a shifter is a God-given gift. When you manipulate it with science, you cheapen it. If you’d been meant to be born one of us, you would have been. March.” He pointed down a long hall. This one had sheetrock walls and light spilled through the occasional window.

We’re above-ground. Now if I can just get a moment to myself.
“Uh, is there a bathroom?”

“You had a bucket in your cell.”

“I was just thinking about using it when you showed up.”

His face twisted into a grimace, and he clicked his wrist computer. A stone-faced woman with short black hair and blue eyes emerged through a door and grabbed her wrist. “I’ll take you. No funny business.” She flashed a laser pistol and then tucked it back under her jacket.

The woman pushed open a door on the opposite side of the hall. Audrey’s heart squeezed. No stalls. Just a toilet in one corner and a sink. Heat rose to her face. “Are you going to watch me?”

“Yes. If you really have to go. Get it over with.”

Audrey sat and peed, careful to cover the computer’s bulge in her pocket with a hand. “Thanks.” She tried a smile once she was done, but the woman just grunted, opened the door, and turned her back over to Tom.

Questions rumbled through Audrey’s head. She’d gotten Tom talking before when she’d asked if he were a shifter. “So,” she aimed for a neutral tone, “why aren’t you blaming the government for the edict that drove you into hiding?”

“What’s the point? Things weren’t all that bad. A lot of us were still working under the table, and the black market had everything we needed.” He blew out an angry-sounding breath. “The underground blew things all to hell.”

“How?” Despite being a prisoner and at the splinter group’s mercy, she was curious.

“You’ll be questioned inside the council chamber. Ask them.”

“Do you think they’ll answer me?”

He shrugged. “Who the fuck knows? Stop here.” He placed his palm on another glass plate; a double door popped open, and he shoved her inside.

Throat so tight it was hard to get a full breath, Audrey looked around her. She was in a large room. Tan walls, with peeling paint, and a scarred linoleum floor suggested no one bothered with maintenance. Windows looked out on other buildings. She knew they were somewhere in the North Bay, but her abductors had finally gotten around to blindfolding both her and Kate half an hour before the car quit moving.

A raised dais spanned one side of the room. Four men sat in chairs and stared at her. Two were older with long, graying hair. The other two didn’t look a day over thirty. One was the back seat blond from their drive to the North Bay. The other had short, light brown hair; Audrey didn’t recognize him. Maybe twenty-five other people sat in folding chairs scattered at random around the room. Everyone was dressed in ragged clothing with multiple patches.

Compassion cut through her fear. These were her people. Look what had happened to them. “I’m sorry,” she murmured.

“You’ll be a whole lot sorrier before we’re done with you, sister,” one of the older men at the front of the room said. “Hook her up.”

“Hook me up to what?”

“You talk too much.” Tom closed a hand over her upper arm and dragged her to a wall outfitted with large eye-bolts and leather straps. “Take off your top.”

“No.” Audrey closed her arms over her chest. Two men rose from nearby chairs. They each grabbed an arm. While they held her arms over her head, Tom pulled her top off.

“When you feel the whip, you won’t be saying no,” one observed before returning to his chair.

“Let me out. Now.”
Claws pressed against her fingertips. One protruded. She considered taking a swipe at Tom, but the whole room would mob her if she hurt one of theirs.

“I know you want to help, but I just can’t see where being a wolf would help us right now.”
The claw retracted.

Tom eyed her oddly. “Smart move, missy. Turn around and face the wall.”

“I’m not going to try to escape. That would be stupid.” Audrey aimed her words at the four men on the dais. “Can’t we just talk?”

“Oh, we’ll talk all right,” one of the gray-haired men snapped. “First, you’ll be punished.”

“For what?”

“Taking a drug to force your body to shift.”

Tom grabbed her shoulders and spun her to face the wall, slamming her body into it. Pain ratcheted through her. He held her against the wall with the length of his powerful body while he buckled the leather straps around her wrists.

Conversation ebbed and flowed around her. No one lifted so much as a finger to help. They talked about how soon the punishment would begin. Annoyance that
not everyone is here yet
, was a common theme.

I’m trapped in a bad science fiction movie.

Tom’s weight moved off her. She tugged both wrists, but the leather only tightened. Her arms ached already; she could only imagine how they’d feel if these barbarians left her like this for very long.

“How many?” a voice called.

“Twenty lashes.”

“What is this?” Audrey craned her head around and tried to look at the four men. “The Middle Ages? Flogging went out hundreds of years ago.”

“Aye, Miss,” a voice with a strong Scottish burr said. “There are those of us who are that old—and older. We remember how effective it can be.” A high-pitched whistling sound filled the air just before liquid fire bloomed the length of her back.

“Stop! No more! Stop! Stop!” Audrey screamed and screamed again. She’d never experienced pain so searing. The whip fell again. And again. After six strokes, she wished for unconsciousness. After ten, she hoped she’d die. Blood dripped down her back and spattered the floor.

“Are you going to let them kill us without putting up a fight?”
her wolf demanded.

“Yes. No. I don’t know. I can’t think anymore. Hurts too bad.”

“What the fuck are you doing?” a voice rang out from behind her. There was something familiar about it, but Audrey couldn’t figure it out. Footsteps pounded toward her and then arms closed around her.

His scent and his voice clicked. Relief made her light-headed. “Daddy?”

“Yes, princess. No one’s going to hurt you anymore. I’ll get you down.”

Ron Westen undid her wrists and cradled her against him. The material of his corduroy shirt felt soft and soothing next to her face. Audrey was beyond tears. Her back hurt so much, even thinking took a huge effort.

“We weren’t done,” a voice from the front of the room cracked like the whip that had done so much damage.

“Too fucking bad. This is my daughter. You will not hurt her further. Send someone with a first aid kit over here.” Every inch of Ron’s six foot four inch frame quivered. He’d kept himself in superb shape, and his blond hair only had a touch of gray in it. Blue eyes kindled with outrage as he silently dared the others to countermand him.

“You don’t issue orders, Westen.”

“Today I do.” He kissed Audrey’s forehead and took her to a chair. “I’m so sorry, princess. If I’d known one of the captives was you, I’d have been here on time. None of this would have happened.”

Audrey raised her tear-streaked face. “Is this,” she waved a hand weakly in the air, “common enough you all just accept it? You said
captives
as if you’ve seen a lot of them.”

Her father dropped his gaze, looking ashamed. A woman walked over carrying a red box with a white cross on it. Audrey clamped her jaws together and struggled to her feet. “That can wait.” She pointed at the first aid kit. “This can’t. You all know I work for Maximillian Sigayev, Governor of California and head of the shifter underground. It’s why you kidnapped me. What you probably don’t know is I’m also his mate.” Whispers with an angry undercurrent spread through the room; Audrey ignored them. “Kate, the other woman you snapped up, was just collateral damage. She’s a bona fide shifter and from everything I’ve heard a damned brave one. You should run down, free her, and beg her forgiveness.”

A rustle ran through the crowd. Audrey sucked in a deep breath. As long as she stood still, her injuries were manageable.

“You do not have the floor,” back seat blond thundered. He jumped to his feet and brandished a fist.

“I can’t believe Max would mate with a half breed,” someone cried out.

Audrey turned toward the voice. “Oh, really?” she mocked. “You hate him so much you kidnapped me to get to him and now you’re worried about who he takes as his mate? How touching.” She held up her right hand, so the mating wound was visible. “I’m many things, but not a liar. The cuts on my side from the ritual mating stone have probably been obliterated by the whip marks.”

“You’ve been told you do not have the floor. Sit down,” one of the gray-haired men at the front table shouted.

“Oh yes, I do,” Audrey shouted right back. “You have nothing to lose by listening to me. I have much more timely intel than you because I’ve been living in the world you ran away from.” An ugly sound moved through the throng. Audrey jumped on it. “Yes, ran away and left your fellow shifters to fend for themselves. Things weren’t going all that well—for any of you—and then the government developed that serum you all think is demon-spawned.”

She moved closer to the dais. “It’s not. It’s your salvation.” She held her hands out in front of her. “Don’t you see? It’s what will create enough of you to get the edict repealed once and for all. Even politicians, as self-serving and dimwitted as they are, understand they can’t wage a war against half their constituency.

“I asked for the serum, goddammit. Of my own free will. I put myself at risk getting it from the black market. It might not have been pure. It could have been poison. It might have killed me.” Audrey pounded a fist into her thigh and winced as the movement set her flayed skin on fire. “I did it for you. For all of us. So we could walk free with our heads high again.”

“So now you’re some sort of Joan of Arc,” back seat blond sneered.

“No, I’m a shifter just like you.” Audrey paused to let her words sink in and then repeated them. “Yes, just like you. If I weren’t, Max couldn’t have formed a mate bond with me.” She waved her hands expansively in front of her despite waves of pain in her back. “Just look at yourselves. Your clothes are rags. This room hasn’t seen paint or even simple cleaning in a long time. This isn’t living. You’re surviving. Where’s your pride, goddammit? At least if you were part of the underground you’d have jobs and meaning in your lives other than waiting out the Gotterdammerung.”

“Audrey, princess, come sit down.” Her father moved to her side. “You’re overwrought.”

She turned to him. “Yes, I am. With good reason. Abraham Lincoln said,
A house divided against itself cannot stand
. We’re not any different. We have to work together.” Audrey turned back to the group in front of the room and lowered her voice. She’d been practically screaming. “You did what you thought best at the time. I know that because my father is one of the most level-headed men I’ve ever known, and he took my mother, the love of his life, and joined you in hiding.”

Ron snorted. “Your mother insisted on coming with me. Wouldn’t take
no
for an answer.”

Someone in the crowd chuckled; it was contagious. The mood in the room split wide open with everyone talking at once. Audrey squeezed her eyes shut and sagged against her father, taking care to lean on her shoulder. “Thank God. They’re going to listen to reason.”

“I hope so.” Ron spoke right into her ear. “It’s why I was late. I can’t stand these public floggings. I’ve been trying to talk sense into this group for months now. Even though I haven’t heard the term in a long time,
Gotterdammerung
was right on. We’ve become the authors of our own destruction.”

The doors at the back of the room slammed against their stops. Max raced into the room with Devon, Johannes, and Ryan right behind him. All the men had their guns drawn. “Jesus Christ! Audrey.” Max raced to her side and slammed a fist into Ron’s side. “Leave her alone, you bastard. She’s my mate.”

“Max!” Audrey jumped between him and her father, her back screaming in protest. “That’s my father. He saved me.”

“Then why does your back look like you just came off a public flogging block?” Max’s gaze radiated anguish; he pulled Audrey gently against him.

“Because I didn’t get here in time.” Ron held out a hand. “I’m sorry, and I’m glad to meet Audrey’s mate.” A corner of his mouth turned down. “Never could stand her first husband.”

“Where is my mate?” Devon thundered. He stood in front of the dais, laser pistol leveled at the four men.

“She’s fine,” back seat blond said.

“Yes, put that away before it goes off by accident,” one of the gray-haired men said.

Devon made no move to holster his weapon. “It would serve you right if it did. Where is she?” His features curled into a grimace, teeth bared. Audrey could almost see his mountain lion self just beneath the surface.

“In some sort of dungeon way underground,” Audrey said. “There’s an elevator.”

“I’ll show you,” Ron volunteered and headed out the door.

“Come back,” Audrey called after him. “I need to hear how Mom is.”

“Don’t worry, princess. I’m done being separated from my family.” He and Devon disappeared into the hall.

Max wrapped his arms around her. Audrey shrieked. “Sorry, sorry. Is there a fucking first aid kit anywhere? Johannes, get over here.”

Johannes trotted toward them, snapping the first aid supplies from the woman on his way. He eyed Audrey’s back and whistled. “Holy crap! You may need stitches.” He rustled through the kit. “This is going to sting like a bitch. Max, hang onto her.”

Sting was a mild term. Her back flared into agony. “Arrrrgh. What are you doing?” she shrieked.

“Sluicing the cuts with iodine and alcohol. In the old days, we would have used whiskey. It should be easing off.”

Audrey sucked in a shaky breath. “It is.”

“We’ll get you to a doctor just as soon as we leave here,” Max promised, his face a study in torment. “Audrey, my mate, my love. When I knew you’d been taken, I almost couldn’t live with myself. I failed you. I should have been by your side.”