Be Were (Southern Shifters) (4 page)

Chapter Three

Dean scrubbed at the scarred wooden bar and pretended not to notice the sudden pit in his stomach that felt like someone had hollowed him out. The air was sucked from the room by his latest arrival. He didn't have to turn to see who had entered his bar. Yet he still watched the tall, imposing figure approach from the corner of his eye. The last thing he needed to see today, or any day for that matter, was his brother, Bhric. Their last parting had not been all that amicable and Dean had expected many years to pass before they saw each other again. Not a mere two.

All night he'd been out of sorts as the hours dragged on, and a sense of foreboding left him strung tight and aching to shift. The moment he'd finally made last call, he'd sighed in relief. The beast inside him wanted free
and now
. His instincts were telling him something was wrong but so far nothing had happened to clue him in to what. Until Bhric walked in.

"We're closed for the night," Dean said.

"Good thing I'm not here for a drink then,
brother
."

Inwardly Dean winced at the exaggerated endearment, while managing to keep his features neutral. This wasn't going to be pleasant.

"There's nothing else here for you."

Bhric stopped directly in front of him and Dean caught his gaze. He tried to read the man he used to gladly call family and failed. They'd parted ways with so much bitterness and bad blood between them, it was all he saw when he looked at him.

A man who'd betrayed him by fucking his girlfriend and then not telling him shit until she turned up pregnant. Dean believed the baby was his from the beginning, but no one was sure. Until the day the bitch walked out announcing neither of them had fathered her baby. 

"I didn't come here to ask anything of you if that's what you're thinking, bro."

"Stop calling me that."

"What? You think just because we had a stupid fight a couple of years ago it means we're not brothers anymore? That's fucked up."

"No, what's fucked up is you coming here in the first place. Last I checked hell has not frozen over and you're still not welcome in my bar." Dean turned his back on Bhric and started to wipe down the bottles of alcohol along the back shelf. The sooner he finished up here the sooner he could break free from whatever his brother wanted.

Looking at Bhric only made him remember their shitty past. Especially Brenda, his former girlfriend whose knife he still couldn't get out of his back.

"Well, you're in luck then. I didn't come here because I missed you nor do I have any desire to rehash our problems. I have news about your mate."

Dean jerked before going completely still. His mate. Dammit.

After weeks of searching for the elusive white cougar who'd invaded his mind and bed on Christmas Eve, only to walk out the next morning, he'd taken a break from the hunt. He'd come close many times, but the wily female remained just out of his reach at all times. She always anticipated his next move and recently she'd quit toying with him and the trail had gone cold.

He hated to admit he'd enjoyed their little catch me if you can type game but it was time to end it. He wanted her back in his bed—in his life. They didn't exactly have to obey the laws of nature every time she waved the mate flag, but the idea of finding "the one" intrigued him. Sex between them had been explosive and his thoughts were pretty much consumed by wanting inside her again. But he also wanted to know her. She'd already proven to be more than just a beautiful face and hot bod, he wanted to know more.

Now his brother had something to do with her and the beast inside him was about to break all the rules. This shit could not happen again.

Slowly he turned to look at his brother, his eyes narrowing and his lips curling back in a snarl. "What have you done to her?"

"So I was right. I knew she was yours the minute she came to me. I could barely scent it, but it was there."

She came to him?
Dean lurched forward and grabbed Bhric by the collar and yanked him halfway across the bar. "I'm not playing games with you, dick. What happened?" The thought of his sibling with his nose anywhere near Niki threatened to send him over the edge. "I swear by the Goddess, I will kill you this time."

His brother raised his hands in surrender, a move that didn't fool Dean for a second. "I'm really not here to start a fight. This isn't like before. I want to help you."

Dean snorted. Fat goddamn chance. "Then tell me what's going on. Where is Niki? And why the hell were you smelling her?"

Bhric smiled. "Don't get your panties in a twist little brother. It wasn't like that. I simply have a better sense of smell than you."

Dean hissed, baring the animal's teeth that crowded his mouth.

"Okay, okay. No more jokes. She's gone missing. We have reason to believe she has been kidnapped."

"What?" Anger ripped through Dean bringing his beast to the forefront. His face changed, elongating into the box-like snout of his jaguar, his nails turned to claws and black hair rippled across his skin. "Why would someone kidnap her and who is 'we'?"

"You do know what she is right?" Bhric pushed against Dean, reminding him they were pretty evenly matched in strength.

"White cougar. So what? You think I give a shit about that? With our mixed lineage, I'm the last person who's ever going to discriminate against someone's breed."

"I doubt this is about discrimination."

He was losing his patience. "Then what? Who has her and where are they?"

"Finally, we're getting somewhere. Now be a good little big kitty and let me go."

Dean glared at his brother for several long seconds, letting the deep growl in his throat grow louder. He'd tried to rein this in for too long and it wasn't easy to put back in the human cage. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Instead of his brute of a brother, he pictured Niki the last time he'd seen her.

She'd blown his mind with an orgasm that left him weaker than a kitten and all he could do was curl her into his arms as they faded into sleep. He remembered the Christmas lights glowing through the windows while the contentment of having found his mate overwhelmed him. He couldn't remember what he'd said, only mumbling something incoherent. He'd gone to sleep thinking about all the things he wanted to tell her and he'd woken up to a cold bed and another empty holiday.

The cat beast receded and he opened his eyes. Bhric had shifted away from him but remained wary. "Tell me," Dean said.

"Unfortunately, there isn't much to tell." Bhric scrubbed his face. "A few days ago she showed up at the roadhouse asking for a place to stay for a few days. Insisted on paying me a shit ton of money to not tell anyone she was there. I scented you on her that first night, but figured I'd give her some time and space before I asked about you. She's not exactly a friendly cat. Her people skills suck."

Dean nodded, remembering the fight he'd had to prevent not five minutes after she walked into this bar. "Yeah, she's feisty."

"Scary more like it. But if she was in trouble I wasn't about to turn her away. You and I have our problems, but I don't turn my back on family when they need me."

Dean snorted. The ugly words he wanted to throw in his brother's face were on the tip of his tongue but for the sake of his mate he swallowed them.

"For three days she stayed hidden in my place. I tried to pin her down a couple of times but could never find her, despite being certain I scented her. No clue how she manages to do that by the way. Then last night she disappeared completely. Nothing was out of place. No signs of anyone going in or out of her room, but she was gone. I tried to tell myself she'd probably decided to move on. It's not as if I knew a damn thing about her."

"But?"

"But I couldn't shake the feeling something wasn't right. So I went looking and found a couple of unfamiliar prints out back that disappeared a few feet into the woods. Damned snow storm blanketed the area yesterday. I was about to round up a team to help me search. But then that damned Comyn alpha came crashing through my back forty with his Jeep and his new weird cougar-mate freaking out about having some sort of vision. Says your girl was kidnapped and pointed me in the right direction."

Dean slammed his hand down on the wooden bar. "Then what the hell are we doing here? You should have gone after her. Have you never heard of a damned cell phone? You could have called me and saved us both a shitload of time."

Bhric narrowed his eyes. "I'm just going to ignore your stupid comments from here on out or we're not going to get anywhere."

"Yes, we are." Dean began stripping his clothes. He knew exactly where they were going and how they were getting there.

Bhric grabbed his arm and brought him up short. "I already know where she is and how to get to her. But before you go off half-cocked an—"

"Fuck you. I'm not going to stand here and talk about this. I'm going to go and get—"

"Shut the hell up for two goddamned seconds and let me finish." Bhric's voice boomed through the bar and rattled the windows. "There's something you need to know before we go in there. There's more at stake than just her life."

"No, there isn't. What the hell has gotten into you? Are you so lost you think there's something more important than a mate? What is it? Your stupid clubhouse? Some fuck-all treaty that keeps your ass in line? Or do you just not care about anyone else but yourself anymore?"

His brother glared at him and every ounce of anger and resentment that flowed between them slammed into him. Dean could tell the man was about to explode and it wasn't going to be pretty, but he didn't care. His mate was in trouble and the thought of someone hurting her, or worse, shredded him from the inside out. "Just say it and get it over with. Whatever bullshit you need to say to me to get us out the door, just do it. For Goddess sake, we have to help her."

Bhric gritted his teeth. "It's not just her. You go running out this door without a plan and you'll get them both killed."

"Both? Both who?"

"She's pregnant."

Dean stared at Bhric as if he'd grown two heads. Had he said 'pregnant'? As in baby? Or cub? Blood drained from his head and traveled as far south as it could. Holy fucking shit. "No way," he said.

"Obviously there was a way, dumb ass. You know insert your—"

"Do not finish that sentence or I will rip your throat out."

Bhric smiled. "Guess you remember after all."

Oh hell yeah, he remembered. In vivid Technicolor on a nightly basis. Every time he closed his goddamn eyes he relived it.

And now she'd gone to Bhric and history was repeating itself...

Chapter Four

Niki strained against the leather straps wrapped around her wrists and gave them another hard yank. She had no idea how long she'd been lying here tied up and alone, but it had been too long. Even one second in captivity was too much as far as she was concerned. She turned her head and surveyed the shithole they'd stuck her in. The makeshift bed they'd strapped her to was nothing more than a stainless steel table with a thin foam mattress that stunk like piss and stale beer. During her struggle to work her way free, she'd felt something wet touch her cheek and she'd been too afraid to look. The choices of what it could be sucked, and confirming a single one of them wouldn't help her roiling stomach.

There wasn't much info in her memory about how she'd been taken other than someone grabbing her from behind and a wet cloth covering her mouth. Fuckers had chloroformed her. Then she'd woken here. Since then, not much of anything. The one jerk who kept her company refused to answer any of her questions, and the man and women who'd come to inspect her said even less. Not that it had taken words to make it perfectly clear what they were after. They'd poked and prodded her, took blood and put a stethoscope to her stomach. The instant the cold metal hit her flesh she went insane. Niki bucked and fought, the cougar fought for control but no matter how much she willed it, her body never shifted. "Sons of bitches," she said, screeching. "You fucking drugged me. Are you crazy?"

After that, when they couldn't settle her down, the weird soundless duo gave up and left the room. Unfortunately, the full force of her rage didn't die down quite so easily. She'd fought for hours until her body gave up. With some time to calm, her brain worked feverishly for a solution. No cavalry would come to save her. She was alone as usual. And until recently she'd preferred things that way.

Because now she had more than herself to think about. A faint pulse of fear worked its way through her mind and Niki snarled. She didn't do afraid and if this is what being pregnant did to a woman, she didn't like it.

The asshole who'd been keeping watch over her snarled right back. "Let it go, bitch. No amount of supernatural strength is going to break those. You're not doing your baby any favors by hurting yourself, you dumb shit."

A red haze of anger filled Niki's vision as the desire to taste this guy's blood grew palpable. His heart beat strong and the pulse in his neck made an easy target. If she could figure out how to get loose. A few strips of animal hide shouldn't have been enough to hold her down. Never mind the chains attached between her wrists and the sides of the bed. Jesus, hell. Strapped down nearly spread eagle on a cheap metal bed in some dump of a warehouse was not how she'd planned to spend her week.

She'd needed a quiet, neutral place to think about how to handle her baby's father, not plot murder. Her mind flooded with memories from her one mistaken night with Dean. She squeezed her eyes tight and tried to will them away. This couldn't happen. The last thing she needed to think about was him. The way he looked at her. Or the way he'd touched her. There'd been something about him that made her ooey and gooey... Until he'd uttered the one word she never, ever,
ever
wanted to him from anyone.

Mate.

Stupid son of a bitch. He had to have sensed who she was or what she was. Hadn't anyone told him what cold, heartless bitches her kind were? Getting one of them to settle down long enough to actually end up in a mating relationship would be about as much fun as confining a rabid squirrel.

Niki closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She'd been in tight spots before and she just needed to focus on her predicament and find a way out of this mess. With little knowledge of the facility or even the exact location, she remained at a distinct disadvantage. But eventually they'd have to untie her. In fact...

"I need to go to the bathroom," she said.

"Not my problem."

"C'mon, this is serious." She wiggled her legs and hips to emphasize how badly she needed to go.

The guard watching her moved closer, but stayed well out of reach. "Look, bitch. I don't give one shit about what you need. My job is to make sure you don't move and that's all I'm going to do."

Niki assessed the man glaring down at her. Six feet, probably at least two hundred pounds. Every inch of him from head to toe covered in grime, and a rat's nest of a beard that fell halfway to his chest. The man who'd accompanied the woman to examine her had looked similar to her guard. Unfortunately, the region had more than its fair share of rugged, unclean mountain men, so alone it wasn't enough to tell her where she'd been taken.

She inhaled deeply and sorted through the scents radiating from her captor. The grime and foul body odor hid a lot from other people, but she wasn't other people. The drugs they'd given her were slowly wearing off and many of her extreme senses had returned. Past the sweat, the fried
catfish he'd probably eaten for lunch, the tobacco he obviously chain-smoked and the strong scent of pine, there was something else. Something burnt. She wracked her memory for the information she needed. There wasn't an inch of the Blue Ridge Mountains she hadn't crossed, including the entire states of North Carolina and Tennessee.

She sniffed again. Strong Pine. Catfish. Something burnt... It was so damned close.

Somewhere in the process of working through the puzzle, her eyes had slid shut and she'd lost track of the man next to her until the rustle of paper jerked her free of her thoughts.

Oh my God. Paper. Burnt paper. A paper plant.

Her head jerked to the side and she spotted him writing something in a chart near the door. A wolf shifter who smelled like burnt timber and fresh catfish. They were near Counce, Tennessee, which meant this asshole had to belong to the Pickwick pack. Fucking great. Strung out supernatural rednecks known as much for using the pot they grew and the meth they cooked as they were for selling it.

How the hell had they found her? And why? Combined she wasn't sure they had enough brain cells left to even figure out how to get to Dark Moon let alone capture her and take her over three hundred miles away. For a hybrid baby they wouldn't give a shit about?

Goddess, none of this made any sense and she was starting to get a headache.

"I really have to go to the bathroom," she said. "Do you have any idea how often a pregnant woman has to pee? If you plan to keep me captive, the least you can do is untie me long enough to take care of business."

The guard snorted. "Do I look stupid? If you think I'm letting you walk anywhere untied, you're out of your mind."

He did look stupid. Backwoods ignorant who thought wearing steel toed boots and carrying a gun somehow made him smarter. Not that she'd say that out loud. "Do whatever you have to. Just let me go to the bathroom." Her final cry seemed to get through. His gaze shifted between her and the door several times as if he contemplated granting her wish. Niki forced tears that embarrassingly hovered close to the surface anyway. Her emotions had been all over the place for a while now and this wasn't helping.

"Jesus Christ." The guard grabbed a handful of white zip-ties from the shelf overhead and stalked toward her. "I suggest you don't test me. Pregnant or not, if you try anything I will knock you the fuck out. Got it?"

Niki nodded her head. Bingo.

She'd behave for now. Instead she focused on her kidnapper's face, imprinting every line and facial feature to memory. Either now or sometime in the future, she'd be the one doing the hunting and she wanted to make sure she remembered every detail before she slit his throat. He released one wrist and rolled her to the side, keeping an unbending grip while he moved her. There was no doubt he outmatched her in ordinary strength, but often it was the element of surprise that gave her the upper hand.

He secured both hands behind her back with the zip-ties and pulled the gun from his waistband before releasing her feet. Niki winced when the ache of stiff muscles protested the sudden movements. My God how long had she been on this table?

"No funny business. I'd hate to have to put a hole where one don't belong." He raised the gun and pointed it toward her head.

Niki clamped her mouth shut to keep the string of vitriol she had in mind for him while shooting him a dirty look. He may have manhandled her off the table but at least she'd been moved. It was much easier to gauge her surroundings while upright. Unfortunately, there wasn't much more too see. Concrete floor, metal walls and one table of medical equipment to her left. She got the sense this kidnapping had not been thought out. If they somehow wanted to take her baby, they would have to keep her locked up for a long time and strapped to a table with no provisions for long term care appeared shortsighted.

Two steps later and the room began to spin a little, the remnants of whatever they drugged her with. As far as she could tell with he-wolf dragging her along, there was only one way out and one way in—the door in front of her.

He marched her from the room into a narrow hallway with another partially ajar door directly across from them. There was literally nothing else to see with more white walls and a corridor void of even a picture hanging on the wall. The only thing she heard were the faint strains of a popular country music song about love lost and the open road echoing through what sounded like a cavernous building.

"Bathroom's in there." He shoved her toward the door and she stumbled, pushing the door the rest of the way open with her head. When she thought she'd crash to the floor, his hard hand grabbed her arm and hauled her back to her feet.

"It's going to be a little difficult to do this without hands."

"Nice try, bitch. But tough luck for you cause I'm not freeing you anymore."

"Then how am I supposed to—"

The guard lunged forward, grabbed her pants and yanked them down.

"What the hell?" she said, now standing in the bathroom door with her pants resting around her ankles.

"Get over it already. If you're pregnant this should be nothing new. You've obviously already been spreading your legs for men so what's one more time."

"You're a pig," she said.

He grabbed a handful of her long blonde hair and pulled her closer. "I've been called worse, but I think we both know it's not pig blood that runs through these veins. You ever had wolf before?" He licked her neck just below her ear and Niki fought to withhold a shiver.

"No and I thank God every day I've never had to stoop so low." She reared back and slammed her head into his face.

"Gaahhhh," he fell back a few steps and released her hair. "
Bitch
."

She took that moment to whirl around inside the bathroom door and kick it closed, engulfing the room with darkness. While momentarily effective at separating herself from her captor, her feet got tangled in her pants and she fell against the wall face first with her hands fastened behind her back. Pain exploded across the bridge of her nose to match the ache at the back of her head where she'd head butted the jerk holding her.

"Enjoy your five minutes in there. One second longer and I'll drag your ass out here and make you suck my dick to make up for this."

Like hell
. "Get that nasty shit anywhere near me and I'll bite it off." Antagonizing a psycho wolf was probably the worst thing she could do at the moment, but common sense failed her at the moment. Slumped against the wall she couldn't believe this had happened to her. A few months ago she'd been at the top of her game. Her life had been simple. Sleep, eat and work. The only thing that had mattered was how well she did her job. Sure she'd had her moments of weakness when she'd get tired of being alone all the time, but one intense night of meaningless sex usually did the trick. Until she'd found the proverbial needle in a haystack.

When the first tear splashed to her cheek, Niki jerked at the sensation. For the love of God what the hell was wrong with her? Crying again? She was in hell and it wasn't just because she stood half naked in a dark bathroom unable to pull up her own pants. At least it smelled sort of clean in here. Bleach and other strong cleansers had a way of wreaking havoc on her senses.

Before Niki could regain her balance and push herself into a standing position, loud growls and hissing sounded from the other side of the door.

"What the hell?" Those were the last words she heard from her guard. Violent growls erupted outside the bathroom. Metal banged loudly. Panic rose inside her.

Nikki twisted her shoulder sideways and used it to push from the wall. She shuffled in the direction of the door and rubbed her face along the wall in search of a light switch. Even cat vision did nothing in the pit of black nothingness of this god-forsaken bathroom.

There were voices now coming from the hallway and she had a sinking feeling her guard's reinforcements had arrived. A loud pop exploded close to her ear. Who the hell was he shooting at?

The acrid scent of gunpowder filled her head and overpowered any other scents that might have given her a clue as to who fought in the hall. So far her search for a light had proven fruitless and her adrenalin spiked alternately hot and cold as she scrambled for another idea. She'd barely gotten a glimpse of the room before she'd slammed the door shut, but there'd been nothing for her to use as leverage to break these zip ties.