Gator's Challenge (10 page)

L
eaving
Melanie took everything he had. A part of him wanted to grab her and run. Run fast and far. Now. While they had a chance.

Utter stupidity. Such a rash act would only get them killed or worse. He had to remain calm and steady. No acting until he knew he had a chance of success.

But you promised her an escape tonight.

How could he not when she so desperately needed hope? Thing was, he couldn’t afford to make a mistake, just like he couldn’t afford to wait any longer.

He had to get Melanie out of here. The sooner, the better. And only one person could help him do that.

He located Brandon perched atop the rooftop of the building their uncle inhabited. A dark gargoyle that could at any moment spread his wings and fly, but who, like Wes, remained chained.

Time to throw off the shackles.

Chances were his brother heard his approach, but just in case, Wes paused and lit a cigarette. The acrid smell of smoke and the click of his lighter provided enough of an announcement to not startle the predator his brother had become.

Let’s not die now.

Don’t mistake him. He loved his brother, but at the same time, Brandon was a gator, just like Wes, just like most of the Mercers. Their cold blood ran fierce when it came to keeping the family lines strong. But Brandon was more than that gator now, too. Something darker lived inside him, an entity that wanted to swallow his brother whole. This dark presence kept Brandon from resuming his human shape. Made him a monster, one determined to pick a fight.

“You need a shower,” his brother observed. “Or are you intentionally trying to poke the bear by sleeping with his wife?”

“Maybe it’s time someone did some poking. I’m tired of being Andrew’s fucking patsy.”

His brother peered at him over his shoulder. “Was the pussy so good that it completely devalued the life of our sister?”

“No. Of course not. I love Sue-Ellen. You know that. But I also fucking love Melanie. I never bloody stopped. And if I don’t do something to help her, Andrew’s going to end up hurting her.”

“So you slept with her?”

“Not quite. And not the point. Even if I wasn’t in love with her, I couldn’t stand by and do nothing when I know Andrew’s planning to hurt those boys.”

“Ah yes. The children. They have such an interesting smell about them,” Brandon whispered, turning his head away to again face the darkness.

It chilled Wes’s blood to hear his brother speak that way. “When did you get a chance to sniff them?”

“Parker has had me playing bodyguard as he wanders around the compound. It seems our venerable uncle doesn’t trust his new lackeys.”

“Afraid his monsters might rip his throat out?” Wes surely found himself tempted.

“He should be afraid. If not for Sue-Ellen, he’d be dead already.”

“She’s here, you know.”

His brother whirled from the parapet. “What?”

“I said she’s here. I saw her, in Parker’s apartment.”

“I smelled nothing.”

It surprised Wes to realize he didn’t recall scenting her either. That stupid cologne. It took from shifters one of their main advantages. “I’m telling you I saw her.”

“We must help her escape. Once she’s gone…”

“Then the ties binding us are, too,” Wes finished. “We also have to take Melanie and the twins.”

“You ask much, brother. It will be hard enough for us three to slip the leash, but to add in others? We will be caught.”

“I won’t leave without her. I have a plan.”

“Does it involve three magical wishes?” his brother retorted.

“No, but it does require one flying lizard.”

Brandon hunched farther. “Then it’s doomed to fail.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I am going to assume you mean to have me transport everyone over the fence.”

“Yes. Once we’re out, we’ll start running, and you can fly ahead and call someone for help.”

“Except we can’t get to the other side of the fence.” Brandon hopped off the ledge and turned to face him. His fingers hooked under the collar circling his neck. The collar that controlled his actions. “There have been some new modifications to the collar. Starting with tracking devices in all of them and a trigger when we get within ten feet of the fence.”

“So fly twenty feet over.”

Brandon shook his head. “Lester tried that. Let’s just say roasted psycho lizard smells like chicken when it hits a fence and fries. Whatever signal Bittech is emitting extends into the air. I’m just as penned as you are, landlubber.”

“Well, that fucking blows my plan to shit.”

“It’s hopeless,” Brandon said with a shrug of his shoulders. “Perhaps it’s time we accepted it.”

Accept being a prisoner? Accept the fact that Melanie would hate him and blame him if something happened to her kids?

There had to be a way out of this mess. A way for them all to escape.

Then again, did they all need to escape? What if a single person could slip away? What if they could get word to those in Bitten Point? Surely someone would come to their rescue.

“Follow me, but stay out of sight,” Wes advised as he strode across the roof to the access door.

“What the fuck are you planning?”

A quick glance showed the cameras had suffered the same fate here as elsewhere.

“We are going to rescue Sue-Ellen, and then, she’s going to rescue us.”

“How? I thought you said she was with our uncle.”

Wes, with one hand on the door, replied, “I am going to cause a distraction. Once I do, you grab her and fly as fast as you can to that fucking fence and toss her.”

“You want me to chuck our sister like a football?”

“Yes.”

“And what if she’s got a bracelet or collar, too.”

“Then we’re fucked.”

“More than fucked,” announced Parker with a shove on the door that sent Wes reeling. “What naughty nephews, planning mutiny.”

“Get out of here, Brandon,” Wes yelled, lunging at his uncle.

But his brother didn’t leave, and Parker hadn’t come alone. Riddled with darts, Wes sank to his knees, blinking slowly. Sinking.

He whispered, “Melanie,” and then a blow to the head sent him into darkness.

W
here is Wes
?
Melanie failed miserably at hiding her shock upon seeing Andrew in the doorway of the room.

“Expecting someone else, dear wife?”

“What are you doing here?” she asked, the beginning of fear trembling inside. “It’s the middle of the night.”

“I know, and yet I couldn’t sleep. I got some bad news, you see, and since I was awake, I thought why not come over and take you to your new quarters.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

Andrew arched a brow. “Really? Funny because the way I heard it, you’re not happy with your current situation. Rumor has it you’re thinking of running away.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she lied.

“Did you really think I wouldn’t find out about your little plan with the gator to escape? He told me everything.”

“You’re lying.”

“Maybe I am. Maybe I’m not. Doesn’t really matter. You’re still being moved. I have plans for you.”

“You can take those plans and stuff them up your tight, repressed ass.” Probably not the best idea to antagonize him, but she couldn’t sit back and allow him to threaten her.

His eyes narrowed, cold and menacing. “If I were you, I’d really watch that tongue. You don’t need it for what I have planned.”

Red-hot anger mixed with icy fear wouldn’t let her cower. “Touch me and I will kill you.”

“Did you know your gator lover threatened the same thing not even an hour ago? I put him in his place.”

The words chilled her. “What did you do to Wes?”

“You should be more worried about what I plan to do to you.”

“Don’t you touch my mama!” Rory yelled before launching himself from the top bunk.

He never hit his target. A rapid blur of movement resulted in a tall lizard dude catching her son mid-flight.

It wasn’t Ace. Even more worrisome, there was nothing human in this reptile’s gaze. “Smellsss good.”

It flicked a tongue and licked her son, and it was only her prior knowledge that the saliva acted as a paralytic that kept her from freaking when Rory went limp. She didn’t dare do anything, lest the sharp claws holding Rory puncture baby skin.

Tatum began to wail in his bunk. “You’re a meanie!”

With a scowl of annoyance, Andrew barked. “Stop that noise at once.”

“Make me!” Tatum launched himself at the man he thought was his father. Given he was on the lower bed, he had no problem scooting across the floor until he sank his teeth into Andrew’s leg.

“You little bastard!” Andrew screamed.

Pussy.

With the distraction, Melanie knew she had to act and prayed that she didn’t miscalculate.
They need the boys. The lizard thing won’t hurt Rory.
She hoped.

She dove at Andrew, intent on getting her hands on the gun, but she’d not counted on the third person to enter the room.

Parker.

It took only his cold gaze and tersely uttered, “Stop your antics this instance, or both your children will die,” for her to freeze in her tracks.

Andrew might not want to kill her babies—he needed them for his perverse plans—but this man… The evil within him didn’t care who he harmed.

“Get this thing off me,” Andrew snapped, shaking his leg but unable to dislodge Tatum.

Tossing a limp Rory onto the bed, the lizard thing went to his boss’s aid and licked her poor son.

Gross, but they’d recover. She on the other hand? She was in a big heap of trouble.

“Do I need to have Fang get a taste of you, too, or are you going to be a good girl and behave?”

Since she needed to survive in order to escape, she bowed her head with a meekness she didn’t feel. But she wouldn’t promise. She just let her feet shuffle in the direction they pointed, and as she did, she gave a message to her boys. “Don’t worry, babies. Why don’t you play a game of manhunt while you’re waiting for Mama to come back for you?”

“How optimistic of you, dear wife.”

She shot Andrew a glare. “Not your wife for long because, first chance I get, I’m making myself a widow.”

“Is this where I mention the fact our marriage was never valid?”

She blinked, thrown for a loop at his words. “What are you talking about? Of course we’re married. We have the damned thing on video.”

“My father managed to have it annulled when the brats were born.”

Shoved into the elevator, she whirled and had to ask, “Why?”

“Because that was when my father drew me into his plans. I am destined for greatness. I deserve better than a swamp girl as my wife.”

“You’re a snob.”

“Thank you.” Andrew’s leer stretched wide.

Parker didn’t join them in the elevator, having stopped by the nurses’ station on the nursery level to have a word.

Bracketed between Andrew and his lizard henchman, the elevator dropping levels—…three, two, one, sub level A, B…—she didn’t get a chance to run.

Even if I did manage to slip them, where would I go?
She still had no way over the fence, and she couldn’t leave without her boys.

The elevator finally stopped moving, and the doors slid open. Given she could hear ominous music in her head, she kind of expected to emerge into the bowels of Hell. Instead, she noted they were in a large control room. Numerous screens hung on the wall, with a pair of human guards watching them.

She couldn’t help but scan the images on the screen, images of cages for the most part lining an empty corridor. “What is that?”

“Welcome to our experimental levels. It’s where we keep our test subjects as they go through their changes.”

Changes? The very thought made her stomach clench. “How many people are you experimenting on?”

“Not as many as we’d like. We had to dispose of a few during the move. But never fear. We’ll gather more.”

“To do what?”

“Ah, there is that famous curiosity known in cats.” Andrew’s smile displayed too many teeth. “Do you want to see? Do you truly want to
see
?” he asked, his voice dropping a few octaves. Andrew achieved a darkness in his words and a coldness in his eyes that brought a shudder.

Smart people ran when they recognized the presence of true evil. Melanie angled her chin. She’d married this monster. She should bear the burden of seeing what he’d wrought under her nose. “Show me what you’ve done.”

“With pleasure. Come and bask in the glory that is science.” Andrew stepped to the sealed metal portal. “Open the doors.”

The doors clanked, and air hissed as they slid open. A veritable bunker meant to keep things in and not get out.

Andrew stepped in. Nudged from behind, and worried about Fang who whispered, “Tasssty,” Melanie followed.

The smell of wrongness hit Melanie as she crossed the threshold, and she froze.

I can’t go in there.
To go in there was to set eyes upon madness. To see her possible future.

She spun, ready to run, but there was nowhere to go. Clawed fingers grasped at her and whirled her forward. The reptilian henchman frog-marched her into Hell.

As soon as she entered, she couldn’t help but utter a horrified sob as she saw the true purpose of Bittech.

The first few cages held a few people still seemingly normal. According to her nose, some were actually humans. Was he turning them into monsters, too?

These scared people in cages gripped the bars at their approach, turning pleading eyes toward them. “Help us.”

“I will help, and soon. Then all of you will thank me for improving you,” Andrew announced with the arrogance of a madman wearing a twisted crown of blood and insanity.

So far, not so bad, but the smell of wrongness lingered, and it didn’t emanate from these people. They went farther into this hidden level, a cluster of empty cells giving her a reprieve. Still, nothing could have prepared her for the appearance of the monsters past those.

Their alien stench hit her hard, but not as hard as the frightening hunger in their inhuman gaze.

“You have more of the lizard things,” she stupidly noted aloud.

“We refer to them as our hunter models.”

“Your what?” Melanie drew her gaze from the raptor-like monstrosities with hooked beaks, whipping tails, and leathery wings, barbed on the tips. Scary Fang, who guided her steps, looked cute and cuddly compared to this bunch.

“You are looking at our aerial soldier models. Swift. Deadly. And—”

“Fucking nuts.” She didn’t mean Andrew and his pride in this twisted creation, but rather the deadly hunger in those monstrous eyes. “These are killing machines.” Killing machines with no humanity left in them. Then again, given their captivity in cages barely big enough to stand in, was it any wonder?

“Killing machines.” Andrew chuckled. “Indeed they are and in high demand from certain government factions. Once we fine-tune the command collars, they’ll fetch a lovely penny.”

“You’re selling them?”

“Bittech is selling all kinds of things. Soldiers, upgrades, even the chance for the richer humans to become a shifter themselves, for the right price.”

“The world will notice what you’re doing. You can’t blatantly unleash these things and not get caught. How can you risk all of our kind for money?”

“Perhaps it’s time we stopped hiding. Parker says—”

“This is Parker’s idea?”

“Parker has a vision. One where, instead of the wolves hiding from the sheep, the wolves rise and take their rightful place.”

“The humans won’t stand for it. They outnumber us. You’ll kill us all if you out us.”

“Not if we kill them first. And you will help us with that. We’re going to need soldiers. Strong, able-bodied shifters loyal to us, born and raised under a new doctrine.”

What a frightening vision. “I won’t help you.”

“You don’t have a choice.” Andrew stopped before an empty cell. “Say hello to your new home.”

Panic clawed at her, but her inner panther scratched harder.

Run
, her feline screamed.
Run before they cage us.

Her sudden yank saw her slipping the grip of the lizard guard, and she sprinted, ran as quickly as she could, only to have a heavy body slam into her from behind.

It took only a slimy lick for her to slump. But it was the needle jabbed in her arm that dragged her eyelids down.