GRAY Wolf Mate Read online

  There came her sigh again. “I’m trying to ensure you have a fair opportunity, but apparently you’re not with a pack. If you were, we’d be involving your alpha. As it is, you’re rogue and fall under different rules. As for watching you, no one has time to watch every inmate. You’re in a titanium-reinforced room so it’s not necessary to observe you. We all check the window in the door before entering.” She took a breath. “In case you think to overpower anyone once you’re healthy again, we all carry a specially designed stun gun that is set to disable a shifter. You wouldn’t like it. Please don’t try.”

  He remembered being hit with a load of electrical power when he was incapacitated. Had he been shifting or had someone just taken advantage of his condition?

  Based on what she said, this group had no worries about anyone breaking in to extract him or of Cole breaking out.

  SCIS had probably airlifted him from the bomb scene to keep their prisoner alive. Without someone like the Guardian, who could shift into a giant sea eagle, no one else on his team that night could have followed.

  Cole accepted the depressing truth.

  He had no cavalry coming to the rescue. He was on his own with no tools or weapons. His only hope was in healing as quickly as he could and taking his chances at fighting his way out of here.

  Tess said, “Now that you’re conscious, the medics will want to be alerted. I’ll switch your drip to the next stage, which is loaded with protein and a mix of something they claim will help you shift.”

  She wanted to do that now?

  She might not get out the door before Gray Wolf exploded on the scene.

  Cole debated a half second. It would be so much easier for her to make the IV switch, but he wanted her out of here and gone before that happened.

  She moved her hand an inch on the bed and he snagged her wrist. His fingers were wrapped around her wrist, but not too firmly. A buzzing energy ran between them like a crazy current. She once said she couldn’t wear watches, but he’d never felt this with her in the past.

  She went perfectly still and stank of fear. “What are you doing?”

  Yes, he could snap her bones like twigs, but he’d cut his own throat first.

  Could he not get a break?

  He worked to speak in a more even tone to convince her he was not dangerous, but his rough voice still sounded like an axe murderer. “I won’t ever harm you. Please don’t start the new concoction yet. My insides are a mess. You can’t tell from the outside what’s going on in there, but I can feel it. I’ve got organs to rebuild and bones to mend. Now that I’ve thought about it, your medic was right to wait. I’m at least another day from being able to shift without ripping everything apart. Shifting is part magic and part physiological. There are limits to what we do.”

  He wasn’t being entirely honest, but if he could just get her to leave the narcotic drip off, he’d flip the valve for the protein stimulus mix once she left.

  When she didn’t reply, he added, “I admit I was surprised I hadn’t changed on my own, but I’m glad someone had enough forethought to put me under until my body was ready.” There was a speck of truth in that. He had a better chance of managing his wolf now than he would have had a few days ago.

  Tess had seemed to be debating what to do during the long pause, but that had always been a positive sign with her in the past. She’d see reason if someone presented a logical argument.

  To help push her in the right direction, he eased his grip and rubbed his thumb over her wrist.

  He could feel her pulse race.

  But not from fear this time.

  That was interesting.

  “Uhm, I guess I could leave that for the medics to decide when they come by to check on your progress,” she offered.

  That was a start. “You said it was evening now, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “When will they come by?” Damn. That sounded suspicious even to him. He added, “I’m thinking in an hour or two, my insides might be healed enough for me to eat solid food. That’s why I asked.”

  “Oh. Probably two hours unless I tell them to come now.”

  “Please don’t. I’d like to catch a little more rest without the drugs so my body is better prepared for the kick of the shift.”

  “Very well. I’ll leave you to rest.”

  Tension eased from his chest. That would have to do, because he could shift and heal significantly in an hour.

  “Thank you.” He meant it and loosened his grip.

  She pulled her arm away and he wanted to think she’d been reluctant, but that had probably been him projecting emotions he wanted her to feel. He took one last inhale just to have something from her in his chest, close to his heart.

  Talk about torment. He was killing himself with wanting to tell her the truth and break out of these bonds to be with her. He’d like one vision of her fully in focus, but if he was successful, he wouldn’t be here long enough for that to happen.

  He’d still talk to her before he met with the Guardian for the last time, but he didn’t want her to know he’d been here.

  She walked across the room and paused at the door. “Working with us will help you when it’s time to determine where you go next. The more information you can provide, the better chance you have of ending up in an aboveground location. Maybe with a pack, if one will accept you. But if you attack someone in human or animal form, you’ll be taken straight to a subterranean holding facility.”

  Subterranean holding facility was a fancy name for a ten-foot-square by ten-foot-deep hole in the ground, completely encased in titanium. That metal wouldn’t kill a shifter unless inserted into their bodies and left there. Then it would prevent them from healing or shifting, which would result in death. Their claws wouldn’t even scratch that metal.

  Expensive, but money flowed when fear opened the gates.

  A cage by any other name was still a cage.

  If he shifted and regained all his Gallize power, he had a chance at escaping. If not, he’d just have to play it by ear. “I understand. Thank you again.” He yawned intentionally. “Think I’m ready to sleep some more.”

  “You’re welcome. I hope your wolf rests.” The door swished shut behind her.

  He stared at the door.

  He hadn’t told her his animal was a wolf.

  Just how much did she know? Probably one of the jackal shifters on staff, which SCIS was known for hiring, had clued them in.

  Now wasn’t the time to waste on unanswerable questions when reaching that IV drip was going to take an acrobatic move.

  Cole stared one last time at the door, cursing his life and accepting that this might be the last conversation he had with her. If he failed to escape or died trying, he’d never get to explain what happened when he disappeared.

  Taking a deep breath, he mentally prepared for what he was about to try. This group thought he wouldn’t be able to use his burned hand and they would be correct for a normal shifter.

  That didn’t mean this would be a cakewalk.

  He lifted his burned arm. It did not want to work.

  Closing his mind to the pain he was going to cause, he forced his hand up and over his head.

  The pain was immediate.

  He clenched his teeth and held his breath, straining to reach the drip. Pain like nothing he’d ever felt hit his hand when he pressed the button to shut off the drip from the multi-line IV pump. A series of beeps signaled the pump shutting down.

  Cole dropped his arm and fell back against the pillow, taking in fast breaths and waiting for the excruciating pain to ease.

  His wolf growled and snarled.

  “Stop it, dammit,” Cole murmured low. The searing ache streaked down his arm and along his side. He hissed at irritating his burned skin. Perspiration bubbled on his forehead, dampening the bandages. Chugging a couple of fast breaths, he dropped his head back to lock his one-eyed gaze on the second IV line.

  What would that kick-him-in-the-ass potion do to
his wolf?

  Cole had no idea, but he was determined to take his chances.

  The trigger for letting Gray Wolf out was on the other side of the pump, six inches past his reach.

  Time to try again. Holding his good side as still as he could, he inched his bandaged fingers toward that button.

  Unhealed skin tore and muscles pulled. Tears poured from his eyes, the salty liquid excruciating on the burned skin of his face under the bandages.

  His body shook from self-induced shock and bile ran up his throat. When stars floated through his vision, he focused on that tiny button marked “C.” If he didn’t get to it now, he would have no other chance to be strong before the medics, or anyone else, entered.

  He needed the advantage of a surprise attack.

  The smell of his blood leaking from fractured skin permeated the air.

  His fingers trembled as he stretched within a half inch of the IV feed.

  Then he heard voices in the hallway.

  Chapter 7

  Tess closed the door and walked down the long hallway with occasional doors on each side, which led to rooms holding other shifter detainees from unrelated crimes.

  She kept expecting her thundering heart to slow down. What was going on with her body?

  Colin was a suspect in her Black River Wolf Pack case.

  One of the jackal shifters had identified him as a wolf shifter, which had made Colin look even guiltier when no wolf pack in the general vicinity had a missing male.

  Rogues didn’t last long without support.

  Something about the man felt familiar, which made no sense.

  Or maybe it was the weird way her energy had come to life around him.

  Like that was a positive sign?

  If anything, it was extremely bizarre since she had minimal association with shifters beyond research projects and the consultants hired to work with SCIS. She stayed on her toes around those jackal shifters and felt guilty about it, because they wanted to be treated like staff.

  That meant everyone shared the staff lounge and sometimes she was in there alone with the jackals.

  But the wolf shifter in the room she’d just left hadn’t made her feel anxious like the jackals. Tense, yes, but not fear. In fact it was just the opposite. She’d wanted to stay by his side.

  She didn’t want to admit she’d felt attracted to Colin.

  The man was half burned to death. Between the swelling and the burst blood vessels under his cornea, she couldn’t even see his one good eye well enough to make out its true color.

  Physical appearance had never been the first thing to attract Tess.

  A smile could catch her eye, but it was her ability to nail the genuine person in a first meeting that had always piqued her interest.

  Colin sounded genuine, but he also hid secrets.

  Rubbing her arms, she couldn’t push off the insane urge to go back to Colin and spend more time with him. She’d been drawn to him and when he’d touched her ...

  She’d felt it in her womb.

  That was another thing she wouldn’t admit to anyone. She wanted to know more about him, and she couldn’t honestly call it a professional interest.

  More than ever, she wanted to see him healthy just to find out what he looked like.

  Was he telling the truth about his presence at the bomb scene?

  If so, how could she allow them to put an innocent shifter in a death pit? That was her term for the subterranean holding facilities. Shifters might not be entirely human, but ... they weren’t entirely animal either.

  Her father would lose his mind if he heard her utter that sentiment.

  She’d come a long way from the young college woman who cringed at the first televised images of the shifter-on-shifter bloodbaths. The same woman who had agreed with her father’s rage over innocent humans being killed by these anomalies of nature.

  Knowledge made the difference.

  She still got her back up when an innocent was harmed, but she could now admit being open-minded enough to consider all innocent people, human or not.

  The bottom line for her was right and wrong when intelligence was involved. Shifters who walked the earth in human form had human intelligence and had to be held accountable ... but so did regular humans.

  Stopping short of the elevators thirty feet away, she leaned against a wall, in no hurry to see her SCIS boss until she got her body and mind in line. It had been tough getting selected for this position, but she’d found her calling and was determined to become the first female to reach the level of director at SCIS national headquarters. To do that, she had to prove herself at every turn, which meant not hesitating to be decisive when dealing with shifters. It also meant never showing a weak front, but at the same time knowing when to fight a battle she believed in.

  She’d been raised by a strong woman and would not fold in the face of conflict, but ...

  Colin had her in a mental and emotional flux.

  Why?

  She couldn’t be sidetracked from gaining justice.

  Tess struggled to find a balance in all of this because of what had happened with her mom. No shifter had attacked her mother, but one had tried to mug her, then another had stepped into the fray and they’d had a territorial battle.

  Being caught in the midst of a violent battle with two men shifting into animals, fighting over who got the human, had been too much for her mom’s heart.

  Her mom had died because of out-of-control shifters.

  That should clear up any confusion Tess had, even if she did hold herself just as responsible for not being with her mom that night.

  Tess kept waiting for that moment of clarity.

  It didn’t come and she knew why.

  For one brief moment, she’d been intimidated by Colin. He’d grabbed her wrist and she’d just shut down in panic, at a loss for what to do or say. What had he done? Relaxed his grip and stroked his thumb over her skin.

  His gentle touch had felt as if someone reached inside and stroked her heart.

  No man had drawn that kind of reaction from her since, well, since college.

  Damn Daniel Cole Cavanaugh’s soul.

  The first time she’d had a feminine reaction to a man in forever and it had to be with a rogue shifter?

  This was entirely Cole’s fault.

  Do you realize how insane that would sound out loud, Tess?

  Yes, which was why she kept it to herself. She never talked about this kind of thing, mainly because she had no girlfriends. Unless she counted the obstinate, contract shifter investigator on the SCIS team. Tess had met the woman after hours for drinks just one time since coming to take this position in the Spartanburg office.

  Not share-your-secrets girlfriend material, definitely, but networking was networking, Tess would keep engaging for sake of their professional relationship.

  Turning toward the elevator, she pulled out her mobile phone and started scrolling through messages.

  “Tess? Wait up,” Theo Brantley called to her from where he’d just exited the elevator on this floor.

  Brantley had that clean-cut Fed look, which made sense. SCIS had recruited him from the FBI division that originally dealt with shifters when they first came out to humans. Brantley had been one of the few to step forward and take control of a chaotic situation.

  Then he’d put in for a position with SCIS as head of security at the Spartanburg branch, and had accepted the assignment working with Tess like a gentleman even though she had been designated as lead agent on the Black River Pack case.

  For the right woman, Brantley would be a catch with his dark-blond hair cut in the latest style for a mover and shaker in their world. His eyes had always seemed an odd shade of light brown to her, but sharp as a hawk’s, and attractive enough to go with a perfect nose and mouth. Moving all of that around in a lean, fit body meant a commitment to working out.

  Yep, he had all the right packaging for the perfect boyfriend.

  He’d even asked h
er out. Twice.

  She’d politely turned him down, finally citing that she never dated anyone where she worked, which was far nicer than saying she wasn’t at ease around him.

  Her problem.

  She didn’t feel comfortable with any of the men at this SCIS office, and she wasn’t entirely sure why. It didn’t matter. She knew better than to date anyone from her business life.

  Sure, she’d had a few flings since college, but she never let anyone get close. Who could blame her? She’d opened herself up once and that relationship had destroyed her faith in love.

  When Brantley walked up to her, his gaze jumped past her face and in the direction of the room where Colin slept, then back to her. “What are you doing here?”

  He was her partner on this assignment at SCIS, and protocol demanded that she inform him of all her trips to see John Doe, aka Colin, but that would have been a problem. She’d been making more visits than normal over the past two days.

  Nothing he needed to know.

  Brantley was sharp, and he would latch onto anything that hinted of failure to maintain clinical objectivity about shifters at all times. He’d made it clear that he had little regard for any shifter, other than the jackals he oversaw for SCIS. She could have pushed to be involved with managing the jackals, but she’d been relieved when he volunteered to take the lead on jackal relations.

  One less headache, which freed her up to focus on areas she considered more important.

  Shrugging, she explained, “Just checking on our suspect from the explosion. We need to know as soon as he’s ready to talk.”

  “Time to wake him up.”

  That was not Brantley’s call to make, but she didn’t argue. “He’s awake.”

  Brantley’s eyes bulged. “You went in there alone? You should have contacted me.”

  Tess bristled at the insinuation that she needed an escort, since that was not agency protocol for someone in her position. Brantley wouldn’t need backup, but he clearly thought a woman would.

  His subtle innuendo always pointed in that direction, but like any good ladder climber, he was careful with his words. Still, she’d caught on to his attitude and had no intention of giving him an opening to make a case that would cast her as a poor choice for director at some point.