Page 37 of Midnight Bond (Wolves of Midnight #5)
JAGGER
They’re going to experiment on us, Jagger.
The fear in Brielle’s voice was nearly my undoing. The need to protect her was already pounding through my blood, and seeing how frightened she was almost shoved me over the edge. But the guns still trained on her kept me from reacting.
One bullet. One silver bullet to the heart was all it would take to kill her.
I couldn’t stop them all from shooting her.
Not like this. I had to wait, even if that meant allowing them to hurt her.
It would gut me. It would tear out my heart and obliterate my soul, but I couldn’t save her from this just yet.
Before I could soothe Brielle with false comfort, a feminine voice over a loudspeaker said, “Secure the pair in chamber one. I’ll be down shortly.”
The guards immediately marched us toward a glass partitioned-off room that held two chairs with restraints. The second we were inside the room and a guard began to remove my shackles, I went deathly still. So did Onyx.
As if sensing the shift in my demeanor, several of the guards cocked their guns and trained them on Brielle once more.
The man holding her arm jerked her close, resting the tip of his electrical prod against her cheek before saying, “I have it on maximum voltage. It would be a shame to burn a hole through this pretty face.”
The threat had the desired effect, and I immediately backed down. Brielle just stared at me, her green eyes wide with fright. Onyx, on the other hand, howled in frustration when the shackles fell away and I didn’t react.
Settle, I rumbled to him, keeping him locked down as best I could. It’s not the right time.
They had us by the balls, and one false move could put Brielle’s life in jeopardy. As much as it killed me to submit to these evil bastards, I couldn’t risk Brielle.
Two of the guards grabbed my freed arms and shoved me into one of the chairs. I continued to watch Brielle, seeing the color drain from her face as the men began to strap down my arms and legs. When they finished securing a wide strap over my chest, they stepped back and turned to Brielle.
Her panic frantically fluttered through our bond as they proceeded to unshackle her, forcing her down into the remaining chair.
Keep your eyes on me, beautiful, I said to her, pushing a dose of calm toward her through our bond. I’m here. I’m right here, and I’m not going anywhere.
Tears slid down her pale cheeks, but she didn’t struggle as they strapped her body to the chair.
Once they were finished, the man who’d threatened to hurt her stepped forward with a syringe in hand.
He quickly jabbed the needle into her neck, and she released a startled yelp.
Pain and weakness stole through our bond, and I jerked against my restraints with a growl.
The sneering man turned to me next, another syringe appearing in his hand.
“Hold the beast’s head down,” he ordered a guard, who stepped forward to grab my head and press it back against the chair.
Onyx went wild, and I bared my teeth at the man approaching with the menacing needle.
Pausing for a moment to leer down at me, he savagely plunged the needle into my neck.
“There,” he said, yanking the needle out with a victorious smirk.
“Let’s see how tough you are now, Cujo.”
Fire immediately streaked through my veins, followed by a heaviness that threatened to sap me of my remaining strength.
Still, I lifted my gaze to the human male’s and locked him in a fierce stare.
His beady little eyes held mine for a few moments, then began to waver.
I stared harder, refusing to back down. After another few moments, he couldn’t hold it any longer and dropped his gaze.
Realizing I’d just bested him, he swore colorfully and whipped out his prod, jabbing it into my side.
Fresh pain ripped through my body, and Brielle screamed, begging him to stop.
The man just laughed and continued to pump me full of electricity, clearly bent on breaking me.
I clenched my jaw, refusing to make a sound.
I’d submitted for Brielle’s sake, but I wouldn’t give this bastard the satisfaction he so desperately wanted.
After a solid minute of this torture, a female voice snapped, “Mr. Coolidge! Stop that at once.”
The man torturing me—presumably Mr. Coolidge—reluctantly switched off his electrical prod. Still leering down at me, he testily replied to the woman, “My job is to keep these animals in line, Dr. Sloane.”
“You were hired to capture them and keep them from escaping, not torture them. Now, I need you and your men to leave this chamber so I can assess my new subjects.”
Giving me one last dark look, Mr. Coolidge whirled and exited the room, followed by the other men.
When they were gone, a woman pushed forward.
The first thing I noticed was the wheelchair she sat in.
She wheeled forward independently, her upper half working just fine.
It was her legs I glimpsed through the white labcoat she wore that weren’t functioning.
The loose blue slacks couldn’t hide how thin they were, their muscle mass depleted from lack of use.
“It’s not polite to stare, you know,” the woman said, and my gaze rose to her face.
She was maybe a handful of years older than me, pretty with blonde hair pulled back into a low bun.
Black-rimmed glasses framed her blue eyes, eyes that openly conveyed her curiosity.
When I didn’t respond, a faint smile tilted her lips.
“Then again, I came down here to stare at you, so we’ll call it even. ”
Another female in blue scrubs suddenly bustled inside the chamber wheeling a supply cart. Her brown eyes met mine for a brief second, then nervously flicked away.
“Give them extra fluids, Miss Tindale,” Dr. Sloane said. “I can’t properly assess them when they’re this malnourished and dehydrated.”
“Yes, Dr. Sloane,” Miss Tindale hastily replied, parking her cart beside Brielle.
She focused on her first, situating an IV pole near her head that already held a few bags of fluids.
I tracked her every move, watching as her trembling hands prepared to inject a needle into Brielle’s arm.
A quiet growl left me, and the girl flinched, dropping the needle.
“For heavens’ sake, pull yourself together, Miss Tindale,” Dr. Sloane said with an exasperated sigh. “I know you’re new here, but he’s not going to scratch or bite you. At least not while he’s drugged and restrained like this.”
“Yes, Dr. Sloane,” the girl whispered and grabbed a fresh needle from the cart.
As she prepared to inject it, Brielle said, “You don’t have to do this.
” The girl startled again, flicking her wide eyes up to Brielle’s.
“I know you’re scared of us,” Brielle went on, her tone calm and soothing, “but we’re scared too.
I was human like you just last year. The treatment we’ve endured here is inhumane, and we just want to go home. ”
The girl hesitated, drawn to Brielle’s empathic nature like everyone else who met her. Her hands stopped shaking, her expression slightly softening.
“Miss Tindale,” Dr. Sloane snapped, making the girl jump again. “Muzzle the female and get on with your work. If you can’t do what needs to be done, I’ll be forced to let you go.”
The girl swiftly bobbed her head and placed the needle on the cart to grab something else.
It had two wide straps and connecting them together was what looked like a ball made of steel.
Positioning herself behind Brielle’s chair, she brought the contraption down level with Brielle’s mouth and pulled the straps back.
The move forced Brielle’s mouth open, and the steel ball settled between her teeth as the assistant tightly secured the straps behind her head.
A garbling sound left Brielle as she tried to spit out the ball, but the straps kept it firmly in place.
Rage leaked through my bloodstream, the sight of her muzzled almost more than I could bear.
Tightly fisting my hands, I slowly swung my gaze back to Dr. Sloane.
Now that her assistant was doing her job, she’d turned her attention to me again—rather, my body.
Unlike Brielle, they hadn’t bothered to put clothes on me.
In my shifted state, no clothing would have fit me anyway.
The doctor’s stare wasn’t sexual but purely clinical as she studied my naked form.
I was a specimen to her, nothing more. She focused on my legs for an extra long beat, taking in their definition, their strength.
Something that looked a lot like greed sparked in her eyes, there and gone again in a blink.
“So,” she said, lifting her gaze back to mine. “I’m sure you’re wondering why you’re here, but first, I’d like confirmation that the female is your mate and that you are indeed a werewolf hybrid.”
I didn’t respond, and her lips thinned.
“I’ll learn what I need to know whether you answer or not, but it’ll be a lot less stressful for you both if you cooperate.”
“You mean less painful?” I finally spoke, seeing the truth of it in her eyes.
“Yes, less painful. I don’t enjoy inflicting pain on my subjects, so if you answer my questions, I’ll have fewer invasive tests to run.”
“What kind of tests?”
She gave me a stern look. “I can see that you’re an alpha male, but I’m the one leading this conversation, not you. Now, I’ll ask you again. Is the female your mate?”
I stared at her for a long moment, my expression blank.
She stared right back, her gaze unyielding.
She had guts, I’d give her that, but her body was frail.
When the time was right, there was nothing she could do to stop me.
No matter what she knew about me, no matter what tests she performed, I would get us out of here soon enough.
“Yes,” I finally replied, and her lips tilted into a pleased smile.
“I assumed so based on the amount of sex you two had on the containment level. Is she pregnant?”
All the blood drained from my face. Alarm flickered through our bond, but I didn’t have any calm to share with Brielle this time.
Dr. Sloane studied us both thoughtfully before saying to me, “I know you’re highly protective of your mate.
You’ve killed two of my hired men and injured several more in your attempts to shield her from them.
Our containment level was built to restrain even the strongest supernaturals, but you nearly compromised one of the chambers in your need to protect your mate.
If human males were half that protective of their mates, maybe I’d still be married.
” She paused, then added, “Although I admire your efforts to keep her safe, the best way you can do that now is by cooperating. The more you resist, the more she will suffer.”
I briefly glanced at Brielle, taking in the torture device they called a muzzle and the needle now embedded in her arm that was hooked up to an IV bag.
The assistant was currently prepping Brielle’s stomach to insert a feeding tube, and I tore my gaze away before I could witness the needle penetrate her flesh.
Struggling to remain calm, I took a moment to collect myself before replying, “I don’t know.”
“You don’t know what?”
I fixed my gaze on Dr. Sloane and slowly enunciated, “I don’t know if she’s pregnant."
“No matter,” she said with a slight shrug. “If she is, we can easily take care of it.”
At the implication, the threat, my vision bled red.
Brielle garbled out a sound that resembled a sob, and I lost it. Before I could stop myself, I was fighting against my restraints and roaring, “Don’t touch her! Don’t touch her!”
Onyx immediately responded to my fury, rising up so swiftly that black fur erupted over my arms and legs. An unearthly bellow exploded from me, and Dr. Sloane’s eyes widened. Not in fear but in fascination. In excitement.
“Miss Tindale, the sedative. The sedative,” she yelled over my bellowing.
A loud metallic crash reached my ears as if the supply cart had just fallen over, followed by a panicked cry. I strained against the chest strap, only needing a few more inches of leverage. My claws shot out, scraping against the steel chair.
Save mate, save mate, save mate.
“Miss Tindale!”
The chest strap broke, and I strained forward, so close to freedom. So close to saving my mate. All I needed to do was—
Several sharp pops reported through the air, and I was suddenly on fire. I focused on the gun now in Dr. Sloane’s hand, then down to the darts sticking out of my chest. With another growl, I strained against the steel bands around my arms.
Pop, pop, pop.
More darts. More fire.
My body grew impossibly heavy, and I slumped back against the chair. The last thing I heard before losing consciousness was Brielle’s voice in my mind, screaming my name.