“I didn’t mean for it to come out quite that abruptly,” she said in a small voice.
Trey would have laughed if he didn’t think she’d take it the wrong way. So, instead, he dipped his head a little, catching her eyes. “You don’t have to try to explain this thing going on between us. I feel it. I’m in love with you, too. I have been for a long time. I was too scared to tell you how I feel because I was worried I’d chase you off.”
He had a second to see the look of relief on Samantha’s face, then she was leaning forward to kiss him, her lips soft and warm on his. He started to slip his tongue in for a taste when she suddenly tensed, her body going completely rigid as she let out a moan of pain.
Trey jerked back, snapping his head around to snarl at Rogi, even as he heard the hum coming from the collar around her neck. The ugly man had moved closer to the metal walls of their cage, the remote held higher in his hand.
“None of that now.” The asshat grinned. “Can’t have you biting your girlfriend and turning her into a werewolf like you. It might get in the way of what I plan to do with her when the doctor is done with you.”
Rogi gave Samantha another twisted grin, and Trey felt her shiver. He decided then and there that when he made his move to get them out of here, he was going to have to pay careful attention to Rogi. Something told him the man would go after Samantha the first chance he got.
Not wanting to risk Sam getting zapped again, Trey sat back a little, so the jackass with the remote could clearly see they weren’t up to anything. Rogi smirked and walked away again.
“How the hell are we going to get out of here?” Samantha whispered. “Rogi is watching us like a hawk, and it’s only going to get worse when Louis and Nadia come down here again.”
Trey shook his head. “I don’t know yet. We’ll have to play it by ear and be ready to make our move when the opportunity presents itself.”
He wished he could tell her that his teammates would provide backup, but while they were almost certainly out looking for him and Samantha, he wasn’t holding out much hope that they’d find them.
Samantha nodded, then glanced at Rogi with a worried look on her face. “What do we do until then?”
“We wait.” Trey gave her a small smile. “We could talk some more. At least that doesn’t get you shocked.”
“Okay, what do you want to talk about?” Samantha asked, leaning back against the stone wall of their cell but staying close enough so her leg was touching his.
There were about a hundred things Trey wanted to talk to her about—soul mates topping the list—but perhaps he should ease into that one.
“Maybe you could tell me about that blood sample you took from me and whether I need to worry about it coming back to haunt me later?”
Chapter 22
Samantha wiggled deeper into the warmth and comfort of Trey’s big, strong arms holding her close, a fuzzy part of her mind realizing she’d never felt so content and protected in her life. She supposed that was what it meant to be with the man you loved.
She slowly came awake with that thought bouncing around in her head, and even though she remembered exactly where they were and how desperate their situation might be, she still couldn’t stop a smile from crossing her face. She’d fallen in love in a week—with a werewolf.
Both of those things suggested there might be something seriously wrong with her. People in the real world didn’t fall in love this fast. Then again, for all she knew, a week could be on the slow side when it came to werewolf relationships. The only thing that really mattered was that it felt righter than anything she’d ever experienced.
Samantha lay there pressed up against Trey’s chest for a while, listening to his heart beat steady and strong under her, wondering if they could stay like this forever. Barely ten seconds later she got her answer in the form of shuffling footsteps and the sound of the basement door opening. Samantha pushed herself upright slowly, afraid Rogi might zap her again if she didn’t. He’d done it twice so far, and she wasn’t interested in going through that experience a third time.
The moment Samantha saw Louis and Nadia coming their way, her pulse began to race. Whatever her former boss had been planning was about to start. But as scared as she was for herself, Samantha realized the only thing she could think about right then was what they were planning to do to Trey. She’d just found him. Fate couldn’t let her lose him already.
She would fight for him. Even with the collar around her neck and Rogi’s hand on the remote, she wouldn’t let them hurt him. She had no idea what she’d do—fighting wasn’t exactly in her wheelhouse—but she’d damn well do something.
She tensed when Louis stopped in front of their cell, ready to attack the moment he opened the door. But after he simply stood there without saying or doing anything, his eyes appraising, Samantha had no choice but to take a deep breath and do her best to calm down. There wasn’t any other choice.
“I have to wonder if even you have any idea how incredibly unique your DNA happens to be,” Louis said to Trey, holding up a large test tube filled with a greenish liquid. It wasn’t quite as vivid and bright as the stuff he’d injected in Kyson earlier, but it was definitely similar. “Your healing abilities alone could drive my research for the next decade. I mean, the levels of wound healing hyaluronic acid, Lysine, and exotic collagen synthesizers in your blood are like nothing I’ve ever seen before. And the number of platelets, thrombin, and fibrinogen your body created in response to the wounds I caused should be impossible. Though they would explain the clotting and near instantaneous scaring I witnessed. It makes me wonder what would happen if I slit your throat. Would your body heal the wound before you bled out?”
Samantha had already known her former boss was certifiably insane. He’d been experimenting on Kyson, causing unimaginable pain, as well as mutilating corpses from the institute and killing innocent people simply to harvest more parts for his research. She shouldn’t be stunned anymore. But the casual way he’d mentioned cutting Trey’s throat merely to see if he’d die of blood loss before he could heal was beyond evil.
Louis turned away, as if bored with the conversation, walking over to Kyson.
“Leave him alone,” Trey said, the words coming out in a low growl even as he reached clawed hands for the metal grating of the cage door.
“Rogi,” Louis said casually.
A fraction of a second later, every muscle in Samantha’s body contracted at once and pain gripped her. She knew she was falling, even as a part of her mind curiously noted the violent tingles as the electricity from the collar vibrated through the fillings in her teeth.
Then, as fast as the attack came, it ended, and Samantha found herself in Trey’s strong arms, knowing she would have been flat on the floor if he hadn’t caught her. He murmured soft, soothing words, telling her to sit down for a moment, but she resisted. She needed to see what Louis was doing to Kyson. Legs trembling, she stood with Trey’s help. Had Rogi hit her with the collar’s full power? It terrified her to think that he hadn’t.