“A little for you so you do not follow me,” she said, then withdrew it and lifted him up with one hand to toss him onto the bed where he backed into a corner like the coward he was.
“And you get rest,” she said to the man who’d planned to give the whole dose to her. She rolled his body over and shoved the needle into his shoulder, depressing it until it was empty. She left it sticking out of him as she stumbled out and closed the cage door behind her.
It sealed twice with a satisfactory click that said it was locked.
Katarina stumbled a bit as she moved forward to the room exit. On the wall was a switch, probably what the cowardly guy had been searching for. She flicked it and heard the cage hum again.
“Ha… I do not need Agent Nano Wolf to save me. I make my own escape.”
When she looked back at the cage, both men were still and unmoving. She opened the room door carefully. In one direction, she heard voices coming out of other rooms. That was definitely not the way out. But through a small opening in the door at the other end of the hallway, she saw a night sky with stars.
“Thank you, Ghost of Nicolai. You are greatest spirit protector in whole world.”
She started toward the exit door only to stumble and fall to floor. Her knees didn’t work. The tranquilizer was affecting her. She refused to let it stop her from leaving.
Katarina crawled to the wall and pulled herself up. Using the wall as both prop and guide, she moved along it until she finally got to the door. Beyond it was freedom.
Summoning what strength she could, she pushed the door open wide. She slipped out, relieved when the door clicked and seemed to double-lock itself behind her.
She felt righteous until an ear-splitting alarm went off that vibrated the air around the building.
“If this is joke, Nicolai, it is not very funny,” Katarina grumbled.
Well, at least she’d gotten out.
Hearing men yelling inside the building, Katarina knew they’d soon see she was missing.
Taking a deep breath, she ignored her wavering vision and summoned the last of her strength as she ran off into the night.
Resigned to not sleeping for a couple of days, Reed climbed a tree to rest his legs while he did his first nightly surveillance. Brandi said if the abductors were typical, they’d likely move any hostages they had in a day or two. Moving them frequently lowered the risk of someone stealing them before they handed them over and got their pay.
Leaning against a sturdy limb, he watched the building. Before the sun had gone down, men came and went with regularity. Some came out to smoke and talk. Others exited to walk around the area with guns. None lingered outside for long.
From what he could tell, they posted no guards. Did that make them arrogant? Or did they not worry about Katarina escaping? He remembered her recounting that Travis had kept her unconscious for the entire trip from Russia to America.
He must have blinked while he was pondering because the door appeared to open briefly, but he didn’t see anyone exit through the small crack it had made. When the alarms went off, he straightened on the limb and watched more closely. Something was moving through the tall grass of the field between him and them. It was struggling and short of breath, but steadily moving.
Intending to investigate, Reed leapt from the tree and landed softly on the ground beneath it, thanking his native ancestors for installing human survival skills in their offspring. Some wolves were too arrogant to worry about protecting their human side. Reed had learned the hard way to appreciate every ounce of his affinity with whatever land he found himself in.
He lowered to a crouch and headed for the moving object. He lifted his head and sniffed. Whatever it was smelled like medicine, which was too strange to think about for long or he’d want to run the other way. Pondering whether to shift to his wolf, he lifted his head when he heard the distinct sounds of wolves running and panting.
Yes. Wolves like him, Reed decided. They were running toward the object in the grass as well. He knew of no creature fit to eat that smelled like medicine. That meant the wolves were going after their prey for another reason.
With only a thought, Reed instantly shifted to wolf form. He was tall as the grass but moved soundlessly as he walked into it. Ahead of him, there was a distinct thud as something hit the ground, and then some swearing—swearing he recognized.
Katarina…
His wolf lunged forward with purpose now. Why did she smell like human medicine? Was she harmed? The thought of her being hurt dropped a red haze over his eyes. Reed growled low in warning to the other wolves closing in.
He didn’t know who they were, but he knew he would do whatever it took to stop them from hurting her again.
Katarina heard wolves running behind her. The wind was against her but she didn’t need to smell them to know who they were. Human guards were probably confused and wondering where to search, but her evil father and Clone Joshua were closing in.
She willed her body to rise and run, but her legs refused to obey the command.
They would capture her. She was too weak to prevent it. After all she’d done to escape the bastards, they would drag her back to the cage anyway. How could this be fair?
She pounded the ground in frustration and pushed herself to her knees.
Halfway up now. Just a little more.
When she got up again, she would run. She would run and never look back.
Then she looked ahead and saw him—a giant black wolf with glittering green eyes running toward her. It was like in her dream. And he was staring at her—staring like he’d been searching for her.
Maybe she was asleep and didn’t know it. Maybe the dream was that she’d gotten away.
“Reed,” she whispered, his name raspy in her throat.
The black wolf with green eyes closed in on her, but instead of stopping, he leapt over her and landed three feet away.
She was on her knees and looking at nothing. So much for dreams.
“Idiot,” she whispered to herself as she fell face first into the grass.
Every strand of black fur on his body rose like porcupine quills as he braced for those coming. He bared his fangs and snarled at the wolves who skidded to a stop to stare in shock at him.
Reed pulled on his inner beast to make him intimidating to them. His skin tingled and stretched. He sent out his thoughts to scare them.
This is my female. You will not take her. Challenge me and die.
One wolf shifted immediately to human. Reed lifted his head and howled his pain into the dark.
The remaining wolf narrowed his gaze on the shifted one.
Reed watched coldly as his grandson, Joshua, turned to the silver and black wolf.
“This is my grandfather. I refuse to fight him. He always wins.”
The other man shifted to human as well. He was tall and broad with a black beard streaming from his chin. “Trus. Idiot. How do you say it in English… coward? Yes—coward! You betrayed your pack. Do you think grandfather can spare you now? Fight alongside me and you have chance.”
Joshua looked at his grandfather and bowed his head. “I was only trying to make money to leave the pack. I did not know you cared about the female they captured. Spare my life and I will lead the humans away from you so you can escape.”
Reed nodded his head once and then watched another traitorous grandson shift to wolf and run away.