Cold Moon Rising: A New Adult Paranormal Romance (Cry Wolf) (4 page)

CHAPTER SEVEN

Kelly

I couldn’t believe my eyes. How had Jacob gotten brought into all this? While I’d really wanted to see him again, this wasn’t what I’d had in mind. Now we were both stuck in this place to be some crazy scientist’s guinea pigs, the model for their new super soldiers.

Jacob stared down at me, his nostrils flared. He let his gaze trail down my body. Lust burned in his eyes for a brief moment, then he shook his head as if chasing those thoughts away. He dropped to his knees in front of me. “Are you okay?”

“Fuck me. Please.” The ache between my legs was almost physically painful. If he didn’t give me release, I would wither and die from the overbearing torment. It was almost as if I was an animal in heat.

He pressed a fingertip against my lips. “No, it’ll be different from that. I’ll make love to you. However, I need to get you to safety first.”

I wanted to scream in frustration, not wanting him to deny my request. An animalistic growl rumbled in my throat. “Now.” My voice was gravelly and alien from how I normally sounded.

Jacob jerked away from me. Horror widened his eyes, and it smelled like a fine perfume. However, unlike the scientist, his pulse didn’t accelerate much. “What did they do to you?” He shook his head. “Never mind that. We need to figure out how to get out of here. Do you understand?”

Emotions welled in my chest, and tears rolled down my cheeks. I didn’t want it to be this way, but I nodded. “Even if we escape, they know where I live.” I looked him in the eye, despair wrecking my insides. “They did something to me. I’m different.”

“It’s going to be okay, Kelly. I’ll make sure they never find you again, and I’m different too.”

My mouth dropped open, and I stared up at him. “What are you?”

“We’ll talk about it later, okay?”

“Promise me?” I tugged my lower lip between my teeth, surprised to find that my lip no longer hurt from biting into it so hard earlier. My body was healing at amazing rates.

Shedding his shirt, he handed it to me. I marveled at his sculpted chest, wanting to run my hands all over that muscular expanse. The burning desire inside me didn’t need more fuel to fan the flames.

“I promise. Put that on. It might not cover a lot, but I don’t want them seeing you naked.” When I was clothed, he pulled me into his arms, resting his chin on the top of my head. Anger vibrated in his strong grip, but somehow I knew he would never do anything to hurt me. He lowered his voice so that I could barely hear him. “There are others like me. Others that will look for me.”

“How do you know they’d think to look for you here?” I pushed back from him just enough to look into his eyes.

The muscle in his jaw ticked, and he glanced out over my head again. “I know because I... I just have to believe we won’t die here. Or worse. If we could get to my car, I could get my phone and call my brother.”

He had family. Someone who cared about him. Yes! We might actually survive this. No one would care if I made it out, alive or not, except for Jacob, and he was right here with me. The fact he had someone who cared for him meant we might actually be rescued, especially if that someone was a shapeshifter. Hope wasn’t pointless.

“I just don’t know how we’ll manage that.” Jacob pulled away from me and inspected the bars. He grabbed them and the muscles in his back and arms flexed with the strain as he tried bending them. “These bars are not prison quality.” He glanced back at me, grimacing. “Please don’t ask.” He closed the distance between us and then leaned against the concrete wall next to me. “Even with both of us trying, I can’t see how we’d be able to break out of here unless the scientist gets close again.”

“The last time he got that close I attacked him. I doubt he’ll do that again.”

“Maybe, maybe not. I guess it depends on if we give him a reason to or not.” He ran a hand through his blond hair, and I wanted to do the same to him. I wanted him to fulfill my needs, so we could forget about what was going on around us. Besides, it didn’t look like either of us would be getting out of here anytime soon.

His nostrils twitched, and he shot a look my way. Hunger flashed through his eyes, and I knew he wanted me as badly as I wanted him, if not more. “We can’t, Kelly. What if someone—” He trembled with effort, and his jaw clenched and unclenched, then he closed the distance between us. His mouth descended on mine, and we toppled to flat mattress, my hands racing to memorize every inch of his body.

Jacob pushed up, holding himself above me. “I won’t be able to stop once we start. If you don’t want this—” He froze, and I heard him inhale. “You’re a wolf. They made you a were—”

“No more talking.” I pulled at his belt, and the snap of leather breaking made me wince. “Sorry, I’ll buy you a new one if we ever get out of here.”

He chuckled, humor lit his eyes. “Let me handle the rest. Just sayin’. I need these pants or we’ll both be naked.” The unzipping of his zipper was a glorious sound. On a good day, Jacob was heavenly, but now, I wanted him more than I’d ever wanted anything in my life.

He leaned in and kissed me, taking my breath away. His hands slid up the shirt I wore, caressing my breasts, and I felt the press of his cock against my belly.

I wrapped my arms and legs around him, not willing to let him back out now. I pushed against him, needing to feel him inside me. While I’d wanted him earlier this evening, my desire for him now was a palpable, choking thing like trying to breathe water.

The feeling of him impaling me sent shivers down my spine and I moaned, not caring if we were locked away in this cage. The guards and scientist were out of sight, and my senses only picked up Jacob and myself, no one else.

“You’re so tight and wet. God. I don’t want to hurt you.” Jacob’s voice was a low rumble, and for a moment, it all made sense. He was a werewolf. He had to be. His eyes when we’d made out, his strength, the fact he’d found me.

“You won’t hurt me. I’m like you.” I smiled at him, meeting him stroke for delicious stroke.

“You figured it out?”

“Yeah.” My voice broke as a wave of pleasure crashed into me. Talking was not an option, and apparently, Jacob felt the same way. He brushed his lips against my throat, pounding into me until climax poised for the strike. I curled my toes, always hearing about how sex could be this great but never knowing for myself.

His eyes glowed amber as if possessed by the beast inside him, a beast I was fast becoming more aware of. While I couldn't suppress the fear that I was something of folklore and horror movies, maybe it would help us out of this situation... and bridge the gap between Jacob and me.

Faint voices caught my attention, and I strained to hear between the smacking of flesh and our feverish moans of pleasure.

"Perhaps, I underestimated you, Dr. Peacock. You may have found the secret behind what we need to reach our goal of super soldiers. Most of our specimens have a visible mark providing possible evidence that they were turned. Except, I don't see one on him. This couple could have a child that's more resilient than what we've witnessed, and it'll be teachable. This could be what we've been missing." A door closed in an adjoining room. The window was a one-way mirror. They were watching us.

How could I have been that stupid? Just because I couldn’t smell them didn’t mean they weren’t there. Part of me wanted to push Jacob off me. Knowing we were being watched made me feel vulnerable, helpless, violated.

Jacob gripped my chin hard, forcing me to stare at him. “Keep your eyes on me, babe. Only on me.”

My eyes widened. He heard what they were saying too. Yet—

“Put them out of your mind. Come for me. I know you’re close. I feel your thighs quivering against my hips.” Jacob brushed his lips over mine. “You’re beautiful, and you’re mine.”

Pleasure ripped through me like a beast with jagged claws. The intensity of it forced a scream from me until my throat hurt. The orgasm flooded through me, wave after wave until I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to stand again.

Jacob all but collapsed on top of me, his hot seed filling me. I wrapped my arms around him, caressing the back of his head and pressing kisses against his neck. Now the scientists had ammunition to hurt us both.

They could do whatever it was they did to one or both of us. Kill, experiment, maim. Jacob was my strength and my weakness. I’d do whatever I could to make sure he was safe, and I knew he’d do the same thing for me. Just the fact he was here proved that.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Jacob

The words spoken from the other room haunted me. These men were researching my kind in hopes of building a super soldier. My chest ached at the thought of becoming one of their test subjects, having children for them to mold into hopeless monsters.

Like I’d told her, we couldn’t pay attention to them right now.

My lust was sated, for now, but I needed to shift before the wolf ripped me open, forcing the change. The moon was nearly at its zenith. I could feel it in my bones.

Not only did I have to worry about myself now, but I needed to make sure Kelly shifted. The first time was always the most painful.

I brushed her hair aside and nibbled her earlobe. “Babe? They’re gone. Take off your shirt. You need to shift forms now. We both do.”

Kelly jerked in my arms like I’d just told her something shocking. Maybe it was. I’d never been human. This was always my life. Like the scientist said, I was born into being a werewolf, not changed.

“What… no. I can’t.” She tried to push me off her and run, but I’d been around other new wolves. I could handle this, I hoped. With time running out, I couldn’t be sure.

“Yes, you can. Just breathe deeply. Relax your mind and get on your hands and knees like this.” I knelt next to her and took a few deep breaths. If I relaxed too much, my careful control might slip. I didn’t want to dominate Kelly into changing. That made the experience even more painful and scary.

She mimicked my position, but her body shook. There was no way she’d safely do this if she didn’t calm down. One of the many dangers of a bad shift was being caught between forms. If the Pack were with us, the Alpha would be able to help the trapped wolf through his connection to the wolves. However, I highly doubted, I’d be able to offer her that.

My muscles spasmed in a sudden punch. The wolf was tired of waiting.

My jaw ached as it lengthened into a muzzle and sharper teeth protruded from my gums, pushing out my human teeth. One moment, my eyes saw better than humanly possible, the next I had my wolf’s keen eye sight. Everything was different, sharper.

My spine lengthened, and I took deep breaths, trying to gain control and relax. The pain eased a little as the prickle of fur protruding from my skin swept over my body. I held on tight, focusing on each body part at a time, until the transformation was complete.

A small yelp sounded beside me, and I turned to see Kelly with her back pressed against the wall. She clutched her arms around her, and her eyes were wide. For a moment, she smelled like prey because of the fear wafting from her.

Mate.

I growled and jerked my head to the mattress. I wished this had been different, but struggling with my beast for control put her at risk. She needed to change in case my restraint slipped. While I doubted I’d hurt her, I wanted her to be safe.

Instead of her doing as I’d asked, she slid further away from me.

Lunging for her, I tried to stop myself, but the wolf gripped the reins. Within a matter of seconds, I gripped Kelly by the back of the neck, pinning her against the mattress. Dominance. My beast was trying to help.

She froze beneath me, her breath coming out in harsh pants. “Jacob, I can’t. I tried. Maybe I’m not a werewolf after all.”

My jaws squeezed a little harder, but I loosened my grasp.

She took deep breaths, but her body wasn’t relaxing. While she had every right to be scared, she had to push the fear aside and focus.

“This reminds me of Twilight for some reason.” She burst into laughter, but derision laced the sound. “Hey, your name is Jacob too.”

I snarled, my tolerance for joking around nil. This wasn’t a laughing matter.

Her body buckled, and she cried out. “No, what’s happening? Ahh!”

The scent of her fear rose to terror, and I hated that she was going through the shift this way. I released her, not wanting to distract her from what was to come. Her body jerked at odd angles, and tore itself apart with a crippling ferocity.

“Jacob! I—” Her words broke into a whimper. Minute after agonizing minute, she transformed from a beautiful woman to a stunning wolf with white and grey fur. She laid on the mattress, frozen as if unsure what to do.

I licked her muzzle to comfort her, then curled up beside her. She rested her chin on my back and whined. Everything in me wanted to run wild through the forest with her, but we were locked in this cage as wolves on display.

The closing of a door drew my attention to the one-way mirror.

“Good job, Dr. Peacock. Seems you were right about these two. They will make an excellent addition to our program. Ah, the possibilities. We’ll need to monitor them since we haven’t witnessed their natural mating behavior before. I wonder if they will become more territorial, or perhaps, more aggressive? Those would be excellent traits for our infiltration programs.”

“Thank you, Dr. Zeaman. Now that they have mated, they might proceed with more aggressive behavior, but I’m not sure that the traits would be beneficial to our program. The military prefers male subjects. Then again, in this day and age, who knows?” He cleared his throat. “To be safe, I would like to have fluid samples from her. Let’s start with the blood work and seminal fluids first, and move to a spinal tap afterward. I would very much like to see those hormone levels.”

“Not sure I agree with you, but we should see the results. If she’s as powerful as we think she is, this might be a perfect match.” Papers shuffled in the other room. “Keep up this level of work, and you’ll be on your way to the top. Disappoint me, and we won’t be as generous. Ask the right questions or none at all.”

I moved from where I laid and put myself between Kelly and the door. That made nuzzling her and watching the entrance a little harder but not impossible.

“Get the tranquilizers ready. There’s much to do. I need a team ready in the lab for blood and fluid samples. Have a team obtain them and send them to me. I’ll be expecting the results within the hour,” Dr. Zeaman said dryly before the sound of his voice vanished with the loud bang of a heavy door.

A few moments later, heavy footsteps clomped toward the door to our room. Peacock had spent little time in following his orders. While I knew they were trying to study their new subject, their tests were invasive. She was my mate, and no one would touch her unless I couldn’t stop them.

Tranquilizers. The thought of being unable to protect her after all she had been through angered me.

The door opened, revealing a few guards and what looked like a lab technician. Without a word they walked toward the cage. Nervous sweat poured off of them. I pulled my lips back from my teeth, instinctively, warning them to stay away from us, but they paid me no heed.

The guard closest to me loaded a dart into his long barreled rifle.

There was little I could do to keep either of us safe, but the beast inside me refused to listen. I darted to the edge of the cage before the rifle loudly fired. To their ears, it was no more than a puff of pressurized air leaving the barrel, but to me, it sounded like a shotgun blast. The world slowed down as the dart struck me in the chest.

A haze clouded my vision, my legs felt heavy as if I were trudging through water, weak and slow. A second dull thud followed the first, and Kelly slumped to the old mattress.

My mate.

Before my eyelids became too heavy to hold open, I threw myself at the cage’s bars, snarling to keep them away. Even as the first zap from the cattle prod hit me, I never backed down from my duty of guarding her.

The struggle was over before I could do much more. Two more darts smacked into my torso. The slow-motion action before my eyes was replaced by a veil of darkness as my last bit of strength failed me, and I fell limp to the floor.