Primal Claim (4 page)

Dani let out a whoop and eased back onto the main part of the gravel road. She was smart enough to not go balls out, but pushed the speed as much as she could before she risked losing too much control on the loose surface. They would be following her, there was no doubt. Madame G, in her haste, created an obstacle with the tree that would only delay her pursuers.

Dani screamed as a dark shadow landed on the hood. Fishtailing, she frantically tried to gain control. A sinister, pale face was baring fangs through the windshield. The vampire pulled his arm back to smash the glass. His strength would be enough to shatter the glass and pull her through. If he got a hold of her, it was over.

She slammed on the brakes, risking more fishtailing. Agent What’s-His-Letter flew off, stunned. As she slammed on the gas again, she punched the window control lowering the glass, and pulled her gun loose. Speeding forward, she aimed for the body that was righting itself in the middle of the road.

Grateful for Agent X and Agent E and their thorough training with sidearms, she held the gun out the window with her left hand and fired off a shot. The male snarled at her, spun around and crouched, preparing to attack the car again. She hit him square on, his body flinging backward. The car shook and heaved when it ran over the rolling vampire in the middle of the road.

Outrunning Madame G’s unnatural storm, and the dark form in the middle of the road, Dani didn’t slow a bit. The vampire was only stunned and would continue his attack if she was close enough. They couldn’t fly like birds, but with their super speed, he could catch up and land on a moving target. She was almost to the main road, which was paved, so she felt if she could make it there, not even vampire speed would be enough.

Slowing only slightly, Dani turned onto the main road, almost losing control but recovered quickly. Glancing down the gravel road she had just turned off of, she could see headlights. They were after her. Sigma favored dark sedans and SUVs: sedans were inconspicuous and the bigger vehicles could get deep into the woods to dump bodies, and dark colors didn’t show bloodstains as badly. They wouldn’t be as fast as her ride though. Agent T and his sports car fetish were an asset to her freedom.

Praying she would pass no cops tonight, Dani traversed the desolate backroads to Freemont. The headlights behind her stayed in the distance as she reached the outskirts of town. Slowing only to prevent an accident, Dani sped through the city heading south, aiming for the last bridge crossing the river that separated Freemont from West Creek. Pale Moonlight was on the outskirts of town and was the most likely place she’d find shifters. The most likely place she’d find Guardians. X was right, they would fiercely protect their young – if she could convince them she carried one. Madame G wasn’t omnipotent, but no one knew the bounds of her powers or the well she drew them from. Dani only knew the storm she had seen tonight, the one that
attacked
her, was a helluva feat and she could only guess what dark entity Madame G sold her soul to for those powers.

No one had caught up to her yet as she crossed the river and maneuvered through West Creek. It wasn’t as large and sprawling as the city she’d just left, but Dani wasn’t as familiar with the layout. Her last three years were spent mostly on the road, returning to Sigma’s Freemont compound only to regroup and restock ammo before taking off again. That wasn’t the norm for most recruits. They were utilized in the field for the more foolhardy missions, but those showing potential were groomed and trained.

Not Dani. Part of her deal when she signed on was hunting the males that destroyed her life. Killing her family in front of her eyes, laughing as they’d tried to run from the feral shifters. They’d gunned her dad down and were chasing Dani and her mother when the distant sirens signaled help was on the way. Showing no mercy, intending to leave no witnesses, they decided to shoot the women and be gone before help arrived. During the shower of bullets, Dani’s mom had thrown herself over her daughter, saving her from the life-ending barrage.

When the police arrived, they found Dani pinned under her mother’s limp body, bleeding from superficial wounds. Her mom had taken the bullets meant for both of them, saving her child like a mother was supposed to do. Like Dani was doing tonight. Like X said, she felt the life inside of her, and needed no pink line to tell her. Madame G made the mistake of thinking that a shifter’s young would gladly be turned over when the due date was up. This baby was all hers, regardless of paternity. And like the young’s grandmother, Dani was prepared to die protecting it. Refuge with the Guardians was the first step, then they would need to figure out what Madame G had invested in this child and if she had doctored the sperm sample before inseminating Dani.

The club’s sign was coming up, Dani needed to think about the rest of her plan. It had originally been to get to Pale Moonlight, find a shifter, and demand to see the Guardians. They had to be there. She heard stories of The Den. A hot streak of anger shot through her. What if she found the Guardians,
her Guardian
, and he was doing exactly what he’d done with Janice? Pounding began in her ears, the anger morphing to rage. What was this? She’d never even met the father of her baby – didn’t know what he looked like, but the thought of him touching another female incited her to homicidal levels. She was only weeks into her pregnancy, how was she going to last months?

First, she had to survive tonight. The club was still going strong, the door opened and two forms wandered out, looking down the road in her direction. Damn. Of course they had spies on the shifters, and those spies were notified about the recruit in the red Mustang needing apprehending. She should’ve jacked another car in Freemont.

Hitting the gas she flew past the club. The Guardian headquarters was supposed to be south of town. Maybe her mediocre lucky streak would continue and she would come across them while outrunning the men that had just jumped into a dark sedan and were in pursuit.

Dani ducked as low as she could and still drive. They were shooting at her. Must be aiming at the tires. They’d face a punishment worse than death if they killed her. But at these speeds, a blown out tire could kill her.

The Mustang kept flying forward farther away from town with the men close behind. Dani didn’t dare turn onto any side roads, didn’t dare risk losing control on the gravel roads, didn’t dare risk slowing down

A pop and more fishtailing had her slamming on the breaks. They’d gotten a tire. If she could stop this thing without killing herself, maybe she could take them. She’d never been in the field alone before, but most Sigma Agents just saw her as a recruit, forgetting she had three years of field training by two of the best Agents under Madame G. Most recruits didn’t really know her at all. She didn’t know these men chasing her, but they didn’t know her either and she could use that to her advantage.

The car whipped around before screeching to a halt on the deserted blacktop. No other cars were insight, just her and the dark sedan she was now facing. They came to a stop pretty close to her and were getting out, weapons drawn, shouting orders.

Opening the door and climbing out Dani kept her right arm hanging limp facing away from the men, like it was injured. Their headlights shone in her eyes and she held her other hand up. Time to play helpless female.

“You...you gotta help me!” she stuttered.

“Stop! Put your hands up,” one of the men ordered.

Almost clear of the hood of her car, she had only seconds before she needed to act. The men were both coming around the protection of their respective car doors, giving her a good shot. Whipping her right hand up and taking aim, she dropped the man closest to her with a head shot and turned on the other who shouted in outrage and charged her, knocking the gun out of her hand before she squeezed off a second shot.

He pushed her back onto the hood, wrestling with her. They would’ve rolled off onto the ground, but the vampire had left a nice dent that Dani was stuck in. She couldn’t get a good purchase on anything, her feet dangling above the ground. Her attacker was trying to get her wrists together to cuff her. She fought like an animal, snarling and biting anything that came close to her mouth, using her legs in any way possible to kick and squirm, but her strength was failing fast against her larger opponent. He probably hadn’t been sick in bed for the last two weeks.

A large black shadow crossed her vision, lifting the weight of the man she’d been struggling against with it. She was jerked forward since he still had hold of her wrists, but broke free quickly and rolled off the side of the hood. Peeking over the front of the car, she took in the scene before her.

In an eerie almost complete silence, a large black wolf with streaks of silver gleaming over the fur in the headlights, quickly dispatched the man who had been subduing her only seconds before. The only sounds were grunts and gurgles, until the man’s movements ceased altogether. The wolf lifted his head from the man’s neck and swung to face her, mouth drawn up in a snarl, blood dripping from his fangs.

Dani was entranced. Each small movement the wolf made, sent ripples of silver through the dark fur. His snout lifted, sniffing the air. The eyes that watched her gleamed with predatory reflection, flashing the same shade of dark silver that rippled through the fur.

Father
.

The word whispered through her mind. Her baby was only a bundle of cells. X said some expectant mothers,
shifter
mothers, felt a mental connection with the child they carried. She was human and only in the earliest stages of pregnancy. Did Madame G do something to either of them to create a bond this strong?

A low growl rumbled through his body as she rose to standing. On four legs, he was taller than waist height, and thick in the shoulders and chest. Shifters were larger than standard wolves, Guardians even bigger. He was massive.

“Are you the one they call Mercury?”

No longer snarling, he tilted his head to the side and closed his eyes as if letting her voice wash over him. He opened his eyes, the pools of silver regarding her carefully. She watched in fascination as rich, dark fur transformed to smooth skin in front of her eyes.

Her eyes wide, she followed his form as he stood to his full height. Taller than her by a good eight inches, he wasn’t as tall as she heard most Guardians were. At probably six-one or two, any perceived lack of height was made up for in width. Wide muscular shoulders were set on top an equally wide and well-muscled chest and back, tapering down with rippling abs into heavily-muscled legs. He was also completely naked. Not being an admirer of naked man parts, she had to admit, his size was impressive...all over.

Forcing herself to look into his eyes, she was mesmerized. They hadn’t changed as he changed into his human form, gleaming silver in the dark depths. His hair was dark like his wolf’s fur had been, his strong, square jaw clenched. Nostrils flared, he was still scenting the air.

She licked her suddenly dry lips, the movement capturing his complete attention. Her only hope was with the Guardians. Their headquarters wasn’t top secret, but she heard no one had been able to enter it since these Guardians set up shop. Sigma could barely
find
it, and only knew the approximate location. But anyone searching for it would get turned around and lost for days. A couple of months ago, she heard four recruits were sent to these woods, loaded for bear – wolves in this case, and were never seen or heard from again.

“Are you Mercury?” she asked again.

“Who the fuck are you and why do you smell like you’re carrying my baby?”

Mercury growled. He couldn’t stop it before it rumbled through his chest. The onslaught of emotions and questions stampeded through his mind. He took in the woman before him. Human, there was no doubt. Not enhanced, but what job she held in Sigma he didn’t know. He would, however, find out. Her fine-boned, almost regal face had him wondering if she’d led a privileged life. She had full pink lips and long dark brown hair, almost as dark as her eyes. Eyes a guy could get lost in. They held many of her emotions in check, but he could see the flickers of feelings moving deep inside. She was scared, but determined.

The little slip of human squared off in front of him. She smelled of blood (someone else’s) and death, but it wasn’t hard to get to her scent underneath it all. Womanly and refreshing, she smelled crisp like citrus. Like she should be just as naked as he, lying on a beach, sipping mojitos and soaking up rays.

She also smelled like him. Faint undertones of Mercury laced her scent. That only happened when a woman was with child, with a shifter’s child, in this case...his child. That was impossible.

“I
am
carrying your baby,” she replied.

“Impossible,” he said simply. And it was

Her eyes took on an accusatory note. “Please, I’ve heard of you Guardians. Did you not think there were no consequences for playing like you do?”

He raised his eyebrows at her tone. Play?

“And you’re saying we
played
together?”

She shook her head and nervously looked around. “Redhead, big boobs, couple of months ago? Janice?”

At his blank look she continued, “Madame G sent her in to, ah, harvest from you and inseminate me, somehow thinking I could bear your young. Look, I will gladly tell you everything I know once we get somewhere safe. She wants me back, bad. They’ll find me.”

He stood, in all his bare glory, regarding her silently. She seemed edgy, shifting from foot to foot, glancing repeatedly down the highway with dread anticipation.

Finally, he spoke, “Why do you smell like a dead Agent?”

“Cuz I had to kill one to get out of there,” she said matter-of-factly.

“Are you an Agent?”

“No.”

“Recruit?”

“No. I told you. Somehow, Madame G knew I could get pregnant by you and kept me captive until she had what she needed from you.”

She looked down the road again and he smelled her fear. Risking a quick glance himself, he saw headlights in the distance. Quickly deliberating, it might indeed be Sigma, he decided he needed to find out the truth so she had to come with him.