Primitive Fix (14 page)

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

By sundown, Nik was unable to control his rage and panic. Something was wrong. He could feel it on the air as easily as he knew his own name. She should have been back by now, even though she slipped away without letting him know. A trip to town could not possibly take twelve hours. Even if it had, his instincts told him something had happened to her.

His stomach twisted in a knot as the beast inside him refused to stay hidden. He’d been fighting this off all day, each time panic gripped him, each time his breathing grew shallow. Now, there was no way to stop the change. It was coming, and it was going to be complete. This would be the first time he had fully turned back into a tiger since Juliette had saved his life. He knew his instincts would kick in, his animal senses would guide him to her, would take him back to civilization. All he had to do was trust them and let them lead him.

Hitting his knees when the first pain shot through his body, he began tearing his shirt off, knowing it would be ruined in the process of transforming. He already felt the layer of fur begin to grow on his skin, the black and white covering every part of him that was human. His hands were next, his fingers elongating into sharp points, then shrinking back until they became paws equipped with deadly claws. His knees buckled, then bent. The muscles in his legs swollen to the point of pain, he lay on the floor and waited for the change to work its way through his body.

Squeezing his eyes closed, he breathed in all the scents of the cabin, let them wash around him, let Juliette seep into his mind. He would find her. There was no other option. When he opened his eyes, he was no longer human, his sight sharpened by his cat instincts. Stalking to the bedroom, he dragged in her scent, let her perfume settle into his brain. Then he turned back to the front door and threw his body against it, forcing it to open.

The ground was wet and soft beneath his paws as he sniffed the air, searching for any sign of her, letting his intuition and his animal brain guide him. There. He could feel her somewhere to the right, knew she’d gone in that direction. Without hesitating, he began running, the tiger’s legs carrying him faster than he would have ever been able to carry himself as a man. Pushing aside the plants tangling this way and that through the swamp, ignoring the water as it coated his fur, sending a chill through him, he continued on. This was the way he had come that night that felt like so long ago. His prison was somewhere beyond the swamp, and he knew Juliette was out there too.

A million possible scenarios ran through his mind as he made his way through the swamps. There was no way of knowing what had gone wrong or if she had in fact been taken, but his instincts told him she had. There was no way she would have left him the way she had and stayed gone for so long. She would have known how worried he would be. She cared for him, there was no doubt about it. And he knew she was not running from him.

If they hurt her, he would kill them. Rip them to shreds with his claws, tear their insides out. Part of him wanted to do that anyway just to pay them back for what they’d already done to her, for the scars she bore inside and out. They had forced her to do unspeakable things, things she hadn’t fully been able to explain to him, but things he understood just the same. When she breathed in his soul, he got a glimpse of hers, and he knew there was nothing sinister inside her. She would have never harmed those people if she’d been given a choice.

Finding the highway, he kept in the shadows, keeping a steady pace just off the side of the road. It wouldn’t do him any good to be captured again, and he was pretty sure there was a reward out for him, a bounty on his head. Sniffing the air, he knew when he was close to the truck stop where he’d spent all those lonely months, thinking he would never have his freedom again. He knew too well how it felt to be held prisoner, how it felt to do things against your will. He would not allow that to happen to Juliette again.

Nik didn’t know exactly how long he had been walking when he picked up her scent, stronger than it’d been before. He knew she had been here. Looking up, he realized what was ahead of him—humans. Even though the parking lot was deserted, it being very late at night, he was sure there were security cameras on the lot. Still, he knew she had been here, could feel her as well as smell her, and he smelled a thousand other scents as well, but the one that permeated his brain was the scent of his soul mate, the woman he was going to spend the rest of his life with. He just had to get her back.

Taking a chance, he stepped out of the shadows and onto the pavement. The asphalt was hard against his paws as he slowed his gait in order to pinpoint her location.
There.
He moved forward, making his way across the lot to a stack of bags that had been abandoned. Nudging them with his nose, he found they were empty, but they carried her scent as strongly as if she were standing in front of him. These were hers, and for whatever reason, she had abandoned them. Someone else had taken what was inside them and discarded them like garbage.

Letting out a roar, he continued to sniff the area, searching for any sign of her direction. He had to find her. There was no way he would come this close and let her slip away again. Closing his eyes, he pulled her image into his mind. The way she looked laughing down at him, the way her eyes turned to slits when she was aroused, when he came inside her. Letting out another roar, he focused on her image, focused on her soul, her location. He needed her location.

There. The trail was faint and covered with the scent of gasoline, but he could feel her, could sense her. He locked onto her, seeing her in the darkness, her ankle bound, her arms tied behind her. Pain radiated through her body, and tears soaked her face, but she still refused to give in. Even as the man’s hand came into contact with her cheek, she screamed out her refusal. When the pain from that big hand hit Nik, he saw red, saw nothing but bloodshed and vengeance. He would kill whoever had laid a hand on her.

I’m coming for you,
he called to her inside his mind, hoping the connection he felt wasn’t lost, hoping this wasn’t his imagination. When the image vanished, he turned and headed south, a plan formulating in his mind as he focused on finding her and on what it would take to set her free.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

She had no way to judge how long she’d been in the dark, the hours and minutes ticking by just the same. Confusion clouded her mind. The drugs they had given her in the van were still coursing through her system, and she could swear she saw Nik standing in front of her, his body that of a beautiful white tiger, his eyes looking straight into her soul. But he wasn’t here. There was nothing here but darkness and the constant sound of someone whimpering in the next cell. She’d tried talking to the other person, but had only heard more whimpering. She knew that feeling of abandoning all hope.

Pain radiated through her body. Her arms were tied so tightly behind her back that she couldn’t straighten her shoulders. Her ankles were bound to the floor, chained to a stake or something else which hindered her movement. The binds were tight, cutting off her circulation, and she knew she would be lucky to get away this time with nothing more than scars to show for it. They weren’t intending to scar her this time. They were intending to handicap her, to force the blood to stop flowing to her feet.

Kill me now,
she thought, as the man reached out and hit her hard in the face. Stars swirled in front of her eyes, but she still refused to give in. He was demanding that she touch someone and pull their soul away. His words echoed in her head even as the pain shot through her system. She wouldn’t do that again. Ever. They could kill her if they wanted to, but she was not going to harm another innocent person.

“Maybe I need to be more convincing,” the voice said. He was standing in the shadows, and there was no way to see who he was even when he was close enough to hit her, but she knew that voice—she would always remember his voice. He was the one who’d tormented her before, the one who had called her, who knew she had Logan’s phone.

“Fuck you,” she managed, her tongue heavy from dehydration.

“Maybe your dear brother can convince you to do what you need to do.”

His words cut a hole in her chest. Of course she’d known they had captured Logan. There was no other explanation for why he hadn’t shown up, for how they had gotten her cell number and knew where to find her. She had hoped it wasn’t true though. She’d given up everything to try to keep him safe, to try to keep him away from her past and all the horrible things she had done.

“Bring him!” the voice called out in the darkness, and Juliette heard metal scraping against the floor, then heard the shuffle of bodies.

When the light was turned on, it took a few seconds for her eyes to adjust, and when the room came into view, she realized she was in a small cell, no bigger than a closet. The man turned to face her, and she could see a long, thick scar across his face, making him look more like a demon than a human. His close cropped dark hair and soulless blue eyes made him look like a mercenary for the devil. She shuddered when he reached out and grabbed her chin, tilting her head so she was looking up at him.

“Your brother will die if you don’t help us. And I will make sure that the pain lasts for days.”

She swallowed hard as he released her and stepped to the side. The body that was tossed into the cell in front of her only vaguely resembled Logan. Panic gripped her as she realized he wasn’t breathing. Then she saw his chest rise and fall very slightly, and she knew he was still alive. The sounds coming from his throat were inhuman, sending a wave of nausea through her. He wasn’t dead, but he was dying. She had heard that death rattle enough times to know what was happening to him.

“Let him go.” She fought back tears as she said the words.

“Not happening. The good sheriff has earned his place here next to you.”

“Please.” She hated begging, but Logan was covered in blood and bruises, and she knew there was nothing she could do to save him, except give them what they wanted. Even then, there was no guarantee. “Let him go and I’ll do what you ask. Get him to a hospital. He needs help.”

The man laughed, the sound filling the cell and sending a chill down her back. “You don’t understand the offer I’m making. You help us and his death will be quick. You don’t help us and it will take much, much longer. But it is your decision.”

No. There was no way she was going to lose her brother, her last remaining relative, the one person she’d always been able to count on, the one person who had stood by her during the trial and all the horrors that went with it. She could not let him die.

“He has nothing to do with this. Let him go.”

“And be hunted forever because we kidnapped his baby sister? No. He’s already been after us ever since your vanishing act. You can forget that, because it isn’t happening.”

“At least let me touch him.” It was a long shot, but if she could touch him, maybe she could put some of her essence into him and heal him that way. She’d never tried before, but it made sense that if she could take a person’s soul away, she could give one back. If she could harm, surely she could heal.

“If you do what I ask, I may allow you to watch him die.” His lips turned up in a sinister grin.

“Untie me and I’ll do whatever you want me to do.”

“There’s a good girl.” He turned to the darkness and spoke to someone standing out of her line of vision. “Get him out of here.”

A man dressed in camouflage appeared, his face an unreadable mask. He reached down and grabbed Logan’s ankles and began pulling him from the cell. His arms stretched out over his head and blood trailed on the floor behind him. That death rattle combined with a groan, and she knew she had very little time to get to him. Of course, there was no guarantee that once she was able to touch him she would be able to save him. But she had to try.

“Now...” Her captor looked down at her, his eyes blazing with hatred. “Let’s see what you can do for me.”

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

The rain had started ten minutes before Nik made it to the old factory and now it was a deluge instead of a slight downpour. He knew it would help mask his scent, but he hoped he didn’t hinder his ability to slip inside. As he stood outside the building, Juliette’s scent wrapped around his head. He knew she was here and would tear down the walls to find her. The sky was starting to turn pink just beyond the trees, and he figured there would be movement on the grounds soon, in spite of the downpour. If he wanted to catch her captors off guard, he would need to do it soon.

Circling around the building, he searched for an opening, for anything that could be used as an entry. One of the south walls had a door that was propped open. Sniffing the air for signs of guards, he made his way into the building. This was obviously a delivery entrance—or had been at one time. Boxes and crates were strewn in every direction.

Stepping carefully, he made his way through the room and into a corridor. The man’s scent hit him before he came into view. Crouching down, he gave no warning before he pounced, taking the man down with his five hundred pound frame. The man struggled, the tech-9 in his hand going off. The sound of the bullets hitting metal echoed in the room. He knew it would be a matter of time before he was surrounded, and he had to act fast. When he bit into the man’s jugular, the metallic taste of blood hit the back of his throat, making the human inside him gag.

He hadn’t made it very far before two more men approached. They were both dressed like mercenaries in their camouflage fatigues, their eyes soulless and vacant, their bodies stronger than they should be. When Nik took the first one down, he felt a bullet scrape against his shoulder. Pain radiated through him, but it was nothing like the pain when he was shot before, when his body was ripped apart. He knew the bullet wasn’t embedded in his skin, but he felt the blood begin to trickle down his shoulder, matting his fur.

He made quick work of the first guy, feeling his body go limp beneath him. The second one put up more of a fight, using his gun as a battering ram in Nik’s side. It knocked the breath out of his lungs, leaving him gasping, but he recovered quickly and pushed the man to the ground. Gun shots erupted all around him as the blood poured into his mouth again. He stood and lunged at the new threat, taking this guy out with a claw to the throat. He wasn’t sure if he could stomach the taste of more blood.

The room grew quiet as he padded his way forward, his feet causing blood to trail after him. Red paw prints would give away his location, so he knew he had to act fast, had to get to her. Everything inside him called to her. He closed his eyes, honing in on her, feeling that she was near him.

Her essence was strong, sending images straight to him, but all he saw was darkness. He felt the cold around her, felt the chill slip up her body, the desperation inside her chest.

I’m coming for you
, he called to her with his mind. He swore he felt her look up in the darkness.

Hurry. He doesn’t have much time.
Even though her voice was echoing in his mind, he could hear the tears and feel the fear in it.

An alarm went off somewhere in the building, the noise penetrating his brain, scrambling the vision of her. It would only be a matter of time before there were more mercenaries with more guns, and he could only hold off so many. Being in tiger form put him at a disadvantage when it came to slipping in unnoticed.  He circled around the main part of the building, trying to figure out what to do next, where to go. A staircase was hidden off to the left and next to it was a door marked EMPLOYEES ONLY. The door called to him. He knew she was there, beyond the door somewhere.

Slipping into the shadows as much as he could, he started the transformation back to human. All he had to do was will himself to think of her, to remember her touch, her smile, to feel her body pressed against his. He hit the cold floor with a thud and it took a few seconds for the room to register. By the time he sat up, another of the mercenaries was on him, had his gun trained at his chest. If he moved, he would be shot dead, but if he didn’t move, he would never get to Juliette in time.

“Easy.” He held out his hands to the guy. There was no reaction from him, no movement in his face. His eyes were hollow, empty. This was what Juliette had been telling him about, mercenaries who’d lost their souls, an army at the command of some unknown enemy. His reflexes would be slow, just like the others Nik had killed.

In one movement, he crouched down and transformed into the tiger, pouncing on the guy before the gun could even go off. By the time they hit the floor, he was human again. Twisting the guy’s neck to the side, he quickly severed his spinal column, then pulled him into the shadows. He was roughly Nik’s size, so his clothes would fit well enough. He made quick work of stripping the guy and slipping into his clothes. Then he grabbed the gun and moved toward the door.

“I’m coming, sweetheart. Just hold on,” he whispered.

Darkness greeted him and there was no way to tell which way he should go. The only sound he heard was the alarm going off overhead, the one he knew would alert Juliette’s captors so they would come to get her. She was their prize, and there was no way they would leave her here. He closed his eyes and willed his cat instincts to come back to the surface, then he made his way down the corridor and toward the only noise he could hear, the sound of shouts. As they grew closer, he slid to the side and tried to focus on what was happening. Two men were coming toward him, and they half carried, half dragged a very resistant Juliette with them.

Sensing their hands on her sent him into a rage, and man morphed with tiger, the beast’s strength coming to the surface as he shot forward, leveling the first guy with one blow. When his head hit the concrete floor and bounced, Nik knew he’d killed him. Turning to the second guy, he struck him, sending him flying against the wall. He hadn’t had enough time to grab the gun from his side before he fell to the floor. Nik was on him, twisting his neck before he turned to Juliette.

She looked down at him, her eyes filled with horror. Even in the darkness, he could see how what he’d done affected her. Trying to will his fangs to go back into his gums, he reached out to her, but she shrank away against the wall.

“It’s not you. It can’t be you.”

Her words struck him in the chest. She didn’t believe he was actually here. “It’s me. I promise you it’s me. I’ve got to get you out of here.”

She fell forward and he caught her, letting her scent wash over him. “I’ve seen you so many times, I’m just not sure…”

“You’ve only been gone for a day.” He grinned, looking down at her.

“But I knew I would never see you again. I knew this was the end.”

“It’s not. Now let’s get you out of here.”

“We can’t leave yet. They have my brother. And there’s someone else here too. Come on. I can lead you back to them.”

He really didn’t want to wait to try to get two other people out, but when she took his hand and began leading him back the way she’d come, he found himself following behind her. “We have to hurry,” he grumbled.

“I know. But he’s hurt. And I don’t know what kind of state she’s in. She’s been here longer than I have.”

He noticed how she limped a little as she moved, and the rage that he’d been feeling this whole time was fresh and tangible. He let out a low roar. “They hurt you.”

“I’m going to be fine. Now come on.”

They stopped at the first door and she turned to him, her eyes wide as she looked up at him. He knew she was depending on him to do whatever had to be done next. “In here?”

“Yes. And the door is locked.”

“Stand back.” He pushed at the door with his shoulder, throwing his weight behind the motion. The door resisted for a few seconds, then snapped. The girl sitting in the center of the room stood, a look of fear washing over her face.

“We’re here to help you.” Juliette pushed into the room ahead of him and pulled the girl to the door. “You have to hurry, though. Can you walk?” She nodded. “Good. Come on then.”

“Where’s your brother?”

“I think he’s in the next cell, but he’s bad. You’re going to have to carry him..”

“Fuck,” Nik grumbled under his breath. “Tell me you know how to use one of these.” He handed her his gun.

“Of course I do.”

“Good. You aim at anything that comes this way.”

She nodded and turned to the girl. “I’m Juliette. I’ve been next door to you. This is Nik. We’re going to get my brother, Logan, and get out of here.” If the girl understood, she gave little indication. Instead, she started whimpering, a sound Nik could hear above the screaming alarm.

“Do you know another way out of here?”

“No. If you give me a minute, I can see…” She closed her eyes, her words trailing off. “There. If we keep going this way, there’s a back exit. These places were built with dozens of entrances and exits.”

“Any chance there will be a vehicle out there so we can get the hell out of here? I can’t exactly get you guys out the same way I came in.”

“We will find something. Meet us out back. Please bring my brother.” She pressed a soft kiss to his lips, and all he wanted to do was drag her to him and never let her go. A disturbance behind him caught his attention and he knew they had to move fast.

“Go!”

She tugged the girl behind her, one hand gripping the gun he’d given her. He watched her until she disappeared, then went to work on the door in front of him. Whoever her brother was, he sure as fuck hoped the guy knew how much Juliette loved him. He couldn’t exactly leave the guy here, though, even if carrying someone out meant it was going to be much harder for him to make it to safety.

When he kicked in the door, the guy lying on the floor already looked half dead. His breathing was shallow and blood covered every visible surface. His right arm was bruised and his left arm was completely gone, replaced by something that looked like it had come out of a sci-fi movie.

“Come on, buddy.” Nik bent down and pulled the guy to his feet, then realized there was no way he could guide him out that way. Turning so he could pull him onto his back, he did the best he could not to hurt him as he buddy carried him out of the room. The stench of death clung to him, and Nik hoped they weren’t too late.

The heavy sounds of footsteps behind him alerted him to the oncoming danger.

“Fuck!” He dropped the guy to the floor and stepped back out into the corridor to take on the next group of mercenaries who’d decided today was a good day to die.