Rippled (2 page)

She turned towards us. Looked right at me. I caught myself before my legs could go out from underneath me. Even at this stage in her transformation, Krista’s eyes told me all I needed to know. She was a sub. She might not have known it yet, but the gaze she held to mine said one thing and one thing only—
I’m yours. Do with me what you will.

I imagined the words ‘Yes, Master’ falling from her lips. Her tongue licking the head of my cock. Her hand stroking…

Damn it, Brian, get a hold of yourself!

She was perfect. Even when the expression on her face was one twisted in pain, she was beautiful. God, how I wanted her. To just go in that room with her, tear off the few clothes that hung from her body and take her right there.

Not now.
Not when the leopard was so close and when her mind was so far gone.

By now, her entire body was shaking. It could’ve easily been compared to a full-body orgasm, but the endorphins that normally pushed such intense pain into bliss weren’t there. And that was when I knew I had to have her. Not for myself, but to help her. To control her. To control the shift. And more importantly, to save her from Malcom and his fucked-up tests.

The muscles along her arms rippled. Shimmered. Tufts of black and white fur slowly replaced her pale skin. She closed her eyes. Her back relaxed, and she used whatever strength she had left not to lie down. To give in. With her body still shaking and a leopard having taken her place, I waited for her to blink. To move.

She didn’t. And if the monitors weren’t still somehow connected to her, I would’ve sworn she wasn’t breathing. Every time the monitor beeped, I counted down to when she would shift again.

One-one-thousand
.

A tremor ran down her spine, causing the fur to bristle and fall back into place.

Two-one-thousand
.

Her claws tapped against the floor as she approached the window.

Three-one-thousand
.

She stared right at me. I took two steps back.

Four-one-thous
—

“That’s a death stare if I ever saw one,” came Malcom’s voice from somewhere outside my subconscious.

I furrowed my brow and shook my head. I’d somehow lost count, and in the little time it had taken me to go from one to whatever number I’d finally reached, Krista’s body had returned to normal—a frail human having taken the leopard’s place.

I forced myself to look away when she fell into a deep sleep, but only to glare at Malcom. He was busy jotting down even more notes while one of the nurses tiptoed into the room.

Malcom handed her his notes, then said, “We’ll have to keep her sedated for the foreseeable future. With a reaction like that, we cannot risk her shifting again. She needs to be controlled, is that understood?”

“Yes, sir,” the nurse replied, glancing at Malcom’s notes before holding them to her chest. “What about the others? Should we tell—?”

“No. You will report this to no one. Not until we do more tests.”

The nurse bobbed her head. Considering how well all of Malcom’s tests had been going, it was no wonder he didn’t want this one to get out. Not only would news of this cause a lack of funding, but the government would get involved as well, and that was the last thing we needed. It was bad enough they’d got involved in the first place.

No one else needs to know. Not for the sake of Malcom’s career, but for Krista. He’s going to turn her into a lab rat.

I tried not to think about it.

“Where should we take her?” the same nurse asked. “Where will she sleep?”

“There is a spare cell on the north-west corner of the confinement. She can stay there.” Malcom nodded in my direction. “Brian will take her there, won’t you?”

“The hell I will!” The last thing I needed was to tend to a feral leopard and play damage control for one of Malcom’s fucking tests. Whether she was submissive or not, now wasn’t the time to play Dom, not when her mind wasn’t her own.

Malcom made his way into the other room, and I followed close behind him. If he thought I was done talking, he—

“Would you rather I kept her down here in a cage?” Malcom asked, a sly grin spreading across his face as he picked Krista up off the floor. “That’s what I thought. Here.” He passed Krista’s limp body over to me, which I handled with more care than he did. “Take her home. We’ll worry about the beast inside her later.”

I took a deep breath. Another. And another. It didn’t matter. No matter how much air I took in, I couldn’t clear my head. Here was this beautiful woman, mostly naked in my arms, and I wasn’t the one who’d put her there. Careful not to hit her head on the doorframe, I slowly carried her from the room.

I knew better than to take her outside in the cold with little to nothing on and opted for one of the open rooms until she woke up. With as much sedative as they’d put into her system, she probably wouldn’t wake until morning, and I hoped to God she didn’t remember any of it.

I’d never seen someone so beautiful shift so violently, and now it was my turn to pick up the pieces. One fucking piece at a time.

Chapter Two

Brian

I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had such a restless sleep. Between Krista’s first shift and Malcom’s indifferent behaviour, my mind had its fair share of things to obsess over. If it had been any other night, I would’ve slept like the dead, but not tonight. Not when I had such an attractive, vulnerable creature lying on the table beside me.

I’d done my best to make her comfortable, taking pillows from the other exam rooms and piling cheap-ass blankets under her. Granted, I could’ve gone out and got some real blankets, but something inside me didn’t feel right. It was almost as if leaving her unprotected, regardless of how long, was something I just couldn’t do.

No one had come down to the lab since Malcom had left, and I was pretty sure no one would. But what if Krista woke up while I was gone? It wasn’t a risk I was willing to take. I refused to strap her down, even to get her some blankets. When she awoke, I wanted to make sure I was right there, in this very chair. Awake. Alert.

Aroused.

I watched the rise and fall of her chest as she took another steady breath, which was more than I could say for myself. My breathing was erratic. Impatient. Anxious.

I rested an ankle on my knee as if crossing my legs would help. I uncrossed them. Tucked my hands under my arms. I took a deep breath and tried to calm my nerves. Krista did the same. She inhaled. Held it. Exhaled. Her breathing returned to normal. Mine only got worse.

My eyes travelled over the mounds hidden under her draped blouse to her girlish face. I’d spent hours looking at her face. By now, the image was imprinted in the back of my mind. It was something I didn’t think I could ever forget. I knew every freckle. Every vein. Even her little dimples. And yet I stared at it, if only to keep from devouring the piece of eye candy she was.

My thoughts went back to earlier in the day, to when she had first turned. Her dark hair and pale skin. The way she’d looked at me, almost as if she’d wanted me, when she’d finally given in to the shift. Krista on her hands and knees. Her clothing hanging from her shoulders. Her back arching…

Fuck, you’re doing it again.

I was stronger than this. I had to be. Closing my eyes, I tried to erase whatever memories were replying in the back of my mind. Every pose, every action had been from her shifting.

You didn’t cause it.

I had no ownership over it. She wasn’t mine. She was just another one of Malcom’s projects.

Yeah, you keep telling yourself that.

Out of all the subjects Malcom had ever brought into the lab, no one had ever looked like Krista. Far from it. She had no scars, no imperfections at all. At least, not that I could see. She was, in every sense of the word, perfect. Flawless. All except for her shift.

The way she shifted wasn’t normal. It was feral. Painful. Primal.

Licking my lips, I glanced at one of the cabinets in the room. There had to be a reason why she’d shifted so violently compared to everyone else, myself included. Not because of how long it had taken, but everything else about it. Her cries. The way she’d looked at me. Those eyes!

I knew Malcom would want to run his own array of tests, but I had to know.

What makes you so different?

After gathering up whatever nerves I had left, I walked over to the cabinet and pulled out an empty vial and syringe. I only needed a small amount of blood. Just one drop.

With both items in hand, I padded over to the exam table. I closed my eyes and fought against my morals and respect in exchange for reason. For the need to know. An explanation.

My conscience won over, and I sat back down. The blood sample could wait. I couldn’t do it. Not while she was asleep. Not without her consent.

There was no telling how Malcom had got her here—what lies or stories he might’ve told her. And damned if I was going to be anything like him. No matter how much I wanted to know the reason for her reaction to the virus, I just couldn’t do it.

Malcom will. He’ll be unreasonable enough for the two of us put together. As long as you let him.

It’d have to wait until later, after I had a chance to clear my head.

I caught the hint of movement from the corner of my eye. I froze, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end when Krista stirred for the first time. My sight drifted from her unbound hands, to her bare feet and finally back up to her face. Her eyes were shut, but I knew she was awake.

She furrowed her brow, almost as if she were in a dream. Her fingers twitched and clawed at the blankets beneath her. An aftershock
.
Her body was replaying everything that had happened hours before.

I stood from my chair and searched the doorway behind me, trying to decide if I had enough time to get her back into the other room before the shift could happen again. Hell, I didn’t even know if I had enough time to sedate her.

Knowing she’d be awake well before I had the chance to get the drugs into her system and working again, I did the only thing I could—I sat back down. Took her hand in mine. Her fingernails bit at my skin. I clenched my teeth. Squeezed her hand tight.

“You will not shift, understand me?” I said, holding her steady. She flinched, closed her hand then relaxed. “You aren’t allowed to shift. I won’t allow it. You don’t have my permission.”

Clearly I’d lost my mind. It was one thing to dominate a conscious sub and something else entirely to try to control what, for Krista, might have become instinctual.

You’ve controlled women countless times before.

Commanding a sub when to come and when to hold back is nothing compared to this
.

She might have still been in slumber, but her body or some part of her subconscious had heard me well enough to respond. I sat back in my chair, but I didn’t let go of her hand. If she reacted again, I wanted to calm her down as quickly as possible.

I eyed the clock on the wall. It was almost morning. If the sedative wasn’t completely out of her system by now, it would be in the next hour or so.

Just in time for Malcom to come down and mess around with her again.

I had to wake her up.

No more what-ifs or if-I-shoulds. It wasn’t a matter of whether what I did next was right or wrong. It had to be done. I had to get her out of the lab and somewhere a little more comfortable before Malcom and his team could take her away from me again.

She isn’t yours.

It didn’t matter. I was there now. There was no way in hell I was about to walk away.

Steeling myself for more questions than I could ever possibly answer, I got up from my chair and carefully sat Krista up on the table. Her head lolled to one side, falling onto my shoulder. I moved the strands of hair from in front of her face with my free hand as I rested the other at the small of her back.

A soft moan escaped her lips, and she stirred a little more. Her hand inched closer to my hip, and I took a step back.

“Come on, baby, time to get up.” I winced when I realised what I’d called her and breathed around my relief when she didn’t react. She hadn’t heard me.

Not consciously.
“Krista, can you hear me?”

Another groan. It was a start.

I held an arm under her knees and did my best not to pick her up.

You might not have a choice if you wait much longer.

I glanced back at the clock.
Shit.
Less than an hour until Malcom was due back in the lab. I didn’t have to be a genius to know the first thing he’d want to do once he got there.

And you think just taking her to her little house is going to stop him?

Not likely, but if I could just show her that not everyone in the camp was like him, then maybe…

Maybe what? You’d have a chance at her?

Shit. Was I really that desperate? I shook my head. Not desperate
.
Saying I was desperate for her made it sound as if she wasn’t desirable.
Fuck that.
She was just the opposite, and my need to touch her, to hear her voice, to be touched by her was driving me out of my fucking mind!

“Krista?” I said again, softer this time. She nuzzled my neck before lifting her head. “Are you all right?”

Once I was sure she was awake and could sit on her own, I returned to just holding her hand. It was hard to tell what she would remember from the day before, so I decided to take it slow.
Feel her out.
It was something I did more often than not, and not just with my subs, either. I was pretty good at judging people and now was no different.

Even if I hadn’t been there for her sedation, I would’ve known she was drugged and not just drunk. She pressed a hand to her forehead and I could only imagine the headache she was having now. I cringed at her obvious discomfort and looked her right in the eye.