SelkiesSeduction (14 page)

* * * * *

The afternoon disappeared in a blur of sore muscles and
barely repressed screams. Exercise was supposed to make you feel better, wasn’t
it? Muscles she’d never known existed were sending torturous messages to her
brain. Nothing that felt this bad could possibly be good for you!

“Take a break.” Mrs. Simmons pursed her lips. “I can see it’s
going to take some work to get you into top form.”

Nikki sagged to the ground where she stood. She didn’t have
the strength to make a snappy retort. There had to be something in the Geneva
Convention against torturing kidnap victims. Wasn’t it bad enough that they’d
been kidnapped?

“Have you made a decision on the topic we discussed
yesterday?” Dr. Kvordic stepped away from the wall.

Nikki hadn’t even noticed him there. Creepy. His lips were
curved in a friendly smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes. Cold chips of blue
ice ran an assessing gaze over her, as if she really were the animal they
claimed. “You had a chance to talk to the alpha at lunch. He’s a tricky one.
Managed to block every camera angle so we couldn’t tell what you three were
talking about.”

Nikki looked up in surprise. “He did?”

“I take it you weren’t aware then? Good. We don’t need more
troublemakers.”

She really hadn’t noticed. Smart move! A slow chill went up
her spine. How long had the werewolves been here, to have figured that one out?
Both Dr. Kvordic and Mrs. Simmons were staring at her now.

“Well?”

She frowned, confused. “Well, what?”

“Are you going to join our little team?” Apparently,
patience wasn’t his strong suit.

Did she really have a choice? If she said no, they’d make
her life decidedly more miserable, although at the moment it was hard to
imagine how. “I guess. I really don’t know how much help I’ll be.”

The doctor’s smile was creepy, although she was sure he
thought he looked fatherly. “Good girl. I’ll have Mrs. Simmons bring you up for
another little chat soon. In the meantime, keep up the good work. We’ll have
you in tiptop shape in no time.” He gave the guard a pleasant nod and opened
the door, leaving without so much as another glance at her.

But then, to him she was just another animal in his zoo.

“What? Who’s got Nikki? How?” Panic gave Trina’s voice a
shrill quality.

“Don’t know. She was outside, should have been safe. Three
men, maybe four. Had a helicopter waiting. By the time I got there, she was
gone.”

“Oh, no!” Panic rose sharp in Trina’s voice. “Do you know
where they took her?”

“No, but I can still feel our link. I’m going to follow it
until I find her.”
And make sure those assholes never do it again.
But
he didn’t say that. “Was there anything else in your vision that would help me?
Anything that gives a clue to where she’s being held?”

“I don’t think so. I thought the vision had already been
fulfilled when you took her to your sanctuary. There’s just a mist with weird
creatures in it. I can’t even tell what they are.” He could sense the
frustration in her voice. “Visions aren’t always clear. It’s like reading a book
with pages missing—sometimes I can make sense of it and sometimes I can’t.”

Wolfe started walking, holding the phone to his ear. Every
second counted. “It’s okay. It was a long shot anyway. I’ll do whatever it
takes to find her and get her back.”

“Be careful.” Jack’s voice this time. “You’re no good to her
if they get you too.”

“I’ll do whatever it takes. Say, maybe you could get hold of
that Todd guy. See if he knows anything else about his sister’s kidnapping. It
could be the same bunch.”

“We’ll see what we can do. Keep your phone close; I’ll give
you a call when I manage to track him down. And Wolfe?”

“Yeah?”

“It’s not your fault. I know you feel responsible, but you
can’t keep her locked up. Life is a risk.” His voice softened. “I learned that
one the hard way, buddy. Trina’s not the easiest gal to keep track of.”

Wolfe appreciated the attempt to make him feel better, but
Jack was wrong. It was his fault, and he was going to make it right. “I’ll keep
you posted, and contact you as soon as I find her.” He broke the connection and
put the phone back in his pocket so he could concentrate on his footing.

* * * * *

The cabin looked deserted. Wolfe peered through the shrubs
at the top of the rise. Birds sang in the trees, and a squirrel sat perched on
the front step, scolding a chipmunk that dared to invade his territory.

A shadow swooped across the ground, and the squirrel and
chipmunk both disappeared into the shadows. Winston! He’d forgotten about the
resident hawk. He waited to see if the bird would reappear. When nothing moved
for a good five minutes, he got to his feet and headed for the Jeep. The
vehicle started on the first try, and he shifted it into gear, pulling a tight
turn to get out of the driveway.

It didn’t take him long to reach his own place, and Fred
nickered softly in greeting as he pulled up. He got out of the Jeep and headed
to the corral. Giving the gelding an affectionate pat, he opened the gate to
the lower pasture so Fred could munch on the lush grass down by the riverbank.

Once in the house, he grabbed a packsack and stuffed in a
fresh set of clothes and some toiletries. He found a second bag and raided the
kitchen cupboard for food. He had no idea where he was going, or for how long
and sometimes restaurants just weren’t around every corner along the mountain
roads.

Satisfied that he had enough supplies to last a week, he
unlocked the gun cabinet. He hadn’t touched the rifles since his tour in the
army. Just the looking at them brought back the horrific sights and sounds of
those days. You had to be willing to fight for what you believed in, though,
for what belonged to you and Nikki definitely belonged to him.

He took out the 30-06, attaching the scope to it before he
slid it into the case. The clips and ammunition followed, and he hesitated.
Sliding open the bottom compartment, he pulled out the Ruger pistol. Checking
the magazine and the safety, he tucked the weapon into the back of his pants
and covered it with his shirt.

Gathering the supplies, he packed them out to the Jeep and
locked the house up. The neighbors would be in to check on Fred. They were used
to him coming and going at random times. He turned the car around so that it
headed out of the driveway, and then put it in park.

Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath and reached for
Nikki’s presence. It sat in the corner of his mind, warm and comforting. He
concentrated, feeling along the link. Where was she?

It had been a long time since he and his grandfather had
practiced locating each other through their link. At the time, it had been a
game and Wolfe had excelled at it, tracking down his grandfather across several
ridges. Now though, the game was in deadly earnest.

He turned his head, concentrating on the strength of the
link when he moved one way or the other. His bond with Nikki was different from
the familial tie to his grandfather. It was tighter, the invisible threads
tying them together firmer and yet more sensitive.

West. Southwest. He put the Jeep in gear and headed for
Highway 97. He would head south to Highway 6 and slip west from there.

* * * * *

He was getting closer; he could feel it. Nikki’s presence
felt warmer, nearer. He checked the gas gauge. Better fill it up in the next
town, which would be Cranbrook according to his map. He’d been on the road for
over eight hours, and his body felt stiff from sitting still so long. He
spotted a Shell station up ahead. Must be the outskirts of town.

Pulling into the gas station, he filled the car and got a
fresh coffee and some beef jerky labeled “the best local jerky anywhere”. Right
now, anything with protein in it seemed like a good idea.

He pulled the car over to the grassy picnic area at the side
of the station and gulped down half of the coffee before he started to gnaw on
the jerky. It actually tasted like the best jerky he’d ever had. Either that,
or he was too hungry to care.

Finishing up the last of the jerky, he leaned back in the
seat and closed his eyes. Golds and reds radiated across the horizon as the sun
started to slip below the horizon. Soon it would be dark.

Nikki? Where are you?

He didn’t expect an answer, so he wasn’t disappointed by the
silence that greeted his question. His sense of direction told him she wasn’t
in Cranbrook. He needed to head to the east a bit, and the secondary road up
ahead looked like it might lead in the right direction. He suppressed an exhilarating
flare of hope.

He was getting closer.

* * * * *

Wolfe lay on his belly on the ridge, using the scope on the
30-06 to check out the activity below. The sign on the road five miles back had
warned of an abandoned mining town. Would-be visitors were warned that the town
was dangerous and to be avoided. Wolfe could see the ramshackle buildings, most
of them collapsing in on themselves if they hadn’t already succumbed to the
ravages of age.

But in the middle of the town, there stood a brand-new
complex that looked remarkably like a zoo, with half a dozen walled-in
enclosures for animals. In the center was a startlingly modern building, its
metal framework gleaming in the reflected rays of the setting sun. A fifteen-foot-high
page-wire fence topped with two rows of barbed wire surrounded the entire
place, and guards carrying semiautomatic weapons manned towers every twenty
feet or so along the perimeter. Either this was one of those top-secret
government facilities you saw on reruns of
The Twilight Zone
, or the
guys who kidnapped Nikki had some serious money behind them. This place must
have cost at least a million bucks to build, especially if they had to sneak
all the materials in. The logging road that led up here didn’t look exactly big-rig
friendly.

Nikki? Can you hear me, honey?
For the first time
since this nightmare began, he dared to hope for a reply.

* * * * *

Wolfe?
Nikki sat up so fast she nearly fell off her
bed. She’d reluctantly resigned herself to the fact that they were too far
apart to communicate telepathically. Now the unexpected sound of his voice
brightened her spirits so much she hoped the guards monitoring the security
monitors didn’t become suspicious.

Where are you? How did you find me? Are you close?
So
many questions swirled around in her head; she didn’t know what to ask first.
About
time you got here!
A tiny waver of uncertainty prompted her to add,
You
are here, aren’t you?

Now why did I think you’d fall on your knees and thank
me? I’m on a ridge above something that looks like a cross between a military
compound and a zoo. I’m pretty sure you’re down there somewhere.

She could hear the tension and fatigue in his voice, and she
wished she could run her hands over his face, tell him how good it felt just to
know he was somewhere nearby.

I don’t expect you to send up flares or anything, but can
you confirm I’m in the right spot?
That dry humor she loved so much showed
in his voice.
I’d hate to end up rescuing a compound of full-blooded jungle
beasts that hadn’t been fed lately.

Nikki grinned at the thought of Wolfe letting a pen of
honest-to-goodness wolves loose, and then groaned. Shit! She had no idea where
she was.
We could have a problem here. I was unconscious when they brought
me in, so I don’t know what this place looks like from the outside. I’m in some
sort of glass-walled enclosure with a pond and a waterfall. I know I passed a
jungle enclosure, and one that’s some kind of forest to house the werewolf
pack. There’s also a building with offices and labs about a five-minute walk
from my lovely new quarters. It has seven floors but I’m pretty sure two of
them are below ground level.

It occurred to her that she’d been dropped into the middle
of nowhere, and yet Wolfe had managed to track her down.
How on earth did
you find me?
She refused to believe he was very far away. He was right
here, almost close enough for her to touch. God, she wanted to touch him so
bad! He had to be close or they wouldn’t be able to communicate like this. She’d
lost count of the number of times she’d tried to contact him since they’d
thrown her in here.

That part was easy. I followed our bond and it led me
right to you. Are you okay? Did they hurt you?

She could feel his concern through the bond. The bond. She
hadn’t wanted it but Wolfe’s presence in the back of her mind had kept her
hopes alive through this whole nightmare. Even though she hadn’t been able talk
to him, the bond kept her from feeling hopeless.

She hadn’t realized he could physically track her position
through the link, but it made as much sense as anything else in this crazy
scenario.
I’ll grant that the bond was a good idea, since it means you’re
here to help me break out of this nuthouse, but you still should have explained
it to me first. I had no idea you could actually track me down through it.

She could sense his chuckle through the link, and her heart
did a curious flip in her chest. If she wasn’t careful, she was going to end up
caring way too much for this guy and she knew how badly that could end.
I’m
okay for now. They’re not really hurting me, unless you count the food. Never
tasted such bland stuff in all my life. Oh. And they put a collar on me and
keep referring to me as some kind of animal. So how soon do you think you can
get me out of here?

She tried to keep her tone light. The last thing she wanted
was Wolfe rushing in here and getting himself captured too. Since she’d woken
to find herself here, no one had showed the slightest bit of interest in Wolfe,
so she had to assume they didn’t know that he had any paranormal abilities. Or
that they were connected.

Not sure, I’ll have to do a bit of checking around. How
many other captives are there? Any chance some of them would be willing to
help? Superior numbers overpowering the guards?

Something like
The Great Escape
?
Apparently,
that wasn’t such a novel idea. At least she knew the answer to this one.
The
werewolves are definitely in as long as we get Sasha out. You remember Todd’s
sister? Turns out she’s here and she just lost a child fathered by the werewolf
pack’s alpha. I really haven’t been able to talk to any of the other species.
There’s a black panther in that jungle enclosure that they swear is a shifter,
but I’m not so sure. If he is, he hasn’t exhibited any inclination to return to
human form. There’s a couple of other people in here, and I think they may be
some kind of magic wielders. Witches, maybe, or warlocks. I’m afraid I don’t
know enough about witches to tell why they can’t just cast a spell and get out
of here.

Probably need some kind of props, and the guards aren’t
playing nice and giving them to them. Most witches I’ve met have to have
certain items to cast spells, like herbs or relics. Without them, they’re
pretty much human. If you get a chance, see if you can find out some more about
them. They might be able to help if you get them what they need. You’ve already
sounded out the werewolves?

Nikki gave an elaborate shrug, and then realized he couldn’t
see her.
I’ll see what I can find out about the witches the next time I get
near them. The werewolves were more of a mutual thing. They stick together but
they know the guards aren’t going to relax around them, and the alpha seriously
wants his lady friend out of here. Since she’s a selkie, I guess they figured I
was a safe bet. I get the feeling they can make powerful allies or even more
powerful enemies.

Since she’d never met an honest-to-goodness werewolf before,
she couldn’t tell if they’d be loyal to an outsider when things got nasty. She
hoped so, but she didn’t plan to hang around long enough to make lifelong
friends.

Interesting. It would be good if you could find out if
there are any other creatures there, and if they’re willing to participate in a
joint effort. Any possibility all of you will be together in one spot, mealtime
or something like that?