Wolfe's Mate (8 page)

Esme’s connection to Brenda was strong. It was as if they were related by blood.
Esme could almost hear Susan’s thoughts, as well. Esme reached out a little further and linked with Susan.
“Susan, you and Brenda are going to be okay. Calm down and breathe. I went through this when I was cured of cancer.”
How was this possible? Esme had never been a strong telepath. Now she was able to reach Brenda and Susan as easily as she linked with Jared.

Jared
gently touched her thoughts.
“Did Norris use stem cells harvested from you?”

“I wouldn’t be surprised
if he did. He always took my blood for his tests,”
Esme replied through her telepathic link.

“It
’s possible that Brenda’s and Susan’s blood is now similar to yours. If so, you would be like lycan littermates.”

“Sisters. We are lycan sisters?”
Esme sent the information to Brenda and Susan. Did Norris have any idea what he’d done?

“I
’m just guessing, but if Norris used your blood, that would explain why you are able to link with them so easily,”
Jared sent
. “They feel similar to you when I join your telepathic link.”

“Jared, how long should
they wait until they try to shift back to their human form?”

“It would be better if
they waited until we’re in Aberdeen. It is helpful to touch them while they are trying to focus their thoughts on resuming their human form. Have them wait for us to arrive.”

Once more, Esme relayed the information to the two women. She
was very eager to meet them. She had sisters. Norris gave her sisters. Why did he try to transform five patients into lycans all at once? Whose stem cells did he use for the men? What was her brother up to?

§

“You can’t trust these people,” Norris whispered to the two women as he checked their vital signs and removed the IV’s from their legs. With their enhanced senses, they had no problem hearing him. “They turned you into wolf-shifters on purpose. They want to use you in their own private army. I’m going to help you escape. I know of a pack who will take you in and teach you how to control your wolf.”

“Dr. Fortescue
, Mr. Philips is gone,” Nurse Campbell said. “He didn’t survive the treatment. I’ll have someone come in and remove the body.”

“Wait.”
He would have to give Nurse Campbell the shot. If she brought in an outsider, he might lock the changed women into the cages in the room at the other end of the hall. “Before you have the body removed, I’d like to discuss with you what you think was the cause of death. Why don’t we step into the hall for a moment?”

Nurse Campbell frowned. “Very well
…”

Norris walked up to her, fingering the syringe in his pocket. He took her arm
. Before she could open her mouth to protest, he plunged the needle into her flesh and depressed the plunger.

“What the hell
…” Nurse Campbell sagged in his arms.

Norris dragged her to a chair and sat her down. He checked her pupils and pulse. She’d be
unconscious for a while. Hopefully, he’d be able to get the remaining patients out of the clinic before she woke up.

Norris hurried to the other
male patients’ beds and checked their vitals. Their hearts were racing, and they were panting. From what Esme had told him, Norris knew the pain was excruciating. Both men were progressing toward the shift to wolf form. If everything worked as Norris planned, they would shift in the next hour. Then, all he needed to do was escape the clinic with four wolves in tow.

“Miss Scott
, I need you to look for exit doors in this wing. I know you won’t be able to open doors with your paws, but your sense of smell is now heightened, and I think you’ll find you can see excellently in the dark. Check each room down this corridor. I can’t leave the men until I know they’re out of danger.”

While Jared drove, he kept glancing at Esme. She stared out the window at the passing scenery. She bit at her bottom lip and rubbed her hands. Granger slept in the back seat. Exhausted, he mumbled, and occasionally twitched, in his sleep.

“What are you thinking about,
mon coeur
, that has you so agitated?”

“I don’t understand what Norris is doing. Why
is he changing cancer patients into lycans? He hated the fact that his treatment changed me. Why would he do it to complete strangers?”

“I don’t know the answer
, and we said we were going to keep an open mind. I think we need to find your brother and ask him. That way, we’ll know for sure what’s going on. It won’t be much longer until we reach Aberdeen. We should probably get a hotel and rest tonight, especially if Norris and Brenda are in a safe place. Both you and Granger are worn out from helping Brenda.”

“I don’t want to wait
, and I think Granger doesn’t want to wait either.”

“We need to be prepared for anything. We can’t do that if you and Granger are worn out. Try
to get some rest. We’ll see how everyone feels once we arrive.” Jared caressed her cheek. He loved touching her. He loved the feel of her silky skin beneath his hands. Now, if only he could take time to savor his mate, instead of dealing with problems. She deserved to be savored.

Esme l
owered the back of the seat and turned on her side. She brought Jared’s hand up to her lips and kissed it before entangling their fingers. With a sigh, she closed her eyes.

The sun was setting
, and soon they would be driving in the dark. Jared wasn’t sure what they would find when they arrived at their destination.

§

Norris held his hands up in front of him to ward off the growling male wolves now lying on hospital beds. “Okay guys, you’re okay. Let me get the IV’s out of your legs. Come on. You’ll be able to change back into your human form in a little while. Just hang in there and let me help you.”

One of the wolves quieted,
and the other stood, his hackles raised, his teeth bared. Norris moved to the bed where the quieter wolf lay and slipped the IV catheter out of his leg. “I know it’s a shock, but your cancer is healed. And once you return to your human form, you will realize you are stronger and have sharper senses than a human. I didn’t want to do this. The group of doctors who brought you here threatened to kill my sister if I didn’t do it. I’m going to help you escape and introduce you to a pack that will help you learn to control your wolf. You need to trust me.”

The other wolf contin
ued growling. One of the female lycans, Miss Scott, ran into the room and yipped at the aggressive male. After a few barks and growls, the male settled down. Norris sighed in relief and inched toward the male. He needed to remove the IV. When Norris reached for the catheter, the wolf snarled but didn’t attack. Norris slipped the catheter out and wrapped a piece of gauze around the wolf’s leg.

Now that
all the patients had shifted, it was time to escape. “Miss Scott, did you find any outside doors?” The gray wolf whined and wagged her tail. “Good. Let’s get out of here.”

Norris followed the female wolf down the hall to the back of the building. The other three wolves trailed behind them. In the last room was a key
-coded door with a small exterior window. They walked by five large cages. One of the males growled and sniffed at the bars. Norris looked out the window to see a small, dark alleyway. Miss Scott jumped up and looked out the window with him, her front paws resting on the ledge.

“Al
l right, if I can get the door open, we’re going to go up the alley and try to find a car to steal. You’ll have to stay hidden as much as possible. Wolves wandering the streets of Aberdeen would attract a huge amount of attention. If anything happens, you need to run and hide. If these fanatical doctors catch you, they will experiment on you. Trust me, they have no morals where that is concerned.”

Miss Scott jumped down. Norris watched as she went from wolf to wolf, staring deeply into
their eyes. When she returned to his side, Norris slid the card through the slot and punched in the code Nurse Campbell had used on the other door. With a click, the lock disengaged. Norris pushed the door open.

Before stepping into the alley, he
looked left and right. Then, he held the door open for the four wolves, who quickly followed him outside. The door closed, and Norris heard the lock reengage. They were out.

They
all started creeping down the alley, trying to stay in shadows. The smell of garbage filled the air. Norris’ stomach knotted, and he accidently kicked a can. The sound reverberated in the quiet. The wolves moved easily in the dark and soon outdistanced Norris. Only Miss Scott stayed close to his side.

They
’d made it halfway to the street when the door to the lab opened behind them. Norris looked over his shoulder to see the two men who kidnapped him and brought him to the lab. One of them reached into his jacket and pulled out a gun.

“Run!” Norris yelled.

A blast sounded. A chunk of stone flew off the wall next to Norris’ head. He ran. Several more shots were fired. One hit a large dumpster as Norris ran by it. Just as he made it to the end of the alley, a large dark sedan pulled up. Norris’ gut clenched. All four windows opened.

“Quick, get in,” Pierre said from the driver’s seat.

Norris reached for the door handle. One by one, the four wolves jumped through the window and into the back seat. Another bullet hit the fender of the car. Norris jumped into the front seat and slammed the door. Pierre hit the gas. Another volley of shots was fired. Norris felt a burning sensation in his neck. “Esme, I love you …”

§

“NO!” Esme screamed. Her eyes flew open, and she sat up in the front seat of the car.

“Brenda!” Granger yelled, also
waking up in the back seat.

“What the hell is happening?” Jared demanded
, his hands clenched on the wheel. They were only about fifteen minutes from Aberdeen. He could see city lights ahead.

“They are trying to escape the lab,” Esme explained.

“Shots fired.” Granger grabbed the front seat.

“Wait, Pierre is there
… I can see him through Brenda’s eyes,” Esme said.

Pierre? Jared clenched his teeth. He was going to kill that guy. What was he doing in Aberdeen?

“He’s trying to help,” Granger said. “More shots fired. Everyone is in Pierre’s car. He is pulling away. Wait. Norris is hit … He said he loves you, Esme.”

“No, please God, no. Don’t take him away from me
…”

Jared looked in the rearview mirror at Granger.
Granger shook his head.
“Norris is dead.”
Granger’s telepathic message swept into Jared’s thoughts.

Esme began to sob. Her body shook as tears streamed down her face. She curled up, burying her face in her hands.
“No, not Norris. Oh God, why …”

“Esme,
mon coeur
. I’m so sorry.” Jared reached and took her hand. With his telepathy, he surrounded her with warmth and reassurance.

“I’m all alone
…”

“No,
bébé.
You have me and the members of our pack. Norris gave you Brenda and Susan. You are not alone.”

“It hurts so bad.”

“I know,
ma petit louve
. When my parents died, I felt lost, abandoned. Granger, tell Brenda to have Pierre bring them to the … Hilton Hotel on the west side of town.” Jared drove the car onto a side street and into the driveway of the large hotel. “Granger, get us some rooms. We’ll need at least three.”

“I’m on it. Brenda said they’re not far from here. They were already heading out of town.”
What about Norris’ body?

I don’t know. We need help. Call the English Alpha after you get the rooms. I’m sure Esme is going to want to bury him.
Jared scratched his head.

This is a horrible mess. We have four wolves that need to shift, a car with bullet holes
, and a dead body. I’ll call Grigori for advice.
Granger jumped out of the car and hurried into the hotel lobby.

§

“How is Esme?” Granger asked from the couch in a sitting room that adjoined the three hotel rooms.

Jared quietly closed the door
to Esme’s room. “She’s asleep. Brenda and Susan are curled up around her. Esme is exhausted. I couldn’t ask her to help them shift back to their human form. All three of them are mourning Norris. Though Brenda and Susan were with him only a few hours after shifting, they still felt a connection to him through Esme.”

“Pierre and the other two males are next door
,” Granger said. “I helped the two males turn back into their human forms and gave them some clothes to wear. It looks like Norris used stem cells from Pierre for the males. Both feel a connection to Pierre. Pierre wants them to come back to Paris and join his pack. I told Pierre we would get together later and talk.”

“What about the body?”
Jared sat down and rubbed his hands through his hair. Esme’s pain was a living presence in his heart. He didn’t know how to ease it.

“Pierre wrapped
the body in a blanket and put it in the trunk of his car. He was afraid someone might notice a corpse sitting in the front seat. Grigori is pulling some strings. The police will be coming to get the body and question Pierre about what happened. I told him not to mention wolves but tell the truth in all other ways. He’d been looking for Norris, followed him to Aberdeen and found him running from an alley while someone shot at him.”

“You probably should be
present while the police are questioning Pierre. If they get suspicious that Pierre isn’t telling them everything, you can give them a mental push to make them believe him.” Jared had to make sure that Pierre didn’t give away anything about lycans. One of Jared’s priorities was keeping his people safe.

“You got it. Brenda told me she
’d like to stay with Esme tonight. Looks like you and I have the third room.”

“You go ahead
and take the third room. I’ll sleep on the couch here. I want to be here if Esme needs me.” Jared couldn’t bring himself to leave her. Not when she was upset.

“Okay, call me if you need anything.” Granger got up and walked toward the door.

“Thanks, I will.” Jared smiled tiredly at his friend. It must be killing him to be sleeping away from Brenda tonight. Of course, Brenda might not want to jump into bed with someone she didn’t know. Jared shook his head. Since arriving in the UK, there’d been one problem after another. He would need to return to his pack soon.

§

Esme woke with a start, her heart beating fast. She had cried herself to sleep. Two furry bodies lay snuggled up on each side of her. She pushed her way past one of the wolves and got up. She shivered. Her dreams had been filled with violence, but it wasn’t Norris she saw dying. It was Jared. She needed to see him, to know he was close.

She tiptoed into the sitting room. Jared lay asleep on the couch
, his head leaning off the arm. He’d have a crick in his neck in the morning. She shook her head. He should have gone to one of the other rooms to sleep. But he didn’t want to leave her alone. He was too much of a protector to do that. She ran her fingers through his dark locks, brushing them off his forehead.

He loved her. She
knew when he touched her mind. Their bond was very strong. If she was honest, she would admit that she loved him, too. After they’d connected when she was shot, he’d always been there, comforting her or seducing her, listening to her worries. He’d never pushed her from his mind. He always found time to make her feel better.

He
’d rushed her into the bedroom earlier, forbidding her to see Norris’ body. They both knew the police would want her to identify it eventually since she was Norris’ only living relative. Jared held her while she cried, while she ranted and railed. Even after Brenda and Susan arrived and they cried together, he’d held her close. It wasn’t until she was asleep that he must have left her, leaving her wolf sisters to guard her.

It was strange to
feel close to two women she’d never met. It seemed as if they’d known each other all their lives. They slipped into each other’s minds with their telepathic abilities as easily as Jared slipped into hers. She already knew about the women and their battles with cancer. Both were survivors, true warriors. Each served in the military until medically discharged because of cancer.

Esme
kneeled next to the couch and kissed Jared on the mouth. His arms surrounded her. “Are you all right,
mon coeur
?” Jared asked when she pulled back.

“I needed to see you, to be close to you.” She lowered her head and leaned it against him.