Mate Claimed

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Iona drifted to wakefulness, stiff, sore, and angry, though she didn’t remember why she was angry. She also didn’t remember the beds in Eric’s house being so uncomfortable.

No, she seemed to be on a chair. Had she fallen asleep in the living room? But even those chairs weren’t as uncomfortable as this one.

Then Iona remembered—she was at the clinic with Cassidy. She’d dozed off in an armchair while Cassidy and baby Amanda snoozed across the room. Then someone had come in…

The panther in her came wide awake, though Iona kept her eyes closed. The memory of the wrong scent, the human bending over her, then the prick of a needle had her Shifter as alert as a predator spotting elusive prey.

Iona stretched her other senses without opening her eyes, not wanting to alert whoever had attacked her that she was awake again.

The scent of this room was different from Cassidy’s room in the clinic. That one had borne the overlapping hospital scents of antiseptic, people, and the faint, faraway odor of urine. This room was dusty and dry, and the tickle of rust spores touched her nose.

Iona also scented Cassidy lying nearby and heard her breathing. That was a relief.

What she did not scent was the powdery, new-baby smell of Amanda.

Iona sensed no one else—not human or Shifter—and she risked opening her eyes a crack.

The only light came from a window high in the wall that showed a patch of twilit sky. The dim light revealed that she was in another hospital room, but one that looked as though it hadn’t been used in a long time.

Cassidy lay on what looked like a gurney, her arms and legs unnaturally stiff. Iona saw why as her Shifter sight adjusted to the light—Cassidy’s wrists and ankles were locked down with metal cuffs. A bag of clear liquid hung on a stand next to Cassidy, an IV drip snaking into her arm. Iona definitely didn’t like that.

No one else seemed to be in the room or even outside it. Iona strained to listen, but her Shifter hearing picked up nothing beyond the door. Either the hallway was deserted, or the room was well soundproofed.

Iona had been tied to the metal and plastic chair on which she sat, but with ordinary rope. The rope was cheap, its prickly, synthetic fibers chafing her wrists, but it was strong.

Not strong enough for a Shifter, however.

They still think I’m human. A normal human might not be able to extricate herself from the bonds, but a Shifter easily could.

The panther within her urged caution. If their captors believed Iona to be human, of minimal danger to them, she needed to let them keep on thinking that.

Iona scanned the room for webcams or other cameras or listening devices. She saw nothing, but that didn’t mean they weren’t cleverly hidden.

The room grew darker, night coming quickly in the winter desert. Iona contained her impatience and waited as the sun continued its descent.

No lights came on when the last of the sunlight winked out. Iona waited another five minutes, making herself count every second, until at last she sat in full darkness.

Think of the form you want to be, then be it.

Iona pictured her limbs becoming those of her panther, slender and strong. She suppressed the growl in her throat as her arms and legs changed, black fur emerging over flesh.

She spread her front paws. The plastic ropes stretched, then slackened enough for Iona to easily slip out. Her dainty panther paws also slid quickly out of the ropes that bound her feet.

Iona closed her eyes again and willed herself back to human. Leaning over, she slipped her shoes on and leveraged herself silently from the chair.

She had three goals—wake and free Cassidy, find Amanda, and contact Eric. Eric would already be coming, once he and Diego discovered the abduction. She had no doubts that the two men would tear apart the town trying to find them. They’d have an easier time if Iona could figure out where she and Cassidy were and let Eric know.

A quick check told her that their captors had taken the small purse Iona had snatched up when going with Cassidy to the clinic. That meant they had her phone and wallet with her driver’s license and all her credit cards. Oh well, more proof that she was human.

The room had no phones, not that Iona had expected one. She couldn’t spot any outlets for phone lines, which was unusual in a building that looked as though it had been constructed at least in the eighties, maybe earlier.

Iona made her way to Cassidy and, without bothering to figure out what was in the drip bag, untaped the needle in Cassidy’s arm and tugged it out. Whatever they were feeding her, it couldn’t be good.

Cassidy drew a long breath, then her eyes opened, and she jumped, her limbs still tethered to the table.

“Shh.” Iona touched her shoulder. “Be quiet. They might be listening.”

Cassidy drew another breath, which broke on a sob. “They took Amanda. I couldn’t stop them before they tranqed me. They took my cub.” Tears trickled from her eyes.

“We’ll find her, I swear to you. Are you all right?”

“I will be, once I kill the humans who took my cub.”

Iona patted her shoulder. “Sounds like you’re all right, then.” She touched the metal cuff on Cassidy’s wrist. “Can you shift and slide out of that?”

“It’s tight.”

Cassidy closed her eyes and, as Iona had, let her hands and feet change to those of her wildcat. The cuffs, however, were small enough to clamp down on her slender cat’s limbs, and too strong for Cassidy or Iona to break them.

Cassidy changed back to human, letting out a sigh. “They must be designed to contain Shifters. They knew what they were doing.”

Iona figured out how to turn off the drip from the bag, then she laid the needle under the crook of Cassidy’s arm. “Stay still and pretend to be unconscious. I’m going to look for Amanda.”

Cassidy’s eyes shone with fear in the darkness. “Goddess, Iona. I can’t just lie here.”

Iona leaned over her, putting her hands on Cassidy’s shoulders. How did Eric do it, soothe away fears when he was afraid himself? Iona gently caressed her new sister-in-law, meeting Cassidy’s terrified gaze.

“I promise you, I won’t stop until I’ve found her. And I’ll find a way to contact Eric. We’ll get out of this and go home. All of us.”

Cassidy looked no less afraid, but she gave Iona a faint smile. “You don’t have to try to reassure me.”

“I’m not reassuring you. I’m telling you. I will find Amanda and call Eric. If someone comes back, tell them I managed to get out of my ropes, but you don’t know how. Or just pretend to be so groggy you don’t know what’s going on. Promise me, Cass.”

Cassidy’s eyes widened, but she seemed to strengthen under Iona’s gaze. “I’m just not used to being the one who has to be rescued.”

Iona kissed her forehead. “Consider it a chance to rest. I’ll be back for you.”

Cassidy didn’t answer, but she looked grateful.

Iona studied the ropes still around the chair she’d vacated, changed one of her hands to her panther’s paw, and used razor-sharp claws to slice through the bonds. With luck, their captors would think Iona had managed to cut her way out with a knife they’d overlooked. Then Iona took off her clothes and hid them.

She said another quiet good-bye to Cassidy and tried the handle of the one door to the room. It was locked, of course.

The door looked fairly new compared to the dinginess of the rest of the room. The door handle, likewise, was new and stout, locked with a key. A human being, unless very strong, probably couldn’t do anything with that door.

Iona thought about her half-shifted self, which she hadn’t liked becoming, because her Shifter mind and human mind had warred within her too much. She swallowed, willing herself to stay calm, and let herself become the half-human beast.

As soon as she flowed into that form, she wanted to stay in it. Strong, I am so strong. Let those humans get in front of me, I dare them.

She wanted to charge through the halls of wherever they were, find someone—anyone—and choke them until they told her where Amanda was. The cub was her niece, a child of her pride. Anyone who’d touched her would pay.

Iona grabbed the door handle with her half hand, half paw and twisted until the handle broke. She thrust her fingers into the resulting hole and pushed the lock mechanism with all her strength. The lock gave way, and the door silently opened.

Iona sniffed and listened to the hall beyond, but she heard nothing, smelled no one near. She crept out and closed the door, making sure the outer handle fitted back on so the door would appear, at first glance, to still be locked.

The panther was better for stealth, but Iona had a hard time convincing her in-between beast to change to it. She felt so powerful and clever in this state.

At last, the half beast conceded to flow into the panther. Iona was surprised how easy that shift was once she made up her mind, but she’d have to think about these things later. For now, she prowled the hall on silent feet, trying to figure out where she was.

She and Cassidy might have been taken to the compound in the desert that Iona and Eric had viewed from the ridge, the one to which Eric said they’d taken all the wolf Shifters. But this building looked larger and more solid, with a corridor running between rows of rooms. Iona might be in a regular hospital, albeit an old and disused one.

The only light came from windows in open rooms, where the moon was waxing to the full. Those windows were high in the walls, as was the one in Cassidy’s room, which could indicate that they were in a basement.

Not necessarily, she knew. Older buildings in Las Vegas had used small windows under the eaves to protect against the summer heat. The junior high and high school Iona had attended hadn’t had any windows at all.

At the end of the hall, she came upon what looked like an old nurses’ station. If the station had ever had any phones, they were gone now. Iona would have to hunt down the humans who’d taken her cell phone and beat it out of them. That thought appealed to the beast.

First, she needed to find Amanda. The panther put her nose to work.

Iona found nothing alive on this floor but herself, Cassidy, a few nests of field mice, and some scuttling roaches. At least it was too cold for snakes and scorpions right now. In summer, this place was probably infested.

The vision of baby Amanda with insects crawling all over her spurred her on. Infants were fragile, and Amanda would need warmth, protection, food. Were their captors giving her that? Or was it already too late?

Iona forced such thoughts away. Focus. Find her.

Eric, please come. We need you.

Even thinking about Eric made Iona feel better. His name twined around her heart, giving her strength and comfort.

At the end of a hall was a door, unlocked, which led to a stairwell. Iona shifted to her in-between beast to open it, then stayed the half beast as she ducked inside and tested the stairwell’s scents.

The stairs led down at least three floors, Iona thought, maybe more, and upward, maybe two or three. Iona stood there a long time in the darkness, trying to decide which direction was best. Upstairs might lead to light and a way out. Or she already might be on an upper floor, and upward would only take her to a roof.

At least she’d see where she was if she found the roof, she reasoned, but another sniff made her change her mind. From the lower floors, she scented life, and it smelled fetid.

Rescuing Amanda was the first priority. Iona remained her half beast and moved quietly down the stairs.

She found that there were a total of five floors below her. The first level down was pitch-dark, and she smelled nothing there. Nothing on the next floor either, though the scent grew stronger, and she realized that it was coming from the bottom of the stairs.

Iona continued down, opening the last door on the stairwell very softly. As soon as she was through, she flowed back to her panther and moved in silence.

No lights shone down here, and the smell from the walls was more earthy—definitely underground. The corridor off the stairwell was short and ended in a door that opened, unlocked, into a wide space.

Iona couldn’t see what was in that space as she slipped inside, opening the door only enough for her wildcat to slither through. She stopped, waiting to let her panther’s eyes adjust.

Gradually, she saw the dim forms of square pillars, as though people had removed walls down here but left supporting posts. Or perhaps this had once been a loading dock, garage, or storage area. It was empty now, the silence and cold vast.

The scent came from about halfway down the room. Iona slunk that way, her hackles up, paws making no noise on the cement floor. Against the wall, she found the cages.

She remembered Jace explaining how he’d seen jeeps taking cages to the desert compound. Whether these were the same cages, Iona had no way of knowing, and Eric said he hadn’t found them all when he’d gone in to rescue the wolves.

These cages were about five feet tall and three wide, a few of them six or so feet high. Large enough to contain Shifters, but even these cages would make for tight fits, especially to the larger Shifters, like bears or the bigger wildcats.

But what better way to keep a Shifter penned than give him or her barely enough room to turn around?

Or, Iona thought, a chill stealing through her, they were for smaller Shifters. The young.

She counted more than twenty cages stretching in front of her. She went down the line, the scent of animal growing stronger as she walked.

Each cage Iona passed was empty, until she came to the cage at the end.

This was one was about seven feet high, had thicker walls. The bars that closed it were at least six inches in diameter. Behind those bars was a snarl and a smell.

Iona backed away, her fur standing straight up, growls coming from her throat. She wanted to lie flat on her belly in a stalking-cat slink, teeth ready to rip out the throat of whatever was behind those bars.

The beast inside the cage growled in return. Iona saw eyes in the darkness, yellow with rage. The Shifter smell was strong but not quite right.

Iona forced her panther to calm. Whoever was in the cage was a Shifter, trapped, taken against its will. She should help it, not fear it.

But the waves of emotion that emanated from the cage had Iona’s defensive instincts roaring. She shifted back to her in-between beast, the shift a little slower and more painful this time.

“It’s all right,” she said, her voice the guttural one of the beast. “Who are you? I can help you.”

Another snarl of pure, aggressive rage. The yellow eyes flashed red and a body slammed into the bars of the cage.

Iona jumped back, but the cage held, which seemed to enrage the creature even more. It pressed its face to the bars and glared out at her.

Tiger.

Iona stared at the animal in surprise. Feline Shifters could be any wildcat or a combination of wildcats, each family tending toward the traits of one more than the others. Iona’s father obviously had a lot of panther in him; Eric’s family, snow leopard.

While in Shiftertown, Iona had met Felines whose wildcats resembled lions, lynxes, pumas, and one family of cheetahs, but no tigers. Cassidy sometimes looked after an orphaned cub who was a white tiger, but he was the only one.

This Shifter was a Bengal, orange and black striped, and gigantic. His scent was overwhelmingly male. No Collar gleamed around the tiger’s neck, and his eyes held madness.

He’d gone feral.

Iona stared at him in horror, finally realizing what Eric had been trying to tell her would happen to her if she didn’t control the beast within her. This was what he meant.

Crazed, furious, out of control, dangerous to herself and everyone around her.

Looking at the feral tiger in the cage, the untamed beast inside Iona tasted a tang of his madness and liked it.

Iona quickly shifted fully to human. “Who are you?” she asked again. “Did they capture you? Why don’t you have a Collar?”

The tiger’s face distorted, nose receding, eyes growing more human, but the Shifter settled into his half man, half beast form. “Let me out.”

The pheromone scent that came to her was loud and clear. Crap. He was an uncontrolled Shifter male facing a female who’d recently entered her mating years and was a bit wild with the mating heat. He wanted her.

Iona took a few steps back. “And have you jump my bones? No, thank you. I smell what you want to do.”

“I smell it on you. You want to mate. You want cubs.”

“I have a mate. He’s the leader of the Shifters. He’ll help you.”

“No one can help me.” The words were matter-of-fact.

“Where’s your Collar?” Iona asked.

The yellow eyes narrowed. “What collar?”

Interesting answer. “How long have you been in there?”

Surprise flickered in his eyes, as though he’d never considered it. “Always.”

“Who captured you?”

“I was never captured,” the tiger said. “I have always been here.”

The chill in Iona’s blood grew. “Where are the humans who run this place? They took a cub. I need to find her.”

“A cub.” The voice became sharp, more alert, more enraged. “Don’t let them have the cub.”

“I’m trying not to. Tell me how to find them.”

The tiger went silent a moment, claws scratching the floor. “Let me out. I’ll show you.”

“How about you just tell me? I’ll find the cub, and my mate, and he’ll help you. Promise.”

“No promises. Promises are lies.”

Iona took one bold step toward the cage. She couldn’t show fear. She had to calm him, to make him understand.

The dominance game, she understood with sudden clarity, wasn’t about fighting. It was about making the challenger know what would happen if things came to a fight. Iona might be smaller than the tiger, but she had to prove that she was fast and strong, and smart enough to win.

“I’m not one of the humans who put you in here. I’ll find the cub, with or without your help, and I’ll come back for you. That’s how it will be.”

The tiger fixed her gaze with his crazed red one. Iona didn’t flinch.

Staring him down was harder than staring down Shane or even Graham. But not tougher than facing Eric.

Eric, as calm and laid-back as he pretended to be, had dominance down to an art form. He didn’t need to challenge anyone, because he knew he’d already won before the game even started.

Defiance in the face of Eric’s will was almost impossible, but Iona had managed it. And she knew that if she could withstand Eric, she could withstand Tiger Man.

The battle took a long time though. Whoever this Shifter was, wherever he’d come from, he was a dominant.

The tiger didn’t lower his gaze or turn away, but finally Iona sensed a minute change in his stance.

“They do experiments on the top floor,” he said. “When they don’t do them down here. But they wouldn’t bring a cub down here with me.”

Top floor it was, then. Iona hoped he wasn’t sending her into a trap, but he didn’t smell of lies.

“I’ll make sure you get out too,” Iona said. “What’s your name?”

He hesitated for a long time, then finally said, “Twenty-three.”

“That’s not a name.” Iona glanced back down the row of empty cages. “What happened to numbers one through twenty-two?”

“They died. Now it’s just me.”

Iona met his gaze again, her fear of him changing to sympathy. “I’ll come back for you,” she repeated.

As though the conversation had become too much for him, the tiger shifted back into his huge wildcat, snarling breathily in his throat.

Iona became her panther again, finding it easier this time, and slunk back into the darkness.