Page 38 of Clawless

The nasty guard was breathing through clenched teeth. “The exact words were ‘tag that trouble-making bitch’.”

The doctor made an unhappy sound, but didn’t protest when a knee was wedged in my back. A large hand pressed my face into the padding and I thought I could see my teeth marks on his palm. Did they know my wolf had done it? Were they going to test me, like the lab? Or was this retaliation for biting an alpha? Either way, they had me now. They were holding me down and I couldn’t move. Whatever punishment they thought I deserved, I had no choice but to lie still and bear it.

The clenching in my gut became so painful, I was suddenly weeping into the bench. Something cold pressed behind my ear, and when I cried out in shock, the guard at my back gave an impatient growl. “For fuck’s sake, it’s just a tracker. You won’t feel a thing.”

And I didn’t. Or not more than a sharp pinch as the needle slid in. I figured they’d already numbed the skin, because I smelled blood, but there was only a little tugging. Something pressed down and the cold feeling spread. Another pinch, more tugging and then the knee was easing off my back. I was still crying, but the hand over my face was holding me still, grinding my tears into the padding. The doctor brushed something against my cheeks. A Kleenex. And then a pill was pressed to my lips. “Take this.”

I was struggling again, but the hand on my face just squeezed my mouth open and the pill slipped inside as easy as the tracker. A pinch. A swallow. A metallic taste on the back of my tongue and I felt the room recede. Lights danced behind my eyelids, and something trickled down my throat. The pain in my stomach was now so strong I tried to bring my knees up. But the guards were holding them down and the doctor was saying something about shock. I closed my eyes, but the blood was pounding behind my ear. I thought of the tracker working its way into my brain and I barely turned my head before I was vomiting over the side of the bench.

“She’s having a reaction, but it can’t be the device. And there wasn’t anything in her file about medical allergies.” The doctor sounded panicked, but maybe it was because someone was thumping on the door. I groaned and tried to hug my belly, but people were yelling and my head was pounding. Something made a clicking sound, like nails on a wooden floor, and I wondered if it was the tracker trying to burrow its way through my ear canal. Another pinch in my arm made me cry out, but I was floating now.

Kind eyes, but an angry voice. I smelled Marnie, and pine needles. “Reed?”

“It’s Carter. I’m taking you to him right now.”

I didn’t know if I wanted that. I didn’t trust him. I didn’t trust any of them. I tried to resist when he lifted me, but my body was a useless lump of meat. And even if I could get it under control, where could I go?

Nowhere, a little voice taunted me. They have you where they want you.

I closed my eyes tighter, and didn’t open them again until Carter was handing me to Reed. I slitted my lids, just enough to see his sofa, the kitchenette, and then he was taking me through to his room. He laid me on the bed just as something cool touched the back of my neck. I shivered. Was it sending the tracker even deeper? I rolled into a ball to protect my belly.

“What the fuck happened?” Reed was trying to ease me onto my back, but I curled around his pillow. The bed dipped and the next words came out choppy, distorted, like his jaw was clenched tight. “Who hurt her?”

“There was a doctor in Bregman’s office. She said an allergic reaction. Maybe shock.” He made a hissing sound. “That room stunk of fear, Reed. I know it gets your wolf…”

“He won’t hurt her.” Reed huffed, then cleared his throat. “They put a tracker in her?”

“How d’you know?”

“Figured they’d lock her down after Den Night. But fuck… she’s in real pain.”

“Trauma,” Carter’s voice was suddenly closer, like he was peering down at me. I burrowed into the pine needle pillow, but I could still hear his muffled words. “Marnie said the lab trip was bad. And it looked like a clinic set-up in the office. Maybe it triggered her… You need to get that crap out of her head, Alphason.”

Reed grunted, but the bed dipped again and the covers moved around me. More of the pine scent filled the air, and I realized he’d pulled his blanket up over my head. I waited for the flash of fear, the need to claw my way free, but it was a cocoon, not a cage. I could still move. I rocked from side to side as I cradled my belly. “What can I do, Vail? Why are you hugging your stomach? You need water?”

“No,” I whispered. “It hurts so bad. Like claws, Reed.”

“Could be your wolf. You’ve both had a bad scare. But you’re okay now.”

“I thought they were going to do tests. Because I bit him. Last time they gave me pills, I couldn’t move.”

“They should have told you. They should have explained.”

“Maybe they did?” I edged closer to him. Bigger even than the guards, but he was just lying there. Nothing about him was threatening. And I was cold down to the bone. I fumbled for his hand and pressed it to my belly. The worst cramp of all bit down, but then the clenching became ripples. The ripples slowly eased back to a dull throb. I almost sobbed in relief. “That’s good,” I whispered. “Your touch is good, Reed.”

His hand rubbed gentle circles across my middle, while his other arm scooped me close. I was too wiped out to resist and my cheek pressed to his chest. Warmth flooded me, all pine scented, and as the knots eased in my chest, I sighed in relief. My legs slowly uncurled, and I crept a hand over his waist. He didn’t move, but I could feel the clenching of his muscles along his spine; little spasms, like he’d absorbed some of my pain. He rubbed my back and I wanted to purr. I felt the darkness seeping in, just as he said, “I can’t believe he fucking did this.”

“He said I was trouble. I needed a tag.”

“He’s a fucking idiot. But just because they know where you are, doesn’t mean they can get to you. No one’s laying a hand on you again, Vail.”

A hollow promise, but I clung to it, and fell into that pine-scented darkness.

Twenty-Eight – Jasper

Barakat was a ghost.

Liam and I personally covered every inch of the woods between Vail’s window and the Academy border, and it was as if he’d sprouted wings and flown away. And then to add to the frustration, the only footage of the attempted abduction was from Reed’s personal security feed; something I didn’t even know he had in place until my mom told me. He sent me a snippet – Vail running from the woods and being tackled by a pair of guards – but when I’d told him to send me the whole reel, he’d gone suspiciously quiet.

---