Page 41 of Shattered Fears

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Zain groaned. Man, he must have eaten a lot of honey last night because the sugar rebound headache that he had was a killer. His entire body ached. Seriously, was he sleeping on a park bench? His bed was rock hard. Fuck! Recollection hit him. The darts entering his body with enough tranquilizer to take down a herd of elephants, let alone one black bear. He tried to move his arms to stretch, but he found they were constricted, and on opening his eyes, the stark whiteness of the room hurt.

“Zain,” a voice he recognized called.

“Kingsley,” he grumbled.

“You ok? You’ve been out of it for a while. How did they get you?”

“Isobel.” The woman he loved came immediately into his thoughts, and he tugged on the restraints at his wrists and legs, but they weren’t going to move. Had she escaped? Jessica had come straight to him to tell him where Isobel had insisted on being taken. He couldn’t believe, after everything, she still wanted to reason with her father. The man had no conscience or soul. Jessica had propelled him straight into the middle of the scene, and he’d been hit with the first tranquilizer as he stopped it from going into the woman he loved. It had thrown him off a bit, but he’d still managed to get her out before they unloaded another several rounds into him.

“I’ve not seen her? Was she with you when they took you? Damn, my father has gone mad.”

“Your father?” He was still really groggy and trying to get his head around where he was.

“Yes, this is his office, laboratory, whatever you want to call it. We need to try and get out of here. You don’t happen to have the strength to break the cuffs securing you to the table, do you?” Kingsley asked. “My father had me work here for a few years, so I know the way out. I’m just a little confined, as well.”

Zain’s eyes had adjusted to the brightness of his environment, and he was able to see his surroundings, more clearly. He looked to his left and saw Kingsley, also secured to a table. The man had electrodes stuck all over his body and a cannula going into his arm ready for blood to be taken. He was naked apart from a cloth covering his groin. Humans were always so concerned with modesty. Zain looked harder, and he saw bruises and cuts forming on Kingsley’s skin. A part of one of his tattoos had been cut away, and a scab was building over the inflamed flesh.

“What have they done to you?” he asked.

“Just a few tests, but we need to get you out of here before they try the same on you,” Kingsley explained. Zain looked down at his body. He had the same electrodes, and a machine beeped next to him, capturing his attention. He rotated his head as far as he could to try and see what it displayed. It looked like his heartbeat. Stupid idiots wouldn’t find anything different there. It was just the same as theirs when in human form. He looked to his own arm where a cannula rested. Damn, they’d taken blood. He hated it when people did that. Mind you, it was a mistake if they were searching for information because, as far as he was aware, it was also the same makeup as that of humans. The shifter part came from magic, which existed within them. He’d wished he’d paid more attention when Kas had discussed their genetic and biological makeup. He would’ve known what to fight against and what to let these bastards get away with.

“I’m not going to be able to break these cuffs. They’re strong.” He looked straight ahead and cleared his mind of all thoughts but Jessica. “Jess, babe, I know you can hear me. I need help.” He waited a few moments, but nothing happened. Jessica could speak to them even from afar if she needed to. Her specialty in magic had always been telepathy and teleportation. “Jess. Please. Let me know if you can hear me.”

“That’s not boding well, is it?” Kingsley sighed.

“She could be busy. Don’t worry. She’ll get us out of here. Kas was already planning an attack to get you back.”

“He was?” Kingsley sounded surprised.

“You’re one of us, man.” Zain tried again with the cuffs, but they weren’t going to budge. A noise came from outside the room, and he froze, so he could use his super hearing to listen to what was going on.

“I want my daughter found.” Zain recognized the tone of Isobel’s father. “They’ve captured her. That thing in there has brainwashed her with my son’s help, and until I get her back, I won’t rest.”

“But, Sir, do you really think this is the best way?”

“Are you questioning my judgment?”

“No, Sir, not at all, but for all intents and purposes, he looks like a human.

“Except he’s a wild animal. He was a bear when we brought him in, and he’ll be one again, allowing us to find out how he does it. That thing has violated my daughter, and I won’t rest until it’s destroyed.” The door opened; Isobel’s father and a female, dressed in a white surgical coat, entered the room. A low growl reverberated in Zain’s throat, which caused the female’s eyes to widen in horror.

“Your daughter gave herself to me of her own free will because we love each other,” he snarled at Isobel’s father.

“I see you have superior hearing. Bridgette, make a note of that.”

The woman, who Zain assumed was a doctor, sat at a desk and made a note on a piece of paper.

“When could you hear what we were saying, Mr. Thornton? Is there a specific distance over which you have advanced hearing?” Bridgette asked.

“Fuck you,” he replied with as much grace and decorum as he could, strapped down to a table.

The woman blanched at him, her eyelashes batting up and down in shock. “Well, I don’t think there’s any need for that sort of language. I was assured you’re not a savage. Senator Ross, if he’s not going to answer even the simplest of questions, then I don’t see how I’m supposed to find out anything about these animals.”

“He’ll answer all your questions. Don’t worry. The threat of violence does wonders these days. We’ve all grown up as wimps.”

Zain rolled his eyes.

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