Page 43 of Shattered Fears

“How many humans have you attacked and killed? Do you eat them afterward?”

“What?” That question brought him to his senses. “We don’t kill humans. We eat wild animals. I eat salmon just as any bear would. I’m not the savage in this room.” He looked at Kingsley who had thankfully passed out from the pain. “He’s your son? How can you do that to him?”

“He ceased to be my son the second you got your filthy paws on him. Have you changed him? Have you changed Isobel?” The senator ground his teeth together and brought his face to within inches of Zain’s.

“Let me guess, werewolf movies were your favorite as a child. I’ve changed nobody. Your son and daughter are as human as you are, except they have more compassion and understanding. You can only be a shifter if at least one of your parents is. It’s breeding that makes us what we are. Genetic mutations in our DNA. You should’ve watched those sort of films instead.”

“Is Isobel pregnant?”

“What?”

“You’ve taken her, so you’ve told me. You’re an animal. You breed for procreation and to wipe out the humans, taking our women and filling them with your vile offspring.”

“I love your daughter. We’ve fucked, yes. No, that’s the wrong word. We’ve made love because we want to be together no matter what twisted illusions you have of me. Jesus, I’ve wasted five years of my life for this. I wasted it on a freak like you.”

The senator slapped his hand across Zain’s face, and the bear growled a warning.

“I think an exception can be made in relation to attacking humans in your case. I’ll call for every shifter to show you just what they can do.” He tried at the cuffs again, but they wouldn’t move. Shifting to a bear could break them, but there was no guarantee and doing so while being restrained could pull the limbs from his sockets. He was trapped until someone came for him. He was at the whim of a man who had lost his mind with self-inflated power.

“I’ll ask you one final time, where is my daughter?”

“And I’ll give you the same answer. Safe because she is as far away from you as possible.”

“Bridgette. Did you get the sample from it, yet?” The senator pulled a phone from his pocket, and Zain recognized it as his own. He didn’t use it often, only when he wasn’t within telepathy range of the others. Although it had gotten a lot more use in the last few weeks since he’d rekindled his relationship with Isobel.

“No, sir.”

“I think now would be a good time, don’t you?”

“Of course.” Bridgette got up from the desk, where she’d been writing everything down, and she pulled out a drawer. Inside was a scalpel and some gauze.

“Who’s your alpha?” Senator Ross asked. He didn’t reply.

“Fine, I’ll just send this to Isobel then. Her number is in here.”

“Kas, it’s under Kaskae. That’s his full name.” There was no way Zain wanted Isobel to see anything that was happening in this room. To know he was being tortured was one thing, but for her to see what her father was doing to her brother was something he couldn’t let happen. He watched Isobel’s father FaceTime his alpha.

“Zain.” Kas’ voice came over the phone followed by a rumbling growl. “Where is he?”

“He’s here with me. My name is Senator Ross. I’m part of the shifter task force designated with neutralizing the threat your kind pose to the human race. Zain, as you call the bear I have in my possession, has been helping me with my inquiries. It took a bit of persuasion, but he’s being very helpful now. I guess your type can be trained.”

“Our type?” Kas interrupted.

“Wild animals. What are you?”

“None of your fucking business. I suggest you allow Zain and Kingsley to go without any further delay because you’re not going to like how this goes, otherwise.” The senator moved the camera to face both himself and Zain. On the screen, he could see Kas’ face filled with fury. The vein, which often pulsated in the polar bear’s head, when one of them did something that wound him up, was beating double time. “He’s not an animal. Un-cuff him, immediately, and I’ll come to you, and we can discuss this like gentlemen.”

“He’s a bear, which is an animal, last time I looked anyway. I’ll keep him tied down until I’m sure he no longer poses a threat to humans,” the senator sneered. “However, if you outrank him, you’re always welcome to come and take his place.”

The low rumbling of Kas’ growl echoed through the phone again. It was joined with that of a lion, wolf, and snow leopard. Even though he couldn’t see them, Zain knew his friends were listening in on this. He just hoped Isobel wasn’t.

“This is my final warning. Un-cuff him,” Kas repeated with no expression, other than resolve, crossing his face.

“No. See, there was another reason I called.”

Zain cocked his head away from the screen when Bridgette appeared at his side with the scalpel. She brought it to the skin of his naked stomach.

“Do you want to tell me what I’m going to find in his genetic makeup, and save me the trouble of doing this?”

“You’ll find nothing different to yourself.” Zain didn’t need to look at the screen of the phone to know Kas was speaking through gritted teeth. The growling in the background intensified, and the scalpel dug into his flesh. Burning ignited his skin at the intrusion. Bridgette carefully cut out a square, which was five centimeters by five centimeters. All the time, he hovered on the verge of human and bear. His bones cracked, but he didn’t change. Flashes of black fur cascaded in flurries over his skin. The overwhelming urge to shift to the form in which he could best protect himself was rampant, but he knew he couldn’t change. Finally, Bridgette lifted the skin from his body and disappeared to a corner of the room set up with medical equipment.

“That’s just the first of many tests. We’ll use this creature to discover the cure to rid the world of you all. We’ll make it safe for humans to walk the earth without fear of attack and death. The end is coming for your breed. Be prepared.”

The senator hung up the phone just as the growls turned to roars and howls. Zain was sure he could still hear them after the call was silenced. Maybe, it was the fact he was drifting into unconsciousness. The hole in his stomach, where part of his flesh had been cut away, throbbed and stung a thousand times worse than his first experience with a beehive. He shut his eyes and allowed the darkness to take him and stop the pain.

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