Page 140 of Callen's Captive
It was nearly eight at night when her wolf stirred. The wolf she hadn’t truly learned to communicate with, let alone control. Her wolf sensed danger, and that was enough for Kate to make those final adjustments that would hide her program in the WSSO’s software.
Two minutes later, Kate smelledthe men even before she heard the soft tapping of boots surrounding the house. She still hadn’t gotten use to smelling people from such a great distance but she like the advantage it gave her.
Kate struck the “c” and ‘k” together on the second laptop, the one she was using to hack the WSSO’s satellite software. The macro she unleashed erased all traces of her activity.
Seconds later, two mercenaries stormed the room and threw her to the floor. She never even had a chance to reach for her gun.
The men yanked her hands behind her, snapped cuffs on her wrists, and shoved a canvas bag over her head. Her wolf urged her to open the bond to Callen, to reach out to him, but she refused. She wouldn’t endanger him or let him suffer whatever the WSSO planned for her.
A man yanked her to her feet, and the cold edge of a knife rested against her neck. His scent made her recoil. Briggs. Her body began to shake, and her knees went weak, but he held her up.
“Any last words, traitor?”
“The house is clear,” another man reported.
“Good, wait outside.”
The sound of feet striking the floor carried to the floorboards beneath her feet. They had no need to be quiet now. Briggs had captured his target. Maybe she should have stayed longer, to let Callen train her how to shift on command. Would the cuffs interfere, break, slip off her wolf if she actually managed to shift? She knew nothing about being a wolf.
Just be Kate.Callen’s words rang in her head. That she could do. It was time to have a very quick girl-to-girl talk with her wolf.
“Yes, I have something to say,” Kate said as she fought against the cuffs. He had put them on really tight, and the metal was cutting into her skin. The coppery scent of her own blood angered her wolf. Anger. She could work with that.
“Release me and maybe you’ll live.”
“I’m not the one dying today,” Briggs said as he sliced deep into her jaw.
Kate screamed at the pain and gave in to her wolf. The bag over her head was the only thing that stayed on her as her clothing fell away. The cuffs, too big for a wolf, slipped off as her arms shifted. Her wolf didn’t need to see Briggs to attack him. She could smell his sweat, his dirt. . . his fear.
Blindly, she charged into Briggs, headfirst, undercutting his legs and flipping him over her back. She pawed at the bag, tearing it off her head and turned. Briggs’s knife sank into her side.
Kate didn’t let the pain stop her. She summoned all her strength and leapt at Briggs. She slammed him against the table where she’d been working. The computers crashed to the floor as she jumped on top of Briggs and pinned him. He swiped at her with the bloody knife, the knife with her blood. Her wolf had had enough.
Without even a snarl warning Briggs, Kate and her wolf ripped his throat out.
Kate’s wolf collapsed next to Briggs’s body. She needed to shift back to human form to stop the flow of blood and get to a hospital, but she couldn’t shift. She tried calming herself and thinking of her human form. That’s what she had done to shift back the first time. Apparently, there was more to it. Or maybe her wolf was resisting, and Kate needed to have another girl-to-girl talk with her. Unless her wolf knew something Kate didn’t know.
Kate’s head swam in a pool of confusion as blood gushed from her side. She could swear she smelled someone familiar, a friendly, which was ridiculous. Her wolf started whining, trying to keep Kate awake. If Callen were here, he’d tell her not to worry, to trust her wolf. She did trust her wolf, and Callen. And she loved him, more and more each day. It’s a shame she would never get to tell him how much.
Kate stared at Briggs, not feeling the least bit sorry that she’d killed him. The animal would never ever hurt anyone else again. As her eyes began to close, she thought of Callen and all the joy she had from making Callen smile, from having his arms wrap around her, and from knowing that no matter what she did, he would always be there for her. An unwavering bundle of love and support who had respected her enough to listen to her wishes. He hadn’t followed her, but had let her go, to do what needed to be done. She only wished she could tell him how much that meant to her, how completely in love she was with him.
At least Frank would deliver her message. That would have to be enough. She already lost too much blood. Kate used the last of her energy to open the bond to Callen. It felt as if someone had opened the floodgates to Callen’s essence as he flowed into and through her, his love reaching out and surrounding her soul. It was almost as good as being in Callen’s arms. Then Kate let go, allowed herself to float away knowing that even death wouldn’t sever her connection to Callen.
