Lora Leigh - Soul Deep

The quilt. He had left it in the cabin, had never used it when he was there, no matter how cold he got.

“Here, you little bastard. She bought this for you so you wouldn’t get cold. I tried to tell her animals don’t feel the cold…” He had thrown the quilt at Kiowa, the hatred in his voice almost maniacal.

Kiowa had left it lying until he left, then carefully folded it, ignoring the warmth that seemed to reach out to him, and hid it in the metal cupboard in the kitchen. He had left it there when he left the mountain. Not that he had ever forgotten it. But he had wanted nothing to do with the woman who cursed him to the life he led.

“She cries because of what he did,” Cassie said then. “Forgive her, Kiowa, she didn’t know.”

Kiowa clenched his teeth as his chest tightened in pain.

“She always knew you had a soul…”

He came to his feet in a rush, stalking across the porch, away from the little girl.

“Kiowa, don’t leave,” Cassie called out then. “You’ve left Amanda alone, and she needs you. But can you help her be strong? Or can you only feed the demons you’ve known for so long?”

He stopped, turning back to her.

She stood, outlined by the rays of the sun and shadows that made no sense. A chill raced up his back as he realized then what Cassie was. The little girl, created from the altered sperm of both wolf and coyote, holding the traits of each, was psychic. She didn’t have fairies; the little girl saw ghosts and they spoke to her.

“Tell her I loved her,” he said hoarsely then, thinking of the dreams that had come to him as a child and the comfort they brought.

Cassie nodded slowly. “And she always loved you, Kiowa. She asked that you know, she was coming for you. They knew about you, and about her, and she was coming for you when she was taken from this life. She cried for you.”

He grimaced, his lips pulling back from his teeth as his head fell back and he fought the grief that ripped a ragged wound into his heart.

“Let yourself dream, Kiowa,” Cassie whispered then. “Let her comfort you again.”

He turned from her. He had to get the hell away from her and he had to do it now. Before he saw ghosts himself in the shifting shadows that moved around the child and in his own ragged soul.

He intended to escape into the forest, to find the time he needed to still the demons that raged inside him. And he would have, if the cell phone at his side hadn’t vibrated insistently.

Snarling, her jerked it off his belt and flipped it open.

“What?”

“Get to the house, Kiowa. Now.” Dash’s voice was low, imperative.

Kiowa didn’t bother answering, he just turned and shot into a dead run down the mountain. Altered genetics and his own athletic awareness gave him the speed and endurance he needed to make it to the main house where Dash waited at the door.

“Listen to me.” He pushed Kiowa against the entry wall before he could rush down the hall to the Lab entrance. “She’s in pain, Kiowa. And it’s bad. But she has to finish this. What’s going on right now is too important to stop.”

Dash was pale, his blue eyes dark with concern and bleak knowledge.

“What the fuck are you doing to her?” He fought the other man’s hold, and would have broken free if both Callan and Kane hadn’t lent their strength to holding him still.

“I’ll kill all of you,” he snarled then.

“And you’re welcome to my friend. Later,” Dash snapped back. “But right now, you have a mate determined to do what she needs to, and she needs you. We can’t hold her, Merinus or Elizabeth can’t either. You have to hold her, Kiowa. She can’t do this alone.”

“You’re crazy.” He could hear her now. The screams…

“Goddammit, let me go!”

“Kiowa, listen to me. They’ve found something, inside her.” Dash shook him furiously, his own eyes blazing. “She’s in full ovulation with the sperm attempting to fertilize. This is important, Kiowa. For God’s sake, for all of us, the hormone releasing from her womb now has never been detected before, Kiowa, and in such small amounts that Serena Grace needs the time to collect enough samples of the hormones building in her womb, while Martins follows the ovulation. Listen to me…” Dash was screaming, enraged, his eyes furious, desperate. “For all of us, Kiowa. Your mate is suffering for all of us, help us.”

“Kiowa…” He could hear her screaming his name, her voice a lash of agony as it penetrated the careful construction of the Labs.

“Kiowa. For our species. For all of us. If we could do something, anything to make this easier on our mates, then the world will be accepting when they learn of it. We’re walking a tightrope between life and hunting season. Help us.”

He snarled furiously, throwing his head back against the wall as her cry echoed around him again.

“Let me go to her.”

A surge of fury had him tearing from their grasps as he rushed to the opened steel door at the end of the hallway. He hit the stairs at a run, taking them five and six at a time until he vaulted to the steel floor and rushed into the main lab.

It was like a scene from a nightmare.

Amanda was restrained in a gynecological chair, her legs strapped to the stirrups, her arms and hands restrained at the side. Between her spread thighs, Dr. Grace worked slowly as Dr. Martins kept watch on a monitor attached to the camera that was obviously at the mouth of Amanda’s womb.

He snarled, drawing their attention, causing Elizabeth and Merinus to rush between him and Dr. Grace.

“Amanda.” He moved to her, quickly releasing the straps on her arms as he bent to her. “Hold onto me,” he pleaded at her ear as she cried out his name. “Hold onto me, baby. The minute you say the word it stops. I’ll make them stop.”

She was gasping for breath, her face streaked with tears as her arms wrapped around his shoulders with a desperate grip.

She screamed again, her back trying to bow, the straps across her waist and chest holding her firmly to the chair.

“She’s not in any danger.” Elizabeth was beside him now. “We’re monitoring all her vital signs. The minute her system shows any danger to her, we’ll stop.”

Kiowa shook his head. He didn’t want to hear it.

“The sperm is attempting to fertilize the egg that dropped. There’s a small hormonal barrier or shield blocking it. Protecting it from fertilization. But it’s weak. Other hormones are releasing into her blood, heightening the arousal. That’s what’s causing the pain. It’s not you touching her…” Elizabeth continued. “It’s the mating heat’s demand for more sperm, a stronger force to break through the shield. Dr. Grace is attempting to get small quantities of the hormone at a time, to keep from weakening the shield too much to handle the stress against it. It weakens the sperm, Kiowa. Keeps it from getting to the egg. Only a minute amount of that sperm is viable anyway, because of the advanced genetics. That’s why the mating heat is demanding intercourse. A greater quantity of sperm to break that barrier. This is a breakthrough we can’t ignore. It was a miracle she came to the labs when she did. Dr. Grace detected the change in her blood immediately, just from the studies she’s done on mine and Merinus’s. This could be what we’ve waited for…”

Her voice droned on over Amanda’s gasps and strangled cries. Amanda was sweating profusely, her skin cold and pale as she shuddered in his grip then tried to arch in agony as a wail echoed around him.

“I love you,” he whispered in her ear then, unable to hold the words back, to stem the agony ripping inside his heart. “Let me stop this, Amanda. Let me take you out of here.”