Stephanie Tyler - Dire Desires

She would play possum, the way she always had at the hospital. If they thought she was weak, they would let their guard down, and that’s when she would escape. Here, she would have to strike, to fight.

She had no idea where these urges came from, but she did know she would fight them all.

“She ripped those restraints like they were paper,” she heard one of them murmur in a language she shouldn’t have understood. She glanced down at the metal cuffs that were attached to the table.

“She understands,” another one said.

“Gillian, I’m Gwen. We’re Jinx’s family, and you’re safe here.” The tall blond woman didn’t seem particularly afraid of her, smiled kindly.

“You’re a doctor?” she asked and the blonde didn’t seem to know what to say to that.

“She is,” the tall, dark male said in a gruff voice.

“Really. The IV is just to get the drugs out of your system.”

It took Gillian several tense moments to believe her. She ripped the needle out of her arm, even as Gwen explained about drug withdrawal and the like.

“That’s never happened,” she assured the tall, cool blonde. “I need a weapon.”

“No, you don’t. These . . . men . . . they’re all part of Jinx’s family too. They just . . . wanted to meet you. But they’ll leave now,” Gwen said and they all did as she asked.

“You have power over them,” Gillian noted.

Gwen laughed a little. “Some, I guess.”

Gwen had pointed to the pile of clothing and Gillian didn’t argue, slipped into the comfortable T-shirt and leggings reluctantly. As always, the clothing chafed her skin.

She thought about the big man they called Rifter, the one who told Gwen to keep her in the basement. The cinder blocks and lack of windows blocked the moon but she could sense it, and walked around the room as if she could somehow find a way outside.

She always found a way.

“I think I like this place,” Gillian murmured in spite of her need to escape, the contrast maddeningly odd, more to herself than to Gwen as she moved around.

“It’s nice here,” Gwen agreed. “You’re safe—I meant that. No one’s going to drug you.”

“But I can’t go outside.”

“For now, it’s better for you to stay here. I promise you’ll understand why soon enough.”

“Where’s the warrior?”

“Do you mean . . . Jinx?”

“Yes.”

“He had to go to work. I could ask him to come back.”

Gillian didn’t answer that, instead asked, “Does anyone else know I’m here?”

“No one from the hospital.”

“My parents?”

“We don’t know who they are.”

“At this point, neither do I,” she murmured. Maybe she’d never really known them. There were always others taking care of her because they traveled a lot. Thinking back, there were always a lot of doctors and tests and she wondered if they’d always known she would need to go into some kind of hospital, if they were testing her early so they’d know.

But know what? That she liked to run naked through the woods? Other than that, she seemed to be able to function normally in society. She was polite, didn’t eat with her hands, was well read. She’d finished all her schooling, graduating early. And she would’ve moved on to college if she hadn’t been forced into the hospital.

How much had Jinx told them about her past? How much did he actually know? They’d barely had time to talk before she’d been sedated.

Rescued. Safe, the rustling told her. It never steered her wrong.

Her back ached. It had been hurting, as if she’d bruised it, for the past several weeks. She lifted the shirt and turned to look over her shoulder in the mirror at her naked skin, noted that Gwen was watching her too.

“I must’ve bumped it the last time I”—she was about to say escaped —“exercised.”

Gwen moved closer and her tone was a little off when she said, “It looks like it’s going to be just fine.”

“You’re the doctor.” She tugged at the neck of the T-shirt. The clothing was soft, but it still chafed. And Gwen hadn’t seemed bothered by her nudity, but still, she knew walking around the house with all the men wasn’t appropriate.

“Are you hungry?”

“Actually, starving,” she said. Gwen went out the door and pulled in a table on wheels with a big tray of covered food dishes.

“That smells great.”

“Here—sit and get started. I’ll be right back, okay?”

Gillian couldn’t think of anything but food at that moment. At first, it was only that way after they’d sedated her and lately it was that way all the time. There was never enough food, except on the days she ran. Then, it was like her body shut down to everything but the air and the moon.

It was all delicious—lots of stew meat and potatoes and bread. She sat and ate for what seemed like hours. Finally, when her stomach stopped complaining, she looked around and noted that there didn’t appear to be any cameras in this room, although they could be well hidden. She took a few more bites and couldn’t shake the fact that she was alone.

They trusted her, just like they made the mistake of doing time and time again at the hospital. Gillian always took full advantage of their mistake and she’d do it here.

Really, she had to. The moon, the air, Jinx—all called to her as surely as they felt her pain of being held captive.

Her bare feet padded across the cold floor, but her blood ran hot. Her fingers nestled in the seams of the cinder-block wall, looking for any kind of weakness, a secret passage.

Nothing.

She went into the small bathroom and looked up at the vent. It was small, but it had to lead outside. She lifted the cover and smelled earth. But she’d never liked enclosed places, so she was torn.

Jinx had left her. She’d ask him why when she saw him again.

She went to the door and found it opened easily. She went to the next door and found herself inside a maze of cars and motorcycles. There was a big window about seven feet up and she climbed onto the roof of a truck and pushed it open and looked down.

You can do this.

She balanced in her bare feet on the window’s ledge. Hesitated and then jumped as if it was the most normal thing in the world. Landed solidly on her two feet and broke into a dead run toward the woods, her smile wide. The wind tore through her hair, the T-shirt billowed out around her and she heard her own laughter echo in her ears.

She was free—and this was no dream.

“Your brother looks good for being a prisoner of hell. The biker look works for him,” Jez said, trying to keep conversation going as Jinx brooded in the passenger’s seat. “A bold choice of tattoos, though. The women are going to love them, I’m betting.”

“Do you ever shut up?” Jinx growled.

“Finally. I was beginning to think I’d lost you in your broody bad-boy mood for the night, and we have work to do. Are you ever going to ask what I found back at the psych facility?” Jez asked. “I realize you were busy being all growly over your mate—”

Jinx wanted to say she’s not my mate but the words wouldn’t come out, dammit. Instead, he managed, “I talked to a ghost who mentioned a monster.”

“Most of the patients saw it,” Jez confirmed. “Several nurses mentioned that over the past four days, they used a lot more drugs than normal to keep everyone calm. One of them said that, and I quote, ‘It was like all the freaks freaked out at once.’”

“Nice nurse,” Jinx muttered.

“All the patients I spoke to—”

“You spoke to patients?”

“They won’t remember me, wolf,” Jez told him with a sigh. “You sure you want to talk about monsters rather than the fact that your brother woke up and you just found your mate?”