euthanized. I was heavily into research at the time and I asked for you. As an experiment."

Horror bled through Petra. Euthanized? Her parents were murdered? And this woman had known about it. She probably had been the one to give the order. Oh, G.o.d, what else was she going to discover. How blind could she have been? All these years she had truly thought the PIA and her adoptive parents in particular only incarcerated those paranormals who were evil. Jamie had tried to tell her differently. It was because of Jamie she'd never revealed her special abilities to anyone. It was amazing what a person could blind themselves to in order to be loved. But not anymore.

"You killed my parents?"

"You know the laws as well as anyone. They wouldn't work with us. Therefore, they couldn't be trusted. So they were eliminated. But you hadn't been tainted, at least not then. I wanted to observe you as you grew and matured. To see what developed. But you became as corrupt as any of them- hiding your abilities from me. Did you think I wouldn't find out? No better than the rest of the mutants. Animals, all of them. Biting the hand that fed them."90 "You never loved me." It was a statement of fact. All these years she had tried so hard to do the right things, to be deserving of Deborah's love. All for nothing. Even the engagement to Rolland had been to please her parents.

"I owned you." The smile she gave was an evil thing to see. "I even named you. Petra. Pet for short. My pet. Tamed to my hand. Taught the tricks I wanted you to know.

Performed when I told you to perform. You housetrained quite well. Jamie was another matter. You would have made quite a nice docile addition to my household if it hadn't been for him.

He encouraged you to rebel."

Petra watched her as she paced back and forth across the room, arms crossed over her chest. "Don't think for a minute I didn't know what he was up to. I had to get rid of him. But you-I had other plans for you. I would have repaid your loyalty. I would have eventually turned your papers over to Rolland. Of course, I couldn't let you out on your own, but Rolland knew what you were. He would have known how to handle you. He knew what I could give him if he did as I asked. I actually had several people in the agency willing to pay good money for you." She whirled around on Petra. "I tried to do right by you, and look what you did? There was no reason for you to be in Silver Creek. None at all. You had your a.s.signed duties and they would have kept you out of trouble."

Petra thought she was going to throw up. Her stomach roiled at the thought of all the years she had lived under false a.s.sumptions. She had known her mother was a hard woman, but she had never seen this monstrous side of her. She had kept it well hidden from Petra and Jamie.91 "Oh, my G.o.d." She tried to twist away, to run from the horrible truth, but the chain attached to the collar kept her from going too far. Like an animal on a leash.

"Of course your worth increased after the accident. I didn't know you were going to accompany Jamie that day. He was meant to die, but you weren't. But your value did increase after that, I must say. You were worth keeping around."

Petra's head shot up. "You killed my brother." She had to say the words out loud in order to make herself believe them.

It felt like she was sitting in the middle of a nightmare. None of this could be real.

"Yes. He was becoming unmanageable. And he was beginning to ask too many questions. After he finished college, he wanted to move out on his own. Leave the inst.i.tute. I couldn't allow that. I wouldn't have been able to observe him if he did that."

"You killed him." Petra couldn't seem to come to terms with the knowledge that was just coming to light. That her mother had murdered her brother. And almost killed her as well.

"It was quite fortuitous that your accident came at the same time we were transporting the she-wolf Sybilla to the compound. I had been after that pack for quite some time.

I'm just sorry I didn't get them all. She tried to escape and was shot. But then you were brought in very near death and I knew a crucial experiment was about to take place. I wanted to find out if it was possible to transfer the shifter abilities through the transplant and transfusion process and how the92 curse worked-if that was possible. That way we could control the beasts and use our own people when necessary."

Oh, G.o.d, she didn't want to hear this. Petra understood exactly what she meant. "All along you were going to try to use me to infiltrate the paranormal community. That's what you're trying to do, isn't it? You want to pinpoint their sanctuaries."

Deborah shrugged. "Of course. There would be no need to fake the paranormal effects if we could induce and control them ourselves. But now we can move on to the second part of the experiment. To see if we can reverse the effects as easily as we instilled them in you."

Every word out of Deborah's mouth just made the horror of these revelations worse. Petra was so shocked she couldn't even think of what to say.

"She was his mate, you know," Deborah said as she walked over to the other bed. "Your wolf lover. He probably recognized her scent on you."

"What did you do? Oh, G.o.d, what did you do to me? To us?"

"Her heart, her blood. Your body, your mind. You are, in essence the mate he lost all those years ago. I wonder what he would say if he knew it was his first lover's heart that saved his new lover?"

The world was spinning and Petra couldn't find her way to solid ground. Oh, my G.o.d, these people were monsters. And she was a part of it. She had to get out of here. She was suffocating. She clawed at the collar imprisoning her neck.93 She tried to launch herself at Deborah, but the guard yanked her back onto the bed.

"You're crazy!"

The cold smile on Deborah's face sent chills coursing along Petra's spine. "Oh, I wouldn't try using your newly-acquired strength. That collar contains an electrical charge you won't enjoy. In fact, it could kill you if it's set to max. So I'd be very careful if I were you." She held up a remote and then tossed it to the guard standing next to the bed holding the leash. He caught it deftly with his other hand. "Use it if she gets too rebellious. I hate it when they forget their manners."

"Yes, doctor." Petra saw him smile as he stroked a finger over the surface of the small black box.

Deborah reached down to the second bed and Petra only then noticed a wolf pelt lying across the bed. Her gaze widened. She had been so focused on Deborah and the terrible things she'd been relating that she hadn't actually looked around the room. Now she stared at the pelt in horror.

"Isn't it illegal to have those?" she asked.

Deborah smiled coldly as she picked it up and stroked it with her hand. "Only the purebred kind is still protected. But this isn't purebred." Insanity lit up her eyes. "Do you know what it is?"

Petra didn't want to know. How had she allowed herself to be so blinded? Had she needed the love and approval of a parent so desperately that she had not wanted to see the true nature of the woman who had raised her?

"I asked you a question," Deborah yelled. "Do you know what this is?"94 "No, I don't."

Deborah smiled as she stroked the fur. "But I think you do.

Did he tell you about Kyle?"

Oh, my G.o.d! The man in Petra's dream. It felt as though the world was going black. Her stomach churned. She blinked and forced herself to focus.

"Well, Kyle was out of the same pack," Deborah went on in a conversational tone. "He resisted too hard and I'm afraid we had to kill him. Did you know it takes a little while for a werewolf to shift back to human form after it's killed?

Especially if death comes to him slowly."

Petra could only stare at her mutely, horrified by what this monster was revealing to her.

"Well, he was still alive when my men dragged him out.

But just barely. I gave the orders that the minute his heart stopped ... Well you get the idea. I had him skinned immediately and the fine pelt treated." She rubbed the pelt against her cheek. "Mmm, nice and soft. It's a wonderful reminder of my mission in life. And just the way I like my shifters."

"Nooooooo," Petra screamed. This time she couldn't stop herself. She leaned over the side of the bed and vomited.

When it was over, she pulled herself up and glared at Deborah. "You're a monster."

The guard yanked the chain viciously and dragged her back on the bed. She struggled to get free. He held up the small box as a warning, his finger hovering over a black b.u.t.ton. She sagged back down onto the bed.95 Deborah settled the pelt back onto the bedspread "Now that we've seen the experiment has worked even beyond my expectations, we're going back to the facility in New York for more tests and to eventually attempt a reversion."

"Where is he?" Petra looked up at Deborah with dull eyes.

"The wolf who mated you? Oh, he'll be taken to Spokane for a different sort of tests. You won't be seeing him again,"

she said matter-of-factly.

Petra crouched on the bed, staring up at the woman who Petra now wanted to destroy.

She had taken everything from her ... everything. Her parents, her brother, and now she meant to take her mate.

She felt the animal rise toward the surface, felt the rumblings of primal savage pa.s.sion spread through her.

"Why have you done this? Why?"

"Why? A long time ago when I just a child, I saw my parents murdered by werewolves. I watched them die a slow, painful death. The wolves thought I was dead as well, but I lived. At that moment I swore to put an end to their kind once and for all. When the PIA was formed I knew what I had been born to do." Deborah glared at Petra with that unholy light in her eyes. "And I shall triumph, Pet. Just you see. And you shall help me."

"I won't let you win," Petra growled at her.

"I already have, my Pet. I already have." She looked at the guard. "Take her out to the van and see that she's secured. If you try to escape, or try to fight your way out, even think about shifting, all he'll have to do is press that b.u.t.ton and I'm sure you'll think twice before trying it again. Well, maybe a96 small test, just to a.s.sure you I mean what I say." She looked at the guard. "Show her."

The guard pressed the b.u.t.ton and Petra was thrown back onto the bed by the force of the electrical current that shot through her whole body, centering at her neck, choking her, trying to suffocate her. She screamed in agony.

The guard released the b.u.t.ton and the pain immediately began to dissipate. Petra panted and tried to draw in deep breaths.

"That was just a sample, Pet. Go along nicely with the guard and it won't be needed again. Prepare her for departure. You have my permission to use the collar if you need to, but I don't want her dead. Not just yet. We still have much to learn."

The guard nodded. "Yes, Dr. Thornton."

Petra had no choice but to follow the guard out to the small yellow van waiting in the parking lot. She saw the outline of two men dressed in black seated in the front, but the guard yanked the leash and forced her around to the back before she could make out their faces. When they arrived at the back, he stopped her from climbing in and wheeled her around to face him.

He pulled a knife from his belt. "I need to prepare you for transport. You heard what the doctor said."

She tried to step away from him, but he yanked on the chain. "Don't try it or I'll use the collar. I can strip you just as well unconscious as conscious."

She lifted her chin and glared at him. Using the knife, he split open the front of her shirt and removed it. He did the97 same with her pants until she was standing naked in front of him.

His hot gaze traveled over her body, then he smiled. "It will be an interesting trip." He spun her toward the steps that would take her into the back of the truck. The inside was empty, except for a steel cage. The guard forced her up the steps and then into the cage. It wasn't large enough for her to stand; she was required to kneel. He then unhooked the leash. She heard the squeaking echo of the door as he slammed it shut and padlocked it. She refused to look up at him.

"You're the doc's special project. She'll be flying home, but for us-it will probably take a good week to get you back to the New York facility. She expects you amenable when you reach the facility. It's our job to make sure the doc gets what she wants. You can make it as hard or as easy on yourself as you wish. I'm a friendly kind of guy and more than willing to negotiate-on my terms. Awful hard riding in that cage all the way across country. But you think about it."

Petra refused to look at him. She knew he meant to humiliate her, to break her. In the last twenty-four hours she had learned things about herself. Revelations that had made her stronger and more determined to fight people such as Deborah and the agencies she worked with. Petra had wanted to fit in, to please her parents, to gain their love. And in doing so she had shut her eyes to the atrocities that were being perpetuated on the paraspecies. Not just the werewolves, but any human with the least bit of unusual ability. No more. She would get free and when she did she would tear this b.a.s.t.a.r.d's98 heart out. The cruelty of these people astounded her and with her last breath she would fight them. No matter what they did to her, she would not let them win.

When she didn't cry or beg or scream, she heard him walk away from the cage. He lowered the door and the light dimmed. He walked back to the front and banged on the wall.

Petra heard the rumble of the motor as the truck started. Her gaze narrowed as she watched the guard move to a bench bolted to the side of the van and he sat down, his focus on her.

She felt a ripple of electrical shock curl around her neck and travel down her body. She shot a poisoned look at him.

He grinned as he held up the control. "Just checking to make sure you know who's in control."

At least for now, she wanted to qualify his statement.

There would come a time when even the thought of excruciating death would not deter her. She didn't plan to make it all the way to New York.

But for now she was going to have to bide her time. It would come, that was something she was certain of.

The back of the truck swayed and she felt the rumbling vibrations as the vehicle began to move forward. She settled back, drew her legs up, and wrapped her arms around them.

She kept her eye on the guard as the truck turned onto what was probably the main highway that would take them out of the state. Who would guess what was contained in the small panel truck? With nothing to draw particular attention to it, no one would question what was inside. It would be up to her to find a way out. One way or the other.99 She leaned back against the bars of the cage, planning her eventual escape. The swaying of the truck lulled her into a state of semi-sleep. Suddenly she was jostled awake as the truck veered to the side, pulled off the road, and came to an abrupt stop. She didn't know how much time had pa.s.sed, but thought it couldn't have been more than a couple of hours.

The guard rose to his feet and looked at his watch. He went to the back and lifted the heavy door and sunlight poured inside. "Now you stay right there," he joked. "I'm going to see why we've stopped. It's too soon for a break."

He jumped down and she lost sight of him.

Seconds stretched into minutes. She heard voices outside, but couldn't tell what they were saying. And then she saw the shadow of someone climbing into the truck.

"Son of a b.i.t.c.h," she heard him growl. And then he was kneeling before the cage and she saw his face. It wasn't until then that the tears finally fell.

He broke the lock and suddenly she was in his arms. Her arms wrapped around his neck, holding on tightly. "Oh, Carson, oh, my G.o.d. It's you."

His mouth slammed down over hers, so very real. The sobs caught in her chest as she clung to him, returning his kisses with desperation.

100

CHAPTER 12.

Carson wanted to kill someone all over again when he opened the back of the truck and saw what they had done to his mate. He wasted no time in jumping into the back to retrieve her from the cage.

The uniforms from the guards they'd captured had made it almost too easy to gain access to the truck. The men who were originally set to drive now lay dead in the bushes near the hotel. It had taken all his self-control to watch the guard walk Petra to the back of the truck. If Carson had realized he'd stripped her, they probably wouldn't all be alive now.

Carson would have killed the man right then and there.

Carson ripped off his shirt and put it on her and then lifted her into his arms once again.

Deborah Thornton had too much confidence in her own superiority to even consider that anyone would try to thwart her authority. Carson only wished he could have gotten to her before she left, but his priority was in seeing to Petra's safety.

He carried her out into the daylight. His only concern at this point was in getting her to safety. Once that was accomplished they could straighten out the rest. Deborah would have to be dealt with at another time. The council would see to the clean-up of today's activities. They were very good at handling that sort of thing.

Everything had happened so quickly from the moment Petra had arrived in Silver Creek and the council had decided to acquire her to use as a bargaining chip against the agency.101 How could he have known what would transpire? He wanted to give her time to become accustomed to him. He wanted to teach her about her abilities as a shifter. But the first thing he needed to do was get her back to the Falls where she would be safe.

"I think you can put me down now. I can walk." It was the first she had spoken since he'd gotten her out of the truck.

"I know you can." But he didn't set her down. Instead he drew her closer to his chest. In some ways he was terrified he would lose her if he set her on her feet. Too much had occurred, they'd both come too close to being separated forever.

"Grab that fancy lock pick of yours, Donovan, and get this d.a.m.ned thing off her neck." He looked at her as he finally lowered her feet to the ground in front of the opened door of the SUV Trey had pulled in behind the van.

He stroked the side of Petra's face. "Did they hurt you? I know what that thing feels like."

He saw the concern in her eyes. She touched his neck and he shuddered at the sensation it caused. "It's my fault they found you. It's my fault they caught you and hurt you."

"No, that's not true."

"But it is. My mo-Deborah told me." He saw her shudder as she tried to control her emotions. "They implanted a microchip under my skin when they performed the op- operation. That's how they found out where you took me. I led them right to you. It's most likely how they got to the men so quickly who kidnapped me on the street. I've been a beacon all along." She stepped away from him. "You have to102 leave me before I cause your deaths. It's dangerous to be around me."

"I'm not leaving you," he said, pulling her into his arms and binding her to him. You're not going anywhere without me." He turned to Trey. "We need to get her back to Silver Creek before the PIA realize what's happened. But first we'll take her to the Silver Creek hospital to see if they can remove that d.a.m.n chip."

Trey shook his head. "We don't dare take her into Silver Creek right now. The town is crawling with PIA. The townsfolk aren't too happy about them being there. There's been too much paranormal activity there recently. We need to lay low for a while or it's going to cause them problems. We don't want to see them stuck in the middle of all this. And we don't want to cause a lot of bloodshed if we can help it. We aren't prepared for a full-scale confrontation."

"Then we need to get word to the doc that we need his help. We have to get this chip removed and fast."