Mate Bond
Page 80

Turner was still speaking. “If the male opens one door in an attempt to free whoever is behind it, that door will activate a solenoid that completes a circuit to fire off the shotgun in the other chamber, destroying the Shifter confined there. The alpha male thus can make only one choice—saving his mate will kill his offspring; saving his offspring will kill his mate. Which will he choose?”
* * *
Kenzie watched Bowman’s expression dissolve into fury and horror. She could hear Turner fine, because he’d made sure the speakers came into her booth and Ryan’s. She could hear and see Ryan as well, because the partition between them was only a piece of hard plastic with holes in it.
Ryan was terrified, she knew. He didn’t want to die. But equally, he didn’t want to watch his mother be killed either.
“No choice is also a choice,” Turner’s loathsome voice droned on. “If the alpha male chooses neither, then I will fire off the guns myself, one after the other. Which will I choose to kill first?”
Kenzie could just see Turner’s hands hovering over a computer keyboard in his booth. She kept herself still, knowing that any hint of aggression would likely end with her watching Ryan and Bowman die.
Bowman’s eyes became red with his rage. His Collar let off a single spark, bright even under all the fluorescent lights.
“Bowman, no,” Kenzie shouted, though she knew he wouldn’t hear. She raised her bound hands and pointed both forefingers at Ryan. “Save our son,” she said, mouthing the words as precisely as she could.
“Mom, no way!” Ryan turned to her, his agitation making her want to cry. “You can always have more cubs.”
“Don’t be stupid,” Kenzie snapped. “I don’t want more cubs. I want you.”
“He has to pick one of us. I want you to be with Dad.”
“No.” Kenzie’s voice sharpened even as she wanted to be gentle. “You’re more important. This way, your dad can maybe find someone he can form the mate bond with.” She wanted to rip out her heart even as she said it, but she had to acknowledge the idea.
That’s bullshit, and you know it.
Kenzie’s eyes widened as Bowman’s voice sounded inside her head. Bowman?
His eyes went just as wide. Kenz?
She sucked in a breath. What . . . ?
Bowman, with minimal movement, touched a pendant on a necklace that hung just below the Celtic knot of his Collar. Your friend Gil gave me this thing. Maybe . . .
From the look on Bowman’s face, he didn’t think the pendant was doing anything, and neither did Kenzie. Whatever the talisman was, she’d be surprised if it made people suddenly telepathic.
First things first.
Sit tight. Bowman’s voice sounded again.
Where am I gonna go? Kenzie gave him her usual impatient look.
At the same time, her heart sang. They were in sync, as always, looking at danger and deciding what to do. She and Bowman made a kick-ass team.
Turner had them by the balls, though. He’d explained the setup to Kenzie. When one door was opened, a switch would be sparked, carrying a charge to the solenoid on the other side of the partition. That solenoid, in turn, would trip another switch, pulling back a wire wrapped around the hammer of the shotgun in that booth, firing it.
Turner also had controls in his room that could fire off either weapon whenever he chose. Bowman couldn’t break through the extra-thick glass and kill Turner before he could punch a button. Kenzie knew Bowman would never have come here without backup, but his trackers wouldn’t be able to get inside in time to stop Turner either. Turner held all the cards.
Bowman held a rebar. He had a talisman that did who-knew-what around his neck, and the ability to become wolf. That was it.
Kenzie went through the setup in her head, hoping it conveyed the situation in detail to Bowman. He wasn’t looking at her, however, but at Ryan, who was speaking carefully.
“Dad,” Ryan said, shaping the words so Bowman could read his lips. “The latch is the switch.”
Bowman frowned at his son, unenlightened. Kenzie repeated Ryan’s words in her head, hoping Bowman could hear them.
Bowman continued to frown, then he snapped his gaze to Ryan’s door.
Turner’s voice clicked on. “I will give you another thirty seconds to make your choice, Shifter,” he said. “I have other things to do today.”
Can you get out of those chains? Bowman asked Kenzie in her head.
I think so. She hadn’t wrested herself free yet, though, because Turner had threatened to kill Ryan if she didn’t behave.
When I move, you move, Bowman said. I’m not sure this will work.
Kenzie tensed. Good to know.
Ryan’s got an interesting idea, but your gun might still go off. I can’t see the wiring.
Kenzie had no idea what that meant, but she dragged in a breath, ready for whatever he was going to do.
Bowman, she said silently, sending every bit of caring and love she could through whatever link they were sharing.
Bowman’s hard gray eyes softened for a brief moment. Yeah, I know, his whisper came back. Love you too.
He stood absolutely still for a few seconds longer. Turner waited, his fingers poised over the keyboard.
Then Bowman leapt forward and smashed the rebar through the wooden bottom half of Ryan’s door. A moment later, Bowman dove for the hole he’d made and let his Collar go off.
Electricity sparked and exploded. Bowman’s body jerked with it, a howl of pain escaping his throat. The door broke, but the frame remained connected to the wall, the latch in place, and Kenzie’s shotgun stayed silent.
For now. With something as strong as Bowman smashing through it, the door could fall out of its frame any minute. Kenzie understood that Bowman had tried to short-circuit the wiring with his Collar, to disrupt electricity going to the switch Turner had put into the door, but a stray spark might set it off anyway.
Turner, red with anger, brought his hands down on the computer keyboard.
But he wasn’t as fast as a Shifter. Bowman leapt through the wreckage of the door, shifting in midair, to catch Ryan and his chair and slam both out of the way as the shotgun in Ryan’s room boomed.
At the same time, Kenzie shifted, letting herself linger in her between-beast state—a formidable cross between wolf and human, with the advantages of both. The form was difficult for most Shifters to maintain for long, but it got the job done in the meantime.