Mate Claimed
Page 82

He stroked her hair. “I love you, mate of my heart.”
Iona’s eyes cracked open, the lovely blue untarnished by any feral red. “Eric?”
“Love.” Eric laid his body over hers, trying to pour the warmth she’d given him back into her. He kissed her, her warm lips parting for his.
“Eric.” Iona’s eyes widened in alarm. “Cassidy. She’s upstairs with Amanda. We have to help Twenty-three. The humans are doing some weird experiments, stealing DNA and things. We have to…”
“Hush now.” Eric kissed her again, silencing her.
“You shot me,” she said, a spark of anger in her eyes.
“I had to, love. You were going feral.”
Anger fled, and concern returned. “Are you all right? Is the pain still there?”
Iona touched him as though searching him for hurts, even though her own body was bloody with claw wounds. But her touch stilled the throbbing pain inside Eric and, at the same time, brought one interested part of him to life.
“I’m better,” he whispered.
“Are we going to get the hell out of here anytime soon?” Graham asked from where he still trained the gun on the tiger.
Iona struggled to sit up, pushing her long hair back from her face. “We have to take him with us. I promised.”
The Tiger Man, still awake, regarded her with groggy eyes. His body was scored with dozens of deep gouges, but still he looked like he’d be willing to go another ten rounds.
“You want to take him?” Graham asked. “What the f**k is he?”
Iona got to her feet. Eric decided that watching her long legs unfolding in front of him, all the way to her fine, tight ass, was a wonderful thing. “He doesn’t deserve to stay here and be experimented on,” she said. “I came down here to free him, and I guess getting free triggered his fight-or-flight instinct.”
“You think?” Graham growled.
“She’s right.” Eric sat up, not minding being right next to Iona’s fine legs. “No Shifter deserves to be a guinea pig. He comes with us. Tranq him if he gets unruly.”
“But what are you going to do with him? Take him to Shiftertown to steal our females and threaten our cubs?”
“We’ll figure it out,” Eric said. “Have faith, Graham. Leaders need that.”
Graham kept the tranq rifle firmly aimed at the tiger. “I swear to the Goddess, Warden, you are a piece of work.”
“Argue later. Find Cassidy now. Where is she?”
Iona reached down for him. “Upstairs. I’ll show you.”
Eric’s heart lightened as he put his hand in hers and let her pull him to his feet. Mated. They’d help each other, always.
“Bring him,” Eric said to Graham, the strength of command returning to his voice.
“Whatever.” Graham scowled at the tiger. “We need to find some clothes to cover that semitruck between his legs.”
The tiger growled as he got to his feet, but he was finished attacking, Eric saw in his eyes.
Eric walked up to him. The tiger made another soft snarl, but Eric didn’t flinch. “We’ll help you, my friend. But you obey me.”
The tiger looked down at him, as tall as any bear Shifter, a glint of defiance in his eyes. He pointed at Iona, never taking his gaze from Eric. “I follow her.”
Eric felt momentary surprise, but then, it wasn’t so surprising. Iona had been seriously kicking his ass, she had promised to free him, and Tiger had heard Iona insist on making good on that promise. Small wonder this lone Feline would consider Iona his alpha.
“Works for me,” Eric said lightly. “Iona, lead the way.”
“And I follow you,” Graham said from behind the tiger. “With this.” He gave the tranq rifle a loving stroke.
Tiger eyed him not in fear but irritation, and turned to let Iona lead them out.
The building remained quiet as they followed Iona up the stairs. It was the middle of the night, yes, but the humans hadn’t stationed any guards on this building apart from the one outside the front door. The walls were thick, the basement deep, and apparently no sounds of their battle had reached the guard.
Eric wondered. When he’d been brought to Area 51 for experiments, he’d not been in this building, but a smaller one, with plenty of humans and military guards swarming it. This was an old building that looked as though it hadn’t been used in a few decades, one guard, no backup, silence.
Iona told them about the lab upstairs and the people she’d knocked out. She calculated about twenty-five minutes had passed since she’d done that.
“How about we go up and tranq them?” Graham suggested. “Give us another hour or so?”
“We get Cassidy first,” Eric said, a little distracted by the fine shape of Iona’s backside as she led them upward. “If Reid can take us all out of here quick enough, we might not have to worry about them.”
Iona shot Eric a curious glance over her shoulder, not yet knowing about Reid’s gift. She said nothing, however, as she led them out of the stairwell into a deserted corridor. They reached a door with a broken handle, which Iona opened into a hospital room.
Eric’s blood boiled hot when he saw his sister stretched out on a bed, her hands and feet shackled in place. A mound of clean suit on her chest emitted a little coo.
“Eric!” Cassidy cried in relief, then her voice strengthened. “Let me out of here so I can kill whatever humans touched my cub.”
Eric went quickly to her, leaning to embrace her in joy and relief. His embrace encompassed Amanda, who opened her infant eyes and burped.
Cassidy relaxed under Eric’s touch, then she looked past him and stiffened. “What is that?”
She lifted her head to study the tiger, who stood uncertainly halfway inside the room, Graham still fixing the rifle on him. Tiger Man’s gaze went to Amanda, and he drew a long, shuddering breath.
“Cub,” he said, then his voice filled with sorrow. “They took mine.”
“You had a cub?” Iona asked, shocked.
The tiger nodded. “He died.” His gaze moved hungrily to Amanda again. “Can I see?”
Graham’s hand tightened on the rifle. “Careful, Iona. Why did you bring him in here anyway?”
“Because I think he can help break the bonds that hold Cassidy. Have you noticed how strong he is? He’s like a super Shifter.”