The first guard’s face went pale. He let go of her shoulder and stumbled back. “Get another dose. Now.”
The second guard scrambled for the door. Stella’s other hand on the concrete had thickened too. The skin of her forearms was rippling with growing fur.
The guard came back with a syringe. The first guard went for her right wrist. Her partially shifted hand snapped at his sleeve. Her claw caught the fabric and tore it. Three lines of red opened across his forearm. He swore and pulled back.
“Hold her down.”
The two guards grabbed as her shoulders began to thicken and shift. One lost his grip and stumbled back. The other pushed his weight against her to hold her down. She growled, deep and loud.
The second guard came at her with the syringe. She snapped at his hand with sharp, half-bear teeth. He pulled his hand back fast. The syringe flew across the room and slid under the door.
Two more guards came in, and they all piled on top of her. Stella thrashed, her bear trying to break free. The women along the far wall pressed themselves against the concrete and watched. She caught movement at the edge of her vision. A tiny brown shape hopped along the floor toward the exit.
The guards’ weight was on her chest and one of them had her by the hair. Another syringe came down. She felt it prick the side of her neck. Then another. Then a third. The drug wrapped around the bear again. The bear pushed against it. But she was pushed far back, down inside Stella’s mind.
Stella went limp. All signs of her grizzly disappeared. The guards stayed on top of her until she stopped moving. The one who’d taken the claws to his forearm was bleeding through the torn sleeve of his shirt, holding the arm against his chest. The others pulled back slowly, breathing hard and watching.
Finally, when they were sure she wouldn’t attack again, they picked her up and carried her out of the room and down the hall to a second room. The guards laid her on the concrete floor and stepped back fast, like they expected her to come up again.
She would have ripped them apart if she could. But whatever drug they’d used, it held her bear deep down inside her. Theyclosed the door behind them and left her on the concrete floor in the dark.
Chapter
Twenty-Six
Blaze saton the edge of the bed. It was early evening, and he and Ryder had been searching for Stella all day. They’d come back to the hotel room half an hour ago empty-handed.
Ryder had gone back to his room, leaving Blaze alone with his loss and pain. Axel had sent a text an hour ago.Still nothing. Sorry.
His inner wolf was still on high alert, and he couldn’t calm it down. His mate had been taken, and he felt like he should still be out there, tearing the city apart until he found her. His cracked ribs were screaming. His left eye was a slit. His knuckles were a mess. None of that pain could compare to the pain of knowing his mate had been taken.
Outside the window, the evening light was darkening to night, and the streetlights were coming on. The room was silent, except for his thoughts. When he first heard the bright trill of a bird song, he thought he was imagining it.
When it came again, Blaze’s head came up. He’d heard that sound before from the wren video Axel had pulled off Nell’sphone. The wolf inside him surged, listening more intently. Blaze stood and crossed to the window. On the narrow sill was a tiny brown bird with a striped face. It kept singing, and it took a beat for Blaze to realize what he was seeing.
Nell.
Blaze fumbled with the latch and slid the window up. Cold air came in and the wren hopped from the sill into the room. She landed on the carpet, and Blaze closed the window behind her. Her wings were trembling and the small feathers at her throat were puffed out from the cold of the flight. Blaze crouched beside her.
“Nell?”
The wren tipped her head and looked up at him. Her eyes were dark and bright. One second, she was a wren on the carpet at his feet and the next she was a young woman folded on the floor in front of him with her arms wrapped around her knees and her hair down around her shoulders. Blaze stood, grabbed a comforter off the bed and laid it over her shoulders. He then turned up the heater.
“Nell? I’m Blaze. Stella’s mate.”
“Stella’s mate?”
“Yes. Are you hurt?”
“I’m cold and tired. But I’m okay.”
He went to Stella’s suitcase and pulled out a sweatsuit. He brought the pile back to Nell and set it on the floor in front of her.
“Stella’s clothes. You can change in the bathroom. Take a shower if you want.”
“Thank you.”
She stood with the comforter wrapped around her shoulders and picked up the pile of clothes. She then disappeared into the bathroom. Blaze sat down at the table, his inner wolf howling inside him. His mind was running a million miles a minute. He could hear the shower running as he tried to gather his thoughts. After taking several deep breaths, he picked up his phone and texted Axel.
