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Chapter 9
Lev sniffed. The fresh mountain air mixed with a feral scent. Werewolf. He growled. A werewolf hunting Rachel, likely already had her. Not just one. His hackles rose. He picked up the scent of five weres. A foreign pack. Who the hell were they? And why had they sent so many weres to abduct one human woman? If their intel was as good as he suspected, they would rightly suspect Team Greywolf would search for her. The other three men at the hotel were human. Humans aligned with an unknown group of lycans. Had they landed by helicopter? He hadn’t caught their stench until now. They must have been dropped off in the mountains. He arrived minutes before the entire village had become chaotic mess due to a yak stampede. A lycan must have scared the beasts of burden to break away from their enclosure and run amok. A distraction to nab Rachel.
He honed in on her scent. Behind the homes along the trail. He dashed up the path. They headed higher. His kind could scale Mt. Everest if need be, and kill Rachel in the progress. If they caught his scent, they would most certainly climb higher.
Lev stripped and took the form of the rare but large, Himalayan brown bear to cover his lycan scent. He tracked them miles away from civilization or any hiker encampments. The helicopter pilot warned him a dangerous storm headed their way and might hit tonight. He must rescue Rachel before she froze to death.
Despite his cumbersome bear form, he galloped with the speed and climbing agility of a mountain goat. Lev heard voices and slowed. They had set up camp inside a cavern, far from other humans. Rachel was inside. How the hell had they learned her travel plans? Even he had not caught wind of it until she was days ahead of him.
Lev stood on his hind legs, cocked his head and listened to Rachel’s pulse. Unconscious. His blood boiled. Why? He inhaled. No blood or scent of other injuries. She must have passed out from the elevation.
He went on all fours and circled the cavern where they held her, plotting his next move.
Rachel woke, not sure how long she’d been out and scowled at the man staring at her. She sat up. “What do you want with me?” Funny, he looked like the Lev-type. Tall, broad and feral eyes. It felt like he had threatened her with a claw. Probably an exotic blade designed like a claw. Must have been a hallucination brought on by less oxygen from the higher than normal elevation. She glanced around. They were in a cave. She sat on a thick mat and warm sleeping bag. One of the men heated hot water on a small camp stove. A bin labeled freeze-dried food lay beside it. A campfire near the entrance lit the cavern and cast flickering shadows against the cold walls. Three other thick blankets covered her. She shivered. Odd. Only one sleeping bag for all these men? A duffle bag with what must be extra clothes lay beside her. They had obviously not planned an extended stay to tour the Himalayas.
Her abductor narrowed his eyes and she felt compelled to look down. Similar to Lev’s eyes, whose penetrating gaze commanded her soul to obey. “You really don’t know why we have gone through all this costly trouble to bring you back to your new home?”
Rachel had been an excellent field doctor and epidemiologist, but not important enough to follow halfway around the world. “Enlighten me, please.” Whoever these men were, they had no qualms about such an expensive endeavor. Because she loved Maggie, she had tolerated Jim’s conspiracy rants about filthy rich secret societies that controlled the world. For once, there might be an inkling of truth to his weird theories. Then again, of all the people in the world, why would a mysterious cabal want her?
“Your father had orders to never tell you the truth, but we thought perhaps he broke protocol and did.”
Just as she suspected, this had something to do with Howard. “Not likely. You see my real father died in a car accident. Howard is my biological father, nothing more.” It had taken a bout with Ebola to force her father to come out of the woodwork and see her. Whoever these people were must be the reason Howard had stayed away. She bundled the blankets tighter around her. Had she misjudged her father? All along, he had protected her. What kind of people had he messed with? Too bad Jim wasn’t here to list the possible conspiracy plots Howard and these men were part of.
“I see. Dr. Becker is more loyal to the blood contract than I imagined.”
Okay, this conversation got stranger and stranger. “Am I to be ransomed to a father I don’t know for money or information?” Her pulse raced. Would they cut off a finger to send to her father as proof they held her or execute her for some wrong Howard had done against these men?
He laughed. “You, little human, are the prize.”
“Come again?” Rachel scanned the room for something to hit this delusional man with. Except for the hastily prepared campfire, single sleeping bag and camp stove there was no readily available weapon. Her only advantage was her snow jacket appeared warmer than theirs. If they were stuck here for the night, they’d freeze their asses. Obviously, she would, too. High in the Himalayas Mountains, she wouldn’t know which direction to get to safety without freezing or falling off a cliff.
“You, Dr. Becker, carry the blood of Stallo.”
“Umm…who?”
“Once we get to Stallo’s Island, you’ll learn the truth.”
“Never heard of it and I got an A-plus in geography.”
He smiled, bearing what looked like overgrown canines. “Very few have. A secret island far from the reach of most.”
With the exception of the NSA, I’m sure. Another secret government landing area. “Like Diego Garcia? Probably too small for world maps?”
“Invisible to all.”
“Even if it’s in the tropics, I am not in the mood for island hopping. Count me out.”
“Actually, Stallo’s Island is ice and snow, so you are dressed appropriately.”
An island named after some odd blood she carried. More likely, something special about her DNA rather than her blood type. What did they mean to do? Use her organs or clone her? “Please, just let me go.”
He laughed. “For now, be satisfied you are the most important woman in the world. You will not be harmed.”
No. This was about more than her father’s odd circles. They were really off base. Nothing that important about her. “Funny, I don’t feel special.” She gazed at a few of the men who kept their heads down. “So what now? Do we hang out until the storm passes?”
“If you had not been so sneaky, we might have beaten the storm. Once the weather clears, our helicopter will return.”
Military special ops overkill abduction. Had landing in the village been too risky for them? Based on the set up, it looked like they had not planned on staying the night. Not very smart. Couldn’t they have taken her out by other transportation? Then again, taken in a car while screaming her head off would cause a scene, something they surely hoped to avoid. “Sorry, like I said, I don’t want to include a sightseeing tour to your so called private island.”
