Jaded Blood

He leaned against the wall watching as the big van backed up into the side garage of their building. His guess was that it would be Titus overseeing the removal of the she-wolf from the back of the van… Titus being Alpha and all. If it had been up to him, she’d walk into this building on her own two legs… or four… either way it would be her own choice.

As it stood now, her rescuers were keeping her just as much of a prisoner as the slave traders had done.

Tasuki just watched with a heavy glare as Titus got out of the driver’s side of the van and slammed the door. The main reason for the glare was the small crowd of men standing around the back of the van waiting for a glimpse of the so called she-wolf. His attention was taken when Micah came around the other side of the van with the fifth guard… none too gently he might add.

Micah had a firm hold of the guard’s jacket collar and was pushing him past the van. Tasuki smiled inwardly seeing that the cougar was getting a small slice of revenge as he forced the struggling man ahead of him. The werewolf’s feet were shackled very close together, making it hard for him to take more than a baby step at a time.

“Having fun?” Tasuki asked as Micah approached.

“Not yet,” Micah said with a smirk and pulled back hard on the werewolf’s collar so that the material of the shirt under the jacket pulled tight around his throat. The man made a strangling sound as he reared backwards. “But getting there.”

Tasuki arched an eyebrow at Micah’s behavior but had to agree that if someone had put a gun to his head… he’d be acting the same way. The guard saw him and snarled, showing all of his human looking teeth and Tasuki tilted his head wondering why the werewolf would even think that was scary when he was in his human form.

“Yeah, yeah. Roar, snarl, drool to you too asshole,” Tasuki shot back in a bored tone of voice.

Micah laughed at Tasuki’s courage in the face of a pissed off werewolf. He was starting to think that there was a good chance Tasuki would be the one to walk away from it if a fight broke out. Something about the rookie always made him look twice and a shifter never ignored gut instinct.

He pushed the guard ahead of him toward the special interrogation room and gave him a kick in the ass for good measure. The guard stumbled forward making his shoulder hit the steel edge of the door jamb. An involuntary yelp escaped the man’s lips… sounding distinctly like a kicked puppy instead of a ferocious werewolf.

“Oops,” Micah's voice dripped with sarcasm. “Did that hurt? I would be gentler, but I seem to have a problem with people who try to put bullet holes in my brain. So if I seem moody, please… take it personally.”

He took additional pleasure by literally throwing the werewolf inside the room. He sighed in contentment when the male crashed into the titanium table that was bolted to the floor in the center of the room.

Walking in behind him, Micah grabbed the werewolf and forced him into the matching titanium chair that looked much like the electrocution chairs they used for executions in the prisons. As soon as the werewolf noticed what kind of chair it was, he seemed to get another burst of energy and attempted to fight. Micah actually enjoyed wrestling the guard’s wrists into the bands on the arms of the chair and locking them in place.

“Now, no gnawing off of the limbs until we’re done… okay?” Micah instructed ignoring the long stream of curses being flung at him.

Tasuki shook his head at Micah’s antics then turned his gaze back toward the van where he could see the edges of the cage through the open doors. Just knowing there was a female inside that cage was disturbing him on many levels but only he understood the full extent of why.

Blocking the memory, he pushed away from the wall when Titus walked toward him empty handed.

“So, what are you going to do?” Tasuki asked quietly. “Put her cage inside of the cell?”

Titus frowned at the sarcastic edge of Tasuki’s voice. “I’ll open her cage and put her in a cell in a few minutes. Double caging her would be overkill at this point but we need a place for her to stay until we can figure out what will be the safest for her.”

“Why not let her stay at Night Light with the rest of the werewolves? At least that way she’d be under supervision,” Tasuki offered having thought about it on the way over.

Titus shook his head, “That’s a worse idea than putting her in a jail cell.”

Tasuki frowned, “I don’t get it.”

“You see the way they’re all gathered around her cage… right?” Titus asked giving the crowd a disapproving gaze.

“Yeah… it’s getting on my nerves,” Tasuki pointed out.

Titus locked eyes with him feeling a little more respect for the new recruit. “Then maybe we should break up the sightseeing tour.”

Micah chose that moment to join them and glared at the officers, “Yeah, they’re acting like dogs in heat.”

Tasuki cocked an eyebrow at the similarity, “In this case… it’s probably true.”

“More than you know,” Titus offered and turned on the men in question. “All right boys, time to get back to work,” he informed them. “It’s not like you guys haven’t seen a female werewolf before.”

Titus frowned when a couple of them looked like they weren’t going to obey… their sex drive already making them think with the wrong head. He really wasn’t in the mood to flex his Alpha muscles. As far as he was concerned, he was only the temporary Alpha… but Boris seemed to think it was permanent. With Lucca the only other acting Alpha in the city, it looked like temporary role play wasn’t an option.

“Now!” Titus thundered making the men jump and scatter. Once they were gone, he walked up to the cage door and unlocked it in preparation to move the she-wolf into a holding cell where she would be safe.

“Isn’t there an officer not living at Night Light that you can get to watch over her so she isn’t in another cage?” Tasuki asked feeling his skin crawl the closer he got to the cage.

“She needs the steel bars as extra protection from the pack your so gung-ho on exposing her to,” Micah explained. “You see, we’re not keeping her locked away just for the sake of keeping her prisoner. This is for her protection. An unmated female werewolf is a very valuable thing and Titus really doesn’t want to have to reprimand his pack for thinking with their nether regions… if you get my drift.”

“And to make matters worse… we found empty vials and syringes in the trashcan next to her cage after you’d walked off. The labels on the vials indicate that they were shooting her up with hormones.”

“Hormones?” Tasuki asked feeling like whatever Micah was pointing out went right over his head and kept going.

“They were trying to make her go into heat so they could breed her,” Titus supplied in a cold tone. “Over seventy percent of the wolves on the force are single and most married have human mates. It wouldn’t take much to start a riot. As far as I know… she’s probably the only female werewolf in the city that is of age and doesn’t have a mate. Our breed tends to start fighting over the females long before she becomes of age.”

Tasuki frowned now having a new perspective, “When you put it that way, I actually get it… but it still sucks.”

Micah clapped him on the shoulder, “No harm done… there’s still a lot you don’t know about shifters but you’re a quick learner. Before long, you’ll probably be able to read off our bylaws without batting an eyelash.”

“Great,” Tasuki grumbled, “more laws to learn.”

Titus climbed up and into the cage but when he bent down to take her up in his arms he caught her scent and cursed. The last time he’d been around a shifter in heat, he’d received a face full of fist via a jealous Sun God. If nothing else he was a fast learner.

“Hey Micah, do you still have that scent masker on you?”

He caught it in midair when the small spritzer bottle came sailing toward him. It took him a few minutes to empty the rest of the clear bottle before slipping it into his pocket. Lifting her gently in his arms he made his way out of the cage.

Tasuki couldn’t help but admire how beautiful she was as a wolf when Titus brought her out into the light of the building. Her fur was solid black and from the few moments she’d stared at him through the bars at the warehouse, he knew her eyes were a beautiful golden color with flecks of blue and green in them.

“I wonder how old she is,” Tasuki mused quietly, not wanting to wake her even though they’d said the tranquilizer would make her sleep for a while yet.

“Boris thinks she’s about twenty years old based on the size of her feet,” Micah answered with a frown. “It looks like she’s had a hard time of it in captivity though.”

Taking her into the empty holding cell, Titus gently placed the she-wolf down on the bed. He’d been listening to the conversation between Micah and Tasuki and took a closer look at her.

He had to silently agree about her treatment while in Lucca’s care. Her fur, while dark and beautiful, was dirty and matted in some places indicating that she had refused to shift back into her human form for quite a while. The pads of her feet were scratched and rough and a few burn marks from the cattle prod were visible as well.

He knew why she’d refused to shift and admired her stubbornness. If they’d caught her in her human form… that’s when they would have raped her. She’d used the only weapon she had against them… the fact that a female werewolf cannot become pregnant in her animal form. It showed not only her strong will but her intelligence as well.

Reining in his temper for the time being, Titus exited the cell and secured the door behind him. When she woke up she’d still be pissed off, but at least this jail cell was a far cry better than that cage they’d had her in.

“Shouldn’t we start questioning the guard that we have and see if he knows where they keep other hostages?” Tasuki asked as he started towards the observation room.

Titus was about to answer when one of the officers that missed the raid slipped in through the front door and started back toward the holding cells.

“Where the hell are you going Phillip?” Titus demanded.

The officer, one of the younger werewolves on the squad, froze and smiled sheepishly. “I missed the raid and wanted to see if she’d shifted to her human form yet.”

Micah elbowed Tasuki, “See what I mean?”

Tasuki scowled and crossed his arms over his chest, “Unfortunately.”

The officer’s reason for stopping by raised red flags in Tasuki’s mind, causing his anger to come back full force. If the she-wolf shifted back to her human form, she wouldn’t have any modesty left because she’d be naked right now. That fact made it very apparent that Micah’s warning about wolf instincts was correct.

“She’s a living being just like you are, not some damn peep show,” Tasuki growled at the officer before storming into the observation room.

“Kid’s got guts, I’ll give him that,” Micah muttered.

Titus arched an eyebrow at Phillip, “I think you have our answer. Until otherwise stated, everyone is to keep their distance from this department… got it? As a matter of fact, why don’t you guard the door and make sure no one else gets the same idea you did.”

“What do I tell them?” Phillip was dumb enough to ask then took several quick steps back when Titus started toward him.

“You tell them that I said the first idiot that sticks his head in that door is going to get it blown off,” Titus thundered. He glared at Phillip who practically tripped over his own feet as he hastily made his exit.

“Has anyone ever told you that you make one hell of an Alpha?” Micah laughed and patted Titus on the back.

Titus shook his head and added, “We might want to go around locking all of the damn doors and windows just in case we get a couple brave ones. I don’t want to get sidetracked once we start in on the idiot chained in the other room.”

“We might need to talk about rotating shifts so someone is always here to watch out for her,” Micah offered. “But right now, I think Tasuki might go all crazy on our man in there if we don’t follow him.”

Titus arched and eyebrow, “Good point.”

In the observation room, Tasuki gripped the back of the chair and glared at the werewolf on the other side of the two way mirror. He closed his eyes unable to stop the damned memory from coming back to haunt him. It was the last dream he’d had of her… but that had been the last time he had slept.

This time there had been a cage that loomed in the center of a massive cavern and Kyoko was tapped within its bars. But in the dream it had felt like she’d been stolen from him by a monster. He franticly circled the cage looking for the latch that would free her from the monster that had locked her up, but thick iron bars was all he found. He’d promised to save her… but how could he do that if the damned thing didn’t even have a door on it?

He’d glanced up and locked eyes with Kyoko just as hands came from the darkness and drug him backwards to his death… he remembered dying.

Tasuki opened his eyes as the memory vanished. No matter how many times he’d had that dream, it always ended the same way… with him dying and Kyoko still trapped in the freakin’ cage. He ran his hand through his bangs trying to get a grip. No matter how real the memory of the dreams seemed… they were only in his head and he needed to keep them there.

Looking at the kidnapper in the other room, he decided to take his anger out on the real monsters who had a fetish for locking girls in cages. Why not… he didn’t have anything better to do.

Micah followed Titus into the observation room to find Tasuki leaning against a chair glaring at the restrained guard through the two way mirror. If looks could kill then the other man would now be a greasy spot in the chair.

“Can we get an electrical current running through that chair in there and make him dance?” Tasuki asked… only half joking.

“Tempting, but no,” Titus responded. “Phillip’s reason for coming over here did bring up a genuine concern though.”

Tasuki nodded, “You need to get some clothes to put in there with her just in case she does wake up and decides to shift back.” He looked over at the two shifters when neither of them moved. “Maybe the female officer that was in on the raid has a change of clothes in her locker. Want me to go check?”

“No, she’s going to have her hands full getting the other girls checked out by a doctor,” Micah informed him then rubbed his chin when a solution to both of his problems dawned on him. “But I’ve got an idea.”

“That’s a first,” Titus said then smirked when Micah elbowed him.

“Ha, ha,” Micah growled. “As I was saying… let me call Alicia and have her bring over some clothes.”

“Who’s Alicia?” Tasuki asked.

“Micah’s kid sister,” Titus informed him. “He’s been a little moody since she got herself mated to a Sun God recently.”

“A Sun God?” Tasuki asked with a confused expression. That was a new one on him, though he didn’t know why he bothered being surprised. You’d think he’d be immune by now.

“Stop letting everyone know what I had for breakfast,” Micah grumbled and took out his cell phone. As he dialed the number he sighed knowing that Titus was right. He’d definitely been in a funk lately because he missed his sister and Damon was being an ass keeping her hidden for days at a time. This just so happened to be a great excuse to get to see her and find out if she was still happy with Mr. Possessive.

“You’d have Alicia come clear across town just to bring us a set of clothes?” Titus cocked an eyebrow. “Desperate much?”

“What the hell is a Sun God?” Tasuki really wanted to know so he could add it to his growing list of things to put on his mental Wall of Weird.

Micah had been about to hit send on his phone when Titus had questioned his motives. Thinking quickly, he immediately came up with an even better excuse.

“Actually, I think we can kill two birds with one stone,” Micah smirked. “Alicia told me that Damon has been teaching her how to put people under her thrall.”

He pointed to the man on the other side of the mirror. “We could probably beat the hell out of that worthless lamebrain and not get as much out of him as Alicia could with a couple simple questions. Plus, he’d have to tell her the truth where with us… we have no way of knowing if he’s feeding us a line of bull to keep his ass out of hot water with Lucca.”

“It’s okay,” Tasuki sighed accepting the fact that he was being completely ignored. “I’m sure that I’ll figure it out eventually.”

Chapter 3

Alicia had just finished making herself a cup of coffee when her cell phone started ringing. Rushing toward her purse, she grabbed the device taking a quick glance at the caller ID. She put it to her ear with a bright smile.

“Hey Micah, what’s up?”

“Do you have some time to spare for your big brother?” Micah asked turning his back on the other two men in the room so they couldn’t see the relieved expression on his face. He’d half expected Damon to answer her phone.

Alicia shrugged, “Yeah, I guess so. Damon went out with Michael and Kane. He probably won’t be back for a while yet.”

“Good, because I really need a favor,” Micah began. “We’ve got a she-wolf in one of the holding cells here that we just rescued from a raid on the underground slave trading. She hasn’t shifted back yet, but when she does… she’s going to need a change of clothing. Do you think you can bring something down to the station for her?”

Alicia looked over at her huge closet full of clothes before nodding, “Yeah, I think I can dig up something. When do you want me there?”

“As soon as you can get ready,” Micah answered. “We don’t know when she’ll wake up from the tranquilizer.”

“I’ll be there,” Alicia said. “Anything else you need?”

“I’m so glad you asked that,” Micah said letting Alicia hear the smile in his voice. “I need you to put another wolf under your thrall and get him to answer a few questions for us. Do you think you can do it?”

“Yes,” Alicia answered a little too quickly. “Give me some time to get dressed and grab a few things for the poor girl and I’ll be down.”

She hung up the phone and a wide grin spread across her face as she rushed around getting dressed. It was nice to have something to do while Damon was away. At least now she felt useful and, with any luck, she might be able to prove to Damon that she really could do things on her own.

Throwing on her favorite pair of jeans and one of Damon’s black button-up shirts, she got out a black leather duffle bag and removed two set of clothes from the closet. One set in case she liked soft frilly things and another set that would make her feel tough and in control. Why not give the girl a choice between dressy or badass. Besides, Damon had stocked over half of her closet with bad girl outfits so she would match the bad boy act he had going on.

Once the clothes were packed, she went through some of the new undergarments she hadn’t worn yet and something for the girl to sleep in before putting them in the bag as well. She figured after being held prisoner, any girl would appreciate the little things like clean underwear, toothbrush, and maybe a little makeup.

As an afterthought, she took one last look around the room to make sure she hadn’t missed anything. Spotting her collection of hair things, she grabbed up a comb and brush along with a few hair ties so the girl could put her hair up if she wanted to.

Alicia smiled as she put the strap of the bag over her shoulder and headed toward the bedroom door. It felt good to know that she was going to be seeing Micah again even though it had only been a few days. She missed him.

The fact that he’d called for her help specifically was exciting enough. Putting someone under her thrall for legit reasons, and the fact that her target was a werewolf and not just some human would mean a challenge for her.

Humans were far easier to place under a thrall because they had no real immunity to it unless the human was psychic or wore a charm like her necklace. Damon had told her that shifters were harder to penetrate because all of their five senses were higher. Unfortunately, she hadn’t had much of an opportunity to even test it out on humans with Damon barely letting her out of the bedroom.

Alicia squared her shoulders. This was a prime opportunity for her to get some real practice in without the sexual distractions. Just as she walked out of her and Damon's bedroom, Kane stormed in the front door muttering under his breath.

“Is something wrong?” Alicia asked.

Kane didn’t appear to hear her and continued muttering about a woman named Olivia. Suddenly he froze and cursed loudly.

“Damn it!” Kane shouted. “Not Olivia… Victoria.”

Michael and Damon walked in at that very moment, both snickering at Kane’s antics.

Alicia almost groaned at Damon’s timing. While she was happy to see him back safe and sound, she’d hoped to have time to go to the police department and be back before he returned.

“So, you’re the man who remembers the name of every woman he’s ever been with,” Damon drawled.

“I do remember them,” Kane growled.

“Then who’s Olivia?” Michael asked.

“Go to hell!” Kane muttered before heading toward his bedroom.

“Guess that’s the answer to that question,” Michael stated and headed toward the stairwell but paused seeing Alicia standing near her bedroom door looking a lot like she’d just got caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

Kane shut the bedroom door behind him and saw Tabatha standing there with her arms crossed over her chest.

“So, who’s Olivia and Victoria?” she asked.

“Damon and Michael’s ex-girlfriends,” Kane answered with no hesitation and sealed his lips over hers.

In the main room, Damon’s gaze was instantly drawn to Alicia and he almost smiled when he saw her wearing one of his shirts. However, the way she was biting her bottom lip made him frown and he slowly looked her over. His eyes narrowed dangerously when he saw the overnight bag that she hadn't zipped hanging from her shoulder.

Alicia blinked when Damon suddenly appeared less than a foot in front of her, blocking her path by putting a palm on either side of the doorframe… effectively trapping her against the wooden surface. He leaned forward and studied her without saying a word but she’d be damned if that look in his eyes wasn’t speaking volumes.

She felt herself becoming a little nervous and tried to hide it by smiling, “I’m glad you’re back.”

“Are you?” Damon asked unable to keep his dark side from raising its head. “If I had been a few minutes later… would you still be here waiting for me?”

Alicia couldn’t resist the self-preservation instinct and raised her hand to touch the necklace that was no longer around her neck. She suddenly remembered she’d given it to Nick and inwardly cringed when she noticed Damon’s eyes had followed her nervous movement then flashed back up to pin her with a darkening amethyst gaze.

At this point, Alicia knew lying was liable to set him off and with that came the risk of many things… including a repeat of a spanking. Feeling the hot blush rise to her cheeks at the visual, she lifted her chin in defiance and calmly told him the truth.

“No.”

She sighed when Damon turned the doorknob and backed her into the bedroom. She flinched when he slammed the door behind him. The split second glance at the expression on Michael’s face before it was blocked was definitely enough to make her worry.

“Where were you going?” Damon asked making sure to put the question in past tense.

“I was just going to go see Micah,” Alicia said in an attempt to correct the misunderstanding before she found herself face down across his lap again.

“Did you think you were going to spend the night with Micah?” Damon demanded softly.

A confused look crossed Alicia’s face before she jerked her gaze down to the open overnight bag. She saw the pretty black underwear and hairbrush lying on top in plain sight and sighed. Okay… she could actually see Damon’s point of view but that wasn’t going to stop her from giving him a tongue lashing for his perverted thoughts.