“Hal knows. He can turn into a bear.” Shane enjoyed her gasp of delighted surprise. She had the best smile. It made his heart lift.
“No way!”
“Way. Everyone at Protection, Inc. is a shifter. But not like I am. They were born that way. Except—” Shane cut himself off before he blurted out someone else’s secret. Smoothly, he went on, “Except they keep it a secret, of course. The entire existence of shifters is a secret. But now that you know, you’ll have to ask Ellie to tell you the uncensored version of how she and Hal got together. She left out a lot.”
“I definitely can’t wait.” Then her warm brown eyes narrowed thoughtfully. “You know, Ellie’s going to notice that I’m missing. And I assume your buddies are going to notice that you are. Are you even going to get a chance to break us out before they break in?”
Shane had been wondering that himself. But he couldn’t get sidetracked by wishful thinking. “They’ll be looking for us, for sure. But Apex is good at covering their tracks. We can’t count on rescue. We have to bet on escape.”
“Do you already have an escape plan?”
“Sort of. Subject to contact with the enemy.”
She nodded, obviously familiar with the saying, No battle plan survives contact with the enemy. “What is it?”
“It’ll work better if you don’t know about it in advance. Sorry. You’ll have to—”
There was a familiar clunk of the steel door’s deadbolts sliding back.
“Trust me,” he breathed.
The door opened. Dr. Elihu stood in the doorway. The sight of the heavyset man in the white coat gave Shane the same sickening inner lurch as the scent of the air.
Rip his throat out. Shane’s panther sent him a hot red wash of bloodlust.
Not now. Shane kept firm control on his panther. Later.
Dr. Elihu was flanked by guards with tranquilizer pistols and Tasers. If Shane so much as twitched in a suspicious way, he’d be subdued in an instant. And that would do no good for either him or Catalina.
Rip his throat out, demanded his panther. NOW.
The urge to kill was overwhelming, but Shane forced himself to stay cool.
Want to be chained up again? Shane asked his panther. Patience. We’re still lying in wait. The kill comes later.
Lying in wait, the big cat hissed in reluctant agreement. We can wait. But not forever...
“Long time no see, Dr. Elihu,” said Shane.
“How pleasant to have you back with us,” returned the doctor. “I trust you enjoyed your time off?”
“I enjoyed it so much, I was thinking of making it permanent.”
The doctor made a tch-tch noise. “I’m afraid your vacation time is used up, Garrity. It’s back on the job for you.” Then he turned to Catalina. “Come with me, Mendez. I’ll give you a tour of your new workplace.”
“Sure you wouldn’t rather have me do that?” Shane inquired.
Shane caught a flash of pure venom in the doctor’s tone as he replied, “Have a little more time off, Garrity. Relax.”
Catalina glanced at Shane, obviously looking for a cue. Dropping the sarcasm, he said, “Go with him, or he’ll have the guards drag you.”
Enough lying and waiting, spat out his panther. Kill him before he hurts our mate!
The big cat’s protective fury— and his own— made Shane’s vision haze crimson. But he clamped down on his beast and himself, not letting a flicker of emotion show on his face or body, as he watched as his mate walk out the door with the man he’d sworn to kill.
Chapter Three
Catalina