Beauty and the Shapeshifter (Evil Rising Book 5) Read online

  She probably hadn’t been waiting more than ten minutes, but it felt longer. She inched the door open to peek into the hallway.

  “Impatient much?” Cade stood watch outside the door.

  “Why are you out there? Can’t you guard me from in here?”

  “Miss me already?” he said with a sideways grin that probably got him all the girls.

  Ella snorted. “Just wondering what’s so scary here.” In truth, she’d grown used to Cade. Her captivity would’ve been endless days and nights of confinement if not for Dean and Cade. They kept her amused and smiling, even if she didn’t want to.

  It was pointless to be bored and alone when her main source of amusement was only a few feet away.

  Cade glanced up and down the hallway before he turned back to her. “This is our first public trip with you. If anyone found out what we’re trying to do, they might plan an attack. Dean and a few others are on call if we need reinforcements.”

  “Right. You mean the,” she paused to lower her voice for an overly dramatic whisper, “vampires?”

  Cade raised a brow. “Laugh all you want. When you’re fighting for your life against one, you won’t think it’s so funny.”

  “That’s why I have you, right? Aren’t you doing my fighting for me?”

  “I am doing this for the sake of my species. Not for you at all.” He winked.

  Ella shook her head at his endless peppiness and glanced around at the sterile, white surroundings. “Hospitals creep me out,” she muttered.

  He shrugged. “Hospitals are fine. Doctors give me the shivers.”

  “Something can scare you? I didn’t realize you were afraid of anything.”

  “Hey! Being scared and creeped out are two different things. I’m just saying, I’ve seen more limbs chopped off by doctors than saved.”

  She frowned. “What are you talking about?”

  “I’ve been in a war or two.”

  “Like what? You can’t be older than thirty.”

  One side of his mouth ticked up. “Try three hundred thirty.” Her mouth dropped open. “Three hundred and thirty-four years, to be precise.”

  “You can’t think you’re three centuries old!”

  “I don’t think it. I know it.”

  She thought about all the implications. “How old does that make Dean and Lucian?”

  “Dean’s just a baby. He’s two fifty.”

  “Two hundred and fifty? As in years? That’s a baby to you? What about Lucian?”

  Cade stared down at her. “Don’t ask questions you don’t want the answer to.”

  Footsteps sounded at the other end of the hall and, without looking, Ella recognized Lucian’s confident gait. “Quit playing around and tell me.”

  Cade looked over her shoulder and nodded in greeting to Lucian. He leaned in close, whispering in her ear, “North of seven hundred.”

  The cold stethoscope was pressed to Ella’s chest and a quick shiver rushed through her. Something about sitting in the small room surrounded by two men made her feel naked even though she still wore her tank top and jeans.

  Designer tank top and jeans. Everything the boys brought her was top-of-the-line and made from quality materials she’d never even heard of. She wished she could hate the clothes, but damn if they didn’t look great on her.

  How did the pants manage to hug her thighs and butt so tight without giving the slightest hint of a muffin top? Maybe it was magic.

  She really wished she could think that sarcastically.

  The doctor moved the stethoscope away.

  “Hear anything interesting in there?” she asked.

  He tightened his lips. “No, but I doubted I’d find two hearts or anything. You don’t really look like a Time Lord.” He burst out laughing.

  Ella turned her blank stare to Lucian. A faint grin curved his lips. “You don’t watch Doctor Who?” he asked.

  “Doctor What?”

  The doctor put down the stethoscope with a little too much force. “I don’t think I can help this one.”

  Ella frowned as she tried to figure out whether he was joking. The doctor certainly was a strange one. He reminded her of Dad a bit, but younger. Probably mid-forties or a well-maintained fifty. He had a scruffy blond beard and bright blue eyes.

  Beneath his white coat, he had a big build Ella was more used to seeing on gym rats than doctors.

  “Lucian—he knows about you, right?”

  Lucian nodded. “Not that he wouldn’t anyway after your subtle way of asking.”

  “That’s your problem. Is he human?”

  The doctor turned around with a rather threatening needle in hand. “‘He’ is standing right here and I’m very human. Why do you ask?”

  She shrugged. “Seems like no one’s human these days,” she muttered.

  He stepped toward her with the needle, and Ella instinctively leaned back. “Whoa. What’s that for, buddy?”

  He grimaced, apparently not happy about having to work with someone who was afraid of needles. Well, tough luck. She wasn’t exactly a fan of having needles stuck in her, so they would just have to deal with it.

  “I need a small sample of blood.”

  She shook her head. “No. Lucian took a sample of my blood a few days ago. That will have to hold you over.”

  Lucian put a hand on her shoulder. She wasn’t sure whether it was more to comfort her or hold her in place. “He needs some more. It won’t be that bad.”

  “Easy for you to say.”

  “I’ve had much bigger objects than that shoved into me,” he insisted.

  “Yeah, well—wait. What?”

  The doctor burst out laughing, and for a split second, she could’ve sworn she saw Lucian blush. “Not those types of objects. The point is, I’ve been stabbed a lot.”

  She raised a brow. “I just bet you have.”

  “I was feeling all sad for you because you had to get your blood drawn, but suddenly I don’t feel so bad.”

  She let out a sigh of defeat and held out her arm to the doctor. “Fine. Just do it fast.”

  Lucian bent in closer to her. “Don’t hear many women say that.”

  She rolled her eyes as she glared at him. She almost shot back some witty retort but stopped herself. This wasn’t a casual visit to the doctor or an afternoon outing with friends. This was the deal she made.

  He would release her dad if she gave her body over for him to do whatever experiments he wanted to do. She looked down at her lap and waited for the pinch of the needle.

  The doctor wrapped the tourniquet around her upper arm.

  “Relax,” whispered Lucian.

  She didn’t move. Just waited for the sting.

  The clanking sounds on the table next to her told her the doctor was getting ready to start the blood draw. She squeezed her eyes shut.

  Instead of pain, she felt the tickling sensation of air blowing across her neck. She twisted around to glare at Lucian just as the needle pierced a vein. “Did you just blow on me?”

  “You looked like you needed a distraction.”

  She looked between the two men and settled on Lucian. “You can’t do that!”

  “Why not? It worked, didn’t it?”

  “It distracted me, but it wasn’t like I was going to die. Listen. We aren’t friends. There is no playful innuendo or blowing of anything.”

  He raised a brow but didn’t take the low-hanging fruit she’d offered. “Sorry for trying to help.”

  “No you’re not. If you were sorry, I wouldn’t even be here. That’s like stealing my car and apologizing as you’re driving off in it. Somehow the apology just doesn’t work.”

  “Just because I stole your car doesn’t mean I meant to run you over. I can still feel bad.”

  “Feel bad all you want. Feel terrible. I hope you cry yourself to sleep.”

  “Let’s be honest—it’s a really nice car.”

  She lightly whacked the back of her hand against his shoulder and froze. Damn
it! He was doing it again. Making her forget about the hospital and needles and kidnapping.

  She curled her fingers into a fist and held her hand at her side. “So what have you learned so far? Am I different?”

  The doctor removed the needle from her arm and set the tools back on the metal tray. “How often do you get sick?”

  Ella shifted her eyes between the two men. “I cough every once in a while.”

  “But an actual cold? Flu?”

  “I happen to have healthy genes, okay? What does all this mean? Am I human or not?”

  The doctor bandaged her arm. “That’s what we’re looking into today.”

  “That sounds like a fancy way of saying you have no idea what’s happening.”

  “Medicine is complicated. I can’t run your blood through a special computer and get some magical printout explaining what was done to you before you were even born.”

  Ella narrowed her eyes. “Thanks for the mansplaining, Doctor. For your information, my dad used to be one of the foremost experts on fertility in the country, so I think I know a thing or two about the medical process. Somehow I just assumed you were capable of comparing two blood samples under a telescope and figuring out the difference. Sorry if I overestimated your capabilities.”

  He flushed a bright shade of red. “If he’s even your father,” he mumbled.

  She pushed herself off the table and stretched to her full, if not that much more intimidating, height. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  Lucian laid a calming hand on Ella’s shoulder. “Let’s just take a second.”

  She shook off his touch. “No. You asked me to be here, so I’m here getting poked and prodded and I want to know what he means when he says Dad isn’t my father.”

  Lucian took a deep breath before he answered. “After examining your DNA, it doesn’t look like Dr. Murray is your biological father.”

  One side of Ella’s lip curled up in a sneer as she stared Lucian down. “No. This is just some messed-up trick to get me on your side.”

  “Is it working?” If looks could kill, he’d be a motionless puddle on the floor. “If I were going to play games to get you on my side, I’d at least make sure they worked.”

  Ella slumped back onto the doctor’s table and stared blankly at her feet as all the pieces clicked into place. She looked nothing like Dad, though it was hard to look like a man whose entire face was covered by crazy white hair and beard. He was older, but it was common enough for men to have children in their forties.

  “So, what? Am I half...whatever the heck you are?” She waved her hand limply toward Lucian.

  The doctor shook his head. “Not necessarily. After reading a few of your father’s articles from back then and taking a closer look at your blood, it looks like you were exposed to the myotis genetic code during the early stages of your development.”

  “Like, when I was a baby?”

  “More like a fetus. Most likely he performed surgery on your mother while you were in the womb and either fed or injected you with something.”

  Ella shivered as she imagined a pregnant woman allowing these people to do things to her unborn child. “That sounds dangerous.”

  The doctor and Lucian exchanged an uneasy glance before Lucian stepped forward. “We think that’s why Dr. Murray ran. He truly cared for you and didn’t want to see you get hurt.”

  “And he was just allowed to take me? Didn’t you say the old king was mean?”

  “He wouldn’t have much use for a baby. He was probably planning on tracking you down once you’d reached, um, once you were older.”

  Ella couldn’t stop the look of revulsion that covered her face. “He was going to see if I could get pregnant.” She took a few deep breaths as she tried to keep herself from gagging.

  The doctor shifted in his seat as Lucian clenched and unclenched his fists. “He’s dead now. That’s not going to happen. I promised I wouldn’t touch you.”

  “For the love of— Stop pretending you not raping me makes you the good guy. I’m here against my will. I’m not allowed to call anyone. I’m not allowed to go anywhere without babysitters. You’re not the good guy here!”

  Lucian moved between Ella and the doctor until the only one she could see was him. Everything in her wanted to stare defiantly at the ground, but she refused to back down and brought her eyes up to his.

  “My people need you. I need you. Here. I’m not going to apologize for that.”

  Ella considered punching him but knew it wouldn’t do her any good. Instead, she gave in to the impulse to look back to the white tiles on the floor and let out a sigh.

  “What’s next on the agenda?” asked Lucian, apparently eager to change the subject.

  “I can’t schedule many tests until I know more. The MRI is in half an hour. After that, you’re free to go.”

  Ella folded her arms in front of her, not even caring whether she looked like a sulking child. Let them think she was immature. She didn’t care. “Whatever gets me out of here faster.”

  Ella set out the pesto and pasta on the counter. She refused to consider herself a cook for her captives, but pasta was easy enough to make in big batches. She didn’t want to feed Lucian, but Cade and Dean seemed nice enough.

  No one asked her to cook. Besides, it wasn’t as if she slaved away for hours in the kitchen. She could only survive on frozen burritos and takeout for so long, though.

  Cade walked in behind her, a hand over his heart. “Sweet Jesus, you made dinner.” He fell to the ground at her feet, kneeling on bent knee and grabbing at one of her hands. “Marry me. Right now. We can have a private ceremony. It’ll be beautiful.”

  Ella smiled down at his antics. “Shut up and eat your dinner.”

  Cade stood and piled pasta onto a dinner plate.

  “Feel free to leave nothing for Lucian.” She crossed her arms over her chest.

  “That doesn’t sound good. Was he misbehaving at the hospital?”

  She snorted. “Misbehaving? He wasn’t that bad. The doctor had his head way too far up certain parts of his anatomy though. Lucian was...strange.”

  “Stranger than normal? That’s saying a lot.”

  Ella rubbed the back of her neck, remembering the soft tickle of his breath brushing across her skin. “You’re good friends with him, right?”

  “Best friends.”

  “And what he’s doing with me, keeping me here, that doesn’t bug you at all?”

  Cade set his plate down, his normally silly expression turning serious. “Listen, I know this isn’t great for you, and I feel for you. I really do and I know Lucian does too. But when you’ve been alive as long as we have, it’s hard to see brother after brother die without any hope of survival. We need you. We need the hope you represent.”

  “And I need to be here for that?”

  “This vampire shit is real and it’s dangerous. If they know about you, they will kill you without a second’s hesitation.”

  She opened her mouth to say more, but Dean rushed in from the hall. “Dude. Code red from Dmitri. Lucian and I are heading out. Watch the girl.”

  With that, he teleported away, leaving her and Cade in the kitchen. Cade cursed and moved past her to the hallway. “I’m going to try to find out what’s going on. Yell if you need anything.”

  And then she was left alone.

  The sudden clatter of footsteps and raised voices pulled Ella’s attention from the book she was reading in her room. The sound of something crashing to the ground and glass breaking reverberated through the house. What the heck was going on down there?

  She stood up to check it out but stopped herself. It could be dangerous. She didn’t know much about these people, but she knew they were involved in shady dealings. She crumpled up her comforter and ran the material through her fingers. Lucian promised she’d be safe here. So far, he hadn’t hurt her, and no matter how misguided his beliefs were, he did seem sincere.

  It was late in the evening, but a small am
ount of light still filtered through the windows, so she wouldn’t be breaking the rules by going to investigate. Steadying her resolve, she threw the comforter onto the bed and strode out of the room.

  A loud curse from Dean filtered through the house, followed by the sounds of pained breathing. Though it was impossible to go down the old stairs quietly, she did her best to not draw too much attention. Not that she needed to worry. Everyone was too busy to notice her anyway.

  Dean had returned, and he wasn’t alone. Over his shoulder was a seemingly unconscious man and, judging from the amount of red droplets falling onto the floor, he was badly injured. Ella flattened herself against the wall as she balanced on the last step while Cade approached Dean from the other direction. “Move him into the study. I made sure all the curtains are down.”

  Dean carried the injured man over to the darkest corner of the room. Ella couldn’t see anything but the man’s foot from her vantage point on the stairs.

  “Cade, grab him a drink. I’m going to get Roman on the line and try to sort this shit out. Have you had any contact with Lucian?”

  “No. Last I saw, he was holding his own. He should be here any minute.” Cade lowered his voice. “Hang in there. I’ll be right back.” Then there was silence and Ella had a feeling Cade wasn’t in the house anymore.

  Dean started to leave the room but stopped as he reached the doorway. He fished his cell phone from the pocket of his cargo pants and turned back to the man. “Think I can reach your dad at the apartment?”

  “No,” bit out the injured man. “Cell.”

  Dean cursed under his breath. “Hang tight, okay?” He strode into one of the spare offices as he punched some keys on his phone.

  When he was out of sight, Ella scooted closer to the study, trying to get a better look at the newcomer. He didn’t come completely into view until she was right at the threshold. A shiver of unease snaked down her spine, but she shook it off. They wouldn’t bring any dangerous, or whatever they considered dangerous, people here. If so, he would be in the basement. In the dungeon.