The Mating Project Read online

  "She is due her next dose, boss. We don't want her shifting, do we?"

  The nasally twang brought with it the smell of hyena, and Maria's stomach churned anew, as a horrible suspicion dawned on her. It would explain her predicament, at least, but how fucking dare they? Did they not know who she was?

  "She's definitely waking up, and getting mighty antsy. Not often we get the likes of her in here. I wouldn't mind experimenting on her myself. It would be fun to send Councilor Anderson a piece of his high and mighty daughter. That'll teach them to think more of themselves."

  His manic laughter was joined by a deeper, almost growly chuckle that sounded familiar to Maria. Again that stare that made every cell in her body want to vomit, and she knew with frightening clarity where she was. One of the many underground cells associated with the Mating Project. Here, experiments took place that had no place in shifter society. It was the whispered stuff of nightmares, where females were forced to mate against their will, in an effort to increase fertility rates, and all sorts of mutations occurred.

  The council largely turned a blind eye to them, desperate as they were to help cure the failing birth rate, but to her certain knowledge they had never stooped as low as to capture a pure blood such as she. She hastily blinked the tears away. Now was not the time for them. She had to think and think fast. They knew who she was, so that could only mean one thing. Whoever was in charge of this cell had to sit on the council.

  Unbidden a vision of Anton de Souza swam into her mind. He had the connections for sure, and he was in charge of the Mating Project, the official one, at least, but why would he do this? Sure enough she had snubbed him completely the last time he had visited with her father, but he had her father's agreement to mate with her. Why would he risk that by kidnapping her now, unless he'd known that she would run?

  Maria groaned as a fresh wave of pain surged through her body. Too late she realized that she'd been darted again. Her cougar whined and withdrew even further, and Maria screamed as her mind tried to fight the effects of the poison, but it was useless. She lost consciousness again.

  When she came round, she had no idea how much time had passed. The walls of her prison held no natural light, only the harsh fluorescent glare of the overhead lighting strip. Gingerly Maria sat up, as far as the chains would allow her to. The heavy metal door to her cell gleamed, and there were bars across the window. She couldn't see through it, but no doubt they could see in. She yanked on her chains, frustrated beyond belief at her predicament. Apart from the places she had been darted, which still hurt like crazy, she seemed unharmed—for now. At least the cloying presence she'd sensed wasn't there anymore.

  No screams echoed through the air either, and Maria closed her eyes and tried to summon her mother by concentrating on her face. The mind connection was a lost art reserved for mated pairs and those sharing a common bloodline, but she had managed it a few times in the past, mostly without wanting to. It seemed her mother sensed her distress. Last time had been years ago, when a six year old Maria had fallen down a well. Mum and Dad had been there in record time, but she didn't seem able to summon them this time.

  With a groan of disgust Maria stopped trying and scowled against the wall. Judging by the quietness of the place it was night time. A perfect time to escape, if only she could shift. Surely she would be missed by now. Her father and brothers would no doubt be tracing her whereabouts by following her scent. At least she hoped so.

  ****

  Malachi flattened himself against the wall, and waited for the guard to walk past him. His stomach churned at the stink coating him. As satisfying as it had been to rip the hyena's throat out—after all the bastard had reeked of his cougar—it had been less enthralling to roll in his entrails and to don the other man's clothes, including the long technician's coat that granted him entry to the complex.

  His wolf scent suitably masked, it had been surprisingly easy to enter the cave that housed this underground cell hidden deep in the Thetford Forest. On any other occasion Malachi would have found the fact that shifters had reclaimed a part of the forest usually overrun by human tourists amusing, but the events of the night had robbed him of his sense of humor.

  The battle on Anderson's land had been short and brutal. Half of his pack lay slaughtered, his father among them, and whilst Malachi had felt no emotion standing over his father's remains, he'd known that there was more at stake here. He'd followed the humans at a safe distance. They had dragged the councilor's daughter off her father's land and had brought her here. His gut had churned witnessing the rough handling of his mate, and it had taken all of his willpower to hold his wolf back. He wouldn't be much good to her dead.

  He'd overheard enough of the conversation to know that this attack would be blamed on his father's pack. They thought Malachi himself dead in the melee, and he knew this gave him the advantage. He would be able to just blend into the background, and get on with his life, far away from the council and their politics, but first he had to rescue his mate.

  Malachi didn't question the absolute certainty behind his wolf's insistence. It was just his damn luck that not only did he turn out to be one of the rare shifters to actually meet his mate, but she had to belong to the high council.

  A pure blood cougar such as she would fetch a high price on the open market, if they didn't choose to experiment on her. A red mist descended upon him at the mere thought, and he forced himself to breathe in through his nose and out through his mouth to calm his agitated wolf.

  His beast didn't know yet that he had no intention of claiming his mate, but he sure as fuck couldn't leave her in this hell-hole either.

  Besides the council was ruthless in their eradication of anything and anyone that they considered a threat, and there were innocent women and children still left in his pack. Saving the cougar would buy their freedom. At least Malachi hoped so.

  With the guard gone he negotiated the quiet corridors. It was a maze of underground tunnels here, but his wolf had no problems scenting his mate. In no time at all he stood in front of her cell and used the hyena's pass to open the heavy door.

  The scent of her fear and anger assaulted him the minute he stepped into the cell. Naked as the day she was born, the blonde and stunningly beautiful young woman glared at him, before she inhaled sharply, and some of her anger fled to be replaced by unwilling arousal.

  "You … you’re part of all this?" She snarled her question, her amazing blue eyes drawn together in a frown, and she pulled her knees as far as she could to hide her naked body. Malachi still got an unimpeded view of her long, slender legs and the curve of one pert breast.

  His wolf near salivated at the sight, and Malachi hardened in his pants, grateful that the long coat hid his reaction to her.

  "No, I'm not. I'm here to get you out of here, so keep your voice down, princess."

  Maria hissed at him, and Malachi grinned despite the situation. Of course she would be feisty. He couldn't be granted a nice, gentle mate, now could he? He mentally flipped the finger to fate and bent down to unshackle her. He heard her cat's purr even as the woman pulled away from him.

  "You stink of hyena."

  "Yes, I do. Only way I could get in here undetected. Now are we going to make small talk, or do you want to get out of here, princess?"

  He allowed himself a deep inhale of her delicious scent, as he unclipped her ankle shackles with the master key he'd taken off the hyena. She stiffened and growled at him, which only served to get his wolf more excited.

  "Don't call me that, mutt, and why are you sniffing me?"

  "You know why." If possible Maria grew even more aloof. There was no denying her cat though. Her beast's purrs got louder, and his wolf urged him to claim her. To sink his teeth into her slender neck and taste what was his. Malachi swore under his breath and pulled away. He would beat this. Just because fate decreed it had to be, didn't mean he had to act on it.

  He shrugged out of his coat and handed it to her.

  "He
re, cover yourself up. And don't worry; your virtue is quite safe with me. I have no intention of acting on … whatever this is between us."

  The most delightful blush stole across Maria's pale skin, and when she glared at him and looked pointedly to the wall, he finally got the message and turned around. A wave of protectiveness floored him. Could she be as innocent as she appeared to be? The thought that his mate had never been touched by any man made him hard as nails. A condition not improved by seeing her reflection in the window in front of him. Legs that seemed to go on forever, an ass just made for sinking his teeth into, and a slender curved back that called for him to run his claws along her spine. Her long blonde hair hung halfway down her back, and when she turned slightly he caught a glimpse of a pert nipple. All too soon she had dragged that coat over her slender shoulders and turned to catch him staring.

  Their gazes connected, and he could smell the wetness between her legs. It drove his wolf wild, but now was not the time for sex. He had to get her out of here and fast.

  "Enjoyed the peep show, wolf boy?"

  Malachi grinned and turned around to find her glaring at him. Arms crossed and with the most delightful pout on her lips, she did her best to stare him down, but all she achieved was to push her breasts up. It gave him an unimpeded view down her cleavage, and Malachi didn't even try to hide his body's reaction. There was no point. She was a shifter, and she would be as aware of his need for her as he was of hers for him. One day he would look back on this moment and see the funny side, but right now was not it.

  He adjusted his throbbing dick through the denim of his jeans, and Maria whimpered.

  "This is insane."

  He barely heard that whisper, but the way she looked at him as though she wanted to eat him alive calmed his agitated wolf.

  He held out his hand, and after a moment's hesitation she took it. They gasped in unison at the arc of electricity that sparked between them, and some of his anger fled. This close to his mate he couldn't help but feel at peace. It was an utterly ridiculous notion, surrounded as they were by the enemy, but there you had it.

  "What now?" she asked.

  Malachi smiled and cupped her chin with his free hand.

  "Now, we get you out of here, kitty. Stay close to me and follow my lead. Can you shift?"

  ****

  "I-I don't know. My cougar seems stronger now that you're here."

  Maria bit her lip and rolled her eyes. Had she really just said that out loud? So what, if it was the truth? From the minute her beast had scented this wolf outside her door, she had perked up. Even masked by the nauseating stench of hyena, she recognized him. It was the wolf from the forest, and he was even more breathtaking in his human form. He had to be well over six and half feet tall, because he towered over Maria's five foot eight inch frame. His lean frame was muscular and broad shouldered, and there was a hint of shadow on his jaw. Despite the fact that he couldn't be much older than she was, he carried himself with an air of authority, and there was the underlying sense of danger that shouldn't really excite her.

  The ratty t-shirt he wore was blood stained and holey in places, giving her tantalizing glimpses of his washboard abs liberally sprinkled with fine hair, and the worn jeans clung to his tight ass. His cock was a hard ridge behind his flies, and Maria's pussy clenched in helpless need, as more moisture coated the tops of her thighs.

  She had never gone past heavy petting with boys, and she had certainly never been this wet, just from looking at a guy. When he'd touched her, her beast had purred her contentment. She wanted nothing more than to curl herself around this male and submit to him in all ways.

  "They gave you something to stop you from shifting. Hopefully it'll wear off once you hit the fresh air. This will be so much easier if you can shift. Two animals in the forest will not attract as much attention, and we can cover the ground much faster."

  His low voice in her ear pulled her out of her internal thoughts, and a shiver went down her spine at the puffs of hot air against her neck as he spoke. This close to him, his intoxicating smell intensified until no trace of hyena remained, just his male scent that called to her cougar and made the animal rise to the surface. Every feminine cell in her body wished they were in a position to take the next natural step. This insane attraction made no sense, yet it made perfect sense. There was no point in denying the fact that this wolf had to be her mate. They could never be together. It went against all the rules, and there was still the very real question as to what he had been doing on her father's land and how he came to be here now. None of that mattered, however, not when she could hear approaching footsteps.

  Maria froze, and he put his hand over her mouth in warning. She glared at him—really, how stupid did he think she was?—and the corner of his full mouth kicked up in a fleeting grin, before he stepped away from her. Gesturing for her to stay he stepped out of the door, and seconds later there was the sound of a struggle, and a fluid filled gurgle. He appeared through the door, dragging the dead body of what she assumed must be one of the guards.

  The human's unseeing gaze stared at her, and Maria swallowed hard. Her wolf had ripped through his throat, and the coppery scent of blood filled the air.

  "Come on, we need to go."

  Half shifted, her mate made a terrifying sight. His elongated canines still held the bloodstains of his victim and his eyes had bled to the glowing yellow of his wolf. The claws on his hands dug into her skin as he grasped her hand and pulled her along behind him.

  It was a maze of corridors down here, and more than once he flattened her against the wall, shielding her in the shadows with his big body, as they waited for someone to pass. It seemed the night shift was largely made up of humans, which made their escape easier. No shifter would have let them pass. Their senses would have alerted them to their presence in record time.

  As it was Maria was sure this latest human who stood mere feet away from them, talking on his mobile phone, should have been able to hear her frantic heartbeat. Pressed as close to her wolf as two people could be, without being actually joined, her libido was going into overdrive.

  Rather than try to fight the sensations assaulting her, Maria shut her eyes and savored them. The feel of his hard muscular body pressed against her soft curves. The way his solid erection strained against her belly. The way her own juices slipped out of her pussy and trailed down the inside of her thighs. His heavy breaths that raised the fine hair clinging to her sweat dampened skin. The distant rumble of his wolf, which was joined by her cat's purr. They all combined to make the atmosphere so sexually charged it was a wonder they didn’t catch fire.

  When the human finally moved Maria opened her eyes to find her rescuer watching her from under hooded lids. The intensity of his gaze sent shivers of anticipation down her spine, and her cougar rose to the surface to meet her mate. Fully awake now, her animal wanted out to play, to run with this wolf, and to sink her teeth into his neck. The need was so intense, so all consuming, that Maria's jaw ached with the pull to do just that.

  Before she could act on that dangerous impulse, the man holding her in thrall as much as his wolf was, stepped away, and Maria drew a much needed breath into her oxygen starved lungs. She hadn't even been aware of the fact that she'd stopped breathing, so intense had that moment been.

  Her wolf held out his hand again.

  "The exit is just ahead. I killed the guards earlier so we shouldn't encounter any problems, but just in case we do, I want you to shift the minute we get out of here, and start running."

  A shiver of a different kind went down Maria's spine, and she had to clear her throat repeatedly to get the words to form.

  "What about you? I can't just leave you, and I don't even know your name."

  "I'm Malachi, son of the pack of Luca."

  He smiled grimly and cupped the side of her cheek when Maria's eyes widened in horror.

  "I see you've heard of us. For the record, I disassociated myself from my father's antics a long time ag
o. In any case he's dead now and won't bother anyone anymore. I'm only telling you this, so that you can tell your father to leave the rest of the pack be. They are women and children, and completely innocent. Promise me you tell him, princess."

  Maria nodded her acknowledgement, not trusting her voice to conform to the demands of her brain, and she blinked away tears.

  Malachi's harsh expression softened, and he swiped an escaping tear off her cheek. The slightly calloused pad of his thumb left a path of fire in its wake, and Maria threw her arms around his neck and pulled him close. After a moment of resistance he yielded and hugged her back. All too soon the moment was lost, and he extricated himself out of her grasp, and pulled her behind him and to the exit.

  "Now, remember what I said. Shift the minute you're through that door and run for your life. I'll be right behind you, and even if I'm not, keep running until you leave the forest. By now your father and the council will have search troops out for you. They'll find you."

  Just before they stepped through the open door he yanked her up against him and kissed her. The kiss was over before it started, but there was no mistaking the heat behind it. It was more than a kiss. It was a promise, a claim, a brand on her very soul, and Maria knew that her life would never be the same again.

  He pushed her through the door, and her beast roared and broke free as she hit the ground on all four paws. She caught a glimpse of Malachi's magnificent wolf as he, too, shifted, and then she ran. The sound of gunfire, swearing, shouts, and the warning call of several hyenas rang in her ears, but she kept on running.