While Tanner had calmed down, Zarina could feel his body shaking as he fought to keep control of his inner hybrid. He stood there with his hands at his sides, breathing deeply, blood running down his arm from the wound on his shoulder. The lion was gone, and in its place was a man who looked exhausted and crushed to his core. She longed to check his wounds, especially the bite, but that could wait. A hybrid wouldn’t bleed to death from a wound like that, and right now, getting him completely relaxed was the most important thing.
It took a lot longer for the other three hybrids to get it together. But even after Spencer’s fangs and claws had retracted, he and his friends stared at her with hate in their eyes.
“What the hell are you doing with her, Tanner?” Spencer finally demanded, his voice rough with emotion. “She was there. She helped turn us into monsters.”
Zarina opened her mouth to tell her side of the story, but Tanner spoke before she could.
“She was there, yes, but she was as much of a prisoner as we were,” he said firmly.
“What does that mean?” Peter asked.
“Stutmeir kidnapped her and forced her to work for him. If she didn’t, he would have killed her,” Tanner explained. “She had nothing to do with what happened to us. In fact, she did everything she could to stop it. I know it doesn’t mean anything to you, but Zarina risked her life to get me out when it looked like the other doctors were going to keep pumping me full of drugs until I died for real. She saved my life, so if you have a problem with her, you have a problem with me.”
Tanner didn’t so much as let out a growl, but his message came through loud and clear anyway. All three of the hybrids backed off. Spencer even let Lillie nudge him another few feet away. While none of the men looked happy, at least they weren’t eyeing Zarina like they still wanted to attack her.
Zarina was eager to use the pause in hostilities to ask how the three men had gotten there. Or more precisely, how it was possible they were still alive. She’d personally checked their pulses after Stutmeir’s doctors had injected them with the hybrid serum, and they’d been dead. Of that, she was certain.
Before she could get her first question out, Tanner asked one of his own.
“Where’s Bryce?”
The three hybrids visibly tensed. Zarina stiffened, too, afraid there was going to be another fight. But Spencer merely shook his head.
“He disappeared right after the attack. We were hoping he was out tracking Josh, but he still hasn’t come back. We’re starting to worry maybe those assholes grabbed him, too.”
“We tried to follow his trail, but we lost the scent pretty quickly,” Malcolm said. “Maybe you can try. Your nose is way better than any of ours.”
Tanner didn’t answer but instead threw a quick look at Zarina. “Stay here. I’ll be back soon.”
He was gone before she could say anything, leaving her standing on the porch with a group of preppers she didn’t know and three hybrids who still didn’t act like they thought very much of her.
Chad and Burt headed into the cabin to check on Lorraine while Lillie and Spencer moved several feet away to talk softly to each other. The young woman turned and looked Zarina’s way a few times, like they were talking about her. Zarina couldn’t help but wonder what they were saying.
The other two hybrids stood off to the side, Malcolm tending to the wound on Peter’s chest. Zarina would have offered to help, but she was pretty sure her gesture wouldn’t be appreciated. So she simply walked back onto the porch and took a seat in the Adirondack-style chair there and waited. Even the preppers who’d come out of their cabins before had disappeared inside.
Tanner jogged back into the camp five minutes after he’d left, a concerned expression on his face. Zarina could tell he’d been running fast, because there was a sheen of sweat covering his skin, but he wasn’t breathing hard at all. He stepped onto the porch just as Chad came out of the cabin. Spencer, Lillie, Peter, and Malcolm moved closer to listen in.
“Well?” Chad asked.
“Bryce’s trail converges with Josh’s and the men who attacked your camp not more than a half mile into the woods,” Tanner said, his face grim. “There was a gunfight, and Bryce was hit. I found brass from an M16 or M4, as well as Bryce’s blood. The amount of blood didn’t suggest the injury was severe, but it must have been bad enough to knock him out. I found marks along the ground indicating they’d dragged both Bryce and Josh several hundred feet to the dirt road that runs along the south side of the farm. From there, they put them in a big vehicle, a van or SUV judging by the tire tracks.”
No one said a word. The preppers and hybrids simply looked around at one another like they were hoping Bryce and Josh would appear and announce Tanner had been wrong, that they’d merely been lost in the woods.
“We need to call the police,” Zarina finally said when no one spoke.
Chad shook his head, his mouth tight. “No cops.”
Not that again.
“Your community was attacked by someone with weapons, and two of your friends were captured—or worse,” Zarina pointed out.
“Don’t you think I know that?” Chad shot her an angry look. “There are people we know and trust in the other camps near here. We’ll get some trackers out there. We’ll find them.”
Zarina stared at Chad in disbelief. Was he insane? Not even Tanner could track Bryce and Josh if the men were in a vehicle.
“That hasn’t worked so far, and now there’s what, half a dozen people missing?” Zarina folded her arms. “You don’t even know who captured them or where they took them. You need trained professionals if you ever hope to find them.”
Chad stood silently, his jaw clenched tight.
Zarina was tempted to walk over and slap the man. His damn pride and his stubbornness were going to get his friends killed. If they weren’t already. But then she had a better idea. She pointed at where her backpack leaned against the side of the cabin alongside Tanner’s.
“I have a satellite phone in my pack,” she said. “Tanner and I can call some friends of ours in DC. They’re very good at dealing with this kind of situation.”
The man’s eyes sharpened. “DC?” he said warily. “What kind of friends? You mean feds?”
Zarina started to answer, but Tanner got the words out first. “Yeah, they’re feds. But they’re good people I’d vouch for any day of the week.”
If Zarina thought Chad seemed suspicious before, it was nothing compared to the expression on his face now. “No. No feds of any kind.”
“Dad,” Lillie said softly. “They’re trying to help.”