Page 59 of Grizzly Sleuth
“Enough.” Levy leaned over him with a scowl. “I’ve heard enough from both of you. It’s obvious you’re not ready to understand the greatness I’m bringing to mankind.”
“Shouldn’t that be beastkind?” Svetlana mocked.
“Go ahead and laugh. You won’t find this so amusing later.”
Levy kept his word in that respect. They definitely weren’t chuckling hours later when they woke in their cell. They’d been tested repeatedly. Idris with various inflicted wounds to test his control over the shift, which diminished the more they made him change. Svetlana received much more serious injuries before her body cooperated. No wonder she lay curled in a ball on the mattress.
Idris rubbed her back. “It’s over for the moment.”
“Until the next bout,” she huffed before turning over so she could look him in the eye. “I can’t live like this.”
“Don’t do anything rash and don’t give up hope.” He couldn’t tell her about the message he’d sent. For one, those spying on their cell might hear, and second, he didn’t want to put too much hope in it because, for all he knew, Takhi might never have received it. Even if she did, she might not be able to trace the origin of the text.
“Never said I was giving up, but I am not going to be some docile guinea pig either.”
“His offer of television and dessert didn’t sway you?” he teased.
Her lips quirked. “Depends on the dessert.”
“At least they dressed us.” Being naked each time they had him swapping fur for skin had been embarrassing, mostly because he knew Svetlana could see. Would she think him weak?
“Ah, yes, the latest in lab-rat fashion.” She grimaced down at the cotton scrub bottoms and top. “Do you think Yuri is okay?”
“Knowing your brother, he’s probably got one of Levy’s female assistants fawning over him and bringing him steak.”
“Oh god, not another Olga.” She flung herself down on the mattress. “I told him she’d be trouble.”
“And you were right.”
“I killed her,” she softly admitted. “My bear did, I mean.”
“First time?”
She hesitated before nodding. “First time for me. We’ve had issues in the past where someone accidentally caught on to Yuri’s secret, but he was the one to take care of them.”
“You okay?” He knew the toll taking a life could take—in the beginning. After a while, it got easier, which he’d yet to decide was a good or bad thing.
“Yeah. I mean she totally deserved it. It’s just…” She paused before peeking at him shyly. “I don’t feel bad about it, and yet, I should, right?”
“Olga is the reason you and Yuri ended up captured. I’d say you were justified.”
“But when I killed her, I was already caught. It didn’t help my situation. I did it out of anger.”
“Let me ask you, if you knew she lived, and gloated about setting that trap, how would you feel?”
Her lips pinched. “I’m glad she’s dead.”
Savage, but Idris didn’t mind because he understood. “Welcome to war. Only this time it isn’t us fighting for a country but ourselves.”
“Hard to fight locked in this cell,” she grumbled.
“Never lose hope. Look at me, I managed to escape once. Who’s to say I won’t do it again?”
“Last time, you had your friends to help.”
“Who were also prisoners.” He swept a hand. “You think we’re alone in wanting out of this place?”
She glanced to the ceiling. “Should we be talking about this with them listening?”
