Croc and the Fox (7 page)

Entering into the FUC main area, on her own two feet, she didn’t say a word as once again strangers peered at her. But with Viktor’s fingers laced in hers, because she wouldn’t let go, she didn’t worry about anyone harming her.

A pretty blonde woman, behind a large, curved counter, looked up at their approach. “Good morning, Viktor, and guest. Jessie’s been waiting for you in the tech department. Says she might have some news on your
friend.
”

Renee frowned at the inflection and Viktor scowled. “Is Kloe in?”
“Not yet. She’s visiting the victims of the lab and isn’t expected for a few hours.”
“Tell her I need to speak with her when she arrives.”
About what, Renee wondered as he tugged her along a series of hallways until they entered a large space crammed with computers. Only a single person manned the area, and she tapped rapidly at a keyboard while lines of gibberish scrolled across her screen.
“I’m here. What have you got?” Viktor said when Jessie didn’t immediately notice their arrival.
A spin of her chair and Jessie faced them. “There you are. Took you long enough. Did someone have a long night?” Jessie smirked at Viktor who growled under his breath about swans who wanted their gooses cooked. “Hey, red. Nice to see you again.”
Grinning, Renee waved back.
“Mary said you had news,” Viktor stated.
“I do. And I don’t. Also known as good and bad.”
Renee’s fingers tightened around his.
“What’s the bad news?” he asked.
“I couldn’t find a name for her.”
“I have one. Renee. Isn’t it pretty? Viktor gave it to me. The name that is. Apparently, I’m too young for him to teach me about sex.” Beaming, she didn’t understand why her announcement made him bang his head on the wall.
Jessie choked and whirled away from them, shoulders hunched and shaking.
“Is she alright?” Renee whispered. In the cells, when someone shook, it usually meant something bad was about to happen. Or gross. It would suck to lose her clean state to projectile vomit, or worse.
“She is fine for the moment, but I can’t vouch for her state later,” he growled. “What other bad news do you have?”
Her voice still somewhat choked, Jessie answered. “Renee is definitely twenty six years old according to her medical file, and if they can be believed, she’s been in their custody for fourteen years.”
“Longest living specimen. Yay for me.” Renee fist pumped like she’d seen the scientists do when they accomplished something. It didn’t take the stunned look from Viktor’s face.
“Fourteen years? How could we not have known this was going on?”
Jessie shrugged. “The mastermind only snowballed the research and kidnapping in recent years. Before that it was just a shifter here or there. According to the files I’ve recovered, all their victims, except for the ones we rescued, died at some point, usually within the first year or so. Renee’s the only one who survived all the tests.”
“I also survived the drugs. Lots of drugs. Some of them were quite nice, like the one that made me see everything in rainbows.” She’d also liked the one that made her think she could fly until she woke up with a broken nose.
“I’m going to kill something.” Viktor slammed his fist into a wall, leaving an impressive dent. Apparently not pleased with his impromptu remodel of the room, he hit it again and

again. “Why is he so mad?” Renee asked Jessie.

“He’s not angry. He’s expressing himself in a physical manner which is really out of character.” Jessie just about shouted the last bit.

A deep breath, shoulders straightened, Viktor left the wall alone and faced them. “Sorry. My hand had an itch.”
“Doesn’t scratching work better?”
“Just forget I did that. Any more bad news?”
“Not really. The next tidbit I discovered, which could be considered good, is she has an immunity to most drugs, even basic anesthetics, ever since something referred to as the incident.”
“What incident?” he snapped.
“I don’t know,” Jessie said, waving some sheets at him. “I haven’t managed to decode that part of the database yet.”
Two sets of eyes swiveled her way, the question clear. Renee sighed. “It’s not that big of a deal. I accidentally fell in a vat of radioactive waste.”
“You did what?”
“Fell. I was clumsy in my youth, and bored. I thought I’d play tag with the doctor and slipped my restraints. I was winning, too, until I fell in.” Not one of her best moments.
Viktor looked about to explode and Jessie put a hand on his arm which Renee didn’t like at all. She turned sideways, her hair prickled and she growled softly.
Jessie removed her hand and tucked it in her lap. “What happened after?”
“They pulled me out, but not before I swallowed a ton of it. I was sick for weeks. My hair fell out. I lost all my teeth, which thankfully grew back. Shed a bit of skin. It was not a pretty time for me. But, on the upside, when I got better, my acne cleared up and never returned, oh and almost none of their drugs worked, especially the sedatives, which drove them completely mental.”
“Is that why you can’t shapeshift?” Viktor asked.
A shrug lifted her shoulders. “Maybe. But I don’t remember shifting even before the accident so maybe I was just defective from birth.”
She didn’t think with him glowering that now was the time to tell him she didn’t remember much of anything before the incident. One day, she just woke in the lab. Project X081, no mother, no father, no friends. The mastermind claimed to have created her.
‘I made you, therefore I own you,’
the diminutive figure claimed on more than one occasion.
The only thing Renee never understood was, if they’d made her, then where did the dreams come from? The dreams where she ran on four legs through the forest. The dreams of a woman with brassy hair and a big voice who held out her arms to catch her. The cake topped with candles that wavered before her as someone sang a song. If they’d made her in a bottle, grown her in a vat, then how could she see these things? Know

of them?Scared they would take her dreams away, she told no

one. And even now, as Viktor and Jessie spoke in quiet tones of other discoveries made on the lab’s computers, Renee held her tongue. She feared losing her bits of fantasy. Her wishful dream that the images meant something, meant she had a family and wasn’t just a project, a shapeshifting Frankenstein as the doctor’s so jokingly called her.
Maybe there’s someone out there who already loves me.

Chapter Seven

Viktor kept an eye on Renee as she grew bored of the discussion and actually let go of him to wander around the room. The anger at hearing how long the mastermind victimized her wouldn’t die down. He wanted to kill something. Lots of things. He wanted to shake Renee and ask her how she could act so blasé about the situation. Joking about the drugs she took. Blaming her clumsiness for falling into a radioactive vat. Did she not take any of this seriously? How could she not burn with rage for what was done to her?

He did. And he’d help her get revenge.
“Vi-i-c-t-t-o-r-r! Where are you? I’m coming to find you, Victor! You can’t hide from me.” The exuberant exclamations hit him a second before Renee slammed into his back, her arms wrapping around his waist tight as an anaconda. He didn’t blame her. Knowing who arrived, he wanted to hide too.
His former partner, a bouncy bunny who drove everyone nuts, but who kicked ass in the field, hopped into the room and tackled him for a hug. “Victor!” Miranda shrieked. “I missed

you!” “I thought you were in the boonies, staying out of sight,”

he said, suffering through the embrace. Damned woodland creatures were so touchy feely. And his fox didn’t like it either, judging by the growl against his spine.

“I had to come back. Doctor’s appointment. And we needed more carrot cake. The local bakery doesn’t make it, which is dumb because junior really likes it and they would totally make a fortune off me,” Miranda said patting her rounded, pregnant belly.
“Where’s Chase?”
“Miranda!” The familiar bellow of her mate made his

bunny partner roll her eyes.
“In Jessie’s office, honey bear,” she hollered. “I’m talking
to Victor.”
And as usual, she mispronounced his name. His name
was Viktor, not the softer American version of Victor. But he’d
given up years ago trying to get her to enunciate it correctly. While Miranda peeked to his left, then right, trying to
catch a glimpse of Renee, who refused to lift her head from
hiding, Chase lumbered into the room. A grizzly bear, not just as
an animal, but also in nature, he scowled at everyone but his

mate. “Would you stop hopping away from me? How am I

supposed to protect your furry ass if you won’t stay still?” “I told you the elevator wasn’t as fast.” Miranda
smirked. Chase growled, and Viktor sighed. He’d gotten use to
the quiet with Miranda on sabbatical. A forced vacation
actually, given she wanted to work the mastermind case, but due
to the fact the psycho really wanted to get his grubby hands on
the sabertooth bunny and her unborn child, they’d deemed it
safer to put her under guard. With her mate, father in law, and
even tougher mother in law watching over Miranda, only a
madman would attempt anything.
Okay, the mastermind, being nuts actually had tried to
kidnap her, but they’d foiled the attempt. FUC agents prevailed
and Miranda, the baby and everyone else was safe – so long as
no one laid a hand on her carrot cake.
“You should have stayed in your safe house,” Viktor
admonished.
Miranda rolled her eyes. “Oh, pl-l-l-e-a-s-s-e.” She drew
out the word dramatically. “Have you ever been cooped up with
three bears in a house with no honey or carrot cake?” “She got bored,” Chase remarked dryly. “Personally, I
found all the sleep refreshing.”
“See what I’ve had to put up with?” Miranda lowered her
voice to a conspiratorial tone. “Did you know bears can sleep
like sixteen hours a day? It’s insane. I only need a good five or

^six.”
“Because you’re a spaz,” Jessie remarked.

Miranda stuck her tongue out at the swan who honked with laughter.
“Hey, who threw a party and didn’t invite me?” Mason loomed in the doorway with a big grin. He slapped his brother, Chase, on the back, a hard whack that didn’t budge the big man. “Ha. I knew Miranda wouldn’t last a week in the safe house. You owe me twenty bucks.”
“Stupid agents in charge should have brought more food. Pregnant bunnies are bottomless pits apparently.” Grumbling, Chase dug into his pocket and grudgingly handed over a crumpled bill.
“You wagered on me?” Miranda asked, hands on her

hips. “Yup.”

“Awesome. Next time let me know though, and I’ll rig it so you win, honey bear.” Miranda winked as she bounced on the balls of her feet.

“Who says I lost? A nosy mother and paper thin walls,” Chase added when Viktor raised a brow at his odd statement. “Ack! Too much information. I feel sick,” Mason moaned. “No fair. I just had breakfast, too.”

A rough jab to the ribs and Mason shut up. Chase smiled smugly.
“Why is your friend hiding? I want to meet her.” Miranda still bobbed for a peek, but Renee, overwhelmed at all the new people, didn’t move from her spot behind him.
“She’s kind of shy,” Viktor replied, certain the entire outline of Renee’s face would forever mark his back, she pressed

so hard.“Shy?” Miranda blinked and her nose twitched. “But it’s

me. Didn’t you tell her about me? I’m hurt,” Miranda exclaimed, clasping a hand to her chest dramatically. “I thought I meant something to you.”

Sharp nails dug into his waist and Viktor fought not to wince. He patted the hand that currently left a bruise. “Renee, this is Miranda, my partner.” The claws pressed harder. “Work partner. She’s on maternity leave with her husband, Chase.”

The pressure eased. Slowly, Renee peeked around his arm. “She’s an agent?”
“One of the best,” Miranda boasted. “When I unleash my bunny, everybody runs.”
A giggle escaped his fox. “You’re a rabbit? As in long floppy ears and fluffy tail?”
“Don’t let my awesome exterior fool you. Inside, I am a deadly predator.”
“With great big fangs. We know,” Mason interrupted. “Attention hog.”
“I am not!”
“Don’t start,” Chase growled.
His admonition didn’t stop Miranda from flicking a finger at Mason, who blew her a raspberry before facing Renee, who watched them sparring with wide eyes. “Hello there, my name is Mason. I’m also a FUC agent, and that techno geek hottie over there is my chocolate dipped delight. You might remember me from yesterday. I was part of the team that helped free you.” Mason stuck out his hand, and Renee looked at it, but didn’t touch it.
“You’re supposed to shake it,” Viktor muttered under his breath.
Slipping her hand free from his waist, Renee clasped the extended appendage and pumped it vigorously before dropping it like a hot potato.
“Nice grip. You’re a lucky man, Viktor.” Mason winked. Miranda and Jessie giggled. Even Chase looked amused. Viktor, however, wanted to punch his unit buddy for the remark. How dare he think of Renee in a sexual manner?
And just how good is her grip?
Damn the bear for putting the question in his head, and worse the image of how he could find out.
Maybe he’d take the nosy mammal to the training gym later on and show him why you didn’t throw verbal sticks at ornery – horny – crocs.
Despite his annoyance at Mason’s crude innuendo, it did have a benefit. More of Renee emerged from hiding, still glued to his side, but at least she didn’t cower behind, using him as a

shield.“Oh, aren’t you just the cutest thing,” Miranda

exclaimed. “But the clothes have got to go. Oversized men’s wear is for home use only. A pretty girl like you needs color and skin tight stuff to show off your curves. Victor, you need to take her shopping.”
“I don’t have time. I’ve got some reports to write. People

to talk to. You know. Work stuff.” Hell, he’d even go to a dentist and freak them out with his numerous, pointy teeth, anything to avoid a trip to a store. An avid internet shopper, he bought everything online and paid for delivery.

“Then I’ll take her.”
“No!” Both he and Renee shouted it at the same time, which caused another round of knowing smiles he didn’t appreciate.
“I stay with him,” Renee explained, wrapping her arms around his waist and locking her fingers together.
“It’s my job to protect her,” he added, knowing it sound lame the moment it left his mouth.
“Sure it is,” Miranda said rolling her eyes. “In that case, you’d better get the office to send the paperwork home, because this might take a few hours.”
Hours? No. They wouldn’t. He was a decorated military man. An agent with innumerable skills. But the pregnant bunny with a one-track mind didn’t care.
Unwilling, and yet unable to leave Renee’s side – and ordered by his boss with a snicker – Viktor got roped into going shopping. For clothes. Worst mission ever.