Will

The medic tent, according to Dominic, was near the center of camp. Getting inside without being noticed would be difficult--and pulling Harley to safety even more so.

Which was why their group decided to split up.

"Your distraction has to be big enough to pull most of them away from the camp," Will had said earlier.

Will, Dominic, Ben, Mathias, and Cam were one unit. The other wolves, led by Oliver, would be responsible for the distraction and serve as reinforcements if needed. Their smaller group would focus on getting Harley out safely.

They waited at the edge of the camp, near the outer edge patrol, for their signal.

"Think he'll miss the excitement?" Ben whispered. He gestured with his chin at the large unconscious guard they'd knocked out and balanced against a tree.

"Maybe. We'll be gone either way."

In the distance, a "bird" squawked.

The signal.

Someone shouted in alarm before the whole camp exploded into chaos. Screams, the pounding of boots, a roaring wolf. Will watched as the numerous tents burst open and people flooded out.

Gray smoke danced up into the sky.

"Fire!" Someone yelled. "Get the extinguishers!"

Will nodded at his team. "Let's go."

Acting like panicked individuals was easy. They ran, eyes darting around as they headed to the tent.

Ben had given Dominic his shirt which, because of his skinnier frame, managed to cover the important bits. The only thing out of order with their act was the two men missing half their clothes. But by the time anyone would have noticed, they'd already hit the tent.

Will whipped open the tent flaps. The adrenaline pumped through his system, his senses on alert.

He darted inside, whirling as a man already in there pointed a weapon at him. In one swift motion, he'd grabbed the wrist holding the gun and twisted. With a cry, the man dropped it.

Will landed a right hook to his jaw. The guy dropped like a stone.

Cam took care of the other guy in about the same time.

The rest of the tent was empty. In the middle of it was a standard table with a rumpled red and white blanket. A set of supply bins stood in the corner.

Will strode over to it, sorting through the materials inside. Gauze, hydrogen peroxide, half used vials, new syringe packets, boxes of band aids. And that was just one drawer. The other drawers held more medical supplies than he knew what to do with.

"Where would they have taken her?" Ben asked Dominic.

"I don't know. They should have kept her here. This has the most medical supplies. The rest of the tents are just tents. If my mom's looking to test someone, I don't know why--"

At the door, Mathias leaned on his haunches and growled low.

Will readied himself.

A man stepped through the doorway. "I told her it was a distraction. Look at me, thinking."

The man had two other men with him, but even with the extra people, Will's team outnumbered them.

"Howdy, gentlemen," he nodded at Mathias. "Wolfy. The names Blackthorne."

Mathias prowled closer, his nose working through the scents in the room, particularly the smell of this new man. He sent Will a familiar scent--a soft, warm smell.

Harley.

She'd definitely been here--on that cold, standard table no doubt, near that blanket. Near this man, Blackthorne, with a terrible receding hairline.

"What did you do?" Will growled. "Where is she?"

Blackthorne stared at him, taking in Will's wrinkled clothes, his threatening expression, his dark demeanor. "Safe," he finally replied. "Where she will stay."

Mathias flashed his teeth.

Blackthorne grinned, "Nice canines."

Then he shot Mathias.

Will burst into motion, going for the weapons, but for humans, these men had killer reaction time. Shots went off one by one. Pftu, pftu, pftu.

Something pinched Will's thigh. He spared it the fraction of a glance. A tranq dart.

The adrenaline pumping like electricity through his veins kept him moving. He'd slammed one guy against the ground right as Cam took the other down. But as he snagged the guy's wrist, his leg went numb.

Tranquilizers didn't much work on wolves. They had better endurance than most, and no amount of laced weaponry did anything to combat them.

These though...

Will fell onto his knee.

Mathias was already down. Cam had fallen on all fours, a dart in the shoulder. Ben and Dominic tumbled not far behind.

"Feisty, isn't it?" Blackthorne murmured, fiddling with the safety of his weapon. "We had to up the dosage--this baby can take out an elephant."

Will braced his hand on the flattened grass serving as the floor. This would not be it. He, rogue hunter extraordinaire, refused to be taken out by a well-placed tranq. Not when Harley needed him. Not when his team needed him.

Ignoring the numbness spreading quickly through his bloodstream, he struggled up into a standing position.

Blackthorne raised an eyebrow. "Dude, take your nap already."

Will stepped forward. Getting his legs to move was like trying to wade through roaring rapids. "Where is she?"

Luna help him. Even talking was like working with stones in his mouth.

"You've got balls, man," Blackthorne said, "I like you."

He aimed his weapon. Pftu, pftu, pftu.

Will's world turned black at the edges.

"Shit, just sleep, man."

He fell.

~

Harley

Someone slammed a drawer shut.

Consciousness came in slow waves. She woke up--as much as she could with all the medication and whatnot--and took stock.

A chair this time. Her upper arms and forearms were velcroed, her ankles strapped to the legs. The chair had no headrest, so her head had drooped painfully to the side in her drugged sleep. That familiar IV still pricked her arm when she moved.

They'd given her some type of weird smock this time. An upgrade from the previous blanket, though the smock didn't cover all of what she wanted. It cut real high on her thighs and was open in the back.

Through bleary eyelids, she saw Selene march over to the table in the corner of the room and turn the knob on the gas lantern. The tent's orange glow brightened.

There was a click and a snap as she put something under her microscope. After a moment, she tsked, and shook her head. Then she swapped out slides.

Everything felt distant--her arms, her legs, her thoughts. She was both in her body and not. Aware, but not focused. Like the world around her wasn't quite real. Even her consciousness only seemed loosely tethered to her body.

Somewhere in her mind, she wondered why Selene would have an electric microscope but a gas light.

"Our camp runs on limited electricity," Selene said, guessing her fleeting thoughts. Woah. How'd she know?

She raised a brow at Harley. "You said it out loud." She slid back from the table and turned to her. "How are you feeling?"

Harley groaned.

"Yeah, I imagine it'll be like that for a bit," Selene said. "I still have a couple more samples to take. But I think I'm making a breakthrough."

Then she went back to work, flipping through page after page, and biting on her thumb. "...missing something..." She might've mumbled.

Harley didn't know. Her world was starting to blur again. Her body felt like it'd been covered in sand and buried. She was so tired. All she wanted was to sleep this nightmare away.

She closed her eyes and drifted off. Her last thought was of that handsome rogue hunter who'd somehow kidnapped her heart. And wondered when she'd stopped feeling so...alone when it came to him.