Serengeti Sunrise - By Vivi Andrews Page 0,34

claws that suddenly unsheathed. He never shifted involuntarily, never lost control, but the thought of Zoe just giving up and walking away pierced right through his shields and stabbed his heart.

“You don’t get to dictate to me,” she retorted. Her eyes were bright with anger, the vivid expression back in her face, but her hands were deft and gentle as she handled the sensors, never pausing in her work. “I never agreed to take you as my mate and even if I had, it wouldn’t be a free pass for you to run my life.” She snapped the cover closed on the post sensors and swept her tools up. She stalked toward him, challenge in every line of her body. “I’m never going to be the meek little woman who sits obediently by with her fucking needlepoint while you ride off into battle.” She flung her tools through the open truck window onto the bench seat, but didn’t move to climb in, turning to snarl up at him, “And I am never going to take orders from you.”

Tyler started toward her, intending to give the words kiss her into submission new definition, when something sharp jabbed into his shoulder. He hesitated, raising a hand to the sting, blinking as the world slowed and the colors of the pasture bled into one another before his eyes like an impressionist painting. What the hell?

“Tyler?” Zoe’s voice sounded like it was coming from an out-of-tune radio, soft, then suddenly loud then soft again, and all battling against the static that filled his ears.

“Run,” he grunted, as his knees gave way. Whatever drug they’d shot him with, it was fast working.

His cheek smacked into the ground hard. He couldn’t lift his arms to brace for the impact. His vision was still functioning—blurred though it was—as all the rest of his motor functions shut down one by one. He saw Zoe’s boots running away from him—obeying him for once in her life, thank God—but the steps were slowing, staggering, and she didn’t make it ten yards before she slumped to the ground.

No.

A surge of something vicious and powerful ran through his blood. His vision cleared. He still had no feeling in his arms, but he managed to move them even though they felt like they belonged to someone else. Rolling slightly to the side, he shoved himself up. Half-crawling, half-dragging himself, he inched toward Zoe.

Protect your mate.

Another sting pierced his neck. Tyler lifted his dead-weight hand and yanked the dart out before the tranquilizer could find its way into his bloodstream. But enough of the damn poison had gotten in to send him crashing back to the ground.

Zoe, Zoe, Zoe. His eyes stayed locked on her unmoving form in front of him as he willed his body to fight the drug. She’d become his mantra, his reason for being. They could take him, but he had to get her out of here.

His eyes were still open, his hearing still staticky but functioning, when a pair of footsteps approached.

“Jesus, he’s still conscious.”

“Hit him again.”

“Will that damage him? I already gave him enough to take down an elephant. He said a breeding pair is no good if one is damaged.”

“Do you want this big fucker waking up before we get him back to the lab? Hit him a-fucking-gain.”

“Fine, but you get to explain it to the boss if he’s sterile or brain-dead.”

The second man snorted. “Just don’t aim for his junk. Brain-dead isn’t a problem.”

Tyler didn’t feel where the next dart hit him. He only knew it had when a yellow fog swamped him and the world faded away.

Chapter Ten

The voices were the first thing that infringed on Zoe’s consciousness. Long before she was awake enough to move, she heard them, broken riddles that faded in and out and meant nothing in her fuzzy cotton-candy world.

“…can’t keep him under. Nothing in the data suggests a male of his size should be able to…”

“…responding to the hormone yet? Check her temperature again.”

“…don’t think the wall will hold if he attacks it again…”

“…shouldn’t she be shifting? The data clearly states within four hours of injection…”

“…you wanna try putting him in restraints, be my guest. I’m not going in there…”

“…running out of sedative…”

Sedative. That explained the IV she could feel in her arm. She was drugged. Was she in the hospital? Lying on her back, she could be in a hospital bed. Had she been in an accident? Emergency surgery? The voices didn’t sound like the pride doctor. If she