Pregnant With His Liger Baby

“That must be what the zoo keeper told you,” he frowned. “He’s kept us prisoner for almost two months waiting for Ilana to be born. The three of us just escaped.”

“Hold on right there, Micah,” she gasped. “She’s walking by right now.”

“Did you say Micah?” the doctor gasped, and she was on the phone in an instant. “Micah? Where are you? What’s happened? They told us your truck crashed and you’d all been killed.”

“We were kidnapped by the zoo keeper,” he repeated. “We’ve only just escaped, and we need to get someplace safe with a quickness. Sylvie has only just birthed Ilana, and I’ve been badly injured, so we pretty much all need medical attention. Do you think you could escape your duties for the day and come help us out? I don’t know who else to trust.”

“Tell me where you are,” she said.

“No, no, we can’t stay here, people are starting to stare,” he said. “We’ll make our way to the north bridge and hide there.”

“All right, I can’t come myself,” she said. “I’ll send David to you. Sylvie will know her own brother. He’ll help you. He’s been working with a resistance movement trying to save shifters from the collectors since he got there. You’ll be safe with him, I promise.”

“Okay, we’ll let you know when everything’s sorted out,” said Micah. “Thank you, doctor. You’re a good friend.”

“Of course,” she said. “Just hurry to the bridge. I’ll take care of the rest.”

*****

They moved quickly through the streets and made their way to the bridge they could see in the distance. Though they were both tired and becoming hungry as well, neither Micah nor Sylvie had any desire to rest until they’d reached their destination almost an hour later. There had been several unexpected twists and turns along the road, making what seemed like a nearby object somewhat further off, but in the end they made it there without incident.

However, when they got there, they saw that a large truck was waiting that looked suspiciously like the one that had taken them to the zoo before. Panic gripped Sylvie as she held out a hand to stop Micah before they drew to close.

“What do you think?” she asked worriedly.

“I think somebody must have told them we were coming here,” he sighed. “But I’d hate to think it was either of the women, or your brother, who was involved. Do you think there’s a tap on the line?”

“I don’t know, but either way, we can’t possibly go there, and we can’t risk trying to call Dr. O’Dell again,” Sylvie said. But even as she said this, a shout went up, and several men began to run towards them, guns drawn. “Oh, no! What do we do, Micah?”

“Don’t move,” he said, frozen in place himself. “It’s only Ilana they’re after, they might easily kill one or both of us. We’re going to have to do what they say for now.”

“But Micah, they’ll take our cub,” she hissed angrily.

They stood reticently as the men grabbed their arms and put them behind their backs, cuffing each of them. Then they put strange collars around each of their necks.

“These collars are equipped with a small explosive device,” explained one of the men as he grabbed Ilana and clamped one on her as well. “If you attempt to escape, you won’t get very far before you’ll wish you hadn’t.”

“Sick bas*ards,” Sylvie growled.

“Also, they won’t grow if you attempt to shift,” he added with a smirk. “You would choke yourself if you tried. Now, be a nice couple of kitties and come along with us. We’ve got big plans for the three of you.”

“Us, too?” Micah asked uncertainly.

“A breeding pair should be pretty useful for making a few more ligers, don’t you agree?” he smirked. “Oh no, you two are most definitely not going anywhere.”

“How do you know about all of this?” Sylvie wanted to know. “You’ve caught us now anyway; it won’t hurt for you to explain.”

“An informant, of course,” he said. “That’s all you need to know. Now move along.”

They were herded over to the large truck and shoved into the back. Ilana was given back, but their hands were left tied so that they couldn’t hold her as the truck began to jostle around. In a desperate attempt to keep her baby from rolling around on the floor, Sylvie fell sideways and caught her with one of her legs instead.

“Where are they taking us?” she asked nervously.

“I don’t know,” Micah told her. “I’m not sure I want to know.”

Suddenly, the truck lurched to a stop to the sound of gunfire. The unmistakable sound of a deflating tire hissed loudly, and then shouting. The back doors swung open, and a desperate-looking man stared in at them.

“Dampening field,” he shouted. “Move, now. Your collars won’t explode unless this thing runs out of juice. Let’s go!”

“David? Thank goodness!” Sylvie gasped as he cut the ties binding her hands. She immediately grabbed Ilana and held her close, trying to sooth her.

“Thank me later,” he yelled. “Those men won’t be subdued for long. Move, move, move, move, move!”

They booked over to a van along with David and three other men who had attacked, and they all got inside. Sylvie noticed the van was black, and unmarked, not very good traits for it during daylight as it was now. The oversight was remedied when, a few blocks away, David and their little family jumped out of the van and into a car, and he brought the dampener along with him.

“This thing needs to be plugged in within twenty minutes,” he warned them. “Otherwise, this will be a pretty short-lived rescue.”

“Remove Ilana’s collar first when we arrive,” Micah told him. “She is much more important than either of us.”

“I heard that you were an honorable lion,” David said appreciatively. “Glad to know that the rumors are true.”

“When we get wherever we’re going, how safe are we likely to be?” Sylvie wanted to know.

“We only have five more safe houses that haven’t been compromised,” David explained. “However, once we’ve exhausted them we do have another idea. We’ll eventually take you along with us on a boat. If we can manage to reach it, we’re going to leave India behind for good. We won’t know the destination until we’re aboard. We can’t afford to inadvertently tell the person whose been betraying us anything useful.”

“How easy is it to get the collars off?” asked Micah stoically.

“Don’t worry, I don’t intend to blow your head off,” David replied. “I’m actually getting pretty good at this. You have pretty good odds that you might survive.”