Bound by Pride Ch. 02

Author's note: All characters and companies mentioned in this story have no existence outside the imagination of the author, and have no relation whatsoever to anyone or anything bearing the same name or names. Events portrayed in this story are pure invention and have not been based on any events that have happen in real life. All the characters involved in any sexual acts if their ages are not mentioned before hand; are over 18 years of age. Enjoy.

Hi everyone

THANK YOU to all those kind people who put their hands up to become my new editor, it overwhelmed me with the response I received. SORRY if I didn't get around to emailing all those who were unsuccessful, there were just so many. I have found a new editor and we are in the process of editing chapter three. However, don't expect it to be out quickly, we are in the process of learning how each other works.

Therefore, this is the last chapter edited by PS... A big thank you goes to her. As always all feedback is welcome and encouraged. If you would like to be kept abreast with what is going on in my life I am trying to keep my Bio up to date weekly. It also has story order and has answers to frequently asked questions.

Also to the criminal justice major who left an Anonymous comment... PLEASE contact me. I want to pick your brain.

Have fun and happy holidays, that is if I don't post chapter 3 before the madness of my family's Christmas celebrations drags me from my computer ... and I'm… sadly not kidding. :)

Chapter 2

Electra fumbled for her phone as it had jerked her out of a sound sleep, flicked it open and put the phone to her ear. "Electra speaking," she said as she rubbed her eyes with her other hand and squinted at her watch. Five thirty, she groaned inwardly. She had been up late chasing leads, only having crawled into bed an hour ago. She had been in Vegas for a month and it didn't look like she was getting anywhere with either cases. All she knew was that the two from Joel's pack had not been removed from the city; they were here somewhere, just hidden. "This had better be good." She warned the caller as her body and mind wanted to sleep.

"Very," a male voice she didn't know said seriously, "shots fired. They think a Were is involved."

Electra sat up throwing back the covers before she hunted for a pen and some paper. "Wait, let me grab a pen."

"I thought Were could memorize stuff quickly." The man said, amused

"Not when we're half asleep and sleep deprived." She retorted. She grabbed a pen and pad, "Okay, shoot." She quickly scribbled the address down. She hung up and walked out of her room and over to Dave's. "UP." She said loudly as she bashed on his door, ignoring the fact that Dave was human and couldn't survive on as little as an hour like a Were could.

Jeff jerked up from his place on the couch. "What?" His voice confused, but husky from sleep. He rubbed his left eye as he squinted at her.

"Were involved in a shooting. If I'm up everyone is." She said before she walked into the bathroom to have a shower, hoping it would wake her somewhat. She groaned as she walked out five minutes later to be met with the lights on. Dave jammed her sunglasses into her hands, both used to this typical scene. She pulled them on and walked back into her room to dress. She came out minutes later in jeans and a shirt then tugged her boots on and slid on an FBI jacket. Her gun attached to her belt and her badge went around her neck, hung on a chain, which was long enough to survive the change.

"Wow, very FBI." Jeff commented grumpily as he pulled his boots on. Like Electra, he wanted to be asleep.

"Shut up. I've only had an hours sleep." She snapped back.

Jeff chuckled and finished tying his shoe.

Dave walked out in jeans and a shirt. He sat and pulled his boots on. He then went to the window to see what it looked like this early in the morning. "Fuck, the sun's not even up." He snatched the keys before Electra could grab them and found the note where Electra had scrawled the address. "You go get coffee. Electra's a flat white in the biggest container they have. I'll have a medium of the same." He told Jeff.

Jeff went to object as he wasn't some errand boy. He had been helping them out for the last month chasing leads that Electra couldn't. Yesterday was the first time in weeks that they had gotten together to go over everything they knew and last night he had tagged along to chase up leads that he couldn't. It was early this morning when Dave suggested he crashed on the couch and he agreed.

"Fine then, give me the keys to your car and you drive Electra to the site while listening to her growl the entire trip." Dave compromised grumpily. He could live with very little sleep but no matter what, an hour was not enough... he was after all only human. "She lightens up after she's had coffee." He warned, used to dealing with Electra when she was sleep deprived, having worked some pretty big cases, one being a rogue vampire tribe.

Jeff weighted his options. There was something about the way Dave said she growled the entire trip. It instantly had alarms going off in his head. "I'll get the coffee and some food. I have a feeling she doesn't just growl."

Dave nodded. "She also has a tendency to crush the door handles. We have to take out Were coverage when we hire because she always ends up breaking something."

Jeff quickly read the note then left. Dave waited for Electra who dug out some special cuffs from her bags.

"Let's go." She said as she flung the heavy pieces of metal over her shoulder.

"Jeff is getting coffee and food. We drew straws as to who has to put up with you." He told her as they left their hotel room and went down stairs to their car.

"Dave, not now. Please let me wake up first." Electra whined. Dave hit the button on the keys opening the doors. She opened the door and climbed in as he did. Both were sluggish from lack of sleep and both needing a coffee hit to hopefully kick their brains and bodies into action. "Wake me when we get there."

He chuckled as he gunned the motor and took off. Twenty minutes later, they were ushered under the police tape. Dave leant out the window, "See the man with the coffee standing there? Let him in. He's with us." He told an officer. Electra got out and stretched.

Jeff came up to them and handed Electra the biggest cup of coffee he could buy. Electra took off her jacket, laying it on the hood and put the cuffs on the jacket so as not to scratch the paint. She then drank the entire coffee down before approaching the man in charge.

She frowned as she watched paramedics working on an officer who had been scratched by a big cat; she veered over to them. "Jeff, call a Haven team, forced turn." She called out before turning back to the paramedics. "Tie him down and sedate him heavily, I mean to the point of a coma."

They nodded vigorously and quickly went to work.

She walked over to the man in charge. "So what's going on?"

"An hour ago a call came in for shots fired, four in total. We managed to storm the house and got the men out. When we went to secure the basement, a huge white tiger clawed Officer McKenzie. We backed off and called the FBI. You were quick about getting here, I was thinking about calling the Alpha. Well, I had to… about Kevin."

"I was here for another case." She explained.

The officer in charge sighed when he noticed who was approaching. "Watch it. The DA has been wanting to test the abilities of the new laws."

A middle-aged man in a dark crisp suit joined them. He looked composed as if he had taken the time to dress; he straightened his jacket as he watched press come and start to set up. When he had gotten the call, he had made sure to dress well as he knew the press would be watching as this case was going to be a big deal. His slightly grey hair was slicked back and his hazel eyes were calculating. "I want whoever hurt Officer McKenzie taken into custody."

"But we don't know what's going on here…" The man-in-charge said in surprise and continued, "There might be a very good reason as to why the tiger clawed him."

"I don't care. Officer McKenzie is facing a forced turn. I want them in a Were-proof cell and charged within an hour." The DA said while straightening his burgundy tie, his body language clearly saying that he couldn't care less about being reasonable about this. He had this planned in his head and he wanted it carried out to according to it without question.

Electra sighed, feeling that today was going to be one big hassle and this man was going to be behind all of it. "No, we don't have the facts yet. Let me do my job." She told him firmly before she walked away to cut the stupid man off before he could give her any more stupid orders. She felt like turning around and telling the stupid DA where to shove his orders but controlled that compulsion by gritting her teeth and walking away. She tossed her gun to Dave, as she wouldn't need it, before approaching the house.

She walked through the almost empty house; several men with dart guns were waiting just down from the basement with heavy doses of sedatives just encase but nothing was coming out. She walked down the stairs into the dark basement; her fingers brushed the light switch but didn't bother to flick it on. She lifted her glasses and glanced into the room her eyes easily picking out everything in the dark room.

She saw the bars of a cage, which human eyes never would have seen without turning the light on and glowing eyes, there was a nasty growl as she approached. She moved her fingers from the light switch. She studied the white tiger as she sniffed the air to get a scent. The tiger was massive but not as big as her mother in full sabre form was, then again no one was as big as her mother was when she was in full sabre form. She took off her shirt, leaving her in a tank top and tossed it in between the bars. She then backed out of the room, sliding her glasses back on.

She walked out of the house and back to the man in charge.

"Why haven't you just sedated it?" The DA demanded as he stormed forward.

She felt her anger rise but forced it down. She wished that the fool would just go away and let her do her job… un harassed, that he would stop assuming he knew what the fuck he was doing because he didn't even ask about what she saw when she went to inspect the Were. "What do you know of Were? Of their psychology?"

"Nothing, nor do I care." He spat.

She glared at him from behind her glasses. Although he would never know, it was times like these that she despised needing to wear large sunglasses as she could never portray her emotions through her eyes so she let it out of her mouth instead. "You know… it's attitudes like yours that had us on the brink of a race war, a war, mister DA, you would have most assuredly lost." She said almost gritting her teeth as she spoke to keep calm and the string of profanities she wished to say in her mind.

"Look, Agent…" He said turning to face her.

"Luis." She slid in, hoping he would derive a conclusion and come up with Senator Luis, and then hopefully he would back off rather than anger the powerful Senator by being an arse to her daughter. By the look on his face and his sudden silence, she assumed he had made the connection. "My name is Electra Luis." She paused after introducing herself properly. "Now let's get a few things straight. Go in there, guns blazing, you'll just piss the cat off further. She's in flight or fight mode, no amount of sedatives are going to knock her out, no amount of gun fire is going to put her down."

"Flight or fight?" Dave asked curious.

"Yes," She said with a sigh and went on to explain. "There are essentially four minds within every Were, well five actually but only four that are commonly used: Human, animal, human/animal, animal/human. Which mind is in control varies. Sometimes emotion can be a factor as can stress but most of the time what decides which mind is in control is mutual consent between the mindsets. Usually, it's simple: human or animal. The other two mindsets come in when we are in hybrid form. Flight or fight mode is the fifth mind set and is built into everyone human or Other; it's a protection instinct." She explained to the group.

"And?" Dave prompted.

"And she is in protection mode. There is no reasoning with this mindset, no humanity, just the primal instincts. Something that is outside of the normal four mindsets. This mindset cares for nothing but its own survival; it knows no right or wrong, has no conscious. All it knows is that it is locked in a cage and that it has been abused… and it wants out. It doesn't care what it has to do or who it has to hurt to get out. It just wants out." She finished explaining.

"How do you know all this?" The man in charge asked, curious.

"I have… a… unique perspective." She answered hesitantly, not wanting to go into detail about how she knew all this, knowing that Dave would want more information and she just wasn't ready to tell him that yet.

"Where's your shirt?" Dave asked, suddenly seeing her minus the shirt she had worn earlier.

"In her cage. I'm hoping she will learn my scent. Next time I go down, I'll take some food. She looked…" She paused as she looked for the right term. "Sick," she decided before continuing, "like she was being starved to break her resistance. I hope that she will associate my scent with good things instead of bad things. That might calm her primal side down enough for one of the other minds to kick in. I can reason with the other minds sets." She walked away from them, to hunt down some food to take in.

She walked up to an enforcer who was here to help just encase. A team had already taken the police officer to haven. "Got any freshly killed meat, fur attached?" She asked as most enforcers carried enough meat to help sate a hungry Were and to help calm them down.

He nodded. "About an hour old, we got it on the way in from Haven."

She nodded, happy with that answer as it saved her the hassle of sending someone to go get something. "I need it. Also I want you to check over the other two men, just encase."

He nodded again understanding her wariness. "Let me get that meat. Then we'll look for anything that might mean a turn." He went to the back of his truck and pulled out the fore quarter of a cow. She hoisted the meat onto her shoulder and walked into the house after scooping up a blanket and a first aid kit. She pushed her glasses up so she could see once she was down the stairs and approached the bars. She spotted her shirt torn to shreds but didn'tthink much of it. Stress would have caused the tiger to tear it up on principal.

The tiger raced to the bars but Electra didn't flinch as the tiger was pulled to a stop by protesting metal well before she got to the bars. She slashed with a paw, her claws grated against the bars causing a painful squeal of metal. Electra just pushed the meat between the bars. She growled for a moment and dropped her front half down, stretching her front legs out to get a better grip of the meat and showing Electra exactly how she managed to scratch that police officer. Digging her claws into the meat, she tugged. Electra changed the angle of the meat so that it would slide between the bars so that she could eat.

The tiger never let her eyes leave Electra's as she sniffed the meat before her. She knew it was freshly killed no more than two hours old, the meat was still jelly-like, having not had a chance to set and unspoiled by disease or drugs. Electra stepped back from the bars and sat on the steps a good distance from the cage, giving her all the space she could want. She finally let her eyes drop from Electra and turned her focus to the biggest meal she could remember having eaten since becoming a slave. She pulled the meat even further from the bars not willing to lose it now that she had it. She dragged it to the concrete wall before she attacked it almost in a frenzy. She was honestly afraid to lose her food and the safest place for it; to keep it from being taken was inside her.

"Slow down before you make yourself sick." Electra chastised gently, not bothering to move, knowing that it would only force her eat faster.

She did slow down a little, knowing instinctively that the new woman was right. She growled as she chewed on a bone cracking it open to lap at the marrow. She rendered the fore quarter to some well-chewed bones in little under half an hour.

"Feeling better?" Electra asked as she picked up a set of bolt cutters and stood. "Now, here's the thing. I'll let you out and you will never have to come here again but you have to shift back... you have to let your human side have control. I can't let you out if you stay like this because they will think of you as a threat."

Electra waited hoping that the food would have been enough to let another mind come forward, one she could reason with and watched as the tiger before her shifted back into her human form. Electra smiled as she approached and cut the lock, giving it a twist to come free. She set the bolt cutters against the bars and went back to the steps to get the blanket. She approached the door and studied the woman for a moment before sliding the bar across and opening the door. She had been expecting a screech as the door swung open instead, the door moved without a sound. She stepped into the cage leaving the door open; she knelt, her eyes going over the woman before her.

She was thin, sickly thin, a skeleton covered with skin, without any fat or muscle. Her body was covered with dirt, wounds and ulcers could be seen under the dirt. Shiny raised scars littered her skin, many overlapping each other. Her hair was dirty but Electra knew when washed it would be white; her skin was pale, as it hadn't seen daylight in many years. Her violet eyes met Electra's, hope and fear warred in her eyes, hope that her torture was over but she had lived so long in this life that she feared that she was dreaming and that at any moment she would wake to find herself strapped to a torture table and at the whim of her captors again.

Electra saw two chains; one hadn't been strong enough to hold her and had snapped; it led to a manacle that was wrapped around her left ankle. The other chain was newer and much heavier. It was bolted to the foundation of the house and was connected to a collar, which hugged her throat. Both the manacle and collar were designed for Were and would expand and contract to whatever form she happened to be in. Blood rolled down her throat as the collar cut into her skin.

Electra went back to the door to fetch the bolt cutters. She then cut the lock from the collar, tossing both the chain and lock away. She put the bolt cutters down and tried to remove the collar but no matter how much force she used, she couldn't work the collar loose. It hugged her body to the point of cutting into her, its edges sharp to remind her she was a slave.

Electra felt her heart clench as she gave up for now, wondering if she looked this forlorn when she was first found and freed.

She scooped the woman up, lifted her from the cold floor and carried her from the room, knowing she was too weak to move much on her own without the adrenaline rush, the food in her stomach adding to her weakness as it struggled to digest it. She turned to one of the men with a dart gun as she got to the top of the stairs. She knocked her glasses down to protect her eyes and ordered. "Go out and send in a female paramedic or fire brigade officer." She glanced into a nearby room: the couch was clean and looked comfortable. She turned into the room and sat her bundle on the couch carefully.