Wolf Freed

by Sadie Moss

  Jesus. So fucking patronizing.

  For a second, I was tempted to see if maybe one or two more punches to the face would loosen his tongue, but I reined my temper in, holding his gaze as I narrowed my eyes in challenge. We all had a weakness, and ever since I’d woken up strapped to that table in Doctor Shepherd’s hidden office, I’d been getting a clearer and clearer picture of what his was.

  Now I just had to poke at it.

  “Come on,” I drawled, a hint of derision in my voice. “Just give me a hint. I mean, it can’t be anywhere too hard to get to if you just stumbled upon it by accident.”

  He froze, becoming so still I was sure he’d stopped breathing. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed, and his usually smooth voice was hoarse with anger when he spoke.

  “It wasn’t. An. Accident.”

  I scooted to the edge of the chair, leaning toward him. “Sure it was. We grabbed your files; we read your notes. I know you didn’t create the serum that changes people. You found it. So that means it’s just dumb luck you have this power. It could’ve been anybody.”

  “No. It couldn’t have.” His nostrils flared. “This power was gifted to me because I was capable of using it. In other hands, the Source would’ve been completely useless. The gods chose me.”

  He was breathing more heavily, his arms straining against the ropes tying his hands behind his back. The calm facade he always wore was slipping.

  “I think you’re full of shit, Doctor Shepherd,” I taunted. “You want so badly to be special you’ll believe anything that makes you feel that way. But the truth is, anyone could’ve found the Source, and anyone could’ve created shifters.”

  A sneer curled his lip as he shook his head. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Is that part of why you kept this whole project so tightly under wraps? Were you afraid if someone else got their hands on the Source, they’d figure out the right dosage before you did?” I laughed harshly. “You’ve been experimenting for over a decade, and you still haven’t gotten it right. I bet your precious gods are mad as hell that you’re the idiot who ended up stumbling upon their great powers.”

  Doctor Shepherd’s eyes bugged out of his head. He looked almost alien with his taut face, bruised eye, and lumpy, bandaged ear. When he spoke, little flecks of white spittle flew from his mouth.

  “I have done what no one else could even dream of! I was gifted the power of gods, and I’ve created miracles! No one else could’ve done what I did—not even Terrence Cole. The gods led me to the Source. They wanted me to have it!”

  “What, did they show you a sign or something? Come on, get real.”

  “They did send me a sign. If I hadn’t gotten lost that day, I never would’ve found the cave. Their power guided me.”

  My heart thumped harder in my chest, but I kept the bored, skeptical look on my face. This was working. Come on, you motherfucker. Come on. “I don’t see why you’re so eager to give ancient gods credit for this. Why not just admit you found something powerful beyond measure, stole it, and used it?”

  “I stole nothing! It’s mine.”

  Crossing my arms over my chest, I smiled smugly at him. “Well, I guess we’ll see. I mean, if this ancient Source really exists, I think the best way to punish you for what you’ve done is to tell the rest of the world about it. What are you gonna do when your special serum isn’t just yours anymore? When other people have access to it, and they create shifters more powerful than you ever could?”

  He leaned so far forward I was afraid he’d topple his chair, his whole body practically vibrating with rage. “That will never happen!”

  I raised one shoulder in a lazy shrug. “Sure it will. It’s only a matter of time. You’re gonna have to learn to share your toys, doc.”

  “No! The Source is mine. I was the one who walked through the mountains for days to find it. I saw the three peaks, backlit by the sun.”

  Three peaks? Were those what the triangles in his tattoo represented? If we could find the mountain range in question, maybe we could find three peaks that fit his description.

  That narrowed it down some. But I needed more. We didn’t have time to wander around the wilderness searching for some vague clue.

  I laughed in his face. “You got lost, and you got lucky. That’s all it was, Doctor Shepherd. Pure. Dumb. Luck.”

  Doctor Shepherd shook his head defiantly, his anger still bubbling over. “The gods called to me! They showed me the way! I will never, ever forget that way. It’s a part of me now.”

  There was something in the surety of his tone that made me pause. I didn’t doubt he would remember the way to the Source no matter what, but he spoke as if that knowledge was a true, physical part of him.

  The tattoo.

  Inside the three connected triangles was an interlocking spiral pattern. What did that represent?

  Standing abruptly, I paced around the chair to Doctor Shepherd’s back. His head whipped around, his good eye staring suspiciously at me. “What are you doing?”

  I didn’t answer, just tugged the binds on his wrists down a little, revealing the black ink tattoo beneath. It was hard to make out in the dim lantern light, but I wrenched his hands to the side, turning the chair a few inches until the images became more visible.

  The triangles were each connected to the others, spearing outward and creating a fourth triangle in the center filled with interlocking spiral patterns. I peered at it, tilting my head back and forth.

  “Alexis!” Doctor Shepherd’s voice was strained, and he yanked hard against my hold. “What are you doing? Stop—”

  Then I saw it.

  Buried inside the spiral pattern, woven into the pattern itself—a series of numbers.

  My grip on him loosened, and Doctor Shepherd pulled away so hard the chair wobbled on its legs. A short laugh fell from my lips, part disbelief and part joy. “Son of a bitch. You weren’t kidding, were you? The location really is a part of you.”

  Right there on his skin, nestled between the angular representation of the mountain peaks he’d seen, were GPS coordinates.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Doctor Shepherd cursed, struggling hard against the ropes binding him. He must’ve realized he had blurted too much in his anger, because a stream of curses flew from his mouth—threats against me and my mates, dire warnings not to take what was his, promises of godly retribution.

  If I hadn’t been so sure the numbers hidden in his tattoo meant something already, his reaction would’ve confirmed it. His harsh voice followed me up the stairs as I took them two at a time.

  When I rounded the corner into the kitchen, I ran smack into West’s large frame just as he moved to exit the room. My smaller body bounced off his, and I stumbled back a few steps. He reached out to steady me, excitement gleaming in his dark brown eyes. We spoke at the same time.

  “I know where the Source is!”

  “We got something!”

  Then we both blinked, staring at each other.

  “What did you say?” I asked breathlessly.

  “We got something. Carl managed to hack into Doctor Shepherd’s computer. He hasn’t looked through everything yet, but he did find a document confirming the consolidation of all the current test subjects. They’re planning to ramp up production this year to three times what it was before, so they needed to make space.”

  My skin crawled with the implications of that, but I brushed past it, focusing on the pieces of information we could act on. “And the document gives a location?”

  “Yeah,” Carl confirmed, running a hand over his slicked-back hair. “In New Mexico, in what looks like bum-fuck nowhere. Which’ll be good and bad for your friends trying to break in. There’s no chance of any unwanted human witnesses, but it’ll be harder to approach undetected.”

  I nodded, my mind already whirling with thoughts of how Val and the rest of the Lost Pack shifters—the ones willing to fight, anyway—would manage the rescue.

&nb
sp; “We’ll help her plan the attack,” Noah put in. “And the good news is, with so many shifters held inside, she and her team will gain power in numbers with every one they rescue.”

  It was a good point. That very thing had helped us in our escape from the Salt Lake compound after we’d found Sariah. If she and the other shifters hadn’t been with us when the hunters arrived, there was almost no chance we would’ve been able to fight our way out.

  For a moment, hope overruled the fear in my chest. The break-in of the consolidated complex wouldn’t be easy, but we’d always known that. Val was a badass—if anyone could lead a mission like that successfully, it would be her.

  “I’ll keep going through this shit.” Carl gestured to Doctor Shepherd’s computer. “See if I can find anything else that’ll help them get in and out.” He shook his head, grimacing at the small black machine. “Fuckin’ hell, this company is so messed up. The Shifter Initiative takes the cake, but they’re into a lot more shady stuff than just that.”

  My skin prickled. It made sense. Doctor Shepherd didn’t seem to have any moral lines he wouldn’t cross.

  All in the name of progress, right?

  “What about you, Scrubs?” West wrapped an arm around my waist, pulling me closer to him. Even in my anxious state, my body relaxed into his touch as his fingers swept the side of my face, tucking a lock of hair behind my ear. “You found something?”

  “Yeah. Yeah, I did.” I took a deep breath and turned in West’s arms to take in the rest of the room. “It’s Doctor Shepherd’s tattoo. It will lead us right to the Source.”

  Early morning sunlight forced its way through the grungy glass of the bedroom window as I paced the floor, the phone pressed to my ear.

  “Good. We’ll head out as soon as we can.” Val’s voice was fierce and determined, carrying no hint of doubt. If she was as worried about the rescue mission she was about to lead as I was, she hid it well.

  My mates and our friends were still down in the abandoned house’s kitchen, making preliminary plans for our mission. I had filled Val in on everything that’d transpired since we last spoke—which felt like it’d been days ago, though it was really only a few hours.

  “You’ll steal a truck to get there?” I asked, tugging my lower lip between my teeth.

  “It’s our only choice. If we get pulled over, we’re fucked, but we’ll drive straight through and ditch it before we get too close to the complex.”

  I tried to push away the torrent of thoughts about what could go wrong. There were so many ways this thing could go sideways before they even reached the Strand complex. But Val was smart. She’d kept the pack safe in my absence even with hunters poking around, and she was good in high-pressure situations. The fire back at the Lost Pack base was the only time I’d ever seen her panic.

  “Okay. Keep us posted. We’re heading out today too. It’ll take us a while to reach the cave in South Dakota where Doctor Shepherd claims the Source is, and we have no idea what to expect. He won’t tell us shit, and Carl hasn’t been able to find even a hint of information about it. Strand obviously wanted to keep it well hidden—I doubt a lot of the staff even knew about it. We won’t know what we’re up against till we get there, but I’d bet anything it’ll be heavily guarded. You should hear the way he talks about this stuff, the reverence in his voice. He really believes it came from some kind of gods.”

  “Jesus.” I could picture her running a hand over her long auburn hair. “Good fucking luck.”

  “You too.”

  “How…” She hesitated. When she spoke again, I heard the woman, not the warrior, on the other end of the line. “How are you feeling?”

  My chest warmed at her words. I was touched she cared, even though thinking about my pregnancy still made my stomach clench with nerves. “I’m okay. It’s been a long, rough night. But in general, I’m all right. I think the worst of the morning sickness is passing.”

  “Good. Be safe.”

  Her words were loaded with meaning, and I knew she worried about me going into a potentially dangerous situation with a little life growing inside me. But we didn’t have a choice.

  Just thinking about waking up strapped to the table in Doctor Shepherd’s exam room made cold sweat pop out on my brow. We needed to bring down Strand, to destroy the Source so that no one could pick up where they left off. It wasn’t enough to stop Doctor Shepherd—we needed to stop others like him before they even got started.

  I would not let my baby end up in a lab.

  “Thanks, Val. You be safe too. And… thank you. For everything.”

  “Don’t thank me, Alpha. This needs to be done, and I’m glad I get a chance to do it.”

  There was the warrior again, back with a vengeance.

  “How many are coming with you?” I asked.

  I’d made a promise that we wouldn’t force any Lost Pack shifters into our fight with Strand if they didn’t want to be part of it, but I wondered now if that was a bad idea. Still, I didn’t see how I could’ve done anything else. I couldn’t even condemn those who chose not to fight as cowards; in some ways, their refusal made them smarter and saner than the rest of us.

  “About thirty-five. Thirty or so are staying behind, Elijah among them.”

  “Only half?” I tried to keep the shock and disappointment out of my voice.

  “It’ll be all right, Alexis. Truthfully, if the whole pack had decided to come, it would make our group too unwieldy. We need to be quick and lean, and sixty-odd shifters would be too many for a mission like this. We have some good fighters with us. Aaron has stepped up and offered to be my second in command, and he’s smart and strong.” She paused. “Truthfully, I’m more worried about you. Like you said, the Source will be heavily guarded—and you’ll be going in with a team of, what, eight?”

  “Six.” I sighed heavily. “Molly and Carl won’t be coming with us. They offered, but none of us will allow it. They’ve already done way too much, we can never repay the debt.”

  “Fuck.” Concern echoed in her voice. “Has anyone ever told you your sense of honor might be a little too well-developed?”

  A grin tugged at my lips despite the tension coiling in my veins. “Just you, right now.”

  She chuckled. “Well, it’s something to think about. Shit, that’s not a lot of man-power for the job you’ve got on your plate.”

  “No, it’s not,” I agreed. “But we still have Doctor Shepherd. That gives us a pretty big bargaining chip on our side. And like you said, we’ll stay lean.”

  “That’s a little fucking leaner than I had in mind,” she joked blackly.

  “Yeah.” I wrinkled my nose. “I know.”

  We talked through our plans for a few more minutes, and I gave her the coordinates for the location of the Source, just in case. Then we wrapped up the call. There was a slight pause before we each said goodbye, as the truth neither of us wanted to acknowledge hovered in the air. That this might be the last time we ever spoke.

  This goodbye might be permanent.

  I blinked back tears as I headed down the stairs, slipping the phone into my back pocket. I had known the woman who played my mother and all the doctors at Strand—Doctor Shepherd included—longer than anyone I’d met on the outside. But the people who’d come into my life in the past several months meant more to me already than the ones I’d known for years before that. The thought of losing any of them gutted me.

  In the kitchen, the mini-command center was already dismantled.

  Molly and Carl would take the things we’d stolen from Doctor Shepherd’s exam room back to their house, where the two of them could keep sorting through it. If they found anything else worthwhile, they’d let us know.

  “All loaded up,” Jackson announced, walking through the front door and dusting off his hands in satisfaction. His gaze flicked to me and away so fast I almost missed it, then he turned his wide grin on West. “I call shotgun.”

  “Jesus Christ.” My mocha-skinned mate rolled his eye
s. “You can’t call it until we get outside.”

  “I just was outside.”

  “Until we all get outside, jackass.”

  He cocked his head. “Huh. I dunno what kind of shotgun you play, but if we’re gonna keep going on fucking road trips like this, we should really establish some house rules.”

  West laughed, punching Jackson lightly on the arm. Sariah giggled. Their exchange lightened the heavy pall that seemed to hang over all of us, and I tried again to catch Jackson’s eye. But his gaze skipped around the room, deliberately avoiding me, and my heart fell.

  He was trying to choose happiness, but the hurt was too deep.

  I wanted to drag him upstairs, kiss his beautiful, rugged face all over and make him believe how sorry I was. But Rhys and West were already heading for the basement stairs to collect Doctor Shepherd. We were out of time.

  “Oh, hey. Hold up.” Carl stepped away from Molly, releasing her from his arms. “Before you take the doctor with you, let me have a quick chat with him.”

  Both men turned back to our friend before sharing a confused glance.

  “What?” The sharp-faced man chuckled. “You all get to have a little private time with him, but I don’t? I won’t be long, don’t worry.”

  My brows drew together. He wants to talk to Doctor Shepherd alone? Why?

  Instinct told me to be wary. The sheer number of lies I’d been told by people I was certain I could trust had made me question everyone’s motives. But I trusted my men, and in all the time I’d known him, Carl hadn’t given me any reason to distrust him. He’d stuck his neck out for us more than once, helping us beyond anything we could’ve hoped for. Molly too.

  My mates must’ve gone through the same thought process I did, because Rhys and West parted, allowing Carl to slip between them and jog down the stairs. Silence fell over the small kitchen as we all looked around at each other uneasily. Even Molly looked a little confused, although she didn’t seem nervous.