Cass had a hundred questions in her eyes, but as her hand drifted to her stomach, she nodded. I held up the cotton wool and understanding filled her gaze. She turned her head, pushing her hair behind her ears. I pressed a knot of wool firmly into one ear before doing the other. I spoke and she nodded to confirm she couldn't hear me as I filled my own ears.
I pointed to the door and we crept towards it. Cass stood beside it, giving me an encouraging smile before I ripped it wide. In a flash, she was upon the first guard, tearing out his throat with her teeth.
Holy hell.
I dove onto the next guy, smashing his head into the nearest wall. Blood smeared across it as I finished the job, throwing his limp body to the ground. A bullet ripped into the door behind me and I pushed Cass forward, flying down the corridor away from the shooter. We darted into a stairwell, sprinting upwards at speed. Guilt spread through me, knowing I had to leave my pack behind. But Ulvic wouldn't harm them. They'd be safe until I could figure out a way to come back for them.
Cass and my unborn child were my priority. I couldn't let Silas have them. I'd die first.
Two guards flew through a door and Cass dove at them. Without my hearing, we had no warning of oncoming footsteps. So we had to react as we met with danger.
A gun went off as I snapped the second guy's neck. I twisted around in alarm, but found Cass standing above a guard, a gun in her palm, a bloody wound growing on the woman's chest.
I nodded to her, but her eyes widened as she looked over my shoulder. She dragged me through the doorway and I glanced back, catching sight of a group of guards tearing down the staircase from above.
Adrenaline surged. My heated blood cried out for me to turn into a wolf.
We charged down the white corridor and I prayed there was another way to get upstairs. There had to be an elevator close by.
Cass fired shots over her shoulder and I glanced back, spotting the guards hesitating. They weren't shooting. And I quickly realised why as I spotted Silas amongst them, barking orders, stopping them from shooting at us. He cupped his hands around his mouth, crying out, surely to Cass. But she was safe from harm. So long as she couldn't hear him.
The guards split up, heading down a fork of corridors, leaving a small group behind. I feared what that meant as Silas turned back into the stairwell.
I pressed a hand to Cass's back, encouraging her on, despite the fact we were already running flat out. I spotted a sign for an elevator and veered left, dragging Cass after me. There was no one to stop us as we reached the shiny doors and they slid smoothly open as Cass pressed the call button.
We stepped into the metallic space and I jammed my finger onto the button for the top floor. Fire coursed through my veins. Blood coated my hands.
Cass adjusted the gun in her palm, her jaw set.
We're getting out of here.
Before the lift opened, we took up position on either side of the doors. The lift jerked to a halt and they slid silently apart. I had to chance a peek into the hall, unable to hear anything. Two cloudy eyes gazed back at me. His face was barely recognisable. Ulvic was cold. Distant. And most of all, angry as hell.
Nadine, Mekiah and Reason stood at his side. Nadine was the only one in human form, the others snarling at her heels. As Ulvic spoke, they charged toward us.
“Shit!” I cried.
Cass bashed her hand against the close-doors button. They slid across, closer and closer. Mekiah's nose wedged between them. I tried to force them closed, but he pushed through, shouldering them wide. I lunged at him. Grabbing his neck, trying to disarm him. He tried to pin me down and as Nadine sprung over him, I figured out their plan.
“No!” I roared, fighting Mekiah with all my strength.
Cass was cornered by Reason, both of them trying to disarm the other. Cass's blows were hard, but not hard enough to maim. Reason threw her weight against her, the full tonne of her wolf body slamming into her. Cass hit the floor, writhing beside me.
Mekiah's paws weighed down on my chest. Nadine bent down, plucking the cotton wool from my ears.
“I'm sorry,” she breathed, a tear falling from her eye, hitting my cheek and rolling onto my neck.
I shook my head, desperate as Ulvic's order found me. “Stop fighting!” he roared and I did, falling still, my chest heaving.
“Wolves,” Ulvic growled and the pack retreated. Cass cried out and her gaze caught mine, full of desperation. Her body began to contort and shift. She screamed louder and louder until her cries turned into a howl.
“Hold her down!” Ulvic roared, but it was too late. Cass sprang in front of me, her body shifted, the red fur down her spine rippling as she lowered into a fighting stance.
She sprang forward and I rolled to watch, dragging myself after her. My stomach lurched as I spotted the cotton wool had come free from her ears during the change.
Cass charged toward Ulvic, but Mekiah and Reason stepped in front of him, their teeth bared. Cass dove forward and Mekiah intercepted her, slashing her muzzle with his paw. “Restrain her!” Ulvic bellowed and Reason leapt toward Cass, trying to pin her down.
Cass rolled upright, flying at Reason, throwing the weight of her shoulder against her. Teeth snapped. Snarls tore through the air.
“Stop fighting,” Silas echoed Ulvic's command.
Cass let out a distressed noise.
I rose to my knees, gazing at her.
Silas strode toward Cass, gazing down at her. “Change back,” he commanded and Cass dropped to the floor, doing as he said. Within moments, she had returned to her human form. Silas laid his suit jacket over her and she gathered it close to her, getting up on shaky legs.
Silas reached out to her and she flinched away, hurrying to my side and encouraging me to my feet.
“Say goodbye,” Silas growled.
I glared at the two men who had control of us. Silas Madigan was now tied for first place on my kill list with the man beside him. His eyes met mine, a smugness in them that tore my insides apart. I encircled Cass in my arms, lowering my head to kiss her, planting my claim on her before fixing her in my gaze. “This isn't the end.”
“I know,” she breathed, cupping my face between her hands, her thumbs skimming my cheekbones as if she was memorising me.
Don't say goodbye yet.
“It's time, Firefly,” Silas said, perfectly calm, like he wasn't tearing two fate-bound lovers apart. Keyword: fate-bound, arsehole. This is not over.
“Don't call me that,” Cass snarled, turning to face him. “Ever. Again.”
That's my girl.
Silas's jaw tensed. He nodded, gesturing for her to exit the elevator. Cass looked up at me one last time and I brushed a loose lock of hair behind her ear.
She lowered her voice to a whisper. “Remember, no matter what they do to us, they can't control our hearts.” She placed a palm on my chest and I nodded, my brow furrowing deeply.
“Come here,” Silas ordered.
As Cass let go of my hand, moving to Silas's side, murder ran through my veins.
I locked eyes with the man taking her away from me and growled, “You're looking at your death, Silas. One last chance to save yourself, just let us go free.” I gave him my darkest smirk, reserved only for the biggest bastards of them all. Van Helsings, Hunds, and now Madigans.
Silas expelled a short laugh. “I like you, Jameson. And just so you know, I'm not a fan of what Ulvic's got planned for you, but it's in your best interest.” He gave me a wink, dragging Cass away. Our eyes clasped each other's until the very last second.
As she disappeared around a corner, my stomach car-crashed into some other vital organ. I moved toward the door, but two guards stepped in to my way.
In that moment, I was a man exposed for what I really was: a boy, childish in my notion of loving someone. Childish in my wanting and needing and not knowing why. But wholly certain my heart would pine for that girl until she was given back to me.
I desperately tried to find a loophole in
the commands I'd been given. But Ulvic could harm my pack. Silas could harm Cass. I was boxed in on all sides, being herded toward an unthinkable fate like an animal to slaughter.
As I approached Ulvic, he ordered me not to touch him. Evidently my face had an imminent head-butt written all over it. Though I was fairly sure that counted as 'fighting back' anyway.
I had to fall back on the one, tiny piece of sway I still had with Ulvic. That he, in some messed up way, cared about me. Or else I'd be dead by now. That I was sure of.
“Ulvic, do you know what Silas is planning to do?” I pleaded. “Cass is pregnant with my child and Madigan's going to rip it out of her and replace it with his own kid!”
Ulvic's face turned ashen. “His experiments have always been controversial...”
“Do you even hear yourself? That's a goddamn violation of human rights!” I roared.
Ulvic took a measured breath as if considering whether to say his next words or not. “She isn't human, and neither are you.”
My face contorted. “Who are you?” I growled, disgusted and heartbroken. “I don't recognise you anymore, Ulvic. You saved me once. You saved all of us. You cared about Werewolves, about other Immortals too. Maybe not Vs, but-”
“Things have changed,” Ulvic cut me off. “And perhaps if some of those Immortals had shown me any courtesy, any thanks, I might not have to be so harsh now.”
“So that's what you want? A thank you?” I spat. “We're family.” I gestured to the other wolves and Nadine let out a sob, barely able to look at us. “We looked out for each other. Is this really about gratitude?”
Ulvic visibly swallowed. “This isn't just about you, Jameson. There are big changes happening in the world. And I'm not going to be caught in the crossfire. I won't stand on the losing side any longer.”
“What changes?” I demanded, my blood heating up. It took everything in me not to morph into my wolf form.
“Silas plans to reveal the existence of Immortals to the human world. And if that happens, we must be ready. Hunters will be needed in the transition. People will be frightened-”
“Oh so you're really just a hero, right? You're gonna stand up and show the world how easy us Immortals are to tame?”
“Easy?” he echoed on a laugh. “What about this do you think is easy? You fight me on everything. You have made my life near impossible of late.”
“Then get on with it,” I growled, brows raised. “You clearly have some big punishment planned for me to show my pack who's boss. Well go ahead. Make your example.” I opened my arms wide and Ulvic hesitated a second longer before nodding.
“As you wish,” he muttered. “Come,” he ordered and I followed him, my heart beating harder and harder the further we walked along the corridors. My pack padded behind us but I didn't turn back, unable to face them.
Ulvic paused by a door, rapping his knuckles on it. A nurse opened it, dressed in green scrubs, a surgical mask pulled over her face.
A doctor appeared over her shoulder, a woman with eyes like coal. “Come on in, we're all ready for you.”
My legs froze and the urge to run gripped me like a hurricane.
“Enter,” Ulvic commanded. “And do only as I say.” He turned to my pack. “Go back to your rooms. Pack our things. We leave as soon as this is done.”
Nadine's eyes locked with mine. She looked angrier than I'd ever seen her. And hurt, too. I longed to apologise for how I'd treated her, but she had to know Ulvic was to blame. Not me.
Ice slid through my chest as I walked into the room. A hospital gurney lay at the heart of it with a hole at one end like a masseuse table.
Ulvic closed the door and I had the terrifying feeling that something awful was about to happen.
“Have him lie down,” the doctor said.
Monitors bleeped and blinked. The space was cooled by air-conditioning, making the hairs on my arms stand to attention. On Ulvic's command, I lay flat on the operating table, pressing my face into the hole. I took several slow breaths, trying not to panic. But hell, I was freaking out.
The sound of an electric razor filled the air and I tensed as someone shaved a patch of my hair away, running over the soft piece of flesh at the base of my skull.
My mouth went dry. “Ulvic?” I asked, despising myself for the tremor of fear in my voice. I felt him lay a hand on my shoulder and squeezed my eyes shut. “Please don't do anything stupid, I'll behave, alright?” I begged, my heart beating so loud and fast, I imagined everyone in the room could hear it.
“It's too late for that,” Ulvic said softly. “This is for the best. For everyone. Even you. You'll see that soon.”
I took several slow breaths, filling my mind with Cass's face, of the vision of us one day living somewhere together, in a place of our own, bringing up our child.
I'll make it happen, Firefly. I promise.
“Stay completely still,” Ulvic ordered.
I couldn't hold back a dog-like whimper as a scalpel cut into the back of my head. Slicing, teasing strokes followed and fire blazed through my skull. My hands were balled into tight fists.
A pushing sensation followed and I was sure someone's finger was pressing into the back of my goddamn brain.
Jesus H Christ. What are they doing to me?
“All done,” the doctor announced at last and the agony eased a fraction.
The pressure released from the back of my head then a needle hooked into my flesh as someone stitched me up. A low groan was the only noise I made the entire time.
“We need to give the disc a moment whilst it does the scan,” the doctor explained, probably to Ulvic. Apparently I wasn't being offered the same courtesy. “Ah, here we are.”
“You can look if you like,” Ulvic muttered to me.
I lifted my head with a sharp stab of pain, my eyes drawn to the screen they were looking at. A weird scribble of coloured lines and patterns appeared on the screen, all flashing and firing in different rhythms.
The doctor pointed to a red set of lines, zig-zagging through the strange graph. “This is pain...” She gestured to another section of the map. “The programme breaks emotions down into different categories. We've learnt to recognise everything from stress, to happiness, to love. But if you want to remove patterns completely, it's easier simply to remove the memories attached to them.”
“What?” I murmured. Can they do that? Is that even possible?
“The disc we've implanted will find the memories you want to remove, and essentially shield them with a small electric pulse.”
“Not destroy them?” Ulvic confirmed.
“Destroying them would mean damaging parts of the brain tissue completely. Something which is very dangerous and couldn't be reversed if anything went wrong. Of course, Mr Madigan said we can do whichever you prefer...it's up to you.”
Silas. He'd done this. Organised it. How had I ever trusted him?
My whole world hung in the balance as Ulvic made the decision.
“Please. Don't,” I begged, my heart squeezing like it was clamped in a vice.
“Shielding will suffice,” Ulvic confirmed after a beat.
“Ulvic,” I pleaded, all of my earlier anger with him melting into desperation. “I'll do whatever you want. Just don't do this to me.”
It was probably the first time I had ever truly been broken. Pleading was not my style. But I realised now, taking my life had never been enough of a threat to break me. Taking Cass away, however, would be the end of me. There had always been hope for us until now. I had been able to cling onto little slivers of it. But for the first time in my life, I felt utterly defeated. Completely beaten.
Ulvic's dark boots appeared beneath the gurney and his voice sounded close to my ear. “You've had too many chances, I don't know what else to do with you. Silas offered me a solution...” He sounded as desperate as me.
“Why can't you let me go? What do you want with me?”
His hand ran a line down my back and my skin prickled where
he touched. “You're my wolf,” he murmured to himself. “You're mine.”
I let out a roar of frustration that filled the room, cursing everyone in that place, vowing to kill them violently, to gouge out their eyes, rip out their throats. None of it did me an ounce of good.
“The disc has collected enough information,” the doctor announced.
“Good,” Ulvic answered promptly. “Now get on with it.” He sounded impatient and I could hear him start to pace the room.
“Get him up,” the doctor ordered.
“Stand, Jameson,” Ulvic prompted.
My body moved of its own accord.
“Can I take back a time period? Erase the past few months for example?” Ulvic asked and I gaped at him in abject horror. This couldn't be happening.
“Of course, just have him think of a day you'd like him to return to,” the doctor said, fiddling with a dial on the screen.
Ulvic stood before me, wringing his hands, barely able to meet my eye.
“Coward,” I breathed. “Pathetic, worthless, waste of oxygen.”
Ulvic shut his eyes for a moment, taking a shaky breath. When he opened them, he gazed at me with a decision in his eyes. “Recall the day before you went to Ignus. Before you ever entered the V Games, before you met Selena Grey, or reunited with Varick. Before Cassandra was even a blip on your radar. The day we spent at home with the pack. The day before everything changed.”
At his order, the memory was dragged to the forefront of my mind and the doctor's machine started bleeping. It was all I could think about: that day when I ran through the snow-caked forest with my pack, completely at ease. When my pack were all still alive, happy and free.
The doctor was saying something, but I could barely hear her now with my thoughts pinned firmly on that day. Of my paws pounding across the frozen lake, the way the sun had shone on the ice, reflecting in it like molten glass.
“Now,” Ulvic growled.
Pain flared in the back of my head. A white light exploded before my eyes. My knees crashed into the floor as memories poured across my vision. Thoughts of Cass, the first day I'd met her, her eyes as shining as two emeralds. The day we'd escaped from the Helsings together, the first time I'd kissed her, how she'd tasted like the sweetest thing on earth.
Wolf Games: Island of Shade (The Vampire Games Book 5) Page 22