by Natalie Grey
And, was that supposed to be his primary concern?
The more time he spent alive, the more he both enjoyed the world and found it a hopeless frustration. Bethany Anne’s assurance that most humans were confused most of the time did not help in the slightest. It simply made the world a more terrifying place.
ADAM said nothing more now.
He did not trust himself to say the ‘correct’ thing. He simply watched as Jennifer rocked back and forth while she tried to decide. He wondered what choice she would make.
He wondered if it would be the correct choice. He wondered how he would know if it was.
—
Hsu shook with fear as she was brought through the hallways of the castle. Everything here smelled of decay and mildew. This was a place long past its prime.
But there was still a malevolent strength here, one she would not disregard. She had learned long ago that even if someone was not worthy of respect, they could still hurt you.
It was one of many reasons she had chosen not to go home again.
They brought her into an entirely bare room and guarded the door. There was nowhere to sit, and they did not tell her how long she was going to have to wait—or what she was waiting for.
She knew how to deal with that: not allow the anxiety that was festering in her mind to grow, as was their plan. But it was one thing to know it and another to do it. Hsu tried to remember her training from years ago, the rules and advice for surviving an interrogation. In times of solitude, when one was left to fear what was coming next, they were instructed to focus on something physical nearby, and think of that and only that.
She fixed her eyes on the window that led out into the world, and allowed everything else to fade from her mind.
There was sunlight.
There was the faint ripple of old glass flowing downward over centuries.
Old curtains hung alongside the window, and she tried to imagine how they must once have looked, back when the castle was so fresh that the stone still smelled of the quarries.
Just the window. Nothing else. She tried to forget herself entirely, and did not move her hands lest the pull of the handcuffs remind her what was happening.
The door opened soon. Hsu closed her eyes for a moment to remind herself of the part she was playing. Then she opened her eyes again and turned to look at the two men who came into the room. Hugo looked annoyed, and Gerard looked truly angry.
“Sir.” Hsu directed a small bow at Hugo.
“How is your research?” he asked her abruptly.
“Very good, sir.” Hsu smiled as if she were genuinely pleased. “I’ve begun compiling all three facilities’ results and am beginning to see trends in how quickly different techniques result in a form change and in obedience.”
“What factors are you testing?” The question was sharp and quick, from Gerard this time.
“Everything I can,” Hsu told him simply. “The duration in the facility, the size of both wolf and human, the age of the subject—approximately—whether the target prisoner was brought from the same region. I am even noting the gender and age of the scientist.
Gerard was furious, “And you do not think this is a waste of Mr. Marcari’s time?” Gender? Size of wolf? As far as he was concerned, this woman was a fraud. She should have been executed at Sofia.
He was also angry about the other scientist. The guards assured him that Dr. Irina Yordan had seen Hsu marched out of the facility, but after waiting for two hours for her to come interfere, it had become clear that she was not planning to rescue Hsu.
Which would mean that as far as Gerard could tell, he’d been wrong.
He hated being wrong.
“With all due respect, sir, the fact that we are still having this problem means that we have not yet determined its cause. It is necessary to step back and make use of the information that is before our eyes. Any difference, however small or strange it may seem, could be the key to unlock this for us.”
“And you are seeing differences?” Hugo asked. He did not look at Gerard, who was quietly seething. He looked at the Chinese woman with the grey in her hair, who looked earnest and thoughtful.
“Some. One researcher at Velingrad was very successful.” She looked down demurely. “I have also been very successful. I am seeing if I can compare the two videos to find any similarities, and will then cross-reference them against the unusually good times from every other researcher. Perhaps they sometimes do things differently without realizing—the tone of their voice, slightly different timings than expected. Anything.”
“Good work,” Hugo said. He looked over at Gerard. “I think we’re done here.”
He left immediately, and Hsu forced herself to keep smiling after him, but her smile faded away at once when she saw the look on Gerard’s face.
“Let’s get one thing straight,” he said. His tone was not angry, it was almost happy. “Hugo does not like to be betrayed. He may trust you right now, but I know there’s something off about you. I’ll find out what it is, believe me.” He gestured to the guards. “Take her back to the labs.”
He stared after the woman as she left. She was nothing more than a good actress, he was convinced of that.
It hadn’t worked to make the other doctor come after her. He would just need to try something different next time. Still, he was as curious as Hugo—who, exactly, had been poking around in the abandoned facility?
CHAPTER SIX
Sofia, Bulgaria
Irina strode through the outskirts of Sofia with Nathan, Peter and Stoyan. Though the day was pleasant, with just the first touches of spring in the air, none of them spoke. Even in Europe, Irina had heard tales of Nathan. The American seemed to live up to the tales, with a look about him that said you didn’t want to cross him. He apparently had the same prickly sense of honor that Stephen had, as well. Irina suspected that part of the reason the two were still so angry was that they were too alike—neither of them would back down. She knew better than to say that to any man, though.
With the men silent, Irina became lost in her own thoughts again, and struggled to not run away. At the facility, in the rush of the escape, seeing Stoyan had been the best moment of her life. They had always been so alike. The fact that her family had come—not to save her, but to continue the work she started—had buoyed her up and given her the strength to keep fighting. Now that she was going back to her pack, she wasn’t sure what to think. She hadn’t wanted to come back at all, truth be told. But she knew that her experience inside the labs might tilt the scales. She hadn’t even suggested not coming.
Not when she might make the difference between another pack getting saved, or not.
She could still feel what they had done to her, though—in her body, and in her mind.
Would that ever be over?
As if he had read her mind, Stoyan looked over at her. “You don’t have to come, you know.” He kept his voice low, speaking with as much of an accent as he could to make the words indistinct to the others in their group.
“You know I have to.” Irina did not look at him. He was pitying her, and she hated pity.
“No.” He stopped and pulled her back to face him. “I love you, Irina. We’re like twins, no?”
“We are.” They’d been called that when they were little, and they’d always had the ability to know what the other was thinking at a glance.
Now, she just didn’t want to know what he was thinking.
“I know you better than I know anyone else in this world,” he said seriously, “and I have to tell you, Irina, sometimes you are stubborn as a pig, and sometimes you can be very forgetful.”
Her eyes narrowed. “What? What does that even mean?”
“You forget you have a pack. You went to Sofia alone rather than even ask for my help.” He waved a hand to stave off her protest. “I know why you did it, but you did do it. And now you’re determined to go because you want to tell them what happened. Well, I saw the labs. I spoke to some
of the others. I could tell them what happened, and you wouldn’t have to relive it.”
Irina frowned. “I hadn’t thought of that.”
“Like I said, you can be very forgetful. I am here to help you, because you are my family and my friend. I will help you if you will allow it.”
Irina reached out to take his hand. The skin on her own hand was clear; she had healed quickly enough that there was now no trace of the burns and cuts she had suffered.
She still knew they had been there, though. It was as if she didn’t trust her own eyes.
“You are helping me,” she said. “You came to get me out of there. You and I are working together to help the rest of them. And when we speak to the pack, you will be there at my side. That will help.”
A thought occurred to her. “What do you want?”
“To free the rest of the packs in those facilities,” he answered immediately.
“No—for everything.” She struggled to explain it, “For your life. For… ever. The rest of ever.”
His expression gave him away. He always seemed to have the same look anymore, when he thought of Arisha and Irina gave a sudden burst of laughter. She bit it off hastily when he glared and blushed.
“Is everything all right?” Nathan looked at them.
“I just, ah, swallowed wrong.” Irina pretended to cough. “I’m fine.”
“Well, if you’re all right,” he replied, “we should keep moving.”
Stoyan and Irina went first through the underbrush as the moon rose overhead. They didn’t talk, but they also did not seem to need to speak in order to communicate. Untroubled by the cold, and not yet tired by their hours of walking, they were beginning to relax as they got closer and closer to home.
Nathan and Peter hung back. After so much time working together, they didn’t need to speak, either.
Peter smiled as he remembered the meeting during which he’d come to serve Bethany Anne. If you had asked him that day, he would have said that he hated everything she stood for, and saw no reason to follow her.
Nathan had set him straight. Peter had no doubt he could do the same here.
All four of them heard the rustle in the trees just before the attack hit. Nathan swung around, dropping toward the ground instinctively as his gaze scanned the trees. A wolf shot overhead, snarling, skidded heavily on the leaves, and whipped around.
He could hear two more behind them. He and Peter would take those, and leave the front to Stoyan and Irina unless they called for help.
As the wolf readied itself to spring once more, Nathan transformed. He leapt to meet the other wolf in midair and the two of them fell to earth with a snarl. They tumbled over and over, claws scrabbling for purchase, teeth seeking a throat.
This was a territorial dispute, and it was rare that any pack would begin with lethal force. These wolves were trying to test the group of intruders, and the only way for the intruders to win was to establish dominance so quickly that the border guards would not try to fight further.
Nathan’s teeth at last found his opponent’s throat and he was able to press the other wolf down onto the ground. He bore down, snarling, until he heard the yip of surrender.
Peter, meanwhile, was facing off two of the others. He circled, always to the outside to keep the two wolves lined up—that way, only one of them could attack him at a time. As the first one darted in, going for his forelegs, the second leapt over them both to attack him from the other side.
It was Irina who took the first one out. The two tumbled over one another and she snapped at his prone form with a snarl—Back off.
She transformed back. “So you had standing orders to attack us on sight?”
The wolf at her feet transformed back with a cough of pain. He looked up at her with thinly concealed dislike.
“You’re not our pack.” He spat out, “You’re trespassing.”
“She is your pack.” Stoyan looked furious. He hadn’t transformed, and two long scratches ran down the outside of one arm, healing even as he talked. “She disobeyed orders and left. But she’s family, and she left in a way that did you no harm. You owe her more than this.”
“And what about you?” the man challenged. He stood up and sneered as he looked Stoyan up and down. “Big man, went off to Sofia to fight the humans and now you think you’re something special? You’re nothing. You have no respect.”
“Enough.” Nathan spoke quietly, but there was an unmistakable command in his voice.
Everyone else in the clearing fell silent.
Nathan looked at the attacker. “You will take us to your Alpha, and you will be silent while you do so.”
“Why should I listen to you?” the man challenged him.
He stumbled back as Nathan’s hand closed around the front of his throat.
“Because I serve a Queen more powerful than you could ever dream,” Nathan said softly. “And the offer I make you tonight could be the difference between your pack’s salvation and its destruction. Could be… depending on what you decide. Based on what I’ve seen so far?”
Nathan squinted, “I don’t have high hopes.”
Brussels, Belgium
Bobcat, William, and Marcus lay with their heads on the cool marble of the countertop. A groan made its way around the room, and each of them had their eyes closed tightly against the morning light.
“Too bright,” Marcus managed. “Why so bright?”
“Judgment of the gods,” William croaked.
Bobcat only made a slightly pained noise of agreement. His vaulted ability to handle a quantity of beer no mere mortal could stand had been sorely tested.
He’d taken the last beer out of the refrigerator, but had decided to use it as an ice pack instead of a beverage. He wasn’t sure he could stomach the idea of more beer before he’d had a proper breakfast.
“Good morning.” Stephen opened the door and came in with a box of pastries.
“Not so loud,” William protested.
“Mercy,” Marcus added. “Please, mercy.”
“No time for that. We’re leaving in two hours.” Stephen set the box of pastries down on the table and gave them all a look. “I suggest coffee and pastries. That, and a good plan for the shoes.”
Bobcat waved the beer bottle without picking his head up. “We made one.”
“Last night? After drinking half of Belgium?” Stephen asked, disbelief coloring his voice.
“’S a good plan, I promise.” Bobcat waved the beer vaguely. “’S on the table.”
Stephen raised an eyebrow as he went to look over the diagrams. He began to laugh, causing moans of complaint from the other men, but he couldn’t stop.
“I’ll be damned.” He looked over the plans a second time, and a third. “You all made a military-grade extraction plan while drunk off your asses. From now on, I’ll make sure to have beer on hand when you plan things.”
“I like that plan,” William said wistfully.
Stephen pulled together the notes, “But right now, you have to get up and moving.”
William croaked back, “Oh, I don’t like that one.”
Catalonia, Spain
Hsu walked through the corridors, still trembling with nerves. As they’d walked her out, her mind had been blank with terror, but now she was beginning to see a pattern.
She had to play Hugo and Gerard off one another.
It wasn’t going to be easy. She only had Gerard to work with, for one thing. Hugo rarely inspected the labs, and never called people up to the main house.
Maybe she could manufacture a reason.
A hand shot out from one of the side hallways, and clamped down over Hsu’s mouth before she could scream. Hsu found herself wedged into a tiny, dingy alcove, scant inches from her captor.
“It’s just me,” the new scientist said. “It’s okay.”
Hsu sagged with relief. “Thank god. We’re not being watched here, I take it?”
“No. I got a look at the security feeds, and there�
��s no camera that can see this angle.”
“Then we’d better hope no one was watching me, and expecting me to show up on another camera.”
“Eventually, we’re going to have to take some risks.” Jennifer was vaguely annoyed by the other woman’s cool manner. “Are you all right?”
“Yes. For now. Gerard thought he would call me up to the house for Hugo to ask questions, but I’m still not sure why.” Hsu shook her head. “They didn’t really ask me anything. They just left me in a room for a long time.”
“Oh, no.” Jennifer sighed. “I was afraid of this. They’re using you to get to me.”
“Ah. Yes. On that point… who are you?” Hsu lifted a brow. “All you said the other day was to be brave and that there was backup coming, but who are you? You’re not Irina.”
“My name is Jennifer. I came here because we needed to find out where Hugo’s headquarters were. There are people coming here to help.”
“What people?” Hsu sighed. Americans, in her experience, tended to be very unfocused in their discussion.
“TQB,” Jennifer said simply.
Hsu’s eyes got wide. She’d heard of TQB in whispers, but most of what she knew was that Hugo hated them, and she wasn’t even sure why that was.
“Is that a rival company? Is that why Hugo hates you?”
“No, and no.” Jennifer was just trying to find the words to explain when they heard the tread of the patrols. “Go. I’ll make sure you get out with us when they get here. It won’t be long! Be brave, and—if they try to use me to make you do something, don’t give in, okay?”
And she was gone. Hsu stared after her.
Did she dare hope for rescue?
Or should she wait until this woman, this ally, was gone with the experiments—and then take Hugo and Gerard out?
—
Jennifer half-ran through the hallways back to her lab. Her heart was pounding with relief.
They’d bought themselves a bit more time.
In the lab, she did a quick round to see how the Wechselbalg were doing. Some came to sniff her fingers, others—in human form—nodded to her, but many were still too scared to trust her, even with the smell she carried.