Page 64 of Scorned

My uncle was back and possibly some kind of supernatural creature? Anything Winnie had to say after that, was completely irrelevant.

Winnie’s forehead pinched. “Are you okay?”

I turned my head toward Drag. “Can someone make a wolven or are they only born?”

“Born. But it appears that VRC has possibly figured out how to convert a human into a wolven. I can’t help but wonder if he can shift.”

“I . . .” I shook my head again, attempting to remove the fear eating at me. If my uncle hated me when we were both human, I couldn’t imagine what he’d do if he was a supernatural.

Lyric rubbed her hand down my arm and whispered, “Slow your breaths.”

I needed time to process everything I’d learned, so I gave Lyric one of our looks, letting her know I was in no condition to continue this conversation at the moment.

“Can we talk about the possible rat for now?” Lyric asked, and Winnie nodded.

“I don’t know if anyone else has noticed some odd things about Nellie, but I sure have.”

Winnie pulled on his gauged earlobes as he explained his concerns with Nellie. As everyone weighed in their opinions, I tuned out their words as thoughts clouded my head.

Do hybrids exist? And if so, are they stronger than normal vampires or wolven? Did Venom make them? Is my dad one? Did Ben turn so he could kill me? Does he want to kill me?

The internal questions were rapid, each one adding to our already extensive list of potential dangers, keeping me from staying calm.

Once I’d found out Luka was alive, my only goal had been to save him, and all would be right in the world, but with hybrids mixed into the equation, that looked more and more impossible.

The world will never be safe, I realized. I need to broaden my goals beyond just my happiness.

Our mission to infiltrate VRC and rescue Luka wouldn’t be enough. We needed to retrieve classified files to uncover the truth about Venom and the VRC’s secret activities.

Chapter 19

Luka

Dreams can be an escape from reality. A happy place where love and romance dance beneath the trees, and anything you’ve ever wanted shows up to fill your brain with misleading pleasure.

It can also be a place where fire and pain hold hands, infiltrating your body while darkness takes over, turning your beautiful dreams into nightmares . . .

“Stay with me, Luka. It’s almost over.”

Fighting.

Screaming.

Pain.

“We should pull back on the experiments and give him more blood, Doctor Ishman.”

Am I dreaming? Delirious? Dead?

“I’ve been doing this research for fifteen years, Bill. I know what I’m doing.”

Hunger. So much hunger.

“His heart rate has accelerated tremendously. He can’t take much more of this!” The man’s voice sounded panicked . . . scared. “What’s the point of this if he dies like the rest of them?”

“Fine!” the woman screamed, her tone angry. “Give him one more teaspoon of blood.”

Something cold and metallic slid into my mouth, prying my jaws apart. A splash of blood hit my tongue and I gagged at the rotten egg flavor. The metal was removed and I pursed my lips, spitting it out, and wet droplets fell onto my chin.

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