Page 108 of The World Undone

Bishop turned to Tex, who he’d tapped to join our arm of the mission. “You can shift now if you want.”

Without a word, Tex mechanically kicked off his shoes, tugged off his clothes, cracked his neck in one direction and then the other, before the transformation took over.

His wolf form seemed to come so naturally to him, and I bit back my jealousy.

It was strange, missing the tenuous connection I’d been developing with my wolf. My time in The Guild labs sent me back so far in the process that I couldn’t even be mad that Bishop wanted to tap another wolf for our prong of the attack.

Tex would be in wolf form, which he honestly seemed to prefer.

In all of my time at The Lodge, during all of our training together for today, I’d never heard Tex utter more than a grunt in acknowledgement.

I knew he was with Charlie’s friend, Mer, but that was the extent of my knowledge.

Tex’s wolf was deep shades of red and brown, as bulky and muscular as the man he shared a body with.

He shook out his thick fur, and sank low to the ground, nose pressed to the dirt and grime, assessing the small abandoned barn we’d chosen for our holding pattern. Our mark was less than fifty feet away, so once we left these dilapidated walls, there’d be no more element of surprise, no going back.

In his wolf form, Tex’s senses would be stronger than ours, so he’d be the first to notice if we had company. That eased some of my anxiety.

But only some. The majority of my fear was thousands of miles away with Max.

I hated that we were all separated. Bishop’s plan was a good one, but I honestly would have preferred if it hadn’t been.

We were in the Midwest, somewhere between Cleveland and Detroit, where one of the satellite branches of The Guild operated. I’d been here before, as had Bishop and Wade, so we were the ideal candidates to take on this location.

Finding our way through the place wouldn’t be the difficult part though.

“Never thought I’d get to go on a mission with you two after all,” Bishop said, his mouth curving into a small grin, no longer looking quite as nauseous as he had when we’d finished our journey. “Kind of exciting, isn’t it?”

“When I was a kid, I always hoped Atlas and I would end up on a team with you.” Wade snorted. “Never imagined that our first mission together would involve infiltrating The Guild and offing a member of the council.”

Bishop’s smile widened and he clapped a hand down on Wade’s shoulder the way he used to when he was half his size. “Kind of exciting though. Charlie almost always has me busy at The Lodge. I rarely get out into the world, a taste of the action and all that.”

I smiled in spite of myself, recalling the list of ‘make sures’ and ‘be carefuls’ that Charlie had saddled him—and then the rest of us—with, before giving him an awkwardly long kiss that had made me feel like a voyeur to witness.

“You’ve made a good life for yourself, Bishop.” I nodded towards the door, ready to go. We’d been the last group in the procession, so we didn’t have the luxury of waiting around too long. Which, honestly, was ideal. Adrenaline had me bouncing on my feet, raring to go. “Let’s get in, get out, and get you home to your family before Charlie sends a search party.

He laughed, his eyes lighting up at the mention of her.

I meant it. Apocalypse and chaos of The Lodge and all that came with it aside, I was happy for Bishop. He’d found a community, a home. I’d missed him, and grieving his loss was tough, but it warmed me now to know that this kind of life was possible—-that people who’d grown up in our family, with fathers like Tarren, had a chance at working through all the bullshit.

At finding tenderness.

It gave me hope for whatever possible future I might carve out with Max. Like maybe I wasn’t as much of a lost cause as I’d told myself I was.

“You think the lab is the best starting place?” Wade asked, eyes darting around as we shuffled towards the large warehouse-like building in front of us.

The grounds were quiet, and Tex guided our path around the couple of protectors who’d been out patrolling.

He was good. Quick, quiet, and oddly adept at communicating in his wolf form.

Bishop and I both nodded.

Their lab was less sophisticated than the one back at Headquarters had been, but I had a feeling they’d used some of their time in the last months fortifying and strengthening it.

It was the second-largest Guild campus in the States, so it made sense that Evelyn clocked Rebecca, one of the oldest council members, here.

The entry hall was quiet, nothing but the dull, cobwebbed lights casting over the worn, red carpet and a few scattered chairs.

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