Page 19 of Racing the Storm

He grimaced, disgusted by my show of inhumanity, but I didn’t back down. After a moment, he let out a breath. “Both my liver and my kidneys are failing. My body couldn’t keep up.”

Ivan muttered something under his breath, but it was too quiet for even my ears to pick up, but it was obvious Kasher knew because he shot his son a glower.

“And a transplant won’t save you?” I had to ask. “Instead of enslaving and torturing Wolves?”

“I shouldn’t need to borrow organs from dead humans when my own genetic code has the ability to heal me,” he snapped, slamming his fist on the table.

This time, I didn’t jump. “And have you prepared for the inevitable?”

“I’ve prepared for the moment I have ultimate success. I know my son survived the change—though he was a mistake. He…” Kasher dragged his tongue over his dry, chapped lips. “It went too far. He became what I was giving him rather than unlocking his own potential. But he is my blood, and if he can change…”

It was possible. Kasher was a man of science, even if he was an absolute bigoted sociopath willing to commit genocide to save his own ass. It was likely he tested on his son because he was the closest to his own genetic make-up. And, I thought as I remembered the look of pain in Misha’s face when he thought he was dying, he was expendable.

I glanced over at Ivan out of the corner of my eye and wondered if maybe he was next. And I wondered if Ivan knew that. The moment he’d fallen out of favor with his father—the moment he was no longer serving another purpose—he would be useful only as a lab rat.

“I don’t know how you want me to help you,” I told him after a long silence.

Kasher said nothing as our plates were cleared away, and then his wine was refilled, but I was relieved when no desserts were served. He sat back and considered the liquid under the dim chandelier, then let out a quiet breath. “I know you managed it. We don’t need to pretend like you don’t know there are spies in your midst. You were able to turn a Wolf’s status.”

“And you’re too smart to pretend like you don’t know it’s entirely different. I’m not turning a Wolf human,” I reminded him.

“No,” he mused, “but I think with the right incentive, you’ll work hard for me and use your knowledge to tear down my current roadblock.”

I almost laughed, but then the doors opened again, and the room went still as one of the guards frog-marched a woman up to the table. She was thin, apart from a large, pregnant belly. She was also human, though Kasher’s lack of morals no longer startled me. She looked under-fed, exhausted, and beaten down, and I couldn’t help but wonder how long she’d been his prisoner.

“This is A-7324,” he said, and I flinched at how utterly unapologetic he was at dehumanizing anyone he felt was beneath him. “She’s one of the few in my breeding program.”

I didn’t think Kasher could say anything to surprise me, but I was wrong. I didn’t even need to ask what he meant. “How?” I whispered.

His lips stretched into a grimace that I was sure was meant to be a smile. “My little secret. Trust me when I say you’re the only one who’s going to possess this knowledge.”

I stared at her for a long moment, then I shook my head. “There’s nothing you can do to convince me.”

His smile didn’t leave his face. “Let me tell you a story, Dr. Bereket.” He glanced at the woman as she swayed, but he made no move to make her more comfortable. “Once upon a time, I had a powerful Alpha subdued in my lab. Yes, he was falling apart, but he was strong. We allowed him just enough of himself to heal so he’d stay alive, but nothing more. He wasn’t one of my beasts—he was too important for that. He was going to be the animal who unlocked everything.”

“Except we were too good,” I said, knowing exactly who he was talking about. “We infiltrated your labs and brought him home.”

“I suppose I can take some comfort in knowing he’ll never forget me,” Kasher said with a sick smile. “Every time he opens his eyes and sees nothing, he’ll remember who did it. Every time he wishes he were dead, he’ll have me to thank.”

I wasn’t about to laugh in his face and tell him that Kor was far from the broken Wolf he expected him to be. I wasn’t going to give him that power.

“We got enough of what we needed for some of our experiments,” Kasher went on after a beat. “In particular, this one.” He reached out a shaking hand and ran it down her stomach. She flinched, but she didn’t pull away, and I hated him even more for it. “I know you have some sort of plan to escape—or, if you don’t, your pack will find you eventually. If I had my way, I’d use you and bury you at sea, but I’m old enough and wise enough to know that’s not going to happen.”

“So why bother?” I demanded.

“Because they won’t get me,” he said with a shrug. “They’ll get you. And if you give me what I need, Dr. Bereket, you can hold your head up high and tell your Alpha that you aren’t directly responsible for the death of his daughter.”

My stomach churned, and I tried to meet his gaze, but I couldn’t. I was so certain he couldn’t hold anything over me, but then again, I didn’t think this was possible.

And chances were, he was lying. We’d tried everything—for years—to see if it was possible for a human and Wolf to mate, but we’d never managed it. I didn’t see glowing eyes on this woman, which meant he didn’t get as far as he had with Misha. She wasn’t part of us. She was human. But as I listened, as I took deep breaths, I could smell the Wolf inside her—I could hear its little heartbeat.

“You cooperate, she gets fed. She’ll be allowed to rest. She’ll live in relative comfort. You give me trouble, and I make sure she suffers. I don’t need that baby alive, Dr. Bereket. I just need it born.”

I swallowed down acid rising into my throat, and I said nothing, but his laugh told me he knew he’d put me on my knees and made it impossible for me to rise.

“You can retire now. We’ll be starting bright and early.”

I stood on legs more steady than I expected them to be, and Ivan followed suit. I took a few steps away when Kasher cleared his throat, and I glanced wearily over my shoulder. “What?” I asked behind a sigh.

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