Page 26 of Racing the Storm

“It’s near the spine,” Ivan said quietly. “Easy to remove without damage if you have help, but if you’re trying to tear it with claws…”

Paralysis—temporary for a Wolf, but the healing would take time enough for them to find me.

Ivan gestured to the table, and I sat, glancing around. The room was comfortable, but almost sterile, like Kasher was trying to make sure his son wouldn’t be able to relax or let his guard down for even a second. He’d never be allowed to forget why they were there.

Part of me wondered if the man didn’t deserve it, but part of me was starting to wonder if maybe he was just as much a victim as the Wolves. As Misha. And Mari.

“We can talk freely here. My father doesn’t really care if we’re sharing information, and he certainly doesn’t think I have any,” Ivan said.

My brows rose. “And you do?”

Ivan shrugged and pulled a plate close to him, filling it with vegetables. I did the same, taking a little bit of the meat, knowing it would help keep my strength up. I didn’t think I’d be here long, but I wanted the ability to fight if I needed it.

“I’m going to take the tracker out of you,” Ivan said after swallowing down a bite of food with a long swallow of wine. “I’ll reinsert it in your arm so you can get it out when you need to.”

I couldn’t hide my surprise when he laid it all out like that—as though it was nothing. “And that’s it?”

Ivan laughed. “That’s it? Doing something that would probably get me maimed by one of his…” The word died on his tongue, but I knew what he’d been about to say.

By his dogs.

I set my fork down and stared at him. “Who are they?”

Ivan swallowed thickly. “What do you mean?”

“The Wolves he’s broken. Who are they? Their names, where they came from, how long they’ve been here. They’re not animals.”

“They are now,” Ivan said, and when I let loose a growl from the back of my throat, he paled and held up a hand. “I don’t know if there’s any coming back from what he and Alexei put them through, okay? I want there to be. Jesus, I…believe me when I say I’d do whatever it takes to fix this, but I don’t know if there’s a way.”

I let out a small sigh. I wasn’t trained for this. Basic medical care was one thing, but psychological trauma of this level? It was beyond my paygrade. It was beyond the skill of any Wolf I currently knew.

“It doesn’t matter. They don’t belong here,” I told him.

He bowed his head. “I agree, and I don’t… If we can get you out of here, I plan on making that a long chain of events that ends in my father…”

He didn’t finish that sentence either. Captured? Dead?

Ideally, Kor wanted Kasher brought in alive. But he’d take dead too. We all would, and we would celebrate.

“Your father isn’t the only problem,” I said after a beat, then took another bite and forced myself to chew and swallow. “Your brother is far more dangerous to us now.”

He let out a trembling breath. “I know. And it’s getting worse the more he gets the support of other governments. Too many people think he has the right idea, and my father’s plan to show the world that Wolves can and will be reduced to beasts is only going to fuel that.”

“It’ll create a divide. Civil wars everywhere,” I told him. Enough humans would see Kasher’s plan for what it was—torture and psychological warfare. And the Wolves in other countries who had been enjoying more freedom than us—they wouldn’t be able to stand idly by.

Not this time.

Ivan bowed his head and nodded. “But it might need to come to that.”

He was right, but it turned my stomach. I was exhausted by the idea of more pain, more death, more loss. I didn’t want to think about my siblings on the brink of war again. Hell, even Mikael, who I tried not to think about at all, would be back in the fray, and I wasn’t sure I could handle knowing he wouldn’t ever come back.

“I need you to be prepared to run with Mari,” Ivan said after a beat, very softly. He rose from the table, walking over to his dresser, and he returned with a small, black zippered pouch. When I tried to turn and look, he grabbed me by the back of the head with more force than I was expecting, and he turned my face toward the table. “Please don’t move.”

My body stiffened, my claws itching to extend, but I took a breath and nodded. “I’ve been prepared to run since I arrived here.”

“Mari has to be kept safe,” he said again. I heard the zipper, then I felt my shirt slide up my back. I stomped down the urge to fight him, and instead, I leaned forward. “She’s more important than her ability to carry Kor’s child.”

I snorted. “You mean that you’re in love with her.”

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