Page 51 of The Bull's Head

It had surprised Teddy when Alp strode in, rolled up his sleeves, and got to work. To Teddy, Alp was as pure as Micah, and he hated the idea that anything they discovered would take away from that, but when they found more files about the killing of shifters for dissection, he’d whimpered, and still he powered through, just as Mal said he would. Teddy had little doubt that when they got home, Mal would be comforting Alp, because no one could be unaffected by these reports.

“Teddy!” Wiley cried as he rushed into the room, a sheaf of papers in his hand. He thrust them out to Teddy, who scanned them quickly. At the top of the page was Byk’s name, and Teddy’s heart thudded against his ribcage. He continued to read and found references to Callum and Cooper and an experiment they were part of, which was listed as HS-611: Project Memory. The notations were way beyond anything Teddy understood, but he hoped that Gwyneth might know.

“Wiley, can you go and ask Gwyneth to come here? Tell her it’s urgent.”

Without saying anything, Wiley took off at a run. Teddy continued to look at the pages, then noticed the others were huddled around him.

“Does any of this make sense?” he asked.

“Not at all,” Cece replied, and that was echoed by everyone else. “This is Frankenstein-level shit. How could anyone do this to a living being?”

Teddy stared mutely, wishing he could have a flash of inspiration that would tell him everything, but this science went well beyond anything he’d seen, and he’d watched every Star Trek episode there was.

“Let me see” came a voice from the doorway.

Teddy looked up and found Gwyneth there, bathed in the light from the hall. He’d always thought she possessed an ethereal beauty, her gossamer hair shining like a halo that fanned around her face. He wasn’t sure what type of shifter she was, but he was certain it had to be something of equal grace.

“Motherfucker,” she growled.

So much for grace.

“What?”

She locked gazes with Teddy. “I am so goddamn glad you all killed these people.” She turned to Mal. “Is there a place we can all go and sit?”

“Sure. We have a meeting room.” He nodded at Alp, who scampered off. “He’ll get it set up.”

“What is it, Gwyneth?”

“One of the most disgusting things I’ve ever seen in my life,” she replied, her voice darker than Teddy had ever heard from her. “Wiley, you did great in finding this. Cece, can you do me a favor?”

“Of course.”

“Find something for the boys to do, okay?”

“What? But—” Wiley started.

“Let’s go, kid. You can help Micah figure out what he’s going to paint in the new section.”

Wiley narrowed his gaze, but followed behind his mother.

“That bad?” Damon asked.

“Worse. This is only a cursory look, and I don’t know how bad this will ultimately be, but Teddy… I can’t promise you that Callum will be okay. He might never be again.”

The news hit Teddy like a ton of bricks. “Why?”

“Hold your questions until we get into the meeting room,” Mal said. “That way we can all hear it and ask anything we need to know. Plus, Alp will want to be there too.”

His hands trembling, Teddy put the papers he’d been looking through back into the box and slid it into the corner. What was so horrible that Byk might not survive it?

Alp returned a few minutes later and said the room was ready. Everyone marched to it and took a seat around the table. Gwyneth was joined by Dr. Hamilton, who acknowledged everyone, then sat beside Gwyneth, her face drawn and pale.

“Okay, you all know who I am. My name is Gwyneth, and for the last fifteen years, I’ve been the doctor for the pack. I went to school for my medical degree, then went back for veterinary medicine so I could care for any shifter, regardless which form they took. What Wiley uncovered scares the hell out of me because, although I understand the basics, this is far beyond anything I’ve ever seen before. In the 1950s and 60s, Roger Sperry did experiments on cats, monkeys, and humans to help him better understand how the brain works. By today’s standards, the tests were barbaric, but it didn’t stop him from earning a Nobel prize for his work.

“Since then, scientists have been researching the workings of the brain, trying to figure out things like how it interprets sights and sounds, how memories are stored, and the like. One of the things they did was try to swap memories between one organism and another. It was discovered that by injecting RNA into areas of the brain, memories could be learned, but this was only on creatures like snails. These people took a quantum leap and were experimenting on shifters. Every one they worked on died, until Callum and Cooper.”

The room grew oppressively warm, and Teddy had problems staying seated. He wanted to get up and… and… something. He didn’t know what. There was such savage rage in him, he couldn’t understand it. He wanted to kill, to maim, to tear apart someone, and right now, anyone would do.

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