Page 29 of Out of Peril

I really didn't know much about Westin Force, but enough to know that they weren't the good guys where I was concerned. I had heard they tracked one of the Experiments and killed him. He'd originally been part of the Dannett Pride, a local panther. There were rumors that he had killed a few people, but so had I while stuck inside my beast. They hadn't even given him a chance. That didn't exactly make me feel safe about his revelation.

“What do you know about Westin Force?” he asked, likely sensing my hesitation now.

“I know you shut down the Raglan labs. I suppose I should be grateful to you for that. But I also know that you hunt and kill those of us that survived.”

He nodded solemnly. “You're an Experiment.”

It wasn't a question, but a fact.

“I certainly wasn't born this way.”

“Our first and only encounter with an Experiment was down in these parts too. He'd killed several innocent people along the shoreline, and we were able to track him. Our intent had been to capture him, but things got bad and we were forced to kill on sight. I'd been on that mission, but we'd divided into two teams, and he'd gone after the other. Horace. That was the guy’s name. As he was dying, he had shifted back to his skin, and even then, his own Klaw hadn't recognized him, but his fingerprints confirmed his identity. King Phillip kept us informed of other activity from Experiments, but nothing was to the extent of what Horace had done. So we have largely left it be. Despite what you may think, none of us enjoy killing a living being of any sort, but sometimes it is necessary.”

I blanched. I understood this. I'd lost track of how many I'd killed in the early days of my release. I'd been amongst the survivors and had left my own trail of blood in the process. But I hadn't fully been me back then.

Walker

Chapter 9

I could tell she was upset and maybe even a little angry, but there was also a touch of guilt in her expression. I had so many questions I wanted answers to, but I was terrified of pushing her too far and being banished back upstairs.

“Kian will have to tell my former Alpha about this, but all he knows is that a monster is living here.”

“You're not a monster,” I argued.

“But I am. And to them, that's all I am.”

“Technically, Kian was trespassing in wolf territory. Maybe he won't say a thing. Or I could speak with him and explain things.”

“He'll tell,” she assured me. “There's an unspoken alliance between the panthers and wolves in this region.”

“I see. Why would you come back here if you were banished from the Pack?”

“Technically I don't have a wolf to be banished, and I had nowhere else to go. This was the last home I could remember aside from my family's home in the city. It was never that safe for us wolves in the city anyway, but a beast like me?”

I hated when she called herself that, even though I had no idea what else to call it either.

“You know you have the head of your wolf, right?”

“I know. But the rest has been so distorted and made unnatural.”

“Maybe. With the head of the wolf comes the brain of the wolf. She's still there, Lindsey. I can feel her. My wolf feels her too. He could never have sensed you as our mate otherwise.”

I wasn't sure that was entirely true because I was well aware of instances of interspecies true mates and even a human as the true mate to a wolf shifter. But it sounded good and she gave me a weak smile for my efforts. If it helped alleviate some of her stress, then I'd swear it for truth.

“You're really her true mate?” Maya asked in a swoony little voice.

“I am.”

“So you're not going to just leave us then?”

“No. When you're all ready, I plan to take you home.”

“Home? Where's that?”

“California. A town called San Marco. It's in Westin Pack.”

“You're a Westin wolf? I heard Westin wolves are the coolest,” Dante said in awe.

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