Page 102 of Out of Peril

“I heard Maya may be staging a coup and forming her own little Pack over at the school.”

I laughed. “She'll be running the place before you know it if you aren't careful.”

“Perhaps I'll channel that little genius ingenuity into a leadership position at Westin Force someday.”

“You know, I could see it.”

We both laughed until the knock at the door shut us up quickly.

Kyle got up and opened the door to a man I was pretty sure I'd never seen before, though there was something about him that looked oddly familiar too.

“Lindsey, Walker, this is FBI Special Agent Nick Stone.”

Nick Stone.

Nick Stone.

My brain started processing the name like a damn database of information.

Ah-ha! I knew there was something familiar about him.

“Any relation to Detective Nick Stone?” I asked unable to place the township, but I could recall a few bits and pieces of the mission where he'd been encountered by Bravo down in Florida. At least, I was pretty sure it was in Florida while Jake Forrester was deep undercover with the Raglan.

“Former Detective,” he confessed.

“Thought so. We didn't have the chance to meet, but I’ve read your file.”

“What does the FBI want with Experiments?” Lindsey asked softly, scooting a little closer to my side.

I wrapped a protective arm around her. If Kyle thought it was safe to talk to this guy, then I had to believe it was true. But I didn't have to like it.

“Seems someone in the chain of command knows what I know. I'm not sure who yet, but I don't find it ironic to find myself stuck on one shifter case after another when everyone else on my team seems oblivious. This has led me to the south on several occasions now.”

“Experiments,” Lindsey whispered.

“Yes. So far, they've all appeared to be unimaginable monsters, the things of nightmares with no signs of humanity. I can only assume that Westin Force has been monitoring some of my case files. I guess I shouldn't be surprised but was when Kyle reached out. Especially when he admitted he had a little Experiment that was perfectly human. Am I to assume that's you, Lindsey?”

She started to confirm it, but I interceded.

“Why would you assume that?”

He sat back and stared at me for a sec and nodded. “Maybe you aren't even realizing it, but you are basically pissing all over your mate. She is your mate, right? The arm wrapped around her, the body situated close and leaned towards her, ready to cover her at a second’s notice. Should I go on?”

I looked down at myself and almost laughed because he was right.

“It's me,” Lindsey confirmed. “Kyle says you'd like to hear my story. Or do you have specific questions you'd like to ask?”

“Direct and to the point. I appreciate that. How about you start from the beginning with how you came to be with the Raglan and what exactly happened to you.”

She took a deep breath and launched into a story of facts and not emotions. I suspected that's the way she had to tell it to get through it all. It wasn't as easy as that for me. With every mention of testing and the pain she suffered my wolf grew more agitated.

“Do we need to take a break, Walker?” Kyle finally asked me. “Or do you need to step away for a minute?”

“No, sir.”

I linked my fingers with hers, needing to ground myself and remind my wolf and I that this was in the past. The horrors she'd been put through were long before we knew her, maybe even before we knew who the Raglan were.

Still, it did nothing to stave off the pain in my chest at having somehow let her down.

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