Page 54 of Betrayed By the Alpha Wolf

Forrest took the paper from Willow, pointing at the row of data that sat beneath my name.

“But we’ve also found more. These markers, yours and what we were able to gather from the early stages of pregnancy, suggest that you’re incredibly fertile and likely to carry successfully. Your hormone levels have gone up quickly and stabilized right away. You have dormant V?lva blood, thanks to your grandmother, and that could mean that your child will become a wolf or a V?lva like her. But in any case, they're likely to be strong and hearty.”

“Strong and hearty, Forrest? She’s not growing a vegetable. Gods.” Willow rolled her eyes, and then we were all laughing.

But the moment didn’t last; it was quickly interrupted by the chiming of Willow’s alarm to check on the antidote. We almost had enough for all the Alphas, with a little extra to spare, hopefully.

“Oh, shit. Okay, let’s get this last bit mixed with the stabilizer. We don’t have time to create the aerosol canisters, so we’re going to have to go with good, old-fashioned injections. The syringes should be sterilized now, and there are some dart guns we can use for distanced delivery.”

I paused, peering back over at Willow with my brow down over my eyes. “I’m sorry. Did you say guns?”

She nodded. “Yeah, like they use on animals to give tranquilizers.”

Forrest and I both eyed Willow all the harder before I said, “Where the fuck did those come from?”

“They were in Eli’s lab. I…I didn’t want to consider why he’d have them.”

“I don’t blame you,” Forrest replied, and I nodded along in agreement.

A shiver crept along my spine as I turned back to the table, trying to focus on getting the antidote ready for the Alphas. As I sat there, though, the little voice whispered in the back of my head again. This time, it felt urgent and strong, like a gut instinct that you couldn’t ignore, and my hand froze in place as I worked to drip the distilled chemicals into the stabilizing compound.

You need to move. He’s too broken, and the others need to be rid of the drug. Hurry. Something is coming. Hurry!

The crack of glass shattering pulled me out of my head, and I realized that I’d crushed the pipette in my grip. Forrest andWillow were at my side in a flash, and I snapped my attention to them.

“We need to go. Something…something’s wrong.” They both looked at me like I’d lost my damn mind. “Please. Trust me. We need to hurry.”

There was only a beat of hesitation, and then Forrest and Willow were jumping into action to get the antidote ready for the Alphas. The urgency hadn’t left me, and I silently prayed to whatever the fuck was causing all this that we weren’t too late.

Chapter 20 - Grayson

As we rushed up the stairs from the basement, Forrest, Willow, and Kenzie sprinted down from Eli’s old lab. I could sense the worry and desperation for speed coming from each of them, none as strong as Kenzie, though.

They pulled up to a quick stop as they reached us, and I held up my hands to keep them from rushing past me.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. You can’t just run down there. Leon is…I don’t know. But he’s ranting and raving down there like he’s lost his mind.”

Kenzie’s face dropped, and her hand went to her middle like she might be sick.

“Kenzie? Are you—”

“Please, Grayson. These are the antidotes. We need to get them to the Alphas. They have to be hanging on by a thread, and I don’t want to lose our friends because Leon got the drop on us.”

I reached out, putting my hands on either of her shoulders. Kenzie’s scent was so charred with concern that it was overwhelming, but behind it all was something different, which was also flaring brightly.

“Hey,” I guided Kenzie a few paces away from the others, going near the little corner of the stairs where Forrest had hidden before, “what’s going on? You’re way more worked up than you would be usually. And something is…off. I can sense it. Talk to me.”

Kenzie shook off my hands, glaring. “Talk to you? Oh, because now you want to have a chat.”

The shot hurt, but it wasn’t unfounded. Right now didn’t seem like the best time to be having this conversation, but I hada feeling I wasn’t getting out of it this time. Kenzie and I had barely been around each other since that night, and I owed her a few words, at least. I mean, hell, I’d promised her that she could go back with Jet and never have to see me again.

Yeah, I didn’t like that original agreement as much anymore because…feelings, but that wasn’t Kenzie’s fault.

A hard sigh left me, and I dropped my hands from Kenzie’s shoulders. As I raked my fingers through my hair, I nodded, staring down at the floor.

“Fair. I’ve been avoiding things.” When I looked back up at her, Kenzie met my eyes with a combination of shock and relief washing over her face. “But I made you a promise. I’m Alpha, so you don’t have to stay here with me. I would like your help, obviously. A lot’s going on right now.”

“You have no idea.” The words came out of Kenzie in a whisper, her eyes tracking down to the floor as her eyebrows flared up.

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