Page 10 of You're Not My Mate

“He is, trust me. The guy was going feral on a rabbit when I got him. It took three tranq darts to knock him the fuck out. Alpha and the others are on the way. You can leave, and we’ll talk to you when the time is necessary.”

“You’re telling me to get lost,” Rose said.

“You know, that is no way to talk to a mate,” Graham said.

“Shut up,” Rocco said. “You know you’re going to be dead soon.”

After her conversation with Draco, she didn’t like what hesaid. “Stop it.”

Both men turned toward her, and the truth was, she didn’t have a clue what to say to either of them. She didn’t want to freak out Graham, so she looked at Rocco. “Can I talk to you for a second?”

“I don’t think that is a good idea. I don’t know what he’s capable of.”

“I’m not capable of anything. I’m chained up.”

“Yeah, and I saw how feral you were going after a rabbit.”

“And you stopped me. Trust me, get me some food and I’ll be more than happy to stay here as your prisoner, especially if I’m going to get her for company.”

A low growl emitted from Rocco, but Rose wasn’t going to get her hopes up that it might mean what she thought. When it came to Rocco, she would only expect the worst. She did believe he was going to deny her request, but then, as if something weighed him down, he finally spun on his heel and moved toward her, following her out of the cages.

“What?” Rocco asked.

Rose took a deep breath. “You can’t talk to him that way.”

“You’re going to tell me how to do my job?”

“I’m going to tell you to stop scaring him, or anyone else that might come here searching for help. What is the one thing they all have in common?”

“For fuck’s sake, Rose, I’m not interested in what they all have in common. I’m interested in keeping my pack safe, once and for all.”

“Stop being so stubborn minded.” She put her hands on her hips, so infuriated with this man, it was unreal. She released a growl. “They’re all confused. Haven’t you noticed that? None of them truly know what is happening to them.”

“That’s because they are human and don’t deserve what is happening to them.”

Rose clenched her hands into fists and then released them, taking several deep breaths in the hope it would eventually calm her down, but nothing seemed to be working, and all she wanted to do was scream at Rocco. The only problem was, she didn’t know exactly why she was screaming. Her annoyance with him? Her pain? Her hurt? The betrayal?

“Don’t deserve what is happening to them?” she asked, repeating his words.

“We’re wolves. This is what our fate and our destiny made for us. What we are is not for the average human.”

“And you think they all wanted this?” Rose asked.

“Of course they did. Who wouldn’t want strength, our abilities to fight, to hunt, to fuck?”

Rose shook her head. “I’m pretty sure there are a lot of women out there who don’t want an asshole for a mate.”

And with that, she was done talking to him, and she stormed back down to the cages, ignoring Rocco and going to Graham.

She wrapped her fingers around the bars, and looked through the cage. The man looked exhausted, even if he was trying to hold it together. He wasn’t hiding it quite as well as he probably thought.

“You worked with the doctor that has caused a lot of death.”

Graham dropped his head. “I had no idea what he was doing.”

“You didn’t?” Rose asked, aware Rocco had come to join them.

He laughed. “I don’t know about everyone working for him, but when I was brought on, I was told we were looking for ways to extend the life of dogs, to eradicate all their diseases.” Graham sighed. “I was an actual fucking vet. When he started bringing wolves in, I don’t know, I figured it was because dogsare supposedly descended from wolves, or some shit. Then, by the time I realized what was going on, I didn’t grasp quite so quickly that he’d been experimenting on me as well. Putting vials of stuff in my coffee, mixing things in with my food. I had no idea the vastness of his operation, or that he had several different locations.”

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