Page 71 of The Alpha Wolf's Pregnant Bride

“Does he shift into human form?” Theodore asks.

Dorian nods weakly. “His name is Jackson. His father was a forensic pathologist for the local police. Somehow, he discovered the remains of a rogue and realized it was a werewolf. When he died, Jackson found his research and suspected his father died at the hands of a rogue.”

“So he became obsessed with the idea of our existence…” Simon laments, steepling his fingers in front of him.

“Yes,” Dorian concedes. “... He became so obsessed that he wanted to become like us.”

“He’s become a monster,” I say, recalling the horrors of that night when we faced off with the hybrid human-wolf. Unlike anything we’d seen before, his heightened speed and treacherous claws made him much stronger than the rest of us.

We’d developed a better strategy to capture him.

Wolfsbane is the only herb strong enough to immobilize him.

Flynn points at the weapons spread out on the table. “These silver bullets will cripple him,” he reveals with a smug half-smile. “They’re laced with enough wolfsbane to kill him if we get the shot right.”

We’ve planned to move in tonight, having traced the hybrid, Jackson, back to the town of Fayetteville. With most of the rogues either dead or in our custody, Jackson is unprotected. Our warriors can handle the handful of rogues that escaped that night, leaving the Alphas to take down the hybrid.

We’re not going in as wolves. This time, we’re using other forms of combat.

“You can’t kill him!” Dorian suddenly exclaims, much to the shock of every other Alpha in attendance. When he notices our confusion, he clears his throat and sinks into his chair. “I mean that you shouldn’t kill him.”

“Why not, Dorian?” Damian, his brother, furrows his brows with fury. “He held you captive for weeks! Harnessed your Alpha blood, and you—”

Dorian suddenly slams a palm on the desk. “We can’t kill him!” he repeats.

“Dorian!” I say in a voice of reason. “He’s a danger to all of us.”

The battered and bruised Alpha turns to me, his eyes despondent. “I know,” he sighs, visibly calmer now. “But he’s the first of his kind. He should be studied.”

Simon speaks up then. “Dorian has a point,” he agrees. “This Jackson fellow might be dangerous, but perhaps he can be cured. I’ve been looking into it, and the research is promising.”

“Are you suggesting we keep him alive and use him as a test subject?” Theodore frowns.

“Why not?” Simon directs his shrug to Theodore. “We’ve been studying the rogues we’d captured, figuring out how their speed has been enhanced,” he reminds us, glancing around the room. “We might as well look at the one behind it all.”

“You do have the facilities for this,” Flynn relents with a slow nod. “I guess it only makes sense.”

I check the time on my wrist, just in time for Jarrod to send me a mind link informing me that the soldiers have taken their position outside Jackson’s home. That’s where they’d been hiding out, unaware that we’d been tracking him when Jarrod was able to plant a tracking chip into an open wound.

“We need to go,” I announce, rising to my feet. “Our wolves are in position. The hybrid won’t get away this time.”

***

“Something doesn’t feel right,” Theodore whispers beside me.

We’re hiding in the shadows in the backyard of Jackson’s Fayetteville home, but our surroundings are too quiet.

The chaos that erupted before during the war is missing right now. We expected to find rogue wolves posted outside in every corner, but we’ve yet to encounter even one.

The only indication that the house isn’t empty is the light of a candle flickering inside.

“This feels like a setup,” I whisper back in agreement, a strange sense of nothingness making it almost impossible to trust my gut instinct right now.

Even my inner wolf is silent right now, not warning me of unsuspecting danger or filling my gut with knots to warn me that we’re making a wrong move.

Clutching my rifle loaded with lethal ammunition, I glance at the other Alphas who stand ready to move into the house. I close my eyes, sending a prayer to the Moon Goddess to keep us safe tonight as we embark on the unknown in this mission.

As if in reply to my prayer, I see Cassandra’s angelic face behind my eyelids. Her piercing, dragon-shaped eyes are full of love as she smiles; the way her lips spread foreshadows the determination that spreads in my being.

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