Page 71 of Feral

“Hands up where I can see ‘em. Both of you. Jarl, help our friend out, will you? Larry, free the girl. I know she must be dying to have a little chat with our esteemed researchers here.”

CHAPTER 29

LILLIAN

The look of stunned disbelief on Dr. Axell’s and Dr. Urwin’s faces was more satisfying than I could have imagined.

“What the hell is this?” Despite Dr. Axell’s authoritative snarl, his eyes flickered between the four guns trained on him and his hands remained in the air in submission.

Not so fun to be forced to submit, is it, doctor?I gave him a small smile. “This is you losing control of your torture compound. You see, I found your antidote. And it seems it works a lot better than you anticipated—especially as a vaccine. Each of these men were injected before you ‘caught’ them. I must admit, we weren’t entirely sure it would be enough to withstand your drug, but… it seems we were in luck.”

“You’ll never get away with this, you little bitch,” Dr. Urwin spat. “No matter where you hide, we’ll keep coming after you. Even if you kill us today, SilverCorp will never stop coming for you.”

“Oh, but that’s the thing… they will.” I motioned to Jarl, and the big alpha ripped the lab coat off Dr. Urwin, handing me the garment—and the attached access card. I wrapped the white coat around my naked body. They’d used lack of clothing as one of their measures of control—had separated their test subjects from humanity by denying them the ability to shield their bodies in any way. Even though it was only a lab coat, it still felt good to reclaim a small measure of my dignity in front of my torturers.

“We’re going to erase every file ever created for me and Zach, every test, every measurement. There will not be a single reminder left of our existence—and no one to tell SilverCorp who to chase down.

“And sure, SilverCorp might start the abhorrent experiment again, but they will have to start from scratch. And at that point, we will be far, far away. And no one will know we ever were here.”

Dr. Axell growled contemptuously, but Dr. Urwin drew in a sharp breath, his anger replaced by fear. “Please. Don’t kill me. I—I can be useful. I can help you delete everything. Just please—don’t shoot me.”

Dr. Axell regarded him with disgust, but remained quiet.

I tilted my head and looked at the beta who’d derived so much pleasure from my suffering. I remembered every insult, every lecherous touch as he’d tied me down and watched me and Zach get tortured. And I didn’t feel a single ounce of sympathy as he shook with the knowledge that he was going to die. Only cold, grim revenge.

“Oh, we won’t shoot you,” I said, crossing the rough concrete to the door without sparing the two doctors another look. “Your death will be much, much more unpleasant than that. Jerome, please sweep the building. Kill every staff member on sight. Zach and I will meet you with these two in the lab upstairs.”

* * *

“Whatever you’re goingto do to us, it won’t change the fact that you’re stuck with a beast for a mate.” Dr. Axell’s sneer was a stark contrast to Dr. Urwin’s quiet sniffling as Zach tied his wrists to the bars of one of the empty cells. Despite having a gun aimed at his chest, he seemed incapable of dropping the haughty alpha attitude. “Every time he mounts you, every time he shoves his knot into your twat, you’ll think of me and everything I took from you.”

“You still don’t get it, do you?” I said. “You didn’tmakehim claim me. You didn’tcreateour bond in your lab. You tooknothingfrom me, Axell. Our connection was there before your sick experiments. That’s why I tried to free him. I felt it, even if I didn’t know what it was. How empty your life must have been, if you as an alpha never understood that.

“Those poor souls you’ve forced into bonds—what they have is nothing but an ugly shadow of the real thing. So no,doctor.When we leave this compound, I will not think of you ever again. I will be with my mate, and I will be at peace. You may have damaged his mind, but you have not touched his soul. You cannot—because it always belonged tome.”

There was a glint Dr. Axell’s eyes that Zach must not have liked, because he was on the doctor immediately, smacking him up against the cell so hard his head bounced off the bars.

“No.”It was all Zach said, but the menacing tone made his intent crystal-clear: No, the doctor did not get to threaten me ever again.

He bound Axell’s hands like he had Urwin’s, then roughly pulled both their pants down, letting the fabric pool around their ankles and trap their legs.

“What thehellare you doing?” Dr. Axell asked, his voice finally betraying a sliver of unease.

“Well, doctor… do you remember how you bothenjoyedwatching all those women get raped? I do. And I remember every voltage you tortured us with, and the glee in your eyes when you told me exactly what you’d do to find Zach’s limits. Do you? Because I think there’s a poetic justice in how you’re going to die—fucked to death by the same men you’ve tortured for so long.”

The whimper of fear from Urwin and Axell’s defiant snarl gave me nothing but icy satisfaction. Once upon a time, I would have taken pity on them. I wouldn’t have been able to order their deaths, let alone orchestrate such a gruesome method. But that part of me, the Lillian who could have shown mercy to my torturers… she’d died in their hands.

The door to the lab swung open and Jerome entered, followed by the other ex-SEALs.

“All clear,” he said. “We all set in here?”

“Yes.” I turned away from the tied-up doctors and walked to Zach’s old cell. It was still empty. My mate followed me in and closed the door behind us. “Let them out.”

“Please!” Dr. Urwin shrieked. “Please, at least give us the oil!”

I arched an eyebrow at the wild-eyed doctor. He’d twisted his neck in my direction, much quicker to accept who was in charge now than his boss.

“The oil?”

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