Page 53 of Redeemed Wolf

“I have no idea!”

I saw Tristan behind him, carrying Vesta. Isaac ran as his wolf alongside his mates, his teeth bared to attack anyone who got too close, friend or foe.

We all met in the parking lot of the community center, the kids and elderly pressed into the middle to protect them. I was glad to see a few of them had thought to grab weapons, military-grade assault rifles we’d taken as payment for our last job with Grim Wilds.

“Can we get them out?” I asked Pacey over my shoulder as I scanned the tree line.

He moved to stand shoulder to shoulder with me. “No, they’ve blocked the roads. No one’s getting in or out.”

“Through the woods then,” I suggested, but Shan was shaking his head.

“Nope, I saw movement along the back perimeter. They came prepared. They’ve got us penned in.”

My teeth ground together as I sorted through all the possibilities. I refused to stand here and let them mow us down.

Carter pulled on my arm. “I can talk to him, get him to see reason. He’ll listen to me. I’m his…” His voice trailed off as he realized what he was about to say. That he was his son.

I loved that my mate thought we could get out of this without bloodshed, but it was a pipedream. This was the man who’d been experimenting on our kind for decades. We were nothing but a science experiment, and I, for one, would rather die fighting than be locked in one of his cells.

The sound of truck engines was loud as we all huddled together, drowning out our panting breaths and pounding hearts. I heard a pup sniffling and their parent frantically humming a lullaby to calm them. How did we get here? What could I have done to avoid it?

It was too sunny and bright for a war, though an unnatural stillness had settled over the forest. The birdsong had died off.Oh, to have wings so we could fly away, I thought with regret, and my wolf flashed me his razor-sharp fangs, reminding me that we were not defenseless.

Sighing, I let go of Carter’s hand and grabbed the hem of my shirt, peeling it off. Around me, the others did the same, tossing our shirts to the ground. The alphas made a loose circle around the others, and I nudged my mate back behind me. “Carter, I need you to stay back.” Our child was growing inside him, and I needed to know that they would survive this. Even if I never got to hold my son or daughter, I could die a happy man knowing they would thrive in the world I’d left behind.

“What? No, I can help!” he insisted, shoving at Pacey. “Pacey, get out of my way.”

I glared at my Beta when he moved aside to let him through, but he just shrugged. “What? He’s the Alpha Omega, I have to obey him.”

Turning, I grabbed Carter by the shoulders and moved him back. “No, youcan’thelp,” I insisted, every instinct in my body screaming to shield him from danger. I could see fire in his eyes as he geared up for an argument, but before I had a chance to explain, a deep voice cut through the air.

“Don’t be too hard on him, Carter. Shifters get very protective when their mate is pregnant—they’re like animals that way.”

I spun around to see Eric prowling out of the trees—except he wasn’t Eric, not really. “What the fuck?” Something waswrongwith him, his body distorted like in a funhouse mirror. He was taller, and his silver-blond hair usually coiffed to perfection seemed to be falling out in patches. His skin was peeling all down his neck, leaving angry red flesh exposed beneath, like he’d been scratching at it.

“I can smell it on you, you know,” Eric continued, strolling closer, casual as could be. “Thefetus. Yet another monstrosity being brought into the world.”

Carter’s shock jerked the tether between us like a whip, lashing at my insides, and he stepped into me instinctively, his hands hot on my skin as he pressed himself to my back.

I scanned Eric for a weapon, but I couldn’t see a gun or a knife. My senses were still on high alert, alarms blaring in my mind, insisting that he was a threat. He smelled different, like charred meat soaked in formaldehyde.Gods, what has he done?

Pacey growled low in his chest, claws lengthening. “Easy,” I said under my breath. We didn’t want to provoke a fight, not when we didn’t know what we were up against, but I couldn’t see another way out of this. Maybe if I could cause a big enough diversion, the others could slip through their defenses, make a break for it.

“How did you find me?” Carter asked, peeking over my shoulder at him.

Eric laughed, an ugly, raspy sound that seemed to claw its way out of his throat. “Did you really think I would let you walk away? There’s a tracker embedded in your arm, implanted when you were young. You were an important commodity; I wasn’t about to risk losing you. I always knew where you were.” His gaze flitted to mine, his message clear. He’d always been watching, waiting to see what we would do. Was this entire thing a set-up? Had he known who I was right from the beginning?

Had we unknowingly walked into his trap?

As if in answer, four more figures stepped out from the forest, flanking Eric’s sides. They were mostly human, though deformed in the same way as Eric, some with bits of fur poking through their skin, almost like they were caught in the middle of a shift. I recognized them as employees from the lab—Sandra the lab tech, her tattoos hanging in loose flaps of skin; Nathan Randall, the rat-man, his once-lean frame now hulking with new muscle; the guard from the front desk, his eyes a sickly yellow color no longer hidden behind glasses; and… “Greg?”

His head had been lowered, but he looked up when he heard his name. His eyes were the same, though bloodshot, but the rest of him… unrecognizable. His clothes hung strangely overmisshapen limbs. “Sorry, Silas. He made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.” He stared at me intensely, as though trying to convey some kind of message. What did he mean? My blood went cold. Was he not given a choice?

Eric’s grin was full of mismatched teeth and bloody gums. “My goal was always to have a legion of super soldiers, breeding them, raising shifters from infancy to follow my command. Unfortunately, shifters are a stubborn bunch. I could never quite control them, though I was close with Carter.” I reached behind me to take Carter’s hand. “So instead, I turned my attention to what their DNA could do for me.”

Eric held up one hand, staring at it in awe. The knuckles were flared, the skin of his palms thick and callused, his fingers too long and ending in thick, black nails. “I can feel it pulsing through my veins, thick and toxic as it bonds with my DNA. I’m already so much stronger, but it does not come without a cost. I fear I have sold my soul…” He frowned, working his tongue around in his mouth, before he reached up and yanked out one of his teeth. He spat a wad of bloody phlegm onto the ground at his feet before tossing the tooth after it. “I’ll no doubt end up in Hell when this is over, but first… I’m going to rid the world of your plague.”

Eric gestured with his hand and his minions stepped forward, moving to flank us. “Back up!” I shouted, and we shuffled back fast as a group, trying to put distance between us and the threat, but a gunshot rang out from the other side, and I heard someone shout in pain, along with a responding round of gunfire. Our retreat halted, and the pack pressed closer, heads swiveling. The copper tang of blood accentuated the stench of fear.

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