Page 49 of Vicious Wolf Mate

“Push me one more time to see what happens.”

Mace interjects. “Alright, wait, stop. We can’t get distracted with a stupid fight between us—”

Drario barks. “You were the one that started it, Mace!”

I groan. “Guys, please, fight later. We really don’t have the time for that shit.”

I hear frantic breathing close to me. I look at Mace incredulously, thinking it’s him. No, he’s looking at Jax with a worried expression.

The latter stands up and walks in circles holding his chest then his head. His breathing becomes more frantic with each step. He bites his bottom lip.

“Jax what’s wrong?” Mace asks.

He grits his teeth. There’s a slight heaving in his chest.

Jax shakes his head. “What are we gonna do, Mace? This is bigger than we thought it was going to be. We just wanted to get Gnash back but now that he’s here we’re finding out that they want to get rid of us? Not just us - Big Sky - but our whole existence? Now we’re against each other just like they want. That’s how they’re getting to us. We’re lab rats to them. Oh my God it’s fucking over man. We’re fucking done. Dead. Dead. Fucking dead. I—”

He starts salivating at the mouth. His eyes are wide and manic. Through the dark I can see him grabbing tufts of his hair. He’ll have bald patches if he keeps freaking out.

Mace stands to help him calm down. Only, Drario beat him to it. He walks towards Jax and slaps him hard as fuck behind his back.

Jax stops hyperventilating and coughs instead.

“Shut up,” Drario says in an irritating tone.

“Sorry,” Jax mumbles between coughs.

Thankfully, the ‘boys’ don’t start back up their petty fight.

I turn back to Gnash. “It’s still way out of Insignys’ reach. To geteverysingle human against shifters? It’s just not possible.”

“Yes, but not out of the government’s reach. It’s a nation-wide plot now. They’re trying to ‘purify’ America.”

We all gasp. Jax tries to suppress a squeak. His teeth chatter. His breathing starts becoming frantic again.

I want to freak out with him. My father’s hatred towards shifters really brought him to this. I never thought he would gothisfar.

Mace looks at me. He studies my face as I turn to him. He’s determined instead of scared.

“So how do we stop them?”

35

MACE

“Mckenna? Please, what do you know, how can we stop them?” I look at her as she gets a far-off stare. Her mind must be going a mile a minute. I don’t think she ever expected her father to be a part of a plan this evil.

I gently place my hands on Mckenna’s shoulders and step in front of her. Her eyes refocus on me. The terror in her eyes is visible, I’m sure I have a similar look in mine. But right now, we need to act and act fast.

“Mckenna, is there anything you can think of? Anything that might help us put an end to this?”

“Albuquerque,” she says in a low whisper.

“Albuquerque?” I hear Jax say behind me.

“Like the city?” Gnash adds. I turn around and shush them both. I look back at Mckenna and wait for her to continue.

“An operation like this, it can’t be done just anywhere,” Mckenna says. The confidence in her voice grows, she’s on to something, I just know it. “If this is really happening, and my father is behind it, he’d be running it from Insignys’ home base. There’s this underground bunker in the center of Albuquerque.”

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