Page 77 of Wolf Bane
“Go.Go!”
Tyler gave me one more backwards look then climbed out the now open window with a panting, whining Justin over his shoulder.
The door scraped across the linoleum behind me.Out of time, I realized.With a speed I hadn’t been sure I’d possessed, I crossed to the window with my patient in my arms.Below, Tyler was already running in light feet towards the far end, on my right.He didn’t look back.
Gingerly, my entire body hot and electric in fear, I straddled the windowsill, bracing Robards against my chest.“Sorry,” I muttered.“This is gonna suck for you too.”
The snarls fell quiet behind me.
Definitely out of time.
Heavy hands grabbed my shoulders as I slipped out of the window, yanking me back with a wrench, sending me and Robards both tumbling to the floor.Robards made a soft, breathless sound as he hit.He didn’t move.I rolled to my knees, pain thrumming with my pulse as I pushed to my feet.
But it wasn’t Daniel in front of me.
“Hello, Landry.It’s been a long time.You’ve gotten older.”
ChapterNineteen
“You haven’t touched your tea.”
Garrow regarded me over a monitor set up on a dusty metal desk.Vinnie Clemens had helped Daniel manhandle me to the east wing of the building, leaving Robards (maybe just his body, was he even alive, what is Eliza doing to him now?)and Eliza behind.The corridors we’d passed had been bare of any decoration, most stripped of even carpeting and padding.
The place was being renovated, I realized.At least in parts.Where we’d been, the lab area, had been some sort of health center at one time.The wing we were in now had definitely been the classrooms Tyler had supposed them to be.In a broken pile behind me were desks, disturbingly small and childish.Like someone had come in and just shoved them aside to empty the space, leaving a single wooden chair and the battered, dusty desk with Garrow’s grinning face atop it.
Vinnie had, inexplicably, brought me a cup of hot tea from an electric kettle in another room nearby.Daniel had brought me death glares.
I wasn’t sure which I preferred less.
“I’m sorry, I’m just having a little mental breakdown.I’ll take a sip in a minute.I’m sure it’s not poisoned or anything.”
It wouldn’t be—Garrow needed me for whatever he’d been working on.At least if Eliza was to be believed.My blood, my tissue, my knowledge, whatever it was wouldn’t survive being poisoned to death.But I’d still rather die of thirst than take a sip of the tea.
Garrow smiled, teeth flashing in amusement.“You should know by now it won’t affect you.You’re special, Landry.The golden child, as it were.Mal, to a lesser extent.But he didn’t garner the laurels you did.”
He motioned to someone off screen and a hand—slender, red nails, gold rings—came into view holding a folder.“Your medical records, at least as far as I had them.There’s some missing, nothing vital though.”He glanced up from his showy perusal with a tight, sympathetic smile.“Eliza tells me you were interested in learning about what we’re doing these days.”
“Eliza,” I said carefully, watching Daniel watch me from behind the monitor as if he were protecting Garrow’s back, “said a lot of things that seemed like partial truths or maybe… her own version of things.”
“Celestine indicated she’d dropped a few truths for you as well,” Garrow continued silkily, as if I hadn’t spoken.“It wasn’t my wish for you to be brought in so soon, Landry, and trust me when I say Eliza, Celestine, and Daniel will be dealt with.”Daniel’s face colored an ugly red, but he didn’t break his parade rest posture behind the monitor.“They chose to be a hammer when we require a whisper.A suggestion.”
“A fuck you, you fucking murderous monster?”I suggested politely.“Or maybe a severe and persistent ass kicking?”
Garrow glanced around the room he was in, then peered into the camera.“Your guard dogs aren’t with you, Landry.Who do you propose would mete out this ass-kicking?”
“Why are you hiding in another room?Hell, for all I know another town in another state, another country.On the fucking moon!If I’m such a non-threat for you, why aren’t you here?”I started to rise, not sure where I was going but justneeding tomove.Vinnie was fast, though, pressing me back down into the wooden chair with little finesse or gentleness.Jerking out from under his heavy hands, I glared at Garrow.“What’s your end game, then?Kill off the part-humans?Populate the world with your bespoke werewolves thanks to my DNA?”
He clicked his tongue, smirking faintly at my presumption.“If any of the mongrels can survive the culling, then they’re worthy of continuing their lineage.”
“What makes them worthy?What makes the others weak?Eliza seems to think anyone partially human is unworthy.But you’re telling me it’s justweaknessthat makes a were unworthy.Which is it?What’s your metric for deciding?Or is it just purely on vibes and you decide on a whim?You don’t like this clan, so send the special death mobile to their little rural town.This person over here didn’t kiss your ass well enough when you visited their town so off goes the Wolf Bane Express to dole out poison to the kiddies.”
“Please, Landry.You’re being dramatic.You really do remind me of Cleverly sometimes.”
“Well, she did groom me to be your lab rat, so…”
Garrow’s eye roll looked painful.“Cleverly understood my mission, Landry.”
“She wasn’t evenwere,” I snapped.“She wasn’t a shifter.Why would she give two fucks about preserving the…” My brain screeched to a halt.Those missing puzzle pieces were starting to click into place again and I felt like a blazing idiot.“She was, wasn’t she?She was null.”
