Page 33 of The Beast's Betrayed Mate
He raised his shoulders in a shrug like he knew there was no point in trying to convince her. He wasn’t going to. It was her choice.
Of course, she had to look.
She sighed, dragging herself back to the office chair when a noise made them both freeze. Her hand was on the backrest of the chair, her eyes staring at the wall behind the desk as though the smallest movement might alert whoever was out there to their presence.
The office had no windows. The door was closed.
There was no way that anyone would notice the soft glow of the computer because the door was insulated for noise. No light could escape.
But they were dealing with a company that was messing with wolf DNA. So, it wasn’t too much of a stretch of the imagination to think that they might have wolves working for them.
She held her breath. Next to her, Peter was doing the same.
When all was still quiet even after a tense minute had passed, they both started to relax.
“This was an insane plan,” he said.
“It was a bit of a hit or a miss,” she agreed. “So far, so good, right?”
She knew she’d just used that expression and that she was bordering on sounding desperate.
“I’m not sure I’d go that far,” he remarked.
“Maybe good isn’t the right word,” she acknowledged, taking her seat again. “Look at that,” she said softly. “My God, they’ve already progressed the trials. They started out giving it to wolves to see how it affected them. If it affected them.” She checked the date on the file. “Fifteen years ago. And look… It was volatile. Many of the subjects… Jesus Christ,” she mumbled.
“They killed them,” he said slowly.
She nodded. “I can’t believe Jay knows about this,” she murmured. “The guy at this desk. He’s so nice. I wonder… Maybe I should leave him a note?”
“A note?”
“Yeah, for him to check all of this out for himself. So, he’s not working in the black like I was,” she said, growing defensive at Peter’s tone.
“I think it seems like Jay is overseeing this.”
“No, he started working here after me,” she shook her head. “He took this desk over from the guy before him and, with the workload, it’s possible he hasn’t checked back this far. He’s focused on the current trials. And those are…”
She swallowed. She didn’t want to admit it. She didn’t want to even consider what this meant for her own work. What had she been doing all these months? And why had she been chosen? Because she had seemed gullible enough to not ask any unnecessary questions?
“Fuck, I’ve been so stupid,” she murmured.
“It’s not like you knew,” he tried to console.
She shook her head, unable to look at him. “I should have,” she said. “Because my work is all about human trials.”
“Olive.”
“No,” she bit off, not feeling like she deserved any kindness.
He backed off, but she could feel the understanding radiating off him.
“I might be part in why this happened to you,” she said.
“No,” he stated with emphasis, his hand on her arm, squeezing it. “No, you weren’t. You didn’t make any decisions. And you might not think it’s a good enough excuse that you weren’t in the know, but seriously… You didn’t have a fucking clue. Who would think MRM capable of something like this? They’re squeaky clean. I know the Maynard brothers, for God’s sakes. One of them is my closest friend, andIhad no clue that this was happening right under everyone’s noses.”
“And if this is happening, then just imagine what else might be,” she said bitterly. “We should burn it all to the ground.”
“But we can’t,” he said.
