Page 113 of Corbin
Now that he had their full attention, Justin stopped kidding around and asked, “You do think Adrian can fix his wolf, right?”
Cole cut a steely gaze over at Justin, then shoved his hands in his pants pockets and looked forward again. “I don’t know, man. I’m in all the way to do whatever it takes to save him, but I still remember when we brought Adrian to this place and how he looked when we left him here. I’ve sent messages for the past ten days and gotten no replies. It’s not like he can’t get them. The Guardian set up a satellite link, so he’d have internet service for his mobile phone, and he’s got a generator with plenty of fuel.”
Justin hooked his thumbs in the corners of his front jeans pockets and walked down a slope to the ward entrance that had been set between two old oak trees. “I hear you, Cole, and agree Adrian should have answered you. He might not have spent much time in the cabin, though. He spent three years overseas without creature comforts and I’m thinking he might not like being inside a building even for a little bit.”
“Especially after being held prisoner,” Rory said, then added a sobering point. “It’s time to stop dancing around the topic and just say it out loud. If Adrian has remained in his wolf form this whole time, we may be facing an impossible task.”
True, but Justin had sensed a longing in Adrian when the Guardian had granted him this time to regain control of his wolf. Of course, that had happened only after the three of them argued on Adrian’s behalf and asked for a chance to work with him.
Adrian had been ready to submit to the Guardian.
In his shoes, Justin would have been, too, but that’s why they were a brotherhood, more than just friends.
Adrian had been on a mission when he infiltrated enemy territory alone to rescue a female fox shifter hostage, but it had been a trap.
The enemy used a missile to hit the helo extracting them just as the bird lifted off.
Everyone died except Adrian.
When he came to a day later, he’d suffered major broken bones and internal damage besides bleeding external wounds.
Even worse, he had no way to shift and heal.
They’d locked him inside a cage three feet on all sides and constructed of titanium. They fed him just enough raw meat to keep him alive.
His claws and fangs would extend then retract. He said sometimes his limbs would partially shift into a hideous half form.
The Guardian had warned all of them to never stop partway into a shift, going either direction, or they faced the possibility of being stuck and turning their animal rabid.
Cole and Rory had grown up thinking they were human and had not known about that potential problem until after they shifted the first time. On the other hand, Justin had grown up being taught to never shift partway. It hadn’t mattered, not until meeting his bear.
He would never do that and put Herc at risk.
They were a tight pair. Herc had covered Justin’s butt more than once while they were overseas in military operations.
But Adrian had no choice in the partial shifting, which erupted unexpectedly while he’d been captured. The only good news about his body shifting just one part at a time was that Adrian had survived. His wolf had been far too big to fit inside the tiny space. If he’d shifted fully inside that small titanium box, he wouldn’t have made it back to human.
The result, though, had been severely damaging his wolf.
Justin got sick to his stomach with guilt every time he thought about what had happened to Adrian.
It was Justin’s fault. He should have been on that mission, not his wolf shifter teammate. But Justin’s mother had died, and the Guardian felt it was important for Justin to attend the funeral held by Clan Boudreaux. His boss knew Justin hadturned his back on that clan after years of misery among those people, a lot of it from his mother.
Justin went to the funeral.
Adrian got captured.
Adrian’s wolf went mad the first week of being in that cage.
When Justin and the team finally tracked down the rebels holding Adrian, they annihilated the entire camp and got their Gallize brother back. Transporting him home required heavy sedation. During the flight, he shifted every few hours while still knocked out. Rory worked on setting bones and monitoring his health, but nobody could touch his mind.
Upon seeing the Guardian again, Adrian immediately demanded to be put down or freed.
He would not accept being locked in a Gallize training facility to work through control issues.
The Guardian refused to allow any Gallize shifter with no control and capable of massive slaughter to move among unprotected humans.
Justin and the guys argued at the top of their lungs on Adrian’s behalf.
