Page 82 of Wilde and Untamed
thirty
Rue’s anklethrobbed with each step as Jess marched them through the corridors of Thwaites Station, the barrel of her pistol an occasional reminder against Rue’s spine. The warmth of the station after hours in the Antarctic cold should have been a relief, but instead it felt suffocating, the recycled air heavy with fear and something chemical and wrong that caught in the back of her throat. She glanced at Elliot beside her, his face a mask, giving nothing away.
Was this how it had started at Takahe, too—with betrayal from within, with friends turning to enemies before anyone understood what was happening?
“Move faster,” Jess ordered, nudging Rue with the gun.
“Touch her with that again, and I’ll break your arm,” Elliot said, his voice low and dangerous.
Jess laughed. “I’d like to see you try.”
She underestimated him, thought he was weak because he was easy-going and reasonable and a bit OCD. And, yes, he was all that, but he was also a Wilde, and Jess had no idea how dangerous the Wildes could be when backed into a corner.
Or, for that matter, how dangerous a Bristow could be.
“Why are you doing this?” Rue asked, not bothering to keep the disgust from her voice. She wanted to keep Jess talking and distracted, because distracted people made mistakes. “These are your colleagues, Jess. Your friends.”
“Friends?” Jess snorted. “No. Praetorian sent me to join Moretti’s little rescue expedition and disappear him, make him just another victim of the ice. Koos, too, because I wasn’t supposed to leave witnesses. It was only bad luck that he chose to come here and dragged us right into the fucking middle of the experiment.”
“Experiment?”
Jess scoffed. “You really don’t know why Dr. Keene came here, do you?”
“Project Thanatos,” Elliot said. It wasn’t a question.
Rue turned to stare at his profile.He knew?
“It was in Helena Moretti’s files,” he said before she could ask. “She was at Takahe to study the pathogen.”
“Takahe was the first field test,” Jess confirmed. Her voice was devoid of emotion, like she wasn’t talking about a mass murder. “Of course, none of them knew that when they joined the expedition.”
Rue’s skin crawled. “You’re going to weaponize it.”
“We already are.”
They turned a corner into the central common area, and Rue stumbled to a halt despite the gun at her back.
No.
Among the Praetorian operatives was a face that didn’t belong—a face she’d last seen at Elliot’s birthday party. Dark hair, bronze skin, and those unmistakable blue eyes that ran in the Wilde family. He stood among the operatives, reviewing something on a tablet while two soldiers flanked him. He wore the same black tactical gear as the others, but with no mask, his sharp chin and stern expression unmistakable.
Beside her, Elliot went rigid. His breathing changed, becoming shallow and controlled. “Cade.”
Cade looked up, his eyes widening slightly at the sight of them. For a fraction of a second, something like relief flickered across his features, then all of his shields slammed down.
“You’re alive,” Cade said, approaching them with measured steps. He looked between them, taking in their battered appearance. “When we heard about the crevasse, I thought?—”
“You thought what?” Elliot demanded. “That we were dead and your problem was solved?”
A muscle ticked in Cade’s jaw, but he didn’t reply.
“You bastard!” Elliot surged forward, fists clenched, but two soldiers shoved him back. “How could you work for the people who tried to kill Davey? Who nearly killed me?”
“I didn’t have a choice. Davey fired me?—”
“You quit!”
“I needed a job, and this is the only thing I’m good at,” Cade shot back, temper flaring in his eyes.
