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Milo was on the brink of a whole new life, and he couldn’t wait for it to get started.

Chapter Twenty-Five

IT DIDN’Tmatter to Dellan that he was home. The familiar, comfortable surroundings only reminded him that he didn’twantto feel comfortable. He didn’t want anyone to see him in his present state either, and that included Horvan and Rael. They’d tried to do whatever they could to make him feel better, but right now he didn’twantto feel better. He wanted the pain, the agony.

I never got the chance to know Alec.

Would things have been different if he had? What could have come of it? Alec was still nothing more than a science experiment, destined to die young.

Gods, this fuckinghurt.

He wanted to hit something. Someone. He wanted to go into Horvan’s weapon box and pull out a gun, then force the barrel down Theron’s throat, empty the clip, then reload.Who could do this to a child? What kind of fucking monster was he?

Except Theron was God knew where, and as for Dellan getting within an inch of him? That wasn’t going to happen.

So many questions filled his head.

How many of the Gerans knew what their leaders were up to?Eve had known about their breeding program, but not about the forced mating, so would anyone else?

Would they have a change of heart once they heard about the child they’d mutilated?

He wanted to believe they would. Because the alternative made them as monstrous as Theron.

And speaking of monstrous….

The news that the Gerans had conducted more experiments hadn’t been a surprise.Since when do scientists conduct only one experiment?What shocked him was the nature of their research. Eve had related what she’d learned about Logan, who was the dearest little creature ever. She’d shown them the photos, and it was hard to marry up the image of an adorablered panda with the knowledge that scientists had tried all kinds of DNA experimentation on him.

Because they could.

Just to see what happened.

He was a goddamnbaby, for fuck’s sake.

Like Alec. And probably like countless others. Dellan doubted they’d ever know the true extent of the Geran’s manipulations, and to be honest, he wasn’t sure he wanted to know. It was too hard. Too painful. The memory of his son as he took his last breath, of seeing him die. Of feeling the pain of a child he never even knew existed until it was too late to save him. Why couldn’t he get Alec’s face out of his mind? He didn’t know him, but now he would never forget him.

“Dellan?” Eve’s low voice shattered the quiet of the small living room where he’d holed himself up.

He stifled a groan. “Not now, Eve. Please… leave me alone, all right?”

The next moment, he found himself engulfed in a hug.

Dellan struggled to break free, to keep his cool, but his emotions overwhelmed him, and he broke down, gulping huge breaths in an attempt to get himself under control. Eve sat beside him on the couch, her arm around him, making soft crooning noises that soothed him, eating away at his anger, lessening it.

Dellan laid his head on her shoulder. “I’m sorry,” he choked out.

“It’s okay to let it all out,” she said softly. “And I’m sorry for disturbing you when you wanted to be alone, but I couldn’t stay away.”

He breathed in her warm, comforting scent. “No, you’re good. I needed to break out of that pity party I’d gotten myself mired in.” He closed his eyes. “I keep thinking about all those poor kids. Brought into the world to be soldiers in a battle their parents didn’t want any part of. Abandoned. Rejected.” He sniffed. “I want to do something to help. I just don’t know what.”

Eve stroked his back. “You have money. Why not get a fund started? A charity that people could donate to or get help from.”

He liked that idea. “I’d thought about setting up a trust for all the shifters who’d been part of the breeding program. You know, providing them with financial support to help them raise their kids.”

Except there were shifters out there who wanted nothing to do with their kids.

As if she’d read his mind, Eve murmured, “But that still leaves a lot of children with nowhere to go. They need families. And a safe space until those families come along.”

Therehadto be enough people with compassion, enough to take a kid—or two—under their wing and into their hearts.