Page 19 of Broken Wolf Heart (Mafia Pack #3)

Then Grey goes still beside me.

I catch the shift in scent too—ozone, body odor, a touch of blood. Someone else is here.

A door slides open just ahead.

A man steps out, tall and sharp like a scalpel. White lab coat. Salt-and-pepper hair. A smile that belongs in nightmares. If he’s a wolf, I can’t sense it. Not like I can with the others.

“Ah,” he says. “The prodigal subject returns.”

The name on his jacket lapel says Severin.

“Hello,” Grey greets coolly. “I’m Grey Diavolo. This is Lexi Giovani, the high alpha of Indigo Hills. These are our friends.” He gestures to Mia and Crow, who don’t look inclined to offer their names or any other bit of manners.

I stiffen. Charlie told me he’d seen the name Severin in Franco’s research files. Lead researcher. High clearance. Ruthless.

“You’re Dr. Severin,” I say, ice settling in my spine. “The one who experimented on me.”

He smiles without warmth. “I see my reputation precedes me.”

“I read your name in a file,” I say, my shock slowly turning to fury. “Didn’t expect to meet the monster in person.”

“Monster is a bit dramatic,” he says, bemused. “I prefer architect. ”

“And psychopath,” Mia mutters. “But hey, tomato, tomahto.”

Before I can say anything else, a second figure appears beside him.

She’s young. Early twenties, maybe. Long dark braid, confident smirk, eyes like a storm. She wears a white lab coat too, but there’s something less intimidating about hers. Maybe it’s the stain that looks a lot like ketchup near the third button.

“Hi, I’m Davina,” she says before I can ask. “Hex witch. Technically, Severin’s lab assistant.” She leans in and drops her voice to a whisper as she adds, “Not his biggest fan.”

Severin doesn’t react despite the fact that she said it loud enough that he clearly heard her.

“You’re a hex witch?” Mia asks, not bothering to hide her surprise.

“What are you doing here?” Crow chimes in.

He makes it sound like hex witches are scarce in Indigo Hills, and from everything Grey has told me about them, he’s not wrong.

Witches might have created this city—and especially the magic that hides it from the human world—but they didn’t stick around to live in it.

And the wolves don’t seem particularly mad about that last part either.

“Franco got me out of a bit of a clusterfuck with a coven I’d rather not name,” Davina explains. “In return, I have to work off my debt here.”

Mia’s expression turns mildly suspicious. “Work—as in manual labor or…?”

“Magic,” Davina says, and Grey tenses at that.

“What sort of magic?” he asks gruffly.

“The kind that powers this place,” she says as matter-of-factly as if she were explaining how a light switch works.

But I can’t help but gawk. “Your magic powers this entire facility? ”

She nods warily, and I note the others looking less impressed and more unsettled.

“What else do you do for him?” Grey asks her.

I can’t help but feel that this interrogation has now become about Davina rather than Severin.

“It’s classified,” she says, apparently also realizing her answers aren’t going well for her.

Grey scowls and starts to respond, but I cut him off, not ready to make an enemy of someone with enough magic to power an entire science lab for years on end.

“How much do you owe him?” I ask. “For the debt, I mean.”

“My life,” she says with a shrug, “Which is ambiguous, I know, and my fault for not being specific in the terms of our deal.” Her expression darkens, and I wonder just how much Franco took advantage of this girl and what he’s made her do in the name of that debt.

Does powering this place hurt her at all?

“Well, in case you haven’t heard,” Mia says, “let me be the one to tell you the good news: Franco’s dead. I think it’s safe to say your debt is paid.”

“Yeah, you don’t have to keep this place going,” I tell her.

“Thanks.” She glances away. “But I still have a few loose ends to tie up.”

Severin clears his throat. “If Davina left, we’d need another way to power the lab.”

I start to tell him that won’t be necessary, but Grey stops me with a subtle shake of his head. “Let’s look around,” he says pointedly. “Before making any final decisions.”

He’s right. We came for answers.

I blow out a breath. “Fine.”

Grey looks at Severin. “How about a tour?”

“Certainly. The doctor gestures at the sliding door Davina came through. “The main lab is just through there. ”

“Lead the way,” Grey says in a tone ominous enough that I certainly wouldn’t have turned my back on him. But Dr. Severin is clearly used to dealing with murdery alphas because he turns around and does as Grey asks.

On the other side of the sliding door, the lab opens into a wide, high-ceiling chamber filled with softly-glowing screens and enough circuitry and screens to make my head ache just looking at them all.

In the center, a holographic image of what looks like a strand of DNA rotates in the air—twisting, pulsing red and blue.

“What is that?” Mia asks.

“This,” Severin says, “is the LAG gene sequence.”

Mia wrinkles her brow. “Is that a gamer term or…?”

I fold my arms, trying to brace myself against the horrors of my past. “It stands for Lupine Alpha Gene.”

“Very good.” He taps a few keys on a computer in the center of the room. “The Lupine Alpha Gene was discovered decades ago in rare shifter bloodlines—most often dormant or operating at a much lower level than what you see here. Franco had the vision to activate it. Enhance it.”

“You mean he experimented on people without their consent,” Grey says in a hard voice.

Severin doesn’t even have the decency to look ashamed as he says, “Sacrifice is always necessary for progress.”

Mia glares at that. I can see her toying with the handle of her knife again. “This is what Ramsey was talking about,” she says, looking back and forth between me and Grey. “The experiments Franco did.”

“Yes,” Grey says.

I blink, startled. “Ramsey told you?”

“We were basically interrogating him at that point, but yes. He said Franco experimented on you and your parents, trying to activate the gene.”

I take a wobbly breath, refusing to look at Severin in case my wolf decides to rip his throat out. “He didn’t just try,” I say quietly.

Mia snarls at that and turns back to face the doctor, her knife gripped in a white-knuckled hand.

My stomach churns, and I’m not sure I’ll stop her if she tries to take the asshole out right now.

The more I think about what was done to me—not just the experimenting but the way my wolf was stolen from me all these years—the wilder my wolf becomes.

She wants out. To take her vengeance on this place, these people.

I flick a glance at Davina, who hovers near the back, watching and listening with arms crossed. Her participation here was technically forced. I can’t let my wolf hurt her for something she didn’t have a choice about. Still, I’m getting the feeling her magic did more than keep the lights on.

“The research you did,” Grey says to Severin, and I try to breathe deeply, to calm the fire in my veins. “Do you have a list of names of the people you experimented on?”

“I’m afraid access to those records isn’t part of the tour,” Dr. Severin says.

This time, it’s Crow who takes a step forward with his fists balled, but Grey holds up a hand to stop him.

“If that’s what you think, then I’m afraid you’ve misunderstood our presence here,” Grey tells the doctor in a voice that’s deceivingly calm compared to what I feel through our bond right now. “Lexi is your new high alpha and you?—”

“I’m human,” Dr. Severin interrupts with a note of smugness, and I can’t help but snort at the way he obviously thinks that will somehow protect him now. “Which means I don’t answer to any alpha.”

“You are alive at the mercy of my wolf,” Grey snarls.

My feet are moving before I realize it, and I step between them, snagging Mia’s knife from her hand as I go.

Pressing the tip into Dr. Severin’s throat, I meet his eyes, letting him see the fury I’m barely leashing.

He flinches, but then goes utterly still when the knife’s tip threatens to puncture his skin.

“And mine,” I tell him quietly.

At that, Severin swallows audibly.

“We’ll take those records now,” Mia says with fake sweetness.

“I’ll get them.” Davina makes her way to the central computer where she starts typing in a flurry of keystrokes.

I turn my attention back to Severin. “You used me against my will. And my parents before that. For years, you injected poisons and drugs into people, leaving them broken or worse. How can you still think that’s okay?”

“I gave you purpose,” he says, triumph shining in his cold eyes. “You were the key to the next phase of evolution. And from what I hear, your wolf is the most powerful and lethal this pack has seen in generations. You should be thanking me.”

Fury rises like bile in my chest. Baring my teeth, I press hard enough with the knife to draw blood. Through the bond, I feel the darkness pulse, egging me on, and it’s impossible to tell whether that darkness belongs to me or Grey or both.

“Listen, dude’s a prick,” Mia says from behind me. “But are we really doing this?”

I don’t answer her. Neither does Grey.

“I thought we were doing things different than the old man did,” she points out.

I don’t answer, my voice lost to the beast hovering just beneath my skin.

Crow says something I can’t hear over the roar in my ears.

A moment later, Mia appears at my side. “Lex, he’s not worth it,” she says quietly. “Or if he is, this is not the way. I don’t want you to lose yourself just to end this piece of shit.”

Maybe it’s the fact that it’s coming from her, a girl who, not ten minutes ago, casually stabbed a guard in the leg for me, but her words reach the part of me that my wolf’s fury is trying to bury.

I blink.

Some of my humanity leaks back in.