Page 43 of Midnight Bond (Wolves of Midnight #5)

“I’m cured,” he excitedly proclaimed. “I’m cured!”

A few of the other subjects started to say the same thing, and the doctors cheered. I didn’t move a muscle, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

It happened seconds later, starting with a surprised gasp, then an alarmed shout. “What’s happening to me? What’s happening to me?!”

A female subject screamed, terror filling her eyes as dark claws began to emerge from her fingertips. Another subject cried out in agony as their bones started to break, the transformation process swiftly overtaking them.

“Dr. Sloane! Dr. Sloane!” a guard yelled, rushing across the lab toward her. “We’re being breached!”

Over the cries and screams of the shifting humans, I heard a distant boom as if something heavy had just struck a door or wall. When it happened again, a voice filled my head. Her voice.

Jagger!

My eyes snapped open.

Jagger, I’m here!

A hot tear rolled down my cheek.

Another distant boom reached me, and I knew then that it wasn’t something. It was my alpha. My pack. My family had come for me, led by my beautiful mate.

Brielle, I hoarsely called back, overwhelmed to hear her voice again.

Mate! Onyx howled in glee.

Oh, thank God, Brielle sobbed, sounding so relieved that another tear escaped me.

Before I could respond, a shrill voice interrupted, shrieking, “This is all your fault!” I looked up to find Dr. Sloane wheeling toward me, her face lit with fury. “Your mate brought them here. I should have killed her when I had the chance!”

I didn’t reply. Just stared at her, my expression devoid of emotion.

A furious cry burst from her, and she whipped out a gun to point it at my face.

A shot rang out, and I flinched. More shots fired, and I realized then that they weren’t coming from her.

Guards were rushing across the lab, firing at two huge forms standing on the edge of the viewing platform above.

At the sight of them, a huge grin split my face.

Dr. Sloane whipped her head around to see what had caught my eye. When she spotted Kolton and Griff in their demonic wolf forms, all color leached from her face. “No.”

More figures appeared, more faces I recognized.

Bill and Noah Andrews were among them, along with several other field agents from the SCA.

They wasted no time firing back at the armored guards below, not just with bullets but with magic.

Even more familiar faces came into view, lining up along the platform’s edge.

Energy surged through me.

My pack. Midnight Pack had arrived.

They were all in their wolf forms, their bright yellow eyes peering down at the growing chaos below. One pair in particular caught my attention, and I locked eyes with my mate.

Onyx went wild, straining to get to her. My body violently trembled, the restraints holding me down groaning under the force.

Dr. Sloane’s gun clattered to the floor, and she reached into her pocket for something else.

My eyes snapped back to her as she pulled out a syringe, and I tensed, finally ready to fight.

But instead of aiming it at me, she jerked up her coat sleeve and positioned the needle in the crook of her elbow.

“It won’t fix you,” I finally spoke to her. “Not in the way you want it to.”

She looked up at me and paused, seeing the truth of it in my eyes. Pursing her lips, she said, “I don’t care anymore. Anything is better than rotting away in this wheelchair for the rest of my life.”

With that, she plunged the needle into her flesh.

Almost immediately, she felt the effects of the serum. Her eyes brightened, her lips parting in a surprised O. Reaching up, she removed her glasses and blinked, whispering, “I can see again.” With a gasp, she reached down and touched her legs. “My strength is returning! I can . . . I can . . .”

Ignoring the chaos around us, she scooted forward in her chair and set her feet on the floor. Awkwardly, she pushed up, her thin legs trembling as they took her weight for the first time in five years. A laugh left her, and she shuffled forward a step. She took another, and that’s when it happened.

“No!” she cried, collapsing into a heap on the floor. Her body started to convulse, and a scream of pure agony belted from her.

At the sound, a chill skated down my spine. I’d heard that scream before. Knew what it meant.

“Help me!” Dr. Sloane screamed, writhing on the floor as her body tried to shift. Tried and failed.

It was rejecting the toxin, and there was nothing I could do to help her.

As her body continued to rage against the serum she’d injected herself with, I finally told Onyx it was time.

He didn’t need to be told twice. Surging upward in excitement, he used the strength we’d been slowly building for the past two days to partially shift.

My arms and legs lengthened, sprouting fur and packing on more muscle.

Together, we fought to break free of our restraints, pouring all the energy we had into the effort.

An extra dose of energy suddenly shot through me. Surprised, I glanced up and spotted Brielle’s wolf on the same floor as me now, her yellow eyes intently fixed on mine.

Hope that helps, she said to me through our bond.

I grinned at her a mile wide. It most definitely does.

With the combined strength of all three of us, I easily snapped through the restraints and tore off the oxygen mask, tubes, wires. Without taking my eyes off her, I stood and stepped forward.

Before I could pass by Dr. Sloane, she grabbed my ankle and whimpered, “Kill me.”

Reluctantly, I looked down at her, taking in how small and helpless she now seemed. Sweat beaded her brow, her body continuing to convulse as it fought off the transformation.

“Kill me!” she repeated, begged, a scream slipping past her clenched teeth.

I stared at her a moment more, then reached down and picked up the gun she’d aimed at my head.

It would be easy, so easy to kill her. She deserved nothing less for what she’d done to me, my mate, and countless other supernaturals.

I held the gun for another few moments, then bent and pried her hand off my ankle, placing the gun in it instead.

“Do it yourself,” I told her, then turned and walked away, leaving her to face the fate she’d brought on herself.

The second my eyes met Brielle’s again, I picked up speed.

All around us, wolves and SCA agents were fighting against armored guards.

Doctors and their assistants were running around in a panic as the humans transforming into werewolves for the first time broke free of their restraints.

The lab was a mess of havoc, but I ignored it all, my sole focus on the beautiful female dashing toward me in wolf form.

We met in a clash of fur and partially-shifted limbs, so forcefully that we bowled each other over and collapsed to the ground. I fiercely gathered her against me, laughing when her long tongue darted out and caught my cheek.

Mate! Onyx yipped like an overgrown pup, wagging his tail so excitedly that I let it spring out to beat against the floor.

I tightly held Brielle to me, letting the chaotic world around us fade. She was safe in my arms, exactly where she belonged. All the pain and suffering I’d endured melted away, replaced with a certainty that our future together was secure.

I could feel it in my soul. Feel it through the precious bond that was strengthening between us once more.

Brielle snuggled close and whispered through our bond, I love you.

I heaved out a contented sigh, whispering back, “I love you, too.”