Page 11 of Redeemed Wolf (Grim Wilds #4)

Chapter 11

Silas

It was going to be a long morning, anticipating lunchtime. My wolf was still riding me hard, with no concept of patience when it came to taking what we wanted.

Mate. Carter. Claim. Knot. Bite. Mate… mate… mate…

That was pretty much the extent of his dialogue, from the moment I woke up in the morning until I went to sleep at night, and it was making me especially irritable with everyone.

Greg stepped up to my car window. “Hey, Silas. Any word on—”

“No! I have heard nothing about Melissa,” I snapped, more clipped than I’d intended it to be. “But I suggest you stop looking or you’ll be next.”

He looked like I’d slapped him, and I breathed hard, nostrils flaring. I’d promise Shan I was going to try my best not to be an asshole. “Sorry, I didn’t mean anything by that. Work’s been… a lot to handle. That’s no excuse to take it out on you.”

“It’s all right. We all get a little rangy around the full moon.”

I glanced up at him sharply. Did he know what I was, or was it simply a statement about human nature? No one was entirely immune to the moon’s pull, regardless of species. “Yeah. Right.”

“And you’re probably right about Melissa. There are only two possible outcomes, so I’m choosing to believe she got a job in California, making the big bucks.”

“Maybe she won the lottery and she’s on a beach, working on her tan,” I said.

He smiled sadly. “Yeah, I like that.” He swiped my card then passed it back, and the gate began to open as he passed it back to me. “You have a good day, Silas. Try to take it easy. Don’t forget that work isn’t everything.”

“You too.”

As much as I wished I could keep my mind looking forward to lunch, all hope of a relaxing day came to a screeching halt when I saw Dr. Taylor waiting at the desk. He was looking down at his watch, emitting an intense energy that I could taste coming off him. It was a sharp flavor, like if they made pine sap into a sour candy. My wolf was immediately on the alert.

“Hey, boss. What’s up?” I asked warily, prepared for the worst.

As charming, polite, and mild-mannered as he was at first glance, he’d begun to let his guard down around me, but it wasn’t a pretty sight beneath the facade. His eyes were filled with a manic light, his smile turning a little feral. “Oh, Silas, you’re in for a real treat today. Some of my experiments have been going well, very well indeed, and I wanted to try a round of tests with a new sample.” Samples. That meant a new cell, a new test subject.

“You know you can count on me,” I told him, loosening a button at the top of my collar. The uniform was built for easy movement, thankfully, since it looked like I was going to be wrestling with a shifter this morning.

“I know I can.”

I wanted to believe I was more emotionally prepared for this, after last time. I couldn’t afford to have a breakdown every time I was forced into this position. It was a lot, obviously, but this was what we’d been waiting for. If this was how I got in touch with the other shifters, then that was what needed to happen. They would understand in the end, it was necessary.

Eric let me stow my gear, then we convened at the end of the hall, farthest from the lab, where the temperature was coldest. There were twice as many guards as last time, burlier more seasoned men, but this time, a few of them were armed with more than tasers. They had heavy assault rifles designed to take lethal action.

Eric caught me eyeing up the weapons. “Merely a precaution,” he said.

“Where’s my precaution?” I asked. The non-lethal weapon I carried seeming small and pointless in comparison.

He looked straight at me, his eyes hard. “You won’t need it. You understand these creatures better than these guards do. You know how they move. You’ll be fine, I have faith in you.”

I’d been watching for Carter, but I could sense him on the other side of the building, and I wondered if that was intentional on Eric’s part. He knew what Carter was, but Carter himself didn’t have a clue. What would happen if he knew his brother and sister were locked in these cells, that they were the ones whose samples he was working on?

Dr. Taylor rubbed his hands together gleefully. “This subject, he is my most prized possession,” he said in a subdued whisper so that only I could hear. “Just barely 20 and already the fiercest shifter I’ve ever seen. Well, in captivity, anyway,” he amended quickly, and I wondered if he was thinking about the time Jude had beaten him within an inch of his life. My lips twitched with the threat of a smile. Eric seemed unaware of my humor, drifting in his own thoughts. “Can you imagine the potential? If I could find a way to harness even a fraction of that power… I would be unstoppable.”

He cleared his throat, shaking himself from whatever fantasy he’d lost himself in. “And I am most hopeful that his genetics would bring about the most benefit. I speculate that his DNA—his wolf’s DNA—is more dominant than, say, an omega’s, so when splicing with a human’s cells, it might bring forward some of those coveted traits.”

“Like health and healing,” I offered.

“Hm? Yes, of course. I can just imagine the medical journals clamoring to get their hands on my research when it’s done.”

“So you would tell the world shifters exist?” I asked, more than a little skeptical. This seemed like the kind of information he would rather keep to himself.

Instead of answering, he turned to face the group of guards in the hall. “You boys ready?”

They nodded and echoed with a solid, “Yes, sir,” like the trained soldiers they had become, but it would be impossible to miss the way their fingers itched toward triggers. I just hoped we got this over with before someone accidentally shot me in the back.

Eric nudged me forward, leaning in to whisper in my ear. “The girl you saw, she’s an alpha too, but this one, don’t expect any cooperation from him. He won’t just spit at you—he’ll go for the jugular if you give him half a chance. He is positively brimming with strength and power. And stubborn to a fault. No matter how many times he gets taken down, he still thinks he can win.”

“Well… we’ll sure show him who’s boss.”

“That we shall,” he agreed, his eyes zeroed in on that door, as if he could already see the shifter on the other side. “Right… you’re up. Show me what you can do.”

I really wished he weren’t so giddy about the whole thing, seeing as it was likely Isaac on the other side of this door, and if he was as stubborn and wild as Eric claimed him to be, then there was no saying he wouldn’t act first without thinking. I needed to take him down fast, try to get him to understand why I was on this side of the door, get him to see reason.

Sweat trickled down my spine, soaking into my shirt, and my breathing picked up until I was nearly panting. I can’t do this. I’m so fucked .

Carter , my wolf said gently, mate , before recalling an image of him for me, smiling crookedly. It soothed and centered me in a way I hadn’t expected from my beast. Since when was he the logical one?

He seemed to have faith in me that we would survive this ordeal, all so we could make it to lunch with our mate. It was a simple goal, but also a vital one.

Steadying my grip on the taser and taking a slow, even breath, I turned and gave a sharp nod to the guard with his hand on the door. He jerked it back in one move, and I charged through the opening.

I barely registered the man before me as Isaac. There were hardly any traces left of the boy he’d been. And Eric had been right—this man was powerful. Huge shoulders for someone so young, his stringy hair hanging past his shoulders. He clearly took after his older brother, and that made me justifiably worried, because Isaac had heard us coming, and he was ready.

There was no time for words or subtle nods this time, no chance to communicate why I was there. Amelia had been cautious, wary, curious. Isaac was just pissed off—and he had at least 40 pounds on me.

What he didn’t have was experience.

He plowed into me, shoulder down, aiming to take me down, but instead of trying to absorb the hit, I used his momentum against him, pivoting with my hip and carrying him around. Wrapping an arm around his waist and tripping him up, I brought him straight down, face down on the concrete. His growl cut off with a grunt as I slammed him into the floor and dropped my full weight on his back.

I didn’t have to ask for cuffs this time, they were there waiting for me when I reached for them. I wrenched his arms back, feeling bone and sinew grinding as he tried to shift beneath me. I did what I could to keep him in place, but he seemed prepared to dislocate his shoulders if it meant getting free. I imagined this was what bull riders felt trying to stay in the saddle. Isaac bucked hard, even with three of us piled on top of him. He growled and whipped his head around, trying to get his teeth into some flesh.

“Watch it!” I shouted, but it was too late. Isaac caught someone’s gloved hand where the guard was trying to hold his shoulder, and the man howled, tearing his hand free with a spray of blood.

I was about to tell them to drug him, to hell with keeping the sample clean, when through the open door we heard a long howl. Amelia.

Isaac went still, eyes flashing a crisp blue, as he listened to her sharp warning. He gnashed his teeth a few times, but otherwise remained still. He didn’t fight as we got the restraints on his ankles, although his muscles were coiled and ready. I heard someone give Dr. Taylor the all-clear, and then Eric at last stepped into the room.

“Well… isn’t that interesting,” he said, staring from the hallway where the last of Amelia’s howl died away, down to Isaac’s prone body, his torso heaving with labored breath. “I wonder what she said to make you so tame.”

“Fuck you,” Isaac spat, determined to show us just how wild he remained.

Eric chuckled. “It doesn’t seem to matter that you have no one to talk to, you still somehow managed to pick up the most vulgar language. Such keen ears you must have, to listen through these thick walls.” He reached out and gave Isaac’s ear a sharp tug, and Isaac jerked his head, trying to keep out of reach.

I had no doubt that he could snap these restraints if he set his mind to it. They might slice through flesh, but he would heal. The humans in this room, however, would not. If the cold and malnutrition were slowing him down, I couldn’t imagine how strong he would be on a good day.

As Eric took spinal fluid, I could feel the violent rumble of Isaac’s growl, roiling inside him, but he didn’t fight it. I wasn’t about to relax my grip on him, though. I couldn’t trust him not to fight the second he saw an opening. Didn’t he realize the number of guards that stood between him and freedom? It wasn’t like they would just let him walk out the door.

When it came time to flip him, we did it with extreme caution. Isaac’s eyes locked on mine, and I refused to look away, glaring straight back. There was no doubt he knew what I was, even if he didn’t know my name or why I was here. I could see all the questions he had, but thankfully, he kept his mouth shut. I wished there were a way I could explain, tell him he wasn’t alone, that he would get his chance at revenge, but instead, I had to trust in his curiosity.

The rest of the testing went smoothly, except this time, instead of leaving us to deal with removing the restraints on our own, Eric injected a heavy dose of sedatives straight into his neck. “They’ll clear out of his system in a matter of minutes, so we’ll need to get clear fast.”

As soon as Isaac sagged under me, we removed the cuffs and filed out the door.

“Those were some impressive moves,” Eric said to me. “Quick reflexes. I had a good feeling about you.” He was watching me too closely, analyzing my body type. I was too skinny to have that kind of heft, too young to have the skill. Did he suspect what I was?

I needed a distraction, and a sudden reckless idea flitted through my mind. A way to change the topic of conversation, as well as give a small message to Isaac. Whether he would hear me through the drugs or not was another story.

So, as we headed out the door, I asked Eric, “Where’s Carter today? I was hoping to say hi.” I smiled in that slick way I had when I was thinking impure thoughts.

Behind me on the floor, I heard a whimper as Isaac tried to speak. “C-C-Car…”

“Not here,” Eric snapped, shooting a look over his shoulder at Isaac before giving me a shove through the door. There was blood smeared on the tiles in the hall, almost black beneath the red light, but there was no sign of the injured guard. He’d likely been taken for medical attention.

As soon as the door was shut and locked behind us, Eric rounded on me, anger coming off him in waves. “I thought I made myself clear that you will stay away from my son.”

I held my hands up in defense. “Whoa, yeah, I got it. Sorry, I was just asking.” Well, my goal had been achieved; he was no longer looking at me like I was a potential experiment waiting to happen. Nope, now he wanted to flay me alive for even thinking of looking at his son . I wasn’t sure which was worse.

He had to know he couldn’t keep this up. Carter would find out what he’d done, and the more time we spent together, the better his chances of remembering would be.

I was more than ready for noon to roll around. When Carter stepped into the breakroom, I already had a little picnic of food set out. I’d brought two of everything, even though he’d said he would bring his own lunch. The way his eyes lit up when he saw the spread made it all worthwhile.

“What’s this?” he asked, sliding into the chair across from me.

“Lunch, of course. What kind of alpha would I be if I didn’t offer to feed you?” I passed him a turkey sandwich, an apple, a little bag of crackers, a juice box, and a chocolate cupcake.

He reached for the dessert first, his eyes sparkling. “You really didn’t have to do that.”

A sweet tooth. I could work with that.

“I didn’t have to, but I wanted to.” More like needed to. My instincts had me desperate to take care of him somehow, and as awful as the food selection at the apartment was, my wolf had demanded we provide for our mate. Under different circumstances, I would’ve brought down the biggest buck I could find to leave at his feet.

The air in the room had changed, I’d noticed, sweetened somehow from yesterday. His scent no longer held that acidic twist, but had shifted more to his natural scent, more dew and meadow flower than charcoal and ash. I breathed him in deeply, my body reacting to the aroma. And there, beneath it all, was the first hint of his wolf, beginning to stir.

I wonder what changed…

I wished I could drag his chair over to my side of the table, or even better, draw him into my lap, but that wasn’t how I had to play this. He was shy, nervous around me because he didn’t know how to trust what he was probably feeling. His wolf had to recognize his mate. Would that be enough to push through whatever Eric had done to him?

“So… are you ever going to ask me out?” My gaze flicked up to catch Carter’s cheeky smile.

“Maybe I was waiting for you to ask me out,” I teased, smiling before I bit down on my lip, plucking a grape from its stem to keep my hands busy. “You know, your father has told me to stay away from you.”

He winced. “Sorry about that. Don’t worry about him, I’ll handle it. He’s a little overprotective, but I promise he’s harmless.” Was he, though? How could Carter be so blind to what was happening within these walls? To his own brother and sister!

“Well, in that case…” I began, unwrapping a straw to stab through the top of the juice box, before passing it across the table. “Maybe I could take you to dinner tonight. I promise it’ll be better than this pathetic lunch.”

He laughed, a musical sound that made my heart skip a beat. I instantly made it my life’s mission to make him laugh as much as possible, just so I could hear that sound every day for the rest of my life. When did I become such a sucker? I was only sad I hadn’t met him sooner.

“I dunno. I happen to think this might be the best lunch I’ve ever eaten. I can’t imagine how you’ll top it.”

Where I might’ve once made a sex joke about topping him, I kept it to myself this time. I was a changed man, after all. The way his eyes sparkled with mischief, though, made me wonder if he’d said it intentionally.

“Oh, I’m sure we’ll find a way.”