Page 9 of Redeemed Wolf (Grim Wilds #4)

Chapter 9

Silas

Monday morning as I set foot in the building, I felt a strange frisson in the air, like the electric hum before a storm, though there wasn’t a single cloud in the sky. The full moon was tonight, and my wolf was there at the forefront of my mind. It was going to be hard to keep him restrained. All he wanted was to take his fur and track down our mate, to mark and claim him, to knot and breed him. I’d tried to reason with him, to explain that it would mean our deaths, but logic was lost on a beast led by instinct—and it was hard for me to argue when some of those instincts coincided with my own.

Dr. Taylor was there waiting for me at the front desk. He, too, seemed to sense the anticipation, eyes alight. “Are you ready?”

“For anything,” I told him, and I meant it.

He spoke as we walked, heading for the restricted lab. “We will be collecting samples today, which as you can likely imagine, is not a one-man job. I will need you to help with restraining the subject, long enough that I can take tissue samples from various locations—here and here.” He pointed to his throat then the back of his neck. “Muscle, blood, and spinal fluid.”

I eyed him warily, before deciding there was no harm in my asking the question that was simmering in my mind. “Why would you do it on a full moon? Don’t you know that’s when they’re at their strongest?”

His grin widened. “You have been paying attention,” he praised. “I have found that when their animal forms are closer to the surface, I’m more likely to get an accurate sample, when they’re closest to being half and half.”

“And have there ever been accidents ? With the guards assisting, I mean.”

He shrugged, swiping his card at the door. “Sacrifices must be made in the name of science.”

Science. Right.

It wasn’t until we were standing in front of the cell door, our little group of guards, breaths billowing in matching clouds, that I really had a chance to think this through. Whoever was on the other side of the door would know I was a shifter too. I had to hope they could figure why I was here and were willing to play along.

The guards all looked nervous, shifting their weight, their heartbeats whirring in their chests. I could smell it on them, which meant the shifter would too. Fuck, they were going to get us all killed, I just knew it.

“Ready?” Eric asked.

I nudged to the front of the group, hoping to put myself in the best position to head off any unnecessary death, on either side. “Let’s do this,” I said, taser in hand. My wolf was eager for a fight, but he was confused about who our opponent was.

Eric gave a firm nod, and one of the guards slid the door back all the way, exposing the gaping maw, nothing but darkness and a rotting stench within.

Three of the guards flinched back, but I forced myself forward through the doorway, adrenaline spiking. Wolf, I knew. Alpha. Female. It had to be Amelia.

My eyes flicked over to my wolf’s without intending to, instinct to help see in the dark, though with the red light spilling in behind me, it did little good.

A warning growl came from the corner where I found Amelia curled in a ball, her eyes locked on me.

“Now, now, this doesn’t have to be hard,” Dr. Taylor said, coming in behind me, though keeping me firmly between them as a safeguard. “You know the drill, Amelia. Lie face down on the floor and let us put restraints on you. It’ll be over in just a few minutes.”

Her growl getting louder, she rose from her crouch, her limbs quivering with pent-up rage. She was naked, lank hair hanging over her shoulders and down her chest. She was filthy and underweight, ribs protruding from her torso. Her eyes were still on me, chin lowered as she battled to defy an Alpha. She was confused, curious.

I shook my head the tiniest amount, trying to convey what I needed her to know. I was here to help, but it couldn’t be done today. For now, I needed her to play along.

Her claws lengthened, and when her lip curled back in a vicious grin, it exposed sharpened canines. Oh yeah, she was going to put on a show all right.

I saw the moment she was going to lunge, the slight flinch of her thighs, and I pulled the trigger on the taser. Her whole body spasmed with the current, choking off the growl to nothing more than a wheeze, and as she dropped to her knees, I was on her.

I grabbed her roughly and rolled her to her stomach, setting a knee in the center of her back.

“Cuffs,” I demanded, reaching a hand back blindly. Someone slapped the thick plastic handcuffs into my palm, and I brought them around to lock on her wrists.

“F-f-fuck you,” she managed to push between her clenched teeth, jaw locked in a tight clench.

“You’re not my type,” I said with a sneer. “I prefer my bedpartners human.”

The other guards were huddled in a group behind me, unsure what to do, though they seemed bolstered by my confidence. Amelia recovered from the shock quickly and used their hesitation to her advantage. She bucked her hips, nearly knocking me loose, and her foot connected with someone’s leg, kicking him to the ground. If this was her in a weakened state, I would hate to go up against her at full strength.

“Grab her legs!” I barked at the other guards, and one of them jumped forward, lying across them and trying to grab her as she flailed. They got a second set of cuffs on her ankles, then three of us set our full weight on her, pinning her down. Even then she managed to wriggle and squirm, spitting a huge gob of saliva in my face. Okay, did she really need to make it that convincing?

“Have you ever considered sedation?” I grunted, wiping my face on my shoulder as Dr. Taylor crouched and set a case of supplies down on the floor. Someone angled a light to help him see what he was doing.

“I have, but I don’t want anything to taint the sample.” He pulled out an unlabeled bottle and gestured to her. “Pull her hair aside.”

That meant I had to let go of where I held her shoulder. “Be a good girl and I won’t have to hurt you,” I said with a sneer. Her whole body rumbled with her growl, but she stayed relatively still as I moved her hair to the side, wrapping it around my fist just in case. I kept her cheek pressed to the floor as Eric cleaned off the back of her neck with alcohol-soaked gauze.

“Have you ever seen how fast they heal?” he asked me, reverence in his voice. As much as he hated shifters, I think he was also in awe of their abilities. Almost jealous. “Imagine what it could mean for the medical field if we could heal even a fraction as fast. Their immune systems are flawless.”

He brought a strange tool to the back of her neck, feeling with his gloved fingertips before pressing the barrel to her skin. It looked almost like a metal gun, but instead of bullets, when he pulled the trigger, a long needle was punched through to her spine, drawing her spinal fluid into a glass vial.

Amelia flinched but didn’t make a sound.

“Watch,” Eric said. Sure enough, when he pulled the tool back, the wound healed, though perhaps slower than what it could have done if she’d been at full health. “It’s no wonder they’re so hard to beat.”

“Then we’ll just have to get creative, won’t we,” I said.

Eric laughed. “Yes, you are exactly right, Silas.” He stored the sample, then said, “Now flip her over. I want to take samples from her thyroid.”

I looked over my shoulder at the other guards, their eyes wide, skin pale. These guys were such rookies. “Ready?” They nodded their heads, though it was more than obvious they weren’t.

I turned and raised an eyebrow at Eric, and he chuckled and shrugged. “What can I say, good help is hard to find.”

Sighing, I instructed them, “On three, okay? One… two… three!”

Amelia could’ve made this a lot worse, but just in case, I took the brunt of her weight into my arms, flipping her to her back. It crushed her arms beneath her, her shoulders at an awkward angle, and I winced. Guilt tried to flare to life, but I choked it back down. I would deal with those emotions later, but now was not the time.

Eric took multiple samples from her throat while I tilted her head back to keep her teeth clear. “Are we good?” I grunted once he’d backed up and started packing.

“We are,” he said, rising to his feet and taking his kit with him. “Good job, everyone. Careful on the way out. Sedate if necessary.” He was first out of the room, leaving the rest of it to us.

I caught a few dark looks being exchanged between guards, but none of them said a word against the good doctor.

Gritting my teeth against a growl, I closed my eyes, resisting the urge to take action now, before we were ready. Yes, Amelia was no doubt suffering, but there was still so much I didn’t know enough about, like where Isaac was or how to get them past security, but more importantly, I had no clue how to get through to Carter. I needed him to leave with us, but as things stood, there was no way he would.

“All of you out, get yourselves clear. One of you by the door with a taser at the ready.” I was the newest of the guards, and the youngest, but they seemed grateful to let someone competent take lead.

“Please,” I heard her whisper, just one word, her voice rough from unuse.

I made a show of releasing her ankle cuffs, then muttered under my breath, too quiet for human ears. “Be patient. I’ll get you out.” When I rolled her to her stomach to release the cuffs on his wrists, I gripped her hand, giving it a squeeze, trying to give her even a small amount of hope. She couldn’t give up now, not when we were so close. I heard a choked sob from her as I reluctantly let go and backed out of the room.

Another guard slammed the door shut and slid the bolt home. “Fucking freak. They all give me the creeps,” he muttered, giving an exaggerated shiver. “She looks all small and harmless, but I once saw her nearly tear a man’s arm off. It’s not normal.”

I grunted in reply because I had no words. I was tempted to tear his arm off myself.

The day dragged on, and I went through the motions, but I felt no sign of Carter anywhere. By the time I drove home, I was shivering and broken, desperate for a chance to let my guard down, but nowhere was safe. My insides felt torn apart by my wolf’s teeth and claws.

The apartment was empty when I got home. I assumed Pacey had gone for a run, the lucky bastard. My hands shook as I unlaced my boots and kicked them off. I left my phone by the door, then stripped all my clothes off and left them in a pile on the floor.

I collapsed into bed and crawled beneath the covers, pressing my face into the pillow as the urge to howl surged inside me. A muffled wail slipped free, full of grief and sympathy, emotions I thought I’d long since buried. Tears soaked into the fabric, and my sobs turned to whimpers. I hadn’t let myself cry in years, not since my mother’s murder at the hands of her alpha.

Allowing myself to care for others was a dangerous thing. It could even mean a death sentence, but that didn’t seem to matter anymore. No matter what barriers I erected around myself, this job just kept knocking them down, brick by brick.

Giving up was not an option, not anymore.