Page 24 of The Healer and the Wolf, Part One

24

LEO

V en was the sexiest woman I had ever met. There were no ifs, ands, or buts about it. I stood up, breathing hard as I took in the sight of her spread out before me.

God, she was a vision. A renaissance masterpiece come to life, all spread and flush across the table. Her skirt was bunched up around her waist, her shirt pulled up to reveal that deliciously soft stomach that never failed to get me going. Every part of her was carved out of perfection, designed to drive me wild but at the same time giving me the perfect place to worship.

Fuck, I was in love, wasn’t I?

Perhaps that was a strange question to ask myself after everything I had said to her, but as an alpha, as a shifter, the idea of loyalty and life debt wasn’t exactly new to me. And while I did feel those things for Ven in spades, I also knew it wasn’t just that.

We hadn’t even known each other that long, but that didn’t matter. While I hadn’t been human enough to have any sort of sexual attraction to her in my wolf form, I was still drawn to her even then, like a moth to a flame, but instead of it being a destructive sort of pull, it was edifying. I was a better person around Ven. She brought so much joy to all the little things in life, and frankly, the stuff she accomplished was impressive.

I had so much more to learn about her, almost as much as I had to learn about myself, and I couldn’t wait to see what the next chapters in our life would bring. I wanted to make her come again and again. I wanted her to scream so loudly that Ricky would hear her no matter how far away he was.

“You’re so fucking beautiful,” I breathed, wishing that some of the eloquence I had been working rather hard on stuck around once my cock got a mind of its own.

Ven came down from her orgasm long enough to pull her shirt over her head, and I froze in wonder.

Fuck, she really did have the most gorgeous tits. While I’d been attracted to women of all shapes and sizes all my life, I’d always had a particular soft spot for larger frames who could potentially kill me if they so desired. There was something so intoxicatingly sexy about having a strong partner submit to me, allow me to take over their body in its entirety.

Ven was hot, wet, and ready for me, so I gripped my cock and teased the head at her entrance. As much as the feral part of me wanted to just plunge in, I knew better than that. I watched my lover’s face, wanting to make it good for her.

“Don’t tease me,” she whined, and fuck if that didn’t make me pulse all the harder in my own grip. “Please, don’t tease me. I need you inside me, Leo. Now .”

Who was I to deny such a heartfelt request? I supposed I could pretend I had an ounce more control and make her wait, but honestly, that seemed needlessly cruel for the both of us. There would be time for such games, to have her begging and pleading for me, but right now, I needed to be buried inside of her.

“You have me,” I answered in a voice that wasn’t just my own—my wolf crept in. Then I was pressing into her, the warm, slick slide of her enveloping me. It practically made my eyes roll back in my head, and I couldn’t believe I had gone so long since the last time we’d slept together.

It hadn’t been expected, but I had been thrilled when it happened. Running through the rain with her, both of us completely uninhibited, was a memory that I would never forget, even if a group of warlocks tried to make me forget. It had been a revelation, and although at the time I had thought it was likely a one-off thing, I had still been so incredibly grateful that it happened.

But since I’d finally scrounged up the courage to tell her how I actually felt, I knew that if we survived the medical facility, it didn’t have to be a short fling. We could play and share in each other’s bodies whenever we wanted. We could be silly, we could be hedonistic and wild, we could be feral and do things to each other that would get us banned from a church. Whatever we wanted.

My luck really had turned around.

“Ven, fuck, you feel so good.”

It was stating the obvious, but all other vocabulary had flown right of my mind. Last time, I had been so careful to let her adjust to me, not wanting to cause her a hint of discomfort. After all, I hadn’t known then, hadn’t thought to ask, if she’d ever been with a man. Although Ven was breathtakingly beautiful, she did seem to be a loner.

Yet another reason why I was so grateful she had allowed me into her life.

“Don’t hold back,” she panted. “I can take it.”

Her words were like fireworks exploding in my mind and showering beautiful, heated sparks over the entire landscape. She wanted me to let go and give in to more of my beastly side? I could certainly do that.

My hands dug into those bountiful hips of hers, the ones that made me want to pin her to every available surface and fuck her silly, and I fully sheathed myself within her. I wasn’t going to lie, the hiss that quickly slid into a moan was quite the ego boost, and I gave her a few moments to catch her breath before pulling out and thrusting back in.

“Yes, like that. God, please just like that!”

I got lost in the rush of all the sensations. Her melodic voice urging me on, always asking for more when I was worried that I was too much. The soft jiggle and bounce of her body whenever my hips met hers. It was hypnotic, perfect, the way she’d clamped down on me whenever another surge of pleasure would take her that much closer to her second orgasm.

It was beautiful, and it was going to make me come way too fast.

As caught up as I was in everything about the woman below me, I did have a bit of pride. Trying to slow down my own growing climax, I thought about the to-do list for the garden. It didn’t work as well as I wanted, but it would buy me a minute or so. Needing a little more help than that, I let go of her hips with one of my hands and reached down between us, my finger moving over her clit in the way I knew drove her crazy.

Sure enough, I felt her body respond to me almost immediately, her pussy clamping down on the length of my cock as I thrust into her, harder, faster.

“I’m close! I’m so close! Don’t stop. Oh, God, don’t you dare stop!”

I wasn’t planning on it. I kept my pace as steady as I could, putting all my focus into my hand. I wanted Ven to fall apart on my cock before I lost all control.

In the end, it was quite close. I leaned down and kissed her as she came, raking her nails down my chest. With the way her walls were milking me, I didn’t last more than a few beats. I let out a desperate groan and rutted wildly until I was spilling inside of her.

It was bliss. There was no other word for it. Pure, honest bliss between the two of us. We stayed there, sticky with sweat, and panting as we came down back to earth. After I’d caught my breath, I helped her into a sitting position.

“You okay?” I asked, unable to keep any of the satisfaction out of my voice. Why would I want to? I was sure Ven liked knowing she’d made me feel good just as much as I enjoyed knowing that I made her feel good.

“I’m perfect ,” she murmured, eyes hazy as she looked up at me.

I gave her a little kiss on the forehead at that. She was just too adorable. However, that wasn’t enough, so I added a kiss to her cheek, then the other. But it seemed that once I started, it was quite hard to stop, so then I pressed another tender little kiss to those petal-pink lips of hers.

The ones on her face, of course. Considering it was me it couldn’t have gone either way.

“Why don’t we go upstairs and get cleaned up together? Maybe have a bit of a lie down?” I suggested, taking a slight step back, still keeping my hands on her so I could help her to her feet. She swayed slightly, which stroked my ego all that much more.

“That sounds like a great idea.”

“I do have them from time to time.”

She gave the slightest little chuckle as we walked upstairs to the bathroom. Although I had no idea what the next day was going to bring, if we would find any more of my pack or be met with failure, I couldn’t help but think it would all be okay.

As long as I had Ven by my side, what could go wrong?

“Are we sure this could really be so easy?” I asked, staring at the nondescript building.

When I had first imagined storming the medical testing facility, it involved a lot of stealth, sneaking up in our wolf forms, and possibly trying to con our way in through some sort of service worker or something like that.

“It should be,” Ven said, flipping through notes she’d written in her phone. “As far as I can tell, this place completely shuts down on the weekend. Like, completely locked up. Most protesters tend to hit on either a Saturday or Sunday, so I guess it’s a way to avoid them.”

“Whatever the reason,” Ricky said, “let’s not look a gift horse in the mouth. Now, how are we supposed to get in here?”

“That’s the harder part,” Ven admitted. “I’m not a hacker, so it wasn’t like I could find some flaw in their security. I don’t even really know what kind of security system they have set up, just that there are no cameras on the outside. But in one of the videos, I saw a manual lock for the docking bays in receiving, and I figured if there was anything the two of you could break, it would be that.”

As much as Ven often downplayed her research, I couldn’t help but be impressed. Surely her bosses at the grocery store had to know they were wasting so much of her potential. They had her stocking shelves and letting her coworkers harass her.

“That’s a great place to start,” I said, already heading toward the back of the building.

Sure enough, she was right. Chains and large padlocks secured the large metal doors. Humans would need tools to break it, but Ricky and I could use our strength.

My beta must have been thinking the same thing, because he clapped his hands together. “All right, let’s do this.”

With our combined strength, it took less than five minutes for us to get in, with Ven keeping watch for us the entire time. Once the locks and chains were taken care of, we quietly slid the door open high enough for us to get under.

Huh, it really could be just that easy I supposed.

“Here is where we’re pretty much in the dark,” Ven said as she straightened and turned the flashlight on in her phone. “And I do mean that both literally and figuratively. There aren’t going to be any lights on, and I have no idea what the inside of this building looks like. I couldn’t find a tour, I couldn’t find any sort of PR, not even staged pictures for a feel-good article. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if this thing was a giant, empty box.”

“Hey, what you did find was amazing,” I assured her, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “Let’s look around.”

Because we weren’t idiots from a horror movie, we didn’t split up. Instead, we moved in a loose cluster, with Ricky and I taking turns between the front and rear position, and Ven always somewhere around the middle. We started off in the loading area, then quickly progressed into the most banal, office-like setting I’d ever been in.

When we reached the lobby, I held up my hand, signaling for us to stop. I could hear the faintest heartbeat barely on the edge of my senses, but on the other side of the door. There was something else with it. A slow, but rhythmic scraping, almost like the cutting of wood.

Wait a minute.

Was I hearing snoring?

I couldn’t believe it. There was at least one guard on the other side of the door, but he was fast asleep, metaphorically sawing logs on the job.

I sank into the slowest shift I’d had in a long time, trying to keep the steam and heat that came from the transformation at a minimum. Ricky followed suit, which would allow us to communicate without verbally speaking.

“Is that guy sleeping?” he asked in the mental language shifters often could use to communicate. It took a lot of practice to understand another species, but as pack Ricky and I could speak as easily as we did in our human forms.

“Seems like it,” I answered, more amused than I ever expected to be during a stealth mission.

“Wait, I think I hear two more. Each on opposite ends of what sounds like a very big room.”

Ricky was right, and I nodded my large head. Ven, to her credit, crouched a bit away from us behind the empty receptionist desk, watching keenly. “I’ll take the sleeping one and the one to the right. You take the farther one to the left?”

“ Sounds like a plan. On your count?”

“Three, two, one!”

We burst through the doors, and I was on the sleeping guard in a second. Since I didn’t know if he was an innocent man or the brothers’ evil co-conspirator, I only knocked him out. Still probably wasn’t great for his health to have his head bounced off the wall, but it was better than the alternative.

Ricky and I made quick work of the others, then paused, waiting for an alarm or reinforcement, but after nearly a minute, there was only silence.

Ricky and I shifted back, then fetched Ven. Just like the reception area, it was the most milquetoast, corporate space I’d ever had the discomfort of being in.

Granted, it wasn’t like I’d ever been a corporate wolf, but the entire place was completely lacking in any sort of personal detail. The cubicles were all completely identical. The vending machines were all full, the kitchen was perfectly organized, and the fridge was empty.

“This is kind of giving me the spooks,” Vanessa said after a while, and honestly, I couldn’t blame her. There was something very uncanny about the building, and it wasn’t just because it was a liminal space.

“Isn’t this supposed to be a medical testing facility?” Ricky said eventually, sounding like he was growing a bit frustrated. Quite frankly, me too. While, sure, I liked that it wasn’t a knockdown, drag-out fight at the moment, I hadn’t really expected our possible encounter with the brothers and their property to be so... boring .

“I mean, I’m no expert,” Ven murmured, “but this really isn’t what should be here at all.”

“These are warlocks we’re dealing with. Perhaps we should assume that we’re being tricked in some way,” I said. As the seconds ticked on, it seemed more and more likely.

Ricky let out a frustrated groan. “We’re missing something; I know it! These brothers may be arrogant, but they’re not stupid. This building has to be some sort of decoy or red herring, and we’ve fallen right into it.”

“I suppose there are worse things that could have happened,” Ven said calmly. “We can still use this as a jumping-off point to try to find another cluster of your pack.”

I wasn’t quite convinced. “Let’s hold off on throwing the towel in just yet. I just feel like there’s something we’re missing.”

“It’s not like we’re in a rush,” Ricky said. “Let’s do a full search of the place again. Start with a walk around the perimeter and just slowly work our way inward.”

“Sounds like a plan to me.”

We were halfway back to where we’d started, about to begin our more thorough search, when Ven paused and frowned at the restrooms.

“You can go if you need to,” I said, hoping I sounded assuring. Some people could get a little bladder shy. “Ricky and I will guard the door for you.”

“No, it’s not that. It’s just… do the proportions of this area seem weird to you? And aren’t bathrooms almost always up against the wall? I’ve never seen a place with them just smack dab in the middle of a floor plan like their own rooms. Not that I’ve worked in many offices.”

I hadn’t either, but now that she mentioned it, it did seem a little odd.

“Hold on, let me check it out.”

Carefully, in case it was some sort of trap, I slowly walked toward the dimly lit entrance of the restrooms. As I approached, I realized there was indeed something wrong.

Even if a bathroom was just cleaned, it should smell like a bathroom . That meant standing water, hand soap, and the strangely distinct scent of toilet paper, but I couldn’t pick up on any of that. In fact, the whole area smelled a bit like stale air and…

Oil?

That didn’t make any sense. But we were dealing with warlocks and magical creatures, after all, so was it really surprising that something might not be quite as it appeared?

“I think there’s some sort of glamour here,” I said.

Ven had, once again, saved our rears. Maybe Ricky and I were stupid, but I didn’t think either of us would come up with the idea that the office itself could potentially be glamoured. We did need to get better about that stuff.

“What, really?” Ricky asked, striding past me. I heard him sniff around, which I let him do without interruption—his nose was better than mine. It was one of the reasons why he made such an excellent scout. “You’re right! I don’t know what’s past these doors, but it ain’t no bathroom.”

“I suppose there’s only one way to find out.”

“Wait!” Ven called. “What if it’s dangerous?”

But I was already moving forward, walking right through the custodial door between the two bathroom entrances. Sure enough, I didn’t even have to open it. It brushed past my skin like no more than the suggestion of a breeze, and I found myself staring at a glass and gold, overly wrought elevator.

“Guys,” I called softly. Although we were supposed to be alone, there was no reason to be reckless. “You’re not going to believe what I found.”

I enjoyed the shock playing over Ven’s gorgeous face. Ricky seemed surprised too, but less so. Likely because he’d had way more exposure to magic users over his life than Ven had.

“Oh, my God, it’s been an elevator the entire time! Where do you think it goes?” Ven asked.

“Not to repeat myself,” I said, “but there’s really only one way to find out.

“Do you think it’s safe?”

“I’m pretty sure most experts wouldn’t recommend taking an elevator down into an unknown area of an enemy that’s shown themselves not to care about decency or what’s right, but I don’t think we have much of a choice. If we want to know what’s going on here, we have to use it. And if any of our pack being held prisoner or being tested on, if they’re going to be held anywhere, it’s in some sort of secret layer with a glamoured elevator shaft.”

Ven grimaced but nodded along. “When you’re right, you’re right.”

“It does happen from time to time.”

“Don’t get used to it,” Ricky said, slapping me on the back.

“Hey, it’s not too late to fire you as beta.”

It was an empty threat, and my best friend knew it. “As if you could survive without me.”

“As much as I appreciate the banter, if we’re going to do this, we should get a move on,” Ven interjected.

She had a point, and without much more fanfare, the three of us got into the elevator and pressed the singular button.

Down, down, down we went, far longer than any elevator ride should go. I would have thought there’d be some sort of security cameras along the sides of the shaft or even in the elevator, but no, and I didn’t really know if that was a good thing.

The elevator lurched to a sudden stop and opened into a large room that wouldn’t have looked out of place in a sci-fi movie.

It was a glaringly white space, with all sorts of machines and a reception desk facing us. The lights were so dim, they looked more like emergency flashers, but as soon as the elevator doors opened, the overhead lights flashed on to full power, turning the room nearly blinding.

“Now, this is freaky,” Ven said as we entered.

I had to agree with her. It felt like we were intruding on a space that didn’t belong to us. Probably because we were.

Carefully, I walked forward to the double doors behind the desk. I had no doubt there was probably some sort of mechanism the receptionist was supposed to press to unlock the door, but none of us really had the skills to hack it, nor did I expect there to be a manual on how to use it. I drew my fist and punched right at the handles where the doors met. It didn’t give right away, but I hadn’t expected it to. I punched the door again and again. It hurt every time my knuckles connected with the thick metal, but I found it quite cathartic.

Ricky joined me, both of us alternating our jabs, until finally the door let out a strange, broken buzzer sound.

“That sounds like our cue.”

Squeezing our fingers between the gap, Ricky and I began to pull the doors apart. Together, we were able to get it open enough for even me to squeeze through, which I did.

“That was so impressive,” Ven said, her cheeks flushed the faintest pink as she stepped through. It was a little thing, but I loved how much she appreciated the wolf side of me—outside of what had happened at the party. Most humans would be scared or suspicious, but Ven rolled with the punches.

There were several cubicles, all with their own desk and computer, along with plenty of tools laid on them: clipboards, voice recorders, a truly impressive number of pens, and some electronic tablets. But more interesting was the long window in the wall to the left. It was nearly the entire length of the room and looked in on what appeared to be a cold storage room if I had to guess. And by a cold storage room, I meant something that looked like a cryochamber on a spaceship. It was filled with hundreds upon hundreds of tubes, all of them labeled. From where I was standing, I couldn’t read the labels, though.

“Stay here,” I said. “Let me check this out first.”

I took a cautious step toward the door but stopped short when I saw the keypad right above the lock.

“Huh. It looks like we’re going to have to punch this one, too.”

My knuckles were already practically healed, but it didn’t have the same weak point as the other set of double doors.

“Wait, I think I see a control panel over here. Let me fuck around with it for a bit,” Ricky said, walking into the back corner opposite of the door I was standing in front of.

“How do you know how to do that?” Ven asked, and I didn’t blame her. Although her and Ricky had spent quite a bit of time together, it was mostly just concerning his healing. She had so much still to learn about the both of us. Maybe, once everything calmed down a bit more, we could spend a whole week getting to know each other properly, playing those cheesy ice-breaker games.

“I’m not exactly an expert, but scouting got me some experience with keypads and security cameras. Can’t guarantee anything, but I figure I may as well try.”

“Go ahead,” I said.

He undid the front of the control panel and stared at it. It took a while, but better than pressing buttons all willy-nilly.

“All right, I think I got it.”

Sure enough, he flipped a switch, and the keypad in front of me beeped before the little light in the corner turned green.

“Good job.”

I didn’t make a big deal of it, but I was more than a bit proud. Even after everything Chadwicke had put Ricky through, he’d made it to the other side and was starting to thrive. Maybe once we were all united again, he could do some online classes in security or tech. Ricky had always wanted to expand his education, but he never got the chance with our pack often being in a fraught position. It would be wonderful if that could finally change.

First, however, we actually had to reunite with the rest of pack. Taking a breath, I opened the door, half-expecting some alarm to go off or a trap to spring up.

But no. Nothing but silence.

I checked the labels. They weren’t written in English or anything remotely similar. I didn’t recognize any of the symbols. Once I was sure the area was clear, I’d get Ven to take pictures on her phone. That thing sure came in handy.

I was nearly done with my inspection when I heard the door behind me suddenly close with a more definitive thud. I had left it cracked, so I suppose the sheer weight of it had eventually forced it closed. I wasn’t too worried. At least I wasn’t until I heard it give an ominous beep.

Shit.

“Wait, what was that sound?” Ven asked, her voice dulled from being on the other side of the wall.

Both of us hurried to the door, and I wasn’t exactly shocked to see the little light had turned red.

“Hey, Ricky, some help here?”

“No problem. I got you!” He flipped the switch again, but nothing happened. Instead, another door on the opposite side of the room let out the same positive beep, and when I glanced over, its light was green. “Huh, okay. Let’s try something else.”

Ricky began to fiddle, and I tried to keep my patience, I really did, but after a couple of minutes and several button pushes and switch flips, it felt awkward to stand there staring at him.

“I’m going to check out the next room,” I said, trying to keep my tone light. I could tell by Ven’s face that she was incredibly worried, and I wished I could soothe her. But for the moment, I’d pretend everything was fine. Who knew? Maybe it was. “Don’t worry, I’ll put something in the door so it can’t close behind me.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. Just stay safe. Guard Ricky for me, will you?”

Her smile was tenuous, but it was there, so I headed over to the door. Before I opened it, I grabbed an empty tube tray from a lower shelf to wedge it between the door and the wall. I didn’t want to get locked in another room.

I opened the door, and at first there was just darkness, the only illumination coming from the room behind me. After setting up my little fail safe for the entrance, I felt along the wall for the light.

My fingers brushed a switch, and I flipped it on, wondering what sort of strange, scientific display I would see next. Half of me wondered if it would be cages of cute and pathetic-looking animals, and if maybe I could free them all, but that idea died pretty much mid-thought.

There were cages all right, but they weren’t filled with animals. Instead I saw dozens upon dozens of what had to be magical test subjects, all clearly being tortured and neglected. Some were unconscious, some seemed to be in a trance state, and others were so chained up and gagged they probably couldn’t do anything even if they wanted to. Their wide eyes all landed on me at once, their pupils dilating as they realized someone who didn’t belong had entered their prison.

Fuck. We had really crawled into the belly of the beast.

I had to free them, but I also needed a full assessment of the situation. Were there more? Were there others in even worse distress? Were the restraints enchanted, or could I break them like the doors on the loading dock?

“Ricky,” I called, trying not to let panic seep into my voice. “I need you to hurry up with that door. This shit’s bad.”

“Why? What’s happening?”

“You’ll see it when you get here.”

It was cruel to be so vague, but I didn’t want to waste time explaining. I moved to the door on the opposite end of the room, wondering what hell it would lead me to.

It would have been better to wait for my friends and make sure our exit was secured, but the creatures around me were beginning to grunt in distress. I couldn’t just stand there staring at them.

I found another empty test tube rack and went through the second door, making sure to prop it open. I really wasn’t sure what to anticipate, but what was waiting for me was surprisingly banal. Just a long, empty hallway lined with simple brown doors on either side. For a moment, I wondered if I was dreaming, because it seemed like the nonchalant sort of logic such things used, but then I heard the faintest sound all the way at the end of the hall. Muffled, as if it was in a soundproofed room. Soundproofing had never held up to shifter senses.

I didn’t need the lights to turn red or an orchestral score to tell me that wasn’t a good sound, but I found myself creeping toward it anyway. I tried to move as quietly as possible, keeping my heart beat low even though my heart wanted to ricochet out of my chest. My sense of dread grew with every single step. The tension in the air seemed to crescendo all around me.

When I finally reached the door, the sound was more consistent, but not more identifiable. It almost sounded like a shrieking wind from miles away muffled by a door stopper trying its best.

I had to find out.

I turned the knob quietly, carefully, then stepped inside.

Right into an operating room gallery.

The room was small, basically the equivalent to a box seat, and it looked over what I could only describe as a scene out of some sort of medical horror movie. Wizards—not warlocks, this time—and a couple of mind-walkers were actively carving out the chest of a subject who was very much awake and alive, screaming at the top of their lungs and trying to fight the restraints that bolted them to the table. They were in so much pain. Even if I couldn’t smell it, I could see it, I could hear it. Every ounce of calm I possessed vanished. I had to get that person off the table.

The group hadn’t noticed me yet, and I used that to my advantage. Without so much as another thought, I launched myself through the window, tackling one of the surgeons.

It was pandemonium. The whole room filled with steam as I rapidly shifted into my wolf form. Although I did keep in mind my promise to Vanessa, I was sure she wouldn’t object to me making sure I did whatever I needed to do to free the test subject.

And what I needed to do was rip some throats out.

I had long since learned that speed was key when you encountered magic casters, so I tried to blitz them as best I could. It worked to my advantage that wizards were more scholarly. Their magic didn’t come to them as naturally as it did to witches, warlocks, enchanters, and people otherwise born with inherent magic. I was able to tear through three before one got a fireball off. It hurt like hell, but it took me close enough to the subject for me to bite at one of the chains around their ankle.

It didn’t break right away—I hadn’t thought it would—so, I kicked out at another wizard who was muttering the base of some spell, sending him flying into a wall. I returned my attention to the chain. My instincts told me to yank it, but I didn’t want to accidentally rip the victim’s foot off. That would make escape a whole lot harder.

Luckily, it broke, but as I went to work on one of the restraints holding his wrist in place, a wizard threw himself toward the wall and hit a red button.

An alarmed wailed, nearly deafening me, and the entire energy of the building changed.

Uh-oh. I had most definitely fucked up.

I didn’t let that distract me, however. Running toward the wizard, I slammed into him, locking my jaws around his flailing arm. Let him cast one of his fancy spells without any hand movements. He screamed as I ripped it off, but the screams petered out when I let go of his unattached limb and closed my teeth around his throat.

I made quick work of the remaining two, and as I was about to turn my attention to the victim, another set of doors burst open, and more enemies poured in. Some were dressed like the security guards at the estate, and some wore lab coats. I even spotted some in those same collars I’d seen the brothers use on my pack. Suddenly, it was twenty-to-one in a very enclosed space.

Not exactly great odds.

I had taken on way more than that at Chadwicke’s, but that had been an entirely different situation. I hadn’t fought more than a chunk of ten at one time, and there had only been two magic users in that entire fight—not counting the warlock. The ratio in this situation would be way different.

Most of all, though, I knew I had to get back to Ven and Ricky. What if they were being attacked?

Saying an internal apology to the person lying on the table and promising I would return for them, I then left right back out the surgical window and raced through the hall. The caged creatures were now almost all roused, and if they could make noise, they were. Some of them were even reaching out of the bars of their cage, no doubt pleading me to take them with me. It hurt right down to my core to leave them behind, but I had to. I had fucked up, but I would make it right. I would make it better. I would return. No matter what.

It didn’t take me long to reach that same room I had been locked in, but this time Ven was at the door, trying to pry it open, while Ricky was clearly still fighting with the panel.

“What did you do? What did you do?” I heard her demand in a panic.

“It wasn’t me!” Ricky shouted.

I knew I shouldn’t, but I shifted into my human form. I had to tell them what had happened in case things got even worse.

“Oh, my God, Leo! We’ll get you out! I swear, we almost have it!”

“I’m the one who set off the alarm,” I said as quickly as I could. “There’s a whole lot of people about to pour in here who really wanna hurt us.”

“Wait, what?”

“This isn’t a testing facility for animals! It’s a testing facility for us! Shifters! Changelings. Sprites. Nymphs.” I listed everything I’d seen, and I was sure there were more I couldn’t identify by sight.

“What? I-I?—”

I didn’t get to hear whatever Ven was going to say because all the enemies who had been following me burst into the room, and suddenly, I was enveloped in another fight.

It wasn’t pretty, not by a long shot. Acid sprayed toward me as I leaped at my closest attacker. I managed to tackle them to the floor and sink my teeth into their head, but not before that liquid hit my coat and the entire room began to smell of melting fur.

Even though it was my fur, it still smelled horrendous. I couldn’t pay much attention to that because I had to move on to my next target, latching my jaws around one of their knees and shaking until I heard it crack.

It turned into a bloodbath, and it wasn’t until after maybe my third or fourth enemy, when I was blasted up into the ceiling by a surge of ice, that I glanced toward Ven’s face.

I didn’t mean to do it again, but I was doing everything that had scared her so much the last time. If I did make it out of here, would she ever be able to forgive me? Or had I just successfully sealed her perception that I was a monster?