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Chapter thirty-nine

Sam

Consciousness returned in painful pulses, each one bringing a fresh wave of agony. A metallic taste of blood coated my tongue, and something was digging into my wrists. I tried to move. Nothing happened.

I forced my eyes open, blinking against harsh fluorescent lights. The containment room. I was strapped to a bed, heavy-duty restraints around my wrists and ankles.

“Finally back with us, Sam Shaw?”

I turned my head and immediately regretted it. Pain shot through my skull like a hammer blow. To my left, Talia was still restrained on her identical bed, her dark eyes watching me with a mixture of resignation and cool assessment.

“Talia. Shit,” I croaked, my throat raw. “I’m sorry.”

“Save it. We’ve got bigger problems.”

She was right. My training kicked in. Assess, adapt, overcome.

I did a quick inventory of my injuries. Dislocated shoulder that had been roughly popped back into place, cracked ribs, concussion, and what felt like a broken nose. All things considered, it could have been worse. Duke could have killed me if he’d wanted to.

“How long was I out?” I asked, keeping my voice down.

“Since they dragged you in here?” Talia replied. “One hour, ten minutes.”

Ninety minutes, more or less. I just had to stall them for ninety minutes.

“Did they—?”

“Search your belongings? That woman—Mira, I believe—went through everything. They found the USB drive. They’ve been arguing about whether to view the contents or destroy it.”

I let my head fall back against the pillow. “And?”

“From what I gather, your Annabella is insistent that it is a trap and they should destroy it. She also thinks your estimation of when the extraction team will be here was a ruse, and they should evacuate immediately.” A hint of curiosity colored Talia’s voice.

“She was overruled by the two female witches… they seem extremely keen on proceeding with our mind-wipes.”

I nodded, calculating. “Any sign of reinforcements? Either side?”

“No Council extraction team yet, if that’s what you’re asking.” Talia shifted against her restraints.

“I reckon we have ninety minutes before they can breach.”

Talia’s scent spiked with frustration and resignation. “I see. Ninety minutes. Not enough time to convince them of the truth and free ourselves. Especially not while strapped to these beds.”

The door swung open, and Annabella entered, followed by Duke, Lydia, and Vivienne. Annabella didn’t look at me, but the scent of anger rolled off her.

“The circles need to be redrawn,” Vivienne announced, brushing past Lydia to inspect the floor markings beneath our beds. “These aren’t aligned properly for a dual mind-wipe.”

Lydia’s jaw tightened. “I’ve been performing these for three years. The circles are precisely as they should be.”

“Perhaps for your sub-standard procedures,” Vivienne replied, her voice dripping with condescension. “But Simon expects excellence, not adequacy. The northeastern anchor point should be angled toward the subject’s cerebral hemisphere.”

“That would be correct if we were performing a basic Cantrell,” Lydia countered. “But since we’re implementing my modified Thorne-Wyatt method, the alignment is intentionally offset to access deeper memory structures.”

Vivienne’s perfectly arched eyebrow rose a fraction. “And you, you have developed such innovations?”

“There are many things I have developed, Vivienne,” Lydia replied with a thin smile. “Many things that you are not aware of.”

Duke cleared his throat, his eyes never leaving me. “If you two are done with your pissing contest, we’re on a timeline.”

Annabella’s fists clenched by her sides, the only sign she wasn’t happy. “As we discussed, Johnson’s most recent blood work shows the Mentem Clypeus has cleared her system. We have a go to proceed.”

“I only need thirty minutes.” Lydia was already arranging implements on the table between our beds. “That’s all we need with the modified approach.”

“If it’s done correctly,” Vivienne added.

Talia’s eyes narrowed. “Would someone be so kind as to explain what exactly this modified approach entails?”

Vivienne startled, as if she’d forgotten we were there.

“Talia. Yes, actually, I’m glad you asked.

Given we are on a timetable thanks to your colleague bringing in reinforcements, it means instead of the delicate, precise procedure that is typically performed,” Vivienne’s smile widened, “we’ll have to be more direct.

It’s more like,” she flipped one hand over as if searching for the right word, “using a hammer rather than a scalpel. More efficient, but considerably more disruptive to the neural pathways.”

“And significantly more painful,” Lydia said, holding up and inspecting a half-burned stick of sandalwood. “But given our time constraints, we have little choice.”

Duke frowned at Lydia. “Thirty minutes for the procedure, ten to pack up essentials, fifteen to get clear of the area. The Council dogs will arrive just in time to time to find two more vegetables they need to take care of. If they survive.”

“If we survive?” I asked. Annabella didn’t respond, her eyes meeting mine briefly before darting away.

Fucking fantastic.

“Let’s begin,” Lydia said, her hands already moving over the implements laid out between our beds. “I’ll handle Johnson. Vivienne, you can take Shaw.”

“I don’t think so,” Vivienne replied, positioning herself at Talia’s head before Lydia could move there. “Council leadership always requires special attention. Simon would expect me to handle the high-value subject personally.”

Lydia’s fingers stilled, her expression freezing for just a moment before she recovered. “Given that I’ve performed all previous Council procedures for this team, it would be more efficient if I—”

“Simon was quite clear about my role here,” Vivienne interrupted, already beginning to trace symbols in the air above Talia’s forehead. “Your previous work was adequate, but I’m here now.”

They were dividing us up like choice cuts at a butcher shop. I’d have laughed at the absurdity if I wasn’t about to become the main course.

For a moment, I thought Lydia might challenge her, her eyes blazing with anger. Then she inclined her head and when she looked up, her face was completely calm.

“As you wish,” she said, moving to stand over me.

Vivienne lifted her hands above Talia, fingers moving in patterns that left faint silver trails in the air. Lydia’s approach was different; she placed small copper bowls at specific points around my bed.

The circles etched into the concrete floor beneath our beds began to glow with a silver-blue light.

“ Obliviscor totalis, memoria delenda, ” Lydia intoned, her voice taking on a resonant quality that seemed to vibrate through my bones. “ Tabula rasa, mens vacua. ”

The first wave of pain hit like a freight train to the skull. Not just pain—something worse. Something violating. A foreign force invading my mind, tearing through memories, shredding my very identity. Memories flared in my mind and then burst into flame, disappearing for good.

“FUCK!” I couldn’t hold back the scream as my spine arched against the restraints, leather cutting into my wrists. My wolf thrashed wildly inside me, desperate to protect us both from this assault.

Talia’s screams joined mine—raw, primal sounds that bounced off the walls. Her body convulsed violently against her restraints.

We were being erased. Piece by piece. Memory by memory.

My first childhood home slipped away. Derek teaching me to fish. Mason’s face when he first met Shya. Gone—just empty spaces where pieces of me used to be, not even sure what it was that I was missing.

No. NO.

I clung desperately to what mattered most. Derek. Mason. Ryan. Sofia. Shya. Mai. The twins. Their faces. My Pack. Three Rivers. Remember them. REMEMBER.

But the spell dug deeper, claws shredding through the fabric of my mind. I lost the taste of Ryan’s pancakes. The sound of my mom’s laugh. The color of Derek and my childhood bedroom.

“Please,” I gasped, not even sure who I was begging. My vision blurred with tears, sweat, or blood—I couldn’t tell which.

Through the kaleidoscope of agony, I spotted Annabella. Our eyes locked. Her face was ash-pale, her body rigid. Something sparked between us—that same connection I’d felt when I held her in my arms just hours ago.

Annabella. I latched onto that memory like a drowning man. The silver streak in her dark hair. The way she’d looked at me when I told her she was extraordinary. The protectiveness in her eyes as she spoke about Ellie.

Ellie. Another anchor. Her sister. The reason she fought. I needed to remember—needed to hold on so I could warn her about Webster.

Webster. The USB drive. The evidence. Remember .

Another wave of magic crashed over me, more vicious than the first. I tasted copper as I bit my tongue. My wolf was howling, a sound I could feel vibrating in my chest even if it never reached my lips.

I lost track of time. I had no idea how long we’d been under the spell. Seconds? Hours? Time distorted under the crush of magic that methodically stripped away my existence.

Faces started to blur. Names slipped through my desperate grasp like smoke. Who was I fighting for again? Brothers… I had brothers… their names…

Derek. Ryan. Mason. Twins. Three Rivers. Annabella. Webster. Danger.

A litany I repeated, clinging to the syllables as everything else crumbled.

I heard Vivienne’s voice through the roaring in my ears, something about Talia resisting. The witch twisted her fingers in the air, and Talia’s screams reached a new pitch that seemed to echo in my bones.

“Stop,” I tried to say, but I wasn’t sure if my mouth formed the word. “Please stop.”

The fear was primal now. Not just pain but the terror of oblivion. Of becoming nothing. Like Reynolds—empty eyes, slack face, no recognition of his own name.

Annabella. Remember Annabella.

But which memories were real? Had I kissed her, or was that just wishful thinking as my mind fractured?

I didn’t know anymore. I couldn’t remember.

Sam. I’m Sam. Sam Shaw. Wolf Council.

Annabella. Annabella. Danger.

Remember.