Page 52 of The Reluctant Mate (Shifters of the Three Rivers #5)
The secured wing of the Bridgetown medical facility smelled like antiseptic and sickness—the sharp tang of disinfectant barely masking the underlying scent of sweat, fear, and something worse. Something… wrong.
The werewolves we’d brought from the airfield lined were in the reinforced containment cells, most strapped to their beds or restrained by silver-laced cuffs. Some barely moved, their bodies twitching in restless, fevered sleep. Others thrashed against their restraints, their eyes red-rimmed and wild, lips curled in silent snarls, trapped in an endless cycle of rage and violence.
A low, broken moan echoed from cell three, where a woman—once someone’s daughter, someone’s Packmate—curled into herself, rocking back and forth. The scent of ripple clung to her like poison, warping everything about her into something unnatural.
I exhaled sharply. “This place is a goddamn nightmare.”
Mason stood beside me, jaw tight, arms crossed. His eyes swept the cells with clinical detachment. “We’re doing what we can.”
I let out a frustrated breath, running a hand down my face. “How many of them do you think you can save?”
Mason hesitated, his broad shoulders rising and falling in a slow breath. “Some. Maybe.” His gaze flicked toward cell six. A kid, who couldn’t have been more than nineteen, was trying to gnaw through the cuffs securing his wrists, his blood-streaked teeth bared in a feral grimace.
“Not all of them,” Mason finished grimly.
I hated this. Hated that I had to be the one to point out the obvious. They were beyond saving; it was kinder to put them down than to have them suffer like this.
“You know what we have to do.”
“We’re not there yet.” Mason’s voice hardened.
I got it. I really did. When I started working for the Council, I’d been the same. Desperate to save as many as I could on the chance that we’d develop a cure.
“How many more secure wings can you build? The number of werewolves who are addicted to ripple is increasing by the day. Where are you gonna keep them all? How are you gonna feed them?” I leaned closer. “There’s no cure. No going back. You need to think about what we’re doing here. At some point, you need to ask if we’re saving them or just dragging out the inevitable. What would they want?”
Mason’s hands curled into fists before he relaxed them. “I refuse to accept that they can’t be saved.”
“Yeah? And what happens when one of them breaks free?” I’d seen it happen. Had been there to clean up the bloody aftermath. “What happens when they take out an entire Pack, your Pack, before we can stop them?”
“I won’t let that happen.”
Yeah, I’d thought the same thing once, but it had ended with so much fucking death, if I lived to be a thousand, I wouldn’t be able to forget the faces of the children who’d been killed because of my arrogance.
“Mason, listen to m—”
“Enough.” His tone slammed the door on the conversation. “Shya and I decided. We keep as many as we can, as long as we can, while we research a cure.”
Fuck! There was no arguing with Mason when he dug in like this. I’d run Shaw Investigations with him and had learned the hard way when to back off. I’d try again in a few days—assuming none of the werewolves broke free before then.
“You talked to Derek?”
My jaw clenched before I answered. “He’s got Sofia with him. He doesn’t need me checking in.”
That wasn’t entirely true, but I didn’t want to think too much about why I hadn’t called Derek. Why I couldn’t. I’d nearly killed him, for fuck’s sake. My own brother. My twin, the one who knew me better than I knew myself. I’d made that decision. Was having nightmares about it because I hadn’t hesitated. Derek was in bloodlust. There was no coming back from that. I knew he would have wanted me to kill him, to protect Sofia at all costs. And I tried.
How did I face him after that? How did I explain? What made it worse was that I wasn’t sure what I should apologize for—trying to kill him or not succeeding? If it was me, if I was a danger to my mate and my Pack, I’d want someone I trusted to get the job done.
And now I didn’t know if Derek turned again whether I’d be able to finish what I started. And if I couldn’t, I’d have failed him when he needed me most.
“Sam.” Mason’s voice was quieter now, more measured. “You need to talk to him. You guys have to fix this, whatever the fuck this is.”
My phone buzzed.
I glanced at the screen, saw the name, and immediately regretted every life choice that had led me to this moment.
Gideon Calloway. Enforcer to the Wolf Council. His official job was to support and protect Council members. His unofficial job was to make my eyebrow twitch with annoyance whenever he was nearby.
With a sigh, I swiped to accept. “I’m busy, Calloway; what do you want?”
“Aw, Sammy-boy, is that any way to greet your favorite Wolf Council enforcer?”
“You’re not my favorite anything.”
“That hurts, Sammy. That genuinely wounds me to my core. And here I am, about to make your day. I should hang up just to teach you manners.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Just get to it.”
“You know, you’re no fun these days. I thought you might want a heads up on not one but two delightful tidbits of intel.”
If Gideon was calling them delightful, it meant it was bad fucking news. Why did he never call me with good news?
“First up, Talia Johnson has been locked away in her hotel room studying the documents you sent over.”
I frowned, wondering why she was in a hotel and not back at the Council when I remembered she was one of the delegation in Philadelphia meeting with the human governments. I was supposed to be there, but Derek was more important.
“She is pissed, man. Like, the woman never smiles, but this, this is a whole new level of ice-queen fury.”
Talia was one of the few I trusted outside of my old Pack. She’d been the one who’d trained me when I’d first joined the Council.
“But it has, apparently, given her a plan.
“Plan?” I asked, immediately wary.
“The undercover, probably-gonna-get-you-killed kind.” Gideon’s voice was practically gleeful. “You know Simon Webster’s little coven of psychopaths? She needs someone in his organization to feed us intel on it.”
“Why me?”
“Apparently, you’ve got an in. Or rather, you know someone on the inside.”
I frowned. “Who?”
“Half-witch, half-werewolf disaster named Annabella McGrath.”
Why did that name sound familiar?
My eyebrows shot up when it hit me. “Sofia’s cousin?”
“Bingo! Give the man a prize. Annabella is indeed a cousin to a Sofia and Jase Miller, who I believe are members of the Three Rivers Pack, no?”
“And she’s working with Webster.”
“Oh, yes. He’s bankrolling her group of fanatical insurgents, according to a report that just came in.”
Fuck! Well, this day was just getting better and better.
“And the second piece of news? I’m guessing it’s an update on the meeting in Philly.”
“Aw, you know me so well. We just wrapped a delightful little meeting with some human government types. Great people—if you enjoy humans in bad suits looking terrified of their own shadows.”
“They agree to our demands?”
“Well, they’ve agreed to stop working on their little ‘anti-werewolf vaccine’ for now.”
“For now?”
“For now,” he echoed, voice mocking. “But in exchange, they had a teensy request. One that our fearless leaders jumped to accept.”
I felt the headache forming behind my eyes. This had to be bad. Gideon only drew things out when it was bad news. “Just say it, Gideon.”
“They’re putting a human rep on the Council. Full voting rights, full authority. Congratulations, Sammy, we’re officially letting the humans sit at the grown-ups’ table.”
A human on the Council? Making decisions that affected Shifters, with Webster and Kane running around trying to start a war between us? That was a seriously bad fucking idea.
“Who?” I demanded.
“I have a feeling you’ve heard of him. Some ex-military type who disappeared for years but is now back making nice with the human governments, and apparently is super passionate about ‘containing the werewolf threat.’”
I froze, wondering if our luck could really be this shit, if the forces against us were really this organized.
“Name?” I demanded.
“Er, let me see, Kane. Victor Kane.”
The Relentless Mate, Book 6 in the Shifters of the Three Rivers series
Half-witch, half-wolf, fully deceived—until her greatest enemy awakens her true self…
A steamy paranormal romance featuring enemies-to-lovers, fated mates, undercover identities, and finding family in unexpected places. Perfect for fans of werewolf romances with strong heroines and possessive heroes who will do anything for their mates.