Page 15

Xander

“EXPLAIN,” I DEMAND, my eyes glued to the monitor showing the feed from the holding area where, for lack of a better term, a rabid Amber is hanging from her cell, grinding against the bars. Having torn the jeans from her body, she’s spastically rocking her pelvis back and forth along the bars, which are shiny with her slick. Her face is stretched out with her screams, though they are silent on the feed.

When I first entered the holding area, she was curled up in a ball on the cot in the back of her cell. I called out to her several times before entering. The only response I received was her body’s convulsions intensifying and her hugging herself in tighter. Officer White opened the door for me, and I calmly walked over to her, speaking in a soothing voice, sending out my alpha energy as I approached. At first, when my hand rested on her shoulder, her body went completely still, not even a breath being taken. I took it as a sign—a good sign. And I was wrong.

I was so, so wrong.

My wolf had barely touched upon Amber’s wolf before I felt a sharp bite of pain slice into my hand like I’d just gotten nipped. I pulled back and was looking for marks or blood or something when Amber launched herself off the cot at me. She was snarling and snapping at my face, her mouth and chin coated in blood and saliva as she lunged for me. My wolf quickly sent out more alpha energy, trying to calm her, but her eyes weren’t just glowing—they were strobing, in and out, in and out, almost blindingly. Before I knew it, a hand gripped my shoulder and yanked me out of her path. The door to the cell closed right as she reached where I had been, slamming herself up against the bars. Snapping, roaring, growling, and biting at the bars, her gums swollen and purple, with her teeth still impacted, from the damage my mate caused even after the healers supposedly helped her.

I glimpsed into the cell next to hers, where Councilman Hogan had been kept this entire time. He didn’t notice my attention. No. His was on Amber, out of control and out of her mind, raging and ranting as if she’d gone feral like a decades-lost rogue shifter but in human form. Based on his shocked expression and how he cautiously shuffled over to the other side of his cell away from her, he seemed just as taken aback by Amber’s behavior as I was.

“She wasn’t like this when she was taken away last night,” I state, glancing around at the officers, my mates, Amber’s parents, Bruce, my mother, and Elder Ralph. All of us are gathered in the office that’s adjacent to the holding area located in the basement of the station. I sweep a hand in front of the monitors. “When Dawson escorted her out, she was a little frantic and argumentative, but she wasn’t inaccessible. My wolf and I were able to reach out to her wolf, to calm her down and hold her back while we waited for backup. What happened?”

Officer White sifts through some files in a drawer of the steel desk below the monitors and pulls one out. Opening it up, he reads through an intake form. “Looks like she had to be sedated for the healers to tend to her wounds last night.” His finger trails over the lines. “Suspect became more aggressive as the night went on. By the time the healer, Dr. Emilia Prescott, arrived, she had to be strapped down. She gave her a sedative, and Amber soon passed out. The examination and healing procedures were able to be administered, and then she was put in the cell still unconscious but breathing with a steady pulse.” White finishes, handing the file to my mother, whose palm was already open in request.

“She injected herself with the bonding drugs, right? Could this be due to those drugs being in her system too long without bonding?” I ask, looking between my mother and Bruce. “Has this happened before? Have the drugs been injected only to then not be used?”

“Like a guy who ends up in the ER with a raging hard-on because he took Viagra, thinking his ED was the reason he wasn’t getting laid, only to find out otherwise?” Billie asks, her face tilted up, looking at me with brows creased in concentration. No one answers her, and she spins her head around the best she can from her leaned-back position against Jax’s chest. “What?” she questions with a huff. “It’s a serious medical issue. I think I saw it on an episode of Grey’s Anatomy or something. The blood had to be drained from his dick.” Every male in the room flinches, and she grunts “According to the acting, looked like it was agonizing... big feckin’ needle too,” she adds with bulging eyes while spreading her hands apart to show the length of the needle. There’s no way it could have been that big. No way.

“What about the experiments Veronica mentioned?” Ethan interjects, and my dick is more than happy with the change in focus. “Did those mention any adverse effects? Do we have access to them?”

Bruce and my mother stare at each other, and it’s weighted. I flick a finger between the two of them and demand “You both know something. One of you speak up.” I point that finger at the screen. “A girl is suffering right now, and I don’t know what will happen the longer we wait.”

“There are a lot of variables I’m uncertain of,” my mother says, her voice slow, her words careful. “If it were like the bonding injections from when...” Her eyes shutter closed, and she swallows down a pain-filled breath. “When we used them, the drugs should have run their course by now. But those were early on in the trials, and there were other complications.”

“But,” Bruce amends, his gaze sliding to Brian, and there’s wariness and sorrow pulling at the corners of his eyes, “the mental state of both the human and shifter sides have to be taken into consideration. The drugs not only affect the shifter’s bonding hormones and biochemicals but also the factors that are associated with human sexual arousal—the areas in the brain responsible for pleasure and reward.”

“What the fuck are you sayin’ Bruce?” Brian spits out, puffing out his chest and glaring at the person who used to be his best friend.

“Brian,” Bruce pleads with a tenderness in his rough voice. “We were bonded for close to four decades through Will. Our families are close, our wolves even closer. I know the worries you and Coco have had about Amber’s behavior. The way she started locking her room, not letting either of you in after you discovered those... pictures .” His gaze falls to Coco. Her face flushes, and she dips her chin, not wanting to meet his eyes. He drops his head down and rubs the back of his neck. “I know you’ve personally experienced her outbursts. I was with you when we found Coco on the floor.” Not even an inhale sounds in the room, all of us stunned by the admission.

“That was an extreme situation,” Brian rages, shattering the silent bubble while pulling Coco into him with one arm and lashing the other through the air in front of him. “She’d just been thrown out, naked, from the bedroom of her—” He abruptly stops, his mouth snapping shut. He inhales a breath, pauses, and slowly exhales, his words becoming measured. “By the wolf she was convinced was her mate. She was not only heartbroken but humiliated. Coco had tried to talk to her too soon after the... incident, telling her that maybe Jax wasn’t worthy of being her mate.”

“Brian,” Bruce almost whispers, while Coco tries to disappear into Brian’s embrace, little shudders rippling through her body. He hugs her in tighter, his hand protecting her nape while he lays several kisses on the top of her head. This is the love I felt when my wolf and I connected to their wolves. They’re both so hard and argumentative with everyone else—but with each other? When we connected, I found two very different beings. Yes, there was a ton of sexual chemistry—tongue-hanging-out animalistic desire—but they know in the depths of their souls that the other will always have their back, that they can be tender and vulnerable with each other.

Bruce’s face crumples, but he continues, pushing the words out. “Amber not only hit Coco but shoved her hard enough against the counter that Coco’s head split open, and she fell to the floor unconscious. That was where we found her when we got to your house, after you felt her pain through the bond while we were out collecting rent. I remember getting there, seeing the blood. But what was worse?” He swipes a hand down his face, which is stretched out in shock and despair. “The worst was when Amber emerged from her room. She literally stepped over Coco’s unconscious form; her mother was bleeding out on the floor, with us trying to stop the blood flow, and she just stepped over her like she didn’t even matter. I was on the phone with the healers while she stood at the counter, making a sandwich, smiling, and prattling on about how Jax’s mother was going to see what she could do.”

Brian jerks his head back and hides his face in Coco’s hair as if he’d been slapped by Bruce’s words. Brian’s and Coco’s emotional pain pulls at my alpha bond, and a need to protect flares within. I step between the Callahans and Bruce, shielding them while facing Bruce. “Are you saying that there’s reason to believe what is happening to Amber is because of how the drugs are interacting with her mental state? Her brain? And if so, do you know what we can do to help her?”

“We can call in Dr. Prescott,” my mother suggests, looking through the papers in Amber’s file. “Have her give Amber more sedatives, and then she could try to extract the remaining mating fluid from her gums.” She glances around the room and hitches a shoulder. “Perhaps hook her up to an IV of saline solution, help flush out her system. Hopefully that will reduce some of the symptoms, and with a little more time, everything will run its course.” Her gaze dips to the screen before rising back up to Brian and Coco. Her shoulders sag, and she frowns. “Maybe talk to the doctor about mood stabilizers as well.”

“I need all you have on the experiments and the drug testing,” I order, whipping my head around to my mother, Bruce, and Brian. “Every piece of it, including what was shared with other packs and alphas. Send it all to me and both of my betas.” I hesitate and then add, “And to the duchessa . Since I now hold my father’s position on the board at Decoction and will be expected to go down there in the coming weeks, the more I know, the better.”

Turning to Brian and Coco, I look at them through my wolf’s eyes, sensing their pain, their hurt, their shame. I place a hand on each of their shoulders and let them feel my energy, let them feel my concern. “I’ll ensure Dr. Prescott does what she can to help stabilize Amber enough for my wolf to connect with hers. Her mental state takes precedence right now. We can’t move forward until she’s well enough to.” Rubbing and squeezing their shoulders, I plead, “The more you let Prescott know about what’s been happening, including Amber’s behavior, the easier it will be for her to provide the appropriate help. The more you keep secret, the more you’re endangering your daughter.” They both nod, and I let my hands drop.

Elder Ralph steps up next to us, and he places a large hand on Brian’s shoulder. “I’d be honored to be there with you both while going over everything. I, too...” He falters and draws in a long, stuttering inhale that has both Brian and Coco looking up at him. He frowns, and his deep voice drops even lower. “I, too, know what it’s like to have a child hurting like yours is. I know the pain as a parent just wanting the best for them, unsure of what to do or how to act—afraid of what you see, what you experience, hoping it’s just an episode, a phase, temporary, and so you let it go unattended. There are things that can help: medication, therapy. Don’t make the mistakes I did. Don’t keep yourself blinded until it’s too late.”

“Thank you, Elder.” Coco sniffles, releasing her mate and wrapping her arms around Elder Ralph’s wide waist. “Thank you.”

He returns her embrace and pulls Brian in as well, his arms long enough to encompass both. None of them speak. They simply hold each other, eyes closed, heads bowed, sharing an intimate pain. A pain that holds a stigma to it, a pain that once shared with another creates an instant connection, an understanding few can fathom: a willingness to be there for them like not many can.

Stepping away and giving them space, I turn back to the monitors, my eyes on the person in the cell next to Amber. “Now all that’s left is Hogan,” I mutter on an exhale, my fingers ruffling my hair, feeling close to beat.

“Which we have until late tomorrow night to deal with,” Billie says with enough authority, that I look at her with an arched brow. She rolls her eyes and pulls out of Jax’s embrace to take hold of my hands and slings them over her shoulders. “Listen...” She hesitates, then dramatically huffs. “ Alpha. I know you’re in charge here and all, but...” Her hands slip under the hem of my sweater to hold the sides of my naked waist, rocking my more than willing body toward her. “But as your mate, your well-being is what I’m responsible for. It’s been a long-ass twenty-four hours, and”—her lips tip up into a lopsided grin— “the stronzo will be here tomorrow.” I huff out a low chuckle, and my hands trail down her back while she continues. “I’d rather you get some rest, let the four of us reconnect... alone. That way”—she slices a pointed stare at my mother and Bruce— “those who have information on the testing can gather what they have tonight and send it over to us.” She gazes back up at me with much softer eyes, “Then we can review it tomorrow morning and determine a solid plan for how to deal with Hogan. Being fresh would be”—she giggles— “best... And yeah, if I’m laughing at that little rhyme, it’s definitely our go time.” She giggles again, following it up with a snort.

A wide smile spreads across my face, and I pull her into me, letting her warmth seep into my chest, feeling the silkiness of her hair as I lay tender kisses on the top of her head. Looking up, Ethan and Jax are both gazing at us with small smiles, and I sigh. “I think we need to call it a night. That way we can prepare for Hogan. Hopefully with Dr. Prescott’s help, Amber will be more receptive to my wolf and able to mentally stand in judgment for her unlawful actions against my beta.”

“ Stronzo , love?” Ethan murmurs, coming up behind her and resting his hands on her shoulders.

“Hey,” she chides, her words muffled as she snuggles deeper into me. “I’ve been hanging out with an Italian, remember? And it is my mother’s native tongue.”

“Dink, jabroni, wanker, tosser, now stronzo,” Jax surmises, coming up to our side. Both Billie and I release one arm to loop around his waist, bringing him into us while he ponders. “What will be next?”

“Don’t know,” Billie replies, a yawn tugging at her words. “Just started using stronzo . Gotta milk it for all it’s worth. And jabroni is here to stay.”