by Sadie Moss
“Fuck. I wish I could keep you in here forever, but my pack mates really would kill me. We need to be focused and ready for tonight.”
My heart, flying high after two blissful orgasms, sank right down into my bare feet at his words.
In less than eight hours, we would walk back into the belly of the beast—return to a place that had been horrifying to visit the first time. The fact that it was empty and abandoned now did nothing to quell the terror that filled me at the thought of stepping foot inside the Strand complex again.
But the Lost Pack was waiting for me, and their time was running out.
Chapter Ten
“Jesus. How can a place look boring as shit and terrifying at the same damn time?”
Jackson narrowed his eyes in disgust as we surveyed the shadowy, single-story structure that sat above the underground Strand complex. Only a few streetlamps lined the street, and the moon was just a sliver in the sky, making it hard to see the details of the building.
But I agreed wholeheartedly with my mate. Boring and terrifying.
The boring part was by design. The façade seemed to have been built specifically not to attract interest. It was plain brick, with no outward markings to indicate what went on inside, below ground.
Certainly there were no signs of the symbol Doctor Shepherd and Nils had both had tattooed on their wrists—the three triangles facing outward with their points touching and an ornate, swirling design in the center. The symbol I was sure had something to do with the Shifter Initiative and the mysterious Source that, according to Nils, was what gave Doctor Shepherd the power to alter our DNA the way he did.
But maybe, buried somewhere beneath that harmless looking building, there were answers waiting to be found.
“No one’s been in or out in over a week?” I whispered to Rhys, confirming what I already knew.
He nodded, his blue eyes flashing in the dim light.
We’d been over this several times. After Noah and I had returned to the house, we’d all gathered in the kitchen again, eating leftover pizza and talking through everything we knew. In theory, this break-in should be a lot simpler than our previous one.
Carl, West, and Rhys had reviewed hours of footage, spanning time from immediately after the explosion to today. In the first two weeks after our break-in and destruction of the place, crews had been in and out constantly, removing damaged equipment, charred boxes, and files. Then things had slowed down. A few hunters had visited the premises, and Doctor Shepherd himself had come by several times on his own, spending a few hours in the building each time before leaving.
As creepy as it was, the fact that he’d been here also gave me hope. Maybe he was looking for something too, trying to make sure all evidence of his sick experiments was either buried or burned.
“We didn’t see any security teams either,” West added in a low voice, and I craned my neck to peer over my shoulder at him. “The entry doors will be locked, but the laser alarms shouldn’t be functional anymore.”
“God, I hope not.” My lips pressed into a line as I remembered the thin blue stream of light I’d accidentally stepped through, calling dozens of Strand hunters down on us.
“So, we gonna do this dance or what?” Jackson stretched his arms over his head, pretending to limber up. Or maybe he actually wanted to be sure he didn’t pull a muscle.
I chuckled softly at the thought, and Noah shot me a confused look. Shaking my head to let him know it was nothing important, I shot a glance at all my mates. “Ready?”
Four heads nodded.
We were all dressed in black, with bulletproof vests on over our long-sleeved shirts, and each of us had a flashlight, a gun, and an earpiece. There was no one left in the complex, nothing worth guarding—but after our last experience inside that building, we wanted every advantage we could get. Just in case.
West spoke softly as we darted across the street. “Carl, we’re moving in. Keep eyes on the exterior and let us know if you see anything suspicious.”
“Got it. Be safe, you crazy assholes.”
I heard his voice in my ear, followed by the soft clacking of keys on a keyboard.
My mates and I slipped around the side of the building to the door we’d escaped through last time. The door itself had been replaced, and the exterior wall showed no signs of damage. Doctor Shepherd had done what repairs were necessary to keep the building looking as bland and nondescript as ever.
“Okay, Jackson. You’re up.”
Noah jerked his chin toward the door, and Jackson stepped forward on silent feet. He knelt on in front of the large metal door, digging a lock-picking set out of his vest pocket.
He shot a look over his shoulder, catching my gaze. “Watch and learn, baby.”
“Just fucking do it, Jackson,” Rhys growled, nerves straining his voice.
I stepped forward, resting a hand on my daredevil mate’s shoulder as he worked. There was no chance of me gleaning any lock-picking tricks in this dim light, but I wanted to lend my support somehow. My grip tightened as a few long seconds stretched by, tension thickening the air around us. I felt vulnerable and exposed out here. As terrified as I was of the inside of the complex, at least we’d be harder to spot in there.
Finally—and probably a lot faster than it felt—the lock gave a soft click, and after another click, the door swung open.
The gaping darkness beyond might as well’ve been the mouth of hell. The stench of burnt plastic, explosives, and smoke wafted out to greet us, and it took all my willpower not to turn tail and run.
Jackson stuffed his lock picks back into his pocket, pulling out his flashlight and stepping inside. Once he was past the threshold, he flipped it on and sent the beam flickering down the darkened hallway, lighting our way. The rest of us followed him in, passing through the door one by one.
“Jesus. It smells like fucking death in this place,” Noah whispered.
He was right. Underneath the stronger scents was the smell of burnt flesh. I thought of Julie and the hunter she’d attacked just before we’d escaped and prayed silently that Doctor Shepherd had enough humanity in him to have at least buried the bodies.
“We should start at the top this time and work our way down. We barely even set foot on the first or second floors below ground, and we didn’t place any charges there, so they should be in better shape than the lower levels.”
My voice was surprisingly steady as I spoke, and although I never tried to put on airs or play the part of an alpha around my mates, there was a confidence in my tone I hadn’t expected. I knew why we were here, what we had to do, and who was counting on us to do it. So even though it felt like an army of spiders was crawling up and down my spine, I would swallow my fear and go through every inch of this place until I found something—anything—that would tell us where the shifter test subjects were being moved or where the Source was kept.
“Right.” Ahead of me, Rhys nodded. “Fan out to cover more ground, but don’t go far. And stick to one level until we all move on. I don’t want us getting too far from each other. Stay in contact via comms.”
My heart pounded so hard in my chest I was sure the little microphone clipped to my collar could pick up the rhythm, and I took a deep breath as we entered the stairwell. Though the stairs were still functional, chunks of them were missing, and the concrete walls were blackened and shredded. We made our way carefully down one flight, and Jackson picked the lock exiting the stairwell.
Hope stirred inside me again—if it was still locked, that meant something worth having was still inside.
The place was completely dark except for the sharp beams of our flashlights. No blue lasers ran across doorways, no computers whirred, no exit signs cast a ghostly light. I wondered if our explosion had knocked out the power, or if they’d turned it off after our break-in. Not that it really mattered.
We moved slowly through the hallway, working our way toward the central hub. Despite Rhys’s directive to spread out, we kept close to
gether at first, all of us on high alert.
My flashlight beam tracked over a dark marble floor and tasteful cream walls with polished light fixtures along their length. This must be an administrative level, as we’d suspected. Everything appeared much more modern and civilized up here, unlike the decor of the lower levels where the “experiments” had been kept.
I chewed on the inside of my lip in anger as we made our way through room after room. They weren’t empty—furniture still sat in most of them—but they held nothing useful.
It took us over an hour to thoroughly canvas the first floor, even though we did eventually split apart to go through the rooms faster. I found several scraps of paper, corners of pages with barely legible words cut off by ragged edges. I couldn’t make out anything useful, but I stuffed them in my pocket, just in case.
By the time we crept down to the second floor, my stomach was a knot of anxiety. Not just from being in this place, which stank more and more like scorched plastic and death the farther down we went, but from the creeping fear that I’d made a horrible mistake. That there was nothing to be found here, and we were wasting our time and the pack’s on a fool’s errand.
There has to be something. Something, goddamn it.
“Any luck? Anyone?” I whispered.
“Nah.” Even Jackson couldn’t hide the disappointment in his voice. “What about you guys?”
A chorus of “no’s” in my earpiece made my heart sink. But we couldn’t give up yet. “Keep looking. We at least have to get through these two floors. This is where the staff worked. Where Doctor Shepherd worked.”
I finished going through what appeared to have been a conference room, shooting a look back down the hall before cutting through the large space in the center. On this level, it’d been turned into a lounge, with tables, chairs, and couches arranged in small groupings. A wave of disgust washed over me at the thought of Strand doctors and nurses grabbing lunch together and discussing their latest projects.
Fucking psychopaths.
Walking faster, I slipped down another hallway, stepping into the first room on the left. Another office.
This one was bigger than the others I’d been in, almost as large as the conference room. The desk near the far wall was made of expensive-looking wood, and empty bookshelves lined three of the walls. A filing cabinet sat half-open in the corner.
My footsteps slowed as I canvassed the space with my flashlight, taking in every detail. This isn’t like the other offices.
Heart beating harder in my chest, I backtracked a few steps, shifting my light toward the door. A nameplate was stuck to the front.
Dr. Alan Shepherd.
Fucking hell. This was his office.
The beam of white light bounced and jittered along the wall as I stepped farther into the room, nerves making my hand shake. It was here—whatever we were looking for. It had to be. If there was any clue to be found in the building, it must be here.
I started with the bookshelves, shining my light on each shelf as I ran a hand over the smooth wooden surface, repeating the action over and over again.
Nothing.
Clamping my bottom lip between my teeth, I crossed quickly to the desk, tugging the top drawer open and bending down to peer inside. Something metallic caught my eye, and I tilted my head, angling the flashlight down so I could see better.
Before I could register what the small object was, a soft noise filtered into my ear. A scuffling sound, nearly as quiet as a sigh, like someone walking over a hardwood floor in a pair of slippers.
My gaze flew up, landing on the shadowed figure in the doorway.
I was about to press my hand to my chest and tell Noah or Jackson or whoever it was not to scare me like that when the man stepped forward.
The ambient glow from my flashlight illuminated short-cropped brown hair and a bland, too-calm face, and my blood turned to ice.
“Hello, Alexis,” Doctor Shepherd said quietly.
Chapter Eleven
He’s here.
He’s here.
He’s here.
My throat went dry, and my gibbering brain couldn’t seem to move past that one simple fact.
I opened my mouth to call out an alarm to my mates, but before I could draw in a breath, Doctor Shepherd raised the gun in his hand several inches, shaking his head in warning. My jaw snapped shut, my pulse thundering in my ears.
God, please let them hear my heartbeat. Please let them know something is wrong.
But what did I want them to do? Charge in here and try to rescue me, possibly getting themselves killed in the process? Or run for their lives, leaving me to face Doctor Shepherd alone?
“Shit” or “different shit”?
The tall, brown-haired man gestured with his gun again. Leaving the flashlight propped in the open drawer, I raised my hands slowly.
He stepped into the room, closing the door behind him with his free hand. “Turn your communication device off,” he murmured, so low I almost couldn’t hear the words.
My hand shook as I reached for the small switch below my microphone, but I obeyed his directive. I could feel the gun I carried at my hip like a hundred pound weight strapped to me. It was so close. So fucking close. But could I draw it, aim, and fire before Doctor Shepherd blew my head off?
Not a chance in hell.
Beneath my skin, my wolf’s hackles rose. She wanted to grab him by the throat and shake him like a rag doll, to chew through his limbs until his blood coated her muzzle.
What were the odds I could shift and attack in wolf form before he hit me with enough bullets to kill me?
Better, but still not great.
“I can see you thinking,” Doctor Shepherd said, his voice just like I remembered it. Measured and soothing. “Trying to work out a way to escape, maybe to kill me?” He shook his head, something like awe passing over his shadowy features. “You really are incredible.”
My jaw clenched. “Don’t call me that.”
He smiled, his thin lips stretching over his teeth. “I will, because you are. You continually surprise me, Alexis. You have the instincts of an animal and the analytical capabilities of a human. It’s amazing.” He tilted his head, pausing briefly as he listened for sounds in the hallway. Then he stepped forward. “Even the fact that you came back here surprised me. It shows high-level reasoning and a primitive, instinctual urge to hunt. To track.”
Another step closer.
My heart hurt from beating so hard, slamming painfully against my ribs. Every second I didn’t move felt like a wasted opportunity, but I couldn’t force myself into action. Doctor Shepherd was tall, though nowhere near as broad as my mates or several other shifters in the Lost Pack. Physically, I knew plenty of people more intimidating than him.
But no one had ever scared me more than Alan Shepherd.
His voice, his eerily calm demeanor, the power I had vested in him for ten years of my life—they all kept me prisoner, frozen like a statue as he walked closer.
“I’m so looking forward to studying you.” His smile broadened, a feverish glint flashing in his eyes.
Just like Nils.
Just like all his fucking lap dogs.
Doctor Shepherd was a cult leader. Nothing more.
That thought helped break the strange hold he seemed to have on me, allowing my brain to start functioning again. My wolf’s eyes studied him, taking in his posture, his gait, the way he held the gun. His right arm was bent strangely, I realized, as though it was uncomfortable to hold it out at that angle. A lasting effect of the gunshot wound Jackson had delivered when the four men broke into the complex where I’d been held?
“Where are you moving the shifters?” I demanded in a shaky voice. “What are you going to do with them?”
I asked the question to keep him distracted, and because if by some miracle I got out of this alive, I didn’t want to leave empty-handed.
Doctor Shepherd paused, cocking his head. “That was another thing I didn’t e
xpect. How strong pack loyalty is. A blessing and a curse, considering what I have in mind for you all.”
“Where?”
An indulgent smile tilted his lips. “Come on, Alexis. I’m not going to tell you that.” He cocked his head again. “In fact, we should leave this room before your harem—”
“My mates.”
“—wonder where you are. Step that way, please.”
He gestured with his gun, flicking the barrel to the left slightly. I moved slowly around the side of the desk, hands still raised, gaze locked on Doctor Shepherd. My heartbeat was a painful throb in my chest, and my skin chilled with a sheen of sweat.
I’d die before I’d let them take me back there.
Sariah’s soft words echoed in my head, and my stomach flip-flopped. I was running out of chances to make a move, to do something, and as risky as it might be, I had to try. I couldn’t let Strand have me again.
Doctor Shepherd followed me at a safe distance, urging me toward the one bare wall of the room while he came around the desk, grabbing my abandoned flashlight with his free hand.
The gun pointing at my head drifted to the right just an inch as he brought the flashlight up—and I took my opening.
Before I could think or hesitate, my wolf tore free, leaping toward Doctor Shepherd. He stumbled backward in surprise, shifting the beam of light into my eyes and temporarily blinding me. I hit him anyway, plowing into him with my full weight and bringing him to the floor. He grunted, and the flashlight rolled across the floor, sending light skittering across the walls like an out of control Tinkerbell.
I pinned his shoulders with my paws, opening my jaws to tear out his throat, when something pressed into my side. There was a muffled sound and three quick stabs of pain.
Not bullets. Something sharper.
Needles.
A snarl rumbled from my throat, but already numbness was spreading through my body. Two out-of-focus Doctor Shepherds wavered in my vision, and I bit down on empty air. I tried to snap again, but my mouth wouldn’t open. None of my muscles were responding like they should. My wolf whined softly, a plaintive sound, as I collapsed to my side.
