Lab rats had an appalling existence. Not only were they regularly used in excruciating and degrading experiments, but were often tortured for the amusement of the scientists.
None of the lab rats were fit for human society. The council would have them banished or killed outright, seeing them as a threat to the civilized creatures they wanted to project to the humans.
“Why did you and Nadia stay? You both could survive on your own.”
Reed straightened away from the wall, his expression troubled. “They needed someone to look after them. They listen to us.”
“But…” There was more that he wasn’t saying.
“Nadia refused to leave, determined to wait for the people from the labs to return.”
“She wants revenge.”
“No.” Reed rubbed a hand along his jaw, then let out a long sigh. “Yes. She needed a project to keep her busy, or she would’ve drove herself crazy re-living the past. Not everyone we rescued is equipped to fight, but they just don’t have anywhere else to go. They need us.” Raven suspected there was more to his story, but didn’t push him. One of the wolves crept forward, crouched close to the ground, almost as if trying to sneak up on Reed.
Raven stooped, putting them on eye level, and the creature froze. Fear dilated his pupils, and he hunched lower, as if preparing for a blow. Bruises and minor cuts from the earlier fight lingered on his face and body. “He’s not healing.”
Reed shook his head. “They don’t have enough shifter DNA to provide them with even that small comfort.”
The man couldn’t be more than a few years older than herself, but he looked thin, never bulking up with muscles the way a lot of dominant shifters had a tendency to do. Though she knew she needed to conserve her energy, she reached out to the cowering wolf.
As if lured closer by her gesture, the creature inched forward, and very tentatively nudged his head under her hand. She allowed the current to seep out from her touch as gently as possible. There was a wildness to him, a simpleness to his mind that reminded her of a child. Gathering the energy, she focused on his wounds, forcing the injuries to heal.
The wolf quivered at the unusual sensation, but didn’t pull away. His splintered green and brown eyes stared up at her so trustingly, it was hard to remember he’d been trying to tear her men to shreds not too long ago. When she lifted her hand, the wolf gave it a hesitant lick before he scampered off on all fours, and jumped up on a nearby boulder, keeping her in view the whole time, before he gradually lowered his head and fell asleep.
“What did you do?” Nadia’s strident voice echoed in the cave, and people stopped to gawk.
Raven slowly straightened, not in the least bit intimidated. “I helped him heal. He’ll be tired for an hour or so, but he’ll wake up without a scratch on him.”
Nadia’s lips puckered in a moue of distaste. “They need to learn to heal themselves.”
Though Raven wanted to agree, they both knew it would never happen. They were just too weak, and no amount of time would change that fact. “I was only trying to help.”
Nadia scoffed, her eyes narrowing dangerously. “And what would you know about shifters? You’re not even one of us.”
Some of the other shifters began to crowd closer, whether responding to Nadia’s aggression or out of curiosity, Raven wasn’t sure.
Then Dominick was there, edging between them. Raven got the impression he wasn’t coming to her defense, more like he was protecting Nadia. “Raven wasn’t raised in a pack, but she is, nevertheless, one of us.”
“Prove it.” Nadia surged forward, until only inches separated her from Dominick, then leaned around him to issue her challenge. “Prove you’re one of us, or leave.”
“They did something to me in the labs that triggered a dormant strand of DNA. I’m not a full shifter. I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to change into my beast.” Her heart stuttered at the terrifying thought. “What would you want as proof? Claws?”
Raven lifted her hand, allowing the nails to slip free from her fingertips. She’d become so used to the pain, she almost didn’t feel it anymore.
“You want to see my fangs?” Raven felt very exposed when she smiled at them, but this was harder than simply presenting her claws. She’d never consciously forced her fangs to lower. Her gums began to tingle, then ache, before her fangs descended and sliced into her bottom lip. They weren’t normal fangs, more like a cross between a vampire and a shifter.
Most of the shifters had gathered closer to witness the spectacle she was making of herself. She’d always tried to blend into the crowd, never draw attention to herself…it was one of the rules that kept her alive in the labs.
She noted that many of the shifters had scars around their necks and wrists where silver cuffs had been used to keep them chained. She had none of that. She lifted the delicate chain of her necklace from around her neck. “I don’t have your scars, because I built up an immunity to silver. The many marks I acquired over the years have since healed.”
Some of the shifters gaped at her in awe, leaving her uneasy, while a few others just stared at her like she was some sort of freak.
“Then you got off lucky,” Nadia snarled, unconsciously rubbing her own wrists, her distrust still evident.
Raven had enough of Nadia’s insolence. She didn’t need the woman’s trust, but she did need her cooperation if she wanted their help to find Rylan. “Some might consider it a blessing, but we all know what happens when the labs find those who are different. They are removed from the rest of the pack, allowed to stay in their own luxury suite.”
Nadia flinched at the sarcasm.
To be singled out meant a death sentence.
“But like you said, I was lucky. They found me valuable.”
This time, Nadia lowered her eyes, staring at her feet.
Valuable meant torture.
Valuable meant experiments.
“They pamper us with daily, if not hourly, visits, slicing and poking and prodding, taking us apart to find out what makes us unique, so they can figure out how to duplicate the effect.” Images of her concrete cell, equipped with its own medical table and chains, flashed in her mind.
“I escaped at the earliest opportunity. I wish I had been more conscious of my surroundings at the time, because I would’ve tried to help more people, but I had lost control of my beast. I’m not sure how we made it out alive, but I do know if I stayed, we all would have died.”
The rest of her men gathered around her, ready for an attack, when Reed grabbed Nadia’s arm and steered her away. “If you’ll excuse us, I need to help Nadia remove her foot from her mouth.”
Griffin shook his head, then got down to business. “This place is a mess. There is no true alpha to lead them. Nadia is doing her best, but she doesn’t have the power to keep the wolves stable for any length of time. The other woman—”
“Sheba.” Raven provided with a slight snarl.
Griffin lifted a brow at her tone. “Sheba has tried to pull a coup numerous times, but never managed to wrest away the leadership. No one wants to follow her.”
Raven snorted, not really surprised. “She wants what’s best for her; she doesn’t care about the rest of the pack.”
He gave a negligent shrug. His eyes kept darting around the cave, searching for hidden threats. “That’s what I’ve gathered. They treat the women as queens. Their need to protect the females is the only thing that’s kept the males from self-destructing and attacking each other. That they managed to stay together this long is a miracle.” Most shifters went motionless when unnerved by something, but Griffin couldn’t seem to keep still.
Raven nodded. “Dawn is only a few hours away. Get some rest. Maybe see what else you can learn. Check if they’ve had frequent visitors to this area…anything suspicious we can use as a lead. Tomorrow morning, we’ll head down into the lab and see what we can find.”
Going back to the lab that had been a prison for much of her life was the last thing she
wanted to do, but she saw no other way to get answers. She didn’t want to involve her pack in the horrors of her past, but hell would freeze over before they allowed her to go alone.
“We needed a guide.” Raven studied the group, wondering if any of them would be strong enough to enter the labs again without going feral. “If Nadia and her group were trapped down there for any length of time, they will know the layout, exits, and dead ends, and can save us valuable time.” The faint cord connecting her to Rylan warned they didn’t have any to spare.
“She won’t be pleased.” Dominick frowned, clearly unhappy that they would ask his new lady friend to put herself in danger.
“Let’s not forget the fact that she despises me.” Raven ran her fingers over her brow to ease the headache pounding inside of her skull. “Asking a favor from her will not be easy. She could outright tell me to go to hell.”
The tense set to Dominick’s shoulders said he didn’t disagree, and a muscle jumped in his jaw as he stared at Nadia from across the room. “If there is even the smallest chance that another lab is operating, she’ll do it.”
Blowing out a deep breath, Raven nodded, then set out across the cavern.
No sense in delaying the inevitable.
At seeing Raven head in her direction, Nadia tore her attention away from gaping at Dominick and stalked toward them. “What do you want?”
Despite herself, Nadia’s eyes flickered betrayingly toward Dominick. Aggression pored off the little wolf, and Raven bet it hurt to keep her beast in line. “Dominick, give me your shirt.”
A vicious growl escaped Nadia’s throat, the sound halting abruptly when Dominick obeyed without hesitation.
Raven grabbed the shirt, then tossed it at Nadia. Quick as a whip, the wolf lashed out and caught it. The girl looked at her, baffled, her fingers white from her brutal grip on the fabric. Raven had no doubt if anyone tried to take it from Nadia, they would soon find themselves missing a limb. “I have no claim on him. We are only friends.”
Instead of replying, Nadia kept staring at the shirt, her brown eyes flashing to a vivid green, just seconds away from burying her face in the material.
“Raven!” The sharp rebuke came from Dominick, his thunderous expression promising retribution. An adorable hint of red dusted along his cheeks.
Raven hastily backed away when it looked like he was prepared to toss her over his knee. “She has the same symptoms I displayed not too long ago. I recognize them.”
Dominick’s brows slammed down. “She’s sick?”
The whole cave fell ominously silent at his pronouncement.
Raven shook her head. “She’s aggressive whenever I’m nearby.”
“That’s just normal dominance issues between two females,” Dominick protested.
Raven shook her head again, enjoying herself more than she should.
When Durant glanced at her, understanding dawned in his eyes. He began to chuckle, then turned toward Dominick and slapped him on the back. “Congratulations, old man. It looks like you’ve found your mate.”
Durant might as well have cold-cocked him—nothing could’ve surprised Dominick more. He paled a few shades, then whirled to face Nadia, who looked just as shell-shocked. “What?”
Most shifters never found their one true mate, many believing it was a myth. It was so rare that Raven didn’t know of one other couple. But according to everything she’d learned, the more time Dominick and Nadia spent in the same vicinity, the harder it would be to control their wolves, until they actually completed the ceremony, exchanging blood to cement the bond between them.
A sharp whistle pierced the air, and Raven whirled to find a disheveled Randolph near the entrance.
That couldn’t be good.
Randolph was never ruffled. The world’s most dangerous assassin could handle anything…but it looked like he’d just discovered something bigger and badder.
He scanned the cave, ignoring everyone until he located her, then launched himself off the entrance slab and jogged across the cavern. Everyone scrambled to get out of the way, the air around him vibrating with menace.
He spoke just as he reached her side. “A large force is heading this way.”
Chapter Ten
DAY FIVE: TWO HOURS BEFORE DAWN
A split second passed in absolute silence. Then Nadia yelled, “Raid!”
Everyone scattered.
Raven pressed her back against the wall to get out of the way. “How many?”
Randolph just shrugged while he examined the cave, assessing what they might be able to use in a fight. Not a whole hell of a lot. The nearly-spent stock of available supplies was being carted away while the shifters went through their obviously well-rehearsed evacuation procedures. “Choppers in the distance. I heard three of them. Thanks to the steep grade of the mountain and lack of clear entrance, they’ll have to hike the last few miles. A couple of sentries remained outside, but that won’t keep them out for long. They knew exactly where we would be.”
“A trap?”
He gave a grim nod.
“Did you pick up anything else?”
He hesitated, and the small pause was enough to strike terror in her heart. “Both humans and shifters.”
Even if they escaped, they were going to be hunted down like a damned rabbit and run to ground.
Raven shoved away from the wall, making her way to Nadia’s side. “We don’t have much time. We need to get out of here.”
“My people know what they’re doing.” She didn’t even look up from her packing.
“Fine, then tell us how we can help, so we can speed up the process.”
A snarl curled her lips, flashing her fangs. “I think you’ve done enough.”
Raven was taken aback by the accusations, then strode forward, not willing to take any more shit. “We didn’t bring them here, at least not directly. You were being watched. You’re not exactly keeping a low profile by killing anything that comes to the mountaintop. It’s the perfect trap to capture anyone who comes to investigate the old lab. When you didn’t kill us, they became curious. No one knows about the lab but those who were in it.”
The words struck her like a blow, and Dominick quickly stepped between them, ever the peacekeeper. “It doesn’t matter how it happened. We need to leave. Now.”
Raven agreed. “We can’t assume the escape routes are not compromised. If they’ve been watching, they know exactly who’s inside the cave. They won’t leave without the purebloods or me. They’re not about to lose such coveted prizes.”
For the first time, Nadia looked young and lost. “They came for you. You’re important. We’ll hold them off. Just get as many of my people to safety as you can.”
Raven stilled, a crazy idea forming at the back of her mind.
There was only one sure-fire way to get to Rylan…let them take her.
Since she didn’t know his location, she would never be able to reach him in time otherwise.
“No. It’s me they want. You’ll just become collateral damage. You need to take those who can’t fight, those who would be used as fodder, and get them out. They’re not the targets, so whoever’s hunting us won’t follow you. It should give you enough time to escape.”
Durant looked pissed, but he didn’t try to change her mind, knowing he wouldn’t be able to budge her.
Dominick didn’t have any such qualms. “They will take you back to the labs. You know what that means. If they start testing again, you could be giving them exactly what they want.”
She licked her lips, unable to swallow. The fate that had been looming over her for years finally caught up with her. There would be no more escape. “We always knew that I would have to go back.”
He began to shake his head, opening his mouth to argue, when she spoke over him. “You know I’m right. They will all be killed, and we’ll still be taken. Your mate will be taken. You need to protect her. She’s your duty now, not me.”
The truth hurt to say aloud. They
’d been a team since they escaped together. She would’ve hidden herself away, alone and afraid, if it hadn’t been for Dominick. He made her care. He made her see that she could still help people.
“I didn’t mean for this to happen. We were supposed to go back together. I was supposed to be there to protect you, and help you destroy them once and for all.”
“You know as well as I do that if we leave, they will plow through these shifters in a matter of minutes, then keep following us. They won’t give up until we’re caught. It doesn’t make sense to sacrifice these people for nothing.”
While shifters were exiting out the back of the cave in groups of two or three, a few remained behind to set up traps, London and Griffin helping them make preparations by rolling boulders the size of a car, building stockades to slow down the soldiers.
If the soldiers wanted to take them, they were going to have to work for it.
Before Dominick could protest again, she grabbed his arm. “If you want to help, then make yourself useful, and find a way to slow them down even more. The more time we can give the rogues to get away, the better chance they will survive. The soldiers won’t follow if it’s too much work.”
“Raven…” He seemed to be at a loss for words. “I know you’re doing this for me. You’re protecting Nadia for me.”
“Of course. She’s ours to protect now. Neither of you can be taken. If they suspect you are mated, they will make your life a living hell, trying to find a way to duplicate the bond. They would take you both apart, piece by piece, to find out how it works. If you think your wolf is hard to control now, think what would happen when you’re separated, knowing they are touching her.”
His eyes slashed to green, his fangs descended, everything in him prepared to rip her apart for even suggesting it. He snarled so violently, everyone immediately backed away, averting their eyes to avoid antagonizing the beast.
Electric Night (A Raven Investigations Novel Book 5) Page 11
