Chapter 6
Chapter
Six
Afew minutes later, Warwick, Ash, and I stood in Mykel’s office, guards on both the outside and inside ready to shoot us if we made a wrong move, which was hilarious to me. Warwick could take down a giant with his bare hands. These boys would be dead before they got one shot off.
The Wolf himself stood on one side of me with his arms crossed, his expression hard and dangerous, his presence filling up the office more than his actual physique. Ash was on the other in the same stance as Warwick, both slightly behind me, like guard dogs.
Mykel pretended like the two men didn’t intimidate him, but the way his eyes kept darting to them, especially Warwick, told me it was all an act. You couldn’t not react to Warwick, either good or bad. He demanded a reaction . . . usually to pee your pants and run.
My uncle stood behind his desk, his fingers tapping on the top, his attention going from me to the legend behind me. “I have heard many stories of you, but I will be honest, I thought they were just that. I didn’t even fully believe Kek’s accounts of you in Halálház. Seems I was wrong.”
“Kek’s here?” Warwick’s thick brow arched up, though his tone gave nothing away.
“Yeah.” I glared back at him. “Seems you two have a lot in common.” Both spies. Both got close to me because they were ordered to.
“You said you could prove something to me?” Mykel drew my focus back to him.
I took in a deep breath, feeling Warwick’s form skimming my skin without him moving.
“What are you doing, Kovacs?” His phantom body strolled around me, his breath grazing my ear.
“Telling him about the pills.”
“No. Bad idea.”
“Not your choice.”
“Princess . . .”
Ignoring him, I dug into my pocket, my fingers curling around the capsules. Trust had to be a two-way street, and I knew I had to prove myself first.
“Kovacs . . .” Warwick growled with warning, his shadow moving in closer to me.
Tugging out the pills, I stepped up to the desk, opening my hand. “The mission yesterday wasn’t a total loss.”
Neon blue pills tumbled from my palm, rolling out onto the desk. Mykel’s eyes latched on to them, his forehead wrinkling with confusion.
“What are these? Drugs?” He picked one up. “If you think I give a shit about drug smuggling—”
“It’s not a drug.” I rolled my shoulders back. “Well, not in the way you’re thinking of them.”
“You got these from the train?” Mykel rolled it around in his hand, not listening to me. “Leon is sending his own men to obtain this black-market crap? That makes no sense.” He pinched the bridge of his nose with his free hand. “These mean nothing to me. Useless.”
“Listen to me—”
“You think this will prove anything to me? This is elementary shit.” Mykel tossed it back on his desk, his brown eyes glowering at me.
“Better shut the fuck up.” A deep growl vibrated the room. Warwick’s body nudged mine as he stepped up. “And listen to her.”
Mykel froze, feeling the fury rattle through the room. His eyes snapped to me, his mouth pinning together.
“Look closer at them.” I motioned to them. I could see the color inside thrumming with energy.
Mykel eyed me but picked them up again. Taking out his glasses, he put them on, really examining the iridescent pills.
His head jerked closer, and I knew he finally noticed it.
They were full of life . . . of fae essence.
The magic swirled and pulsed inside the capsule.
Most would overlook it. I did the first time too, but I could feel them in my pocket like a heartbeat.
“What is this?” He peered over at me.
“I don’t know everything in them, but one of the main ingredients is fae essence.”
“What?” He blurted, shock popping his eyes, his spine stiffening. “Fae essence? That’s impossible . . .” His head turned to the two men behind me, searching for them to concur with him. Neither Ash nor Warwick did.
“They’re the reason I ended up in Halálház, but it wasn’t until I was with Killian—” Another low snarl coiled in my ear. Warwick’s chest pulsed against my spine at the mention of his name, “That I found out what they really did. What’s in them. What they mean. What I think Istvan is trying to do.”
“Wait . . . Killian, the fae leader of Budapest? What does he have to do with this?” Mykel pressed his hands into the desk, demanding answers. “And what do you mean what Istvan is trying to do?”
Yeah, this got complicated.
“Long story short . . . I was stealing these pills from Istvan’s cargo train, to piss him off really, when I got caught by fae and thrown into Halálház.
Killian later found the pills in the bag I had been carrying when I was captured the first time.
” Thanks to the asshole behind me. My narrowed gaze slid to Warwick.
Now I was pretty sure why I had been traded.
Not that it hurt any less; it actually hurt more to know he had a family.
Whether she was his mate or only his son’s mother, they had a child together, especially with how good it felt to have him next to me again.
It was a calmness and thrill I had never known before.
“I discovered what they were when I was Killian’s prisoner.”
Warwick didn’t even blink, but his other form moved into me, taking up all the air in my lungs.
“Prisoner, my ass. Don’t pretend you didn’t enjoy your time there, princess.” He snarled into the back of my neck, shivers spreading over my arms. “Seemed to me you were loving being his captive. Though you liked me watching, didn’t you? Make your pussy wet?”
I sucked in.
“Jealous?” I muttered under my breath.
“Of Killian or that little pretend soldier boy you have downstairs or even Captain One-Pump back at HDF?” Warwick snorted; the feel of his fingers glided up my thigh. “Not even a little.”
“Brexley?” My uncle’s voice snapped me back to the world outside of Warwick and me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ash’s head shake, sensing what was going on between us.
“Sorry.” I cleared my throat. “Killian started testing the pills on human subjects.” With a quick decision, I pulled my part from the narrative.
“They all came willingly, but I saw what they did.” I shook my head, the memory of the people down in those cells forever haunting me. “It changes people.”
“What do you mean changes?”
Picking up one of the pills I stole, I peered at it. So small, yet so devastating.
“They turn humans into mindless drones. They give humans fae-like strength. They no longer understand pain, and they are a lot harder to kill. Their minds were vacant, just waiting for orders.”
Mykel’s head jerked. “What do you mean orders?”
“The ones I saw, after a few days, mentally shut down. They would stand there like robots, but as soon as they were given an order to attack . . .” I swallowed, recalling how the woman clawed and scratched to get to me, almost forcing her bones through the cell bars.
“They became feral, and their only thought was to kill and destroy.”
I could see the doubt and fear warring inside Mykel. It was hard to believe. “I know.” I shook my head with a sigh. “It sounds like a made-up story, but I promise you, it’s true. I saw every stage, from beginning to end.”
“End?” Mykel asked.
“Every one of them died after a week. Horrifically.” I had a flash of that woman becoming an empty shell, her brains leaking out of her ears and nose.
“If this is true, you are saying General Markos is producing these and loading crates with them, sending them to Prime Minister Leon, and Lord Killian has them as well.”
“Yes.” I cringed. “But I don’t believe Killian is our worry.”
Both Ash and Warwick snorted as Mykel let out a dry laugh.
“Killian would love to end the human reign and make us nothing more than slaves.” Mykel’s nose wrinkled with disgust.
Everyone kept telling me that, but I couldn’t bring myself to think the worst of Killian. Maybe I was a fool, and he had tricked me the whole time. But why? Why would he bother? If I was so beneath him, why would he try to play me? Kiss me . . .
“Before I left HDF, I found documents Istvan was hiding. Documents that back up the idea he has someone making these pills.”
“Documents? What kind?” Mykel asked.
“Notes from some quack doctor and scientists from long ago.” I tried to recall his name. “Fringe stuff about taking fae DNA and trying to create some kind of superior soldiers.”
Mykel’s face blanched, his jaw rolling. “Dr. Rapava?”
My stomach sank hearing the man’s name and wondering how my uncle knew it. “How do you know about him?”
“I learned about his experiments from my research of a Dr. Novikov.” He stared at me in awe.
I remembered Dr. Novikov’s name from the letter as well.
Another scientist searching for ways to make humans stronger.
“They stopped working together when Rapava’s went to the States, where he became radicalized and unstable.
” He licked his lips. “Istvan is studying Rapava’s work? ”
“Yes,” I confirmed. “Not just studying.” I pointed to the pills. “He has Rapava’s formula.”
“These?” Mykel gestured at the blue pills, his reaction icing my veins. “These are made up from the Rapava formula? He found it?”
“Yes.” I nodded.
Mykel started pacing, his hand running through his hair.
“The doctor was crazy, and though some of his testing resulted in some interesting headway, almost everyone died. Also horrendously. He was known around the science community as Dr. Death. It was some of the reason Dr. Novikov parted ways with him.” He pinched his nose.
“Are you saying Markos is using this nutjob’s theories for an actual purpose? ”