Chapter 12
CHAPTER TWELVE
ANGEL
Aset of warm hands circle around my arms, making me jump.
“Everything will be fine,” a red-haired shifter with light green eyes says as she removes her hands. The woman doesn’t look threatening, despite her forced smile.
“Come with me,” she whispers, a cue that tells me she’s helping me sneak away. Her face is ashen, like she might be sick, which is precisely how I feel.
Slowly, gently, she pushes through the crowd, taking me with her. No one tries to stop either of us, even though the alpha didn’t give her permission to take me away. I’m not in a position to fight back against her or anyone, least of all an alpha. I glance back at the huge male, happy to escape.
The alpha’s glare hasn’t left my poor Garrett, who’s intentionally bringing his alpha’s wrath down on him, giving me time to get away.
He knows precisely where I am, because his eyes never leave me.
That warms me in a way no clothing ever will.
And that could explain who this woman is.
A friend who’s helping Garrett. A backup plan, in case introducing me to his pack didn’t go well.
Retrieval experts always have backup plans.
I lean in to whisper to the woman. “If you can get me a few more yards, past that house over there, then I can slip away before they decide what to do with me.”
“There’s no reason to leave. You’re safer here than at a lot of packs. Our border guards have more than skills, they have heart. And our alpha takes security quite seriously, which is why he’s upset with Garrett.”
“He’s upset because he thinks I’m a WSSO agent.”
“Not sure what he’s thinking in regard to that, but I can assure you he’s rather upset with Garrett for defying orders.
Don’t worry about any of that. You’re safe here.
Security was tightened a few years back after the WSSO invaded.
” She leads me up the steps to the largest house in the center of the camp, not behind it. I’m being moved, not helped to escape.
“Garrett’s in trouble because of me. If I leave now, it could smooth things over between him and his alpha.”
“Damien’s blowing off steam, nothing more.
Garrett pushed a lot of Damien’s buttons, something most don’t dare do, but they’re cousins which gives Garrett more…
leeway and less, depending on the situation.
Have a seat while I find you something decent to wear.
” She stops short. “I mean, I’m assuming that shirt’s not yours. It’s at least three sizes too big.”
“I got it from a bin outside the compound. My pack had a similar set up, but for the guys only. Not many emergencies requiring females to shift suddenly, so they didn’t see a need to stock the cache with women’s clothing.”
“I’ll find something better for you.”
“The shirt covers everything. You don’t need to do anything special for me.”
“Just the same, let me see what I can find.” She starts digging in a huge bin by the door.
“You’ll need to learn to speak up around here, or the guys will drown you out and take control.
Not from ill intentions, mind you, just all that testosterone.
They can be tamed, more or less.” With a huge grin, she fishes out a beige cable-knit sweater and pair of jeans close to my size. “These should do.”
It’s very sweet of her to worry about my clothing situation, but I’ve got bigger concerns. “You’re sure they’re cousins? How close? I mean, why would Garrett anger the alpha like that?”
She smiles. “You can be direct with me.”
“I am.”
“Honestly, it sounds like you’re avoiding what you really want to ask, which is why Garrett’s pushing Damien, and putting all the wretched details of your circumstance on display for everyone to hear.”
“You caught that, huh?” I add, watching her reaction closely.
Her expression tightens as she nods. I’m still trying to figure out her angle. Why she’s being so nice to me.
“Garrett was on the retrieval team that rescued Damien’s mate from a WSSO research facility three years ago.
Damien found her in a crate, similar to the one Garrett found you in, from the sound of it.
I think he’s using all those horrid details from your situation to push Damien to remember how he felt when he found his mate in… well, equally bad conditions.”
“To sympathize with me?”
“You’re rather astute.”
“I’m sorry, I just don’t see the alpha caring about me. He seems—
“Heartless?”
Slowly, I nod, unsure how she’ll react to someone thinking of her alpha as a monster. This is her pack, her alpha. I’m the outsider, the unknown… the true danger to them.
“Being responsible for every male, female, and child in a pack is a heavy responsibility, one Damien takes to heart.”
“Garrett shouldn’t be telling him everything—”
“He has to, for the security of the pack, though I agree doing so out there in front of everyone is a bit thoughtless. There are those who’d rather put those memories behind them.
” She gets a distant look for a few seconds, before shaking her head.
“You’re not the first the WSSO has experimented on and I doubt you’ll be the last. It’s a touchy subject around here. ”
“Because of the alpha’s mate?”
“She’s not their only victim. Now that I think about it, survivor is a better word than victim, don’t you think? Victim implies death.”
I nod again, hesitant to contradict her, but I sure feel like a victim. Not sure what else I’d call myself at this point, except packless. A lone wolf.
“My pack… they were slaughtered the night I was taken. Most were killed in their beds.”
Her entire body tightens. I’m telling her too much and I don’t even know why.
“Go on,” she urges, her hands clenched at her side.
“Maybe I shouldn’t.”
“Please trust me. Recounting the details will help you later.”
With a cautious nod, I continue. “Sometimes I wonder if the humans killed my pack just so they could take me without fear the males would come for me. I don’t understand why they didn’t take more prisoners that night instead of killing them.”
I pause, scrutinizing her expression. It hasn’t changed. She’s waiting, for the entire ugly truth. I hope I’m not making a mistake in trusting her.
“They’ve been using me to lure one or two shifters at a time over months. That’s the part that doesn’t make sense. They could have had dozens that night.”
“Plans change sometimes. Hard to say why they didn’t take more than you.” She takes a deep breath. “But it’s not the first time they’ve killed an entire pack and only taken one prisoner.”
“Is that what happened with Damien’s mate?”
“They killed her family, her pack, leaving no one to go looking for her.”
I sink into the cushions. “That’s what happened to me. There was no one left to look for me.”
“I’m sure all those shifters they’ve trapped feel the same. But you were wrong. Garrett came for you. And if he’d waited a few days, the rest of the team would have been with him.”
“I remember them, from the first time they found me. It took everything I had to convince them to leave. If I hadn’t…” My mind plays back the terror of that day. “There were four guards that day, hidden. They would have shot them, killed them, if I’d failed.”
“And for that, we are thankful you succeeded, but it doesn’t change the fact that Garrett defied his alpha. Damien will punish him.”
I understand, but it doesn’t sit well with me. He saved me, and now he’ll be punished because of it. “I wish I could switch places with those other shifters.” With Garrett. Keep him from being punished.
“Why would you say that?”
“Because I had a hand in trapping them. And now, the very thought that they’re being tortured makes it hard to breathe.”
“You can’t think like that, or it will eat you up inside. Their fate, whatever it is, is not something you want.” Her tone sends a shiver down my spine.
I swallow. “What if the humans are… experimenting on them?”
“They are,” she says with no doubt in her voice. “They… they used me to test the shifter virus.”
“I don’t understand. You’re alive. That virus killed thousands.”
She takes a deep breath and closes her eyes for a moment. “Yes, ultimately. But they conducted their research before that point. They had been trying to separate our wolves from the human part of us.” She shudders. “To make us fully human.”
I reach for her hand. “You don’t need to explain.” Or maybe she does. I think that’s why I’ve been telling her so much. This need for others to understand.
“I know. And it’s not something I talk about much anymore.
I try to keep it in the past, but not… not fully, if that makes sense.
We need to remember all the atrocities the WSSO commits, or we’ll lose this war against them.
To them, they have two choices. Destroy all shifters, or make us human again.
The first isn’t as easy as they believed, not with governments frowning on mass murder, especially when innocent humans get caught in the cross-fire.
The second isn’t any easier, but the sick bastards think it’s merciful…
something they can convince governments of, once they figure out how to do it.
They don’t understand what tearing our wolves from us would do to us. ”
I’d heard her theory of the WSSO trying to destroy our wolves. I never believed it until now.
My wolf’s pacing inside, agitated, and not because of her views on the WSSO. I’m sitting here talking while Garrett’s out there arguing with his alpha. What if that over-sized male is pummeling Garrett? I’m wasting time when I should be escaping.
“I don’t know what to do,” I confess out loud.
She hands me the sweater and jeans. “You can put on some better-fitting clothes to start.”
“I’m sorry for causing so much trouble.” I smile as best as I can considering I can’t stop shaking. “I’m Angelina. Lina, to my friends.”