Chapter 37 Felix
Felix
Iburied my fingers deep into Kit’s thick fur, gripping tight as the massive shutters groaned open in front of us. Freezing mountain air rushed in, sharp and clean after the recycled facility air.
We’d done it. We’d actually bloody done it.
Kit’s powerful muscles bunched beneath me as he padded forward, leading our unlikely procession out into the snow.
When he’d growled at me and used his snout to nudge me towards his back, I’d been unsure.
Riding a massive wolf hadn’t exactly been covered in any of my computer science modules.
My thighs ached from gripping his sides, and every powerful stride reminded me I was clinging to a creature that could tear a man apart.
But riding Kit felt like trust made physical—his strength carrying me to safety, my hands buried in fur that smelled like home.
On one side, Rory dragged a silver-chained Moira, her face twisted with rage. Behind them, the two soldiers we’d shoved unconscious into cupboards shuffled along, hands bound behind their backs.
On the other side, Isla walked with downcast eyes, shoulders hunched against more than just the cold. Behind us, dozens and dozens of freed wolves followed in Kit’s wake, their breath creating small clouds in the frigid air.
The first few steps onto the mountainside felt like victory. Snowflakes landed on my nose and I couldn’t help but whoop, the sound echoing off the mountain walls.
BOOM!
The explosion ripped through the facility with a bone-rattling roar. Heat rushed out of the entrance behind us as the mountain seemed to swallow the building whole, concrete and steel collapsing in on itself with a grinding, thunderous crash.
“RUN!” Rory’s voice cracked across the mountainside, sharp with terror. “EVERYONE RUN, NOW!”
The wolves went absolutely mental. They scattered in all directions, some tumbling over each other in their desperation to get away from the collapsing facility.
Bodies crashed together as panic took hold—wolves shifting mid-sprint, humans stumbling and falling face first into the snow only to scramble up again.
The mountain groaned ominously above us.
Kit didn’t need the warning. His ears flattened as he bounded away from the entrance, carrying me down the slope in powerful leaps that jarred my spine. Behind us, I could hear the thunder of dozens of feet and paws as everyone fled.
“Felix, mate!” Rory shouted as he sprinted past us, still dragging Moira’s chain. The woman was stumbling to keep up, her face pale with something that might actually have been fear. “I thought we were going to wait until we were all at least a couple of hundred metres away?”
“Oops,” I said breathlessly, bouncing on Kit’s back as he leaped over a fallen log. “I guess I can’t be brilliant all the time.”
Truth was, my method had been a bit too effective.
I’d used the existing HVAC system to turn off the sprinkler system and pump pure oxygen throughout the facility, then remotely triggered an electrical malfunction via my tablet.
Overloaded lighting circuits, forced air conditioning units to short out, tripped electrical panels to arc.
Any spark would ignite an oxygen-rich atmosphere.
“You’re going to blow this place up with air and a light switch?” Rory had said. “That’s the nerdiest thing I’ve ever heard. I love it.”
What I hadn’t properly considered was that blowing up a facility carved into a bloody mountain might have some knock-on effects.
Like, say, an avalanche.
More rumbling boomed from within the mountain, followed by an ominous crack that seemed to split the air itself. Through the entrance, flames licked at the edges of the doorway, orange light dancing against twisted metal.
We’d made it a fair distance when Kit finally slowed, his sides heaving. Around us, wolves were still running, all of them putting as much distance as possible between themselves and the mountain.
Absolute chaos.
Kit’s howl cut through the panic like nothing I’d ever heard.
It wasn’t just sound—it was command. Pure authority that seemed to vibrate in my bones and make every wolf on the mountainside freeze mid-stride. The note hung in the frigid air, echoing off the peaks, and I felt something primal inside me respond even though I wasn’t even a wolf.
Around us, wolves who’d been scattered across the slope began turning back, ears pricked and heads tilted towards Kit.
Kit howled again, shorter this time, and I swear I could hear the message in it: Come back. Stay close. Safety in the pack.
Soon we had an army of wolves encircling us, all looking to Kit with expressions of confusion and hope. They kept glancing between him and the burning facility behind us, waiting for direction.
“What in God’s name…”
We all turned at the familiar voice, and my mouth fell open.
Seb and Theo were trudging through the snow towards us, both wearing expressions of utter exasperation.
“Rory!” Theo shouted. Or, more accurately, screamed.
Rory immediately abandoned Moira’s chain and sprinted towards Theo. The wolves parted for him like the Red Sea. He launched himself at the detective, shouting, “Teddy!”
“You absolute fucking idiot,” Theo growled, even as he caught Rory, spinning him around to kiss him senseless. “You stupid, reckless, idiotic—”
“You used that one already,” Rory said.
Theo whacked the back of his head. “You almost gave me a heart attack. I thought… I thought you might be dead.”
“Never,” Rory vowed fiercely. “You’re stuck with me for life.”
Theo cradled Rory against him, stroking his hair while rocking the pair of them back and forth.
I leaned into Kit’s furry warmth, asking Seb, “How did you get here so quickly?”
Seb raised a pointed eyebrow. “It was hardly rocket science what the pair of you had decided to do. With the passports missing from the safe, you gave us little choice but to follow you. Then the bloke at the car rental office was extremely helpful when Theo proved you’d hired a car on his credit card.
All their vehicles are tracked. That brought us close enough for Theo to sense Rory’s general direction through their bond. ”
“You mean you didn’t bring your private jet?” Rory demanded, still clinging to Theo.
“I told you, it’s not my jet,” Seb said dryly.
“Well, how are we supposed to get a hundred wolves home?”
Seb pinched the bridge of his nose. “How was I supposed to know we’d be adopting a hundred wolves?”
Around us, the freed pack members whimpered and whined. Moira had gone ominously quiet in her silver restraints, and Isla stood apart from all of us, looking lost and terrified.
“Isla,” Theo said, in a surprisingly gentle tone. “It’s good to see you again.”
She nodded at him, managing a weak half smile of sorts. Then the mountain groaned behind us, and another section of the facility collapsed with a distant crash.
My teeth chattered uncontrollably as the mountain wind cut through my thermal jacket. “We need a plan.”
“I’m all out of them,” Rory said, finally pulling away from Theo to survey our ridiculous situation. An army of confused wolves, one chained war criminal, and us—stranded on a Swiss mountainside in the middle of the night. “Sorry.”
“This entire operation was entirely my plan,” I said proudly, unable to keep the satisfaction out of my voice.
But I’d hacked a military facility, created a diversion, freed Kit, and blown the whole place to smithereens.
Not bad for someone who usually spent his days debugging code and avoiding eye contact.
“Shh.” Seb held up a hand, his expression deadly serious. “Be quiet. I’m thinking.”
We all fell silent. Even the wolves seemed to sense his authority, their restless pacing slowing to a halt.
“What will happen if Kit asks the wolves to shift back?” Seb asked Isla.
Isla shifted uncomfortably under Seb’s piercing stare, snow collecting on her ginger hair.
“Technically, they should have their minds back,” she said.
“The control chips need constant connection to the central server to maintain neural dominance. With the facility destroyed…” She gestured weakly at the burning mountain behind us. “The network’s gone.”
“But?” Seb pressed, clearly hearing something in her tone.
Isla’s shoulders hunched further. “But… I think they’ll be severely disoriented. The chips suppress higher cognitive function. Language centres. Personal memories. Some of them have been under control for…” She swallowed hard, guilt written across her pale features. “Some of them for years.”
“Years?” Rory snapped. “Jesus Christ, Isla!”
She hung her head.
The wind picked up, sending fresh snow swirling around us. Vicious shivers racked through me, and I pushed as much of my body into Kit as I could.
“So if Kit commands them to shift back,” Seb said slowly, “we’ll have a hundred naked, confused, potentially traumatised people who don’t remember who they are, standing in a Swiss snowstorm.”
Seb remained perfectly still for nearly a minute, gaze scanning the scattered pack, the burning facility, the endless expanse of snow-covered wilderness around us. Then he pulled out his phone, held it to his ear, and waited.
“Guten Abend,” he said when someone answered, launching into rapid German that I hadn’t the slightest hope of understanding. His tone was crisp and commanding, the voice of someone accustomed to having his orders followed without question.
I leaned down and pressed my lips against Kit’s furry neck, breathing in his familiar scent beneath the smoke and mountain air. “We’re safe now,” I whispered into his ear, my fingers tangling in his thick coat. “You’re never leaving me again.”
Kit’s ears twitched, and I felt rather than heard the low rumble of contentment in his chest.
I scratched between his ears, adding shyly, “My mate.”