Chapter One #4
More portals opened and closed as their little circle grew. Alek stepped away to speak with Vadir and Seb. The vampire and mage both looked fit to be tied.
Carson placed his big hand on Wylder’s shoulder as Tate hugged Wylder.
“We’ll get Theo back,” Tate told him.
The tears that Wylder was afraid to let fall gathered at the corners of his eyes. Wylder sniffed and nodded.
“Mah is already calling in favors,” Carson added. “We have favors owed to us. So far there has been no word of a summoning taking place, but it won’t be long before rumors start. Our spies are everywhere.”
“I need to make a phone call too,” Mitch told him. “I have a friend that I trust. Sami can ask the demons if they’ve heard of anything happening in the fae realm. Demons love to hear about chaos going on in other realms, and they gossip like no one I’ve ever met before.”
“Okay.” Wylder rose to his tiptoes and kissed Mitch’s cheek. “Sorry I yelled at you.”
“Ferguson is already on his way. He is coming with us,” Dario shared.
Wylder turned to bury his face in Dario’s chest. His mates had resources. Resources that they apparently really needed. As much as he was anxious to go, Wylder had to trust that his mates knew what they were doing. Wylder didn’t know shit about the fae. He should have read some of Theo’s journals.
Hopefully Theo had read enough about the fae to help until they arrived. He also needed to remember that Theo had survived on his own for his entire life. Theo was strong and smart. He could do this. Wylder really hoped that Theo could do this.
They needed to get their little mate back.
Wylder was scared. Shaking with terror just imagining what Theo could be going through while they were all standing around making plans. He just wanted to go. To get to his mate. To be there for him.
This feeling of helplessness was something that Wylder had thought he’d never face again.
He’d felt it before.
During the dark nights after the experiments had started.
When the pain had kept him from sleeping and the fear of what the next day would bring would take over his mind.
He would go back. If it meant saving Theo, Wylder would go back to the endless nights of pain.
Even when there were times that Wylder could still feel the warmth of his own blood running down his cheek.
It was cold. So cold.
Placing his palm against the cold concrete wall beside the little cot he lay in made Wylder wince. His hand was scarred. Long wounds along his fingers where the doctor had sliced.
Doctor. That was a joke. No one in the medical field who did what Dr. Morrow did should be able to call themselves a doctor.
A hard shudder racked Wylder’s body and he curled into himself.
The scratchy dark blue blanket was no match for the chill that came from inside him.
It was going to be a long night. They were all long nights now.
His days were filled with pain and torture but the nights were even worse. At night there was nothing to distract Wylder from the pain and helplessness.
How had he managed to get himself into this mess?
Oh, Wylder knew how. He’d joined the US military because that was what had been expected of him.
Generations of his family line going back to the Civil War had fought for their country.
There had never been a choice for him. Wylder hadn’t dreamed of doing anything else, of being anything else—no point when his future had been laid out for him.
Growing up, Wylder hadn’t known any different.
Hadn’t thought to fight against the plan made for him. So, when he’d been approached for special assignment, Wylder had thanked his lucky stars. He didn’t want to be a soldier. Even though he excelled in bootcamp and training, Wylder’s heart hadn’t been in it.
If only he had known.
Wylder wouldn’t be seeing any combat because he would never get out of the cold sterile room where he was wasting away.
He’d noticed that there were only a handful of them remaining.
At first Wylder had cried for the fellow soldiers that were lost but now he knew the truth. Those were the lucky ones. The ones that had blissfully passed before things had gotten really bad.
The solution injected into his veins had changed Wylder.
It had been cool at first. Not the injections. Those had always hurt. Burned through him. Nearly incapacitated him. But learning that he could jump farther, run faster, and more had made the process seem worth it. Until Dr. Morrow had tried for more.
Had pushed farther.
Too far.
Super soldiers. No one said those two words out loud but that was what the military was trying to accomplish. The shifters that were also being held prisoner along with Wylder and the other soldiers had either been lied to or not been given a choice.
The shifters had it even worse than Wylder and his fellow soldiers.
While Wylder’s body rejected what was being done to him, the shifters suffered an even worse fate. The doctors didn’t care how many shifters they went through to reach their ultimate goal.
Enhanced human. That was what the doctor told Wylder he was.
In Wylder’s mind, a better description was a dead human. There was no way that he was going to live through this.
Another hard shudder racked his body and Wylder bit back a whimper.
“Wylder.”
His name was moaned from the other side of the concrete wall. Wylder knew that he shouldn’t be able to hear the voice.
“Cotton,” Wylder whispered. “Are you okay?”
“Hurts,” Cotton whined.
Tears flowed down Wylder’s face at the pain he heard in his only friend’s voice. “I’m sorry.”
“I hurt you,” Cotton said quietly. “I’m sorry.”
Lifting his hand to the bandage over his cheek, Wylder squeezed his eyes tight. “Not your fault.”
“I didn’t mean to,” Cotton told him. “I’m sorry, Wylder.”
“Not your fault!” Wylder said more firmly. It wasn’t.
“I’m sorry,” Cotton repeated.
“We’re going to be okay,” Wylder lied to his friend. “We’re going to get out of here someday. And run far far away. We’ll never be hurt again.”
“I…I hope so.”
“We will,” Wylder insisted even though he didn’t believe his own words. Why would the government let them go?
“And you’ll find a cute guy to settle down with,” Cotton responded.
“We’ll go on double dates with that feisty female you left behind.”
“Amelia.” Cotton said the name with reverence.
“Yes, you and Amelia, and me and my guy. And you and Amelia will make me an uncle. I am going to spoil your pups rotten,” Wylder vowed.
“Tell me more. What else will we do?” Cotton begged.
This was what got them through the dark, cold, and lonely nights. Dreaming of a future that neither of them were going to have.
“Wylder?” Alek’s fingers held his face tight. “Come back to me, mate.”
Wylder blinked, clearing away the memory. His stomach turned like it did anytime that he remembered those days of the past. They had gotten out. Him and Cotton. Two of the few that had lived through hell.
Cotton had returned to Colorado in search of his love while Wylder had been drawn toward the small university town. The plan had been for him to go with Cotton but fate had other plans for him.
Fate. Destiny. Whatever it was that had worked to get Wylder into the right circumstance to finds his mates. And Theo. He needed to think about his little shifter.
They hadn’t been together long but in the short amount of time that Wylder had met his mates, especially Theo, they had become Wylder’s whole world. He wasn’t a natural fighter, no matter what the military or his family had tried to make him into, and yet he would fight the world for his mates.
“We have people searching for Theo,” Alek told him. “In every realm, including fae.”
Wylder licked his dry lips. How long had he been lost in his dark memories? Guilt flooded him as Wylder realized he’d allow his panic to draw him away from what he should be doing. Rescuing Theo. “I need to go. Find him.”
“We are,” Alek told him. “It doesn’t hurt to send out scouts. And get any and all help that is available.”
“What aren’t you saying?” Wylder asked, because he could tell there was something that Alek was holding back.
“Time works differently there. For all of us,” Alek said.
“And?” Wylder asked.
“Minutes here equals hours in the fae realm. Even though Theo was just summoned from here, there is no telling what he’s been through already.”
“Or what condition we’ll find him in,” Wylder finished for him.
“And it is going to take time to find him. Although we’re hoping that if we’re in the same realm, the bond will come through,” Alek explained.
Wylder nodded. “Let’s go find our mate.”