Chapter 28
Chapter Twenty-Eight
It’s time to meet the marked humans. I’ve given them two days to adjust to the pack, letting Sash be their main point of contact, but I’m not waiting any longer.
My palms are clammy, and I wipe them on my pants before returning them to the steering wheel. I can do this. Sash isn’t coming today, but that’s okay. I can do this myself.
I glance outside the car window, counting the shifters running alongside the road. There are four of them. When Caleb heard my plans to visit the humans today, he promptly ordered these four men to join me.
I’m never alone. Caleb makes sure of it.
I exit the car, wintry air blasting my hair into my face as I peer up at the converted warehouse where the humans are staying.
They are loud and combative, but their minds aren’t nearly as poisoned as mine was.
Excluding the women forced into the breeding program, these humans weren’t trained as thoroughly as I was.
They volunteered to work for HPAW, which I can’t fathom. But they all have their reasons, I suppose. A handful of them were orphaned shortly after birth. Their parents didn’t want the stigma that came from having a marked child.
Others joined as adults. They had a hard time finding work because of their marks. HPAW offered to take them in, providing three square meals a day and a safe place to live. In exchange, they let HPAW draw their blood and run their lighter experiments. It was an easy decision.
None underwent the training I was forced to endure. They weren’t beaten. They weren’t raped. HPAW didn’t crack their ribs as they did to me, nor did they force them to fight with fractured wrists or broken toes.
None of them knew about the breeding program. HPAW was selective with who they chose. Women with no friends. No family. Women who wouldn’t be missed.
We’re all equally disgusted. It’s the only thing the marked humans are willing to admit we see eye to eye on.
My four escorts stop beside the car and shift into their skin forms. I look away as they dress, giving them privacy. Then I promptly jump out of my skin when Adam steps in front of me. I didn’t realize he was one of my escorts.
“Shouldn’t you be with Caleb?” I ask. “Or teaching children?”
Adam shrugs. “You’re slightly less annoying.”
Now, that’s a lie if I’ve ever heard one. Adam hates spending time with me. He’s made that abundantly clear time and time again.
“When are you going back to work?” I pry.
Adam’s taken a leave of absence from his teaching job. HPAW’s capture and torture have really pissed him off, and he’s decided to forego his dislike for politics to help dismantle them. I haven’t seen him much these past few days, but I know he’s been meeting frequently with Caleb.
“How’s Bells?” I ask.
Adam purses his lips and waves my question away. I suppose it’s not on the list of topics he’s willing to entertain today.
I square my shoulders, then walk inside the apartment building. Adam and the three other wolves trail closely behind me. I don’t recognize the other three, but they’re large, muscular men with tense muscles and shifty eyes.
They’re always alert. Always ready.
I enter a small lobby, then follow Sash’s instructions up the stairs to the second-floor common room.
“I was instructed not to let you enter any apartments,” Adam says. “Or to let any of the humans within touching distance.”
I chuckle. “Good to know. I’m only planning on introducing myself.”
I reach the second floor. Loud chatter filters down the hallway, filling me with relief.
Sash said that the marked humans spend most of their time in the building’s common room.
Their apartments are small, and they prefer to stick together as a group.
The common room is the only area where they all comfortably fit.
I suspect this is how they spent their time within the HPAW facility.
There are a few shifters who live in this building, but from what I understand, they’re avoiding the humans. It’s out of kindness. They’re trying to give the humans space.
If the roles were reversed, I suspect humans would be upset that their space is being infiltrated by shifters. They’d demand their rent be lowered or the shifters be removed.
I’m realizing that American humans are selfish. I aim to be better.
I step into the common room. This area is cozy. It’s filled with comfortable-looking furniture and drowned in dark, muted colors. Several of the marked humans are inside. I do a quick head count. Seven.
Two are sitting on the oversized couches in the television area on the left side of the room. They’re watching a show I’ve never seen. There are another three sitting at a round table in the center of the room. They’re playing a game.
The rest are lingering about, minding their own business.
It takes a minute for the humans to notice me. I suspect the four shifters who have entered with me draw the most attention.
The five of us are met with several dirty looks. I clear my throat, refusing to show my fear, and step farther into the room. Adam quickly follows, planting himself securely on my right.
I can practically feel the nervous energy pouring off him.
I understand why when I see a flash of bright-blue hair on the opposite side of the room.
Bells turns, staring directly at Adam as she slinks off the couch.
She maintains eye contact as she walks backward, heading toward a door on the far side of the room.
Adam exhales as she disappears.
Why is she here? Has she chosen to live among the humans? It doesn’t surprise me, but I’m still irritated. I want things to work out for Adam. I hate him, but I want him happy. I want to see him acting like a fool in love.
“Good morning,” I say, my voice loud. “I’m Evelyn. Sash has been handling most of your transition, but I wanted to come myself.”
The room is painfully silent. I force myself to continue.
“I’m Alpha Knox’s mate, and I’m a human…obviously.”
I gesture toward myself, trying to make a lighthearted joke about my stature. I’m considered tall for a human woman, but I’m clearly no shifter.
My sad attempt at a joke doesn’t go over well.
Nobody laughs.
Fine.
“I’m not here to waste your time,” I say.
Antonio sits beside his blonde human mate, the two squished together on a two-person couch. He’s looking mighty comfortable with his arm slung over the back of it.
His fingertips touch his mate’s shoulder. Just barely.
I heard that the humans have accepted Antonio into the fold. They like that he shares information with them—with his mate, really. Even now, he has a laptop balanced across his knee. I can only imagine what he’s showing her.
Does he know he’s being used? Probably, but I doubt he cares. He’s wearing a formal black suit, clearly meant to impress his mate, and he practically squishes himself against her side. Despite her deep-set frown and the glare she’s shooting in my direction, she looks relaxed.
The other humans seem tense. They don’t know whether to look at me or the four giant shifters who have come with me. They’re frightened.
The blonde isn’t.
I fight the urge to smile as I realize that, even if subconsciously, she feels safe around her mate. Shifters are known to be extremely protective. She may hate him, but she knows he won’t let any harm come to her.
“I understand that this isn’t easy for you,” I say, “and I’m here to listen to any concerns and help make your transition here as easy as possible.”
A man in the back of the room scoffs. Jack. He’s the big brother to the little girl who was shot in the leg. She isn’t in the room. Jack crosses his arms over his chest and leans back in his chair. He’s covered in tattoos, which I didn’t notice before. I was too distracted by his missing finger.
There’s a rose and a dagger on his forearm, and his mate marking is dark red.
“What are you planning to do about HPAW?” he asks. “It’s been a week. What have you done?”
“You’re right to be angry,” I start. “But nothing isn’t true. HPAW lost the facility, the women, the infants, and you. That matters.” I swallow. “What happens next is slower than it should be, but it’s moving.”
I’m coming to learn that everything is slow. Politics. Change. Nothing happens quickly, despite how much I’d like it to.
Jack barks out a laugh. “Slower than it should be? My sister wants to go home. Is that ever going to be a possibility?”
“We have no intention of imprisoning you.” I shift my weight from one foot to the other. “But now that you know about the breeding program… we can’t guarantee your safety if you return to America. We can send you to a different country, perhaps, but we’ll need time to arrange that.”
The man rolls his eyes and turns away, dismissing me.
Another woman speaks up. “Have you found our mates?”
Her marking is a light pink. It’s hard not to stare, and I self-consciously clasp my hands behind my back. I hate my scarred skin.
“Yes, for some of you,” I say. “We scanned your marks and found several matches.” Chatter immediately erupts. I raise my voice, speaking above it. “Your mates have been made aware, but they’re forbidden from entering the building.”
Somebody shouts. “Like that’ll stop them!”
I continue to speak, ignoring it. “We’re putting together files on your mates, and we’ll share them with you as they’re completed. From there, you’ll be given time to review and decide whether or not you’d like to meet your mate. We won’t force them on you.”
The humans have already begun to accept Antonio. He spends his days in the common room, and it’s only a matter of time before the other humans grow curious. Nobody wants to be alone. It’s hard to resist the temptation of a soulmate.
The humans turn their backs toward me. I have more to say, but I don’t think they’re willing to hear it.
“Let’s go,” Adam says, his voice low. “Let them process this information amongst themselves.”
I chew at my bottom lip, frustrated that this meeting didn’t go as I wanted, before letting Adam lead me outside. I thought the humans would ask me more questions. I hoped, at least.
Adam takes it upon himself to hop into the passenger seat of my car. The other three shifters strip and transform into their animal forms.
“Do you want to talk about Bells?” I ask Adam.
“Nope.”
I shoot him a sideways glance before knocking my fucked-up, janky, scarred hand against his. His skin healed nicely, though his mark never returned. Mine looks like it went through a shredder.
“I’m okay,” he says. “Everything is fine.”
I didn’t ask. I also don’t believe him.