Twenty-Seven – Vail
I woke super early on Sunday, partially because of the strange sleeping position, but mostly because of the dreams. I hadn’t been able to escape my late-night conversation with Reed, and it had dragged me back to that day in the closet with Potter. He might say he saw me now, and knew I was more than just my pack status, but that memory was too raw to just forgive and forget. They’d thought it was fine to force me onto my knees for some random guy, just because I was worthless in their eyes. And the thought of Marnie suffering similar humiliations made me sick to my stomach. I had to see her. And whatever it took to put things right, I had to do it.
I was glad it was so early, since I was still in my pajamas, and not up for a run-in with Pearl or an angry pack mom. At least the Dud Dorm was only a couple floors down and I could sneak along the corridors undetected. Or so I thought, confident I was home free when I rounded the corner and ran straight into Principal Bregman. I stopped short, blushing to my roots to be caught sneaking around in my pajamas, but he looked relieved to see me.
“Ms. Marrow, I need to speak with you in my office.”
He was a gruff guy, more like a soldier than a teacher, but rumor was he’d been appointed by Jasper directly. It made sense, since the new Clan Alpha was so nuts about security, but it didn’t put me at ease. “I was just…” I gestured down the corridor. “I’m not dressed.”
“You’re fine. It’s the weekend. And I know you’ve had a little trouble over at Omega House.”
A little trouble? I tried to read his expression, but he put a hand behind me – not touching my back, but kind of drawing me along – and I didn’t see how I could refuse. “We’re very focused on keeping you safe, Ms. Marrow. The breach at your accommodation was unacceptable, but it was a good wake-up call. A reminder we have to be vigilant at all times.”
He sounded just about as nuts as Jasper, but I relaxed a little. I thought he might have been in the same camp as Mrs. Arras, but it seemed he was giving me the benefit of the doubt. “Is everything okay now? The pups are alright?”
“Yes, thanks to you.” We’d reached his office, and he waved me inside. It took me a moment to realize the two guards who’d tackled me outside my room were there. Neither of them looked happy to see me, but it was the one I’d bitten who managed a smile. It wasn’t a nice smile and my gaze swung around the room. It was a big office, and even with the four of us in there, they’d been able to fit a padded bench against the wall. There was a woman standing beside it who I’d never seen before, but her white coat kicked my alarm bells right up to DEFCON 1.
“What’s going on?” I twisted around to look at the principal, but he’d stepped back out of the room. It was just me, the guards, and the doctor standing against the wall. She was staring at the floor, but there was enough about her appearance to remind me of another technician. Someone with kind eyes, who’d stood back while I was drugged. Who never said a word when I lost the use of my limbs, and was tested to the point of torture.
I looked frantically around the room, sweat dripping into my eyes. The sore stomach I’d woken with was now in knots, and I thought I might puke. I could feel my heart racing as the doctor stepped forward. Her face morphed into Klein’s technician, and I turned and made a dash for the door. I didn’t get two feet before a blast of alpha power had me on my knees. Someone scooped me up from behind and dragged me back towards the doctor.
It was the guard. Not the one I’d bitten, but the one who’d wrestled the pup out of my arms. He pulled me hard back against his chest, the leather plate digging into my spine, as he hissed in my ear, “Ms. Marrow, this’ll go much easier if you calm down.”
“I can’t! Wait a second!” I squirmed enough to get an arm free, but the guard with the nasty smile quickly grabbed it and pulled me over to the padded bench. I glimpsed a tray of silver instruments out of the corner of my eye and something clicked in the back of my brain. Base instincts, like I’d accused Reed of. Only this was all fear. And the memory of another room, another doctor. Of pain so raw and deep, it made lightning dance in my veins. Some of Reed’s training must have kicked in, because I got a groin strike into the guy behind me and a kick into the grinning guard’s knee. But the next wave of alpha power sent me flying forward, and they shoved me face-first onto the bench. “Get Jasper!” I gasped. “He’ll stop you!”
“The Arras Alpha is the one who ordered this,” the doctor told me quietly. “It’s to keep you safe.”
The nasty guard was breathing through clenched teeth. “The exact words were ‘tag that trouble-making bitch’.”
The doctor made an unhappy sound, but didn’t protest when a knee was wedged in my back. A large hand pressed my face into the padding and I thought I could see my teeth marks on his palm. Did they know my wolf had done it? Were they going to test me, like the lab? Or was this retaliation for biting an alpha? Either way, they had me now. They were holding me down and I couldn’t move. Whatever punishment they thought I deserved, I had no choice but to lie still and bear it.
The clenching in my gut became so painful, I was suddenly weeping into the bench. Something cold pressed behind my ear, and when I cried out in shock, the guard at my back gave an impatient growl. “For fuck’s sake, it’s just a tracker. You won’t feel a thing.”
And I didn’t. Or not more than a sharp pinch as the needle slid in. I figured they’d already numbed the skin, because I smelled blood, but there was only a little tugging. Something pressed down and the cold feeling spread. Another pinch, more tugging and then the knee was easing off my back. I was still crying, but the hand over my face was holding me still, grinding my tears into the padding. The doctor brushed something against my cheeks. A Kleenex. And then a pill was pressed to my lips. “Take this.”
I was struggling again, but the hand on my face just squeezed my mouth open and the pill slipped inside as easy as the tracker. A pinch. A swallow. A metallic taste on the back of my tongue and I felt the room recede. Lights danced behind my eyelids, and something trickled down my throat. The pain in my stomach was now so strong I tried to bring my knees up. But the guards were holding them down and the doctor was saying something about shock. I closed my eyes, but the blood was pounding behind my ear. I thought of the tracker working its way into my brain and I barely turned my head before I was vomiting over the side of the bench.
“She’s having a reaction, but it can’t be the device. And there wasn’t anything in her file about medical allergies.” The doctor sounded panicked, but maybe it was because someone was thumping on the door. I groaned and tried to hug my belly, but people were yelling and my head was pounding. Something made a clicking sound, like nails on a wooden floor, and I wondered if it was the tracker trying to burrow its way through my ear canal. Another pinch in my arm made me cry out, but I was floating now.
Kind eyes, but an angry voice. I smelled Marnie, and pine needles. “Reed?”
“It’s Carter. I’m taking you to him right now.”
I didn’t know if I wanted that. I didn’t trust him. I didn’t trust any of them. I tried to resist when he lifted me, but my body was a useless lump of meat. And even if I could get it under control, where could I go?
Nowhere , a little voice taunted me. They have you where they want you.
I closed my eyes tighter, and didn’t open them again until Carter was handing me to Reed. I slitted my lids, just enough to see his sofa, the kitchenette, and then he was taking me through to his room. He laid me on the bed just as something cool touched the back of my neck. I shivered. Was it sending the tracker even deeper? I rolled into a ball to protect my belly.
“What the fuck happened?” Reed was trying to ease me onto my back, but I curled around his pillow. The bed dipped and the next words came out choppy, distorted, like his jaw was clenched tight. “Who hurt her?”
“There was a doctor in Bregman’s office. She said an allergic reaction. Maybe shock.” He made a hissing sound. “That room stunk of fear, Reed. I know it gets your wolf…”
“He won’t hurt her.” Reed huffed, then cleared his throat. “They put a tracker in her?”
“How d’you know?”
“Figured they’d lock her down after Den Night. But fuck… she’s in real pain.”
“Trauma,” Carter’s voice was suddenly closer, like he was peering down at me. I burrowed into the pine needle pillow, but I could still hear his muffled words. “Marnie said the lab trip was bad. And it looked like a clinic set-up in the office. Maybe it triggered her… You need to get that crap out of her head, Alphason.”
Reed grunted, but the bed dipped again and the covers moved around me. More of the pine scent filled the air, and I realized he’d pulled his blanket up over my head. I waited for the flash of fear, the need to claw my way free, but it was a cocoon, not a cage. I could still move. I rocked from side to side as I cradled my belly. “What can I do, Vail? Why are you hugging your stomach? You need water?”
“No,” I whispered. “It hurts so bad. Like claws, Reed. ”
“Could be your wolf. You’ve both had a bad scare. But you’re okay now.”
“I thought they were going to do tests. Because I bit him. Last time they gave me pills, I couldn’t move.”
“They should have told you. They should have explained.”
“Maybe they did?” I edged closer to him. Bigger even than the guards, but he was just lying there. Nothing about him was threatening. And I was cold down to the bone. I fumbled for his hand and pressed it to my belly. The worst cramp of all bit down, but then the clenching became ripples. The ripples slowly eased back to a dull throb. I almost sobbed in relief. “That’s good,” I whispered. “Your touch is good, Reed.”
His hand rubbed gentle circles across my middle, while his other arm scooped me close. I was too wiped out to resist and my cheek pressed to his chest. Warmth flooded me, all pine scented, and as the knots eased in my chest, I sighed in relief. My legs slowly uncurled, and I crept a hand over his waist. He didn’t move, but I could feel the clenching of his muscles along his spine; little spasms, like he’d absorbed some of my pain. He rubbed my back and I wanted to purr. I felt the darkness seeping in, just as he said, “I can’t believe he fucking did this.”
“He said I was trouble. I needed a tag.”
“He’s a fucking idiot. But just because they know where you are, doesn’t mean they can get to you. No one’s laying a hand on you again, Vail.”
A hollow promise, but I clung to it, and fell into that pine-scented darkness.