Chapter 65 （Bonus）
BONUS CHAPTER
KHAL
Trying to hide the fact that my twin and I have been gone so long is harder than I initially thought.
Something is going on behind the scenes, and hopefully Khol can figure it out when he gets back.
I've gotten into three fights since my return—two today alone.
My projects are ahead of schedule, which you'd think would be good enough to keep the vultures at bay. It isn't.
Our uncle keeps disappearing from the compound for days at a time, according to one of my assistants. It makes me wonder if he's meeting with the council on the side. Either council. Or both.
I finish the tests I needed to run in person and hand in my findings like nothing has changed, like I haven't spent weeks in the Arctic with my mate and her pack.
Like my entire world hasn't shifted on its axis.
I've avoided the topic of my brother and his whereabouts like the plague.
My best answer is that I'm not talking to him at the moment—he's being a dick.
Most people who know us know that we go through cycles of not speaking sometimes, so after a while they drop the subject and move on, assuming Khol is doing whatever the hell he wants.
Which, thankfully, is normal for him. Dropping off the face of the planet for weeks on end is practically his signature move. Me? Me disappearing is not normal. And that's the problem.
"So what happened?" Ven asks, leaning against my workstation with that infuriating casual posture of his.
"Female shit." I arch a brow and give him a glare that should end the conversation. It doesn't.
"Had your eyes on someone?" He presses, and I sigh, setting down my test tubes before I'm tempted to throw one at his head.
"If you must know, it was a dragoness." My stomach turns with the lie—the thought of another female makes me sick.
"Met her in Thornford when I was looking for supplies.
We hooked up, thought she was the one, and turns out she just wanted a good time.
" I use air quotes around "good time" and roll my eyes for effect.
"Bitches be crazy," he says offhandedly.
"They definitely can be." I go back to what I'm doing, hoping he takes the hint. He doesn't.
"Can you watch my experiment? I have to go to the magic school and donate blood."
I feel my spine stiffen, every instinct screaming at me to keep my face neutral. "They need more?"
"Yeah, apparently there was a wolf hiding among them this year, and they want to make sure the same shit doesn't happen again." He shrugs like it's nothing, like they aren't talking about my mate.
"Don't they realize too much of our blood will make them sterile?" I stick with the facts that everyone in the lab knew before me, keeping my voice carefully disinterested.
"Probably not. Your uncle wants the witches and warlocks gone. If they want to poison their own kin, let them." He smiles a little too happily, and something cold settles in my gut.
"True. Try not to let them drain you like a kid with a juice pouch.
" I smirk at him, the expression feeling like a mask stretched too tight over my face.
Ven waves before leaving, and the moment he's gone, I feel like I want to puke.
I have to tell the others when I get home.
But I can't do or say anything out of the ordinary while I'm here—there are cameras and microphones everywhere, watching, listening, waiting for someone to slip.
After about an hour, I walk over to Ven's station to check on his experiment, my footsteps measured and casual even though my heart is pounding against my ribs. Looking over the notes, my blood runs cold.
It's a shift suppressant. Odorless. Tasteless.
An updated formula—the prior version had a mild odor that non-serpent shifters were able to sniff out.
I think about the wine in Crescent Valley.
That was a shift suppressant too. Somehow, my people are able to get things into the packs.
Somehow, they've been poisoning wolves right under everyone's noses, and no one knew until it was almost too late.
To keep up appearances, I chart the effectiveness and progress of the mixture, my handwriting steady even as rage burns through my veins.
I can't tip my hand. We need more information before we strike, before we burn this whole operation to the ground.
But the time is coming.And when it does, there won't be anywhere for them to hide.
At the end of the day, I take the long way home, stopping at my old apartment to check things out. The moment I step inside, I know something is wrong.
Stuff of mine and my brother's has been moved and replaced to make it look like no one was ever here—like we've been erased, our presence scrubbed clean from these walls.
But I notice the differences. The angle of the lamp.
The position of the books. Small things that someone who didn't know us wouldn't catch.
But I catch them. I make a note of it in my mind for later. I'll stay here for a few hours to maintain the illusion, then head home to the cabin, to my mate, to the family that's waiting for me.
Something is very wrong.
And they need to know before it's too late.