Chapter 12
Varek
I was addicted to her.
The moment I’d stepped back from Mariah’s limp body, I knew that I’d never get enough.
She was a drug that I’d already overdosed on.
She was a fire that burned me alive, and I didn’t want to run away; I wanted more.
She was something I’d never expected, and I knew that I could never go back to being without her.
She’d gone into some sort of heat. Maybe it was a side effect of whatever she’d been injected with, but I couldn’t be certain.
All I’d known was that I’d needed to break her of it.
I’d used her beautiful body hard and she had come for me more times than I could count, her body writhing against me, her tight little ass squeezing my cock.
Truly, it was a wonder I hadn’t died inside of her.
Still, I wanted her again. It had barely been ten minutes and already I wanted her again.
I wanted her on her knees, on her back, in every position imaginable.
I wanted to make her scream until she couldn’t breathe.
I wanted to devour her whole. I wanted to take her apart piece by piece until she was nothing but a quivering mess.
But we couldn’t stay here in these tunnels, not forever. We’d have to move eventually. We needed to get to a safe place.
“Mariah,” I crooned. Her eyelids fluttered open.
“What is it?” she asked, her voice raspy.
“We have to go,” I said. “We can’t stay here. Not for much longer.”
“I know,” she said. She pushed herself off the wall and stood up on shaky legs. I reached out, steadying her with a hand on her arm. She looked at me, her eyes wide and vulnerable.
“I’m okay,” she said. “I’m just a little…”
“Wobbly,” I finished for her. “You’ll get used to it.” I grabbed her pants off the ground and helped her pull them up, before picking the lantern back up.
“Come on,” I said, taking the lead. “I have another base not far from here.”
She followed close behind me, her footsteps light and quiet. We continued through the tunnels for a while longer, before I finally stopped in front of an old, rusted door.
“Where are we?” Mariah asked, looking around.
“My bunker,” I said.
I unlocked the door with a heavy metal key and pushed it open. Mariah stepped inside, her green eyes widening as she took it all in. “This is… yours?”
“Ours now,” I corrected. My hand still rested on the door, ready to swing it shut and lock the world out.
That’s when I heard the click of a safety being switched off.
We both froze.
“Don’t move.”
The voice was female, high-pitched and dripping with venom. I turned my head slowly.
She was sitting on a crate like she owned the place, one leg crossed over the other, a rifle leveled at my chest. She looked human, grime on her face, hair tied back with a filthy strip of cloth, clothes patched and re-patched a dozen times, but her eyes…
her eyes burned with a hate I recognized instantly.
“Well, well,” she said, her mouth curling in a grin that didn’t touch those eyes. “I see you two have had a good time.” She cocked her head, smirking at Mariah. “Sounded like it too. These tunnels carry all the sound.”
Mariah’s cheeks went red, her mouth opening and shutting again, but she remained silent.
I straightened, my voice calm, but edged with warning. “Put the gun down before I take it from you.”
She snorted, leaning back against the crate, completely unfazed. “Typical wolf shifter talk. Big, bad, and full of shit.”
Mariah bristled beside me. “He’s not—”
The girl cut her off, tapping the rifle against her knee. “Save it. I know what you are.” Her eyes flicked to me. “You’ve got that look. All of you do. Thought you could hide down here, huh? Keep your little mate tucked away and play house?”
I felt my jaw tighten. “You don’t know a damn thing about me.”
“Oh, I think I do.”
She reached down beside her and held up a battered leather-bound book. My book. My blood went cold.
“Looking for this?” she asked sweetly. “Found it right where you left it, under a rock. Not very clever, by the way. Wolves usually guard their secrets better.”
Mariah glanced at me, startled, then back at the girl. “You stole it?”
“Stole it? Honey, I liberated it. And you should be thanking me.” She flipped the journal open, thumbing through the pages, her smirk widening.
“Because this little diary of his? It’s more than just notes.
There are memories in here. And unless I’ve completely lost my mind…
” she squinted at me, her grin widening, “…this big scary alpha used to love someone else.”
The silence that followed was heavy. Mariah’s eyes shot wide, her lips parting.
The girl slapped the book closed with a laugh. “Didn’t expect that, did you, sweetheart?”
I sighed, dragging a hand over my face. “Of course you read it.”
The girl leaned forward, rifle still aimed, her smile wicked. “Don’t act so sour, alpha. Honestly, it’s kind of refreshing. A wolf shifter with baggage. Makes you almost tolerable.”
“You’re the one who injected me with that stuff, aren’t you?” Mariah said softly.
“Guilty as charged,” the woman chirped, her eyes sparkling. “Didn’t see the mate bond coming to save you though. That was a surprise.”
Mariah blinked at her. “Who are you?”
“Name’s Elsie,” the girl said with a shrug. “And before you ask, no, I don’t like wolves. Not even the tortured-soul ones.” Her gaze flicked to me again, amused. “Especially not the ones who fuck loud enough to wake the dead.”
Mariah groaned, burying her face in her hands.
Elsie chuckled, tapping the barrel of the gun against her shoulder. “Don’t worry, lovebirds. If I wanted you dead, you’d already be dead. I just came here to talk.”
I crossed my arms, glaring at her. “Then talk fast.”
Elsie twirled my journal in her free hand, rifle never wavering. “One more thing. Don’t bother wolfing out, the both of you,” she said, her smirk sharp. “I promise I can shoot faster than you can shift.”
Something in her eyes told me it wasn’t an empty boast. I believed her. I pushed Mariah behind me just in case Elsie’s finger got a bit twitchy.
Mariah bristled against me. “You’d shoot him?”
Elsie tilted her head. “If he moved just a little bit wrong? Absolutely. But lucky for you, I like to talk more than I like to kill.” She tapped the journal against her knee. “And I know things. Things you two clearly don’t.”
I crossed my arms, watching her carefully. “Then talk.”
She leaned forward, eyes glinting in the lantern light. “You know about the fertility drug, right? The one that’s going to make every human girl into a broodmare until she drops dead?” Her gaze flicked to Mariah. “Guess you would, considering you were on their list.”
Mariah’s jaw clenched.
Elsie went on. “Well, I know the rest. Because I’m with the Watch.”
Mariah frowned. “The Watch?”
“Regional branch of a group that hates wolves almost as much as I do,” Elsie said breezily.
“They had sources inside, informants who fed us details the Council didn’t want anyone knowing.
But we didn’t think we could stop them. Not really.
” She tapped her temple. “So the Watch started testing something else. Something we like to call the rage serum.”
Mariah stiffened. “The one that…?”
“That turns humans into frothing nightmares? The one I gave to you?” Elsie cut in with a grim smile.
“Yeah, that one. It was supposed to help us fight back. Make humans stronger. Into super soldiers. But it didn’t just make us strong.
It made us monsters. First batches of the serum?
That’s what gave you the Nyktos. Surprise!
Thanks for dealing with those, by the way. That was pretty convenient of you.”
The pit of my stomach went cold.
“Some of the more radical Watch members thought, screw it, let’s give the rage serum to every human female we’ve got. Let the wolves choke on their own breeding stock.” Her smile went cold and humorless. “Crazy bastards. And they were serious about it.”
Mariah shook her head, horrified. “That’s—insane.”
“Oh, I know.” Elsie shrugged. “So I walked. Took a stash of the serum with me. Figured if I’m dying anyway, I’ll die tearing out some wolf throats.”
Her words were too casual, but her eyes gave her away. Hard and burning, revealing scars that never healed.
Mariah’s voice softened. “What happened to you?”
Elsie’s mouth twisted. “You really want that sob story?”
Mariah just waited.
Elsie’s grin faded. “Fine. When I turned nineteen, I was taken and bred by the wolves. Treated like livestock. Got pregnant. Baby didn’t make it.
They blamed me for it. Said I was defective.
” Her voice cracked a little. “So they threw me out like trash.” She tilted her chin high, hiding the tremor in her tone.
“The Watch found me after that. Fed me, armed me, gave me a reason to keep breathing, but I never forgot what wolves did to me.”
Silence hung, heavy. Mariah swallowed, her hand curling into mine unconsciously.
“You’re not wrong to hate them,” I said finally.
Elsie’s rifle snapped back toward me. “Don’t patronize me, wolf.”
“I’m not.” I held her gaze steady. “But you’re aiming at the wrong fight. Infecting every human girl with that serum? There won’t be anyone left. How is that fundamentally different from what the wolves are doing? You’d be killing your own women!”
She hesitated, lips pressed tight.
Mariah stepped forward, her voice firm. “What if we could find another way? Free the humans without slaughtering everyone?”
Elsie laughed, her tone harshly bitter. “What, you mean the Resistance? Don’t make me laugh. I’ve seen them. They’re pussies. Hiding in their mountains, waiting for miracles. They’re not going to stop the Council.”
Mariah’s chin lifted. “Then maybe we join them. We storm the gates together, humans, wolves, everyone who doesn’t want to live under the Council’s thumb anymore.”
Elsie tilted her head, suspicious. “Storm the gates. Explain.”
I nodded. “Open them from the inside. Get your Watch contacts, whoever’s left. My squad’s loyal to me. We coordinate. The Resistance pushes in while the Council’s still reeling. They won’t know what hit them.”
Elsie’s gaze flicked between us, calculating. She chewed the inside of her cheek, tapping the rifle against her thigh.
“You really think wolves would stand with humans?” she asked, her voice thoughtful.
I held her eyes. “Some will. I’ve seen it.”
Elsie’s fingers tightened on the rifle, her face unreadable. Then she huffed out a laugh, short and harsh.
“Maybe,” she said. “Maybe that could work.”
The rifle dipped, just a fraction. Her grin returned, crooked this time. “But don’t get cozy. I still don’t like wolves. Not even you, Commander.”
Mariah exhaled shakily, her hand brushing mine again. I caught it this time, holding her steady.
Elsie flipped through my journal again, licking her thumb as she turned a page. She didn’t even look at me when she said, “You’ve been keeping score, Commander. Patrol shifts, guard rotations, even when your Council scum take their tea breaks. Impressive.”
I didn’t bother replying. She’d read enough to know the answer.
Mariah crossed her arms, her chin tilted stubbornly. “So what do we do with it? You said ‘planning.’ Then let’s plan.”
Elsie finally looked up, a sly smile curving her lips. “Straight to business. I like her.” She tapped the open book. “This is a start. But a start isn’t enough. If we’re going to storm the gates, we need more than just a couple scattered humans with knives and grudges.”
I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees. “I’ve seen the Resistance. They’ve grown in number, and they’ve got a number of humans with them too. Men with power, territory, and wolves at their backs.”
Mariah’s head snapped toward me, her eyes wide. “Maybe Kendra and Lia too?”
Her voice cracked, hopeful.
“Yes,” I said simply.
Relief softened her shoulders, and for a moment, she looked like she might cry, but she pulled herself together, blinking fast. “Then we have to reach them.”
Elsie’s brow arched. “Mountain wolves coordinating with humans? Huh. Didn’t think you furry mutts could play nice.”
I gave her a cold smile. “Don’t underestimate them. They’ve bled for their freedom too.”
“Fair,” she admitted. She turned another page of my notes, frowning. “But timing’s everything. This book could prove useful. You’ve got patrols mapped down to the minute. Guard schedules. Hell, you even noted which ones sneak off to screw in the mess hall closet.” She smirked. “How romantic.”
Mariah side-eyed me. I ignored her.
Elsie’s finger jabbed at the page. “This gate here, in the northwestern sector. It’s got the lightest guard rotation, two squads at most. If the Resistance can hit it while you keep the bulk of the wolves busy, we could get our people through the tunnels beneath the city.”
Mariah leaned over her shoulder, studying the scrawled notes. “But once we’re inside, the Council will lock the place down.”
“Not if we take the control rooms first,” I said. “Power grid, gates, communications. If we hit them fast, they can’t organize. They’ll be blind.”
Elsie tapped her rifle against the crate, thoughtful. “So you want me to get word to the Watch. Rally the humans. Meanwhile, you call in your hairy friends in the mountains.”
“Yes.”
She tilted her head, eyes narrowing. “And you think they’ll listen? Wolves don’t exactly take orders from humans.”
Mariah’s voice cut through the silence. “They’ll listen if they want to live.”
Silence stretched among the three of us, heavy and taut with tension. Elsie studied Mariah, an unreadable glint in her gaze, before she finally barked out a laugh. “You’ve got guts, girl. I like it.”
She snapped the book shut and tossed it onto the crate. “Fine. I’ll bite. I’ll get word to the Watch. But don’t expect them to line up and play soldier. They’re pissed. They’re angry. And they don’t trust anyone with fur.”
“Then I’ll give them reason to start,” I retort flatly.
Elsie smirked. “Big words, Commander, but if you really blow those gates wide open like you promised, maybe they’ll actually follow you. Maybe.”
Mariah stepped closer, her green eyes blazing. “No maybe. We make them listen. Wolves and humans together. We take the city back.”
Elsie leaned back, her grin wicked. “Well then. Guess I’ll be needing more bullets.”
I stood, squaring my shoulders despite the ache in my leg. “You’ll have them. But for now, we rest. Tomorrow, you run to the Watch. I’ll get to the Resistance. When the time comes, we open those gates. Together.”
Mariah looked between us, her face pale but fierce.
“And then we bring the Council to their knees,” she whispered.