12. Vivianna
VIVIANNA
Seeing her again, I couldn’t hold back my emotions anymore, turning my face into Orion’s chest and letting out the sob I’d been holding back.
He wrapped me up tightly in his arms, nuzzling into my neck as I felt wetness hit my skin from his own tears.
I knew we didn’t have much time, but we needed to take this moment before we would be able to do anything else.
Orion pulled back first, kissing me tenderly on the temple. “She’s safe now, my dearest. We will be leaving here with our daughter and removing a source for them to use in the creation of more. Now, we just need to gather what else we can and blow this motherfucking building to the ground.”
Nodding my agreement, I used the sleeve of my hoodie to dry my eyes as Orion put the lid of the casket back on, rolling it out of the freezer.
I didn’t know how we would manage to keep everything preserved, but that was a bridge we’d cross once we got this over with.
Returning to the lab, I found the others had joined us, but the moment they heard us exit the freezer, they stopped, all waiting for the news.
“She’s perfect. They didn’t do anything to her that we can see from outward appearances,” Orion thankfully shared, since I wasn’t able to speak just yet.
“Viv,” Bentley called, drawing my attention to where he was seated at a computer. “Can you come take a look at this with me?”
Letting my hand run over the casket, I made my way over to him, where he pulled me onto his lap since there was only one chair. My eyes widened when I saw what was written on the screen. “This… this is me…”
“That’s what I thought as well. They documented your whole existence, from the moment the cells were introduced to each other.
The DNA they used from the ancient werewolf is the only viable specimen they’ve ever managed to gather.
I’m not sure they will ever be able to recreate you the same way this did, because it was a miracle it even happened.
Once we have both Violet and Hope safe with us, then it ruins all chances.
We’ll just need to make sure we safeguard every medical interaction with Hope.
But since two of her parents are doctors, I don’t think that will be a problem,” Bentley explained.
“The data is almost all downloaded and once it is, Darius will do something to completely destroy all their work on every network he can get ahold of.”
“How much is stored here?” I asked as I exited out of that folder to see the database.
Bentley’s answer was to rest his head on my back and hug me tightly as I moved through things.
A lot of it I didn’t understand, but from what I could gather, they had been working on this for over a hundred years.
Faulk was the first one to get any true results and move it to human trial, but it had been researched for far longer.
I noticed a file that showed a list of names, all women spread out over the world for the past fifty years or so.
It was jaw dropping to see the detailed information on women and the process they went through to find who would be a carrier for the fetus.
“So many lives have forever been changed through this whole process,” Bentley murmured. “Once we make it safe for them to come out into the open, I promise to help you however I can to give these people back their lives and the children taken from them.”
An alert popped up on the screen followed by an alarm echoing through the building like a fire alarm of sorts, shocking us all out of our internal thoughts.
“That’s our signal to get the hell out of here.
Whoever is monitoring the second security system knows that we’ve hacked in and which files we took.
I need to send the virus now, before they can get a lock on just how much we already have,” Darius yelled, running over to the computer we were using.
Bentley rolled us out of the way, before getting to our feet. “Is there anything else we need to gather from this room or dispose of in a certain way?” I asked him.
“My only suggestion is to gather all specimens and place a charge right in the middle of them to ensure it’s all destroyed, and nothing is left to chance.”
Agreeing with him, we all scattered about the room, grabbing what we could as fast as we could and setting it on a workstation that held a gas line for the burners.
With seven of us working, it took mere moments for everything to be collected.
Another thought struck me. “We need to set a charge or two in the freezer. It’s full of bodies. ”
“Got it.” Tristan called as he yanked open the freezer door.
“Guys, we need to hurry. Cars just pulled up out front and they look like human security with lots of guns,” Tav shouted. “Orion, you and Viv need to head out now with Violet while we distract them. Get the SUV and come back to pick us up.”
I knew what he was saying was reasonable but everything in me was screaming against the idea. The last time we split up, we lost each other for seven months. “Can’t we just take them out?”
“Love, I get that you’re scared, but getting you and Violet out of here is the top priority. We don’t even know if their bullets are silver, so chances are even if we get hit, we’ll heal in no time,” Tav pointed out.
“That doesn’t make me feel better,” I growled, grabbing the handles of the casket.
Tav just held my gaze for a moment, showing me just how much he loved me before he let the darkness inside him come to the surface.
Gun in hand, he and Rik headed out, crouching low as they headed up the hall to the door that separated the labs from the front lobby.
Rik waved to Orion and me that it was clear for us to move, so we ran as fast as we could to the back where we entered.
Orion kicked open the door only to discover that we were being boxed in on both sides.
I glanced at Orion, but he was already lost to Okami, shifting into his half form, letting out a deafening roar, before he leaped on top of one of the SUVs.
Shots echoed in the night, splintering the brick wall just to my left, where I’d been standing a moment ago.
Using every advantage I had with my shifter enhancements, I darted forward, trying to break through the wall they’d built with the vehicles, while not being predictable.
My grip on Violet’s casket was making my hands numb, but I was not going to fail my child again.
“Guys, there are more out back. There must have been another way they got tipped about our presence. It’s too well planned,” I said to the others as I opened our connection wide. “Orion is keeping them off me for the most part, but you guys need to get out of there. No point in staying back.”
Without knowing what they were dealing with up front, I kept up with the plan to get out and to the car. It was then I noticed that in my pocket, one of them had slipped me the trigger to the C4 in the building. Did they honestly think I would blow up the place with them still inside?
“Don’t let the one with the metal box get away.” a voice bellowed as I broke out of their blockade.
Well fuck, this just got a lot harder. What do I do?
What would any mother do—protect her child of course.
My wolf always did have a way of keeping things simple and to the point.
I set the casket aside and pulled off my hoodie that held the trigger for the C4, so it didn’t get lost, before I shifted into my half form.
My nails grew into claws and my body bulked out so much that my clothes split at the seams. The feel of sharp teeth forming in my mouth was an odd experience, but it made me feel all that more powerful.
Battle rage had clouded my mind the last time this happened, so it was as if I was experiencing it for the first time.
My wolf and I shared the same space, working in tandem with one goal in mind—destroy our enemy.
The men who were attacking us seemed to pause when they got a look at me, allowing me the chance to gain the upper hand, as I took out two right away with a swipe of my claws.
Screams filled the air as I attacked, trusting my wolf to pick the next target we needed to deal with.
A loud crash drew my attention and I found that Orion had picked up one of the SUVs and chucked it into the building, crushing a few men under it.
Movement off to the right caught my eye and I found a man trying to slip unnoticed toward the casket.
Grabbing one of the men I killed, I threw the body at him, knocking him to the ground as I pounced on him, ripping his head off his shoulders with a howl.
All my men responded to my call, each of them now in their wolf or half-wolf forms, fighting alongside Orion and me.
The men who were attacking from the front spilled through the back door, only to meet their demise at our hands.
Even with guns, they didn’t stand a chance against primal instincts.
Soon enough, the night fell quiet but for our labored breathing as we took stock of the aftermath.
A man on the far side of us crawled out from under one of the cars and tried to make a run for it, but Koit was on him in a second.
Koit dragged his prize back to the building, tossing him through the door.
Catching on to his plan, the rest of us grabbed the dead and followed his example.
“Viv, where is the trigger?” Darius asked when he shifted back.
My body shrank and resumed its normal state, even though my clothes hung off me in tatters.
“Over with Violet in my pocket where you slipped it.” I raised a hand to stop him from talking.
“We’ll deal with that later once we are safely in the air.
Someone’s bound to have seen or heard the noise and called the police.
I’m not willing to take any more chances with your lives. ”
Orion chucked the rest of the cars against the building, blocking the back exit just in case we missed someone, before we all hoofed it back to where we left our ride.
I slid Violet’s casket in the back, then opened all the doors for the guys in wolf form to dive into the car where they could change.
I’d made sure they prepared for the chance they’d shift during this battle and thankfully I had, otherwise I might have needed to explain why I had seven wolves, or naked men, in my car.
In the driver’s seat, I started to pull out when Darius flipped the cover on the trigger and looked me in the eye before he hit the button.
The explosion shook the ground and rattled the car as we left in the cheerful glow of the lab, as fire debris drifted around us in the wind. It did my heart wonders to see that place go up in flames, knowing it could never be used to hurt people ever again.