29. Vivianna
VIVIANNA
This was it.
Finally, I was going to be able to take them sons of bitches down, get my daughter back, and save the world from their reign of terror.
Orion and I caught up to the others and we ran flat out, not caring how tired we would be once we got there, because this was everything we’d been waiting for.
Bighorn was incredibly mountainous, but we were wolves, tough and strong, built to be a predator and rule the forest. Graham had reached out to us, so we knew he had visuals on the lab.
One of our recruits Darius had been working with was on surveillance duty since he wasn’t there.
They were going to do a sweep of the place to make sure the blueprint we had matched to what was really there.
So far, Tim had been on the money. Christian had the other recruits packed up with supplies and on their way, about thirty minutes behind us, so we were going to have to hold our own for a bit.
“What do we do once we get Hope?” I asked my mates. “There is no way in hell I’m going to take her into the God forsaken lab with the chance she might never come back out again.”
With all our planning, we hadn’t really covered that, since we thought she was already inside. The plan was to kill Jason and Vadik, then go in to get her before we left for good. Now, if we managed to get to her before she entered the lab, we needed an exit plan.
“One of us will have to take her and run to meet up with the others. Maria said she’s coming with them, right? I might think she’s a whackjob, but she would never hurt a child,” Rik suggested.
“Absolutely not. She just talked Viv into shifting while pregnant. That to me is killing a child,” Orion shot back.
“The child I’m carrying is fine. My shifting had nothing to do with it.
Guys, I’ve been pregnant for under a week.
It’s still a bunch of cells that a pregnancy test wouldn’t be able to pick up yet.
If there was a time to chance it, now would be it,” I reasoned.
“Tristan’s plan is a solid one and Koit, you are the fastest out of all of us, human or wolf.
We get Hope and pass her off to Koit, so he can get her the hell out of here while we deal with the assholes who took her. ”
“Agreed,” my mates said unanimously.
“Darius, where are you at?” I asked, feeling like they should already be there.
“While dealing with things at the generator, we figured out they like to hide their guards, so we are scoping the surrounding area. We haven’t seen or heard a vehicle pulling up, but if we do, it won’t take us long to get to it,” Darius answered.
“Give us fifteen minutes and we should be at the border of the facility, coming in from the northwest side,” Koit shared.
“We’ll meet up with you further back on the drive. If we can ambush the car, we could sneak in that way with them none the wiser,” Orion pointed out.
Now that is a fucking brilliant idea. If we get Koit and Hope out of here and pile into the car, we can drive right in without them knowing what hit them. Seems like this vision was a gift from the universe.
It’s about damn time. We needed a break after everything we’ve gone through.
Our time has come… you ready?
You bet your ass I’m ready. I’ve accepted my fate, and once this is over, I will do what is best for my people, even if that means I become the villain in their eyes.
As a group, we veered to the right, moving out wider from the lab so we could hit the hidden drive. “Look alert, guys, my gut is telling me that they won’t leave this up to chance with all the attacks going on. They have to know inside people are talking.”
“Oh, before I forget, they somehow have managed to hide their scent. One got the drop on me because of it, but I know it wasn’t wolfsbane. It must be something they cooked up in the lab.” Tav shared. “We’re on our way to meet up with you guys. We’ve only found two guards so far and took them out.”
If we couldn’t scent them, there had to be something else that we could do to locate them before they got the drop on us. Then an idea hit me. As an alpha female, I could pull anyone into a pack link once I’ve touched them with my power… so why couldn’t I locate them the same way?
Remembering what Maria had said about control and knowing where my powers came from, I let my wolf take over as I retreated into myself.
As a wolf, I felt my alpha energy stronger, bubbling right under the surface.
It seemed to flow through me like blood through a vein, but where did it start?
Even blood came from my cells, so what made me an alpha?
Then I caught it, right where people considered their third eye to be, right at the center of my forehead.
It made perfect sense though, I’d always been an alpha but like all things, they had to grow and since I’d only just become a werewolf, it was underdeveloped when it should have grown as I did.
Finally being whole, once I’d been bitten, it started to flourish, then with the treatment they did on me in the lab, it kicked all my cells into overdrive, including this one.
They not only made me harder to kill but also stronger, and that was going to be their doom.
I wrapped that energy around myself and pulled it into a ball, much like I had when Vadik attacked us on Kursar, but I was much weaker back then, with no grounding.
Now I knew exactly what I wanted, and it was more than happy to give it to me, as I tossed it out into the area around us.
Find them. Make them kneel and submit to their Dama.
My mates shuddered as my power flowed past them, twining its way through the trees and over the hills and valleys of the terrain.
I felt it hit the guards that were scattered throughout the property.
Those that were in human form were forced to shift, while those that were already wolves dropped to their bellies and whimpered, confused and afraid.
Knowing I had my leash on them, I pulled them to me, and they complied, rushing off in my direction, unable to resist the call of a Dama as strong as I was.
“Don’t attack the wolves coming our way. I’ve called them to me,” I ordered, my voice brokering no argument. “It seems I’ve been playing this role with one hand tied behind my back, but not any longer.”
I could feel their confusion, but they didn’t say a word, allowing me to continue with whatever plan I had concocted.
Slowly, I brought us to a halt in a small clearing, where the moon shone down, its light weak as it was starting to fade into a new moon.
With my power attached to these wolves, I didn’t need any light to see them, because they lit up like candles in my left eye.
They raced into the clearing, skidding to a halt when they saw me and the others, immediately baring their teeth, snarling.
“Enough.” I barked. “I have called you here. If you value your lives, you’ll want to listen.”
Darius, Tristan, and Tav showed up behind the five newcomers, flanking them, showing them just how outnumbered they were. “It would be wise to listen to her. The last man who didn’t got his ears ripped off,” Tav taunted, snapping at them.
“What does it matter, you’re going to kill us anyway,” one of them retorted.
“What happens with your life is up to you. Jason and Vadik might just kill without thought, but that is not how I do things. So answer my questions truthfully and we shall see if you get to keep your lives. Do keep in mind that I will know if you lie to me—that will cause you to lose your life, so don’t even try,” I stated as I sat, staring them down.
“There is a delivery coming tonight, when is that to occur?”
The five wolves fidgeted, refusing to look me in the eye until Tristan barked at them, making them each jump. “Speak or your death will not be slow and merciful.”
“They got delayed. It was supposed to have happened forty-five minutes ago, but something happened, and they had to stop longer than anticipated. They will be here in fifteen minutes,” a wolf piped up. “Look, I don’t know who you are, but not all of us are here working by choice.”
I cocked my head at this, his words piquing my interest. “Explain.”
“He took my sister. Jason wanted to use her for some kind of experiment and said he would pay us well for her donation to science. My mother refused and two weeks later she was kidnapped. I got a letter saying that if I wanted to keep her alive, and my secret hidden, I had to work for him. My family doesn’t know I’m a werewolf and since I’m not part of a pack, the moment I stepped foot on this land I was pulled into his pack, leaving me no option to leave.
I’m not the only one he’s done this to. I’ve heard some people say that if he really wants someone, he’ll send out a wolf to bite or scratch them. If they survive, they’re his.”
Just when you thought you couldn’t hate a man any more than you already do… That has to be some kind of skill, right?
“What about the rest of you? Do you believe in Jason and Vadik’s plan for the world, or have you been trapped in their web?” I asked.
“Viv, you better not be doing what I think you’re doing,” Rik snapped.
Ignoring him, I kept my focus on the wolves before me, pulling back my alpha hold on them, wanting a true answer. Tristan would know if their answers were honest or not, so I wasn’t fearful of making the wrong choice.
One of them took a step forward but stopped once all my mates let out a threatening growl. “What are you offering us, Alpha?”
“If you submit to me, help us end this here and now, I will give you leniency. You will have to be held accountable for crimes you have committed, but I will view them with the knowledge that you were under duress. Everyone deserves a second chance. How can I change the world if I don’t?
” I said, hoping the others wouldn’t yell at me later for this stunt. “So... what do you say?”