24. Katalina
KATALINA
The heavy security door exploded inward. Not from explosives. From Boomslang. The creature—I still hadn’t figured out exactly what he was—planted one boot against the steel and shoved.
Metal shrieked and the hinges gave way. The entire door crashed into the laboratory floor with a deafening boom.
“Kings!” he roared. “Move!”
Everything happened at once. Years of military-like precision, motorcycle-club chaos, and supernatural speed came together.
Hack sprinted toward the nearest computer terminal before the dust even settled. “Give me thirty seconds!”
Boomslang pointed without slowing. “Download what they were working on, then destroy every server.”
He pointed again. “Find prisoners.”
Zeus and Bronx split left. Thing One and Spook peeled right. Mako and Dexter charged deeper into the laboratory.
Then—“Katalina.”
I looked at him as he scooped up Zara.
“Find Crypt.”
I was already running.
The laboratory was much larger than I’d imagined. Hall after hall. Observation rooms. Operating theaters. Recovery rooms. Storage.
Everywhere… white, spotless, clinical.
It smelled like bleach. Yet beneath that… blood and fear. Bodies had occupied these rooms. I knew it. I could feel it.
Metal examination tables stood abandoned beneath bright lights. Restraint chairs. Surgical instruments. Rows of refrigerated samples. In shock, I paused for a moment.
Labels. Hundreds of labels. Species. Blood type. Mutation class. Viability. Success probability.
My stomach rolled as the magnitude of this place settled in.
Behind me—glass exploded. Someone shouted. Gunfire. A roar. That kicked me into motion again.
Then, Hack yelled from somewhere behind me, “I’ve got the servers!”
Boomslang answered immediately. “Once we have Crypt… burn everything.”
It seemed like an eternity by the time I reached the first holding ward.
Empty.
Second. Empty.
Third. Empty. “Damn it,” I cursed as I kept moving.
Where were they? Where was—
Something hit the wall behind me. Hard. A low growl followed.
I turned. One of the failures. It stood nearly eight feet tall. Its spine bent sideways beneath skin stitched together by scars instead of nature.
Like one of the abominable creatures in the catacombs, one arm ended in claws. The other looked almost human. Almost.
Its eyes met mine. There was intelligence there. Buried beneath agony. Black blood poured from a massive wound in its chest. Thick and dark, it dripped to the floor. Something or someone had tried to kill it. And it wasn’t us.
It didn’t attack. It simply stared. Then… very slowly… it lifted one trembling hand and pointed. Down the hallway to the left. Toward a pair of reinforced doors. Then it collapsed against the wall, shaking.
I whispered, “Thank you.”
It closed its eyes and slid down the wall.
Ahead, in the direction it had pointed, the reinforced doors were already opening.
On stealthy feet, I hurried toward my goal.
Inside the room was organized chaos.
Rafael. Two armed guards. What looked like a doctor or scientist, behind them carrying metal cases. A younger man dressed the same pushed a metal cart stacked with what looked to be hard drives and boxes of files.
Not fleeing in panic. Evacuating with purpose. The Doctor looked almost offended.
I ducked down behind a workbench. Though I could probably take them, there wasn’t time. The tingling markings on my spine practically hummed. Gideon was close.
“They’re destroying decades of work,” I heard the scientist say as I peeked through the shelving. I scanned the room for my mate.
Rafael grabbed another case as the Doctor tried to grab more.
“Leave it,” Rafael snapped.
The scientist looked horrified. “Never.”
“They’re here,” Rafael went on in near exasperation.
“I know.”
“Doctor, they’re almost through.”
“I know,” the Doctor muttered again. His hands continued collecting notebooks. Everything he could get his hands on. “I finally had him,” the Doctor droned.
Rafael’s voice sharpened. “You have less than five minutes.”
“No.”
“Three.”
The Doctor practically snarled. “No!” Then he quietly murmured as he looked down at one of the sample cases, “I can’t lose this. I’ve waited thirty-one years.”
My blood froze. Thirty-one.
Gideon.
A weak laugh echoed from somewhere beyond them.
Rafael turned first, then the Doctor.
My gaze tracked the same direction. I was barely aware of Rafael and the others rushing out of a door on the other side of the room.
Because I was too preoccupied. There, on a medical restraint table, covered in blood, was Gideon.
His head hung forward. His body was covered in bruises, bandages, and puncture wounds. Silver-lined restraints pinned every limb.
A door slammed shut with finality, and I stood up. The moment he saw me—he smiled.
The idiot actually smiled.
“You…” he choked out, his voice barely audible. “Sure took your time.”
Relief hit so hard my knees almost gave out. Instead, I crossed the room in three strides and punched him square in the shoulder.
He hissed. “What the hell?”
“You deserved that.” Then I grabbed his face and kissed him. Hard. Desperately. Furiously. When I pulled back, I rested my forehead against his.
“I thought…” I began, but the words wouldn’t come. My chest ached, and my throat burned in an unfamiliar way.
He smiled weakly. “I know. Now, do you mind giving me a hand?”
“You—” I swallowed everything else. There would be time later. If we survived. I reached for the restraints but quickly pulled my fingers back when I was hit with a jolt of energy.
Behind us, Boomslang appeared with Mako.
“Need help?”
“Yes,” I reluctantly admitted. The silver restraints were wired and connected to layered wards.
Hack sprinted into the room. He stopped short when he looked at the straps that held Gideon in place. “Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me.”
He turned to a terminal near the table, and his fingers flew like they always did. “These aren’t simply restraints,” he explained.
“What are they?” I asked, confused as I studied the metal bands.
Hack looked physically ill. “They’re harvesting.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Mako demanded as he propped his fists on his hips.
“They’ve tied every restraint into the monitoring system,” Hack elaborated as he swallowed. “They’ve been recording his physiological responses to every procedure.”
Boomslang’s jaw flexed. “Can you shut it down?”
“I can destroy it,” Hack returned with finality and determination.
“Do it.”
Hack smiled grimly. The screens around the room immediately filled with cascading error messages. Files began deleting. Databases corrupting. Years of research disappearing forever.
Hard drives overloaded. Monitors exploded. Storage arrays ignited. Hack grinned. “Oops.”
Alarms erupted throughout the complex. This time, they weren’t polite. Red emergency lights flooded the halls. The warnings were loud and blaring.
FACILITY FAILURE
BIOLOGICAL CONTAINMENT LOST
STRUCTURAL INSTABILITY DETECTED
Smoke curled across the ceiling. I reached over and ripped open the cuff on Gideon’s left wrist as the others worked on the rest. Mako snapped Gideon’s last restraint.
Boomslang hauled him upright before he could fall. He barely remained conscious.
“Can you walk?” the president asked him. Boomslang released him but stayed nearby with a steadying hand.
Gideon looked toward me. “Of course I can. I’m about to impress my mate.”
He immediately stumbled.
I caught him, and his face smashed into my breasts.
“So much for impressive,” I chuckled.
The cages opened as we made our way out. Not because of the Doctor, though. Because Hack made sure every lock released.
The survivors staggered free. Some cried. Some fled without looking back. Others simply sat where they were, unable to comprehend freedom.
One elderly vampire quietly thanked Boomslang before disappearing into the tunnels.
A wolf shifter with one malformed arm bowed his head.
Another creature—one whose body had been twisted beyond repair—looked at us. Then quietly begged, “Please…”
Dexter knelt beside him.
The creature’s remaining eye filled with tears. In a voice that was raspy with disuse, it added, “I don’t want to hurt anymore.”
Silence. Not a soul made a sound.
Dexter looked at Boomslang, who slowly nodded. With profound gentleness, Dexter rested a hand on the creature’s shoulder. A whisper that I couldn’t make out followed by a flash of divine light that no one fully understood.
Peace settled over the creature’s face. He slowly smiled, then took his final breath.
No one spoke. There wasn’t anything to say.
The laboratory burned behind us as we hurried out. Flames climbed through the shattered windows of the ancient cathedral. Smoke poured from beneath it. The old stone groaned. Then, as we raced toward the tree line, it collapsed.
The ground shook as centuries of secrets buried themselves beneath tons of falling rubble. Reaching the vehicles, we all watched until the last tower disappeared into dust.
“No one’s rebuilding that,” Zeus observed as he rested one arm on the open door of the SUV.
“No,” I quietly agreed. “They aren’t.”