27

BYRON

"I need to deliver to my people today ."

Umansky's voice is tight.

I keep still, leveling my breathing to the tempo of someone asleep.

I let them knock me out, knowing I would stay down for less time than whatever sedative they were pumping into the room, and it worked. The smells I'm taking in tell me we haven't left the prison, and the bumpy roll of movement tells me we're still in transport.

Umansky and whoever he's talking to walk ahead of us.

As we turn the corner, another whiff of air tells me two things: one fills me with relief, and the other makes me see red.

Aida is here, a few feet away, probably on another gurney.

So is Delon.

"Look, I hand-delivered her to you. It's not my fault you couldn't hold up your end of the bargain. You owe me, so I'm collecting before you can get anything from this." Delon's response is desperate, and when Umansky answers, he sounds equally anxious.

"If I don't get results for my funders—"

"Fuck your funders. I'm your funder, and you need to give me results right now."

Internally, I roll my eyes that Delon is still such a whiny bitch.

The scents change, shifting from the hall's greasy walls and floors to the nose-burning sterility of a clinical setting.

My gurney stops, as does Aida's a few feet away.

Immediately, my wolf tenses that she's not close, and I clench my stomach to force him to heel. I won't be able to get us out of this if he decides to pop off.

Calm. Down .

He chuffs like calm is even a thing when we and our mate have been abducted but settles back onto his haunches, his attention sharp as he waits for our moment.

"Wake them up." Delon's voice is close.

I open my eyes, and he startles, jumping back from where he stood beside me. "No need."

If Delon was shocked that I wasn't knocked out, I'm even more shocked by what I see when my gaze lands on him.

He looks—terrible.

His skin is sallow and grey.

Like most wolves, Delon was large in build, but the protruding bones of his shoulders draw in his tall frame. He's unwell.

Holding his gaze, I inhale deeply, filling my lungs with the scents in the room, and when the one I'm looking for registers, my brow lifts.

"I'd express sympathy, but if anyone deserves to rot from the inside out, it's you."

Delon's lip curls, the venom in his eyes undiluted by their hollowness. "Doesn't matter. Once I can shift again, I'll be able to clear all this shit up."

Ah.

It suddenly makes sense.

Delon's healing ability is also gone without the benefit of the shift. Any of the ailments that plague his human form would have been able to run rampant.

"So you did all of this so you could heal yourself? Why not go to the fucking doctor?"

"Because I'm a wolf!" He hisses, thumping his chest with a fist. The force, as slight as it is, makes him stagger back, wheezing.

"If that were true, shifting wouldn't matter. You'd be putting your people first, your clan first, and not selling us out to save your ass."

Delon glares, but something else flashes across his face for the barest second.

It's a shame.

Despite being shocked as fuck that this little piece of shit can even muster the sensation, I take my ins where I can. Holding his gaze, I glance to the side where Umansky is talking to a man in a lab coat.

"You don't want to do this to Aida, Delon. It doesn't matter what you wanted her for. She's a good woman. She doesn't deserve this, and she's my mate ."

"She was mine first." His sneer is as bitter as his stench.

"No, she was your wife. But she is mine . Fate gave her to me. You just orchestrated a place in her life because you're still too pussy to die like a wolf—or man. But the truth is, death is knocking either way, Delon."

He snickers. "Doesn't mean I have to answer. Especially when this will save me."

"You sure about that?"

Uncertainty wavers on his face, but then the stupid selfishness he's always displayed shadows it quickly. "I guess we'll see. Desperate times and all that."

My brows raise. "Something wrong with your ears?"

"What?"

I nudge toward the door. "You don't hear it?"

His nostrils flare with annoyance, but his eyes are afraid. "Hear what?"

"Someone coming who's more desperate than you."

There's no warning before the door crashes in.

Max's contorted form barrels into the room, darting to the side where he collides with Delon, sending the man's frail frame flying back. He scampers wildly around the room, knocking into walls and sending Umansky and the scientist running toward the door.

Max follows, bumping into Aida's gurney. It rolls to the side, teetering dangerously before coming to a rest. He lunges at his father and the scientist with a snarl, sending them toppling.

The room goes quiet. Aida remains unconscious on her gurney, and I keep her in my sights as Maxim rises.

His shoulders are twisted and hunched. His face is cut with scrapes and deep gouges. From the looks of him, he hasn't faired well in the wilderness.

One of his eyes is swollen shut. The other tracks across the room until it lands on his father, who's attempting to crawl to the exit. "Daaahd."

The voice that emerges is barely human, and I wait, my body tense, for what's about to happen.

I'm still strapped down, but I test the strength of the bonds, waiting for the right moment.

"Son, we're going to fix this. Everything is ready to fix it."

"Di…dn't…even..look." Max's chest heaves as he delivers the indictment, and Umansky raises his hands in plea.

"Son, we were going to find you. Of course, we were. Just as soon as things were straight here. You did well hiding yourself until now. Well done, my boy."

Max stares back at his father, his gaze hard and disbelieving.

After a moment, Umansky's mouth curls. "Listen, if you hadn't been so goddamn impulsive—" The rest is cut off as Max launches himself across the space and tears into his father's face, sending a spray of blood against the wall.

Umansky's skull crunches in Max's distended jaws, and he's dropped to the floor.

Max stares at his father's broken body, then spins, his attention fixing on Aida as he hobbles in her direction.

"Hey! Hey, Maxie Poo." I whistle, drawing his bloodshot gaze. "I already told you what would happen if you touched my mate again."

He pauses, training his attention on me, but only briefly before moving toward Aida again.

My body tenses against the braces, but they don't budge. The way they've bound me, if I shift now, I'll probably end up with a neck as broken as Umansky. "Hey, you funny-looking little shit! What the fuck did I just say?"

He snarls, jumping over the table separating us, and lashes out, his clawed hand arcing wide.

I jerk my body so the strike slices through the side of my face and neck, cutting through the bindings.

Ignoring the blinding pain, I shift, twisting into my wolf and crouching low to circle the gurney.

I shift back once Max can see me, rolling my healed neck. "Now, I made Aida a couple of promises, and I plan to keep them."

He leaps first, and I meet him in the air, rolling into my wolf and clamping onto his neck before he can lift a claw.

It's over before it can start, and Max lies at my feet in a bloody heap. On the blood coating my tongue, I taste the sourness of disease.

"Rabies." I spit the fluid to the floor.

A raspy wheeze sounds out from the corner, and I move closer to find Delon slumped against the wall.

He looks up at me with dull eyes, and despite him being the shittiest fucking wolf to ever come out of our clan, I bend down and press a hand to his chest.

"I don't know if you'll be accepted to the Great Wolf Glory, but if you are, I hope you realize you don't deserve it."

I whisper the words of passing in our wolf tongue just as the light fades from his eyes.