3

BYRON

It can't be her.

Forget the fact that she's in league with the kinds of people who have spent decades and countless resources executing brutal plans on all of humanity and are actively trying to capture and experiment on my kind.

There are two other significant reasons why the fates must have their wires all the way crossed.

One. She's not wolf or any other kind of shifter for that matter.

And two, and most importantly, I've already had the fate dream.

Every wolf knows it only happens once. In all of the lore across every continent, there's never been a recorded occurrence of a twice-fated wolf.

So what happened yesterday after I was sedated for the second time, and what I'm feeling now—the desire to rip my arms from my bindings, drag her to the floor, and put her on her hands and knees for the kind of mating that will have us both sleeping for a week?

I shake my head, breaking her gaze and looking away.

It can't be her.

"Why did you say that?" Her voice shakes, and I can't stop myself from looking back.

Despite the tremor and the look of fear in her eyes, she moves closer, probably without realizing it. And every step she takes eases the pull in my chest a bit more.

I know this pull. I've felt this pull, and it's just as irresistible as it was with Qamrah.

Something older than time connected my first mate and me and produced two hearty wolf cubs. It doesn't make sense that I would be connected to this woman.

Fate brings us together to ensure the continuation of our lines and to keep them strong. What am I supposed to produce with her?

"Forget I said anything. Run your tests. Ask your questions." I look away again.

It's a fight.

The draw of fate makes me want to do nothing more than stare at her, learn the intricacies of her face, and find the gentle ochre I know is hidden in the depths of her molten irises.

"But, you said it can't be me. Why did you say that? What can't be me?"

"Nothing can be you. You can't be anything but what you are." Try as I might to make my response cold, but all that happens when I pin her with my glare is that my chest fills with a light warmth. And my dick gets hard as hell.

"I guess you're right. It's just that—I don't know. You saying that is so weird. Last night—"

"Last night?"

She inhales, her brow furrowing as I wait for her to acknowledge the very thing I'm forcing myself to deny.

She chews her lip, making my wolf salivate with the instinct to taste it himself.

He's not in denial. From the moment we saw her in that dream, he's been chomping to stake his claim. It looks like I'll have to do the rational thinking for both of us.

Aida shakes her head. "Never mind. I think I'm just tired. I'm going to need to draw some blood."

She turns her back, pulling two latex gloves from a box on the table, and I snort.

I knew it.

When my Qamrah had the dream, she ran across a battlefield to reach me. That's the kind of woman I needed at my side—one who could go through the fire, one who's tough, a wolf through and through.

This woman can barely look me in the eye as she tourniquets my arm and slides the needle beneath my skin.

I watch her as she watches the vials fill, one after another, and not once does she look at me again.

With another snort, I look away.

Nah, it's not her.

***

"So you aren't going to ask me any more questions?"

She blinks up with a frown from where she's looking over something on her tablet.

I told myself I wasn't going to talk to her, that I wasn't going to indulge in this mix-up with the fates, but we've been in the lab together for almost four hours without saying anything beyond the few words we spoke when she first arrived, and I can't take it anymore.

My wolf can't take it.

He's been keening since I shut down the idea of Aida being ours. His ears twitch with the need to hear one word from her.

Preferably the sound of her screaming our name as we stretch her around our dick.

"I've received all necessary confirmations from you. I'm satisfied that most of what you've confirmed is true." She arches a brow, her lip tilting.

She's teasing me.

My brows lift. "You think I'm a liar? When the best name you all could come up with is Noel McCanty ? Where the hell did you get that from, some TV show?"

She rolls her eyes with a shake of her head. "So you're still saying that isn't your name?"

"Are you still trying to say it is? I look like a fucking Noel McCanty?" I shoot back incredulously. "We both know what you're here to do, so cut the shit and do it. Or better yet, just ask me if I know how to synthesize the hormone. I am a biochemist, you know."

She chuckles, hitting me with another teasing smirk. "Are you, now? So, yesterday, you were a murderer, and now you're a biochemist?"

"Can I not be both? It's a pretty common study path."

"Murder?"

My mouth quirks because, damn, if that twitch of her full lips doesn't draw me in. "Biochem. It's the enhanced sensory reception of my kind. Makes us good for stuff having to do with the body."

"Your kind?" She looks genuinely confused, and it irritates me.

She doesn't get to draw me in when she's the enemy.

"So, is this your plan? Take your samples and run your tests, all the while pretending like you don't know what I am. It's a weird strategy. Some shit your psych guys cooked up? I can assure you I'm able to withstand any mental torture you think you're going to put me through, and all you're going to do is make things worse for you in the end."

Her eyes are wide as I talk. She taps a finger onto the tablet's surface and quickly scans whatever she's pulled up.

"Mr. McCanty, I was made aware that you only volunteered for this study because you believed you could escape a sentence in prison. By your admission, you are a killer. Whatever game you're playing, there will be no escape, but I promise I won't treat you the way my colleagues might. I'll try my best to remember that no matter what you've done, you're still a human with feelings. That still matters, and I'll do what I can to make you comfortable through this process." She reaches out to place a hand over my bound wrist, and my wolf releases a low, piercing groan.

This woman's touch tugs at our connection and makes my chest tighten with a barely restrained desire I don't want to feel.

"Are you single?" I shouldn't care, but the thought of her leaving here and going home to another man makes me want to rip someone's throat out.

Something happens, and she shuts down. Her expression, which was so open and generous a moment ago, goes carefully blank as she clears her throat. "I, uh, need to take more blood. I'm sorry. Your last tests came out with some strange readings. There must have been some cross-contamination in the lab. Someone with a pet or something."

"Hm, must be."

I track her movements as she flitters around the room, grabbing fresh gloves, the plastic tourniquet strip, and a new needle from the drawer.

When she approaches, I don't fight. It would be pointless. I turn my arm for her, presenting the underside of my elbow so she can take her sample.

"I'm sorry. I'll be quick. I know you've been stuck a lot today." Her voice is soft as she pushes in the needle.

I don't feel it. All I feel is that warmth spreading, and suddenly, my wolf licks his lips, prancing forward. I let him because there are few things I deny my wolf.

"Release me."

Her lips curve as she finishes filling the last vial. "Why would I do that, Noel?"

"Because I want to hold you. I want to know how you taste."

She stutters, jerking the needle in my vein so that a bit of blood leaks down my arm. "Shit! I mean, shoot. Sorry. Dammit. Did I hurt you? Crap."

She flutters, swiping up the blood with a tissue from her pocket that I'm sure isn't sterilized. She must realize what she's done because her eyes widen in horror, and she looks at the blood-stained tissue and back at me.

"It's fine," I say low, leaning my head forward as much as I can against the restraints across my chest. I inhale, and her scent is like a shot of adrenaline. "Whatever you think I've signed up for is probably going to kill me, eventually. I don't think a little dirty napkin will ruin anything."

She avoids my gaze, dumping the tissue into a bio-trash bin and sanitizing her hands from a bottle on the table.

"Your sacrifice is courageous. You're going to help a lot of people."

I tilt my head to catch her expression since she won't face me full-on.

From her tone, it could almost be that she genuinely believes what she's saying. I focus all my senses—her voice is even, the pitch regretful. Her lips tremble slightly, and when she inhales, it's shaky with emotion.

She feels sad for me.

All of these clues lead to one truth that I can't deny.

She really doesn't know.

"What exactly do you think you're doing with me here, Aida?"

She starts at my use of her name, her dark eyes casting to the side. "Cancer research, Mr. McCanty. Didn't they explain the specifics to you? You know about the special hormone you're secreting, right? And what it can do?"

I narrow my gaze, honing in on every degree of her body, every breath. "What do you think it can do?"

She blinks, her brow furrowing further. "They really should have explained this to you before you signed up. You have a special gland here," she reaches behind my head and presses against the small knot at the base of my skull.

I lean into it, my wolf feeling the sensation like a scratch on his belly.

"It's producing something that the people I work for think can change modern medicine as we know it. It could possibly eradicate diseases we never thought to see end in our lifetimes. You're going to save so many lives." She gives my shoulder a reassuring rub and puts a bandaid on the puncture in my arm.

What she just revealed could change everything.

Could.

Just because she's been fed lies about this project doesn't mean she's not my enemy. It would benefit these people to keep the most essential details to themselves. People would kill for access to what they're trying to get. And since I'm sure they plan on selling to the highest bidder if they haven't already, the fewer people who know, the better.

But this new development puts my wolf at full attention.

If this woman doesn't know, then we can spare her. If she's not a part of this plan, I can use her to get out of here.

If she really doesn't know, then maybe the dream—

I put that thought out of my mind for now. This information only means that I have a potential ally, which is essential to my plan of taking this place down since I'm on my own here—for now.

The hum of electricity in the corners of the small lab alerts me to hidden monitoring devices. Even without my senses, how quickly the head dude showed up when Aida told me her name would have clued me in. It's audio only, though. Probably another precaution to keep some people out of the know.

If I were to shift and it was caught on camera, that could lead to questions, and I doubt the random guard they have monitoring the surveillance is supposed to know I can turn into a wolf.

I have to find a way to let Aida know that what she thinks is going on isn't the real deal without them hearing. That means I have to get her from beneath the listening ears of whoever is on the other side of those microphones. And I need to know more about her.

"So, how did you get into this line of life-saving work?"

She shrugs, a genuine smile finally lifting her lips. "I've always been interested in the body, how it works, the things that happen that we have no control over, the silent mechanisms. I guess, like many people, I wanted to use my interests and talents to prevent suffering in others."

"And you've always worked for these people?" I carefully word my questions in case I've read things wrong, but I don't think I have.

And something about that, knowing she isn't like the rest of them, is a relief, for me and my wolf, who still wants to mount her in the dirt.

"No, this is new. And, I mean, it's an amazing opportunity. It's novel, really. I still can't believe they got approval to do this. It rides such an ethical line since…" She trails off, pressing her lips together.

"I'm not likely to survive?"

"No, not likely." She's quiet for a moment. "Why did you sign up for something like this? No matter what you've done, you could still do something with your life."

"Maybe this is what I'm doing. Maybe it's repentance."

Like the last time my supposed crime came up, Aida's face falls, and she shifts her body away as she hurriedly labels the vials she filled.

"Do you think participating in this will get you forgiveness?" Her voice is gentle. Suddenly, she presses her eyes closed. "I shouldn't be talking to you about this. That's not what I'm here to do. What you did before is none of my business."

"No? Then why do you think they told you in the first place if it wasn't supposed to color your treatment of me? They could have kept you ignorant and let the work be the focus, seeing as it's so important."

She frowns and shifts in her seat. "No, I agree, but maybe they knew how charming you could be and wanted me to be prepared."

"You think I'm charming?"

She smirks. "I think you think you are, but I'm still here to do my job."

"And what exactly do you think that is?"

She shrugs. "Make a difference, hopefully. Save lives. Change medicine."

"Then this is worth it, isn't it? My life for all of that?"

She stares at me for a melancholy moment before glancing away. "I thought so, but..."

"But what, Aida?"