Chapter 26 - Rosa

The second Bigby disappears around the corner, I get a call from Olivia.

"Rosa!" she sounds keyed up, like she does sometimes when she spends the entire night on her computer. "I figured it out!"

"Figured what out?" I ask, closing the door and pacing into the living room. I know staying here is the best idea, but I feel restless.

"The intruder at the compound. I knew they didn't hack into the system. As much as I hate Byron, his fire walls are actually decent. I was cross-checking the fingerprinting database with current users and noticed an abnormality. There was an entry missing a name and credentials. Just a print, connected to nothing else. Like a ghost profile."

"How could that exist if the person didn't hack in?" I ask. I make a note to touch base on the hating Byron thing later.

"I traced it back to a total data input—when Byron set up the system, he just imported the team's prints from their agency profiles. He must have noticed Percy in there and deleted it, but forgot to clear the whole profile. So, his print was in there but not connected to a photo or name. I compared it to his prints in the agency database. It's him. That's why the system let him in, but had no identity to report."

"Weird," I breathe, "so it was Percy who came out to the compound."

"And Percy, who has the serum."

I stand there quietly for a moment, until that fact sinks in.

"It's Percy who has the serum? "

"Yeah!"

"Shit!"

"What?" Olivia asks, her voice finally catching up to the situation. It all clicks together instantly for me—Bigby and Aris are on their way out to the woods to help Ado with Percy. And Percy has the serum.

Which means they could all be poisoned.

"Liv, I have to go," I breathe. "Make sure Kaila is okay for me. Keep Byron with her—even if you do hate him."

"What's going on?"

"I'll tell you later."

I end the call and run outside, knowing what I have to do. I go to the shed, strip my clothes, grab rope from it, haul it out into the yard, and shift. I grab the rope in my maw and take off for the tree line. I sprint as fast as I can, using my mating bond with Bigby to guide the way.

They're deep in the woods, but I run faster than I ever have in my life.

When I sprint into the clearing, I see Bigby—shifted—launch toward a human in the middle. Not a human—a shifter with a strange scent. I realize it must be Percy, and based on the way he screams when Bigby crashes into him, he's not in his right mind.

Bigby! I project, but I'm not sure if he hears me, because he falls to the ground, and the other two wolves see me and the rope I drop on the ground.

They shift, and I avert my eyes, not wanting to see either of them nude. They quickly tie Percy up while he's wrapped up and partially trapped by Bigby.

Close your eyes! I project, not sure if they can hear me, then not caring. I shift back, feeling too naked, too exposed with Aris and Ado here.

"Don't look!" I say, wrapping my arms around my body. Aris and Ado direct their gazes down. Bigby groans from the ground, lifting himself up, still in his wolf form. "Percy has the serum! He's the one who broke into the compound! Olivia just confirmed it."

Percy is screaming, his body writhing so violently against the ropes that I'm worried he's going to hurt himself. When Bigby gets to his feet and notices me, he growls low in his throat, and I realize we've never been like this before—me human, him wolf. It sends a thrill up my spine when he moves toward me, standing against me and preventing the other men from seeing me.

"Are you hurt?" I whisper, eyes traveling over him.

He just looks at me, his eyes glinting in the early morning light. So, the mind link isn't there yet.

"We need to get Percy back to the compound before the sun rises," Aris says, his voice all authority. "Ado and I will go first. Sorry, Big, but we'll need to borrow some of your clothes before we go through town. I hate this, but—Ado, can you gag him with the rope? If he's screaming like that in town, someone is going to call the cops. We can't risk dealing with them right now."

Ado hesitates, then grabs a piece of rope, tying it into Percy's mouth to keep him from screaming. I look away—being gagged is one thing; being gagged with rope is cruel. But they need to get Percy somewhere safe.

I look away as they grab him, working together to carry him back down the hill, through the woods, toward Bigby's house.

"Bigby," I murmur, running my hand along his fur, "are you going to shift back."

He just looks at me, nudging me with his head. I sigh, shifting back and moving with him through the woods. He's moving too slow—I can tell something's wrong, but we can't communicate if he won't shift back.

When we hit the edge of the tree line, the sun is just coming over the horizon, washing the town with light. I shift back, dashing into the shed and putting my clothes on. I check my phone—it's nearly six, now.

As I come out of the shed, Ado and Aris come out of Bigby's house, dressed in his clothes, and I can faintly hear Percy making noise from the Jeep. I turn, and see Bigby standing at the tree line.

"Shit," Aris says, taking off toward Bigby as he shifts back, then collapses to the ground, his left side coated with blood.

***

I follow behind Aris and Ado as they carry Bigby into the medical ward.

When we got to the compound, Maisie met us at the truck, injecting Percy with a sedative. It took a few shots until he finally passed out, and Byron took him, carrying him while Ado and Aris worked together to carry Bigby, who was still unconscious in the back seat.

Now, the only thing I can think about is the wound in Bigby's side. Maisie works quickly, cleaning and assessing it.

"Can you tell if the serum was used on him? Percy is the one who took the serum from the compound, so his blade could have been doused in the stuff."

I'm not sure if I'm supposed to be telling her this, but if Bigby's been poisoned, I need to know. I can't stand the thought of him suffering like that. I imagine him in one of those cells and wonder if the glass could even hold him if he lost control of his faculties.

"Based on what I'm seeing, it doesn't look like it was used. I've examined the wounds from other shifters who were dosed by a poisoned blade, and they were almost cauterized like they had been burned. This one bled a lot, but luckily, it didn't hit any major arteries or organs. He should be right as rain once I give him a transfusion."

"Really? That's strange. About the cauterization, I mean."

"Yeah, perhaps something in the serum's formulation caused the chemical reaction with shifter blood."

I put my head in my hands. I'm relieved that Bigby is going to be okay, but my mind is also already running away with the thought of the cauterization—I can't believe I didn't think to look at the shifter's wound before. I'd assumed they were injected with the stuff.

"Why would Varun test the serum like that? Slashing them with a poisoned weapon, rather than just injecting it?"

"I don't know," Maisie murmurs before sticking Bigby with the needle. "I suppose he wanted to test it how it would be applied in battle?"

"That's…horrible," I say, thinking of how scared those poor shifters must have been. And the pain they surely went through. I get that familiar feeling, itching deep in my brain like I'm just about to solve a problem. I start to stand from my spot next to Bigby to go to the chemistry lab, and when he reaches out and takes my hand, his eyes flutter open and meet mine.