Chapter Thirteen

“W hat is going on?” Rose demanded as soon as they entered Talon’s office. If they’d found the hospital, she wanted to know everything.

The sheriff and Talon were standing behind the desk, and she felt the tension in the room as soon as Kraven closed the door behind them.

“We’ve found your hospital,” Garrett told her, pointing to a paper map on Talon’s desk. “There is a lot going on there, but my…contacts have finally found out what you were bred for.”

“And?” she pressed.

“Take a seat, Rose,” Talon ordered, taking a seat in his own chair. “This is going to take a while.”

“You’re scaring me,” she admitted. She flopped down in the chair so hard it made a sound that echoed in the room.

“It seems the United States military has contracted a shifter to breed warriors to protect the interest of the country should one of their enemies attack us.”

“This would be why they trained her in combat situations and had her study past war histories,” Kraven stated, coming to stand behind her. Having him there helped, but she felt her beasts stirring.

“It explains a lot,” Rose whispered, looking at her feet. “My friend…the MOD. She was studying geography. Others studied survival skills. They were training us for another world war, weren’t they?”

“They were,” the sheriff said. “However, we don’t know the extent of what the government was breeding all of you for, and that concerns me.” Talon and the sheriff shared a look, but when the sheriff nodded toward the alpha, Talon rested his elbows on the solid wood surface of the desk and sighed heavily.

“We cannot have anyone breeding our kind for any reason,” he stated. “We will need to plan a trip to Chicago, and when we pay a visit to the hospital, things could get ugly real fast, Rose.”

“So, we are shutting this operation down?” Kraven asked, shifting from one foot to the other.

“Yes,” Talon growled. “I’m going to do something I never planned to do.”

“What is that?” Rose asked, worried for the pride whom she now called her family.

“I’m going with you, and I will be leaving my brother, Kye, in charge,” Talon declared. Even though she’d barely begun to learn the hierarchy of the pride, she knew his leaving was a rare thing. Without an alpha, the pride could grow weak without his presence.

“Then, it’s settled?” Kraven asked, not once questioning Talon’s desire to lead the team to Chicago.

“This is dangerous,” Rose said, speaking up now instead of letting them put themselves in danger. “You don’t know how powerful they are.”

“You’re going to have to tell us everything you know about the shifters who reside in that hospital, and I need a count of how many humans work there.” Talon was a strong leader, and she knew that, but the thought of them going up against the trackers worried her.

“We will have to be very careful,” she worried, standing from her seat so she could pace…and think . “There are children in that hospital, and they are innocents.”

“All of the MODs are innocent.” Kraven came to her side the moment she stopped with her back and forth in front of the alpha’s desk. When she looked up into his eyes, she saw the bright amber hue of his beast. With a soft hand on his arm, her touch calmed him just enough for him to relax.

“Yes, they are all innocent, but I have to be the devil’s advocate here,” she said, turning toward the alpha and the angel. “What are you going to do with all of the MODs once you take out the man who runs the hospital?”

“We have a few other prides in the country who can take in shifters, but if they’re like you, they don’t need an alpha. My only concern is making sure they have the right type of training to be able to live on their own.” Talon was a smart male, and she respected the hell out of him, but…

“They know nothing of the outside world,” she reminded all of them. “How are you going to transition them into a new life they never knew existed?”

“We will have to appoint some of our alpha friends to teach them how to live as a shifter. There are things that can be done to give them a name, like you have, and a home away from the hospital. I have put out a few feelers to other prides, and everyone has come back to me with support and offers of help.”

“I trust you, but I’m still concerned,” she continued, knowing Talon was capable of what he was promising, but it wasn’t going to be easy.

“As well you should be,” he agreed. “What else can you tell me about the hospital? And don’t shy away from any topic too hard for you to discuss. Everyone here supports you and those who were left after you fled.”

“Like I said before, there are at least three floors to the hospital that are housing MODs,” she began. “I know there were six MODs, beside myself, on the third floor…my floor. I have no idea if there were any MODs older than me since I was the oldest one in my group. There are children there, because we could hear them playing or crying when the hospital was quiet.”

“Were you or the other MODs mistreated in any way?” Talon pressed, causing a tinge of fear to roll up Rose’s spine. It wasn’t her story to tell, but she knew things. Before she had a chance to answer, she heard a rumble come from Kraven’s chest.

“Not me, necessarily,” she hurried to say. “I do know…my MOD friend…well, she was tested to be a breeder. She’s only in her mid-twenties, and so far, she hasn’t been impregnated. We talked once about getting her out of there, but she was frightened of what they’d do to her if she were found.”

“Is this the same MOD you were telling me about?” Kraven asked, coming to her side so he could wrap an arm around her waist. If you’d asked her two months ago if she would’ve welcomed a male’s concern and touch, she would’ve told you no. But now, his touch was strength, and she needed every bit of it with the possible war that was coming.

“Yes,” she replied with a nod, turning toward Talon. “I hope she’s fled like I did, but if not, I want to find her myself when we get there. I owe her so much.”

Rose held back her emotions just like the trainers at the hospital had beat into her at such a young age. The last thing she wanted to do was tell Kraven about how she was scolded when she was just a teenager who had been full of rage and confusion, but he would learn it all very soon.

“I’m not going to let her, or any other females in that hospital, be assaulted for the sake of breeding,” Talon growled. “I want everyone to go home and make preparations. We will gather and leave first thing in the morning. We will need the cover of night to help us get inside that hospital and take out the leader.”

“I’ll be here before dawn,” the sheriff promised and popped out with his magic and a flash of white light.

Kraven held Rose’s hand as they walked toward their mated cabin. In all of his time as a Guardian, he never would’ve believed a male would fuck with biology to create a super race of shifters to protect the human government.

And in that same thought, he couldn’t believe he’d found his mate in a very powerful shifter female who somehow, after all of the years of living in a compound, knew right from wrong when it came to the only home she ever knew.

“What are you thinking?” she asked with her voice barely above a whisper.

“I’m wondering how things have changed since I became a Guardian, and how we are about to return to the place that created you just to destroy it.” He wasn’t going to sugarcoat things with her. It was her life…her past they were talking about.

“A month and a half ago, I had no idea my life was any different,” she told him, giving his hand a gentle squeeze. “Leaving there was the scariest thing I’d ever done, but somewhere deep in my soul, I knew something wasn’t right. I’d felt that for years. Hell, I didn’t even know I was going to escape until I saw the window of opportunity.”

“So, you just dipped out the back door?” he asked, stepping onto the porch. He still held her hand as they entered the cabin. The fire had died down a little but not enough to stop their connection and communication. He’d add logs to it soon enough.

“Pretty much,” she chuckled under her breath. “I guess my hawk saw the chance to flee, and before I knew it, I was in flight, soaring out the door used by the staff. It was the first time in my life I’d ever climbed that high. The yard we used for outdoor activities only gave me about thirty feet to climb.”

“She likes to fly,” he stated. “I noticed how happy she was that first time you took flight.”

“Yeah,” she said with a huge smile. “It’s freeing, and once this is all over, I want to soar again.”

“You can soar whenever you like, and I encourage it,” he promised. “You have to let your animals run wild sometimes. It’s good for the soul.”

“It is,” she hummed, turning to face him. “Can we shift into our panthers before the night is over?”

“Never ask, Rose,” he replied, taking her hand so he could pull her to his chest. With his other hand, he used the crook of his finger to pull her chin up so he had direct access to her lips. The first press was sweet and tender, but it soon turned heavy and rushed.

“Okay, we can shift another time,” she teased, kissing him again.

“No, we shift and run first…kissing afterward,” he grunted, telling his cock to have patience.

They stripped on the deck and shifted quickly, taking to the trailhead closest to his cabin. The evening was cool, but not as cold as it’d been the night before. He followed her every move as she ran through the woods behind the alpha’s home, but stopped when she skittered up a tall pine, finding a limb to step out onto. It wasn’t precarious for her, nor was it dangerous. He trusted her completely.

She growled a little before leaping to another branch, but this time, she lost her footing when it gave way. Kraven almost pushed his panther back so he could shift and catch her, but her sharp claws made purchase, stopping her from falling. Even though she was a shifter, she had to learn her way with her animals, because as she’d said, they were limited to what they could do while they were in beast form at the hospital.

He hated that for her. She’d never really been free . Free to roam. Free to find herself in this crazy world. Free to make true relationships with a pride who’d fight heaven and earth to protect her.

But that had all changed for her the moment she decided to escape from the hospital. Rose had taken a chance to flee, knowing she would be marked for death if they’d found her…and they had found her. Somehow, she survived, and Kraven was thankful she did.

He waited patiently at the base of the tree while her panther looked around the bare forest. It was cold, but not to their animals. So, he had no concerns about her well-being. If she wanted to stay out there for the rest of the day, he wouldn’t tell her to head back to their cabin.

Rose still had a lot to overcome and learn about the real shifter world, and he wanted to teach her all of those things. Despite being bred as a killing machine, she was soft and caring. He didn’t care about the hellhound like Garrett had, because he’d seen the truth in the way she carried herself. Even when she was sparring with Hope, Rose still fought with integrity and respect.

“What are you thinking about so hard?” she chuckled, bringing him back from his thoughts. She’d shifted and was sitting naked on the same branch her panther had climbed to just moments before.

He forced his beast to retreat, shifting into his human form in only a few seconds. “I was thinking about how happy you look now that you understand how you were meant to live.”

“I am happy,” she promised, planting her palms on the limb before pushing off and landing on her feet as silently as her panther would. “Are you happy?”

“I’m more than happy, Rose,” he proclaimed, reaching for her. When he pulled her to his chest, she shivered, and he wasn’t sure if it was from the cold or his touch. He hoped it was the latter.

“Good,” she hummed, standing on the tips of her toes to take his lips for a soft kiss. “I’m so glad I touched you.”

“You are mine,” he whispered, cupping her face with one hand. The second time they kissed, it was hotter and more frantic than the first. “I want to take you home and make love to you.”

“Can we start here?” she asked with a cheeky grin.

Kraven’s cock came to life in record time, and he released her face and used both hands to lift her. They both groaned when he entered her warmth.

“Fuck, you’re perfect for me, sweetheart,” he bragged. She tangled her fingers through his long, wavy hair and took his lips again. Kraven had already noticed how she liked to kiss him a lot, and he was never going to get tired of it.

“More,” she moaned when he rocked his hips. He kept his arms wrapped tightly around her body as he pressed her against a tree. The last thing he wanted was for the bark to scratch her beautiful skin even if it would heal in a few minutes. “Oh, Kraven.”

“Say my name again,” he growled. “Just like you did just now.”

He was feral for her, and she was matching his energy in the forest behind their home. Gods, he could do this every single day for the rest of his life.

“Kraven,” she groaned out again. Her release was coming, and he felt her body tighten and release as he ground into her against that tree. Thankfully, none of the other pride members were in the woods, because he was feeling increasingly protective of her.

“Come for me, Rose,” he ordered, pumping faster as his own climax was on the edge of explosion.

“More,” she begged, rotating her hips.

“Fuck,” he barked as she finally let go and leaned her head back against the tree.

He wasn’t much farther behind, giving her every bit of his seed, wondering if one day she would make a cub for him.

MOD-122101 had hidden out in an abandoned home in what she now knew was the city of Memphis for two days due to the weather. Thankfully, she’d found some clothes in a trash bag behind a building that the signage said was a donation center.

It was stupid of her to be sitting still in the same location for too long, but she was unable to fly until the weather cleared. At least it wasn’t snowing anymore. The nights were unbearably cold in her human form, but thankfully, she was able to shift in peace up in the attic of the home she’d found. In her black bear form, she could sleep without freezing to death.

She woke in the middle of the night to a male trying to get into the abandoned home, but she scared him off when her bear roared. She didn’t know much about humans, but she was sure they were scared of the unknown. At least, she’d gathered that information from all of her studies.

As she settled back into her improvised bed, her thoughts went to MOD-122532. Was she dead? Did she get away and was now living somewhere secure? If so, how did she manage to do it without being found? She worried for the female, and she felt horrible for not trying to find her. But how would she? The country was huge! And she had no idea which way she had fled, because her MOD friend was trained for fighting and not planning like her.

One day, maybe they’d be reunited…in this life or in the afterlife…if there was such a thing.