Chapter 26

Chapter Twenty-Six

ELLIOTT

L ucas convulses on the ground. Casey shouts beside him, trying to get to his new pack mate. Ronan chokes on a gasp, his legs buckle, but he stays standing as what I assume are shocks ripping through his body.

I'm stuck between fearing Casey is next and unable to drag my attention away from the glass wall. The bond is a flurry of my pack's pain and alarm, but beyond that, is a beacon of hopelessness and heartbreak. Freya .

While I'm trying to sift through the tethers tying my soul to four people to reach my omega, Ronan is released from the electricity wreaking havoc on his nerves.

It's either me or Casey next. Peeling my gaze away from the glass, I lock eyes with my beta. He's shaking, tears tracking down his freckled cheeks, and I can't do fucking anything to help him.

We wait, the sounds of the alpha brothers labored breaths as background noise. But the painful zaps of an electrical current never come.

"Wonderful! Bravo, gentlemen," Ken's voice echoes through the speakers in the ceiling.

Casey flinches, making a snarl crawl its way up my throat and my alpha side lunge forward. The overpowering guilt I've been wading through is suddenly not a fucking issue anymore.

I'm awake now, and truly seeing Casey for the first time since Freya's heat. I've locked myself away, drowning myself in guilt that festers beneath the surface of a renewed protective rage.

I'll kill him . I'll fucking kill Ken .

The heavy door we entered through clanks and opens, letting a few people in scrubs walk through with a handful of enforcers.

Ronan and Lucas shiver and hardly notice as the group of doctors removes the cords from our bodies. I can't hold back my growl, but I refrain from trying to kill anyone right now.

We need a plan .

I keep watch on Casey while he twists about, trying to keep an eye on everyone in the room with us. Soon there's only three enforcers and one woman in blue left behind after the door slams shut.

The speakers crackle above, but it doesn't hide this whirring noise coming from the glass wall. My eyes widen as it begins to rise, even though I fucking knew something was off about it. Who the fuck has an all mirror wall?

I don't know what bullshit Ken has to say now because I'm too focused on each inch the mirror uncovers.

First come multiple sets of feet, and what seems to be bottoms of tables, but what makes my gut twist are the four sets of wheels attached to metal posts. Bedposts .

Then another set of feet, yet these are bare and pale, followed by thin calves and thighs I would know anywhere.

"Freya?" Casey's voice wobbles as he realizes who the naked person in the bed is. "Oh my god," he gasps.

Lucas curses, but I don't care to check on him or his older brother right now. All I fucking care about are the leather straps binding my mate's ankles, wrists and forehead to the inclined bed.

"No," Ronan rasps beside me.

I'm slow in cataloguing everything wrong with this moment. The cords stuck to her head come next, and it takes me a second to register that the machines around her are tracking her brain activity.

There's a heart monitor beeping somewhere too, but I'm now lost in the sickening depths of her blue eyes. Once bright, are now dull and sightless.

"Freya," I choke out and swallow. "Freya, look at me!" I yell with more force than the emotional storm inside of me wants to allow.

I yank and tug on the delicate bond connecting us, but my sweet girl is quiet now. Almost numb, or like she's just beneath the surface. Gritting my jaw, I try to block out the guys as their panic and horror of seeing our omega like this pound through our pack connection, but it's difficult.

My attempt at bringing my mate from whatever hell she's trapped in is thwarted as I'm propelled forward and a tsunami of water rushes over my now freezing skull. If I thought I was lucid before, I absolutely am now. My back feels like it's being ripped open by shards of ice.

Not even my yell of agony and wrath can be heard over the roaring of the hose barreling into me from behind. All sight vanishes behind the wave of pelleting water, but even if I tried to look for my pack, I don't think I could lift my head against the torrent of water.

It takes all my fucking effort to keep myself from falling on my face, but my backward momentum is quickly used against me as the water shuts off and I'm falling onto my ass and slamming my head in a puddle.

My beta's screams finally reach through the blood pounding in my ears. "ELI!"

"Jesus, fuck," Lucas mutters.

"Eli, you okay?" a much closer alpha pack mate questions gently. "Take your time," Ronan continues.

I appreciate my pack alpha's soothing voice while I try to grapple with the ache blooming in the back of my head and the stabbing pains all over my body. Fuck, that hurt.

"How interesting," Ken drawls moments later.

Somebody snarls, then Casey snaps, "Fuck you!"

I force myself into a seated position, knowing whatever's coming next won't be good if Casey draws attention to himself. Blinking rapidly, the moisture quickly drips away, allowing me to see Ken standing between us and Freya.

"Freya," I whisper, mortified by her stillness and lack of emotion. "What's wrong with her?!" I demand.

Ken hums, tapping his chin like a fucking freak. "The omega either has spectacular control, which I highly doubt since it took that brutal hosing to get the bitch to slick when commanded."

"WHAT?!"

"YOU MOTHERFUCKER!"

No words have the ability to escape around the thunderous growl tearing my vocal cords to shreds.

"Why?! Why are you doing this?!" Casey cries, eyes latched onto our girl.

Ken huffs and brushes his hands down his suit coat. "To create the perfect omega, of course. I know Beckett already told you about our goals here, so don't be dense, boy."

"This is cruel!" my beta snaps back.

"This is science!" Ken roars, spittle flying every which way. "I'm creating an evolutionary submissive creature that will do as commanded without an alpha bark. Imagine what society could do with an omega who could slick and breed for you without their petty instincts choosing who they get to fuck?"

Science?

Rape.

Scientists?

Monsters.

I'm not the fucking monster here.

They are.

And I won't stop until every single one of their claws burn in the depths of motherfucking hell.