Chapter 40

FORTY

E ven some time after Malcolm had left, the air in the underground room was thick with tension. Emma’s heart hammered in her chest as she felt the weight of Lucas’s gaze on her. He was still shackled with heavy chains to the chair, though his hands were now flexing with a barely contained rage.

“I’m sorry about your grandmother,” he said, sadness in his voice. “I had no idea what he was doing.”

“I doubt anyone with morals knew. It’s not your fault, Lucas. You would’ve stopped it had you known.”

“Yes, but that does nothing to ease your pain, right now.”

She gave him a sad smile. “I’m so lucky to have you.”

He chuckled. “I believe I’m the lucky one here.”

The sound of footsteps echoed down the hallway, signaling someone’s approach. Malcolm was not alone.

When he finally appeared in the doorway, the light from the corridor seemed to bend around him, casting his figure in shadow. His cold smile was unmistakable. He stepped inside, his eyes flicking over to Lucas first, the malevolence almost palpable. Then they settled on Emma.

“Emma,” Malcolm said with that same demented smile. “You’re coming with me. I think it’s time you saw exactly what we’ve been doing, the lengths we’ve gone to ensure the future of our kind.”

Emma stiffened, eyes narrowing, but the look on Lucas’s face told her everything. He couldn’t stop her, not from here. Not without getting himself killed, and that wasn’t something she was willing to risk.

She nodded once, her voice steady, if not a little cold. “Lead the way.” Her bindings were removed, and she rubbed her wrists while standing. She could feel the pull of their bond, the silent urging from him to stay, but her gaze never left Malcolm’s.

Malcolm’s smile widened as he stepped aside, motioning for her to move toward the door. The air around her seemed to crackle with tension, the quiet hum of electricity still a constant backdrop to the moment. As she passed him, he gave a mocking bow, almost as if he were showing her respect.

The door shut behind them with a soft thud, and the dark, clinical hallway stretched out before them. They weren’t in just some underground bunker, they were in a very sophisticated research facility.

“I trust the accommodations are to your liking?” Malcolm asked, his tone light, casual, as if they were taking a stroll in a park.

Emma didn’t answer, her mind already racing through the possibilities. They were walking into something far worse than she had imagined. She could feel the weight of what lay ahead, the burden of understanding just how far Malcolm had gone to “save” his people.

Malcolm led her deeper into the bunker, his voice low as he began to speak again, recounting his twisted version of the pride’s history.

“You see, Emma,” he began, “the pride’s survival isn’t just about numbers. It’s about strength. It’s about being stronger than the weakness that was been bred into us. When humans began to mate with our kind, the pride’s bloodline became diluted. Do you know what that did to us? It made us weaker. And when that happened, we became easy targets for rival prides. We were nearly wiped out.”

Emma’s stomach twisted as he spoke, but she remained silent. She had heard the history and the fears the pride had about their genetic decline.

“But I fixed it,” he continued, his voice swelling with pride. “I’ve brought the pride back. Stronger, faster, more intelligent. The way it should have been. And those failures… well, we just had to work out the kinks.”

They stopped at a large, reinforced door. It was different from the others—heavier, more secure. Malcolm keyed in a code, and the door slid open with a quiet hiss.

Inside, the air was thick with a strange energy, the overwhelming scent of antiseptic mingling with something darker. Emma’s eyes darted over the room, taking in the rows of containment units and the machines surrounding them. Her heart thudded in her chest as she realized what she was seeing—genetic experiments in progress.

There were bodies—failed experiments, she could only assume—some of them grotesquely deformed, others twitching with nervous energy, their eyes wild and unfocused. Her stomach churned at the sight, the horror of it almost too much to bear. She could hear the quiet beeping of medical monitors, the sound of people—if they could even be called that—shuffling within their cages.

“These are some of the results of my work,” Malcolm said, his voice quieter now, almost reverent. “They’re not perfect, but they’re necessary. They’re the future. They will make the pride stronger.”

Emma’s hands clenched into fists, her nails biting into her palms as she tried to keep herself together.

“These people,” she said through gritted teeth, “they’re not your experiments. They’re lives. They’re your kind, your people. What you’re doing isn’t saving anyone, Malcolm. You’re destroying everything that makes you who you are.”

“Don’t you understand? Without this, without these sacrifices, there would be no pride. We would have died out, all of us. We would have been weak. And now…” He turned toward her, his expression shifting to something darker, something colder. “Now, I’m the only one who has the strength to lead us forward.”

He gestured toward a table in the center of the room where several monitors displayed data—genetic codes, sequences, records of testing and progress. His fingers brushed over the touchpad, bringing up images of even more experiments.

Emma’s stomach twisted, her breath quickening. The air around her felt thick with the weight of his words, and she couldn’t understand how someone could be so consumed with a twisted sense of purpose.

She was about to speak when Malcolm’s hand lifted, revealing her necklace with her grandmother’s crystal. She tried to snatch it from his hand, but she couldn’t match shifter reflexes.

“Now, let’s see how you handle the next step of our work, Emma.”

With that, he crushed her crystal in his hand, grinding it into dust between his fingers.

“No!” Emma screamed, the powder in his downturned hand drifting to the floor. And she realized, with a terrible clarity, that she was truly alone now.