Chapter 10

Chapter

Ten

MIKAEL

P aris was everything and nothing like I imagined. There were times I felt well-traveled as a Wolf. War had dragged me to every single corner of our continent, and a little beyond, but most places I had only ever experienced in the pages of books. Most places were out of bounds—locked inside our massive four walls and kept apart from history that should have been ours.

We crept into the building in the dead of night, my senses overwhelmed with the age in the bricks, and the smell of the river, and the green ivy growing on every surface. It had rained not too long before we got there, and in the distance, I could hear the sounds of feet sloshing through puddles.

The heartbeats here were too many to pick out which were Wolf and which were human, but I had to wonder if equality stood as strongly as most of the EU claimed it did. Everything felt like propaganda anymore, and I was nervous about trusting Eduardo's friends.

Beyond the door, I could hear more heartbeats—two human at least, and maybe one Wolf. I stood back as he knocked and a few moments later, a dark-haired woman opened the door. She was holding a notebook and a glass of wine expertly in her hand, and she leaned in and kissed his cheeks before opening the door farther.

"You must be Mikael," she said to me as I passed by. Her scent was distinctly human, just like her eyes, but there was power in her just like Eduardo.

I nodded stiffly at her, then turned my attention to the room. It was sparsely furnished, the most cluttered space a makeshift dining room with a single table covered in computer equipment. It reminded me of Nadya's place, and I smiled a little thinking how she'd thrive here.

I glanced to my right and saw the other two—a human man with light blond hair and pale skin, and an Alpha man with dark umber skin and dreadlocks tied at the nape of his neck, hanging down toward the small of his back.

The Alpha stared at me, and there was a moment of unconscious posturing before he tilted his head to the side, then crossed the distance and extended his hand. "It's good to meet you," he said. His accent was thick, but there was a warmth there that was only felt in the company of your own. "I'm Hervé, and that's Amélie , and this is Emil." He indicated the two humans, and I had to bite my tongue so I didn't ask how he was so calm in their presence.

"Thank you. I assume you all know Eduardo?"

There was a small titter, and Hervé lifted his brow at the man. "Eduardo?"

He shrugged. "It was safest at the time," he said, switching from Spanish to English.

I was startled at how good it was, and I realized that it was likely almost everything he'd told me apart from where he was from, had been bullshit. "Are you going to tell me your real name?"

He swallowed thickly, then shrugged and shoved one hand into his pocket like he was trying to control his movements. "Arturo. But that's all I'm willing to share. Forgive me, güey."

I shook my head and waved him off. It was enough, I supposed. After all, within a matter of hours—if I was lucky—I would be rid of these people, and I would have Danyal with me. Letting out a breath, I turned in a slow half-circle. "I'm going to assume you all know why I'm here."

Amélie nodded her head, brushing back a lock of hair behind her ear. "We've been in contact with your Alpha. In fact, he'll be calling through to speak with you before we make our way toward Kasher's compound."

My heart thudded in my chest at the thought of having contact from someone at home—even if I knew Kor wasn't actually there. It meant his half-cocked plan of fleeing with his Omega had worked, even if he hadn't made any other progress.

"For now," Hervé said, dropping a hand to my shoulder, "have a drink and a rest. You had a long journey, and we have an even longer one ahead of us when we're done."

I didn't feel much like socializing. These people—a Wolf and these strong, curious humans—they were a pack of their own. They moved in tandem, their language almost silent full of quiet noises and gestures. They were lost in their work, and while, once upon a time, I might have tried to help, my focus was on Danyal.

My once-mate.

My future mate?

The idea was wholly terrifying, but the only thing that consumed me outside of making sure I could get him home safely. I didn't even allow myself to think about what he might be going through in detail, because a single trigger would send me feral. I would shift into my wolf, and I wouldn't stop until there was blood between my teeth, and they were all dead.

Global consequences be damned.

Unable to sleep when the flat settled into rest, I crept outside on the terrace. It was ancient, held up by belief and miracle with the wrought iron bolted into the ivy-covered brick. Paris was a place I wished I could savor—understand and adore. I thought about Galen for a moment. How he might have loved this place.

It would have spoken to his scholar heart.

I felt a sort of ache that he had only ever known war and oppression—that he had been robbed of these moments. My gaze drifted to the sky, to the stars that were floating in a sea above me. The moon was half-full, and the pull to my wolf was getting stronger.

I didn't jump when the terrace door opened, and I recognized the faint scent of Hervé as he climbed out and lowered himself to the ground beside me. He slid his legs through the bars and let them dangle, surprisingly unafraid for a Wolf surrounded by humans.

"We used to watch the war when we were little," he said after a beat, his eyes glowing in the soft darkness. "On American soil. We used to wonder why no one did anything. It was so…barbaric."

I listened to the way he spoke—the lyrical sort of accent like a song without music. "I wasn't born into the war, but it went on so long, I forgot what peace was like."

He laughed softly. "That's how it always is. It creeps up on you." He leaned back, then reached into his pocket and a second later had a lit cigarette in his mouth and took a deep drag. It wasn't tobacco—it was something else. Sweet and earthy. "I used to wonder why we were allowed to watch, and it became clear that the humans here believed if it wasn't as bad as what you were all suffering, then we here had it good. We didn't question when we lost some rights, because at least we had others."

"That's how it started for us too," I told him. I remember Galen holding me at night when I would be consumed with fear of what was to come, his whispered voice telling us that no one would let it get too bad. "It's bad, but it'll never be inhuman." I spat the last word like a curse, and he bowed his head.

A part of me was still angry for believing Galen—mostly because I knew now, he hadn't believed his own lie.

"The generations that came after mine, they changed things," Hervé said. He took another long drag, then stubbed out the smoke and flicked it over the edge of the balcony. "They stopped believing the propaganda. They started making waves. We're a people of revolution, you know." He pushed himself to stand and stared into my eyes with a bravery most humans would never have. "We're never far from resisting—not just us, but the humans alongside."

I wanted to be angry. After all, who the hell cared what a few humans thought. They could call it quits tomorrow and never have to suffer another day. We would never be given that option. But it was no time to turn my nose up at what might very well be Danyal's salvation.

"You should get some rest, even if you don't sleep," he said, giving me a once-over. "He'll be grateful for your strength when you arrive—especially if he has none of his own."

And if anything could get me to turn in and at least rest my eyes, those words were the magic ones.

I hadn't slept, but I'd gotten close enough to dozing that when I heard the sounds of a Wolf growl, I sat up straight, my heart beating in my throat. It took me a second to remember where I was, and then another to pinpoint the noise. It was coming from the computer near the kitchen, and I was on my feet, drawn over almost like the sound was magnetic.

Hervé and Amélie were crowded around the screen, but Amélie looked over her shoulder when I approached, and she made room for me. The footage wasn't as clear as it should have been, but better than some hacked security feed, though the room was dark, and it was difficult to see. There were eyes though, glowing somewhere between orange and red, and I had no idea where that change had come from because that Wolf—though half-shifted—was clearly an Alpha.

"You might not want to watch this," Hervé said quietly.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Is that so?"

"Nadya sent us this footage of your friend. Your…" Amélie hesitated. "A member of your Alpha Council."

Zane, my brain supplied. I didn't recognize him like that—on all fours, closer to an animal than he was in his wolf form. He was covered in filth and blood, and he was drooling rivers between his fangs. My stomach sank, drowning in bile. Zivko Kasher had done this, and I hadn't received any updates about his condition since the first time Orion had checked in.

If he was still this way—if this was permanent…

My breath caught in my throat as I watched Zane attack another figure—a blue-eyed wolf in the same feral state as him, though his body was worse. Though the image wasn't clear, I could still see the mottled scars marring his face that hadn't been able to heal without a full shift. Something about that Wolf was familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on it.

"How long ago was this?" I asked, my voice rough.

Amélie 's look was full of pity, and she shrugged one shoulder. "About two weeks, maybe a little bit more. Nadya doesn't believe there's a lot of this footage. Most of it is the labs and the…" She swallowed thickly. "The training."

The torture, she meant, because that's what this sort of training was. I bared my teeth, but forced myself to take several breaths and prevent my fangs and claws from coming out because the last thing I wanted to do was set the humans on edge.

I met Hervé's Alpha gaze—understanding better than anyone else in the room possibly could. It was a fate that could be ours if we didn't fight hard enough. If we didn't win.

Amélie reached out and flicked the monitor off, and it jolted me back to myself. I glanced at her, then Hervé again before I let out a breath. "We can't delay much longer. If he's using Danyal like that…"

Hervé gave a single nod. "Your Head Alpha will be calling shortly, and then we'll sit down to make our plan. You understand we must part ways before the compound, yes?"

My head dipped. "I do. And you understand I'll need some actual time to extract him—especially if he's—" I stopped and gestured toward the computer, not willing to say it.

That could not be his fate.

"We can give you some," Amélie said, "but we won't be able to delay. We have a short window, and we have orders." At that, she glanced to her left—into the kitchen where Arturo was standing with his arms crossed over his chest. His face was stoic, grief in his eyes, and I wanted to ask why.

Was it love? Was it something else?

Maybe he'd been a human raised in a pack. They were rare, but not unheard of.

"It won't be long before this is all over," Arturo said.

Before I could respond, a phone started to ring, and Amélie's gaze darted over to mine, and she gave a stiff nod before reaching for an archaic flip phone perched at the edge of the desk. She opened the top, then handed it to me, and my heart beat hard as I lifted it to my ear.

"Kor?"

The Alpha let out a sigh. "You made it." There was a punch of profound relief in his tone, and it comforted me in ways I hadn't expected it to. I hadn't realized just how damn isolated I'd been since leaving Corland, but Kor was a touchstone.

"I'm safe. I'm with some people in Paris," I told him, though I assumed he already knew.

"I've been given the brief," he said. "Misha and I are preparing to head out to retrieve Zane right now."

I blinked in surprise, pushing away from the table and moving down the small hallway toward the bedrooms. "Misha's with you? Is that safe?"

Kor scoffed. "Safer than Corland without me there. I'm not sure how many of Marion or Lior's eyes have infiltrated the borders, but there's enough of them that I can't leave him."

I squeezed my eyes shut and leaned forward until my forehead hit the wall. "Fuck."

Kor laughed bitterly. "Mm. I have a couple of contacts I'll be meeting up with. I can't really discuss it now, but I wanted to speak to you about putting Zane in charge as Head Alpha until my return."

At that, I stood up straight. He wanted to put the feral Wolf I'd just witnessed on the security feed in charge of Corland—in charge of our piece of the rebellion? "Is that wise?"

"You know that Francisco and Theo won't be able to take it," Kor said.

I nodded to myself, because it was true. They could serve side by side, but the power that came with Head Alpha would be too much for their relationship. And there was no telling when I'd be back, not that I wanted the job. I was made to lead, but not like that, and I was too damned distracted by losing my would-be mate.

"How is he?" I finally asked.

Kor let out another long breath. "Recovering. He's regained cognizance and speech. Orion says he's got a way to go, but I trust him in Zane's recovery."

I almost laughed, because for all that the two of them had tried to hide their feelings from both each other and themselves, it was obvious to every one of us. "I'm sure. But will he be able to shoulder this?"

"Knowing what's at stake," Kor said, "I think he will. But it's all we've got for now. I've called Aisling in to fill in the gap on the Council. We'll still be down one, but it'll be enough to keep things running. Francisco is working on security detail now, calling in some of the Omega spies from the city, and we're vetting the team so we can get eyes on the people Lior and Marion have sent in. We plan to make a public display of a few, but not all of them."

It was wise. Not ousting them publicly was smart, but making a public display of a small fraction would be enough to possibly set the others at ease, making them believe they hadn't been caught. It didn't really matter, though. This was going to explode far past the borders of Corland. Far past the borders of America—if I was reading the signs right.

"By tomorrow, I'll have Danyal with me, and then I'll make plans to get him home," I said.

Kor hummed softly. "Don't be in too big a hurry. Let him recover from whatever it is he's gone through."

I swallowed thickly. "Has Talia…or even Zane, said anything?"

"Talia says Danyal feels fine. She said she knew when Zane was slipping but Danyal's still there, sending her pulses every now and again in the pack bond. He's okay." Those last words from Kor almost sent me to my knees. "Just get him out before he's not."

I squeezed my eyes shut and nodded. "I will. Just…fuck. Maybe send a prayer to the gods for me?"

He laughed, but the sound wasn't mocking or cruel. "I haven't stopped since the day you left, Mikael. Just promise me you'll keep yourself safe too."

I hadn't gotten the chance to know Kor as well as I should have, but I would remedy that if given the chance. He was a good person. An even better Alpha. A privilege to serve under. "Do you want me to keep in touch?"

"Only if it's an emergency. I'll be off the grid, but you won't be alone."

I squared my shoulders, then ran a hand down my face to help collect myself. "Neither will you. Talk to you again." It was the only promise I was willing to make before I ended the call.

Marching back into the main room, I felt the eyes of everyone on me, even those who were trying not to look. Hervé must have absolutely overheard the entire conversation, but it didn't matter. What mattered was they saw me as I was—powerful and ready to take on this fight.

"Tell me what we're doing next," I commanded. "I'm ready to end this."

Hervé stood up straight, then re-tied his dreads at the nape of his neck. "Then let's begin. We have a long way to go."