Chapter 7

Chapter

Seven

DANYAL

I couldn't decide if I was expecting another damp, ugly room with nothing but a stone floor for company, and I couldn't decide if they were trying to disarm me by offering me actual guest quarters when we finally arrived at the chateau. I assumed it was going to be something like a medieval fortress, but it was modern—almost like some vacation rental for the super wealthy.

Which, I realized as I sat on the edge of the bed and looked around, it probably was. Only this time, it was for Kasher and his captives, and the Wolves he'd turned into his animals. I had been blindfolded and bound before we left the plane so I didn't get the chance to see them, but as I was led into the house, I could sense them. I could hear them—grunting and struggling against their chains. I could hear their rapid heartbeats, and I could scent the shift in them—trapped and stalled between forms.

I wanted to drop my claws and tear Kasher's throat out there, but I knew I wouldn't succeed. He'd only torture or kill me, and that wouldn't do much to save anyone.

Still, I felt helpless and weak when I was released and the door locked behind me. It was a cage, just larger and a little more comfortable than before. I wasn't sure exactly what he needed me for at this point, but I knew his methods of convincing would start soon.

Laying back, I stretched out, easing the ache from my muscles. I didn't want to get comfortable, but I debated about sleeping because I wasn't entirely sure how much Kasher would give me once he was settled in. I closed my eyes and breathed, then felt the gentle pulse of my brother and sister reaching for me.

I'm here. I'm alive.

I couldn't really send them a message, but I could let them know I was all right. It was comfort enough to feel Zane coming back to himself—to know that whatever Kasher had done, Orion had managed to save him before it was too late. It allowed me to breathe easier, to renew my fight to get home to the people I loved.

And it renewed my fight to make sure that no one could ever—ever—be put through this again.

I didn't expect sleep to come, so I jolted hard when the door opened, and someone walked in. It took me a moment to recognize the scent, but I didn't calm much when I realized it was Ivan. The room was dark, but I had no problem seeing him hovering near the edge of the bed. His heart was thumping with fear, and it gave me a small burst of pleasure to know that unbound, in this room, I made him nervous.

"Does your father know you're here?" I asked, pushing myself up on my elbows.

He huffed a laugh and reached along the wall until he found the switch, flooding the place with light. He looked more casual now than he had on the plane, in jeans and a sweater. He might have been attractive if I hadn't known who he was and the things he'd done, even if he seemed repentant about them.

"He sent me. He figured you were probably hungry."

I couldn't help a snort as I sat all the way up, then shifted my legs off the bed and stood. I felt a little weak from lack of food and bad sleep, but it wasn't anything I couldn't handle. "I'm not sure I want any food here."

"You can't starve yourself," Ivan argued, and I didn't bother telling him that I could. That I'd survive a lot longer than a human would. "It'll be easier if you just come to dinner."

"For you or me?" I asked him, and he didn't bother to try and hide his wince. "Did he put you in charge of me?"

Ivan glanced away from me, which was answer enough. "He's not happy with me."

"Because our Alpha got away?"

His eyes snapped back to me, and he dragged his tongue over his lips. "No. Alexei has the honor of that failure, but my brother's also safe because my father needs him to do what he's doing."

I gripped the bed poster and drummed my fingers on the wood. "So, you helped someone else." When he looked startled, I shrugged. "It's obvious. It's the only crime I think your father would punish. Who was it?"

"An Omega," Ivan said softly. "Someone who probably wasn't even missed."

I opened my mouth to argue that everyone was missed—that we wouldn't let a single body slip by us, but I realized that probably wasn't true. We'd tracked every high-level Wolf taken, but what about the others? What about those who had gone unreported?

"Are they alive?"

Ivan stared at me for a long time before he answered. "I don't know. I hope so, but I couldn't stay with him if he wanted to get free."

"So now you're making up for it by ensuring when that man says jump, I say how high," I said flatly.

Ivan bit his lip hard enough I could tell he was seconds away from drawing blood, then he released it. "You're not the only one imprisoned by him."

"No, but unlike you, I plan to fight." I let Ivan's heart beat in that terrified rhythm before I spoke again. "I'll come to dinner, though. Know the enemy and all that. Your father thinks I know more than I do, but he also thinks I'm less powerful than I am. And even if he can hear us right now—which I bet he can—I don't care. He won't believe it, and I'll take a lot of joy in watching the realization hit him the moment he no longer has a hold on any of us."

Ivan didn't confirm or deny that we were being watched, but it didn't matter. I'd do whatever Kasher wanted to prolong my life and my health, but I wouldn't be helping him with his experiments. I'd simply learn what he knew. I'd take whatever I could make useful for the Wolves, and then I'd make him sorry he ever strapped a single Wolf down in his lab for the rest of his short life.

Ivan walked ahead of me, down a massive corridor, and then into a formal dining room. It was almost comical in a way—Kasher sitting at the head of the table, a couple of men flanking his right and left with visible guns. I didn't think there were bullets in them, either. Probably tranqs—enough to put me down for a while and to keep me down until I complied.

I had no intention of being under fire, but I could feel Ivan's nerves as he gestured for me to sit at his right.

"Father," the man said.

Kasher, who looked more peaked, his hands trembling on his wine glass, gave his son a curt nod. "Dr. Bereket. It's nice of you to join us."

"Please don't pretend like I have a choice," I told him. I stared at the empty plate in front of me, then at the wine in the glass, which I wouldn't be drinking, and I touched the base with the tips of my finger.

Kasher hummed softly, then shrugged and sat back in his chair. He looked small, like he was wasting away, and from where I was sitting, I could smell the rot inside him. "There's no reason we can't be civilized. Most of your kind is perfectly capable of it."

My jaw clenched. "It's only when we're backed into a corner that…"

"Come!" Kasher's voice was more powerful than I expected, and it startled me into silence. There was a single second where I swore the world stopped spinning, then the rattle of chains.

My heart threatened to beat out of my chest because I knew what was coming, and I knew it was a test. He wanted to see how far he could push me. A Wolf entered the room, naked, head tipped down, locked in a half-shift, crawling toward Kasher's chair.

Bile rose in my throat as Kasher ran his fingers through the unkept, shaggy hair, and I saw the scars of his mutilation.

"As I said," Kasher went on, staring directly at me, "most of you."

I bit the inside of my cheek until I tasted blood, and I didn't give him the satisfaction of a response. Beside me, I could feel Ivan's tension rising though, and after a beat, he lost control.

"Why are you doing this? Just let him sleep."

Kasher's gaze moved to his son, full of contempt. "Don't make me threaten you in front of the animals, Ivan."

It took all of my self-control not to release my claws, and after a beat, I turned to him. "What is it you want from me?"

Kasher didn't answer. A second later, several people in uniform walked through the set of swinging doors, carrying trays of food. The experience was surreal—like I was lost in some period film about a poor Wolf pauper who stumbled into the world of rich humans.

The food smelled amazing, but the last thing I wanted to do was drop my guard. All the same, I took a deep breath, trying to scent anything he might have put in the roast or potatoes, but it smelled like animals and earth and spice, and a faint hint of the gas from the ovens.

I jumped in my seat when Kasher snapped his fingers, and I deliberately didn't look as the Wolf at his side crawled out of the room after the servants exited. Kasher was watching me though, taking in every subtle shift in my expression, and it would take a miracle to hide from him.

He was too sharp for a dying human.

"I'm not going to sit here and try to sell my vision to you, Dr. Bereket. I won't pretend that I think you're any different from any other Wolf that's come across my path."

"The animals, you mean," I said.

"Sometimes nature gets things beautifully right, and sometimes she gets things tragically wrong. I still haven't been able to trace the origins of your species, though my son—before he abandoned all things rational—had been working on it."

Misha. He meant Misha.

"And don't get me wrong. Humans are still—every now and again—subject to what's left of their lingering animal nature. Misha always thought I was mad, but I fully believe that humans were once capable of shifting before we evolved into something higher." He paused and took a drink, and I couldn't stop staring at him. He was weak in his body, but his mind wasn't. And that made him more dangerous than any human any of the Wolves faced on the front lines. "My experiments so far have been a failure because I haven't found a way to tap into that locked genetic code that would allow us to retrieve what was once lost."

I set my fork down and raised my brows at him. "You want to be able to shift?"

He laughed, the sound wheezing and soft, rattling around in his chest. His lungs struggled for breath, but his face remained amused. "I want what evolution stole from us. Not the ability to become our animal, but to regain the things that nature owes us."

"Long life," I said, making the short leap of logic. "The ability to heal. To survive."

He nodded and speared a piece of the meat cut into tiny bits for him. He chewed like it took the effort of running a marathon, then chased it down with wine. "Those things belong to the species with the right to survive. Who gained a higher consciousness than the beasts."

"Or perhaps those things are a gift from the gods given to those who accepted who they were and attempted to live in peace with our dual nature," I countered.

His smile faded, but he didn't argue. He continued to eat, and I managed to force myself to take a few bites just to keep up my strength. I didn't touch the alcohol, but the water was cool and sharp with minerals. I didn't dare look at Ivan, but I could feel his tension beside me.

He was petrified of this man, but his scent told me he was willing to fight him. Maybe even to die, and I was almost desperately curious about the Wolf he'd set free. I wasn't sure he'd get the chance to tell me—or if he'd be brave enough—but it might be something I could use.

All the same, I had time. It was clear that Kasher had no plans to release me, and if he did manage to get work out of me, he wasn't going to let me go alive. My fate would either be mindless beast at his command or buried in the woods where my siblings would never find me.

There was no question about it: I had to get out.

I dug my fork into the meat, then took another bite before I gave the old man another flat stare. "What is it that's killing you? I want to say cancer because you smell like rot, but it's not quite the same thing."

He grimaced, disgusted by my show of inhumanity, but I didn't back down. After a moment, he let out a breath. "Both my liver and my kidneys are failing. My body couldn't keep up."

Ivan muttered something under his breath, but it was too quiet for even my ears to pick up, but it was obvious Kasher knew because he shot his son a glower.

"And a transplant won't save you?" I had to ask. "Instead of enslaving and torturing Wolves?"

"I shouldn't need to borrow organs from dead humans when my own genetic code has the ability to heal me," he snapped, slamming his fist on the table.

This time, I didn't jump. "And have you prepared for the inevitable?"

"I've prepared for the moment I have ultimate success. I know my son survived the change—though he was a mistake. He…" Kasher dragged his tongue over his dry, chapped lips. "It went too far. He became what I was giving him rather than unlocking his own potential. But he is my blood, and if he can change…"

It was possible. Kasher was a man of science, even if he was an absolute bigoted sociopath willing to commit genocide to save his own ass. It was likely he tested on his son because he was the closest to his own genetic make-up. And, I thought as I remembered the look of pain in Misha's face when he thought he was dying, he was expendable.

I glanced over at Ivan out of the corner of my eye and wondered if maybe he was next. And I wondered if Ivan knew that. The moment he'd fallen out of favor with his father—the moment he was no longer serving another purpose—he would be useful only as a lab rat.

"I don't know how you want me to help you," I told him after a long silence.

Kasher said nothing as our plates were cleared away, and then his wine was refilled, but I was relieved when no desserts were served. He sat back and considered the liquid under the dim chandelier, then let out a quiet breath. "I know you managed it. We don't need to pretend like you don't know there are spies in your midst. You were able to turn a Wolf's status."

"And you're too smart to pretend like you don't know it's entirely different. I'm not turning a Wolf human," I reminded him.

"No," he mused, "but I think with the right incentive, you'll work hard for me and use your knowledge to tear down my current roadblock."

I almost laughed, but then the doors opened again, and the room went still as one of the guards frog-marched a woman up to the table. She was thin, apart from a large, pregnant belly. She was also human, though Kasher's lack of morals no longer startled me. She looked under-fed, exhausted, and beaten down, and I couldn't help but wonder how long she'd been his prisoner.

"This is A-7324," he said, and I flinched at how utterly unapologetic he was at dehumanizing anyone he felt was beneath him. "She's one of the few in my breeding program."

I didn't think Kasher could say anything to surprise me, but I was wrong. I didn't even need to ask what he meant. "How?" I whispered.

His lips stretched into a grimace that I was sure was meant to be a smile. "My little secret. Trust me when I say you're the only one who's going to possess this knowledge."

I stared at her for a long moment, then I shook my head. "There's nothing you can do to convince me."

His smile didn't leave his face. "Let me tell you a story, Dr. Bereket." He glanced at the woman as she swayed, but he made no move to make her more comfortable. "Once upon a time, I had a powerful Alpha subdued in my lab. Yes, he was falling apart, but he was strong. We allowed him just enough of himself to heal so he'd stay alive, but nothing more. He wasn't one of my beasts—he was too important for that. He was going to be the animal who unlocked everything."

"Except we were too good," I said, knowing exactly who he was talking about. "We infiltrated your labs and brought him home."

"I suppose I can take some comfort in knowing he'll never forget me," Kasher said with a sick smile. "Every time he opens his eyes and sees nothing, he'll remember who did it. Every time he wishes he were dead, he'll have me to thank."

I wasn't about to laugh in his face and tell him that Kor was far from the broken Wolf he expected him to be. I wasn't going to give him that power.

"We got enough of what we needed for some of our experiments," Kasher went on after a beat. "In particular, this one." He reached out a shaking hand and ran it down her stomach. She flinched, but she didn't pull away, and I hated him even more for it. "I know you have some sort of plan to escape—or, if you don't, your pack will find you eventually. If I had my way, I'd use you and bury you at sea, but I'm old enough and wise enough to know that's not going to happen."

"So why bother?" I demanded.

"Because they won't get me," he said with a shrug. "They'll get you. And if you give me what I need, Dr. Bereket, you can hold your head up high and tell your Alpha that you aren't directly responsible for the death of his daughter."

My stomach churned, and I tried to meet his gaze, but I couldn't. I was so certain he couldn't hold anything over me, but then again, I didn't think this was possible.

And chances were, he was lying. We'd tried everything—for years—to see if it was possible for a human and Wolf to mate, but we'd never managed it. I didn't see glowing eyes on this woman, which meant he didn't get as far as he had with Misha. She wasn't part of us. She was human. But as I listened, as I took deep breaths, I could smell the Wolf inside her—I could hear its little heartbeat.

"You cooperate, she gets fed. She'll be allowed to rest. She'll live in relative comfort. You give me trouble, and I make sure she suffers. I don't need that baby alive, Dr. Bereket. I just need it born."

I swallowed down acid rising into my throat, and I said nothing, but his laugh told me he knew he'd put me on my knees and made it impossible for me to rise.

"You can retire now. We'll be starting bright and early."

I stood on legs more steady than I expected them to be, and Ivan followed suit. I took a few steps away when Kasher cleared his throat, and I glanced wearily over my shoulder. "What?" I asked behind a sigh.

"Don't forget your little pet, Doctor. Like I said, you're entirely responsible for her care now."

My eyes widened with horror as she took exhausted, stumbling steps toward me like she was being controlled. When she was close enough, Ivan reached out and wrapped an arm around her waist, and I didn't miss the disgusted look on his father's face.

We left the room after that, and I realized monsters did exist in this world. I had known it peripherally before, but now I had looked into the face of the damned, and it had a weak smile and a thirst for pain.