41. Chapter 41

Chapter 41

H e looked as terrifying as the day he blew Amber's brains out, even more so because of the smirk on his scarred face that looked unnatural. His hair was still in a military buzz cut, and his brown eyes were just as dead as the Hunters who led her into the room.

On her knees, his size was intimidating. His arms were massive, his muscles bulging, and his black vest top looked too small. She usually liked tattoos, especially Jax's, but this man's sleeve tattoos seemed too severe. Almost as if their message was as full of hate as he was.

"I apologise for bringing you out so late," he said as he walked forward. "I normally like to greet my guests straight away, but you were sleeping so soundly, I didn't want to disturb you."

She shuffled back until he stopped, a grin on his face that showed how excited he was with the situation.

"Look at you. You act like a meek little lamb; it's easy to see why anyone would be taken in by the fake innocence," the man said with a chuckle.

"Who are you? What's this about?"

Her voice was shaky as she pulled herself back to her knees. Her head pounded so hard, and the cut on her forehead continued to bleed. She wasn't healing.

"Excuse my manners," he said as he stepped back from her.

Without his huge body blocking her view, she saw a setup very similar to the one she passed in the hallway, only much larger. In the middle of the big room, four glass walls went up to the high ceiling enclosing something that looked like an air conditioning unit at the top. And an empty hospital bed was in the middle, with straps made of silver chains.

Another shudder went down her spine at the thought of what they would do to her if they strapped her down.

"I'm Commander Walters. You can just call me Commander. We'll be seeing a lot of each other," he continued as he walked further into the room.

Computers and other equipment lined three walls of the room, and several people in white coats stood at the back. Even though they were not as big as the Hunters who brought her in or the Commander, they smelled like Hunters.

"That still doesn't answer my question."

Her wolf couldn't help, yet she still found the guts to speak. When the Commander turned to look back at her, she moved back again.

"You already fooled me once, Miss Carlisle. Did you really think I would never find you? You're the key to everything. The answer to the end of this war."

"What war? What the hell are you talking about? Normal people don't go around kidnapping people and putting them in cages," she spat out.

"You're right," Walters chuckled. "But you're not people, are you? It took me a couple of weeks after I met you, but I figured out why your face was so familiar."

Her chest tightened. He knew who she was. What she was.

"I never met you before that day."

The Commander's lips were thin and crooked. When he smiled, she saw nothing but his evil intentions.

"You're right. I guess you could call it fate," he said before he looked behind her. "That's what your kind likes to say, right?"

The Hunters who dragged her into the room stepped forward and grabbed her before she could escape them. It wouldn't have done her any good but she should have tried to fight. At least she wouldn't have gone down as the cowardly queen who'd been killed without as much as a squeak.

"Stop it. I'm going to call the police!" She shouted.

Their grip was like a vice as they dragged her into the glass-walled partition and shoved her onto the bed.

Briefly, she remembered when some of the pack members tried to sexually assault her. She felt as powerless as she had then, unable to kick out or fight even though she was much stronger than she used to be.

"Yes, let's involve the humans so they find out about the beasts that live among them," the Commander chuckled.

The cold metal snapped on her feet and wrists before they wrapped a heavier chain around her torso and arms. When the Hunters stepped back from her, she couldn't even move.

"Interesting," the Commander said.

His eyes settled on the chains. Chains that should have been making her skin sizzle and burn.

A little hope flared when she realised that could be her saving grace. She passed the silver test when the Commander tried it in the forest. She fooled him into believing she was human, so they let her and Jax go.

And back then, she had been at full strength. Now her wolf had deserted her again, and her body still felt the effects of being drugged. It would be easier to pretend to be human.

"Why are you doing this to me? I'm just a maid; I have no money to give you and no family who would pay any ransom."

"You're a lot more valuable than any amount of money, Miss Carlisle," Walters said as his gaze met hers again. "I look forward to finding out just how much more."

A man in a white coat came to stand next to the doctor, holding a tablet. He typed in something and showed the screen to the Commander before they both turned back to her.

"And her cut is still bleeding. Make a note of it," the Commander said.

"Of course, I'm bleeding! I've just been assaulted. Did you expect it to stop without medical attention?" she hissed.

The commander sneered but didn't respond. Just how much did Hunters know about wolves? Had they always experimented on them?

If so, she could understand why their policy was always to run instead of fight. She hadn't been awake long but could already see that escape would be difficult. Rescuing everyone else was impossible.

Shame filled her at that thought.

The cowardly queen who would try to leave everyone else to die, including the little girl above Faith's cage.

She didn't deserve all the respect they gave her since they accepted her as Jackson's mate. She didn't deserve to be their queen.

Was that why her wolf led her there? To show her she was still a nobody, even if she mated the King? To show her it was in charge and would show up when it was ready, not when she wanted?

Even Diedre's words meant nothing now. Whether she believed in herself or not, she could do nothing by herself.

"I'll leave you in the team's capable hands. Behave, Miss Carlisle, and things will go much more smoothly for you than the others."

With that, the vile man turned and walked out. Another man in a white coat came in, pulling a trolley loaded with sinister objects. Needles. Vials. Sample bottles. Drills and scalpels. There were other things, too, that she had never seen.

Cold seeped through her body and her heart squeezed.

"Start with the blood samples," the first man said.

"You're making a terrible mistake," she hissed.

The two looked at each other and laughed.

"They all say that. But this has been my life's work, Layla. May I call you that?" he asked as he put the tablet down and then picked up a pair of gloves from the trolley. "I know your physiology like the back of my hand. You're feeling a little dizzy now, a little foggy. That's thanks to a little serum I developed. It dulls your scents and bonds. No one in your pack will be able to track you. I have all the time in the world to do everything I want to you and then some."

A serum? Would it stop Jax, too? Could it dull a true mate bond?

The second man came forward with a blood withdrawal kit with several collection tubes. There was just enough give in the silver chains to allow him to tie her arm before he started cleaning an area on her skin. Like a real medical practitioner. Did they have no shame?

She flinched when the sharp needle punctured her skin and watched helplessly as he filled vail after vail. Why did they need so much of her blood? The commander said she was the key, but to what? Would they use her blood to hurt everyone else?

When the man had lined up several tubes, he put them on the trolley and pulled forward an aspiration kit. The needle was larger than any she had ever seen the many times she'd taken Gerald to the hospital.

"This might sting a little," the man said with a grin.

"I'm afraid we need more than your blood," the other doctor said. "This will take a while, so relax."

Her eyes fell back on the drills and scalpels. The doctor picked up the biggest, the sharpest and held it up before he grinned. He was enjoying it. He was as sadistic as the Commander, excited at the thought of causing her pain.

She froze as he brought the scalpel down on the part of her stomach that wasn't covered in chains.

"I like this one," the one who drew her blood said.

Pain shot through her whole body as the scalpel cut through her skin. That was really happening. She had become a monster's guinea pig, aiding in whatever twisted game he played with all the wolves.

"The other red one would have tried to bite me by now," he continued.

Her world stopped.

The other red one...

Rebecca.

She had been right. They had her mother.