I didn’t care about me since I was free and Fletcher was too dead to hurt me again, but I wanted to know what had happened to her. Finley pulled away so I could see Slade, who was scanning the screen. “Subject forty-five is a naturally born omega,” he started in a factual tone. “Age: thirty-nine. First located with a possible hybrid shifter-witch. Four-year-old daughter suspected to be the same. Paternal line has vanished but will keep this subject locked down until daughter comes of age. Plans: manipulate a full quintet bond, scent match with new spell. Pack: Rogers pack.”
Slade’s chest rose and fell roughly, his words cutting off until he eventually continued.
“These are his first real observations:My son wants to build his powerand will allow me to observe and take blood and vitals every six months to document the various ways an omega can be used by alphas. The duration of this experiment will be approximately ten years. Or until the daughter presents as an omega and confirms suspicions. So far, Subject forty-five has not confirmed her parentage. If the daughter is a witch-wolf, we will bond her to one of her real scent matches. Testing indicates it’s one of my alphas. The dragon?—”
My gasp was loud cutting Slade right off. “How can you test for a scent-match at such a young age?”
I couldn’t remember anyone testing me for anything, but most likely it happened when I was asleep. Or maybe too young to recall. The very thought had shivers running down my spine at the violation of it.
“Fletcher was dabbling in magic and experiments far beyond what was ethical,” Hunter said, still in that cold, unemotional tone. “He didn’t care how much pain he caused shifters, all in the name of playing goddess.”
Swallowing roughly, I clung to Finley until I was sure my nails would be cutting into him, but he never made a sound. Just held me together. “I wish there was an experiment to bring him back from the dead so we could kill him slower. That was far too fast.”
The rumbles of beasts around me, both internally and externally, indicated that everyone agreed with me.
Slade returned to the screen. “There are hundreds of pages of observations from your mom and the Rogers pack. He was finessing the process, and he figured out how to keep all of her stolen power within that pack. The scent match mimicking was also improving.” He paused for a beat, blinking at the screen. “Did you know Fletcher was bonded to your mother, Emme?”
I grimaced, hearing those words but not really processing them. “That’s not… that’s not possible?”
Hunter shifted closer to Slade, reading over his shoulder now. “He figured out how to split essences,” he murmured, as if he couldn’t quite believe it either. “He must have learned that from Talon’s presence in our lives.”
Fletcher had been everywhere, manipulating everyone in a bid to control the shifter world like a giant chess board of life. Only he hadn’t quite kept all of his pieces together and one stabbed him in the back.Could the same happen to Jewels?Was there a piece out there that she’d forgotten about, positioned perfectly to take the queen down?
“No wonder Mom was so drained in the end,” I said, feeling detached from the emotions that should have gone with this information. “Do you think he planned to do the same with Talon and me too?”
The detachment ended with that thought, and I almost lost control of my howling wolf.
He’s dead. He’s dead. He’s motherfucking dead, I reminded myself.
There was no way he could ever hurt anyone again.
“I would say there was a strong chance.” Slade and his unwavering truth left a bitter taste in my mouth. “Your mother appeared to be the dress rehearsal for her daughter.” He waved at the computer. “We owe Constantine more than we realized, since there’s record here of Fletcher spending millions and using multiple witches to try and track you. Whatever Constantine did, he wiped you from the alpha’s radar.”
Which no doubt saved me in the end, along with my bonding to Hunter and Kellan that kept me from ever being just Talon’s.
Finley held me through each revelation as I tried to process all of this new information. Fletcher had been systematically taking omegas apart until he knew exactly what magical essence filled us, and how he could utilize it for himself.
We’d stopped him in the end, but not before it was too late. My kind were all but extinct.
Constantine entered the room, his blue gaze piercing as he examined me. I wondered if I looked as distraught as I felt. “Chelsea is awake,” he said. “The others wanted me to get you.”
My chest remained heavy and tight as I sucked in a deep breath, while still feeling starved of oxygen. “Yeah, we need to find out what she knows.”
Even with all the bombshells, we were still no closer to tracking Jewels.
We might not be able to undo Fletcher’s horror-experiments, but we could ensure that we didn’t lose our autonomy and beasts forever.
CHAPTER 29
EMME
Chelsea was propped up against a metal shelf, a blank look on her face. Her matted hair fell over the waxy skin on her forehead. When she managed to roughly lift her head to meet my gaze, I noticed the whites of her eyes were yellow.
“Emme,” she breathed, her voice barely even audible, lips dry and cracked. “I’ve been waiting for you to find me.”
The alphas shifted forward as I crouched down in front of her, but no one interfered. “What happened to you?” I asked, running my gaze over her emaciated form. “Fletcher has only been dead for a couple of days. As has Sorenson.”
Her current state represented weeks of mistreatment.
