Chapter Twelve
The Bat Cave hummedwith tension, a storm of voices and shifting bodies as shifters moved between weapon racks, comm consoles, and maps plastered with pins.Klarissa stood at the central table, eyes sharp, directing traffic with a steady hand.“Victor, Ivan get to St.Brigid’s Hospital.They’re under heavy assault.Hold that entrance until the Holt brothers get reinforcements.”
“On it,” Ivan growled, already pulling gear over his shoulders and running out, his brother on his tail, leaving her, Josie, and a bodyguard behind.
Her phone vibrated in her pocket, sharp enough to cut through the chaos.Frowning, she pulled it free.The screen glowed with an unknown number.
Her stomach clenched.She swiped it open.
A video filled the screen.Eight children and two adults, all chained to a wall, bruised, bleeding.Behind them loomed a concrete space—industrial, unforgiving.As Klarissa’s breath caught, movement blurred on the screen.Caruso stepped into view.Her father.He looked straight into the camera, straight at her.
“Daughter,” his voice rasped, cruel and calm.He raised a gun, pressed it against one of the adult’s temples.A teacher, by the look of the woman’s bloodied clothes.His smile widened.“Watch closely.”
The gun fired.The body slumped, lifeless, blood spraying against the wall.The children screamed, high and raw.Caruso let the silence stretch before speaking again.“I can do this all day.If you don’t want their blood on your hands, you will come to me.Fulton Market District.Abandoned warehouse.Fifteen minutes.Tell no one, or I’ll know.”
An address flashed across the screen before the video ended.
Her hands shook, but she forced herself still.She looked around the room, at Josie perched on a bench with her hand on her belly, pale but alert.She heard voices—her mates, her friends, others—but couldn’t call out like she wanted to.They couldn’t know.
Fifteen minutes.She didn’t have a lot of time.
She slipped her hand into the pocket of her lab coat, fingers closing around the two objects inside it—an injector and a pen.Quietly, she pulled the injector free, angled it against her thigh, and pressed the trigger.The sting flared deep, but she didn’t flinch.She wouldn’t alarm Josie by reacting.
Josie suddenly jumped to her feet, gagging.“Shit—I’m gonna be sick.”She hurried toward the bathroom, the guard the Alpha had assigned her trailing after her.Klarissa sent a small prayer skyward for small favors.
Perfect.Klarissa tucked the empty injector back, grabbed a pen and a slim notebook, and slipped toward the exit.Her heart thundered, but her steps never faltered.She took a car from the garage, driving hard through Chicago’s battered streets.The address burned in her mind.
She arrived with a minute to spare.
The warehouse loomed, shadows crawling across broken windows.Inside, the stench of rust and blood hit her first.Her father stood in front of the captives, his henchmen lining the walls.He glanced at the clock, then at her, and smirked.“You made it.Almost.”
He turned, raised his gun, and put a bullet in the other adult’s head.The children shrieked, crying out in fear.Three of them were cuffed across the face by his men, their screams cut short by pain.
Rage surged through her chest, hot and bitter.“You bastard.”
He laughed, stepping forward.“Language, daughter.Is this what you’ve become?Sleeping with those abominations?Whoring yourself out to lions and tigers?”
Her jaw clenched, but she lifted her chin.“They’re not abominations.They are my mates.Chosen by fate.Worthy.Unlike you.”
The blow came fast, the back of his hand splitting her lip.She tasted blood but refused to stumble.She smiled instead, a crimson grin.“That all you’ve got?”
Caruso circled her slowly, like a predator savoring its meal.“I raised you better than this.You could’ve been a queen at my side, brilliant and feared.Instead, you waste yourself on beasts.You think they’ll save you?They’ll die screaming, just like these children will.”
Her heart clenched, but she forced herself to meet his eyes.“Better to love beasts than to become a heartless monster.”
His eyes narrowed.He grabbed her hair, yanking her head back, pressing the cold muzzle of his gun to her temple.“You will give me the recipe.The perfected toxin.The one that strips beasts from bodies without killing the humans.”
“No.”Her voice was steel.“Never.”
The back of his hand slammed into her cheek.Pain blossomed white hot, but she held his gaze.Held his hate.She prayed silently, not to the fates, but to the bond she had with Rune and Kamon.Please.I need you.I love you.Forever.
Something shifted deep in her chest.A snap, sharp and sudden, like a cord reforging itself.Power surged, warmth flooding through her veins.She could feel them—her mates—like fire on the edge of her mind.They were coming.
Caruso didn’t notice.He shoved her toward the children, waving his gun lazily.One of his men struck a small boy across the back.The boy crumpled, crying.
Klarissa moved before she thought, stepping in front of the group.“Stop!”she shouted, voice cracking.“Enough!”
Her father cocked his head, mocking.“Finally.Some sense.”
