A flash of yearning crossed Marco’s face before the Alpha’s social mask descended once more.
“Sorry,” Rafe murmured, knowing how hard it was for Marco to watch his family and pack finding their mates when his own had died in his arms when he was just a teenager.
“Don’t be sorry for that. Don’t hide it. Hold on and don’t ever let go.”
Rafe and Katie exchanged a look, and she deftly changed the subject, drawing a laugh out of their Alpha with her quiet, wicked commentary on her colleagues and the city’s dignitaries gathered for the event.
Adri wasn’t scheduled for the first couple of fights, and the shifters quickly grew bored with watching humans throw slow, weak punches at each other before giving up far too soon.
“When’s your kitten coming out? At least then we’ll have something pretty to look at,” Marco grumbled under his breath.
“Watch it, Alpha,” Rafe warned, sparking another laugh from Marco. At least he seemed over his maudlin moment. “Did we get what we needed on the mayor and police chief?”
“I haven’t seen the chief. I put one of our trackers on Stewart while we were talking, though. Hopefully, it stays on long enough for Luca to catch him.”
“Something was off about him tonight.”
“Agreed. He’s forgotten who put him in that role and how easy it would be to take it away.”
Rafe’s attention shifted back to the fighting ring as the emcee for the night announced Adri’s first bout. A sense of wrongness shot down his spine as one of the ushers hurried out from the backstage area, whispering in the emcee’s ear.
To his left, Marco was already on his phone, asking for a report from Luca and Angelo. Rafe didn’t need to tear his gaze away from searching the crowded room to know something was very wrong. Katie’s expression as she moved too fast through the surrounding humans said it all.
“Where is he?” Rafe snapped, barely keeping his wolf under control as he snarled inside him, begging to be let free to hunt and kill.
“He’s gone.”
CHAPTER 16: ADRI
Something wasn’t right.Adri lay absolutely still as he tried to process. Cold metal beneath his naked skin. The scent of damp and city grime in his nose. He tried an experimental move of his hand only to find it couldn’t respond as some kind of restraint tugged at his wrist. When he let his eyes peek open the tiniest amount, pitch blackness met his vision. The kind of darkness even his jaguar eyes couldn’t make sense of.
Swallowing down a rumbling growl, he tried to figure out if shifting was going to make this better or worse. Changing forms while restrained could be a recipe for dislocated and broken limbs if you weren’t careful. Those would heal, though. It was more important that he got free before whoever had left him there returned.
Reaching for his jaguar, Adri willed his bones and muscles to transform. It was only then that he noticed the ever-present awareness of his animal side in his mind was silent. His breaths started coming faster, too fast, and he forced himself to slow the frantic rise and fall of his chest. Calm. He needed to stay calm. It was easier said than done when he couldn’t even fully inhaleagainst the tight band pinning him down to the metal table. Even worse, he had a sinking suspicion it wasn’t a table at all, but a gurney.
Everything Rafe had told him about his suspicions about the D-2S’s medical experimentation ran through Adri’s mind in a flurry of panicked thoughts. He gave up his attempt to hide his return to consciousness and strained against the metal and leather holding him in place, using every bit of his strength. Frantic.
Whoever had secured him had done it well. There wasn’t the slightest give that he could leverage, and his muscles felt lethargic. Lacking. Now that he was focussed on the physical sensations he usually ignored as fleeting inconveniences to his supernatural healing, the sharp throbbing in his head like he’d never experienced became overwhelming. The flex of his muscles against the restraints made him aware of another dull ache in the crook of his elbow, where he could feel fiery liquid flowing into his veins faster as his blood started rushing. A cannula of some kind. The burn of the drug was a constant irritation that only panicked him more. What the fuck were they pumping into his body?
The click of a lock was like a gunshot in the silent room as Adri strained to escape, eyes wide and teeth bared—teeth, not fangs, because he still couldn’t reach his jaguar. When bright white light flooded the room, he winced and fought the urge to squeeze his eyes closed, tears streaming down his cheeks in response to the pain as he focussed his attention on the three people entering. Threehumans.
“Good. He’s awake,” a man in a white coat said.
“Looks like you’ve finally cracked it. We haven’t had one die from shock in over a month,” another replied.
“What the fuck did you do to me?” Adri asked, voice rasping.
The men ignored him.
“How long until it takes effect?” A more familiar voice asked, someone Adri couldn’t quite crane his neck far enough to view. Was that themayor? That answered the question of how high up the terrorist rot went in the city’s governance.
“The chip is already rewiring his brain. Generally, susceptibility comes at around days three to five, and any unfortunate side effects emerge by day ten.”
Susceptibility towhat? Ferality? Or was that the unfortunate side effect?
Stewart stepped closer, finally entering Adri’s field of vision.
“What the fuck is this?”
