“Crafty mate of mine. Part fox part wolf, I tell you,” Nash finally said, even though I sensed he wanted to pass on advice or flat out tell me sleeping with our Alpha was not a sound idea.
I was glad he didn’t go there though, because I didn’t feel like defending my choices. No one spoke again until we parked between our parents’ minivan and Liam’s SUV. Five other vehicles were there. I recognized Darren’s and one other one, but not the remaining three.
I imagined they belonged to OBs, considering the amount of unfamiliar sentries prowling the darkness—most in fur, a few in skin. Everyone whipped their attention toward us as we slapped car doors shut and clomped over the hard-packed snow. Adalyn threaded her arm through mine, and although I didn’t think she’d done it because she was afraid I’d skid and faceplant, I was glad for the extra support and used it to minimize my limp.
Reese, who was stationed by the heavy metal door, pulled it open and held it for us. “Evening, Freemonts.”
“Hasn’t started yet, right?” Nash asked.
A tawny wolf slunk around Reese’s denim-clad legs. I was guessing it was her wife, because although Avery was the exact same shade, he was much larger.
“No. They were waiting for the rest of the family to get here.”
The second we stepped in, Mom turned away from Darren, the whites of her eyes painted red. I broke away from Adalyn and walked over to her. Bea was sitting in the middle of her cell, arms taped behind her hunched back and bulky boxing gloves jammed onto her hands. Had they already tried and it hadn’t worked?
I checked the others’ faces. Dad and Nate were talking quietly beside the canned fruit shelf. The lines of my brother’s body were so stiff he looked like his spine had been swapped for a metal rod. Liam’s features too were unsettlingly sharp, and the darkness of his eyes devouring. As I held his stare, my hope began a slow trickle out of me.
“Lori hasn’t gone in yet, has she?” I asked.
Darren shook his head, and I sighed, plugging the leak on my optimism before I became as grim-faced as the rest of them.
Even Lucas’s usual smirk was MIA as he pushed the key inside the cell door. “Ready, Lori?”
Like a wraith, Lori floated forward, naked body so frail it hardly made any sound as it plodded away from Liam’s side. Before penetrating the cage, she dropped onto all fours and transformed from alabaster human into lanky brown wolf.
Nate and Dad approached the cell. Where Dad stopped beside Mom, Nate went as far as possible without bumping into the silver bars. Both Lori and Bea looked toward him, seeking his attention. Did Cassandra’s daughter still harbor feelings for my brother? There was definitely longing in her expression. Longing and melancholy.
Nate’s muscles locked up and strained his brown leather jacket. Perhaps it was because of the way Lori looked at him, or perhaps, it was because of what she was about to attempt.
Niall and Nolan stationed themselves on either side of our eldest brother, while Nash, Ads, and I hung back to witness this tragic love triangle.
Mom speared her chilled fingers through mine as Darren whispered, “She’ll have to inject Bea with venom until her heart stops and then starts again.”
I balked. “Is that what she did last time?”
“Yes. Without a total system shutdown, the transformation can’t run its course.”
Ads wrinkled her nose. “So basically, Bea needs to be rebooted?”
Darren nodded while I throttled Mom’s fingers and looked to Liam for reassurance, but our Alpha was concentrated on the two women in the cell.
A snarl made my attention slip off Liam and return to the brown wolf, who stood behind Bea, fangs glistening with drool as they inched toward the halfwolf’s elongated neck. Bea tried to spin around and snap at Lori with her own serrated teeth, but Lori snatched her target and breached her skin.
Bea growled and hissed, fighting Lori’s hold. For all her frailty, Lori overpowered the shackled halfwolf. A minute, maybe ten, later, Bea’s honeyed eyes glazed over, and her lids collapsed.
My lungs felt like they’d transformed into saw blades, because every breath cut through my chest. The spectacle distressed me and yet I couldn’t pry my eyes away.
Bea’s body went limp, and Lori, without releasing her hold on the other woman’s neck, delicately accompanied her tumble onto the dusty cement floor, lowering onto her belly in turn.
Niall and Nolan sidled in closer to Nate, whose big body shook when Bea’s slighter one grew completely and utterly motionless.
Chapter 44
The irregular tufts of fur that dotted Bea’s body receded into her pores. Her limbs shrank. Her bones realigned with hollow snaps.
I cinched my mother’s hand tighter as she pillowed her head against my father’s shoulder. They must’ve been carrying out a silent conversation, because she croaked, “I know, Jon. I know it might not mean anything.”
The air stirred with so many pulses I couldn’t pick apart Bea’s. I focused on her chest, praying it would begin to pump.
