Page 13 of Freed

“What was?” I ask, hugging myself tighter, keeping my eyes glued to his knife.

“Hurting you. Killing you.” My blood turns to ice in my veins. All that torture, all those deaths, they were Blaze’s idea? My stomach churns in disgust.

“He was obsessed with your healing and wanted to see it firsthand. I’ll admit I became quite interested myself. Of course, I had to keep him away from you because I worried he’d do something stupid like free you. But rest assured, every time you were in my lab, he was watching.” He points to a camera in the corner of the room, and my stomach lurches.

I twist just in time to vomit over the side of the table.

He watched every time I was tortured? Like I was some sick form of entertainment? I gag again. The thought of being watched by someone who enjoyed my torture is just too much for me to hold the contents of my stomach down any longer.

Dr. J just stands there, waiting for me to compose myself, and after wiping my mouth with the back of my hand and sitting back upright, I ask him, “Why am I back here? Haven’t you got what you need from me by now?”

He grins. “My dear zero zero three, I will never be done with you. You offer me a never-ending supply of wealth.”

I frown, shaking my head as he moves toward a cupboard at the side of the room. “What do you mean?” I ask, a ball of dread forming in my gut.

He opens the cupboard door and reaches in, pulling out a large bundle of red fur.

Very familiar red fur.

He drops in on the bench beside me, and I recoil, falling off the bench as I try to quickly move away. I stumble to my feet, pressing my back into the wall, my wide eyes staring at it. At my pelt.

“At least I waited until you were dead this time before I skinned you,” he says, as if that would offer my comfort. I twist, heaving what’s left in my stomach on the ground beside me.

He plans to keep skinning me and selling my coat. I heave again, tears streaming down my face. I grab a cleanish patch of Maddox’s shirt, pull it to my nose, and get a faint whiff of his scent. It calms me enough to stop me from vomiting anymore, but my stomach still clenches painfully.

“Now,” Dr. J says, stepping closer as he twists the knife in his hand. “Are you going to shift on your own, or do I need to force you to do it?”

Chapter 5

Bain

My fists clench tighter as I stare through the edge of the tree line at the facility. A small, one-story cement building sits in the middle of the field, surrounded by a chain-link fence. There are no guards in sight, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t watching.

I wanted to charge in there and find her, but the others convinced me that we would have a better chance of getting Cherry back safely if we coordinated our efforts.

So now I’m stuck waiting for Philip and Gage as they create some sort of device meant to take out all electronics in the area, which hopefully includes any security cameras and electronic door locks.

Once that was done, we would move in. Finn demanded to take the lead, telling us his vampiric speed would let him move ahead quickly, making sure the coast was clear and helping us find her faster. Of course, we had to leave our cell phones back in the car so they didn’t get destroyed by the device, so apart from pack bonds, we wouldn’t be able to communicate in there.

So Alaric is partnering up with Hunter, so we can communicate between our two packs, and Gage and Philip will be partnered, so Gage can relay anything to Philip.

Maddox and Casper are partnering up, and Chase and I will be together, separating as necessary if we find different hallways to search.

“It’s done,” Gage suddenly says, making me turn to him in question.

“What?” Chase asks, seemingly as confused as me.

“We set off the electromagnetic pulse. Their systems should be down now.” I expected to hear a bang or sparks to fall from the cameras or something. I didn’t realize it’d be so silent.

“Let’s go,” Finn says, then he’s gone, suddenly reappearing at the chain-link fence as he literally grabs it and rips it apart, making an entryway through.

Goddess, that guy is strong.

And fast.

We all take off after him, but he’s a blur of motion, suddenly appearing at the building’s entrance.

He yanks the door open then disappears inside just as I’m crouching through the tear in the fence. Gunshots ring out as Alaric relays to us what’s going on.