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“If you fucking think I’m going to let you go—” Orion started.
“He’s not going to hurt me, and he’s not going to run off,” I interrupted, not wanting to incite a war between them. Orion was right about one thing: we didn’t have time. “Trust me.”
Orion was too good a friend and solider to argue. I could feel the fury radiating off him, but he pulled the car to a stop, and I heard Misha let out a small gasp of pain when the plastic was cut from his wrists. Orion let us out, and then the car drove the few feet to the pumps as I laid my hand on Misha’s shoulder.
“Did he put them on too tight?” I demanded with a small growl.
He laughed. “Not as tight as he could have. I’m just a little sore.”
I bared my teeth and fought the urge to draw him closer. “I’m going to put a stop to this shit.”
Misha gently laid his hand on mine and squeezed. “Don’t worry about it, okay? It’s fine. Come on, there’s a curb here, and the bathrooms look gross as fuck but I’ve had to pee for like ten miles.”
It was pointless to fight him, so I squeezed his shoulder just once, then his hand dropped, and he helped me find my way up the curb. The walk wasn’t far, and I could hear the faint heartbeat of others, but no one was close enough for me to feel threatened as Misha reached for the bathroom door and opened it.
I prepared my nose for the stench, but it was still overwhelming and entirely human, which set me on edge. The last thing I wanted to do was touch anything, but I allowed Misha to guide my hands to the edges of a urinal, and I was grateful I didn’t have to deal with a stall as I relieved myself. I tried not to breathe in too heavily, tried not to feel a layer of scum on my fingers.
I wanted to be home—or somewhere that felt like home. I wanted the safety and healing of my full shift. I wanted to wake in the morning and see light.
I wanted…
“Kor.”
I realized I was shaking before Misha touched me, and I swallowed down waves of humiliation as he helped me pull the waistband of the sweats over my hips, and then guided me to the sink. I said nothing. I could barely breathe through the stone lodged in my chest, but the cool water was enough to help bring me back down, and so was the touch of Misha’s hand on my arm.
“I’m sorry.”
He let out a tense laugh. “You’re sorry? What the hell for?”
I let out a growl, feeling it with sound more than anything. It rippled through me, caused the tips of my fingers to itch with my claws, my gums to ache where my fangs wanted to drop. It caused my back to spasm with the need to crouch low and shift, but my wolf was still too damn far from the surface.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen to you when we get to the base,” I finally managed to say as Misha washed up. My shoulder pressed to the cold tiles of a wall, and I waited there in the vast emptiness for a touchstone, which came at the brush of his damp fingers.
“They’re probably going to lock me up and use me like a pincushion until they can figure out if I’m dangerous or not. And if I am, they’ll put me down,” he said. He laughed as the door squeaked on its hinges. “And if I’m not…”
He didn’t need to say it. They’d probably still put him down because he was the product of whatever the hell the humans were trying to do with our DNA. I would be as hopeless understanding the science behind it as I was when I failed out of Freshman biology, but I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to let them hurt Misha. I hadn’t given more than a passing acknowledgement of the bond trying to grow between us, but I couldn’t ignore it either.
Maybe it had formed because he was responsible for my rescue, but it felt deeper than that. I had spent most of my life actively avoiding even the idea of a mate-bond. I didn’t have time—as an Alpha, as a military leader—I couldn’t let my instincts be driven to distraction by my need for another person.
But something about Misha wouldn’t let me go. And if it had anything to do with the experiment, I might return and burn the lab down myself—even if it meant them catching me again.
“It looks like Orion’s at the pumps. He’s waving at us to stay here,” Misha said quietly.
I gave a sharp nod and turned my head on the breeze, catching the faintest whiff of his scent. I could feel him through the pack bond too—the gentle pulse of family, protection, safety. That little beat had been absent for so long, I felt almost overwhelmed by it. I wasn’t sure how long I was going to be able to hold out, to stay in control, and I just hoped I could make it to some private rooms on the compound before everything came crashing down.
“Can I ask—” Misha said, then stopped.
I turned to him, gripping his arm a little tighter because I desperately needed the distraction. “Ask me.”
He was silent a long while. “Will you stay an Alpha, even if you don’t heal?”
Bowing my head, I let out a soft breath, trying not to acknowledge that same quiet fear lodged inside my chest. What if I did change? “I don’t know. I was eighteen when my eye flash turned from blue to yellow, and they’ve been the same ever since. I’ve never known anyone to lose their Alpha eyes, no matter how injured they were.”
“But change at your age is possible, right?” he pressed, and I could feel his skin warm under me like he was blushing with his entire body when I tensed. “I’m sorry. I’m just trying to understand.”
At that, I offered him a wry grin. “We’re not aliens, Misha. We’re Wolves. We have a dual nature, but that’s just part of our biology. If you were to cut one of us open, you’d find the same thing as any human.”
“Heart, brain, eyes, liver, kidneys…”
