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“Blood,” I finished for him. “Tissue, muscle, immune systems. We just have more capabilities with our bodies than you.”
“If he tried to splice me with a Wolf,” Misha said, his voice trembling, “if my body is going to try to shift, is it going to kill me?”
I didn’t give an answer because I didn’t have one. But something in my gut told me yes. It told me that those labs had already tried it—that other humans hadn’t survived—but that there was a reason Misha had been chosen.
There was a reason his father was willing to give him up.
I just didn’t know what it meant.
Chapter Six
KOR
We ate in the car, and I slept for more time than I cared to think about, but when I came to, I could feel that we were moving at a crawl. I scrubbed my hand down my face, blinking into the darkness, then I turned my head toward my second-in-command. I wasn’t sure exactly where we were, but we were definitely no longer above ground.
“Are we close?”
“We’re in the line to get in,” Orion said gruffly. “I already called ahead and let them know we had a human in tow. They’re going to take him at security.” Orion went quiet, but I could tell he wasn’t finished. “They know you’re back.”
I bristled and felt my jaw tense so hard, it made my head ache. “I’m not—”
“I know,” he interrupted in a rush. “I know you’re not ready to see the Council. You need medical treatment first, and you need to be able to shift.”
From what he said, there were expectations about my arrival. And it wasn’t just the physical strength I could offer. In order to lead, an Alpha had to be charismatic, and respected. But wounded and blind—unable to take ten steps without feeling like my heart was racing in my chest—I was in no condition to lead anyone.
Still, there was a fire in my veins knowing we were close to a place I could consider home. I could feel the tension radiating off Misha—it was growing so it was damn-near tangible, and I had to curl my hands into fists to keep from turning around and reaching for him.
Comfort him, my instincts screamed. Protect him. Save him.
We rolled to a stop, and I was breathing heavily through my nose, my claws digging into my thighs as I heard the doors open and Misha slide out. I only kept from going after him because Orion held me by the back of my neck, and I only didn’t tear his throat out because I couldn’t shift well enough to do it.
“You need to calm down,” he growled as we started to roll forward again.
My words were thick with my fangs, and my heart was thrashing against my chest, which hurt more than it should have. “I don’t know why this is happening.”
“Yes,” Orion said darkly, “you do. And the lab is going to figure out why the fuck your wolf wants to bond with that human. It doesn’t matter what they did to him. He is not one of us.”
I said nothing. Not one of us was the reason this damn war was fought—why so many innocent people on both sides died. Why the xenophobic fervor had been allowed to continue.
It was why I was sold. And tortured. And blinded.
“My chest hurts,” I finally told him, my wolf settling down.
Orion let out a soft grunt. “I can tell. There’s something wrong with your heart.”
My internal organs were still fucked, though I couldn’t even begin to calculate where all the injuries were. But it still hurt to breathe, walking on flat ground felt like climbing a mountain, and I still couldn’t fucking see a thing.
When the car rolled to a stop, I got out and my nose was immediately assaulted with antiseptic and injury. It was obvious we were at a hospital when I was shuffled into a wheelchair and pushed inside. I kept my head bowed, humiliated more than I had ever been, but there was little to be done about it. I needed to get out of the public eye, and I needed someone who knew what the fuck they were doing to take a look at me.
The floor beneath the chair was polished as we moved through the halls, the wheels squeaking on tile, and the air was cool. It made my stomach twist because the lab was like that too, but I settled when I could only smell Wolves around me. I heard the sound of automatic doors, and then the long journey down another hall which felt endless until I was pushed into a room where the echo muffled down to nothing.
“There’s a bed in front of you,” Orion said to my right, and I was startled that he was still there.
“A nurse will be in with your gown. We were informed of your arrival, so we have an MRI prepped and ready for you.” The orderly spoke in sharp, perfunctory tones, and I appreciated it because the last thing I wanted was to be coddled.
I reached for the bed, and my hands found the railing as another set of footsteps entered the room. The Wolf said nothing, but I felt fabric touch my hand, and I knew what they wanted. I hated that I had to put another gown on, but I had long-since moved past public humiliation. I dropped my sweats to the ground, then peeled away the shirt before I shrugged into the flimsy gown.
The idea of sitting in another hospital bed turned my stomach, but with Orion still in the room, I managed something like calm. He helped me climb under the threadbare blanket, and I shivered a little as I felt gloved hands begin to manipulate me for an IV.
