Chapter 7
SABRINA
The lights overhead cast a harsh glow that made my eyes ache after hours of squinting at samples.Twelve vials lined up like silent witnesses to a crime.My lab coat clung to my shoulders, damp with nervous sweat as I adjusted the microscope’s lens for the hundredth time.After our trip to the mountains to gather samples of the mine runoff, I rearranged my office at the clinic into a makeshift laboratory.
My fingers trembled slightly.I took a deep breath to steady them.This can’t be what I think it is.Please, let me be wrong just this once.The screen flickered into focus, and my heart sank as the evidence appeared before me in horrifying clarity.Helplessly, I watched the chemicals attack the shifter blood cells from the samples I’d taken from Marshall and Logan.From my analysis, they were silver and arsenic compounds along with something engineered that I couldn’t immediately identify.
“No, no, no,” I whispered, my throat tight as I switched to my own human blood sample and watched it remain completely unaffected.The contrast was damning.
The room seemed to close in around me, the brightness of the lights suddenly suffocating.I pressed my palms against the cool metal of the lab table to ground myself, feeling my pulse hammering through my fingertips.Every heartbeat pushed the terrible truth deeper into my consciousness.
I pulled up the image again on the computer screen, staring at the magnified blood cells as they reacted to the contaminants.The shifter cells didn’t just deteriorate.They writhed in agony, their membranes bubbling and bursting like they were being burned from the inside out.My own cells remained placid, unbothered by the same poisons.
“God,” I whispered.The taste of bile rose in my throat as I swallowed hard against the nausea.
“It’s deliberate,” I murmured, my voice cracking.“Someone’s trying to kill them.”
I scribbled down my findings, my handwriting hurried but precise.My mind raced, piecing together the puzzle.The Roberts Mine, the sickness spreading through town.All of it was connected.
The hinges creaked out their protest as the door swung open.“You’ve been here all night,” Logan said.His voice was a rumble in the quiet room.There was no accusation in his tone, just quiet observation.
I looked up, suddenly aware of my disheveled appearance.My ponytail had loosened hours ago, and strands of hair stuck to my neck.Exhaustion pulled at every muscle, making my lab coat feel like chain mail.
“I had to be sure,” I said, pushing my glasses up with the back of my wrist.“And now I am.”
I gathered my notes and handed them to him.“The contamination kills shifters.Only shifters.”
Logan’s face transformed as he read my notes, his expression morphing from concentration to dawning horror and finally settling into something darker.Raw, primal rage.The paper crumpled in his fist.
“You’re saying this is…” His voice trailed off, dangerously quiet.
I swallowed hard, then reached for another file folder, the one I’d been dreading to show him.
“There’s more,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper.“I compared the water samples with the fluid I extracted from your wound.”
His head snapped up, eyes flashing amber.His wolf was barely contained below the surface.I forced myself to continue despite the predator’s gaze now fixed on me.
“The chemical signatures match, Logan.Identical compounds.Whatever’s in the runoff is the same poison that’s been keeping your wound from healing.”My hands trembled as I laid out the test results side by side.“This isn’t a coincidence.Someone engineered this poison specifically to target shifter physiology, and you’ve been the original test subject for years.”
The muscle in Logan’s jaw pulsed as he stared at the matching chemical signatures.His breathing grew shallow, controlled.It was the kind of deliberate calm that masked lethal intent.
“Victoria,” he growled, the name like venom on his tongue.“This has my aunt’s fingerprints all over it.”
I froze, pieces clicking together.“Your family’s behind this?”
“Not family,” he corrected, his voice hardening.“The Songs stopped being my family the day they tried to kill me.She’s been trying to form an alliance with the Roberts pack for years.”His eyes darkened with realization.“The wound that never healed was just her first experiment.Now she’s poisoning an entire town.”
His fist slammed down on the counter, sending vials rattling.“I should have known.I should have fucking known she’d follow me here.”
The raw guilt and fury emanating from him were almost tangible.I reached out before I could stop myself, my fingers brushing his forearm.The contact seemed to take the wind out of his rage.His breathing slowed as his eyes met mine.
“This isn’t your fault,” I said firmly.“But it is something we can stop.”Despite my nerves, I kept my voice steady.“We need to act fast.If this gets out, the town will panic.But if we don’t do something, more people will die.”
Logan’s gaze met mine, his usual scowl softened by something I couldn’t quite place.“What do you need?”
The question caught me off guard.For the first time, Logan wasn’t resisting me.Instead, he was offering help.“We need proof,” I said, my mind racing.“Something concrete that proves the contamination comes from the mine and that it isn’t an accident.And we need to warn the town without causing a panic.”
Logan nodded, his expression grim.“I’ll handle the town.You focus on the evidence.”
