Garrett kisses me below the ear. “The nightmare’s almost over.”
I close my eyes and let the warmth of his arms sink in, reassuring me. For the first time since I arrived at his pack, I no longer feel inadequate. I understand why I haven’t felt like myself. I haven’tbeenmyself.
“Thank you,” I whisper to him, for standing by me, putting up with all I’ve gone through, but mostly for not giving up on me.
“Am I missing something?” Blade asks. “Why poison the valley with something that doesn’t kill?”
My knees collapse from beneath me as so many memories rush at me all at once. Garrett catches me, lifts me, and puts me in a chair.
Mila hands me a bottle of water, but I’m too stunned to drink or talk. “Angel?” She flashes her penlight in my eyes.
I push the light away. “I never understood why they wanted me to convince you to leave on your own. I thought they feared you. They had guns. High-powered, long-range rifles with scopes and enough bullets to rip through thirty wolves. They didn’t kill you or even try to capture you. The only thing they ever said to me was get rid of the groups or we’ll kill them and you.”
I pause a moment, Schneider’s voice and words so clear in my head. It’s not until Garrett puts a hand on my shoulder that I can separate myself from the memory.
“They only captured the lone shifters because to them they were throwaways, easy prey to experiment on.Shifters who wouldn’t return to their packs.” I scan the faces of everyone in the room. So many shifters who used to be strangers to me, intently listening to me. Trusting in me. “Don’t you see? It was the groups of shifters they wanted. To poison them with the cadmium.”
“Any group who entered the valley would likely sense humans nearby and leave, but by then they would have already inhaled the cadmium.Thatwas the goal,” Garrett says.
I nod.
“Still not sure what that would get them,” Frank speaks up. “So they kill our ability to scent. What’s the end game? ”
Damien’s face hardens. “To get to the pack. Weaken us without our realizing it. Multiple rescue teams. Numerous missions… they could all be affected. If we’re ever attacked…”
Hayden’s eyes widen suddenly. “Fuck. It’s more widespreadthan the rescue teams, Damien. That near incursion a few weeks back,… I smelled skunk. What if that was the WSSO spraying cadmium along our borders? All the guards would be affected.”
“Everyone will have to be tested,” Mila says. “Guards first, since they’re on the perimeter, but even the inner pack. There’s no telling where the humans have been, or what they’ve poisoned.”
Anna’s face drops and her mate stands behind her, massaging her shoulders. It looks like he’s there supporting her, and then I realize why. She’s human. A fact that still shocks me, mostly because I can’t scent a difference between human and shifter, as I should be able to.
“What’s wrong, Anna?” Damien asks.
“I don’t have enough supplies for Mila to treat more than a few shifters.”
“Write up what you need, quantities, where we can get it, anything Langdon will need to procure the supplies.”
“We can get the supplements from pharmacies easily enough, but the rest is medical grade materials. Not medicines we can just walk into Dr. Fleming in Devil’s Peak and request without explaining. This isn’t like requesting antibiotics or childhood vaccines. I mean, is this the type of thing we want others to know?”
“We need to discuss this. Figure out not just a defense but what the WSSO is planning,” Damien says to Hayden.
“Which is why we’ll have to be subtle about obtaining the supplies Anna needs. We can’t let the WSSO know we’ve figured out what’s going on.”
“Agreed. Let the WSSO think we’ve lost the ability to scent them initially, but we have to move fast, because as long as they think we’re working at a disadvantage they could attack any time.”
“This could be fairly widespread,” Blade says. “Angelina saidother groups entered that valley. This could be the prelude to a massive regional assault.”
“I’ll talk to Drake about getting the medical supplies.” Hayden again. “We’ll need to inform him and the other packs anyway, and he can move faster without the WSSO knowing.”
“I can draw up instructions for their medics to test their shifters,” Anna says.
“Good idea. You and Mila pull in anyone you need to develop the cure. Coordinate your needs through Hayden. He’s in charge of procuring medical supplies through Drake or any other means. Blade, get hold of Pryce, get him up to speed. You two are in charge of contacting the other packs and distributing Anna’s instructions on testing.”
“And the treatment for cadmium poisoning if anyone’s afflicted,” Mila adds.
“That too.”
“What a fucking mess.” Frank scrubs his face. If we move too quickly or cause a panic?—”
