The camera panned to a table covered in vials of clear liquid.
“Version 2.0,” Brennan continued, his voice gaining strength. “Modified for mass distribution. The first dose brings mild euphoria, enhanced senses.” His human eye gleamed with something like satisfaction. “But that first dose rewrites shifter metabolism. One dose, Mr. Cruz. That’s all it takes to create permanent dependency.”
His grotesque face shifted, the bear eye rolling wildly while the human eye remained fixed and cold.
“But here’s the beauty of it, once a shifter is hooked, they need the drug to shift safely. Miss a dose? Your next transformation might go wrong. Miss two doses?” He gestured at his ruined face with evident pride. “They might end up like me.”
Hunter stayed silent, his mind racing.
“The cartel understands value when they see it,” Brennan continued, filling the silence.
“The cartel left…”
Brennan cut him off. “They didn’t leave; you fool. They pulled back their visible operations, let the feds see what they wanted to see. Meanwhile, they’ve provided... resources. Personnel. My formula is worth billions to them. A permanently addicted shifter population that needs their product to survive? That’s a guaranteed market for decades.”
Hunter’s hand tightened on the phone until the case creaked. “What do you want?”
“I want Ms. Rayner to do what she does best, feed the community.” Brennan’s human eye gleamed with satisfaction. “Tomorrow morning, she’ll receive a delivery at the bakery’s back door. Detailed instructions will be included for proper mixing ratios. Every item intended for the festival must be infused with my formula.”
“If we refuse?”
“Then these four die immediately.” The camera focused on Sophie. A hand ripped the tape from Sophie’s mouth.
“Hunter, please just…”
The tape went back on, cutting off her words.
“Sophie dies first,” Brennan continued. “Slowly. The others will watch. The cartel has other methods of distribution, but Ms. Rayner is... ideal. Her booth is the festival’s heart, isn’t it? Everyone trusts Sweet Summit Bakery.” Bitterness dripped from every word.
“You’re sick.”
“I’m dying,” Brennan corrected with eerie calm. “But before I go, I’ll leave a legacy this town will never forget. The cartel gets their profit, and I... well, let’s just say everyone will finally understand what I tried to tell them years ago. About the potential locked in our biology. About what we could become if we weren’t so bound by tradition and... sentiment.”
He paused, his grotesque features shifting. “The rules are simple. You tell no one. Not the police, not the feds, not even your precious alpha at Steel Protection. Go home to Ms. Rayner. The golden child of Fate Mountain, with her perfect bakery and her perfect parents and now her perfect mate. Tell her everything. Any deviation from normal behavior, any hint to anyone, and the executions begin. The drug delivery will arrive at 6 AM tomorrow. We’ll check in at 6 PM the day after.”
The screen went black.
Chapter
Twenty-Eight
The apartment doorclicked shut behind Hunter, and Brie immediately knew that something terrible had happened.
“Did you find Sophie?” she whispered.
Hunter froze in the entryway before he pulled out his phone and joined her on the couch.
“I need to show you something.” His voice was rough, scraped raw.
He held out the phone. The screen showed a screenshot. Sophie’s face filled the frame, duct tape over her mouth, zip ties holding her to a metal chair. Purple bruises bloomed across her left cheek, and her eyes were wide with terror.
“Oh my god.” Brie’s hand flew to her mouth. “Sophie.”
“There’s more.” Hunter swiped to the next image.
Three more people bound to chairs. People she knew. People who bought her pastries, who smiled at her on the street, who made up the fabric of Fate Mountain.
The next screenshot made her stomach heave. It was Thomas Brennan, but catastrophically mutated. He was part human, part bear. His features twisted into something that shouldn’t exist. One human eye, one bear eye. Patches of fur sprouting from raw, infected skin. His mouth couldn’t close properly. His human teeth and bear fangs created a grotesque grimace.
