Page 74 of Freed

Gage nods as he leans back in the office chair. “It doesn’t look like anything special. You’re sure this is going to change Blaze back to his human form?”

Gage sighs, pushing a hand back through his hair, which is looking a little messy since he’s spent the last two days in here working on this. “Of course, I won't know for sure until we try it out. It’s not like there is anybody to test it on, not that we would test it on anyone else. I’ve never even heard of a human gaining supernatural powers before.”

“Do you think there are more? Like him?” Hunter asks, suddenly sounding nervous. My stomach drops as my wide eyes lift to look at Gage. He’s looking at Maddox and my eyes ping between them.

“Shit. You think there are, don’t you?”

Maddox leans his elbows on his knees, leaning forward from where he sits beside Bain on the office couch. “The truth is, we don’t know. It’s a pretty good bet that Dr. J created the stuff he injected Blaze with for a bigger purpose. From what we’ve ascertained from Finn and the others, each of these facilities is run by an individual doctor who has a different primary focus. To what end, we’re not sure.”

“But we’re pretty sure Dr. J’s serum never went any further than Blaze,” Gage adds.

“How can you be so sure?” Hunter asks.

Gage holds up the notebook Maddox swiped from Dr. J’s lab. “He was recording everything he did in here. It seems he wasn’t ready to mass-produce it yet. He was still studying the effects it had on Blaze when we killed him.”

“Effects?” I ask, curiously.

“Yeah. Like if he was able to shift, if he’d be able to create a bond with another wolf.”

“Wait—” I hold out my hand as I stand up taller, my eyes moving to Cherry, sleeping between Bain and Maddox in her wolf form. “Are you saying Blaze hasn’t shifted?”

Gage waves the book in his hand before dropping it on the desk as he answers, “According to this, no.”

“It’s possible he shifted and didn’t tell Dr. J,” Maddox adds.

I hadn’t realized Blaze hasn’t shifted. “How do we even know he’s a wolf shifter?” I ask in confusion.

“He’s stronger than a human, faster, and he has a heightened sense of smell.”

I cock my head at Gage, still feeling confused as I ask, “But couldn’t a phoenix have those traits too?”

His brows furrow as he looks down at the book, as if he hadn’t considered that, which surprises me, but it’s Hunter who answers. “No. He smells like a wolf shifter, remember?”

“I suppose…” Gage starts, looking like he’s puzzling this out while he speaks. “We don’t know exactly what Blaze is. The stuff Dr. J gave him was a mix of Cherry’s blood and some stuff of his own creation. It could have given him some of her abilities or all of them. Just because we haven’t seen him shift doesn't mean he can’t. And you’re right, maybe he had more of the phoenix traits and just the scent of a wolf. He’s an experiment and we have no idea what he’s capable of.”

“Which is why we need to find him and stick that stuff in him,” Bain says, pointing to the vial I’ve placed back on the desk.

“I ordered a bunch of injector pens that we can keep in our pockets. You just slip off the top and stab him with it, the pen will do the rest,” Gage tells us as he pulls a box of them out and shows us. “I’ll fill them all this afternoon. We’ll make sure we have them in all our vehicles and around the house too.”

“We’ll have to show Cherry how they work and give her one as well,” Hunter says as we all turn to look at her.

She’d wanted to go for a run as a pack today, and when we got home from it, she was so tired she passed right out without even shifting. She spent so long in this form that I suspect sometimes this may feel more natural than being human.

But she’s been doing amazing with her shifting lately. She never accidentally shifts anymore and seems to have full control over it. The omega book said our bonds help to stabilize her, but the opposite is true too. I’ve never felt more sure and steady about my life than I do with her in it.

“So what’s the plan?” Hunter asks when the room grows silent. “Do we just wait for him to show up and try to take Cherry again?” Bain literally growls as he leans over Cherry, as if to protect her from Hunter's words.

“I think we should lure him out,” Gage says, surprising me.

“Lure him? With what?” I ask in confusion. When his eyes move to Cherry, my hands clench into fists as I level him with a glare. “Absolutely not. We are not using our mate as bait.”

“Not her personally. I’d never do that,” Gage says, looking at me as if I’m the unreasonable one here. “But we find a way to lure him with her scent to a trap we set. Cherry will be locked away somewhere safe when it’s happening.”

She starts to stir, and we all turn to watch as she lazily yawns and slowly blinks her eyes open. When she realizes we’re all watching her, she slowly sits up until her back is pressed to Bain’s side. He wraps his arm around her front, right before she shifts.

Our eyes widen, taking in all that beautiful skin on display. She’s wearing nothing but her tracker ring hanging on the chain around her neck. When she realizes we’re all unabashedly staring at her naked body, she glances down at herself as a squeal escapes her and she pulls her knees up to hide behind.

I chuckle in amusement, immediately pulling off my shirt and stepping over to her. “You’re adorable, Blue. You know we’ve all seen you naked, right? And recently?” I ask, waggling my eyebrows at her as I recall what we got up to with her in bed this morning. I pull my shirt down over her head as Bain helps to get her arms through the sleeves.