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“Porter!” I rushed to his side, leaving Jax to be supported by Sebastian. Even though I wanted to scoop him up and get the fuck out of this place, I knew better than to move him without assessing his injuries first.
“Is he okay?” Concern lined Sebastian’s face.
I gritted my teeth. “We need to get him out of here.”
“Guys,” Jax said in a croak, drawing our attention to the rest of the room.
In front of us, Colton and his man stood, staring into the dimly lit room. And that's when I noticed them: cages, nearly a dozen of them, all filled with terrified, shaking humans. Their eyes were wide with fear, silently pleading for help.
I glanced around the room as nausea roiled in my gut. I took in the cages, the gurneys, the medical equipment. The place looked like a twisted laboratory, and the realization made my stomach churn.
“Holy shit,” I muttered, horrified by the extent of Tomas’s depravity. The damp air in the room seemed to burn my lungs as I stared at the imprisoned humans, their eyes wide with terror. My heart clenched painfully, and I turned to Jax, who wore an expression of utter remorse.
“Jax,” I said with a growl. “What the hell has your father been doing?”
“Creating a serum.” His words were barely audible. “He's been turning humans into shifters.”
“Impossible,” Sebastian hissed, horror reflecting on his face. But Jax didn't waver, and as I looked at the medical devices around the laboratory, my gut knew he was telling the truth.
“Seems everything we thought impossible is turning out to be all too real.” My mind raced with the implications.
“Enough talk,” Colton said urgently, his attention focused on a control panel near the cages. He strode toward it, then hit a button, and there was a hissing sound as the cell doors unlocked. “We need to get them out of here.”
“Sebastian, you help Jax. I’ll carry Porter.” I was already moving toward the unconscious man, lifting him off the floor and holding his limp form.
“Everyone, stay calm.” Colton took charge of the freed captives. “We're getting you out of here. Just keep quiet and follow me.”
Then we all seemed to realize it at once. The hissing from the cell doors hadn’t stopped, even though they all stood open. We exchanged glances as realization dawned, only a second before a distant explosion rocked the warehouse, the shockwave sending us stumbling. I nearly lost my footing, barely managing to keep my grip on Porter.
“Go, go, go!” Colton yelled as he herded the group toward the exit.
Gas. That was the hiss—a trap, set to go off if anyone released the humans.
We rushed out of the room, only for another explosion to go off, this one much closer, shaking the ground beneath my feet. Dark smoke surrounded the main room of the warehouse where Colton’s team had taken down all the remaining guards. It was only a matter of time before the entire place went up in flames.
We raced through the warehouse, the heat from the expanding flames at my back as we moved for the door. I wouldn’t look back. Couldn’t—there was no time. Our only hope was to get out of the warehouse if we were going to make it out alive.
“Everybody out! Go!” I shouted, fear for Mariah and Sofia spurring me on as I sprinted toward the exit. I couldn't fail them. If Sebastian and I didn’t survive this, Tomas would come for them. I had no choice.
The scorching heat intensified as we burst out of the burning building, my lungs screaming, desperate for fresh air. I felt the ground shake beneath us again, but we couldn't stop running. We had to put as much distance between ourselves and the warehouse as possible.
“Keep moving!” I bellowed, pushing through the pain as adrenaline flooded my veins.
But then we were all thrown from our feet as another violent explosion rocked the night, lighting up the dark sky with deadly fire. The cages, the laboratory: all of it went up in flames.
Chapter 16
Mariah
I paced the living room floor, my heart pounding in my chest while I waited for Evan's call. The silence was deafening, and every second that ticked by felt like an eternity. My fingers drummed against my thigh, my anxiety building with each passing moment. He should have called by now. The mission should be over. Had something gone wrong?
My heart leaped into my throat when the phone finally rang, and I answered immediately. “Evan?”
“Mariah.” Relief washed over me at the sound of his voice, but it was quickly replaced by worry when I heard how distraught he sounded. “First, just know that we're okay. Porter was hurt, but we’re at a hospital and they're treating him now.”
My pulse raced, but I needed answers if he was going to drop a bomb like that on me. “What the hell happened?”
Evan hesitated. “There's a lot I can't explain over the phone, but things just took a major turn.”
