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“Hey, sleepyhead,” he said, putting an arm around me as we walked to the table. “I was wondering when you’d get up.”
A large sheet of paper with a crude, hand-drawn map on it covered the table. Simon’s lab. They were trying to recreate the layout of the place from memory. As I looked it over, I spotted several problems.
Pointing to a hallway, I said, “This intersection isn’t here. It’s farther up.”
Crew raised an eyebrow and glanced at Wyatt. “You were right,” he said with a grin.
Wyatt smiled broadly. “I told you. She’s one of the best I’ve ever seen. Memory like a steel trap.”
Ignoring the praise, I sat down. Plucking the pencil from Eli’s hand, I made adjustments to the map, speaking as I worked. “Simon was really hung up on the fact that I somehowhelpedhim develop all this stuff. He tested a drug on me as a kid. Forced my first shift, and somehow, from that one drug, all this other research was born. He treated me like an honored guest or something. Gave me a tour of the place. I didn’t get to see everything, but I memorized what Ididsee.” I erased an entire section. “This isn’t a meeting space. I saw it when the door was open. It’s a bunk room of some sort. I think it’s where the staff sleeps.”
“You’re saying Simon walked you through the whole facility?” Crew asked, surprise written all over his face.
“Yeah. It was weird,” I said.
“Hang on, go back,” Eli said, holding up her hand. “You have history with Simon? From when you were a kid?”
Sighing, I put the pencil down and glanced at Wyatt and Zoe. Wyatt gave me a reassuring nod.
“Right,” I said. “No reason to hold back now, I suppose.”
I gave them an abbreviated run-down on what Ithoughthad happened to me as a kid, then the true story Simon gave me and everything in between.
“So,” I went on, “I actuallywasa latent wolf. Had Simon not interfered, I never would have had access to my inner wolf.”
“Holy shit,” Wyatt muttered. “This is crazy.”
“That’s what I thought, but it’s all true,” I said. “Whatever this potion or drug is that he used, it not only reversed my latency, but also caused the wolf that came out to be an alpha. He used the same drug on himself.”
“Wait, wait, wait, hang on, hold the phone,” Zoe said. “Why would a fae scientist use a shifter drug on himself?”
“That’s where it gets even weirder. You saw him in the facility. You watched him shift, Wyatt. You got there late, Zoe. The wolf that attacked us was Simon. His mother was a fae, but his father was a wolf shifter. He’d been latent as well, but when he took that drug, it brought his wolf out. He’s a shifter-fae hybrid now.”
Zoe’s eyes bulged. It was a combination that, quite literally, was almost unheard of. Female alphas like me were incredibly rare, but it was still ten times more likely to happen than a hybrid species. Hybrids were so rare, they’d faded into the realm of myth.
“Are you fucking serious?” Zoe gasped.
“Dead-ass. Once he faked his death, he apparently dived head-first into research and ended up on Bloodstone. The fact that he’s here at all leads straight back to me. It’s like he and I are entwined somehow. Fate keeps throwing us together in awful ways. Most of this is my fault.”
“Nope,” Wyatt said. “Don’t do that. This asshole used you as a guinea pig. This is not your fault.”
“People died, Wyatt,” I snapped. “Everyone at the mansion, the people from Haven. If I’d never been born,noneof this would have happened.”
“Enough,” Crew said, though his tone was gentle rather than commanding. I turned to look at him. “You can’t go walking all the way back to childhood attempting to shoulder the blame. Hell, if we all went back five, ten, or fifteen years ago, we’d find some shit we would take back.” Crew’s eye flicked, for the barest second, across the room toward Chelsey before locking on mine again.
His words actually did make it all a little better. Were things my fault? Sort of, but it had all been done against my will. I thought back on the small and terrified child I’d been, covered in blood and sobbing in that cave. Looking at her in my mind’s eye showed me the truth. She was blameless in all this, regardless of what had happened after.
I heaved a sigh and nodded, leaning into Wyatt’s soothing touch as he rubbed my back. “Okay. No, you’re right. But”—I jabbed a finger at the map—“if you’re planning to attack Simon’s base again, I want in. I need to help take this son of a bitch down.”
At my suggestion of attacking Simon again, Crew’s face grew somber. He cast a hesitant glance toward Chelsey. “Um, I’m not sure that’s in the cards. At least not right away.”
“Why not?”
“Things are far more dangerous now. First, with the mansion’s defenses down, the creatures on the island are still riled up and running wild. Second, Simon knows we’ve found his base. He’s going to buckle down now, increase his security measures. Plus, he has to know time is running low with everything going on. He’s going to be more desperate to getprisoners for his experiments. I have to keep this place”—he gestured widely, indicating all of Haven—“and everyone in it safe.” He sighed and glanced at Eli and Zoe. “I didn’t even mention the damages these two did to his lab. That hurts us as well.”
“What?” I spluttered. “How could damaging his lab be bad for us?” It made no sense.
“Because,” Crew explained, “we did heavy damage to that place, destroying not only computers and magical grimoires, but also doors, security systems, and a dozen other things that kept the place running. We have to assume that quite a few of Simon’s experiments fled. All of it together makes things too dangerous right now. We need to wait for everything to calm down.”
