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CHAPTER THREE 
     
QUINN
Apollo is smiling at me, but there’s no happiness in that look. “I’m surprised to see your face again. I sure thought after you and your brother left last time, I wouldn’t see you again.”
We didn’t leave, we had to run off, but he’s either forgotten that or is deciding not to specify. “Circumstances were a bit dicey, so we didn’t have much choice.”
“Do you have a mate now?” he asks, like out of everything going on, that might be the important thing.
“I don’t. I’m still running the lone wolf thing. It’s hard, you know? To devote time to having a relationship when I’m trying to get my pack up and running and keeping things safe for them.”
“Huh, I see. I seem to do fine.”
“You’re quite established,” I remind him as he leads me into a building in the middle of the town.
“You mean your home doesn’t look like this?” he teases, but there’s pride to his words. Of course he’s pleased I don’t have the control over a pack or pride or whatever he wants to call it that’s of this size.
He seems to forget that it wasn’t him that built this from the ground up, it was his grandfather. But I just go along with it, smiling and nodding and doing my best to appease him—it’s what Apollo always wants.
“We won’t be here long. Hopefully, less than a week. Rowan, the snow leopard shifter, might have a connection that can help us figure out what’s going on. We’ll have to leave, probably tomorrow or the next day, to talk to the lead. While I’m gone, Graham will be in charge of my pack and make sure they’re doing everything properly.”
Apollo’s hand is on the door, but he doesn’t push it open. Instead, he stands in a way that keeps me from entering the infirmary. “Ah? Rowan, huh? I thought you said you didn’t have a mate.”
His words put me on edge, like he’s threatening my mate, but I do everything in my power to keep myself relaxed so he doesn’t have anything to pinpoint. “I don’t. Rowan just has information because he was fed pills most of his life that suppressed his shifter side. I’m hoping to figure out a way to get to the bottom of all of this with Rowan’s help.”
Apollo’s eyes narrow. “He smells like you. Are you lying to me?”
Just talking to him makes my hackles rise. I don’t like him getting into my business or asking about my mate, but I have to play his little game if we’re going to stay here. “We were stuck in a cell together. Of course he smells like me.”
“I told you we have a strict policy here when we talked on the phone, right?”
“You did,” I say as he smiles and finally steps back.
“I’m glad you remember,” he says as he pulls the door open and ushers me inside. The moment I take a seat in a chair, a man comes up.
“This is Quinn, alpha of the Winsford pack. Quinn, this is Dr. Lambridge,” Apollo says.
“A pleasure to meet you,” the doctor says before examining my neck and getting something to clean it without another word.
“Do you have any medical personnel in your pack?” Apollo asks.
“I don’t. But there are a few who could help in a pinch. Both Rowan and Logan were in the military and have some first aid experience.”
“Logan…?” Apollo looks like he’s trying to think back on who that might be.
“Tall guy.”
“The human?”
“Yes.”
He looks displeased by that, but he has little choice in the matter—I’m not kicking the humans out. “You know humans aren’t allowed in my pride, right?”
“I’m aware, but he’s part of my pack and his mate is a shifter,” I say.
He looks thoughtful and I hate giving him any semblance of power over my pack. “I’ll consider what to do with them.”
My hackles would already have risen if I was in my wolf form. “You assured me if I brought my pack in, I’d have complete control over them. They’re my pack, not yours. I’ll take care of them, and we’ll all be out of your hair in a week or two.”
The doctor gives me a look of shock, and as Apollo rushes over, the doctor quickly scoots back, like he wants to give him space.
Apollo is instantly in my face, but I refuse to submit when I did nothing wrong; instead, I stand up to keep us on more even ground. He’s taller than me and broader, more of the stereotypical image of an alpha, but I refuse to let that hold me back. “Oh, don’t tell me you’re going to come into my pride and threaten the way I do things.”
“I’m doing no such thing, but I do ask you to remember that you told me I would remain in control of my pack.”
He grins at me, showing me his bright white teeth, like he wishes he could show me his fangs. “I did, but I need you to remember that you’re just a pup compared to me. You do as I say.”
I grit my teeth. My jaw is clenched so tightly it aches, but I don’t do anything else because I can tell he’s testing me. He wants to know if I’m going to listen or not, and if I don’t listen, just how far I’ll go. The last time I was here, I was forced to be submissive to him, but I’ve grown so much in over a dozen years.
I decide I need to clear the tension now before regretting it. “I understand you’re alpha of this area and I’m going to listen to you, but I do ask that you don’t remove the human members of my pack. I’m willing to work with you, but they’re a vital part of my pack and important to all of us. They also have uses. Logan can not only fight or run surveillance, but he’s an amazing chef. They each play an important role in our community and I assure you they can also play a vital role here.”
Apollo smacks my cheek almost playfully, like he wasn’t just poking at me, trying to get me to react. But I know he wasn’t being playful, and so does the doctor, based on his expression. “I’ll think about it and let you know.”
“Okay. Thank you for taking us in,” I say, knowing I need to stay on his good side while I can.
“Of course! Well, I’m going to go see if we can get you some food prepared. I bet you’re all hungry!” And off he goes, leaving silence in his wake.
I look to the doctor who catches my eyes a moment before looking away. I don’t recognize him, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t here before when I was younger. It does mean I don’t know if I can trust him or if he’s just one of Apollo’s many sets of ears in this place.
Once he’s finished with me, I make the long walk back toward the building my pack will be sleeping in. Nostalgia fills me as I walk through the quiet town, throwing me back to when I was younger. I remember when my brother and I walked through those gates—we thought we’d stepped into paradise. We thought we were finally going to have a place to call home.
How wrong we were.
It isn’t that Apollo is a horrible man. I honestly wouldn’t call him a bad person. It’s that he’s controlling and what he hates more than anything is when someone stands up to him. He wants everyone to blindly follow his weird rules—which apparently have only gotten weirder—and his suppressing control.
I walk up to the building my pack is staying in just as Katalina is stepping out. She hesitates when she sees me, then smiles. “Have a good evening, alpha,” she says.
And the way she says it makes me still. She shouldn’t call anyone but Apollo alpha. It’s almost like she’s testing to see what I’ll do, but she’s Apollo’s mate so maybe he put her up to some stupid shit that I don’t want to get involved in.
“Good evening,” I say before stepping inside to find my pack huddled together. The large building we’ve been placed in is pretty open with one door leading to what looks like a bathroom and another leading to a staircase. I’m not sure what’s upstairs since it seems like all the sleeping cots and blankets have been crammed down here.
Ari is sitting on Logan’s lap just behind Rowan who is hovering near the door waiting for me. He seems anxious and I want to comfort him, but I know I can’t right now. Helen, a dog shifter who owns a stable in my village, is watching us all. I’m sure she’s also concerned about her horses that she’s had to leave in someone else’s care, including Rowan’s horse Maze.
Graham steps up to me. “I… haven’t talked to them at all. I was waiting to see if Apollo said something to you about it.”
I nod, wishing he would’ve already given them a heads up about the goings-on instead of waiting for me to do it. “Alright. Listen up,” I say, and everyone is instantly quiet. “Things are different around here, and you’re not going to be happy about it. You’re not going to want to follow the new rules, but this isn’t my pack, and there isn’t a choice. Tomorrow, Rowan and I are going to set out to see his father and gain any information we can get. The plan is to get through things quickly so we can get out of here soon. While I’m gone, Graham will be in charge. But it’s still Apollo’s pride and his rules. Okay?”
They nod and agree, but they have no idea what they’re agreeing to.
So here goes nothing. “The first of Apollo’s rules, and this is a new one since we lived here before, is that he doesn’t allow relationships—”
“Excuse me, what?” Ari asks. “But… but my love.” He shakes Logan, his mate. The man is built like a wrestler, tall and muscled, but is one of the kindest men I’ve ever met. He’s extremely easygoing but even he has a little scrunch to his eyebrows.
I shake my head, making Ari still. “We can’t fight each other on this. That means Rowan and I aren’t mates here either. If anyone asks, I don’t have a mate, understand?” I ask. “We don’t know who is watching us or how closely they’re watching us, so we need to be really strict about this. It’ll only be for a week or two. We’d rather err on the side of caution.”
“You think they could have cameras in here or something?” Kaiya asks as she looks around.
“I just… I don’t know, so I want to be careful.”
Trenton, a bear shifter who is easy to anger, yet one of my trusted few, folds his arms over his broad chest. “What kind of fucked-up place is this?”
I sigh. “It’s how he runs his pride. He claims it’s to keep procreation down and to keep the government off his back, but it’s clear it’s a control tactic. He is allowed to take as many mates as he wants but prohibits anyone else from doing so. From what I know of him, he wants to be in control, and this is just another step toward that. He believes everyone should love him, not each other.”
I look around at all the faces aimed at me, eyes watching me closely. “Do not, and I repeat, do not test me or Apollo on this,” I say. “Ari, off his lap.”
Ari gives me the best sad eyes he can muster. “But… but my hunkalicious.”
Logan kisses his cheek then scoots him off and Ari dejectedly steps to the side before falling against a wall for support.
“We will not test Apollo,” I say as I turn to Trenton who is doing a fantastic job of pretending like he has no idea why I’d say that to him. “Trenton.”
“What?” he asks as he looks around. “What happened?”
“I’ll test him,” Ari grumbles.
“Ari, he doesn’t allow humans here. You and Logan—and all the other humans in the pack—are going to be so damn useful, he’s not going to want to get rid of any of you. Understand?”
Ari dramatically melts onto a cot. I can tell Logan is itching to go over and comfort him, but he sits stone still, back straight, eyes forward. Ari’s little whine of annoyance gets a minor twitch out of him, though.
“Woe is me,” Ari cries.
“Should we kick him out to save the others?” I jokingly ask Graham.
“We might need to,” he says.
Ari pops up. “Wait, what? NO! I don’t wanna get kicked out. I’m too cute to get kicked out. Someone will take me and make me their pet. I don’t want to be a spinster’s toy!”
I ignore him and turn back to my pack. “We’re going to get out of here in a week. We only have to make it a week, got it?” I say. “But we have to work together and keep things calm and quiet and boring to make sure we don’t fuck this up.”
“We’re totally going to fuck this up,” Ari says.
Everyone nods, looking like this is something to be proud of. Like this is something that is fact and cannot change and no amount of my glaring seems to make them think otherwise. It’s honestly the only thing the pack has agreed on as a whole since we got here.
“I need vodka and a nap,” I realize.
They also seem to agree on that.
I look over at Rowan who gives me an encouraging smile. More than anything, I want to lie down with him and press myself close and let him rub my worries away, but instead, we each make our way to our own cots. When some of Apollo’s shifters come bearing food, I’m almost too tired to eat, but I grab a plate and sit down on my cot. Rowan takes the cot next to mine, but he doesn’t say anything while Apollo’s shifters are here, just quietly eats.
Once they leave, I call for everyone to get ready before lights go out for the night. It’s barely nine, but I’m exhausted, as is everyone else, and no one says a thing about the early bedtime. Addie, Trenton’s sister, comes over and holds Ethan’s cat out to me.
Just seeing the cat reminds me of my inability to protect Ethan, the young man who’d disappeared in the woods. A part of me still hopes that after his father had been killed, he’d run for safety and just hadn’t come back, thinking there were going to be some repercussions for all the wrong he did.
“Here’s your cat,” Addie says.
I look up at her. “You can have her.”
“I already have a cat. She’s your cat now,” she says as she holds it out. I hesitate, expecting the animal to hiss as I reach for her, but she doesn’t really seem to care about much as I take her. She just snuggles under my blanket and begins to purr.
“I don’t remember her name.”
“Cleo. It’s Cleopatra, but we just call her Cleo… You still haven’t heard anything about Ethan, right?” she asks.
“I’m sorry, Addie. I’ll see what I can do. Things have been such a mess and we never saw him at the facility. When we meet up with Gina again, we’ll show her a picture to see if she’s seen him.”
“That’d be great,” she says before hurrying off. The cat wanders around my cot before deciding my head would be a perfect place to reside.
As Graham shuts the lights out, I notice Emery grab his sleeping bag and slink over to me where he makes a spot on the floor between me and Graham.
It’s quiet for a moment but for the cat’s purring. I scratch her neck as I hear Emery crawl over to me until I can hear his breath right next to my ear. “Can I kill the alpha for you?” he asks.
I’m momentarily startled still by the question as my tired brain tries to comprehend it. “Wait, what? NO!” Cleo reaches out and smacks at his hair playfully.
“Oh… how boring,” he says as he pets the cat. “Can I go with you and Rowan tomorrow?”
I really don’t want anyone going with us tomorrow so Rowan and I can just enjoy time alone. “Just… stay here with my brother. Help him run things.”
“Hmmmmm. Hmmmmm…” Clearly, Emery is dissatisfied by this. “I don’t like your brother.”
“I can hear you,” Graham growls.
“Easily angered,” Emery says before I hear him crawling under my cot to settle between Rowan and me instead of Graham and me.
Suddenly, his head pops up in front of me, startling me. “What, Emery?”
“Want me to go find the evil scientist and her useless husband?” he asks.
“No. I don’t want you wandering around trying to follow a car that you’re probably not going to find. You’re fine here until we figure out what’s next.”
This also seems to dissatisfy him as he does another long “Hmmmmm…” before sinking back down.
I look over and catch Rowan’s eyes. He looks amused by Emery’s bizarre behavior and I can’t help but sigh which makes Rowan smile. At least we’ll be alone together when we go to find his father. It doesn’t make the situation perfect, but it makes it better to know that tomorrow it’ll just be him by my side.
Emery’s head pops back up. “Are you sure you don’t want me to kill the alpha?”
“Yes! Go to sleep!”
“Fine. Fine.” He sinks back down, and I look at Rowan with wide eyes, which makes him bite back a laugh.
OceanofPDF.com

CHAPTER FOUR 
     
ROWAN
When morning comes, we all get ready and head to the dining hall. We’re one of the first few that are there besides those working and Katalina who is surrounded by a group of women all speaking quietly to one another until we arrive.
The moment Katalina sees us, she hurries over as one of the women follows her. “Good morning!” she says to Quinn.
Emery is watching her warily, Ari is pouting that he can’t caress his “majestic stallion” —his words, not mine—and almost everyone else is just downright uncertain of what to do.
“Morning,” Quinn says with a smile.
“This is Harper,” she says. “Apollo’s mate.”
“I thought you were Apollo’s mate,” Trenton says.
“His other mate,” Harper says with a smile, like this is completely normal. She sees Talon who is standing by me and kneels down to smile at the dog before offering him a hand. He leans into her as she pets him.
“Is this a cult?” Ari exclaims and Quinn looks like he could just smack him.
At this moment, it’s quite clear that he’s going to get us murdered.
“You took us to a hippie cult?” Ari whispers so loudly I’m positive half the dining hall could hear.
“Not yet, but I’m sure you’ll be the first to loudly announce it to everyone the moment we do,” Quinn says as he pats Ari’s back a bit harder than needed. He sends the little man stumbling forward. “Ignore him, please. He was dropped far too much as an adult. Just a few weeks ago he fell pretty far and hit his head. Permanent brain damage is what they told us.”
Ari’s smile turns into a scowl. “I regret ever helping you or being best friends with you. I want your half of the ‘best bitches foreva’ bracelet back so I can give it to someone else,” Ari decides.
So that’s where that weird best friends bracelet came from. When I stumbled upon it in my leopard form, it annoyed me so much that I smacked it off into oblivion. Once I’d shifted, I did put it back… grudgingly.
The women just think Ari’s cute and funny so they laugh, which is really all Ari wants in life—to amuse others.
“That’s okay, he can take mine,” Emery says as he pushes between Quinn and Ari. “There won’t be room for yours.”
I scowl at Emery and wonder why everyone wants to hoard what is mine! Although… it is nice that he’s opening up enough to joke with us.
“I don’t think I remember you from when Graham and I were here before. It’s been a long time, so I might be wrong,” Quinn says.
“I wasn’t here at the time,” Harper says with a smile. “You probably remember Katalina, though?”
“A little bit. Do you guys need help with anything?” Quinn asks.
“You’re going to help?” Katalina asks, looking amused. She must notice that Quinn seems confused why she’s so amused because her smile drops. “Oh… you’re serious. Um… no, we can’t have an alpha doing menial tasks. Just have a seat, and we’ll serve you shortly.”
“I honestly don’t mind. I take my turn doing tasks as well. And I really don’t ever need to be ‘served,’” he says, and I wonder if their alpha doesn’t do anything. Does he just sit there and expect everyone to wait on him? I could easily see that.
Katalina shakes her head while waving her hands in front of her. “Oh, no, we couldn’t have you do that. Please, we have it under control. But if I need something later, I’ll keep that in mind.”
She waves to a table and Quinn’s whole pack crams around it as Apollo comes in and instantly notices us. He holds his arms out and a woman rushes up to unzip and pull his light jacket off. She hangs it up as he continues on without a word of thanks to her.
More and more I’m starting to see what’s going on here and why Apollo isn’t as nice as I first mistakenly thought he was.
“And the king has arrived,” Quinn mutters. “Look at him strut his stuff.”
“He doesn’t have stuff to strut,” Ari says with a grimace.
“I can still kill him. That offer didn’t expire,” Emery whispers.
“I feel like we’re all staring at him and he’s going to notice,” says Graham, who is also staring at him.
Apollo struts up to Quinn and stands extremely close, like he enjoys looking down at him. Quinn does nothing to bridge the gap, but his voice is casual when he greets him. “Rowan and I will need to leave for some time to see if we can track down his father. While I’m gone, Graham assures me he’ll keep track of my pack and work with you to figure out where it’s best to put everyone. I don’t believe we’ll be gone longer than a day.”
“You should just take it easy today. Maybe set out tomorrow,” Apollo says as he sets a hand on Quinn’s shoulder that I don’t like. Not because I feel like it’s sexual but because it seems as though he’s trying to tower over Quinn. As if he’s trying to give him a pat like he would a child. And even though I know fuck all about fighting, I’m ready to fight this man… or I’ll just sic Emery on him.
“The sooner the better, I assure you. Thank you for your concern, though,” Quinn says as he shrugs the hand off. “Is there anything I can get you while we’re out?”
“Why don’t I send one of my own with you?” Apollo asks, and it’s more than clear he’s not wanting to be helpful but controlling. “I’m sure you could use some help.”
Quinn holds his gaze for a moment before smiling. “I’m positive we can handle it. We won’t be gone long.”
“Alright, then we’ll expect you in a day,” Apollo says before ruffling Quinn’s hair like one would a child. I can see Quinn’s whole pack tense up, showing they didn’t like the gesture, but Quinn just smiles.
As Apollo hesitates, I can’t help but wonder if there’s something in his body language that I can’t pick up on, but then Quinn says, “Thank you again for keeping my pack fed and housed. I hope we’ll be of some help while we’re here.”
Talon leans into my leg, reminding me that it’d probably be easier traveling without him, so I turn to Kaiya since he seems to like her the most. “Could you watch Talon for me again?” I ask.
“Of course,” she says. “And I’ll watch your new cat, Quinn.”
“The cat’s not mine,” he says, even though it’s clear he likes it. Out of all the heads that cat could have chosen to wake up on, it picked his.
Once we’re finished with breakfast, Quinn and I walk toward the cars outside the gate.
“Finally, a smidge of alone time with you,” Quinn says as he offers me a sweet smile. “Hopefully, this takes all night.”
I try not to look too ecstatic, since we’re playing the role of acquaintances. “That sounds absolutely amazing.”
“So… why are we being followed?” Quinn asks as he throws a suspicious glance back at his brother and Emery who are hurrying to catch up.
“You need to be careful,” Graham says. “Are you sure I can’t go with you?”
“I really need you here with the others. What if something happens? What if Apollo does something?” Quinn says. “What if Ari tries climbing Logan like a tree? You know you’re the only one able to pin that little shit down.”
Graham laughs as he gives a nod. “Last time I did that, he bit me! He wasn’t even in his ocelot form either.”
“I think you deserved that one.”
“You’re as big of a sucker as anyone once Ari starts batting his eyes and proclaiming injustice.”
Quinn shrugs. “Maybe. I hate leaving them, but… I know I need to in order to make sure we can end this and go back home. And the only person I trust with my pack is you, Graham. We’re going to keep moving and hopefully be back by dark tomorrow.”
Graham nods but stills when he sees two people heading toward us. “Your nightmare is coming this way.”
Quinn sighs as he turns away from the car and walks over to Apollo like he’s headed to the guillotine. If it were me, I think I’d have pretended to have been momentarily deprived of my sight, jumped in the car, and darted off.
Apollo claps his hands like he has an exciting declaration to make. “I’ve decided that if you trust me enough to be in charge of watching over your pack, it’s only right of me to send one of mine to help you,” he says as he sets a hand on Katalina’s back.
She just smiles as she holds her mini backpack and hurries for the car, like she also wants to get away from Apollo as quickly as she can.
“Really, we’re fine,” Quinn assures him, but it’s clear he’s not going to listen.
Apollo smiles as he tries to force his overly eager spy on us. Quinn seems irritated but also realizes there’s no sense in fighting it because he gives a stern nod.
“I brought snacks!” Katalina says as she shakes a box of Cheez-Its while opening the car door.
“Then I must go too!” Ari shouts as he comes running. “You know I’m the most important person on this trip. So important. Oh my god important, ya know?”
“Very well,” Katalina says with a smile as she sets a hand on Ari’s shoulder, and they get into the car together as we just stare at them while my leopard side bristles with anger. This was going to be my alone time with my Quinn, and now I have to share my Quinn—
I’m going crazy. I’m pretty sure there are more important things to worry about than who I’m sharing Quinn with, and it’s not like we’re going to an orgy.
Quinn does this eye flicker thing to Graham that probably expressed more than words before he smiles at Apollo. “Thank you for gracing us with someone capable of helping us out,” Quinn says then heads over to the car before Apollo decides to join us himself. That would be hell.
I walk over to the passenger side of the car and get in it before glancing into the back seat where Katalina and Ari sit.
“Alright… let’s go,” Quinn says as I realize Katalina’s presence makes it so we can’t act familiar with each other at all. Was that why Apollo did it or does he have something else up his sleeve?
Whatever it is, it’s clear he wants to keep an eye on us at all times.
“Katalina, can we use your phone for the GPS?” Quinn asks as he begins to drive.
“Of course,” she says as she tries to hold it out but has to get past Ari’s body that’s taking up way more room than he actually needs.
Katalina doesn’t seem to care as she smiles at him and scoots over a little more to give him even more room. I take her phone and put the address into it as she pulls something out of her bag.
“What’s that?” Ari asks as he leans over her—which is quite hard to do when he’s definitely not as tall as her. “Is that some super-secret gadget where you can listen in on all our dirty secrets and report back to your alpha?”
“My, what amazing eyes you have. It’s this top-secret ultra-super-special item called a book,” she says with a smile before cracking open her book and starting to read.
“How scandalous,” Ari whispers. “Quinn, this woman is scandalous.”
“Just because you don’t know how to read doesn’t mean you need to harass her out of jealousy.”
“She likes being harassed,” he whines.
“Ari, not everyone likes being harassed.”
He leans in and sniffs her hair as I watch in the rearview mirror. “You smell like a cat. What kind of cat are you?”
“A lion. My snacks include little ocelots and Cheez-Its,” she says with a wicked grin.
“Throw her out!” Ari decides. “Quinn, Quinn, Alpha Daddy, she’s harassing me.”
“Good. You need to be harassed every now and then,” Quinn decides.
I turn to Quinn while trying to ignore the harassment going on in the back seat. “So… my father is going to be less than pleased when I show up with a car full of shifters. I think maybe I’ll just go in by myself or with Quinn,” I say. “I’m really not sure how he’ll react. He might try to stab us, yell at us, or worst-case scenario, he might even offer us coffee and sit down and talk or some stupid shit. It’ll be fun to find out.”
“Yes, being stabbed is always extremely fun in my books,” Quinn says with a grin.
“What about you, Katalina, do you like being stabbed?” Ari asks as he gets up in her space.
“Hmm… you know what? I’m so majestic and quick on my feet I’ve never experienced it, but maybe if I was little like you, I’d know,” she says before booping his nose with her finger.
“Ooh, she’s sassy,” Ari says as he covers his nose.
She’s contently smiling in the rearview mirror.
“This is going to be a long drive,” I say before remembering I’m in charge of navigation. “Oh shit, turn here.”
Quinn slams on the brakes and does a quick turn but what I notice more than anything isn’t the way the tires scream or how we go into the gravel, it’s the thump-“Fuck!” that comes from the trunk.
Quinn gives me a sideways glance. “There’s something in the trunk.”
“Someone.” I’m not sure why I felt the need to correct it.
“Who the fuck is in the trunk?” he asks as he slams on the brakes and pulls to the side of the road before getting out. I jump out with him and the two in the back seat follow as I pop the trunk and look in at Emery who is hiding under a blanket, like we might not notice the human-sized lump.
“Emery, we can see your feet and your hair,” Quinn says.
“I am a whisper in the night. You can see nothing,” Emery says.
“Close it up,” Quinn says as he tries to do so but Emery’s arms shoot out to keep the trunk lid from closing on him.
He looks up at Quinn with wide eyes. “Wait! No! You drive like a psychopath. I nearly died,” he says as he crawls out.
“Where’d you guys pick up the caveman?” Katalina asks curiously.
Emery, still as ungroomed as ever, looks over at her. At least he’s been washed at some point but his beard is still unkempt and the hair on his head is long and ratted.
“Long story,” Quinn says. “Come on, Emery. I guess… I guess you’re going with us too.”
And once we’re all packed into the car, we’re off again on our five-hour car journey to hell… I mean my father’s. It’ll be a miracle if no one gets murdered along the way.
“Well, Emery, since we have you in the car with us, can we talk a bit?” Quinn asks.
“Is this about usurping the alpha because we probably shouldn’t talk about that with this woman here,” Emery says as he points at Katalina.
I look back in alarm. “We’re not usurping anyone, it’s a joke,” I say as Quinn looks at me in horror. Emery’s going to get us murdered and a part of me thinks he just wants to start chaos.
“Count me in,” she says then laughs, and I’m left questioning if it’s a joke or not as she goes back to reading.
“No, Emery, I wanted to know how you ended up with Mercer,” Quinn says. “With everything going on, we really haven’t been able to talk about it.”
Emery leans into the front seats. “Shit… just shit happened.”
“Do you not want to talk about it?” Quinn asks, voice soft.
Emery shrugs. “I don’t know… it’s fine. I just… I was stupid… I was fifteen and living on the streets. I’d been out there for a little while and just felt the injustice of everything. I felt like I had nowhere to go… I’d started to think about how nice it’d be to just not wake up one day, you know? And then this guy started talking to me. I was wary at first because it was so odd for a human to talk to me. He told me he had a child that was also a shifter, so he understood my pain. I think he might have been a businessman or something because he was always eating his lunch in the park. And he started bringing extra to share with me.
“I just… I was such a fucking idiot. But when he offered to take me in, I trusted him. I went with him without hesitation.”
“You were a kid, you weren’t stupid,” Quinn says.
Emery slowly nods, but it doesn’t look like he believes it. “Anyway. So once he took me he gave me something that made me feel really weird and next thing I know, I wake up in this little cage like I was a… crated animal. He was talking to the others about what he’d do to me. What they should do first and… I don’t know. I guess I was their test subject… for years. All this shit they learned and did, they tried on me.”
Emery runs a hand across his face. “I don’t know… just years of shit… I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Do you know how long ago that was?” I ask.
“He took me when I was fifteen.”
He was with Mercer’s men for that long?
“How old are you now?” Quinn asks.
“Twenty-three.”
“I’m… I’m so sorry that happened to you.”
Emery shrugs, like he’s trying to pretend it wasn’t a big deal, but I can tell he feels uncomfortable talking about this.
“Was it Mercer who took you there?” Quinn asks.
“No. This other guy. He’d told me his name was Pete Stone, but it wasn’t a real name. Nothing about him was real. It was all fucking fake… it was all to fool me like the idiot I was. It was… around a year or so ago that Mercer started to get worse. He started to branch outside the facility. He wanted us to do things… awful things. But the moment I was outside the facility, I ran. I thought I was finally free until they tracked me down and nearly killed me trying to drag me back. Mercer was sick of me at that point and would pit the young shifters against me so they could learn how to fight. He told me I’d eventually learn my place, and only then would he let me out.”
“Is that where you met Kara, the shifter that escaped with you?” Quinn asks. After all that happened, I’d forgotten about the female shifter who’d escaped with Emery. It’s too bad she’s back in their hands.
“Yes, she was young and didn’t conform to Mercer’s expectations. So he kept us in a cell together. Is that a book? I love reading,” he says as he gets distracted by the book in Katalina’s hands.
“Yeah, want to look at it?” she asks, voice quiet.
“I do!” He takes it from her and flips it this way and that.
“And this… this is the one who’s after you guys?” Katalina asks. “The man who imprisoned him?”
“Yes,” Quinn says. “That’s why we really appreciate your pride’s help.”
“Of course,” she says.
The car falls silent as I look back to see Emery smiling at the book. It might be the first time I’ve seen him smile since I met him.