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CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO 
     
ROWAN
“What are you doing?” Quinn asks as I fiddle with his phone.
“I’m calling my father,” I say, no matter how ridiculous it sounds.
He gapes at me; clearly it sounds even more ridiculous than I thought. “Excuse me, what?” Quinn asks.
But this is the only thing I can think of that could possibly work. “You can’t get Deke to answer you and we can’t get inside. My father is the only person who knows what the fuck is going on,” I explain, hoping someone else can see reason in this.
I put the call on speaker and lean against the car as it rings and rings. My father is probably asleep or doing something nefarious. Graham is pacing the gate, trying to think of ways to get inside, but if he does, how would we even get to Emery? They have far more manpower than we do. They have guns and—
“Hello?” Father says.
“It’s Rowan. I need answers right fucking now. I’m standing outside some goddamn place that is holding Brennan and another of my pack hostage. Start talking.”
There’s a moment of silence before my father goes, “They have Brennan?”
“Yes.”
“These fucking…” He sounds enraged, which surprises me. I honestly thought he wouldn’t care a whole lot and would tell me to go fuck myself.
“Tell me the goddamn truth. For once in your fucking life, tell me the truth. I think you at least owe me that,” I say.
He sighs like he finds the idea ridiculous. “When I found out what your mother was, I was still in the military. I wanted a fix. I wanted to change you two, and there was a… department that was dedicated to shifter… issues. When they pulled me in, I shoved everything away and focused on fixing you. Because I could fix you. I knew I could. I proposed plans of changing shifters, making them more human, and after a while, the drugs that I gave you and Brennan were created.
“Not long after, our focus… changed. They weren’t happy with erasing the shifter side; they wanted something else. I was still in charge as they changed to that and brought in scientists who were determined to tinker with their DNA because they wanted to see what shifters could do when pushed to the extreme. How well they could fight, what they could survive. I became obsessed with the work as I built my own pack of monsters, but as laws changed and things shifted around, the military tried to cover it up and their focus switched to finding a way to completely remove the shifter side from a person. They claimed that many shifters just wanted to be human.”
I clench my teeth and struggle to remain silent as my father continues.
“They still funded us and Mercer tinkered with that idea enough to keep them happy, experimenting on shifters like he did to Apollo, removing their animal side entirely. But he never stopped doing his original work of making shifters the most powerful weapons. Just recently they realized that Mercer never changed course and decided that they needed to end it all.
“I won’t lie and say that I was forced into any of this. I wasn’t. There was something about the power to change people, to try to fix them, that kept me going. But now? Now they want it to end. But the military and government don’t want anything to get out about what research they’d done, the experiments they’d been doing to these people, especially when they’re fighting so hard for fair rights. Because if they claim they’re being fair while insisting they want shifters to have the same rights as us, only for it to get out what they’d been doing, it would destroy everything. It would create a larger divide between humans and shifters than there’s ever been.
“So what did they do? They shut down my facility and are looking for my new location, and now they’re trying to burn all the research and eliminate every single shifter who could play a role in this information escaping.”
I listen in disbelief. A part of me doesn’t want to believe this. I can’t understand how shifters could be made into monsters like this. How could anyone not see them as a person? And now, when they’re finally seen as people, the government wants to just erase their mistake? It doesn’t work like that.
“Tell me where they’re at,” Father says.
“What?” I ask in surprise.
“I’ll get Brennan back.”
I don’t know why this amuses me, but I shake my head, even though he can’t see me. “How the hell do you think you’ll be able to get Brennan back?”
“I’ll figure it out.”
“Hold on,” I say. I look over at Quinn and put the call on mute. “What the fuck do we do?”
Quinn’s quiet for a moment. “It might be the distraction we need,” he says. “Tell him where we’re at. Fuck, maybe they’ll arrest him while they’re at it.”
“Okay,” I say, not sure what we have to lose. At this point, there are five of us. Even if we brought all of Quinn’s pack here, what would it accomplish? We’d put over a hundred lives at risk to save two—one of whom might not even want to be saved. “But what if he’s lying? All he’s ever done is lie. What if this is just another elaborate lie or ruse we’re walking straight into?”
Quinn looks off in the direction of the building for a long moment. “Rowan… I don’t know. At some point, I think I just have to admit that I don’t know what’s best. But what I do know is that there is so little we can do against guns and secure fences. If we’re going to get them back, this might be the only shot we have.”
The phone begins to vibrate, so I check the ID. “Logan’s calling.”
“Tell your father where this is and I’ll call Logan back,” Quinn says, so I do that while hoping I’m not making a mistake. When I hand the phone to Quinn after the call, my mind is left racing. My father cared so little for my brother to have done this to him; does he truly care enough to save him? But maybe I’m looking at it wrong. My father has always been controlling. We’ve been his, even if he never treated us as sons. And right now… right now, someone has what is his. Hell, they have a lot of what is his. Raylon, Diego, Brennan, Emery, and who knows who else.
“Quinn?” Logan says through the speakerphone, pulling me back to the present.
“Logan, what the hell is going on?” Quinn asks. “Deke was supposed to help us.”
“I know,” Logan says, voice quiet. “This isn’t him. This isn’t even his department. He told me that after he’d explained what was happening to his boss, another group asked him to work as a consultant for them, since they’d been researching Stone and Mercer, trying to track them down or something. But Deke couldn’t have known this is what was happening. He would never do this. He wanted to help us. I’m calling him. He’ll help us get them out.”
While I don’t know if he can or not, I find myself hoping we’re not too late.
Graham turns to us and I can almost feel the anxiety bubbling through him. I can’t imagine how horrible it would’ve been to be separated from my mate. If Quinn would’ve been taken… I’m not sure what I’d have done. And then to learn my own father was behind it… When they had me before, did he know they took me? Or had Mercer not bothered to divulge that little tidbit?
“We’re going to do everything we can,” Quinn says as he sets a gentle hand on his brother’s shoulder.
Graham turns to face him, but there’s something in Graham’s expression that seems to say that he’s not sure it’s enough. I’m not sure if Quinn believes it’s enough either, but I know he’s going to do everything he can to keep his brother’s mate alive.
“Thank you,” Graham says as he pulls his brother in for a hug. “He’s gone through too much to have to deal with this too.”
“I know,” Quinn says, squeezing him tightly. “I promise we’ll do what we can.”
And I hope this promise leads to Emery’s safe return.
OceanofPDF.com

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE 
     
EMERY
Anger is rippling through me. I feel like I did when I was back with Stone and Mercer, back when I was unable to control my emotions. Back when everything around me filled me with hatred and the desire to hurt or kill.
Struggling to push those thoughts back, I follow Macy as she tries the next door. This one leads to a large, dark room, but unlike the small rooms we’d been ending up in, this one has promise to lead us beyond. It’s too dark for me to see, since there’s no light anywhere, but I can hear people inside. I can smell them, but it doesn’t smell right. It reminds me of the place I’d been held while in Mercer’s care.
A light flickers on, and I look over at Macy who is using her phone’s flashlight to see by. The moment I see the phone, something hits me, something that Graham had said: that the moment we steal, we become the bad guys, the thieves, the liars. The moment we kill, even to protect ourselves, we become the killers. It doesn’t matter what they do, it matters what we do. What better way to show what they’re doing? What they’re driving us to do?
“C-Can you record them?” I ask. “Can you record this?”
She hesitates before glancing over at me.
“Here and in that room? For proof of what they’re doing to us?” I ask.
Macy looks very hesitant. “I… I would get in so much trouble. I would… I could be arrested.”
“Then let me do it,” I say as I hold out my hand.
She’s clearly uncertain as she hands it over. “This is my work phone, though. It’s just for contact within the system, so you’ll have to send it via email to even get it out.” I decide I’ll figure it out some way or another. When I take the phone, I step back into the previous room and quickly get a video of what they were doing to Raylon before returning to Macy as she turns on a light. It only lights up a small area, but it’s enough for me to see the makeshift crates that shifters are crammed into.
One of the shifters slams against the front of their prison, startling me. “E-Emery!” Diego shouts as he smacks at his bars. “Emery, let me out. I know I’ve been a dick to you and called you like an asshole and like fuckface, but I don’t want to be here.”
I stop recording for now. “Eh…” I mean… is it bad of me to leave him? Probably, right? Like they’d probably kill him buuuut he also tried attacking me more than once. He’s been a downright asshole. And I just hate his face.
He seems to kind of get a hint that I’m debating whether or not to let him free. “Emery, please? I’ll be your slave for eternity.”
“Fuuuck. I don’t even like you,” I tell him. “But I will let you loose in case they have to shoot someone, so they’ll shoot you. Just try not to get any blood on my very nice clothes.” I wave to the shitty clothes that are far too big for me like they’re something to be astounded by.
“I won’t! I’ll keep my blood in my body!” Diego promises as he grabs onto the bars keeping him locked away.
That sounds all good and dandy if only I knew exactly how to get him out.
I hear footsteps and still as I try to listen to where they’re coming from. I think they’re from the area we’d just entered through, which would only allow us to be driven deeper into the room. Is there a way out from in here? I reach for Macy, unsure of where to go with her, but positive I’m not going to let her take the fall for this mess when I really don’t think she knew exactly what was going on here.
“Please! Please get me out, please!” Diego says, and the rise in his voice begins to make the others stir.
That’s when a far door I hadn’t previously seen swings open, and I realize we’re blocked in by people. I lurch back, pushing Macy toward a corner where she can hopefully take cover until I’ve done something about the intruders.
There’s nowhere to actually hide, and I find that when the two men immediately lock eyes with me, I dumbly stand there.
The man closest to me points, like words have left him. The other, realizing what’s going on, takes a step forward. “Hey, that’s the one they’re looking for. Grab him.” He darts in my direction, like he’s going to grapple with me, making me question if he even has a gun. If he doesn’t, this fight has quickly swung in my favor.
I grab for my shirt and toss it before shifting. I land on four paws and growl, letting them know I’m not to be fucked with. As one reaches for some type of phone or transmitter, I lunge forward, wanting more than anything to keep my location between us.
The one immediately becomes terrified and starts running back toward the door but the other pulls out something I have to assume is some type of taser. I can’t let them hit me with it, so I do everything I can to dodge the attack. I lunge to the right as he shoots and the prongs spin out, missing me as I rush toward him. I tackle the man to the ground, unsure of what I’m doing. Do I pin him there? Do I kill him? What the hell do I do? He struggles beneath me as the other moves up and swings something at me, driving me off the first man. I snarl at them as the man struggles to his feet and they both watch me closely. They should never have touched me.
I growl at them as the second man turns and reaches a cabinet, which he yanks open. And as the door swings open, I realize there’s a gun inside.
He yanks it out as I barrel into them. I hear the gun crack to life, but thankfully, the shot goes wide. The issue I have now is that the noise could be enough to draw unwanted attention. I tear both of them to the ground, grabbing the man’s arm in my mouth and breaking it, which immediately makes him release the weapon as he hollers out.
That’s when the door behind me opens and I shift my attention, prepared for the next attack, only to realize it’s Deke.
For a long moment, I’m not sure what to do. I should feel relief over having him arrive, but I’m quickly reminded that he’s the one who brought us here. He led us here, spinning tales of safety, so part of this could be his fault. I snarl at him, but I don’t want to step away from these two I currently have secured on the ground.
That’s when Deke pulls a gun out, holding it steady as he heads toward me, and I realize there really isn’t going to be a way out of this without a lot of death, likely my own included. I lift my lip to show him my fangs so he’s aware I’m not fucking around.
“Emery,” Deke says as I debate what to do. Do I kill these two and then turn on Deke? Will he shoot me before I do? Do I run? Is there anywhere I can even run to before he manages to shoot me in the back? “Emery, I need you to step back. I have them now.”
I hesitate. Is he… is he on my side? Is he on theirs? Does he want to trick me so I think he’s on my side in an attempt to get these two up so it’s three against one?
I growl, uncertain and anxious. I know Graham wouldn’t want me killing them, but I just want out. Why won’t anyone let me out of this hell? And why the hell am I separated from Graham?
“Emery, it’s okay. Just step off him,” Deke urges as he takes a small step forward.
Slowly, I lift my paw off the one man and then the other, backing up carefully as I watch Deke’s gun. Quick movement below me makes me draw back as pain spikes in my forearm. I realize the man has a small knife… or maybe a scalpel.
“Stop moving and stay on the ground,” Deke shouts as he rushes forward, gun clearly on them.
“What the fuck are you doing?” the guy waving the scalpel around yells.
Is he the one who’d been cutting into Raylon? Maybe he really just needs to die.
Graham and Quinn wouldn’t want me tearing them apart, so instead of ripping his head off and watching blood gush everywhere, I slowly back up, giving Deke some space.
“What the fuck are you doing? You’re supposed to be helping us,” the man says.
Deke doesn’t seem deterred as he holds his gun steady. “I was until I realized what was going on here. Now you’re going to drop the knife and put your hands on your heads. Both of you.”
The first man I’d attacked gives in before the second quickly follows. I set a paw on the dropped gun and skid it Deke’s way before he moves in. He grabs the guy who’d been more reluctant to listen, and instead of handcuffing him or holding him down, Deke marches him right over to one of the makeshift cells and shoves him inside before sliding the lock in place. Upon seeing this, the second guy debates running. I can see the muscles in his body tense but the second I growl at him, he sinks back down. He’d be dumb to try anything else.
Deke returns and finds the second man his very own cell before locking him up and turning to me. I warily stare at him.
“Emery… it is Emery, right?” he asks as he scrutinizes me.
I shift back, really hoping this isn’t a ruse to get me back into my human form. “What the fuck?” I growl.
He bows his head. “I’m so sorry—I never imagined any of this would happen. I never… I’m sorry.”
“Can you get me out?” I ask, desperate to get away from all of this. Honestly, I just want to go to the village and be safe for the first time in so many years.
Deke gives me a reassuring look. “I’m trying… but first… I have to do something. I have to expose this or they won’t stop, Emery. If we step outside, what’s to say they won’t keep doing it?”
And I realize how selfish it is of me to want to run and leave all of this behind. “What are they even doing?” I ask.
Deke looks around, but I can’t tell what he’s looking for. “Quick version. Stone’s group was originally funded through the military, so these guys were brought in to just sweep their involvement with Stone under the rug.”
That was a far too short version of what’s happening, but at least I get the gist of it. “Sweep… but… they’re just going to kill us all? And what about Quinn’s group? You think they’d take it lying down?” I ask. “Even if they got rid of every last one of us, Quinn’s pack would still remember.”
“I think they were hoping no one would listen to them because they’re shifters and wouldn’t have any proof by the time the evidence is eliminated. Or maybe they planned to keep them quiet some other way, but for now, we need to do something to stop them.”
“I’m… I’m IT,” Macy says, and I realize I’d momentarily forgotten her in the mess of it all.
Deke jumps and turns around, clearly having not noticed her in the corner.
“She’s fine, she’s with me,” I say.
“Shit, that startled me,” he says. “Okay… you… think you could help us?” He seems hopeful, but she really has no reason to risk everything for us.
She bites her lip but gives a small nod. “They have documentation of a lot of this shit. While this group wasn’t exactly involved in the creation and whatnot, they’ve been researching everything they could to get information about what was happening,” Macy says. “This group’s primary focus is shutting it down. They weren’t built just to stop the shifters. This is what they do. They’re pulled in to look into situations such as this and end them if needed. So I think I can get you enough information to help.”
“Fantastic,” Deke says as he holds out what looks like a key to me. “It’s for the doors on the cages. Let out those you know can help us and will respect you. We can’t have someone risking our lives in a panic to get out.”
I nod as I take the key and look over at their band of prisoners.
Macy rushes over to a computer and Deke follows as I wonder if it’s to assist her or if he doesn’t fully trust her. I walk toward Diego’s cage before my eyes settle on a shifter in animal form who is watching me closely.
“Kara?” I ask as I kneel down. She’s in her other form, so she doesn’t answer, but it has to be her. I don’t know her terribly well, but when we’d been placed in a cell together back in Mercer’s “care,” we worked together to escape. I guess there’s a bit of bonding that goes on with that. When she was caught by Mercer’s crew, I never fathomed she’d still be alive. I assumed they’d torture and kill her after she disobeyed.
“Stay in the room and don’t leave, got it?” I ask. She refuses to acknowledge me, so I assume she’s “got it” and unlock the door. She barges out and growls at Deke and Macy, which makes them both look over at us a bit uneasily.
“Um… Emery?” Deke says.
“It’s fine. Kara, they’re helping us. I swear to god if you eat them, I’m going to be fucking pissed,” I growl.
She must listen to at least some of that because she heads toward a door while flashing her fangs at both of them. Next up is one of Raylon’s assholes who sidles up to the door, so I just flip him off and continue on. He cusses at me, but I’m confident the world would be a better place without him.
At the far end of the room, near where I was grappling with the two men, I find Brennan stoically sitting there like his life isn’t in horrible danger. He’s kind of chilling, to be honest, and I find it really fucking weird, but he’s Rowan’s brother, so I have to help. I unlock his door and hope he’ll keep Kara in line as I walk over to Diego who is giving me all these weird smiles, which I think he’s trying to get to come across as friendly.
“Your face makes me want to leave you here,” I announce.
His expression twists to irritation. “You’re such an asshole.”
“Thank you,” I say, rather pleased he sees my true self. “But right now, I’m the asshole with the keys.”
“Sadly, you are,” he growls. “Come on.”
“You’ll be my bullet sponge? My meat shield?” I ask.
“Yes, sure. Whatever. Let me out.”
Grudgingly, I do. “You watch the other door,” I say, since Kara is staring at the one.
“Fine, fine,” he says and hurries over to it. As soon as he’s in position, I head over to Deke.
“You guys good yet?” I ask, anxious to get out of here. How much longer could this possibly take?
Macy shakes her head but refuses to look from the computer. “Give me a few minutes. Right now, things are set so they can’t be sent outside the network.”
Kara growls and I look over at her, assuming that means someone’s coming. I walk toward her, listening carefully to what she could possibly be hearing. Wishing there were a way to lock the door, I move up to it, but the only locking mechanism seems to be controlled by the keycard these sick fucks all seem to have on hand.
“Help me push something in the way of the door,” I say, since it swings inward.
Brennan shifts and walks over to a large cabinet that he begins pushing. I grab onto it and drag it in front of the door a moment before I hear it beep as someone swipes their card then tries to swing it in. When it’s stopped by the cabinet, there’s clear confusion.
Kara growls even after I wave at her to get her to shut up.
“There’s something going on. Alert the others and get around the other side of the room,” a woman on the other side of the door shouts.
I look over at Deke who is staring in our direction, clearly having heard what was happening. “We’re hurrying,” he tells me, but I’m not sure that’s going to be enough. They now know our location and could be bringing countless armed men with them when there are only five of us that can fight.
While they hurry with the computer, I head over to the other door and make Diego help me block it the best we can.
“Shit, shit, shit,” Macy says. “I think they know what we’re doing. The computer just kicked me out. I’ll have to get back in.” She ditches that one and rushes over to another as I realize that it’s not going to matter if we get this information out or not, we’ll all be too dead to care.
There’s a bang on the far door. Both doorways are now covered by men with possible guns, and here we sit with no way out. I shift my attention to Deke, who is starting to look more uncertain by the minute.
“This is Suzuki. Can you tell me who is in there?” the woman asks, voice loud enough to make it through the door. I look over at Deke who seems to be weighing his options.
“I can access the security cameras from here,” Macy says as I lean in to get a better look.
“I thought they said they were down,” I say.
“They were but they must have them going now. I’m sure they want to be able to follow us or see what we’re doing.” She points at the computer screen that shows a video of what seems to be the hallway we’d come in through. The amount of people flooding into it makes me realizes just how fucked we are.
“It’s Deke,” he says as he walks over to the door to hear her better. “What you are doing is horribly immoral and illegal. Just let us walk free. You know it’s the right thing to do. These are innocent men and women you have in here.”
“They’re not,” she says, voice calm and collected. “You don’t understand what they are. You’re being blinded by them. They are not natural!”
Deke shakes his head and by the way his eyes dart around, I can tell he’s also realizing that our odds are shit. “Don’t try to make them out to be monsters just to justify your actions. Some of them have done nothing wrong. You met Emery—you saw that he just wanted to go home. He was finally free of that hell and you dragged him into another. I can’t believe you pulled me into this. You tried forcing me to be a part of this horror while telling me you were helping them. You wouldn’t have lied to me about what was going on here if you weren’t aware how wrong this is.”
“I understand your issue, but they’re not what you think they are. They can’t be fixed, Deke. We tried fixing one in the past, only to have them kill multiple innocent people.”
“Right now, none of you look innocent as you bang against the doors with loaded guns and lock them into cages like animals,” Deke says as he glances over at Macy who is still hard at work.
At least if Macy gets the information out, our deaths won’t be in vain because the security camera she occasionally flickers over to shows that we’re extremely outnumbered. There are no windows, nothing. No way out of here.
Deke turns away from the door and walks up to me. “Emery, the other shifters are going to follow you over me. I want you to keep them together. Whatever door the guards try to come through first, we have to work together to keep blocked, understand?”
“But if we don’t fight—”
He shakes his head. “No, our goal isn’t to fight. We just have to stay alive until Macy can get this information out. They won’t be able to kill you guys once it’s out. My team—my original team—will back us up. I know they will. They just need a reason that allows them to go against these guys. Understood?” he asks.
I grudgingly nod. “Okay.”
“Good.”
As the minutes stretch on, the people in the hallways grow quiet, but when Macy checks on them, they seem to be deep in discussion. After about twenty minutes, Macy turns to us with a smile. “I got it through. Deke, I have an email opened up for you to reach out to your team, but at this time of night will anyone get it in time? Do you have any other way to contact them?”
“Not without a phone. I’ll mass send it. There are a few who will be working these hours that should be able to get it out,” he says as he hurries over.
That’s when there’s a loud bam against the door. Brennan and I hurry over and press up against it, hoping to keep the cabinet in place as Kara comes over to help, still in her shifted form.
Deke is working quickly at the computer as Macy paces next to him with the occasional anxious glance at the door. She’s probably regretting being dragged into this mess, and I don’t blame her. She looks back at me and catches my eyes, and I wish I could convey that it means a lot that she’d take this risk for us. But instead, I’m forced to brace as the door is flung into the cabinet again.
Macy reaches for the computer and switches it to the cameras for a moment. “Get away from the door!” she yells a moment before I hear gunfire. The doors clearly aren’t reinforced, and it’s proven by the way the shots cut straight through it and the cabinet.
Brennan lets out a groan as he steps away from it, and I question if he’s been shot. Kara lunges forward and as the door is shoved inward, she squeezes through the gap before I can stop her and tears the first man down. The gunfire immediately hesitates before it starts up again, this time surely aimed at Kara. I can hear people scattering and screaming, but the shots keep going.
I don’t know what to do. I know she needs help, I know she can’t take them all on herself, but the moment I shift, Deke grabs me by the neck and drags me back.
“There are too many,” he says as I catch a glimpse through the cracked-open door of Kara tearing into the throat of a man. I start to pull free from Deke’s grip just as another burst of gunfire explodes, deafeningly loud as it funnels into the room I’m in. I jerk back as I see Kara fall down, shot repeatedly. Deke yanks me out of the way and slams the door shut, ramming the cabinet in front of it.
The moment the gunfire ceases, Deke yells, “I have a body cam on me right now that gets transferred back to my team. If you shoot me, they will know immediately. I have no weapons on me. I repeat. I am unarmed.” I can’t tell if he’s telling the truth or not, but it makes them hesitate long enough that we might make it out.
I stand stone-still as I realize that I’d just let Kara get killed.
“It’s not anyone’s fault,” Deke says as he sets a hand on my head. “She ran out when you told her to stay here.”
I shift back, but I don’t answer. It’s not that Kara and I were necessarily close. It’s that Kara and I both knew how toxic this world we’d been dragged into was. We both wanted one thing: to get out. But it was damn near impossible to do. And now… when we’re so close… she’ll never get to see what it was like.
“Something’s… something’s happening,” Macy says as she points to the screen. I walk over to see what she’s talking about as I watch panic unfold. Multiple people turn and begin to run away from the door but it’s not like the threat from Kara is still there.
“What is it?” Deke asks as he leans into the computer.
“More than half of them are running…” Macy starts flipping cameras, shuffling through them as she follows the fleeing men. “They’re heading straight out the front… are they just running away?”
I lean closer to the monitor. “What’s that?” I ask as I see a flash of movement outside.
“I don’t know,” she realizes.