“You’ve never had much foresight Cullen, have you? Claudius and I are going to break the mating bond constraints. He already did it once with me. I want the women so they can breed the next generation of my wolves. Perfectly bred, trained wolves who will never disobey and always follow my commands.”
Cullen swallowed hard. “You want to find these women so you can rape them and force them to breed for you?”
Cullen never got to hear what Kendrick would answer because the door flung open causing the whole room to vibrate.
“Kendrick, we have a problem.”
Cullen would know that voice anywhere. Claudius. The man who had come with Kendrick to the island to talk them into the scientific experiments. He was the scientist who felt he could harness the power of the wolf within them to create some sort of genetically altered army. He was the man who Kendrick had betrayed them all for. At the sound of his voice, Cullen wanted to break his shackles and rip off the man’s face.
“I told you I wasn’t to be disturbed for several hours. That’s all I asked for. A few hours to catch up with my right hand man, or wolf as the case may be, Cullen Murphy.” Cullen rolled his eyes. Kendrick was so self-satisfied. He really thought he was amusing. It was pathetic. Why had he ever thought the man was important?
Because he was our Alpha. He wasn’t a sick wolf then. I can smell his derangement. Kendrick was different.
Was Kendrick legitimately sick? Cullen hadn’t considered the possibility and didn’t really want to dwell on it now. Wolves had gotten sick before without destroying their entire pack. If the man had needed help, they would have assisted him. He believed that to his very core.
Next to Kendrick, Claudius panted like he was out of breath. It was kind of a funny image. Cullen had never seen an out of breath pig, but he would imagine that was exactly what one would look like. Although Cullen couldn’t turn his head completely to stare at him, he was suddenly struck by the fact that neither Kendrick nor Claudius had aged a day in thirty-three years. How was that possible? Claudius wasn’t a wolf. He should have aged as normal humans did. The second Kendrick gave up his Alpha status and was ousted from the pack he would have started aging again. Not to mention he had killed his own mate. That would have assured the aging process would continue. But neither man looked a day older than thirty.
Something is very wrong. He knew he didn’t need to tell this to his wolf but if felt good to share his misgivings.
Several things, I suspect.
“We’ve lost the girl.”
“You’ve what?” Cullen knew that tone well. In the past, he would have begged and cowed to not hear that pitch in Kendrick’s voice. Now he reveled in it. They’d lost the girl. That meant Summer had escaped. He tamped down on his joy. He wouldn’t give Kendrick a foothold.
“She got away.”
“How? The demons shot her up with the spell. She couldn’t even speak to her wolf or communicate telepathically. She was as weak as a baby rabbit.”
Cullen swallowed. Summer couldn’t communicate at all? How would she get help? Damn, he wanted off this table. He strained at his bonds, mentally cursing Kendrick.
“I wasn’t there, Kendrick. I gave her to four of my best men. They were just to do what you said and stick in her in the cage. But she bested them. Shawn said she was like a rabid wolf. She attacked them. One of them died and the other may be gone before the night is over.”
“Blah-blah-blah Claudius. I gave you instructions. I wanted you to see to her. Did you think she’d be a puppy? She’s a Westervelt Wolf and the mate of the most lethal wolf-shifter to ever walk the earth. How did she get out of the building?” Kendrick started to pace. “I wanted you to cage her, with as much force as necessary.
Claudius shook his head. “That’s part of the confusing part. We don’t know how she got out of the Institute. She just vanished.”
“Vanished? People do not just vanish.” Kendrick stormed towards the door. As he approached the threshold he called out behind him. “Watch Cullen. We don’t want any more vanishing acts.”
Cullen couldn’t have been more excited. His girl had gotten out. He shouldn’t have been surprised. She was remarkable in every possible way.
Claudius crossed to Cullen. “I’m not worried. She’ll be back for you.” Claudius crossed to the corner of the room and Cullen could hear him fiddling with something. When he returned he had an IV bag in his hand. He attached the bag to the needle reciprocal in Cullen’s arm. As immobile as Cullen currently was he had no means of stopping him. He could only watch as a bag full of blue liquid started to drip into through a tube and head towards his hand.
He had no idea what Cullen had just injected him with but he couldn’t imagine it was a good thing.
Claudius smiled and tilted his head to the left. “She’ll be back for you and when she comes we’ll have both of you again. Kendrick will have his right hand man, who is unable to disobey him, and I’ll have my seer and the first breeder for the group. You’ll both finally live useful lives.”
Cullen shook his head back and forth once. He gritted his teeth against the burn that had started in his hand from the blue liquid. “She’ll never come back. You’ll never catch her.”
“Ah, but you are truly in love. She would never desert you.”
“What have you given me?” It burned like hell. In a second he might scream out loud. He concentrated on his breathing.
“Just something to make you mad.”
Cullen raised an eyebrow. “What? Why would you want to make me mad?”
“You won’t be the same wolf when Summer returns. She’ll never want to look at you again.”
But then Claudius didn’t know Summer. Nothing would stop her. He just had to hope she was somehow stopped from coming back.
“What will I be if I’m not the same wolf?”
Claudius shrugged as he crossed to the other side of the room hidden in the shadows. “One of ours. You will be a puppet. The great Cullen Murphy, the man Kendrick trained to be the best killer in the world, reduced to a drone controlled by me.”
“Claudius, there are so many reasons why you are going to die. You killed Summer’s parents. For that, I will make your death painful. You played a huge role in the destruction of my pack, for that you will die slowly.”
Claudius had the audacity to laugh. “Oh, you are amusing Mr. Murphy. Quite amusing.”
But he wouldn’t always find him amusing. Cullen would guarantee it. Everything he’d said would come true. Cullen always won and always kept his word. Nothing had changed. Now he was just doubly motivated.
Chapter Thirteen
The woman talked incessantly but at least she seemed friendly and kind. If she behaved any other way, Summer would rip out her throat and she could easily accomplish the task since for some reason the woman trusted her enough to let her wander around the decrepit looking RV that had furnishings circa nineteen-seventy-two uncaged.
“So did I tell you my name is Faith?”
Oh, only about five hundred times, but Summer couldn’t blame her for her babbling. She wouldn’t have known what to do with a person she thought was a captive wolf-shifter either if she didn’t happen to be one herself. In fact, Summer had gone so far out of her way to behave and not cause the woman problems, she’d be surprised if Faith didn’t start to suspect she was actually a regular wolf and not a shifter at all.