CHAPTER 80

Even with my helpful information it was a very long time before Anthony came to my room. The hunting pack had returned, empty handed, without even a clue of who had been shooting. A fact that made them very angry but had me relieved. It was the best case scenario that the werejaguar sniper had fled, anything else would mean his job wasn't finished.

So he'd sniped Leanne before she could spill any potential information and taken off. Aiden had probably been right then, we might have gotten more out of her if we'd left her bugged for longer.

A cleaning crew had arrived and tidied up Leanne's body, a second wave of cleaners working on the room itself, tearing it apart and discovering all the little secrets I already knew where there.

I got tired. It had been a very long time since I'd slept last. Eventually I caved and crawled onto the end of the bed, on top of the duvet and pulled the decorative throw blanket over myself.

Micheal watched me warily, as if sleeping might be some kind of trick to escape, but other than that he didn't interfere and he didn't speak. I didn't know what he was thinking, but it was clear he was deep in whatever musings had taken a hold of him.

You would think, after all the excitement, and then being trapped in the ranch house, awaiting the verdict of my innocence or guilt, I'd be too wired to sleep. At least struggle with it a bit.

Conversely, my eyes dropped like lead balloons as soon as my head hit the bed and I drifted into sleep.



*Pain, unlike anything I'd ever experienced raged through my body. Fire along my limbs burning and aching. I still couldn't move, my arms and legs banded to the cold metal table. My head as well, now double secured, a metal plate on either side of my face, so I could see no one. Could not make eye contact. They'd learned.*

*I was on the table again, but the cutting and slicing, the injecting, they were nearly over. I could feel the incisions they had made, still fresh, my own blood still thick in the air. All along my limbs...straight to the bone.*

*It was bad, but not nearly as bad as when they'd done my spine.*

*"You can't keep pushing her, she will break." A voice, unfamiliar...and yet, in the back of my mind completely familiar...spoke. ....Father.*

*"Then she breaks, and we start over anew. Better we know that about her now, than when she's an agent in the field." This voice was familiar. So, so very familiar. And hated. I felt the rage rising up within me. I looked around for an outlet, a release, but the metal plates prevented any eye contact. The man I'd held before had driven himself mad, ran into a wall repeatedly until his own skull smashed in.*

*I'd been punished for that, and the memory made me shudder against the table.*

*"She's nine. You aren't creating an agent, you're torturing a child."*

*"A werewolf is not a person, as defined by the United States Government. As you well know, and I didn't bring you in to lecture me with your bleeding heart. You will bypass the legalities and get us access to those micro-synaptic boosters, or you will be effectively retired. Am I clear?"*

*There was complete silence in the room, though I could sense the heartbeats of several humans and three wolves. Even with a child's mind I realized that retired must have meant something very very bad.*

*There were footsteps and the door to the operating room swung open and closed.*

*"Do you think he'll be a problem?" One of the other voices asked.*

*A scoffing noise. "He knows his people would be the price of his betrayal. I wish he wasn't a wolf, but he's our best bet finding a route through the black market for our supplies. Now, do you think the nano-filliments have taken? You promised me her bones would be good to four thousand pounds."*

*The other voice that had spoken, the one questioning if the wolf would be a problem, hesitated.*

*"There's only one way to find out."*




I woke when someone nudged me, shooting upright, the blinding daylight of the room disorienting. Before I could even think I had him pinned against the far wall, a fist raised and ready to smash his throat. A move that would easily end a human and greatly incapacitate a regular wolf.

The air moved in the room, someone around me reaching for weapons. I turned the tables, whipping around so that the warm body I had pinned was now in front of me, my arm around his throat, and my own back to the wall.

It happened so fast there was no time for rational thought. All I knew was pain, never ending pain and fear, but I'd be damned if I took it laying down.

A scent caught my attention, familiar, and for a moment I was caught in a sort of in between state. Half fully in the moment of what I once was, and half awake in my current reality.

Then, slowly the memory of the dream...no, the other reality began to fade.

As horrible as it was I tried to hold onto it. But the details blurred together, melding and becoming fuzzy. Until all I was left with was in impression of a medical procedure, someone I hated, and my father...and five guns pointed at me, with five wolves behind them all pale and wide eyed.

Anthony, I realized. That's who had nudged me. Not some terrible memory from my past.

I released him, stepping to the side, my hands raised and empty showing I was no threat.

Only, no one believed that anymore. They kept their guns raised, their fear palpable in the air. Heartbeats pounding rapidly.

I could have killed them. All five of them and Anthony in the time it took for them to realize what was going on. And now they knew it too.

Anthony stepped away from me and turned to face me. The realization was there, in the lips pulled tightly, the muscle ticking in his jaw.

"What's happened to you?" he wondered, his voice tight. "This is not the Raven I know."

"Unfortunately, it is. This has always been me. Only I'm coming to know more about myself."

Like how completely and absolutely different I was from any other wolf.

He sat with that for a moment. The security team didn't seem to know what to do with themselves. Their guns were only half raised, there hadn't been enough time for anything else. They didn't want to bring them up fully, but they didn't want to drop them either.

Anthony looked like hell. He had deep, dark circles under his eyes, his skin had lost the youthful glow it once had, back when he'd spent time outside, instead it was dull, fine lines gathering on his forehead and around his mouth. His lustrous hair was dull and unwashed, though still tied tightly as he'd once liked it.

"We investigated your claims. The data from the phone was wiped clean before we got to it, which in itself confirms suspicion. The plans for the mind manipulation helmet...everything...fits. But the biggest confirmation was Leanne."

I nodded. Because someone sniping her was, of course, the most damning evidence of all. Some of the heavy tension I'd been holding melted.

Finally...finally, something I had done had gone right. Certainly my troubles weren't over, but with the organization returning to almost normal maybe I could focus on what else I needed to do.

"So now what?" I took a step toward him, but froze when he instinctively stepped back. The security team flinched, but I caught their intent. They would raise their guns if I attacked. And they weren't certain I wasn't going to attack.

And this was why mother had been adamant about hiding my power. At least it was one of the many reasons.

Hurt sliced through me. Not the sharp stinging that I vaguely remembered from my childhood, but a deeper, more bruising pain. I was completely and absolutely alone.

"I will not forget that your intent was well meaning," Anthony was choosing his words carefully. Unlike the warm way he spoke to me when we had been friends, or the fiery passion with which we'd fought when we'd been lovers, this speech was calculated and careful. He didn't trust me, and somewhere, deep down, he was afraid. Afraid of what I was. What I was capable of.

He couldn't control me and to him to the entire pack, that meant I was a liability.

"...But?" I squared my shoulders, and that seemed to break some of the formality. He blew out a frustrated breath.

"Raven, you betrayed the pack, multiple times. You subverted our security, bugged the house, our headquarters, gave that information to a rival pack, ran off more than once causing chaos, and interfered with a direct order I gave. The organization is in shambles, I look weak and incapable. Half the Caporegimes are calling for your immediate execution, and the other half are pulling away from my control..."

The accusations were true, even if they were unfair, so I didn't counter them. I just stood stoically and let him finish, no matter the torrent of emotions swirling inside.

"I cannot protect you, I obviously cannot control you, and worst of all," he ran a hand through his hair, a few of the strands pulling loose and falling flat against his face, "I don't think I can count on you."

I stored that little stab of hurt away, keeping my face neutral. I wasn't certain what I had expected from all this. I knew how he would feel about my actions, and yet I'd believed I had no choice. I wanted to believe that he was still speaking with Leanne's influence, but I realized it didn't matter if he was. This was exactly how he felt at this moment.

"I don't know if Rob knew what you were," he looked at me seriously, "but if he did, then I believe he made a mistake not sending you away that night. You are a threat to the organization. You are a threat to me." He was growling now. Angry and regretful and more serious than I'd ever seen him before.

No. No I wasn't going to break. I wasn't going to give anyone the satisfaction of witnessing my feelings. I shoved them away and drew on a calm indifference, a mask that felt familiar as soon as I donned it.

"I will give you twenty-four hours, once you're escorted from this property, in respect for the fact that you revealed a danger to the organization. Twenty-four hours to leave our territory. After that I will order you killed on sight."


** END OF PART 1**