Page 112 of Sawyer

“Mine, Bast, and I… Fuck, I can’t let anything happen to her.” My eyes close, shutting out everything around me. I can’t imagine a future without her. “I couldn’t tell her how bad that bite can be, not when I’ve seen grown men die within a day of getting bit.” The venom turns the veins black, and eventually, the flesh around the bite dies.

“I don’t need to remind you of what’s on the line here.” Bast sighs heavily. “I don’t know how many gammas or omegas are there, and I suspect there are more than you know.”

“I agree.” My eyes open to find Rumor staring at me. We know what’s on the line—morals and our girl. It isn’t a choice anyone should have to make.

“You have a plan?” Sebastian asks, probably hoping I do so he doesn’t have to tell me what to do. Even I don’t want to put others before Sawyer.

“We are going to scout, but when we went to Bliss, the beta who runs the show mentioned her brother is missing. He’s a scientist.”

“You don’t think he’s missing, do you?” Bast asks with a scoff. “Not even I believe that.”

“Nor do I,” I admit. “That means there are probably medical supplies in there. Considering nightcrawlers are common out here, they might have an antivenom. The elixirs are nothing more than a Band-Aid on a death sentence.”

“Unless they have a healer,” Bast muses. “All right. Ping your location only when you need an extraction, and, Bryn, that better be when every single one of those bastards who did this are dead.”

“Sir?” I swallow, because there is heavy speculation that some of those behind this are council members. Until this moment, it was all just conjecture.

“All of them, Bryn. I don’t care who you find there.” Bast hangs up on me.

I drop the phone and crunch it beneath my boot. “You have the walkie-talkie?” I turn to Rumor. Earlier, we sat down and worked the wires of Sin’s radio and the walkie. We haven’t had a moment to listen until now.

“Yeah.” Rumor takes the subject change in stride and pulls out the device, setting it down in the dirt in front of him. Looking up, he checks to see if there’s anyone near us before he turns it on, keeping the volume low.

He clicks through the channels slowly, listening with closed eyes and more patience than any delta I’ve ever met.

“Subject four.” Static.

Rumor looks up at me, his eyes open and full of concern as he adjusts the dials to see if he can get a better signal.

“Heat.” Static. “Induced.”

“I’m not sure I want to hear whatever that fucker has to say.” Sin saunters over and sinks onto the ground in front of us, his eyes red and surrounded by dark circles. “She’s asleep, carry on.”

Rumor just shakes his head at him and tries again.

“Subject two-one-six, sedated from attempted escape. Brought in at midnight. No known pack. Attempt one to induce heat.”

Sin’s brows furrow as static fills the line before the same man begins again. In the background, we can almost hear shoes squeaking on the tile floor.

“Subject three-four-nine,” he says with a dramatic sigh, “remains unconscious and crying for her alpha. Increase pheromones to her room.”

All we can do is sit here in horror as the man on the walkie goes from room to room, giving orders on what to do with whoever is there.

Much of it is the same. None of them give him the reaction he wants, and he gets increasingly frustrated, occasionally snapping at another person.

“We need more alphas,” he mutters over the line. “Bring in the volunteers. See if they can get her started.”

“What the fuck does that mean?” Sin hisses into the dawn.

All I can do is shake my head. I don’t know what this man is talking about. I hoped to get a hold of a guard station with the radio, not tap into the facility itself.

“I need a gamma who’s already been exposed,” he demands of whoever is there with him.

Static fills the line, and nothing more comes over.

Rumor clicks the walkie-talkie off and hands it to Sin. “See if you can find a guard station. I’m going to scout.”

“I’m going with you.” There’s no way I’m allowing him to go out alone. It’s far too dangerous. There’s no way I can just sit here and wait this entire situation out. We need a plan, one that involves blowing up the facility.

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