Page 8 of Freed Wolfsbane

Clark pushes up his glasses with one hand and gestures to his screen with the other. “We are uncertain what exactly it means for the wider shifter suppression project until we see it happen more. However, we need time to analyze the data before being equipped to compare this instance to another one.”

“Then stop wasting time yapping and figure it out.”

Clark jumps at Ryker’s bark. “Yes, sir,” he stutters as he rushes to type something into his machine.

Done terrorizing the scientists, Ryker stomps his way back to me. He clutches the brown stone in his hand again before passing through the containment circle. That must be some sort of charm from the mages working with him that allows him to travel freely.

The fact that the Knights are getting help from not just mages but the freaking mage council is a whole other can of worms I don’t really want to deal with right now. I’m sure that’s going to make my escape plan that much more complicated. And when I do get out of here, we have to find some way to deal with the mage council and stop them from supplying the Knights with magic.

His footsteps clomp loudly against the tile as he marches over to me. I fight the urge to flinch when he stops in front of me and raises his hand. Bracing myself for a blow, I lift my chin and look Ryker in the eyes. Instead of hitting me, he gives me the first genuine smile I’ve seen from him. “Good work, cur. You get to go back to your cell early today. Following directions and getting results will get you rewarded. As you’ve seen, the opposite will incur punishments. How are the ribs, by the way?”

He darts his hand out toward my previously injured side, and I flinch away from his touch. The last thing I want is for him to know I can heal myself with magic I’m not supposed to have. Wrapping my arms protectively around my side, I narrow my eyes on him. “Fine. Thanks for asking.”

Ryker barks out a laugh. “You’re not a very good actor, whelp. Your broken ribs will be a good reminder of what happens when you defy me. Now come on, time to go back to your temporary accommodations.” He gestures for me to walk in front of him. As I do, I contemplate what he means by “temporary,” which sounds so ominous in that context. “Not so fast. We can’t have you learning the layout of our facility.”

As I turn to ask him what he means, I feel a hard hit to the back of my head, and everything goes black.

CHAPTER5

XANDER

“We eliminated a little over five hundred miles in the bottom most edge of the southwest quadrant of our search area yesterday.” The brown-haired mage points out the area on the large map laid out on the table. As a piss-poor consolation prize for not going after Briar ourselves, the mage is keeping us up-to-date on the search.

While five hundred miles of progress seems good, it’ll take roughly fourteen days to clear the whole area at this rate. That means Briar could be stuck with the Knights for two weeks. I clench my jaw as I try not to imagine what they could do to her in that time. Her anguished scream when I was shot rings in my head and superimposes over the image of the Knights hurting her.

Squeezing my eyes shut, I do the best I can to push the image out of my thoughts before both my wolf and I lose it.

“Thanks for the update,” Saint chimes in when neither my brothers nor I say anything.

Kai opts to silently glare at the search area, like the force of his displeasure alone can find Briar. Bastian leans back in his chair, looking like he doesn’t have a care in the world. His eyes swimming with worry tell a different story, though.

And me? I’m sitting here like the broody asshole I was until I met Briar. In the space of a few months, she saw me in a way no one had in more than a decade. She saw through the snark and anger and aloofness that I use as a shield to keep people away. She saw how much I was hurting, even when I didn’t acknowledge it to myself. Briar had more patience for me than I deserved, and, for some unknown reason, she decided I was worthy of her love.

Not getting a chance to tell her that I’ve fallen for her makes my wolf howl mournfully in my mind. My chest feels like a two-ton dumbbell is crushing it at the thought of never being able to let her know how I feel.

It feels like the walls are closing in on me as I think about all the ways I was an asshole to Briar and all the things I should’ve done differently. She certainly deserved a hell of a lot better than how I treated her.

Forking a rough hand through my blond hair, the urge to run away from all the worry about my mate gets the better of me. “Are we done here? Or do you need us for something else?” My voice comes out sharper than I mean, but I’m past the point of caring.

My abrupt question makes the mage from Elemental Security raise his eyebrows at me. “You’re free to go. I’ll have an update for everyone who wants to hear it around seven tonight.” I give him a jerky nod as I shove up from my seat and stalk out of the room. As I’m leaving, I hear the mage say, “If you have a moment, McAlister, I could use another set of eyes on these field reports.”

I guess the two mages patched things up. Saint absolutely losing it at the other mage yesterday caught me by surprise. Since Briar came crashing into our lives, I’ve been the one with a short fuse. Instead of calming Bastian or Kai down, I’ve needed them to tell me to get my shit together on more than one occasion. It was easy to fall back into the peacekeeper role I’ve taken on for the past almost fifteen years and tell Saint to cool it.

Not bothering to stay to see how Saint responds, I purposely stride through our pack house, only offering a tight-lipped smile or small nod to those I pass. Usually, I’d try to talk with the people who work around the house, but I’m not in the right headspace at the moment.

Taking the wooden stairs two at a time, I practically sprint down to the basement and to our workout room. Since everything I’m feeling is too much to bottle up, I need an outlet. Pounding on the punching bag is the only one I can think of.

I yank at the buttons of my navy shirt, not caring that I tear a few off in my haste to get out of my restrictive dress clothes I threw on out of habit, forgetting for a brief moment that nothing about life right now is normal. I couldn’t be bothered to change once I realized, a mistake which I’ve regretted the whole meeting. I kick off my black oxfords but keep on my charcoal suit pants and white undershirt as I pad over the black mats to the stereo system. Hooking up my phone, I hit shuffle. The first notes of “Mr. Forgettable” by David Kushner start playing as I line up with the punching bag.

Not bothering to tape up my hands, I start hitting the bag as hard as I can. The repetitive thump of my knuckles striking the black leather lulls me into a sort of trance as I let all of my worry and heartache and fear for Briar pour out of me.

I lose track of time, continuing to punch even when my arms feel like Jello and sweat drips into my eyes, stinging them. I only stop to brush my hair out of my vision when I’m struggling to see the bag. Impatiently shoving my fingers through the damp strands, I’m surprised to see blood smeared on my knuckles. Inspecting both hands, I notice my knuckles are split and weeping crimson liquid.

Shrugging because the damage doesn’t matter to me, I’m about to get back to pounding on the bag when my gaze clashes with Kai’s in the mirror. He’s leaning against the wall behind me, his arms crossed. While he looks casual in his jeans, tee, and slouched posture, his navy eyes are sharp as he watches me.

He arches a black brow at me. “You done?”

I shrug. “Maybe. I don’t know. You gonna stop me if I’m not?” Apparently punching the bag isn’t doing enough because I find myself trying to goad Kai into a fight.

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