Page 16 of The Lab: Rigg

He was definitely the pack Alpha, sizing up a newcomer. “I’ve heard a lot about you, Rigg.” He held out his hand to shake it. “Welcome to River’s Edge.”

“Thanks.” I returned his firm grip without being a dick. “Beautiful home.”

“Thank you.” He cracked a smile and nodded. “So, Dax says you’re one of us.”

“Well, I was genetically engineered like him, if that’s what he’s referring to.” I didn’t mean to bring down the mood, but I was anxious to find out what they knew and what they planned to do with the information.

“Me too!” Another alpha joined us as we headed inside the house to a large dining room that was set up as a war room. “I’m Willy, by the way. I’m just like Dax.” He shook my hand, and while he was still holding it, his eyes went wide and he stumbled backward. “Holy shit.”

“What?” Alden and I were both on alert, looking around for the threat.

“You’re a human shifter.” Willy looked like a kid on Christmas morning. “No animals…just people.”

Dax and Alden both stared, waiting for me to confirm or deny the accusations.

I was done lying and hiding. It was time to come clean, and I genuinely trusted these people. They were my last hope at taking down the lab once and for all. “Uh, yeah.” I cleared my throat and gave them the speech I’d been practicing in my head all day. “The labs were designed to create biological weapons. I can shift into any person.” I looked from Dax to Willy. “You guys can shift into any animal. Their ultimate goal, and the reason we need to stop them, is to create people who can shift into any animal, any person, or any combination.”

“Fuck.” Dax shook his head, and I could see his whole body shiver. “Our kids will never be safe.”

“Exactly.” My mind immediately went to Connor and Lily and any future children Niles and I had. “We can’t let them keep going.”

“We’re not going to.” Alden cleared his throat, and the room full of shifters and humans turned to us and gave their Alpha their full attention. “We finally have the intel and resources we need to take them down. Once and for all.”

After that, all I did was try to keep track of all the chatter as facts and numbers and locations were spewed into the room.

“We got leads at twelve sites, but there’s at least thirty more out there. We hit a few too soon, before the others were ready. We need to be smarter this time.” Another man, whose name I couldn’t remember, took the lead. He shared information about an insider from the lab that he’d recently connected with. The man had recently found religion and grown a conscience about all the innocents they were murdering, so he wanted to stop them almost as much as we did.

“We hit them all at once this time,” Alden said. “Everything else is suicide.”

“Your kind, my kind. Doesn’t matter to them. They’re only as strong as the network.” Willy clapped my shoulder.

“Their network’s pretty damn strong.” Dax shook his head and started to pace the length of the room. “Lots of loose ends. Lots of kills.”

“We’re ready for this.” Alden looked around the room and made eye contact with each of us. “We’ve been preparing for this moment for years. Our lives depend on it. Our families depend on it. We’ve got this.”

I remembered someone who had reached out to me about the lab. I thought they were some troll or a spy looking for escapees, but now I was certain their source was the same person who had contacted me. The claims were too similar to ignore. “Does the name Tylor mean anything to you?”

Alden grinned and signaled to Willy to hand over a burner phone. “He’s our guy. And if you know him too, then we’re on the right track.”

“Okay, so what’s next?” Now that I knew how close we were, I wanted to end things immediately.

“Tyler still works in IT at one of the labs.” Willy pointed to a document taped to the wall. “He has access to the systems that handle extractions, new recruits, security. Pretty much everything we need access to.”

“How can I help?” I was fired up and ready for action. Nothing was more important to me than keeping my family safe, and the only way I could do that was to take down the labs. As soon as possible.

Alden blew out a low breath and pulled out a chair for me to sit. “I’m glad you asked, because I think you’re gonna have one of the most important jobs.”

11

NILES

There was a crash and then another, which I quickly learned was what it sounded like when toys were flung across the room. Blocks and crayons were scattered on the floor from when we played earlier.

I winced as Connor dumped a bucket on the ground and ran through the pile, shrieking with triumph. “Daddy Niles, look what I made! It’s a Lego ‘splosion.”

“It certainly is.” I sighed heavily as I went over to clean up the mess before I was stepping on them with bare feet. I’d learned pretty quickly that those little blocks did more damage than a mess of plastic soldiers, little race cars, and bouncy balls put together. “Let’s get those picked up, bud.”

Lily darted out after him so fast that all I saw from the corner of my eye was a blur of blonde hair and mischief. I was getting good at knowing when to chase them down and when to let them run it out. I usually got it right, and it was the best way to avoid a tantrum of epic proportions. Those little lungs packed some power. What I couldn’t avoid was the sense of panic rising in my chest. How the hell did Rigg manage with these two whirlwinds on his own? Didn’t matter since he wasn’t alone anymore.

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