Page 21 of His Mark

She took a slow breath. “But it’s a lie.”

The words hung heavy in the air, sinking into my bones.

“What do you mean?” I asked quietly, trying to control my growing sense of alarm.

Lia’s fingers clenched into fists. “A shifter scientist—one of their own—came forward with proof. The drug does make the shifter female babies fertile, but there’s a cost. The pregnancy could kill the mother. Even if she survives the birth—and the chances are low—her lifespan would be significantly shortened.”

I stared at her, my entire body going rigid.

“How do you know this?”

She let out a slow, shaky breath. “Because I saw the research myself.”

My stomach twisted. “Lia?—”

“I escaped,” she cut in, her voice urgent. “I saw what they were doing. I saw what would happen if the drug gets distributed. If the wolves start using it, it’s only a matter of time before the human population is completely wiped out. Either we die in childbirth, bear them as many children as they demand, or we die years—decades—before we’re supposed to. And they don’t care, Silas. They don’t care if it kills us as long as they get what they want.”

My hands clenched into fists now, too. My wolf snarled inside me, rage twisting deep in my chest.

She reached for me, her fingers gripping my wrist. “Girls are kept ‘pure’ until eighteen. That’s the law. And then they’re taken and bred. I was designated to bear three shifter children—three, Silas. And after that, once they’ve drained everything they can from our bodies, we’re released back into the human population. Like it’s a gift. Like they’re giving us our lives back.” Her laugh was hollow, bitter. “They say, if we survive the breeding cycle, we’re free to have families of our own. Human partners. Human babies. Most of us don’t even live long enough to get that far.” Her voice dropped. “And with the drug, it’s only going to get worse. I had to run. I had to get out. I barely made it. Now I need your help. They’re going to start using the drug soon; it’s in the testing stages now, but once that’s over, it’ll be the end for humanity in that city.”

I forced myself to breathe, my mind racing.

I met her gaze, my voice rough. “And you think I’m the only one who can stop this?”

Her lips parted slightly, her pulse hammering against my fingertips.

“Yes,” she whispered. “I do.”

She was looking at me like I was the answer, like I was the one person in this world who could fix what was coming, who could stop it. The truth was I wasn’t sure I could.

I had spent years building this life, this sanctuary, for the wolves who had broken away from the corruption of the city, for those who had chosen to fight against what they were making us be. Out here, we had rules. We had control. But we didn’t have numbers.

Now Lia was sitting in my bed, bare and beautiful, looking at me with those pretty, desperate green eyes, asking me to fight a war I wasn’t sure I could win.

For years, I had told myself that staying away was the only way to survive. That the city, the politics, the war for control over humans—none of it was my fight anymore. I had done my part: I had left.

But Lia?

She had never left it behind.

She had clawed her way through hell, fought her way out of the city with the kind of reckless, brutal survival instinct that I had always known was inside of her. Now she was here, asking me to go back, asking me to help.

I wanted to. Fuck, I wanted to.

But could I?

Would my pack follow me? Would my wolves, many of whom had already sacrificed everything to escape the city, be willing to march back into the same nightmare we had bled to escape? And if they wouldn’t, if I had to do this alone, was I strong enough to stand against the wolves who ruled that city?

There was no way to answer that.

“When?” I asked softly. “When are they going to start using the drug on the human women?”

“In just a few more months. They’re finishing up some last-minute testing over the coming weeks, but once the clinical trials are complete, it’s only a matter of time before they start using it in mass quantities,” she replied.

I didn’t answer right away. I let the silence settle between us for a moment before I wound my arms around her, just enough to test her reaction. She didn’t flinch, didn’t retreat, but I caught the way her breath quickened, the way her fingers twitched slightly at her sides, like she was deciding whether to fight me or not.

Good.

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