Page 58 of Broken Wolf Heart
“I’m fine,” he says, folding his arms behind his back.
Behind him, Crow frowns but says nothing.
“What did I miss?” Mia asks sharply.
Davina stares steadily at Grey, and I swear the air around us begins to thicken.
“Nothing,” Grey says, and the pressure dissipates as suddenly as it came.
Davina returns to the computer and hits a few keystrokes. Then she pulls a thumb drive free and holds it out.
“These are the names of the people they experimented on. And the medical outcomes. Tests, notes, stuff like that. There’s more about the LAG gene itself in the deeper files. You’rewelcome to them, but it’s pretty science-heavy with lots of medical jargon.”
“Thanks,” I tell her.
Before I can reach for it, Mia steps in front of me and snags it out of her hand.
Davina doesn’t look insulted. In fact, she barely looks at Mia at all. Instead, I feel the full weight of her stare. And whatever secrets are locked behind it.
“Will it tell me how to reverse it?” I ask.
She hesitates, her brow furrowing.
“It’s a gene activation,” I say, my voice pitching high as fear spikes. “There has to be a way to turn it off again.”
“I’m afraid that’s not possible,” she says.
I tense, the fury from earlier rising swiftly. Grey steps up beside me, pressing his hand to the small of my back. Unlike before, he’s now calm. As if he anticipated the answer already.
Dammit.
He already knew there was no cure.
“We came here for answers,” I say bleakly. “You’re telling me nothing can be done.”
“I’m telling you nothing can reverse it,” she says, glancing between Grey and me. “Whatever you can do to harness the power of your wolf… I don’t know. I’m not a shifter.”
“We’ll look through the files,” Grey says, but I can’t summon much hope in that. Not when Davina’s looking at me like she already knows it won’t yield what I’m looking for.
“Did you infuse magic into the drugs they gave us?” I ask.
Silence follows, so heavy that I immediately know the answer is yes. I realize belatedly the others already knew it too.
Rather than give me a confirmation, Davina says, “Franco didn’t just see you as an heir, you know. He saw you as a weapon. You’re the evolution of the alpha line. The first of a new kind.”
She glances from me to Grey, but I don’t look at him. Ican’t. My stomach roils with the thought of what Franco intended to use me for. What I’m capable of. Suddenly, injecting myself with the serum Vincenzo gave me feels like a terrible idea.
“Let me guess, there’s no way to remove the magic either,” I snap.
Davina doesn’t answer.
“I want it shut down,” I rasp, not looking at anyone in particular. “Everything.”
Severin makes a noise of alarm.
His nostrils flare. “You don’t have the authority.”
“She has all the authority,” Grey says.
