Page 75 of The Magic of Revenge
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‘Warrior is on the move,I repeat, Warrior is on the move. Alpha team, high alert,’Napoleon squealed and I snapped to attention, looking around to see where my mate was.
I must have slept longer than I thought; my head felt fuzzy.
‘You were out for about an hour,’Bagheera supplied as we spotted Sprout walking at a fast clip down the street, heading deeper into the town.
‘I'm going to shift and follow her. Not sure how the townspeople would react to a big ass panther prowling through the streets.’
Easy as breathing, I shifted back into my mage form. Thankfully I'd had the good sense to wait until I was in the cover of the trees to strip and then shift, so my clothes were still whole.
‘The townspeople would rather see me than your naked ass,’Bagheera chuckled and I rolled my eyes.
‘Agree to disagree,’I shot back, crossing the street and quickly eating up the path I'd seen my girl take.
Napoleon was on my shoulder in his usual perch, muttering French curse words at the people we passed, or as he called them, 'civilians'. He really thought he was a tiny general. Who was I to tell him otherwise?
I saw a flash of red hair a ways down the street just before she entered a building. No longer having fear of being caught, I sped up and stopped at a tattoo parlor. Her coconut and vanilla scent told me I was definitely in the right place. Why did she go into a tattoo shop, though? Inhaling, I relaxed when I scented Bram's old book and coffee scent and Faris' more tangy copper aroma. He also had a faint smell of cherries underneath the metallic scent. He shouldn't have smelled as good as he did, but I'd be lying if I said his scent was anything other than enticing.
Leaning back against the brick building, I decided I'd just wait it out. It seemed like everything was fine, there was no immediate threat.
But that could change in a second.
I scrolled through my phone in a sad attempt to distract myself. The memes were lame though, nothing was making me laugh. Opening up my news app, I nearly dropped my phone when I read the headline of the first article,'Montague Industries Making Great Progress in Cellular Manipulation.'
Skimming the words, my stomach bottomed out. Fuck.
'Asrael Montague has been continuing to make history with his scientific research regarding the supernatural and their affinities.'
I skipped ahead, not needing to read about his "accomplishments".
'The trial, though not perfect, is being considered a huge success. The mice that were injected with the supernatural serum created by Mr. Montague himself, experienced substantial physical and mental changes. Some of the test subjects grew to nearly five times their original size, while others became aggressive and violent to the point of self-harm and destruction of other mice.
'This may not seem like a successful experiment, but considering this has been a lifelong project of Mr. Montague's and all of his previous test subjects died fairly early on in the trial, this is promising. When asked why he wanted to come forward now to announce his research, Mr. Montague had this to say: "Supernaturals and humans alike deserve to have more answers regarding magical affinities and why certain people have powers and others don't. It is my hope to use my findings to help give back to the community, to the world. Imagine if we could create a vaccine that could heal or cure illness? Or remove affinities that are dangerous and harmful? That would of course be on a voluntary basis. I'm excited to see where the future takes us."
'We're excited too. Montague Industries is encouraging any supernatural that wishes to help further science to donate their blood for study. Details can be found on their website, or...'
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
‘Abort mission. ABORT MISSION!’Napoleon squealed and I fumbled my phone, wincing when it hit the pavement at my feet. Bending quickly, I snatched it and praised the stars for indestructible phone covers.
"Kai?"
Shit.‘Be cool, Commander,’Napoleon ordered and I looked at the trio that had just caught me.
"Oh, heyyy." I ran a hand through my hair and leaned back against the wall, I could be cool and shit. "Fancy seeing you here," I added and Napoleon snorted.
"Is everything okay at home?" Sprout asked, worry clear in her voice.
"Yes! I mean, yeah. Everyone's fine. I was just out for a walk. Seeing if I could find any other animals to turn into." I shrugged and Bram lifted a brow.Damn. He knows I'm lying.
My mate exhaled in relief. I noticed that she was holding each of the other men's hands and I felt like an idiot for not trusting that they would keep her safe. Of course, they would. She was just as important to them as she was to me.
"So, what animals?" Bram asked.
"Huh?"
He smiled slowly. "The animals you were trying to shift into? Which ones have you tried?"
