Page 114 of The Alpha's Fallen Spell
Voices echo from ahead—clinical, discussing Fiona like she’s a specimen rather than a person. My vision blurs red at the edges, but I force myself to maintain control. Rage without discipline will get her killed.
The door is reinforced steel, but the lock is standard. I work quickly, my picks dancing through the mechanism with practiced ease. The voices on the other side grow more urgent.
“The sedative isn’t holding. She’s fighting it off faster than projected.”
“Double the dose. We need her compliant for the next phase.”
“Sir, her vitals are spiking. If we push much harder—”
“She’ll survive. She’s designed to. That’s what makes her so valuable.”
The lock clicks open. I ease the door ajar and peer through the gap. The scene inside makes my wolf howl for blood.
Fiona is strapped to a medical table in the center of the room, intravenous lines running into both arms. Her face is pale but conscious, gray eyes blazing with fury as she strains against reinforced restraints. To her left, Alex is similarly secured, though he appears to be unconscious.
Three figures move around them. Two I recognize as Olivia and Dylan, now dressed in lab coats instead of café uniforms. The third is a man I know all too well: Mathew, the Silver Ring researcher who destroyed Maya’s human life and nearly killed her in the process.
He’s supposed to be dead. I saw the facility collapse with him inside it. But here he is, very much alive and orchestrating whatever nightmare they have planned for my mate.
“The blood work confirms our hypothesis,” Mathew is saying, studying a tablet display. “Her suppressed wolf isremarkably intact despite months of inhibition. When we reverse the process, she should provide the perfect baseline for our enhanced artificial shifter project.”
“And if the reversal kills her?” Olivia asks, preparing another syringe.
Mathew shrugs. “We have enough genetic material stored to continue without her. Though it would be a waste of such a perfect specimen.”
This is when Fiona sees me through the crack in the door. Her eyes widen slightly, but she has the presence of mind not to react visibly. Instead, she deliberately turns her head away, drawing their attention with her.
“Go to hell,” she snarls at Mathew, putting venom in her voice.
He laughs, moving closer to the table. “Still fighting. Admirable, really. But futile. You see, my dear, you were never a failed experiment. You were a prototype—the foundation for something far greater.”
“I’ve heard this speech before,” Fiona says. “Mad scientist with delusions of grandeur. How original.”
Mathew’s smile falters. “Mock me if you like. But when I’m done, artificial shifters won’t be pale imitations of the natural born. They’ll be superior in every way. Stronger, faster, more intelligent. And completely under my control.”
I ease the door open wider, checking sight lines. Dylan is closest, within reach if I move fast enough. But Olivia has a syringe in her hand, positioned over Fiona’s IV line. One wrong move and she could inject Goddess knows what directly into Fiona’s bloodstream.
My earpiece crackles with Hayes’s voice again: “Perimeter secured. Reinforcements still five minutes out. What’s your status?”
I can’t respond without giving away my position. Instead, I make my choice.
I explode through the door, moving faster than human reflexes can track. My target is Dylan—he’s the closest threat, and eliminating him gives me the best angle on the others.
But Dylan isn’t human.
He spins toward me with inhuman speed, a syringe appearing in his hand like magic. Before I can adjust my trajectory, the needle penetrates my neck, plunging burning liquid into my bloodstream.
“Hello, Commander,” Dylan says pleasantly as I stagger backward. “I was wondering when you’d arrive.”
The substance in my veins feels like liquid fire, spreading through my system with malicious purpose. My wolf recoils from it, whimpering as whatever was in that syringe begins to attack our very nature.
“Specialized compound,” Dylan explains, already preparing another syringe. “Designed specifically for shifters. It won’t kill you immediately; that would be wasteful. Instead, it will slowly dissolve the connection between your human and wolf sides. In about an hour, you’ll be fully human. Permanently.”
Horror fills me as I understand the implications. Not just human—separated from the bond, cut off from Fiona forever. Unable to protect her, to save her, to be what she needs.
“No!” Fiona screams, straining against her restraints with renewed fury. “You bastards!”
“Don’t worry,” Mathew says, moving to stand over her. “You’ll both be contributing to something much greater than your individual lives. Though I admit, Commander, your timing is impeccable. We were just about to begin the next phase of her treatment.”
