Page 96 of Mated By the Pack
“Well, I never learned to walk and now I can’t even crawl,” I mutter angrily. “If The Aether has given up on me, and so have you, then just send me back. If I’m going to be cut open by Dr. Thomas, I’d rather face the scalpel than stare at someone who thinks I’m a failure. I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before I come back here—permanently.”
“Another lost soul,” Silas sighs. “But I can’t send you back. You come here by choice, and you leave here by choice, every single time.”
“You always tell me when I’m out of time,” I say, looking around. “Then I wake up.”
“You’re still the one doing it,” Silas says. “If you want to leave, all you have to do is open your eyes.”
I jolt myself awake with a gasp. I’m back in the medical facility. Still restrained, but I’m naked now. All of my clothes have been cut off. There’s equipment beside me, but I don’t recognize it. That means it has to be technology from before the Great War. But more concerning is the tray full of instruments next to my bed.
A wall suddenly lights up, and I realize it’s not just a wall. It’s translucent, and as it shimmers, I see what is on the other side. My mates. All in cages, slamming themselves against the bars and fighting to get free. I tear up when I see them, and when they notice me, they stop thrashing. They call out for me, but I can’t hear them. The room must be soundproofed.
Then the door opens, and Dr. Thomas walks into the room with Clyde trailing behind him. I pull against my restraints, but it’s no use.
“I hope you don’t mind an audience while I open you up to see what is under the hood,” Dr. Thomas says, amusement in his tone. “But this is a teachable moment, I think. My sons need to see what defiance has earned them.”
“And after we have a look, you’ll have to forgive us if we don’t bother to stitch you back up,” Clyde chuckles. “You won’t be any use to us after we harvest whatever makes you special.”
“The tests say you’re still infertile. I was surprised by that, honestly,” Dr. Thomas remarks. “After the way my sons reacted, and I saw you shooting vines out of your bracelet, I thought maybe… just maybe, there was some kind of mistake. I guess it would have been too much to ask for my sons to bring me a perfect match, but I’ll find one, and now I’ve got all the time in the world.”
“You’re sick,” I mutter, then glance at Clyde. “Both of you are.”
“I don’t see any reason to waste anesthesia on her, do you?” Clyde asks.
“No, I don’t mind a little screaming,” Dr. Thomas snickers. “Won’t take her long to pass out from the pain.”
“After that, you’ll never wake up again, Calla,” Clyde says. “You’re going to wish you had accepted a life of slavery, rather than coming back to Haven North. At least we can still sell the rest of them. Can’t risk sending you back into The Tangle. It likes you too much.”
“What do you mean sell the rest of them?” I ask, panic in my voice.
“We’re certainly not going to keep them,” Dr. Thomas spits back. “They’re more useless than ever now. A teacher who talks about a bunch of things we want to stay forgotten. A nurse who won’t shut up about being saved by wolves. The younger ones think you’re some kind of hero. They worship you more than people worship Leon Hadaway.”
“Not for long.” Clyde picks up the scalpel. “Can I make the first cut, Dr. Thomas? I want it to be a nice, deep one that she can feel.”
“You’re a nurse, not a doctor,” Dr. Thomas snaps, taking the scalpel from Clyde.
“Shit!” Clyde says, pointing toward the glass. “One of your kids is about to break out of their cage.”
Dr. Thomas puts the scalpel down and the two of them rush to the door. I sit up and see Gideon, pushing with everything he’s got, and actually bending the steel lock on his cage. Peace officers run into the room with black batons. Gideon shifts, but he’s still trapped in the cage. A peace officer steps forward and jabs Gideon with the baton. Electricity crackles like lightning, but I never hear the thunder. I can’t hear the whimpers, but I canfeelthem—they make my heart hurt so much, tears run down my cheeks.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper. “I’m so sorry.”
Dr. Thomas starts shaking his finger and yelling, based on his body language. It looks like he’s scolding his sons. I collapse against the table and the tears come gushing out.
I haven’t done anything. My entire life is meaningless. I was ready to graduate as a nurse, but all I would have been was a supplemented citizen who did enough good not to get sold. I found something special in The Tangle, and not the part that found me, then dropped a key in my hand. Nara, Fiona, Tansy, and even Brenna, who may be the only one of us who survives.
But there was more. Frank, the Gen-Lion. Now searching for a Pride that needs a king. Because The Aether spoke through me. Through a vine, coiled around my wrist. Strong enough to rip a treant apart.
“This can’t be the end,” I whimper, shaking my head.
I can accept dying on this table. I can accept failing The Aether, and not saving the world. But I can’t accept this. My mates in cages. Subdued, shocked until their bodies go limp if they don’t do as they’re told. I had no idea their father was the one conducting the genetic experiments. That he experimented on himself, too. I understand why they don’t talk about him.
So much evil behind that seemingly kind man who carefully laid out my supplement cycle, sent me to the Academic Medical Center to get my first shot, and adjusted it as necessary. Clearly, he’s figured out how to crank up the dosage, considering those peace officers surrounding him.
There has to be something I can do. If the power is inside me, I can still use it, right? It’s not something Dr. Thomas will find if he slices me open with that scalpel. The Aether can’t see the future, which means as hopeless as it seems, therecouldbe a way.
“I command you to free me from these restraints,” I say weakly, tugging at them. “Okay, that didn’t work.”
There are no vines around here. Nothing to summon from the dirt, or if there is, I can’t see it. I turn to the scalpel and focus on it, trying to will it to move. Then I try commanding it, but once again, nothing happens.
