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  Connor shrugged sheepishly before turning to lead them down the hallway. “The two wolves

  from New Mexico are in conference room one. Ivan is here as well.”

  Ivan was the former king and Alexander's grandfather, although he looked young enough to be

  his older brother. Although retired, he still played a major role in the overseeing of the settlement, especially when Alexander was in St Louis running his international company. Ivan was widely

  respected throughout the pack, his intelligence and wisdom quickly solving any problems that might pop up along the way. Marrok hoped the older man had a solution to the mess they were currently in.

  They followed Connor into the conference room and quickly took a seat at the long table. The

  injured wolves looked better since the last time he'd seen them. The scars across their bodies were still thick and bold, but hopefully time would help to lessen them. Marrok doubted they would ever fully go away, though. Even their amazing regenerative abilities couldn't always compensate for excessive, repeated injuries like these.

  Everyone in the room was exhausted or injured, and it showed. The majority of the pack had

  been awake since the news hit, and it wasn't over yet. A fresh team had flown out to collect more of the injured wolves in New Mexico, and they would return in a few hours. They wouldn't stop until their services were no longer needed. Werewolves took care of their own.

  He looked back at the two sitting in front of them. The guardians needed information, and they needed it know. The risk of retaliation was strong, and it could possibly destroy an unprepared wolf pack. It was a dangerous time, and no matter how exhausted they all were, they had to have answers.

  Alexander cleared his throat, jumping right in. “We are glad to see that you are recuperating.

  You've sustained injuries that would have killed the average human, and even some wolves, so we won't keep you longer than we have to. When we are done, Connor will take you to a comfortable guest home. You're welcome to remain here as long as you need. Our door is open to you, in anyway you need. Just ask.”

  They nodded in response.

  Alexander leaned back in his seat and drummed his fingers on the glossy surface of the table.

  “What are your names?”

  The dark-haired man that had passed them Taylor's message spoke up first. “I'm Neal Edwards.

  We are both from the North Dakota pack.”

  Alexander looked at the other man. His face was still extremely bruised and swollen, his skin

  ranging in color from yellow to purple. “Cody,” he rasped softly, but painfully. “Thank you for your hospitality.”

  Ivan cleared his throat, shuffling through a folder in front of him. “Before the two of you ended up here, we had no idea there were facilities like this in place. Do you know who is behind it? We know a Commander Carlos Sanchez was running it, but do you know who the brains of the operation is?”

  Neal exhaled with frustration. “Not exactly,” he replied, his voice tight. “I wish to hell we did.

  There weren't any guards that sympathized with our plight, so none of us had any behind-the-scenes sources of information. We were kept on one floor only, and none of the prisoners were ever taken anywhere that might have given us some information. There were rumors, though.”

  Ivan picked up a pen, prepared to write notes on the paper in front of him. “What type of

  rumors?”

  Neal's eyes glowed. His wolf was agitated, his captivity too fresh in his mind for his comfort.

  The other men in the room could understand the feeling well. Until the problem was eliminated, nobody was safe.

  “There were a few supernaturals that had been there since the beginning, which was somewhere

  around 1950. According to them, humans pretty high up had been aware of us for years. The facility was created by a secret section of government responsible for monitoring “others”. Each guard had prior military experience, and a high-level security clearance. There was someone out there that monitored military records, searching for the problem soldiers without a conscience. When they found them, they would offer them a position in the facility.”

  Alexander grimaced. “So this is more widespread than we realized. It's going to make it a lot

  harder to contain.”

  Ivan nodded. “We are going to have to arrange a meeting with every pack leader in the world as soon as possible. We need to get everyone on board. Something like this is potentially big enough to wipe out entire werewolf communities.”

  Marrok jumped in. “What is the purpose of all this testing? What did they hope to gain from

  it?”

  Neal shrugged his shoulders, while Cody watched tiredly. “Who knows? Maybe they wanted to

  see what we're made of, or figure out the fastest way to kill us.”

  “Possibly,” Marrok agreed. “Or maybe they are looking for a way to create their own

  supernatural army. We've all seen it on television. I wouldn't be surprised if someone got it in their mind to try to turn fiction into fact. Can you tell us what kind of tests were run on you?” He hated to push the men, but it was a necessary evil.

  Neal growled at the question before replying, “What haven't they done to us? There wasn't any

  part of our bodies left untouched, not an inch of our flesh treated with courtesy. They even have sperm samples, not just from us, but from every male wolf in that damned place. We've been cut open, dissected, and pieced back together so many times that I don't even feel natural anymore. I feel like the freak they said we were. Look at me. I don't even resemble anything human now.”

  The other wolves watched the two men with sympathy. The injuries were bad, but Marrok

  believed with time they would heal. It was the memories that would be hard to move past. His thoughts shifted back to Taylor. It was a sad night for all of them.

  Alexander rubbed at his chin before replying quietly, “If it's any comfort to you, the research facility is unusable now. It's highly unlikely they had time to gather much of their research, if anything.

  Multiple bombs were set off, and then it caught on fire. I doubt it's little more than rubble now, especially when it comes to computers or sperm samples.”

  Cody closed his eyes briefly in relief. “Thank you,” he choked out past his abused vocal cords.

  “That is the best news I've heard in a long time.”

  Marrok hated being away from his mate, especially since he just got her back. The nightmares

  were bad for her. What if she woke up and needed him? Despite his turbulent thoughts, his voice was calm when he spoke again. A change of subject would be good for the injured wolves, and he had questions of a more personal nature that needed answering. “My mate, Taylor. She doesn't know yet that she is my mate, but I need information if I'm to help her. Can you tell me of her treatment?”

  Neal and Cody exchanged wary looks. Although neither of them had mated yet, they knew that

  navigating around a mated wolf was extremely tricky. A male was very territorial and very protective, and it was magnified when it came to the woman fate had decreed for him. Regardless of the source, hearing about his mate's torture could very well send the large male into a rage.

  Alexander looked between the men and Marrok, aware of their hesitation and understanding the

  cause of it. He stared at Marrok cautiously. “Are you sure you want to hear this now? Maybe you should wait until your mate is ready to talk about it.”

  Tension flooded his body. The hesitation of the two injured wolves was telling. They wouldn't

  be this hesitant if there was nothing to tell. “No, I need to know.” Marrok struggled to contain the rage.

  The wolves were healing from life-threatening injuries, and he didn't want to frighten them into not talking. He turned to them. “If my mate is strong enough to live through that terrible experience, then I am strong enough to hear it. Please tell m
e. I promise that no harm will come to you.”

  Neal groaned in defeat, unable to resist the plea. “Just remember, you are the one that wanted to know,” he muttered. At Marrok's nod, he continued, “Taylor was already there the night we were brought in.”

  “Wait,” the unnaturally quiet Connor said, jumping into the conversation . Marrok was amazed

  the other wolf had managed to resist the urge for so long. “How were you captured?”

  Neal gave them a ghost of a smile. “Thinking with the wrong head, how else? Cody and I were

  traveling cross-country, sowing our wild oats and having a great time while we were at it. One night in New Mexico, we picked up some women at a bar and took them back to the cheap motel we were

  staying at. They were insatiable, some of the best pieces of ass I'd ever had.”

  Cody nodded in agreement, looking more lively than he had the entire time they'd been in the

  conference room. He picked up where Neal left off. “A few hours before dawn, I passed out. I guess Neal did the same. Next thing I knew, we were in silver cages traveling in a van to the research facility.”

  “What happened to the women?” Alexander asked, his brows drawn together in puzzlement.

  Ivan was scribbling away.

  “They were on the payroll as well, little better than paid whores. We later found out from others brought in that their job was to fuck the supernaturals into letting their guards down, then drug them.

  The facility staff took care of the rest.”

  “Where are they now?”

  “Retired or dead would be my guess,” Neal replied. “They were fully human, and naturally

  aging.”

  “So they have drugs powerful enough to work on us,” Connor said grimly. “I wonder what else

  they've managed to develop.”

  “It's not just the drugs,” Neal replied firmly. “You need to understand what you're dealing with here. Everything within that facility was specifically designed to contain us. There was zero possibility for escape once they had us. Believe me, we tried.”

  He turned back to Marrok. “Like I said, your mate was already there. The men and women were

  kept under strict guard when they were together. They didn't want to risk us having sex with each other, unless it was under their control.”

  Marrok couldn't hold back the growl of rage. “Was Taylor forced into sex with someone else?”

  Neal shrugged, his expression grim. “Honestly, I don't know. I wish I could tell you, but I have no idea.”

  Alexander put a calming hand across his shoulder. “Easy, brother. They aren't the enemy.”

  Marrok struggled for control. He was panting, the air around him filled with electricity.

  “Continue,” he ordered.

  “Your mate wasn't always as lifeless as she is now. She was known for her kindness, helping out others as best as she could. She changed, though, when the new commander came in. He took a liking to her, and it didn't bode well for her.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “She wasn't allowed to mix with the general population any longer. Her meals were taken

  somewhere else, if she was even fed. The last time I saw her, she was nearly starved to death. Even worse was the change in her personality. I'm not sure if she was drugged or what, but she became robotic. There was no life to her at all, the few times we saw her. It was like they'd sucked every last bit of humanity out of her body, leaving behind nothing but a walking corpse.”

  Marrok growled again, showing teeth. “Watch what you say.”

  Cody shook his head. “We don't mean it in a negative way in regards to your mate,” he said

  respectfully. “Neal is simply trying to explain what we saw.”

  Alexander shot Marrok a warning look. “We understand that. Thank you for sharing this

  information with us.”

  Neal looked back at Marrok, his dark eyes haunted. “The guards called the facility Hell's Pit, and it was a fitting name for it. We watched a lot of others come and go from there, with many of them never returning. Screams would fill the air twenty-four hours a day. I couldn't imagine a place filled with more misery and torment than that one. Your mate helped us to get free, though. It's because of her we escaped, and for that we will be forever grateful to her.”

  “How did you escape?” Ivan asked, his body appearing stiff to the others. It was as if the older male knew he had to ask, but dreaded the answer with a passion.

  Neal looked back at Marrok. “Cody and I had just been through another round of testing. They

  did this in large rooms with multiple beds, strapping down whatever unlucky people they wanted to work on. I don't think I can put into words how horrendous those experiences were. Since we are part wolf, it wasn't uncommon for us to wake up in the middle of these operations... If they even bothered to put us under first.” His voice trailed off as he swallowed hard.

  “I'm sorry for what you both have had to go through,” Marrok told him, his dark eyes sincere. “I couldn’t imagine being in your shoes right now. You're both are very brave, a bold and powerful representation of werewolves as a whole. You have my utmost respect.”

  His words seemed to empower the other man. He sat a bit straighter, his head held high with

  pride. His voice was stronger when he spoke again, “When they were done with their subjects, they always made sure to put them under before taking them out of the room.” He scoffed. “They couldn't care less if we survived their surgeries, but they sure didn't want to risk their asses taking us back and forth awake. They made a mistake this time, though.”

  Cody made a sound that resembled a strangled gasp. “The guards were horny and hot for the

  female scientist that worked on us. By then, the others had departed. It was up to her to administer the sedative injections. She was new but had a reputation already, treating the facility like her own personal whorehouse. Instead of paying attention to what she was doing, she was too busy arranging

  entertainment for the three of them to meet up later on that night. Her mistake was our salvation.” He stopped and sipped at a glass of water from the table.

  Neal picked up where he left off. “The injections were only halfway done, so we didn't get the full amount. While they were wheeling us on the tables back to our cells, they saw your mate alone in the laundry room and stopped.”

  That was all Marrok needed to hear. The arm of the metal chair gripped tightly in his hand

  broke, falling to the ground unnoticed. “What did they do?” He bit out as he leaned forward, dreading the answer as much as he needed to hear it.

  Neal didn't notice his reaction. He stared past him at the wall, his mind caught in the memories of that fateful night. “They left the beds lying in the hallway. The guard pushing me forgot his keys as well. He had a habit of laying them next to my head on the bed. Both of them were so certain we were unconscious, they didn't bother to strap us down. When they saw Taylor was alone, they started to cruelly taunt her. Those two guards reminded me of hyena shifters. Separated, each one could control their mean natures. Put together, they looked for opportunities to hurt and torment the prisoners, while enjoying every single moment of it. That night your mate ended up being the victim.”

  “What else?” Marrok growled out. The room was silent, except for Marrok's harsh breathing. It

  wasn't enough to know she'd been mistreated. He had to know the details if he had any hopes of ever counteracting the damage.

  Neal looked at Alexander helplessly, but he just shrugged. “You can't blame a man for wanting

  to know what happened to his mate.”

  Neal grimaced but nodded. “At first she ignored them and kept folding clothes. The guards had

  their backs to us, so we had our eyes open to watch. When she looked in my direction, she saw we were awake immediately. I held a finger to my lips, praying she wouldn't reveal it. She didn't. Instead Taylor gave me this de
ep look, almost as if she was resigned to something. I knew in that moment she was going to assist us. Her mood changed, and she smiled at both of the guards flirtatiously. One thing led to another, and she ended up convincing them that she needed to shut the door. When she did, she mouthed one sentence to me.” His eyes narrowed, his tone growing more intense. “Find the wolf, Marrok.”

  Neal waited to see if anyone had anything to say, but they were all silent. He shrugged. “In that instant, a pact was made between her and I, whether she realizes it or not. By accepting her help, I agreed to fulfill her condition. After that, we jumped up and ran down the hallway, using the key to unlock the door to the stairwell. We weren't sure if there was an exit or not, but we went all the way down to the bottom. In the end, we escaped and fairly easily. All that time, freedom was that close to us.”

  Marrok's mind raced, his thoughts agonizing. How far had the guards gotten with his mate? It

  was devastating to him. He wanted to tear the room apart in rage. He wanted to demand the truth from Taylor. He was conflicted, nearly wild with grief and pain.

  Alexander sensed the turmoil within his comrade and friend, although Marrok's features

  remained stoic and calm. Marrok was known for his control, but the situation he found himself in had to be tearing him apart. He wasn't sure he could have down as well, should he have been in his shoes.

  “Thank you for giving us this information,” Alexander told the other wolves. “I'm sure you're

  exhausted. Connor will show you to your housing.”

  Cody looked relieved. The two men stood up and followed Connor out of the room wearily.

  Rest and good food would be the best healer of all for them. The powerful wolf within their bodies would take care of the rest.

  The door shut quietly behind them. “What a hell of a mess,” Ivan ground out, his expression

  grim. “You boys need to get some rest. The pack needs both of you at full capacity.” He looked at Marrok, his eyes wise as he continued. “You have a long road to travel with your mate, but I know you can do it. You will have to bring her through this trauma. You can't do that exhausted.”