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  Az started moving forward, Theo followed next to him, his hands in his pockets. A slight drizzle fell from the sky, not unusual for Maine in the early spring, and Az after checking to make sure the blanket was fully covering his lady wolf, raised his head to the sky to let some of the light rain spray his face.

  “I remember when Dad did that. It was horrifying…and in retrospect, probably the beginning of his decline into madness.”

  “If Mom hadn’t come along when she did, I’d be dead.” “Actually, I think it was Gabriel who saved you.”

  Az stopped dead in his tracks. “What?”

  “I know the story always was that Mom came along and stopped Dad but I’m fairly certain it was Gabriel who told Mom what Dad was up to, risking Dad’s wrath. She took all the blame to spare him.”

  So now Az officially owed Gabriel twice for saving his life. “I guess I’ve always been a little confused as to why the pack didn’t throw him out of Alpha position for trying to kill his own son.”

  “No one outside of the Kane family knew anything about it.” He nodded. “That’s what I always figured.”

  And if I’d been around back then he’d have been a dead man.

  A thought occurred to him. “Why did Tristan and Cullen take their families off- island?”

  “Ashlee and Summer wanted to get the babies vaccinated.”

  “They wanted to what?” Why hadn’t anybody discussed this with him? One of his five degrees was in medicine. Granted, it was fifty years out of date…

  “They’re concerned the pups might be susceptible to human diseases like measles or polio.”

  “We don’t get sick like that.”

  “I know that and you know that but the Morrison girls are still convinced the fact that their children are one quarter pure human might leave them open to those kinds of illnesses.”

  “Theo,” Az scratched his head. “We have been marrying humans on and off for hundreds of years. There has never—ever—been a recorded case of anyone even catching a cold. Why on earth would Tristan let her think the pups could get sick?”

  Tristan and Ashlee had three children. When Az was actually outside of the lab, he loved being with Braden, Virginia, and the new baby, Elizabeth. Secretly, although he suspected Tristan knew of the jokes, the pack liked to say that Tristan and Ashlee were trying to repopulate the pack all by themselves. Summer, Ashlee’s baby sister, and Cullen, the pack’s enforcer, had just had their first child, a son they’d named Jude. Already whispers flew around the pack about a future Kane/Murphy mating. Shifters liked to gossip. Matings however, as Az knew, were left to the Fates and not the speculations of the wolf pack. Not to mention they’d be first cousins…

  “Tristan and Cullen learned quickly that one does not tell one’s mate anything, one simply goes along to help them not get killed.”

  “Alright, but an unnecessary vaccination…”

  Az stopped speaking mid-sentence. Ideas always came to him like a car slamming into a wall on the side of the highway. Impact was rough but if he was lucky he lived to talk about them. Vaccinations, the doctor stuck a small amount of a dead pathogen, or maybe in some cases a live one, into you giving your immune system the opportunity to develop immunity to it instead of having to develop a full blown case. That way if you came into contact with whatever you were being inoculated against—say the measles— you wouldn’t catch it because your body would think you already had as it had the immunities stored up.

  Az’s head whirled. It was so damn simple. Why hadn’t he seen it before? Not all vaccinations lasted. Children—humans at least—had to sometimes be revaccinated for certain diseases. Sticking with the measles theme, he wanted to dance. Human doctors had to give the MMR vaccine at least twice during childhood and sometimes again if they knew a patient was leaving the country and going somewhere where there might be an outbreak.

  That was what the drug was. It was acting like a counter-vaccine; it was stopping the bodies of the wolves from using its immune system to fight off the disease that was the wolf body Kendrick had given them. They weren’t supposed to be wolves. It was like a disease. Too much suppression and the body overreacted to the pathogen—thus killing the wolf.

  He wasn’t any closer to knowing how the witches were hoisting the wolf on the poor souls to begin with but maybe he could keep them alive a little longer. Maybe he could keep his mate, and it was scary how fast he’d started to think of her that way considering he still didn’t know her name, from dying on him before he learned the cause of the initial transformation.

  Theo stared at him. “You look like a kid in a candy store.”

  Are you going to try to explain it?

  He shook his head. No way in hell.

  “I just figured out part of the puzzle.”

  Theo narrowed his eyes. “As we stood here?”

  Az squeezed the wolf in his arms tighter. “That’s right, and now I’m going to keep her alive.”

  Now all he had to do was figure out how to get her out of her wolf body and into her human one. Then he had to hope they actually liked each other…

  And that no one else tried to fire bomb them to death while he worked on the other problems.

  But hell, it was just another day in his life and this sort of thing had long ago become commonplace.

  3

  Kill.

  The voice resounded in Leah’s head as her eyes flew open. She looked left and right, realizing she had no idea where she was. It didn’t matter, she’d been given an order, and she needed to follow it.

  The man—Azriel—stood across the room staring at the window. His brothers surrounded him on both sides. She wanted to howl with delight. Her Alpha would be so thrilled if she killed all of them. Then he’d let her come home and live in the light of his presence again.

  She leaped off the table, growling. They needed to see her teeth; they needed to see how strong she was. They should know who it was who was going to end their lives.

  The three men whirled around. Leah’s gaze focused solely onto Azriel. She’d kill him first. Yes, that sounded like a good plan. Drool pooled in her mouth as she imagined how he’d taste…a pang thudded in her chest. What was that? No matter, she needed to do this. She’d been ordered.

  “Gods damn it, she’s having an episode.” She had no idea what Az meant by that but it didn’t matter. He was nothing but soon-to-be dead meat to her.

  Gabriel lunged forward. “She’s got death in her eyes.”

  “No,” Azriel pulled back on Gabriel’s arm, shoving the man back toward the wall. Leah was impressed. She hadn’t imagined he was that strong. No matter, she’d still destroy him.

  Kill the wolves.

  “No one touches her but me.”

  Gabriel snarled. “Look at how she’s looking at you, little brother; she’s going to kill you.”

  “She can’t control herself right now. Whatever is happening to her, it’s making her delirious and psychotic. You’re right, I’m sure she does want to kill me. She probably wants all of our deaths. If she was in the lab, she’d be locked up and the only thing she’d be able to do is throw herself against the bars. Unfortunately, she’s out and this was way faster than anticipated for another episode. I think somehow it’s not a coincidence that this is happening on top of the firebombing.”

  Gabriel growled, which only infuriated her. Maybe she’d kill him first. “That’s nice.

  We’re still going to have to subdue her.”

  “No one is subduing her but me.”

  Without another thought, Leah leapt forward aiming for Azriel’s throat. Seconds before she made contact a warm, white light slammed into her, throwing her backwards. Where Az had stood, a dark wolf stared back at her. Damn, she had forgotten he could do that.

  She leaned back on two of her paws ready to lunge at him again. Az growled, loudly, and she couldn’t move. Inwardly, she raised an eyebrow. It was an impressive show. Jumping so fast she could hardly make out his form amidst the blu
r of color that streaked before her eyes, his mouth came down on her neck. He grabbed her by the scruff like she was a puppy, dragging her across the floor as she whimpered.

  Forcing her onto her side, he stared down at her, his wolf eyes letting her know in no uncertain terms that he was in charge and she was going to cease and desist. If only it was that easy. Leah tried to make sense of her thoughts. Everything felt muddled, like her thoughts weren’t her own.

  She blinked twice. It wasn’t that Az was hurting her; he hadn’t, not even when he’d forcibly moved her across the room and put her into this position of submission. Wanting to cry, she closed her eyes. What the hell was happening to her?

  Damn it, I wish you could hear me.

  Leah’s eyes flew open. Had she just heard Az in her head? This was really getting out of control.

  Did you hear me? He narrowed his eyes above her.

  If you’re actually speaking in my head—and I’m not hallucinating—then yes, I heard you. Though why she would be surprised to hear a voice in her head when she was compelled beyond resistance to ‘kill’ by the same manifestation was beyond her understanding. Of course, maybe it was because it was Azriel’s voice…

  The fact that you can hear me is a very good sign. He sighed. I’m actually hearing your voice. I have to tell you, it’s a really pretty sound.

  His compliment sent shivers up her spine. No one had commented on her voice before…or maybe they had and she just couldn’t remember. Thank you.

  Now why don’t you tell me what’s happening to you right now. Oh…wait…I’m so ridiculous. What is your name?

  It was almost more bizarre than she could handle. Here she was, trapped as a wolf, being instructed by one voice inside her head to kill people, while talking to someone who could shift between wolf and man, and about to introduce herself. In her mind, she shrugged. She could write that on her list: she was the type of person who was capable of going with the flow in truly outlandish situations.

  My name is Leah St. James.

  That’s a very pretty name…Leah St. James. Wait, what? Azriel, the wolf, jumped back a few feet letting go of her scruff.

  She rolled over on her side and stood up. Hoping the ‘kill’ voice could hold off a few

  seconds, she moved forward. Do you know who I am? All I know is my name. Does my name mean something to you?

  Your name means something to the entire state. You’re the daughter of one of our Senators and you’ve been missing for six months.

  Azriel’s abrupt tone told her he was not thrilled with his recent discovery of her identity. She shook her head. None of what he told her rang a bell in her mind. Shouldn’t there be a big ‘a-ha’ moment now that she knew something about herself? But there was nothing. Still a blank slate with just her name to identify who she was.

  The white light filled the space around Azriel again and he regained his human form.

  The naked version of it, which she swore this time she would not lust after.

  Kill.

  She closed her eyes and pointedly refused to acknowledge the order. This was all getting rapidly out of hand. Voices in her head were not going to get to tell her what to do. She was a cognizant human being—or wolf at the moment—she decided whom she did and did not murder.

  “I think we have a very large problem.” Azriel looked back and forth from his brothers to her. He thought they had a very large problem?

  Gabriel stepped forward, his eyes focused entirely on her even as he spoke to Azriel. “Were you able to communicate with her?”

  “I was and her name is Leah St. James.”

  Gabriel’s gaze moved to focus on Azriel as Theo, standing by the window, swore loudly. “Even for Dad, this is fucked up.”

  Why was it so bad that she was Leah St. James? Wasn’t it a good thing? Now they could tell her family where she was and—

  Like a light bulb turning being switched on, the truth of what Az had told her registered in her brain. She was Leah St. James, daughter of Senator Nathan St. James from Maine. Unless she was very much mistaken, people didn’t know that there were individuals running around who could be both man and animal. That meant that whatever went on here, it was secret. It wouldn’t do to have the daughter of a senator exposing it all.

  Suddenly, she was overwhelmed with the urge to run. These people were going to kill her to keep her quiet. That’s what she’d do in the same situation and she didn’t want to record that in her pretend notebook about her personality traits. Looking around, she tried to figure out how she could escape.

  The men were arguing. Well, Theo and Gabriel were. Az didn’t seem to be participating in it, all of his attention focused on her. He’d spoken in her mind. Did that mean he could read her thoughts, that he knew she was going to escape? She gulped as she couldn’t seem to stop herself from focusing on the fact that he was naked—again. She looked down at the floor to divert her gaze. Were they all so comfortable shifting back and forth that none of them minded being so exposed and vulnerable? What if they gained a few pounds?

  Pulling his brown-eyed gaze from its examination of her, he looked at his brothers. “You both know that whatever happens, I go with her.”

  Silence descended on the room and to Leah it felt like a palpable being. She was so sick of being stuck in this form and not able to ask her questions. As odd as it was, she was both desperate to run and terrified to leave Az. Truthfully, the idea of his going with her wherever she went was sort of appealing. Maybe they could get to know each other in less intense circumstances.

  The door slammed open and a group of what she could only describe as huge men hurried into the room. Watching each one of them enter, she had to amend her thought. There were some women, but only a few. If there were maybe thirty men there were only seven women. Each man—and she had to guess they were all shifters—was better looking than the next but none of them held a candle to Az. She gasped. When had that happened? When had he become the best looking man she’d ever seen?

  In the lab, she realized suddenly, when he’d rubbed her fur and spoken to her. That’s when it had happened.

  A tall shifter with long black hair who stood with one of the few women handed Az some clothes, which he quickly, much to her chagrin, dressed himself in. Conversations flitted around the room, too fast for her to follow. More than anything she wanted Az to speak in her mind again. The connection with him felt palpable to her, even though it had only been for a few seconds, she wanted it back. Something to ground her in all of this madness.

  It’s okay.

  She sighed with relief. There are so many people here.

  They’re all family—kind of. Even so, it feels like madness to me most of the time too.

  It’s one of the reasons I stay in the lab.

  She smiled, not caring that she showed her wolf teeth while she did it. What’s the other reason?

  Az grinned back at her, his brown eyes sparkling with mischief. You were there.

  The door slammed open again. You shifters really know how to make an entrance.

  Az laughed aloud, gaining him some odd looks from the others in the room. The mind speaking was kind of fun now that it wasn’t completely odd. As a man entered the room, a hush fell over the crowd. Leah focused her attention on the new arrival. He was tall, but not as tall as Az, and stocky. She immediately concluded that he didn’t look like one of Az’s brothers.

  Theo spoke to the new man. “Aloud, if you will, Cullen. Az’s mate,” he indicated her with his head. “Can’t yet speak with us telepathically.”

  The man they’d called Cullen turned to her, one eyebrow raised. “Really? He’s mated to the ‘made’ wolf.”

  “Hey,” Az’s voice held venom. She was glad she wasn’t on the receiving end of it. “She’s a person to whom this happened. There’s no way she asked for whatever abuse Kendrick did to her and even if she had, I won’t have anyone speaking about her—or any of the people that this was done to—with anything less than respect.
They don’t want to attack us. I’m sure if given the choice they wouldn’t.” He took a deep breath and Leah noted that Cullen had narrowed his eyes but otherwise he did not move. “Also, she has a name. It’s Leah St. James.”

  Cullen covered his eyes with his hands and rubbed the top half of his face like it hurt. “Crap.” She supposed she should be insulted except she was smart enough to know this would probably be the response everyone had. He took his hands down and they hung by his side. “Did anyone tell the Alpha yet?”

  Theo shook his head. “No way in hell am I doing that.” Gabriel snickered. “Nope.”

  “I’ll tell him.” Az’s voice still held the same hostility.

  Why are you so angry?

  Az’s gaze met hers again, an emotion she couldn’t identify present in his eyes. When someone calls you a ‘made’ wolf it’s an insult.

  Leah digested this. Because I shouldn’t be a wolf?

  My father did this to you, to a lot of people. People like you, to whom this was done, have been attacking us for a long time. Some of our pack has been hurt. There is a lot of hostility but that doesn’t make it right.

  The door opened again, this time not slamming into the wall, and three of the most beautiful women she’d ever seen entered the room followed by a man wearing sunglasses.

  That’s Tristan. Az told her. The name didn’t mean anything to her. She knew they’d discussed him earlier but so much had happened she couldn’t keep any of it straight.

  Who?

  He’s our Alpha and my third oldest brother. In a wolf pack, he’s the absolute ruler.

  His word is law.

  Tristan approached Az with a fast gait. When he reached her one anchor to the world, he stopped and stared at him for a moment. As she, and the entire pack watched Tristan pulled Azriel into an embrace.

  “Are you hurt?” Tristan’s voice was rough and she didn’t have to know him to hear the emotion in it.