Stolen and Forgiven (Branded Packs #1)(36)

At least he hoped he could.

Ariel stood by his side, her hand still in his. Oh, he might have wanted to keep her locked away and hidden from prying human eyes, but they were beyond that point. The humans had heard she was alive, and keeping her away wouldn’t help the situation but make it worse.

At the gate, at least ten guards stood on the human side, batons and Tasers in their hands. He couldn’t see a single gun, but that didn’t mean they weren’t there. In fact, he wouldn’t put it past the SAU to keep snipers on hand in case of shifter unruliness.

Holden stood in the center of the gate opening with Ariel on his right but slightly behind him. Soren did the same, but on his left. The others got into position with Claire on shaky legs between Theo and Ana.

Holden didn’t say anything. Instead he stared at the doctor who stood in the center. There was something…off about this man. There was a manic curiosity in his eyes that set Holden on edge.

“It’s him,” Ariel whispered, her voice stark with fear. “The doctor. It’s him.”

Her hand on his hip tightened and Holden had to hold himself back from howling with rage. This little f*cker was the one to hurt his mate? To make her bleed?

Soren let out a curse at his side. “We’ll back you, Holden. This man doesn’t get to live.”

Holden gave his Beta a tight nod. No matter what happened today, he’d make sure the man who had hurt Ariel, who had tied her down to a table to watch her bleed would not walk away from this.

“I see the rumors were true,” the doctor said, breaking the tense silence. “Subject A, you look well.” He grinned. “Alive. Interesting, as the last time I saw you, you were on your way to death’s door. I wonder how that happened? I can’t wait to cut you open again to see how everything works. You’ll be a true gift to science like you never were before.”

Holden let out a low growl. Soren. Ariel, and the others joined in, a perfect harmony of wolves, anger and vengeance.

The doctor’s eyes widened ever so slightly in panic.

Good.

“What is your name?” Holden bit out.

“Henry,” the doctor stammered. Looks like the doctor wasn’t all that used to shifters not drugged and helpless. Too bad he wouldn’t live long to learn all aspects of that fear. “Why?”

“Because I want to know the name of the man who I am about to end because he dared to torture my mate. And now you come here to what? Take more of us? Take my mate so you can study her some more? I’m sorry, but that is not going to happen. You might have us in cages, but you all need to remember that we are stronger than you when we’re fighting. We can kill you before you even call out for help for so many other humans. We are in these cages because we choose not to fight. Yet.”

It was time to remind the humans who they’d put in cages.

Henry moved through the guards so he stood only a few feet away from Holden. “Do you know why we chose her? Why we tried so hard to turn her into one of you using all the science and technology we had?”

Holden let out a growl once more.

“I’ll take that animal noise of yours as a yes. You see, she was the perfect specimen. We’ve watched her since before she was born.”

“What?” Ariel gasped. “That can’t be possible.”

“Of course, it is. The SAU had been in its infancy when your mother was pregnant with you. Both she and your father caught the Verona Virus. They were both dying like much of our population.”

Holden stiffened, his mind going down a path he wasn’t sure he wanted to go.

“The shifters had just come out and we found a vaccine. Your mother used it while she was pregnant with you.”

“What does this have to do with why you kidnapped and tortured me?”

“Don’t you see? We used shifter blood to come up with the virus since they were somehow immune to the disease. Since your mother had been pregnant with you when we cured her, that same blood runs through your veins. You weren’t the only baby born under this situation, but you were the closest to me. I needed you as Test Subject A. Don’t you understand that? I needed to see what would happen when you grew up.”

“So you’re a sick f*ck, fine. This is getting tedious,” Holden spat.

“Your parents didn’t want to let me have you though,” Henry continued as if he hadn’t heard the threat in Holden’s tone. “So I took care of the matter once you were born. It was easy really. No one truly paid attention to each and every survivor in the wake of the virus. Once they were out of the way, I could watch you in the orphanage.”

Ariel leaned into Holden, her body stiff with rage. “You killed my parents so you could watch me? You let me grow up alone so you could see if I learned to shift? You’re f*cking crazy.”

“You see? That’s why I needed to study you. We need shifters. We need their strength and their ability to heal. Imagine how incredible the human race could be if we could harness the shifters’ powers. I had hoped you would be able to aid me in this endeavor; you failed. When your body gave out, we threw you to the wolves. Literally. I wanted to blame your death on the wolves so I could easily ask for another wolf of my own to study. You see, it’s getting harder and harder to take you beasts into my custody for research. It seems you have friends in high places.” Henry smiled and the hair on the back of Holden’s neck stood on end. “Imagine my surprise when I hear from one of the guards that you are alive and well…and a shifter. Now, if I hadn’t heard it from one of your own, I would have assumed that you’d finally found your true calling and the vaccine had something to do with it. However, it seems that it was a bite that changed you.” He grinned. “Interesting.”