Wolf Betrayed (Talon Pack #4)(55)

Preferably with their throats slit just like the young wolf’s, who had died before Charlotte’s eyes.

Finally, she cracked open her lids and winced at the harsh lighting. She tried to lick her dry and chapped lips but froze when she realized that there were dark shadows blocking some of the lights above her.

They were watching.

“Good,” a deep voice, a familiar voice, exclaimed. “You’re awake. I was afraid the men had hit you too hard, and we’d lost you before we had a chance to use you.”

Montag.

This was General Montag. Though, was he still a General if he’d gone rogue? The military had to know one of their own had gone off his rocker by now, but she wasn’t sure what anyone was going to do about it right then. The “shifter problem” was on everyone’s minds, and apparently, no one could work fast enough to take care of one of their own, a demented man with too much power.

Charlotte held back the rush of breath she wanted to exhale as she brought her thoughts back into focus. She needed to worry about the problem at hand and not everything else going on, but her head hurt too much for her to think clearly yet.

Hopefully, she’d heal enough to figure it out soon, or it might be too late.

Her eyes finally opened fully, and she held her breath. Four men and one woman stood around her, all dressed in dark military outfits that bore no insignia. They were truly off the grid it seemed, and that didn’t bode well for her at all.

The room had been painted the normal eggshell white of most hospital or clinic rooms with metal cabinets and countertops glistening under the harsh lights. Someone had strapped her down with thick rubber and metal bands to a long medical table so she couldn’t move. Whoever had designed the straps knew how to keep shifters contained, and that scared her but didn’t surprise her. After all, she’d known Montag had tortured and studied other wolves at his previous lab before Shane and the rest of them had blown it up.

Charlotte figured she was now in their new headquarters and lab.

Fear once again tried to crawl up her spine, but she ignored it. Montag and his goons surrounding her needed her full attention, and her worries had no place here.

Montag reached out and gripped her face in his hand, pinching her cheeks and chin. If she hadn’t already been dazed, strapped down to a metal table, and bleeding from the bomb that had sent shrapnel into her skin, she could have fought him off.

But because she wasn’t at her full strength, he could try to intimidate her and do whatever he wanted.

She’d be damned if she let him for long, though.

“I know exactly who you are, Charlotte Jamenson. But you used to be Charlotte Reyes, isn’t that right? The daughter of the former Central Pack Alpha. He kept you chained in his basement, didn’t he? Or was that your brother, the man who took over after your father met with an…unfortunate accident.”

He nodded over her head at another person, who came into view. The man in black held out a metal cuff too large for a wrist or ankle.

She knew exactly what that was for.

They were going to make her relive what she’d endured as a child, and perhaps even more. Charlotte stiffened, then cursed herself for letting this man see anything about what she was feeling. She’d known some of the government knew about each of the Packs and had kept it secret. But she hadn’t really thought this one man would know so much about her past.

And if he knew about her past, then he knew her weaknesses.

And for a man who had her in his clutches, that would be exactly what he needed to break her.

I won’t break.

I am strong. I am Charlotte Jamenson. I am mated to Bram and Shane. I am Pack. I am loved. I am me.

I will not break.

“You’re also the daughter of Maddox Jamenson, isn’t that right?” Montag slid his finger down her cheek, and bile rose in her throat.

“Fuck you,” she spat.

His grip tightened. “That’s not the kind of experiments we do here. Fortunately for you. And I think you would do well to remember who came before you. Isn’t that right? Maddox has a scar right on his cheek, one that never healed because of some magic or whatever you wolves call it. Well, we don’t have magic, but I have something special that will make sure you never heal.” He studied her face, his own impassive. “That is, if you live long enough for it to scar.”

She wouldn’t let them kill her, wouldn’t let them take everything she had.

Shane and Bram would come for her.

Her family would come for her.

And damn it, she would save herself, as well.

She thrashed under the straps, putting all her weight and strength into the struggle, trying to break free. The others in the room might have weapons, but she was a weapon. Even weak, if she were fast enough—and damn it, she was always fast—she’d be able to take them out even if they hurt her in the process.

She just needed to get out of the prison they held her in.

“Why are you doing this?” she asked, her wolf in her voice. “Do you get off on cutting up women who can’t fight back?”

Montag looked like he wanted to hit her but held himself back. Instead, he released her and wiped his hand over her clothes as if he couldn’t stand the scent of her on his skin. Good, because she wanted nothing to do with him.

“I want the man you call your mate.”