MasukHart stumbled through the darkened facility corridors using the totem’s light to see, his body still burning from the inside but alive in ways that shouldn’t be possible after his heart had stopped.Around him, chaos erupted as the power failure unlocked every cell and security door simultaneously, releasing dozens of detained werewolves and humans into the hallways.“This way!” someone shouted, and Hart recognized one of Kade’s pack members leading a group toward an emergency exit.Hart followed, his legs barely supporting him, and crashed through the exit door into early morning sunlight that hurt his oversensitive eyes.The facility’s parking lot was pure pandemonium, escaped prisoners running in all directions while guards tried to regain control without functioning communication systems or electronic locks.Hart spotted Cole immediately, his mate’s massive black wolf form tearing through security personnel who were stupid enough to get in his way.Their eyes met across the parkin
Hart spent the night planning an escape that probably wouldn’t work but was better than sitting in a cell doing nothing while Marcus experimented on his sister.When the cell door opened at dawn, Hart expected guards coming to drag him to Marcus for another negotiation attempt, but instead he found himself staring at a video monitor being wheeled in by two technicians.Marcus’s face appeared on screen, and Hart could see he was standing in what looked like a command center, probably not even in the same facility.“Good morning, Hart,” Marcus said. “I hope you’ve reconsidered my offer.”“Where’s Mira?” Hart demanded. “I want to see her, confirm she’s okay before we discuss anything.”Marcus gestured off-screen, and the video feed split to show a second camera view of Mira strapped to a medical table, wires and sensors attached to her body, looking pale and terrified.“She’s been very cooperative with our initial tests,” Marcus said. “We’ve learned a lot about how dormant werewolf genet
The apartment door splintered under the battering ram on the third hit, and Hart barely had time to shift Mira behind him before federal agents poured into the room with weapons raised.“Nobody move!” the lead agent shouted, his gun trained on Hart. “Hart Santino, you’re under arrest. Everyone on the ground, hands visible!”Hart raised his hands slowly, very aware that one wrong move would get everyone in this room shot, and through the bond he felt Cole’s barely controlled rage.“We’re complying,” Hart said, keeping his voice calm. “Nobody needs to get hurt here.”“Tell that to the thirty-seven wolves your kind killed at River Basin Pack,” the agent said. “On the ground, now!”They complied, all four of them lying face down on Lewis’s apartment floor while agents zip-tied their wrists behind their backs with plastic restraints that smelled like silver, burning against Hart’s skin.Mira whimpered beside him, still wrapped in the blanket, and Hart could smell her fear mixing with the s
Cole shifted immediately and put himself between Mira’s wolf and Lewis, using his Alpha presence to try to force her into submission.Mira’s wolf responded by attacking Cole, all teeth and claws and feral desperation.Hart shifted as well, his larger silver wolf form blocking Mira’s exit from the apartment before she could bolt into the hallway and expose herself to human witnesses.“We need to calm her down,” Hart said through the bond to Cole. “She’s terrified, she doesn’t understand what’s happening.”Cole’s wolf growled at Mira, using Alpha command, but Mira’s wolf was too panicked to respond to it properly.She scrambled toward the window, clearly planning to jump through it, and they were on the fourth floor.Hart intercepted her, using his body to block her path, and Mira bit down on his shoulder hard enough to draw blood.The pain was sharp and immediate, but Hart didn’t fight back, just used his size to pin Mira’s wolf gently against the floor.“Mira, please,” Hart said, hopi
Hart was helping Dr. Vergara catalog vaccine doses when his phone rang with Mira’s number, and the panic in her voice made his heart stop.“Hart, something’s wrong with me,” Mira said, her words coming out fast and scared. “My hearing is too sharp, I can smell things I shouldn’t be able to smell, and last night I had dreams about running through forests as a wolf. This isn’t normal, right? This is supernatural?”Hart’s stomach dropped because he’d been dreading this conversation since he’d learned about their mother’s werewolf heritage.“Where are you?” Hart asked, already moving toward the exit.“Lewis’s apartment,” Mira said. “Hart, my hands keep doing this thing where they look wrong, like the bones are trying to shift position. I’m scared.”“Stay there, I’m coming,” Hart said, gesturing to Cole that he needed to leave immediately.Cole followed him to a vehicle without question, and through their bond Hart felt his mate’s concern mixing with resignation, like Cole had also been ex
Jethro appeared in the doorway, bleeding from multiple wounds but alive. “We repelled them, but they’ll be back with reinforcements. This location is compromised.”“We need to evacuate everything,” Cole said, shifting back to human form. “The vaccine, the equipment, Dr. Vergara, all of it. We can’t risk another attack.”They spent the next two hours carefully packing vaccine doses and dismantling what production equipment could be salvaged, moving everything to vehicles for transport to a new location.Hart helped load cases into a truck and watched the remaining wolves who hadn’t received vaccine yet, saw their fear and desperation.“We’ll make more,” Hart told an elderly female wolf who’d drawn number two hundred and forty. “Dr. Vergara will keep producing doses, everyone will get protection eventually.”“Eventually might be too late,” the wolf said quietly, and Hart had no response because she was right.His phone buzzed with updates from the territories under attack. River Basin P
“Hart Santino,” Marcus said, his voice carrying across the concrete. “You look like your mother. Same eyes, same stubborn expression she always had when she was about to do something reckless.”“You killed her,” Hart said, because he wasn’t interested in family bonding with someone who murdered peo
Haanshil Manor's medical wing smelled like antiseptic and blood, and Hart was getting really tired of watching people get stitched up because of decisions he'd made.He sat next to Mira's bed while a pack healer checked her vitals, his hand wrapped around hers like he could physically keep her safe
The warehouse had turned into absolute chaos, all blood and violence and the sounds of wolves dying, and Hart was pretty sure this was the worst rescue mission in the history of rescue missions.He pressed Mira and Sera against the wall near the jammed elevator, using his body to shield them while
The inside of the factory was filled with bones and dried blood, which was exactly as horrifying as Hart expected.The BlackY Wolf led them through corridors that seemed designed specifically to be nightmare fuel, all exposed pipes and flickering lights.Lewis stayed close enough that Hart could he







