Chapter 79: In His Eyes
(MAYA)
"I’ll try to be gentle," I whisper to the wolf on the tal table.
He is tied down with the sa iron clamp as in the cell we still share, six months later. He growls, and I see the pain in his eyes as I administer the dose.
Stepping back, I wait and study his vitals. There’s only a slight change. Not enough.
Glancing over my shoulder, I see Cassian watching . His brows knit together as he frowns, and he shakes his head in disappointnt. "You said you were sure this ti."
"I said that it might work," I respond tightly. "I don’t have his dical history. You won’t let
draw his blood. How am I supposed to work under these conditions?"
Cassian steps toward
threateningly. "You don’t need any of that. You have the original formula. You just need to create sothing to reverse it and test it on him."
"It doesn’t work like that!" I hiss. "I need to know what is in his blood in order to figure out how to counteract it. You can’t create an antidote without the patient’s bloodwork."
"You have the patient!" He gestures toward the now still wolf on the table. "And I’m tired of having the sa conversation over and over. It’s been six months. We are getting impatient!"
There’s that infamous "we" again.
Cassian leaves the lab, slamming the door shut behind him. Trembling, I sit down heavily on the stool next to . Every inch of this lab is monitored. I can’t draw this wolf’s blood without Cassian finding out. I already tried once.
I’m so exhausted. They haven’t even give
a proper room to sleep in. Every night, I’m locked in that sa cell with this wolf. According to our captor, it’s so that the wolf gets used to .
Aside from Cassian, there is one other man who cos in, an assistant. He’s a little chattier but still treats
like vermin. I don’t know which one of them scares
more.
According to the assistant, the wolf has been at this facility for a long ti. And he has injured a lot of the scientists who have tried to fix him.
If that is the case, why is Cassian forcing
to sleep in the sa cell as him every night? Does he want the silver wolf to kill ? At this point, I don’t even know.
I pick up another syringe and insert it into the limp wolf’s shoulder. After a few minutes, he stirs, and his eyes open.
There’s a hint of clarity in them.
To be honest, I’m not sure why they want him to shift back. I can only imagine that they have sothing worse planned for him. At least one thing has been confird: he is a kidnap victim.
I hover over his head, pretending to be studying him, and my voice is whisper soft. "Don’t worry. I’ll figure out a way to get you out of here, too. I’m working on several things at the sa ti. We’ll escape together. I’m not going to leave you behind."
I reach into my pocket and bring out a atball that I was given for lunch. If nothing else, at least I am fed three tis a day.
These past six months, I’ve been saving anything that contains at and feeding it to this poor wolf.
I was right when I thought that he was being starved. It’s to keep him weak so he doesn’t attack his captors. One good thing that has co of my feeding him is that he doesn’t show aggression toward
anymore. Initially, he was quite vicious; he never straight out tried to kill , but he was always snarling and growling at .
Now, he only does that when I try to give him an injection. In our cell, we coexist in peace. He seems to have realized, even with his lack of lucidity, that I’m not a threat, that I am a source of food. While he still does not allow
to get very close to him, he doesn’t lash out at
anymore.
I have a few theories about what is wrong with him. First and foremost, I believe he has remained in his wolf form for far too long. And if this is the case, then it’s possible he has lost touch with his human self and is only listening to his instincts.
I make sure not to make any sudden noise as I block the surveillance cara and pretend to administer another injection.
The wolf’s tongue darts out and wraps around the atball. He chews it and swallows.
Our eyes et.
"I’ll get you out of here. Don’t worry."
***
I am trying to create a reversal drug, but there’s sothing else I’m trying to figure out, too. From the mont I first t this wolf, there has been a glazed look in his eyes, as if he is constantly drugged.
He is fed twice a week but isn’t given at, only raw vegetables, to eat. However, it’s not the food but the water that I suspect the most. They give him one bowl of water twice a week. Every ti he drinks from it, he becos more aggressive, and his eyes seem off.
Recently, I’ve begun dumping his water out and replacing it with the bottled water that I keep on
at all tis. It took a lot of arguing with Cassian to allow
to have open access to water. I pretended to faint a couple of tis and blad it on dehydration. The excess water I receive, I try to give to my cellmate.
Today, he has not been brought into the lab, but I’m here, reworking the formula yet again. At this point, I’m certain that whoever created the initial drug is no longer around. Otherwise, he or she would have been able to reverse the effects easily. They’ve clearly been able to co up with a functioning version that immobilizes shifters and leaves them unable to change into their wolf forms. Yet they can’t seem to undo the damage to this one. And he’s clearly important to them, for so reason.
I study the ingredient list and begin working on the computer, coming up with so more revisions. I have the original formula and a few of the creator’s notes. Of course, I have no plans of doing what Cassian has demanded. He wants
to reverse the formula and force my cellmate into his human form, with the inability to shift back.
I’m doing sothing else entirely.
My fingers drum a rhythm on my knee as I wait for the computer to get done with its calculations. Glancing at the clock, I feel my stomach rumble. I’ve lost a significant amount of weight since I was brought here. How could I not when I’m feeding the wolf most of my food? I need him healthy. And I need him to trust
if we’re going to get out of here.
Which I fully intend to do.
Keep
captive? These fools have lost their minds. They gave
the tools to facilitate my own escape.
It’s almost ti for my al to arrive, and I glance toward the door in anticipation. It opens, and I expect Cassian to enter with a tray.
However, soone else walks in.
I’ve never seen this man around before. He is tall, his body bulging with muscles. He’s wearing a black tunic with his arms exposed and pants that look like they haven’t seen the inside of a washing machine in decades. His dirty blonde hair reaches past his shoulders and looks matted. His right eye has an ugly looking scar on it.
Everything about him screams danger.
"So, you’re the human that boy has been hiding away?" He leers at . "You don’t look like much, not even a mouthful."
"Who are you?" I ask cautiously. "Where is Cassian? He’s supposed to bring
my food."
The man shrugs, baring his yellow teeth at
in a grin. "Must be busy with sothing else. So, what is it about you that he won’t let any of us have a good look at you?"
He approaches , and I imdiately get off the stool, needing sothing between us. "He won’t be happy if you hurt .
He needs
alive and functioning."
"I don’t give a fuck what he wants," the man spits out. "He may think he runs this place, but he’s nothing. Although," he pauses, running his eyes over
in a manner that has my skin crawling, "he has brought sothing interesting back here. Ever been with a shifter, girly?"
His aning is not lost on . "No, and I’m not interested. I’m supposed to be working. Leave
alone."
My gaze remains fixed on him as I’m backing away, walking alongside the tal counters, my hands searching for the vials of chemicals. Age-old instinct is telling
not to take my eyes off this man.
"I don’t care if you’re interested or not. I want to see what you taste like."
My hand curls around a bottle of grayish liquid, a deadly chemical that can cause instant burns. The shifter is approaching , and I know there isn’t going to be any other way out of the situation. There’s a good chance I will pay heavily for this.
He lunges at , and without hesitation, I throw the contents of the bottle at him. His scream is bloodcurdling, and I scramble back as he clutches his face. "You bitch! What did you do to ?"
Loud footsteps sound, and the door is thrown open as Cassian rushes in. He takes one look at us and grabs the other shifter by his hair, tossing him across the room with such strength that my heart quakes in terror. "I told you to stay away from her, Quentin!"
His roar makes
flinch.
He hurries over to , forcing my hands down from my face and inspecting . "Are you hurt?" I shake my head, and he looks at Quentin again before asking , "What did you throw at him?" Before I can answer, he wrenches the empty bottle from my hand and studies it. "What is this?"
"It–It’s a chemical. He was going to hurt . You can’t bla
for defending myself. I couldn’t take him on in a physical fight."
He sets the bottle down on the tal table before pushing
behind him. I soon understand why because Quentin is approaching us. The left side of his face is red, the skin blistering badly.
"I’m going to kill you, you human bitch!"
"Don’t even think about touching her," Cassian says coldly. "You had no business coming in here."
"Get out of my way, you runt!" Quentin roars, leaping forward and shifting in midair. If I thought his human form was big, as a wolf he makes
nearly shit my pants.
"Look out!" I cry when Cassian doesn’t move. He simply lifts his hand, and as Quentin descends on him, Cassian grabs him by the neck and hurls him forcefully through the air. The wolf falls to the ground, and there’s a large cracking sound that has
trembling. Cassian crouches beside him and places his hand on the beast’s throat again.
The wolf writhes in Cassian’s hold, but he doesn’t let go. "You seem to forget your place here, Quentin. Would you like
to remind you?"
A strange chill fills the room, and the other shifter goes still, whimpering now. He shifts back and gasps, "She’s human! She doesn’t deserve to be here!"
"She’s here because I want her to be here. You were warned. I told you to stay away from this part of the building. If you co here again, I’ll rip your insides out and shove them down your throat."
The violent threat makes
want to vomit.
Cassian grabs Quentin by his hair and starts dragging him out of the room. "Co here again and you won’t like what I do to you. She is under my protection."
They disappear from view, leaving
behind. Gripping the edge of the table, I try to steady myself, my legs shaking. What the hell was that? How was Cassian able to take on that massive wolf without even blinking an eye? He didn’t even shift forms!
Who is he?
My body feels cold as I look around. I have to move fast. I can’t afford to delay things any longer. If one of these shifters can co after , what’s stopping the others? Cassian won’t be here to save
every ti.
I look around the lab, and my eyes flick toward the security caras placed in the corners. Each cara covers the blind spots to make sure no area is hidden. But when Cassian threw Quentin just now, he dislodged one of the caras.
This is my chance.
I pretend to stumble and pick up one of the syringes, hiding it in my bra. The next part is going to be dangerous, but it’s the most crucial step in my plan.
I have to draw the blood of the silver wolf.
Within a couple of minutes, Cassian returns. He looks around the damaged lab with mild irritation. "I’ll get this place cleaned up. You don’t have to worry about him anymore. He won’t approach you again. Co. I’ll take you back to your cell. There’s nothing you can do here today."
He’s being surprisingly civil. Not that I trust him.
As we walk, he suddenly asks, "Why haven’t you asked
about moving you to another place to sleep?"
My skin crawls. "I feel safer with the wolf," I bite out.
I see him smirk. "Let’s see how long that lasts. Get in. Your al will be sent to you."
I make a big show of trying to walk around the wolf lying on the floor of our cell. I can feel Cassian’s eyes on
as I huddle in a corner as far away from my companion as possible.
"You could ask
to give you a proper room." He sounds smug, and when I look at him, my eyes narrow into slits. "I don’t need any favors from you."
I see the flash of anger cross his face. "Fine. Stay here. But don’t bla
when this beast rips off your arm when you roll over in your sleep."
I ignore that. But when he walks away, I call out, "Don’t forget my food! My blood sugar drops if I don’t eat! I can’t help you if I’m dead, Cassian!"
The silver wolf gazes at , and I gave him a weak smile. "Please don’t kill
today. Because you might want to."
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