“What kind of changes?” Malcolm prompted.
Zarina hesitated. “There’s a good chance whoever takes the antiserum might not be able to have children.”
He considered that, then nodded and blew out a breath. “Anything else?”
“You might not remember most of the things that have happened since becoming a hybrid,” she said quietly.
Danica blinked. “Wait a minute. Are you saying that Tanner might not remember you if you give him the antiserum?”
“It’s possible, yes,” Zarina admitted.
Clayne bit back a growl. “You don’t have the right to use something like that on Tanner or any of them. To take away Tanner’s memories of you…” He shook his head. “It’s not right.”
“Do you think I want to do it?” Zarina demanded. “Of course I don’t. But I might not have a choice.”
“There’s always a choice,” Clayne said. “Something tells me Tanner would rather die than lose a single memory of the time he’s had with you.”
Zarina pinned the wolf shifter with a look. “Well, I’m not ready to let him die, even if it’s what he’d want. If it’s between him forgetting me or accidentally killing someone he cares about, I’ll do what I have to do.”
In the silence that followed, Chad cleared his throat. “Lillie would hate me for saying this, but if it comes down to Spencer losing control, the antiserum is better than the alternative. Same goes for Bryce.”
Tate frowned. “Wait a minute. You only have that single injector, right? What happens if more than one of the hybrids loses it? How do we decide who gets the antiserum and who doesn’t?”
There was another long silence.
“Let’s pray it doesn’t come to that,” Zarina finally said. “If it does, we’ll use the antiserum on the first one we can get to and deal with the others as best we can.”
Everyone nodded, then went back to what they’d been doing. A few moments later, Danica told everyone to get the last of the gear packed up. They’d leave for Redmond in fifteen minutes.
Zarina was looking through a wall locker for extra bullets for her trusty revolver, a task made more difficult since she didn’t know the caliber of the weapon, when Cam grabbed a box marked .38 Special.
“Here,” he said.
She opened the box and pulled one of the bullets out, going the extra step of comparing it to the kind already loaded in her revolver. They looked like an exact match to her.
“Thanks,” she said, slipping the box in the pocket of her jacket. It was heavier than she thought it’d be.
“No problem.” He gazed down at her with blue eyes so like his brother’s, it made her heart pang. “So, do you think you can tell me what the hell is going on? Because I didn’t understand half the crap you guys were talking about. Hybrids, people going crazy, and antiserum that takes away a person’s memory? None of this makes any sense.”
Around them, everyone was hurriedly loading weapons and trying on night-vision goggles. They didn’t have a lot of time for this.
She looked at Cam. “Remember in the diner when Tanner said those bad people he mentioned had done some experiments on him? Well, you’re going to see the effects of those experiments tonight, and it’s going to freak you out. Tanner, as well as Malcolm and two other men Ryan kidnapped, are part animal now. When they lose control, the animal takes charge, and they can be extremely dangerous.”
Cam did a double take. “Damn. When he said that, I had no idea… What kind of sicko does that to another person?” He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. I don’t care if my brother is part animal. Tanner would never hurt me.”
“He wouldn’t want to, and it would destroy him afterward, but if he was far enough gone, he’d rip your throat out without even realizing who you are.” Zarina swallowed hard. “If something happens, and you see Tanner doing things that scare the hell out of you, get away from him and find me. Okay?”
Cam regarded her thoughtfully. “So you can give him the antiserum that might make him forget you?”
Tears burned Zarina’s eyes. The possibility that Tanner might not remember her and everything they’d shared tore her heart out, making it suddenly hard to breathe. “Yes.”
Chapter 16
It had taken Tanner and Bryce almost two hours to get Spencer to calm down, and by then, Spencer’s wrist was mangled and bloody. If he were human, losing his hand would have been a forgone conclusion, but he barely seemed to notice it. The craziest part of the whole thing was no one else in the small room had freaked out. Perhaps they had experience with shifters before. More likely, their spirits were so crushed that caring about anything was impossible.
“We’re going to figure a way out of this,” Tanner told Spencer. The other hybrid sat huddled on the floor beside him, his arms wrapped around his knees, his eyes staring at nothing. “I have no doubt Zarina has already called the organization we work for. They’ll be here soon. In the meantime, we’re going to find Lillie and get her out of here. I swear it on my life.”
Maybe Spencer heard him, maybe he didn’t, but Tanner kept talking, hoping to snap him out of the nearly catatonic state he was in. Tanner didn’t know what the hell was going to happen next in this place, but when they had a chance to move, he needed Spencer to be ready.
“This is all my fault,” Spencer whispered.
At least he was talking now. That had to be a good thing, even if his words didn’t make a lot of sense. Tanner glanced at Bryce to see if he knew what Spencer was referring to, but the younger hybrid only shrugged.
“What do you mean?” Tanner asked Spencer. “None of
