I waited for Pru to say something about her white fur when she shifted back, but when she didn’t, I decided we would wait until we got home to tell her. She’s had a tough couple of days, and I don’t think adding to it right now would be wise. She needs a minute to calm down and breath before we drop that bombshell.
“That was pretty cool, Blondie,” Jax adds from where he leans against the brick building. “And you killed him like you promised.”
“I told you I would.” She gives Jax a knowing smirk.
“If you hadn’t done it, I would have found a way to. The fucker had me shot.” Jax rubs the spot on his chest. “Shit fucking hurt.”
“Are demons affected by silver too?” I ask him.
“No, but that doesn’t mean a bullet entering my body didn’t still hurt.” Jax rolls his purple eyes.
“And he’s only part demon,” Pru says.
“Yes, we saw how handy he was with hellfire.” I glare at Jax. “I’m still not happy about him using it on you, though.”
“He didn’t have a choice,” Prue says in defense of Jax, shocking me. “And I think he’s more than made up for it, don’t you?”
“Yeah,” Jax chimes in, “and it got me shot, so a little thank you would be appreciated.” Jax sticks his finger through the bullet hole in his shirt. “Ruined my favorite shirt as well,” he says under his breath.
“Thank you for your help, Jax,” I concede. I hate to admit it, but I don’t think we would all be alive if Jax hadn’t taken out as many of the guards as he had. Which reminds me... “Was William with the passed out guards you rounded up?” I ask him.
“No, bastard must have woken up before everyone else and gotten away. I can go find him if you’d like?” Jax offers. I’m not surprised he’s gone. He is a wolf shifter after all, and most of the guards were human. Meaning the effects of the hellfire probably wore off faster on William, and he got the hell out of Dodge.
“Who’s William?” Pru asks.
“He’s your uncle.” Jax shrugs. “They had him tied up in the back of their SUV when I found them. It was awesome.”
Pru shoots me a confused look, and I shake my head. “I’ll explain it all later,” I tell her.
44
Pruitt
We all agree we can’t leave these poor people locked up in this hellhole any longer. We break off into teams to open all the doors. The ones who want can leave or wait for the authorities we've already called. We figure we have about fifteen minutes before the cops get here, and we work fast since we want to be gone before then.
“You’re safe now,” I tell another scared coyote shifter. She looks at the open doors and then back at me. “I promise this isn’t a trick. Now go before the authorities show up.”
The woman shifts into a petite coyote and sprints out the door. She pauses down the hallway and looks back at us. I swear I see her nod her head, almost like she’s saying thank you.
“I’m glad we’re able to help them,” Ryker says after she’s gone.
“Me too, but this is just one facility. Jax thinks there’s more located all over North America.” I frown at the thought that there are more women being treated like this. “And Nicolai wasn’t the mastermind behind all of this either. There’s some guy out there named Sterling who is funding and creating this madness.”
My stomach rolls when I remember the taste of Nicolai’s blood on my tongue. I have no remorse for killing Nicolai, but no matter what, I took someone’s life today, and that’s something I can never take back or undo. When we walk past another empty room of a recently liberated woman, I immediately feel better that by me taking the life of an evil man, I was subsequently able to save the lives of many.
“We’ll find them all.” Ryker pulls me to his side and wraps his arm around me. “We will find this Sterling guy too.”
“Glad to hear you say that because I promised Jax that if one day he needs my help finding Sterling, I would be there no questions asked.” I bite my lip nervously as I can tell by the way Ryker looks at Jax that he isn’t a fan of the demon. I’m afraid he’ll be mad at me for making such a promise.
“After what he did today, I think it’s safe to say we owe him one.” Ryker leans down and kisses my head. “Although I’m still not happy he used hellfire on you.”
“He was created in one of these labs, Ryker, and he’s made it his life’s mission to find Sterling and kill him. He thought doing what Nicolai told him to do would bring him closer to that goal, and honestly, I don’t blame Jax for being willing to do anything to find and stop that man.”
I look inside the glass cell and find another woman on a ventilator, connected to all kinds of machines. “Look at her. I would probably do the same thing Jax did if it meant I could save them.”
Unfortunately, we can’t do anything to help the woman connected to the machines since don’t want to cause any further damage. The best we can do is wait for the cops to call in a medical team. Elias has already put a call into Noah to tell him what’s going on here. Noah then, in turn, called his wolf shifter contacts in Vancouver, and that’s who’s on their way here now. We didn’t want human cops and doctors sniffing around this place, but still, we’d rather not be present and have to answer a lot of questions.
“There’s still something we need to do before we can bring down the breeding program.” Ryker stops walking and looks down at
