“Not confirmed, yet, but I believe he’s with The Keep.”
He’d never believed in the existence of the heinous secret society. “You buy that conspiracy?”
“Not a conspiracy theory. We have never been this close, but yeah, they exist.”
Cricket quickly filled him in on the weaponized Marburg virus and how to destroy it. Slade furrowed his brow. “Okay, let me get this straight. We escape, destroy the virus, and rescue the missing werewolves and unchanged ones?”
She snorted. “Our to-do list is getting longer.”
“We need explosives.”
She smiled. “You’re in charge of that department.”
“From what my nose caught, they are well stocked.”
“I figured that much. Especially with their growing cannibalistic werewolf army bent on world domination.”
Slade sneered. “An army of oath breakers.”
“You need to get a hold of a master keycard. Wolfstrom and Henrik will each have one. Or better yet, a mobile phone.”
He snarked. “That’ll be easy. Anything else?”
“We need our coordinates and then somehow send them to Rylee.”
“Before we stop the apocalypse and probably get killed doing so.” He lifted her chin. Jealousy overruled his good senses. “Was what I heard with you and Jack real?”
“Fake, but convincing, I hope.”
“Very.”
He pressed her against the shower wall, her arms above her. “Stay alive or I swear, I’ll enter the beyond and nip your nose.”
“I promise.”
He plunged into her mouth and kissed her long and hard. Abella. To keep her safe, he’d do whatever it took. Even work with Jack.
Cricket and Slade followed Henrik and Jack into the Ragnarok Research Facility. Unlike Wolf’s Lair Castle, this area offered an escape route. From here, they could drive away. But how far away from the nearest airport or even town were they? Which direction?
And how do you escape an army of weres? Guards stationed everywhere meant a battle to escape. One powerful alpha’s brute strength wasn’t enough.
Henrik addressed Slade. “Prince Slade, Wolfstrom is impressed with your inner wolf. So feral. You are exactly what we are looking for to join our campaign to take our rightful place as the top predator.”
Jack smiled at Cricket, and she smirked at him. How did Jack manage to hide his real intentions from Henrik?
Slade narrowed his eyes at Jack before turning to Henrik. “I’m listening.”
“We’ll begin with a tour. Come.” They entered a lab facility where at least forty people wearing lab coats conducted experiments. Henrik stopped in front of one area and picked up a vial. “Smell.”
Slade sniffed. “I don’t smell anything.”
“Precisely. Cloaking vaporo. We use it to cover our scents.”
Cricket furrowed her brow. “The formula of the ancient werewolf hunters.”
“Only better.”
They stepped up to a glass window. On the other side, a beta female examined a prone lycan with electrodes embedded into his head. “Looks like he’s out of it,” Slade said.