And yet…
I leaned forward again, flipping the pages back open to one of the protocols. Humans weren’t supposed to know about us, and yet here was a full-scale military operation trying to make shifters into some sort of controllable weapon to mindlessly destroy state enemies while saving the lives of their soldiers.
Did any wolves ever get sent to an active military zone?
The thought made me feel sick. I looked back to the other folders.Subjects…Suddenly, that made a lot more sense. I pulled out the folders, flipping through them one by one. My heart ached with each name and each number — there were gaps in between. Was that on purpose, or were even more shifters experimented on whose files had gone missing?Are any of them alive anymore?
My heart shuddered, and I felt my eyes sting, my chest tightening. I’d had some dark cases before, but they all paled in comparison to this… This was systematic experimentation on wolves, and… for what? To save humans? I seriously doubted these wolves had volunteered for the project, but I was pretty sure I’d never get the opportunity to ask them. Given how dusty everything was, the project was probably relocated, if not over, and those subjects were long gone.
What am I supposed to do with all of this?
This was so much bigger than I was. I wouldn’t be able to help these wolves if any of them were still alive — but who would I even go to? I didn’t have an alpha. I didn’t have a pack.
I shook off some self-doubts, forcing myself to close the folders and stop reading for now. All it would do was keep dragging me down into this pit of despair. As far as I knew, Cyn —and Ashley — were both still missing, and I had no reason to believe they weren’t alive. They could still be amongst the living, and I had to help them. I had to try to find them, no matter what it took.
Taking a deep breath to steel myself, I stood and reached for my roll of tape before opening the staff folder. I began slowly attaching some of the documents to the wall. Turning, I stared at the dozens of folders still in the box. It was going to be a long, sleepless night.
Well, that’s what coffee is for.
16
ELI
Redwood Motel
Austin, Texas
Ipulled into the Redwood Motel parking lot before heading to Longbow Investments’ office. When I’d woken up this morning, I’d received a call from the new men I’d assigned to tracking Iris. These two seemed more capable, but they weren’t mere guards. They were ‘regular wolves,’ so to speak, but Remus had indicated they were the best hunters on the west side of Texas.
At this point, I didn’t need anyone trying tofightIris. It was clear to me that she’d just slip away. I needed to knowwhat she was doing, and if I could confirm that she was actually a threat to Remus, I would put that information in his paws. He could run her out of his pack territory once and for all.
When I called to check in with Buzz, he explained she had broken into a building last night. It appeared abandoned, but when she had exited, she’d done so with a large cardboard box. It was piled with file folders, obviously high enough that he’d been able to make them out from where he and his partner were hiding. She had carried it to her car and driven back to the motel she’d been staying in. I was grateful for the information; they’d done a better job keeping tabs on her in twelve hours than the other two had over the past several days.
Today, I was going to find out, once and for all, what she was doing in Austin, Texas. I’d been unable to find any additional information on her since my resources here were limited. After all, my technician overseas was only one man, and I needed him to work on obtaining more information about Ashley Sanders and her possible boyfriend; even I knew the longer someone was missing, the less likely they’d be found alive. Returning her to her parents was of the utmost importance, but it meant I was on my own to research Iris.
I hadn’t found a damn thing on my own, though. Longbow Investments had an entire security division, but they didn’t answer to me — not technically, even though I was sure the head of the division would investigate someone if I asked and explained that I was concerned. More importantly, I wouldn’t be doing this alone if I leaned on my father’s assets. What would I prove if I went running to my dad’s company, money, and resources? Nothing.
Even my few contacts in Austin couldn’t tell me a damn thing about her or the woman she claimed was her college roommate. Demi was a known member of the Silverstreak pack, but nothing interesting — just a wolf. Her parents weren’t influential or troublemakers. The family had been in the pack for a few generations, but that was it. That was all anyone knew.
But Iris?
It was as if she’d just appeared out of the blue. No one seemed to know anything outside of the same rumors that kept getting repeated, and each rumor got wilder with every iteration. It was starting to get to me. I was thinking about Iris, and what she had to do with Ashley, when I should have been focusing on my job.
But it didn’t make sense. Iris was a shifter. Shifters didn’t justappear.She had parents who had to be shifters, and she had to have a pack — even if she didn’t now, she must have at some point. Lone wolves went mad after a time; that’s what everyone says. Wolves were pack animals. The ‘Aurora pack’ she’d mentioned at the Moonmate ceremony didn’t seem to exist — either in the United States or elsewhere.
Even if she was a lone wolf banished from a pack, there should have been evidence. A wolf beingbornas a lone wolf was entirely unheard of.
Eli, you’re obsessing.
I gave myself a firm shake and stepped out of my car. This ends, and this endsnow.
I bangedon the door of Room 15, and no one answered.Don’t ignore me. I can do this all day. I banged harder, and finally, the door cracked open.
I could see Iris peer out at me before she sighed, her eyeroll still visible even as she stepped back to unlock the safety feature. “What the hell do you want, Eli?” she demanded.
I shouldered the door open further, letting myself into the room. Iris grunted but didn’t stop me, watching me with raised brows. No, I hadn’t been invited, but this was not the kind of conversation I wanted to have in public, for my sake, Ashley’s and her family’s.
“…” I opened my mouth, and no words came out. The back wall practically jumped out at me — pictures, notes, and news articles taped all over the place. It looked like the kind of conspiracy theory you’d see on comedy shows. The cardboard box the hunters had mentioned was here, with file folders everywhere. There was no sense of organization. I didn’t expect much in a cheap, rundown motel, but somehow this still defied what little expectations I’d had.