Chapter 27
I paced back and forth across
the living room floor, but it wasn’t enough. My mind raced, and being trapped
inside four walls was only making it worse. I picked up my phone and sent Park
a text. That way if he and Kraig came back they would know where I was. It also
reminded me that I needed to get Kraig a phone. We may not be parted that
often, or very far, but he needed a way to get in touch with me if he needed
me.
Once I hit the grass in the
backyard, I removed my shoes. The blades were cool between my toes. It had been
too long since I let loose, and the strain on my animal soul was telling. My
senses fluctuated, since getting too strong and then fading away, the sounds
from hundreds of yards away echoing in my ears.
Even stronger than the bond
between my spirit and Kraig’s was the bond between me and my animal soul. A
part of me, yet also somehow a separate force, the wild nature of my Tiger soul
needed to be let free. I ripped my shirt over my head and dropped it to the
ground. I close my eyes and lifted my face to the night sky taking deep
breaths, listening to the land around me.
And then I ran.
I quickly left the manicured
lawn behind and entered the forest that joined with the back of the alpha
property. It was even darker under the trees, but that wasn’t a problem for me.
I ran on instinct, giving everything up human so I could think of nothing.
Every movement was dictated by the Tiger inside of me as I fluidly avoided
trees, rocks, and roots sticking up out of the ground ready to trip me. I
didn’t stop until I finally reached the rushing river.
Panting I stood next to the
water. I wish it was clean enough to drink because I was very thirsty. Running
felt good, but there was no way to outrun my problems. All werekins’ problems.
I made a loop checking the other border on the south side of my property,
making sure there were no intruders.
They knew we had Ritch. Henry
had told them we had Kraig after I found him. I’ve never seen any indication
that Henry knew who the doctor really was and that he still held Kraig
prisoner, or if Henry thought truly thought he disposed of Kraig like he was
supposed to do when the experiment went wrong.
When I got back to the house
Kraig and Park were waiting for me. I picked up my shirt from the grass and
used it to wipe the sweat off my face and chest. “How’s your mom doing?” I
asked.
“She’s fine." Parker
tilted his head to one side and stared at me.
“What?" I scowled at him.
“Why are you staring at me?”
“You haven’t run like that in
a long time,” was all he said. He wasn’t joking. The muscles in my calves
quivered, and I was exhausted. Lack of sleep, stress, and running for miles had
me on edge.
"Tell us what’s wrong,"
Kraig said. He was wrapped in a blanket and sitting on the porch swing. “And
don’t try to say nothing. You were coming to look at the files on your laptop
but it doesn’t look like you even opened it.”
“Let’s go inside. I need some
water.” I was also afraid of who or what might just be hiding in the darkness.
I’d already missed a betrayer close to me. If there was anyone else still here
working for the group responsible for what that doctor did to innocent werekin,
I wasn’t going to give them any information they didn’t already have.
I trudged up the stairs and
into the house. “I need some water,” I said. I filled a tall glass, gulped it
down, and then refill it again. How was I going to tell them this?
“Let’s sit down.” Sitting would
be a good thing. I set my glass down on the table and then spread my fingers
out, placing my hands flat on the surface. I took a deep breath. “I don’t know
how to say this, so I’m just going to say it. Kraig, that doctor kept you a
prisoner because of me."
“What!” Park leaned forward
and hissed. “What do you mean because of you?”
“I doubt it sincerely. And who
are they?” Kraig asked.
“Instead of coming back here
to look to the computer files again, I went to that house. I found information
hidden in that secret room where you are kept, Kraig. I found an ID that
belongs to Ritch’s cousin. It must have been because he had secretly mated a
leopard that it didn’t show he had a blood bond.
“They never intended you to have
two animal souls, Kraig. You were supposed to receive a Tiger soul. They wanted
to see what would happen if the created a bonded werekin from a human werekin,
and then sent him to infiltrate a group. The doctor’s notes said that when a
bonded werekin dies his soul can rebond immediately or waits in some sort of
limbo before a suitable unborn werekin is ready to receive a soul.
“They gave you drugs, and cut
into your brain to stimulate part of it into that same state of an unborn
werekin, and then they killed the Tiger. But when his soul left his body, his
leopard mate also lost her soul. She died, and they both entered you.”
“The doctor was ordered to
kill you. Your dad told the doctor about me. The bastard wanted to experiment
on a blood-bonded pair, so he brought you here."
Kraig’s hands curled into
fists. “You’re saying my dad knew I was in the basement the whole time?”
“Yes.”
“You haven’t answered his question
yet.” Park’s voice was a quiet snarl. “Who. Are. They?”
“Human werekin.”
TBC
Did you see that coming? Huh? Huh? Huh?
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