Page 118 of Wanted

It pisses me off that they’re referring to my mate like this. But I know from their ugly comments that they must be knowledgeable about wolf packs and shifters. I sniff the air again but don’t detect that they’re shifters themselves.

But something is off. My nose picks up on more than humans.

“Just get those things away from me,” my mother says as she comes around the back of the truck.

“Let’s get inside.”

More voices come out and I’m forced to keep my eyes closed as someone moves my cage from the back of the truck. We enter a building and the odor in the air shifts from one of the forest to an acrid smell.

My stomach flips, and though I try to hold it down, the scent, whatever it is, makes me recoil, until I’m gagging.

I can’t disguise the fact that I’m no longer knocked out because I’m too busy retching. It’s a mixture of that sterile hospital smell, blood, and something else pungent and sulfuric.

“Oh god, that horrible thing is throwing up,” my mother shrieks.

Through my blurred gaze, I actually see her tuck her head into my father’s chest. As if she’s too disgusted to even look at me.

Pain and sorrow lance through my chest. How could someone who raised me and supposedly loves me, look at me with such disgust?

The retching is too much and tingling again starts over my body. My wolf is pulling back. Within seconds, my bare skin touches the cold metal of the cage. I scurry around and find a white sheet in the corner of the cage.

I grab it and use it to cover my naked body.

In my human form, the scent of this place isn’t as bad, since my senses are dulled in this form.

“Wh-what is going on?” I pant out as I try to regulate my breathing and heartbeat.

“This is your new home,” my mother says tersely. She turns away from me, while still clutching father. “We need a ride home. I’ll have to have everything they touched washed. No, better yet, we will throw everything out and redecorate with the money Dr. Lee sends us.

“I don’t even want to look at anything those wild beasts touched!” she shrills

I shrink back, covering myself more.

“Are you talking about me?”

“What else would I be referring to?” she snaps. “First Ashley and now you.” She pinches her forehead. My father holds her by the arms, stroking them as if she’s the one who’s been tied up in a cage.

“Ashley,” I say out loud. “Where is she? What did you do to her? Where is Chance? Where’s my mate?”

The cage is large enough that I can stand. I do so and move around from one side to the other, searching for Chance.

Fear grips me when I turn to see the large cage that holds Chance placed on top of a metal table. I can’t figure out what’s going on, but I know this isn’t good.

Two men in white hazmat suits walk toward him. One of them has an electric poker in his hand.

“Stop!” I yell. “What are you doing? Get away from him.”

The men ignore me. One pulls the cage open. The one with the poker shoves it inside and I hear the electric current as it zaps through the air. Chance’s body jumps in response from the shot of electricity.

Pain rips through me, sending me to my knees. It’s as if I can feel the anguish in his body as if it were my own.

“Stop!” I yell and rattle the cage with my hand. “Stop it!”

He’s shocked again and my fingers tighten around the bars from the agony coursing through me.

“That’s enough,” Dr. Lee’s voice stops the one with the poker. The doctor I’ve gone to for almost fifteen years looks at me and squints. “You can feel his pain,” he comments.

“You stay away from me, you son of a bitch!” I seethe through gritted teeth.