Total pages in book: 46
Estimated words: 44098 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 220(@200wpm)___ 176(@250wpm)___ 147(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 44098 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 220(@200wpm)___ 176(@250wpm)___ 147(@300wpm)
This surprised the fuck out of Alpha and Boyan.
The alpha at her side growled again and pressed close against her. Elizabeth smiled and touched him.
“As Milton and I were not full-bred wolves, the pack alpha expelled us after we turned eighteen. Our parents couldn’t have anything to do with us, so we took off. It hurt Milton. He loved the pack, and we tried to make a go of it in the human world. We went to work, and school. Both of us were great at science and biology. I didn’t realize until it was too late that Milton’s main objective was to become a full-breed wolf. He wanted back into his pack.”
“You experimented?” Boyan asked.
“In the beginning, I truly thought we had mixed-breed couples who were there willingly, for us to learn everything there was to learn. That’s what I was there for, to learn what a mixed wolf was like—a human and wolf—but I later realized he was killing the parents and putting the children into care. He was placing them at a disadvantage.”
“Milton was part wolf?” Rocco asked.
“Yes. As am I.”
Boyan stared at her. She looked like a human but he couldn’t smell her either.
“Will her wolf come out? Will it kill her?” Boyan asked.
Elizabeth smiled. “Agatha is a half-breed wolf. She will have wolf traits. I believe I was able to learn that our scents are masked by the pack we’re meant to be with. We have this built-in need for wanderlust until we find the place we’re meant to be, and we settle down.” She touched the man at her side. “We find our mates and we feel with the same passion as other wolves. We’re also quite protective and jealous as well. I’d advise not to test those boundaries. We can’t turn into wolves, but we are strong. Also, we heal as well. Fast.”
“Know that one,” Boyan said. “Within hours of Agatha cutting her hands, they were fully healed as if nothing happened.”
“That is a pretty handy thing to have,” Elizabeth said with a smile.
“What about children?” Boyan asked.
This time, a bigger smile from her. “Children are, of course, more than fine. You will find that if you do mate with a woman like me, half-wolf and half-human, some of your children will be able to turn when they reach maturity. Others may not.”
“What about accepting the pack?”
“We need to know what to do with the ones Milton infected,” Draco said. “Can they be saved?”
The smile disappeared from Elizabeth’s face. She turned back to him. “Your mate will accept the pack. Agatha is part of the pack and she feels the call of the moon, and the pack, all of it. She might be a little skeptical at first, but all you’ve got to do is be open with her. The wolf inside her will know not to be afraid, so she won’t be.” Elizabeth looked toward Draco. “It is not good news. Humans are not supposed to … they don’t have what it takes. Their bodies cannot take a transition like wolves can. The blood infects, and it changes their entire makeup. There has never been a successful human-to-wolf change. It has always ended in death, and when you think you’re getting close to success, it ends in a bloodbath. It’s a mercy to kill them while you can.”
“This is your fuckup and you’re saying the only way to save people is to kill them?” Alpha asked.
“Mind your tongue.” This came from her alpha.
“No, it’s fine. I didn’t experiment on people. Of that, I swear to you. Milton was obsessed with finding a way back to our old pack. That was never going to happen and I never wanted to return to a place that didn’t want us in the first place. When I realized what he intended, I shut it down. I got my new pack, my mate, to help us end what he did.”
“Only it didn’t end,” Boyan said. “He moved up his game and infected more people. He infected himself and we had no choice but to terminate him.”
“I figured that was what happened when you came looking for me.”
“That is enough,” her alpha said.
“Do you have any more questions?” Elizabeth asked.
“None, but in the future I might.”
She reached into her jacket and pulled out a card. “Then please contact me. I know it’s rare for packs to include a half-wolf. I can help, even if it’s just to reassure her.”
Boyan took the offered card and slid it into his pocket. The truth was, he and Agatha would be okay, but the people Milton infected were well and truly fucked.
****
Draco didn’t like any of this.
They had arrived back at the pack an hour ago. No one had questioned him as he left, making his way through the forest. He went past the caves that had housed their last human. It was all clean now. That Elizabeth woman had to be wrong. He couldn’t believe for a second that there was no way for them to survive.