“But if we admit what we are, it takes the power away from IESA and puts our fate in the public’s hands.”
Dade sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. “You’re alpha, Cody. You get to make the final decision, but I’m not on board. It comes down to who we can trust with our safety. IESA or humans. At least IESA has a reason to keep us alive.”
“Which is?”
Experimentation, black ops missions, secret weapons. Shit. All of those answers felt like acid in his throat, so he just shook his head and shrugged. “I’ll back whatever decision you make, but I think you need to call the other crews we know and hear advice from them before we go public. If they say no, we should consider their answer. They have a stake in this decision, too.”
“You realize us going public and outing IESA gives us a safety net, right?” Boone asked. “They won’t be able to push us around anymore. They’ve sent us all to war, pinned us unknowingly against our own kind. How many did they have us kill before we figured out our targets weren’t terrorists? They kidnapped Rory and tagged us with acid-filled trackers, Dade. No one knows the burn of that more than you and Cody.”
At the mention of the capsule Krueger had detonated in his neck, the one meant to end his life, the skin on his throat seared. He dropped his gaze to Cody’s ruined hand. His older brother had been trying to rip the tracker out of his neck when Krueger hit that kill switch, and they’d both been marred. Yeah, the price the Keller family had paid was great, and he didn’t want to be at IESA’s mercy again, but every generation of shifters since the beginning of time had remained hidden for a reason.
Humans couldn’t be trusted any more than IESA.
Dade rubbed his forehead to ward off an oncoming headache. “You have my answer on it. I vote no. I vote we wait and see if Shayna is as efficient at killing as Krueger was. We already wiped out most of IESA once. We can do it again.”
“They’re cockroaches, and you know it,” Cody said softly, eyes on his clasped hands resting on the table in front of him. “We killed a few, thanks to Damon Daye and Bruiser. Sheer dumb luck on the timing because we should all be in a shallow grave right now or penned up in some cage enduring God knows what.” He lifted his clear blue gaze to Dade. “We can’t let an agency control our destiny like that anymore. At some point, we have to own what we are and make our stand. That time feels like now.”
“Cody, you’ll have the eyes of the whole damn world on us. On Aaron and Rory. On Ma and Gage’s mate and cubs. Not just IESA. The world.”
“I’ve heard your piece,” Cody said, his face stern as if he’d already made up his mind. “I’ll talk to the crews we know and see what they think, but we can’t let Shayna rebuild IESA. We can’t wait around to be killed off when we don’t do what they want.”
Dade ran his hands through his hair and settled the frustrated rumble in his throat. “I’m out of here. I’ll see you later.”
“Later,” Boone and Gage muttered in unison.
He strode out of the station, past the fire engine and the ambulance, and out into the cool evening air. Linking his hands behind his head, he stared up at the half moon. For some stupid reason he didn’t understand, all he wanted to do right now was go see Quinn at the little cabin he’d followed her scent to earlier. Quinn. Just her name warmed him. Which didn’t make any damned sense because he didn’t even know the woman. And what he did know of her should’ve had him running in the opposite direction. She was mousy. An easy crier with a too-soft heart for his world. If she knew the things he’d done, she’d run and hide from what he was. She’d had trouble giving a dog a shot today. What chance did she have in his world?
None. She would be a casualty of what he was, especially if Cody was going to take the Breck Crew public.
What he needed was a good Lisa fuck to get Quinn off his mind, but when he thought of the woman he occasionally hooked up with, his dick deflated completely. This wasn’t like him. The women he went out with knew the drill. No commitment, no attachment. Fun only and leave emotions at the door. Quinn had him all mixed up inside. Probably because she’d been all frail and needy. He’d always had a weak spot for vulnerable things. Tank included.
He couldn’t talk to his brothers about Quinn or his inconvenient feelings for a stranger. They’d go straight to Ma and wouldn’t ever let him live this down. But he felt crazy inside, all churning and volatile, as if his bear was going to rip out of him without warning. He’d always maintained perfect control over his animal—through two tours of service, through a dozen black ops missions, even when Krueger had hit that kill switch. But now, his beast was snarling to escape, and he didn’t understand it. He was the brother who didn’t feel. That was his gig, and it had served him well. In this life, survival depended on the ability to weather anything. He’d gone years without feeling a damned thing, and now some human was turning him into a half-crazed, protective-as-hell lunatic.