Bear My Heir(20)

    "I don't know," she said, using the same stubborn response she'd been sticking with since the pregnancy became obvious.

    "Do we really need to be discussing this now?" Arville questioned, a spark of gold in his eyes.

    Apparently the tone of questioning was not sitting right with others in the room as well, not only Meredith. But that wasn't enough to stop Rowen.

    "We do, unfortunately. See, I hoped you would have the good sense to come clean to me, Meredith. If there's one thing I don't like, it's a liar. And you, Miss Wilder, are a liar. I don't tolerate people like that in my compound."

    Rowen bared his teeth for a moment in a vicious snarl and Meredith could finally see the true gold of his eyes. He revealed his werewolf so easily and while the other two scientists had shown only a hint of their animal side, Rowen gladly showed how thin the veneer between beast and man truly was.

    "Careful, Rowen. You are not a part of this establishment. Simply an ally," Pasterne said suddenly, making Rowen break his gaze with Meredith to her immense gratitude. "A trusted and appreciated one, of course!" Pasterne hurried to add as Rowen's attention settled on him.



     
       
         
       
        
    "Don't forget whose house you are in, Pasterne," Rowen growled, the threat not even thinly veiled by out in the open for all to see. "Do not forget whose generosity it is that provides you that compound, and who it is who is willing and able to do all these things that you and your scientist friends are too scared to do. Do not test my will here."

    Pasterne didn't say a thing and by now, it was becoming intimately clear to Meredith that whatever hope she had had of getting out of this meeting with a positive outcome was gone. She could only hope that whatever came next would still mean that her son was safe and well.

    "I am not a liar," Meredith said, forcing her voice to be as clear and controlled as she could.

    "You are. We've watched all of the tapes and we've traced all of your steps. It wasn't easy but when you have an endless stable of young scientists eager to prove themselves, it doesn't take too long to find out how one bitch thought she could lie to me," Rowen said with an ugly sneer. "We have your formula. And you're right, it is as good as we hoped it would be. Maybe even better. Frankly, I don't think we need you anymore and this conversation has only confirmed this suspicion. Guards!"

    Meredith could feel her world come crashing down around her. The door opened and the guards she had entered with came back inside, looking as impassive and uncaring as they usually did.

    "Take Miss Wilder back to the compound. Make sure that she gets to witness how we dispose of children whose parents have disappointed us. And then, well, feel free to do whatever you please with her, as long as she ends up dead. We have no room for traitors in our midst, Meredith."

    Rowen said those last words with both Pasterne and Arville staring at him in slack-jawed disbelief and Meredith feeling how her heart was beating so fast that she thought it would break out of her chest. Tears flooded her eyes and that familiar panic was settling over her.

    My baby!

    "No, please! Don't hurt my son! Kill me, but spare him! He's just a baby," she screamed as her guards came and yanked her up on her feet.

    "Julian! You're going too far. The Pack would never allow it," Arville said in apparent horror.

    "The Pack allows me to do what needs to be done," Rowen growled, throwing back his vodka. "I gave her a chance. I was more than kind. Get her out of my sights."

    "No! Please! I'll tell you anything, everything you need to know! Just spare my child!" Meredith begged as she was dragged out of the door, the glass sliding shut behind her without a word of response coming from Rowen.

    "Don't make it harder than it has to be," one of her guards told her, not sparing her a look. 

    But Meredith wasn't ready to give up without a fight. Not when it meant that she could lose everything.

   

   

    Fifteen

   

   

    Dice

   

   

    Dice felt like he was walking on hot coals and every moment was pure agony as he waited for Meredith to reappear. In all his years of military service, secret missions and complicated ops, he'd never known himself to be the one losing his cool head. Yet now, running with Shifter Squad Nine who were by all accounts the least stable people he'd ever met, somehow he was the one who was having trouble keeping on the straight and narrow.

    "They're still talking. Wait …  Now, she's getting walked out of the room. There seems to be some kind of confusion," Thor reported in his calm, collected voice as he watched the meeting between Meredith and the researchers take place.

    Dice had no doubt that the seasoned sniper would have rather been doing it through the lens of a rifle instead of one of a camera, but their first and foremost mission had been to find out the identities of the people involved. Still, Dice was warming up to the concept of just blowing up the whole damn party and killing every Arctic-backer there by leaps and bounds.

    Especially when Meredith's safety was in question.

    "What kind of confusion?" Dice hissed into the headset.

    "Not sure. The researchers seem confused. Rowen looks smug, which can't be anything good. She's being brought down the stairs again and should re-enter the party any minute now."

    Dice's attention snapped back to the doors through which he had seen Meredith being carted out before. He could feel every muscle in his body strain and the suit on him suddenly feel far too tight on the count of his bear itching to get out. Once again, it had to be Ryker and the rest of the team reminding him that he had to keep a lid on his bloodlust.

    "Cool it, boss," Rio noted, throwing sidelong glances around the room.

    "Yeah, you stick out like a sore thumb, brother," Ryker commented, nudging him with his elbow.

    Exhaling deeply, Dice pushed the brown back in his eyes, but it was only for a fleeting moment. Meredith entered the party and the look in her eyes told him everything. Tears were brimming in her lovely blue depths and her lip quivered. This time, she didn't even try to avoid eye-contact with him and that was all he needed to snap back into combat mode.

    Something wasn't right.

    Something was really not fucking right.

    "Meredith," he whispered, swiftly trying to process the situation.

    Though she didn't try to fight herself free from her guards, the way she kept prolonged eye-contact with him, as if she were seeing him for the very last time, made all the chips fall into place for Dice. One of her guards grabbed her by the elbow and she yanked her arm free out of instinct. The man clutched her again and a deep growl emanated from Dice's throat.

    "Change of fucking plans," he murmured, dark and threatening, and quiet enough for only his men to hear. "We're getting her out of here."

    "What? That's fucking insane," Price objected immediately, and the din of chatter in Dice's ears told him that Thor and Prowler were on Price's side on that.

    Hell, any rational being would have been. But he didn't have time to be rational.

    "We're never going to make it out of here alive," Ryker remarked, but his tone was contemplative, as if he was already considering options to change that.

    "We're going to have to. Extract the source, that's the new mission," Dice said, and before anyone could object to it, Dice took off in a run.

    "Shit," Rio said behind Dice, but the commotion that followed only confirmed that his men were on his side for this one.


     
       
         
       
        

    Not like they had any choice. It had been obvious that the four of them had been together. If Dice ended up getting a bullet to the head then it was pretty damn certain that the rest of them were going to be given the same treatment. But Dice didn't have time to worry about that. Every fiber of his being was telling him that he needed to get Meredith out, now. Somehow, he was certain that if he didn't, it would be not only the end of them, but the end of her.

    His bear didn't have a single doubt about the truthfulness of that sentiment.

    Ducking into a low run, Dice made it to Meredith's guards in a few steps. Before anyone knew what had happened, he'd elbowed one of them in the face, sweeping the legs out from underneath the tall werewolf, and flattening him on his back. With a sickening crunch, Dice's boot connected with the man's face and the sickening gurgle that resounded from the man was the sweetest thing Dice had heard all day, save for Meredith's voice.