n

n

n

n*****

n~ ZEV ~

nWell beyond nerves, Zev was beginning to shake with pure horror. Poor Mae.

nBut… it couldn’t be. Harvest was a last resort—usually only used when a Chimera had some kind of disease or had given up mentally. Because once the resource was used up, there was nothing left.

nWhy would the Board send Mae here if they’d intended to harvest her?

nHe licked his lips. But maybe that was what had saved her? Maybe that’s why she was chosen? Maybe she’d been sent here instead of being harvested.

nHe hoped so. Sasha loved Mae. She would have been heartbroken if the female was gone.

nSuddenly grateful, Zev tapped out of Mae’s information and searched up Pysa’s.

nBut his chest tightened and his stomach flipped over as he saw the same status at the top of her profile.

n** CLEARED FOR HARVEST **

nDesperately, he flipped out and tried another of the females. Then another.

nHis breath stopped and his throat closed as one after another, after another, he found the same thing.

nAll these females, every one whose name he could recall, had been sent here before an expected harvest five or six months in the future.

nAs the voices in the clearing rose and splashing reminded him that he was short on time, Zev stared at the screen. But then the males made “Whoa!” noises and laughed, and the splashing indicated maybe Nick was making a dive for the shore.

nWithout thought, Zev quickly turned the device off and pushed it back under the towel, then slipped back into the underbrush.

nHe didn’t wait for the males to leave. He didn’t want to see Nick. He couldn’t. He shifted to his wolf and started through the trees, waiting only until he knew Nick’s human eyes wouldn’t be able to pick him out, then he started to run.

nIt couldn’t be. It couldn’t be.

nNick had brought through dozens of females… all of them just months from the butcher’s block?

nWhen a Chimera was harvested, their organs and blood were collected to be used to help humans. They didn’t live through the process. Was their presence here an attempt to make them healthy enough that they could still be used in other ways? Or were they just here to…

nZev was grateful to be in his wolf. His human form might have vomited.

nHe had a very bad, sinking feeling that the females had been brought to Thana in some **ed up version of fattening them for slaughter. That perhaps Sasha’s work at the compound had only been coincidental.

nWhat if they’d intended to send the females here anyway? Or what if they only sent the ones that were marked for harvest so that if they lost one it didn’t matter?

nBut that meant that their agreement with Sasha was a complete ruse. Not just a deception. It didn’t just hide manipulation. They had lied to her, outright. She’d said they were sending females as a test to see if they’d become more fertile by being here. But if these females couldn’t breed, it wasn’t just that the experiment was destined to fail, it was that they were trying to get Sasha and Zev’s help to prepare these females, to make them healthier before they killed them!

nZev snarled and slid to a halt, turning mid-stride, instinctively wanting to return to Nick to bite out the male’s throat.

nBut Zev forced himself back to human form and stopped, panting, staring at the trees.

nIt was all so dark. So sinister. So… cold.

nHe was being used again.

nHe wanted nothing more than to go back and yank Nick out of the water, attack, and kill the man for his part in this. But even as his body twitched and he took a step forward, he caught himself.

nIf Nick learned that they knew, he would immediately begin working against them. He would have to. He wasn’t going to lose his protection—he’d run for the human world and warn them and their chance to get everyone out of here would be over.

nHis chest rose and fell too quickly, though he felt like he had no breath.

nWas the whole thing a ruse? All of it? Patty. Nick. The females… was every step just another step closer to the Chimeran abattoir?

nAnd he and Sasha had bought it. All of it. Or at least, they hadn’t seen through it.

nFuck!

nA whine broke in his throat, and he clenched his fists. He didn’t want to tell Sasha. Knew what a blow it would be to her. Knew what it meant for all of them. But knew that he had to.

nFuck.

nFUCK.

nTeeth gritted, he let his eyes rise to the sky above, the tree canopy overhead looking black against the high cloud and bright blue sky of the morning.

n”Sasha believes you’re good!” he hissed at this **ing God that she was so certain loved him. “And you do this? You let us get fooled time and time again? Those poor females who did nothing to put themselves in this situation—you’re just going to let them die? Well, ** you! FUCK YOU!” he snarled. “If you won’t save them, I will!”

nA wind rushed up, rustling the leaves of the trees overhead and Zev snapped his teeth at it. Then he turned on his heel and ran, pushing against the earth, breath tearing in his throat, then leaped into his wolf and galloped back towards the trail to the City.

nNo way. Not on his watch. If he had to break his mate’s heart to make sure she understood, he would do it. There were no other options. They knew. They knew exactly where they stood now. And Zev was done trying to work things out. He was done putting any faith in anyone other than Sasha.

nHe would tell her. They would get the rest of the creatures out of here, and then they’d leave. It was that simple.

nThere was no other choice.

n