“He isn’t going anywhere. One false move and they’ll tranquilize him.” He raised a brow. “I wonder how many times Nik can be tranquilized without suffering permanent paralysis?”
“Look, if you work with Nik, he’ll help you recover your data and get rid of Saskia.”
“Part of me wants to keep you, but I doubt you’d be on my side.”
Naturally, he knew she couldn’t let a known illegal weapons trader, unethical scientist, and now monstrous werewolf escape. “I know a scientist who can help you.”
“I doubt anyone ran a lab facility as futuristic as mine.”
“Saskia will betray you. Even if she hands you the cure, how do you know it will really work?”
Bolton sighed. “I know the cure may not work on me. Lucky for you, females never turn into an uncontrollable beast. At best, they turn into friendly wolf-dog like canines.”
“If you mean Nexus, true. She appears to have handled the chimera virus well.”
“No. I mean you.”
“Huh?”
“While you were unconscious, I thought, why not try the chimera virus on you? If you died, Saskia may have been pissed off, but more likely relieved. If you survived, I’d know it worked on another female. Having a team of female assassins to carry out assignments might prove even more lucrative than our unpredictable male chimeras.”
Emma jerked her head back; feeling as though someone just robbed her soul. “You injected me with the chimera werewolf virus?”
“I gave you the same formula that worked on Nexus, but killed Svetlana. You had a high fever the first eight hours, but then you slowly recovered.”
Emma gaped. No way. Maybe it didn’t work. “I don’t feel any different.”
“Neither did Nexus.”
She’d been trained to work with wolf shifters all her life, but to become one never crossed her mind. Never would. She loved being human with no interest in ever shifting. “No.”
Bolton laughed. “Not that it matters since you are unlikely to live long enough to find out.”
Chapter Twenty
Nik woke with a start in the cabana. He stood and scanned the area. He wasn’t alone. Still caged, he glared at the two guards. They scowled at him. New werewolves and only two of them. How insulting. Then again, they had weapons. What happened? His memory was fuzzy. I was tranquilized again. A tray of raw steak on a small table in his cage caused his stomach to grumble. He sniffed, fresh and not tainted with drugs. “Where is Saskia?”
One of the men with gapped front teeth smirked. “Business trip.”
“How long have I been out?”
The guard patted his tranquilizer gun. “Only a few hours. You can stay awake if you cooperate.”
“Let me out and I’ll help you before you turn into monsters.”
The guard with the tooth gap laughed. “Too late. I’ve been a monster all my life.”
“I see.” Nik narrowed his eyes. “Saskia left convicts behind.”
“No. She took six. The ones that murdered more people than I ever did.”
If Bolton was stupid enough to meet her, there was a good possibility of a blood bath. Somehow, he had to escape and find Emma.
Nik stiffened. Someone was outside the cabana. He cocked his head and sniffed. A she-wolf peed outside the cabana. Nexus!
The tooth gap guard snapped. “Find out who’s out there.”
The other guard ran out. Thud. Nik smiled. Looks like she came prepared to clean house.