Layne shakes her head. "Sam, leave me. I'm dying anyway. Go and live."
"I'm not leaving without you."
"Isn't this cute?" Smyth mocks "Sam has a girlfriend. That explains the bite on her shoulder. You marked her. How quaint. It's such a male thing, isn't it? We like to mark our territory."
I tune Smyth out. He likes to talk, I remember that. Beads of sweat stand out on Layne's forehead. Whatever Smyth is pumping her with is killing her.
"Why did you do this?" I blurt, without taking my eyes off Layne.
"She's dying anyway. You know about her little disease? Hereditary. Like the shifter gene. That's what drew me to hire her. I'd never seen someone so dedicated to research."
"No, I mean why did you do all this?" I jerk my head to take in the whole lab. "Capture shifters, torture them. Breed them."
"I needed to solve the problem of the defectives. Shifter numbers have dwindled to near extinction, all because of interbreeding with humans. To solve that problem, and create the master race, I needed to decode the DNA of a shifter. That takes a lot of samples. Data. Analysis. Fortunately, I had Layne to do the analysis piece for us.
"Us? Who's us?"
His lips curl maliciously, but he shakes his head. He's not naming his conspirators the way criminals so neatly reveal everything at the climax of a TV special.
"As for Layne, I figured we had to kill her anyway. But I do so hate to see a good mind go to waste. As for you, Sam, do you remember this place? You were born here. Must feel like home."
"This isn't home."
"No? You spent more time here than any foster home."
"You would know. You kept me prisoner." I stare at Layne, trying to think of a way out. She bites her lip, meeting my gaze. How could she ask me to leave her? Does she know how much I love her?
"I just realized," Smyth starts up again. I wish I could rip out his throat, just to shut him up. "this place is also your birthright."
"What the fuck are you talking about?"
"Oh. You don't know. Did you ever wonder who your parents were? I selected the finest DNA to create you. You were to be the first of a master race. A bit of a disappointment in the end. But surely you want to know who sired you?"
I suck in a breath.
"You might have guessed." Smyth cocks his head to the side. "I think on some level, your wolf knew. That's why it tried as hard as it did in the experiments. That amount of torture, you should've died. But you didn't, you had such a strong will. A shame about your weak body. You'll never be an alpha or even a beta. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree."
"No," I breathe. No. "It can't be."
Smyth's eyes flare wolf yellow. "It's true. I wiped the records, but I can't deny it, disappointed as I was in you."
I swallow against the pain in my chest. Smyth's right. On some level I always knew. That's why he was the singular focus of my revenge.
"You?" Layne cries. "You sired Sam? And then you tortured him? Your own son?"
"I made him strong. He survived the tests, as you see. Turned into a wolf and ran. And now we're all here. A nice little reunion. My legacy and his mate."
I feel sick. My blood is dirty. I'll never be clean.
"Join me, Sam. Together we can remake our species into what we were meant to be."
I can't speak.
"A master race," Smyth crows. "Soon I'll have the serum. We can be Alphas, Sam. The world will fall at our feet."
"That's it," Layne says. "That's why you did this. You're a shifter who can't shift."
Smyth's face reddens.
"Careful, Layne," I say. "He holds all the power here."
She turns her head.
"I love you," I say. "No matter what happens, remember that."
"Sam, no," she jerks her head, and her body follows, spasming.
"Stay where you are," Smyth waves the gun. I stay frozen, as much as it kills me.
"What's happening to her?"
Layne convulses on the table. Saliva foams in the corners of her mouth.
"It's all right. A natural side effect. Her body is undergoing the change."
Her body arcs as far as it can against the straps holding her in as she gasps for breath.
"What the fuck did you give her?"
The building shakes.
A bomb. Fuck. Nash is still doing his part to bring the place down.
I didn't give Nash an explosive device. I'm not that much of an idiot. He must have improvised. Crazy lion. I know-pot, kettle.
"Stay where you are," Smyth snarls, backing up.
I have to do something. I put on a blur of speed almost reach her side when a blast of pain explodes in my chest.
Smyth shoots me.
~.~
Layne
I WATCH SAM FALL. My vision blackens around the edges, I claw my way back to consciousness. Someone is screaming. Me. I snap my mouth closed.
The building shakes again and vials of glass fall.
Smyth grunts next to me, rising from the floor.
"Let her go." Sam. He's down, leaning against the fallen desk, face pale. Black blood pours from a wound in his chest, but he's not dead yet.
Smyth fumbles to reload his gun, heading toward Sam.
Heat blasts through me. My head snaps back, slamming into the gurney so hard I almost black out. My spine arches, body contorting with agony as my ears fill with Sam's worried shout.
"Layne? Layne!"
~.~
Sam
SOMETHING'S WRONG. Not with me-bleeding out on the floor is perfectly normal response to getting shot by a silver bullet.
Fuck, my gut hurts. Thank God, Smyth can't shoot worth a damn. Otherwise I'd already be dead from a bullet in my heart.
Layne's body goes still. I call her name and her eyes snap open with a bright green light.
"It's working," Smyth breathes. He turns, the gun loose in his grip. If I reach for it, I might be able to grab it.