"She's a guest." Laurie rises, his hair and clothes rumpled and glasses askew.
"Oh, yeah? And what about the wolf?"
"A friend. They're all friends, Declan."
"Why didn't ya fecking tell me, then?"
"I-I-I," Laurie sputters.
"He did tell you," I cry. "You just attacked."
"Oh yeah." Declan grins. "All's well that ends well, right, mate?"
"Sure." Sam's brows are still down, his face guarded. He doesn't take his eyes off the smiling Irishman.
"Okay, so we're all friends, now," I say firmly, going to Sam's side. His body is tense but he doesn't pull away when I take his arm.
"Right ya are. Always happy to be friends with a pretty lady." Declan winks at me.
A low rumble in Sam's chest makes me clutch him closer. "Sam, why don't we sit down and keep talking about... what we were talking about. Laurie, can I get another water?"
The tall man obliges. Declan grabs an unbroken chair and straddles it, still grinning like a maniac. Sam remains stone-faced, pulling me with him to retake our seats.
Laurie hands me my water and I thank him.
"You been all right, Laurie?" Declan asks. "Saw the car and I was worried about ya."
"I'm fine." Laurie bobs his head a few times. I don't miss the protective way Declan looks over his friend. And Laurie seems a lot calmer now.
"So whatcha talking about?"
"Just catching up," Sam says. "I haven't seen Laurie since-"
"The fecking hellhole," Declan says cheerfully. "What's wrong, wolf boy? Don't ya recognize me?"
Sam frowns.
"A foul-mouthed Irishman shouldn't be hard for ya to recall."
"I was there a long time," Sam looks away, his voice rough. "Don't remember much, from the end…" I take his hand as he trails off, and he grips it. He stares off at nothing for a moment.
"Oh yeah," Declan murmurs, glancing at Laurie.
"He's looking for Nash."
"Are ya now? What do ya want with the King of the Beasts?"
"I need him to find Smyth."
"Good luck with that," Declan leans back in the chair, balancing it on two legs. "He doesn't talk to anyone. About anything. Showed up two, three months ago. Best fighter in the Pit. Mean one. Wild."
"Sam stole footage from Data-X," Laurie explains.
"Did ya now?" The crazy Irishman raises a brow.
"The files said that Nash volunteered. And there's a photo of him and Smyth in military uniform shaking hands. He'll know if there's a government connection and he might know how to find Smyth. I'm this close to being able to track him. I need more clues."
"Nash won't help ya. He's broken, like all of us."
Guilt tightens my gut. I saw Sam's nightmares. I know his suffering is real and ever-present. How can I worship my research so much when it came at such horrible cost? Does the fact that I want to use it to save lives cancel out the lives destroyed to get it?
"I know what happened to him," Sam says softly, but Declan doesn't seem to hear.
"Only thing keeping Nash alive is his lion, and he won't let it out. It's sick. Won't stop fighting, friend or foe. The Pit is perfect for him."
"What's the Pit?" I ask.
"Shifter cage fighting. No animals."
"What animals?" I can't stop myself from blurting. What other kinds of shifters are there?
Declan and Laurie's eyes fix on me.
Sam clears his throat. "Layne's just learned about… our kind."
"Then how'd ya come to be here, then?"
"She worked at Data-X," Sam says mildly. "I kidnapped her."
"What?" Declan leaps to his feet, chair clattering to the ground. Instantly, Sam is in front of me, stance protective.
"What are ya thinking, wolf? Ya brought one of them to us?" Declan shouts, eyes wild.
"Calm down," Sam orders. "She's not one of them. They tried to kill her. She's with me."
"I didn't know what was going on. I would never hurt anyone," I add.
"It's true. You know it," Sam keeps his arms spread, hiding me from Declan's murderous gaze. "She's a good person."
"I'll believe it when I see it." Declan snarls. "How'd ya get working in that place?"
"I was in a lab." I wring my hands. "I never met any patients. They delivered the cells. I ran tests. They didn't tell me what they were doing."
"Patients. Is that what they called them? Test subjects. Prisoners," Declan spits. Laurie's pressed up against the wall, muttering to himself. "Atrocities in the name of science. Every test you ran was tainted with blood. People paid with their lives."
"I'm so sorry," I whisper.
"It wasn't her fault," Sam says firmly.
But he's wrong. I should've asked more questions. Should've questioned the high security. I was blind to it.
"Layne didn't know anything about that. And now she's in danger, as much as me."
"As much as all of us," Declan shoots back. "There's a reason we live in the middle of nowhere, bettin' on shifter fights for a living. Our animals are broken. Because of you, we escaped, but we've been laying low ever since. We're waiting for the day they find us."
"That's not gonna happen," Sam's jaw clenches.
"No? What are ya gonna do about it, wolf?"
"After I took their files, I released a bug to wipe their hard drives. All their data's gone, even the cloud backup. The virus will infect any computer that tries to access the files."
I can't help the wash of cold that floods my veins. Even with my guilt, I don't want to see my data wiped. Sam is now my only link to that research.
We'll find a compromise, he promised.
Declan whistles. "You're a wanted man, runnin' on borrowed time."
"I need to find Nash," Sam says.
"All right then. Let's find him." Declan whips a cap out of his back pocket and sets it on his head. "Laurie and I will take ya to the Pit. Parker will know where Nash is."
"Parker?" Sam asks.
"That's right," Declan rubs his hands together. "Gonna see a dog about a lion."