Chapter 309 Synthetic Mutation
The crash was spectacular. Elias’s sedan plowed through the rail, tumbling down the three-hundred-foot ravine before hitting the jagged rocks below. Within seconds, a pre-planted incendiary device triggered. A fireball roared up the cliffside, the heat so intense it distorted the air and turned the interior of the car into a blackened tomb.
The Council’s SUV screeched to a halt at the broken rail. The two men in tailored suits stepped out, their expressions unreadable as they stared down at the inferno.
"He was a liability," the lead man murmured, watching the flames consume the medical files they assumed were still in the trunk. "A shame. He was a talented surgeon."
They didn't see the dark van slipping away through a narrow, overgrown service road miles above them. They didn't see Jax, standing on a ridge half a mile away, his golden eyes narrowed as he watched them fall for the bait.
The van pulled into a secluded, heavily fortified garage on the outskirts of the Blackwood estate. When the doors opened, Elias stumbled out, his legs shaking so violently he nearly hit the concrete.
"Elias!"
Sloane was already there, having been escorted through the back trails an hour earlier. She caught him, her "shopping spree" bags forgotten in the corner.
"We’re here," she whispered, her voice thick with relief. "We’re safe."
The heavy thud of boots announced the arrival of the Beta. Jax stepped into the light, his massive frame dwarfing the room. He looked at the bruised throat of the doctor, and for the first time, the predatory edge in his eyes was replaced by a grim respect.
"The Luna read your note, Doctor," Jax rumbled, his voice like grinding stones. "You’ve got a lot of explaining to do about my mate. But for now, consider yourselves guests of the King. No one—not the Council, and especially not my father's ghosts—will touch you here."
Leela stepped out from behind Jax, her elemental eyes shimmering with a fierce, protective light. She didn't look like the grieving woman Elias had seen in the hospital. She looked like a Queen ready for war.
Leela stepped forward, her elemental eyes softening as she looked at the trembling doctor and the fierce woman standing by his side. She reached out, placing a hand gently on Sloane’s arm in a gesture of genuine gratitude that seemed to radiate a grounding, earthy warmth.
"You risked everything—not just your life, but your wife’s," Leela said, her voice rich with the weight of her new authority. "In a world where humans usually turn a blind eye to our shadows, you chose to stand in the light. The Blackwood pack does not forget a debt like that. You are safe here."
Jax gave a short, sharp nod of agreement, his massive silhouette a literal wall between the Chatmorys and the outside world. "Let’s move. The Council will be combing that ravine for hours, but we don't take chances."
He led them through the fortified corridors of the estate, the air shifting from the damp scent of the forest to the clean, familiar smell of a high-end medical suite. When they entered the room, the sight was bittersweet.
Ginny was propped up against a mountain of pillows, cradling tiny Iggy. She was still dangerously pale, her skin almost translucent under the soft lights, but the localized tremors had stopped. The high-grade iron and prenatal supplements Elias had prescribed earlier were clearly doing their job, providing her body with the raw materials it needed to at least keep its head above water.
"She looks better," Leela whispered, a flicker of hope dancing in her eyes. "You did that for her, Elias."
Chatmory stepped closer to the bed, his professional instincts momentarily overriding his terror. He checked the monitors Jax had installed, his eyes scanning the vitals with practiced ease. Then, reaching into the hidden lining of his coat, he pulled out a small, sleek metallic object.
"I didn't just bring a note," Elias said, his voice regaining some of its clinical strength. He held up an encrypted thumb drive. "I’ve been dealing with 'those things' on the High Council for a long time, Leela. Longer than I care to admit. I knew if I stayed in that office, they’d eventually find the shadow drive I’ve been building."
He looked at Jax, then back to the Luna Queen.
"Everything is on here. The DNA sequencing, the classified genomic profiles they’ve been forcing me to track for years, and the direct comparison to Ginny’s current blood markers. I spent the last three years watching them play god from the sidelines because I was too scared to lose my lifestyle." He looked at Sloane, a pained smile touching his lips. "But I’m done being their lab tech. I want to help you figure out exactly what they’ve done to her—and how we can stop the mutation before it’s permanent."
Jax took the drive, his thumb tracing the cold metal. "We have the best analysts in the territory, but they don't have your eyes, Doctor. You’re going to sit down with our team. You tell us how to kill this experiment, and I'll make sure the men who started it never see the sun again."
Leela watched Ginny sleep, her fingers curling into a fist as the reality of the "synthetic mutation" settled into her mind. The sadness that had haunted her in the hospital hallway was gone, replaced by the sharp, vengeful edge of a Queen protecting her own.
"They thought they could use a human life as a petri dish," Leela murmured, the temperature in the room dropping just a fraction as her power reacted to her fury. "They thought we wouldn't notice. They were wrong."
Jax’s eyes sharpened, his protective instincts immediately zeroing in on the digital trail. He held the thumb drive like it might pulse with a tracking beacon at any second.
"Are you sure about this, Elias?" Jax asked, his voice low and dangerous. "Are you sure they can't track the encrypted code you used to download this? The Council has resources that make the NSA look like amateurs."
Dr. Chatmory wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead, but for the first time, he didn't look like a man about to faint. He looked like a man who had spent years quietly preparing for a rainy day.