Chapter 79 GHOST FROM THE PAST
Logan's POV
Dr Jonah is not Dr Jonah.
The face looking at me belongs to someone else entirely, and recognition hits me. Dr Linda Moore. My childhood mentor, who died in a pack raid ten years ago. I watched her memorial service. Saw her name carved into the monument for fallen pack members. Grieved her loss for months.
But she is standing right in front of me, wearing a Veritas lab coat and smiling like we just ran into each other at a coffee shop.
"You look shocked." Her voice is exactly as I remember it. Warm and intelligent with an edge of amusement that used to make me feel safe. "I suppose that is understandable given the circumstances."
"You are dead." The words come out flat. "You died ten years ago."
"I faked my death ten years ago." She corrects me gently, like she is explaining a complex theorem to a student who almost understands.
The woman who brought me to this level backs away slowly, sensing that whatever is happening here is above her clearance grade. Dr Moore waves her off without breaking eye contact with me.
"Leave us. I will handle the recruit personally."
The woman disappears, and suddenly I am alone with a ghost who is not actually a ghost at all.
"Why?" I manage to ask.
"Why did I fake my death, or why did I join The Veritas?" She tilts her head. "Those are different questions with different answers."
"Both."
"Walk with me." She starts down the hallway, and I follow because what else can I do? "I assume you came here for a reason beyond simple curiosity. The glamour spell you are wearing is impressive, but it will fail soon. Maybe twenty minutes left before your true face shows."
She knew about the glamour the entire time. Probably knew who I was the moment she saw me.
"I came for medical supplies." The lie is weak, but I have to try.
"You came for Morrison's blood." She says it casually. "Kai found the texts about resurrection magic, and you need the source material to stabilise Monty. I have been monitoring your pack's movements for weeks, Logan. I know everything you are planning."
My stomach drops. "How?"
"Because I helped design the surveillance network that tracks supernatural activity across three continents." She stops at a door marked Private Research and swipes her access card. "The Veritas has eyes everywhere. Did you really think you could infiltrate our headquarters without us knowing?"
"This is a trap," I state the obvious.
"This is an opportunity." She moves to one of the storage units and pulls out a vial filled with red liquid. "Morrison's blood. Exactly what you came for. I could give it to you right now and let you walk out of here."
"In exchange for what?"
"Your cooperation." She sets the vial on the counter between us. "Join The Veritas willingly. Use your brilliant mind to help us advance our research instead of wasting your potential protecting a pack that will die regardless of your efforts."
"You want me to help you torture supernaturals."
"I want you to help me save them." Her expression shifts to genuine belief. "Logan, you are smart enough to see what is happening in the world. Supernatural populations are declining. Birth rates are dropping. Natural selection is failing our species. We need intervention."
"You are killing hundreds of wolves every year."
"We are sacrificing a few to save thousands." She picks up the vial and holds it to the light. "Every extraction teaches us more about how supernatural abilities work. Every transfer attempt brings us closer to creating enhanced beings who can survive in a world that is becoming increasingly hostile to our kind."
"That is insane."
"That is evolution." She meets my eyes. "Darwin proved that species adapt or die. We are simply accelerating the process. In fifty years, when natural supernaturals are extinct, the enhanced soldiers we create today will be the only thing keeping our bloodlines alive."
The conviction in her voice makes it worse. She actually believes this.
"You watched that extraction upstairs." I gesture toward the ceiling. "How they ripped out that wolf's core while she was awake and screaming. How do you justify that?"
"The same way surgeons justify amputations." She sets the vial down. "Short-term pain for long-term survival. That wolf's sacrifice will contribute to research that could save hundreds of lives."
"She had a name." Anger makes my throat burn. "A pack. A life before you strapped her to a table and tortured her to death."
"And in a few generations her descendants will thank me for ensuring the species survived." Dr Moore's tone stays calm. "You cannot see past individual suffering to the bigger picture, but that is why you would be valuable here. Your empathy, balanced with our vision, could create something remarkable."
"I will never help you."
"Then you will die here." She says it without malice. "I gave you a choice, Logan. Join us willingly and live. Refuse, and I will alert security that we have an infiltrator. You will be captured and processed just like any other subject."
"Processed."
"Extracted." She clarifies. "Your abilities are not particularly rare, but your intelligence is. We could transfer your consciousness to a more useful body. Keep your mind intact while giving you enhanced physical capabilities. You would still be you, just stronger and more efficient."
My body cringes as she discusses stealing my body and implanting my mind in someone else "That is not life. That is slavery."
"That is survival." She picks up the vial again. "Last chance, Logan. Join us or die. Choose quickly because your glamour is failing, and I have other appointments."
I look at the vial of Morrison's blood sitting on the counter. The cure for Monty. The reason I risked everything to come here. It is right in front of me, and all I have to do is agree to become a monster to take it.
"I need time to think." I stall, hoping for any opportunity to grab the vial and run.
"You have had ten years to think since I faked my death." Dr Moore's patience thins. "You spent that time joining a pack and mating a True Luna and raising a child who will bring down everything Morrison has built. You made your choice long ago, Logan. Stop pretending you might change your mind."
"You know about Luna."
"I know everything about Luna." She smiles, and it is not kind. "Morrison has been tracking True Luna bloodlines for centuries. When Alicia gave birth, every monitor we had went off simultaneously. That child represents either our greatest threat or our greatest asset, depending on how we handle the situation."
"You will never touch her."
"I will not have to." Dr Moore moves toward a communication panel on the wall. "Morrison will handle that personally. He is quite excited about studying a True Luna infant. The research possibilities are extraordinary."
I lunge for the vial, but Dr Moore is faster than she should be. She grabs my wrist and twists with strength that belongs to someone enhanced beyond natural limits.
"You took the treatments." I gasp out. "You let them extract your core and replace it."
"I volunteered for the first successful transfer." Pride fills her voice. "I am the proof that our research works. Stronger than any natural wolf and still completely myself."
She is not herself. The Dr Moore I knew would never torture innocents or threaten children. Whatever the treatments did to her body, they destroyed her soul.
I drop my weight suddenly and use her grip against her. We crash into the counter, and the vial rolls across the surface. I grab it with my free hand and shove her backwards hard enough to make space.
"Logan, stop!" She recovers faster than I expected. "You cannot escape. Security is already on its way."
"Then I'd better run fast." I pocket the vial and sprint for the door.
Alarms shriek the moment I hit the hallway. Red lights pulse, and steel barriers start descending to seal off sections of the facility. I shift mid-run, and my wolf form gives me the speed I need to slide under the first barrier before it closes completely.
Dr Moore's voice echoes over the intercom system. "Intruder on sublevel two. Real identity is Logan Reeves from Dark Night Pack. Extremely dangerous. Capture alive if possible, but termination is authorised if necessary."
Guards pour into the hallway from both directions. I count at least a dozen corrupted wolves and twice as many human soldiers with weapons designed to kill supernaturals. The odds of survival are dropping by the second.
I dodge right into a side corridor and nearly trip over a body. One of the subjects from the holding cells who must have been in transit when the alarms went off. The guard escorting her is distracted by the chaos, and I use that to my advantage.
I hit him hard enough to break bones and grab the cell keys from his belt. The subject is a young female wolf who looks barely eighteen and terror clear in her eyes.
"Run." I toss her the keys. "Free anyone you can and get out."
She stares at me for half a second before nodding and disappearing into the chaos. At least if I die here, some good will come from it.
More guards converge on my position. I take the stairs up two at a time and burst through a door that leads to the main level. The exit is visible across the lobby, and for one brief moment, I think I might actually make it.
Then Morrison steps out of the elevator.