Total pages in book: 46
Estimated words: 43373 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 217(@200wpm)___ 173(@250wpm)___ 145(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 43373 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 217(@200wpm)___ 173(@250wpm)___ 145(@300wpm)
“I eat my steaks well done,” he said. Actually, he loved it when it was pretty much burnt to a crisp, but he knew some of the guys liked it when there was still juice pouring out.
He rubbed the back of his head, knowing the guys were approaching.
“You didn’t answer me before.”
“About what?” he asked, not wanting to listen to whatever this man was talking about.
“Your woman, she’s your mate, right?”
Rocco frowned. He didn’t trust any of the things Milton had created. This man had admitted to working with Milton, and as far as he was concerned, that was bad fucking news. Very bad news, because it meant Graham was aware of what he was studying, regardless of what he said.
“For a guy who only thought he was extending the life of dogs, you sure seem to think you know a lot about us,” he said, folding his arms across his chest.
“I’ve had no choice but to learn what was going on.” Graham shrugged.
“How many other packs have you come from?” Rocco asked.
“None.”
“I don’t believe that. You cannot know about mates or some of the shit you do, without having encountered packs.” He didn’t know how many packs worked like the Poison Wolves, if any. Each pack was unique to their circumstances.
He looked at Graham, knowing there was more to this guy. Elizabeth hadn’t been much help with anything. Milton had worked hard in keeping a lot of people out of the loop regarding his experiments. He was getting angrier by the second as he looked at the man before him.
“Look, I know you don’t believe me, and trust me, I wouldn’t believe me either, but it doesn’t change the fact that it is the truth.” Graham pressed a dirty hand to his chest. “I feel it in here. It’s how I know your pack is coming. It was how I was able to locate that damn rabbit.”
“Why now?” Rocco asked. “You’ve clearly been dealing with this for some time, and yet, you’re just now coming to figure shit out.”
“I don’t know what Milton gave me. I don’t know what he did to me. I do know it had nothing to do with extending the life of fucking dogs, and trust me, I freaked out when I learned that.”
“You expect me to believe you loved a dog?”
“Buster,” Graham said. “He was a German shepherd, and I had him for twelve years. He was everything to me, and yes, he had chased off a couple of girlfriends, because he was a pain in the butt, but he was my dog, my best friend, and so what, I may have treated him like a son or a best friend, and not a dog, but he was my fur baby.”
Rocco saw he was getting upset. He couldn’t help but wonder if Buster was some kind of regular dog name, as one of Amelia’s dogs was called Buster as well.
“The day he died … I will never forget that day … the feel of his fur, the hopelessness I felt, because I wanted more time with him. I wanted everything with him, and I didn’t get it. I didn’t get a damn thing with him.” He took a deep breath. “It’s in their eyes, that moment, when it’s like they tell you it’s their time. At least maybe we comfort ourselves when that happens.”
Graham sounded … normal. He didn’t have time to ask more questions as Alpha, Boyan, Draco, Enzo, and Ryker all arrived at the cages.
Rocco gave him a rundown of what happened after Boyan had left to go and get him.
“So, this is what a pack looks like?” Graham asked, and he still hadn’t gotten to his feet.
“Graham?” Alpha asked.
“That’s my name and I’m guessing you’re the one in charge.”
Rocco looked at the other man, and he wasn’t like some of the other humans that had come to them. None of this made sense to him. Some of them had lasted a couple of months, a few hadn’t even made it past one full moon. There was no consistency. According to Elizabeth, it would make sense as Milton didn’t waste time on one track. The moment it looked like his ideas were failing, he changed it up, moving to something and someone else. A different concoction of whatever potion he was brewing. The man, apparently, didn’t have a patient bone in his body, and he didn’t waste time. He discarded people as quickly as he experimented on them. Some of them had been desperate to make quick money, allowing Milton to experiment on them.
Rocco didn’t like this, but as Alpha took over the questioning, his thoughts drifted to his mate. Rose shouldn’t have been here, and he shouldn’t have spoken to her that way. She didn’t know how many people he had seen go through this change, not able to make it, seeing the fear in their eyes. He wasn’t being cruel in saying they needed to die. He was trying to be kind, and stop them going through that pain.