Devon

A couple weeks passed, and things were getting back to normal, or as normal as they could be. We had lost five wolves from our pack who we'd buried with tears, honour, and solemnity; my sister and Arthur were still broken; and Megan still hadn't woken up.

In light of all that, I felt almost guilty for how happy I was when I was with Amber. I had a surprise for her, although truthfully I was not sure that she would like my decision. I wasn't going to do anything behind her back though, so I had to tell her what I had done, as soon as I was done dealing with my guest.

Kain sat across from me, looking completely relaxed. He was an impressive wolf with power equivalent to an alpha, and I respected his abilities. "It was a bit of a trick to get them out undetected, but all three are safely secured in your prison."

I thanked him, but I wondered how my mate would feel about what I had paid Kain to do. He made her uncomfortable, but he'd proven himself to me during the battle. After he had found the exit, he had circled around outside and began making sneak attacks on the hunters who had hemmed us in. Without him confusing their forces, we might have been overrun before help arrived.

He smiled grimly. "I've also got a little bonus for you."

"Oh?" I asked, curious.

He tossed a large envelop onto my desk. "No need to thank me. I had a feeling about your mate, so I did a little investigation. You can decide how much she should know." He stood up and held out his hand towards me. I shook it, and he nodded.

"Thanks." I meant it. He had been reluctant to take on my side task since he had been planning to visit his own pack while on the continent, but I had made him an offer he couldn't refuse.

"You're welcome. Watch out for the hunters, they're not done with us yet."

He left, and I opened the envelope. My heart pounded as I read through the documents.

I hoped this wouldn't hurt her, but even if it would, I couldn't keep this secret from her. She was tougher than she appeared at first glance. My beautiful mate was a survivor.

"Amber? Could you come see me?"

"Did I do something wrong?"

"Of course not."

"Did I not do something right?"

"Don't worry so much, love. It's more what I did that you may not like."

"Okay," she agreed hesitantly, and a few moments later she was opening the door to my office, caution in every movement. "So, what's the big secret?"

I watched her carefully as I spoke. "I paid Kain to abduct the Lyndons."

"You what?" she asked. Her emotions weren't leaking, and she didn't let them show on her face so I couldn't gauge her reaction.

"I couldn't go running off to sate my wolf's rage, so I paid to have them brought to me. They're currently in the dungeon. Mom, Dad, and not yet dead Brother."

She looked a bit shaky, so I circled the desk and drew her back to sit on my chair with me. With her firmly in my lap, I continued. "I won't hurt them if you don't want, or I'll kill them if you allow it. As much as I want their blood, it's up to you."

She nodded.

"And there's more. Kain did some voluntary digging before he brought them here and he found information the hunters had about you."

"About me?" her eyes flashed gold with her wolf's distress, and I pulled her closer to me.

"You don't have to look at that, either, if you don't want. It's about your past."

She looked at me, as if shocked I could suggest such a thing. "Of course I want to know, Devon. Is this it?" she asked, holding up the envelope.

"It is."

With trembling hands, she pulled the papers out of the packet. She puzzled over them for long moments and then turned to me. "Read it to me, please."

I did as she asked. The papers all seemed to be research papers, and the latest was dated after she disappeared, detailing conclusions of the experiment and further research ideas for new subjects, or how they would resume if she was recovered. My wolf growled in my head at the thought they might have tried to take her back from me.

The earliest entries detailed how they had come across a dying werewolf with an infant. He had begged them to care for her as his dying wish.

How they had mutilated that desire.

They had taken the infant, and conducted an experiment to suppress her wolf, and then they had given her to a loyal hunter family to raise, while they carefully monitored her status. The notes were detailed, and Amber cried while I read, but she demanded I continue every time I faltered. Finally, we reached the end, and I found a messy note scrawled on the back of the last page I hadn't noticed at first.

If I'm guessing correctly, Amber is from Glenhaven and the name her parents gave her is Raleigh Simons. If she wants, she can find more of what's left of the Glenhaven pack at Glenshadow. Alpha Jason would be happy to assist with what he knows. – Kain

She sniffled and wrapped her arms around me. I smoothed her hair down and waited for her sobs to subside.

Finally, she stood up. "I'm not ready for that yet, Devon. But I do want to see the Lyndons."

I didn't question her. I just stood up beside her and we walked out of my office towards the prison.

—————

The three living Lyndons were in separate cells, isolated from the other hunter prisoners we had captured in battle. I was glad they had not been placed in the one where I had first foolishly confined Amber when I had brought her here. I didn't want them sitting where she had ever sat or breathing the same air as my mate—or any air at all, preferably.

As angry as I had been, I was even angrier now that it was confirmed that they had participated in experimenting on her when she was an innocent baby. The abuse and neglect had been bad enough, but this just added another layer to my rage. I desperately hoped she would give me the go ahead to kill them when she was done. My wolf wanted their blood. He also now wanted the hunter researchers' blood, but that was a dream that would have to wait for another day.

She was a bit shaky as we walked, but she steadied herself as she neared them. She looked into the first cell and found the older male. She glanced at me. "Let me introduce you to my family."

She indicated the grey-haired man who was sitting on a cot, staring straight forward at the wall. "This is my father, Mr. Lyndon. As bad as he was, I liked him a lot better than Mrs. Lyndon. His violence was more disciplinary, and predictable. He looks older than when I left, probably due to grief over the loss of Jasper."

There was a shriek from the last cell at the name of the dead one, apparently the female was listening and upset by the mention of the son I had killed. I hid my smile at her obvious distress.

We continued. "You remember my brother, right Devon? The one who was trying to rape me when you found me?"

I growled at that memory. I wished he were still alive so I could kill him again. "Well, this is Jesse, my favourite brother. He was unpleasant, but he almost never laid a hand on me. He usually pretended I didn't exist, and I appreciated that. I hope you'll give him a quick death."

My pleasure at the promise of her words was quickly drowned out by the ranting of the woman in the final cell. "You ungrateful, dirty little—"

I was ready to go forward and shut her up, but Amber—or maybe Raleigh—stalked forward and reached into the cell. She grabbed the woman and pulled her hard against the bars of the cell, hard enough there was an audible clang.

"Hello, Mother," my mate snarled. "I'm a bit stronger than you remember, huh? I'll bet you're incredibly happy for your adopted daughter."

"Go to hell, bitch," the woman snapped. "After what you did—"

All pretense of introduction flew to the winds at her words. Amber, or whatever she would choose to be called, reached into the cell and yanked the woman hard against the bars so that her face was squished up against them. My shock was only overwhelmed by my pride that she was standing up for herself against her abusers at last.

"Shall we talk about what has been done, Mother?"

"Don't call me 'Mother', I was never your mother!"

"Oh, I'm more than aware of that. I've always known that, even before the truth came out. I was what, an experiment in raising a tortured werewolf? The hunters are sick, but what you four did to me—"

She scoffed. "How you can say that after what you did to Jasper, shameless—"

My mate's laughter was harsh. "After what I did to Jasper? After what he tried to do to me, he deserved to die! I'm glad he's dead!"

"He—"

"He tried to rape me! If you had any human decency—"

"Don't talk to me about human, bitch!"

"—you would care that your son was sick and twisted. But he came by it honestly, didn't he? You enjoyed punishing me, you just didn't take it quite as far as he did. So he was the first to die."

My mate shoved the woman backwards into the cell so that she went sprawling onto the floor. "But you'll be the last, so that you have time to understand that you deserve every loss you're going to face." She turned to me and wrapped her arms around me. I could feel her shaking in spite of her impressive performance. "I'll leave their fates in your hands. When you do kill them, don't make their deaths overly painful, please."

"Whatever you wish."

"I don't want to see."

I began to lead her out, away from the people who had made her life so difficult for so long. I met the brother's eyes as I passed, and said, my voice nearly a growl as my wolf came to the fore, "I'll be back to see you, later."

He paled, and we walked away.