Page 48 of Bad Blood Wolf

Flynn was right, though. He owed them something, even if he couldn’t tell the whole truth. They’d seen enough that he couldn’t hide what he was anymore, and he didn’t want to try.

“All right,” he said. “I’m a fucking freak. I have this… thing… in me, underneath my real wolf.” He gave a harsh laugh. “I call it Monster Wolf.”

It was finally out. All these years it had been lurking inside him, and then for almost a year he’d been trying so desperately to stuff it back into its hiding place.

All for nothing.

“It’s some kind of mutant hulk killer wolf. It was dormant for years, but about a year ago, it started to try to push its way out. I’ve been holding it in, but lately…” He swallowed. “Lately it hasn’t been going so well.”

“Yeah, not so much,” Flynn said. “Last night… I don’t know how much you remember, but you were stuck between forms—human, wolf and monster. We had to knock you out for hours before you could settle in one form.”

Brody shuddered. Shifters who got stuck between forms usually died—the stress was too much for their bodies and brains.

“I was trying to keep it in,” he said. “Fucking Bastian and a bunch of Nashville bullies tried to take me down. Almost succeeded, and that’s what brought it out. But I knew if I let it take over I’d kill them all.”

“Too bad that’s not legal anymore,” Flynn said. He sounded like he meant it. Brody would have smiled if his head didn’t hurt so fucking much.

Flynn went on, “Where did this Monster Wolf come from? Were you experimented on?” His voice grew low and deadly. “Did Creston do this to you?”

“What?” Brody raised his head, wincing at the sharp spike of pain. “God, no. I stayed as far away from Creston as I could. If he’d found out what I was—if anyone had known—” He broke off. He’d never verbalized his fears to anyone. Never had anyone to tell. Even his dad never let him talk about it.

“I was afraid they’d tell the Council, and I’d be put down. Or they’d tell someone worse. There are underground organizations that experiment on shifters…” He broke off. “Shit, why am I telling you this? You know exactly what I was afraid of.”

Flynn growled low in his throat. So did Tank and Jasmin. “Yeah,” Flynn said. “Which is the only reason you’re sitting in this room right now, despite the danger you could bring on us. I’m opposed to that shit, and nobody has it happen to them if I can prevent it.”

Brody nodded. “Thanks,” he whispered.

“So, this is what the drugs were for?”

Brody’s head snapped up in shock, and he stared at Flynn. “How did you know about that?”

“Followed you to a buy,” Flynn said briefly.

Fuck. “You had no right—”

Flynn cut him off with a wave of his hand and a shot of alpha energy. “Don’t even bother to get all outraged. I take care of my crew as I see fit. Anybody who needs fucking two thousand a week untraceable cash is into something I need to know about before I trust him inside my territory.”

Shit. No rules here but Flynn’s, clearly. “Quite the little dictator, aren’t you,” he muttered resentfully.

“I wish,” Flynn said. “These assholes still don’t do what I say half the time. That’s why I have to sneak around. But I ain’t apologizing, so fucking deal with it. Back to the drugs.”

“What?” Brody said. He couldn’t focus. “Oh. Yeah. This… mutation… I’ve had it since I was a kid. Then… something traumatic happened, when I was about six. I got enraged, and Monster Wolf came out and almost killed another kid. After that…” He broke off again.

He had to be careful here. After that, he’d gotten this scar on his face. After that, his mom had left. After that, nothing had been the same, even though everyone pretended like it was.

“After that, it was like it got shoved into this dungeon in my mind and the door was barred shut. It didn’t come out—didn’t even try. I was the most even-tempered bastard you’d ever want to find. Until about a year ago.”

“And then?” Flynn said. “Something must have triggered it.”

Something had—or rather, somebody had. But that was the secret that could never be told. Monster Wolf had already betrayed someone he loved, destroyed a life. He couldn’t do that again.

“I don’t know,” he said tiredly, dropping his head into his hands again. “But I started getting these headaches, like a railroad spike being driven through my skull. And then I would feel Monster Wolf trying to claw its way out, especially if I was under stress.” He raised his head again. “And yes, that’s what the drugs were for.”

He heaved a huge sigh. He was so tired. And he didn’t even want to see what Jasmin was thinking about all this. Knowing he was a freak—a potential crazed killer.

Not exactly boyfriend material.

“Look, I don’t want to drag you into this,” he said. “I appreciate what you’ve done, but as long as I need the drugs, there’s a chance that eventually they’ll lead rogue shifter hunters to me. They watch for that shit. I can’t do that to your crew. You’ve been through enough.”