Page 32 of His Curse
This can't be good.
Hell, I know it won’t be.
"Don't you want to know who will be joining our little family?" Kentworth frowns down at me as he parks his clipboard on his hip. "You're usually so curious. Are you sure you're feeling well?"
"I'm fine. Just listening intently.” I lie my ass off. "It's been so long since I've been here, and I've missed our chats.” I almost gag on that last bit, the words like poison on my tongue, but I manage to hold it together.
He smiles warmly at me. "As have I. Which is why you will be the first to know that I've caught wind of a clan, adragonclan, in Oregon that has seemingly been well hidden until recently. Can you believe it? Dragons, Zitkala! I'll have my very own dragons!"
Oh sweet Jesus, he found them.
This madman has found the last remaining dragons and in turn, he found my mate.
Something I have to try to confirm before moving forward with my plan because the urgency of it just went from a level one million to two million. "You've never had a dragon before, doc. Should be interesting."
He nods like his head is barely attached, the stupid grin growing as his jowls flap. "I thought they were extinct but one of my hunters was almost positive he located a nest, an entire town, really. There had been reports of the most unusual kind of forest fire in the Siskiyou Forest so I've had my men watching for a few years trying to find the point of origin."
My stomach drops and my heart rate tries to spike, but I keep poking. "Just one dragon? They can do that all on their own?"
"That's just it, Zitkala. I believe there to be more than one, at least a half dozen, maybe more than that, but my men haven't been able to pinpoint the town in which they reside. As you know, all shifters are secretive, and I believe dragons to be the most elusive since they rarely leave their homelands. If there are in fact dragons in Oregon, it will only be a matter of time until they are here with us."
At least he doesn't know exactly where they are. I can rest a little easier knowing that, anyway.
And it doesn't seem that Kentworth knows of the rest of their clan, and doesn’t know about the other shifters that live there.
Hell, the only reasonI knowis because I ran into a bear—Henry, a grizzly that was on his way home—while I was searching for Colton.
We met at a diner in Wyoming close to the Idaho border, and after the initial acknowledgement of what we were, Henry ended up sharing a meal with me, and telling me all about his cousin that he had just visited in Ashland.
Henry went on and on about Jack and Kady, their boys, and how Ashland had a pretty big shifter population for such a small town. He then told me all about the others as well, and when he brought up a wolf named Colt, my heart soared.
It was a total fluke, a chance encounter, but when I prodded further, the grizzly spilled about Marigold and Alpha Paddock, his Luna and my mate, and that was all the confirmation I needed.
Unfortunately for us, when Henry and I finished our meal and went to the parking lot to go our separate ways, Kentworth had men waiting outside and we were both taken that very night.
Henry made it two years at the lab before he washumanely put down,and I vowed to myself I'd make sure that when I found Colton, when I found Jack and his family, I’d tell them everything about what happened to Henry and how noble his cousin was right until the very end. It's the least I can do for the bear that protected me through my first two years of hell.
And in terms of the rest of my knowledge?
About two and a half, maybe three, years ago we had a lioness—Rachel—who had been contacted by Ashland's chief of police, who was another lion that was part of her original pride. She told me that he reached out to her because four dragons had moved to town and were trying to raise an army, one to fight in a war that followed them from their homeland lead by a psycho I'm sure Kentworth would have loved. One who was trying to wipe out all shifters in positions of power in order to rule supreme. Rachel was on her way from Canada to join them when Kentworth Labs took her, and she only lasted a little over a month before one of the guards beat her to death. Something that is extremely difficult to do to any shifter, let alone an apex predator, by the way.
Little by little, I started asking around while all three halls were together, began asking if anyone else knew of the dragons or shifters in Oregon, or if they’d been contacted by members of their previous clan or whatever in order to reunite it and when about ten confirmed they had, I was able to get a clearer picture of the place my mate calls home.
It's kind of amazing that Kentworth hasn't been able to get any more solid information until now, really. His methods of torture are pretty gruesome, and if he was trying to get information on the location of any other creatures of mysticism, you think he would have. I just had to gain some trust while I asked around and I was able to piece things together pretty clearly, so I imagine torture would give him everything he wanted right down to what size inseam the dragon king wears.
Then again, wearevery secretive and incredibly loyal. Most of us would take any knowledge we possessed to the grave before we gave it to someone like the doc, so I guess I shouldn't be all that surprised Kentworth didn’t gain any more knowledge about the dragon clan. And if anything, I'm grateful for the qualities that make the entirety of my species so fierce.
"Now you see why I had to do what I did? Why I had to free up the space on the North and South halls, Zitkala? We needed the room for your special new friends."
Bile creeps up my throat as I nod. "I understand, doc. Dragons are far more special; they’re rare, better research subjects."
"Exactly!” His pale eyes light with so much joy it makes me sick. “And if I can start testing the dragons, figure out how they work and what makes them tick, then perhaps I can find a cure. I may be able to find a way to cure all of you of the disease God has placed within you poor souls.” Kentworth turns to grab a syringe, a vial, and a few other things. "And maybe I'll be able to cultivate their blood into something useful, finally turning my guards into those super soldiers I've always longed for."
"That would be pretty great.” My eyes stay glued to his back for a few beats before they dart to the clock because Ireallyneed to get my plan underway.
9:15.
This was the time Ginger agreed to take Dick to the workhouse in the yard, the shed where they keep all the landscaping stuff they make us use. It only took promising the mountain lion my books—which I got back this morning—my extra scrubs, my rations, and my shampoo for her to agree, and when she did, I still wasn't convinced she wouldn't betray me in the end.
