Reed (Nano Wolves #4) - Donna McDonald Page 0,5
under surveillance, but they’ve been staying under everyone’s radar.”
Reed frowned at the news. “If it’s not the Canadian group who took our people, or the US group you’re working for, who else could be responsible?”
Brandi sighed and stared at the floor for a moment. Finally, she lifted her head. “I can’t confirm anything yet, but I have a theory about who your attackers were.” Her gaze shifted to Katarina. “And I think a group of Russians were the informants responsible for sending them here.”
Yana sighed internally when Katarina only stared at Brandi without commenting. Her alpha sister rarely gave away her thoughts. She turned to Brandi herself. “No one heard Russian being spoken. Many here would recognize the language. Centuries ago, the great Nicolai Vashchenko taught entire village to speak it.”
Brandi tore her gaze away from Katarina’s intense stare to answer Yana. “The attackers were part of a private apprehension group out of New Zealand that works for hire. English is the primary language in New Zealand, but I’m guessing no one heard the attackers speaking much at all. That’s how professionals work when they’re collecting their targets.”
“Da. Is true,” Katarina admitted. “Villagers heard sharp, terse commands in English.”
Brandi nodded at her in acknowledgment. “After they took Heidi, we learned Travis hadn’t been working with just one group. He sold his apprehension services to the highest bidder. He collected subjects for nearly every global group involved in these sorts of experiments. My theory is that someone in Russia—probably the same someone who helped Travis abduct Yana and Katarina—got paid for the information about the exact location of the Black Wolf pack.”
Katarina rubbed her forehead as she swore over that bit of news. Her gut was screaming at her. She wanted to scream for real. “Trakhni moyu zhizn',” she muttered in Russian instead.
Yana gasped and stared at her sister. “Fucking is sacred, Katarina Volkov. It is bad luck to swear about fucking.” She went instantly silent when Katarina held up a hand to stop her.
Brandi cleared her throat to hide her urge to laugh at Yana’s outburst. Finally, she went on with her explanation. “Gareth and I both suspect the group we’ve been watching in Canada now has the Black Wolf pack members who were taken. Two of our best agents are attempting to confirm our suspicions. A retrieval team is standing by to go in there once we know more. We were intentionally delaying the complete shutdown of the Canadian facility until we could figure out the Russian connection that keeps surfacing.”
Katarina studied Reed, whose expression showed no emotion about what he was hearing. While he looked calm in his eyes, she also could feel a storm gathering. She turned to Brandi. “Do you think Canadian scientists kidnap wolves hoping to make more like you?”
Brandi shrugged before nodding. “I can’t say for certain, but we know Randall Crane’s work got disseminated to lots of people through his sister, Diane, who would have told anyone anything to get scientific funding. Diane Crane didn’t know specifically about Ariel, Heidi, and I until Travis lost Katarina and took Heidi instead. The other Crane sibling, Sheldon Crane, has spent his career trying to save those who ended up being experiments for Randall and Diane.”
“Then we know nothing for certain,” Katarina concluded.
Brandi shook her head. “We know some things, and if I had to make a guess about what’s happening, I would say the Canadian group hopes to replicate Randall Crane’s work. They intend to make werewolves using Reed’s blood.”
“Why did they not stay and fight to capture Reed?” Katarina asked.
Gareth pointed at the Black Wolf alpha. “Reed was likely their original target, but he wasn’t here when they arrived. Timing was off, and since Travis is no longer around to feed them information, they probably made plans that included a contingency for Reed’s absence. Once the village was on fire, their original plan likely changed to escaping with as few casualties as possible. This is why they settled for stealing two of Reed’s remaining grandsons and his beta.”
Katarina rose and paced a while before turning to look at Reed, who was not responding. His stoicism worried her far more than his ranting in anger would have. Was this truly his nature? She frowned deeply and fought off the sigh that had been building up as she thought about it.
She made sure she only looked at Brandi. “Russian werewolves are not like werewolves in America. In motherland, werewolf alphas rule with sharp fangs and iron