Land of Wolves

Chapter 73

Caleb continues to smell me, still not answering my question, while Sash and Cole exchange glances. Adam nervously looks between Caleb and me, and after a moment, Sash takes it upon herself to answer.

"We were planning to infiltrate the HPAW facility. There are..." Sash trails off and glances at Caleb. I feel him nod against my head, giving her permission to continue whatever she's about to say. "Several wolves are working there, and we were going to use them to pull you and Adam out."

Several wolves are working in the HPAW facility? How? Every employee, even the cleaning crew and caterers, are carefully vetted. The interview process is intensive, and thorough background checks need to be run before anybody can access the facility.

There's no way a wolf, let alone multiple, would've been able to find employment with HPAW. Especially within a facility.

I just can't fathom it.

"There are thousands of wolves living among the humans," Caleb says, his voice low as he whispers into the back of my head. "Before HPAW ramped up border protection, hundreds of mated pairs went into the human lands to birth and raise their children. Those children have an extensive paper trail, and most have gone on to find jobs in government and other important sectors."

Caleb smooths his fingers over mine before continuing. "We didn't have wolves inside the facility until after you were sent here. It was too risky, but after seeing how everything between us could've been avoided, we decided to take the risk and place our wolves within the facilities."

I suppose, in theory, that makes sense, but there's just no way. Humans and wolves may look relatively similar, but they're too different to go unnoticed. Especially for an extended period of time.

"They'd have no medical records or family history, though," I point out. "Small things like those would surely be noticed in a thorough background check."

Caleb brushes my hair out of my face before tucking a strand behind my ear. I flush, slightly embarrassed he's doing this while everybody in the room looks at us. I usually wouldn't mind, but knowing they overheard Caleb telling me I smell like his cum while we were in bed this morning, I feel like we should tone it down a bit.

Although, nobody seems to care.

Sash and Cole are cuddled on the loveseat to the point they're practically one body, and Adam is so lost in his own world I don't think he has any idea what's happening right now. I'm sure his head is filled with thoughts of Bells.

"It's safe for children to ingest small quantities of suppressants," Caleb explains. "They take them before doctor's appointments, which weakens them to the point they can pass for humans. The family history is a bit trickier, but we have ways to work around that."

I can't believe he's trusting me with this information.

"Anyway," Sash interrupts, continuing what she was saying earlier. "We had worked with Adam on a plan to get you two out, but then Dan reached out with information on HPAW's plan to execute you so we shifted course, naturally. The rescue would've exposed our wolves, and we want to keep them in the facilities for now."

That makes sense. I'm sure a significant amount of their intel comes from those wolves, and I understand why they wouldn't be eager to lose that. If HPAW found out one wolf was able to make their way in, they'd freak out.

Every employee would be under investigation, and it'd open the doors for them to find more of Caleb's wolves.

I glance at Adam. "Did you know about that?" I ask. "HPAW's plan to execute us?"

He shakes his head. "Given your rapid health declines, Caleb and I decided to forego communication unless absolutely necessary."

Caleb begins smelling the back of my head again, and I lean forward and smoothly disconnect from him before readjusting to sit on the couch instead of on his lap. He frowns, clearly displeased, but doesn't try to stop me.