Loving The Beast Within (Sequel to Shifting Love)

Chapter 21: Taking Control

Fear and panic were the only two emotions running through me now. I stared around the lab room only to cry at the sight. Bodies littered the floor; blood pooling around their heads. The lab tech, William, lay on the ground to my left. His eyes forever stuck in a frightened state.

But I wasn’t crying for them. Dante had finally snapped. There was a shred of humanity in him anymore. Walter fled the room the instant he felt Dante’s sanity fade. He left all his men to be slaughtered by the monster he created.

Hopelessness weighed down my heart. I had never seen or heard anyone going this out of control before. He pushed me out of his mind completely. I couldn’t communicate with him like the first time I saw him after Walter captured him. The only thing I felt was his rage.

My hand shook as I slid the keys out of the hand of one of Walter’s men. I couldn’t stand to be in this room any longer. I crawled over to the door that led into the room where my friends were being held captive. I didn’t trust my legs to walk yet.

The door slowly creaked open once I found the right key to unlock it. Teague and Cooper were going wild in their cages. The anger from their Alpha was causing them to go out of control. Both of their cage doors were severely dented. They would have made it out eventually without my help.

It took three tries to find the right key for Cooper’s cage. He burst through the door after I barely turned the key. I stumbled back out of his way to let him through. Teague was even more impatient as I unlocked is cage.

“Hurry up!” he barked at me.

“Don’t ever talk to her like that again,” Cooper snarled back at him.

“I don’t take orders from mutts like you,” Teague growled as I finally found the right key for his cage.

“The only mutt here is you.”

“Stop it now!” I ordered both of them, “This is not the time to start arguing with each other. Dante has lost control. You need to stop him before he gets hurt or worse.”

“What do you want us to do, Ari?” Teague asked, “He’s not going to go down without a fight. I can’t feel anything sane left through the mind link.”

I hated the idea of drugging my mate but the only way to stop him without seriously hurting him would be through tranquilizers. But with all the drugs Walter pumped into him, it was hard to tell just how big of a dosage we needed to give him.

“Here Cooper,” I shoved the keys into his hands, “Unlock everyone in here and in the barn. Ask any of the other shifters if their kind will help us. I have a feeling that we are greatly outnumbered right now.”

“Yes, Ari.”

I could tell he didn’t like being pulled out of the action, but getting our friends and fellow shifters out of here safely was a bigger concern than his feelings.

“Teague, grab a tranquilizer gun and as many darts as you can find in the lab. I will be out there in a moment to help you find Dante.”

He immediately left the room without another argument.

I took a second to look around the room at everyone we had put in danger. Christian was huddled against his cage wall so he could be as close to his mate as possible. Bobby and Kevin were climbing out of their cages after Cooper unlocked them. Both boys looked worn and aged ten years.

When this was all over, Dante and I were going to take them on a long vacation away from everything. They needed something normal going on in their lives. I had to do everything in my power to make sure, if anything, that these boys survived through this.