“You might be surprised what I have and don’t have.” She dug out a box. “We lost everything several times. Then we’d dig out the rubble and go again. But that harness, I found it. So yes I have it. I don’t know why I kept it. Maybe I thought you’d be cloned and I could give it back to you.” She lifted her gaze. “And I could say thank you.”

I took it from her. “Thank you?”

I met Margot’s gaze. If she understood what she meant, she didn’t indicate.

Rachel continued, “For saving my life, Jason. You died saving me. I never got to say thank you. I’m getting the chance. Thank you.”

“Oh.” The truth was I hardly remembered it. Most of my memories from the other Jason’s life were very clear but that one was sort of hazy. Maybe that was how death worked for all cloned individuals. “Well, you’re welcome.”

What was I supposed to say? I remembered that I felt the need to save her very strongly. Or my previous body had. I was the worst clone ever. Weren’t we supposed to not feel separate from ourselves?

“All right then.” She lifted the harness. “Chad says you’re quite different now. Maybe there will be a day in the future that we can all be friends. I mean that might be weird. But everything is weird.”

The alarm dinged twice as loud and Margot sighed. “That means imminent threat.”

They were close. “Thank you, Rachel. Look, I don’t know if we’ll ever be friends. There’s a lot of water under the bridge for us. But we share memories. We both remember a time that is no more and people long forgotten. Let’s not make things harder on each other.”

She nodded. “Fair enough, Jace.”

No one had called me that in a million years. Well, maybe not that many. But it felt that way. She was like a long lost old friend. We might not have anything in common anymore. Still, we’d always share history.

Even if this body never lived it.

I grabbed Margot’s hand. We had the harness. I could keep her safe on my back. Somehow, we’d get through this and leave the past where it belonged—far, far away.

We lay in the dark night watching the battle. Genesis continued to survive thanks to my Wolves. For now, anyway. The originals were rough. They’d injured some people, and I could feel Margot’s hand shake on my fur from her wanting to go help people. Chad and the others understood why she had to be where she was at the moment. They’d survived years without her. For tonight, they’d have to make do.

I’d get her back as quickly as I possibly could. She needed to get more information and I was going to make that happen for her. I reared back a little bit. We didn’t know how good the sense of smell was on these guys. Most creatures didn’t have my level of scent detection but we really didn’t know. These guys had tracked me running at top speed with one of them in my mouth.

I wasn’t taking any chances with Margot.

We needed to reach the point in the battle where they took off running back to wherever they came from, which implied we had to win. I’d not shared this with Margot, but I was more than prepared to dump her somewhere safe and go join the fight if the tide turned in the wrong direction. So far, however, everything was on our side.

This was my biggest concern. These Vampires were supposed to be super badass. Why were we winning at all? I suspected, but couldn’t prove, that they were testing us. And I was now thinking of Genesis as us all of a sudden.

That was because of Margot.

She made me feel like a man worthy of being there, even when I was in my Wolf form.

My mate leaned forward, running her fingers through my fur. I wondered if she knew how on edge my thoughts were. I’d ask her, later. If I didn’t get distracted by something else awful that took my mind off of this.

Three Vamps ran back into the woods. I ducked down, hoping she’d know to stay quiet without even being told to. Margot was smart. She didn’t need me to force feed her basic survival. I didn’t think. This having a mate amidst terrifying circumstances really could amp up the anxiety.

I took off running after the Vamps, keeping my feet swift and as silent as I could. The wind behaved. It was as if it wouldn’t help them to know I was with them by blowing in the wrong direction. I didn’t know if there were forces that helped or hindered us beyond our understanding—I’d never known—but I’d take whatever assistance I could get even if it was random occurrences of entropy.

We ran for a long while, stopping only when they did. I listened to every beat of Margot’s heart. There were too many scents in the air for me to determine if she was okay from that alone. But her heartbeat I could hear through the silence of the night and while it was faster than I might have liked it was steady.

She was okay.

It begged the question, of course, as to whether or not the Vamps could hear her heartbeat, too, or my own. We really needed to know more about these things and fast.

Finally, after hours of running, we stopped. I sniffed the air. This was a new area to me. There were three buildings, all of them lit up like they had regular electricity and not the dim sometimes it worked sometimes it didn’t version that we lived with. Or that Genesis lived with. I’d only had that a few days, if that.

We’d been living like the stone ages in my pack.

They disappeared into the second building to my right, filing in like they’d been trained to do just that. Margot hopped off my back. I was going to shift, but she held up her hand, catching my attention. What did she see? I looked where she pointed. A woman who looked just like her passed. Her clone. That was right. Unlike Chad or myself, there were multiple versions of Margot wandering around. No that wasn’t right. None of them were Margot. Not at all. I took a long, and easy inhale through my nose.

The woman rushing from the first building to the next smelled nothing like her. The other being had a sour smell, not at all the welcoming roses of my love. I stared up at my mate. She crossed her arms over her chest and watched the other woman from a distance move by. She dropped her arms, putting them on her hips and without another word stormed forward.

What was she doing? I growled in the bottom of my throat, and she waved her hand in the air dismissing me.

“Hey,” she yelled to get the woman’s attention. Her clone turned around, her mouth falling open. This woman had longer hair than Margot and bangs. Otherwise they were identical.

She visibly swallowed. “Who are you?”

Margot shrugged. “I guess tonight, I’m you.”

She punched the woman hard, bringing her down to the ground. My mouth fell open. I hadn’t seen that coming. My girl had just knocked that woman right to the ground. She pulled a necklace right off of her that looked like it had a key card.

Over her shoulder, she spoke to me. “Drag her off. Will you? Put her somewhere a distance away. I’m going inside. I guess I’m going to be her. I don’t know who she is, but I’ll pull it off. Stay here, Jason. Don’t bust down any doors unless you have to. Being stealthy is helpful. Maybe better they don’t know we’re here.”

She wanted me to just wait here? I called my shift onto myself because we really had to discuss this but, by the time I got into my human form, she was gone through the door of the second building. Damn it. This was not the plan. I was supposed to be taking all the risks here.

I sighed. Okay, she’d told me to drag the woman off, and I couldn’t do that on two feet. I shifted back. I was going to crash later. I had to start monitoring how many changes I made in a day. When I’d been growing up it would have been unheard of for a Werewolf to do this as much as I did regularly. But circumstances weren’t easy, and I had to make do.

I changed into my Wolf form and trotted forward, gripping the woman by her shirt. This would be easier if she stayed knocked out, or I was going to have to bang her around again to put her back under. The idea was really unappealing. I’d never particularly cared for having to get physical with a woman, even in battle. I’d apparently taken on Rachel once but the fever had been riding me high. I didn’t know what I was doing. My father had wanted her dead, and I’d been in no position, mentally in the throes of delusions, to even know what the heck was going on.

I lived with that guilt. One of many things I somehow had to live with. Why did the universe give me Margot? I was really undeserving.

Her clone stayed asleep, and I dragged her a distance away. I left her on the ground under two large trees. Something might happen to her unconscious in the dark and maybe it made me an asshole—oh hell I’d always been an asshole—but this woman didn’t belong to me. The one I loved needed me, and the rest of the world could go fuck itself.

I ran back to the location where I’d left her and I waited. Time seemed to slow. Every second felt like an hour. I paced under a tree. This sucked. She should not be in there alone. It wasn’t that Margot wasn’t capable but part of my whole existence from the moment I’d met her was to help her. It just was.

I shifted into my human form. I was going in after her and it wasn’t going to be as a Wolf. Once upon a time I’d been sort of semi notorious in my neighborhood. I used to break into Rachel’s house all the time to see her. I wasn’t kept outside if I wanted to be in somewhere.

I didn’t have a key code, and I wasn’t going to wait until I could knock someone out to get a pass. No, I hightailed it to the wall of the building, hoisting myself up onto the ledge of the windowsill. The overhang of the roof came down low enough that I could use it to get on the roof. I looked behind me just to double check what my nose told me.

There was no one around.

The object of this trip to the roof was the chimney. It was old, and I doubted it would work if I wanted to make a fire. In fact, a building like this was probably using it for something other than sitting around and being warm on winter nights. They were probably burning things or people they needed to get rid of. I wasn’t going to think too much about that. I needed to get to Margot and so that was what I was doing.

The fireplace was wide, thick, and my way inside.

Maybe someday they could call me Santa Wolf.

I jumped down.

Covered in soot and other substances I wouldn’t dwell on until I could wash them off of me, I managed to get myself out of the basement of the building. I shook some of the dust off myself. I sniffed the air, searching for my mate through the haze of yuck filling the room and the rest of the building.

She was there, and she didn’t smell like she was in distress. That was all I needed to focus on for right then. Well, that and not getting caught so I could actually help her.

The basement where I found myself was relatively empty. There were boxes lined up on the walls. In a day with nothing to do I’d go through them, but I highly doubted there was anything of import being stored in the dank basement while people still worked upstairs. I found an old pair of stairs that was in clear need of repair and took them with a great deal of caution. The last thing I needed was for them to collapse under me.

I made it to the top to find the door locked. I sniffed the air. How long had it been since anyone came down here? I’d guess from the staleness, a very long time. I twisted the door anyway and it opened for me. I was stronger than a regular human.

As quietly as possible I opened the door. No one was in the hall, but I had no idea if I was under surveillance otherwise. I’d undertaken this insanity and I wasn’t going to get too hung up on worrying about things that were beyond my control at this point. If I had to fight our way out, I would.

I followed the scent of Margot, pausing on the side of a doorway when I got close to her. She glanced in my direction, shaking her head so slightly that I’d have missed the movement if I didn’t know she didn’t not just shake her head around randomly. She’d grabbed some clothes, including a sweatshirt that she pulled over her head. Margot was so damned smart. No one would notice the change in her hair if she kept it like that.

Two people spoke to her, both of them older versions of her clone. She nodded at something one of them said. Was this place crawling with Doubleday clones? All my nose told me was that there were a lot of people in the building. I’d never dwelled on the scent of clones before. Did Chad smell different than he used to? Did I? I was going to have to think about this when I got out of here. How much could the subtle changes alter our scents?

A crowd was coming around the hall, and I darted into a room to get out of the way. I wasn’t a Doubleday and if there were nothing but Doubleday clones here I had to be hidden. At least I wasn’t hearing any alarms going off.

Unless they were silent.

I groaned. I really hated this world.

Except for Margot. She was a bright light.

“Hi.” I jumped, before I whirled around. There was a woman in the room with me. She was an older version of Doubleday, like the crazy one who had run the madhouse where I’d woken up from my cloning.

She waved her hand. “You can’t smell me. Don’t freak yourself out over it. I was part of an experiment to see if we could be immune to Werewolves. The answer was yes.” She stumbled to her feet. “They found that result really interesting but not enough to keep doing it. So you can’t smell me. You didn’t miss the scent.”

My nose wasn’t broken. I supposed that was good news. “You know who I am?”

“You’re Jason Kenwood. Everyone watched the Jason-Rachel saga. We need things to keep us entertained here.”

I wasn’t going to enlighten her just how much that didn’t matter anymore. “Always glad to be of service.”

She rose unsteadily to her feet. This non-scented Doubleday wasn’t doing too well. Was she sick? How much could my nose not pick up on her? “What brings you here? Oh, I bet I do know. The originals aren’t contained anymore. They’re getting a lot of attention. Did they mess with your pack?”

I took her hand like I’d do any older woman not doing well and helped her across the room to sit at a table. “You people really like to mess with DNA don’t you?”

“We do.” She shrugged. “The world is over. It’s ended. And what is left is endless years to play with, torture, and destroy what remains of humanity until there is nothing left to do that to.”

The words she spoke rang true. I’d pretty much thought the same things myself. But a funny thing had happened. Margot existed. And that meant there was more to this world than just pain. “Maybe humanity will surprise you. Maybe, in the end, it’s not you who will triumph. Maybe it’ll be you who is eventually gone.”

Her smile was slow. “That’s funny. There is a way to rid the world of all of us. The Doubleday clones. Or at least to make sure we all die off. But those Genesis fools can’t figure out how to do it.”

This was news to me. I shrugged. “Who cares about Genesis?”

“I guess you have no love lost with them.”

She’d answered my unasked question. They didn’t know what I was doing now. Whatever ability they had to observe us, they didn’t anymore. I’d lay money that was why they’d released the Originals now, too. Despite what this shaky woman said, nothing in this place screamed success to me. It was more like it smelled like desperation.

I crossed my arms over my chest. “What are you going to do with me now that you’ve caught me?”

She threw her head back and laughed. “We both know that you could kill me if you were so inclined. There was a time you were so inclined, but I think that was your father’s influence on the pack more than anything else. You’re different. It’s why they wanted you back, those Wolves. You have Alpha in you and kindness, too.” She leaned forward. “They don’t tell me much anymore. They’re waiting for me to die. But I’ve always had a soft spot for the Werewolves. We had to make Vampires. Your kind hid in plain sight for as long as there were people. That’s impressive. I’m going to give you a head’s up. They’re almost ready to take down Genesis. Move your pack from the area. Wait a few months. When you come back this whole quadrant can be yours.”

My heart rate picked up. The good news was that she’d never know. I could keep my face passive with the best of them. “How long do I have? I’m here without my pack. I have to get back to them. Do I have that kind of time?”

Her smile was slow. “If you get out of here by tomorrow night you’ll be fine. Genesis won’t see two more sunrises.”

I nodded. “Got any tips on how I get out of here unnoticed?”

“How did you get in to begin with?”

I smiled at her, giving her my best impression of a sheepish grin. “I came in through the fire place.”

She widened her eyes. “Clever. You’re smarter than I thought you were. I guess not everything was evident on those screens. They’ll be moving around to change job posts in a minute. Someone will come to get me from here. I’m in here in case anyone wants my advice. They never do.”

“Thanks for your help. Being around you with no scent… it’s a little bit like talking to a ghost. To have no smell? This was a trip and a half.” I took her to mean I needed to get lost and fast. I stepped out of the room and nearly collided with Margot. She opened her mouth, and I covered it with my hand, shaking my head.

I didn’t trust Scentless Doubleday as far as I could throw her. I didn’t want her to know anything about Margot. I strung my free hand into hers and tugged her along. We couldn’t go out as we came in so we’d have to run out of the front door.

I picked up my speed, and she kept up. We passed no one and managed to make it outside and to the tree line. I had no idea if we’d managed to do it unobserved or not. I didn’t care.

“We have little time until they’re going to overrun Genesis. Grab the harness. Get back on me. We have to warn everyone. Then we have to get back here and burn this place to the ground.”

Margot nodded. “Agreed. The sick experiments they’re doing in there. Jason, am I going to end up like that? Am I going to turn into them? I kept thinking that they were going to know who I was, figure me out. No one blinked. I was one of them. Someone called me Elsa. At least I had a name. Otherwise I was going to be Doubleday clone number whatever.” She put her hands on her knees. Her respiration was too fast, and I didn’t like her heart rate.

I kissed her forehead, lingering there. I wished there was more time. She needed a minute, but we didn’t have one for her to take. “Margot, I love you. I know this is new. But you get mating, I think, as much as anyone does so I’m going to assume you understand how deep this goes for me. Fast or not. You’re mine. Period.”

She sucked in a long breath. “Jason.”

Her heartbeat slowed a notch. That was good. I wanted her to take comfort and relief from my touch. I would do anything for her. “You don’t smell like any of them. It’s hard for me to explain to you how much of my world is dictated by scent. Your aroma is different. It just is. There are changes in everyone and whatever it is that makes you the incredible you that you are it’s different than anyone else. No, you won’t end up like that. Besides, if you want a monster to torment, I’ll volunteer to let you have your wicked way with me in bed.”

Margot snorted, which turned into an outright laugh. I grinned. Yes, that was what I wanted. “Thanks for stopping my panic attack, Jace.” She kissed my lips. “Who cares about how fast falling in love was? I wanted you the second you shifted. Heck, I wanted you when you thought you were supposed to be with Rachel. That’s sick, I know.”

I smoothed my thumb down her cheek. “It’s not sick. If I’d known that you were the one, I’d never have stopped looking for you. I wouldn’t have wasted so much time confused. That’s all it was. A big cloud that you lifted off my brain. We have to go save Genesis so we can make a home there. So I can keep you safe there and you can never have to think about being related to this mess ever again.”

She nodded. “Okay. Let’s go do that. Let’s go save it so we can figure out how to make it home.”

“I’m serious about coming back here to torch this place to the ground.”

I was done with the Doubledays. They had nothing to do with Margot. And I was tired of their sick manipulations. We were done. Period.