"How many other wolves were there?"

"I met four women, but they were kept somewhere else." Brand tried to remember how many cells he had seen. "Where they put me, there were at least eight cells… that held four people each. But I don't know if they were all full."

"So, we can estimate around sixty possible wolves."

That number stole Brand's breath. He hadn’t put what he had seen into hard numbers. "And they said there were other facilities. They were sending me somewhere else."

"Could you draw us a map of what you saw inside?"

Brand shook his head. "Every hallway looks nearly exactly the same, and I didn't have much time there."

"Do you have names? Packs?"

"Names and states, for some." Brand gave Alpha Williams as much information about the other wolves as he could. "And one alpha, they called him Bob. He had been in wolf form for longer than any of them had been there."

"And how long was that."

"Tim had been in for a little over a year."

"Do you remember exactly how much over?" Her assistant was religiously recording everything Brand said, his fingers flying across the keyboard of a laptop.

"Maybe a couple months? I'm not sure." He screwed up his face in concentration, and Carter rubbed his back.

"That's okay, Brand," Alpha Williams said softly. "We'll be sending this information out to all the pack alphas we know. Hopefully they can identify some of their missing wolves."

"Tell them we need to mount a rescue mission. Those humans, they're experimenting on us. We need to get them out."

Carter put a calming hand on Brand's arm, and Brand shook him off. This was one thing he wasn't willing to let his alpha lead him on.

"It's more complicated than that, Brand," Alpha Williams said.

"The hell it is! That could be anyone of us. You came in to rescue me. Why not them?"

Alpha Williams stood and towered over him. "We lucked out with you. If you had been left in your cell, we probably never would have found you. Yes, this is a fight I believe is worth fighting and yes, I intend to do something about it. But I will not launch an all-out pack war without more deliberation. I will not risk the lives of hundreds of wolves to save sixty."

"There's more out there," Brand said, but her words had taken the fire out of him, leaving him feeling simply weary. He let Carter pull him back to his chair this time.

"I can't imagine what you're feeling right now," Alpha Williams said, more gently this time. "And I promise I will do everything in my power to free these wolves, but it will take time."

Brand hung his head.

"Is it okay if we head home now?" Carter asked.

"Of course. There's already a protective detail at your house, and I'll send an escort with you to make sure you get there safely."

Brand leaned against Carter, borrowing his strength, as they made their way to Carter's car.

"I'm sorry," Brand said as they drove home, one of the Alpha's men driving in front of them, and another behind them.

"For what?"

"For being so stupid. For being kidnapped. They said they had been watching me. How had I not noticed?"

"Shh, none of that." Carter rubbed his fingers over Brand's knuckles. "It's not your fault. It's theirs. They've clearly been doing this for a while. They're experienced. Even if you had been aware, you probably wouldn't have been able to prevent anything. And now we know about them. That gives us a power we didn't have before. And we will take them out."

There was an edge to Carter's voice, a fire in his eyes that hadn't been there before.

"I will not let our children grow up in fear," he swore. Brand latched on to that promise, and pulled Carter's hands to his lips to kiss them. "I'll hold you to that," he said.

They were surprised to see all the lights in Carter's house on, and as they pulled up, the door flew open and people came bursting out. Nearly all of Brand's family had been waiting to embrace him, to assure themselves that he was okay, but Jax was the one to reach him first. He leaned his head against Brand's belly and wrapped his arms around him as far as they would go. The hugs and happy cries of his loved ones unlocked Brand's stoic facade, and he found himself crying, truly sobbing, finally just letting himself feel the emotions he'd been keeping under wraps so that he could keep moving forward.

Carter gently guided Brand through the fray, and as soon as everyone had assured themselves he was okay, they drifted away, aware that Brand needed peace and quiet for the night. Jax had already packed a bag to spend the night at his grandmother's, and they said good-bye, leaving the house quiet.

Carter drew a bath for him, and Brand sunk into it thankfully. He rested his hands on his belly, which was rock hard with a contraction. "I'll be happy when these Braxton-Hicks stop and it's time to actually have these little ones."

Carter placed his hand against Brand's taught belly. "Even with the pain?"

Brand thought about how he was learning to move through the pain of shifting. He'd only done it twice, but both times, it had been worth it. It had been like being born anew himself. "Even with the pain."