Unchained (Wolf in Exile Part 2): Werewolf Shifter/Vampire Paranormal Romance by Ambrielle Kirk, Amber Ella Monroe Page B

small chance that you were administered a diluted version.”
    “But why can’t you just escape here now and stop your brother?” she demanded.
    “Gavril owns Area S2. All of it. When he killed the Alpha of the North Sky Pack in a challenge, he inherited these barricades. For the longest time, Area S2 was like the human equivalent of a prison to us shifters, and it still is, but Gavril has been misusing it for his purposes. Anyone who disrupts his operations or threatens him has been thrown in here on false convictions, along with the other tried criminals. If I step foot outside of these walls, I am positive he will be the first one notified. But it’s not my life that I am concerned about. When I agreed to disappear and remain in exile until my death, he spared the life of my younger cousin, who happens to be the true heir to Silex Pharmaceuticals.”
    “Why didn’t he just kill you?”
    “We’re not like humans. We’ve only adapted to your modern conveniences to stay alive and to flourish. For a wolf, living in captivity is one hundred times more dreadful than passing into eternity. He didn’t want to allow me that privilege.”
    “What’s the coding for this cure?” she asked. “Maybe I’ve seen it before while working with Rhonda on the reports.”
    “There is none. D996 was produced to do more harm than good. The cure would have never been given a code.”
    “Then how do you have access to this reversal drug?”
    Thane sat on the edge of the cot and ran a hand back through his hair. “The reversal is in my blood.”
    “Tell me about the cure in your blood.”
    “A cure exists in the DNA of shifters. There are temporary remedies, and there are more permanent ones. Injecting shifter DNA directly into the bloodstream can halt the deadly and harmful side effects of D996. This cure, when taken in regular intervals, cleanses the body of the D996 agent. It also adds to that human’s life expectancy.”
    “What the…?” Kalena was baffled by this information. “How can it do that?”
    “Simple. My species lives almost ten times as long as homo sapiens. Each dose of shifter DNA can add anywhere from one year to ten years onto the life of a human. The shifter’s genetics, position, and age control the potency.”
    “Genetics?”
    “Most Packs can track their lineage back to when we first came into existence in the B.C. era. We started out as one Pack and just as we do today, we branched off into others.”
    She crossed her legs on the cot, puzzled that she’d never encountered this information before. Had never even thought to research it. Had she known that Silex was a shifter-owned firm, she probably would have. “And position?”
    “There is a cast system or hierarchy within the shifter populace. Most abilities are gained by ascending or climbing the Pack ranks. There are Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta positions. From there, we have Epsilons and Omegas and everything else in-between.”
    “Age,” she urged. “Does potency improve or decline with age?”
    “It improves greatly with age.”
    “You’re pretty young, so that must mean your blood isn’t very potent, right?”
    He met her gaze. “I’m two hundred ninety-five years old. I wouldn’t call that young.”
    Kalena’s mouth fell open as she processed his declaration. “Shouldn’t you be dead?”
    Thane laughed breathlessly. “I have no answer to that. Our creator didn’t give us the ability to estimate our moment of death.”
    “Where are all your gray hairs? You have the skin of a youth. I don't see any age spots.”
    “A shifter doesn't reach his prime until around the age of seventeen. We're most vulnerable during our earlier years. After we've matured into adulthood, we begin to age very slowly. Two hundred ninety-five years is the equivalent of about thirty-five human years,” he said.
    “Right, you do look to be in your thirties, and you aren’t old and wrinkled.”
    Thane grinned. “I’ll take that as a