Free Rise to Submit [Rise of the Changelings, Book 4] (Siren Publishing Epic Romance, ManLove) by Lynn Hagen Page B

experience that pushing only made the pushed shut down harder.
    “Survive,” Mason answered honestly. “What other plan is there?”
    Trust worked both ways.
    “That’s it?” Ian asked. “I’m stuck with a Rebellion group that just plans on surviving?” Ian pushed the blankets around his waist a little harder, his movements still jerky, but Mason could tell it was from anger this time.
    Would Mason be angry if he found himself in a group that only planned on surviving, not fighting? Maybe. But he wasn’t a fool. Just as he had to earn Ian’s trust, Ian had to earn his. It didn’t matter to Mason that the man was Dorian’s brother. That held no weight with him. Ian had spent months deep in a kiss of vampires. There was no telling what had been done to him.
    There was no telling what Ian would do now that he was free.
    But was he free?
    Ian was an addict.
    Even Mason knew that Ian would always be an addict. But it was his recovery and what he did now that he was away from his drug supply that determined whether his addiction would kill him or make him a stronger man.
    “What would you do?” Mason asked. “The war has grown. Changelings are no longer detained at a detention center for questioning. Most are imprisoned, and those who aren’t…” Mason trailed off. It had been rumored that the scientists who claimed lycanthropy was a disease had come up with a cure. But the cure was turning changelings inside out, pushing them to shift, and then leaving them half human, half animal. Deluca and Brooke, two men who had been with Rick’s Rebellion group until two months ago, said they had seen something like that in one of the labs when they were rescuing Willow, their mate.
    The two had recounted how the changeling had begged for death. They said it was nothing like they had seen before and prayed they never saw again. Bones were protruding from muscle, the face half formed, tissue and vital organs exposed.
    The cure not only forced the change, but mutated them in a way that was nothing short of violent torture. Mason felt queasy just thinking about it. No one should suffer through something like that.
    “I would fight. I would have a plan. I wouldn’t cower in some damn hideaway and pray they didn’t find me.”
    “Brave words for—”
    “What?” Ian snapped his eyes up at Mason, anger clouding the cobalt color until it was a mass of ice. “Go ahead and say it. Brave words for a junkie?”
    “That’s not what I was going to say, Ian.”
    “Then what were you going to say?”
    “Human,” Mason snarled. “You are not on the most wanted list. You can say what you would do. How does it affect you? You could walk out of here and a Breed Hunter could stop you, test you, and then let you go.”
    Ian threw his head back and laughed. Mason would have smiled, but the sound was more mocking than humorous. “I am the notorious Enrique Marcelo’s brother-in-law. How far do you think I will get when they discover this? My life is fucked because my brother decided to mate—”
    “Go ahead and say it, Ian.” Mason threw the man’s words back at him, only his were filled with so much rage that Mason wanted to hurt something. “Your brother decided to mate an animal.”
    “That’s not what I was going to say.”
    Mason quirked a disbelieving brow.
    “My brother decided to mate the most wanted man in America.” Ian’s sudden laugh was chilling, and not just because Mason hadn’t heard it before. It unnerved Mason to hear such an embittered sound come out of Ian’s mouth. “I tell you, when Dorian decides to do something, he goes all the way.”
    “Wow, I didn’t realize that you were such a judgmental little shit. Tell me why Rick is the most wanted man, Ian. Is it because he is an outlaw? It is because he is a murderer? Is it even because he is a traitor of his own country, a country he has proudly called his home his entire life until the government he thought he could trust fucked him?”
    “Go to