Olento Research Series Boxed Set: A Paranormal Science Fiction Thriller

by Sarah Noffke

  She looked all too happy to participate, lunging forward. The werewolf revolved his head around to her, a growl ripping from his mouth. His mother under him was locked in shock, her eyes seeming to vibrate from the events unfolding in front of her, on top of her.

  “Bad dog,” Rox said, barreling her right shoulder into the werewolf, knocking him almost off the woman. The fibers didn’t faze Rox like they would have anybody else and now the werewolf was angry, his eyes shining with an orange glow. He shot to his feet and brought his clawed hand around. Rox swung back, but still caught the tips of the claws across her face, sweeping her jaw to the side. She smiled at him when he paused, unsure how her skin was unharmed.

  Hunter could keep assaulting her, but she wasn’t going to be what brought the rabid wolf down. It couldn’t be her. “Now,” Zephyr bellowed.

  Simultaneously, Rox darted to the side, grabbing the woman’s arm and hauling her away as Connor shot a ray of fire in between the werewolf and his prey, blocking him. Hunter backed up, snarling in the direction of the two other men.

  “Stay out of this,” Hunter said, his voice gravelly and raw.

  “Not a chance,” Zephyr said. “Step down and I won’t have to hurt you.”

  The werewolf gave a short laugh, his eyes glowing orange as he did. “You’re a man. I’m a werewolf. You don’t stand a chance,” it said.

  Zephyr realized that Hunter may never cooperate. And he could have Connor shoot his fire at him, burning him like he did Morgan. But again, it couldn’t be him. Inside, Zephyr knew what had to happen. It was like an instinct etched into his DNA. The alpha wolf stepped to the side and Hunter copied him. Again he stepped, his fists flexing open and closed, Hunter mirroring his movements. They sidestepped until they had made a complete circle on the porch, sizing each other up as they did. Zephyr stared at the werewolf, with teeth as sharp as knives and claws that could easily end him. He couldn’t make Hunter stop or stand down, but there was something else he could do.

  The werewolf launched himself at Zephyr, who rolled to the side with a burst of speed, causing Hunter to ram into one of the posts of the porch. It cracked in two and the center of the roof caved in, pinning Hunter for a moment under the broken boards. He pressed his claws over his shoulder and pushed the roof off of him with an angry growl. Zephyr reached for a broken part of the post and brought it across the werewolf’s face as he launched himself at him a second time. Hunter shrunk back with a low yelp of ache, a grimace so heavy it pained Zephyr at his core. He didn’t want to do this, but he hadn’t been given a choice. Hunter had to be stopped. He felt Connor at his back, ready to intervene if needed.

  The werewolf howled and leapt off the crumbling patio, into the yard. Standing on the dead grass, Hunter stared up at Zephyr, his eyes almost seeming to be begging suddenly. “I was punishing them. They had done bad things,” he said.

  “That’s not your call,” Zephyr said, from his higher place.

  “But they—”

  “I said no,” Zephyr said, backing up a few steps before running and flying off the porch sideways, his leg extended in front of him. It rammed into Hunter’s chest, knocking him down as Zephyr rolled over and popped up to a standing position. The werewolf didn’t know how to fight. He’d only ever attacked small women. He was a coward, afraid of men. Afraid of Zephyr, who had asserted himself as the alpha. Looking down at him again, Zephyr’s gray eyes glowed bright. “Change back into a man,” he said.

  The werewolf blinked up at him, confusion making him look like a scared little boy. Hunter pushed up to his feet but didn’t attack. He looked lost, like he wasn’t sure who he was anymore.

  “Change back now!” Zephyr said, and for a moment his voice felt laced with a brand new skill. Something he’d never used before, but now knew he owned.

  Hunter’s eyes dulled first as he seemed to shrink inside himself, and then his hair retracted. His claws and fangs withdrew. Regret filled his face as his features were made visible. He didn’t want to be hurt. He didn’t know how to stand up to Zephyr. The man had to bow to his alpha, such was the power Zephyr wielded.

  “Hunter, you’re going to come with us, but you will never be free. You must be punished for the crimes you did,” Zephyr said, feeling Connor at his side.

  Hunter nodded, looking so much smaller than he was. Before Zephyr he looked like a boy, an incredibly damaged boy, incapable of standing up for himself.

  “I’m taking him to the car,” Zephyr said over his shoulder to Connor. “Go back up Rio.”

  Connor had thought that Zephyr was going to have to kill Hunter, but that’s what he would have done. Zephyr was better than the others. He used solutions that favored the man, not the wolf. Watching him exert his power had been like reading poetry; there was a magic to it.

  As Connor came around the SUV Hunter had been driving, Rio and Malcolm were brought into view. In the middle of the gravel road the two stood, facing off. Connor was reminded of the fight Zephyr just had when he and Hunter sidestepped in a circle measuring each other up. A cut ran down the side of Malcolm’s cheek and his eye already looked to be swelling. Rio wasn’t using his full power, Connor knew. He was just trying to get the advantage. Mika had done something to Malcolm if he was fighting Rio, but Adelaide had already suspected that and prepared the pack for the inevitability.

  Connor stalled, watching the men crouch low into fighting stances. Rio could handle this. Rio could handle fighting ten men. Swiveling his head back to the trailer, Connor noticed Rox escorting the woman into her house. She was safe now. Turning back to the fight, Connor spied a van behind the men drive up. His eyes blinked as he tried to assimilate when he’d seen a similar van before. A similar driver. The guy in the passenger seat. And that guy was now leaning out the window, a gun in his hand. He fired once, twice, three times. The darts stuck into the ground around Rio. And then the fourth met its target.

  “No!” Connor said, sprinting forward as Rio sank to the ground like a pillar falling. The van revved its engine as Malcolm picked up Rio, another man running out of the vehicle, helping him at once. Connor was too far away. He wasn’t going to make it. He held up his hand, feeling irrational fear and considered blasting the van, but he couldn’t get a clear shot on it. It was too likely he’d hit Malcolm and Rio. And then the men disappeared behind the van and it sped forward, straight at Connor. He dived to the side of the road just as the van passed, kicking up dust into a storm.

  The van disappeared around a corner when he rose to a standing position. They were gone and they’d taken Rio. However, on the ground lay a single item. A handkerchief that must have fallen out of the guard’s pocket.

  Zephyr’s jaw flexed when Connor told him what had happened. Then he slammed his fist into the steering wheel. In the backseat Rox was reading Hunter his rights, which were a bit different for the Lucidites. And on the broken porch a woman stood, her eyes cold and distant on the vehicle where they sat. It had been a successful mission, but losing Rio would definitely haunt Zephyr. He wasn’t going to stop until he’d found him, and Connor knew that completely.

  “We’ll get him back,” Connor said to Zephyr.

  “I know. And then we’re taking Olento Research down,” the alpha wolf said, total conviction in his voice.

  The phone shook in Bonnie’s tiny hand. She couldn’t believe anything that just happened in old Miss Smith’s yard was real. Werewolves were real. She’d see one. The eleven-year-old girl had watched the werewolf fight with the man with silver and black hair. He’d taken control, making the werewolf change back into a man—a man who looked a lot like Hunter Smith. Then they’d all loaded up and gotten into the SUV and drove off. And although they were gone, she had all the proof she needed that what she saw was actually real. The girl looked down at the phone and stared at the picture of the werewolf. It wasn’t a crisp image, but it was clear what it was. The lady who ran the protests against werewolves would be interested in seeing this.

  Chapter Forty

>   “When shepherds quarrel, the wolf has a winning game.”

  - German Proverb

  “This just goes to show, you don’t send a dog to do a man’s job,” Adelaide said, standing at the front of the conference table, in her normal position.

  “I brought in Hunter,” Zephyr said, massaging his brow.

  “Yes, but you lost the most powerful werewolf to Olento Research. Do you have any idea what Mika can do with someone like Rio who has super strength?” Adelaide said. Yes, the team had been successful at bringing Hunter in, but she wasn’t about to throw compliments at them. They’d just go on to expect it in the future.

  “You don’t need to remind me that losing Rio is a big fucking deal,” Zephyr said, a blue vein running down his forehead. He was angrier than she’d ever seen him.

  “This may have not happened if I was there,” Kaleb said, not looking as grief-stricken as the rest about losing Rio. It wasn’t a secret that Kaleb and Rio didn’t get along.

  “Shut up, Runt. You’re still in the doghouse for going to see your mum. We’ve been doing cleanup on that shitty decision you made ever since,” Adelaide said. Rox had the FBI release a series of statements, but the protesters weren’t quieting down and they were creating a bit of hysteria. Hopefully it would calm down now that the rabid wolf was caught.

  “I already apologized. I thought that she’d listen to me. That she’d stop if I asked her to,” Kaleb said, returning the nasty look Adelaide had given him.

  “You’re a bloody werewolf. Why do you think that’s going to endear you to her? You’re going to have to figure out a way to outsmart her with this campaign. No more trying to appeal to her emotionally,” Adelaide said.

  “Enough,” Zephyr said, bringing everyone’s attention on him. “Connor, did you by chance get a look at the plates of the van or was it like last time?”

  “Yes, exactly like last time. No front plates,” Connor said, withdrawing a white handkerchief from his jacket pocket. He raised it in the air and dropped it, letting it float down to the conference room table. “But I did get this.”

  “What’s that?” Zephyr said, leaning forward, chin to the side.

  “That,” Connor said, pointing at the object, “is a handkerchief the guard dropped when he was loading Rio into the back of the van.”

  The chair nearly toppled over when Zephyr bolted to a standing position. “Can you read it using your psychometry? What have you learned from it? Why didn’t you say something before?”

  Connor smiled, lighting up his green eyes. “We had to get Hunter to the Institute and there’s a few more reasons I didn’t say anything before. But the most important thing is that I know exactly where Olento Research is now.”

  “Fucking awesome!” Rox said from beside Zephyr, who looked to be vibrating with sudden excitement.

  “What? Why aren’t we there now getting Rio out?” Zephyr said.

  “Because I need more time to study the information the handkerchief gives me. The guard, a man named Haiku, had it on him all the time, so there’s a lot of information ingrained in the object. Lots of memories. And,” he said, drawing out the word, “the more important part is that breaking into Olento Research appears, from what I’ve seen so far, to be incredibly difficult. We can’t just bust in there like when we busted out of there at the other place. Especially since we’re at a disadvantage without having Rio.”

  “But you have the location? You’re sure?” Zephyr said.

  “Yes, I know where it is,” Connor said, and then something spread over his face that was rare. Pride. Connor had done something great and he was going to be how they found and destroyed Olento Research. Adelaide stared at the guy, suddenly feeling a brand new draw to him.

  “This is great!” Zephyr said, a smile popping to his mouth, showing a row of white teeth. “Let’s all review the information you get from the handkerchief. We will need to know all about Olento Research and figure out a strategy for breaking in there and getting Rio and Malcolm out.”

  “And then we need to level the place and bring Mika to justice,” Adelaide said, staring at the team before her. They were her team. In a strange way she felt like part of the pack. And in a strange way she liked it more than she ever thought she would.

  Chapter Forty-One

  “’Tis a silly sheep that makes the wolf her confessor.”

  - French Proverb

  A prison without guards. Only at the Lucidite Institute. Who needed guards when they had technology, which was much more reliable? Zephyr flashed his access badge over the scanner and the stainless steel door slid back to reveal a dark hallway. He turned to Rox, a hesitant feeling settling into his stomach. “I need to go in there by myself,” he said to her.

  “Of course you do,” she said, flashing him a genuine smile. It was subtle and he liked it a lot better than the fake, over-the-top ones she normally gave people. When Rox was just being herself, when they were alone, a different person came out. She had depth and was stronger than any woman he’d known. But they couldn’t be together. Not like how they had been. But they could be friends and that might be enough.

  “Thanks for your help on the Hunter case. You handled him well and more importantly, got his mother to safety,” Zephyr said. He liked having Rox on the cases. She made things easier, knowing he could always rely on her invincibility.

  “Welcome,” she chirped. “I’m glad you didn’t die.”

  “Gee, thanks,” he said and then he did something unexpected. He pressed his lips together and kissed the air. A strange gesture, meant for Rox.

  She reached up and closed her fist, grabbing the invisible kiss. “Go give him hell,” she said, turning and walking away, her round ass swaying from side to side as she sauntered.

  Chapter Forty-Two

  “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves.”

  - Bible

  Cells lined one wall; the opposite was all stainless steel. There were no bars, only clear plexiglass with holes for breathing. The rooms resembled the ones where Zephyr stayed in the residential wing. However, there was a toilet off to the side and a few compartments in the wall, probably where food was delivered. The prisoners here never saw anyone unless visited by an authorized person. That’s probably why most startled when Zephyr strolled by, his focus forward. How long had it been since these men and women had seen another person? But they were alive and being cared for and had unlimited books and activities to calm their deranged minds. The Lucidites weren’t monsters who executed their prisoners. These were the criminals who couldn’t be reformed. That couldn’t be trusted. Who had to be punished for the horrible crimes they committed.

  Some of the prisoners had metal helmets on their heads. Adelaide had explained that was the dream blocker and kept them from dream traveling and possibly escaping on a GAD-C. Forever they had to wear the helmet that wouldn’t come off. Again the Lucidites had considered everything. They made the world a better place by thinking more efficiently and strategically than the rest.

  Hunter wasn’t wearing a silver helmet. No one was going to explain to him about the strange dreams that happened to him, and he’d never know he was a Dream Traveler. And he didn’t know how to use a GAD-C and so he wouldn’t be escaping. And in all honesty, Zephyr knew Hunter wasn’t going anywhere. He knew he needed to be imprisoned. Over a dozen women were brutally murdered by the man who stood before Zephyr. There would be no freedom for him, not physically or emotionally. He would forever be chained to the things he’d done.

  “I sensed you coming,” Hunter said, standing a foot from the clear wall.

  Zephyr nodded, hearing Hunter easily, although the glass was supposed to be almost soundproof. The holes at the top allowed some sound to come through and Zephyr’s heightened hearing made it possible to easily understand Hunter.

  “Why’d you kill so many?” Zephyr asked, his face drawn down, like that of a disappointed father.

  Hunter shook his head, a look on his face that said he
was misunderstood. “I knew it was wrong, but I couldn’t stop myself. It’s what the wolf wanted. It was what I wanted,” he said.

  Zephyr studied the man before him who was shorter and slighter in build. His features were also smaller, again making him appear almost boyish. Behind Hunter scratch marks littered the wall. Maybe he’d tried to get out or just took out his aggression on the stainless steel walls. It didn’t matter. He couldn’t harm these walls. They had the same reinforcements as the ones in the safe rooms.

  “You can’t give the wolf what it wants. It’s a savage animal. You’re a man and that’s what you lost, your humanity,” Zephyr said.

  Shame made Hunter’s brow crease deeply. “I know, but I had to punish those women. They’d hurt me. Some of them destroyed me,” he said.

  “We only ever destroy ourselves, Hunter. I hope you see that now,” Zephyr said, standing with his hands clasped behind his back.

  Hunter bit down on his bottom lip, frustration welling up on his face, pinching it together. “I don’t, but I’m broken. Maybe in time I will. Right now, I’m just angry.”

  Zephyr nodded. “Will it help if I come by regularly and we talk about it? You can’t leave this prison, but maybe we can free you from the pain.”

  “You’d do that? For me?” Hunter said, and the most beautiful thing happened. The frustration was replaced with awe. The boy in Hunter almost looked close to smiling.

  “Hunter, what you would have found out eventually, when I rescued you, is that I’ll do anything for my pack,” Zephyr said.

  “So you’re not giving up on me?” Hunter said and the alpha wolf realized something crucial right then. Everyone had always given up on Hunter.

  “Never,” Zephyr said, drawing in a breath, hoping to relieve the pressure in his chest. He could feel the pain in Hunter like it was his own. And in truth, it was his pain because it belonged to one of his pack members. “I’ll be back tomorrow. Try and get some rest. You’ve been through a lot.”