Wolfen

by Alianne Donnelly

  “What are you going to do?”

  Aiden sighed. “Go, we’re wasting time we don’t have.”

  ~

  Penny was still in the lab when Aiden returned. She’d cleaned up most of the mess, and had put a glass of water and some flatbread next to Desiree’s bed in case she woke up hungry or thirsty.

  Without turning away from her patient, she said, “In all my life, I’ve never seen you get so worked up over anyone except Bryce. She’s the one, isn’t she?”

  Aiden snorted. “Hardly.”

  Penny looked over her shoulder. “You don’t have to lie. I’m not going to judge you.”

  “There’s nothing to judge,” he insisted. “We were in the middle of a war zone; both of us had open wounds. Blood got transferred. Wasn’t exactly my idea.”

  “Uh-huh. But you do have feelings for her.”

  “She’s a vicious, heartless little bitch who’d go Donner Party on her own young to keep herself alive.”

  Penny snorted. “That’s a ‘yes’ if I ever heard one.”

  Aiden gaped. “Are you high?”

  She turned to face him, hands on her hips. “Look, I know you, okay? You wouldn’t have wasted time on a human, unless she meant something to you.”

  “Casey’s got asthma. She would have died if I hadn’t taken this one along.”

  Penny grinned. “She got one over on you! No wonder.”

  Aiden huffed, shifting his weight. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Yes, you do.”

  Aiden huffed again, shifting the other way. “She’s human. Believe me, if I could, I’d wring her neck myself.” Right, genius, that’s why you’re having Penny fix her up, is it? Because you want to wring her neck?

  Penny gave him a dubious look; she didn’t believe him any more than he did.

  He hiked his shoulders up. “Blood bond,” he said desperately. “You know how it works. Wanna kill her. Can’t.” And when did we start believing in all of that superstitious bullshit?

  Penny shook her head, smiling in that dangerous way only women could. “You really thought you would settle down with a sweet, gentle Wolfen, didn’t you?” she said in a surprised sort of wonder. “As if you could ever stomach that. You spent a month with me, and you couldn’t get out on the road fast enough. Lie to yourself all you want, but we both know being mated to one of us would have bored you to tears. You need someone who’ll keep you on your toes, who won’t take any of your shit, or bend over backwards just because you’re the alpha.”

  “And you reckon that’s Desiree?”

  “You tell me. A woman threatens your little girl’s life, and instead of tearing her head off, you bring her to me? You might as well have put a ring on her finger.”

  “Yep, you’re definitely high.”

  Penny stared him down as calm as you please, and beneath her steady gaze, heat rose up Aiden’s neck. “I don’t know how else to explain this to you. Blood. Bond. Not my choice.”

  Penny shrugged, pushed the trash can underneath the sink, and wiped down the counter as she spoke. “Suit yourself. The patient’s status—since I assume that’s why you came back—is stable for the moment. Her fever’s eased a little, and she’s calmed down a lot. Her odds are improving.” With everything back in its place, Penny turned off all but one light and headed for the door, patting him on the chest as she passed. “Bet that’s not why you came, though.”

  Halfway down the corridor, when Aiden was almost certain he’d finally be rid of her, Penny turned and tossed back, “And by the way, that blood bond thing you keep talking about? Turns out it really has no effects besides changing the recipient’s scent. So whatever’s got you all twisted up inside and stammering like a schoolboy, that’s all on you, babe.”

  Aiden stared at her retreating form, fumbling for some sarcastic last words to throw back at her. All he managed was “Brat!” before Penny wriggled her fingers at him and sashayed through the courtyard door.

  Great. By morning, everyone would be talking about his having mated a human. He’d never live that one down.

  Aiden sighed, tired, but too anxious to sleep. Unlike some others who could just snooze right through an apocalypse. “Don’t think this changes anything,” he warned Desiree. “Just because Penny said it, doesn’t make it true. I mean, what does she know? Hopeless romantic, just like the rest of ‘em.” He snorted. “Can you believe it? She thinks I have feelings for you.”

  The glare he attempted didn’t last very long.

  “You look better.” Maybe better was an exaggeration. She was definitely calmer, more serene. Asleep, Desiree looked so small and vulnerable, as if all of her vicious will to live at any cost had been momentarily silenced and all that was left was her. Fragile, scarred, haunted Desiree. For some reason, that silence pissed him off. This wasn’t the Desire he knew; this was a facsimile, an empty shell.

  Aiden came around her bedside to check her bandages. Nothing had soaked through, but he could hear the maggots munching away at the diseased flesh of her thigh, and his skin crawled at the sound. “Yeesh.” Those things had better be helping her. He didn’t want to imagine what it felt like to be eaten alive like that. “You’ll get better here,” he declared. “They’ll take care of you.”

  If she were awake, she’d probably say something droll in retort. Aiden was intimately familiar with that tone of voice and the face she’d make, and his mouth twitched in a quick grin.

  Desiree’s breathing had evened out, but she still radiated too much heat.

  “I’m leaving,” he told her. “That should make you happy. I’ll bet you’ll perk right up now. You’ll want to smother me with your caustic charm before I go.” He waited. “Take your time.”

  Her hand twitched, and he imagined it was her way of sarcastically wriggling her fingers good bye.

  “Atta girl!” His smile didn’t linger, and watching her brows twitch with bad dreams sapped away his good humor. “I guess that’s it, then. I probably won’t see you again so…yeah.” With a nod farewell, Aiden stuffed his hands into his pockets, turned on his heels, and headed for the door. His feet stopped at the threshold and stuck there. His jaw muscles tightened.

  This wasn’t right. They weren’t finished. After all of the shit they’d been through, there was supposed to be some kind of closure. How the hell was he supposed to get that, when she refused to wake up and give him the time of day?

  Say something that matters. Anything.

  “Don’t…” He sighed. “Don’t die.”

  54: Desiree

  “No, leave that, it’s too heavy.”

  “They’ll need the basics!”

  “Aiden said essentials only. Take the adrenaline, the tourniquets, and morphine. Now go!”

  Desiree waded through the thick black fog in her brain, clawing her way to the surface. Everything hurt—her head pounded, her joints ached, her dry skin was too tight over her body, and breathing was a chore. Trying to open her eyes? Almost impossible. They were swollen shut, and each time she managed to crack one open, shafts of bright light stabbed straight into her cranium.

  The voices grew distant, arguing about supplies and rationing. They echoed down long corridors until there was nothing left but silence.

  Desiree pried her lips apart and winced at the sting of a bloody tear. She’d have moaned, but her raw throat wouldn’t allow anything more than a feeble wheeze. Then her upper body lifted, and the cool rim of a glass pressed to her mouth. At first she choked, but the moment water touched her tongue, she became greedy for it, gulping down so much so quickly, her stomach cramped.

  The glass was removed, and someone tsked.

  Desiree sighed, feeling so much better from so small a thing. She opened her eyes again, more slowly this time, and when the world came into focus, a giant hovered right in front of her nose. His head was huge, like he used it to crush rocks in his spare time. He had dark hair cut short and spiky, and eyes that bore into hers in a terrifying glowe
r.

  Desiree almost swallowed her tongue.

  But then the glower shifted into a bright smile and, in a voice so deep it couldn’t be real, the giant said, “Hello.”

  “Am I dead?”

  The giant frowned. “I don’t think so. Penny fixed you up real nice. She’s good at that.” He moved aside to pour more water, and Desiree glimpsed her surroundings. Solid walls, clean floors, shiny cabinets, old-agey medicine bottles neatly lined up on the polished counter, and a metal sink—with running water! She lay on a functional gurney, a pillow behind her head, a pale blue blanket draped over her lap.

  “I’m dead.” It was the only logical explanation. Places like this didn’t exist in real life anymore. There was nothing left of the world that used to be except dust, and grime, and monsters.

  “You’re not dead,” the giant insisted, offering a sixteen ounce glass utterly dwarfed in his hand.

  Desiree took it in both of hers, but it was too heavy to raise up to her mouth. With one finger, the giant pushed on the bottom of the glass and held it steady for her to drink.

  “Take it easy on that. Penny said to add five drop of morphine, but those tiny dropper things are a pain in the ass. So there might be six or seven. Or, you know, half a bottle.”

  Desiree choked, spilling all over herself.

  “Oh, hey, are you okay?” He leaned her across his forearm and pounded her back. Desiree’s teeth rattled with each blow. “I was kidding, I swear!”

  She patted his arm to stop the assault. “I’m fine,” she wheezed. “Really.”

  “Oh, good. Whew. Penny would kill me if something happened to you.” Again that sweet, innocent smile…with blunt teeth big enough to grind her bones to dust.

  “Who are you? Where am I?”

  “Name’s Bear,” he said, thrusting his hand at her to shake. “And you’re Dez, and you’re in our den. Well, in the infirmary, anyway.”

  Against her better judgment, Desiree put her palm to his. Bear’s fingers curled around the whole of her hand and wrist, but he was so gentle, Desiree found herself smiling.

  Then his words sank in.

  “Wait, I’m where?”

  “Home,” he said simply. “It’s really nice. We have a meadow, and forests, and these really pretty waterfalls, and there’s deer to hunt, too. Do you like deer? Because if not, we have other stuff. Are you hungry? I’m such an idiot! Penny said you’d wake up hungry. Here.”

  And before she could say anything, her hands were full of bread and cheese, and Bear was lifting both up to help her eat. Desiree was famished, but the thought of putting dry bread in her mouth and chewing made her wish for another nap. “Um, maybe later,” she said.

  “You have to eat.” Bear frowned. “You’re too tiny. A ten-year-old could snap you like a twig. You can’t walk around like that; someone could trip over you.”

  Desiree struggled to make sense of his words, but they all passed through her mind without sticking. “I can’t walk,” she said.

  “Maybe not yet. But as soon as Penny clears you out of here, we’ll have you back on your feet.”

  “You mean foot?”

  Bear reached behind him and pulled out a…

  No, it couldn’t be. It was too bizarre to believe.

  An electronic tablet? Oh Dez, you’re dreaming.

  He tapped the screen a few times, then turned it around for her to see. “I mean feet.”

  Yep. She was definitely dreaming.

  How else could there be a functional piece of electronic equipment almost two decades after all of the grids went down? Not only that, it showed a whole bunch of numbers and measurements, and a digital 3D sketch of a prosthetic limb.

  “The measurements for the socket will have to be adjusted once the swelling goes down, but the lower half is pretty much set.”

  Bear looked so earnest, she didn’t have the heart to tell him none of this was real. He probably didn’t even know he was a figment of her fevered imagination. Figuring he wouldn’t take the idea very well, she grasped for something nice to say. “That’s so sweet. Maybe once my leg heals, I’ll look for someone who can whittle it for me. You said there was a forest close by, right?” If there were giants, then why not a Geppetto? With a wooden leg carved by him, she’d only need to wish upon a star and she’d be a real live girl again!

  Bear’s happy face drooped with disappointment. “Yeah, I guess you can do that. If you really want. It’s just that I already told the techs to get the 3D printer warmed up. It’s been sitting in storage for months ‘cuz we don’t have anything to use it for. And they said next time I could push the button.”

  The morphine was starting to make her woozy. “A 3D printer.” Why didn’t I think of that?

  Bear nodded eagerly. “I really, really wanted to push the button. It gets the whole thing going.”

  This was too ridiculous. “Okay, well, thank you. It’s been fun, but I think I need to wake up now.”

  He cocked his head. “What do you mean?”

  Desiree closed her eyes. “Wake up. Wake up. Wake up.”

  “Uh, should I go get someone?”

  He sounded so sincere and worried, chills raced down her spine. The lab, the bed, the morphine, a 3D printer, for God’s sake—it was too much. Am I that far gone? The pain was fading, all of it. Her thoughts grew sluggish. She vaguely remembered the pleasant void she’d floated in before, and her heart gave an extra quivering thump that sent the world into a tailspin. “Wake up,” she told herself, fingers clutching the pretty blue blanket. I don’t want to die! It’s too soon! “Wake up.”

  “Dez?”

  Her eyes stung with the need to cry, but the water she’d had wasn’t enough to produce tears. Her breath hitched, throat squeezing tight. “Wakeupwakeupwakeup!”

  “Hey, easy there.” The giant’s hand pressed down on her shoulder. “Calm down.” His other settled on her forehead, almost cupping her entire crown. “Still warm, but the fever’s broken. What’s wrong? Are you hurting? You want more morphine?”

  Desiree moaned, trembling, too scared to move. She lay as tense as a board, huffing short, quick breaths.

  “You need to calm down, or you’re gonna pass out again. Aiden said to take care of you—”

  Aiden! Her eyes snapped open. “Get him.” He would fix this. She’d see him and remember what happened and where she was, and she’d wake up and everything would be okay. “I need to see Aiden.”

  “What’s going on?” A woman’s voice.

  “Get Aiden,” Bear said.

  “It’s too late, they’re already at the gates.”

  “Get him back, she’s freaking out.”

  “I’m not splitting his focus when he’s going off to war.” The woman approached, and pushed Bear’s hands away. “Dez? Look at me.”

  The sheer authority of her voice made Desiree obey and she peered up at the young woman standing over her, long brown hair in a thick queue hanging over one shoulder. She had flawless skin and a stern gaze that pinned Desiree in place. Light shone into her eyes and Desiree tried to close them, but the woman pried them open again.

  “No—stop.” Desiree batted her away. “I need to wake up…”

  The woman cursed. “What happened?”

  “I don’t know,” Bear said. “We were talking, and I showed her the leg, I thought she’d be happy. And then—”

  “Please,” Desiree said. “Please, I need to wake up. I don’t want to die.”

  “That.”

  “Damn it, Bear. I told you to take it easy on her.”

  “I thought I was! I’m sorry.”

  The woman tossed the light away to cup Desiree’s face. “Hey, hey, look at me. You’re not going to die, okay?”

  “W-where’s Aiden?”

  “He’s gone.”

  Desiree’s stomach dropped, and the fight leeched out of her. “Wha…?”

  “No one is going to hurt you, but you need to calm down.”

  “Y-you’re…”

/>   The woman smiled. “I’m Penny. That big lug over there is my mate, Bear. We’re taking care of you.”

  “…Wolfen?”

  She drew back. “That’s right.”

  From the other side of the bed, Bear smiled sheepishly. “Hi.”

  Desiree couldn’t process this.

  Penny sighed. “Bear, can you get the door?”

  “Are you sure she should be going outside?”

  Penny wheeled the gurney out into the hallway. “I don’t think she’s ever been inside a place like this. At least not since the fall. Imagine if you woke up on an alien spaceship one morning.”

  “That would suck.”

  “She needs to see the sky.”

  Bear’s face appeared before her again. “I’m really sorry, Dez. I didn’t mean to scare you, honest.” Then he was gone, and a bright light blinded Desiree. She squeezed her eyes shut, dreading what she’d see next, but a gentle breeze teased her with the smell of clean water and fresh-cut grass. She heard voices talking all around as if it were an ordinary day in an ordinary life. The gurney dipped and rolled down an incline, then rattled on tiny wheels across uneven ground. Dust. Desiree smelled dust. Not dry desert sand, but still familiar.

  Slowly, she opened her eyes.

  Off to her right, a double gate slammed shut. The surrounding enclosure was massive, filled with buildings painted bright white, and smaller houses connected in an almost unbroken serpentine. People milled around her—men, women, children of all shapes and sizes, both young and old. Some stared, others didn’t seem to notice she was even there. A pack of dogs raced past, chased by children dressed in black T-shirts and camo pants.

  “Feel better?” Penny asked.

  “Where am I?”

  Penny and Bear exchanged a look. “It’s the shock,” Penny told him, then said to Desiree, “You’re inside a facility built years ago to contain us. Wolfen, I mean. We took it over and made it our home.”

  “Converts…”

  “Not here,” Bear said.

  “Not yet, anyway,” Penny added. “That’s why Aiden had to leave. Something’s brewing, and he went to make sure it wouldn’t spill over on us.”