by Sarah Noffke
“I’ll be a good girl, promise,” Rox said, sliding her hand into the back pocket of her jeans like that was at all comfortable and striding forward again.
Chapter Twenty-One
“Religion has no place at Olento Research Corp.”
- Olento Research Employee Manual
Clawed feet rapped rhythmically against the concrete floors. Again and again the werewolf stalked from one end of the bars to the far wall and back. Maybe in the dark, Connor’s form resembled that of a man’s, but he didn’t move like one. With his shoulders rounded and his chin out, he sensed he gave off the image of a wolf pacing, waiting to be let out of its prison. The beast didn’t get that it was trapped for good and so again and again it gazed past the bars, its eyes scanning the lab area on the other side. Connor felt the desperation in the wolf as if it was his own. And maybe it was his own, but he was separating it out because it so pronouncedly belonged to the wolf at present. But he was the wolf and the wolf was him and there was no way of pulling them apart. If he lived then he’d have to accept the beast inside of him. He’d have to come to terms with who he’d become. He’d have to tame the wolf or allow it to make him wild. But one thing was certain, a werewolf and a man couldn’t exist successfully without becoming one at some point. The divide would make a man go crazy. It would turn the wolf into a rabid beast.
However, Connor wasn’t going to escape. He wasn’t going to have a chance to come to terms with who he was. If he was certain of one thing it was that he’d die alone in his cell. And one day they’d find the bones of a man, not realizing that the beast inside of his body was actually what killed him.
The morning sun rimmed the dark window in the cell across the way. Without his consent the wolf stole Connor’s mouth, angling his chin up to the ceiling. And then a howl, one so guttural and deep, echoed out of his throat. Again, the beast let out its plea to the dying night. His last howl was more of a croak of loss as the sunlight sparkled through the window and across the lab floor. Connor almost felt a tinge of sadness for the wolf inside him. The one that wanted to run free. To hunt. To be alive. However, that same creature had torn through all of Connor’s food twelve hours ago and then proceeded to pace the entire night. And now the man inside the beast was exhausted.
First he stumbled, catching himself on the bars. And then he noticed the sharp hairs on his skin retract until his hands were smooth once again. The wolf had gone, but he’d taken with him any remaining spirit that Connor had left. He made for his bed, but his legs buckled on the second step and he caught the ground with his hands. The bars behind him blurred just before he submitted to defeat and laid his head on the cold concrete. His consciousness could no longer hold on to reality anymore. The wolf had stolen his last bit of remaining life, but at least he’d die a man.
Chapter Twenty-Two
“We recognize and value the beliefs of all people.”
- Lucidite Employee Manual
“So who was she?” Rox said from her seat next to Zephyr on the submarine. The water of the Pacific cast a blue light on her face, making her look monochromatic for once.
“Oh good, I can tell this is going to be a fun ride,” Zephyr said, throwing his head back to look at the white metal ceiling. He didn’t have to ask who Rox was referring to. On the last submarine trip, he pieced together everything she’d seen before she’d approached him. Rox had spied him spying on Stephanie. She’d probably watched him at his parents’ house and while at work.
“Things are always fun when I’m around,” Rox said, her eyes on the round window at her bent knees, but her shoulders turned toward Zephyr.
“Can we not talk right now?” he said, wishing he’d had a moment to be alone, but it had been one thing after another since he entered this strange new world. And the change last night had left him exhausted, both mentally and physically. Right then he wished he could close his eyes and dream travel to a far-off desert island. It had been a recurring place he took his consciousness, before he realized that he was actually doing it due to his new race and powers.
“How do you not have a million questions? You’ve just learned that you’ve been turned into a Dream Traveler and a werewolf, that you have a psychic ability, and that a secret organization is going to help you,” Rox said.
“I’m processing,” Zephyr said.
“That makes sense. You must be a little overwhelmed right now,” Rox said as a school of fish swam past the submarine window, headed the opposite direction.
“I’m not,” he said. The truth was he was deferring to the higher ranking organization, the Lucidites. That’s what a smart leader did. Acting foolishly would be taking charge prematurely or arguing with the sassy women. No, the trailblazer took a backseat while undergoing orientation so they could properly lead when the time came. If his military training taught him anything, it was that the brutes led with muscles and the real men led with their minds.
“You’re not what?” she said, a smile in her voice.
“Look, I don’t get overwhelmed. I’ve been trained for battle and a whole artillery of shit that you wouldn’t understand. I’m simply processing. I’ll let you, or that Adelaide girl, know if I have questions,” he said. Zephyr never really cared for the perky kind of girls. The ones like Rox who wore too much makeup and appeared entitled. His career hadn’t really afforded him the time or inclination to figure out what his type was though. Most women he dated weren’t strong enough for him. He didn’t want someone he had to hold up, but wasn’t that what people in relationships did? That must have been why he was so bad at them. Stephanie always complained that Zephyr was too distant, too withholding. She’d complained about many things that he didn’t do.
“You should let me know if you have questions. I’m much nicer than Adelaide,” Rox said, tucking her chin into her chest and batting her long eyelashes at him. Are those fake eyelashes? he wondered. They were impossibly long and distracting. Why would she put an obvious disadvantage on her face, something that could easily obstruct her vision? Weren’t they on a mission? Girls like her were the Great Pyramid to him. He didn’t know how they were made or why someone would go to so much effort.
“Adelaide seems to know more than you,” he said, realizing that would immediately get under Rox’s skin and not caring.
“I’m letting her think so,” Rox said, turning her attention back on the window. Then she took her finger and placed it on the glass, tracing something.
Zephyr eyed her suspiciously. “And Adelaide didn’t jump me in a dark alley, so excuse me for not bestowing a ton of trust on you right away. I think I’d rather go to her for answers.”
“Yeah, but that’s because I’m not the boring type. I like to have fun, no matter what the mission is,” Rox said, now retracing the same path with her finger. What was she tracing? Zephyr wondered, narrowing his eyes in the darkened submarine compartment.
“You sound reckless,” Zephyr said.
Rox picked up her finger and drew a circle. Two dots inside it. A line. It was a face, he realized. “And you sound like a stick in the mud,” she said and then added a canine on either side of the face’s mouth.
He laughed at the picture which was now illuminated by a dusting of condensation on the window, probably a product of their breath and the temperature. “Did you just say an expression used by ninety-year-old women?” he said.
“I might have, but I assure you that I’m not an old lady,” Rox said, and then beside the dog’s face she drew a cyclone.
“Quit showing off. It’s annoying,” Zephyr said.
“So, did you love her?” Rox said, wiping the side of her palm on the window, erasing the dog face being attacked by a tornado.
“I wish I was in werewolf form right now,” he said, his eyes on his own window in front of him. This compartment was lined with backless seats, each positioned in front of a round window.
“But we’ve already established that you probably can’t hurt me,” Rox said, now angling her kn
ees in Zephyr’s direction and facing him directly.
“I’d like to try,” he said.
“So back to the girl. You’re not the fall in love kind of type, I’m guessing. You’re the type who is married to your work. Who has time for dumb girls who just want to make you fat and steal your free time with expensive dinners and boring conversation, am I right?” Rox said.
He turned his gaze on her and to his surprise the smoky look on her face made him pause. She was playing with him, but she was also correct in her assessment. “Can we keep the conversation relevant to my purpose working with you and the Lucidites?”
Rox pursed the side of her mouth. “Absolutely. I’m always working. It’s your own fault if you’ve misconstrued this as a personal conversation. I can’t help you, protect you, or fix you unless I know as much about you as possible. Even seemingly small details might give me an insight into how you work and as the alpha that’s going to tell me how you can find these other mutts loose in the world. They’ll be attracted to you. They’ll follow you. And your shortcomings will be theirs. Your strengths will dictate the pack’s path. And if you have any hang-ups about girls, preserving your heart for a broad, then you’re going to be distracted when the time comes. Your heart can’t belong to anyone anymore. Only the pack. You didn’t sign up for this role, but you’re going to have to embrace it. The lives of eleven men and the people they can potentially maim rests in your hands.” Rox paused, watching Zephyr as he assimilated this information. “So if you loved her, then do us both a favor and forget her. Forget everything but what happened to you after the change. You’re a werewolf and you better start acting like the alpha or I’m going to be forced to lock you up in the pound and find the man second in command.”
Zephyr had really thought she was flirting with him. Now he felt stupid. These people, Rox and Adelaide, the Lucidites, they didn’t act like anyone he had ever met. And he’d had the privilege to work with the very best. “I didn’t love her,” he said, finally, and then stood and walked to the far side of the submarine compartment, away from Rox and her judging eyes.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“All men can be made better through science.”
- Olento Research Employee Manual
Adelaide hadn’t liked the look on Rox’s face when she trotted off the docks, her three-inch heels clanking on the pavement. The blonde bimbo looked like she’d learned an especially delicious secret while on the submarine. But then Adelaide had caught sight of Zephyr’s face and the jealously passed. His gray eyes narrowed at the sun, his mouth forming a hard line. Nothing about his demeanor communicated happiness. Actually he looked fairly agitated, even more so than before. Rox must have that effect on people.
To Adelaide’s relief, Zephyr was able to retrace his way back to the lab location, giving the directions to the driver from the front seat. He had gotten turned around a few times at first, but once in the vicinity, his memory of the escape had come back, causing him to speak faster and point the driver down the right streets.
“You have a pretty impressive memory of Los Angeles for not being from here,” Rox had said.
Before Zephyr could reply Adelaide said, “He knows the layout of the ten major cities in the US.”
Zephyr turned his head, regarding the redhead in the backseat with surprise. “That’s true. How do you know that, though?”
The easy answer would be that she had studied his file and knew that he’d been expected to understand city planning by studying major places like New York and Los Angeles. A Special Forces captain needed to be able to lead missions through cities in some cases and the best way to do that was to understand how they were set up. However, she wasn’t about to disclose this so she said, “I know everything. I’m a fucking Lucidite.”
“You keep throwing around that term, but I still don’t know what that means except that you have an underwater base and work with irritating FBI agents for seemingly no reason at all,” Zephyr said, indicating Rox who was filing her nails on the other side of the seat from Adelaide.
“Oh, well maybe you’re more of an astute observer than I previously thought,” Adelaide said, eyeing Rox. Did she bring a handbag on the mission? Is that where she stashed a bloody file? Who brings a handbag on a reconnaissance mission? Usually Adelaide only brought her bad attitude.
Zephyr peered at the window of the seemingly innocuous building on the mostly deserted street. Something used to be there, but the building looked abandoned now, based on the covered front window and the discolored awning. A sign used to sit on the top of the awning but had since been removed.
“So you never came back to the lab?” Rox asked Zephyr.
“Why would I want to? Why would I have chanced that?” Zephyr snapped, his shoulders suddenly much more tense than a few moments before. Returning wasn’t something he wanted to do, Adelaide realized, but he also knew that the answers to how and why he was a werewolf were probably somewhere inside that building.
“Okay, Cranky, let’s go before you get yourself worked up and start barking uncontrollably,” Rox said, putting her file away casually.
“Stay here, Reginald,” Adelaide said, patting the back of the seat where the driver sat, pretending not to be listening.
“Actually my name is—”
“Don’t care,” Adelaide said, opening her door, but in a flash Zephyr was out of the car and in front of her.
“You can’t go in that building. What if the scientists are still in there?” he said, his gray eyes crazy with panic.
“Then I’ll make them stab themselves with a scalpel,” she said, like it would be as easy as kicking a can across the road.
He shook his head, not completely understanding what the girl meant. “I don’t think you understand. These people are dangerous. They have vast resources. Weapons, drugs, evil scientists who will lock you up,” he said.
Rox had stomped around the vehicle to stand with her arms crossed next to Adelaide, an amused look on her face as she watched Zephyr cycle through various worries.
“My guess is that building is empty,” Adelaide said, pointing at the navy blue structure that stretched down half the block. “But how about we get closer and you use your x-ray voodoo to tell us if you spy anyone inside. If not, then I’m going in. If so, then I’m knocking and FBI slut over here will flash her badge. Then we’ll make up something about having a search warrant.”
Zephyr shook his head, but conceded. “Fine,” he said with a sigh. “But this isn’t a game. We don’t know anything about this lab or who runs it.”
Adelaide didn’t give Zephyr another look before setting off across the road, Rox by her side.
“It’s not a game, it’s better. It’s real life. And we’re here to find out who these mystery people are,” Rox said, turning around and walking backwards as she spoke to Zephyr, who looked glued to his spot next to the car.
“Come on, X-Ray. I don’t have all bloody day,” Adelaide said.
As Adelaide had suspected, the lab was empty. It wasn’t just empty, but destroyed. The front office area looked like it had quickly been vacated, with file drawers open and blank printer paper scattered across the floor. There wasn’t any evidence left behind that told her who ran this place. In contrast to the office, the lab on the other side of an unlocked reinforced metal door could only be categorized as wrecked.
“What in the bloody hell did you all do here?” Adelaide said, standing beside the door, taking in the exam rooms on the far side and the lab area in the middle of the open space. Lining the other walls in a U shape were barred cells, their doors ripped off and lying in various places. A large hole stood in the closest wall, which was how the werewolves had actually escaped, Adelaide suspected. She shivered at the thought that one of the werewolves, Rio, according to Zephyr’s description, was strong enough to plow through concrete with his fist.
“We fought for our freedom,” Zephyr said in a low voice, his eyes trained on the area by the cabinets. The concre
te was stained red and the expression in his eyes spoke of being suddenly haunted.
Rox strolled forward. “So whoever was running this operation feared you’d come back or tell the authorities and so they tucked tail and ran,” she said, picking up a syringe that was now mostly empty and inspecting the remnants of its contents.
“Your jokes are never appreciated,” Zephyr said, his eyes running over the space in front of him.
“What do you remember about being here? Any notable figures?” Adelaide said, striding to the nearest cage and peering into it. She couldn’t believe that men had been kept here, experimented on after being abducted. However, she knew that she needed to digest this reality especially quickly. Her father told her that bad, no, horrible things, happened on this planet, and if she was doing her job then most people wouldn’t find out about them.
“The main scientist was a man with a white beard. He was German,” Zephyr said, still having not moved from his place. Every now and again his eyes skirted to the bloody stain, as if transfixed by it.
“Alexander Drake,” Adelaide said, remembering the notes from the file.
“How do you know that’s his name?” Zephyr asked, daring to take a step toward the nearest cell, which Adelaide had just left to inspect more of the area.