Cry Wolf

by Charlie Adhara

  Cooper felt a wrenching sadness for this woman, for Eli, for Park. Ryan wasn’t just a murderer; he’d stolen the very core of their identities, their control over their own bodies, forced them into the skin of strangers.

  A cold, burning anger swelled inside of him as he stared into Alice’s unfocused eyes. There was nothing he wouldn’t do, he thought, to get them back their souls.

  Alice’s eyes moved to look straight at him. Cooper inhaled sharply.

  Ryan picked up a long electric animal prod and walked over to the cage fence, searching for what had caused the reaction, and Cooper hastened for a distraction. “You must have something pretty big planned for the finale,” he said.

  “Mmhmm,” Ryan said, apparently bored with explaining himself. Behind his ankles, Alice’s fingers twitched, and her half-extended claws shrank almost imperceptibly.

  The paralytic was wearing off. Sooner than Ryan expected, probably. It must have something to do with Eli and Alice’s uncommon relationships to shifting. Their bodies must be reacting to the toxin slightly differently than the others had. They needed time, though. And with Ryan standing right there with a zapper in one hand and a syringe full of more toxin in the other, the slightest mistake could set them back to square one. At any moment, he could decide to top Alice off. Or, you know, just move on to the killing stage.

  “I mean, it’s a pretty good plan and everything,” Cooper said. “But don’t you think you’re missing a huge problem here?”

  Ryan looked at him, interested once more. “What’s that?”

  “I get why I might have killed James Finnigan. He was the worst. And I get why I might have killed Arthur Crane. I even kind of think Neil’s de-death will help convince people it was me,” Cooper said, stuttering over the word only slightly. “Our relationship was rough. No one even knows how rough.”

  Behind him, Park’s hands flexed spasmodically and his nail slightly nicked the skin under one of Cooper’s fingers. It stung surprisingly bad.

  “But you and Neil talk—talked about me, so maybe you do know,” Cooper said, ignoring the pain. “I guess there’s motive there too.”

  He looked away as if embarrassed, but used the opportunity to check in on Eli, who was still standing, fingers grasping the fencing loosely. At a glance, he just looked defeated and lost in his own thoughts, but Cooper could see the way he was rocking on the balls of his feet ever so slightly, the preferred balance point for wolves.

  “I mean, I wasn’t going to say anything about it now and make you feel awkward,” Ryan was saying. “But yeah. He talked about a lot of cruddy stuff. I told you you’re better off without him.”

  “Thank you,” Cooper said. “But now you have a problem. These people here? I don’t want any of them to die. The opposite. And you’re going to have a really hard time convincing anyone differently.”

  Ryan frowned. “Okay, I still feel like you don’t really understand the power of a myth. It sounds totally dopey to me and you, because we’re not wolves and weren’t saturated in that stuff. But when human sinners are punished and someone says it’s god’s will or karma or whatever, even total atheists don’t say no freakin’ way, you’re out of your mind. They keep their traps shut.”

  Alice’s mouth was moving slightly now. Not like she was trying to speak, but like the teeth hidden just behind her lips were moving around of their own free will.

  More time, more time, more time.

  “But these aren’t sinners,” Cooper protested. “It won’t make sense.”

  Ryan laughed. “Um, the twins were literally the heart of Robin Hood’s merry band of thieves. And this one?” he said, gesturing to Park with the electric prod. “He’s totally the bad guy. Wolves are almost as afraid of him as I’m going to make them afraid of you. You know how huge that’s going to be? The Moon taking out the Shepherd. I mean, we are talking Alien vs. Predator shizzle, right here. You are about to explode on to the scene. Our cred is going to rocket.”

  Considering everything else going on, up to and including their imminent brutal murders, maybe it shouldn’t have shocked him to hear Ryan call Park that, but it did. “How do you know about the Shepherd? Who told you all of this?” Cooper blurted out because he couldn’t help wondering, not because he thought he was going to get an answer.

  Still Ryan hesitated and an almost pitying expression crossed his face.

  “Three can keep a secret, if two of them are dead. Maybe I’m not the only one who recognizes a good opportunity when I see it,” he said absently and checked his watch. “Almost time. I need you guys displayed for maximum effect right when the zoo opens.” He unlatched the cage door.

  “But you’re talking about letting humans see,” Cooper protested, feeling Park start pulling desperately at the cuffs between them as Ryan stepped inside.

  More time, more time, more time.

  “Yeah, it will be a big story sure to get lots of national attention, and then the wolves will reframe it like they always do. I mean, the day after Halloween? I’m practically handing them a cover story on a silver platter. But those in the know will still know. They won’t be able to convince them.” He stepped closer holding the electric animal prod up and pointed at Park.

  “Don’t bite me, now,” Ryan warned. “You’re really not up to causing the kind of damage you’re used to, and you can’t imagine how much pain this thing will cause to your human body. You might even have a heart attack. Or bite your own tongue off! Trust me, totally not worth it.”

  It suddenly reminded Cooper of his and Park’s first case together. The cage. The electric prod. Only this time his position had changed. He wasn’t on the outside with the humans lying and pretending. He was inside the cage with the wolves.

  If this was really it and it had to end, this was exactly where he wanted to be. Fighting for and beside people he loved. Proud of the direction his life had taken. Of the ways he’d changed and been changed.

  Cooper flexed his hands and found Park’s doing the same. They intertwined fingers as best they could and squeezed. Once, twice—

  On the third squeeze, Cooper pressed against Park’s back and felt him do the same. Using opposing force, they were able to make their way to standing. Or semi-standing, at least. Cooper’s legs were so numb from sitting, he was propped up more on the belief that they still existed beneath him than any actual feeling that proved it.

  Ryan was looking at them, amused and vaguely impressed. “Okay, that was pretty cool. I almost feel bad I have to kill you now. But—” He raised the prod and turned it on, the crackling ringing through the air. “Don’t worry, legends never really die.”

  His head suddenly snapped to the side and he stumbled over, revealing Alice standing behind, still half transformed, barely able to stand. Ryan was already getting up, face twisted in rage, gripping his prod as he turned toward her.

  “Bend!” Cooper shouted, throwing himself up and backward at the same time Park bent over at the waist without question.

  Cooper landed on Park’s back, using the momentum to swing his legs up a bit and then kicked out as hard as he could at Ryan’s back, sending him stumbling toward the howdy door, where Eli shoved his narrow, thumbless hand through a fence hole and stabbed Ryan in the shoulder with his claws.

  Ryan screamed, ripping off of Eli with a sick squelch, but still managed to hold on to the prod. He raised it over his head, bellowing, and Cooper tensed as he ran toward a wobbly-looking Alice as if he were about to beat her to death rather than electrocute her.

  A gunshot rang out and Ryan froze. Arms still in the air, face twisted in shock, there was a horrible clicking sound from deep inside his open throat, and a thin dribble of blood suddenly ran down his chin.

  Ryan collapsed to his knees, prod falling to the ground beside him. His eyes spun wildly, as if confused, and his gaze landed on the small window over their heads. For just one moment, as he
stared, his pupils were obscured by the reflection of the full moon. Then Ryan collapsed forward with a thump.

  Niko Hirano walked toward them, out of the shadows of the long hall, gun still raised. Cooper immediately looked to Alice, who was still bent over unnaturally, face nowhere near human-passing.

  “Don’t hurt her,” Cooper said quickly. “Please, I can explain—”

  He cut off as Hirano hurried into the cage with them and gathered Alice in her arms just as she began to collapse.

  “Shhh, shhh, shhh,” Hirano murmured as Alice let out a low gurgling howl. “I’ve got you, I’ve got you now. It’s okay.”

  “Do try to close your mouth, Cooper,” Eli said, still entangled with the fence but somehow making it look like a chic ’90s photo shoot and not the aftermath of a horrific near-death experience. “You’re losing heroic appeal at a speed heretofore unknown to man, and I’m not in the mood for any more long-winded explanations.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Dawn was breaking over the city by the time the scene was cleared, their statements given, and Cooper and Park were free to go home. All Cooper wanted to do was crawl into bed with Park and spend the next seventy-two hours alternating between sleep and watching his living, healing fiancé breathe. But there were still a few loose threads to tie up.

  Cooper watched Hirano and her partner, Alice, cling to one another as they spoke to Cola about thirty feet away. Eli sat on a bench, knees pulled up to his chest next to Park, who was wrapped in a thick blanket. He was still suffering the effects of the toxin the most, but all three of them were working it naturally out of their systems and would be perfectly fine in a couple of hours, fully functioning werewolves with no lasting damage. Physically, anyway.

  Abruptly, Alice pulled away from Hirano, who seemed reluctant to let her go, and walked toward him.

  “Hello,” he said when she stopped a couple feet away and rocked from foot to foot in silence. In many ways, it felt like the last few days had been leading to this moment and he resisted the urge to add something theatrical like Ah, so we meet at last, while twirling his imaginary mustache. “How are you feeling?”

  Alice eyed him critically for a moment, then glanced back at Hirano, who was blatantly watching them over Cola’s shoulder. “Would you believe me if I said I’ve lived through worse?” she said eventually.

  Cooper shrugged because yeah, he would. Life was, if nothing else, unfair, and from what he knew, Eli and Alice’s seemed harder than some.

  “Worse than feeling human?” he said lightly. “Your brother doesn’t seem to think that’s possible.”

  Alice huffed as if amused despite herself. “My brother’s first word was a whine.” She sobered quickly. “I’m sorry your friend is dead.”

  What could he say to that? He wasn’t my friend? I wish I’d realized that a long time ago? Cooper sighed. “Yeah.”

  She drifted closer. Out of fur, she and Eli had little in common besides the color of their eyes. She seemed to be constantly in motion. Shifting her weight from left to right, stepping closer and then back again, fidgeting and twisting in place like she was suddenly looking for unseen danger hinted at in the wind. Even her facial expressions were on high-speed rotation: amusement, fear, sadness, suspicion, and more, all flitting across her features as if every minor, passing thought garnered a reaction and she had no practice, or interest, in hiding it.

  “Is Ms. Hirano all right?” Cooper asked when Alice didn’t seem inclined to say anything else.

  “I will take care of Niko,” she said firmly. Something like pride and satisfaction passed over her face. “She’s a powerful mate and has proven why I should have told her who James was the moment he was hired.”

  ’Cause she’s armed? Cooper wondered, but instead asked, “Why didn’t you?”

  Alice sighed. “I thought I was protecting Niko. Really I was protecting myself from having to tell the truth of my past. I have a lot of making up to do. Hours of begging,” she added with a sly, predatory look.

  “Hmm,” Cooper said neutrally, because okay, get it felt like crossing a line. He could very easily picture this woman stumbling over an injured Hirano in the forests of the Yukon—perhaps fighting off the wolves that attacked her, nursing her back to health in some remote cabin, all while being rather blatantly and unapologetically inhuman herself. He could only imagine what that experience had been like for Hirano, though they clearly seemed to adore one another now.

  He glanced over at his own powerful mate—still swaddled in his blanket while quite obviously squabbling with Eli—and bit back a smile. To each their own.

  “Niko told me she recognized the Shepherd the day you and he found James,” Alice said, interrupting Cooper’s soft thoughts. “When I found my Eli again, he’d shown us photos of his life with his northern pack and said the Shepherd had taken a strange mate, but we had no idea who you really were.”

  Strange mate, Cooper thought, amused, and made a note to bring that up with Eli later.

  “I want you to know, I won’t tell.”

  “Excuse me?” Cooper asked, confused and wondering if he’d missed something.

  “I won’t tell the WIP what you are. Of course, you’re exactly who they’ve been looking for all these years. The one who will change packs as we know them and lead us to a new era. But if you don’t want anyone to know yet—” She shrugged. “I owe you my life, and will keep your secret.”

  “Oh, you mean because I’m supposed to be the...no.” Cooper explained quickly, uncomfortable, “What Ryan Basque was saying in there about me being the—the Moon or whatever, none of that is actually true. His plan was just to use me as a scapegoat of sorts.”

  Alice tilted her head in a very canine gesture. “The human killer was a fool who thought he could play with powers he neither understood nor respected to make money, and was put down for his arrogance. Whatever his plan might have been is irrelevant. I felt the pull of the Moon myself. Twice.”

  Cooper felt a chill stiffen his spine, whether from the contemptuous and slightly spooky way Alice spoke of Ryan or the sudden, unexpected steadiness of her gaze, he wasn’t sure. “Well, maybe so. But I didn’t, you know, pull on you,” he said finally.

  Alice huffed again. “Call it what you will. But I felt the weight of your power in the room of carcasses when you took hold of my throat and then protected your mate. I felt it again right here in the zoo when I’d given up all hope of fighting off the poison in time.”

  She extended her arms in front of her, and Cooper was surprised and a little enthralled by the inhuman shapes of her hands—digits stubbed to the first knuckle, long black claws and no visible thumbs. “We would have died if you hadn’t pulled our wolves to waking.”

  He shook his head, tearing his eyes away from the way her finger bones were growing long like plants in search of sunlight. “You saved yourselves. You and Eli’s abilities. And Ms. Hirano. All I did was kick the bastard while he was down.”

  Alice scrunched her nose in perplexed-looking amusement, and Cooper could swear the whole damn thing moved a fraction down her face. When it smoothed again, she looked like a vaguely related but entirely different person. “Your mate was so weak under the paralytic’s hold he couldn’t slip on a banana peel. But your words still called forth his claws.”

  Her lightly glowing eyes flicked pointedly to the blood on the back of Cooper’s hand and the long but shallow cut where Park had accidentally gouged him—a distinct crescent shape running directly under his wedding ring. “You don’t need to hide from me. Like I said, I will keep your secrets.”

  “I’m not—”

  A squeaking, rattling sound broke the still dawn air, and Cooper looked toward the building they’d been caged in to see a stretcher with a full, black body bag being wheeled out the front door, where the medical bay was, where he’d directed the agents to find Neil.

  Coo
per’s breath caught. He had the sudden urge to run over there and open the bag so he could see his ex’s face one last time. Not because of any unrealized love or grief or closure. But because in a way, he’d already begun to forget what Neil looked like. There were too many conflicting memories. Too many secrets come to light that cast long, distorting shadows.

  Was the man in that bag the brilliant senior agent with the salt-and-pepper hair who had pulled Cooper into an empty hallway and hugged him tight when first-assignment nerves made his body shake? Was it the lover who’d traced cruel apologies on his wet skin more painful than anything they’d said or done while fighting? The mistake he kept making who’d found him in the Bureau’s fourth-floor bathroom, fucked him in a stall and made him promise not to leave—not this time, not again? The stranger who’d come looking for Cooper, glimpsed him slipping down the rabbit hole, tried to follow and lost his head?

  Ryan was right. Neil was perfect for manipulating. Newly isolated after losing the only job he’d had for thirty years, already full of resentful hatred and obsession. One man with all the data, the other able to look at the same horrifying room of pictures that Cooper had and see a business plan. An opportunity.

  Cooper would have liked to know what had nudged their paths together and got them talking about wolves. How Ryan had become aware of wolves in the first place. Not from Neil, so he’d claimed, and in this, Cooper was inclined to believe him. Ryan had said Neil was excited to meet someone who also believed. He’d also said this plan took months to put together, he’d started as soon as he became aware...

  In fact, a lot of things seemed to have fallen in place a few months ago. James’s employment. The collaboration with Wild Nature...

  Literally too perfect. Those were the exact words Ryan had used, and Cooper agreed. He frowned, thinking, until a second stretcher and body bag emerged from the back of the building and that long hall of cages.

  “He lied about the Moon,” Alice said distantly, watching Ryan’s body being taken away. “And the Moon saw to it that he would not tell tales again.”