Glyph

by Max Ellendale

  Xany hurried over to help me up. “What the hell is wrong with you?” she shouted at the young girl. Arielle crouched on the floor. Her gaze fixed on mine and suddenly her angry expression turned into fearful one. I got up with Xany’s help and stalked over beside Arielle.

  “Run to the mountains,” I told her, my voice stern.

  Xany fidgeted beside me, concern evident on her face. “She can’t change in the house, Nee, she’ll take out the wall.”

  “I know.” I grabbed Arielle by her arm, dragging her out the front door of the cabin. She was in enough shock to not resist me.

  Arielle’s face contorted painfully, and she screamed as I tugged her down the front steps. Her scream turned into a ferocious growl. I dropped her beside the fire pit. Xany leaped down the steps and stood beside me, shocked by what she was seeing. She stood in front of me, her posture protective, though I could see her shaking.

  The sun had set, and the full moon was rising over the mountains in the faint light of dusk. A Changer didn’t need the pull of the full moon to change, nor did a cub need it for their Firsting. However, it surely didn’t help the matter any. Wolves were more vulnerable to their instincts during the full moon, and I imagined that’s what fueled the siblings to change on the same night.

  “Run to the mountains, Arielle,” I demanded, though my voice quivered some.

  Arielle’s small frame began to twist and contort, warping her little body into something grotesque. I grabbed Xany’s arm, and she patted my hand automatically, staring in awe at the small girl distorting into a monster. I imagined she hadn’t seen many Firstings in her lifetime. Arielle cried out in pain as nature took its course. Muscles began to bulge, tearing through her clothes, and hair started to sprout all over her body. Her slender fingers dug into the earth as claws sprouted from her fingertips. Arielle’s bones popped and crunched loudly as her appendages grew into that of a gangly werewolf. Her soft, feminine facial features cracked and broke to reshape into a long, salivating snout filled with razor sharp teeth. Her ears and tail burst forth simultaneously. Her pained cries turned into a soft whimper as her body finished its first transformation. In the end, Arielle was a six-foot-tall beast with blazing yellow eyes that communicated confusion and hunger.

  “Run!” Xany yelled to the new beast. “Run to the mountains, Arielle.”

  As if suddenly aware of our presence, Arielle turned and growled at us. She took a step closer, her foot thudding in the dirt, leaving a deep impression.

  “Shit, Nee.” Xany tugged my arm to move me away.

  “We can’t move. She’ll chase us. She’s a dominant.” I spoke in breathless bursts as anxiety held my chest in a tight grip while I squeezed Xany’s arm to hold her in place.

  “Tell her to run too, Nee. Maybe she’ll listen to us both.”

  I gulped but nodded. We both began shouting at Arielle to run for the mountains. Suddenly I was reminded of the two other new werewolves headed this way. I was afraid that they would burst through the woods and hurt Xany. I spoke firmly, desperately to Arielle, meeting her gaze and holding her in a stare. “Run, Arielle. You will run to the mountains, Arielle. Go!” I shouted and pointed toward the range in the distance.

  Arielle broke the gaze easily and lifted a clawed paw as if ready to swing at us until I caught her gaze again. This time she paused and made a gruffing sound at me.

  “Go,” I demanded and pointed again.

  She gruffed and with some hesitation, she turned slowly toward where I was pointing. She looked over her shoulder, but I kept on pointing. She began walking toward the mountains. Her new body made the task a clumsy effort at first. She ran on all fours before pushing herself standing upright on her hind legs and began to run strong. Her head was tucked low and her front paws grazed the ground when needed. Her harsh, thundering stomps shook the earth as she disappeared beyond the tree line and headed toward the mountains. When the earth was still and quiet, Arielle’s roar echoed in the distance. A happy roar that spoke to the pleasure and freedom she felt as the beast took her over.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Xany kept her hand on my shoulder while she peered into the darkness in the direction Arielle had run. Adolescent cells. The serum. What had I done? Could that serum really have worked as a vaccine to werecreature transformation?

  “Your serum is a success.” I remembered reading in Doctor Reynolds’s e-mail. Oh god. Adolescent cells. Had he? No. Oh, god…

  “Shawnee? Shawnee!” The sound of Xany’s voice brought me out of my own thoughts.

  “Xany, the serum, I—”

  She interrupted me by holding a hand up. “No, shhh…listen.”

  Thunder seemed to rumble in the distance though, instead of fading out, it seemed to be getting louder. “A storm?”

  Xany dragged me toward the cabin. “I don’t think that’s thunder… Do you think she turned back around?”

  “No,” I whispered. “Once they run, they keep going until they find food to hunt.”

  Mal’s presence got closer, and then unexpectedly I sensed Caden as well. It was like I wasn’t alone in my body.

  “They’re close.” I trembled at the intrusive feeling in my chest.

  “No shit.” Xany must have sensed the same thing.

  “We need to hide. The cubs are running with them.”

  “You mean that…” She trailed off as if she were too frightened to finish the thought.

  “That earthquake feeling? Yeah.” We moved quickly around the side of the cabin to get out of the way.

  “Nee,” she whined. “I can’t see from here.”

  “That’s the point, Xany.” I ran my fingers through my hair a bit violently.

  Bright orange serum…

  “Nee! Look!” Xany pointed to the trees when the earth beneath our feet trembled.

  From the darkness at the base of the trees, out tumbled a full-grown werewolf in beast form. He was well over nine feet tall, covered in thick, chocolate-colored fur with bulging muscles. Xany shrieked as the beast landed gracefully on all fours.

  “Shh! That’s Caden.” I frowned at her for not recognizing her own mate.

  “How can you tell?” She glanced at me, her eyes wide and frightened.

  “Be quiet and listen inside yourself.”

  Caden glanced in our direction. I knew he’d heard Xany’s distracting chatter. His eyes were glowing yellow in the light of the reflected moon. He was probably the biggest werewolf I’d ever seen. His torso looked like a wall of fur. The most distinct thing about him was the fact that his entire coat was the same color. A roar drew his attention back to the tree line where a bundle of obsidian fur tangled around a smaller ball of tawny fur rolled out into the clearing. Mal was werewolf tangoing with a newly changed cub. The cub was thrashing and tearing at Mal, who quickly restrained, then subdued him, pinning him to the ground with snarling jaws clasped around the back of the struggling cub’s neck.

  Caden moved in afterward and lifted the cub effortlessly by the scruff of his neck. Like Arielle, her brother was about six feet tall and lanky. He growled and snapped rebelliously when Caden roared into his face. Caden locked eyes and stared him down while emitting a string of guttural yarps, gruffs, and grumbles before dropping him. Caden lifted his giant paw and pointed toward the thicket of woods that ran adjacent to the mountains. The cub tore his gaze away to look over at Xany and me. His nostrils flared, and his glowing yellow eyes flashed red. Just as he began to growl, Caden thwapped him in the back of the head. The cub snarled before lurching onto all fours and finally turned to run toward the woods. Mal and Caden remained still, watching the cub until his gait improved, and he ran freely into the trees. After a moment of silence, a howl was heard echoing through the forest, inevitably followed by three additional howls. Caden and Mal joined in the wolf song with Hank and his cubs before all was quiet again.

  Caden shifted back into his usual thick, muscular human form while donning a pair of Valentine’s Day boxers. “The young on
e popped, too, huh?”

  “You took heart boxers with you?” Xany giggled.

  “Hey, I was in a hurry.” He laughed as he looked down at himself. Mal loped toward us like a giant black shadow, his eyes flashing when they caught the moonlight.

  “Arielle had her change,” I told Caden, but I couldn’t draw my eyes away from Mal. “She was just as dominant as her brothers.”

  “She listened to us, Caden, and ran to the mountains.” Xany bounced over to hug him.

  “Did both cubs run?” I asked.

  “All three cubs survived the Change and are under Hank’s control. His bloodline is stronger than he realizes. Three dominants having Firstings under one full moon, damn.” Caden glanced over his shoulder at Mal who crouched down near me.

  “I wonder if any of his other kids will be submissives,” Xany said thoughtfully.

  Mal’s hazel eyes lay tucked into the ebony fur on either side of the silver stripe that ran down his snout. My stomach lurched with excitement and fear when he came close and met my gaze. I didn’t look away. He leaned his giant head toward me to sniff my hair and neck. I shivered. Xany gave him a warning glare though Caden calmly watched Mal’s beast get a whiff of me.

  Mal let out a puff of air from the sides of his muzzle, breaking up the sound into a heavy chuff. He lifted his hulking paw to nudge my stomach. His claws retracted naturally. I twitched my nose at him. He let out a long, hot breath near my face, which made me smile. Something behind my navel seemed to pull me toward him. I imagined it was some sort of buried instinctual thing. When he bumped my stomach again, I ran my fingers over his chest to feel his rippled muscles buried beneath the course fur. Despite his ferocious appearance, the feel of him soothed me, as if I was doing exactly what I should be doing. He chuffed at me again, which told me that he got what he wanted. Suddenly his paw swooped down and swept me off my feet, air rushing under me as if I were skydiving. I gasped and held tightly to him. He bent his arm across his torso so that I could sit on it. The laughter of the others rang out from below me.

  “Easy there, bro, she’s a little thing.” Caden was monitoring Mal as any good alpha would.

  Mal chuffed, and I looked up at him. I was eye level with his massive jaws. His giant teeth were about three inches from my face, and I imagined the amount of damage he could do with them. On the side of his snout, there was a gash. I reached up to inspect his wound, but it was too late. His flesh had already melded back together, the only hint of an injury was the remnants of blood on his matted fur. Werewolves and other werecreatures healed faster than humans when the wounds were superficial. The bigger wounds required medical treatment or healing.

  He nuzzled me as gently as he could with his big head. I had to grip him tight or risk falling off his arm. Smiling, I reached up carefully to stroke his ears. It was then that I remembered Bailey. And remembered the serum.

  What have you done?

  My thoughts began to race, and the comfort in Mal’s bestial attention was stripped away. I remembered the e-mails. I had to do something. I had to stop Doctor Reynolds before he destroyed more werecreatures like the one that was holding me. I patted Mal’s shoulder for him to let me down, and he placed me back on the ground as carefully as he could, which of course wasn’t that careful at all. I stumbled, and Caden caught me with a chuckle. Mal crouched down and shifted back to his human form. His transformation took my breath away. Mal stood upright once he was back in his human form, as naked as he was the last time. He held his hand out to me, which choked me up.

  You don’t deserve him. You’ve caused so much pain.

  My thoughts continued to attack me though I defiantly took his hand. Mal seemed to broaden when I accepted. I kept my eyes from wandering over his body. We followed the others back inside while I thought up a plan to stop Doctor Reynolds.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  While the others made themselves comfortable in the main room to discuss the transformations of the cubs, I quickly made my way to my room. Leaving the others disappointed and confused by my abrupt disconnection from the group, I closed the door to my room and hurriedly powered up my laptop to check my e-mail. I found about a dozen e-mails from Doctor Reynolds sitting in my in-box dating back from just a week after I left Wyoming.

  “You’ve forgotten to e-mail me the formula, please do.”

  “Nice message. I get it. Tell me the formula, and we’ll end it.”

  “I will find you.”

  “I’ve gotten some new subjects you may be interested in meeting.”

  “I will find you.”

  Each e-mail had the same theme, give me the formula, I’ll find you, and I’ve got some new test subjects. As the e-mails grew, Reynolds’s thoughts seemed to become more maniacal and threatening. I picked up my cell phone and dialed Vanessa.

  “Shawnee…” Her voice was breathless, and I realized she could sense my anxiety even though I hadn’t said a word yet. “I’m coming now.”

  “No. Wait.”

  “Wait? Why?” I could tell she was frowning.

  “Come get me. You need to hurry, please. Take me back to Wyoming.” I spoke as quietly as I could. I couldn’t tell the pack what I’d done.

  You’ll hurt them. The Andrus will find them. Kill them.

  “What? Shawnee, why—”

  “No time. Please, Vanessa,” I begged, tears welling in my eyes. I had to fix this.

  “All right… All right…” She hung up.

  Before I knew it, I was clutching Vanessa tightly and soaring through what felt like a swirling tunnel known as the Inbetween.

  “Now are you going to tell me what this is about?” Vanessa asked as we arrived in her bedroom at her apartment in Wyoming. I let go of her once my feet were safely on the floor. She placed her hands on her hips and surveyed me. I wanted to melt into her arms, but instead I sat down on the bed.

  “I can’t tell you, Ness, you’ll just have to trust me.” I chewed the inside of my mouth. All I could think of was getting back to the hospital and stopping Doctor Reynolds. Though I had no idea how I was going to do that.

  “Trust you? You nearly had me kidnap you away from your pack. You’re being stupid if you think they won’t come looking for you…and me.”

  “If they come, you’ll be here to stall them.” I picked up a sweat jacket off her bed and tossed it on. “I’ll be back at some point.”

  “Where are you going?” she pressed, her pupils dilating as she tried to hide her fear. Her emotions were almost a tangible, living thing that dominated the room.

  I watched her for a moment before leaning in to kiss her softly. “I love you. Don’t follow me.”

  Vanessa’s eyes welled up with tears. “I love you too, Shawnee…”

  Reluctantly I let go of her and rushed toward the door. She dragged her hand across my midriff, and I could tell she was fighting the urge to grab and restrain me. I heard her phone ring just as I left her apartment. I knew that it was one of my packmates and that I had to get to the hospital before anyone could stop me.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  “Is Doctor Reynolds here?”

  “Doctor Twofeathers,” the unit secretary exclaimed. “I thought you left.”

  Without missing a beat, I replied, “I did. Is he in tonight?”

  “Umm…” The woman hesitated as she flipped through a calendar. “He’s not in the book, but I swear I saw him here around shift change.”

  “Thank you.”

  The gaze of the secretary burned into my back as I rushed away. I decided to take the stairs up to Reynolds’s office rather than the elevator. I didn’t think scanning my retinas into the system at this point was a good idea. I was panting for breath once I reached his floor. I had plenty of time to think about the dangers of what I was getting myself into.

  I kept thinking about Mal. My only regret was leaving him in the dark. At least I got to say good-bye to Vanessa. But I had to keep telling myself that this was the only way to protect him. The And
rus couldn’t know about the pack or Vanessa. If Doctor Reynolds was looking for me, my appearance would end his search. I put the others in danger by living with them, and now I had to throw Reynolds off course if he was looking. I had to protect them.

  No matter what.

  “Doctor T?” A voice assaulted me as soon as I entered the hallway.

  “Kurt.” I frowned and took a step away from him.

  He grabbed me by the arm and dragged me into a corner behind a fake fern. “You shouldn’t be here,” he whispered.

  “Neither should you.” I jerked my arm away.

  We shared an uncomfortably long gaze. “You know…” he said.

  “You’ve always been clever, Kurt.” I attempted to push past him.

  Kurt thrust me back against the wall a bit harder than I think he intended to. “Wait. You don’t understand. He wants you here. You need to go.”

  “You know I can’t do that. Now move before I move you,” I threatened.

  “Shawnee…” he started.

  “Fuck off, Kurt, you’re the one helping him,” I accused, grabbing Kurt by his scrub top and shoving him. He stumbled before slamming me against the wall again, pinning me and nearly knocking the wind out of me.

  “Don’t you get it? I’m trying to stop him…and you too,” he whispered, beads of sweat forming on his forehead.

  I surveyed him for a moment. “You! The failed experiments…”

  “Yes. Now get out of here before—”

  “Well, isn’t this cozy,” said a voice echoing from down the hall.

  Kurt looked toward Dr. Reynolds before suddenly spinning me around and twisting my arm up my back. I cringed and shook off the uncomfortable memories that being jerked around brought up.

  “I caught you a fish, boss.” Kurt pushed me toward Reynolds.

  “Most excellent. It’s about time.” He removed his hand from the pocket of his lab coat to show me the Taser he was holding. “I wouldn’t run if I were you. Make sure she follows, Kurt.” He clicked his heels before heading to the private elevator. Just the sight of him made my stomach churn with disgust.