by Kathy Lyons
“Oh no!” he said, though his expression was more like a man pretending to be humble. “Like I said, my sister and her friend developed it. But she sent me the data and I refined it.” His expression tightened. “Or I thought I did. Apparently not everyone handles becoming a hybrid as well as I do.”
She gasped as she jerked forward. “Doesn’t handle it as well? People are dying! We’ve had one case—one!—in all of Detroit that wasn’t lethal. Most of them lose their higher cortex. They’re aggressive, dangerous, and dying!”
His eyes widened. “Oh no. I’m sure that’s not true. I mean, the alpha told me there were a few who didn’t manage well. That’s what he wants us to work on. A way to stabilize the degradation in the frontal cortex, but it’s only in a few cases. Look, I changed just fine.”
Then he did it with a snap of his fingers. Snap, and he suddenly sprouted fur on his face and body. Tufted ears, cat features, and fur on every exposed piece of skin.
“I even have a tail!” he said as he twisted to show the bulge in his abruptly less-loose pants. His words were slightly garbled thanks to his feline mouth, but she could still understand him. “And smell that?” He inhaled sharply. “I can control the scent now, too! That took some practice, I can tell you, but the alpha helped me learn how. It was easy, don’t you see?”
Another snap of his fingers and abruptly he was back to normal. Cecilia couldn’t resist a surge of scientific interest. The idea that she could study him closely, his DNA and his shifting abilities. And yes, even the degradation of his frontal cortex, because she sure didn’t believe he had his full functioning brain. At least the moral centers had to be deficient. Good God, to infect an entire city was monstrous even if he didn’t understand the extent of the damage.
Meanwhile, Hank was less distracted. Though his eyes were on the other shifter, he spoke directly to Dr. Oltheten. “So you did this. You brought the Flu to Detroit.” Though he spoke calmly, she could feel the fury radiating out from his body.
“It’s not a flu,” he corrected with exaggerated patience. “And I simply refined it as a drink instead of an injection. I also helped stabilize it, you know. Otherwise, how could I change so easily—”
“How did you get it into the water system?” Hank interrupted, his tone harsh and judgmental.
Bad idea. Cecilia had worked with countless scientists, and not a one liked being interrupted or judged by someone they considered less educated.
“I did not,” the man sniffed as he turned to look at Cecilia. He was close enough now to touch her arm as he pleaded with her. “You understand, don’t you? How important it is for shifters to be known. Think of the diseases they can cure. Think of what we can learn from just this—” He snapped his fingers again, and bam, back to a fur face.
She recoiled in a slight cry, in part from the sudden wash of cold that came with the shift. She’d never noticed it before, but then again, she’d never been this close to someone as they changed. And so interesting to see it in action.
Her thoughts stuttered to a halt when she saw a dark blur of movement out of the corner of her eye. She’d been focused on Dr. Oltheten, so she missed Hank leaping to attack Travis. Just like her, the man had been watching Dr. Oltheten and hadn’t even realized what was happening until he was flying into the back wall.
The crash was loud as they banged into a worktable. Test tubes jiggled, a couple beakers crashed, but all was a flurry of motion and muscle power. Travis shifted into a wolf the same way as all the others. One second human, the next beast, and a large one at that. He snapped at Hank’s neck and scrabbled with paws and claws.
Dr. Oltheten spun around, his voice loud though garbled in his distorted mouth. “Stop this! Do you hear me? You’ll get us all killed!”
But all Cecilia could think was, not again. Not this again.
She grabbed Dr. Oltheten’s arm because he was gesturing and nearly clocked her with an elbow. It was pure adrenaline reaction that made her duck, then grab. But once she had a hold of him, she gripped the man hard. She didn’t want him interfering with Hank.
It happened so fast. She heard the awful sounds of a struggle. Bangs and growls. She’d just grabbed on to Dr. Oltheten when Hank threw the wolf to the side. The wolf was caught in his clothes, she saw, and fumbled to fight and get out of his shirt at the same time. Plus, it was hard to grapple hand to hand when all you had were paws.
But the beast wouldn’t stay down long. He was shedding clothes, and his mouth was open, baring long deadly teeth. A man couldn’t fight that and win. Not without getting hurt, not without getting—
Hank dove forward into the pile of clothing. Cecilia screamed. She didn’t want him going closer to the animal. Not now that the wolf had sprung up onto all four paws. Hank hit the floor, sliding slightly as he dug into the clothes. And then he twisted.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Sharp reports that had Cecilia dropping to her knees, bringing Dr. Oltheten with her. Gunshots, deafening in her ears. The smell of sulfur and bile, then the copper of blood. She had to see. She had to know if Hank was okay. Was he okay?
She pushed upright on shaky legs to see Hank coming to a stand as well. He had a pistol in his hand as he stared at the floor. “Rookie mistake,” he said to no one in particular. “They always shift first. Never think about the weapons at hand.”
Then he pushed the pistol into the back of his jeans.
“Why did you do that?” Dr. Oltheten screeched. “Why? We’re stuck in here! He’s the only one who gets us food. He tells them to open the door to our bedrooms.”
“Calm down, Doctor,” Hank said, his gaze going to her. “Cecilia? You okay?”
No. No, she wasn’t okay. Her heart was hammering in her throat and the smell was bad. Growing worse and worse, in fact. She started gagging. It was Dr. Oltheten.
Hell. He was upset and letting off the hybrid stench. She couldn’t breathe.
Hank’s eyes snapped into focus. “Calm down!” he bellowed at the doctor as he leapt around a lab table to get to her side. She had a hand pressed to her mouth and was reeling on her feet, but she was able to turn to the doctor.
“Get. Control,” she gasped.
His gaze swung to hers, and for the first time she saw how frightened he was. His eyes bulged white and his hand went to hers. No claws for him. Just a furry hand where he gripped her wrist. The other went to his chest, digging there in panic.
In panic, she realized. The scent came from panic.
“Breathe!” she ordered, but it was too late.
He collapsed down onto one knee, then two. Then his body went rigid and he dropped.
Heart attack. She was sure of it.
She tried to catch him, but he was too heavy. Hank was there, too, flipping the man creature over so that he lay slightly twisted on his back. Cecilia felt for his pulse.
None.
She pushed forward to start chest compressions.
“One, two, three…” she counted as she pushed on the man’s chest. But when the time came to give him breath, she didn’t know how to get her mouth in the right position. He still had a cat face and the smell this close made her light-headed.
Oh shit. It was worse than that. She reeled off sideways, scrambling for a waste can before she retched. Hank helped her, supporting her body as she heaved in choking gasps and convulsions.
Initially her mind remained on Dr. Oltheten. He was dying and without CPR there was no hope. But once her convulsions started in earnest, she lost track of the dying hybrid. Every part of her was consumed with the ravage of expelling everything inside her. And gratitude that Hank stood with her. That he helped her when her mind was whited out and her body was rejecting the very air she breathed.
Until it was over. Until her body quieted, and she sagged against Hank. She clutched his hand where it wrapped around her torso and she dropped her head against his chest.
“You. Hurt?” she asked.
“Bruises only. I’m sorry you had to see that
.”
She closed her eyes. What was one more fight in a day that started with violence? “Dr. Oltheten?”
“Gone.”
“You should have helped him.”
“It was too late. Ever try to give CPR to a cat? It’s impossible to get a seal on their face. Not when it’s that size.”
She didn’t want to think about it.
“And with the smell, I probably would have ended up vomiting all over him.”
Like she had. Or had been about to until Hank helped her.
“This is insane. It’s all…insane.”
He didn’t argue with her. He just held her. And what could he say? In two days she’d been introduced to shifters, attacked multiple times, and witnessed more violence than in the average Bond film. Well, that last part wasn’t true, now that she thought about it. But she’d been up close and personal with it, and she was shaken to her core.
“We should get out of here,” she murmured. Escape. That’s all she wanted right then. To just escape.
“We will. Travis didn’t have any keys on him, but we should be rescued soon.”
She frowned as she looked up at him. “Rescued? How—”
The doors released with a loud thunk, cutting off her words. A second later, Alyssa poked her head inside. “You okaaay?” The last word slowed down as she took in the scene. “Ambulance?”
Hank shook his head.
“Dr. Lu?” she said, her expression excruciatingly sympathetic. “I know this is a lot—”
Her words cut off as Simon came striding in.
“We breached the minute the doors locked,” he said. Then his gaze cut to her. “How are you doing, Dr. Lu?”
Why did everybody keep asking her that? She was fine. Though she’d just emptied her stomach and couldn’t put enough strength into her body to stand. “Dr. Oltheten…” She took a steadying breath. “He created the serum. Him and his sister.”
Simon nodded as if he’d already figured that out. “Any idea what was in those cardboard boxes they took out?”
Hank shook his head, while Cecilia started thinking well enough to ask questions. “How do you know about the boxes? How did you know when the doors locked?”
Hank touched her briefcase. “Your tablet and phone have been broadcasting this whole time. And mine.”
She blinked. Right. That was a sensible precaution. Then Hank turned to Simon.
“Did you catch anyone?”
“We’ve taken control of the building, but Wolf never showed. We covered all the exits but—”
Alyssa cursed as she poked at her tablet. “Got the building specs. There’s a basement. I’ll bet my next paycheck there’s a tunnel out from there and a secret exit.”
“No bet,” Simon growled. Then he focused back on Cecilia. “Can you figure this science out? From his notes?”
Hank turned to her, his voice soft. “You don’t have to,” he said gently. “You don’t—”
She stared at him. “Are you kidding?” She was finally able to grab at a normal touchstone again. Science. The solution to the Detroit Flu. All right here. “Anyone see a laptop anywhere?”
“Over there,” Simon said pointing to a work area hidden from her view by a cheap microwave.
She stood on shaky legs and started walking. Hank hovered beside her, a hand outstretched just in case. She didn’t need it, and he didn’t force the issue by touching her anyway, which actually made her sad. She really wanted him to hold her, but she was afraid that if she crumpled now, she’d never stop screaming.
So she sat down in front of Dr. Oltheten’s computer and started typing. Lucky her, the guy didn’t have password protection. What he did have was layers and layers of data that she could sink into until she forgot absolutely everything else.
“Don’t look at it now,” Simon interrupted. “Just point at what you want to keep. I want us out of here in twenty minutes.”
“Yeah,” agreed Hank. Then he looked at Cecilia and added an explanation. “We didn’t get the wolf alpha, just some of his men.” She stared at him, the message still not computing so he tried again. “They could come back at any moment.”
The wolves back here. She swallowed and closed up the laptop.
“Get a box. I’ll show you what we need to take.”
Chapter 22
Don’t give me that bullshit, Dennis. Tell me what happened.”
Hank watched Cecilia, his body tight, his senses on alert. There was no reason for it. They were in the Griz headquarters and perfectly safe. Simon had installed sentries, video cameras, and God only knew what kinds of more subtle security in this converted Ace Hardware store. Since Alyssa’s home had burned to the ground, they had moved in upstairs and Simon was taking no chances with his mate. Fort Knox probably had less security.
That made this the safest place to come with all of Dr. Oltheten’s science shit. Cecilia had set up in a back corner and had been poring over them most of the night. Around midnight, she’d called Dr. Sherilyn and started talking data blots and adrenal compounds. Together they’d come up with a solution or so they hoped. A triple cocktail of existing medicines that would suppress the conversion to hybrid, assuming the victim got it in time.
Then they had to wait for a victim while convincing Dennis to try the treatment. A young woman had come in to the ER around two a.m. Dennis had administered the medication and now two hours later, everybody tried to listen in as Cecilia got an update.
“What does it matter where I got the idea?” Cecilia huffed into her phone. “It was magic.”
Hank flashed her a warm smile, but she didn’t see it. She was too deep in her argument with Dennis. Part of him was grateful. She’d been terrified not once, but twice today and the violence of it had shaken her to her core.
He’d watched her draw into herself, her eyes becoming haunted and her body strung tight. But ever since they’d grabbed Dr. Oltheten’s data, her confidence had come back. She was firmly ensconced in the one area she ruled supreme: science. And as more and more of the pieces had fallen into place, she’d come alive in a way he’d never seen before.
This was her life’s calling. She solved medical mysteries, and she would never be happy doing anything else. That was fine with him. He had no desire to stop her and would, in fact, follow her to whatever city she landed in. But what if she didn’t want him around? What if she buried herself so deeply into science that she rejected all things magic?
She wouldn’t be the first person to choose to go blind again. And the happier she got talking about chemical compounds, the more Hank felt her slipping away from him. He was already hovering too close, standing too much in her line of sight, just in the hopes that she wouldn’t forget him.
But that hadn’t helped. It had been over an hour since she’d even looked at him.
“Fine,” she all but bellowed into the phone. “I prayed, Dennis. Happy? I prayed for a miracle, and I got one. Now for the love of God—” Her words cut off as she shot to her feet. Across the room, Simon looked up. Alyssa was already halfway across the room, not even trying to hide that she was eavesdropping. “Are you sure? What about the blood work? Yes, yes, that weird enzyme I sent you.” She dropped her head back as she glared at the ceiling. “Prayer. God. Miracle. That’s how. Now is there any trace…?”
She abruptly crowed. A full-throated cry of exultation. She even did a few dance steps while she clutched her phone.
“Keep checking. I want updates every hour.” She listened for a few more moments. Made a half-dozen illegible notations on a pad of paper, then she thumbed off her phone and turned to the room at large.
“It works,” she said before anyone could ask. “At least that’s the preliminary results. If we catch a Flu victim early enough, the cocktail halts the conversion. They don’t become hybrids and…” She held up her hands during her dramatic pause. “There are no signs of brain deterioration.” She grinned. “They don’t go crazy.”
The room erupted in cheers. Not just
Hank who had been grinning from the moment she started dancing, but everyone in the room.
“You did it!” he said as he hugged her. She squealed in delight as he swung her around. But the moment he set her down again, other people were there. Simon clasped her hand and gave her one of his very rare smiles. Then Alyssa pulled her into an impromptu dance that had everyone laughing.
Cheers and congratulations all around, and though Hank was as happy as anyone here, he couldn’t help but feel like the end was on the horizon. She’d solved the mystery of the Detroit Flu. She’d found a way to stop the poison’s effect on a body, and so her task here was done. The quarantine would be lifted, she’d be off to the next challenge, and where would he be? Trailing along behind her like a lost puppy? Would she even want him there? Science was her life. It was hard to believe she had any room left for him.
The celebration continued for a few more minutes, but eventually Simon held up his hand. One by one, people went back to their tasks, which left the alpha looking at Cecilia with serious eyes.
“I need to talk with you, Dr. Lu.”
She nodded, her expression sobering. “I know what you’re going to ask.”
Really? Because Hank had no idea.
“You’re wondering if I’m going to publish the results. If the cure we’ve found can be distributed without exposing shifters.”
Simon leaned against the table, his arms crossed as he looked hard at her. Then he turned to his mate. “Alyssa, can you summarize what you and Hank figured out about Dr. Oltheten?”
The woman nodded, her expression grave as she tapped on her tablet. “Hank and I went through all the personal stuff that we could find. It was pretty disorganized, but it goes like this. Dr. O and his sister were both cougar shifters, but he never manifested. Both were pretty gifted science-wise, but the family was a bit loony tunes. Anyway, after the wolf-cat war, their numbers were low, so sis and a psycho friend developed the serum that activated latent shifter DNA.”
Cecilia frowned. “When did that happen?”
“Last spring. The Gladwin bears were on the front line for that one. We should have figured out the last name connection—Oltheten isn’t a common name—but we’re new to being in charge here. I’m still sifting through the old alpha’s files.”