by Sarah Noffke
Again Hunter squeezed the animal, causing another cry of help.
“Oh, is there a little kitty over there? Here kitty kitty,” Helen said, tiptoeing in the direction of Hunter and the kitten.
Hunter gripped his hand on the top of the kitten’s head, and the animal let out a series of little meows, probably sensing what was coming next. With a quick twist of the kitten’s head it instantly fell limp, just as Helen stepped around the corner. In the dark she probably couldn’t see much but the glow of Hunter’s orange eyes. He tossed the dead kitten at the woman’s feet, as he flashed his canines. The scream that soared out of her mouth told him she could make out enough of the scene to know she’d met a monster.
Helen’s frantic eyes darted to the dead kitten at her feet and then to the beast in front of her. She startled backward, knocking into the corner of the brick building. Shaking, she turned and then ran, her fat legs moving too slowly. This was more of a joke than a pursuit for freedom. Hunter let the woman get far into the long alleyway before crouching down. He watched the whites of her varicose vein–filled legs jiggle as she ran, his heightened eyesight making all the details crisp in the dark. When the woman was almost to the end of the alleyway, she threw her head over her shoulder, relief probably filling her slightly when she realized she wasn’t being pursued.
The howl that ripped from Hunter’s mouth made the woman pause. She turned completely around, her back to the street behind her. Maybe she was paralyzed with fear. Maybe she thought she was safe since the sidewalk was just a few feet away from her. The old woman leaned forward, peering into the dark. She was curious, just like the kitten had been. And soon she’d share the fate of the kitten. With a long growl Hunter set off at a sprint. Helen’s eyes widened with horror, another scream rocketing from her mouth as he approached. Just when he was close to her, he scaled up the brick wall until over her head and then sprung off and landed on top of the old woman, knocking her to the concrete. Several cracks followed the action, the sound of her old bones breaking.
“No, no, no,” Helen said, shaking her head at Hunter as he pulled back from her.
“Oh yes,” he said, baring his teeth and sinking his hungry mouth into her neck. He only allowed himself a small taste before pulling himself off the old woman, who was still half alive. Then he grabbed her by her fat leg and dragged her back into the alleyway where he could enjoy his feast in the peace of the dark.
Chapter Seven
“Man and the mule are always tame; the leopard and the wolf are invariably wild.”
- Aristotle
“So these are our new digs?” Kaleb said, eyeing the walls which looked the same as the ones all over the Institute. They were stainless steel, but according to Aiden, they’d been reinforced so that if Rio got antsy as a werewolf, he couldn’t punch his way out of the room. The space was also stocked with meat, which had specifically been brought in for the pack, but only on the nights they changed. This was in an effort to keep the werewolves as tame as possible.
There were no beds or recreational activities set up for the three men because the wolf didn’t sleep or play. Anything left in the room would only be destroyed by the werewolves. It was a restless beast that resented being confined during the change. The pack had commiserated on how angry this imprisonment made the wolf. It wanted to run. To smell the air. To hunt.
“What we need is somewhere to run,” Zephyr said, eyeing the room with dissatisfaction.
“What you need is to not be allowed free to maim innocent people,” Rox said, lingering by the door.
Kaleb had almost wanted to be like Connor, and chosen for the conversion procedure. However, he knew that he’d risk losing his ability to pause time. And there was no way he was going to give that up. None of the other agents seemed to like him, but they were just jealous. And at least he had the pack, which only tolerated him a bit better. He wasn’t sure how he’d made everyone loathe him so much, but it had always been that way. He was the annoying kid. The tagalong. The one that people probably made fun of behind his back. Not that he really cared. Well, sometimes he cared, but he hoped it didn’t show.
“I’ve got dibs on the short ribs,” he said, peering into the crate that held an assortment of meats.
“How about I fight you for it, Runt?” Rio said, smacking his fist into his palm.
Maybe Aiden could figure out a way to extract half the testosterone out of Rio in order to make him more tolerable. Big guys always thought they could bully Kaleb because he was afraid of having his face punched off. They might have been right, but giving them the satisfaction of knowing that wasn’t going to happen.
“How about I just pause time and eat most of our stock?” Kaleb said, puffing his chest out.
“How about you mutts both play tug-of-war? I brought you a load of dog toys to fight over,” Rox said, pointing at a separate bin full of squeaky toys, thick ropes, and balls.
“Ha-ha. There will be no fighting. We will be practicing combat, but no real hits. Let’s use this time to hone our skills and practice fighting together. It may seem easy, but when in the heat of a situation, things change. A team needs to anticipate what the other members are going to do in a fight,” Zephyr said. Always the voice of rationality. It wasn’t that Kaleb didn’t like the guy. That was impossible. Everyone inherently liked Silver Streak. It was just that he was always shutting Kaleb down, making him feel even smaller.
“I don’t see why you think I need to practice fighting. I’m not going on any of these werewolf missions. I’m an agent, remember?” Kaleb said, pointing at his chest.
“And as Adelaide mentioned before she left, agents are always trained in combat because you can’t only rely on your Dream Traveler skill. If it fails then you need to have a backup,” Zephyr said.
“All right, you pooches do something entertaining. I’ll be watching from the other room. Don’t bore me to death by drooling and licking yourself, like usual,” Rox said, indicating the two-way mirror on the far wall.
“Is that all it will take to bring on your death? Good to know,” Zephyr said, his voice dry. However, Kaleb was an observer and watched the way Zephyr’s eyes lingered longer on Rox. Yes, it was no doubt because she was hot, but there was more to it. He studied her. Watched her with more than an attraction in his gaze.
“If something happens to me then you doggies will have to be euthanized because there’s no one else willing to do your training,” Rox said.
Zephyr shook his head, his carefully arranged black and silver hair catching the light overhead. That guy could keep the hair gel companies in business all by himself. “Aiden already in the room, I presume?” Zephyr asked.
“Yeah, he’s going to be monitoring Connor, so don’t you fret over your little pup,” Rox said, stepping out of the room, sending the door shut behind her. A series of clicks followed, which were the reinforcements locking into place. Since Rio had joined the pack, the safe rooms had to be rebuilt stronger because God thought giving the brute super strength was a good idea. Everyone’s skills in the pack seemed to have a strange irony. Like Kaleb, who was always trying to pass the time, had the gift to stop it.
Kaleb felt his chest vibrate just as his pores widened. That was always the first change. He pulled his gaze up to Zephyr’s. The alpha wolf’s eyes glowed gray just as the silver and black hair grew into place.
“Show time,” Rio said with a growl.
Connor’s room actually had furniture, because there was a chance he’d be a man for the entire night. Men slept at night. They sat when they ate. They ate meat that was cooked, not raw. Wolves didn’t sleep at night. They crouched over their prey when they ate. And they preferred their meat warm, the blood recently beating.
Sitting slouched in a soft chair, Connor thumbed through the Dream Traveler Codex. No matter how many times he read the book, he still felt like he was missing something. Ren’s passages seemed to be filled with surface knowledge and also hidden meanings. Was this how Adelaide’s book rea
d? He couldn’t imagine having a father like Ren Lewis, a man who was revered by his race. Connor’s own father had been a deadbeat. He didn’t like that word for some reason, maybe because he knew his whole life that his father was very much alive, since he had lived down the block from Connor and his mother.
The man who had supplied the sperm to create Connor enjoyed flaunting his flashy new cars and prancing his new girlfriends around the neighborhood, knowing full well that Connor’s mother’s V-bug hadn’t run reliably in years. Still, his mother would never ask for money. She said it was her Irish blood that made her stubborn, but he knew it was that she didn’t want her ex-husband to ridicule her, telling her she was too worthless to make money. His father should have offered money to take care of his only son, but a coward doesn’t raise his responsibilities.
“How are you doing?” Aiden’s voice buzzed over the intercom.
Connor lowered the book and stared at the mirrored window, not able to see the scientist who sat on the other side. “I’m a bit tired. I feel like eating, but I don’t want to get up. And I’m slightly bored,” he said.
A chuckle echoed back at him. “Those are all human feelings. I’d say this is hopeful. We might have extracted the wolf,” Aiden said.
The procedure had been much less painful and scary than when Olento Research had turned him into a werewolf. That had been an experience full of restraints and violent cutting and sawing. However, he simply went to sleep on a table in the Institute and then woke up a few hours later. The key was that he awoke. Maybe Adelaide would be disappointed when she found out that he survived the procedure. Connor balled up his fists at the thought of the girl. Why did she get to him? Why did he care that she wanted him dead?
After the procedure they’d kept him comfortably sedated for a day, but now it was show time. The pack would be changing into werewolves tonight, but would Connor? He actually wasn’t certain how he felt about losing the wolf. Yes, he never wanted to be a werewolf, but now that he was, it felt like he was losing a part of himself by getting rid of it. Inside of him he still felt the wolf, barking its desires, growling its disappointment. However, that didn’t mean he’d still change. Maybe he’d just suffer with the wolf in his head, not subjected to the claws and fangs that sought to ravage.
The cuff on Connor’s arm constricted, automatically turning on. All night he’d have his vitals taken so that Aiden could monitor him for potential hazards. Apparently just waking from the procedure didn’t mean he was in the clear. Getting past this change was the real danger. After a minute the cuff sank back down to normal.
“Blood pressure is a bit elevated,” the disembodied voice of Aiden said.
“What can I say? I’m stressed. That happens when someone tries to reverse the things Olento Research did to them,” Connor said with a morbid laugh.
“Just try and relax,” Aiden said.
Connor pulled at the sensor around his torso. The heart rate monitor pinched his skin. He pulled at it, causing the material to break. “Oops,” he said, pulling the sensor off completely. “Your device appears to be a bit flimsy. Material must have been worn.”
“It wasn’t,” Aiden said. “Your heart rate was increasing. I’m guessing it’s even higher now.”
“Why would you guess that?” Connor said, his eyes narrowed at the mirror in front of him.
“Did you say that you have more strength when in werewolf form?” Aiden said.
“Well, yeah, but I haven’t changed,” Connor said, staring at his arms covered in tattoos and not reddish hair.
“Yes, but it’s possible that the traits of the werewolf are still coming out during the normal change period,” Aiden said.
The adrenaline surged through Connor, the same feeling he had when on drugs. It coursed through his blood, making him feel unstoppable. Making him want to throw himself off a building just to increase the feeling. He shot into a standing position, needing to run, to scale the walls. More than ever he felt the need to move, to tear through the forest, to tear through a carcass of warm flesh.
He held up his hand. It looked the same as it always did. Pinkish fingernails on a shaking hand. The scorching ache felt like it was seeking to split open his head. He reached for his mouth, his hand knocking into the long fangs. “Fuck!” he said, scratching his cheek with the hands that now had claws. The change hadn’t been stopped. It had only been paused and now it was happening on an angrier level, like the wolf was seeking to punish him for trying to erase him. A growl, loud and raw, made Connor’s throat vibrate. There was no separating himself from the wolf. They were one and he had to accept it. Warmth spread through his chest as he crouched down low, stealthily making his way for the food set up for him in the corner. Connor had to admit it, he was grateful the procedure had failed.
Chapter Eight
“It is useless for the sheep to pass resolutions in favor of vegetarianism, while the wolf remains of a different opinion.”
- William Ralph Inge
“I found her snooping around in one of the labs,” Haiku said, pulling Kris forward by the arm. “I checked surveillance and I don’t know how she got in. She asked to see you. Said you could vouch for her.”
Mika stood at once, his chin lowering as he did. “Kris, where have you been? Do you have news for me?”
“I was caught,” she said, her eyes on the neat desk in front of her.
“Yes, I found her flipping through a stack of files in the main lab,” Haiku said.
“No, not by you, nitwit,” Kris said, rolling her eyes at the director of security. “I was caught by the Lucidites.”
“What did they do to you?” Mika said, his hands pinning together behind his back.
“They threw me out of the Institute,” Kris said, blowing out a breath upward, making her hair flutter off her forehead.
“They caught a spy inside their private headquarters and simply threw you out?” Mika said.
“Well, they looked super disappointed in me and also promised to implement new security measures, but yeah, they are true humanitarians,” Kris said, with a sly smile. The implications in the last part of her statement were clear.
“I would have had you tortured and killed,” Mika said, lowering back down to his seat.
“Good to know you send me on missions where you expect me to be killed if caught,” Kris said.
“Maybe you should be more careful. How were you caught?” Mika said, reading the confused expression in Haiku’s eyes. The new director of security was having trouble understanding the strange things that went on at Olento Research, but soon it wouldn’t faze him.
“Well, I stole this book with the information on teleporting and then the girl who owns it caught me. I guess she had sensed me. Then she used her mind control to turn off my invisibility,” Kris said, her eyes skirting to the far corner of the room.
“Invisible? Was that how you got into Olento Research?” Haiku said, putting it all together.
“Girl? There’s a girl who has a book on teleporting? And mind control?” Mika said, astonished. The Lucidites were extremely more powerful than he had thought. He’d sent Kris into the Institute believing they might have information on how to teleport; however, he never suspected they also had people who could use mind control. Along with teleporting, mind control was his ultimate goal, but it was one of the more dangerous experiments. He knew that he couldn’t risk experimenting on a subject, successfully giving them mind control only to be later at their mercy. No, Mika would be the only person that experiment would be done on, but he’d have to have the protocol perfect.
“Yeah, her name is Adelaide and she’s a redhead with a bad attitude. Apparently, she’s the daughter of Ren Lewis. He’s the one who wrote the book and I saw information in there on teleporting. But the witch took it back, so you’re going to have to continue sitting in traffic on the 405 freeway. No teleporting for you just yet,” Kris said, and now she sounded bored, her eyes pinned up to the ceiling. Or maybe she was lying and
this was her attempt to cover it up.
“Ren Lewis?” Mika said, pushing some papers on his desk around. There was a file on Ren Lewis that Drake had given him. He was the one who sanctioned the experiments at the Institute that Drake was recruited for. Actually Mika knew that Ren was considered to be an extremely powerful Dream Traveler. His reputation was known far outside the Lucidite Institute, but the man had disappeared and nothing had been heard about him in a while. The book, no doubt, has quite a lot of valuable information in it, Mika thought with a greedy lust.
“Uh-huh, I had his book, but that bratty girl took it back and then had me chunked out of the Institute,” Kris said.
“Uh-huh isn’t a word, Kris,” Mika said, a thought occurring to him at the same time. “Describe this girl. You said she had red hair.”
“There’s not much to say. She’s small, long red hair, and a snarky attitude,” Kris said with a shrug.
“You said she has mind control. Any other skills?” Mika said.
“Not that I saw,” Kris said, turning and looking at the grandfather clock in the corner. “I have to go.”
“Need I remind you that you work for me and you’re on my clock,” Mika said, just as he noticed Drake bob in the background. His chief scientist must have news. It better be good.
“Why were you sneaking around the main lab?” Mika said to Kris.
“I wasn’t sneaking. Your new security dude is just paranoid. I was only looking for my brother,” Kris said, her eyes turning to see Drake, who was now just behind her, waiting for Mika’s attention.