Genetically Altered Complete Box Set

by Sarah Noffke

  “Which is why you’re not doing this with Rox,” Connor said. He was intuitive. More so than any of the other men. Zephyr had observed this about him from the beginning. He suspected that’s why Connor had gone down the path of drug use. People who are great observers and see more of the world also have a tendency to need a distraction from it. Knowing so much can be a curse. It seemed to Zephyr that Connor’s brain never shut off, which was why he’d created an “off” switch using drugs. He hoped Connor now had found other ways to deal with his greatness. Maybe experience it for what it was, rather than hide from it, like before. But still, he’d need help. Someone to help him when the balance shifted too dramatically for him to process. That’s when he would have turned to drugs. Zephyr was hoping that his beta would turn to him now.

  “Yes, the wolf knows that Rox can’t be hurt. He doesn’t look at her with hungry eyes anymore,” Zephyr said.

  “What an interesting choice of words you’ve used there,” Connor said, still reclined at the table, hands behind his head, always the pretend picture of casual.

  Zephyr halted his pacing, which was failing at his attempts to quiet the simmering anxiety in his head. “Why do you say that?”

  “Well, I know what you mean because the wolf has a taste for flesh. It hungers for certain things above other things. And so in werewolf form it knows that she’s not going to make a tasty snack. There’s no control involved with that at all. However, you also meant that for you, I’m guessing. Have you lost your hunger for Rox?” Connor said, leaning back more, seeming to be stretching his long back.

  It was true that the wolf had desires that it spoke of in the men’s heads. And when a werewolf, that desire was deeper, usually uncontrollable. This was going to be part of the test today, to see if Zephyr could control the wolf when changed. But yes, the wolf remembered Rox. Knew she couldn’t be harmed. That she was a waste of time. And Connor was also right that along with the wolf losing interest in that which it couldn’t have, Zephyr had too. She knew it. He knew it. They were both fine about the situation. That’s how two adults who respect each other and who mutually entered into something behave when it doesn’t work out. Children quarrel and dig in their heels because they aren’t equipped for changes in relationships. They don’t get that everything always changes and holding on to it only makes it slip through their fingers faster.

  “Rox is a lot of fun. She’s a badass warrior. And I don’t want to lose her help with the pack,” Zephyr finally said, choosing his words carefully.

  “But I’m guessing that you didn’t break it off because you were afraid a love affair with her could lead to potential problems with her role with the pack,” Connor said, seeming to be playing with his words.

  “No,” Zephyr said, his thoughts from a moment ago filtering back through his head. “We’re adults. It isn’t like that. She’d be loyal to the pack no matter how things went between us.”

  “So, why does the alpha wolf not want to be with the obvious perfect mate for him? The one who can’t be harmed and can handle the other men?” Connor said, that smile still in his voice. He was playing with Zephyr, but not in a rude way. It seemed that the beta just was giving the alpha the chance to say something that he instinctively knew needed to be voiced.

  “Picture a T-bone steak, charred on the outside, cooked, but almost still raw,” Zephyr said.

  “Mmmm,” Connor said, his eyes off, like visualizing the steak in his mind. “Sixteen-ounce?”

  “Twenty-four,” Zephyr corrected.

  “Trimmed and with the juices still running off it,” Connor said, with a wide smile.

  “However,” Zephyr said, holding up one finger. “You’ve just eaten a rack of ribs.”

  “Can it be tenderloin? I like that cut better,” Connor said.

  Zephyr nodded with a slight grin. “Yeah, sure. My point is that you’re full. Like bloated full. Now picture that T-bone. Do you still want it?”

  Connor cheeks blew out, his face looking like he might puke. “No. Meat is great, but too much of it can make the wolf or the man sick.”

  Zephyr agreed with his own look of fullness. “Exactly. So although Rox is great, maybe the ideal mate, I just don’t have the room in my life right now for her. Probably ever.”

  “Because you’re too full,” Connor said.

  “Yes, and that’s as I want it. The pack is where my heart lies. My interest in anything else is fleeting,” Zephyr said, realizing that’s what Connor had been leading up to. They both knew the alpha needed to say those words. To announce it out loud. It had been true before that moment, but now it felt right.

  “Speaking of T-bone steaks,” Connor said, angling his head back so far behind him he could see the hallway behind them. The chair looked close to tipping over.

  Rox trotted down the aisle on the other side of the glass partition. Zephyr wouldn’t have recognized her if it wasn’t for the trademark blonde hair, which she gelled to flip out at the end. She was wearing the same fake eyelashes that he was accustomed to staring at, mostly out of distraction, now attraction. Why women thought having excessively long eyelashes was attractive eluded him. Maybe he should take a supplement to grow out his nose hair? Then he could show them how dumb it was to lengthen hair that was meant to keep foreign objects out of orifices. However, Rox’s eyelashes weren’t caked in mascara and her face wasn’t covered in paint like usual. She was wearing a typical Rox getup, a pink polka dot halter top and checkered shorts.

  “Is that dirt on your face?” Zephyr said, when the girl came around the partition. His heightened vision had caught the brown smudge on her cheek.

  Wiping her palm across her face, she eyed her hand. “It appears to be,” she said, pulling a rolled up piece of newspaper from her back waistband. She handed it over to Zephyr, her lips pursed. “Thought you’d like to see this morning’s paper.”

  Zephyr eyed her and then the paper, which looked to be wet, probably from the perspiration on her back. From the look of her hairline, Rox had been sweating. A lot.

  “Where have you been?” he said, realizing he hadn’t seen her in several days.

  “Gardening,” she said plainly.

  “Where? I didn’t know the Lucidites had a greenhouse,” he said.

  She rolled her eyes, but smiled still. “Not here, silly. Adelaide gave me a few days off to move in to my new pad. I was planting seeds this morning, but took a break for lunch. That’s when I unrolled this newspaper, which is conveniently delivered to my cabin every morning even though it’s in the middle of nowhere,” she said.

  “You’re a Dream Traveler who can go anywhere with your consciousness and you find it nice that some Middling has to travel up a mountain to deliver you news via paper?” Connor said, from his place still lounging at the conference room table.

  Rox spun around, flashing a grin at Connor. “Yes, I’m so humble that I always appreciate the little things,” she said.

  Zephyr unrolled the newspaper. “So if you thought this, whatever it is, was so important that you needed to return looking like a garden gnome, then why didn’t you just call in the information?” he asked, scanning the first page, which had a story about rattlesnake awareness in Southern California. That didn’t seem of importance to him.

  “For the sole fact that I like to see your face when I out-detect you, Captain,” Rox said.

  “Figured it would be some exotic reason,” he said, flipping over the paper to read the other side. The picture made his mouth fall open. But the caption caused his eyes to close with sudden frustration. Rox, with her unique brilliance, had found something that went on under the noses of the Lucidite news reporters and all their channels that scan for strange events. When he opened them, her face seemed to mock him, but he grinned still. If he was going to be outdone by someone, it might as well be Rox.

  “What is it?” Connor said, standing from his chair and strolling over.

  “The location of one of our werewolves, I suspect,” Zephyr said, fl
ipping the paper around so that Connor could see the photo of LSU Tiger Stadium rocked by an earthquake.

  His eyes snapped to the picture and then to the headline. “Massive Earthquake Rocks Baton Rouge,” Connor said, reaching out and grabbing the paper.

  “How did this get by the Lucidites?” Zephyr said to Rox.

  She wiggled her shoulders, a proud look on her face. “Who knows? They aren’t perfect. No one really is, although some come close,” she said with a wink. “Roya probably missed it because there were no casualties. And it’s the first major one in the area, but I thought you’d want to know about it.”

  “Yeah, my guess is that was created by Clay Morris,” Zephyr said, his eyes growing distant.

  “Is that his hometown?” Connor asked.

  “Yes, and we know that the wolf drives most men to their origin,” Zephyr said.

  “Because they mistake the need for home and family for the pack,” Connor said, again seeming to read Zephyr’s mind.

  “Exactly,” he said, turning to Rox. “You want to join us? We’re going to bring in a were.”

  “Wish I could, but I think you’ve got this one this time. I need a shower and it looks like my homeowner vacation is over. I’ll be here when you bring back the new dog,” Rox said, raising her arm and smelling under her armpit, a putrid look springing to her face. “Yeah, I’m ripe. I’m off to the showers.”

  “Be sure to refresh your doggy jokes for the newbie. We wouldn’t want him to feel welcome when he gets here,” Zephyr said, watching Rox trot away.

  “You know I’m always working on new material for you pooches,” she said, turning and walking backward as she spoke.

  “Hey, and thanks for this,” Zephyr said, pointing to the newspaper still in Connor’s hand.

  “Zeppy, you know I’ve always got your back,” she said and turned and walked away, hips swaying.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  “The feeling of generating one’s body is like pulling your fist through your nostril. And if not done correctly then that’s exactly what could happen.”

  - Dream Traveler Codex

  Connor and Zephyr arrived at the Baton Rouge airport in the Lucidite jet. Zephyr had sat, drumming on Clay Morris’s file for most of the trip. He knew he looked contemplative, but how he actually felt was buzzing with energy. It wasn’t his own energy, although yes, he was excited to add another member to the pack. However, what he felt, as they neared the state of Louisiana, was an energy that didn’t truly belong to him. Now that he was focused on Clay, he felt what was going on in him. Like Rox had mentioned before, the more aware he became of the energy of a werewolf, the more he could hook a thought or two of theirs. It was because of this that he knew of the hell Hunter put himself through every day. He also knew this from visiting the “Rabid Wolf.” From their long counseling sessions. And those mostly broke him in a way he hadn’t expected. It was hard for him to know that there was no hope for a long-term future for Hunter, who couldn’t control his impulses. He wanted to believe in second chances, but the problem was that Hunter didn’t. He was unwilling to think differently, to be different. The man absolutely believed there was no way to stop being crazy and acting on his violent tendencies.

  “So where are we headed? I’m guessing that’s why you’ve been having a mental pow-wow over there?” Connor said, putting down the game controller. He’d spent the flight playing video games, while Zephyr thought. Rio and Kaleb had been told to stay behind since Zephyr thought that not overwhelming Clay was a good idea. And besides, Rio and Kaleb had been assigned to train together. It was Zephyr’s strategy for bonding the unlikely pair. They were natural enemies, but that was unacceptable on Zephyr’s team. Everyone got along, because at the end of the day, a team was a cohesive unit, all cogs in a machine. One machine.

  “We’re going to his house,” Zephyr said, rubbing his lips together.

  “None of us went to our old spots though. We just went to the town,” Connor said.

  “Kaleb went home, but that was because he was about to run away for good,” Zephyr said.

  “Which was his attempt at self-destruction, because we can’t separate from something that holds us to our old or new pack,” Connor said.

  Zephyr arched an eyebrow at Connor, appreciating his insight. He got it. “Yes, and the earthquake tells me that Clay is tired of hiding. He’s gotten to a new low.”

  “That’s what the earthquake told you?” Connor said, an edge of doubt in his voice.

  “Well, and I feel it. He was angry, but now he’s almost satisfied. Like that feeling one has after a long return flight, right before you open the door to your house,” Zephyr said, honing in on the feeling he’d been studying the whole flight.

  “All right, well let’s hope that his fridge is stocked with lamb shanks, because I could use some protein,” Connor said, eyeing the bowl of pistachio nuts the in-service crew had offered the men. Just once he wished they’d abandoned their vegetarian policy. They had only relaxed the rules for the days when the men changed.

  “Hey,” Zephyr said, standing, stretching as the plane taxied. “We never got to test my ability to turn on and off the werewolf before.”

  “Yeah, we got a bit distracted,” Connor said, stretching as well.

  “Well, I’ve done it alone, but I want to see how I react when around others,” Zephyr said.

  “I think you mean, you want to see if you’re able to control yourself. So yeah, go ahead because the worst thing that can happen is you’ll tear me into bits and dirty the Lucidites’ pretty jet,” Connor said, throwing his arms at the silver leather recliners. The jet was pristine with marble tables and plush blue carpet.

  “I just need to know that it’s a power I actually control in all senses. Turning it on and off, and controlling the wolf when in were form,” Zephyr said.

  Connor rolled his hand forward dramatically, bowing as he did. “Go ahead. If anyone rips my throat out, I want it to be you,” he said.

  Zephyr didn’t laugh, although he wanted to. Instead, he closed his eyes and found the mental switch that Aiden had told him about. It’s how Kris operated her invisibility. It’s how most operated their manufactured and natural powers. The switch wasn’t like sleeping, where one fell into dreams. It was like dream traveling, where one makes a choice and the body and consciousness react. Adrenaline flooded Zephyr’s system as the change happened. He’d only done this twice by himself, so overwhelmed was he by the experience. Before, he’d been a prisoner of the wolf when the change happened. Now, they seemed almost melded together. One. And to be able to do it at will seemed to make the wolf happy. It wanted to come out more often, not just once a week, like a dog being let out to the yard at the end of the day to sniff around and piss. The wolf wanted more, but still it bowed to Zephyr. He hoped that continued.

  When he opened his eyes, his vision, which was already incredible, was even more enhanced. The sounds outside the plane were available to him, but he blocked them out, noticing that the plane was about to come to a halt. Raising his clawed hand up, he eyed the long black and silver fibers on his skin, aware that Connor was watching him. He switched his gaze to the guy before him wearing the tentative expression.

  “So, do you want to eat me?” Connor said.

  “No,” Zephyr said, listening to the voice in his head. “The wolf does, but I don’t. And guess who is in charge completely?”

  Connor nodded, a look of appreciation and relief on his face. “So it works for you. That’s good,” Connor said, not sounding completely convinced.

  “No, I have every hope it will work for all the werewolves. This is the approach that makes us one. Not man and wolf, but rather the truest of werewolves. Still, man will always be in charge because we are the higher being,” Zephyr said, and heard the wolf agree in his head. The man wanted the wolf and the wolf needed the man. They were a team, but one with a hierarchy, as it should be, since that was the way of the wolf.

  How long had it been s
ince Zephyr Flournoy sat on a porch swing? He never remembered sitting there with another guy, but hey, he wasn’t going to make Connor stand while they waited.

  “He’s approaching,” Zephyr said, staying seated.

  Connor followed his line of vision but didn’t notice anything.

  “I don’t see him,” he said, squinting. “Where do you spy him?”

  “He’s around the corner, on the other side of that house,” Zephyr said, pointing at the next door neighbor’s house on the corner.

  “Oh right, X-ray vision,” Connor said, nodding.

  “Yes, and I can feel him,” Zephyr said. It was the strangest sensation, like he was a fishing pole reeling in a catch.

  “Should we stand up?” Connor said, kicking his feet, suddenly seeming restless.

  “No. I think sitting will put him off guard more,” Zephyr said, noticing when Clay walked around the corner, into view. He wore his curly brown hair short and his beard about like Zephyr’s. Clay’s discerning eyes honed in on the pair, casually sitting on the front porch of his house. He paused, seeming to measure his resolve, and then started forward again.

  “We don’t mean you any harm. Just the opposite,” Zephyr said when Clay was in earshot.

  “What do you want?” Clay said, his Louisiana accent drawing out the words.

  “We want to give you what you’re looking for, a place to belong. A pack to belong to,” Zephyr said, now standing. He didn’t sense any danger from Clay, who stood tall, his posture probably a result of his marine background. “I’m Zephyr, and much like you, I’m a werewolf, a product of the lab that made us.”

  Clay’s crystal blue eyes swiveled to the man at Zephyr’s back. “I’m Connor, and also belong to your pack,” Connor said, almost making Zephyr smile. That was the perfect thing to say. It gave Clay the right impression from the beginning. Disarmed any aggressions. Made him feel welcome.

  Clay’s eyes darted between the men, his mind seeming to be working, processing his next question. Before he could say anything Zephyr said, “You’re coming home because you’re tired of running and hiding. Soon you’ll try and return to your family and the job you knew, but you can’t do that. Olento Research, the sinister lab that made us, will find you. They’ve already tracked down a few werewolves.”