Chapter 41 Warren #2
“I could break you with my pinkie,” he said, like he couldn’t believe she’d just done that.
“Well, you’re not going to,” Vivian shot back.
It wasn’t her best comeback, but Warren could see that she was rattled. Standing up to a werewolf was scary – Warren knew that better than anyone. He put his hand on her back to calm her down and looked at Dave.
“Don’t talk to my sister like that.”
Dave scoffed. “Or what?”
“Just don’t,” Warren said.
Dave blinked, looking flustered by Warren’s even reply.
“Fucking freak,” he muttered.
Brendan took Dave by the back of his neck and pushed his head down. “We’re okay. Calm down.”
Dave shuddered and relaxed.
Brendan kept his hand on the back of Dave’s neck as the ride continued. Warren opened his mouth to say something several times, but every time a look from Brendan shut him up.
The boat rounded a corner and they entered a new section of little dancing dolls, all of them dressed in white. Warren recognized the end of the ride.
Brendan finally spoke when the boat exited the ride and they returned to the loading area. “Do you mean exactly the same, or just similar height and build?”
“Exactly the same, like you and Dave look exactly the same,” Warren said, desperate to know what was going on.
Had they been separated at birth? Taking care of triplets as infants must be hugely busy. Had splitting them up been the only way to make sure they got adopted?
They should have told them! You couldn’t split twins or triplets and not let the kid know. That was barbaric!
Brendan nodded, standing up and exiting the boat. “Let’s go find somewhere we can talk.”
Warren and Vivian followed Brendan and Dave through the park, weaving through the crowd in a half-jog as they struggled to keep up with the two werewolves as they made their way to Future Land.
They sat down at an out-of-the-way table in the outside seating area of a restaurant that was closed.
A few tables around them were occupied by people eating food they’d brought from home, but it was the quietest part of the park that Warren had seen so far.
“Max Major. Tell me about him,” Brendan demanded before Warren could ask a question.
Warren was caught off guard by the abrupt demand. He glanced at Vivian, who looked at him with a bewildered expression, and wondered what he should say.
He decided to give just the basic information. Max should be the one to tell them about himself.
“He was adopted by a regular human couple in upstate New York. He grew up there, but he didn’t have anything to do with werewolves until he met his mate a few years ago. He lives in Spellerview and works as a fireman.”
“A fireman?” Dave sounded like he thought that was weird.
“He grew up alone?” Brendan asked.
Warren shook his head and then stopped when he realized what Brendan was asking. “He didn’t grow up with werewolves, no.”
Brendan nodded solemnly. “And he’s okay?”
Dave made a noise of derision. “Obviously he’s okay. He has a mate, a job, and he lives in-”
“Is he here with you?” Brendan interrupted Dave’s tirade.
Warren shook his head.
Brendan’s shoulders relaxed minutely. “That’s good.”
“Why is that good?” Vivian asked.
Brendan looked at her like he’d forgotten she’d existed.
“This is a bad place for werewolves,” he said. “Only certain areas are safe, and the highway to the airport is not one of them.”
“Cross the line, and boom, you’re dead,” Dave said.
Warren was so confused.
“Are you Max’s brothers?” he blurted out.
Brendan nodded, while Dave shook his head.
“We are brothers,” Brendan insisted fiercely.
“We’re experiments,” Dave corrected.
Brendan’s expression was thunderous.
Dave shrugged. “What, it’s true. They tried to breed enhanced humans, and they failed. We came out all wrong.”
“We didn’t.”
“Tell that to the general.”
Glancing between the two men bickering about whether or not they qualified as brothers because they’d been – if Warren was understanding this correctly – somehow been made in a lab, Warren realized that he needed to call Marcus right now.
He was a pack alpha. This was the kind of thing he was supposed to handle – not Warren.
He reached into his pocket, grabbed his phone, and called him.
Brendan's head snapped toward him. "Who are you calling?" he demanded.
“Marcus Miller. He’s my alpha, and the alpha of the Northwest Pack.”
“Hang up,” Dave said, right as Marcus answered the phone.
“Warren, I’m so glad you called,” Marcus said, his deep voice smooth and pleasant. “Are you having fun in Disneyland?”
“Disney World,” Vivian muttered.
“What?” Marcus asked, clearly catching the mutter.
“I’m in Disney World, not land. I keep getting them mixed up. I’m calling because there’s something weird going on here. I-”
“I’ll have a helicopter come airlift you out. Stay right there,” Marcus said, his voice going from smooth and calm to stressed and frazzled. “You’re – okay, you’re in the park. Fuck, why didn’t I check your location? Don’t move an inch. Stay exactly where you are.”
Marcus was freaking out and Warren hadn’t even told him what was going on.
“I’m fine,” Warren said, just in case he’d somehow given Marcus the impression he was hurt or in danger. “I met some werewolves who look exactly like Max. Can you talk to them?”
The growl that Marcus let out sent a shudder down Warren’s spine. Brendan and Dave both reacted by raring back, their expressions turning startled.
“Explain,” Marcus demanded.
“They’re-”
“Not you,” Marcus interrupted. “Them.”
Brendan sat frozen, and then darted his hand forward, grabbed the phone, and hung up. It started ringing immediately and Brendan threw it into the bushes.
“What the fuck was that?” Dave asked, looking shaken.
“A real alpha,” Brendan said, looking spooked. He shuddered. “Fuck. I felt that in my bones.”
Warren got up, walked over and retrieved his phone from the bushes. It was still ringing.
“Hi, Marcus, I’m okay,” he said. “They freaked out when you growled. Can you rein it in?”
Warren listened to several seconds of heavy breathing before Marcus let out a strained, “Yes.”
He put the phone on speaker.
“Marcus, I’m here with Brendan and Dave. We ran into them in the park. I thought that they were Max’s long-lost brothers, but I think it might be more complicated than that.”
“Hello,” Marcus said, his voice hard and terrifying.
Brendan and Dave looked at the phone like it was going to eat them.
“Hello, sir,” Brendan said. His voice shook.
“Explain.”
“My name is Brendan Whit. I’m here with my brother, Dave. We encountered your mate by accident on a ride here in Disney World and he says we look like his mate, Max Major.”
“And how are you related to Max?”
Brendan glanced at Warren. “I can’t be sure, but it sounds like he may be a Project Wolf baby who went missing from the program.”
“And Project Wolf is?”
Brendan cleared his throat. “The project to breed enhanced humans for special military operations using genetic material from werewolves.”
“The what?” Marcus’s fury was palpable.
Brendan and Dave both shuddered at his tone.
Warren shuddered too, but it was not out of fear.
“It was shut down twenty years ago. The gene splicing resulted in full werewolves rather than just enhanced humans. We – my brothers and I – made a deal with leadership to operate as a privately contracted special-ops unit in exchange for our independence.”
After Brendan had finished speaking, there were several seconds of calm, furious breathing coming from the other end of the line.
“Are you telling me that the US government bred werewolves in Florida for the military?”
“Accidentally,” Brendan confirmed.
“Was the use of werewolf genetic material accidental?”
“No.”
“And have you been going on missions on behalf of the US government?”
Brendan and Dave looked at each other. “I mean… as private contractors?”
“We’re not supposed to be in contact with real werewolves,” Dave piped up, glancing at Brendan and looking nervous. It was a stark change from his previous belligerence. Being brash and offensive was probably his way of dealing with feeling uncomfortable.
“How many of you are there?” Marcus asked. Warren could hear stuff going on in the background. He thought he recognized Bruce’s voice.
“Fifteen, now. Down from twenty-five.” Brendan looked at Dave. “From five different donors.”
Warren shared a glance with Vivian. This was insane. He looked around at the families having lunch around them, oblivious to the drama. A few of them were looking their way, but it was just normal curiosity about werewolves. They had no idea what was going on.
“Have you mapped out the safe zones?” Marcus asked.
“You mean from the snipper?”
Marcus let out an impatient growl. “From the thing that’s claimed Florida as its territory.”
“Yes, sir. We have a pretty good map of where it’s safe, though it sometimes breaks pattern.”
“Is the airport safe?”
“Yes, but not the highway to get there.”
“Stay where you are. A helicopter is on the way to airlift you to the airport. Send me the coordinates for the rest of you and I’ll send for them too.”
“We can’t leave,” Bendan protested. “We have a deal with-”
“You are werewolves under the jurisdiction of the Alpha Council, of which I am a ranking member. I am ordering you to give me the coordinates of your fellow brothers and to immediately comply with my efforts to relocate you to safe territory. Is that understood?”
“Yes, sir.”