7. Chapter 7 #2
Something terrible was happening inside and I knew that it was related to the girl who was found on the beach, I just wasn’t sure how.
Against every instinct, I crept closer. It was dangerous, but I couldn’t leave.
There was another scream, it pierced through the darkness and I crouched lower as I listened, trying to determine how many people were inside.
How has no one noticed this?
I was picking up multiple scents — a few humans, two lycans, something else, something…
other. Then the scent of a female wafted around me, but it was so different from the woman from last night.
My wolf urged me closer; I resisted. Too long and the wolf would begin to take control.
More than a few days and ferality would set in.
It was a fine line and I was careful to never push it.
I took a few more steps, then it hit me: fear.
The stench was acrid and intense, but I needed to know what was happening in the cluster of buildings.
I crept towards the fence and peered inside.
Two men stood next to the entrance. They warmed their hands by a barrel fire and spoke in low tones to each other.
I couldn’t make out what they were saying, but one laughed, the sound causing the fur on my back to stand up.
These men were human and I observed them, then listened.
They spoke a language I couldn’t understand and definitely weren’t hunters or fishermen.
Suddenly, a terrifying scream pierced the night followed by a pitiful howl and I froze.
The men remained impassive, concentrating on their conversation, ignoring the sounds right next to them.
There was another ear piercing scream and this time one of the men looked towards the house, but remained in place.
I slipped silently through the broken fence, then crept towards the back side of the large building.
Various scents filled the air, but the closer I got to the house, the more difficult it was to differentiate between them.
Vinegar and bleach disrupted the patterns, breaking the chains I relied on for identification.
I couldn't trust my most valuable tool; I needed to look.
Darkness surrounded me, and it wasn’t from the night, something awful was happening.
I was fully aware of my surroundings, every sense heightened, footsteps and voices ringing around me.
The broken window on the back of the large building was too high — I shifted back, my naked body immediately seizing from the cold, but I had to look inside.
I stood to my full height, stretching, focusing my human eyes in the darkness.
Then I turned and peered through the broken glass.
A small group was huddled around a table, staring at the creature on top.
It wasn't human or lycan and reminded me of the woman on the beach. I cringed as it whined pitifully.
She was alive, her moans of pain piercing through the air surrounding me.
Tubes ran into her arms and legs and several men in scrubs surrounded her.
One was human, the other, some variant of Peer.
They were covered in blood and did nothing as she sobbed.
She spoke in Russian and I didn’t know the words but understood their meaning completely.
Her desperate pleas fell on deaf ears and my attention shifted to a man standing in the corner. His arms were crossed and something about him was familiar, even though his features were a blur.
“She's not gonna make it,” he said.
That voice…
Low and deep with the bayou bursting around the edges. It reminded me of home, of my father. I heard it every time I heard myself.
“Perhaps,” one of the doctors replied. “It is too soon to tell.” The monitors began beeping furiously and her body spasmed on the table, then a shrill, steady tone echoed through the night.
She was dead.
“Christ, I have to go back tomorrow and tell Graham that this is the best you can do?” The man stormed out and I shifted back into my wolf, then crept through a break in the fence. As I turned the corner, a familiar pair of lupine eyes stared back at me.
It was Nadia, but I didn’t know what she wanted.
She let out a low whine, then motioned towards town.
We raced back together, side by side, through the snow and rocks and scrub, but when I saw the lights of the small main street, I slowed, creeping through the scattered buildings and towards the parking lot where I’d left my clothes.
I shifted and got dressed, telling her to remain in her wolf form. She followed me through the back door and up the stairs. Once we were in my room, I tossed her a t-shirt and sweats, then turned around as she shifted and got dressed.
“How did you know I was there?”
“Where else would you be? A stranger, coming here,” she sighed, pausing, searching for the right words, frustration woven through every one. “Your voice, it reminds me of him.”
“Who?” I turned around, remembering the one I heard, the one that sounded like me.
“I don’t know his name. He was a wolf, like you, like me.”
“A lycan?”
“Yeah, sure, whatever.” She looked so tired, so forlorn.
Did she know the woman we found on the beach?
I needed to ask, but she was already upset and I didn’t want to make things worse.
It was late. I was exhausted. I’d offer her a place to stay and grill her in the morning.
She had found me, she was ready to talk.
“Are you hungry? Can I get you anything?”
“No,” she said, shaking her head. Her scent was brutally desirable, so omnipresent and ripe. I clenched my fists, determined not to give over to the animal instinct desperate to get out, to take control of this body.
Tonight was going to be hell, but I couldn't send her away.
“You can take the bed. I’ll sleep on the floor.” There was a spare pillow and blanket in the wardrobe and I tossed them onto the thin carpet, then walked towards the bathroom.
“Max?” Her voice was weak and I paused, then turned to look at her.
“What?” She chewed on her lip, then pulled her knees to her chest, her eyes moist.
“What’s happening to me?” I knew exactly what she was talking about, there was no ambiguity, why didn’t she?
“You don’t know?” I turned to face her. “How do you not know?” Her face twisted and she looked like she was going to cry. “No, I’m not upset with you, but you’re a lycan, wolfkin, right?”
She shrugged and I finally understood. Understood why she smelled off, why she seemed so uncomfortable in her own body. She had no clue what was happening to her and was terrified.
“Just…uh, sleep, okay? I’ll get a shower and we’ll talk about it in the morning.” She nodded, her big, dark eyes focused on me, then pulled the blankets around her as I walked into the bathroom and turned the shower on full blast, as hot as it would go.
I couldn't get what I witnessed at the compound out of my mind and shivered, stripping and cranking up the hot water in the shower.
I shook with rage as the scalding water poured over my body.
Whatever was happening was wrong on every level and no one was going to stop it.
I reminded myself that I was there to observe, but this was murder. At what point did I have to act?
Two that I knew had died, Nadia, who may have gone through the same thing had survived.
How many had there been?
How many more would there be?
I dried myself off and walked out. Nadia was already asleep, her breaths shallow and fierce.
It took some time to get comfortable on the hard floor, and her scent kept me alert, on edge.
I was reckoning with millions of years of evolution, ignoring my basest instincts, denying myself the one thing I wanted more than anything else.
But there was no other option.