I knew the journey would be cramped, but cramming weapons, three werewolves, a vampire, and me into Jack’s car has me on edge. My seat is comfortable, of course, as I’m driving, but it’s not about physical space.
The sheer power roiling off and around the four edanes with me is enough to suffocate and smother.
In the back, Wendy sits between Jadz and Spannah. He seems calmer and more aware now that we’re away from the cell, but he’s clearly not himself. More than once he directs a comment at Rayne that he never might have otherwise and, while calm, it’s clear to me that Rayne is struggling.
She sits as far into the opposite side of her seat as possible, half-reclined against the window to leave a sea of space between us. Even her legs are turned toward the passenger door. She refuses to look at me, instead watching the scenery slide past us through her window.
The radio doesn’t work, nor does any of the other entertainment inside the car. We travel in stuffy silence, broken only by the occasional whisper from Jadz as she directs us through the eastern side of Angbec.
I’ve never spent much time on this side of the city, at least not in these largely suburban areas. Semi-detached houses with large drives or huge swathes of neatly cut grass forming their road-facing gardens. Most of the homes have two cars, sometimes three, and evidence of families is visible in the form of swing sets, or brightly coloured cartoon curtains hanging in upper windows.
“Left here, Agent, then to the end of the road and on the right. The house is there.”
I follow Jadz’s direction, perhaps faster than I should in a residential area. The car rumbles and stills as I kill the engine and the doors fly open to release my passengers.
Jadz immediately runs up to the house and lets herself in, a quick burst of edane speed that takes her out of sight.
I exit and walk round to meet Spannah as he supports Wendy once more with a grip on his arm.
“You okay, Wendy?”
He looks me up and down. A little of the old fire returns to his eyes, just a flicker but enough to give me hope. “I hope you know what you’re doing. This shit show can’t be allowed to get worse, hear me?”
“That’s exactly why you’re here instead of back in SPEAR holding.”
He snorts. “And where is ‘here’?”
“Uh…”
Jadz walks slowly out of the house. Her expression is hard to read, but I’m pretty confident in thinking she’s not angry. Yet.
“You guys better get inside. Also, hide the car in the garage. Not much point coming here in secret then leaving a huge ‘come get me’ sign outside the building.”
I point Spannah toward the house. “Go on. I’ll be there in a second.”
He and Wendy limp their way inside while I return to the car and climb back in.
Rayne still hasn’t moved. In fact, the only move she makes is to lean still further away from me.
“S-sorry, I—”
“Don’t be,” she mutters. “It’s not your fault.”
I put both hands on the steering wheel. It’s that or start wringing them. “Are we going to talk about this?”
“About what?”
“Rayne…”
Finally she looks at me. No, glares at me. “What do we have to talk about, Danika? That I’m a bloodthirsty monster? That every time I look at you, all I can see is the blood packaged by your skin?”
Ahead of us, the doors to the garage at the end of the drive start to slide up. I can just make out a pair of feet—they must belong to Jadz—walking along on the other side.
“But—”
“But what?” She slams her fist against the dashboard. The plastic creaks but holds. For now. “It’s getting worse, Danika. The more time I spend in close quarters with you, the more you bleed. It’s getting painful being able to smell you like this.”
I lick my lips. They’re dry and cracked, annoyingly so, but I’m not surprised. “Should I go?”
“I don’t want you to.”
“I know.”
“But yes. Get out. I’ll drive the car in.”
I hesitate.
She hits the dashboard again. This time a crack wriggles out from beneath her fist. “Go. I’ll be there in a minute and I’ll bring all the weaponry. Please. At least with the others in here there were other smells to think about, but now all I have is you. And I want to devour you.”
I try not to rush and make her feel worse, but those simple words chill me more than anything she has ever said to me. Devour…consume me until there’s nothing left.
I scramble out of the car with little to no grace, slamming the door behind me. From the corner of my eye, I can see Rayne slide across the front seats and into the driver’s side. The seat rumbles and clunk-chunks forward as she adjusts it to accommodate her shorter legs.
The front door of the house opens before I can reach it, swung wide to admit a figure I never expected to see here.
My mouth hangs open, I know it, but I don’t care. “Noel?”
He smiles as I approach. “Ah, Dee-Dee, I’m glad to see you. I worried for you earlier. You said nothing to this new colonel about his ridiculous plans.”
He grins wide and spreads his arms for me. He knows better than to try for a hug, but he does clap me heartily on the shoulder when I reach him.
“What are you doing here? How do you know Jadz?”
He winks at me. “I did tell you before. I wanted to keep my private affairs secret as long as possible. That way, no one questions.”
My brain races to catch up. “So Jadz is your…”
His grin widens. “Come. I see you are confused. Maybe I can break it into bite-size pieces for you.”
I allow Noel to lead me into the house without another word. Frankly, while it’s good to see him, I don’t know how many more surprises I can handle.
* * *
Noel, Jadz, Spannah, Wendy, Rayne, and me. The house is large, with an interior to match, but this living room is near bursting at the seams with tension and nerves.
Against one wall, Noel and Jadz stand side by side, fingers slightly intertwined while they watch the rest of us. They don’t speak but have clearly decided to wait for more details.
Spannah sits on the sofa, as close to Wendy as he can get without sitting in his lap. Wendy is bowed forward, elbows resting on his thighs, hands dangling between them. His breathing is heavy but steady, though his gaze is pinned to the large but tasteful off-white swirls in the rug stretched across the laminate floor.
Rayne loiters near the door with our bag of supplies, not quite on the other side of it, but I get the impression that’s where she wants to be. She doesn’t look at me, or anyone else in fact, just waits with her eyes closed and her arms folded.
Great. So I’m in charge?
“Uh, thanks, Noel. I had no idea you lived out here.”
“I don’t.” He shrugs. “Jadzia does, but I was looking for her. Now I know what happened. Thank you for releasing her.”
I’m not sure what surprises me more, the fact that he and Jadz are already intimate enough that he can be in her house without her, or that this is her house.
“No problem, I guess.” I clear my throat. Then again.
At last, Wendy saves me from myself. “On the way here,” he murmurs, “the air was thick. Don’t know what it was, but the smell was wrong. And it was quiet. Couldn’t scent another wolf for miles. What’s happening?”
I glance at Rayne, but she still hasn’t moved or opened her eyes. Guess I really am on my own for this one.
“SPEAR is no longer in charge of edane relations. During the riots, Jack called in—”
“Riots?” Spannah’s eyes grow wide. “What are you talking about?”
Guess I’d better start at the top.
I draw a deep breath. “You better stay sitting down, guys. This is going to be a rough one. You too, Noel.”
He sighs. “When you say things like that, I worry. But at least I’ll have answers now.”
“Yeah. I guess.”
He and Jadz sit together on a smaller sofa and look expectantly at me.
Great. Here we go.
* * *
Half an hour later, if not for the slight wobble in his step, I might never have known that Wendy was anything less than himself. He paces the living room, tight, stiff steps back and forth across the rug which already has a faint trail of grime from his filthy shoes. Another, longer trail marks Spannah’s retreat to the bathroom a few moments before when the lad removed himself with the excuse of a churning stomach.
Whether the product of true nausea or fear, it doesn’t matter; I fully sympathize with Spannah and half wish I could do the same. Instead, I force myself to watch and wait.
Even Jadz and Noel have stepped away, their excuse being to give us privacy and to keep Dire Wolf matters from the ears of Grey Tails. I’ve no doubt that Jadz could listen in easily if she wants to, but the gesture is appreciated regardless.
Wendy growls under his breath, clenching and unclenching his fingers which are tipped with inky black claws. “That dog,” he cries. “That mutt. That mongrel. That…that…” he snarls, that awful, throat-rippling, feral exhalation so foreign on a humanoid body. “I knew he had ideas, but that he’d go this far? Swine. I’ll kill him. I’ll tear his limbs off his body one at a time. How dare he do this? How dare he splinter my pack—my pack—like this.”
More fur bristles on Wendy’s hands and neck, ever more visible as his rage swells. When he next looks at me, his eyes glow with werewolf amber. His fury is palpable against my skin.
“Wendy, it’s going to be okay—”
He whirls on me with a roar, huge fangs exposed between his thinly stretched lips. “Chalks is injured. That is not okay.” His pacing becomes a wobbly but purposeful stride toward the door. “I’m going after them. Now. Aleksandar can’t get away with this. He’ll know what it means to cross me. He’ll—” Wendy bares his teeth at Rayne, still standing in the doorway. “Move.”
At last she looks up. Her gaze skips to me for the briefest second, but then she directs her attention to Wendy. “No.”
“Get out of my way.”
“No.” Her voice is soft but firm. “Until we know the streets are safe and that you are in a fit state, you should stay here.”
Wendy’s shoulders rise visibly. More fur erupts across his face and neck. “You don’t tell me what to do.”
“You’re too close to the situation to think clearly right now, Mr. Gordan. Your rationale is flawed.”
“Don’t make me say it again, fanger.”
“Okay.” I step forward, hands raised. “Maybe we all need to stop for a second and think clearly.”
“I’m clearer than I’ve ever been. I let my pack down. I trusted you, but I should have followed my gut instinct and stayed with my pups. I’m their alpha, their leader. They need me and I wasn’t there. I let that monster take them all on his mad little mission and now who knows where they are. I need to find them. And end him. I should have done it before, but I’m…I was too soft.” A note of sadness drifts across his voice, gone as quickly as it arrived. “I won’t make that mistake again.”
Rayne moves to stand more firmly in the door. She even puts her hands to either side of the frame to block it fully. “We need information first. You don’t know where Aleksandar is, you don’t know where the rest of your pack are, you have no idea what the sedation shot has done to you long-term, and we have no idea how long the drug from those drones stays active in the atmosphere. We need a plan.”
“I need to find my people. Last chance, fanger.” Wendy’s weight shifts to the balls of his feet. I can see him preparing to pounce.
In response, a silver sheen slides across Rayne’s eyes, clouding the usual autumnal brown.
I wedge myself between them, extending both hands to make space. I may as well have shoved against a brick wall for the difference my efforts make against Rayne, but Wendy actually stumbles a step back. He regains the lost ground quickly, but not before we notice the difference.
I expect him to back down after that, or at least acknowledge that he is still weak, but if anything that ignites his stubborn streak to a more passionate flame. Wendy glares down at me from his increased height, frowning through features almost lost beneath the fur and angled jawline of his hybrid form.
“Don’t make me hurt you, meat sack. I need to get out of this house.”
“You’re in no state to go outside tonight.”
“I won’t say it again.”
“Neither will I. This is for your own good, Wendy, please. Don’t make me pull rank.”
“You wouldn’t do that to me.”
“Try me.”
He growls.
I wait.
Rayne touches my shoulder. It’s only an instant, but enough to grab my attention. “You need to get out of the way.”
“But—”
“This is going to get ugly. Please move.”
Frustration boils through my gut. Why can’t I fix this? Why won’t anybody listen to me? Fuck, why is there nothing I can do?
A glancing blow across the side of my face throws my head to the side. Brightly coloured stars spin across my vision, but I’m still standing. I right myself and find Wendy preparing a second punch. He’s slow though, and I drop to my knees and out of reach even as his arm goes overhead. He topples, falling beside me in a heap of panting, angry wolf fur.
“Wendy, please. Come on. You must see that you’re not right. That sedation shot, its effects are still in you.”
“But my pack—”
“You can’t even hit me. Please.” I put my hand on his shoulder.
He flings it away with a roar of rage and scrambles to his feet. Or at least he tries to. Rayne stands over him in a heartbeat, one hand pressed down against the back of his neck. He pushes up against it, but her grip is strong and immobile.
“Let me go, fanger. You hear me? You won’t stop me helping my pups, you won’t stop me—”
“Wensleydale Gordan,” I speak as loudly as I dare. “By your pledge and your word I order you to sit down and stop fighting.”
Silence.
I can almost taste my pulse.
“You…you…”
“I’m sorry.” The words are out before I can catch them. “I’m sorry, Wendy, but you have to stay here tonight. Don’t make this worse.”
“Worse? How can it get worse?” He sighs, the fight visibly flooding out of him. “My pups. I’ve failed them.”
Slow and easy, I scoot away from him on my hands and arse. “You haven’t failed them. We just need more time.”
“Time.” Wendy grunts but doesn’t move. “The one thing we don’t have. What now, meat sack? If I can’t leave this house and you don’t know where my pups are, what are we going to do?”
“We need help. And I think I know who to call.”
* * *
“Voicemail again.” I end the third call from my mobile and drop it in my lap.
In front of me, Wendy has returned to pacing, only this time Spannah is with him. He follows right on his alpha’s heels, scurrying to avoid being trodden on each time Wendy turns. He doesn’t speak, but his eyes dart constantly with worry and fear.
“If you can’t get hold of her, why keep me here? We’re wasting the time I could be using to find my pups.”
Back in the door frame, Rayne readjusts her stance, but says nothing.
“You punched me and I barely felt it, Wendy. You can’t go back out there until we check on you. We need to know that the sedative hasn’t made you—”
My phone rings, a standard two-tone chime of a call from a number I don’t have stored. I have it answered and against my ear before the round of rings end. “Karson. You need to get off the line I’m waiting for a call, and—”
“No, no, don’t hang up, it’s me.”
A huge sigh of relief flees my lips. Hadn’t quite realized I’d been holding my breath. “Pip?”
“Yes, what’s wrong?” Her voice is low, almost a whisper, and muffled as if by her hand.
“I need your help. Can you get out here? I have an address for you and—”
“I can’t.”
My grip tightens on the phone. “Come on, Pip, I wouldn’t ask for this if I didn’t need it. Please don’t be stubborn and weird about this.”
“I’m not. Haven’t you heard? SPEAR is on lockdown.”
“I…” I lick my lips. “Of course I know, but what does that have to do with you?”
A pause, rustling, and then her voice is back, more muffled than ever. “Some guys showed up from the military and started ordering us around. They stopped all our research. They’ve locked down every experiment running through the Foundation and are collecting all the researchers.”
“What? Are you okay? Where are you?”
“I’m fine, I’m fine. Honest, I’m hiding in a supply cupboard right now. I had to find somewhere I could use a phone without them trying to cart me off somewhere. What’s happening?”
This time as I wrap my fingers harder around the phone, it’s as if gripping a lifeline. “Jack kicked off some weird emergency fail-safe. It brought the military in.”
Pippa gasps. “Project Revival?”
“And how do you know about that?”
“There’s a lot of stuff I know about that I probably shouldn’t. It’s amazing what people let slip in the cafeteria queue. Anyway, if that’s what this is I don’t want to get caught hiding. They’ll arrest me.”
“But I need you. You’re the only one I can trust right now, and Wendy is all messed up. Remember the sedative I told you about? The new one that Maury used? It’s still in him and it’s making him weak. It has to be the Q-whatever it was you said.”
I can all but hear her nodding. From over the line come a few muffled bumps and half whispered conversation. It passes after a moment or two.
“Quilax?” She makes an annoyed clicking sound with her tongue. “No, I told you, it’s still in Scotland. We’re not allowed to use it here.”
“Then I need you to confirm what they did use because Wendy is in big trouble right now. He can barely stand.”
Wendy completes his latest circuit of the rug and snatches the phone from my hand. As I move to retrieve it, Spannah slides into my path with a slow shake of the head.
“Pips, you little she-wolf, it’s me.” Wendy speaks into the phone with the faintest of smiles on his furry lips. “Yeah, yeah, well you know the meat sack, mayhaps better than me. She’s an idiot.”
“Hey.”
He ignores me. “An idiot, but I’m grateful for her. I was rotting in that cell.” A pause. “No, I feel fine up top, but my body…I hate to say it, but I’m slow. Couldn’t string up a cat right now.”
Wendy continues talking to my sister while I impotently try to get close enough to hear. May well as not have bothered though, because even with the phone to my ear it was hard to hear. Spannah keeps himself between the pair of us, apologetic, but resolute.
“…a sample? Fine, you can have one. I’ll bring it over.” Wendy’s quick frown tells me clear as day the response to that statement. “Then how do I get it to you? Sunup isn’t far off, you know?” Pause. Grunt. “Fine. We’ll sort it. Stand by. Oh, and have your sister back.” He flips the phone over his shoulder and walks off through another door leading deeper into the house.
I fumble to catch the flying device and press it back to my ear. “Pip, what’s going on?”
“You need to get me a sample of Wensleydale’s blood. What he describes sounds like the Q174X, but I can’t be sure. I can test it against Scotland results and see what we’re dealing with.”
“Fine. I’ll bring it.”
“No.” Her voice is a sibilant hiss. “You of all people don’t want to get caught up here. You’ll never get away. It has to be someone else.”
“Like who?”
“Figure it out. You have about an hour before it’s too late.”
“But—”
The line clicks and the conversation dies. Well, shit.
Rayne moves away from her post by the door. “I could take it?”
“I don’t know if that’s wise. I think you need to stay away from SPEAR until we get Wendy fixed. Unless you want to stay in for debrief.”
She looks unhappy but resigned. “Maybe Jadz?”
“Again, werewolf. We don’t know if that stuff is still in the air or even if there’s more coming. Same for Spannah. We need to keep edanes off the streets.”
Noel ambles through the same door Wendy just used. He holds a small Tupperware tub half filled with a thick, red looking liquid. “Then me, sí? I’ll go.”
Rayne’s nostrils flare. She turns aside quick enough that she actually bumps into the door frame.
“Did Wendy already give you that blood?”
A shrug from Noel. “He is like you, I think, quick with decisions and impulsive. He explained what your little sister said and I agree. You can’t go. So I will.”
I smile. Can’t help it. “Just can’t help but get yourself involved, can you?”
“Bah.” He flaps a hand at me. “Why should you have all the fun? Besides I see your eyes. You are tired. When did you last sleep?”
I chance a glance at my watch. “Ugh. Too long ago.”
“Then rest now. Spend some time with your Rayne before the sun rises. It won’t be long from now, sí?”
“But what about Wendy?”
“You can’t help if you are exhausted. Besides, he must wait. While you talked, Jadzia spoke with her pack mates. The drones the colonel spoke of? They still travel the streets and occasionally spray their gas. Werewolves are not safe outside, so regardless, we all must wait. But me?” He taps his chest with fake bravado. “I’m strong.”
“You’re thick-headed.”
“Same difference.” He waves the tub at me. “So I will take this and you, Dee-Dee, will stay here in the safe. Sí?”
I’d give a lot to argue with him, but now that he’s mentioned sleep I can feel a yawn rising from deep within me. I remember how I should have slept the day before but hadn’t been able to because of worry over Rayne. I remember my nap the morning previous; even that was nothing substantial.
Now, at close to four thirty, at last it’s beginning to catch up.
With a sigh, I lower myself to the comfy squishiness of Jadz’s larger sofa. “Fine. Just don’t do anything stupid while you’re out there.”
“No, no, that is your job.”
“Oh, ha-bloody-ha.”
He grins and grabs a thick leather jacket from a rail near the door. After feeding himself into it, he tucks the tub of blood into an inside pocket. “See? I’m funny. Now, try to behave while I am gone. I will be as fast as I can.”
“You’d better.”
Noel places a hand over his heart. “I hear what you truly mean, Dee-Dee, and of course you are welcome. Soon. I will return soon.”
And with that he’s gone.
I’m alone with Rayne again.
She still stands near the door, a vast distance away within the confines of the living area. She sighs. I sit straight.
It’s time we had a conversation.