Dani
I couldn't understand what the hell was going on with Ben lately. He was like a completely different man—a stranger I didn't even know. Where had my partner, the pacifist, vegetarian Buddhist, gone, and who was this testosterone-driven jerk that had taken his place? Despite his size, Ben had one of those sweet, open faces that always made bums and people down on their luck ask him for spare change, and he always gave it to them too. I had never even seen him give a street person so much as a hard word or a nasty look—let alone pick one up and toss him around like a rag doll.
I watched his broad shoulders hunch under the denim jacket he wore as we made our way to Doctor Locke's laboratory. I wanted to grab his arm, swing him around, and make him explain to me right then and there what the hell was going on, but something stopped me. There was an air of menace about my usually gentle and mild-mannered best friend that frightened me. It hung around him like a foreign spice, the scent of musk male animals get when they're fighting over a female.
And there was something else that scared me too. Ben's eyes when I had looked at him…they'd almost seemed to glow. Like someone had lit a flame behind his mild brown gaze, and he was burning inside with the need to…to what? But, no, I shook my head. I had to be mistaken about that, because it was just plain crazy. Probably it was just a trick of the moonlight.
“Here we are.” Ben knocked on the steel door of the mostly intact warehouse—hammered was more like it, actually—like he was desperate to get inside for some reason.
Before I could ask him what the hurry was, the door slid open with an ominous shriek of metal on metal, and a voice said, “To what do I owe this honor?”
“Doctor Locke?” I said, stepping forward and giving him my best smile. “I'm Danielle Linden from the Sun Times, and this is my partner, Benjamin Davis. I believe we spoke earlier on the phone?”
“Ah, yes, the intrepid young lady who wanted to know all about my fascinating research.” He stepped out of the doorway, motioning us into the lighted interior. Ben pushed past the doctor, as though he was freezing and wanted to get in out of the cold, even though it was a really mild night for September. I frowned as I followed him, but there was no graceful way to ask him what was wrong in front of Doctor Locke.
“So, Ms. Linden, what is it you wish to know?” He was an older gentleman with very peculiar hair—black with gray stripes on either side that didn't look entirely natural. He wasn't wearing a lab coat, as I had expected, but a ratty old brown sweater and gray slacks that were out at the knees. The smell of stale coffee and dirty socks hung around him like a cloud, and I was careful to keep my distance. In contrast, the lab laid out in the huge warehouse space behind him was spotless and sparkling, filled with expensive and arcane equipment I couldn't begin to guess the uses of.
“Doctor Locke,” I began. “Over the phone, you said—”
“Watch out!” Ben, who had been standing quietly to one side, suddenly grabbed me and pushed me behind him.
“Watch out for what?” I demanded. I was getting damn tired of his overprotective routine, and he was so tall that I couldn't even see what it was he had supposedly saved me from this time. Then a low, menacing growl filled the air, and I heard the click of toenails on concrete.
Peering out from behind Ben's broad back, I saw a huge wolf stalking toward us. It was pure white with pale blue eyes, and its muzzle was wrinkled back to show long pointed fangs like pearly daggers.
“Now, now, Sasha.” Doctor Locke walked forward casually and pushed the animal, which seemed to have fixated on Ben, away. I didn't know how he dared—the wolf was so big its head came easily above his waist, and he wasn't a short man. The wolf slunk away, still snarling, to lie in a corner, and Doctor Locke spread his hands and shrugged. “She is quite territorial, as you see. Now then, where were we?”
Ben was still standing directly in front of me, and I touched him on the shoulder to get him to move. That was when I realized he was vibrating—actually, he was growling himself, but it was such a low sound that I felt it through my fingertips rather than hearing it.
“Ben?” I stepped back from him, more startled than afraid. Was he trying to back the wolf down by giving it some of its own medicine? He still had his back to me and I started to pull him around to face me, but something stopped me. For some reason, I didn't want to look into his eyes just then. What if what I had seen outside wasn't a trick of the moonlight? What was going on?
“Please, Mister Davis.” Doctor Locke sounded completely unconcerned. “I assure you, there is no need for such an overt display of aggression. Sasha is quite obedient. She will not attempt to harm your Chosen.”
“His what?” I asked, assuming he was referring to me.
“I have not claimed her. She is not my Chosen,” Ben said, talking as though he knew exactly what Doctor Locke meant.
“Oh, I think she is. I have been working with your kind long enough to know a mating mark when I see one.”
“A mating mark? And whose kind? What are you talking about? Ben?” I put a hand on my partner's broad shoulder. “What is he talking about?”
“I have put no mark upon her.” Ben was still talking strangely, acting as though I wasn't there. He had turned to face us, and I was relieved to see that his eyes looked normal, at least.
“Not a physical mark, perhaps,” Doctor Locke said, still speaking only to Ben. “But your possession is quite evident. To me at least.”
“Possession of whom? Are you talking about me?” I turned to face the doctor. “Look, I think you have a wrong idea about us. We're writing partners—that's all.”
Doctor Locke turned to look at me at last. “Is that really what you think?”
I felt my mouth go dry. Ben was looking at me too, and there was an intensity in his mild brown eyes I had never seen before. It scared me.
“Do you really believe one who is chosen of the Goddess to show both her faces, the light and the dark, could need so deeply and not leave a mark of mating—of possession?”
“The Goddess?” I raised an eyebrow at him. “Look, I was under the impression that you were doing some kind of scientific research here. Not New Age mumbo-jumbo.”
“And so I am. My research is paramount, but all in the service of the Goddess. The time is drawing near when she will demand her due.”
“What?” I shook my head, feeling like I'd stumbled into some strange dream. I looked up at Ben to see what he made of all this, but he was still just standing there, staring at me with that weird light in his eyes. I was getting a serious case of the creeps here.
“Look,” I said, attempting to bring the conversation back to some semblance of normalcy. “I'm not interested in the Goddess or anything like that.” I pulled the folded picture out of my pocket, still sealed in the clear plastic baggie. “Have you ever seen this girl?” I asked.
Doctor Locke's dark gray eyes flickered, and he licked his lips nervously. “No,” he said, after studying the picture briefly. “No, I haven't seen her.”
Something told me he was lying, but there was nothing I could do about it. “Fine,” I said, frustrated. “Well, what about this?” I opened the baggie and unfolded the picture, showing him the long swirl of coarse, gray-brown hair. I had cleaned off the bubblegum as well as I could, and only a few pink flecks remained. “You work with animals,” I said, showing him the lock of hair/fur. “Do you think this could belong to some kind of wolf?”
Ben came suddenly to life. “Where did you get that?” he demanded, striding forward to look over my shoulder at the hair.
“It was stuck inside the picture,” I said, giving him my best back off look. “So what?”
Ben shrugged uneasily, not saying anything.
Doctor Locke studied the fur with much more interest than he had shown the picture of whatever-her-name-was McKinsey. He looked up at Ben sharply. “This is yours?” he asked, gesturing at the fur.
Ben scowled. “Of course not.”
“His hair is black,” I added. It seemed a shame to point out the obvious, but really, what would make Doctor Locke think that weird colored hair could have come off Ben?
The doctor nodded and handed me back the fur. “Yes, he would have black fur, during a change.”
“A change?” I looked at him, frowning. “A change into what?”
The doctor looked startled for the first time. He looked at Ben. “She does not know?”
“Know what?” I demanded. Both of them ignored me.
“No,” Ben said to the doctor, shaking his head.
“Goddammit, will you both please stop acting like I'm not in the room and tell me what the hell is going on?” I shouted, finally losing my patience. “Well?” I looked at Ben, but he only shook his head again.
“Doctor Locke?” I said, looking at him. “I came here for some answers.”
He frowned. “I am sorry, Ms. Linden, but this is not my secret to tell. And as it is getting very late, I must ask you both to leave. Sasha does not like company so late at night.” At the sound of her name, the white wolf that had been sulking in the corner came forward growling, her hackles raised.
“Fine, just fine.” I shoved the picture back into the pocket of my jeans and turned for the door. Ben followed me out into the moonlit night without saying a word.
Doctor Locke stood in the doorway, silhouetted by the light from inside the warehouse, and watched us leave, the growling wolf at his side. “Ware the moon,” he called as we walked down the long, empty street. “And don't bother looking for McKinsey Cullen, Ms. Linden—you'll find nothing but grief down that road.”
“What?” I turned in my tracks. “Hey, you said you'd never—” The door banged shut, and Ben's hand was suddenly on my arm, pulling me away from the lab.
“Leave it.” His voice was deep, almost a growl. I tried to look into his eyes, but the moon was behind him and his face was hidden in shadows.
“But he said he'd never seen her and then—”
“Leave it,” he repeated. He walked forward rapidly, dragging me with him until I jerked my arm out of his hand.
“No, I will not leave it. I want to know what was going on back there. What were you and Doctor Locke talking about? It was like some weird kind of code only the two of you knew.”
“Believe me, we're not the only two who know it,” Ben said cryptically. He was still walking in the direction of the truck, and I had to trot to keep up with his long strides.
“Ben, what are you talking about? What's going on with you lately?”
“Nothing I can tell you about.” His voice was so surly that I was momentarily put off. Ben never yelled at me or told me to mind my own business when I asked him questions. His life was an open book to me, or so I had believed.
“Ben.” I ran to catch up with him and put my hand on his arm, just as he was unlocking the truck. “Ben,” I said. “I'm sorry. But I can see you're hurting. Something's bothering you, and it has to do with all that craziness Doctor Locke was talking about. Please tell me what it is. Please let me help you.”
He reached down to cup my cheek in his warm palm and tilted my chin so that our eyes met. In the moonlight I saw that his eyes were suspiciously bright. “Dani,” he said in a voice so broken it twisted my heart. “Please believe me, if I could tell you what's going on with me right now, I would. But I can't. All I can do is ask you to be patient with me. In a few more days this is all going to pass, and I'll be back to normal—we'll be back to normal. Just two best friends chasing down the next big, breaking story, and that's all.” The bitterness in his tone was so palpable I could taste it on the back of my tongue.
“Ben,” I started, but he shook his head.
“Just be patient with me, please. Now, let's go home. Okay?”
I had a million questions, but they all died before I could open my mouth. Ben looked so sad, so distressed, that I didn't have the heart to ask them. He drove me back to my condo in absolute silence, which was completely unlike us. He was squinting a lot, as though he was driving in glaring sunlight instead of the silvery moonlight, but I didn't dare to ask him what was wrong. The tension I had sensed in him earlier was back in spades—every muscle in his big body was flexed to some kind of breaking point—I could feel it in the nervous jittering of my own muscles. There was something in the air between us—something huge that neither of us was talking about.
“Well,” I said when he dropped me off. “I guess I'll see you tomorrow.”
Ben nodded. Without saying a word, he put the truck in reverse and pulled out. I was left looking after him, wondering what the hell was happening to my partner, and what I could do about it to help him.