***

“Remind me again, what's to keep them from just shooting us?” Kaynan asked in a tight voice.

We walked slowly from the drop off point to the dune-colored building slumped on the sand like a slug.

“Supposedly we'll blow ourselves to smithereens before they can do anything,” I replied softly to keep my voice from shaking.

“Uh-huh,” Kaynan replied, his voice thick with doubt.

We stopped in front of what we guessed was the door. Nothing happened for a few minutes, then a voice crackled over an intercom system, “Kaynan and Colleen Anderson?”

“Werewolf pizza delivery,” Kaynan replied dryly.

I rolled my eyes, but a thick metal door slid open to reveal a small, empty room. Kaynan glanced at me, then stepped inside. I followed him in and the door slid shut behind us with a resounding thud.

“Nice,” Kaynan said. He ran a hand along the metal door in front of us, but there wasn't a handle. He cleared his throat. “Do we need to say our names again or are you going to ask us another ridiculous question?”

The intercom crackled and a voice said drolly, “I am Dr. Verus, Dr. Tannin's understudy.”

“Wonderful,” Kaynan growled under his breath.

The man either didn't hear him or didn't care. He continued, “It’s clear that you have come fully armed.”

Kaynan glanced down at his vest. A bright red light blinked at the shoulder and the C-4 was visible. “Oh, he's a bright one.”

I looked around for cameras and found one wedged in the corner on the ceiling. “We've come to stop you,” I said to the camera.

Dr. Verus laughed as though the idea was no more than an annoying flea. “Why don't you see what we're working on first? I can guarantee it'll be worth your while.” He paused meaningfully. “Of course, you'll have to remove your vests.”

“And if we refuse?” I asked.

“We can either wait until you fall asleep, which I know could be a long time given your insomniac condition, Colleen, and then we'll remove the vests ourselves or move you outside the facility, or we can simply shoot you in the head without giving you time to activate the bombs.”

Kaynan lifted his eyebrows at me in an I-told-you-so manner. He grimaced. “You know, I'm tired of no-win situations.” He unclipped the vest the way Agent Sullivan showed us and set it carefully on the floor. “I'm also tired of having my life on the line ever since you guys turned me into a werewolf.”

“We didn't turn you into a werewolf,” Dr. Verus said in a lecturing tone that reminded me very much of Dr. Tannin. “We merged human DNA with werewolf DNA, your girlfriend's, if I have my facts straight, and came out with a true werewolf clone. It wasn't magic, it was science.”

Kaynan looked like he was ready to hit someone, and it echoed my feelings exactly. “Let us in.”

“I'm waiting for Colleen to remove her vest.”

Kaynan glanced at me, but I couldn't fight the heavy feeling in my stomach at the thought of going through the door. I shook my head. “I feel better this way, thank you.”

Dr. Verus' tone lightened so that it sounded like he was talking to a small child. “Now, Colleen, we have no reason to hurt you. You both are our finest creations, and we're only happy that you have come home.” Kaynan rolled his eyes, but the doctor continued, “Having you work with us will help us make drastic strides in the cloning effort. Your DNA samples from the Development Center were destroyed in the blast, and we have been forced to work with inferior strains; but new samples will help us reenact the cloning process.” When I made no move to comply, he sighed. “You and Kaynan are anomalies, flukes, a miraculous hiccup that we have been unable to repeat with other humans.”

“The bodies you're trucking in,” I said in as calm a voice as I could muster.

“Yes.” Dr. Verus replied. “Unfortunately, no one has taken to the DNA coupling like both of you. We've had some near misses,” his tone indicated that the outcomes were gruesome, “But with you here, we can begin to understand our failures and learn from them.”

“I'll say,” Kaynan replied in a soft undertone. He nodded at me and I sighed, then shrugged out of the vest. I set it on the floor next to Kaynan's and we walked to the door hoping that the camera couldn't see the extra inch or so in our shoes that made us taller.

The door slid open and men in navy blue and yellow uniforms filed out. Two men took the vests and walked them straight out the front door to the desert while the rest waited for us to pass, then fell in behind. A shudder ran through my body at the sound of the door shutting and the multitude of feet on the sandy floor.

Kaynan reached for my hand and I concentrated on his familiar hold; the shuddering subsided and I focused on our surroundings.

We followed two guards along a long, sloped hallway that grew cooler the further down we went. We turned left at a junction, past several doors sealed so tight no scent escaped them, then entered a doorway on the right into a room scattered with couches and plush Persian rugs. The guards left, shutting the door behind us.

Kaynan and I stared at the fine furnishings, elaborate impressionist paintings, and gold-leafed scroll work along the walls.

“Did you think we were animals, living in stones caves and dirt?” Dr. Verus asked from a couch facing away from us.

I bristled at the shot. “I pictured fire and brimstone,” I replied before I could stop myself.

Dr. Verus rose and turned, “A suitable home for demons. Touché.”

He smiled and held out a hand. “I'm glad to finally make your acquaintance.”

The difference between his cold, clammy looking hand and Agent Sullivan's trust-inspiring honesty was so stark neither Kaynan nor I moved. Dr. Verus dropped his hand and went on as though he didn't notice the slight. “Why don't I give you a tour of our facility?”

He led the way to a side door and we followed him out into a carpeted hallway. The two guards from earlier fell in on either side of us. “The youth center is directly below us. We'll visit there first.”

My heart slowed. “You experiment on children?”

He nodded. “Turns out they are more adaptable. Our closest achievements have been with children.”

I felt so sick I wanted to vomit. We stepped into a gold-gilded elevator and I hesitated about ruining the beautiful red carpet, then I remembered where I was and almost hoped it would happen. We reached the next floor down and had to step out before my stomach made up its mind.

Dr. Verus led us through another hallway, this one carpeted in pink and blue with doorways painted the same color. We stopped at a viewing window and the nausea turned to full-blown horror. Children, healthy human children, stacked blocks, slid down a tiny slide, and crawled over colorful alphabet mats. They wore pink or blue depending on their gender, and each bore a colored medical bracelet like in hospitals.

“What are you doing with them?” I whispered.

Dr. Verus gave a predatory smile. “Insurance, my dear. Everyone has it these days.” He indicated a small boy close to the window who played with a plastic green horse. “Also, we get tired of the dead bodies. They smell, you know. It's nice to work on the living and hope they are still living when you're done.”

“How many children do you have here?” Kaynan asked through tightly clenched teeth.

The doctor shrugged. “A couple dozen. It's hard to keep track.”

I forced myself to ask, “Are any of the experiments successful?”

Dr. Verus shook his head and it was all I could do not to phase and tear out his throat like the wolves had done to the elk. “Not yet. We've only just started, but so far the mortality rate is one hundred percent.”

A growl ripped from Kaynan’s throat and he couldn’t control himself anymore. He grabbed the doctor by the throat and threw him across the hall. Dr. Verus slammed into the opposite door and slumped to the floor. The two guards grabbed their guns, but my instincts kicked in and I grabbed one gun and slammed it into the temple of the first man. He collapsed at my feet just as I punched the second guard in the stomach, then elbowed him in the back when he doubled over. He landed on the ground and I smacked the barrel of the gun against his skull.

Kaynan looked at me as though I was from a different planet. I rose slowly and stared at my hands. The gun trembled in my fingers and I dropped it as if it was a hot iron. “Remind me not to get on your bad side,” Kaynan said.

I nodded numbly, amazed at how strong being a werewolf had made me. Kaynan pulled both the guards and Dr. Verus into an empty room, then shut the door behind them.

“What are you doing?” I asked, horrified. “We have to find the way out!”

“We're going back the way we came in.”

He grabbed the doorknob and forced it to turn. It resisted, then gave with a snap. “Come on, kids,” he said in his most amiable voice. “We're going to a playground.”

The older kids immediately stopped what they were doing and ran to the door. Several of the smaller ones watched, but didn't move in our direction. He instructed the older children to carry the younger ones and proceeded to the next door.

“What makes you think they're going to just let us all walk out of here?” I asked, hurrying after him with two children in my arms.

“We still have bombs, remember?” He lifted a shoe to remind me, paused a second, then set down the little boy with the green horse and took off both shoes. He ran back up the hall, then returned barefooted, a grim smile on his face.

“What did you do?”

“We don't need both sets, remember? Let's just say I gave Dr. Verus a chance to learn from his failures before he's blown to bits.”

I grimaced at the image and opened the next door. More children stared at us and my heart sank further. My limbs started to shake with the urge to phase and escape everything Dr. Verus' facility represented, to escape the torture, the walls, the experiments, and the stares of haunted children who had seen their playmates led away to never return.

“Kaynan, we have to get them out of here.”

“I know.” He looked at me carefully. “You're going to phase, aren't you?”

I hated myself for my lack of control, but we both knew it was inevitable. I nodded. “If I phase I can still lead the children out, but we don't know what's on the lower levels.”

His face showed the dread I felt. “We don't want to blow up innocent people.”

“Are you going to have time to look?”

He gave a grim nod. “I set Dr. Verus' bomb for fifteen minutes. If I'm not out in ten, start worrying.”

“If you're not out in ten, I'm coming in after you.” My muscles were shaking so badly I couldn't hold still any longer. I turned to the children. “Kids, I'm a nice werewolf and I need you to trust me.” I pointed at the room we had just left. “I'm going to go in there and change into a wolf, then I want you to follow me outside, okay?” Most of the children just stared in incomprehension, but a few of the older ones nodded.

A dark-skinned, beautiful girl of about twelve touched my hand. “We'll wait right here.”

I threw her a grateful smile, gave Kaynan a quick hug, then stepped into the room and let the phase take over. When I padded back out of the room as a cream and black wolf with violet eyes, the girl I had spoken to before set a hand on my shoulder with the trusting faith only a child can have. Her other hand was clutched tightly by a little boy I guessed was her younger brother.

Kaynan brought my shoes from the room, tied the shoelaces together, and looped them around his neck. “Take care, sis,” he said. He opened the last door and instructed the older children to help him carry the younger ones out and follow me, then he disappeared down the hall.

I led the way back to the elevator, waited until all of the children piled in, then pressed the button with my nose. The anxiety that filled me was calmed by the fact that we were helping, and the children around me didn't seem the least bit concerned about the fact that they rode in an elevator with a wolf.

We reached the top floor and I nosed the girl so that she would keep the others inside. I ran on ahead to clear the way to the doors, but it seemed that someone knew of our attack because there was not a soul in sight. I thanked Rafe's powers of the Universe with a silent, grateful laugh, and loped back down the hallway to the elevator.

The children followed me through both sets of doors to the desert. Two of the younger children climbed on my back while the older kids helped carry the others across the cool night desert sand. Dawn touched the western horizon, lighting the sky in deep red edged with rose. I led the children past several dunes so they would be clear of the blast. I waited with them as long as I dared, but my heart slowed with every second that Kaynan didn't appear. When I couldn't stand it anymore, I rose, nosed the twelve year old girl again so she would keep the others there, then loped back to the facility.

The scent of fire touched my nose when the inside door opened. Smoke trailed along the top of the hall and told of burning plastic, paper, and electrical wires. I galloped down the hall at full speed, slid into the elevator, and hit the button for floor two. The door slid open when I reached the second floor, but the hall it revealed was empty. Kaynan’s scent lingered, but only lightly. He had to be further down.

The elevator shook when I stepped back in and I hesitated. A sign on the wall warned not to ride the elevator in case of a fire. I rolled my eyes and wondered if the same applied to an exploding building. I took a deep breath and pushed the next button with my nose.

The door opened on level three. A strange scent of chemicals filled the air along with a tangle of smoke that worked its way along the ceiling, but Kaynan’s scent was faint there as well. I didn’t have time to investigate with the building about to collapse and my brother missing.

I pushed the button for level four. My heart thundered in my chest and I had to remind myself to breathe. The smoke that rushed in when the door opened was white and billowing. The scent of chemicals was stronger here, mixed with a stale smell of werewolves and humans, but Kaynan had returned and entered the elevator again.

I rode down to level five and began to question what would happen if I didn’t find my brother. My breathing was rapid and smoke clouded my nose, making me fear that I wouldn’t smell him if I did finally reach the right level. When the door to the fifth floor opened, a heavy scent of decay and rot hit me so hard I had to fight back the urge to vomit. Part of me felt like I should find out the source of the smell, but the other half reasoned that Kaynan had returned, so I needed to keep going.

I stepped back and pushed the button, then cringed when the elevator started with a rocking jolt. Nothing prepared me for when the doors opened on level six.

Kaynan lay on the floor halfway down the smoke-filled hallway in his wolf form. His deep red hair was singed and smelled of blood and fire. Smoke poured from the rooms around him and flames lapped out from several doorways. The heat was so intense I could barely look at him. I had to pass at least three raging fires from open doorways to reach him. He outweighed me by more than fifty pounds and I knew I couldn't move him in my wolf form.

I raced into the room next to me and glanced around quickly for anything I could use to protect us from the heat. The room was empty save for a few beakers and a microscope on a lone table. I braved the flaming hallway again and in the next room I was relieved to find several hospital gowns, scratchy hospital blankets, and a sink along with rows of tables covered in beakers, microscopes, and stacks of slides that smelled of strange chemicals.

I willed my heart to slow, but it was hard to be calm with my brother lying in the middle of a torrential fire while children waited in the desert far above for us to take them to safety. Too many people depended on me to make it, and I wasn’t about to let them down now. I closed my eyes, found the calm place deep inside myself, and centered on it until it blocked out the roar of the fire, the panic at the edge of my thoughts, and the urgency to phase. My heart slowed and I felt control over my body return.

I phased as quickly as I could, doused the hospitals gowns and blankets in cold water, then pulled a gown and a blanket over myself before I ducked back out the door and ran down the hall to Kaynan's side.

His red eyes stared off unseeing into the distance. I touched his singed fur, afraid to find him not breathing. My heart started again when his chest rose and fell shallowly under my hand.

“I'm getting you out of here, Kay,” I said between gritted teeth. I wrapped the remaining soaked blankets and gowns around his body, picked him up in my arms, and ran as fast as I could toward the elevator.