Ariel fought as the assistant turned her head and held it still while Dr. Crane positioned the plunger. The depression happened quickly. Pain more intense than anything she’d ever known shot through her head and had her calling out. Before her consciousness faded, her last thought was that Dr. Crane had lied to her. She had been spared nothing. Her head exploding from the inside was what dropped the eventual black veil over her thoughts.
She never felt the sedative working at all.
Chapter 2
Ariel shook with cold as she came up out of a deep, drugged sleep. Naked and shivering, she determined that she was lying on a small cot.
As she struggled to open her eyes, she could just barely make out the forms of Dr. Crane and his white-coated asswipe of an assistant. They were staring into the cages where they’d stashed the other two women who had been captured alongside her. There was a bunch of growling and hissing which kept getting louder as the men talked.
Dr. Crane looked extremely pleased with whatever was happening. The knowledge pissed her off, but her dark thoughts of doing vicious and hideously cruel things to both men surprised her.
Ariel lifted a pale hand in front of her face, which blurred out of focus, but finally came back in. So far, nothing overly unusual had happened to her body, unless you counted the sick headache she had at the moment. She felt strange though—very strange. Her stomach growled with fierce hunger and there was a steady fire burning between her legs. Those two white-coated bastards had better not have touched her. If they did, she was cutting off their man parts and throwing them in the recycler. Later, when she was more alert, she promised herself she would check her body closer.
A loud clanging against the bars of her cage had her covering her ears. Sound—all sound—hurt terribly and increased her headache. A percussion band played in her head as she fought the pain.
“I’m afraid your doctoral thesis is now a complete failure, Dr. Jones. Apparently, the metamorphosis strand is a deterrent to transpecies mutation as well as being something to shorten a person’s life. Now I have to decide what to do about you. We can’t just turn you loose in society and have you telling everyone what we’re up to here. You were certainly a waste of a couple billion very expensive nanos we can’t get back. Sadly, you’ve become the only failure case, rather than the pinnacle of our success.”
It took her a lot of effort, but Ariel finally managed to manipulate her hand enough to get her middle finger to stand up alone. Crane’s laugh at her silent rebellion grated on every nerve she had, not to mention how much his voice hurt her ears.
“When I get out of here, I may kill you just to watch you hurt,” Ariel croaked, her mouth dry as dust.
Crane laughed harder and walked away. At his departure, the growling and hissing in the cages next to her ceased. When the room was totally silent once more, she drifted back into a peaceful oblivion where she could pretend nothing had happened.
***
Dr. Jones—Ariel. Wake now, but do not shift. Wake in human form. Think of yourself as human and you will be one.
Ariel rolled to her side on the canvas cot and tried to pull the scratchy cover she’d found over her naked body. Even with her knees scrunched up, it was far too short. She covered her eyes with a hand as she fought off the nightmares which were now continuously talking to her. There must have been hallucinogens in what they gave her.
I am not a hallucination. I am Reed—a three hundred year old alpha. You are a two day old version. It is very wise of your wolf to hide itself from those who seek to harm you.
Ariel groaned and rolled to the other side. “Head hurts. Stop talking to me.”
I know you are in pain, but you must fight off the drugs now. Crane returns soon. He is planning to move you to another facility and dissect your body to find out why conversion failed with you. They have identified another experiment victim and she arrives tomorrow. You must rescue the others and kill Crane before he can turn more.
“Kill Crane? Sure. I’d love to do that,” she repeated, covering her eyes with her hands.
Yes. I regret the extremeness of the step, but Roger Crane must not be allowed to continue his work. You will have to destroy the lab as well. Accidents happen all the time in Alaska. I doubt Feldspar Research will fund any other scientist if we completely destroy the proof of Crane’s success.
“O—K.” she said groggily, working her body into an upright position. Sitting up hurt as much as anything else did. “And I thought my divorce was traumatic. Either my nightmares are getting bossy or I’m hearing real voices in my head.”
Putting a hand up to her head, she rubbed the base of her skull where they had shot something into her brain stem.
“Hey nightmare, since we’re on a speaking basis, do you know what the hell Crazy Crane shot me with in the back of my head?”
My blood—I believe. He took it at the pinnacle of my wolf’s lunar cycle. Since I was already in my wolf form when he caught me, hitting the lunar pinnacle was evidently strong enough to cause a species turning. I had heard the legends, but human turnings have not been done since the middle ages. Packs prefer to propagate organically. Unfortunately, Crane found a way to take the choice from me.
Ariel laughed. Her intuition spoke to her all the time, but it usually didn’t announce she was a wolf in human form. “Hey Nightmare, are we going to keep talking in my head?”
Yes. I am your alpha. You are an alpha in training. So yes—we will talk in your head—until we can do so differently. I cannot shift from my wolf until the bullets and collar are removed from me. Silver has a restraining effect.
“Being shot with your blood doesn’t make you my dad or anything, does it?” Ariel could have swore her nightmare wolf tried to laugh. He huffed like a dog doing it.
No. But it does make you my responsibility until you take a mate who can look out for you. Being part of a pack is like having a large family. I think you might like it once you understand it.
Ariel snorted. “So I’m an alpha. Does being alpha mean you’re top dog or something?”
We are canis lupis, not dogs. Alaska is home to more than eleven thousand wolves. More than half are what humans call werewolves. This is what you have become, Ariel Jones. You are now both human and wolf, as are the other two females. They are your charges and the first of your pack. They are your responsibility and will look to you for guidance on how to adjust to their new lives.
His comments—which she was starting to believe weren’t just voices in her head—had Ariel standing on wobbly legs and walking to the bars of her prison. In the cages next to hers, two multi-colored wolves paced restlessly. They were less than half the size of the black wolf, but still real enough to convince her she wasn’t just having a nightmare. Oh no—she was living one.
“Brandi. Heidi. Relax. We’re going to escape. I promise.” When both multi-colored wolves sat and turned to her expectantly, Ariel shook her head. She knew their names and could command their obedience. Though she’d never been a person given to swearing, there were no normal words to express the enormity of her shock. Was she truly going to one day be a wolf as well?
“Un—fucking—believable,” she whispered. She turned her head until she saw the edge of the giant black wolf as he leaned against one side of his cage. “Reed? Is the giant black wolf you?”
Yes, Ariel. The giant black wolf is me. You should see the alpha of the Wasilla Pack. Matt’s wolf is even bigger.
She felt like peeing herself when the black wolf turned his head and met her gaze like a human would during a conversation. He had the greenest eyes she’d ever seen on a man or animal. They were filled with a kind of determination she’d never felt before, but had a feeling she was about to get an education in it.
Crane returns. I know it is him. His stench will haunt me for the next hundred years of my life.
“Okay. I’m wide awake now and mostly willing to believe you,” she said, hoping all three wolves understood she was working her way to a
cceptance as fast as she could. She went back to her cot and huddled under the short cover. “Hey Reed, did I get bigger or something?”
Yes. And you are strong enough to kill the men who will be trying to kill you. You have to try, Ariel. It is important to me that you and the other women survive. When they open the cage to take you out of it, call your wolf to help. She will be more than happy to answer. I’ve been helping you hold her back until the time was right.
“My mind is having a hell of a time trying to believe all of this is real, but I’m sure as hell not ready to die. Let’s say I believe you. What does my wolf look like?”
Until she comes, none of us will know. I just hope she’s big and strong. Rest now and pretend to be weak. You do not want them to know what you really are until it is too late.
Ariel leaned back on the cot and tried to look as pathetic as possible so her captors would believe she was just as harmless as they assumed she was.
Inside, she was praying that Reed—or whatever inner voice was helping her survive—was right about her being able to free them all.
Chapter 3
Despite the fact Reed had said he smelled Crane, it was almost a half hour before the two men finally came back into the room. Assistant asswipe walked to her cage immediately and unlocked the door without a thought. He came in and grabbed her arm, forcefully lifting her to her feet. She jerked away from his hold and walked to the door of the cage on her own, staring at Dr. Crane, who was standing just outside, waiting on her exit. Two steps later and she was free of her prison. Something inside her seemed to expand in relief.
“What you did to me sort of negates saying you’re the worst employer I’ve ever had, Dr. Crane. So instead of saying I quit, I’m going to say I’m done being your science experiment.”
When both his eyebrows rose at her firm statement, Ariel dropped the insufficient blanket and stood in front of him completely nude. She heard asswipe chuckling behind her. She could smell their lack of concern and hear it in their steady heartbeats. Something in her rejoiced in the knowledge. Their complacency was going to be their downfall.
Assistant Asswipe suddenly smacked her bare ass and made her yelp in surprise. Crane laughed at his goon’s actions, but didn’t chastise him for it.
Fire suddenly raced through her unchecked. She felt the nanos scrambling under her skin. In a blink, she was on all fours and leaping on Assistant Asswipe. One minute he was screaming in shock and the next he was silent because it was impossible to talk with your throat ripped out. She wasn’t even tempted to eat the man, no matter how much she was starving. Turning loose finally, she turned to Crane who was walking backwards to the lab door.
“Look at you, Dr. Jones. You’re absolutely magnificent. To think all this time, you were a giant golden wolf. And almost as large as the acquisition. How were you able to fight off the change for so long?”
Ariel heard him talking, but his words meant nothing. She leapt into the air toward the bastard who had tormented her, only to feel a taser hook attach to her chest while she was still several feet away. She hit the lab floor with a thud, whimpering in pain as Crane sent voltage into her. She struggled at the end of the attached wire.
Writhing, she watched Crane walk to the wall and pull a silver collar off a peg. Ariel blinked her new eyes and recognized it was a match for the one Reed wore. She couldn’t let Crane put the collar on her. She couldn’t fail them all by letting Crane control her wolf.
Behind her, she heard Brandi and Heidi whimpering, but also growling and snarling.
I know it hurts, but you must fight for us, Ariel. You’ve killed one. Kill the other and free us all.
At hearing Reed’s encouragement in her head, she rolled to a half-sitting position, lifting what felt like massive wolf's shoulders from the ground. It took a lot of effort. Crane sent another shock into her as he reached out with the open collar. Though it hurt to move, she lifted a giant paw and knocked the metal from his hand. He pressed the button on the taser, only to find it was out of juice. Her wolf quivered in relief.
A low growl started in her chest as Crane set the taser aside, casually rose, and headed to the door. He was definitely not leaving, not if she could stop him. She wobbled as she stood and took a couple unsteady steps. Crane’s hand was on the access pad. She listened to him enter the exit code. Three – eight – nine – two. Maybe she was going to like having ears that could hear this well.
She braced herself and leapt on the back of him, dragging him to the floor by his white lab coat. He yelled once as she landed heavily on his back, but stopped struggling when she chomped on the back of his neck. She bit down until she felt something crack at the same time she punctured his jugular. Hot blood rushed into her mouth. Mad still, she raised up his body with her bite, which she soon realized covered his whole neck. She shook him back and forth even though the dead man was already totally limp.
Knowing she had indeed stopped Crane was the most amazing feeling. She walked around with the scientist clutched in her teeth, even trotting back to show Brandi and Heidi. They laid down on the floor and put their noses on their paws. Her pride over his death filled her with enormous satisfaction. The crazy scientist would never torture another female.
Enough, child. Let the dead man go. Don’t contaminate your body by chewing on him. You need to change back to human form now and free us.
Whimpering, Ariel walked back and dropped Crane’s body in front of Reed’s cage. Part of her didn’t want the cruel bastard to be dead yet. She wanted him to suffer longer—suffer the way she and the other women had—the way Reed had. Maybe she shouldn’t have bitten so hard. Maybe she should have done it in a way where he would have bled out and died slowly.
Ariel sat on her rear haunches and glared at the black wolf. How was she supposed to become human again? She didn’t want to be human. She was happy in her wolf form. Look at what she’d done. Her head turned and she whimpered again at the body of the man who had smacked her naked ass. She dropped her head to look at the other dead man in front of her.
If you change back, the others will follow your lead. You need human hands to unlock my cage… and theirs. You need human hands to gather up the evidence of Crane’s experiments. Dr. Jones, I’m begging you to do this. You can be a wolf anytime you want now. I promise.
Her ears perked up. Dr. Jones? Yes. She had always liked being called that. Lying down, she laid her head on her paws and thought about becoming a female again. Fire consumed her once more, but not as much as it had when she had become her wolf. Again she felt the nanos getting busy under her skin.
A tortured groan split the air when she turned and saw a bloody Crane lying next to her, his dead eyes wide with shock.
“Shit. Did I really do that to him?” Ariel raised to her knees gingerly and stared back at the cages. “Did I really kill both of them?”
She looked back at Reed. He blinked, but said nothing to her, not even in her head. Of course she had killed them both. The memory of their deaths lived in her brain now. She had been a wolf, but she had been herself too. She just hadn’t cared about anything but stopping them. She had no regrets.
When she could stand, she stumbled to Assistant Asswipe and fished the cage keys out of the pocket of his bloody lab coat. She looked at the wolves prowling the cages again. “Think of the women you were and change back. If you do that, I’ll let you out.”
Brandi laid down immediately and two seconds later, she was her normal self. Heidi still paced and whimpered, reluctant to do what they’d done. Ariel walked to the cage and stared at her. “Yes, it hurts, but it’s necessary. Now do it, so we can get the hell out of here.”
Whimpering harder than ever, Heidi laid down and moments later screeched as her human form took over. Ariel unlocked both cages as quickly as she could.
“In a minute, I’m going to set off the fire alarm. While that’s distracting the building guard, go find us some long lab coats,” she ordered. “There are two techs somewhere in the
building who are going to stare at you both if they see you naked. They’re harmless. Wiggle your fingers and giggle. They’ll think you’re the party girls Crane orders for entertainment on Fridays.”
Brandi glared at her for her comments, but Heidi just hung her head. Apparently, one of them was a party girl. Ariel rolled her eyes at the knowledge and headed to unlock Reed’s cage. He barely moved while she searched the key ring for the collar key. “I can’t find it, Reed.”
Leave me. Find Matt. He’ll take care of you.
“No. I’m not leaving you. I’d be dead if it wasn’t for you. You told me to save all of us and that’s what I’m going to do.”
Ariel left the cage open. She bent over Crane’s body and ripped a wide swatch of fabric from the back of his blood soaked lab coat. She brought the fabric swatch back and wrapped it around the chain where it attached to the wall. She could feel the metal heat her skin as she tugged on it to test.
“Come on nanos. Get your little fixing asses to work. I’ve got to do this no matter how bad it hurts.” She yanked and tugged and yanked some more. At this rate, it was going to take awhile.
Brandi appeared at her shoulder and without speaking took hold of the chain too. Ariel nodded at her stare. Breasts swinging with every yank, she and Brandi pulled twice and then the damn thing popped free of the wall.
Ariel kept her fingers wrapped around the chain. Even through the fabric it was burning her skin. Not being able to handle silver had to be some kind of metal allergy. She was going to look into it sometime and see what the hell that was all about.
“Okay. You’re free now. Let’s go, Big Guy.”
Reed stood, wavered, and then braced himself for each painful step. Ariel walked slowly as he limped out the door beside her. At the lab exit, Ariel deftly keyed in the code Crane had used earlier. The doors opened smoothly. She held it wide for the women who followed behind her and Reed.
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