by Sarah Noffke
“We haven’t met, have we?” Adelaide said, extending a hand to him. “I’m Adelaide and I treat all people in deprecating ways. You’re not special, you just happen to be easier to make fun of than other people.”
“So what’s the next step?” And it was Connor who had spoken up, maybe trying to break the mounting tension.
Adelaide kept her eyes off him. She looked at Kaleb, who appeared as dejected as she felt. “We reassemble the pack. I’m working on leads for the next werewolf we’re going after. There’s one in Los Angeles who looks to have gone rabid,” she said.
“That’s not good,” Zephyr said.
“Exactly,” she said. “And then I have some other locations where supposed werewolves have been reported. I’m going to put together a strategy for finding our next werewolf and then you three are going after him. I think it’s clear by now that I’m the brains and you three are the mutts who have to do the dirty work.”
“What about Rox?” Zephyr said, and Adelaide picked up a minute hint of tension that streaked his face.
“What about Rox?” she said.
“What’s her role moving forward?” he asked, and something new was in his expression, Adelaide observed.
“Honestly, I’m hoping to fire the bloody bimbo, but for now I’ll let her advise,” she said.
“Will she be in the field?” Zephyr said.
Adelaide turned her head to the side and measured the guy before her with a skill that was unique to her. Ren Lewis had taught his daughter how to read people and she was better at it than anyone else. “I don’t believe that’s any of your bloody concern. Now why don’t you three go play fetch. I’ve got real work to do,” she said and turned at once and hustled for the door.
Halfway down the hallway, Adelaide knew she wasn’t alone. Behind her she felt his presence.
“Hey,” Connor said, his voice low.
She halted. Paused. And finally when an awkward amount of silence passed she turned and faced him.
“What?” she said, her eyes not on him.
That’s probably why he stalked forward until he was only two feet away. “I’m sorry. I don’t—”
“Don’t worry about it,” Adelaide said, cutting him off.
“You know that’s not going to happen. I nearly killed you,” he said and just then she brought her eyes up to meet his. Pain ran off his face like water over a fountain.
“You’re a werewolf. Attacking people is kind of what you do,” Adelaide said, trying and failing to sound light.
“I get your reasons for the rules. For locking us up. I think it’s a good idea,” he said and there was something new in Connor now. Regret and guilt had always been a part of his look, but now he also looked ashamed and it did something to Adelaide. It made her feel sorry for him, and that may have been a first.
“You know I didn’t want to hurt you,” he continued.
“I know. I heard… I sensed that,” she said, nearly slipping and telling him she read his thoughts.
He noticed the hesitation in her and tilted his head down more to regard her with a thoughtful stare. The look he was giving Adelaide seemed to have an apology laced into it, but that shouldn’t matter. She had zero right to even consider forgiving him for nearly slaughtering her. A bear’s instinct was to maul a person, but that didn’t mean that it should be granted sympathy for its ruthlessness. Adelaide took a step back.
“I have to go,” she said.
“No, you just can’t look at me,” he said, his eyes closing for a moment.
“I have to go,” she repeated when he opened his green eyes to stare at her, shame too heavy in his gaze.
“Fine, but I’m sorry. I’m sorry I’m this thing,” he said, dragging his hand down to indicate his body. “I’m sorry you’re not going to be able to trust me or any one of us. And I’m sorry that I can’t erase the memory of what I almost did to you.”
“Yeah,” Adelaide said, her voice unaffected. “Me too. I’m sorry for all that as well.”
Chapter Forty-Five
“Startling an animal triggers its instinct. Spooking a man usually draws out his hidden strength, if he is a man at all.”
- Olento Research Employee Manual
Kaleb was only vaguely aware that Aiden and Zephyr were talking a few feet away. He was somehow inside himself and also removed. Whole and fractured. Safe and beyond repair. Over and over again he watched the movie screen in his head. It played only one film and it was his father’s murder. The cracking sound. The look of horror on his father’s face before he turned expressionless. It was all engraved in Kaleb’s memory and he was certain that’s where it would stay for all his life. Why did that invisible man have to kill his father? He was innocent. Kaleb reasoned that he could have just pushed him out of the way, but murder? It was so final. And after reflecting on this it only confirmed that Olento Research wanted the werewolves back and would go to any lengths to get them.
“Don’t you think so, Kaleb?” Zephyr said, breaking into his thoughts.
“What?” Kaleb said, realizing he missed their entire conversation.
Zephyr gave him a look that seemed to say it all. His expression was one of compassion, like he instinctively knew Kaleb was processing his grief. “Don’t worry about it, man,” he said, waving him off.
“We were just discussing Dream Traveler gifts,” Aiden said, his voice chipper. That’s what Kaleb called him in his head, Dr. Chipper. “I think I might have a method for drawing out your gift, although that’s not really my specialty.”
“Oh good,” Kaleb said, but his tone contradicted his words. He was safe with these strange people, the Lucidites. He instinctively knew that and yet, he just wished he could get away. Maybe it was because he’d spent so much time alone recently and he wasn’t used to all the socializing. The people at the Institute kept talking to him, expecting responses. Then they’d dump a ton of information on him, like the fact that his race had been changed. He’d never even heard of Dream Travelers before and now he was one of them and had their powers to transcend time and space with his consciousness. He was certain his head would explode soon. All Kaleb needed was a time-out. A way to make everything pause. He just wanted five minutes where the world wasn’t overwhelming him.
The sudden silence startled him in an odd way. He realized Aiden had abruptly quit talking. It had been background noise before, but Kaleb noticed as soon as it stopped. Even stranger than the sudden silence was Aiden himself. His hand hung frozen in midair. The scientist stood before Zephyr, his eyes unblinking, his expression fixed. And Zephyr was a statue as well.
Kaleb stood up, his heart racing. “Guys!” he said, wondering why they both weren’t moving. They didn’t respond. “Hey!” Kaleb said, waving his hands in giant movements. And again there was no reaction. That’s when Kaleb’s eyes found the clock on the wall and he instantly knew what had happened. All hands on the clock were unmoving, even the one that counted the seconds. Instinct rang inside of Kaleb and he knew at once what his Dream Traveler power was. He could stop time.
Zephyr was lost in thought, not listening to Aiden’s rambling about science and approaches that could help him and his pack. His pack. He had a team. As a Special Forces captain he’d been in charge of men, but never like now. Now, more than the lives of men were in his hands. It was their very humanity. And he had to unite them. Protect them. Save them. He watched Kaleb, who also looked to be lost in thought. It was Zephyr’s mission now to make these men something they’d strove for but never achieved. He’d mold them. He’d help them. If it was the last thing Zephyr Flournoy did, he would lead the pack toward success. And at all cost, he’d keep them from Olento Research.
Realizing that Aiden was still talking, Zephyr turned and walked away. There was someone who he sensed needed his support. Someone who was probably lost and confused after his sudden change. Zephyr ignored Aiden’s calls as he stalked for Connor’s room.
Epilogue
Connor had been in his
room staring at the ceiling for only a few minutes when Zephyr showed up. After Connor let him in, the alpha wolf spent the better part of an hour trying to convince him that he shouldn’t blame himself. Now he knew why that guy had been elected the alpha wolf. Zephyr had a certain sincere compassion that belonged only to leaders. From the beginning he’d liked the guy because he encouraged a trust that Connor had never flippantly given to people. He hadn’t even asked Zephyr for the consolation. The guy had just showed up at his door and said he figured Connor needed to talk.
In actuality, Connor didn’t want to talk, although he knew that’s what he needed. All he wanted was to run, to get as far from this place as possible. These people were trying to help him, and the beast inside of him only wanted to slice open their throats. He felt the wolf inside him even when not changed. The wolf always wanted meat. Its desire to hunt never waned. And the divide was starting to make him go mad. Zephyr had consoled him with the notion that he also felt the wolf in him when he was a man. But then Zephyr had just shrugged it off, like it wasn’t an incredible hardship. Zephyr had said, “I know roughly how to corral the beast when changed. That’s all you’ve got to learn and then you’ll be fine.”
It wasn’t going to be fine, though, because Connor didn’t see himself as strong as Zephyr. He was certain that if he hadn’t been locked up for all those weeks then he would have hurt many people on the nights when he changed. Zephyr shared that he knew how to keep the werewolf away from people, keeping the temptation away. It was obvious now that where Zephyr had control, Connor was weak. It’s how he’d become an addict. Once an addict, always an addict.
The Lucidites had given Connor everything he now owned. They’d generously stocked his closet with high-end clothes and shoes. Everything he could think of needing was located inside the boxlike room they assigned to him. And all of the possessions were going to be left behind. He’d have to take the clothes on his back, but that was it.
Because Connor had read the Dream Traveler Codex, he knew the Lucidite Institute fairly well. He’d read up on the library that Adelaide had been taking him to when he changed into a werewolf. The guilt from that moment sent a familiar prickle to his throat. He shook off the feeling, knowing there was only one way to resolve it.
On the first level of the Institute there was a dry dock and that’s where the submarine parked. It left and returned twice every day. He hoped with all his being that the next departure was soon.
Connor turned and regarded the room. It was neat, and maybe one of the nicest places he’d ever stayed. Actually, everything about the Lucidite Institute was exemplary compared to the life Connor had lived. For all his life he dreamed about being connected to people as incredible as the Lucidites. However, the more he lamented on how amazing this race of people was and how incredible this underwater society was, the more the guilt grew. He was going to change into a werewolf again, and there was no safe way to ensure he didn’t attack someone. The fear of it happening again, of possibly harming Adelaide, was too much for him. No, the only peace was away from the Institute. Connor knew he had to leave this place. He had to go out on his own, just as he was alone before in the labs. It had been true since the beginning and nothing had changed. Connor was the lone wolf.
The End
Turn the page to continue the adventure and read a sample from Lone Wolf, book two in the Olento Research series. Preorder book three, Rabid Wolf, here.
Sneak Peek of Lone Wolf, (Olento Research Series #2)
Prologue
They say when one has sunk to their lowest, there’s nowhere to go but up. Those stupid adages were wrong and always made Connor angry. Lately everything made him angry. One can always sink deeper, and he’d proven that. And the eventual rise after sinking low was false. Connor didn’t think that even though he was lying on the bathroom floor of a dirty hotel room, he was destined to rise up from this low situation. No, he could plummet further. With a mechanical force he leaned his head to the side and eyed the drug responsible for his current high. He never thought he’d graduate to anything harder than cocaine, but he also never thought he’d become a murderous monster. One more dose of the drug sitting a few inches from his head, and things would end. He’d take the final plunge. Leave this world and all his demons behind.
Connor’s eyes fell shut. He’d only left the Lucidite Institute a day ago, but he’d already managed to steal the money to fund his drug debauchery and secure a nasty hotel room in East Los Angeles. The speed he inherited from the wolf inside of him made picking pockets on busy trains too easy. When Connor got off the submarine at the docks, he had only one mission: to ruin himself.
Zephyr was strong. He could control the wolf inside of him. However, Connor wasn’t the same caliber of man. He’d told himself when he’d been locked in the cell at Olento Research, with little hope of being rescued, that if he did survive he’d come to peace with the wolf who was now a part of him. But attacking Adelaide made that idea what it was: a farce. Connor couldn’t control the wild side of him. The drugs sitting on the tile floor next to him proved that. Before Olento Research made him into a Dream Traveler and a werewolf, he’d already been a monster. Now he was just more of one.
Connor’s hand shook as he reached for the drug. The one that used to scare him. The one they say is the hardest to recover from. That was fine. He wasn’t planning on recovering. Whereas some choose to pull themselves up, make themselves better, Connor had chosen doom. He embraced this fate and hopefully soon the suffering would be over.
Chapter One
“Samples were taken from forty-six wolves, which belonged to four different packs. The intent was to determine the strongest genes across the samples for conversion utilization.”
- Olento Research, Canis Lupus Project File
With his back straight and feet shoulder-width apart, Mika Lenna nocked an arrow onto the string of the bow. He raised the weapon he’d been practicing with since he was four years old, aiming it at the target some ninety meters away.
“Why does your report for the Project Teleportaatio say you’ve halted testing on the subjects?” he said to the man standing a few feet away.
Drake also stood with his feet shoulder-width apart, but he didn’t hold a bow. His hands were clasped behind his back and his shoulders drooped from the weight of his large midsection. The older man, Mika’s top research scientist, was still wearing his lab coat, although he should be off work now after putting in a seventeen-hour day. “Because,” he said, clearing his throat, “it’s a waste to keep testing the teleportation protocol on lemurs.”
“Then find a new type of subject,” Mika said, relaxing his fingers before releasing the arrow. It flew through the air, a blur of blue and green from the fletching at its end, before knocking hard into the bull’s eye of the target.
“It’s a waste to test the protocol on any subject,” Drake said, his voice tired and his German accent thick. “The project was initiated prematurely and we don’t know enough about the neural framework that makes teleportation successful.”
Mika ground his teeth together before pulling another arrow from the satchel. Why did the brightest minds also have to belong to the most insufferable people? he thought. He couldn’t stand Drake, but he needed his expertise for too many projects to replace him. “Your insinuation that I launched this project without sufficient research is a bold move and one I’d suggest you take back before you’re swelling with regret,” Mika said, resting the arrow in place in the bow.
A flat chuckle, absent of any joy, popped out of Drake’s mouth. “Coming to terms with the mistakes we make in the past is the best way to improve. And I’m only—”
Mika spun around, aiming the loaded bow straight at Drake’s chest, abruptly ending the scientist’s words.
“Do you take me as a man who makes empty threats?” Mika said, his eyes narrowed on the man before him, his hands steady.
Drake coughed as he backed up, waving his arms in front of him. “No-no-n
o, sir,” he said in a rush. “I know you will fulfill your promise and I apologize profusely. I’m sorry if it came across that I’m blaming your decision making for the Project Teleportaatio not being successful. It is I who have been short-sighted and lacked the information to make adequate progress.”
It was the first time Mika had heard that fear in Drake’s voice. Usually the old German sneered at him or used a condescending tone, but he guessed that this behavior would stop now. Mika pivoted in a swift, deliberate movement using his super speed and released the arrow. Again it stuck straight into the target, where an assistant at the end of the indoor archery range fetched it before hurrying back away to safety.
“What is it that you’re lacking to make Project Teleportaatio a success?” Mika said, handing the bow off to another employee who stood a few paces away.
“I’m not even quite certain. However, I do have an instinct on this and it tells me who would know the proper method for teleporting,” Drake said.
Mika turned back to face the scientist. “Let me guess. The Lucidites?”
Drake released a fake smile. “You’re so very right, sir,” he said, his voice slightly shaking probably due to the rapid release of adrenaline, which was a result of nearly being murdered by his boss.
“But we can’t infiltrate the Lucidite Institute, remember? That was your assessment,” Mika said, wiping his palms on a handkerchief.
