by L. E. Horn
Chris shot me a glance. “That means Liam may have more time than we thought.”
I sensed Sam stiffen from across the table. So that was it. No more doubt. Not that I’d had any, with Josh and Peter losing it, but if Dillon was part of the mutant program, then we could be certain we’d been exposed to the virus. For me, it was likely a death blow, unless we could find a cure. For Peter and Josh too. The only one who might not be infected was Chris.
“None of this makes sense,” Sam protested. “What’s the end goal here?”
“Are they trying to produce a superior soldier?” Chris’s eyes blazed.
Malcolm spoke up. “That’s my guess. Whoever it is, they don’t just infect them, they put them through a training program. The wulfleng we’ve fought are strong and vicious, and they know how to fight. The human is still in there, just unbalanced.”
Chris’s brows climbed. “So, they’re trying to produce bigger, stronger wulfleng that can fight. Why? It’s not like they can openly participate in a conflict, not without revealing every secret we’ve sworn to protect.” He sounded frustrated. “What could they possibly use these guys for?”
“Money. And Power. Those are the only things that matter to people like that.” Malcolm pulled a lip back from a long tooth emerging from his gums. “With the state of the world today, an elite troop of these guys could sway key conflicts in remote areas. There are ways to hide their identity—night ops, or if they left no one alive. Some people would pay a lot to have such influence.”
“It won’t work if their troops go insane and they can’t control them,” I pointed out.
“It’s obvious the virus isn’t perfected yet,” Sam said, catching my eye. “They’re still testing it.”
Silence fell as we contemplated that thought. Testing the mutant virus. With human and wulfan lives.
I glanced around the room. “Was Dillon a test? If these people recruited Dillon, he must have escaped them to get to Chloe. Why wouldn’t they come after him?”
“They were damned fast scooping those bodies,” Sam said, her eyes flashing. “They knew where they were.”
Chris nodded. “Dillon must have had a tracker. Which means they knew where he was all along. Kinda ties into them using him as a test subject.”
Malcolm paused in his chewing. “A test to see how long he would remain functional before losing it? They likely didn’t expect Chloe and him to run to Canada.”
Chris shook his head. “What if Dillon coming to Manitoba was part of the plan all along? This group obviously has a presence here, considering the activity in Brandon. I can’t see that being a coincidence.”
“But what were they testing? Why turn him loose if they were having problems with the mutants going nuts?” We were missing something.
“The matebond,” Josh said, letting go of Chris’s hand and leaning forward.
The matebond? Everyone stared at Josh. “Chloe and Dillon were soulbonded.” Josh glanced at Sam.
Sam’s eyes lit up, her wulf shining through for a moment. “They wanted to see if a soulbond would keep Dillon from losing it.”
“But how would they know about Chloe being his soul mate?” Chris asked.
“Dillon was crazy about her, for years,” I said. “Peter told me he was stalker-level obsessed. Maybe he talked about her, and someone decided to turn it into a test.”
“They wouldn’t have known it was a soulbond. But even a relationship might have been enough to have a stabilizing influence.”
“Well, if it was a test, he failed it.” Sam glanced my way. Dillon’s presence here had resulted in infecting me, Peter, Josh, and maybe Chris too.
“Maybe Dillon was on an approved mission and in touch with them the entire time?” Malcolm theorized.
“He didn’t seem that organized to me,” I pointed out.
“He didn’t have to be, if they were monitoring the situation. And maybe Chloe was in on the entire thing and delivering regular updates,” Chris offered.
I thought of Chloe’s devotion to Dillon. If this organization had expected her to deliver unbiased assessments, they were sorely mistaken. Dillon’s slide into madness had been slow enough to be obvious to everyone around him.
Silence fell as we contemplated the level of organization involved. Malcolm’s gaze focused on the figure at the end of the table.
Jason spun his beer bottle in circles. “Our search into the group’s identity continues. We’ve been looking into halfway houses in Winnipeg and asking on the street. Our investigations indicate that over the last two months, individuals have gone missing. Now, these people move all the time, but there are patterns, routines. Their friends and acquaintances say they’ve vanished, and we found a guy who saw his friend get into a dark panel van one night, and he hasn’t seen him since.”
He exchanged a glance with Malcolm. “You know we linked the mutant wulfleng in Brandon to one man. He’s the son of a big arms dealer in your neck of the woods, and the obvious link between Texas and here. We don’t know if he’s behind the virus or if someone is using the mutant wulfleng for his own devices. But if we locate him, we might find answers.”
It made sense, but sometimes tracking from the top down wasn’t possible, particularly with a sophisticated organization like this. I thought of the homeless people roaming the streets, and an idea germinated within me. “I think you’re coming at this from the wrong end,” I said. “You need someone to infiltrate the humans they’re recruiting.”
A small gasp and laser-quality glare projected from across the table. Sam understood how my mind worked.
Jason shook his head. “How would we do that? Anyone we send in will be exposed to the mutant virus. It would be a suicide mission.”
“Not if the person sent in is already infected,” I said.
Every eye at the table focused on me. Sam growled and opened her mouth to speak, but Chris beat her to it. “No. We haven’t confirmed you’ve been infected with the mutant virus. And even if you are, getting another infusion of it might push you over the edge.”
“I’m likely headed there, anyway. Dillon bit me. I changed into a wulfleng. Not possible unless I’m exposed to the wulfan virus, and based on our own assumptions, Dillon was only infected with the mutant version. I’m infected. It’s only a matter of time before I turn into one.”
“Hayek thinks you might be able to fight it,” Sam interjected with an air of desperation.
“If that was true, why did Dillon go insane?” My eyes met hers, and I caught a spark of silver in them before she looked away. I shifted my gaze to Malcolm. “If Malcolm’s right, Dillon was exposed to the virus earlier than we thought. He lost it just before his fifth full moon. My second full moon is in sixteen days. That buys me time to infiltrate their recruitment program and find the information we need. I’m your best chance to get someone on the inside.”
“We don’t know how long they’ve been monitoring us. They might know what you look like.” Chris had adopted a permanent scowl, significantly upping his intimidation factor.
I considered, but it didn’t change my resolve. “We have to ask why they would be monitoring me. Even if they were in contact with the organization, I’m sure neither Chloe nor Dillon would have confessed to him biting me. She was protecting Dillon, all the way through to the end. Now that Peter and Josh are sick, they know there was contamination, and they’re wondering about me, but they aren’t sure I’m infected with their virus. I’m just a possible loose end to their failed Dillon experiment. Someone who might have to be killed off. I’d be of no interest to those making decisions—and those are who we have to find.”
“It’s a helluva risk,” Chris growled.
“This has all the hallmarks of a large organization,” Malcolm rumbled, selecting another round of chicken legs. “Those responsible for Dillon’s little experiment are likely not in regular communication with those recruiting on the street or even those higher up. No reason for them to advertise Liam as anything more th
an a loose end, even if they thought he was infected.”
While Malcolm’s voice and mannerisms remained calm, Jason’s expression mirrored Chris’s glower. “We don’t need Liam. I have my wulfan casing the streets. We can track who’s recruiting and follow up from there.”
I shook my head. “No offense, but I’ve been on the streets. The homeless are experts at hiding their secrets, so they won’t open up to your enforcers. I know how to blend in, and I’m young enough to be a target for their recruitment program. If I locate where they’re training the wulfleng, we might find them.”
“Liam . . .” Sam breathed my name, and the pain in it made me shiver.
Chris thumped the table with his hand. “That’s insane. If anyone should infiltrate, it should be me. I’m trained for it.”
“Has to be a wulfleng. I can pass for uninfected human, with a little cologne. They’d spot a wulfan right off. You may look human, but you don’t smell human. I do . . . I am, at least part of the time.” I made the points as though discussing a diagnosis and treatment plan. “You wouldn’t react properly to the virus and you’re too old.” I grinned at that, but my enforcer friend glared at me, until Josh reached out a hand to his arm. It wasn’t Chris’s call and he knew it. The acknowledgment in his eyes revealed he also knew I was right.
Jason sighed. “I’m going to a meeting tonight.” His eyes returned to me. “I could take your idea to them but recommend we wait until we get your test results before any decisions are made.”
“If this organization, whoever they are, has set up shop in Manitoba as well as Texas, do you think our board is compromised?” Chris’s words made everyone around the table freeze.
Jason shifted in his chair, the first sign of genuine discomfort he’d shown. He hesitated before answering. “I cannot speak to that without proof,” he finally said.
“In other words, you have no idea.” Chris leveled a look at the head enforcer. “Until you do, I suggest we hold back on revealing anything they don’t absolutely have to know.”
Jason met his eye. “We report to the board.”
“We serve the wulfan race,” Chris said emphatically. “If any board members are answering to a private interest group, particularly one involved in such activities—”
“We don’t know that.” Jason tapped his fingers on the table. “But I agree that there are some things we can keep to ourselves until we have all the facts.”
He looked around the room. “Meanwhile, we need to pool our resources. I want Liam moved here so that all four possible infected are in one location. There is a real likelihood that an attempt will be made on your lives.”
“Can you spare us any more security?” Chris asked. “We only have Sam and Garrett.”
“I’m recalling Matt from Brandon—he’ll arrive late tonight. He’s bringing his other daughter and son with him. I can’t send you any others seeing that we’re stretched too thin tracking the mutant wulfleng.”
I glanced at Sam, who regarded Jason with wide eyes, but she said nothing about the arrival of her family to defend us.
Jason looked at me. “You’ll need to take leave from work.”
He didn’t ask if that could be arranged, and I bit back a snide retort. After all, I had just offered myself up to infiltrate a dangerous organization over the next few weeks. “I’ll arrange that tomorrow, but I’m on call tonight and that can’t be changed on short notice.” Well, sometimes it could, but I wasn’t going to. The clinic would be shorthanded enough as it was.
Jason stared for a moment as though he considered pushing me for more, but then he moved on. “Chris, we’ll need your second cage ready.”
Second cage? Chris’s brows lowered, but he nodded.
Jason continued, “I suspect the board will want assurance that everyone is secure, and considering Josh and Peter’s escape from Garrett, and Peter’s loss of control, I don’t blame them. Chris’s status is also nebulous.”
I found it interesting that no one disputed the infected status for three of us. The realization made my stomach twist. “You want us to sleep in the cages?”
Jason looked at me, and I thought I detected a hint of sympathy in his eyes. “I’ll arrange for transport of a portable system from Winnipeg. Then you’ll have appropriate accommodations. I realize it won’t be comfortable, but the board will likely call for full-time confinement.”
So, not just sleeping in the cages. I glanced Josh’s way, but he wouldn’t meet my eyes.
“I don’t like this. If the board is compromised, you’ll be handing us to them, packaged all neat and tidy.” Chris’s mouth was set in a grim line.
Jason’s fingers stopped tapping. “I would never let that happen.”
Into the uncomfortable silence that followed, I said, “I have to wrap things up at work. Tomorrow at the earliest.”
Jason set his jaw. “I need you in lockdown as soon as possible.”
“I’ll be with him.” Garrett reassured.
Jason’s eyes flicked to Malcolm and away. “One enforcer cannot overcome a mutant.”
“He’s shown no signs of changing into a mutant.” Sam’s protest erupted from the other side of the table. “Liam is different. He’s strong and—”
“We can’t risk it.” Jason folded his arms across his chest.
Sam growled. “Dillon wasn’t stable to begin with. You can’t lump Liam in with Dillon.”
Jason sat back in his chair, measuring me with his eyes. “I’m sorry. Even if I agree, the board always errs on the side of caution.” He turned to Liam. “But you seem stable at the moment, so you have until tomorrow evening to put yourself in the cage.”
6
We saw Jason and Malcolm off to the board meeting, and a damned somber group of people followed Chris to the barn where he introduced us to the second cage.
The Beast, Chris’s massive six-wheeled side-by-side, was parked in it.
Why hadn’t I seen it before? The cage sat in a dark corner, and dust covered the steel walls and bars, but they were obvious when I bothered to look.
Chris took a moment to pull the Beast outside and park it with its tarp reinstalled. We swept out the floor while Chris hooked up the cameras, enabling Garrett to monitor us from the house.
Josh arrived with an armload of sheets and a fluffy comforter. “Is the other cot in the loft? I couldn’t find it in the basement.”
“You’re not sleeping on a cot. I’m bringing in the bed.”
“I don’t need the bed,” protested Josh.
“You’re not staying in this cage without me. And I want the bed.”
Josh opened his mouth, read something in Chris’s face, and shut it again.
Chris took Garrett and me into his bedroom to move their queen-sized bed into the cage.
No one commented on Chris’s determination to make the space as comfortable as possible for Josh and how he insisted on staying in there with him. If Josh followed Peter into madness, even Chris wouldn’t be able to handle him. But I wasn’t about to go there, and Chris would have already considered the possibility, anyway.
As they transferred pillows, bedding, and a small table for Josh’s laptop, Josh put Havoc’s so-far-unused bed down in the aisle outside the cage. Havoc observed and participated in the proceedings with enthusiasm, bouncing on the bed and rolling around under our feet. He followed Keen when she trailed me down the aisle to check on Peter.
The gray wulf body lay twisted beneath the blanket as if at some point he had almost surfaced. I watched him breathe—would he rather be dead?
A small hand slipped into my own. “Don’t give up. We’ll find who started this, and a cure.”
I squeezed Sam’s hand. “Can you give me a minute?” She shot me a questioning glance as I released her. “I’ll be right back.”
Sam looked torn about letting me out of her sight, but when Garrett moved to follow me, she said, “It’s okay. Leave him.”
I walked out of the barn and into the gathering darkne
ss, following the woodchip path around the corner. I sat on Josh’s potting bench, preparing myself for a difficult phone call. Keen followed me, settling to the ground at my feet.
I’d known it was coming but hadn’t expected it so soon. I dug for her number, and punched it in, listening to it ring.
Darlene answered. As usual, she had her finger on the clinic’s pulse. “Heard our colleague’s sick. Do you need help?”
“No, all quiet so far. Waiting until midnight, no doubt.”
I choked on the words that needed to come. I’d worked brutally hard to become a vet. From scrambling for funding as a foster child, supporting myself with part-time jobs through the seven years of education at Saskatoon, to landing a job in my home province. It all flashed through my mind in a torrent of images that culminated in this moment, sitting on a potting bench in the dark.
Saying goodbye.
My hesitation spoke volumes to the person on the other end of the connection. Darlene had always been sharp. And damned good at reading me.
“So soon? I thought we’d have more time.”
“Me too,” I said, my voice ragged. “I’m sorry. But I have to be gone for a while. I think you should search for a replacement.”
“Don’t worry about that.” Her voice sounded hoarse.
“I don’t know when I’ll be able to come back.”
She inhaled. “Liam, you need to look after yourself. When you’re ready, there’ll be a spot for you here. But please, keep us in the loop. You’re not just a vet, you’re family.”
I swallowed. “Thanks.”
“And don’t worry about tonight, I’ll step in. Just take care, okay?”
I let my head fall back against the wall with a thump. “Okay. You too. I’ll be in touch.”
Long after I’d disconnected, I stared into the darkness. Things shifted and moved within and around me. I was aware of Garrett walking out onto the lawn and turning a slow circuit to locate me before strolling back into the barn. Shortly afterward, I sensed someone approach. Keen wagged her tail and I shuffled over to let Sam slide in. Her scent and her warmth enveloped me.
