here?” I demanded as he stepped into my cage. I didn’t back up, but I momentarily considered fighting him. My blood boiled beneath my skin, and I clenched my hands into fists. I tried to focus my fever to my hands, visualize my claws breaking through the ends of my fingers so I could slash his throat or slice through his chest and rip his dead heart out.
“Turns out, we’ve got a few more tests to run.” His smile made me grimace, and when he reached for me, I dodged his grasp.
With a grunt, I went to press my hand to his back so I could slam him against the wall, but he was quick. He twisted and swiped at me, but I managed to get my hand around his neck and force him toward the wall.
The muscles in my back engaged, and I lifted him off the ground with ease, the wolf stepping forward from the darkness and staring him down. He must have recognized it, because his fear polluted the air. It made me smile. A ripple moved up my spine and through my arms, and when I looked down at my hand around his neck, I noticed the bones shifting slightly under my skin. My fingers lengthened, and black claws sliced through the tips of my fingers. I’d done it.
Deep down, I knew I should have ripped the keys from his pocket, but my curiosity got the better of me. I had to know what Cordelia was talking about, and I had a feeling Jason might know something more. What did Cordelia mean when she said there was a “key?” Had Gianna been looking for some kind of ancient relic that had been locked away?
The more I wondered about Cordelia’s stories of her time here, and now this key, the more I started to wonder if Gianna was even crazier than I already knew. Centuries of fighting and running from the wolves must have taken its toll on her sanity.
Deciding against my better judgment to take my time and glean all the information that I could—stranger things have happened in my once normal world, after all—I looked back up at Jason. “Okay,” I snarled as he continued to struggle; it pleased me to see he was no match for my strength. Perhaps cutting back on the silver-laced food was for the best. I never thought I’d be thanking Karl, but a part of me was. “My friend across the way has been telling me some interesting tales about what exactly you all have been up to. Something about hybrids?” He remained silent; in all my years of sitting in the interrogation room with perps, I knew this to be a huge sign of guilt. With no lawyers in the room telling him to keep his mouth shut, I proceeded with my questioning, and I would use whatever force I deemed necessary. “Let’s say such a thing is possible, what is it Gianna was looking for before I ripped her miserable head off?”
A familiar laugh forced its way into our conversation. My heart raced, and my brain tried to tell me I was imagining it—that it couldn’t possibly be real. There was just no way. I had to be imagining it, because I should have smelled him. I was delirious…I had to be, because this couldn’t be real.
From the shadows of the hallway, a figure emerged. The way he walked was oddly familiar, thrusting me back to something I was trying to repress… The steady rhythm of his gait, the weight with which his boots hit the stone floor, registered, but I couldn’t uncover whatever niggled at the back of my mind.
He stayed in the shadows, but his presence forced me into earlier memories, sparking something from a few months ago. It only took a second for me to make the connection: the videotape of Gianna and her partner at the Dungeon. That was where I recognized his gait…and then again in the woods when I’d been caught in the snare.
His toothy grin was the next thing I noticed, and a gasp caught in my throat as he came into view. The change snapped back painfully, the nerves in my arm on fire as my hand returned to its human state. I dropped Jason, unable to take my eyes off this man I thought to be dead.
He ran his fingers through his coppery-red
“Turns out, we’ve got a few more tests to run.” His smile made me grimace, and when he reached for me, I dodged his grasp.
With a grunt, I went to press my hand to his back so I could slam him against the wall, but he was quick. He twisted and swiped at me, but I managed to get my hand around his neck and force him toward the wall.
The muscles in my back engaged, and I lifted him off the ground with ease, the wolf stepping forward from the darkness and staring him down. He must have recognized it, because his fear polluted the air. It made me smile. A ripple moved up my spine and through my arms, and when I looked down at my hand around his neck, I noticed the bones shifting slightly under my skin. My fingers lengthened, and black claws sliced through the tips of my fingers. I’d done it.
Deep down, I knew I should have ripped the keys from his pocket, but my curiosity got the better of me. I had to know what Cordelia was talking about, and I had a feeling Jason might know something more. What did Cordelia mean when she said there was a “key?” Had Gianna been looking for some kind of ancient relic that had been locked away?
The more I wondered about Cordelia’s stories of her time here, and now this key, the more I started to wonder if Gianna was even crazier than I already knew. Centuries of fighting and running from the wolves must have taken its toll on her sanity.
Deciding against my better judgment to take my time and glean all the information that I could—stranger things have happened in my once normal world, after all—I looked back up at Jason. “Okay,” I snarled as he continued to struggle; it pleased me to see he was no match for my strength. Perhaps cutting back on the silver-laced food was for the best. I never thought I’d be thanking Karl, but a part of me was. “My friend across the way has been telling me some interesting tales about what exactly you all have been up to. Something about hybrids?” He remained silent; in all my years of sitting in the interrogation room with perps, I knew this to be a huge sign of guilt. With no lawyers in the room telling him to keep his mouth shut, I proceeded with my questioning, and I would use whatever force I deemed necessary. “Let’s say such a thing is possible, what is it Gianna was looking for before I ripped her miserable head off?”
A familiar laugh forced its way into our conversation. My heart raced, and my brain tried to tell me I was imagining it—that it couldn’t possibly be real. There was just no way. I had to be imagining it, because I should have smelled him. I was delirious…I had to be, because this couldn’t be real.
From the shadows of the hallway, a figure emerged. The way he walked was oddly familiar, thrusting me back to something I was trying to repress… The steady rhythm of his gait, the weight with which his boots hit the stone floor, registered, but I couldn’t uncover whatever niggled at the back of my mind.
He stayed in the shadows, but his presence forced me into earlier memories, sparking something from a few months ago. It only took a second for me to make the connection: the videotape of Gianna and her partner at the Dungeon. That was where I recognized his gait…and then again in the woods when I’d been caught in the snare.
His toothy grin was the next thing I noticed, and a gasp caught in my throat as he came into view. The change snapped back painfully, the nerves in my arm on fire as my hand returned to its human state. I dropped Jason, unable to take my eyes off this man I thought to be dead.
He ran his fingers through his coppery-red
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