Wolf Six's Salvation: A Shifter Love Story (13 page)

"Holy crap, you're fast," she hissed under her breath as she stepped out into the cold night air. The almost full moon flitted fitfully behind clouds. A storm was supposed to roll in, dropping a couple of inches of fresh powder before morning. It certainly smelled like snow: cold and metallic with just a hint of moisture.

"You ready?" Jackson caught Chloe's eyes and she nodded. She wished she could just look into his eyes for the rest of the evening. There was no fear when she was there. "Remember, act as though you belong. The cameras are always watching, but if you don't look out of place, no one will ever look at you twice."

Chloe nodded, her movements jerky. Jackson took her hand in his, giving it a gentle squeeze before they were close enough to be seen by a security camera. She took a deep breath, telling herself that this was only a jail sentence if she got caught, and stepped into the building.

The first hallway reminded her of an old doctor's office. It was white with horribly outdated posters of men in uniforms bravely getting their vaccinations. She ignored them, walking ahead of the two men, straight to the end of the hallway, and turned left.

There was no key card slot on the door and she felt a moment of panic. "Over here," Quent whispered and she sheepishly turned around. Quent scanned his card and the three of them stepped into the science hallway.

Jackson led the way, walking confidently into the locker room and going to the wall with the lab coats hanging. He handed one to Quent and Chloe before putting one on himself. Chloe thought he looked rather handsome in his. He could have been a very attractive scientist if he had chosen that career.

Jackson led again, guiding them swiftly and quietly down the florescent hallway to the small room he had discovered earlier.
So far so good,
Chloe thought as Jackson pushed open the door to the empty observation room. So far, the only person she had seen on base other than Jackson and Quent had been the gate guard. A little rush of hope flooded through her that this might actually work out.

Once inside the observation room, Chloe gasped. She put her hands on the glass, her face paling as she saw her brother for the first time in six months. He hung suspended in his giant glass tube, the blue water bubbling as he breathed through a respirator. Her heart was in her stomach and she really wanted to punch the teeth in on whoever had put her brother into a giant test tube.

Next to her brother's tank were two more tanks. Each had another naked man floating. One was pale and blonde and the other was jet black hair and tan skin. A computer system was attached to each tank with a screen filled with heart rate squiggles and other measurements that Chloe didn't recognize. Along the back wall was a series of storage and file cabinets and a large stainless steel desk that looked like it was welded into the concrete floor.

Jackson tried the door leading to the observation room, but it was locked. Chloe barely glanced at him as he pushed on the door, her eyes locked on her brother. With a slight grunt, Jackson forced the door open, nearly tumbling into the empty experimentation area.

Chloe flashed Jackson a grateful smile, her hand grazing his shoulder in thanks as she hurried past him. She went straight to her brother's tank, looking up at him through the water. If she had been strong enough, she would have pummeled the glass and pulled him out herself. He floated naked in the water, his face peaceful as though he were just sleeping. Tubes of various sizes ran out from his arms and legs with a one big, long one implanted in his arm and stretching up out of the tank. A red, evil looking liquid rested ominously in an iv bag connected to the long tube. The other two soldiers had matching bags hanging. Just seeing the bag full of blood red liquid about to be injected into her brother gave Chloe the creeps.

"I've got you, Blake," Chloe whispered. Her fingers closed around a yellow release hatch when Quent's hand clamped down on her wrist.

"Don't," he said. She looked up at him, startled. She had thought he was still looking at the computers in the observation area. "He's in that tank for a reason. You don't know what pulling him out is going to do to him. If we are going to get him out, we have to make sure we don't kill him in the process."

Chloe's hand released the handle like it was hot. Blake didn't move; his brown hair floated in the water like he was simply swimming. She stepped back, pale and trembling, her eyes going to the red liquid. She didn't know when it was going to start pumping into her brother. She knew Quent was right, but that didn't take the queasiness from her stomach. Chloe wanted her brother out and safe with her now.

Quent let go of her hand and moved to the computer display attached to the tank. He poked at the touchscreen carefully, going through the menus and settings. Chloe peered over his shoulder anxiously until he turned and gave her a pointed look. With a slight blush, she backed up and let him work without someone looking over his shoulder.

Jackson had done something to the mirror along the wall so that now Chloe could see into the observation room. He had also placed a chair under the handle of the door so that no one would be able to enter the way they had come in, and now he was standing guard by the main entrance to the lab.

Chloe felt useless. Quent was busy with the tank computer and Jackson was on guard duty. She didn't trust herself not to break the other tank computers, so she just began wandering around the lab. There was a messy desk in the corner of the lab with papers scattered across the steel surface, so she walked over to look at them. Perhaps there would be something there she could use.

She picked up a piece of paper, reading the blood work readout. Nothing stood out, but she froze anyway. There was someone hiding under the desk.

"Jackson," she called out, trying to keep her voice steady. "Would you come look at this?"

Jackson frowned and motioned to the door. She shook her head, eyes wide, and pointed down at the desk. "I think you need to see this."

Jackson's mouth made an "o" shape as he realized what she was meaning. He nodded, pulling his weapon from inside his jacket. She swallowed hard and tried to maintain her calm.
Whoever is under there is probably more scared than you
, she told herself. It seemed to take forever for Jackson to get to her.

He handed her the weapon and went to the side of the desk. Chloe wasn't sure what he was going to do, but she pointed the muzzle of the gun at the desk. She was glad to see she wasn't shaking too badly. Jackson walked quietly around the desk, lunging at the last second and hauling a very frightened scientist out and onto the desk.

Lab results went flying as Jackson pinned the small man to the desk. The man whimpered and whined, barely struggling under Jackson's hands. "Please, please don't hurt me."

Jackson picked him up by the front of his shirt and threw him into the chair. The poor scientist seemed dazed as he adjusted his glasses and nervously adjusted his shirt. He was a small man, barely taller than Chloe, with wispy brown hair that was combed to cover a bald patch on the back of his head. A pair of wire rimmed glasses perched precariously on an oversized nose, the lenses distorting his brown eyes and making them seem bigger than they were.

The man whimpered, his eyes going back and forth from gun in Chloe's hands to Jackson's fearsome stance. He sniffed the air and decided that Jackson was the bigger threat.

"You're a Were... like me," the man said nervously. He chewed on the inside of his cheek. Quent had stopped messing with the computer and had walked over to look at the scientist.

"What are you doing here?" Jackson asked. His voice was low and gruff. The scientist swallowed hard and his eyes focused back on Jackson.

"This is my lab. Please, you have to help me. I can't stop him."

Quent came alongside Jackson. "You did this?" The disgust and contempt was evident in his voice.

The man nodded vigorously, causing his glasses to slide down his nose.

"Good. Then you can show us how to undo this. Get them out." Jackson's voice was ice cold. The scientist dry-washed his hands for a moment before Quent growled. He then hopped to his feet, scurrying over to Blake's tank. Quent stood behind him, watching his every move as the scientist pressed buttons.

"I just need to disconnect the monitoring, then the hydro-system," the scientist murmured. The water tank gave a small chirp and the water started to drain. Blake settled gently to the bottom of the tank; when the water was gone, the lid opened with a quiet hiss.

"Blake!" Chloe cried out as she rushed to his side, pulling the ventilator mask from his face.

"Chloe, get back!" Jackson yelled, running to her side and pushing her away and taking her place. Chloe's face crumpled in confusion and anger.

Suddenly, Blake's arm shot up, the fingers clasping tightly around Jackson's throat. Blake's irises glowed golden through blood shot eyes and he snarled. Chloe gasped. His teeth were sharp and pointed. Jackson didn't move, his own eyes flashing golden for a moment.

Blake immediately released his grip, his head falling back into the tank as though his energy were completely drained. Jackson rubbed at the red mark around his throat before turning to Chloe.

"He's okay now. Let's unhook him," he told her quietly. She nodded, her skin pale and mouth thin. She could only imagine what would have happened if it had been her throat Blake's fingers had closed around. Jackson had his wolf strength to protect him; she would have been squished like a bug.

Her hands shook as she pulled off EKG monitor stickers and pulled out the various wires and tubes from Blake's arms and legs. He barely bled as his skin healed up over the holes as quickly as she took the tubes out. She was glad to see his teeth had gone back to their normal size and his eyes were their usual green again, though still bloodshot.

Jackson lifted Chloe's brother from the tank as soon as he was free of the tubes and monitoring devices. As soon as he was on the cold, white floor Blake started to shake. Chloe wrapped her lab coat around him, murmuring soft words and holding him to her. He clutched at her arm, his muscles tight as he slowly awoke from his drug-induced sleep.

Leaving Chloe to care for her brother, Jackson turned to face the scientist. They were about to get some answers.

J
ackson rubbed at the quickly disappearing red mark on his neck. He didn't know how he knew that Blake was going to wake up violent, but somehow he did. He didn't really care how he had known though, just that he had been able to get to Chloe in time. The image of her brother's fingers wrapping around Chloe's neck flashed through his mind and he shook it away. He had kept her safe.

Chloe had her white lab coat wrapped around her brother as she murmured gentle words into his ear. "It's okay, Blake. I'm here. I won't let anything bad happen to you. You're okay now..."

Jackson shook his head. They still needed to get the other two soldiers out of their tanks and the three of them somewhere safe. He turned to the scientist. Quent was looking at the trembling man as though he might rip him limb from limb. Jackson had seen that look before in the field. Some marines had once gotten a hold of a prisoner they thought had information. Jackson needed to get control of the situation before Quent injured the man.

Jackson stepped around to get between the scientist and Quent, then leaned casually against the machine. The scientist reeked of fear. "What's your name?" he asked politely.

"Herbert," the man whispered and licked his lips anxiously. "Dr. Herbert Hulsey."

Jackson gave Herbert a warm smile. "It's nice to meet you, Herbert." Behind him, he could feel Quent bristling.

"Now, Herbert, what my friends and I would really like to know is why that man over there smells like a Were?" Jackson nodded in Blake's direction.

"I activated the Lycan gene. Using the formula, I activated it," Herbert stuttered. Jackson could smell the fear coating the man. He didn't want to push too hard, or the scientist was going to break down and panic.

"Why would you do that?" Quent roared, lunging forward for the man. Jackson caught Quent by the shoulders and held him for a moment before letting him go. Herbert looked ready to mess himself with fear, if he hadn't already.

"Quent," Jackson said calmly. "Would you please go help Chloe and her brother?"

Confusion washed over Quent's face, but Jackson just raised his eyebrows and pointed his head toward Chloe.

"Fine," Quent growled, giving Herbert a dirty look as he passed him. Jackson made a small noise to get Herbert's attention again, and then smiled.

"Now, then. You said you activated the Lycan gene." Jackson let his eyebrows come together in a friendly question. "Why would you do that?"

Herbert glanced nervously at Quent, swallowing hard and then inching closer to Jackson. "Our population is dropping. We keep interbreeding with non-carriers and having non-shifting children. It's only a matter of time before the blood line runs out," he explained, his eyes pleading with Jackson to understand.

"I see. You thought you were helping the Were species," Jackson replied. The scientist nodded emphatically.

"Yes! I had to do something to keep us from going extinct!" Herbert pushed his glasses back up on his nose. "I have never been a very good wolf, but I thought I could help my species out this way."

Jackson made an understanding noise in his throat. Herbert was possibly the most bottom-of-the-rung, omega wolf he could have imagined. Jackson felt a bit of sympathy for him; he was the lowest of a wolf pack, but he had still wanted to help his people. It was misguided, but Herbert had only wanted to help.

"How exactly did you turn them?" Jackson asked softly. If Herbert had been in wolf form he would have been rolling on his back and showing Jackson his stomach.

"The serum. I perfected it using my own Were DNA." Herbert pointed to the red substance in the IV bags. "It took years of effort, but it's a success."

Jackson gave Herbert a slight frown. It was just disapproving enough to convey disappointment, but not strong enough to scare the man. Jackson needed information more than he needed to frighten him. "And you sold it to the government?"