Wolf Six's Salvation: A Shifter Love Story (7 page)

Quent came and sat down beside her, his smile gentle and voice soothing. "Why not? Human and wolf DNA in a single entity? We're all just mashups of previous DNA bits anyway. Why not these two bits?"

Chloe frowned. "The Lycan gene. It's connected to werewolves, isn't it?"

"Very good!" Quent exclaimed, proudly praising his prized student and turning into a teacher. "It is related to werewolves. The Lycan gene is a sequence of so-called 'junk' DNA found in certain individuals. It is typically recessive, and it requires compliment genes to activate it."

"So the Lycan gene causes you to be like...
this
?" Chloe asked, baring her teeth and making a growling noise.

"Not exactly. There are a lot of other genetic factors, as well as environment that come into play." Quent patted her leg. "Having the Lycan gene just means that there was a werewolf somewhere in your genetic history. When the gene becomes important is when breeding between Weres occurs. The gene is complicated and doesn't follow Mendelian inheritance, but basically, if a Were and a human breed, their progeny has about a twenty-five percent chance of having the ability to go through the change and actually be able to become a wolf. If the human carries the Lycan gene, that percentage increases to fifty percent."

"You said the gene is caused by a werewolf in one's genetic history. Is that the result of a Were and a human pairing?" Chloe asked. Her mind was going a mile a minute, trying to figure out the exact genetic components of the werewolf condition, her scientific curiosity overcoming her initial fear.

"Yes, very good, Chloe." Quent beamed at his student. "Any mating of a human and Were will pass the Lycan gene down through their progeny, it's just that the odds are it will be a silent mutation."

"How common is the Lycan gene, then?" Chloe shrugged out of her jacket, letting it fall to the bed. Jackson stood by the window, listening carefully to their conversation.

"Unfortunately, it is very rare. If your brother has the gene, then it would be a good reason for anyone investigating Weres to want him," Quent answered honestly. "The odds are you have it as well."

Chloe nodded, her mouth going into a thin line. "I figured as much."

"You said the gene required activation," Jackson asked, his voice low. "What does that mean?"

"If the genetic criteria is met, the initial change requires a stressor." Quent's eyes followed Jackson to gauge his reaction. "Most times, this is puberty. But for some, like yourself, it takes an emotional toll for the beast to emerge."

"It doesn't always activate with puberty? Why the stressor?" Chloe asked.

"Puberty is usually enough of a stressor, especially with the influx of hormones, but sometimes the environmental component isn't strong enough to induce the change at that time." Quent's eyes went distant for a moment. "The ancient Spartans used to give additional trials to potential Were children at puberty in order to force the change. It was a part of why they were so effective in battle."

"The Spartans were werewolves?" Chloe asked, her voice full of incredulity.

"Not all of them. Only a select few and they were kept a battle secret," Quent replied. He looked over at Jackson. "You'd be surprised how effective a Were can be in battle. Or, maybe you wouldn't."

"Can two humans with the Lycan gene have a Were child?" Jackson asked, pointedly ignoring Quent's comment. Chloe was impressed at the astute question, especially given the complex level of genetics being discussed.

"A full Were must be involved in order to create another Were. The gene is more like a susceptibility than a guarantee," Quent answered.

"I see." Jackson fell silent, turning to stare out the window. There was a world of pain in those two simple syllables. Chloe wondered what exactly had happened to him to put so much heartache in his voice.

"What exactly is a werewolf, then? I know some of the myths, but what does that mean?" Chloe asked, changing the subject slightly to try and make Jackson more comfortable.

Quent sat up straighter, the teacher in him excited to for the lesson.

"The Werewolf is a hybrid of human and wolf that has been around since the dawn of mankind. The exact origins are unknown, despite many origin stories. When in wolf form, we maintain our human size and cognitive abilities. When in human form, we maintain a wolf's senses. There is also a transitional stage between the two that we can enter. In our everyday lives, we are stronger, faster, and heal more quickly."

"Do you change on the full moon? What happens to your clothes when that happens? And if you bit me, would I become a wolf too?" Chloe asked, her questions spilling out like water from a pitcher. "What about silver?"

Quent laughed. "We can shift anytime we wish, but the pull to shift is strongest with the tidal pull of the moon. We can resist, but it is difficult. The clothes usually end up ripped if we wear them when we change, as they obviously don't change with us. The bite and the silver are both nothing more than superstitious myths."

"Oh, that's good, I guess." Chloe said simply. She thought about it for a moment, accepting this new information as though she were in class and this was the lecture. A new thought occurred and she frowned. "On an entirely different, yet related topic, why would someone want to kill me over this?"

"It must have something to do with the file you stole, or something you know. Someone doesn't want you to connect the dots," Quent mused. "Those men were military. Army. Someone on this base didn't want you having that file. You must have enough of the pieces that someone is worried you'll put it together."

"If the file were so important, why was it in an unlocked records room?" Jackson asked, stepping away from the window and pulling a threadbare wooden chair up to the bed. He turned it and sat in it backwards. "It must be something you know, or can figure out with the information you have."

"Something with the Lycan gene, then? I mean, that was the piece of information that seemed to start things. Serves me right for stealing." Chloe made a made a grumpy face and Jackson laughed. She liked the sound of his laugh.

"The Lycan gene has actually been known about for years in genetic research circles," Quent said. "That is, they know about the gene as a unique sequence of junk DNA, not what it represents."

"I guess somebody knows something now, or I wouldn't be in this mess," Chloe said. "What do we do next?"

The three of them sat quietly for a moment. Jackson spoke first.

"So, the next step is to figure it out. We lay everything we have out on the floor and look at the pieces. Like a giant jigsaw puzzle." Jackson smiled encouragingly at the two of them.

"You know, I always hated those as a kid," Chloe said sadly as she reached for her bag with the file.

"Unfortunately, me too," Jackson replied, the smile turning into a rueful grin. "I was always missing a piece."

Chloe dropped to the floor, pulling out the pieces of the puzzle she had so far. There was the medical file stolen from the base, the suspicious letter from her brother, the notebook full of the addresses and dates of her brother's deployments and assignments, as well as a picture of her brother. Together the three of them stared at the pieces of paper on the floor, but nothing made sense. Theory after theory was tossed out, but each one became more incredulous than the last.

"Well, as much fun as this is, I have a job that I need to return to." Quent rose from the floor, stretching his arms up over his head. He bent down and put his hand on Chloe's shoulder. "Keep at it. I'm sure you'll come up with something."

She nodded back at him, her mind still going over the pieces and trying to put them back together. Jackson rose smoothly from the floor to walk Quent out. Jackson opened the door as Quent stepped out into the icy wind.

"You'll keep her safe?" Quent made sure that he made eye contact with Jackson.

"That's a stupid question," he whispered. "You seem to know how I feel about her better than I do."

A hint of a smile tugged at Quent's lips. "I'm going to go dig around in some files and pick some colleagues' brains. Maybe I can come up with something."

"Good luck, sir," Jackson said as he closed the door against the chill. Chloe looked up and out the window to see her mentor get into his car and drive away. After a moment, Jackson returned to the floor to sit with her and stare at the puzzle before them.

N
ow that they were alone, Chloe couldn't distract herself from him. There was a tightness in the pit of her stomach that she knew only he could satisfy. Fragments from the dream kept popping into her head. The way he tasted. The heat of his skin. It made it hard to concentrate with him sitting within arms' reach.

"So, you're a werewolf. How long have you known?" the words sounded even stupider than they did in her head as soon as they were out. She blushed slightly, hoping to get him talking to distract her from the memory of the dream.

"Not long. I had my first, what did Quent call it? My first
change
last year in Afghanistan. It wasn't exactly a pleasant experience." Jackson tightened slightly, keeping his eyes on the papers scattered across the floor.

"Oh. I'm sorry." Chloe suddenly felt incredibly foolish. She knew she should have started the conversation with something safer, like religion or national politics.

"Actually, until today, I didn't know there were any others like me out there." Jackson reached for the suspicious letter, holding it up to the weak yellow glow of the overhead light. He turned and smiled at her. "Quent was my first werewolf, too."

Chloe giggled. "I have to admit, I am never going to see him as a boring professor ever again. It is going to make lectures that much more interesting."

Jackson set the piece of paper back down on the floor and sighed. "I'm not making any discoveries. You down to take a break?"

Chloe stretched her head from side to side, trying to loosen the muscles in her neck. She was frustrated with the process. She knew everything was there, but she just couldn't see it. Maybe a little breather was what she needed.

"Sure," she said, flashing him a grin. "What'd you have in mind?"

Jackson rummaged around in his jacket pocket and pulled out a worn deck of cards. "You play poker?"

"My brother tried to teach me once. He got frustrated when I told him aces should always win. Do you know how to play gin rummy?"

Jackson nodded and together they stood and went to the small table in the corner of the room. It was a small, round wooden table with just the two threadbare chairs. The way it was positioned in the corner, they had to sit next to one another, or move the table. Chloe was glad when Jackson made no move to pull the table out.

"Do you always carry a pack of cards around with you? Chloe asked as the two sat down. Under the small table, their knees touched gently. Neither one of them shifted. Chloe felt a surge of electricity flooding into her at the small point of contact. She could only imagine how wonderful it would feel to have more than just their knees touching.
Get it together
, she told herself as Jackson began to dole out the cards.

"Yeah. It's a habit I picked up on my first deployment. You never know when you'll have some downtime," Jackson picked up his cards and began sorting them in his hand.

Chloe reached for her cards and froze. In the middle of the table was a spider. It stared up at her with six eyes, each one daring her to go for the cards. She could swear the evil creature was grinning at her, fangs dripping with poison.

"What's wrong?" Jackson asked, his eyes searching her face and starting to shine with gold.

"Sp..sp..spider," she whispered. Chloe
hated
spiders. Her brother had thought it was funny to put fake ones in her bed at night when she was a kid and she would wake up screaming. As much as she hated to appear like a weak girly-girl to Jackson, she hated spiders more.

Jackson chuckled, the glow disappearing from his eyes as soon as he recognized the threat. "I've got it."

"Don't kill it," Chloe whispered, her eyes glued to the spider in case it decided to lunge for her throat.

Jackson gave her a strange look and then smiled. "Useful creatures for the ecosystem, right?"

Chloe nodded. Just because she didn't want that thing in the motel room with her didn't mean she didn't appreciate their worth. "Spiders kill other bugs that I hate more. I just don't want to wake up with it curled up next to me on my pillow."

With gentle hands, Jackson scooped the tiny creature up. "Unlock the door for me?"

Chloe moved quickly, checking the window for anyone outside before unlocking and opening the door. Jackson stepped outside to where a small tree was waiting for spring and set the little arachnid down. It scuttled off into the evening.

"I can't believe you touched that thing with your bare hands," Chloe said as Jackson came back in and locked the door. He grinned at her as he sat down beside her at the table.

"That little guy? You should have seen the camel spiders we had in Iraq. You could put a leash on them and walk them like a dog they were so big."

Chloe made a disgusted face. "My brother told me about those. He said they'll chase you."

"My last deployment, there was this guy named Gunther. He was a big dude, worked out like crazy and too macho for his own good. We were outside one day and he saw a giant camel spider and kicked sand at it. That spider got up on its hind legs," Jackson held his arms up in the air like he was going to attack and made a scary face that made Chloe giggle. "Then it chased him. Guy took off like a rocket and that spider just chased after him like he was going to eat him. He ran around the garage twice before he realized the spider had stopped chasing him." Jackson stopped and got a devilish grin. "It didn't help that we kept yelling at him, 'It's right behind you!'"

Chloe giggled. Jackson leaned back in his chair and smiled at her. Chloe's heart sped up when he looked at her like that. Those brown eyes held her captive. She could feel a blush starting to flirt across her cheeks and she looked away, trying not to breathe hard. A heat was growing deep in her core, a craving to have him all to herself.