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My thoughts trailed off when Kor reached me, and I brushed the back of my hand against his outstretched palm. His fingers clutched at my arm, and although I couldn’t see them, I could almost feel his need to extend his claws. The fact that he hadn’t made me wonder if he was even capable of it in the state he was in.
But I didn’t ask. It seemed… cruel.
I led him up the steps, his feet shuffling and stumbling, but I didn’t really know what the fuck I was doing and getting him inside was my singular focus. I shut the door behind me, then glanced around—squinting at the pressing darkness. It would look different come morning, but for now, it was a sort of claustrophobic safe haven, and I wasn’t sure if I felt better or not.
“There’s a bed in the next room, and the Wolf who set all this up left a bag with some food in it. You said you needed to eat, then sleep, so…” I grabbed the bag as I walked past it, leading him to the room with the mattress.
He took a deep breath, then grimaced and pulled back. “Gods, that smells like death.”
“Sorry,” I said with a sigh. I couldn’t smell it as strongly as he could, but I could only imagine what it was like for him. I guided him to the edge of the mattress, then stepped away and dropped the bag on the floor, feeling a surge of guilt when he winced from the sound. “It’s definitely not the Ritz. I don’t know how long we’re going to be here though, so it’ll have to do.”
He felt over the mattress with both hands, then turned around and collapsed on his back with a soft grunt. Nothing moved, nothing skittered, so I decided to call that a win. Even if we were sleeping on a pile of rat shit, it had to be better than whatever the fuck the lab had been doing to us.
“You have the food?” he asked after a bit.
He already sounded stronger, which was both good and bad. I didn’t know what was going to become of me once he had his strength back, but I had to trust that helping him would be worth my while. I knelt down and opened what we had, sighing quietly at the meager rations. I hoped whoever was coming for him wasn’t going to take long. There were a couple sandwiches, a loaf of stale bread, a jar of peanut butter, some granola bars, and a handful of water bottles. It was enough for a day—maybe two if we stretched it.
“It’s not much,” I told him with some regret. “I can check around tomorrow morning and see if they left us other supplies. He said someone would be here in a few days, and I don’t think they want you to starve to death before they show up.”
Kor pushed up onto his elbows, and I could see him turning his head from side to side, like he was trying to see something. “Were you… You’re not a Wolf. Why the hell were you there?”
“Same as you,” I said, digging the sandwiches out. I tore one in half—the peanut butter oozing out of the edges. His fingers trembled as he took it, but I watched him restrain himself as he nibbled a delicate bite off the corner. “People with money and power wanted something from me.”
“Something,” he repeated, his tongue sticky now. “Not a lot to go on.”
I dug out water, then set it on the bed next to his thigh before starting on my own food. “Yeah well, I didn’t get a lot of insider info before they hooked me up to an IV and started filling my veins with whatever garbage they were working on. I know whatever it was really messed me up. I’m just hoping your people will know what it is and maybe reverse it.”
“My people?” he said with a snort of laughter. His hands found the water, and he took small sips. Smart man. Wolf. Whatever. “The ones who sold me.”
I couldn’t help my own laugh as I sank down against the wall and leaned my head back. He turned his ear toward me, his eyes closed, and I wondered what he could hear. “The Wolves who sold you are not the ones who just risked everything to get you out.”
Kor let out a very soft grunt of acknowledgement, but he didn’t say anything else until he’d polished off his sandwich and then the water. He looked better, but not entirely satisfied, and it confirmed my fears that our supplies were not going to last long.
“Are you going to be able to heal?” I finally asked.
Kor ran the tips of his fingers up and down his arm, then shrugged. “I’m starting to feel stronger.” He went quiet, then he did that thing again, like he was trying to see out of the corners of his eyes. “It’ll take a while to get all of the toxins out of my system, and I won’t be able to fully heal until I can shift.”
“If you’re worried about me—” I started, but his mouth twisted in a wry grin, and in spite of how ragged and thin he was, I was struck by the sudden beauty of him.
It made my heart trip in my chest when I realized how powerful and strong he was going to be. He wasn’t huge—not like some Wolves I’d seen—but he was broad-shouldered with a square jaw, and when he washed and dressed in clothes that hadn’t come from the lab, he would be something new entirely.
“I can’t shift,” he said after a beat, and something in his tone told me it took courage to confess that weakness. “The humans have had chemicals for some time now—they used it in the war. It’s a gas, and it can keep us too weak to shift into our wolves. We can heal like this”—he waved a hand up and down his body—“but it takes so much longer.”
I felt a sudden craving to know more—to dig deeper into the genetics that separated our species. I had only ever been taught that they were monsters, that they were wrong—a mistake from God. But there was so much more to it, and I felt something intense and connected in my gut, but I had no idea how to explain it in words.
Kor let out a faint sigh as he sagged back, and his eyes closed again. “We can’t let our guard down.”
He wasn’t wrong. We both needed sleep, but I didn’t think I was going to get much rest. My veins were still thrumming from the adrenaline of the escape, and I couldn’t stop thinking about what we’d left behind. God only knew what was happening back at the lab. How many people were out looking for us now? I was fairly sure there were no trackers on us—the lab had probably been arrogant enough to believe we’d never get free. But there was no guarantee that was the case.
“One of us should take watch,” Kor said after a beat, echoing my own thoughts.
I nearly laughed, but it seemed cruel. “I think I’m in the best shape to do it, though I’d probably lose in a fight if they managed to track us.”
His mouth twisted in something like a grin, and he shook his head without opening his eyes. “I hope you don’t think I’d fare much better.”
I smiled back even though he couldn’t see it. “I guess not. But you could use the sleep more than me.” I opened my mouth to say more, but just then, another cramp hit. Through my tears, I saw Kor’s nostrils flare, and he leaned in toward me with a hand outstretched.
“What is it?” he asked through clenched teeth. “Why the fuck do you smell like that?”
