Page 10 of Hunted

I chose the blue pill.

Fate had other plans.

For the first few months, the memory rewrite seemed to be holding. River implanted false memories that an anxiety medication I’d been taking had caused me to hallucinate the entire werewolf encounter out in the cornfield. It had never been real. But cracks had developed in his carefully constructed story. Why had there been claw marks in the mud when I visited the cornfield two weeks later? Why when I asked Hayden about it, did she blink and look away, her silent tell, before feeding me the rehearsed lie that there had never been wolves, that she and Ethan had found me wandering alone and confused in the rain and brought me back to the maze entrance? Why were weeks of text messages erased from my phone, the data irretrievable?

She was lying. I knew it just like I knew the stabbing pain behind my eyes every time I tried to question her lies was wrong. The scientist in me wouldn’t let it go, wouldn’t stop pushing until months later when my memory rewrite ultimately failed. On the night River restored my memories, I overheard Vlad, London and Rowan secretly meeting at my sister’s coffee shop, talking about how ALDD was ravaging the Vampire Nation. I immediately transferred back to Austin, switching to a master’s in immunology. My Aunt Meera, who was a professor in microbiology, applied all of her research grants towards studies on werewolf and vampire biology. Our research team had now been studying vampire and shifter blood for over a year, specifically looking into acute lycanthropic degenerative disease in vampires.

“We’re all behind you,” Jori said quietly. “For the first time in so long, there’s a sense of hope.” She looked down, and I caught the slight tremble in her hand before she quickly stilled it. Her presentation of ALDD was at the earliest stages. The tremors were barely noticeable.

“How are things going?” Jori nodded to my workstation.

“The team I’m currently assigned to is focusing on a vaccine that will prevent lycanthropy infections after a werewolf bite has already occurred. Our target is to develop a series of shots you would be able to take ideally within forty-eight hours after infection that would prevent the virus from taking hold.”

“Just like with rabies.”

“Exactly.”

“How do you even test something like that? It would be unethical to purposefully infect someone just to see if it works.”

“That would never be allowed.” I went over to my lab notebook to jot down a few notes I’d remembered from earlier. “It’s why we need help from the local Alphas as well as hospitals. They would be the first to know if someone was accidentally infected by a feral wolf. We brought Hayden to a hospital after she was bitten because she was running a high fever and having blackouts. Even the color of her eyes had changed. But the doctors didn’t recognize her symptoms as originating from a werewolf bite. Some of the other common symptoms like hallucinations and aggressive urges may lead doctors to order a psych hold rather than appropriate blood testing or a more thorough patient history to determine if an animal bite or assault has occurred.”

Jori snorted. “Got to hand it to the neural manipulators. They’ve had a pretty impressive disinformation campaign running for years.”

“This vaccine could change everything. If people knew what signs to look for, it could help bring new infections to nearly zero. There’s a divide in the shifter community amongst Borns versus Bittens. Those who grew up human and were changed against their will like my sister have much higher levels of trauma and experience far greater incidence of mental health conditions versus Born wolves who have werewolf parents. The second group experiences the same fears about living as a werewolf in a human-majority world, but they’ve always known what they were. They didn’t go through a violent assault only to find out they would be in increased danger for the rest of their lives.”

“How does this connect back to ALDD?”

“We’re not entirely sure yet,” I admitted. “Vampire scientists have been trying to come up with a therapy for ALDD for decades. We don’t entirely understand the science behind why shifter blood sickens vampires, other than that repeated exposure to a protein causes deposits to form along the myelin sheath. We don’t understand how shapeshifting works from a scientific standpoint. Ask my sister or any other shapeshifter and they’ll tell you it’s moon magic. We’re trying to understand the link between the lycan virus and protein build up. If a vaccine or gene therapy could stop human infections, maybe the same science or something we learn along the way could show us a pathway towards stopping or reversing ALDD.”

“Plus I’m guessing the people who approved Dr. Patel’s grant were probably happy to approve funding for a project that focused on a vaccine that would prevent lycanthropy after infection versus one targeted at ALDD research?” Jori frowned as her phone buzzed with an incoming text. “I’ll be right back.”

I quickly pulled my phone out, swiping to the chain of texts with my sister from earlier.

Hayden: Crap. I forgot our daily check in this morning. I am a shit sister. We were slammed as soon as we opened. And Ethan and I got downstairs late because it’s the full moon and well… you know.

I closed my eyes, momentarily swaying in place, slightly dizzy with the memory of River Caldwell’s large hands spanning my ribcage, his thumbs stroking the undersides of my breasts as he moved over me on my bed. A sigh escaped my lips as I recalled the way he’d taken his time mapping every last inch of my body with his fingers and tongue while I writhed, cuffed to the bedpost, begging him to enter me.

I wasn’t a werewolf. I had no intention of ever becoming a werewolf. But I was quickly learning all the ways that the moon cycle drove their carnal urges to fight, fuck and feed.

Ellie: I overslept too. Waffles has been trying to eat my charger again and I had to hide my phone.

Hayden: Bunnicula is really the creepiest of all your house rabbits. And I say this as someone who can shift into a one-hundred-and-fifty-pound werewolf.

Ellie: Like I didn’t see you sneaking him celery last weekend while we watched slasher flicks.

Hayden: He was scared. Those little radar dish ears were trembling at the chainsaw scenes. I felt like a bad bunny aunt.

Ellie: Um, my ears were trembling. Where was my celery? And we’re watching a rom com next time. By the way, did you see the link I sent you about those multivitamins? You might not be getting enough iron.

Hayden: Considering the double brisket platter I took out at The Rusty Spoke last night, I’m pretty sure my iron levels are fine. Ethan ordered me a chocolate molten cake with ice cream for dessert. That has iron too, right?

Ellie: I’m shocked that you don’t pass out in a chocolate coma after every meal.

Hayden: Everyone has a skill. We’re driving down to see y’all this weekend before my show. Anything you want me to bring?

During the week, Hayden and Ethan managed Dark, a retro hipster coffee bar they owned in Blood Moon, then drove down to Austin so she could play gigs with Daisy Addiction on the weekends. They were crazy busy, but they made it work. I hesitated, pulse picking up, thumbs shaking where they hovered over the screen. Before I could take it back, I began to type.

Ellie: Promise me you’ll bypass the toll road when you get close to Austin.