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As soon as they drove past the gate of the warehouse complex, it was evident that fierce bloodshed had broken out recently and they were catching the aftermath. There were dead bodies on the ground—humans, wolves, and somewhere in between—piled and tagged for identification by people dressed in hazmat suits. A lot of overgrown wolves ran amok here and there. Men in military fatigues carried heavy-duty rifles. There were also injured wolves and people being tended to in makeshift triages.
The Land Rover passed a blonde, svelte woman with wild eyes, shambling by the road. She snarled at them while clutching her arm. The lower half of her arm was nothing but a protruding bone surrounded by hanging sinews and torn flesh.
Sookie gasped and instinctively snuggled closer to Ethan. That had to be painful, but that woman acted like it was no big deal.
The driver stopped their vehicle un
der the portico of the main building. Dozens of men armed to the teeth greeted their alpha in reverence. Rapid exchanges of information was relayed between Ethan, Grayson and the unit leader of those scary werewolf militias.
Sookie decided to get out of the vehicle and stuck herself near her mate so she wouldn’t be left out.
A newcomer strode toward them, hefting a big-ass rifle that could blast a hole in the moon. The man himself looked like he was constructed from several corpses and animated by lightning in the dungeon of Dr. Frankenstein. Sookie found herself creeping closer to Ethan.
“Greeting, Alpha,” said the Frankenstein creature, inclining his head in veneration. “We have successfully detained all the traitors.”
“It seems I’ve missed the party,” said Ethan.
“You didn’t miss much. They barely put up a decent fight. For a while we thought we were up against a bunch of little girls playing guns.” The Frankenstein creature attempted to smile but any normal human would be creeped out by it. Sookie wouldn’t wish to meet him in a dark alley on any given day.
She remembered dead bodies littering the ground surrounding the factory. If that was called fighting with a bunch of little girls, she certainly didn’t want to know what his version of a real fight was.
Ethan turned to her. “Wait here, Susan. I need to wrap up some loose ends with my cousin. Max here will guard you until I return.”
So this Frankenstein creature had a name? Sookie glowered at her mate. If Ethan thought she’d wait here with Max then Ethan certainly had another one coming.
“Oh, hell no,” Sookie protested. “You said it yourself ‘stay close to me, always’ and I intend to do just about that. Sending me away is not part of the bargain.”
Now Ethan glared at her. Maybe no one had ever opposed him openly like this before but fuck it. She learned the hierarchy of a werewolf pack. If Ethan was the alpha then she was automatically the female alpha of the pack, which practically put her above these grunts. So, she stood her ground despite being pinned with the scary stares of these scary men. Too bad, bitches! Don’t like it? Go complain to the internet.
But then Ethan slowly broke into a grin. “I did say that. Might as well.” He lowered his head until they were at eye level. “Don’t stray away from me. I couldn’t forgive myself if someone even hurt a strand of your hair.”
“Loud and clear,” said Sookie.
“Good.” Ethan showed too much teeth and he unnerved her a bit. He then straightened his imposing figure. Even though Max and one other guy were taller than Ethan, his presence was oozing with primal power that dwarfed the rest of them. It was like he had an aura of a super demon beast around him, a grand predator among predators. A marauder being that even made a dark deity like Cthulhu pale in comparison. Sookie could see why Ethan was rightfully called as the king among the werewolves. Ethan lifted his palm. “Show me where,” he said to Max.
Sookie fell behind Ethan, shadowing his steps with the rest of them. Grayson threw an amused smile at her. She pretended not to notice. Max took them into the depths of the factory. She tried to remember the way to the bowel of the building where Cain had held Jesse prisoner. She only had been allowed to visit Jesse a few times during her captivity. Usually as a form of reinforcement to make her submit to Cain’s wicked plan.
Along the way, she tried hard to not recoil to see the carnage up close. She understood now why Ethan had wanted her to stay outside. The walls were smeared with blood and gore. The smell of death so pervasive it was offensive, even. Bits of men and beasts splattered the surfaces. Deep claw gouges covered the walls, floors, and ceilings. She spotted a broken tooth deeply embedded in a wooden trim as they walked by. The sheer brutality of it all made her nauseated. As they ventured along the main floor, Sookie reeled in her urge to retch. If she puked now she’d lose her cred. She didn’t want to. She needed to find out what happened to Jesse. She simply must know.
The main floor was where Cain conducted his experiments. The whole floor was basically divided into many labs. There were doors labeled with signs like “Genetic,” “DNA Sequencing,” “Cultures,” “Cryo Storage,” and many more. Each was more sinister than the last.
Ethan abandoned the elevator and chose the stairs instead. By now Sookie breathed through her mouth. The air quality was poor even though this place supposedly had a fancy-ass HEPA air filtration system. It might be broken, she didn’t know. The air became dank as they descended deeper into the bowels of the factory.
Sookie started to recognize the passage. Jesse was kept three levels down in the sub-sub-basement. She herself was locked in the highest story where Cain lived. A center penthouse with no direct access to open windows or sunlight. The only way out was either up to the roof or down to the ground floor.
The guide—a were militia with mismatched eyes—didn’t lead them to the sub-sub-basement. They headed toward the back where they kept the computers and servers. As much as she hated Cain, she wasn’t interested in seeing that bastard right now. Jesse was her main priority. As everybody was wrapped up in the situation, Sookie inconspicuously fell back and peeled herself from the group. She doubled back toward the stairs to find Jesse.
She covered her nose as she hurried down the stairs. The smell went from awful to worse. She didn’t see anyone on her way there. Well, the live ones anyway. She constantly had to thread her way so as not to step on something disgusting. She wondered how quickly she got used to stuff that ordinarily would traumatize a normal person. Humans were resilient creatures. She couldn’t afford being normal right now. Her brother depended on her.
She ignored the other floor and went straight to the lowest level. The lights were dimmed to the barest she could navigate without stumbling about like a blind mole. She passed a series of gated doors that usually were manned by Cain’s goons. Nobody was guarding it right now. They were left unlocked.
Sookie pushed forward.
This level always gave her the creeps. Even without a soul present, she felt as if someone was watching her. Sookie looked down and picked up a piece of bent pipe to arm herself.
She drew a deep breath and almost gagged. The air was ripe and fucking awful. She coughed twice and pressed forward. Jesse was imprisoned in the third row to the left. Cell number six. In the past, when she came down here the cells were filled with wild snarls, howls, and ramblings of men who had lost their minds. Some were fully transformed like Jesse. Some weren’t. A few looked like a science experiment gone bad, but all were no longer sentient. She had hoped and hoped that Jesse’s transmutation was only temporary. If Jesse got his permanent antidote just like Cain had promised her, Jesse would return to normal.
They would leave all this behind and forget it ever happened.
