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“Then it’s settled,” I said. “Pizza first. We’ll look over the maps together, and then we’ll head out.”
The doorbell rang. Noah hopped off Vic’s lap to run to the screen, clicking it on. A pizza delivery boy showed up on the screen, and Noah looked back at me. “Pizza’s here, Daddy!”
“Perfect timing,” Marley said, hurrying to the door with her wallet.
About an hour later, we set out for the canneries a few towns over. I appreciated the shorter days of the coming winter that gave us the cover of darkness we needed to make it there on foot instead of having to deal with a caravan of cars or traffic. We moved silently across the dense, damp stretches of the shoreline close to the water, never stalling, never slowing down.
It took us around ninety minutes to finally make it to the corrugated metal buildings that smelled of fish and brine. The closer we got to the buildings, the stronger the smell got, and before long, we all had to shift out of our lycan forms to save ourselves from the stench burning our sensitive noses. It was Travis who shifted first, gagging and pulling his black polo shirt up to cover his nose.
“Fuck,” he said. “How are you guys putting up with this? It’s fucking horrible.”
We all shifted in quick order after that, confirming that we weren’t handling it well, either.
“It’s not great,” River said. “You get used to awful smells after being a shifter for a long time, but this is one of the worst I’ve dealt with.”
“Let’s just get this done with so we can get gone,” Vic said.
“Let’s split into groups. We can cover ground faster that way,” I said.
The fifteen of us split into natural groupings. Travis stuck with me. River, Vic, and a few others I didn’t recognize formed another group. A woman—the one who’d made a pass at me in Georgia—grouped up with a few other women. All told, we had about five groups split off from each other as we quietly made our way through the dingy warehouses.
I stayed vigilant, knowing Lanyon Clover wouldn’t hesitate to attack again if they were here. My gut told me they wouldn’t be, but something kept itching in the back of my mind, a feeling that I was missing something obvious. It was the same feeling I’d had about the smell of turpentine when Curt went after Marley at her place.
My senses were heightened and my instincts were on high alert as I searched for any sign of our missing pack members. And any signs of the hunch that was starting to make itself more and more known in the back of my mind. I couldn’t shake the instincts that were clawing out of me.
Travis suddenly sprinted ahead, kicking up damp sand and foul-smelling air in his wake. I didn’t think—I bolted after him, sure he’d seen or smelled something with his brand-new enhanced senses. Something I must have missed. But he just tore off onto one of the docks, bending over the edge of it to vomit into the black water below. I groaned and pinched the bridge of my nose.
He hurled one more time before standing upright, wiping the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand. “S-sorry, bro. I just got overwhelmed by the stench and–”
His voice was interrupted by the sound of something flitting through the air and thunking into his side. He froze and patted his hip.
“Trav?” I asked. “Are you alright?”
He gave something a hard yank and held an object before him, holding it under the moonlight to inspect it.
A dart.
“Fuck,” he slurred before crumpling into a heap on the swollen wood of the dock.
I lunged to grab him, fumbling to stabilize the dead weight of his unconscious body. I tried to keep myself upright and inhaled deeply to call out to the others, warn them that there was someone nearby with tranquilizer darts so they could shift and make a run for it. To save themselves.
But before I could, I suddenly felt a sharp blow to the back of my head. I lost my footing and slammed into the dock. My vision went black as a pair of combat boots came into view.
When I came to, my head was pounding brutally. I blinked in the harsh light overhead. Where was I? What had happened? My memory was blurry and smeared as I tried to jog myself up to speed. In the end, it was the horrible smell that brought everything into focus.
We’d been lured here and ambushed. And now I was tied to a metal chair, steel-cord bike locks wrapped around my forearms and legs.
“Well, bless your heart, you and your pack just fell for our trap hook, line, and sinker!” a familiar voice rang out.
I gritted my teeth. The sound of heels clicking against the concrete floors foreshadowed her arrival just before a smiling face came into view. “Get it?” Ms. Paulson grinned. “Hook, line, and sinker? And we’re in a fish cannery. Funny, right?”
“Fuck you,” I snapped. “Where’s my pack?”
“Oh, don’t worry, you’ll be joining them soon enough. You see, Cole, we’ve been working on a little experiment.” Her eyes gleamed with malice. “We’ve developed an injection that will make the shifter gene dormant. Sort of like what your little friend went through, but in reverse. It will render all of you powerless. You’ll be normal humans with no ability to shift. Just the way that God intended.”
“You can’t do this,” I growled, clenching my fists. “You have no right to tamper with our DNA, to take away what makes us who we are. We aren’t your fucking lab rats.”
Ms. Paulson chuckled gleefully. “Oh, but we can, Cole. We have the resources, and we’re willing to do whatever it takes to protect the world from the dangers of your kind.” Her face became unnervingly serious, her eyes glassy and dark. “We are tired of living in fear. We are tired of being attacked. We are tired of losing our loved ones to you monsters. And if we have to tie you down like this and force you all to be exactly what you’re meant to be—normal—then we will.”
