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Carter stood in the doorway, shoulders squared, jaw set. Kelly stood at his side, eyes wide and wet. Elizabeth was behind her eldest son, head bowed, forehead pressed against his back. “How long?” he asked again.
She had something almost akin to sympathy in her eyes. I thought it was a lie. “Two weeks. Give or take a week. But two is usually the median.” She looked down at her hands. “At first there’s nothing. But within a few days, you’ll begin to feel it. It’s like electricity underneath your skin. A low current. An itch. Like the pull of the moon. A few more days and the current will grow. The itch will intensify. You’ll shift, but it won’t be sated. It’s like… bloodlust. Becoming feral is always about bloodlust. You won’t be able to stop it. There will be rage. You will lash out without meaning to. And the more you shift, the worse it gets. It’s an addiction. Sometimes there’s a lull, after. You’ll feel better. Stronger. More in control. But that only signals the beginning of the end. You will become feral. And there is nothing you can do to stop it.” She looked back up at us. “I am truly sorry that this has happened to you. To your pack. I never meant for it to get this far.”
And the fucked-up thing was that I believed her when she said that. I doubted she ever thought her second would go feral. “There has to be a cure,” I said hoarsely. “A spell. Something. If this was my father, then there has to be a way to reverse it. Whatever he’s done, it can be fixed. Magic isn’t one-way. Whatever he’s given, it can be taken back.”
She shook her head. “There’s nothing that we know of. Our witches have spent two years trying to find a remedy. There’s no significant changes in the blood, aside from decreased levels of serotonin and increased adrenaline and noradrenaline. The Omega literally becomes flooded with rage. And it doesn’t matter the strength of the pack or the call of an Alpha. Your tether, no matter what it is, will begin to shred. Eventually it will break. You will become an Omega. You will become feral. It cannot be stopped. And the full moon coming will surely hasten the process.”
“Then you don’t know us at all,” Ox said quietly. “Because we aren’t like any pack that you’ve ever seen before.”
“Oh, how I wish that were true, Alpha Matheson. If Carter and Mark are infected, they will turn, just as everyone else who has come before. You’re right that there has never been a pack like yours before. You are… an anomaly. But even you can’t stop this. There are those that believe lycanthropy is a disease, given that it can be spread by the bite of an Alpha. The way it alters the body down to a cellular level. Unfortunately, this… this thing appears to be similar, though it’s not only cellular. It’s more than that. It’s metaphysical, existing only to tear the bonds away from the wolf.” She frowned. “It’s the perfect weapon. And who better than Robert Livingstone to inflict it upon us? He who must hate tethers most of all. For what is more poetic than a man who lost everything because of a tether to lash out at those who still have one?”
“I don’t give a damn what you say,” I said harshly. “There’s a way to fix this, and I will find it. You may not give a shit about us, but Ox is right. You don’t know the first thing about our pack. We are more than this. We are better than this.”
“Be that as it may,” she said, tapping another button on her tablet, “I must do what I have to in order to ensure the survival of our species. As with any infection, the first step is to contain it as soon as possible to prevent it from spreading. To those of you who were not exposed, I will extend an offer. Leave Green Creek. Join us. You have three days to do what is necessary.”
“And what exactly is necessary?” Ox asked, taking a step toward the monitor.
Michelle barely blinked. “You know what, Alpha Matheson. Carter and Mark cannot be allowed to infect others. They must be put down.”
“And in three days?” Joe asked, eyes red.
She looked at him. “In three days I will take matters into my own hands. Bennett pack, I wish things had turned out differently. But surely, if you were in my position, you would do the same. If we are to survive, then the infection must be quarantined. And then eradicated.”
The screen went black.
Then Rico appeared behind the others and said, “Oye. Why are you all standing around looking like someone died? Oh god, someone didn’t die again, did they? We just got done burning more dead things. I refuse to smell that again tonight. Or for the next eight months. Find someone else to do it. I refuse to be your bitch.”
“Read the goddamn room,” Chris muttered.
Ox snarled and smashed his fist into the monitor.
THE PACK dispersed throughout the house. Joe and Ox went down to the basement to check on Pappas. Elizabeth took Carter up to her room and shut the door. Robbie stood in the living room, watching Kelly pace back and forth while ranting, arms waving wildly. I didn’t see where Mark went.
“This… isn’t good,” Tanner said succinctly, standing in the office, staring at the broken monitor.
“Understatement, papi,” Rico said, rubbing a hand over his face. “It’s a fucking mess, is what it is.”
“We can figure this out, though, right?” Chris asked. He stood next to Jessie. She laid her head on his shoulder. “I mean, there’s gotta be something. If it can be spread, it can be stopped.”
“Something,” Jessie agreed. She lifted her head. “You just have to work your way backwards. You get to the source, you might find the cure.”
I stared at them. “Are you all really that stupid?”
They looked startled. “How’s that now?” Chris asked.
“You need to get the fuck out of here. Right now. Leave and don’t look back.”
Jessie snorted. “Yeah, okay. Sure, Gordo. We’ll get right on that.”
“I’m being serious!”
“Oh, since you’re being serious,” Tanner said. “Guys, look. We have to listen to him now. He’s being serious.”
“That’ll change my mind,” Rico said, shaking his head. “Thank you, Gordo, for telling us what you think we’re supposed to do. Should we ignore you right off the bat and move on to something productive, or do you want to fight us on it?”
“What the hell is wrong with all of you?” I asked incredulously. “Weren’t you listening? Carter and Mark are going to go fucking feral unless we can find a way to stop it. They’ll be just like the Omegas that came before. You remember that? When you had to fucking kill them? And that’s not even taking into consideration the other Omegas out there that could be making their way here right now—”
“We remember,” Chris said. “Because that was the moment we stood with our pack. Do you really think we’re going to leave now? That’s not what pack does, Gordo. They wouldn’t leave us, so we’re not going to leave them. Just because you forgot what pack meant doesn’t mean we’re going to.”
