Page 64 of Wolf's Mark

Not dead men who turn into some beast.

The words were on the tip of my tongue.

I laughed as my entire body stiffened. She’d been checking up on me. I should have known there was an ulterior motive in selecting me. The bitch. I was furious, but at least had my answer as to why I’d been picked out of a crowd of so many. Not that it made me any happier or more amenable to doing her bidding.

“So what? That makes me the expert on weirdness? I’m not interested.”

“I can require you to perform this autopsy, Doctor Willis. I can also make your life miserable if you refuse.”

“Why in God’s name are you threatening me? Are you desperate?”

Another moment of silence provided an answer, but I waited, determined to have her admit it. “The FBI has reached a dead end. The video you captured provided more clues than we’ve obtained to date. Your skills are needed.”

In other words, they were desperate.

“If I agree to this, you will tell me what the fuck is going on. Period. I’m not risking my life or anyone else’s for your wild goose chase. Or to provide some wacked-out answer that doesn’t make any scientific sense. Is that clear?”

Agent Drummand sighed. “Completely understood. However, it’s not a wild goose chase. I assure you of that. I don’t need toremind you just how dangerous the situation is. I watched the video several times. If you’d been in that room when the man awakened, he could have killed you.”

“He wasn’t human at that point, agent. As to how he rose from the dead, I’ll need to perform more tests without interference.”

“They will need to be approved.”

I laughed. “Then it’s a no go. I have full autonomy, or you can find someone else and do your best to try and tear me down. I’ll head straight to a reporter I know very well. Oh, he works for theNew York Times.”There was no harm, no foul in embellishing the truth. Was there?

“Fine. I’ll make certain you aren’t encumbered by FBI requirements, but in turn, you will keep this secret and provide us with every discovery.”

“Deal. Now, you need to tell me what is going on.” I was being demanding, doing my best not to wake Jax, but she needed to understand I wasn’t a pushover. But with Jax, the last thing I needed was to be questioned about what the hell I was doing. He was my respite away from small town crazy.

“How long before you can arrive at your facility, Doctor?”

Why was I even considering doing this? Why was I stupid enough to put myself in harm’s way?

The answer was rather sickening.

Because I wanted to discover the truth. Now, more than before, the entire thought nagged at me, dragging up what should be considered a nightmare.

Wolves.

I had to be losing my mind to consider it.

But I had and I would.

I was a scientist after all.

“One hour. You’ll tell me everything I want to know?”

“Yes. One hour,” the agent repeated, immediately ending the call.

I held the phone in my hand, staring at the blackened screen as if it was going to provide any decent answers.

A shift behind me forced me to tense. I took a deep breath, returning the phone to the nightstand. My hands were shaking as much as my heart was thumping in my chest. I was a mess, an odd combination of fear and excitement churning through me. It felt a little like I was on the cutting edge of discovering something out of this world.

Please, God. No aliens.

I pressed my fingers over my lips to keep from laughing.

“Is there a problem?” Jax asked, his sexy voice sounding sleepy. I took a deep breath, savoring the smell of our sex and his exotic scent, sweet and tangy with a dash of cinnamon.

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