Page 15 of Redeemed Wolf

“I’m already dreading the day when that changes. It is inevitable.” He started the car and drove us toward the city.

I sat back in my seat and watched out the window as the landscape shifted from fields to suburbs, and eventually, downtown. Lights blurred, my eyes unfocused, and in that half-aware state, I drifted. Deep beneath the growl of the car’s engine, I almost wondered if I heard a voice whisper…

Silas…

Chapter 7

Silas

Every morning before work,I took deep breaths, trying to hold the clean air in my lungs for as long as I could in preparation. City air was a far cry from the crisp dampness of the forest, but I would take anything over the stink of that lab.

Eric remained true to his word, setting me the worst tasks he could come up with. Cleaning toilets and other questionable smears from cell walls and floors. Carting out bins of biohazard to the back of the building to be properly disposed of. Every day, I ended up covered in filth and reeking of sweat and other stenches I chose not to name. I was plagued with headaches after being subjected to the red light all day. Who’d ever heard of a shifter taking painkillers? Ridiculous.

The temperature in the cells was cold enough that I could see my breath, and if what I found in the empty cells was any indication, the “subjects” had nothing more than a thin blanket to keep them warm. I tried my best not to think about where the previous inhabitants of the cells had gone.

My wolf had been retreating further and further from the forefront of my brain throughout the day. Between the odors that seared our nostrils, the red light that made our vision blurry and our thoughts to match, and the mounting pressure in our chest, he was done with the whole mission.

When I asked my wolf if he wanted to go home, though, he was strangely silent. Almost like he was sulking.

At night, though, when I was lying in bed trying to sleep, staring at the ceiling, my limbs exhausted, that was when he would start prodding at me to go for a run. Seriously!

We could not sustain this!

At least Pacey was taking care of the food situation. He’d go shopping and stock the fridge and cupboards with canned, boxed, and frozen meals. He’d been raised to believe omegas did the cooking, so I was grateful he had at least done that much, but I longed for somerealfood, some meat cooked over a fire.

There’d been no more sightings of Carter, though I swore I could track him with this throbbing pain in my chest acting like a compass. I had my suspicions about that, but I needed to get closer to be sure. Every time I risked walking toward that lab where I’d first seen him, Eric was there, ready with a new task for me. If I didn’t know any better, I’d assume he was trying to cockblock me.

Friday morning, with the weekend ahead of me, I had a new plan to enact. I needed to get him alone, and it was clear that was never going to happen here at the lab. Tonight…

When I pulled up at the gate, Greg greeted me, but he didn’t look so hot. His complexion had taken on a grayish hue. Instead of the usual conversation, he leaned his forearm on the ledge of my car door. I noticed that he’d angled his body away from the camera, though casually, and his voice lowered to a whisper. “Hey, man. Have you, uh, seen Melissa?”

My eyes flicked once briefly to the camera over his shoulder. Keeping my voice low, I even tried not to move my lips more than necessary. “No, not since… actually, not since last Friday. They moved me to another department.”

Greg was chewing on the inside of his cheek and just nodded, not saying anything.

“Maybe she got one of those jobs she applied for?” I suggested, though neither of us really believed that. She would’ve told us, said goodbye. “She’s probably just sick. Have you tried calling her?”

He shot me a look that said, “Do you think I’m an idiot?”

I thought of what she’d said at the bar that night. “I’ve seen things, heard things… They’re not good people.” Maybe she’d seen something she shouldn’t have… Even though I hadn’t had the chance to get to know her, my stomach twisted with unease and more than a fair dose of rage.

Greg pushed off my car and patted my shoulder through the open window. “All right, man. Have a good weekend.” He kept his eyes down, the air around him bitter with his simmering fear.

Greg was right. As I parked my car, I looked around the lot and saw no sign of Melissa’s little Honda. And when I stepped foot in the building, I accidentally dropped my ID tag, and when I bent down to pick it up, I took a moment to tie my shoe. I closed my eyes and pulled the air deeply into my lungs, trying to nudge past the usual bleach smell, but there wasn’t a single whiff of Melissa’s distinctive floral moisturizer. It was like she’d been gone far longer than the week.

Deep inside, I knew what had likely happened to her, and it wasn’t good. She’d seen something, she knew too much, and when she’d slipped up, somehow Dr. Taylor knew about it. Had they been listening through our phones? Had they heard her slip?

How far would he go to keep his secrets?

Speak of the devil and he shall appear…I smelled Eric moments before he rounded the corner, giving me just enough time to finish tying my shoe and to approach the front desk, flashing my card at the guard on duty.

“Ah, Silas! Just the man I was hoping to see this morning.” Eric was all smiles and easy grace, and for the briefest moment, I had a hard time reconciling the monster he was to the man standing before me. But then I reminded myself that he’d stalked Morgan, that he’d threatened to shoot both him and Jude. That he’d been complicit in the experimentation on children.

That he’d somehow brainwashed Carter into believing he was his father…

Even as accustomed as I was to being in his presence, I nearly flinched when he draped his arm over my shoulders and pulled me close as we walked down the hall together. “You’ve been doing good work, Silas. Just wanted to tell you that I’ve noticed.”

I nodded, trying not to think about Melissa’s smiling face, about the life Carter had been meant for before this asshole took what didn’t belong to him. “Thank you, Eric. That means a lot,” I said instead.

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