Page 8 of Redeemed Wolf

He was silent for a moment, thoughtful, before he replied,It will be worth it.

I crashed hard that night, my dreams filled with scalpels and blood and howling wolves.

My phone rang first thing the next morning, and I snatched it up off the bedside table. “Hello?”

“Congratulations, Mr. Graves,” Dr. Taylor said. “I would love to offer you a job. I feel like you would be a great fit for Apex Labs. Would you like to be a part of our family?”

I closed my eyes in a long blink. This was how it began. Once I accepted this job, there was no way I could walk away.

“When can I start?”

Chapter 4

Silas

“Hey, you’re back.” Thesame guard was at the gate, grinning wide this time. He’d dropped his stern persona, leaning one hand on the doorframe of my car. He had a dark beard, thick but kept short and tidy, and while he probably had a few extra pounds on him, he looked to be packed with muscle. He was no donut-eating slacker. “I guess that means the interview went well.”

I tried to match his enthusiasm, but I wasn’t really good at playing buddy-buddy. “Yep. Looks like I’m here to stay.”

He handed me the visitor’s pass, explaining that I would have my photo taken today for my permanent ID.

“Name’s Greg. If you wanna get to know everybody, the guards meet for drinks on Friday nights. You should come, make some friends.”

“Sure, that sounds great. How many other guards are there?” I asked, fishing casually for information.

“Only about half a dozen of the daytime staff will come out with us. The others go home to their families or whatnot.” Greg rolled his eyes, telling me he was probably single. He promised to tell me more tonight after my shift, and I headed in.

The rat-man was back, still as stiff and chilly as he had been that first day. This time, he introduced himself as Nathan Randall, daytime manager of Apex Labs. He had me sit down with some forms that he called “standard” paperwork, and I had to wrack my brain to make sure I got all these basic questions right, according to my backstory.

After he’d printed up my new employee ID, he paused before handing it to me. “This job is on a trial basis,” he explained stiffly. “We will reassess your job performance in one month’s time.”

“Sure thing,” I said, grinning so hard it hurt. I hadn’t smiled this much in years.

He did not smile back. “Please, come this way.”

We had just stepped out into the hall when I caught sight of Dr. Taylor coming our way. “Ah! There you are.”

Nathan grunted. “I was just about to take him on a tour of the facility.”

“Oh, no need. You’re a busy man. Nathan, you head back to take care of that project. I’ll show Silas around.”

“If you’re sure, sir.” Nathan looked between us for a moment, a crease forming between his brows as he glared once at me, then he turned and headed away, presumably to work on whatever project they’d been referring to. My curiosity pinged, and I had to bite down an itch to ask about it.

Instead, I turned to Eric and smiled. “Lead the way.”

We wandered through hallways that all looked the same, and I was sure I would get lost at some point. The place didn’t seem all that large, though. The entire time, I kept trying to scent shifterson the air, but I found nothing out of the ordinary. In fact, I’d started to wonder if this was the right place.

“So… what kind of stuff do you guys do here?” I asked, trying to make it sound like an innocent question. “You don’t have any Ebola virus or anything, right?”

Eric chuckled. “No, nothing like that. We work in pharmaceuticals.” Well, that was a vague answer if I’d ever heard one.

I nodded. “Sure, that’s cool. As long as I don’t have to worry about fighting off any bioterrorists or anything.”

His smile grew tight. “I won’t lie and tell you there’s no risk in the job, but we’ll want to get you trained in firearms this week and apply for all the appropriate permits. Our guards are armed here.” As if I hadn’t noticed.

“Don’t worry. I know my way around guns.”

His eyes flicked to mine. “Right. You said your father was in the Army?”

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