Page 91 of Act of Brotherhood
Nicolette huffed. “I feel like puking.”
“It will pass,” assured Clara. “I felt the same way.”
“What are we? Can I change into a wolf?”
“No, you can’t change into an animal because you’re not a shifter. From what I found out about us, you do have a bit of shifter DNA in your mix but just enough to keep you from leaning too far towards the vampire side of things.”
If Clara thought that explanation was going to be in any way reassuring, she was wrong.
She kept going. “We were made in a lab. We had mothers. I don’t think they were part of the testing willingly, but information on them is harder to come by. What I do know is that they were artificially inseminated, and while we were growing within them, additional testing and genetic manipulations were done on us to make us more than your average supernatural.”
Nicolette soaked in what she’d been told. “Our mothers were test subjects?”
Clara nodded. “They were brood mares, for lack of a better word. There’s this huge organization that is like the baddest of the bad. They’re referred to as The Corporation by the good guys.”
Nicolette looked at the wall, needing something to focus on while she did her best to wrap her mind around it all. “And who are the good guys?”
“Cody is a good guy,” said Clara with a soft smile. “He’s a shifter too. He wasn’t born that way. Like I said, he’s like us to some degree. His family had a little bit of supernatural blood in it, so when the government sanctioned testing on him, he took to the introduction of additional supernatural DNA, but not the way they’d hoped.”
Nicolette made a time-out sign with her hands. “Hold up. Cody is a shifter?”
“Yes.”
It was official. The whole world had gone nuts. “Is he a werewolf?”
“The term they prefer is wolf-shifter, and no, he’s not one,” answered Clara, going back to trying to get the snarls from her hair. “He’s a shark-shifter.”
A laugh broke free from Nicolette. “Yeah. Right.”
Clara simply stared at her.
“You’re serious,” said Nicolette.
Clara nodded. “Totally. He’s what’s known in the supernatural world as an Outcast. There are a lot of men like him. Ones our government tried to turn into super soldiers but failed on some level. Some are as broken as you think they would be. Many are just men who got dealt a raw hand and who have figured out how to live with what they are. Cody is like that. He fights the good fight. And for a while, he was held against his will and went through some deep shit. If he can survive that, we can survive finding out we’re more than human.”
Nicolette opened her mouth to ask more questions but stopped when the hair on the back of her neck rose. She gripped her friend’s hands tight, her eyes widening.
“Do you sense something?” mouthed Clara.
Nicolette nodded.
Clara stood and went for one of the chairs at the small dinette set near the front window. Clara lifted it like a weapon.
Nicolette searched for anything that might work in a pinch. The only thing she could come up with was a phone that looked to be from the ’80s. She lifted it and ripped the wire from the wall, carrying the monstrosity with her as she neared the door.
“Och, do nae tell me how to pick a lock, Boomer,” a man with a deep Scottish accent said from the other side of the door. “I’ll have you know I’m an expert.”
“Why are you picking the lock?” asked another man. “Why not just knock?”
“Boomer, when I want yer advice, I’ll ask for it,” returned the other man.
Nicolette eyed Clara.
Clara shrugged, looking confused by it all.
“Someone do something because I’m close to shooting the Viking,” said a man gruffly. “He’s close to losing his shit again. I think he can smell her and it’s messing with him. I’m just happy we forced a burger down him or I’d be dinner for him.”
“Duke, you cannae kill Garth. Corbin said it wasnae allowed,” said the Scot.
