Chapter Fifteen

Noah clutched Ethney’s hand in his as they made their way down the long hallway to Elena’s makeshift lab. They didn’t say much since dressing on the beach, but it wasn’t an awkward silence. For the first time since he met her, she wore a real smile on her face, one that didn’t seem to be leaving anytime soon. He was the reason for that smile and he never wanted it to fade away. Hopefully, Elena’s cure worked.

Laughter echoed out of the lab and he cocked his head to the side, listening as his sister spoke animatedly to someone. It wasn’t until the person responded that he placed the voice—Aric, the water dragon. He and Elena seemed to be hitting it off.

The second Noah and Ethney entered; however, Elena’s smile faded away. “Hey,” she said lifting her hand to wave.

Aric took a step back from Elena, his eyes briefly drifting to Ethney and her hand intertwined with Noah’s, but he didn’t say anything; in fact, he smiled a little. Did the water dragon approve of them?

“How does this work exactly?” Noah asked. He let go of Ethney’s hand and took a step forward.

Elena cleared her throat. “I have an injection prepared.” She motioned to a chair by the workstation. “Why don’t you have a seat?” She glanced around the room and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear before clearing her throat a second time. “I’ll inject you and then we’ll do an immediate blood draw and one every two hours for the next forty-eight hours to see if there are any changes. We’ll reassess once I start getting results,” she dropped her voice, “or if I don’t see any.”

Noah reached out and took his sister’s hand, giving it a subtle squeeze. “You got this, Elena. I trust you.”

She laughed nervously. “This is untested, you know. I have no idea what this could do. It should really undergo more testing and—“

“Hey,” he stopped her, “we’ve already been over this. There isn’t time for testing. We have to try this now. I believe in you.”

Aric took a step forward and put his hand on Elena’s shoulder. “It’s going to be okay.”

She smiled at him over her shoulder and patted his hand, letting her hand linger over his a moment longer than Noah would have expected. He couldn’t help but wonder if maybe there was something going on there. Elena usually got so involved with her work she didn’t make time for a social life.

“Aric?” Noah sighed and dropped his voice, “If this doesn’t work and things go bad, don’t make Ethney or Elena be the one to put me down.”

Aric nodded. “You have my word. I’ll take care of you myself.”

“Thank you.” He closed his eyes and breathed in a deep breath as the chilly wetness of an alcohol wipe hit his skin and the scent stung his nose, making it twitch.

“All right, here goes.”

He opened his eyes and watched as his sister picked up the syringe with trembling fingers, holding it for a long moment until her shaking stopped. She put one hand on his bicep and placed the needle on the skin with the other. Swallowing hard, she pushed the needle in and hit the plunger to inject him.

There was a slight pinch and a cool tingling feeling in his arm. Elena withdrew the needle and took a step back. She turned her back for a second and then came back with a bandage.

Her fingers were cold on his skin, too cold, like ice and they hadn’t been a moment ago. She was saying something to him, but a ringing started in his ears and only seemed to be getting louder. He shot to his feet, but stumbled; the chair fell out from under him and he landed on the tiled floor on his butt. Elena raced toward him and reached out when Aric grabbed her and pulled her back.

The room began to spin and his stomach flipped. He dry heaved as the pain blossoming in his belly began to spread, first to his arms then down his back and into his legs. His vision waned and blurred until he couldn’t make anything out.

What was happening to him? Was it the medicine? Was it killing him? He wished Aric would just put him out of his misery already.

The pain intensified. Something stabbed him in the back and he fell face first onto the floor with his cheek pressed against the freezing floor. His body trembled and shook. Pain shot through his arms and legs and eventually sent a searing pain straight through his skull until his vision went black.

He blinked a few times until his vision returned. His hearing returned too, though everyone’s voices were crisper and louder, like they were screaming in his ear. He grumbled as his legs crackled and dark brown thick hair, like fur, sprouted over them.

Oh shit! He was turning into a lycanthrope! That wasn’t supposed to happen until the full moon, which was days away still. Why was he changing now?

He saw himself—his legs and arms, but was met with blinding agony that left him breathless and unable to see and hear again.

Maybe he should embrace the change. He drew in a painful breath and let it out and pictured a brown wolf. His back arched up and cracked.

For a brief moment, he couldn’t move, but then his legs and arms shrank along with his whole body until he was lying in a crumpled ball on the floor. He forced even breaths in and out of his nose waiting to see if there would be more pain, but it seemed to be lessoning by the second. In fact, he felt good, really good.

Slowly, he pushed to his feet. He looked up to find Aric in front of a sobbing Elena. Ethney stood a few feet behind him, a single tear trickling down her cheek, pooling on her upper lip. He was changed now—a lycanthrope, her sworn enemy. She’d have to kill him; well, Aric would, assuming he kept his word.

He closed his eyes and sat down waiting for them to strike. When no one did, he opened his eyes again. Why weren’t they attacking him yet? Shouldn’t they be by now? If he was going to die he wanted to get it over with. Unless...they weren’t doing anything because...he didn’t feel like a bloodthirsty psychopath, maybe the medicine was working just not in the way they’d anticipated.

Aric took a step forward and knelt down so he could meet Noah’s eyes. “Noah, can you hear me?”

Noah whined, unsure how else he was supposed to communicate in this form.

“Are you in control?” Ethney asked. She took a step forward, but still kept herself between him and Elena.

Noah lowered his head and then bobbed it back up again.

“You don’t feel like a crazy psycho who wants to bite anyone?” Aric asked, lifting his brows expectantly as he studied him.

Noah shook his head as best he could in this form.

“It worked,” Ethney breathed. She covered her mouth with her hands and giggled.

“It worked?” Elena asked with a frown, “but he’s...he’s a...a wolf. I don’t understand.”

“It worked, but with some...side effects,” Aric said. He turned his attention back to Noah. “Can you change back?”

That was a good question. He didn’t know if he could or not. It was worth a shot. Where did he start? He frowned, or at least he tried to. It was kind of hard to frown when you were a wolf.

Aric moved back to where Elena was and put a hand on her elbow; again with the touching, Noah thought.

“Elena, why don’t you go get a pair of clothes from my room,” Aric suggested.

Elena looked to the floor and Noah followed her gaze. His clothes, or what was left of them, lay tattered and ripped.

“Try to picture yourself,” Ethney stated, moving so she was kneeling in front of him. “Start with your toes and then slowly work to your ankles, then your knees, you get the idea.”

Sound advice. He closed his eyes and pictured his toes first as she instructed. A jarring pain raced through him and he whimpered, but continued to picture himself. Once again, his bones broke and realigned, this time lengthening. The process didn’t hurt as much the second time around and it seemed to go faster. Before he knew it, he was curled in a ball on the chilly tile once more.

He grunted and rolled to his belly before pushing up to his hands and knees. The pain ebbed and he blew out a breath, determined to stand on his feet. He grabbed ahold of the counter to use as leverage to pull up as his knees wobbled, but he managed.

“Are you still you?” Ethney asked. She took a step forward, but seemed to hesitate for a moment before closing the distance and throwing herself against him. He lost his balance and stumbled backwards, but was able to catch himself before they both toppled over.

“I’m still me,” he said clutching her to him. He didn’t ever want to let her go.

“Thank the gods,” Ethney said.

“I don’t understand what happened,” Noah said as he pulled back. “How...I thought I could only change at the full moon?”

Elena cleared her throat causing them both to turn to where she stood in the doorway. She shifted on her feet holding a handful of clothes in her arms. “It could be a side effect, I suppose. Like I said, the serum was untested. Did it work? I mean, are you safe?”

That was the million-dollar question. It had worked this time, but would it work on the full moon? Could he still end up losing control and trying to kill everyone?

“I’m not sure,” Ethney said quietly. “I think it’s best if we keep you away from the others for a few days until we find out what is going on.”

He didn’t like the idea, but he knew it would be safest for everyone.

* * *

Five days. It had been a long five days in solitary confinement and he was going crazy. Stir crazy, not psycho-I-want-to-bite-you-and-turn-you-into-a-monster crazy.   Ethney and Elena visited periodically. Elena always had Aric with her. It seemed the guardian became her own personal bodyguard. He was glad to know someone was watching out for his sister. If things didn’t work out with his diagnosis, she would need support. He hoped the guardian would help her.

As things were though, there were no new changes since the initial injection. His blood had transformed into a new specimen Elena never saw before. It allowed him to randomly turn into a wolf and back into a human. It looked like he was stuck like this, but at least he was in control.

The door at the end of the hallway creaked open and soft footsteps thudded toward him. He recognized Ethney’s foot falls instantly. Something jingled as she walked and once she came into view he saw she carried a key ring in her hands.

“Are you springing me?” he asked.

“I don’t see any reason not to,” Ethney said with a smile. “You seem to be stable.” She paused, her hand on the key to the lock just a few inches from sliding it in. “You still feel normal, right?”

“I’m not sure I’d call it normal, but I don’t feel homicidal.” He wasn’t anywhere close to normal. His strength was intensified and his appetite was salacious; nothing seemed to fill him for very long.

“You know what I mean,” she said with a shake of her head.

“As normal as I can be.”

“Good.” She slipped the key in to the lock and turned it until it clicked and then she swung the door open.

He took a few steps forward, leaving only a foot between them. “I’ve missed you.” He held his hands out to her. She fell against him, engulfing him in a tight hug.

“Me, too.” She tensed and then pulled back.

“What is it?”

“You’re still a lycanthrope, Noah.” She shook her head. “I don’t know what Astraea will want us to do with you.”

He inhaled a deep breath and let it out. That did present a problem. He was at the goddess’s mercy. She could be the end of him and there was nothing he could do to stop her.

“Let’s not worry about things out of our control,” he said, forcing a smile. “Why don’t you tell me about Elena’s work? Has she come up with a new vaccine?”

“Obviously, the vaccine she gave you didn’t exactly have the desired effect we wanted and there is no way of telling if it will affect everyone the same. Elena’s developed two more. Unfortunately, both of them had negative consequences and the test subject had to be put down.”

“Oh.” That wasn’t good at all.

“She’s still working, but we are running out of time.”

“What happens if she can’t develop something in time?” Noah asked. “Will you give everyone the same cocktail I got?” What would happen to Claire? He wasn’t going to let her die.

“I don’t know. It’s not entirely my choice. Even if Astraea approves, there are still other things to consider,” Ethney said.

“Like what?”

Ethney shoved a lock of hair behind her ear. “Well, the government is on their radar. Knowing a lycanthrope can turn at will and the possibility you are essentially immortal since the lycanthrope gene is still very active in you, the government can, and will, throw a wrench into the plan.”

“Immortal?”

“You aren’t completely impervious to attacks—you still can die, but you might not age anymore, plus there is the extra strength and healing capabilities. You’re something more. If there is one thing I do know about people, it’s that they fear what they don’t understand.”

She was right about that. “I hope Elena can figure something else out.”

Ethney offered him a small smile. “Me, too.”

He wanted to ask her what might happen if Elena was unsuccessful, but he didn’t. He wasn’t ready to go down that road—not yet. Elena had to find a cure. Claire and everyone else’s lives depended on it.