Seven

She sat on the bed. She had found some Levis and a sweatshirt, and a pair of boots, all in her size, along with other clothes in the wardrobe, and she had got dressed. She had been thinking all the while that Bob would raise the alarm when she didn’t show up for work. She wondered how long he would wait before alerting the police. Then it had dawned on her that Mark would simply have a word with Bob, tell him she was working directly with him, make some excuse. As a major investor in the department and a maverick eccentric nobody would question him.

As for family and friends – she was a loner, always had been. She gave a lopsided smile. A lone wolf.

So what now? What would be the next step in this insane nightmare? She had defied the pack, the lords at the top of the food chain. What could she hope for now? She had seen it often enough in the wilds, in the packs she had studied. First they isolate the prey, then they circle, then they go in for the kill.

She glanced over her shoulder at the door, expecting it to open at any moment and Sylvia, Cún and Mark to come in.

The door.

Something nagged at her memory. Something apparently unimportant. A flash in her memory. She had been about to step into the shower, Mark had gathered his clothes and left. He had closed the door. But she had not heard the clunk of the lock.

He had not locked the door.

She stood and went and turned the handle. It opened easily. Was it some kind of cruel trap?

She stepped into the corridor. It was long and suddenly seemed oppressively narrow. She followed it to the end and came out into the vast drawing room. The sliding windows onto the terrace were open and she could see him outside, leaning on the balcony, looking out over Central Park.

She stood in the doorway and said, “You didn’t lock the door. Your mother and brother going to have me for lunch now?”

He didn’t turn.

“They are not here.”

She stood next to him and looked out at the expanse of the park. There was an odd irony in it: nature imprisoned by civilization, a mirror image of herself, a civilized woman imprisoned by wild beasts, in the heart of Manhattan.

She said, “What will happen when they get back?”

“You are not a prisoner, Maria. You said so yourself. You are a free woman.”

“It wouldn’t be the first time in human history, Mark, that a person died for her freedom.”

He turned to face her. His demeanor had changed. He was serious.

“What can I do, Maria? When I came to you and invested in your department, it was true admiration that drove me. I believe in what you say and I believe you are right, but tell me. What can I do?”

She gazed into his eyes, knowing that her words answered only half of the problem.

“Let me go.”

“And then what? Do you think they will not come after you? And what of us – you and me? What do we do? Do we just forget what we have experienced – what we have felt for each other? And what of me…?” She reached out and touched his arm. He held her hand. “What of me, Maria? Do I surrender to this monster inside me?”

“There may be a way. You know that some of my research might help to explain what is happening to you at a genetic level. Your ancestors may have received wolf DNA by an action similar to the retrovirus. It is possible, if you were willing to help me, that I could find a way to shut down those genes, if you were willing.”

He drew her close and stroked her hair. “I would be willing, of course I would. But what of my mother? What of the Cún? Maria, how can we ever…?”

“You can’t give up. You can’t just surrender to this without a fight. Let me go back to work. Give me samples of your blood. Get me samples of their DNA. Let me study them. I can make a file and prepare a report. We can hold that over them, threaten to hand it to the FBI…”

He frowned, daring for a moment to hope.

“Could you…? Is it possible?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know, Mark. Maybe. But it has to be worth trying, hasn’t it? If there is the slightest chance, we have to try.”

The voice came to them like a trickle of poison.

“Cún was right. You are weak. I should have listened to him from the start. But I wanted to believe in you. I wanted to believe that like a wolf pup, you were taking your time, playing, but that you would eventually mature into a real Tiarna. But you are pathetic. This human female has made a fool of you.”

She stood at the open door, watching them. Behind her, her youngest son sneered in triumph. Mark said, “How long have you been there?”

“Long enough. She has to go, Mark. Prove yourself now, or suffer the consequences.”

Bizarrely, Sylvia began to undo her blouse. Behind her, Cún also began to undress. Soon, they both stepped naked onto the terrace. Mark watched them. Maria looked up at him. “Mark…?”

He turned and searched her eyes. Finally he said, “I am sorry, Maria. There is nothing you can do.”

“No, Mark…”

Imperceptibly he breathed the words, and for a second in his eyes all she could see was tenderness and love. He whispered, “I love you, now run!”

And the howling was upon all three of them. In a great bound he was across the terrace. He seized Cún in his claws and hurled him crashing through the garden table and chairs. Sylvia, now a gigantic she-wolf, was on his back, biting into his neck. Hot blood stained her maw. Mark thrashed wildly, throwing himself across the terrace, smashing her against the wall, clawing at his back. Sylvia fell and with a massive swipe he sent her smashing through the plate glass and into the drawing room.

Now Cún was back on his feet and bounded after Mark. They hit the floor, scrambling and thrashing in the broken glass. Blood was flowing freely from Mark’s neck and back. Cún bit deeply into his left shoulder and Sylvia was trying to seize his throat. Mark let out a monstrous bellow, swung Cún in a great arch and smashed him against one of the marble columns. Then grabbing Sylvia in both hands he hurled her across the room.

Maria had run to the shattered window and was staring in horror. Mark was drenched in blood and she could see that he was weakening. Cún was on his feet and Sylvia was crouching, snarling, her long tongue licking the blood from her snout. Mark stared at Maria.

“Go, do what you have to do. Do not let my death be in vain…!”

And with a savage snarl they both leapt on him. He went down under them, snarling, biting and clawing, Sylvia half screaming as she tore at him with her teeth.

Maria ran. The elevator was there. She hammered at the button. Nothing happened. Sylvia raised her head and her flaming eyes locked onto Maria’s. The doors began to close. Sylvia sprang. Maria screamed. The door closed as the great alpha female crashed, clawing against them, and the elevator began to move down.

When she reached the ground floor she ran sobbing across the lobby, weeping inconsolably. She burst out into the sunshine and headed, at a stumbling run, towards Central Park North. There she hailed a cab and headed home, towards Brooklyn.

* * *

The next day she phoned Bob, who didn’t sound at all surprised to hear from her.

“Hey kid, how’s it going?”

“Ah, well, it’s different…”

“I bet! He doesn’t hang around, does he? Our bank balance is very happy right now!”

She frowned.

“Really? That’s good. Listen, Bob. I need to go away for a while. I know it’s short notice, but I need to do this.”

“Sure, Maria. What’s it about?”

“I…” she hesitated. “It’s kind of last minute. I need to go to…” she knew she shouldn’t tell him. She should try to hide the trail. They would come looking for her, but she couldn’t think. She said, “Alaska.”

“Alaska?”

“It’s complicated. I’ll email you, Bob. Can you cover for me?”

“Alaska, wow. Sure, no problem. Mark said you’d be doing some confidential research for a while. I can’t wait to see it.”

“Yeah. It may not be what you expect.”

“You OK, Maria? You sound odd.”

“Yeah, I’m OK. It’s all just been a bit sudden.”

“Tell me about it! This guy makes things happen!”

“Yeah, he sure does that.”