Can you just wake up already?

I was sitting in front of the cell housing our new suspect with my arms crossed, waiting for him to wake up. He was still unconscious, just lying on the floor.

I know I didn’t beat him up that badly, I thought, rolling my eyes and sighing. It was going to be a long night if he didn’t wake up.

It appeared I spoke too soon, because at that moment, he started to twitch. He was lying on his side, facing the back of the cell. As he slowly sat up, I could see his head turning from side to side, noticing walls in each direction. Then, he rotated his body towards me.

I could see the confusion working its way through his facial expression. His brow furrowed as he studied me and the office around us. Something told me he didn’t like what he saw because that confusion quickly shifted to anger as he bared his teeth.

“Whoa! Hold on there, sir!” I said calmly, raising my hands up in surrender. I wanted him to know that I wasn’t going to hurt him—not because I didn’t want to, but because I wasn’t allowed to.

The shifter’s expression didn’t change.

“What’s your name?” I asked, seeing if I could get him talking, but he just growled and glared at me angrily, as if I was threatening him in some way. “You’re detained because you were found covered in blood after three bodies were discovered. You are being held as the primary suspect in these murders and I would appreciate your cooperat—”

The shifter unleashed a mighty roar and slammed his fists against the bars. His eyes were crazed, bloodshot, and his pupils had almost dilated completely, giving the appearance of sclera lens.

My eyes widened in horror. What the fuck is this guy’s problem?

I stood and walked over to my desk, my eyes glued to the detainee. I’d never seen a shifter behave like that before; it was almost like the bear’s mind had taken over completely and it no longer mattered what form he took.

No, it was more than that. Bears weren’t notorious for being angry creatures, especially within the shifter community. Our inner bears tended to react to our human emotions; our minds and bodies have been one and the same. What one felt, the other felt.

This one, however, seemed to have no connection with his human conscious. The bear mind was ravenous and enraged like it was in constant fight mode.

And what’s wrong with his eyes? They’re only supposed to get like that during the full moon. I was completely clueless; the full moon was weeks away.

Just then, I swore I saw something. The banging had stopped, and the shifter was just holding onto the bars of the cell with the same angry expression—only I could have sworn I saw paws holding the bars, not human hands.

Oh, come on, man. He couldn’t have shifted that quickly without you noticing!

I brushed off the thought with a shake of my head. It had been a long day, and surely, I was just getting tired. I slapped myself a bit to wake up; I had to watch the guy all night and I didn’t want to doze off, so I decided to keep trying to engage him.

As I walked back over to the chair in front of the shifter’s cell, his eyes followed my every move with a look of menace, like he would leap on me at any moment if he got the chance to.

I lowered myself into the seat slowly, keeping my eyes in contact with his the entire time. “Let’s try this again, huh? Are you ready to tell me your name?” I raised an eyebrow at him and rested my elbows on my knees. I wasn’t afraid of the guy and I wanted him to know that.

Then, it happened. It was only for a brief second, but this time, I was sure. I wasn’t just tired, and I wasn’t seeing things.

The shifter’s snarl had briefly morphed into a bear snout right before my eyes. It was quick, gone again when I blinked, but I saw his nose elongate as it shifted, and when I had opened my eyes again, it was back to a human nose.

I stared at him in complete, wide-eyed wonder. My brain couldn’t register this partial shift; I’d never seen anything like it. Was this of his own volition?

“And here’s Trent’s office, which is also where the holding cells are located.” I jumped out of my seat, startled by Knox’s voice as he entered the room with Alex and Gerard following him. Knox gave me a look of concern when he saw me; he must have sensed that I was surprised by their entrance.

“Agent Gianni requested that her men be the ones to guard the suspect overnight and I accepted. I am here to relieve you for the night—”

“They can’t!” I shook my head wildly, starting to panic. After what I just saw, there was no way I was letting the agents near the cell.

“Now is no time to be possessive over your office, Trent. You’ve been on duty since 8am and you could use the rest.” Knox motioned for me to follow him outside. I looked from the agents to the cell frantically. There was nothing I could say in that moment as an excuse for why I didn’t want them guarding the cell that wouldn’t completely give our kind away, so I reached out to Knox with my mind.

I’ll go outside with you, but we need to talk.

Knox nodded, and I quickly walked out the door, hoping that after I told him what I saw, he would be able to come up with an excuse as to why the agents couldn’t guard the cell.

As soon as we got outside, I told Knox everything I had seen and heard: the dilated pupils, the roars, the growls, the bear paws and the snout. My arms were gesturing wildly, and I could feel myself talking a mile a minute, but I couldn’t slow down. I had to get those agents out of there. And Knox had to help me.

“Okay, Trent. I need you to calm the fuck down.” Knox grabbed my shoulders and shook me once—hard. I hadn’t realized I was almost hyperventilating from the panic I felt at the thought of the agents seeing a fraction of what I just saw. We had to get back in there.

“Now you see why I can’t just leave them in there! We have to go back!” I struggled to try and release myself from Knox’s grip, but he had always been stronger than me. It was why he was Alpha, and I was his Beta.

“I’m not letting you go until you calm down. Take a deep breath.”

I drew in a deep gulp of air, holding it in for a couple of seconds and then released it, channeling all my panic and thoughts.

“Good. Now, this is very alarming. I don’t want you to think I’m not taking you seriously; I am. But there is no way I can ask those gentlemen to leave. I already accepted the request to have them guard the suspect for the night and we must allow them to do that. I don’t want us both under investigation for not honoring her request.”

I opened my mouth to interject, but Knox raised a hand to stop me.

“Those agents are very tired. And I imagine when I bring them coffee lightly tainted with sleeping meds, the only things they’ll be seeing are the backs of their eyelids.”

I nodded slowly. Knox made sense, but I was still concerned.

“So, what are we going to do about the shifter? We can’t just hand him off anymore.”

Knox nodded and looked deep in thought for a few moments.

“Okay. What I need you to do is contact Ramon. Sneak him in with some excuse and get him to test the shifter’s blood. We need to find out what’s wrong with him.”

Ramon Marquez was our Resource Manager who came to us from Cabo Pulma National Park in Mexico. He oversaw biology, botany, aquatics, soil science and geology for the park as well as for the clan—specifically when it came to biology. He was working on genetic research that would create stronger traits in our clan, which was why he was brought to Acadia.

I agreed with Knox: he was the best person to help figure out what was going on.

“Alright, I’ll wait here for him.”

“Good. I’m going to go get those fellows their coffees and head back to the lodge with Hannah. She’s been blowing up my phone all day. As soon as you and Ramon learn anything, reach out to me immediately. And don’t take anything into your own hands.” Knox gave me a very serious look and I nodded.

“I’ve got this. Go to Hannah before she decides to come looking for you.” I smiled a little, still concerned about the situation, but I didn’t want Knox to see that.

His phone rang, and he sighed as he answered the call.

“Yes, babe? I’m coming home right now. I’m sorry I couldn’t pick up earlier; you won’t believe the day I’ve had….” Knox’s voice trailed off as he headed back to the detainment area.

I watched him close the door behind him and then found a good place to hide: a crowd of trees close to the holding lodge. I didn’t want Alex or Gerard to come out for fresh air or something and see me watching them. Once I felt secure in my surroundings, I reached out to Ramon.

Aye, Trent. My man. What’s up, amigo? I could tell Ramon was happy to hear from me. Once I thought about it, I hadn’t talked to him in almost a week. I was glad to hear his voice too, but there wasn’t much time to catch up.

Hey man, we’ve got a problem. I need you to come to the holding lodge with a testing kit as soon as possible.

What am I going to be testing? I could hear the interest in Ramon’s voice.

Blood, I believe. You might need to get some hair samples, too.

I’ll be right there. Ramon’s voice was serious, and I could tell he’d be ready when he arrived.

All I had to do was wait and hope nothing freakish happened until he came.