Cathrine "What's your name?""Theo—Theodore, sir.""You're Dr. Winters' latest postgrad, right?""Yes, sir."James put a hand on the boy's shoulder, almost fatherly. "Did you understand what you were doing just now?"Theodore looked up, terror and confusion wrestling in his eyes. "I—I was trying to help Dr. Winters. She said—"James cut him off with a smile. "Good. I like loyalty. But you need to remember the chain of command." He squeezed the shoulder, then straightened.He turned to me. "You're enjoying yourself?"I snorted. "At least someone in this lab can make me cum."James's eyes glinted, but his face stayed neutral. He perched on the edge of the desk, arms crossed. "The issue is signal amplification. You're not binding tightly enough to the host substrate. The analog is just bleeding off into the background noise.""I'm aware," I said. "We need a different scaffold, but the old ones keep folding at the wrong temperature. Unless you want to go off-reg and start gene-splicing f
CathrineThe boy was at it again, grinding his nose into my cunt like it was a lab experiment he meant to ace. Eager little shit. He kept losing his rhythm, lapping and sucking, then breaking off to breathe and wipe his chin, but I didn't care. If anything, his desperation made the whole thing more interesting.I had him on his knees between my thighs, the lower half of his body hidden by the pale green partition of my office desk. The research suite was dark except for the table lamp that pooled a yellow cone over the readout screens and my scattered folders. Beyond the glass wall, the corridors of the biocore facility lay sterile and empty, deep into the after-hours lull. Perfect for this.He was a good kid, Theodore. Too clever for a slot in the funding cycle, not clever enough to stay out of his department chair's personal life. I pressed the heel of my shoe into his back, then eased off so he could breathe.He looked up, his mouth red and wet. "Am I… Is this working for you, Dr.
RobinLast night after Evelyn walked off, I went back to find Marina elbow-deep in bull guts. She had forceps in one hand, trying to pry something loose while holding a flashlight in her mouth."Need help?"She spat out the flashlight. "Hold this."I took it, aimed where she was working. Up close, the crystals looked wrong. Like someone had grown rock candy inside meat."Never seen anything like this," she muttered, finally working a piece free. It came out with a wet sucking sound that made my stomach turn. Been years since I'd heard that sound.She dropped it in a container, immediately went for another piece. "You just gonna stand there?""What else am I supposed to do?""I don't know. You're the Alpha. Alphas always have plans, right?""Not for this.""Great." She yanked another crystal free. This one had tissue still attached, pink and stringy. "Pass me that scalpel."We worked in silence after that. Me holding things, her cutting and collecting. My back started aching from leani
CatherineThe noise started before we reached the hall. Screaming. Not regular screaming—the kind that comes from somewhere deeper than the throat. I walked through the doorway and stopped.The corridor was packed."Let me go! Let me go!" A woman on her knees slammed her head against the wall. Thud. "I want to die with her!""Maria, stop!" Her husband grabbed her shoulders, pulling her back. "Please—""No!" She twisted, nails raking down his arms. "She's alone! My baby's alone!"Blood ran down to his elbows. He didn't let go."She's not alone," he said, voice breaking. "She's with the goddess now.""I don't want the goddess to have her! I want her!" Another slam against the wall before he could stop her. Blood smeared the white paint."What a sight," I said. "Did they just realize their children were dying?"Frost stood beside me. We walked through, stepping around a woman who'd collapsed flat on the floor. Her husband crouched over her, saying something I couldn't hear.I thought of
ColeSome men are born to lead. Others have leadership beaten into them by circumstance. Damon? He was born for it, then spent five years making every wrong choice possible. Now I watched him on his knees in his own blood, and all I could think was: this is what happens when you're just utterly, irredeemably stupid.Evelyn walked away, her back straight, not looking back once. The entire infirmary watched their Alpha prostrate himself on the floor."Get up." I moved closer to him. "Come on, Damon. You're embarrassing yourself."He didn't move. Head down like a beaten dog.I scanned the faces around us. Parents holding dead children. Guards trying not to stare. Healers pretending to work while stealing glances. This was bad. Really bad."Alpha." Louder this time. "We need to go."The murmurs started.“He’s lost his mind,” “His father was better, he’s just not fit to lead.”“Look at him, just look at him.”Each whispers another nail in his authority's coffin. And he could hear them. T
CatherineAva's body had that particular smell—not overwhelming yet, but there. Day-old death starting to set in. The others in the room were pretending not to notice, or maybe they were just avoiding setting Evelyn off.After that scene in the hallway, I understood why. My daughter was close to breaking completely.I sighed. Where was the hope here? The child's skin had gone waxy, her small body rigid. She'd been dead over a day now.I turned. Hilda stood a few feet from the door, Frost beside her. The red-haired girl's eyes never left Ava's body. The look on her face made me pity the sentinel, but it also worried me. What happened when a Wolf Hunter lost their charge?They weren't created to serve wolves, after all. They were created to hunt them. That's why Yrsa had looked ready to shit herself seeing two of them in one room. She'd probably stay in her cave for months after this. The old bitch had lived long enough to remember what Wolf Hunters did to packs. Longer than my mother,