LOGINFENRIRI couldn’t stay and wait.I had known that on the cliff, and I knew it now, as a man in a stolen car driving north through a grey morning. And knowing it didn’t make it easier, but it was still true.The last place I remembered as a man was the base.Which meant the base was where I needed to start. I needed to get to the country where I had last been human and find whatever was left of the unit.The base was probably the thread that led from the bite to Janet to whatever she had done to me.It would only trace back to the beginning, because the beginning was where the answer was before I could go back to Elara.I kept driving until the city thinned out behind me and the road stretched longer and flatter, with fields on either side.Hours passed.Eventually, the fields gave way to something denser, and a town appeared gradually through signs, roundabouts, and pedestrians moving along pavements.I followed the road in until I saw the sign.FREE PARKING.Great.I pulled in fully
ElaraThen she grinned at the nurse, who held a blank gaze. “She’s my niece. Be nice.”The nurse shrugged. “I’ll get Dr. Pedro for you.”Within minutes, I was in Dr. Pedro’s office.“Previous medical records?” the man asked, flipping through a page.I cleared my throat, running through everything Bess had taught me to say. “They are overseas, and I am in the process of transferring them.”The man nodded, scribbling whatever he thought he understood.Bess was right. This doctor was ignorant enough, or maybe he just didn’t care. Either way, I was grateful for it.********After an hour or two of a series of tests, I found myself sitting in the bus on the way back, watching the fields pass by the window.Dr. Pedro said I was four weeks pregnant.For a scientist like myself, that was ridiculous enough to process. Should I have gone to a doctor when I could operate on myself and take the baby—No.No abortion.Instead, I should plan for a new country. Somewhere further away… where the name
FENRIRI opened the door and checked both ways.The corridor was quiet with linoleum floors and overhead strip lighting. It also had the particular smell of a cleaning product that every medical building in the world seemed to use.There was the reception desk I could see at the far end of the right-hand corridor.Shit, shit…I got halfway down before I saw two men in officer uniforms coming from the stairwell. I slowed my pace and looked at them properly because something was wrong and I needed a second to identify what.The uniforms were right.The boots were right.But their positioning was wrong. I mean, these scumbags were moving through a veterinary hospital with an alert body language of people on an active search.“Received an alert call on a big wolf.” One of them whispered into his talker.“Confirmed.” Another voice replied.“Proceed with extreme extortion?”“Confirmed.”I scoffed. These were Janet's people. And had them in officer uniforms.I knew this because I had watche
Fenrir Was I back to…?When I glanced down again, I saw what I had always seen in my dreams. Two trembling hands like Elara, two ridiculously thick legs like Elara. I raised those shaky hands towards my mouth.No fang.What the fuck? I withdrew them quickly, then turned both hands over and back again like I was checking that they were real. They were real.I swung my legs off the bed and stood. My reflection caught in the dark glass of the monitor beside the bed.You've got to be fucking kidding me.A man looked back at me. This was certainly not the image of the creature that had carried Elara through the forest and thrown her off a cliff.This man would never take six darts standing.But this man with broad shoulders, unshaven jaw and wild red rimmed eyes was in a hospital room. I blinked at him, and he fucking blinked back.I stood there and looked at him and he looked back and neither of us moved for a considerable amount of time.Then my eyes went wet and I couldn't stop it ev
ELARAThe woman handed a pair of jeans and a sweater from the lost property box while explaining that someone had left them six months ago and never collected them.I didn't even want to think about it.I changed in the back room, folded the scrubs and left them on the counter because they were the only thing I had to offer.The woman took them without comment."There's a women's shelter two streets over," she said, when I came back out."Thank you," I said. She didn't look convinced but she didn't push it and I left before she could decide to make any phone calls on my behalf.The lesser they knew, the better.The shelter gave me breakfast, a pair of second hand trainers that were half a size too big and a small amount of emergency cash from a fund they kept for exactly this kind of situation.My situation.I sat at the table in their kitchen, ate toast and answered the minimum number of questions required to receive the help.“Documents?” She asked.“Hell no.” I shook my head.“Oh.
ELARAHe paused. "She asked about the facility, and I told her what we agreed on."There was another pause, and his voice dropped slightly. I nearly fell over while listening."Janet, I'm handling it. I know what the timeline is, I've known what the timeline is from the beginning, just… give me until morning."The courtyard was quiet around him."She doesn't know about the secondary protocol," he said. "She just wants to go back for it.” He growled. “I am talking about him. She wants to go back for him."My lips curled. He was telling her everything.The bastard!“Yeah, she fucking puts her trust in me. I'll bring her in by morning, just have the room ready." He finished, dropping the phone back into his pocket.I let the fire door close silently.Then I moved through the back of the lobby. It would be really foolish of me to run through the front lobby. The front lobby gets more attention.I kept my head down, walking fast with my eyes on the door and my mind already three steps ahe







