---

CHAPTER SIXTEEN 
     
GRAHAM
My anxiety grows the longer Emery’s gone. Who knows if he’s just taking a nap in the bathroom or is currently scaling the fence and on his way to Canada. Even thinking that makes me feel uneasy.
“I’m going to go check on Emery,” I say as I interrupt Deke.
As I stand up, Quinn grabs my wrist and looks up at me. “Tell him I’m sorry, I didn’t mean anything, I’m just anxious to get Deke all the information he needs,” he says.
“I know, and I’m sure he knows as well,” I say before hurrying out. The bathroom is empty of life, so I continue on, thinking he might have gone to the room we were sharing. Just inside, I see that the window is open and the screen has been removed, making me sigh.
Of course. He’s probably a mile down the road at this point.
I climb onto the bed, which is required to squeeze out the window and struggle through the opening. My foot catches and I fall forward with a “Fuck!” before diving out face-first. Thankfully, my hands catch me before I crash to the ground, and I see the most minimal movement to my left of Emery peeking around the corner before quickly slipping back, clearly hoping I didn’t notice.
“Maybe if my clothes weren’t so tight, I could have lifted my leg enough to get out,” I announce as I head around the corner where I find Emery tucked into a recess watching me.
“You’re so majestic,” he says, looking amused.
“Thank you.”
“I don’t want to talk to them.”
“Then you don’t have to,” I say.
He bites his lip, looking anxious. “Quinn thinks it’d stop the others.”
“Your explanation of what happened isn’t going to make or break this, Emery. He has multiple other shifters involved, including Brennan, who could talk. What if you help him with some of the other stuff, and if he really needs your side of it, maybe just you and I could talk while being recorded? Deke doesn’t even need to be there. No one does.”
While it’s clear he doesn’t want to tell anyone anything, he gives me a nod and looks determined when he catches my eyes. “Okay.”
“It’s cold out here,” I say as I rub my arms.
“Your nipples are poking through your shirt,” Emery announces with a grin.
“Maybe it’s because the shirt is so tight they have nowhere else to go?” I suggest.
He seems pleased with himself as he holds his arms out to me. I realize he wants me to help him up, so I reach down to him and guide him up to his feet. Instead of going back through the window, which looks even more difficult than coming out while wearing these pants, I guide him around to the front and they let us in through the front entrance. As we reach the room where the meeting was going on, I see that Deke must be done with them because the others are walking out.
Quinn sees us and smiles before reaching out to Emery. “I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean anything by it.”
He shrugs, pushing it off like he’s known to do. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“I shouldn’t have made you feel pressured to do anything, though,” he says before glancing over at his mate. “Rowan wants to find his brother to see if we can get him to talk to us. Want to go with us?”
“Sure,” I say, especially since it seems like Emery can get Brennan to talk before anyone else—even if it is usually cruel words.
Ari and Logan stay behind as the rest of us go over to Brennan’s room. When Rowan knocks on the door, there’s no answer.
“Brennan, it’s Rowan, can you please talk to me?” Rowan asks.
Silence.
Rowan knocks a few more times before trying the door, but it’s locked.
“What if we do a few more things and see if he’s ready to talk when we get back?” Deke asks.
Rowan looks disappointed and I don’t blame him. But I think Brennan is worse with him because deep down there’s a part of him that still cares for Rowan, which confuses him.
“Sure,” Rowan says. “Quinn, what do you want to do? I know you’re anxious being this far from your pack.”
Quinn nods. “I know. I am, but I don’t want to leave you here.”
Rowan looks at Deke. “How much time do you need still? For the rest of us?”
Deke pulls out his phone. “I’m not sure. Suzuki said we’re waiting on one of their analysts to get back. She’ll run the tests and documentation, not me. She’s wound up dealing with Raylon and the others,” he explains. “As soon as she’s back, if Emery and Brennan are up to it, we’ll do some quick tests. Probably tomorrow morning at the latest.”
Quinn shifts uneasily; it’s clear he doesn’t like being apart from his pack for this long.
“Do you need anything more from the rest of us?” Rowan asks.
“No, I don’t,” Deke says. “Of course, if you think of anything else, I’m all ears but I’ve asked you everything I needed to.”
Rowan turns to Quinn. “Why don’t we head back, then? They said they should have a vehicle we could borrow for the night. And it’s only a couple hours’ drive. Tomorrow morning, I’ll come back to pick the others up and talk to Brennan then. Hopefully… I can convince him to come with us.”
Deke shrugs. “That’d work for us. Do you think you could bring Ethan with you? I would love to get him some psychological treatment to see if we can pull him back from this.”
“Ethan’s back?” I ask in surprise. Honestly, I was afraid he wasn’t even alive anymore.
Quinn nods, not looking too thrilled by it for some reason. “Yeah.”
“What’s wrong?”
“He’s… he’s not himself anymore. Clearly, his mind couldn’t handle everything that was done to him. He’s very reserved and just stares at the TV all day.” He shifts his attention back to Deke and slowly nods. “I hate splitting my pack even more, but I know that’d be in his best interest. I want him to get better as quickly as he can, and it’s clear just being home with us isn’t doing it.”
Deke starts talking to Logan and the others as Quinn gives me a nod.
I follow him down the hallway a bit until we’re alone, even though I see Emery’s eyes never leave me. It’s clear he wants to follow, but I give him a reassuring smile, which just makes him scowl and turn around, like he’s embarrassed I noticed his look.
“I’m so happy to have you back,” Quinn says. “I just…” He sets his head against my shoulder. “Graham, we’ve been through so much together. You’ve been my rock. My support… I don’t even know if you have any idea how much you’ve helped me get through, but those days without you… while thinking you might not be alive… I don’t know how I’d function without you.”
I feel selfish for making the decision I did to go with Emery, but I know Quinn doesn’t see it that way—he’s more upset about the fact that his brother possibly didn’t have the chance of coming back. “I’m sorry I put you through so much. I’m so glad you’re alright. And I’m glad I made it out.”
“Me too.” Quinn takes a deep breath. “Well… seems like you weren’t too stressed while you were gone,” he teases as he nods his head toward Emery.
“Ha. Ha-ha, you’re hilarious. Emery doesn’t let anyone get bored.”
He’s got that sly look on his face that makes me raise an eyebrow. “You’re obviously attracted to him and like him.”
My brother does know me better than anyone. “It’s like trying to hug a porcupine.”
“He keeps trying to stab you with something?” Quinn asks with a grin.
I shake my head. “He’s the definition of hot and cold. But… he’s been through a lot. And it’s clear he has to work through a lot to even get to the level of comfort he’s showing with me. He really wants out of this place. As soon as Deke is done, we’ll need to move him out of here or I’m pretty sure he’ll bust his own way out and not care how he does it.”
The others start to walk with Deke a bit as he talks to them about something, but it’s clear Emery has no interest in going with them and instead stands staring at us.
“I know you two evil shits are talking about me,” Emery growls.
“We are,” I say.
His eyes narrow. “Did Graham tell you he gave me his house?” Emery asks.
Quinn raises an eyebrow as I sigh. “No, no he didn’t. All yours now, is it?”
“I was going to let him bum on the couch but then he started talking about me. It’s all mine. All one hundred percent mine.”
“It’s a big house, too. Two stories,” Quinn says.
Emery seems pleased by this. “How lovely to have it all to myself.”
Quinn laughs before walking over to Emery and patting his shoulder. “Rowan will be back tomorrow as soon as we can to take you home, alright?”
Emery nods. “If you don’t, I’m walking.”
“I’m sure, but Rowan will be here.”
Emery doesn’t seem the fondest of this plan but says, “Okay.” He turns to me. “Are you coming back with them?” He looks upset to even be asking.
For a moment I’m confused before realizing he thinks I’m going to go with them. “What? No, I’ll stay here. I don’t even have a house anymore, so I don’t have a place to stay,” I tease. There’s absolutely no way I’d leave with Emery here, especially when he seems to struggle being here.
“You don’t have to babysit me,” he says all stubborn-like while looking absolutely relieved. Beyond relieved.
I raise an eyebrow, wondering how this man is so stubborn.
“I mean, I don’t need you to watch me and like stare at me, ya know?” he adds.
“Emery?” I ask.
“Yeah?”
“Just take it.”
He nods as a smile creeps onto his lips. “Yeah, I’m going to. Come along, mutt. Come, boy,” he says as he smacks his leg and starts walking after the others.
Quinn looks over at me, highly amused as he raises an eyebrow.
“Shut it.”
Quinn holds both hands up in the air, eyes wide as he shakes his head. “I said nothing.”
Emery doesn’t seem to be done with this show. “Come, boy. Don’t dally now. I’ll get you a right good squeak toy when we get out of here,” Emery says, and I start after him. “Ah, you both like the sound of that, dontcha?” His eyes flicker to Quinn who isn’t exactly declining.
“Quinn, I’m going home with you,” I declare, and Emery suddenly stops and looks at me with the biggest eyes.
“Wait, what?” he asks.
And how the hell could I ever say no to him?
      
After seeing my brother and the others off, Deke tells us that until he hears back from his team we might as well wait patiently. Since Emery doesn’t like the stuffiness of this place, I head back to the room I was sharing with him. The moment I open the door, I regret it. The room has been turned into a freezer.
“Man, I’m glad this cold wave didn’t move in while we were traveling and getting rained on,” Emery says as I hurry over to shut the window.
“Why does it have to be freezing in here?” I ask.
He lazily points at me, then at the window. “You were the last one through it, so technically you left it open.”
I hate it when he’s right. “What if we stay in the other room?” I suggest.
“Nah, that’s okay,” he says. “I left that one open too.”
“It’s like thirty degrees in here.”
He sighs loudly before leaving the door open, clearly hoping the warm air will invade the frigid room.
“There’s a tiny TV. We could watch TV?” I suggest.
He shrugs and crawls under the blankets, obviously seeking warmth even if he acts like it doesn’t bother him. After finding the TV remote, I turn the TV on and look over at the bed which he’s taking up quite a bit of. He’s watching me to see what I’ll do, so I pick him up and set him on the foot of the bed.
“There ya go,” I say as I sit down at the head of the bed.
He gives me the biggest sad eyes as he looks back at me like I’m a heathen. So I reach down and hook him under the arms and pull him up until he’s between my legs, back against my chest, and wrap my arms around him.
“You’re just trying to get me into a pervy hold,” he says, like he didn’t whip off his clothes and jump in my shower.
“That’s the plan,” I say as I slide one hand around his stomach and the other down his thigh. “You’d be able to sit more comfortably if I wasn’t wearing pants two sizes too small,” I remind him.
“Sounds devastating,” he teases as he leans back and grins up at me. I lower my head and kiss the side of his lips, pleased when he doesn’t turn from it. I was afraid everything we’d built on last night would be tossed out the window. He turns enough that when I move in to kiss him again, I get full lips this time, but he doesn’t offer to turn around like I wish he would. Instead, he settles back down and lies against me. I lower my lips to his neck, kissing the skin there as he murmurs something I assume is pleasure.
I let my fingers run up and down his leg before slipping under his shirt, just feeling him. Touching him.
He leans back into me as my hands slide around him. “Hmm… are you trying to woo me?” he asks. “Because you’re doing a good job.”
“Maybe I just can’t stop wanting to touch you,” I admit.
“That’s fine with me too,” he says as he looks back at me again.
I could sit here all day, simply touching and feeling him. Having him beside me. There’s something about this that just makes me happier than I feel like I’ve been in a long time.
After several minutes of silence, Emery asks, “Why me? There was talk that you were interested in Kaiya. Why did you switch from being interested in someone normal to getting fixated on me?”
I think back to Kaiya and what I felt for her. I liked her, of course I did, but I never really understood what it felt like to truly be drawn to someone until I met Emery. Kaiya was a gradual thing, and looking back, I realize it was just feelings of familiarity I developed because she was someone I was close to. But when I saw how crazy in love Rowan and Quinn were, I started to question why I didn’t feel that.
And then I met Emery and all that other stuff felt like nonsense. It’s hard to even understand how I was instantly drawn to him. And it was even harder to deal with him when he acted like he felt none of that mate pull. Here I was acting like a lovesick fool, and in exchange, I was met with a brick wall. It made me want to ignore it, but I’m not sure that would have been possible. Really, I just had to understand what was actually going on with Emery who loves to hide his real feelings.
“You had nicer hair.”
Emery starts laughing, especially because at the time I met him, he most definitely didn’t have nicer hair. But I know I don’t have to say all of that mushy stuff to Emery because he already knows exactly why it’s him and not her. I press my face against his hair, hiding my smile.
“Are you snorting me?” Emery asks as I realize that I might have been breathing in his scent like a weirdo.
“Did you like it?” I ask.
“Maybe.”
I chuckle and kiss his neck again. “You smell good. Don’t blame me.”
As I sit there with Emery tucked up against me, I can’t help but wonder how long it’s been since he’s been allowed to just relax—to be free and watch TV or do something mundane. Yeah, he had a little time at Apollo’s but there we still always felt like we had to be on our toes. When we go back with Quinn, how will he handle the village and the pack? Will that be the best feeling he’ll have had in a long time?
“When we get back to the village, we can sit in the house and you can read all day or watch TV all day or do whatever you want,” I say.
“Hmm… now that sounds amazing. Will my fur cushion be around to lean against?” he asks.
“Depends on whether you let me in your new house.”
He chuckles, clearly pleased with himself. “I suppose I’ll have to, then.” He changes the channel until it lands on a football game. “You like this stuff, right?”
“I do.”
“Tell me what’s happening,” he says, so I start to explain the game to him.
After a few minutes he looks back at me.
“What?”
“Is it always this boring?” he asks.
I laugh before snatching up the remote. “How about we find something more interesting. What about a movie?”
“Literally anything would be better,” he says, sounding quite amused with himself. And I find it interesting how much fun I’m having just sitting here.
OceanofPDF.com

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN 
     
EMERY
I’m fine whenever Graham is awake, but the moment he’s asleep and I can’t sleep, I feel uneasy. Quietly, I get out of bed and do my absolute best to refrain from opening the window so I don’t have to hear Graham cry about how abusive I am.
Something’s bothering me about Brennan, though. I hate the man and think he’s a downright asshole, but why haven’t we heard anything from him? Did he ditch this place and go running back to Stone like he did at Apollo’s?
I slip out of bed and walk over to the door. When I pull it open, the hallway is quiet; it is the middle of the night, after all. I look this way and that before walking down the hall and around the corner to the door Deke had led us to that Brennan was in. I can’t see any light creeping out from under the door, but I stand before it anyway and listen, just in case he’s up.
When I don’t hear anything, I knock.
Honestly, I’m not quite sure what I’m doing. I don’t even like Brennan… but I think I want a few answers from him or something. I want to know more about Stone. More about why he ruined my life. I just want or need answers to help me make sense of my life.
When he doesn’t answer, I take to beating on the door. “Brennan, you stupid fuck, it’s me. Open the door or I’ll kick your ass the next time I see you.”
Clearly, my greeting skills need work because he does not, in fact, open the door.
“You better watch your back or I’ll fuck you up,” I growl and decide to head back to the bedroom. Before I do, I realize I hear some people at the end of the hall and pull out my silent walk.
These humans are practically deaf and don’t hear a lick of anything as I move down the hallway toward them.
“—are you sure?” Deke asks.
“Just following orders,” Suzuki says. “You know we don’t have much choice in this matter. The one named Raylon is the leader of the others. He’s not going to talk without more drastic measures.”
“I have a feeling he’s not going to talk no matter what, but I think the other one will. The one called Diego. He’s wanting a… commitment. He said that he’d talk if his sentence would be lightened.”
She snorts. “Yeah, after all they’ve done, he expects to be granted that?”
“I’m positive not many of them are given a choice. I think whatever was done to them changes something in them to the point where their morals are just gone. Some of them don’t seem to realize that what they’re doing is even wrong,” Deke says.
“Yet they still have the ability to beg for a ‘lighter sentence.’” She sighs as I hear her take a step and wonder if she’s going to be heading this way. I really should walk back if she is. “This is a mess, Deke. There’s no way around it. It’s a fucking mess and it’s gotten way out of control. Let me know when you get more information. And in the meantime, I’ll try to think of something to make them talk. We have the name of the location the one called Emery gave me. I don’t trust him either, so don’t let your guard down around him.”
“He’s fine. Quinn’s entire pack trusts him.”
“Yeah, but when you see how brainwashed the others are, you can’t help but wonder if he’s scheming something. Hell, he could even be reporting everything back to Stone.”
Her accusation makes me seethe and I know if I were in my other form, my hackles would rise. She honestly thinks I was involved? What an ass.
I turn around and see Graham stepping out of the room. I hold my finger to my lips and rush over to him before setting a hand on his broad chest to push him back inside.
“What are you doing?” he asks. “I woke up and you were gone, and I thought you ran off or something.” He seems anxious and I find myself reaching down and squeezing his hand in hopes of reassuring him. It’s such a weird movement that I did without thought to make him feel better.
“I’m not leaving you. I’m pretty sure you’d come find me anyway,” I say as I shut the door and slide the lock in place. “Just listening in on people and being nosy, which I tend to have fun with.”
He raises an eyebrow. “Who were you listening in on?”
“Deke and Suzuki. They’re talking about trying to get information out of Diego and Raylon. And then Suzuki was talking about how they shouldn’t trust me because there might be some info I’m hiding. Ooh or maybe I’m telling all your secrets to Stone and he’s secretly like my master.”
Graham’s eyebrow rises even higher; it’s quite impressive. “Uh-huh… yes. You super look like a double agent to me.”
“Right?”
He sits on the bed, clearly still sleep deprived. I don’t blame him; it is two in the morning, and having me just up and gone must have been a rude awakening.
“Why are you up and wandering the halls and listening in on people?” he asks, like he wouldn’t do those things if given the chance.
I shrug, not really wanting to tell him I was planning on harassing Brennan. “I don’t know. I couldn’t sleep.”
He lies down and reaches for me but when he’s not a wolf, there’s not as much room. I give in anyway and crawl onto the sliver of bed that’s left. He wraps his arms around me so I can’t fall off and because he wants to smother me. “What could help you sleep?”
I tuck myself against his bare chest. “I’m fine. Go back to sleep.”
He seems determined to make my night better. “How about we talk?”
“Ew.”
“We could just stare into each other’s eyes.”
“Sounds creepy,” I say.
“You’re creeped out by eye contact?”
“I am,” I admit.
Graham nods slowly, looking like he’s not so sure about this while I stare at him, which kind of contradicts what I was saying, but hey, I never promised to be truthful. “You’re making eye contact right now.”
“And I’m full-on creeped out by it.”
He sighs before cupping his hand over my eyes. “There. I’m so glad I could help you.”
“Me too,” I grumble as I try to push his hand off my face. When I finally accomplish it, he’s smiling.
“So, when everything goes back to normal, tell me one thing you want to do,” he says.
Doesn’t that sound nice? “Frolic around my new house butt-naked with a book,” I say, thrilled by the idea.
“Think bigger. Think beyond that.”
“Um…” I stare at him, not quite sure what could be better than that.
“Somewhere you’ve wanted to travel.”
“Oh… like anywhere?”
“Anywhere,” he says.
“Maybe like a museum.”
“What kind?”
“Art… or history… really anything.”
His hand seems to absently run up and down my arm and I find myself enjoying the touch. “I know of some nice ones I could take you to.”
“You would?” I ask skeptically.
“Of course. What about a job? What would you want to do?”
I think for a long moment, but I’m not really sure what I could be good at. The only thing I’m really any good at is fighting. “Quinn’s bodyguard.”
“I’m not sure Quinn needs a bodyguard, but you’d be good at it,” he says, and I find myself oddly pleased by his compliment. Am I really so attention starved? I mean, come on, it was a simple compliment.
“What do you do?” I ask, since I realize that I really don’t know.
“Just help run the town. We have shops that are open to travelers where we sell little trinkets and other things. We used to have bed and breakfast places open until we had a few issues with them, but it’d be nice to get them up and running again. I did a lot of hopping around. Helping here and there, dealing with security, shipments, interactions with the public… those kinds of things.”
“You? Quinn picked you to be the person who interacts with the public? Did you just gruffly get in their space and they’d hand everything over?” I tease.
“Usually,” he says, and I find myself digging that for some reason. “But with the internet, you know you could have a lot of different types of jobs. You could go to college—”
But I know I can’t. I wouldn’t be good at it. “I never even finished school. I left around ninth grade… one of Stone’s scientists who ‘disappeared’ when I was about twenty did teach me a lot. It kept me from going mad. He was a bit of an ass, but I liked having things to think about and do. Still, I’m sure I’m not up to speed enough to go to college.”
“You don’t know unless you try,” he says. “You read a lot, so maybe you could do something along those lines?”
I find myself thinking about that. Is there a way I could do something else? If I had the option, would I go to school? Would I try to learn something? It’s been so far out of my reach for so long that I’ve never even thought of what I’d do if I had the opportunity.
Graham’s eyes are closed as I realize in my absence of a reply, he’s drifted off to sleep. I focus on the arms wrapped around me and close my eyes.
And this time, I feel sleep creeping toward me as my mind races while I think about all the things I could do with my life. All the possibilities. It’s like there’s a whole new world out there and I wonder if I’ll ever reach it.
      
By the time lunch has come and gone and there’s been no new information on when we can go, I start to get a bit stir-crazy. Graham just keeps grabbing me and pinning me down with his arms, like he thinks he can stop me from opening the window and scaling the fence to my freedom. He should know the only thing stopping me is that his arms do feel kind of nice. “Come on, they said they had to wait for their team. They have so much stuff to deal with. Right now, they’re going through the info we gave them, dealing with the shifters they caught, Stone, us… it’s endless. And like Deke said, you need to use this time for your arm to heal up.”
I hate when Deke, or anyone else, thinks they know what’s best for me. “My arm is good as new,” I say as I use it to flip him off. He doesn’t seem to mind and guides me over to a seat a moment before there’s a knock on the door.
“Emery?” a woman says.
I’m up and rushing for it before yanking it open. “Can I leave?”
I don’t even know who the woman is, but I’m positive that I only need one person to say yes to break out of this place. Instead, she smiles at me as Deke stands beside her.
“You must be Emery,” she says, and I instantly decide I don’t like her.
I back away from her and let Graham take over. She looks pretty weak. Maybe he can strong-arm her into letting me go.
Instead, he smiles and shakes her hand like an annoying gentleman. “He is, and I’m Graham.”
“Nice to meet both of you. You can call me Jasmine. I’m here to collect some information from Emery and do a few simple tests if you’d both follow me,” she says.
The only place I’m planning on following her is out the front door. When she turns away from it, I scowl, but Graham reaches back and takes my hand. For a long moment, I stare at his hand on mine while questioning why this makes me consider going with him. Honestly, I should just make my own way out, but instead, I’m contemplating everything just because of his hand on mine.
“Come on, they said this is the last thing you need before you can go home,” he says, voice gentle. How dare he use that gentle voice with me?
I take a deep breath because if it really is the last thing I have to do before leaving, then I might as well suffer and get it over with. If I can just get her to do her stupid testing as quickly as she can, there’s a possibility I could be out and into my new home by this evening. So when Graham gives my hand a gentle squeeze, I find myself giving in and following after them.
“Emery’s a bit… hesitant about this, so can you explain what the testing involves?” Graham asks Jasmine.
The woman slows down to walk beside him and I can’t help but scowl at her for ruining my day. She doesn’t seem to mind in the slightest.
“Of course. And I’ll go over everything in detail when we start. So, Emery, what we’re doing is collecting concrete evidence about each of the shifters who’ve been… modified. We document height, weight, and age. Then we like to record a few minutes of you in your shifter form. The first part is as simple as that. Come along,” she says as we step through the door that she opens for us. Inside is a large open room with a mat on the floor and what looks like a scale in the corner.
She waves to a curtain that takes up another corner. “If you want to shift, we’ll get started. Do you have any questions before you begin?”
I ignore her and pull my clothes off right there, not sure what I need the curtain for. Does she really think I have an ounce of modesty left?
She fiddles with a camera that’s aimed toward the open area. “Now, this is the camera, I’m going to go ahead and turn that on for documentation,” she says as she finishes and picks up a clipboard.
“Anything you can give us will help in convicting Stone,” Deke assures me. And while I want more than anything to get Stone destroyed, I can’t bring myself to trust anyone but Graham enough to give them what they want.
I take a deep breath and Graham sets a hand on my shoulder. “You can do this. It’s all simple stuff.”
Letting his words reassure me, I shift quickly, landing on my four paws. Jasmine immediately waves to a scale that I stand on. She jots the information down before getting my height. Then she takes pictures of me, which I don’t like. I feel like some type of circus animal, but hell, it’s definitely not the worst thing I’ve had to do.
“Can you just walk with me?” she asks, and I look back at Graham because I’m uncertain. He gives me a nod so I follow her to the far end of the room. “I want to see how fast you can run back to Graham. Can you do that for me?”
Anything to get away from her.
I bolt back over to Graham, more than pleased to be back at his side. I bump my muzzle against his leg, really thinking he should whisk me out of here. Instead, he rubs my ears. She has me do a few more mundane things before asking me to shift back and get dressed. “Alright. Done with part one. Part two is all written; are you good to simply answer a few questions?”
I give her a curt nod and she leads me over to a room with a table and two chairs. She looks up at Graham and smiles. “If you want to go back to your room, this might take an hour or so.”
I hesitate at the idea of him leaving but relief fills me when he sets his hand on my shoulder. “Nah, I’m fine waiting.”
When she waves at the chair, I reluctantly sit. She passes me a pile of papers and hands me a pencil, making me feel like I’m back in school. The first few questions are odd. Little scenarios with a spot for me to write down what I’d do in each case. After the third question, I realize it’s some type of moral test.
Does she think I’m some emotionless monster and I’m going to give all that away with some stupid handwritten test?
I start flipping through the questions without answering them, while wondering what kind of animal she thinks I am. Clearly she believes I’m a monster to think I’d answer these with any kind of response that would make her unsatisfied.
I toss the pencil down and slide it over to her. “I’m done.”
“You only answered three. Let’s continue.”
“No,” I say, voice sharp.
She doesn’t seem fazed. I’m sure I’m not the first one to say no to her. “We just want to see how you’ll do with this.”
“I’m not a monster. You might think I’m a monster, but I’m not,” I growl.
She gives me a tightlipped smile. “I never once claimed you were a monster, and if it came off like that, I’m sorry.”
“Your test did. So I’m done. I want to go to the village.”
She looks over at Graham, clearly thinking he’s going to get me back on the right track. And I know if he asked me to, I’d probably go back to working on it, no matter how reluctantly. But as Graham takes it and flips through it, his face scrunches up. “How are these really going to help you? Are you just trying to do some sneaky behavioral test on him or something? He’s fine. I promise he’s okay.”
Deke looks over at the woman who seems unsure of what to do. Deke at least decides to speak up. “Honestly, I think he’s fine. I don’t think this is going to solve anything. He’s already shown that he’s not like the other modified shifters.”
Jasmine smiles. “That’s true. The others… they haven’t all been as… innocent as they pretend to be at times. So we thought doing some behavioral tests would help us. The last one I tried testing was determined to tear my head off. Like… even in human form he thought he could just pluck my head straight off my body.”
If she doesn’t let me out soon, I might share those feelings. “So… can I go?” I ask.
She smiles at me. “I know you’re going to get a bit… defensive. But is there any possible way we could get some blood out of you? We’d really, really like to get a better understanding of what this Mercer guy did to you. It’s just a tiny poke.”
I stare at her, positive I’m not letting anyone poke me. “No.”
“Tiny poke. It won’t even hurt one-hundredth as much as what happened to your arm did,” she says as she waves at my bandaged arm.
“I’d rather you gnaw on my arm,” I say.
She’s clearly not easily deterred. “What about a fingerstick?” she asks. “You can do it yourself.”
Graham looks at me. “That wouldn’t be so bad. I can do it for you if you want to look away.”
“Why do you want my blood?” I ask.
“We want to see what we can tell about your DNA to try and pinpoint what was done to you. If we have physical evidence that your DNA was altered by this… company or whatever they’re calling themselves, it’ll be simple to have them condemned.”
“Fine,” I say.
“Okay. You guys can go relax and then I’ll have one of the nurses fetch you when we have things ready. Feel free to go to your rooms,” she says.
“Then we can leave?” I ask eagerly.
“Then you can leave,” Deke says with an amused smile. “Let me get a call sent out to Quinn.”
He leaves the room, so Graham and I follow before splitting off to head back to our room to wait.
“So close, so close, so close,” I say as we walk. This shall become my new manta. “I can’t wait to go home.”
“Me too,” Graham says. “It’s been way too long… oh wait… oh no.”
My attention snaps to him. “What?”
“I forgot I don’t have a home anymore. I gave it away.”
“Aw, that’s horrible. I’m so sorry.”
He grins at me. “Me too.”
“I’ll get a doghouse for you. Would that work?”
“That’d be amazing and so generous of you,” he says as he ushers me into the room.
“They do call me Emery the Generous.”
“Who does?” he asks.
“Everyone who has ever been graced by my presence.”
Graham oddly doesn’t seem convinced as he sits on the edge of the bed.
After a painful hour that’s only made tolerable by Graham’s presence, there’s a knock on the door. Deke smiles at us as soon as Graham opens it. “Okay, we have the test ready. I know you’re not going to be happy about this, but Rowan and Quinn can’t get here until the morning. But that’s okay because Brennan will be ready then too and you can both go then. Is that alright?”
“No,” I say in disbelief. “I will walk.”
“It’s like thirty degrees out, you’re not walking,” Graham says.
“Watch me,” I say as I tug on my trusty hat.
Graham halts me. “Emery, no. Come on. We can’t leave Brennan.”
I growl because I can leave his ass just fine. He’s never done anything beyond annoy me. “Let me talk to Quinn.”
“Of course,” Deke says as he hands his phone over. I click the call button and Quinn immediately answers with a stupidly cheery, “Hello?”
“You asslicker,” I growl.
“Emery, what a lovely call I’m getting from you.”
“You promised that one of you would pick me up today,” I say.
Quinn sighs and he actually sounds like he feels bad, but I still will not forgive him. “I know. And I really wish I could, but we will be there so damn early tomorrow, Emery. Even if we left right now it’d be late. So just give it a little more time, and we’ll be there first thing in the morning.”
I just growl at him before hanging up, since I’m sick of hearing his voice as he frolicks around all free and shit. Graham sets a hand on my shoulder and gives me a gentle smile before guiding me down the hall.