Carter pulled his arm back, a single puncture wound dripping blood onto his sneakers. “Very precise. I appreciate that. If it isn’t too much to ask, I think introductions may be in order, at this point.”

“That seems fair,” Mel allowed. “Carter, this is Kit.”

“Extraordinary to meet you, Kit. Masha, the chains, if you will?”

He obliged, wrapping the silver shackles over Carter’s shoulders and around his midsection. “I’ll give you space to grow.”

“Good thinking. I’m sure I’ll be grateful. Suresh, do you have anything on you for taking notes? I’m feeling strange already… can’t discount anxiety, of course…”

Masha and Suresh each produced notebooks with pens attached. As they began dutifully recording, Mel approached Arthur. He’d given up on the stick and was currently trying to chip away at the barrier using a stone.

“Hey.” She kicked at the ground, bitter and unable to hide it. “I don’t know if you heard any of that.”

“You’re going to get us all killed. What else is new?”

“If we make it out of here, you’re coming with us.”

He shot her a baleful look. “Well I wasn’t planning on fucking staying.”

“I meant you need to stay with us. The hunters will kill you if they find you again. It’s just until morning.”

“Do I have a choice?”

Mel turned and walked away, spitting the answer over her shoulder: “No.”

“Read that back to me, won’t you?” Carter was asking Suresh.

“Perspiration, rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath, tingling in your hands. Was there anything else?”

“No, thank you. Indistinct from a panic attack. This would be much better data if I didn’t know the transformation was coming. Alas.”

Masha tested the restraints, wrenching them this way and that, and asked, “Do breathing exercises work for you?”

“Sometimes they help, sometimes they make—“ Carter suddenly gasped, eyes bulging, and convulsed. He dropped to his knees. “Notes,” he wheezed. “Shit, I should have undressed. Ah— notes, notes!”

“I’m on it,” Suresh answered with admirable steadiness.

And so he was, alongside Masha, both writing rapidly as Carter bent forward and screamed. Kit ran to Mel’s side. He nuzzled her, wiling her to remain calm and focused.

“Right. Right, thank you.” Mel patted Kit’s neck. She closed her eyes and started the tenuous work of setting her ego aside while Carter made half-human, half-canine sounds of agony. Kit’s will remained present in the background. Mel expanded her reach, inviting, and was hit with a rage she had never known before. For a split second it felt as though it would rupture her skull, tear the rest of them to shreds, and rather than return to the earth, pierce it irreparably all way through. She withdrew and clung to Kit’s side with a cry.

“Let him get through the transformation,” Suresh yelled over the din.

“Don’t be discouraged,” Masha added, shooting her a thumbs up.

The incongruity of the gesture with her terror might have made her angry, but Mel burst into laughter instead. She buried her face in Kit’s fur. Carter had given her two points over which to attempt their bond: the desire to escape, and the will to live. The latter only spiked her fear to new heights. She would start with the former.

They needed to escape. To where, she didn’t know, and the realization muddied her sense of purpose. Each person in this containment field would be hunted for the rest of their lives. Mel didn’t have the first idea of how to go into hiding, how to stay in hiding, how to do anything other than shuffle along the preordained channels of ordinary life. She wouldn’t last a day.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“He’s ready,” Suresh called out.

Pulling her face away from Kit’s warm side, Mel beheld Carter’s wolf form: shorter, thicker, and grayer than Kit, with a pronounced stoop in his back and far more rage in his eyes. He heaved with great, ragged breaths beneath the silver shackles. He wanted out.

Masha saw it, too. He said, “I’m not sure how long those are going to hold him.” He and Suresh exchanged looks and began backing away.

Carter gave a growling scream and fought against the chains, thrashing wildly in the dark. It wasn’t like the scene at the lab. Mel saw nothing of herself in the struggle.

“Kit,” she whispered. “I don’t know if I can do this.”

He nudged her good shoulder and turned to Arthur with a bark.

“What?”

Kit barked again.

“What the hell do you expect me to do?” Arthur yelled. “I’m not the one who got us into this!”

Kit made meaningful eye contact with Mel, willing her to understand. He was trying to show her the path.

Arthur went on, “Even now you expect me to clean up your shit,” and Mel got it.

She closed her eyes and brought forward every stressful situation, argument, tirade, and disaster Arthur had dragged her into; every time she’d wanted nothing more than to quit, but couldn’t weather the financial consequences of doing so; every time she’d wanted to look for another job, but couldn’t recover the mental or physical wherewithal to begin.

Rosa had been right. Arthur was never different. He’d only pretended long enough to finish chiseling away the self-assurance she would have needed to get away from him. Mel had finally internalized Kit’s pain before; now, she saw his anger.

Carter let out another wrenching yowl. This time, Mel understood him. She slid her ego aside and greeted his fury as an old friend.

The barrier dissolved with nothing more than a look from Mel.

Masha and Suresh tended to Carter, working the chains off of him as they ranted excitedly:

“Incredible!”

“It went just like you said!”

“If only we’d had some way to take a video.”

“Are you hurt?”

At this, they both fell silent to watch Carter slip out of and step quickly away from the silver. He joined Mel and Kit with no visible sign of injury, fixing his stare on Arthur, who froze in place.

“Incredible,” Masha repeated.

“Do you have anywhere you can go?” Mel asked them. “You know it isn’t safe to return home.”

“We weren’t captured with a wolf like you,” Suresh explained. “We were targeted. The hunters said there were others to collect when they left— in all likelihood, they were talking about our family.”

“We’ll come with you,” she offered. “We can help protect you.”

“No,” Masha declined politely. “You’ll draw too much attention. You should stay out of city limits until the sun rises. Besides, they aren’t supposed to kill anyone themselves if they can help it, and they don’t know you’ve taken away their plan A.”

“You knew two werewolves,” Suresh ventured in a timid voice. “Are you part of the… I don’t know, is there an organization or something?”

Embarrassed, Mel admitted, “I honestly just stumbled into all of this.”

“Ah, well. It was worth a shot. Take care of yourself, um… Molly, was it?”

Kit pressed his cold nose against her cheek and tilted his head at her. Mel said, “Wait. I think we know people who can help you. There’s a laundromat on Peck Avenue and Elm Street. Go there and tell them Rosa sent you.”

Suresh offered his hand. “Thank you. We owe you our lives.”

“For however long we still have them,” Masha said, getting in line to shake Mel’s hand next.

“Good luck,” she wished them. “I hope we see you again.”

Mel climbed onto Kit’s back and gave them a little distance to say goodbye to Carter.

“We haven’t forgotten about your family,” Masha told him. “You can count on us.”

“Be well, old man,” Suresh said. “At least live long enough for us to discuss what the transformation was like. I want to hear everything, and I’m sure you do, too.”

Leaving them to it, Mel and Kit approached Arthur. His bruised and bloodied nose, wearied expression, and menacing eyes struck her. If anything, he’d only moved further still from the penitence she wished to see.

“Am I dead, then?” he asked.

“No such luck,” she answered. “Climb on Carter’s back when he comes over. We’re finding Gus and giving him the proper burial he deserves.”

“So you are going to kill me,” he deadpanned, “just not on purpose.”

“You know what would have happened if we’d listened to you at the lab, don’t you?” Arthur blinked with exaggerated effect, telegraphing his disdain. “We would have died of hypothermia. Rosa was half dead already. You would have thrown our lives away for a fridge full of supplies.”

“Your plan has been going so much better. Thank you. Really,” he retorted.

Carter rejoined them and knelt by Arthur with an unpleasant grunt. Mel watched Masha and Suresh disperse into the trees while Arthur climbed on Carter’s back.