Levi’s pulse began racing, thrumming under the surface of his skin as the beast thrashed in the back of his mind, slammed at the doors, tried to get out.

Derrick stood so forcefully that the coffee table tipped over.

“What did you do Lorraine?!” he demanded.

“Kept my word,” was all the man said, looking rather bored.

Reinhart stepped into the room. Dressed in jeans and a white tank top, he looked like he hadn’t been sleeping. His hair was a dirty, dusty blond, and his eyes were the pale blue of pure ice. They fixed on Levi and didn’t leave him for even a moment.

“Delivered, as requested,” Lorraine said smoothly.

“I was told he’d be delivered dead. Several days ago.”

“Yes, well, there were some complications, as you know,” Lorraine replied. He drew a sleek handgun from his waistband and pointed it at Levi without looking at him. “I can certainly kill him, if you’d prefer. But it’d be a shame to create such an incident in this beautiful, clean home.”

Levi’s breathing was shallow. He couldn’t seem to get enough air. His eyes were locked with Reinhart’s. Those eyes, those horrible eyes, had followed him everywhere, every step, every damned moment since he’d delivered Arthur’s remains... Pale eyes, burning in the dark.

Derrick was so tense that his body was quivering.

“This is all about integration,” Derrick said aloud.

“Very astute, agent Brighton,” Lorraine said, smiling what seemed to be a genuine smile. Somehow that made it so much worse, his sincerity some twisted thing across his face. “Yes, this is about integration. Mister Wood’s death was almost immediately conveyed to us by Alpha Reinhart. Given that he was our most hopeful prospect when it came to the integration of the Redding pack, negotiations were in order. We had to pursue alternate means of convincing Alpha Reinhart to integrate his pack.”

The wolf’s pale blue eyes had not left Levi’s. He was looking at Levi like he was a prey animal.

“We promised him Levi. And we’ve delivered, in the end.”

“It was a trap,” Derrick breathed. “Levi was right. Someone had warned that runner, and that someone... was you.”

“Again, correct,” Lorraine said with a giddy little laugh. “I can see why everyone in the Bureau has so many positive things to say about you, Brighton!”

Derrick kicked the table, and it slid across the room, bumping into Reinhart’s shin. The man’s eyes still didn’t divert from Levi’s.

“You sent us after that runner,” Derrick snarled, “armed him with silver bullets, helped him ambush us. That Bureau SUV during the chase out of Redding, that was you trying to keep up your end of the bargain. You denied us safe haven when we reached San Francisco, hoping that would leave us exposed while Redding hunted us down.”

“Yes, very smart thinking calling on your ties with the local Lycans! A stroke of strategic brilliance-”

“This isn’t a fucking game!” Derrick roared. “I signed in blood that I would protect this man, and you’re trading his life for integration.”

Lorraine frowned, seeming disappointed. “If you’re determined to protect him, I suppose there’s not much to be done. A shame to lose such a bright young agent.”

The man turned the handgun on Derrick and pulled the trigger.

Everything happened so blindingly fast.

Elizabeth flew out of the kitchen like a bolt of white-clad lightning, sinking her teeth into Lorraine’s forearm. The wall behind Derrick’s head exploded in a shower of plaster. Reinhart shot across the room, lunging for Levi’s throat.

Derrick got between them with a flash of flame from a paper slip in his hand. He grappled with the big man for a moment, Levi scrambling away from his walking nightmare. Then Derrick slammed into the far wall, near the doorway Lorraine and Reinhart had come through.

By that point, Lorraine had wrested his arm out of Elizabeth’s mouth. The man let out a string of curses and turned his gun on the woman just in time for Levi to slam into his midsection. Levi was surprised by how fast the man recovered from the impact. He kneed Levi in the stomach and disengaged with superhuman speed, but Jace grabbed him from behind in the doorway. Lorraine grunted, aimed his pistol down, and sent two silver rounds into Jace’s knee. There was a horrific wail from the hall as Levi and Elizabeth rushed the inspector.

Elizabeth got his right arm, Levi his left, as they struggled for control. Lorraine burned with a quiet fury, but he didn’t cry out as Elizabeth snapped his wrist, making him drop the pistol in a clatter to the ground.

Elizabeth suddenly flew backwards, and Levi watched with horror as Reinhart’s massive hand grabbed her throat and yanked her into the air. Derrick was suddenly on the Lycan again though, digging a knife into the man’s side. Reinhart roared and spun, throwing them away and making a grab for Levi.

Levi managed to spin Lorraine around so that he was between them, causing Reinhart to crash into him instead. He scrambled through the doorway into the hall.

His heart was slamming in his chest, those burning blue eyes burned into his mind. He had to get away, had to escape, had to run before Reinhart tore him to pieces. He stumbled over Jace, groaning on the floor of the hall while his sobbing, panicked sister tried to stem the bleeding of his knee. The young man’s blood fizzled with supernatural blue flame from the silver. Baxter had apparently dealt with the bodyguard that had followed Lorraine inside, but he was stuck now holding the door as the other tried to bash it down.

Rosa suddenly scrambled down the stairs with their duffle bags, her eyes just as wide and panicked as his.

Derrick slammed through the wall with Reinhart holding onto his neck. Levi tried to make himself dash forward, to save the man, but his body froze at the sight of Reinhart’s eyes. Reinhart, in his rage, had half-turned, adrenaline lengthening his teeth and fingernails into fangs and brutal claws. Rosa was screaming at him to do something, but he couldn’t will himself into motion.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Reinhart suddenly slammed to one knee as a section of his leg exploded in a red mist. Will stood at the end of the hall, scowling down the iron sights of a dully shining revolver. He looked straight out of a western movie, scowling down the tarnished steel of the thing. He drilled another round home through Reinhart’s head, making the man drop like a ragdoll to the ground and release Derrick.

Even now, the Lycan’s body twitched. He was trying to get up.

The doorframe to the kitchen splintered violently and Lorraine cursed, stepping back around the corner.

“Levi!” Will called down the hall. “Go! Get the fuck out of here!”

Levi looked around the room.

Rhea and Jace, on the ground in a puddle of blood. Derrick gasping for breath, his neck already turning to a deep purple where Reinhart’s hands had nearly crushed his windpipe. Baxter snarling with effort, holding the door closed, looking towards the kitchen with fearful eyes. Elizabeth, unseen, trapped in the living room or the kitchen with Lorraine.

And Rosa, sweet Rosa, looking up at him with terrified eyes...

Derrick stumbled towards him and he wrapped his arm around the man to hold him up. Then they hobbled towards the door. Levi passed Derrick to Rosa, who yelped, then nudged Baxter aside and threw the door open.

The agent on the other side had not been expecting resistance to suddenly vanish, because he crashed into Levi with the full force of his charge. Levi grunted at the impact, then threw the bulky man forward with supernatural strength. The man tumbled down the stairs that led up to the door and then, as he tried to get up, Levi was upon him.

Levi tore his throat out with his teeth.

Like an animal.

The Beast gave him a contented purr.

Levi stood and took Derrick from Rosa’s arms. The woman looked like she might be sick, but she grabbed the keys to Arthur’s car from Levi’s hand without a word. She climbed into the driver’s seat and Levi threw Derrick into the back before climbing in opposite her.

The car roared to life under them and started slamming through the narrow streets. Sweat beaded on Rosa’s forehead as she drove.

Levi’s head was spinning and his stomach felt like it was doing front flips. He rolled down the window, a hand crank of course, and then puked into the street as they sped down the road. His vomit was red and bloody.

He’d eaten a human being’s windpipe.

Another death on his hands. That made three. Four if Jace’s body couldn’t survive the silver now fizzling in his bloodstream.

Arthur did not complain about the blood smear across the side of his vehicle.

Derrick didn’t say anything at all. Just panted and stared up at the ceiling. The man looked dazed, lost. Levi could understand that. He’d just gone against his own agency, an agency that he’d seemed fiercely devoted to. Their mission at least.

Levi thought about the ease with which Derrick had lied to Lorraine, had steered the man away from the truth, bullied him off of certain topics...

How loyal had Derrick been to the bureau?

“He’s thinking about Baxter and Elizabeth,” Arthur provided softly.

Levi didn’t respond. He thought about the eyes of the man he’d just killed. He couldn’t remember what color his hair had been, his shirt, his shoes. But he remembered those hazel eyes looking up at him with a combination of fear and determination.

Rosa was breathing heavily in the driver’s seat, eyes fixed furiously on the road. She looked like she was holding something in.

“Rosa...?” Levi managed.

Finally, the words exploded from her.

“I knew it!” she proclaimed. “I knew this shit was shady! I knew I didn’t like that guy! And who the hell was the big one anyways?”

“Reinhart,” Derrick wheezed from the back. He was clutching his side and Levi saw blood seeping through the man’s white t-shirt. Derrick fumbled in the pocket of his jacket and produced a slip of flash paper, which burned away in his grasp. He let out a sigh of relief and relaxed in the seat. “Arthur’s dad. Sorta.”

“... Shit,” Rosa groaned. “Shit, Levi, is that what this is all about? Goddammit, why don’t you ever talk to me? Why can’t you tell me what’s going on?”

“I’m sorry,” Levi said pathetically.

“Sorry isn’t enough!” she screamed, slamming her hands on the steering wheel. She glanced in the rearview mirror and gritted her teeth. Levi turned around in his seat and grimaced at the sight of a black Tahoe eating up the pavement behind them. “Sorry isn’t fucking good enough Levi! I have done nothing but trust you and trust you and trust you! And this is what you give me? More secrets, more half-truths,” she exclaimed.

“I’m scared,” he managed lamely.

Rosa let out a hysterical laugh.

“You’re scared. You’re scared! I’m scared too! I’m fucking terrified! Shit,” she yelped, then slammed the brakes as a truck came to a stop in front of them. The tires squealed, then Rosa flipped the wheel to the left and sent them into the oncoming traffic in the neighboring lane. There was a violent crunch behind them as the Tahoe sheered the corner off of a little white sedan. Horns blared as they swerved between vehicles, then Rosa yanked on the handbrake, sending them skidding for a few moments. They almost did a full donut before Rosa kicked the brake back off and rejoined the flow of traffic while the Tahoe struggled to turn to follow them.

“Wh-what about you?” Levi accused, finding his voice. “You chose to be a part of this! I tried to get you out of it, tried to keep you away from it. But you insisted on coming along.”

“I couldn’t just leave you to... whatever this is!” Rosa snarled, yanking them on a hard right down an even narrower road, then shooting onto a feeder onto the highway.

“Head south,” Derrick wheezed from the back seat.

“You should have,” Levi growled. “You can’t complain about being involved now, when I tried so hard to-”

“You had so many secrets! This whole part of your life was hidden away from me! I thought that, if I wanted to be a part of your life, I had to learn about this part of it too. You are so coiled up, wrapped so tight in layers of compartmentalized bullshit!”

“So you betrayed my trust, you helped Derrick pull secrets out of me so that you could hear them too? Why? To give you leverage?”

“To understand you! Because I wanted to understand you, to help you, to know what had made you so closed and lonely,” Rosa despaired, her voice cracking like thin ice on a lake. They slammed onto the freeway, speeding south. The Tahoe was nowhere to be seen behind them.

“I wanted to know you Levi. You are so hard to get to know. You broke down on our date, and I’d never seen you do that before. You were terrified! You looked like you were going to puke! I was scared, and I was worried about you, and I wanted to be a part of your life... So I did what I thought I had to.”

Rosa slumped at the wheel, the adrenaline leaving her as the shadows drew long lines on the road and the sky turned to sorbet oranges and reds and purples over the sea.

“I’m sorry,” she said quietly. “I know I took advantage of your trust. It wasn’t right. But I’d do it again, if it meant getting to keep you. Is that so wrong?”

The car went quiet, and they drove along in silence.

Tentatively, Levi reached his hand over and placed it on Rosa’s shoulder. The woman tensed, then relaxed as Levi gave it a soft squeeze. The sign on the side of the freeway read: Santa Cruz 70 Miles.

“Come home, Levi,” his mother whispered.

“I am,” Arthur and Levi said at the same time, with the same voice. “I’m coming home.”

The coastal mountains blocked their view of the sea just as the sun sank under the horizon.