Page 30 of Tracking the Alpha (Project Therianthrope #1)

In the weeks that followed, the group that escaped Davidson’s project initially stuck together, their trauma and secrets a glue that bound them together.

However, eventually it was decided they should split up for safety.

After all, they couldn’t be sure they weren’t being hunted, and a group their size would draw more attention. Not to mention, they sought answers.

How had Davidson and Dr. Levy created the protocol?

Were any of the skinwalker and shapeshifter legends true?

Were there others of their ilk?

They went off in singles and pairs. Phoenix chose to visit Malaysia whereas Takhi headed to South America, both with the intention of looking into legends about feline shapeshifters.

Idris chose to look into Nordic stories of werebears and was in Toronto trying to find someone to make him a fake passport so he could fly to Sweden.

Radley, despite all argument against, chose to go visit his grandmother with Slater shadowing his movements and Freya tagging along in case Radley had an episode.

Morton and Jasmine simply took off without saying where they were going. Smart. The less people who knew, the safer, in case they were ever captured and questioned.

As for Tanis and Barrett? They headed farther into the boonies of Northern Ontario to live off-grid.

And, no, she didn’t get bored of him. Nor did she turn furry, even when she stripped naked under a full moon.

Barrett did, though, and he no longer had to get hurt for it to happen.

It was as if, one day, he found the switch that allowed him to flip shapes at will.

Months passed, and they were quite content with the simple life they’d created, but Tanis and Barrett knew, without ever saying it aloud, that the reprieve would be temporary.

One day a familiar face arrived at their home in the woods and said, “I’ve got news you need to hear.”

The next morning, the huntress—and her alpha—with bulging packs on their backs, stared at the oasis they’d created.

“We’ll be back,” Barrett promised.

Unlike the last time Tanis had left her home, this time she believed they actually would because, after all, didn’t love conquer all?

General Davidson rubbed the bridge of his nose as Dr. Levy complained yet again about losing the lab in Northern Ontario and the subjects he’d been working on.

Yes, it was inconvenient. Yes, it was annoying they had to start over.

Even more annoying, it turned out Major Stevens had been right.

They should have killed Barrett instead of trying to recapture.

The man ended up being far more clever than expected.

But in the end, the general outsmarted him.

While Barrett had been busy trying to free everyone on sublevel five, Davidson took only what was needed to continue Project Therianthrope: Dr. Levy, the laptop with his notes, and Patient Zero.

“Are you done whining?” Davidson interrupted. He’d had quite enough of listening to it these past months as they’d waited for the new laboratory to be finished.

“I don’t think you realize how far you’ve set us back,” huffed Levy.

“We’ve spent years getting to this point. A few months more won’t make a difference now that you’ve perfected the protocol.”

“Is it perfect, though? I still had testing to do. I still don’t understand why you had to scuttle the whole operation.”

“Because there was no time,” Davidson snapped.

“Once those soldiers that went AWOL got picked up by the RCMP and started yapping, we had no choice but to destroy the facility.” His highly placed connections only managed to delay the warrant to search by hours.

Hours he used to set explosives, take what he needed, and get the fuck out of there.

“We should have tried to bring a few of the successes with us.”

“Well, we didn’t, and I’ve listened to enough of your complaints. The new lab will be ready to go by the end of the week.”

“And what about test subjects?”

“Don’t worry. You’ll have a fresh batch to work with as soon as the lab is up and running.

” Davidson didn’t mention the part where he’d been cut off from recruiting any more soldiers.

Apparently, those he’d conscripted and lost hadn’t gone unnoticed.

It led to him getting a stern reprimand.

While he still had the funding to do as he pleased, he’d been told to source the bodies he needed from the civilian population, discreetly, of course.

“I’m going to check and make sure the equipment wasn’t damaged during the installation.”

Dr. Levy left, and Davidson drummed his fingers for a moment on his new desk.

He’d relocated to the east coast to a backup location, which had only been half finished.

At least he’d had a contingency plan. He could just imagine the bitching and moaning if they’d had to start building a lab from scratch.

Fucking Levy had no concept of what went into creating a secret facility.

Which reminded him, he had some resumes to go through.

Levy was getting a tad too comfortable questioning his command. Test subjects weren’t the only thing that could be replaced, seeing how he had copied all of Levy’s research notes. A fresh perspective might even be a good idea.

He rose and strode from his office to the new holding level, the first floor he’d ensured got completed, where only one cell was occupied.

As he stood in front of the door, despite the lack of window, or even the slightest crack to give away his scent, Patient Zero lifted his head and stared right at the camera recording him.

He slowly cranked a finger before smiling.

Insolent fucker. Stevens had tried and failed to break the man.

Patient Zero didn’t care if you tortured because he would shift shape and heal.

Feed him slop or not at all. Again, no reaction.

The only time the man cracked was when the girl died.

Apparently, she’d not been as strong as the others in the family.

Pity they’d lost the female who didn’t need the protocol to shapeshift.

Even more annoying, they’d missed their chance to study a Therianthrope pregnancy.

Could it be only the natural-born could get pregnant?

They’d not managed to inseminate a single one of the females in the last facility.

Maybe they’d have better luck this time.

And if they didn’t, then they’d keep trying because Davidson needed Project Therianthrope to be a success. His life depended on it.

I feel like some dun-dun-dun music should be playing because the story has obviously only just begun. I wonder what we’ll find out in Ambush of Tigers and Grizzly Sleuth.