Page 9 of Tracking the Alpha (Project Therianthrope #1)

Chapter Six

Dangling upside down didn’t help Barrett’s seesawing emotions. First and foremost being the shock that he’d been captured. After weeks of evading and outsmarting hunters, he’d been snared.

Despite his predicament, he also felt profound relief, because, hello, he was a man again! Since the change, he’d lived with the fear he’d be a wolf forever.

Being back in the flesh suddenly meant dealing with embarrassment because his dick and balls waved around as he hung from the ankle, weaving back and forth.

The humiliation when the woman he’d been spying on the past few days stared wide-eyed.

Guess it must be a bit of a jolt for her to realize the wolf she’d been hunting was, in reality, a man.

As Barrett bobbled around, his rotation gave him a view of the body on the ground, which turned out to not be a coyote, but a person.

Thankfully not someone he knew, but that didn’t ease the nausea churning his belly as he saw how her head remained attached only by a sliver of flesh because he’d chewed through her neck.

I’m a fucking monster. The evidence lay there in a pool of blood and in the memories of his past kills.

“What is going on?” whispered the woman who’d been hunting Barrett—not very successfully, he should add.

He’d been stalking her pretty much since her arrival, unable to help himself, drawn to her for some reason.

So many opportunities he’d had to take her out.

When she’d crouched by the creek to splash water over her face and wash her hands.

As she knelt in the brush watching squirrels at play.

Yet, he’d found himself unable to attack and couldn’t have explained why.

He’d had no such qualms with the previous hunters.

“I’m afraid the situation is a tad bit complicated,” was his reply to her question.

She recoiled as if he’d slapped her. Her mouth rounded. “You can talk!”

“No shit. So can you.”

“But… you were a wolf. I think?” Her brow creased. “Unless it was a costume.”

“And how would I have stripped it?” He waved his hands. “Not to mention where is it?”

“This can’t be happening,” she muttered. She scrubbed a hand over her face. “I must have fallen asleep.”

“You’re awake, sweetheart, and if you let me down, I’ll do my best to explain.”

“I’m not sure if that’s a good idea.” The woman glanced at the corpse on the ground and pursed her lips.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake. Would you have preferred I not act and let her maul you?”

“I’d prefer to not wonder if I’m’ hallucinating,” the woman murmured under her breath.

“I’m afraid this is all too real,” Barrett grumbled as he bent upwards, straining his stomach muscles to lift his upper body until his hands could reach the rope snared around his ankle.

“You’re a werewolf?” she asked on a questioning note.

“Not exactly. It’s complicated.” An understatement.

He’d assumed he’d forever be a wolf, so to suddenly find himself in human flesh again proved jarring.

If he had to guess, though, he’d say his wound triggered the latest shift.

Just like the first gunshot from the general started it.

Guess he’d have to avoid serious injury if he didn’t want to turn into a furry again.

“Did the military do this to you?” she blurted out.

“Yup.” The knot holding the loop around his ankle proved too tight to undo with the weight of him pulling on it so he used his arms to climb the rope to the tree limb around which the snare had been anchored.

“Why would they do that?”

“You want the bullshit excuse they gave me, or the truth?” Rather than wait for her reply, he kept going. “Apparently the military wanted to make super soldiers. But in reality, they did it because they’re sick fucks who don’t give a shit about anything but power and money.”

“Sounds about right,” her dry reply.

Barrett reached the branch and, with the rope now slack, managed to slide it off his ankle. “Let me guess, you were hired to catch me.”

“Not really hired. Major Stevens decided to abduct me and told me I either caught the wolf—er, you—or I died.” Her lips pursed. “At the time, I assumed the death would be at your paws, but I’m thinking they might not have been truthful about who would actually execute me.”

“They most likely never planned to let you leave, even if you succeeded. Can’t have anyone finding out what they’re doing,” Barrett grumbled as he grabbed hold of the branch and swung himself down.

He had his back to her, possibly not the brightest move, but he couldn’t—make that wouldn’t—dangle his man bits in front of her face. He’d been humiliated enough already.

“How did this even happen?”

“Through the administration of lots of fucking needles, poisonous transfusions, and pain.” Barrett grimaced as his bare feet hit the ground and his knees bent to take the impact. Funny how he’d never noticed the uneven ground when he ran on four paws.

“So this whole wolf thing you’ve got going is because of a medical treatment?”

“Yup. And, no, I don’t know how they came up with the idea or procedure.”

“The Navajo tribes have legends of skinwalkers,” she stated. “But those stories have never been verified.”

With his hands over his junk, Barrett turned to face her, glad to see the bow remained dangling by her side. At least she didn’t appear interested in shooting him anymore. “Never heard of skinwalkers. I assume the military captured a werewolf and got some doctors to find a way to infect people.”

“You said they used needles, though. Wouldn’t it have been easier to have the werewolf bite you like they do in the movies?”

He shrugged. “Maybe, but I’m guessing it doesn’t work that way.”

Her gaze went to the body of the woman on the ground. “She wasn’t a wolf.”

“No, she wasn’t,” his quiet agreement.

“And unlike you, she seemed feral.” The woman glanced at him. “Why the difference?”

“Dunno. I can only assume she’s one of the general’s failures. I’m not the first person he’s done this to. The man is a depraved killer.”

“I was told you took out the hunters.” A flat statement.

“Some of them, yes. I had no choice. It was me or them.” Barrett wouldn’t apologize, but he did clarify. “I only incapacitated the first guy they sent after me. The general was the one who ordered his death so he couldn’t talk. Once I realized that, I prioritized my safety over them.”

The revelation led to the woman sighing. “In other words, I was never leaving this place alive.”

“No.” He didn’t lie.

“Well, that’s annoying.” She glanced away from him, and silence fell for a moment before she said, “Guess I’m screwed no matter what I do.”

“You could run,” he suggested.

“Why bother? From what you’ve said, the general would come after me.”

“Doesn’t mean he’d succeed. You still have a chance to flee this place.”

“Why didn’t you?” she countered, meeting his gaze.

“Because I couldn’t leave the others behind.”

The woman stared at him before slowly saying, “They have your friends captive in that place.”

He didn’t correct her because the bond he had with those in his section transcended that of friendship. “Yes, and I won’t run off and abandon them.”

“I don’t see how you can free them. Wolf or man, you’re talking about infiltrating a guarded military installation, and no offense, but this isn’t a Rambo movie. You’ll be dead or caught the moment you try to go through that gate.”

“I’m aware,” was his dry reply. “But that doesn’t absolve my responsibility. Not to mention, how could I live with myself if I selfishly chose my own freedom over theirs?”

She stared at Barrett before offering a tight smile. “How rare. A man with true honor.”

Would an honorable man have chewed through someone’s neck? Then again, at the time he wasn’t exactly a man.

Rather than denigrate himself because her compliment discomfited, he changed the subject.

“I’m Barrett, by the way, formerly a captain in the Canadian Military.

” The incongruity of introducing himself had him smirking.

“I’d say nice to meet you, but given my life at the moment, I feel more like I should apologize. ”

Her lips quirked. “Understandable. I’m Tanis, farmer and hunter, the latter being why Major Stevens kidnapped me from a reserve in Alberta. And before you ask, yes, I’m part native. My mom was full-blooded Cree, while my father was an eco-warrior trying to save the forest.”

“Did he succeed?”

“Nope. He ran away once he found out he knocked up my mother.”

“Fuck. That’s a bullshit thing to do.”

“Agreed, but not something I worry about. His loss.”

For a second, Barrett forgot his nakedness and raked fingers through his hair, froze halfway through the comb, and then quickly dropped his hands back down to cover his junk.

She snorted. “Kind of pointless don’t you think? I’ve seen it all by now.”

“I don’t suppose you have anything that would fit me?” Asked on a doubtful note seeing as how he outweighed her by at least eighty or more pounds.

“Nope, but I do have a blanket you can at least wrap around you like a sarong. Give me a second to grab it from my pack.”

She turned from him, presenting her back and displaying a lack of fear that either showed courage or foolishness.

He could have easily taken her out, but she apparently trusted him not to be an animal despite what he’d done to the dead woman on the ground.

Obviously one of the failures the general mentioned.

The treatment didn’t kill her but infused her with madness.

Or was that a side effect because she’d been stuck in the coyote shape for too long?

Would that have been Barrett eventually?

Probably, given day by day he felt his grip on humanity slipping.