“Remember, I have to take blood samples to bring back to Becker’s lab for analysis.”
He nodded. “Yes, but then I will command them to go deeper into the forest. Safe from those who mean to kill them.”
“We are on the same page, then.”
Nik glanced at her. “The first page.”
The helicopter bounced and shook.
“Sorry about bumpy ride.”
Helicopters handled turbulence better than planes. “Not bad, if you don’t mind riding old junkets.”
“What is junket?”
“This helicopter must be decades old.”
“It’s an M-8. Works good. This one survived the Afghan War of 1985.” He frowned. “Don’t judge book.”
Another, idiom he messed up, or what Cricket called “Nikism.” Don’t judge a book by its cover. “Still, was this the best your comrades could provide?”
“Belonged to foster father.”
“A human?”
“Yes, top KGB operative who saved my ass.”
Cricket had filled her in about what she knew of Nikolay. The entire time he worked as a Russian military operative, he thought he was the only werewolf. He’d been taken in by a retired KGB agent, who kept him safe during Nik’s change. The man must have been surprised when the wolf turned human. “Colonel Oleg Sokolov?”
“Yes. Father and mentor. You know of him?”
“As I understand it, he was one of the few humans ever recorded to witness the change.”
“And lived to speak about it. Although, he never talked to anyone. He took the secret with him to the grave. That is until I met others like me.”
“I noticed you don’t take status rules so seriously.”
He laughed. “I am alpha. Perhaps, I should.” He raised his brow. “How do I not act like top wolf?”
“For one, you don’t seem to mind when I drink or eat before you do.”
“Ah, that is a stupid rule. I prefer to let lovely ladies eat and drink first.”
“I bet you do.”
He stared at his navigation gauges. “Getting closer to cabin.”
“We need to hide the helicopter.”
“Not necessary. We are research team.”
As if old battle helicopters made good research vehicles. Then again, her cover was a research biologist on a budget. “I just hope we get to the pack before whoever’s behind the chimera experiments.”
“If they are humans, we might be lucky. But if they are rogue werewolves, how shall I say, our luck will run out.”
“Unfortunately, if my theory is right, a team of humans and werewolves could be our undoing.”
“I will keep you safe.”