“Robbie? What the hell—hold on a second.” There were muffled voices in the background, and I thought about throwing my phone. Throwing it and tearing off my clothes to shift and run toward the refuge. It was safe there. It was safe, and I would find the ancient tree, and all would be well. All would be—
“Robbie. What’s going on? I didn’t think we’d hear from you so quick, or even at all. What—”
“Who are you?” I demanded.
“Who am I?” She paused, and the silence tore at my head. “Robbie… it’s Shannon. Alpha Wells.”
Oh fuck, an Alpha. “Alpha. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell at you. I just… I didn’t know where I’d gotten this number. How did I get this number?” I thought back over the past few days. No Alpha had come to Caswell. I would remember. I’d met with Ezra and Michelle, and she’d said… she’d said….
I frowned. What had she said?
I couldn’t remember.
“Robbie,” the woman said. She sounded strangely flat. “I gave my number to you. Before you left Fredericksburg. A week ago.”
I was startled into a laugh. “Fredericksburg? Where’s that?” My palms were slick with sweat.
“Shit,” she muttered. “Fuck, how the hell did they—Malik. Do you remember Malik? What he showed you? What he—”
“I don’t know any Malik,” I bit out. “I don’t know what you think he showed me, and with all due respect, Alpha Wells, if this is some kind of joke, it’s not funny. At all. I can’t—”
“The prisoner. In your compound.”
That knocked my breath from my chest. “How the hell did you—”
“It doesn’t matter!” she cried into the phone. “If they took this from you, then they know. I gotta get home. We have to run. The others are already on their way. They need to know what they’re walking into—”
“I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about,” I snarled. My vision was tunneling, and I thought my phone was going to shatter with how hard I was squeezing it.
“I know,” she snapped. “And it’s because it was taken from you. I don’t know how, but I know why. Robbie, get to the prisoner. I don’t care how you do it, but get to him. You’ll see. Delete this phone call. Don’t let them know you called this number. I have burner backups and I’ll call you when we’re safe. It’s almost time. Find the prisoner. Do you hear me? Find him. You find him and you kill him.”
The phone beeped in my ear as the call dropped.
I lowered it slowly.
On the blue computer screen was a message in a gray box.
UPDATE COMPLETE! RESTART?
In the corner was the date and time.
12:47 PM.
May 9, 2020.
it was human/you are wolf
I burst out of the house. R
ain slashed against my skin.
I tilted my head back as lightning crossed the sky in a bright flash.
I shoved the journal in the top of my jeans, pulling my shirt over it to keep it dry.
The compound was mostly empty, everyone having hurried inside to escape the storm. The surface of the lake was black.
I turned toward the house set back from all the others. I could barely see it through the rain.