“What the hell happened?” Wrapping her fingers around the metal pole of the swing she listened to Jessica talk.
“They took me when I was ten years old. Roger and Dani made a file up with everything. They experimented on me as well.”
“Did they discover anything?” Mary asked.
“No. They didn’t discover anything, but they couldn’t risk me leaving. For some reason they didn’t kill me and decided I’d serve them well.”
She stopped swinging, and Mary wrapped her arms around the young woman. “They killed my parents, and I was caught up in the fray.”
“It’s okay. You’re safe now.” Mary saw Jane had disappeared inside the house giving them some privacy.
“I’ve heard what they’ve been saying. Roger and Dani are responsible for kidnapping other wolves. They were experimenting on them in the hope to gain power.” Jessica was sobbing. Stroking her blonde hair, Mary listened as they had it all out.
“Jane said you were punished for talking to me,” she said.
“They didn’t want anyone to slip up. They said you were special because of who bit you.”
“What did they do to you?” Mary asked, hating herself for not knowing what was happening when she visited.
“They put me in a cage without food for a couple of days. Others got it a lot worse than I did.”
“If you’d told me I would have put a stop to it,” Mary said.
“I know. They were scary. I couldn’t tell you what was happening. What if you never came back? The best time I remember was when Zeke came for dinner.”
Mary paused. “What?”
“They would spray the house in all different scents, and no one would disappear to the basement. I don’t remember being in the basement, but I must have for them to have experimented on.”
Nothing was making any sense, and Mary knew she would need to talk with Zeke.
“The injections you talked about, what were they?”
“They were supposed to relax us. Tranquilizers with hints of silver to keep us docile so we wouldn’t fight. I’ve read some of the research.”
Mary stared up at the sun. The heat did nothing to warm her bones. Whatever had happened with Roger and Dani, she felt it wasn’t at an end.
“It’s time for dinner,” Jane said, calling out of them.
“Are you coming?” Jessica asked.
“I’ll be there soon.” She smiled at the two women as she made her way around the front of the house. Mary heard the muffling in the background from the kitchen. Entering the study she saw the paperwork spread out across the desk that Zeke had retrieved. A pair of glasses lay on the top of the paperwork. Walking closer she ran her hands over the files, and recognizing Jessica’s name she pulled the file out and opened it. A picture of a young Jessica looked up at her. She hated the sadness in the girl’s eyes. No one should be sad at such a young age. Flicking through the file she saw codes and names of chemicals along with marks out of ten. None of the notes made sense. Flicking through the pages she saw a daily plan of what they forced the girl through. They beat her in order to force the change. After many months Jessica finally changed into a wolf.
There was a note along the bottom.
“Serum induces amnesia. Given to project one-zero-one, and subject shows no memory of treatment.” Mary read the words at the bottom. After that entry there was no other entry made.
“They decided Jessica was not useful, but they put her down as being an asset for future reference. They were going to use her to lure more wolves. Her blonde hair and innocence were going to be the lure,” Zeke said from the doorway. He carried a plate of food. At the sight of him alone she felt a great wave of need flood her body. She’d spent the whole night in his bed, but it still didn’t feel long enough.
“I can’t believe we forgot all of this,” she said. Closing the file she thought about what he said. “They were going to use her virginity to lure other wolves to claim her?”
“Yeah, they had an entire plan set up. My sister worked for a newspaper, and she’d been keeping an eye on the dead bodies. Each dead body has a mark that other wolves can detect.”