Darkest Hour Before Dawn (THIRDS 9)

THIS WAS a terrible idea, but also the most obvious choice.

Hudson paced the concrete room, his wolf unhappy with the enclosed space. The small room made him anxious. He could only imagine what Sloane must be

feeling. Felid Therians abhorred tight spaces. "Are you certain you want to do this?" Hudson asked for the umpteenth time.

"Positive, but Sloane has to stay here," Dex replied, cringing at Sloane's glower.

"Are you out of your mind? You want me to stay in here while you face a Therian stuck in feral form?" Sloane shook his head. "Absolutely fucking not."

"It's not just any Therian. It's Taylor," Dex reminded them.

"Exactly! Taylor who tried to kill us!"

Dex appeared to give that some thought. "He wasn't trying to kill me. Only you. I think."

Sloane threw up his hands. "Oh, well, I feel so much better now." He folded his arms over his chest, his lips pressed in a thin line.

Hudson couldn't blame Sloane for his concern. Taylor was far more lethal in this state, but Dex also had a point. If Sloane was present, Taylor's hostility would increase exponentially, and any chance Dex might have to reach Taylor would become nonexistent.

"Babe." Dex tugged at Sloane's arm, and Hudson held back a smile at the way Sloane's anger melted away.

Sloane pulled Dex into his embrace, his words laced with tenderness. "What if he hurts you? It's been weeks since Moros injected him with that fucked-up version of Shultzon's drug. We have to consider that maybe... maybe Taylor's gone."

Hudson swallowed hard, his stomach lurching at the thought. For weeks TIN scientists and medical experts had worked furiously to determine what concoction Moros injected Taylor with to force his humanity to become dormant. Mere hours ago, they were informed Moros had pumped extremely high doses of Thelxinomine into Taylor's system. Hudson was horrified to discover it was the same drug Shultzon managed to get into Sloane, Ash, and Ethan before they were kidnapped, in hopes of turning them into mindless soldiers. With enough doses, Thelxinomine would short-circuit the Therian brain, leaving the feral half in control and susceptible to Peitharchia7, which would allow the Therian to be controlled in their Human form. The thought of what Moros had done to Taylor made Hudson sick to his stomach. He turned to Sloane.

"We need to do what we can to help him, Sloane. What Moros did was barbaric. It's a miracle Taylor isn't dead."

Dex nodded his agreement. "If seeing me helps him in any way, I have to do it. Yeah, he's pulled some real dick moves, but he'd gotten his act together, and he sure as hell doesn't deserve this. Moros used him to get to us. We can't do nothing. Besides...." Dex sucked in a sharp breath, his expression pained as he held up his hand. Hudson stared at the claws piercing Dex's skin as he drew them out. "Things are different now."

Hudson couldn't stop from taking Dex's hand to examine it. "Extraordinary."

Dex chuckled. "Weird, huh? It's taking some getting used to." Something occurred to him, and he gasped, his wide eyes on Sloane. "Dude, I was right. X-Men."

Sloane rolled his eyes. "You are not an X-Men."

Dex looked unimpressed. He waved his clawed hand in front of Sloane.

"Yeah, okay, Wolverine. Go do whatever it is you gotta do, and try not to give me any heart palpitations today. You might be strong, but your bones aren't made of Adamantium."

With a big smile, Dex kissed Sloane. "I love that you're as big a nerd as I am."

"No one's as big a nerd as you are. Except maybe your brother." Sloane gave Hudson a pointed look. "Make sure he doesn't do anything reckless."

Hudson's expression was deadpan. "Oh? Mastered the feat yourself, have you?"

"You know what, Doc? You're starting to sound like him. Stop it."

Hudson laughed before knocking on the steel door. It was immediately opened by a very large bear Therian in a black suit and auburn tie. He towered well over seven feet tall, was as wide as the doorframe, and looked as though he was carved from granite. Hudson pondered how a man that size could be a spy.

Seeming to read his thoughts, Dex leaned in to murmur, "I'm guessing they send him to places with a lot of mountains. Blends right in."

Hudson snickered, following Dex and the giant bear Therian down a somber-looking corridor. Where were they? Dex had picked Hudson up at his office, and with Sloane, they'd walked to the THIRDS garage, where a black Suburban with opaque tinted windows waited for them. Inside, a partition ensured they couldn't see the front of the vehicle or who drove it, and the windows were as black on the inside as they were on the outside. Hudson attempted to listen to his surroundings but was met with nothing but silence, and all his sense of smell picked up was Dex and Sloane. It was impossible to discern where they were being taken, other than to a secure TIN facility.

A large iron door slid open at the far end of the gray concrete corridor. Two uniformed soldiers with frightful-looking tranq rifles emerged and took positions outside the room. Hudson swallowed hard. He certainly didn't want to come up against those men in a dark alley, or anywhere for that matter.

The vast room was bare, with nothing but what Hudson suspected was a two-way mirror high on one wall. At the end of the room was a steel cage, and inside, Taylor paced in his leopard Therian form, hissing and spitting. Hudson stopped cold with a gasp. He knew of feral Therians, had even come across several in his time at the THIRDS, but seeing someone he knew, one of his colleagues, in that state was difficult. Dex put a hand to Hudson's shoulder, and Hudson nodded.

"I'm all right."