For a second his face contorts. “Oh Clemmy, there’s no way you could have. They make sure of that. Besides you had to be a good hard-working human and stay safe. That’s all I wanted, for you to be safe up there.”
I nod, wiping away more tears. “Go on.”
“Over five years I worked my way up the ranks to a supervisory role. And on the side, I made false leave passes so that peripherals could at least get a break at one of the shitty run down resorts on the edge of Sparkle. I made a bit of extra cash that way. And I chain-smoked, hoping I’d end up dead, because frankly, dying felt like my only way to stop the misery. And then I heard about an illicit drug that could ease the pain of being programmed. Manufactured by some pretty mean wolves, the Baden pack.
I found their lab, paid all my money on that shit and soon I was hooked. Even worse than a zombie, now I was a drug addicted zombie.
“One night, when I had no money left and I was going through withdrawal real bad, I decided to steal more drugs. I had nothing to trade, but I didn’t care. I went down to Level three, raided their stash—and the fucking bastards caught me in the act. Next thing I know I’m being attacked by teeth and claws, and I think, well, this is the way it’s going to end. Being torn limb from limb by a pack of feral wolves, and my only regret was…” his voice cracks, “that I hadn’t said goodbye to you.”
“Ohhhh, Jax.” My voice wobbles. “That’s how you got so many scars.”
He nods. “I’m almost a goner when a huge silver wolf with yellow eyes jumps into the midst of all these fucking wolves, and I remember thinking yep, this is the bite that will kill me. And then, the mangy fuckers scatter and there’s just this wolf, standing over me. And then he sinks his fangs into my neck.”
“But you didn’t die,” I whisper.
He shakes his head. “No, I didn’t. I knew nothing more until I woke up on that road in the periphery and you’re there, bending over me, and then we’re in the car, heading to Sparkle Hospital. It’s all a blur except for one thing… when I put my hand to my neck, there was no lump where the tracker used to be.
“And what’s more, my mind… my body, they belonged to me again. I was broken and bleeding, but I wasme. There was no gnawing emptiness inside me. Those fucking humans didn’t own me anymore.
“That’s how I could finally tell you, about the Labyrinth, because I was free. But then, by telling you, I put you at risk.”
“I would have rescued you all over again in a heartbeat.”
We smile at each other.
“You don’t hate me for being a useless brother?”
Of course not, you were in so much pain, I can’t imagine how you kept going at all.”
“You saying that means a lot, Clemmy,” Jax says softly.
“But how could you work as a peripheral after you lost the chip?” I ask, perplexed.
“Remember how fast I got out of hospital?”
I nod, Jax had left Sparkle hospital, barely able to walk, just a couple days later.
“After that, I came to Otis and told him everything, and he organized a meeting with Traggar, the wolf who bit me. Andthat’s when I found out that I’d—I’d more than survived, I guess.”
I cock my head. “What do you mean?”
Jax pauses. I watch his knee jiggle.
He clears his throat. His mouth opens and shuts once, then twice.
My brother being lost for words is not something I’ve experienced before.
Finally, in a low voice he says, “When Traggar bit the tracker out of my neck, he not only freed me, he turned me.”
“Turned you?”
“I’m a werewolf, Clem.”
“Oh—OH!” I gasp, my hand flying to my mouth as I take it in. “Does that mean you’re not human anymore?”
Jax pulls a face. “Moot point. Ifeellike a human, but now there’s a wolf inside me as well.”
“Like, all the time?”
