She held up her hand to stop him from speaking, and her eyes went to the werewolf alpha. “I don’t accept jobs from people who try to abduct me. Or kill people.”
He arched a brow. “I don’t believe I was the one who killed anyone.” His voice trailed suggestively away and his eyes went to Hank. Which was bullshit, and they all knew it. The werewolves had attacked them first. But now that she was here, she might as well make the best of it. If she could get any information out of Dr. Oltheten, then this would be worth it. She hoped. And in the meantime, she’d lead with false bravado before she hightailed it out.
“Whatever,” she said with a sigh. “Consider this my official refusal of your job offer.” Then her gaze went to Dr. Oltheten. “But I need to see your data. People are dying.”
Dr. Oltheten nodded. “You know it’s not a virus. It’s—”
“Privileged data,” the alpha interrupted. He gestured to two of the other men in the room. They nodded, each picked up a cardboard box, and disappeared out a far side door. Meanwhile, the alpha strode forward, his expression congenial. “Come work for me, Dr. Lu. I’m confident that you and Dr. Oltheten will figure out how to stabilize the hybrids. We need them functional, not crazy.”
It took her a moment, but she figured it out. “You’re creating hybrids on purpose.” Not a question, and he didn’t deny it.
“I’ll admit that this has gotten away from me. I didn’t expect so much damage.”
“Damage? You mean the dead people?”
He sighed. “That’s why you’re here. Work with him. Find a way to stabilize the hybrids. It’s what we all want.”
Cecilia glared at him. “And if I say no?”
He smiled as he headed toward the same distant door. “Don’t. People are dying, and he can’t figure it out alone.” Then he pushed his way through the far door.
“You can’t do this,” Cecilia cried. “You can’t—” Her words abruptly stopped when she heard a heavy thunk. She didn’t at first know what the sound was, but Hank did. He spun around and tried to open the near door, but it didn’t budge.
He spun immediately to search for the other doors, but Dr. Oltheten held up both his hands. “Don’t bother. We’re locked in.” He exhaled loudly. “I’m sorry it had to come to this, Dr. Lu. The alpha means it quite literally that you’ll work for him.”
“Bullshit,” she snapped. “He can’t make me do anything.”
“No, he can’t. But Travis over there can make life very unpleasant for your friend.”
Travis grinned at her. Which is when she noticed he was armed with a pistol and a Taser.
“He can try,” Hank growled in response.
“Yes, but I have chemicals everywhere. Including the serum in its original form. It’s quite potent.” He pointed to a refrigerator filled with vials and bottles where it stood between Travis and Hank. “Nobody would like what happens to them if the shifters get exposed.” He looked expectantly up at Hank. “You are a full shifter, right? They get very aggressive. I’m a hybrid now, but I lose control sometimes. It’s very scary. In fact,” he said with a sigh, “as the only normal human here, Dr. Lu, you’ll be in significant danger. And then all the good things we can do together will be lost. You don’t want that, do you? I’ve gone to a significant amount of trouble to wake people up to shifters. I’ve sacrificed my entire career, you see. My wife, too. She never accepted. Refused to believe and it destroyed our marriage. I had no hope until my sister developed this serum and the alpha funded my research. It’s important. You see that right? People need to know about shifters.”
Once again, it was hard following all his rapid-fire words, and then when she did, she felt her hands tighten at her sides. “You’re saying you’re the one who created the Detroit Flu? You’re the one—”
“Oh no!” he said, though his expression was more like a man pretending to be humble. “Like I said, my sister and her friend developed it. But she sent me the data and I refined it.” His expression tightened. “Or I thought I did. Apparently not everyone handles becoming a hybrid as well as I do.”
She gasped as she jerked forward. “Doesn’t handle it as well? People are dying! We’ve had one case—one!—in all of Detroit that wasn’t lethal. Most of them lose their higher cortex. They’re aggressive, dangerous, and dying!”
His eyes widened. “Oh no. I’m sure that’s not true. I mean, the alpha told me there were a few who didn’t manage well. That’s what he wants us to work on. A way to stabilize the degradation in the frontal cortex, but it’s only in a few cases. Look, I changed just fine.”
Then he did it with a snap of his fingers. Snap, and he suddenly sprouted fur on his face and body. Tufted ears, cat features, and fur on every exposed piece of skin.
“I even have a tail!” he said as he twisted to show the bulge in his abruptly less-loose pants. His words were slightly garbled thanks to his feline mouth, but she could still understand him. “And smell that?” He inhaled sharply. “I can control the scent now, too! That took some practice, I can tell you, but the alpha helped me learn how. It was easy, don’t you see?”
Another snap of his fingers and abruptly he was back to normal. Cecilia couldn’t resist a surge of scientific interest. The idea that she could study him closely, his DNA and his shifting abilities. And yes, even the degradation of his frontal cortex, because she sure didn’t believe he had his full functioning brain. At least the moral centers had to be deficient. Good God, to infect an entire city was monstrous even if he didn’t understand the extent of the damage.
Meanwhile, Hank was less distracted. Though his eyes were on the other shifter, he spoke directly to Dr. Oltheten. “So you did this. You brought the Flu to Detroit.” Though he spoke calmly, she could feel the fury radiating out from his body.
“It’s not a flu,” he corrected with exaggerated patience. “And I simply refined it as a drink instead of an injection. I also helped stabilize it, you know. Otherwise, how could I change so easily—”
“How did you get it into the water system?” Hank interrupted, his tone harsh and judgmental.
Bad idea. Cecilia had worked with countless scientists, and not a one liked being interrupted or judged by someone they considered less educated.
“I did not,” the man sniffed as he turned to look at Cecilia. He was close enough now to touch her arm as he pleaded with her. “You understand, don’t you? How important it is for shifters to be known. Think of the diseases they can cure. Think of what we can learn from just this—” He snapped his fingers again, and bam, back to a fur face.
