“Um, yeah. His name is Gelpack. He’s not from around here.”
No shit, Sherlock.
Then he watched as the weird guy picked up a tranquilizer gun and steadily shot each of the wolves.Pfft. Pfft. Pfft.Three wolves yipped in surprise and then dropped down onto the ground with a thud.
It was chilling, especially when he aimed at the redhead, who had quieted into soft sobs.
“No!” Josh cried out, suddenly pushing himself up so he could stop the creature. But the big guy didn’t budge off him. All he got was a grunt and a renewed grip on his wrists. “Damn it—”
“He’s not going to shoot her.” He cast a glance at the alien. “Right, Gelpack? You’re not going to shoot her.”
The redhead lifted her head to stare at them with huge green eyes.
“There is no dart loaded in the gun. I wondered if the air pressure would be comforting to her. Captain M said this morning that she found the breeze soothing.”
“It’s not—” Nero said, but it was too late. Gelpack had already pulled the trigger… to no effect.
“It appears I have miscalculated,” the creature said as he put the gun away in a locked cabinet. “I will go wake Wiz now.” He paused. “Will you be okay alone with Mr. Collier?”
“Yeah,” he said as he started to peel back off of Josh. “His big ole brain is engaged now, right, Josh? You’re not a mindless lunatic.”
No, he wasn’t, though hatred still boiled just beneath his surface. And to think he had actually flirted with this bastard. “Of course I’m fine,” he said, sarcasm heavy in his voice. “I’ve only been attacked, abducted, and….” Shit. Certain parts of their bodies were intimately close. And damn it, his dick didn’t seem to care about who was pressing against it. It was hot and throbbing, and given that he was stark naked, it wasn’t something he could hide.
It also told him that he probably wasn’t in as much danger as he feared. If the Mack Truck was trying to harm him, Josh wouldn’t be getting aroused, right? Subliminal cues and all that would keep his dick shriveled. Maybe.
And while he was still processing that, the alien left the room, shutting the door with a heavy thud.
“Before you get any bright ideas, the door is locked and sealed. You can’t get out without a handprint.”
Yeah, he’d already figured that from the way Gelpack had pressed his palm on a hand reader. Though that did bring up an obvious question. “Does he have a handprint?”
“I don’t ask questions that make my brain hurt,” Nero answered. Then he gently disentangled himself from Josh’s legs. “So we’re good here? I can get off you?”
“Yeah, sure,” Josh lied. “We’re peachy keen.” He shoved his hips sideways, trying to toss the guy off. It would have been wasted effort, except Nero rolled with the movement and suddenly Josh could breathe again.
He looked around, trying to be covert about it. He needed a weapon. The dart gun would be great if it was loaded and not locked in a cabinet. Meanwhile Nero was talking in a calm, reasonable voice.
“You’re right. You’ve been assaulted, sort of. And kidnapped. And traumatized, I’m sure.” He glanced guiltily at the girl, whom had quieted enough to listen. Then Nero stood up and opened a drawer across from the girl’s cage. He pulled out gray sweatpants and a sweatshirt, which he fed her through the bars. Then he glanced at Josh. “Your clothes are over there. Or you can grab some sweats.”
Josh wanted to argue out of spite, but he felt defenseless crouched naked on the floor. So he went to his luggage and quickly pulled on jeans and a tee. He didn’t see his shoes anywhere, so it was bare feet on the cold concrete. Nero, he saw, was casually attired. Khaki pants, a butter-yellow polo that stretched across his broad chest, and Dockers for shoes. Preppy much?
The girl, however, didn’t move from the back corner of her cage. She stayed where she was, arms wrapped around her knees as she glared through her short red hair. At least she’d stopped screaming. Meanwhile Josh had to think of a way out of this place. For himself and the girl.
But first things first. He needed more data.
“Why have you kidnapped us?” he demanded.
“We didn’t….” Nero grimaced. “Well, okay, we did, but let me start at the beginning.” He took a deep breath. “You are werewolves.” He gestured at the rows of cages. “You all are. I am too, if that makes you feel any better.”
“It doesn’t.” That was a lie. It kind of did. The guy seemed… normal in an evil Hulk kind of way. Josh chose to focus on that rather than the idea that he had turned into a wolf and been trapped in a cage. It wasn’t possible, and he didn’t want to even look at the memory. But it was hard to deny when the cage was two feet away. “How can I… how can we be…?” God, he couldn’t even say the word.
Nero pointed at him. “Romani magic.” He pointed at the girl. “Family curse.” Then he went down the line of wolves. “Native American thing. Family heirloom, we think. And we haven’t got a clue about him. He was an accident.” Then he turned his thumb toward himself. “Lycanthropic bite from an asshole.”
“And Gelpack?”
“He’s his own special kind of we don’t know what.” Nero looked at the bloody gashes on his forearm, then crossed to a nearby cabinet. While he spoke, he pulled out bandages and tape, wrapping up his arm with casual ease. “That’s why we need you guys.” His voice had dropped to a lower pitch, the one that drew Josh’s attention like a bee to a flower. But his next words pulled out of that resonance, enough to make Josh listen even closer. “Whether or not you realize it, you guys were always going to manifest into werewolves. We did it in a controlled environment where we could keep everyone safe. Including you.”
Josh shook his head. “I was perfectly safe. I was doing a show on….” His eyes widened as he remembered what had happened. “You turned me into a wolf in front of the whole con! I worked for a year on that show!”
