“He is not frightened enough,” the alien said. “His mind appears to be unusually accepting. Are you sure this is the right man?”
“Yes!” Nero snapped. “It’s Hollywood, for God’s sake. Who knows what people here think is true? For all we know, you’re not his first alien.”
“That is most unusual,” the thing said, and there was interest in his warbled voice. “I should like to probe this further.”
Laddin had no idea if it was intentional or not, but the wordprobeexploded in his mind and tightened areas of his body into hard knots of terror.
“Much better,” the alien said as he turned toward Wiz. “You may finish now.”
Wiz did. His voice rose with an impressive crescendo while his free hand danced in the air. Then there was a boom. Not an audible boom but a vibration that affected Laddin more than the biggest car explosion he’d ever pulled off.
His muscles quivered and his bones rattled with the power of it. His throat closed off and his shoulders hunched. But inside, he was still caught up in Grandmama’s prediction. Finally, the batty old woman had been proven right, and that made him happy. She may have plagued his childhood with one wacky idea after another, but in this, she was 100 percent right.
“Do not be so calm,” the alien warbled. “Otherwise you will die.”
The line was so stupid that it actually made Laddin loosen up even more. His cells were bathed in an electric current that was almost fun as it coursed through his body in erratic and uncertain patterns. But before he could fully relax, a sound filled the room—a guttural roar like that of a beast. It was harsh and terrified, but the fury in the roar spiked Laddin’s adrenaline. That was the sound of a creature about to attack. And from the depth of the noise, he knew it wasn’t a small animal.
In fact, it sounded like a very pissed-off wolf.
The others must have had the same thought. Wiz and Nero stared at each other in shock. The alien, however, seemed to settle more firmly into its form as he warbled.
“Much better. You will survive now.” Then he looked at the other men. “The other one will die without help.”
“What other one?” Nero demanded. Then he waved off an answer, pointing hard at Wiz. “You watch this one. Gelpack, you’re with me. At least you can get a leg ripped off without dying.”
The alien oozed toward the door. “It is hard to stabilize a werewolf while being dismembered, but I will try.”
Laddin turned to help. After all, this was his set, his workplace. But his body moved strangely. His head was tilted too far forward, and his vision was different—more side to side, less in front. His balance was off because his hands were taking weight.
He looked down and saw fur and paws, and when he gasped, his tongue was too long and his nose… mamma mia, the scents! He could smell everything! He started spinning, stumbling as he tried to maneuver. His backside was wiggling, and he kept trying to stand up to see better, but he was a wolf. He couldn’t stand like a man.
He was a wolf! The joy of that flooded his body, and he yipped in excitement. There was so much to explore. Not just his body, but everything in his office was new. Dust bunnies and spilled soda, cracker crumbs and gunpowder. He couldn’t decide what to smell first.
“Settle down!” Wiz exclaimed as he knelt down with his arms wide. “You’re going to break something! And in here, who knows what you’ll set off.”
That sank in. His office was filled with explosive charges and delicate electronics for special effects. He’d spent hours organizing things in the most logical and safe manner. The last thing he wanted was to mess that up. So he stilled, though not quite frozen. His backside was wiggling back and forth. It took him a moment to realize that it was his tail whipping around behind him. And with that knowledge came the need to see, so he twisted around to could look. But then his ass turned as well, and he was spinning like a top.
Wiz groaned. “They always have to see their tail. Hold still! I’ll grab it so you can see it. I’ve never seen a happier wolf in my life.”
There was a sharp tug on his butt, hard enough to make him yip in surprise, and then he lunged forward to bite. It wasn’t a conscious movement. Hell, nothing he did right now was conscious. It was all instinct. The more he thought about moving anything, the less he was able to do it. But he lunged and nearly took a hunk out of Wiz’s hand.
Fortunately the guy was fast. One second his hand was right there, the next it was gripping Laddin’s muzzle tight.
“There’ll be none of that!” he snapped. “But now that I’ve got you….”
Something sharp stabbed him hard in the neck. A hypodermic needle, he realized as Wiz abruptly stood holding the thing high. Laddin growled in annoyance, but Wiz just shook his head.
“You’re a new pup. We need to get you into a safe environment. Then you can chase your tail all you want.”
Lethargy was growing fast. It was becoming harder and harder to stay standing, and damn it, his head was dropping too. He whined, high-pitched and mournful, but that was all the sound he got out before he flopped onto the floor. He could see his paws spread out before him, but he couldn’t move them. And pretty soon his head lolled to the side. He tried to keep his eyes open. If nothing else, there was so much to see from this angle. And the smells….
Too late. He was going under.
But the good news still echoed through his heart, and his last conscious thoughts were joyous.
Grandmama had been right! He’d transformed into something magic! And being a werewolf was fun, fun, fun!
Chapter 2
