Haken: A Capacity for Violence Volume 1 Collected (Patreon)

All 17 parts of Volume 1 have been collected here in one post for ease of reading!

Haken: A Capacity for Violence Volume 1:

The weight on Haken's eyelids seemed like an insurmountable obstacle at first, lifting them a task that dwarfed even his long days slaving over Haven's forge. He felt a surge of adrenaline when the lashes finally fluttered apart, revealing his surroundings in streaks of greys and whites. If he'd been able to summon the necessary breath, he would have cried out in victory. 

There was someone moving above him, and in his delirium he saw what he wanted to see.

 "Razor?" Haken croaked in a barely audible whine that sounded more like grinding sandpaper than the voice of a man. He could see her now—the forge mistress herself standing above, looking down on him with pity. He'd seen that expression on her face once before, and for the moment those memories became the present. 

"I've got them, Razor," he said. "The flowers. It took me all night…" 

Foolish of him to give in to his affections. Foolish Haken. Haken, the Brute. Haken, the lone follower of the old ways. The Great Spirit had determined that he was to suffer and he'd accepted it gladly up until now. He was a blunt instrument suitable only for the molding of metal, not the soft, supple flesh he imagined as he lay awake at night, listening to lonely waves beat against Haven's shoreline.

Alone. So very alone.

"Doctor," the vision of Razor said. "He's awake!"

That's strange, Haken thought. That's not Razor's voice. He tried to focus his vision and, failing that, his mind. He wasn't in Haven. No. This place was new.

"Damn. His adrenals are off the charts! I've never seen data like this!"

That must be the doctor. The world was slowly spinning back into focus. He only needed a few more minutes. That was all.

"Stop looking at those bloody machines and do something! He's breaking free!"

She's not Razor at all. Just some human nurse. 

His mind was still hazy and he didn't entirely understand what was going on around him. All he knew was that he was growing angry. He didn't realize that he was almost free until the second restraint flew across the room and his leg shot up, striking the nurse in her chest. She flew across the room, slamming into the opposite wall—limp as a rag doll, bright nurse's scrubs weeping red where Haken's hind claws pierced her fragile human skin.

A sudden cold sting bit at his neck and he jerked backward, eyes darting from the nurse to the doctor who dared to defile his body. His eyelids suddenly felt heavier. It was difficult to even keep himself upright, but he still had enough strength to grab the doctor by the neck. Force him to talk.

"Where am I?" he asked, his voice a deep rumble escaping his cavernous chest. "What are you doing to me?"

"You're in a…a safe place," the doctor stuttered. "You were hurt. Blacked out!"

Haken groaned as his vision doubled. He renewed his grip on the doctor's neck, lest his weakening body turn traitor and release the man as it fell into lethargy. He shook his head. "You never answered my question. What are you doing to me? What did you stick me with?"

"Just a sedative," the doctor whimpered. "It won't hurt you. If you move too much, you'll tear your wounds open again!"

"Heard that before." Haken's mind wandered to memories of Williams's military camp, over the bridge to the east of Haven. The never-ending experiments. White-hot agony as he was torn apart again and again, much to the delight of the men in white coats. Men not unlike this one.

The doctor slipped free of Haken's grip and tumbled to the floor. This was it. This was the end. More cutting, more experiments. His revolution failed and now all that remained was an eternity of torture at the hands of the humans. The sedative did its work and as Haken fell back into the icy cold of oblivion, he began to dream.

Two Months Ago

The revolution began by fire and claw, its measure reckoned in the accumulation of torn and mangled bodies. Dried gore matted werewolf fur flat against rippling muscles. The flowing rivers of blood might have been human or werewolf—in the end, Haken hadn't been able to tell the difference. Everyone bleeds, and it was finally time to remind the humans of that fact. And then, suddenly as it had begun, the battle was over and he woke up in purgatory, awaiting judgment. 

How had it all gone wrong so quickly? 

Days of imprisonment stretched into weeks as Haken endured General Rivera's prison.  The damage he'd taken during the fighting had healed to a point, but his ravenous metabolism burned through what remained of his final meal and started eating away at his insides as wounds were closed and organ damage slowly mended. 

He was famished, but food never came, only the hateful face of Rivera gloating at his failure. She laughed when Haken tried to lunge through the transparent barrier of his cell, laughed as the electrified panel sent shockwaves through his body that briefly stopped his heart. When it finally started beating again and he opened his eyes, the general was gone, leaving in her place a juicy slab of steak.

Just out of reach. 

When a trio of soldiers came an hour later to remove it, he no longer had the will to do more than growl at them. He would wait and hold his strength in reserve. He prayed, and two days later the Great Spirit heard his call.

An ear-piercing alarm sung a song of freedom and Haken's cell door flew open of its own accord. He stepped through, tentatively at first, gaining confidence as he went.

As he stepped through the open door, he half expected a bolt of electricity to punish his boldness, but there was no pain, only the sound of the alarm and the distant footfalls of running men receding further into the building. What was happening? Where were the soldiers? 

He stepped into the stairwell at the back of the room, slowly climbing until his progress was barred by a thick steel door. Shots rang out in the distance as he slipped his claws into the small gap between the door and its jamb, wrenching with all his might. The door flew free and he nearly fell along with it—that was it, his last reserve of strength finally depleted. He was slowly starving, but he wouldn't die this way. He was a warrior and he'd die a warrior's death.

"There!" a voice carried over the sound of the alarm. In the distance a man pointed at Haken. "He's over there!"

This is it, Haken thought. Today I die in battle.

"That's not him," another soldier yelled, pulling the first man away, running further down an adjoining hallway. "Williams comes first—everything else is secondary!"

Colonel Williams? The traitor he'd cut down with his own claws along with the help of the youngling? He couldn't bear to call the man by his werewolf name anymore. That man no longer had the right to call himself 'Elan.' How was Williams still alive? 

Haken lurched in the opposite direction. There was no honor to be found in dying at the hands of enemies who had no interest in him. Maybe this wasn't the end, after all. He started to round the corner into a hallway leading away from the soldiers when a runaway cart covered with medical supplies flew down the corridor ahead and ricocheted off the wall, striking him in the chest and knocking him backward. There was no doubt about it—he was weak; starving would do that to a wolf.

Two figures raced past while he regained his feet; they were unaware of his presence as they careened down the hall to the left at a breakneck pace. One of them was a hulking brute whose physical size put Haken to shame. He felt a brief sting of envy until he realized who he was looking at. Williams. The man was still bubbling over with an unnatural patchwork of skin and fur, bulging with tumorous musculature no man or wolf had ever seen before. 

The colonel had not earned this strength on his own, but through the sacrifice of his pack. The subjugation of the Haven wolves and their torture produced the experimental serum that flowed through his veins. The other figure was eclipsed by Williams's bulk—who was running alongside him? The colonel's pup? Surely not. Not after what happened during the battle…

Haken wasn't sure why he followed—he was surprised when he found his feet carrying him after the betrayer—but follow he did, all the way to the end of the line. The hall ended ahead of them and Williams stared through the glass pane—the only remaining vector for escape. He never looked back before leaping through, shattering the thick safety glass with a single meaty fist as he flew, the smaller wolf following directly behind. They hadn't even seen Haken. It was like he was nothing, completely beneath their concern. Haken, the small. Haken, the defeated. He would show them. He'd show them the power behind his conviction!

Legs coiled beneath him, Haken prepared to spring after the two fleeing wolves. He wasn't sure if he wanted to join them or tear them to pieces, but in the end, his intentions didn't matter. What did matter was the barrage of bullets tearing through his back, ripping their way through and rattling around in his chest. Hollow points—vicious things. He nearly collapsed on the floor, but he wouldn't provide Rivera and her soldiers with a trophy to experiment on. They'd have to scrape his remains off the cold asphalt below. No experiments then; that would be for the best. 

He leaped through the window, tumbling in an awkward spiral of limbs and fur toward the ground below. He closed his eyes and prayed as the wind rattled in his ears. It would all be over soon.

******

A wave of icy cold enveloped Haken's body. Strange. He'd always expected to be greeted by warmth in the afterlife, a reminder of summers in Yellowstone where he'd found true peace. And why the pain? Surely his spirit would be free of such worldly concerns. 

He couldn't help it—he tried to breathe—and in rushed a torrent of freezing water, filling his lungs as he began to drown. So he wasn't dead yet; his spirit remained tethered to his body and while he was alive he couldn't simply give up. 

He thrashed about, cupping his hands and swimming for the surface. Just like the ocean back in Haven, he thought. Except without the biting salt water. With all the bullet wounds in his back, that was probably for the best. He burst free of the water, drawing in deep, greedy breaths of humid air as the pressure in his ears abated, replaced by the sound of gunfire and soldiers calling out to each other in a panic. It was dark and he was neck-deep in a stream, maybe a small river—it wouldn't be long until the men chasing him pinpointed his location. He scoured the area for signs of the two other wolves and his eyes were drawn toward a sandy shoreline, blissfully close. Williams was impossible to miss as he pulled himself free of the murky water's cloying grip, fur matted and caked with mud.

"There!" someone shouted. "In the river!" Gunfire sounded from above, peppering both Haken and the water around him. He could hear the bullets' sharp whining, humming with deadly energy as several near-misses nearly sent him into a frenzy.  

"Damn it," he muttered, drawing in one last deep breath before diving under the surface, the cold taking him in its deathly embrace once again. He swam in what he hoped was the direction he'd seen Williams escape on the other side of the river. How strange, he thought. When the freezing cold takes you, it's almost indistinguishable from heat. The burning in his air-starved lungs felt like the weight of a giant bearing down on him, but he dared not surface until he knew he was out of the soldiers' range. Just when he felt his resolve wavering, his questing hands struck ground and his feet scraped the sucking mud of the shoreline. He pulled himself up and collapsed on the shore, his chest contracting as he heaved up what felt like gallons of water as he gasped and retched. Haken, the drowned rat.

He wasn't sure how long he ran after that—it could have been hours or only minutes—but when he finally collapsed, he knew there would be no getting back up again. Not without a miracle. 

******

The scent of roasting meat lured Haken's restless spirit back to his body. He opened his eyes and a bright orange blur licked at his senses, slowly sharpening into the flame of a campfire. He was in human form again and his wounds had been bandaged. He looked down at himself, surprised to find that he was wearing a fresh set of clothes. This couldn't be the work of Williams—some other charitable soul must have found his half-dead body and nursed him back to health. 

"You're awake," a familiar voice said from just beyond the light of the fire. Haken couldn't quite place it. Everything was muffled—maybe there was still water lodged deep in his ears. Dual flames reflected in the watchful eyes of his host. "I wasn't sure if you'd make it."

"Takes more than a swim to kill me," Haken grunted. He knew he wasn't fooling anyone, but there were appearances to maintain, after all. "You're the one who found me?"

"Yeah," his mysterious benefactor said. Now Haken was sure of it—he knew that voice. His unlikely savior continued on, undeterred. "You're lucky I got there when I did. Another few minutes and the soldiers would have found you and put a few more bullets in your back."

"I'm half-thinking that's exactly what they did," Haken said. "We're just ghosts looking back on our mistakes before passing on to the afterlife."

"Afraid you're very much alive," the voice said. Haken could see him now, and his suspicions were confirmed. "You changed back when you fell. It wouldn't have taken much to finish you off." 

The wolf who had rescued him—and he knew it was a wolf, now—slowly stood up and arched his back, groaning as knotted muscles audibly popped into place. He stepped out of the darkness toward the fire and reached for a skewer of meat, the orange glow revealing his youthful features and curly blond hair. He handed the food to Haken. "I know you're hungry," he said. "Don't worry about me; eat your fill."

"I don't understand," Haken said between swallows. His face and chin were slathered in hot, dripping grease. He licked his lips—he was well past concerns like modesty or cleanliness, all he cared about was filling the rumbling void in his belly. "I told you to run. I said I'd kill you if I ever saw you again. Not only didn't you run, but somehow you're here, saving my life. Why?" The burning question finally asked, he dove back into his meal. His gnawing and tearing at crisp, tender flesh was the only sound for several seconds before Lapu replied.

"The pack all thought you killed me," he said, staring down at the ground. "Maybe I deserved that. So I ran like you told me."

"And yet here you are," Haken said, reaching for a second meat skewer. "Why?"

"Ungrateful much?" Lapu snarked. Haken started to growl and the young wolf held his hands up in mock surrender. "Woah there. Sorry. I just thought we'd be square. You saved my ass and I saved yours. It evens out, right?"

Haken sniffed. "You sold your pack out to Williams. A thousand good deeds wouldn't make us…square." He'd nearly had enough of this rat. Lapu might be the reason for his survival, but he still didn't know why. Trust would be hard to come by.

"All I wanted was to save Tiva from what they were doing to the adults!" Lapu said. "Williams said that if I helped, we'd all get out of Haven—all I had to do was make sure the pack was more cooperative. He went too far when he captured Ahote and I tried to get out and warn the others. But he blackmailed me—I didn't have a choice."

"We all have a choice," Haken said, watching the youth carefully. "We live and die by them. Many good wolves died because of yours."

"I know," Lapu said, staring into the fire. "But that's why I have to make it up to everyone! Before everything went to hell in Haven, I wanted to die. I almost took my own life."

"Might have been the smart choice," Haken said, tossing the stripped skewer aside. "Got any more of those?" 

Lapu shook his head. 

"Fine. So where are we going with this pity-party? You never answered my question. Why are you here? Why did you save me?"

Lapu sighed. "When I escaped Haven, I got picked up by a bunch of civilians. They seemed friendly at first, but that was before they sold me off to a lab. Seems like there were researchers willing to pay a lot of money for a live werewolf to study."

"Sometimes I forget you were born in captivity." Haken snorted. "Yeah; humans have always been like that. Greedy enough to sell their own mothers if it gets them ahead." He couldn't help it, he was interested in where this was all going. It's not like he had anything else to do until he recovered enough to set out on his own. "So what happened? How'd you get free? You kill 'em?"

"Not really, no," Lapu said. "I was as worn down as everyone else after the fighting. I just got lucky who they sold me to."

"Not General Rivera?" Haken asked. "Did you escape, too? Hard to imagine."

"No. I didn't even know who she was until two nights ago when I was sent here. She's a werewolf, right? Rivera? That makes two wolves willing to imprison their own people. The only difference between her and Williams is that Williams is completely nuts." Lapu poked at the fire with a stick, sending glowing sparks blowing upward, eventually winking out before reaching the dense canopy of evergreen branches. "We all saw what happened to him, but Rivera doesn't have that excuse. She's military. She could be helping us, but instead she's keeping the pack locked up. That's a monster on another level."

"Wait," Haken said. "Back up." He stared at the boy. "You said you were sent here?"

"Um…" Lapu scratched his arm nervously. "Yeah."

"Who sent you?"

"You know how I said I was lucky who I got sold to? The buyer's a scientist who specializes in what she calls the supernatural. She's been working the system from the inside. Technically she works for Rivera, but she's branching out on her own, freeing wolves that the government's holding in captivity."

"What wolves?" Haken asked. "I thought the Haven pack was all that's left? At least in the States."

Lapu shook his head. "There's an entire werewolf prison deep underground up north. They call it the Nail. The government kept the different packs isolated from each other to make us feel like it's hopeless—so we'd think that we'll eventually just die out. You heard what they said back in Haven. They thought none of the captives would breed, but we did."

"That's a hard instinct to bottle up," Haken said with a smirk. "Even when you're living through an extinction event." He paused. "Especially when you're living through an extinction event." 

"That's what she told me, too," Lapu said. "She was counting on it."

"For the last time, pup," Haken growled. He was about two seconds away from lunging at the boy and doing what he should have done back in Haven when Lapu's treachery was discovered. "Who is this 'she' you keep talking about? Who sent you here?"

"She calls herself Maker," Lapu said. "Don't ask if it's her real name, that's all I've ever heard anyone call her."

"Maker?" Haken grunted. "Stupid fucking name."

Lapu laughed. "Try saying that to her face."

"I might do that…" Haken said. He slowly got to his feet. "...if you don't bore me to death before we get there." He was already feeling better after the meal. It wasn't much, but it was more than enough to kick-start his body back into fighting shape. "Put out the fire and let's go."

"But it's the middle of the night!" the boy whined. "You need your sleep after what happened to you."

"I've already spent enough time in a cage, waiting for something to happen," Haken said. "I'm not gonna sit here and wait for them to catch up with me." He took the initiative and heaped dirt on the fire, smothering it before Lapu could put up more than a token protest. "Let's go."

******

"I assume you didn't find any others on the shoreline?" Haken asked as the two werewolves trekked through the dense forest of evergreens. For once he was grateful to be in human form—the pine needles and branches would have played havoc with his fur. They'd been walking for half an hour now and there still wasn't any sign of civilization. Normally that would have suited him just fine, but the boy was right about one thing—he needed proper rest eventually, but he'd be damned before he'd admit weakness to a coward and traitor. 

"I was following two wolves when I dove into the water," Haken continued. "Damn sure one of them was Williams–ugly, roided-up body and all, but I didn't get a good look at the other one. Might have been his kid." He could barely believe that Williams was still alive. Maybe there really was something to that experimental formula after all, but he doubted that going bat-shit insane was a price worth paying for increased survivability. Better to go out on his own terms, mind clear with the heart of a warrior. 

"I was hoping more of us would escape," Lapu said. "But they were the only other wolves I saw." He was craning his head in all directions as he walked, looking for something. "It scared the shit out of me! No one told me Williams was still alive! I sure as hell wasn't going to offer him a meal and safe passage."

"Can't blame you, there," Haken said. "What are you looking for, anyway?"

"The road. I parked my car somewhere out here, but I think I got turned around."

Haken sniffed the air and turned to his right, pointing the path out. "This way."

"How do you know?"

"You call yourself a wolf but you can't even follow the scent of a roadway? Gas fumes? Sunbaked concrete? All this time I thought you were shying away from the road and aiming for a building or camp. You'd make a shitty tracker."

Lapu paused for a moment to get his bearings. "You're right," he groaned. "But you can't really blame me for that, though. I didn't grow up in the woods like you did. All I ever knew was Haven–making my way through the forest isn't exactly second nature to me."

"All I'm hearing are excuses," Haken said. "Follow me. I'll get us to the road and you can find the car." He was starting to get a bad feeling about his situation. Why would this 'Maker' send a boy with no tracking experience to pick up escaping wolves? How had she even known that Rivera's prison cells would be opening up on their own, anyway? If Lapu was right and Maker worked for General Rivera, she may have staged the breakout herself–but the whole thing felt so half-assed. It didn't pass the smell-test. 

"Your new owner set this all up, did she?" Haken asked. The trees were thinning now and he could feel the rumbling of a truck engine sending minute tremors through the earth. Only a few more minutes until they hit the road. "Garbage strategy unless she was just looking for me. Or wanted you dead."

"She's not my owner," Lapu said, flashing a wounded look in Haken's direction. "And if she wanted me dead, I'm sure she could have managed it days ago. I don't know if she arranged the breakout or not—I'm not in a place to be asking too many questions. I've done what I had to do to survive."

"Not exactly a comforting sentiment, coming from you." 

Lapu shrugged. "I can't blame you for saying that."

"Gods damned right." He cocked his head to the side, scanning the bushes and undergrowth. "Thought I heard something. Must have been my imagination–I swear there's still water in my ears from my dunk in the river."

The boy rushed over to the suspicious area and gave it a once-over. "There's nothing here. I'm pretty sure we left those soldiers in the dust a while ago. They never tracked you past the river."

Haken chewed his lip nervously. "That's some shitty work on their part. Almost like they wanted to lose us."

"You're not giving me much credit for helping you out," Lapu said. "But you're at least partially right. They weren't really looking for you, at least you weren't their priority."

"Rivera's got a bit of a hard-on for Williams, eh?"

"Not the way I would have put it," the boy replied with a grimace of distaste, "but yeah, basically. Soon as they noticed him getting out of the water, they left you behind like a bad habit."

Haken sniffed. "Story of my damn life, but for once being invisible has its advantages."

"Invisible?" Lapu said. "Are you kidding me? You know all the pups in Haven were terrified of you, right?"

"That so?"

The boy nodded. "Yup. When I was little, my dad used to tell me that if I didn't go to sleep, he'd march me right to the forge and have you put me to work until I collapsed. It always seemed like you were a hundred feet tall. Wolf mountain. Nothing could stand up to you. That's why it felt so weird pulling your butt out of danger–I guess no one's invincible, after all. Talk about your rude awakenings."

"Enough." Haken gave a dismissive wave of his hand. "We're almost to the road. Think you'll be able to find that car of yours or was your usefulness a one-time deal?"

"Hurtful," Lapu muttered as the two of them came out of the woods onto the side of a single-width dirt road.

"What was that?"

"Nothing." Lapu pointed down the road toward a beat up old sedan that could have been a junker just as easily as it could run. 

Haken stopped dead in his tracks. "That's it? That shitbox is so small I'm not sure if I can even fit inside. I thought this 'Maker' person had government funding?"

"I also said she's branching out on her own. You can't put an operation like this on the government's tab."

Haken grunted and got moving toward the parked car. "Yer right about that, but she could have done better than this." Something was bothering him. "You never actually said what she wanted from us."

"Huh?"

"This Maker lady. You said she was rescuing wolves from her bosses in the military but you never said why."

Lapu was quiet for several seconds. "She never told me," he admitted with an embarrassed shrug. "I never really thought about it. All I knew was that she wanted to put one over on the government and she rescued me from the other humans who wanted to use me as a science experiment."

"Gods above, save me from this imbecile…" Haken groaned. "How do you know she's any better?"

"Umm…she gave me this car?"

Haken pulled the driver's side door open and scanned the inside. "Not a point in her favor, far as I'm concerned." He hunched himself over awkwardly and sat down. "Keys." He held out his hand.

"Would you mind if I drive?" Lapu asked.

"Yeah, I would." He gestured at Lapu's pants pocket. "Give me the keys so we can get the hell out of here."

"But you don't know where we're going!"

Haken shook his head. "Doesn't matter where you came from–we're not going back."

Lapu blinked and nearly fumbled the car keys to the ground as he handed them over. "We're not?"

"You said yourself you don't know what Maker's motivations are and I'm not in a trusting mood, especially for government scientists, rogue or otherwise." He snatched the keys from the boy's hand and slid them into the ignition.

"But she's on our side!"

Haken turned the keys to start the car, but nothing happened. "Not the first time you've trusted someone you shouldn't have." He punched the dashboard hard enough to crack the plastic and got out. "It's dead."

"What?" Lapu asked. "It was fine just the other day!"

"Good enough for a one-way ticket." He took a breath. "Wait. Someone's here…waiting for us. Lapu, you little piece of shit!"

"It wasn't me!" the boy yipped as three men in mottled green and brown camo sprang up from behind the trees at the side of the road. "I've never seen them before!"

The soldiers didn't bother with words. They aimed their rifles and fired, pelting Haken's exposed human skin with a volley of blunt projectiles driven hard enough to leave deep red welts. It felt like he was being beaten by a dozen hammers all at once. He stumbled and fell, but the humans kept firing. He tried desperately to will the change—to rid himself of his pathetic human form and rise against the attackers, wreaking vengeance—but he was too tired and undernourished. Being honest with himself, it had been nothing short of a miracle that he made it this far at all. Maybe there was some comfort in that, he thought as the world slowly turned black around him. 

A small twitch of a smile came to his lips when he saw Lapu fall beside him, face wrinkled with pain. So, Lapu hadn't played him for a fool after all. Rivera's soldiers must have caught up with them, maybe got a whiff of the campfire or spotted the car and disabled it. Just dumb luck, was all. Like everything else in his life, his fate had been entirely left in the cruel hands of chance. 

******

Present Day

"He should be awake by now," a disembodied voice said through the ether. "How much sedative did you give him?"

"Twice the recommended amount," came the nervous response. "I had no choice—he almost killed Samantha and had me by the neck!" 

Ah, Haken thought. The doctor. He tried to focus, but his world was a haze. He decided not to move. In all likelihood, his limbs would still be stiff and useless—all he would accomplish by thrashing around would be to alert his captors that he'd regained consciousness. Instead, he let his senses expand outward, readying himself for inevitable action. A true warrior wasn't all muscles and no brain—a warrior should never neglect the use of his intellect. Anyone believing Haken to be a dumb, unthinking brute would see the error of their ways moments before he cleaved their bodies in two when they least expected it.

The room stank of antiseptic, but beyond the sterility he caught a whiff of something surprising blowing in through the window. The organic scents of trees and the decay of their fallen leaves welcomed him with their allure; no human-manicured garden smelled that way. Was he in the country, then? Certainly not on Rivera's military base. 

Haken could feel thick metal bonds holding his arms out to the side by his wrists and he was fairly certain that his ankles were similarly secured. The table he'd been fastened to was inclined at a sharp angle—he wasn't flat on his back, but nowhere near upright. It was a disconcerting feeling, like he couldn't quite get his sense of equilibrium under control. 

He was in werewolf form and his skin itched where two small needles pierced into the veins, attached to thin plastic tubes. He knew from decades of life experience that it was almost impossible to maintain the change while he slept, so this doctor must be managing it medically, somehow. Perhaps the tubes were feeding him intravenously, providing the nutrition necessary to maintain his transformation. Or maybe he was drugged like Williams had done to himself. There was no way to know for sure. Not yet.

"You could have killed him!" The first voice spoke again. Female. About ten feet away. The tone was clipped, and suggested that she wasn't as much worried about his safety as she was irritated at her subordinate. "Your job is to keep him alive. Monitor him! I'm starting to wonder if keeping you on this project was wise. You were offered a considerable compensation package. Don't make me regret it."

"Money's not useful if you're dead," the doctor replied with a wounded tone. 

"Get out."

"He's dangerous, Dr. Lim."

The woman, apparently also a doctor, sniffed with disapproval. Haken was surprised; this place, whatever it was, seemed to be crawling with PhDs.

"He'll be a good boy," Dr. Lim said. "Leave me with him."

"You're out of your mind!"

"And you're out of line!" she snapped. "Move your ass or I'll have you black-bagged and out of this site so fast your head will spin!"

No further protestations were forthcoming. Haken heard a door open and close as the doctor left him alone with the newcomer, Dr. Lim. She smelled different. No fear. That was a very bad sign.

"You can stop pretending, now."

What? Haken was confused. There was no way this woman could possibly see through his ruse.

Lim sighed and placed a hand on his shoulder. He twitched. Gods, her hand was cold! "You're not half as clever as you think you are," she said. "I knew you were awake the moment I entered this room. Welcome back to the land of the living."

It seemed like he was caught. Haken might as well speak if he ever wanted to learn where he was and what was going on. 

"I'm plenty clever," he said. "Fooled the other guy completely." That was a good start. Assert dominance. Confidence. He knew this type of human well—if he showed his belly to her, she'd never relent. Haken, the strong—not Haken, the footstool.

"Fooling Dr. Burgess isn't a difficult task. The man is a brilliant biologist, but he isn't much of a people person."

"You certainly put him in his place," Haken said.

"I think you'll find me quite immune to flattery," Dr. Lim replied. "Steffan knows that I'd never remove him from the site. A biologist of his caliber with no family to speak of is hard to come by. If I tossed him out, he'd be reinstated within a week and my hand would be thoroughly slapped by my superiors."

"No family?" Haken asked. He was surprised that she was giving him this much information. Her conversational tone was completely incongruous with the fact that he was strapped to a an examination table naked as the day he was born. If her goal was to get him to let his guard down, he might as well pump her for info while she was doing it. "Why does it matter that Dr. Burgess has no family?"

"There you go again," Lim said. "Thinking you're clever. I'll indulge you." She gestured to encompass the room and surrounding areas. We're stationed on a black site. No civilians are allowed to visit under any circumstances and outside entanglements are highly discouraged. The facility takes its security very seriously."

"That your way of telling me I'm stuck here?"

Lim shook her head. "I think you already knew that."

"Who's to say I can't cut my way out through your torso?"

"You're welcome to try," she said. "Things have changed since the last time you woke up. You were disoriented and confused. A spike of adrenaline caused you to lash out. Luckily, the nurse lived." 

Haken grunted. He hadn't meant to harm a nurse—she just had the misfortune of being the first human within striking distance. Given time to brood, he'd probably regret what happened–but now wasn't the time to dwell on mistakes.

"You'll have a difficult time breaking free from this table," the doctor said. "Even if your brain wasn't swimming in sedatives, success would be…unlikely."

Haken gave it a try anyway, of course. He wriggled, pulled against his bonds, and snapped at the air with his teeth in frustration. Gods damn it all…the doctor was on point about his abilities. His body was slow and he felt almost as weak as a human despite being in wolf form.

Dr. Lim raised an eyebrow. "Are you finished?"

"For the moment," Haken said. His struggles had made him all too aware of his current physical state of undress. Now that he knew he was well and truly stuck here, embarrassment started to creep in. It had been years since his naked body was seen by a female, and this was not the way he'd imagined ending that particular dry spell. 

"So are you going to give me some clothes?" he asked. "Or are you just enjoying what you see?" He bit his lip with frustration. He'd meant to go for bravado, but came off more as a flirt. At least it wasn't weakness. He didn't shrink back at her gaze like a pup. If this woman had never seen a specimen such as himself in the flesh before, then maybe she'd be intimidated by a good show.

Dr. Lim stepped closer to Haken's table, bent forward, and leaned against his chest with her elbow. She was light, couldn't have been a pound over one-ten. She looked back over her shoulder at his groin and then back at him, lips quirked in a smile. "There's much to like about what I see, Haken," she said. "You're the perfect specimen for our breeding program."

That got Haken's attention. "Breeding program?" he asked. He couldn't have heard her right, could he? His mind was playing tricks on him. 

"That's right," she said. "We need to re-grow the population or your species risks an extinction event. I was pleased when I found out my superiors were wrong about the pack's continued desire to reproduce. The Haven case study proved my hypothesis better than any prediction model could have. The politicians were thinking like humans while your feral nature makes you something else entirely."

This couldn't be happening. The woman was out of her mind! "Isn't our extinction what the humans want?" Haken asked. "None of this makes any sense!"

Dr. Lim lifted herself off his massive chest and chuckled to herself. "I think I preferred you when you were pretending to be clever." She sat back in a comfortable-looking chair and crossed her legs, eyeing him like a piece of meat. "There's a schism," she said. "Many in the government would like to see the complete eradication of your race while others see you as an opportunity. Of course, not everything is black and white—some views fall between the extremes."

"And you work for the government?"

"Department of Defense."

He shook his head. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because the two of us need to develop a bond of trust. I want you to be the alpha male for our breeding program."

He blinked. Then blinked again. Haken, the stupified.

"You do understand what that would entail, don't you?" she asked.

He nodded. What could he possibly say in response to that?

"Excellent," Dr. Lim said. And here Dr. Burgess was expecting an objection. "I knew we'd picked well when we chose you."

"Objection?"

She waved her hand dismissively. "Human morality, a lack of desire for offspring, or simple stubbornness. I'm pleased to hear that your instincts are properly intact after everything you've been through."

A few warning bells were going off in Haken's head. He decided to follow their lead while he had the doctor in a good mood. "What kind of moral objections were you expecting?"

Dr. Lim flipped open a notebook and scanned it for a moment before answering. "Our research suggests that werewolves' family structures lie somewhere between contemporary human and a wolf pack, with inclinations toward the former rather than the latter. Infants—pups, if you will—are raised by their biological parents, but once they reach adolescence they are brought up as a member of the pack until they reach adulthood, a child to all." 

"That's right," Haken said. "Even after the war, the Haven pack still worked that way for the most part."

The doctor shushed him. "You asked a question and I'm giving you an answer. I don't need you to affirm what I already know." She shifted her legs in a way that Haken found intensely provocative before continuing to read from her notebook. "This research suggests that werewolf males are not only pack animals, but are capable of forming monogamous pairings. Some observations even suggest that the species prefers such couplings." She looked up at him. "Are you monogamous, Haken?"

"I, er…" he stuttered. "I'm not sure." The bizarre situation and unexpected direction of questioning were getting to him. Rather than projecting strength he was fumbling around like a pup who just discovered girls. He had to do better. He cleared his throat. "My options were limited in Haven."

"Yes," Dr. Lim said. "Yes they were. Options will be limited here as well, although I think you'll find the females more receptive to your advances. All of our participants have volunteered to help repopulate your race."

"That's…good to know," Haken said. He hadn't been given much time to think this through, but he was glad to hear that the program's participants were willing. If that hadn't been the case, he'd probably have been forced to lead yet another bloody revolution against the humans, and he didn't know if his body could take that after all the punishment it had been through over the last few months.

Lim shook her head. "We're not barbarians. We're the DoD."

Haken couldn't help it. "I didn't know there was a difference."

"Cute."

"I've been called worse."

"Do you have any other questions?" Lim asked. "Or will we continue being pithy with each other until this machine pumps you full of sedatives again?" She looked at her watch. "I'd say you have about three minutes left. Make good use of them."

Haken looked down at the tubes in his arms and briefly considered struggling again, but at this point he knew it was no use. Fine, then. He had another question that needed answering. "You claimed you chose me," he said. "There was another wolf with me when I was captured. Blond kid. What happened to him?"

"I never actually encountered the boy," Dr. Lim said. "The Army claimed him after my superiors rejected him for our project. He's still alive as far as I know, but I can't make any guarantees. We're very compartmentalized here, you understand."

"So I'm the only Haven wolf in the program?"

"I believe so, yes." She leaned over and looked at the screen of one of the machines he was attached to. "Are you uncomfortable?" she asked. "Muscle cramps? Pinching?"

"What do you think?"

"I think we could do better," she said. "When you wake up again, you'll be in your new quarters. You'll receive three meals a day and regular exercise. Once we're sure you can be trusted, you'll be allowed to meet the ladies."

Haken gulped. Going from his torment in General Rivera's cell to…this…was disorienting as hell. He wondered if this was all just a cruel dream—the escape, Lapu, this bizarre breeding program. Honestly? Things could be a lot worse. If this was a dream, Haken decided to make the most of it.

"Sounds good," he said.

Dr. Lim laughed. "You'll need to contain your enthusiasm, Haken." She eyed him with a smirk on her face. "I'll get you some pants."

Haken groaned and put a hand to his head as he slowly came to, shifting about to work the kinks out of his back before he tried to sit up. Being forced into wolf form for an extended period of time had strained his system to its limits, and while whatever injuries he'd sustained during his capture had long since healed into nothingness, he knew from experience that he'd be feeling the effects of his protracted transformation for days if not weeks.

Automatic lights greeted him as he sat up and squinted against the glare. Motion detectors. Wonderful. He doubted that motion was the only thing Dr. Lim was monitoring in his new prison cell. A quick scan of the ceiling confirmed his suspicions and he flipped the camera the bird, making sure that whoever was watching the feed got a good look at his extended middle finger. He shifted his legs over the edge of the bed and dropped to the floor, immediately regretting his decision when the frigid tiles sent spikes of cold running up his feet and into his legs.

"Gods!" he shouted at the camera. "The least you could do is turn up the heat!" It was so freezing that he could see his breath when he spoke. 

"I'll adjust the settings now," an unexpected reply came from a small speaker beside the door. A nasally male voice. Not Dr. Lim. 

Haken turned and regarded the speaker grille suspiciously. "You went through all this trouble to get me here and you're trying to freeze me to death?"

"Quite the opposite," the voice replied. "Your prolonged transformation caused your body to run dangerously hot and we were concerned about the risk of permanent brain damage. We didn't expect the sedative to disrupt your ability to regulate internal temperature–so far your regenerative abilities have necessitated significantly larger doses than a human of similar mass. However, when you reverted to your less resilient state, there was a drastic increase of–"

"Just shut up," Haken interrupted the scientist as he droned on and on. "You eggheads all sound the same no matter where you're from." He balled his fingers up into tight fists. "I was overheated so you put me in a freezer. I get it."

"As you say," the disembodied voice replied. "The temperature has been adjusted appropriately."

A sudden burst of hot air brushed against Haken's bare legs clashing with the freezing cold and causing him to gasp. "Clothes…" he said, wrapping his arms around himself as his body shivered uncontrollably. "You're not gonna keep me naked in here, are you?"

"Of course not," the voice replied. "We're not inhumane. Our workers had you disrobed due to the overheating problem, that's all. Nothing untoward, I assure you." A portion of the wall opposite his bed slid to the right, revealing a modest wardrobe. 

Now that he could think about something other than freezing to death, Haken gave the room a once-over. It was surprisingly generous in the size department, at least three times the length and width of the cell Rivera had stuck him in not that long ago. The furniture was simple yet functional, limited to the bed he'd woke up in, a small desk, and a plastic chair. He looked dubiously at that last one. He doubted it would hold his weight and he resolved not to give his unseen watchers the satisfaction of seeing him fall flat on his ass by sitting on it. 

The walls were painted the same sterile white that the butchers back in Haven had favored. He'd always thought that was odd–it must have been hell for the cleaners to get the bloodstains out.

"What am I supposed to do, now?" He asked as he shimmied himself into a set of distressingly tight clothing. The boxer briefs left little to the imagination. There were no pants. 

A light snapped on above the table and Haken noticed a crisp white sheet of paper and a stubby pencil had been left there. He could probably use the thing as a weapon, but they hadn't left him with much to work with, probably on purpose. He took a few steps closer and looked the items over with a wary eye. It appeared to be some kind of test, like the ones the pack had given their pups back in the Haven schoolhouse. He snarled unconsciously. He'd been one of Haven's most skilled mechanics and unrivaled in the art of forging, but book learning was a skill he'd always lacked. He just never had the aptitude for it.

"You're kidding me with this stuff, right?" he asked. 

"Not at all," the voice replied. "If you're to participate in the program, we need to know the quality of your genetic material. We have ample evidence of your superior strength, but Dr. Lim insisted we measure your cognitive function as well."

Haken rolled his eyes. "It's not bad enough that you kidnapped me, stripped me naked, and stuck me in this room? You also have to come at me with this kiddy shit? I'm just about done with you."

"Dr. Lim indicated that you didn't seem terribly distressed about the breeding program. Would you prefer to be sent to an actual prison? We could arrange that if you'd rather not take the test."

Haken flipped him off with both fingers this time. No response.

He poked at the plastic chair, testing its give. It seemed sold enough; maybe it wouldn't break underneath his weight after all. He lowered himself down and it creaked alarmingly, but ultimately held up. Was that part of the test or did they really want him to fill out these forms? He snatched up the papers and started to read. 

The first few questions were easy enough–simple arithmetic and a few questions on basic morality. After that, things got significantly more complicated. His head was starting to hurt. He dropped his pencil and looked toward the camera.

"Hey," he called out. "How am I supposed to add letters to numbers? This doesn't make any sense!"

Somehow the man on the other side managed to sound even more condescending than he had before. "If you don't know the answer then leave the question blank and move on. Or take a guess."

"Gods damn it all…" Haken spent the next half hour going through the exam. In total he thought he had proper answers to around a third of the questions. The rest ranged from puzzling to downright alien to him.

He resented the fact that this man was implying that he was staying in this facility of his own free will because they promised him the opportunity to mate. If the choice was between this and Rivera's prison, then there was no true choice at all. The pompous prick would see real choice and consequence the first time he stood before Haken in person, when he was disemboweled and hung from the ceiling by his own intestines. All he needed to do was play along until the humans dropped their guard. Pretend that he could be led around by his dick and the promise of willing females. He could be patient when he needed to be–they wouldn't expect that from a man they considered to be little more than a beast. 

I'll kill you all, he thought. I'll kill you all and then I'll rescue the female wolves you've got imprisoned here with me. After that, if I'm lucky, breeding will still be an option on the table.

There was a hiss of air and a door opened in the gleaming metal wall to his left. Haken was momentarily disappointed when a woman stepped through–he'd been hoping to show the scientist a piece of his mind–but he quickly changed perspective when he actually took the time to look. His guest approached him slowly on long, slender legs. Her deep red hair framed a warm, slightly-rounded face, and she smiled when she noticed him eyeing her. She held out her hand, and, not knowing what else to do, Haken reached out to grasp it.

The woman laughed. Her voice was surprisingly deep, but not unpleasant. "I came for the papers," she said.

"What?"

"The test." She pointed toward the abandoned exam on the table where Haken had discarded it as soon as he'd finished. 

"Oh." He dropped his hand, feeling foolish. All this talk of sex had awoken instincts in his mind that he'd almost forgotten he had. He was starting to wonder if it was on purpose. These humans knew he'd been on the run and at war; violence may serve his base desires, but there were other instincts he'd left buried that were getting more difficult to repress as they were taunted. If the inner beast couldn't kill someone, there were other ways to feed the fire–these humans were playing a dangerous game. "Who are you?" he asked. "Are you one of the scientists?" He doubted it. She wasn't dressed like the others had been, but looks could be deceiving. 

"I'm Alice," the woman said. "I'm part of the program. If you impress Dr. Emmerich, we'll probably be seeing a lot more of each other."

"Emmerich?"

"The man you've been giving the middle finger to since you woke up. He's really quite cross over that, I'll have you know."

Haken gave a snort of satisfaction. These people were weak. "I don't think he likes me very much." 

"You're right," Alice said. "But he doesn't need to like you in order to pass you into the program."

"Suits me just fine." He reached back and grabbed the papers. "I didn't do all that well." She'd taken a step closer to him while his back was turned. There was something odd about her that he couldn't quite put a finger on. His nostrils flared as he took a deep sniff. "You smell…wrong."

She let out an offended huff. "You certainly don't know how to speak to a woman. You're lucky you're–"

Her words cut off with a squeak of fear as Haken lunged toward her, springing off the plastic seat and wrapping his arm around her in barely more than a second. He held the stubby pencil to her delicate neck. It was dull, but he'd killed with lesser tools when he needed to.

"What are you?" he snarled. 

Alice struggled to break free, but Haken's grip was iron. "I'm…I'm a werewolf!"

"You aren't human," he said. "I'll give you that. But you don't smell like any wolf I've ever met."

"Does that really surprise you?" she replied, quickly regaining her cool. "They've experimented on all of us. My beast was altered, but I'm still a wolf!"

It took about thirty seconds for a trio of armed guards to burst through the door and surround the two of them. That was quick, but the response time was good information to have on-hand.

"They won't let you leave," Alice said. She'd become eerily calm. "None of us ever leave this place." She looked over at the guards. "Don't shoot. I can handle this."

Haken rested the pencil tip against her neck. "You're in over your head," he growled. "They dropped you in here to see how I'd react. You were a sacrificial lamb."

"Well," Alice said. "You're half right." Her elbow smashed into Haken's nose, catching him completely off guard. He reacted by reflex, driving his makeshift weapon toward her, but she moved quicker than he could track, slipping out of his choke hold like an eel. He tried to crouch in a defensive position, but his human form was too slow and he was still recovering from the sedatives. Stars fleshed in his vision as the woman slammed a bony fist into his jaw and sent him reeling.

"What…the fuck…" Haken muttered as he wiped blood away from his nose. 

Alice leaned over him, completely unafraid. "Your instincts are on point. You noticed I wasn't human as soon as I got close enough for you to sense it. You're quick and ruthless, even in human form. If I didn't know better, I'd say you were actually willing to kill me."

Haken groaned. "A month ago I'd never raised a hand against a woman. But war changes a wolf."

She offered him a hand. "As it should," she said. "I was a pacifist once, years ago before they took me. It feels like another life."

He watched her warily and the soldiers did an awkward shuffle as he considered his options. Clearly they expected him to go berserk and he could smell their nervousness. Still, though, he could tell the difference between men unaccustomed to fighting werewolves and those who had seen his kind in battle. These men were clearly the latter and he didn't like his odds, especially if Alice was inclined to come after him again. She may be a wolf as she claimed be, but she very clearly wasn't on his side. 

"I won't hurt you unless you force me," she said. "Trust me, you don't want to make more enemies here than you have to. I used to lash out like that, myself, but as you can see, it got me nowhere." She held her hand out again and this time he took it. She pulled him to his feet. "I know what you're thinking," she said. "You think you can just wait for the right moment and then claw your way out of here, but that isn't going to happen."

Haken gritted his teeth. "What makes you think I'm thinking that? Dr. Lim told me about the breeding program. Don't you think I'd stay for that?"

 "Maybe some wolves would," she said. "I've read your file. You're tempted, but you're a follower of the old ways. Your 'Great Spirit' expects you to adhere to a certain set of moral principals. Sooner or later you'd come to the inevitable conclusion that the only moral option is to escape and take as many of us with you as you can." She eyed him. "In fact, I'm willing to bet you already had that on your mind, didn't you? Did you plan to be my hero, Haken?"

"Why?" he grunted as he limped over to his bed and collapsed. "Why are you working with them if they keep you a prisoner?"

Alice waived the soldiers out of the room, and he was surprised when they complied without a word of complaint. She joined him on the bed, sitting mere inches away from him. "I was tired," she said. "Tired of being helpless and afraid. Our kind lost the war and hundreds of thousands of humans and wolves died for our sins. There were never many of us to begin with, but we've been on the brink of extinction ever since. When Dr. Lim came here and told me that she planned to save our species, it gave me hope that I thought I'd lost forever. So I cooperated. They treat me with respect down here and give me a certain amount of freedom."

"But you can't leave."

She shook her head. "No. No I can't. But it's better than being restrained for the rest of my life. Better than rotting in a cell or being subjected to the experiments other facilities are doing. Trust me, I know a thing or two about that, and it's not pretty."

"They weren't kind to us at Haven, either," Haken said.

Alice traced a finger lightly over his arm. "They cut…here…" she moved to trace a familiar line over his chest. "And they cut here, too."

He shivered. "Yeah," he said. "They had their favorite places. How can you know that? It was in wolf form and I healed the scars."

"There are standardized procedures," Alice said. "Haven wasn't the only colony, you know. The earlier years were the same for most of us. I know what you've been through because I've lived through it, myself."

"You're trying to get me to trust you." 

"Maybe. Does it matter?"

Haken shrugged. "Trust is hard to come by these days." He lowered his voice. Ashamed. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry for trying to stab you in the neck with a pencil."

Alice laughed, and Haken was surprised by how genuine it sounded. "You have no idea how nice it is to be talking with a werewolf who remembers what it's like to be a wolf rather than a domesticated dog. And yes, I suppose I'm counting myself."

"That sounds dangerously close to a compliment." 

"Oh, don't get me wrong," Alice said. "You're rough, brutish, and rude. Even a quick look at your exam suggests a lack of education."

Haken felt his ego deflate almost as quickly as she'd built it up. "And here I was starting to think you were buttering me up." He felt like he was getting whiplash from the alternating flurry of compliments and cheap shots.

Alice patted his leg. "It's not meant to be an insult. We're all products of our experiences. If your life has molded you into the form of a brute, I could hardly blame you for adapting to the environment you were forced into."

"I think we're done, here." Haken stood up and walked over to the desk. He wasn't sure where he was going–there weren't all that many options–but he didn't trust his emotions around this woman. It felt like she was winding him up just to see what would happen, and he didn't want to be humiliated again. He needed time to think, but ever since he'd awoken in his new cell he'd been barraged by hidden voices and unexpected guests. He had to make a plan, and he couldn't do that while being toyed with by a wolf who seemed to have embraced her captors. "Am I allowed to have privacy?" he asked.

"Once you've proven yourself trustworthy," Alice said as she got up from the bed. "You haven't exactly ingratiated yourself to the humans, yet."

"Not what I meant," he replied. "I'm sure they'll be watching no matter what they think of me. I just need some time to figure this all out. If you really are a prisoner here, you'll understand that."

"Of course," she said as she bent down to pick up the test papers from where they fell when Haken assaulted her. "I hadn't intended to have a heart-to-heart yet, but since you were so intent on bonding right off the bat, I figured I owed you an explanation. I'll tell Dr. Emmerich to give you the rest of the day off to get your bearings. Does that work for you?"

He nodded. Gods–he'd been up for less than half an hour and he was already exhausted. The doctors weren't kidding when they said they'd loaded him with an unusual amount of sedatives. He hoped he could sleep them off, soon. Still, though, he had one other need that seemed to be vying for attention with the desire for sleep.

"Food," he said. "Do I get to eat?"

"Of course," Alice replied. "They're actually pretty good about that, here. They want us healthy."

Haken grunted. "General Rivera used to like to taunt me with food. She damn near let me starve."

Alice reached the door and gave it two sharp knocks. It slid open, revealing the human soldiers on the other side, rifles ready in case he made any trouble. "I know you don't want to believe it," she said, "but this place isn't the same just because it's run by the government. Departments are run by individual people, and all people have different motivations. The food in here isn't exactly gourmet, but it's a lot better than the average prison food. Plenty of protein to cater to our diets, too."

That perked him up. "Meat?" Other than the skewers Lapu had given him when he escaped from Rivera's holding cells, Haken hadn't seen proper meat in weeks. Vegetables and prison mush just didn't cut it for a werewolf of his size and appetite.  

Alice laughed. "More often than you might expect. I'll see what they can cook up for you. Meal time is in about two hours." She stepped out with the soldiers. "Enjoy your nap."

The door slid closed.

******

A delicious aroma infiltrated Haken's dreams and his perception was flooded with visions of dancing steaks and haunches of venison. He reached out for them as if in a trance and they disappeared into a swirling black smoke that fled between his fingers. He leaned in, slobbering and suddenly overcome with an animal hunger that radiated from the core of his being. Gods…it was almost like he could taste it! 

He woke up in a heap, face down on the cold tile floor, pain radiating down his spine. His legs were twisted up in the bedsheets and he'd fallen mid-dream as he reached for the elusive floating feast. He hadn't dreamed of food like this since he was a pup out west in Wyoming so many decades ago. That had been a hard winter, and everyone in his old pack had to pretend that their bellies weren't growling day-in day-out. Even then, those were by far better times than these. 

He groaned and managed to sit up straight. That pack was dead, wiped out during the war. Best not to think of those times too much. Nostalgia killed more Haven wolves in the early years of their incarceration than anything else. You can't miss something if you don't dwell on it. Best to keep his vision centered on the here and now.

He sniffed the air and hope filled his spirit back up to the brim as he brushed aside the distant memories and latched on to the bounty left for him on the desk. He shucked off the bedsheet and stumbled over, setting himself down gingerly in the plastic chair to face off with a paper plate heaped with generous portions of beef, ham, and what he guessed was turkey. 

"Thank you for this bounty," he whispered, sparing a glance toward the ceiling. He may not be able to see the sky or the moon, but he knew in which direction his prayers should be sent. Gods…the food was still warm!

For several minutes, Haken's cell was a symphony of gnawing, tearing, chewing, and ragged breathing as the nearly starving werewolf attacked his meal. He knew that he was probably being observed, but he was beyond caring what they thought of his eating habits. The humans knew what they were doing when they put a feast like this in front of a wolf so their judgment did not shame him. For the moment, he reveled in it.

He sat back when he was finished and closed his eyes as he rubbed a hand over his stomach. Gods, that was delicious. He could almost forgive Alice for her rudeness if she was the one who had put a kind word in with the prison's cook. Haven had never provided a meal like this, not even on the state-sanctioned holidays where the military gave out extra rations. Maybe Alice was right–could this place really be that different from so many other government facilities?

As soon as the thought crossed his mind, Haken immediately felt disgusted with himself. He wouldn't be bought so cheaply. A meal like this was a rare treat for him, but he knew from experience that humans ate like this all the time. If they thought they could win him over with a plateful of scraps from their table, they'd be sorely mistaken. Still, though… he felt relatively content for the first time in months.

He looked over at the shining metal wall, half expecting the door to pop open again, revealing yet another scientist intent on bothering him with their questions or tests. When none were forthcoming, he looked down at his plate and fiddled with the left over bones for several minutes. 

He wasn't sure what to do with himself. He'd desperately wished to be left alone, but now that he had what he wanted, he had no idea how to spend the time. 

"A wolf wasn't meant to be caged," he said to himself as he stood up and stretched his legs. He felt powerful again, the mountains of protein having flipped a switch inside that allowed him to breathe properly. He'd eaten enough to comfortably transform. That was good to know, but he doubted it was by accident on their part. The scientists wanted to see what he'd do if they gave him the opportunity to unleash his beast. Well…he wouldn't give them the satisfaction. 

The mattress creaked beneath his weight as Haken sat down. His human form was puny compared to his wolf, but as humans went, he was considered quite the specimen. He leaned backward on his hands and arched his back, feeling tight muscles pop and align with satisfying snaps. Being forced into wolf form while he was drugged had left his body out of sorts–unconsciously transforming back afterward had left his ligaments and tendons in a jumble. It took over ten minutes of stretches and massaging for him to feel like himself again, but once he was content with the results he finally let himself relax. 

I won't let myself languish here, he thought. I won't be Haken, the caged rat.

Well, there was one way to be free of his confines, if only for a little while. He folded his arms and lay them in his lap, tucking his legs tight into a cross-legged position. He let out a long breath as he closed his eyes, head tilted ever-so-slightly upward toward the heavens.

Great Spirit, he implored. Take me from this place.

He allowed his consciousness to drift, taking flight out of his body on pale gossamer wings. He passed through the ceiling of his prison and out into the sky, bursting forth and rolling on a warm summer wind. He ducked into a tight dive, ethereal paws stretched forth as he flew at a dizzying pace between a maze of trees and mountains, each outlined in a corona of emerald foxfire.

The land spoke to him in tongues, an ancient language that untrained ears could never hear or hope to appreciate–for this was the land and he was one with its spirit.

An imposing mountain arose like a spire from the verdant land and he adjusted his flight accordingly, paws scampering through the air with the wonder of a newborn pup as he ascended into the heavens. He burst through a blanket of white cloud cover and hovered for a moment, getting his bearings before zeroing on on the mountain's peak where he came to a stop, buffeted about by crosswinds that all-but pinned him in place.

This was where he was meant to be.

The clouds in front of him parted ways, revealing a stag of blazing white walking toward him with deliberate purpose, each hoof-fall sending ripples of gold outward like small waves on the wind's currents. It stopped several feet away from him and lowered its head, displaying an exquisite array of antlers that seemed to be forged entirely of light. They nearly blinded him with their brilliance, but Haken felt no pain–only awe. In all his years of worship, he'd never beheld such an apparition during his meditations.

"This one is not worthy of your presence," he muttered as he fell to his knees, eyes cast down. He could see rolling plains hundreds of feet below as he hovered beside the mountain peak. If he were to fall…no…he would keep the faith. He looked up again. The old ways had largely been forgotten even when he was a pup, but he still knew that aspects of the Gods were to be respected, not groveled to. He remained in a kneeling position, but no longer averted his eyes from the spirit. He wanted to drink in its radiance and become one with the universe that it encompassed. 

The stag took several steps forward until it was mere inches away. Haken could feel its warmth on his skin and his spiritual center bathed in its essence.

Do not despair, the stag said. Its mouth did not move as it spoke, but he understood its words all the same. They resonated in his mind. In his heart. Your kin shall survive these trials, as will you.

Tears welled up in Haken's eyes. 

"How?" he asked. Pleaded. He knew he shouldn't question a being of such magnificence, but he just couldn't understand. "Everything has been swallowed by the humans' darkness!" 

The stag's luminescence grew brighter, and this time Haken was compelled to look down for fear of losing his sight entirely. The message seemed clear. No mortal forces could drown out this power. As long as the spirit flowed through him, he would be a light in dark places, piercing through the humans' evil as a lance of righteousness.

Do not hate them blindly, the stag said. There are some who yet hear my song.

Haken tried to swallow a lump of anger, but it was logged in his throat, intractable. "I will not hate," he said. "But I can never forgive."

That will do, the stag replied. It leaned down and pressed its antlers against the bony ridge of Haken's lupine skull. You are strong, it said. Pass your strength of spirit on to the next generation. 

"I…I will try…" Haken whispered. Tears were rolling down his cheeks now, but he barely noticed them. Surely it was no crime to weep before the face of a God.

Do not give in to despair, the stag said. For we are with you. 

The light faded, and when Haken next looked up, the stag was gone. He experienced a brief moment of vertigo when he realized that he was back in his cell, sitting on the bed.

He breathed in an out, feeling his rapid heartbeat slow over time until he got himself together and was able to actively devote the spirit's words to his memory–etch them on the inner walls of his heart.

"I am strong," he said. And he felt that strength in his bones, ancient as the earth that bore him. 

"I will not give in to despair."

******

"Your vital signs were off the charts last night," Dr. Lim said as she wiped an alcohol swab along the crook of Haken's arm. "It was really quite fascinating. There you sat, not moving a muscle while your heart raced like an olympian's." She held an IV needle up to make sure he saw it coming. "You'll feel a slight pinch."

Haken barely felt the needle pierce his skin. To his great shame, he was growing accustomed to such things. "I was dreaming," he replied simply as he shifted about in the uncomfortable examination chair. He may be getting used to the needles, but being strapped down was never going to sit quite right with him.

"Must have been quite the dream," the doctor replied. "I suppose nothing gets the blood rushing like the promise of mating after being alone for so long."

He had to grimace to keep from rolling his eyes. Was mating the only thing this woman ever thought about? He supposed that if werewolf species preservation and reproduction were his profession, he'd be thinking about it constantly as well, but it all felt so…unseemly. Like the act had somehow been reduced to mechanical production. He wondered how he should reply. Best to let her continue thinking what she wanted to think. "Yes," he said. "It's very exciting."

"Wonderful!" She smiled. "I heard that you met Alice the other day. Was she to your liking?"

"I doubt it matters what I think of her," Haken replied. "I tried to carve her a new windpipe with a pencil."

"She's experienced far worse, believe me. I talked to her afterward. She likes you, can you believe it?"

"She called me a brute."

Dr. Lim raised an eyebrow. "Many women like that in a man. I imagine some werewolves would find it even more alluring than human women do."

Haken snarled and lurched forward, nearly striking the doctor with the ridge of his nose. "Is this all a game to you? You getting off on playing werewolf matchmaker?"

"Hardly," Dr. Lim said. "To be perfectly frank, it's exhausting trying to convince members of your species to copulate. I'm consistently reminded of the zookeepers in Hong Kong trying to mate their giant pandas. You're both impossible."

"So you do think of us as animals."

"Of course not!"

"You just compared us to pandas!"

Lim sighed with exasperation. "I compare my eight year old niece to a little monkey, but that doesn't mean that I think she is one. It was a comparison, Haken, and it wasn't terribly flattering toward you. Don't mind me–I've already had an exhausting day and it's only two in the afternoon. Apparently there's been an incident in one of the other facilities that used to be run by the recently-deceased General Greene. It's all a big mess."

He matched her sigh with one of his own. "Why don't you just get to the point. What are we doing, here? Another test?"

"Not as such," she replied.

"What, then?"

"We're going to sedate you and collect some samples. Blood, urine, semen, and the like. A few other–"

Haken's eyes widened. "You're going to…?"

"I assure you, we'll take the greatest care to keep your dignity intact, which is why you'll be sedated for the procedure."

"I didn't agree to this!"

Dr. Lim put her hands on her hips and blew an errant strand of hair out of her face. She looked almost comical when she was pissed off. "You agreed to a breeding program but didn't expect to have your genetics tested? That we wouldn't screen you for disease or faulty genes?"

Haken tried to calm himself. He had to go through with this–the spirit he'd communed with had all-but told him that he needed to. 'Pass your strength of spirit on to the next generation,' it had said. Well, he couldn't do that as a prisoner, so either he would have an opportunity to escape or the spirit intended for him to go through with Lim's program. For now he might as well play ball and try not to dwell on his wounded dignity. "I understand," he said.

"I'm glad you've decided to see reason," the doctor replied. She stepped away from his examination chair and picked up something that looked like a mask off a shiny metal table. 

"Is it Alice?" he asked. "Is she the one you want me to…mate with?"

"She's one of them, yes." Dr. Lim put the mask back down and sat on a wheeled chair. She began tapping away at a keyboard. A minute later she reached up and grabbed hold of the screen in front of her and turned it toward him. It shifted closer on a articulated arm. The monitor featured thumbnails of several women in both their human and werewolf forms. 

He tried to swallow the lump in his throat. "These are…?"

"The potentials," Dr. Lim replied. "For you to mate with."

Haken blinked. Suddenly his mouth was dry. Every last one of the women in these pictures was naked. To a wolf who had never so much as seen pornography, their neutral poses were still enough to set his heart racing uncomfortably. He swallowed and tried to look away, but found it almost impossible to do so.

The doctor watched him with shrewd eyes. "Do you see something promising?" she asked.

He wasn't sure how to respond. Even Alice was there in front of him–skyclad–a smug grin the only thing she considered worth wearing.

"You're making me uncomfortable," he said reluctantly. "If you really don't view us as animals then don't treat me like one. I'm not a skin-suit filled with instincts for you to poke and prod at. I'm a person and so are they."

"Interesting," Dr. Lim said as she pulled the monitor back to her side of the bed. "I'll have to update your file regarding emotional maturity. You've taught me something today, Haken."

"What's that?"

"That it's possible to be both impressed and disappointed with a subject at the same time." She reached over to the clear drip bag feeding the IV and turned a small plastic valve. "You'll feel some mild euphoria at first," she said. "Don't try to fight through it. Just enjoy the ride."

Haken lay back and tried not to think about what this woman was about to do to him. Maybe if he focused on the blood samples she was taking, that would tide him over. He was used to human doctors procuring blood from every inch of his body by any and every means possible. He'd thought there was no shame left that he hadn't already endured, but..

"Wait!" he croaked. He was already feeling he effects of whatever drug she was pumping into his system. His words were slightly slurred and he was having difficulty forming full sentences in his head before speaking them. He'd been so distracted by Lim's promises and the images she'd shoved in his face that he hadn't had the proper time to process what she actually wanted. "You don't need to put me under to collect those samples!"

"Hmm?" Dr. Lim asked from the other side of the room. She was getting something ready, but he couldn't quite turn his head enough to see. "What do you mean?"

"I mean…" Haken tried to keep his breathing even and ignore the intoxicating waves of bliss that threatened to overtake his conscious thoughts. What was this drug? It wasn't the same as the last one they'd used on him at all. Not even close. "Blood… you can take blood whenever you want. Urine and semen… just give me a few minutes of privacy and I'll give it to you, myself."

"And when did I say that was the extent of my business with you, today?" the doctor asked. Suddenly she was by his bedside again, wearing a blue surgical mask. He hadn't even noticed her arriving. Just.. blink… and she was there. "Are you aware that the US government has been in the business of engineering 'super soldiers' for decades, now? And that research into werewolves has played a pivotal role in the enhancement of human beings?"

Haken tried to shake his head. "The butchers in Haven weren't quite as chatty as you are about what they were doing. Makes sense, though." He tried to clear his throat, but it was surprisingly difficult. His voice was getting rougher and rougher as he spoke. "Why else would they have drained so much of our blood over the years?" He grunted with the effort to keep talking. "I know a few of 'em are sadists, but if there wasn't a point to the whole thing they would have gotten tired of tormenting us after a while."

"So you acknowledge our differences," Dr. Lim said. "That is good. Well, in the interests of transparency, then, I'll inform you that in addition to the samples I'll be taking, I'm also administering a few injections that I'm told can be quite painful. The sedation should help you with that."

"Injections?" Haken's speech was slurred and he was having a hard time thinking. "What kind…of injections…?"

Lim's expression brightened and she patted him on the head. "Trailblazing research in the early super soldier programs revealed that many of their enhancements could be passed on and strengthened in offspring. This was excellent, but the problem was that the same enhancement procedures drastically reduced the patient's fertility. I believe that the Haven protocols had the same effect on any werewolf that participated in those experiments. That's why you have no young children. All of the Haven-born pups are in their older teens now, conceived earlier on during your incarceration. 

Haken had never really thought about that, but the doctor was right. There hadn't been a newborn pup in Haven for over a decade before his rebellion began. He tried to reply, only to find that his mouth wouldn't move.

"To the point," Dr. Lim said, "my predecessors developed a treatment that not only restores an enhanced individual's fertility, but greatly increases it. I intend to administer that treatment to you." She picked up a small tray containing a row of four needles and placed it on a rolling cart. Haken's eyes went wide as he realized where those needles were intended to go. "Trust me, Haken," she said as she brought a small plastic mask to his face and pressed it against his skin.

He tried to yell and thrash about, but as soon as he breathed in, the sweet-smelling gas had him seeing stars. Within seconds he was out like a light and the doctor could begin her work.

"Son of a bitch!" Haken roared as he pounded on the steel wall of his cell where he knew the hidden door was. "You had no right to do that to me!" His fur-covered knuckles rang against the metal, sending echoing booms rebounding through the enclosed room loudly enough to hurt his ears. His claws had left deep scoring in the surface, but he didn't even seem close to breaking free.

Silence. 

No matter what he said, no matter how violent he became, the humans gave him nothing. No reaction at all. In the back of his mind he knew why–they were letting his temper run its course and waiting until he could no longer maintain his wolf form. Nobody would be foolish enough to walk in and try to talk him down until then. Still, though, he desperately wished there was someone in here to maul. 

He stepped over to sit on the chair before remembering that he'd reduced it to a thousand shards of cheap plastic several minutes ago. The table had joined it on the road to ruin seconds later, leaving only the bed, so he sat down on that and tried to ease his mind. 

In her own way, Dr. Lim was trying to help him–he didn't sense any genuine malice from her–but she appeared to have no moral compass to speak of when it came to experimentation and the consent of her subjects. She saw her enhancements as a positive and couldn't comprehend why he might not share that opinion. He wondered if it ever occurred to her that asking his permission before jabbing him in the groin with multiple needles might have resulted in a more positive response. It was no worse than the years of torture he'd faced at the hands of Haven's butchers, but somehow the fact that Dr. Lim was so open with him made her actions feel more personal, thus his inflamed sense of betrayal and rage.  

He breathed in deeply and tried to clear his mind of thoughts of revenge. There would be time for that in the future, but for now he needed to focus on the present. If the doctor was telling him the truth, she may have done him a favor whether he wanted to admit it or not–but he'd be damned if he ever thanked her for doing it without asking first.

Relaxation had a gradual effect on his body; fur slowly receded and bones shifted back into a more human formation. He'd tried to teach this technique to some of his work partners back in his days as a forgemaster, but mindfulness had always been a hard sell to wolves who saw him as little more than a walking bad temper. No one ever listened to him unless he raised his voice–that was the problem. They never wanted to think that maybe beneath all those muscles there was a semblance of wisdom and sensitivity to spirituality.

The door slid open several minutes after he was fully reverted to human form. He looked up just as Alice walked through, an expression of what he hoped was sympathy on her face as she approached him. She was trying to project calm, but he could tell that she was unsure what to expect and was ready to launch into action at a moment's notice. He tried not to think of the pictures Dr. Lim had shown him of her without clothing. Her hair, he thought. Focus on how the bright ceiling light turned her flowing red hair into a crown of flame. 

She must have noticed him watching, because her lips perked up into a slight smile and her defensiveness vanished almost instantly. "Hello, Haken," she greeted him.

Two human workers carrying a large black plastic bag and a broom stepped through behind her, quietly rushing over to the remains of his table and chair to sweep them up. They didn't want to leave him with any potential weapons, not even a thin shard of plastic. He supposed he couldn't blame them–after all, he'd assaulted Alice with nothing more than the tiny nub of a dull pencil only a day ago.

"That was quite the temper tantrum you had there," Alice said. She looked back over her shoulder and crooked a finger. One of the humans brought in a new chair exactly the same as the last one and placed it beside her. She sat down directly across from his bed. "Can't say I blame you, though. When the doctor told me what she did, I thought you'd have this reaction when you woke up. Good thing i said something, too, because she had no idea you were going to be so pissed. She thinks you're being 'irrational.' Didn't want to hear it when I told her that guys aren't all that into the idea of needles in their nether regions. Not that I would be, either."

Haken grunted. "She's not stupid. She had to know it would piss me off."

"Social graces aren't Dr. Lim's strong suit." Alice leaned forward in the chair until she was only a couple of feet away from him. "So, how you feeling?"

Haken swallowed hard, suddenly more embarrassed than angry. Alice knew exactly what had been done to him and what that entailed. "Doctor-patient confidentiality isn't really a thing in here, is it?" he asked.

"Was that a joke, Haken?" Alice asked, the smile returning to her lips.

"Yeah," he replied. "I know it wasn't funny."

"More than you think, actually. Sarcasm doesn't survive long in places like this for most wolves. Not many of us pretend to be witty, anymore."

"I thought you said this facility was better than most?"

Alice shrugged. "It is, and that's saying something." She drummed her fingers on the chair's arm. "Oh, I almost forgot. Lim did a little digging by way of apologizing to you. Found out about what happened to your friend–the one who got picked up same time you did near Rivera's detention building."

"Lapu?"

"Yeah, that was his name. I saw his profile. It's funny; the only other blond werewolf I've seen before is in the building with us right now. Her name's Mia. Doubt there's any relation, though. She's never had a kid and doesn't have any siblings."

"That sounds like the one," Haken said, ignoring the details about the other prisoner for now. "He still alive?"

Alice nodded. "The system said he was picked up by a woman who works at another werewolf detention facility called the Nail."

"It as bad as the name makes it sound?"

"Probably worse," Alice replied. "I mean, if I'm being totally honest with you, yeah. He was snagged for special processing by a scientist who calls herself 'Maker.' But at least he's still alive."

Haken grunted, trying to mask his true reaction. Maker…that was the weird name the kid had given him for the scientist who he claimed was working to free werewolves from the inside. Then again, her faulty breakout plan had directly led to his current predicament, so he wasn't sure if he should pin any bets on that particular horse. Still, though, it might be a good sign. "Maybe it will be good for him in the long run," he said. "Toughen him up."

"I guess," Alice said skeptically. "Anyway, I just thought you'd want to know. It's not like there's all that many of us left."

Haken slowly got up off the bed and began to pace across the cell's cold floor, immediately wishing he hadn't torn his footwear to ribbons by transforming in a rage. He tried to move slowly, so neither Alice or the guards thought he was going to pull something. He just needed to move for a bit and stretch his legs, that was all.

"Lapu betrayed the Haven pack," he said. "Colonel Williams sold him on the idea that he could save himself and his girlfriend from the doctors' knives if he ratted on us on a regular basis."

Alice winced. "Yikes."

"Yeah. Yikes." Haken breathed out until his lungs were empty and then filled them again. Breathing techniques like that were a good way for keeping himself calm. "When I found out, I wanted to kill him. Might never have even known who the rat was if it weren't for Williams's own kid. You know about that?"

"It was in the files Dr. Lim let me read, yeah. Williams was a werewolf. Not a colonel anymore from what I've seen."

Haken cracked his knuckles. "Serves the bastard right. He escaped when I did, by the way. From Rivera's cells."

"Damn," Alice grunted. "That part I didn't know." She watched his movements carefully. "So if this kid, Lapu, screwed your pack over that badly, why didn't you kill him? Seems like that would be kinda on-brand for you, what with the whole rage-monster thing."

 "I wanted to," Haken replied. "I had the chance but I let him go. Like everyone's been saying lately–there are too few of us left to just start killing, even if there's a good reason. I'm not the monster you people think I am." He stopped pacing and looked back at her, trying to gauge her reaction.

"Do I need to remind you that you almost killed me with a pencil the other day?"

"I wouldn't have done it."

Alice smirked. "Damn right–because I didn't let you."

"It was some impressive work, taking me down like that," he said. "Sure, I was in human form and I'd been sedated as hell just a few hours earlier…and I'd barely eaten, but still, pretty impressive."

"I take it back," Alice said.

"What?"

"When I told you that you were funny," she replied. "I take it back."

"You never meant it to begin with."

Alice stood up and pushed her chair into the corner where the old one had been. "You wanna test out some of that male bravado on me?"

"Right…right here?" The shift in tone caught Haken completely off guard.

She shook her head. "We'll spare chair number two from what happened to chair one. Want to go out to the yard?"

"You… have a yard?"

"Yup. Proper sparring equipment, too. Dr. Lim wants us to stay in shape, not wither away and die. As she puts it, there's no point keeping the species alive if she's going to keep us locked up in the dark like mushrooms."

Haken was pleasantly surprised for the first time since coming here, breeding program notwithstanding. At least exercise and sparring was free from the weird ethical hangups that were still gnawing at the back of his brain like ravenous termites. "You sure you want to give me another chance to knock you on your ass?"

Alice grinned as she led him to the door. "I'm counting on it."

Haken nearly choked with emotion when he followed Alice out through the heavy security door and into a grassy quad nestled between four thick concrete walls. The air was fresh and clear, tickling his nose with a faint scent of pine–a true, natural smell, not the offensively artificial variety that humans so often sprayed to make bad smells even worse. He felt warmth on his skin and when he looked up at the open sky his eyes began to water.

"The sun," he whispered under his breath. "Gods, I missed the sun." Every last ray of sunshine was a gift from the gods and Haken wanted to soak each drop of its radiance into his pores and hold it there for eternity.  

Each wall's surface had been painted with lush scenery in exquisitely vibrant colors, simulating the look of an open woodland. The scene wasn't going to fool anyone, but if he only looked through his peripheral vision, he could pretend he was out in the forest, and for now that was enough to keep him happy. He wandered to the center of the green space, feeling his naked feet sink slightly into the topsoil as the grass tickled his toes–any regret he had felt over shredding his shoes when he transformed flew away and he reveled in his feeling of closeness with the Earth.

He watched as Alice approached a stand that held a variety of practice melee weapons. She took up a wooden pole almost as long as she was tall and whirled it in her hands–he marveled as it blurred so fast he could barely follow it. The flurry of motion was almost hypnotic as she wove in and out of combat stances with the fluid grace of a dancer. It was like something out of a movie; certainly not anything Haken had seen with his own eyes. Most werewolves–himself included–focused on combat using brute force and claws, but this was something else. This was an art. 

As suddenly as she'd begun, Alice came to an abrupt halt, hand swept out to the side with the end of the staff an inch off the ground. She looked up at him and grinned, chest heaving as she panted with the exertion of her impromptu display.

Haken clapped his hands together, legitimately impressed. "I'm not sure how well that would keep you alive in a firefight," he said, "but gods, that was some beautiful form and discipline." He felt heat rise to his cheeks when he had a second to dwell on his choice of words. Alice didn't look flustered in the least. If anything, she seemed genuinely appreciative of his praise.

"Want to learn?" she asked. "They let us have quite a variety of toys here, and by variety I mean everything's made of wood and there's no projectile weapons. Still, it's a pretty good way to keep up your physical discipline without the risk of killing anyone you're sparring with."

"Or one of the guards." Haken pointed to a platform above the quad's concrete barrier where two armed men stood at attention, watching their every move. "They don't usually care much about our lives, but they won't put their own in harm's way."

Alice shrugged and whipped the pole around in her hands for a few seconds. "Goes without saying. You should pick a weapon and try taking me on." She leaned on her staff. "I bet there's one that calls out to you more than the others."

Haken stepped over to the weapons rack and eyed its contents dubiously. Wooden knives, swords, and poles in several varieties were held up top, but what interested him most was down below. He chuckled as he picked up a surprisingly hefty club, tapered at the end for an easy grip with a wide striking surface sure to knock anyone for a loop if they were unfortunate enough to be struck by a solid blow. "How about this?" he asked as he took a test swing through the open air. "I think I can work with this. What do you think?"

"I think Hal owes me a beer." Alice pointed up at one of the guards. "We had a bet about the first weapon you'd take. He thought you'd go with the axe, but I was 'team club' all the way."

Haken glared at the guard, but the man only stared back at him impassively. "You pulling my chain with that?" he asked.

"What do you think?" Alice reached out with her staff and rapped it against the end of his club.

"I think you're trying to get a rise out of me."

"It working?"

He didn't bother answering with words, instead lashing out with a wide swing of the club. Alice ducked, narrowly avoiding his blow before slicing upward with her pole and catching Haken on the back of the head before he could arrest the momentum of his swing and come around on her again.

"Too slow, big man!" she crowed, stepping out of range as Haken brought the club back, whiffing through the air. 

"S'all relative," he grunted. "Slow wins over flashy all the time." He lashed out with a well-timed upward thrust that thwacked Alice on the right shoulder. She rolled with the strike, limiting the damage, but he could tell that her hiss of pain was real. "I've watched wolves who could move so fast you could barely see 'em," he said as he took a step back before she could counter attack. "They'd land a dozen weak blows on their opponent, but they folded after the first hard punch to the jaw. Tagging someone first isn't a win if you're not the one still standing at the end of the fight."

"That's some pretty big talk for someone who can barely land a hit on me," Alice said as she leaned in and tried to sweep a leg out from under him.

Haken anticipated the move and blocked her leg with the butt of his club. He didn't reply to her taunt–if she wanted to take this fight seriously, then he'd indulge her. He reached down and wrapped a meaty hand around her ankle after it rebounded off his weapon and threw her sideways, expecting her to land in a heap on the grass. Instead she twisted in his grip, bringing her other leg around and slamming a foot into his neck. He staggered back, coughing and seeing red. He could barely breathe!

Alice got back to her feet easily after his grip slackened. "I thought you'd be better than thi–"

Haken dropped the club and leaped at the infuriating werewolf, driving her to the ground under him with his unexpected attack. He held her down with one hand while he knocked the pole out of her grip with the other. She struggled, trying to roll out from beneath him, but his well-muscled human form was almost double her weight and without leverage she found herself completely at his mercy.

"Peace," she said. "It was only a spar."

"You still think I'm nothing but a brute?" he asked as she wriggled.

"Who says I don't like a brute once in a while?"

Haken leaned back and pulled his hands away, suddenly acutely aware of his positioning. "I…I didn't mean…"

Alice laughed. "You think you frightened me? How do you know I didn't let you do this on purpose?"

"I can tell when someone throws a fight. You didn't."

"Oh?" She grabbed his hand and placed it on her breast. "Is that so?"

He recoiled as if a serpent had bit him, stumbling backward before awkwardly getting to his feet. This was all moving so fast–he'd been through too many changes in too short a time and he felt like he was suffering from a form of mental whiplash. Alice was staring at him with steely eyes partially obscured by sweat-slick red hair. What was she thinking? Had she really brought him here to spar or did she have another intention entirely? He swore under his breath. None of this was going the way he envisioned it happening. Life was messy and he'd never been the best at controlling his emotions.

"What's wrong?" she asked. He wasn't sure if he had imagined it, but he could swear he saw a look of sincere disappointment on her face before she wiped it away, replacing it with her standard cocky grin. "I know you're a bit of a traditionalist, but it doesn't always have to be the guy who makes the first move, does it?"

Haken hadn't actually thought of it that way. Was he letting old views of relations between the sexes cloud his judgment? He didn't think so; this was something else. He barely knew this woman but he'd already been shown pictures of her naked, felt her breast and the warmth of her breath on his face. She was actually quite pretty and he didn't mind the idea of getting to know her better, but he couldn't quite wrap his thoughts around it. All the attention he was getting felt unnatural after the years he spent living alone in Haven.

He sat down beside her, cross-legged. "I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to react that way. You caught me off guard."

Alice rolled onto her side and dug her elbow into the grass, holding her head up as she watched him. "I fucked it up, didn't I?" she asked. "We don't really know anything about each other."

Haken ground his teeth as he tried to sort out his feelings. "I'm no good at this stuff," he said. "I'm a builder. A fighter. Most of my life I've been the guy people come to when they want something fixed or to put the fear of the gods into someone. I spent almost two decades doing both those things as the forgemaster in Haven. You do that kind of work for long enough and that's all anyone ever sees you as–the brute with a short fuse, good for getting things done but not much else."

"So, you didn't have a mate."

"Ah, right," Haken said with a sigh. "You told me you've read my file. I should have known you already knew all of this."

"Some of it," she replied softly. "But nothing from your perspective. Reports from humans watching over video surveillance don't tell much other than the bare bones of the pack's lives: What you did for work, where you lived, where the pack gathered for meals and who went home with who. But the reports don't tell a thing about what's in your heart or who you really are. That's what I wanted to find out–what kind of man you are beneath the mask."

He closed his eyes and tried to drown out the longing he'd felt for so long. He remembered bringing Razor flowers after spending hours gathering a bouquet from Haven's desolate streets, searching out the rare plantlife hardy enough to survive and bloom through the cracks in cement sidewalks and furrows in asphalt. She was the only woman who had ever seemed to care for him, but as nice as she'd been about it, a rejection was still a rejection. If a respected colleague like her didn't want him, what good was he to any woman? Why would Alice show any interest in him at all? It had to be the breeding program. He'd been so stupid! "Did Dr. Lim put you up to this?" he asked. "Acting like you're interested in who I really am?"

Anger flashed over Alice's face. "You think everything is about the doctor and her damn program?" she snapped. "Is it so hard for you to believe that I could be lonely, too? What kind of attention do you think I get in here, Haken?" She gestured up at the guards. "That guy's name isn't Hal, for god's sake. I made it up! They barely even talk to me unless their bosses tell them to, so I had to make up names for them to keep them straight in my head!"

"But there are other werewolves here…" Haken said. "Dr. Lim showed me a whole list."

"And they're lovely," Alice said. "But it's not…what I mean is…we're all women. Yeah, a few of them paired off, but I'm not wired that way." She looked down at the ground with what Haken could only assume was embarrassment or shame. "Weren't you just telling me how easy it is to feel alone even when you're surrounded by other people? Didn't you ever just want to be held?"

He took a moment to think. "We have to show that we're strong. Strength is the only thing the humans respect."

"Who cares what they respect?" Alice said indignantly. "Why would you, of all wolves, care about what they think?"

He opened his mouth to reply before realizing that he had no answer for her. 

Alice nodded in response to his silence. "Exactly. I'm not flirting with you because a human told me to. I'm doing it because I want to. Dr. Lim can go to hell for all I care, but that doesn't mean she's not right about a few things. Our species is dying. I don't care if her motivation is scientific curiosity or a weird fetish or whatever–if her program gives me the chance at happiness that I never thought I'd get, then I'll do what she asks. But I'll never, ever care about having her respect. Ever. And neither should you." She looked into his eyes, searching for something, like she needed to know that he understood what she was saying.

Haken tilted his head back and looked up toward the open sky for several long seconds. "You meant all that, didn't you?" he finally asked. 

"Yeah," she replied. "I did." 

When he looked back down again, she'd worked her way closer, nuzzling up beside him in the long grass. Her skin felt slightly cool to the touch and he wrapped an arm around her shoulders almost instinctively. He didn't know what to say. He looked up to where the men had been watching and was surprised to see that they were no longer at their posts. "The guards are gone," he said.

"What?"

"They're not watching us, anymore."

"Huh," Alice muttered. "You're right. Don't get too weirded out, but it's probably something Dr. Lim told them to do if they ever saw us getting close."

"Why would she–oh… she thought that if they were watching…"

"That we'd be less likely to do something like this." She leaned upward and kissed him, uncertainly at first, with the trepidation of someone unaccustomed to physical closeness, and then with a rapidly increasing hunger. When she finally pulled away, she was positively beaming. 

Haken could barely catch his breath–his heart was going a mile a minute in his chest. "I can't believe this is real," he said once he could finally speak. "Was that real?"

"Hmm," Alice said. "Sure felt like it, but we should find out for sure." She leaped onto him, driving him to the ground beneath her. "Help me get you out of these pants."

******

Haken reclined on his bed, staring up at the ceiling of his cell. His mind was swimming with endorphins and that made it difficult to sort out his thoughts, but for now he didn't care. For once in his life things were finally going right!

There was, of course, the nagging voice in the back of his mind that simply wouldn't let him enjoy the moment free of doubt, but he did his best to drown it out with remembered visions of Alice and the half-hour that they'd been left alone in the grassy quad. Neither of them had mated in years, and he'd been embarrassed when it was over so quickly, but she'd been ravenous and had very little difficulty coaxing him into a second round within minutes. That time he'd managed to impress her which was quite a relief. And the things she's whispered in his ear! He'd never heard such things from a woman in his life–thoughts that would have made even the most jaded men he knew blush. It was like something out of a dream…

They had been lying down, clothes scattered to the four winds, when the guards finally came for them. Alice hadn't even seemed embarrassed, but he'd scrambled to get dressed so fast that he nearly fell over by stuffing both legs into the same hole of his pants. She'd laughed at that, but rather than mocking, it sounded affectionately amused. They were separated and marched back to their individual quarters by guards who had been studiously avoiding direct eye contact. It almost felt like they were more embarrassed than he was. Or maybe they were just jealous? Alice was beautiful and they hadn't exactly been able to keep their actions a secret. Sure, the guards had turned their backs, but he didn't doubt for a second that Dr. Lim didn't have surveillance cameras recording every angle of the exercise yard. Best not to think too much about that, though.

His stomach growled loudly, interrupting his reverie to forcibly remind him that he'd completely forgotten about missing his last meal. He sat up in bed, absently massaging his empty stomach.

"Hey!" he called out to the speaker above the cell door. "When's food?"

"You haven't had enough to eat, already?" a new voice replied snidely. 

Haken was stunned for a moment. "You idiots are choosing now to have a sense of humor? Where's the doctors?"

"Having a meeting," the man on the other side of the door said. "Probably about your little roll in the hay. Hope it was worth it, cause they're never gonna let you go, now."

Haken was starting to get pissed off at the guy's attitude. The scientists may have been annoying, but at least they weren't complete assholes. "What do you mean?"

"I mean they've been looking for a breeding pair for ages now, and you gave them just what they wanted. Congratulations."

"You sound awfully jealous," Haken snapped. "Must be tough stuck in here with nothing to use but your hand!"

There was no response for several seconds and for a moment he worried that he'd gone too far. Eventually the guard found his voice, though he sounded far less assured of himself. "Like I'd be interested in any of you freaks, anyway."

"You couldn't handle us."

There was quiet for a moment, and then the door slid open. "Yeah?" The guard stepped in, brandishing a metal rod that Haken knew from experience was charged with enough electricity to drop an elephant. The guy was young–couldn't be a day over twenty. "You wanna say that to my face?"

Haken hadn't seen this particular human before. Maybe the guard was new; if he ran this hot regularly, then he'd be out on his ass in no time. "You know that this place is recorded 24/7, right?" Haken said. "You really want to come at me?"

The youth sneered and extended his stun rod in Haken's direction. "I turned the cameras off, freak," he said. "Think you can wolf out before I knock you flat on your ass?" He dragged the weapon along the metal floor, sending a shower of sparks flying. "You think you're some kind of untouchable VIP in here, Mr. big shot fuckboy? I joined up to stop monsters like you. My dad fought in the Werewolf War–he just wanted to defend his family and you animals ripped his throat out!"

"You have no idea what you're doing," Haken growled. He took a moment to consider. "You turned the cameras off?"

"Sure as hell did." The guard was only a few feet away. "Now take your beating like a man. You're not gonna say a thing about it, either. Nobody will believe you over me, not even that idiot doctor."

"So we're all alone in here?" Haken grinned. "And here I thought this day couldn't get any better."

The guard lunged at him with the stunner. To his credit, he was much faster than Haken anticipated and the weapon brushed over his left arm, singing his fragile human skin before he could twist out of the way and bring his knee up into the youth's gut. The guard doubled over, retching as he dropped the stun rod. 

Haken shoved the human to the ground and a scream ripped from deep in his lungs as he fell on top of the activated stun rod. The smell of sizzling flesh wafted up and Haken waited a good five seconds before mercifully kicking the youth off of the weapon. "Weak," he muttered. "Not even a challenge." He knelt down beside the guard and checked his pulse. Still alive. That was probably for the best. He grabbed the weapon and straightened up a second before two more guards burst into the room in full riot gear, rifles aimed in his direction. They hesitated for a moment, wary of hitting the youth on the floor, and that moment of weakness was enough to spoil whatever advantage they might have had if they'd acted immediately.

The room was a blur as Haken charged. He could sense the humans' fear, see their fingers tighten on the triggers. He ducked into a slide, maintaining his momentum as he slid over the smooth metal floor feet-first, narrowly avoiding the first several gunshots. A quick pivot and he was back on his feet, face to face with the nearest human. He grabbed the rifle with his left hand and smashed upward with his right elbow, knocking into the man's helmet so hard that he went limp in Haken's arms, disoriented or knocked out, it made no real difference. 

Haken turned, positioning the vulnerable man between himself and the remaining guard, arm wrapped around his neck while he used him as a human shield. "You really want to kill your buddy to get to me?" he growled. "You don't got the balls." He couldn't see the man's expression through the riot helmet's visor, but he could smell the fear, the reek of his sweat.

"You're making a mistake," the guard said as he stepped away and lowered his weapon. "If you kill anybody, you'll lose everything. Your nice room, the girl…"

Haken snorted. "A gilded cage is still a cage." Still, though, the man's words had struck an unexpected nerve. Where was he going with this? His animal instinct had been to flee captivity, but what about Alice? How would he find her? He had no idea where her cell was. He didn't even know how to get outside.

"Damn it." He gritted his teeth together and gestured with his free hand to the guard. "Stay in the cell." He backed up through the door into the outer observation room. Alice and Dr. Lim had led him out enough times now that he knew how the controls worked, so it was simple enough to close and lock the door behind him.

The guard he was holding twisted in his arms, jabbing him unexpectedly in the ribs. Huh. Not knocked out after all. Unfortunately for the guard, his rifle was back in the locked cell, and he was already disoriented from the earlier blow to the head. Hekan wrapped his callused fingers around his unprotected neck and threw him to the floor as hard as he could. If he were in wolf form, that probably would have killed him, but in his current state it was unlikely to be a lethal blow. Either way it was good enough to take the fight out of him for the foreseeable future.

Alone at last, Haken finally had a moment to think and take stock of his situation. He could transform–it would give him an edge against the enemy–but he hadn't eaten his regular meal which was already barely enough to allow him to make it through a standard shift. Maintaining wolf form for more than twenty minutes or so would be incredibly draining and possibly leave him more vulnerable than he would have been if he stayed in human form. Blunt force was what he was known for; if he wanted to escape then he needed to subvert expectations. There must be something here that he could use to give him an advantage.

The observation room's back wall was lined with computer monitors, each brightly shining through the room's dim light as it showed his cell from every conceivable angle. The words 'Video Recording Suspended' hung over the feeds in bold, red lettering. So, the impetuous young guard had been telling the truth. He wasn't sure if that was a good or a bad thing, but he moved on all the same, tucking away the info in case he needed it later. 

Haken scanned the other video feeds focused elsewhere in the facility, searching for anything that might help him discover Alice's whereabouts. He hated admitting it to himself, but he didn't have the heart to leave her behind. Acting selfishly had gotten many wolves killed during the fighting at Haven and he didn't want Alice to suffer a similar fate as a result of his actions. 

No…that wasn't it. If he were being honest with himself, he wanted her to come with him. For once in his life he had something he was truly afraid to lose and he'd be damned if he left her behind in a place like this. Frustrated by his inability to pinpoint her location, Haken used the mouse to scroll through a list of available locations. He wasn't terribly accustomed to modern computer systems, but like many lower-priority government facilities, this system was a solid ten to twenty years behind the curve and he was able to manage.

"What's this?" he muttered to himself. "An evacuation tunnel?" He double-clicked on the file and a detailed map sprung to life. "This might be good. Just need to find Alice, now."

"What are you doing?" 

Haken turned at the unexpected voice to find a woman he'd never seen before standing in the door to the outer hall, a shocked look on her face. She brushed her long blond hair back and her eyes widened when she noticed the guard sprawled out unconscious on the floor. "You attacked the humans! We're all going to be punished, now!"

Haken had been moving toward her, but he paused when what she said sunk in. "You're not human?"

She shook her head, eyeing him nervously. "No, not human. I'm Mia. Dr. Lim brought me here at the same time as all the other wolves." She was trembling, just about ready to bolt. "You didn't kill him, did you? What happened?"

"Hotshot back in the cell attacked me," Haken said, pointing at the locked door. "He turned off the camera feeds and went in to start a fight."

Mia bit her lip. "Of all the days for them to send me here, they had to choose today. Why does this always happen to me?"

Haken was growing concerned. "Why send you? They usually send Alice."

"They sent me to tend to you because Alice was…indisposed. I mean, she's fine, just resting in bed."

A surge of hope flashed through Haken. "Do you know where she is?" he asked. "We can all get out of here together!"

"And do what?" Mia asked, a cloud of anger forming on her face. She was much shorter than him and she had to look up at a severe angle to stare in him the eyes, but the force behind her glare was enough to immediately put him on the defensive. "Run for the rest of our lives? I don't know how you were treated before you arrived, but we're comfortable here! Dr. Lim even told me that I didn't have to participate in…whatever's going on between you and Alice. Do you have any idea how many other humans would even care about my feelings like that? None that I've ever met!"

Haken shook his head. "You're still a prisoner. They let you walk around and act like a member of the staff, but if they won't let you leave…"

"It doesn't matter." Mia crossed her arms. "This place is locked down tight. Most of the humans aren't even allowed to go home without filling out a dozen forms weeks in advance. Half the facility is underground and the other half is surrounded by electric fences with guard towers."

Haken snarled with frustration. "What about the evacuation tunnel?"

"Evacuation tunnel? What evacuation–"

The double doors to the hallway slammed open and more riot gear-clad guards poured through, two at a time. They aimed their rifles at both wolves. Unlike the newbie that Haken had schooled in his cell, these men smelled calm and their posture was self-assured, though he supposed he'd feel the same if he were on their end of the firing range.

"What is the meaning of this?" Dr. Lim pushed her way between the two guards blocking the door and stood in front of them, utterly fearless with her hands firmly planted on her hips, looking for all the world like a mother scolding children who were acting up. She glanced at Mia. "Did you play a part in this?"

Mia shook her head vehemently. "No, ma'am! I swear! But it's not his fault, either!"

Lim shifted her gaze to Haken. "I suppose you want me to believe that my men decided to take a nap after letting you out of your cell?"

Haken had already calculated his odds and come to the inevitable conclusion that they were decidedly against him. His only hope now was to convince the doctor that he hadn't started the fight. The fact that she was giving him an opportunity to speak at all was a positive sign. He pointed to the monitor with the video feeds. "The idiot left in charge turned off the video recording and came in looking for a fight, ranting about how werewolves killed his old man. I let him take the first swing with his stunner and then I put him down. Simple as."

The doctor pointed at the guard on the floor beside him. "And that one?"

"Walked in at an inopportune time and came to the wrong conclusion. I decided that I didn't want to get shot and did what I had to do."

Lim closed her eyes and took a deep breath through her nose. 

The guard closest to her motioned toward Haken with his rifle. "What do we do with him, doctor?"

"Give me a moment for heaven's sake!" Dr. Lim stalked through the room with absolutely no fear until she stood beside Haken and Mia. She leaned down, ignoring them as she gave the computer a close look. 

"Ma'am?" the same guard spoke up again. He was shifting his weight from foot to foot and it looked like his trigger finger was getting mighty itchy. 

Lim looked back at him, a disgusted expression on her face. "It looks like he's telling the truth, Jones. Riley used his passcode to shut down the cameras. Remind me who brought him in here?"

"Vollick recommended him, ma'am."

The doctor double-clicked on a file and audio began playing. The entire back-and-forth between Haken and the guard could be heard crystal clear. The guard–Riley, apparently–hadn't realized that the audio recording was controlled through another application.

"I want Riley and Vollick out on their asses by end of day," Dr. Lim snapped. "No arguments. If anyone has a problem with that, tell them to talk to me."

The guard let out a slow breath. "I'll get it done."

Lim turned to Haken. "I'm disappointed that you let things get this far out of control, but given the circumstances it's difficult to blame you. I take full responsibility for Riley's unprovoked attack. You have my apologies."

Haken wasn't sure how to respond. An apology was the last thing he expected from a human, especially after he'd beat the hell out of her men. "It's...uh...it's okay," he stammered. "I'm barely injured. Only a graze with the stunner." Gods...what was he thinking?

"Good," Lim said, slapping her hands together and rubbing them vigorously, as if to wash her hands of the situation. "Let's just put this incident behind us so we can get back on track. There's far too much work to be done to waste time on such frivolous matters."

"Should I still attend Haken?" Mia asked meekly.

Lim shook her head. "No. That's why I came here in the first place. I have need of you in the lab. Come." Mia walked past the guards without another word and the doctor fixed her eyes on Haken. "I'll have my men clean your cell and feed you. Later tonight, we'll meet in my lab. You've made me quite happy today, current indiscretion notwithstanding. The future of our program is looking very bright indeed!"

The next two months were simultaneously the slowest of Haken's life and the fastest. Hours spent alone in his cell stretched on forever, while every second he spent with Alice felt like it passed in a heartbeat. 

It came as a surprise to Haken that he was beginning to grow accustomed to Dr. Lim's lab and the associated poking and prodding that came along with it. Not all that long ago he'd have fought tooth and claw over the thought of being forced back into a life of medical experiments, but unlike the masked butchers in Haven, Dr. Lim was surprisingly personable, if occasionally off-putting. She made an effort to speak to him like a person and that made all the difference. From time to time her off-color jokes actually made him chuckle. He still didn't like her and he never would, but not hating a human was a welcome change of pace from the dull routine of habitual animosity.

Of course his change in attitude wasn't entirely due to the doctor. Alice had quickly grown from a curiosity to something...more. It wasn't quite love–he wasn't sure if he had ever truly felt that–but it was a deep affection and camaraderie similar to what he felt for those he had been closest with during the purgatory years in Haven. His experience was something she also understood, something she'd gone through in her own way, only with different tormentors. How many years had he dealt with the humans' relentless scientific curiosity? The weekly torture sessions had dulled him to surface-level pain and injury–although he was growing soft again since the escape. Alice, the gods bless her, was a double-edged sword in that regard, both sharpening and dulling his senses between their regular sparring and pleasurable liaisons. 

He wondered how she truly felt about him. Did she care for him as much as it appeared or was he simply the most convenient male–the only male–available to her. Well, the latter was certainly true in any case, but he was beginning to think she may actually like him for who he was, and that was something he hadn't felt in a very, very long time. But was Haken the smitten also Haken the fool? Only time would tell.

"–you listening? Earth to lover-boy!" 

"What?" Haken asked, jerked forcibly from his thoughts as Dr. Lim shook his arm. "Oh," he said. "I think I lost track of where I was." His wit was dulled, his body sluggish. "What did you inject me with?"

Lim smiled. Her subject's return to attentiveness seemed to please her. "Nothing untoward, I assure you," she said. "I've been working on something to modify your metabolism–make it easier for you to shift into wolf form without the need to devour upward of four-thousand calories. You're eating me out of house and home, my dear." A sharp beep came from her computer, but she ignored it, focusing her attention on him.

"Why would you want to make the transformation easier for me?" Haken asked, suddenly suspicious. That was the kind of thing the Haven doctors were always messing around with. They were designing more efficient killing machines, after all. 

"Curiosity," she replied, a frank expression on her face. "I also loathe inefficiency. I'd love to examine your lupine persona with more regularity, but my budget is stretched thin as it is without paying for twice as much food. I'm just as likely to be shut down as get an increase in funding if I make any kind of fuss, so we deal with what we have. Enhancing your abilities makes things easier on me and it has no drawbacks for you. Win-win."

The shrill beeping from her computer continued as she spoke and finally she heaved a heavy sigh and pushed off against his bed, sending her desk chair rolling across the floor. "If this is Dr. Burgess again, I'll have his guts for garters. The man–"

Her mouth snapped shut with a sharp click of teeth when she looked at the monitor and she breathed in heavily through her nose. The mood in the room shifted instantly.

"What?" Haken asked. "What is it?"

"Those aren't my soldiers," she hissed. "What are they doing?"

The familiar sound of gunshots rang out in the hall, sending a spike of adrenaline through Haken's body, effectively banishing his drug-induced lethargy. "Let me out of this thing!" he snapped, pulling his arms against the metal restraints holding his wrists tight. "I won't die strapped down like a dog!"

"Nobody's dying!" Lim said as she jumped up, nearly flying over the floor to the opposite wall. She pulled a clear plastic box open, revealing a large red button. She smashed her palm down on it and an alarm wailed out a second later. The lights dimmed and changed color until they were almost red. "There's going to be hell to pay! What were they thinking, sending their people here?" Several more shots echoed through the adjoining hallway. The resulting scream of pain seemed to give the doctor hesitation, dampening her fiery resolve for a moment. "How dare they?" She rushed over to Haken's bedside and began fiddling with his restraints.

"Who are they?" Haken asked. "It sounds like you know who they are."

"General Greene's men," Lim said. "I could make out their insignia on the video feed."

"Who the hell is General Greene?"

The doctor sniffed. "More like who was General Greene. He used to control the werewolf prison we spoke about not long after you arrived–the one called the Nail. He was murdered and replaced by your good friend General Rivera. A few weeks later, there was a breakout. All the werewolves escaped, killing several dozen soldiers in the process. Greene's loyalists blame Rivera for being too soft on werewolves."

Several more shots rang out from the hallway as Haken's first restraint popped off. Lim moved to the other side of the bed.

"But how are they here?" Haken asked. "Why come here with guns?"

"I thought it was only a rumor," Lim replied. "People in paranormal research have been whispering about it all week like gossiping grannies. They said that Greene's loyalists left the service and joined some kind of PMC led by an ex-colonel."

"PMC?"

"Private military company. The point is, they've been agitating for all werewolf research to be suspended and for all detainees to be put down. I thought it was bluster, but…" She looked him in the eyes. "I'm your only friend in this system, Haken," she said. "The only one who will always advocate for your well-being. I'm trusting you enough to release this last restraint. Don't bite the hand that feeds you."

The strap came off and Haken raised his arm, feeling the full blood flow return to his extremities. The inner beast wanted to use this opportunity to attack her–she was a human experimenting on him after all–but she was right. Out of all the humans he'd been forced to interact with since his incarceration, she was the only one who had consistently come down on his side time and again. If that didn't matter, then nothing did. He didn't like her, but he no longer hated her enough to strangle her to death at the first chance he got. 

He grunted. Haken the tamed.

A heavy fist pounded against the lab door. "Open up! Anyone harboring one of the animals will die alongside it!"

"Hmm," Haken muttered as he began to shift forms. "Maybe I'm not so tamed after all." He looked from the door to Lim. "Why don't they just come in?"

The doctor pointed to a small plastic card affixed to her belt. "The doors all lock automatically around here. We originally used it to keep track of who goes where at all times, but the system is just as useful if someone goes where they're not supposed to."

"But will it hold?"

"Of course not, Haken," she said, voice dripping with exasperation. "They got this far. They have guns so I'm guessing they also have breaching rams and explosives. Only the cell doors were designed to withstand that kind of punishment, and even then I'm sure they could get in if they really wanted to."

He cracked his knuckles. "So what's the plan? If they're here to kill all the wolves, then we need to get to the others and make sure that they're safe." He tried not to think about Alice. Panic and rage wouldn't be his ally in such a volatile situation. He had to understand what he was up against if he wanted to defeat it.

"Other than the perimeter, the cells are the best guarded parts of the facility. Your fellow prisoners are in less danger than we are at the moment."

"Wouldn't these guys have needed to break through the perimeter to get this far?"

"Ostensibly. But as we learned through your little incident with Riley attacking you in your cell, we've had some issues with staffing, lately. They may have had a man on the inside who was keeping their head down. If someone opened up the gates for them, they could get in here without much of a fight. Betrayal and intelligence leaks cause just as many military defeats as force of arms. We can't discount the possibility of an inside job at this point."

"And you just let that happen?"

The doctor rolled her eyes. "I'm a scientist, not a staffing expert or strategist. I'm supposed to have people who handle these things for me so I can focus on my work!"

"Wonderful," Haken grunted as the thumping against the lab door grew more powerful. They must be using one of those hand-held rams she mentioned. "Any objections to me shifting?"

Lim shook her head. "By all means. I'm surprised it wasn't the first thing you did."

"Didn't want you to freak out," Haken said. "I know you have a gun strapped under that desk. Better get it just in case they want to clean house." He crouched down on all fours and willed himself through the change. Thick brown fur sprouted down his arms and legs as an unexpected wave of nausea rolled through his guts. A confused whimper passed his lips as his bones cracked and rearranged themselves within his body faster than he'd ever experienced before. He was in full wolf form within seconds, something he'd never thought possible. That would have been great if he wasn't sideways on the floor gasping for breath as the ceiling's fluorescent lights spun above him in a fuzzy, disorienting spectacle. He felt a slim hand grasp his paw and try to pull him up. Lim. She was putting a lot of trust in him if she'd touch him at this stage.

"I'm sorry, Haken, but you've got to get up! They're almost through the door!"

"What did you do to me?" he gasped.

"I already told you. I enhanced your transformation ability. I was hoping there wouldn't be any drawbacks, but you can't argue with the speed and efficiency!"

The haze was lifting from Haken's mind and he was able to right himself and stand on all fours. He gave his fur a shake. "We'll talk about this later."

The door burst off its hinges and crashed to the floor with a thunderous bang, revealing three men in dark green uniforms strapped to the nines with weaponry. They dropped the battering ram they'd been using to the floor and pulled their guns. Nothing seemed to be standard military issue. Mercenaries, then? Militia? Lim must have been right about the military defections.

"We've got one in here!" the lead man shouted back through the hallway. "Scientist, too!"

"Subdue the animal!" another yelled back. "Take the doc alive if you can!"

The militiaman took a step through the door, making way for a half-dozen others to swarm through behind him. Haken didn't wait for them to get into formation before launching his attack. He immediately felt the sting of several bullets burrowing their way into his skin as he ran, but he'd gotten accustomed to the pain. The lead human, on the other hand, had far more difficulty surviving the razor-sharp claws being driven through his skull and embedding themselves in his brain matter.

Haken heaved the dead man aside, throwing him bodily into the two gunmen to his right, knocking them flat on their backs before they had time to respond. The remaining survivors opened full-auto fire, scoring several lucky hits to his head and staggering him. The fur around his eyes was wet with blood, obscuring his vision as he lashed out at random, hoping to land a lucky strike. He managed to scrub the blood away with the back of his hand just in time to see one of the militiamen jerk back as a blossom of red exploded from the side of his head. Haken risked a quick glance deeper into the room and saw Dr. Lim pointing her gun. He'd expected to see her terrified and shaking, but her stance was solid, not so much as a tremble. 

The unexpected death of his companion caused the last militiaman on his feet to retreat; Haken could smell the panic radiating from him in waves as he turned his back and ran.

"Haken!" Dr. Lim's cry grabbed his attention, probably saving the fleeing man's life. "I need your help!" 

He muttered a curse. She'd been shot multiple times, at least once in the chest. The fact that she could still breathe well enough to call out for him was a good omen, but her survival was far from certain. He looked back at the door again, pleased to see that no reinforcements had arrived, yet. The shirt he'd discarded before Lim began her experiments would do well enough for makeshift bandages, so he quickly shredded it into strips and wound them around the doctor's chest tightly, stanching the blood flow. 

"I think you'll survive," he said. "But you may wish you hadn't for a few days while you recover."

"I'll have every one of them court martialed…" Lim sputtered. "I never thought the higher-ups would let it go this far! It's an outrage!" 

"Save it," Haken grunted. "We need to get you somewhere else or they'll just come back and finish off the job. You have any ideas?"

She thought for a moment. "It's like I said earlier. The cells are the only rooms that have any chance of repelling them."

"Unless we leave."

Lim shook her head and winced as she tried to stand. "Not possible. There's only one way out and they'll have it covered. That button I pressed sent out an alert over the line. We'll have reinforcements en route already. We just need to hold tight until then."

"All right," Haken grunted. "I'll have to carry you if we want to make good time, unless you really want to limp the whole way. Any objections?"

She pointed over at the cabinet beside her work station. "Grab the med kit in the top drawer, there. I'll need it once we're safe." 

He did as he was asked and then knelt down to pick the scientist up. She was surprisingly light and he was able to cradle her in one furry arm. It wasn't comfortable for either of them and he felt off-balance, but it would do until they were out of danger.

But first, he had to find Alice.

******

The hallway between cell blocks was painted in slashes of dark red and decorated with broken, mangled bodies wrapped in tattered green uniforms. It stank of coppery blood so badly that Haken had to cover his nose with his free hand while he held Dr. Lim in the other. The alarm klaxon had been wailing for so long that he could barely hear it anymore and the flickering emergency lights were starting to make him feel nauseous. Each cell they passed had been empty. Here and there he could see dents and pry marks showing where the invaders had forced their way in. More often than not, their crowbars and battering rams littered the same room as their owners' eviscerated corpses.

A deathly howl torn from some unfortunate's lungs echoed through the lifeless corridors from somewhere far away, bombarding Haken's already overwhelmed senses. Lim whimpered in his arms; she'd been nearly catatonic for the last few minutes and he'd had to waste precious time re-wrapping her wounds before continuing on, searching for a safe place to hunker down. He'd all-but given up on that by this point–all he wanted now was to find the other werewolves, hopefully alive and well. He hadn't seen any of their bodies among the dead–every corpse so far had been wearing the same paramilitary uniform–but he didn't have time to examine every one of them to be sure.

"Alice wouldn't let this rabble kill her," he muttered to himself as he kicked a dead militiaman's body away from the door leading toward the next cluster of cells. The corpse slumped to the side, revealing a gaping wound that had been neatly sliced into its neck. He knelt down to give it a closer look. "This isn't the work of a werewolf." He ran the tip of his claw over the incision. It was almost surgically precise, no ragged edge whatsoever. Interesting.

Haken straightened up again and walked through the doorway into the central hall. The screaming had stopped at some point while he was examining the body. Whoever had been causing the commotion was probably just as dead as this poor idiot by now. He felt no sympathy for the humans at all, not even the natural revulsion he might have experienced in a simpler time when he hadn't yet become jaded by war and death. He knew that this chaos and bloodshed should stir something within his spirit. That he should feel…something…but the years had taken their toll on him. He grunted. Haken the cold. The unmoved. 

The doctor choked out a sharp cough and jerked in his arms for a moment, nearly startling him into dropping her on top of the corpses. He shifted his grip to make sure she couldn't roll to the side before speaking to her.

"You still with me, Lim?"

She took in a ragged breath. "Where are we? Are we safe?"

"No," he said. "All the cells I've seen have been broken into, so far." 

She coughed again and a fine mist of blood flecked her lips. "Are the wolves okay?"

He was quiet for a moment before replying. It was strange hearing a human act so concerned about a group of werewolves that she kept under lock and key. She hadn't asked after her fellow doctors or even the facility staff–her first concern had been for his kin. Certainly, she valued them as experiments, but this felt more personal than a simple concern over property or datapoints. She actually saw werewolves as people. It seemed like he made the right call when he decided not to strangle her to death at his first opportunity. 

"I haven't seen any dead wolves, yet," he replied. "At least I don't think so. Most of the bodies I've seen were wearing those green uniforms, and I haven't seen any dead women."

"Thank god," Lim managed to say before she was taken by yet another round of gut-wrenching coughing. "Let me down," she said. He was halfway through the hall to the next cell block and showing no signs of stopping. She tried to hammer a fist into his arm but she was weak as a kitten. "If you don't put me down, I'll die."  

"Damn it all," Haken said. "Why'd you have to go and say that?" He set her down as gently as he could and leaned her against the wall. "I've still got that med kit you asked me to pick up. What do you need me to do?" He opened the metal box, revealing a varied assortment of bandages, disinfectant, a pair of scissors, and, curiously, a scalpel and tongs. 

"We'll get to that in a second," Lim said. Her hand fumbled into her pants pocket and emerged holding a thin cylindrical tube. She popped the top open with her thumbnail and handed it to him. "There's a needle in here," she said. "Inject me with it."

Haken upended the tube and gave the syringe a close look. He couldn't tell the difference between it and any other needle he'd ever encountered. "What is it?"

"I…" she coughed again. "I don't have time to answer questions. Just stick me with the damn thing! Upper left arm."

He took in a deep breath. It was hard to be irritated with her; if he were in her position he probably wouldn't want to bother explaining himself, either. He pulled the protective plastic off the needle and positioned it against her arm where she indicated, then depressed the plunger to inject her with gods-knew-what. The doctor let out an immediate sigh of relief. 

"Excellent," she muttered. "Now open that package and use the wipe to disinfect the wound." She waited for him to comply. "Pick up those forceps." She rolled her eyes at his hesitation. "The ones with the tongs. You need to get this bullet out of my chest."

Haken looked at the tongs and then over at the blood-soaked bandages wrapped around Lim's torso. "I don't have any medical experience. I might kill you."

Lim sniffed. "Then I'll die. But it's nice to know that you care enough to tell me the truth. Do your best and I promise not to haunt you if you screw it up. The shot you gave me will help, trust me."

The forceps felt delicate in his large werewolf paws, but he was able to manipulate them well enough. The claws weren't clumsy-per se–it was just that they weren't shaped properly for handling human tools. He placed his left paw on her chest to hold her steady and positioned the tongs by the entry wound. "Last chance to back out."

"Damn it, Haken!" Lim gasped. "Get it over with! This drug doesn't last forever!"

He pulled open the edges of the wound with the claws of his left paw and dug in with the forceps. He expected her to cry out or at least hiss with pain, but she watched him work without so much as a whimper. What had been in that syringe?

"Higher," she said. "I can feel the bullet moving; you're nudging it from below."

He repositioned the tongs and went back in. This time he could feel the difference in response as spongy, wet flesh made way for the embedded bullet. He clamped down on it and tugged gently, encountering some resistance. He looked up at the doctor and she gave him a nod. She was definitely feeling the pain now, because her teeth were clenched and she didn't have anything smart to say. That was good; lack of pain response could get a person in a lot of trouble–he'd learned that during his early warrior days when he was young, stupid, and thought nothing could harm him. 

A few more small tugs and the bullet came free. He let it fall to the floor where it landed with a clink and rolled several inches before coming to a stop, painting a miniature red arc with Lim's blood. He wiped the tongs off on a dead militiaman's uniform and placed them back in the med kit, then re-wrapped the bandages to keep her from bleeding out.

"Thank you," she said. "I owe you my life."

"We're not out of it yet," Haken grunted. "Think I can pick you up again? We shouldn't stay here for much longer. Have to keep moving and find Alice."

"And the others."

"Yes," Haken added. "The others, too."

"I can smell her." Haken lifted his snout into the air and inhaled deeply, grateful that the stink of blood wasn't quite as severe on this end of the complex. "And Mia. They both have distinct scents. Two other wolves are with them as well. At least."

Lim was still curled up in his arm, watching the halls as he searched. She'd been silent, suffering through the pain of her wounds with quiet dignity. He could admire that. "And the attackers?" she asked.

"Hard to tell," he said. "They brought a lot of people in on this and I don't know any of their scents. "I can smell humans from that direction, but they could be dead or alive and I'd have no idea. Death-stink hasn't had time to really settle in, yet."

The doctor didn't say anything. She knew that she didn't need to–Haken would know to tread carefully regardless of weather she told him to or not. 

He slowed his pace and tread quietly through the hall. There was a distinct lack of human corpses in this wing and it was impossible to know if that was a result of the invaders getting the upper hand or simply due to them dying out along the way. The alert klaxon had been silenced several minutes ago, but the main lights were still down, leaving only the dim red emergency bulbs and the occasional flash of the bright white alarm lights. Even with his supernaturally enhanced sight, he was having a rough time keeping track of his surroundings. On the positive side, if it was this difficult for him then the attackers would be much worse off. 

Alice's scent was growing stronger with every step, and by the time he neared the next corner he was certain that he had almost reached her. He paused before advancing and pressed himself up against the wall, taking a deep breath before leaning his head out to take a look. A cell door was open on the other side of the hall and he could see Mia slumped up against the far wall inside. She hadn't noticed him yet. Alice and the others must be deeper into the cell, out of view. Several human bodies lay slumped on their sides not far from the entrance, uniforms slashed and covered in blood. He breathed a sigh of relief–they'd managed to defend themselves from what was left of the invading force. Now all he had to do was collect them and get the hell out of here. Lim wouldn't be happy about her werewolves breaking out, but as she said–she owed him her life. That had to be worth something.

"I've found them," he said to Lim as he rounded the corner. "They're huddled up in the next cell. We're all gonna get out of this together." He approached the cell as the doctor shifted uncomfortably in his arms.

"Don't go getting crazy ideas, Haken," she warned. "Do you remember what I said about the alarm? Reinforcements will be arriving shortly."

Haken grunted. "Doc, I respect you. I really do, which is strange for me to say out loud. But you know damn well I'm not hanging around here waiting for the military to show up." He stepped into the cell and breathed out a sign of relief when he saw Alice was among the prisoners still alive. She was leaning against the wall, staring down at the floor. Was she in shock?

"Damn it!" Lim shouted. "You're going to get yourself killed if you try to run and then all of this will have been for nothing! Don't you understand that I'm trying to save your species?"

Mia's head shot up when she heard the doctor's exclamation. She was only about ten feet away now, lined up with the rest on the cell wall. Rather than seeing the expected relief in her eyes, Haken saw nothing but stark, naked fear.

He looked through the rest of the cell, but much like his own, it was quite spartan with no room for any hidden threats to be lurking and ready to pounce. What was she so worried about?

"Get out of the cell!" Mia cried. "They knew you were coming!"

"What?" Haken exclaimed, whirling in place and dashing for the door so fast that he nearly dropped the doctor in his haste. "Where are they?"

The door was swinging shut!

Haken lunged forward and rammed the door with his shoulder, bashing it back open again before it could latch closed. He was immediately confronted by seven or eight men in bloody, mangled clothes, each pointing rifles in his direction. He cursed himself. They'd been playing dead! He'd grown so accustomed to the stench of slaughtered human over the last twenty minutes that he hadn't noticed any differences. After seeing so many defeated militiamen, what were a few more? He was a fool and his inattentiveness may have doomed them all. He almost charged without thinking, but then he remembered that he was carrying Dr. Lim. Putting her down would cost him time and he'd be slaughtered. He could use her as a human shield and charge…but he dismissed the thought less than a second after it came to him. He couldn't bring himself to do that so soon after saving her life.

One of the men standing at the center of the ring of armed militiamen stepped forward and addressed him. "Haken, I presume," he said. "We've been waiting for you." He had an air of authority about him and just a hint of a British accent–he'd probably been living state-side long enough to mask it almost entirely. 

Haken looked the man over carefully. Now that he was paying attention, he could tell that the uniform had been purposefully sliced and splashed with blood to lay the ambush. A rectangular patch was stitched in the upper right arm with the letters 'HSM.' Another patch over his breast pocket named him Benjamin. Haken exhaled and tensed his free arm. "Didn't realize I was that popular, Benjamin. I guess things change."

"You led the uprising in Haven," he replied. "Your reputation proceeds you. One might even say that you're a symbol for your little rebellion. Werewolf rights organizations have your image all over the internet."

Haken knelt down and put Lim on the floor before rising back up to his full height, towering over these small, petty men. "You gonna try killing me with those guns or do you plan to talk me to death? I'm getting bored."

"Ah," Benjamin said. "To the point, then. We'd prefer you surrender yourself without any further incidents. Things would be less messy that way."

"Why the hell would I do that?" The guy had about two seconds to make a point before Haken tore his throat out.

"Because the female werewolves in that cell are sitting around a remote controlled explosive device. And if you don't care about them, you might want to consider that you've got your back to the wall and you're surrounded by superior firepower. If you attack us, your chances of survival are nil."

Haken took a step forward, a growl rumbling at the back of his throat. He flexed his claws, clinking them together. "You're full of shit and you stink of fear. You're bluffing."

"Am I?"

"Yeah." Haken leaped for the man's throat, slicing through the air. He felt the stinging impact of several bullets peppering his tough hide, but for the moment all that existed was him and this preening peacock of a man. 

Benjamin jerked backward and Haken's claw caught in his left shoulder, shredding muscle before getting lodged in bone. In the second it took Haken to pull himself free and go for a second strike, the militiaman had already drawn a massive handgun and jammed it up under his muzzle. A bright flash and blinding pain shot through him, sending Haken stumbling to the floor. At the time he couldn't understand how a single shot could hurt him so badly–even if it was to the head–but he'd failed to register that the other humans had already shot him almost two dozen times.

"Fuck…fuck you," Haken spat a gob of thick red blood to the floor. "I'll…fucking kill you!" He lurched awkwardly toward the man and felt several new lances of stinging pain as Benjamin's men fired again. He fell to the floor, blood leaking from his muzzle. Forcing the pain from his mind, he pushed through, nearly regaining his feet before stumbling and collapsing to his knees. "Coward…" he growled through split lips and broken teeth, blood bubbling out as he tried to speak.

Benjamin looked down at him, seething pure hatred. His wounded arm hung limply at his side and his face was twitching with spasms of pain. "You'll regret that," he said. "Like I said, you're a symbol. A symbol to show all your kind what lies in store for them."

He lashed out with a sharp kick that slammed Haken's jaw to the ground with a crack. The steel-toed boots left him seeing stars. A second and third kick and darkness threatened to overtake him. 

"Take the animal to the cage with the others," Benjamin said. "And tell our people back home to take the alarm system off test." He leaned down and whispered into Haken's ear. "Nobody's coming to save you. You're ours."