Trespassers
I woke up to someone moving beside me in the bed. "Mmn," I groaned and tried rolling over but a set of arms kept me in place. I squeezed my eyes shut before actually opening them to see Grant. "Grant," I said rubbing my eyes with my fist. "Grant wake up."
"Katrina," he groaned in response, "go back to sleep."
I raised an unimpressed eyebrow and pry his arm off of me before shoving his large body off of the small bed. He hit the floor with a very satisfying thump. I smiled to myself while he moaned. "I think you fell," I said peering over the edge of the bed, my hair slipping to hang down over him.
He looked up at me clearly unamused. "I think I was pushed."
"I think I'm more likely to be believed."
"I think you're secretly evil."
"I think I win."
"I think you should both stop before I throw up."
Grant and I both turned our heads towards the door. Trina. Why do people keep walking in on moments between Grant and me? "Hi Trina."
"You two are being couple-cute and it disturbs me," she said in way of a good morning. "I came in to tell you that your overprotective brother will consider letting you off bedrest if you swear to take it extremely easy and instead I find you two one starry-eyed gaze away from a romance movie, which said overprotective brother will not like."
"Then don't tell him."
"Let her off bedrest?"
Grant and I spoke at the same time. I scowled down at him. "I already have one Nervous Nellie nanny so don't you start." I sat up properly and looked at Trina. "I take it I'll have to do some pushing for that to happen?"
She grinned and rolled her eyes. "Obviously. Jason is almost as bad as you!"
My mouth fell open in offense. "I was not bad! You were just unruly!"
She stuck her tongue out at me in response.
I pushed myself to the edge of the bed and Grant got up. "What are you doing?"
"I'm off bedrest," I replied. "Weren't you listening?"
"I heard her say that your brother would consider letting you off bedrest," he said. "Not that he already had."
"Eh," I said shrugging one shoulder. "With Jason it's all really the same. He gives you an inch you take the mile."
"It's for just that thinking that I've had to stop giving you an inch," Jason said surprising us with his presence. "I had this nagging feeling that Trina would even try to keep you in bed."
"This is so..." Trina said. "That is so absolutely true. But the dog faced one did."
"Hey!" Grant exclaimed.
"He's face only slightly resembles a dog," I said at the same time.
"Wait, what?" Grant turned to me.
"What?" I asked. "I was defending you."
"You and I have differing opinions on the definition of defending, little sister," Jason teased.
"We have differing opinions on a lot of things, older brother," I said. "Like the fact that your hair is most definitely turning gray."
"If it is then it's from the stress of looking after you for all these years," he replied. "Go on and let her down, Grant. Release the Kraken."
"I'm not a Kraken," I huffed as I hopped down and stumbled into Grant's chest. "Thanks," I muttered and he smiled in return. Trina and Jason refrained from commenting and I was glad for it. This was all new to me and I didn't need them getting in the way of my figuring it all out. "It's starting to feel like I've moved into this place."
"You're here often enough for it," Doc muttered rudely as he walked out of his office.
"Dick," Trina coughed under her breathe and I elbowed her in the ribs. She swatted at my arm in return.
"Good morning," I said without even trying to use the false cheer I used to give him.
"Not in the least," he replied sourly.
I huffed again. "Yeah, I don't like you either."
"Kate," Jason said in warning.
"Jason," I said mimicking his tone.
"Would it kill you to be nice to people?" he asked.
"Generally? Probably not, but the doc and I have a bond. You wouldn't want something small like being nice to get in the way of that now, would you?"
"A bond?" Jason repeated skeptically.
"Yes," I replied with overdone defensiveness. "We're one more forced stay here away from running off together."
"No we're not," Doc said never looking up from his papers.
"Yes we are," I said.
"Well then," Grant said scooping me up into his arms, "I guess I'll just have to steal you away before then."
"You wouldn't," I said still breathless from the speed at which I was lifted.
He grinned mischievously. "I really would. Better hold on!" He swung me onto his back as his shifted with surprising speed. Suddenly there was bark, near black, fur beneath my fingers, it was almost as dark a shade as my own. I looped my arms around his neck as he started for the door held open by my smiling older brother. I tightened my grip as Grant took off running.
"Watch it!" I laughed as he nearly clipped the wall on a turn. He had some pretty amazing timing with the front door. He darted through it just as someone was about to leave the pack house. Although I had a sneaky suspicion that he'd linked on of his pack buddies to do that for him because the guy didn't come out afterwards. At least not that I saw.
"Kate?" Tyler said when Grant ran past him out back.
Grant, apparently feeling I had to talk to my baby brother started doing figure eights around him a man I didn't recognize about ten away. "Hi Ty!"
"What are you doing?" he asked laughing. "You're going in circles and they aren't even good circles."
"I know!" I replied. "I think my wolf is broken." I loosened my grip so I could bop the top of Grant's head like smacking an old TV or radio to fix the reception. Grant turned his head sharply to flick my cheek with his ear. "Yeah, yeah," I laughed as he straightened out and ran through the trees. He didn't stray far from the pack house to avoid running into any undesirables.
When we had a sense of privacy Grant slowed to a trot and then a walk and when he slowed to a steady-paced stroll I climb off his back to walk beside him. It felt good, not walking with Grant though that was nice, but to be walking in the woods I grew up in without having to fight Rogues. But it felt off, I felt like I was trespassing in on the life of someone who belonged here, with him.
Leaves were scattered on the ground from when trees had carelessly discarded them. There was a chill in the air, and already the ground frosted at night. I could close my eyes and pretend I was a little girl again taking one last walk through the territory before the snow came in.
It was the first time in many years that Silver Moon seemed like home to me. It was the first time in many years that staying here didn't seem like such a bad thing. It was startling to realize that I might actually regret it if I left. It froze me in place and Grant nudged my hand with his nose looking for an explanation.
I forced a smile and shook my head. "Sorry, got lost in thought."
He didn't seem to buy it so I started walking and after a few seconds he joined me. We been walking in silence for a while when it was Grant's turn to suddenly tense. I saw his nostrils flail ever so slightly. He must smell something. Our sense of smell as wolves far surpasses that of our human form. Grant turned and pushed his head against my thigh. He was trying to get me to head back to the pack house.
I ignored him and started in the opposite direction. Grant ran around and stopped in front of me. His upper lip pulled back to reveal a deadly set of fangs. "You don't frighten me," I told him irked by his behavior. He growled and I just walked forward shoving him out of the way. "Like I said, you don't scare me."
I heard him snort before stalking indignantly alongside me. Drama queen. Did he really think I'd just run away?
Before long I could smell what Grant had and I cringed. It was the lack of a scent of Rogues but more than that. Research has shown that canines can smell deadly sickness and disease, it's true. It smells like a living rot, the worse it is the worse the smell. That's what I could smell now.
It was a rancid, bitter smell so strong I could almost taste it. It smell like death. I could barely discern two separate scents, both marked by deterioration. We heard them before we found them. They were giggling uncontrollably, it made my skin crawl. We did find them seconds later. It was a man and women, if I had to guess from their looks I'd say they were siblings but both were sickly skinny, worse than anorexic more like they hadn't eaten in a very long time. Their eyes were red and made to look bigger by their cheek being sunken in from lack of food.
"Oh!" the female said awkwardly clapping as if each movement were a pain. "We have party guests! We should have a tea party!"
"Hickory, dickory, dock," the man said. "The mouse ran up the clock."
"Mouse," the woman said in response. "Mice do not belong in tea!"
"They're insane," I whispered bringing them back to me.
I took a step back when I saw their crazed gazes. "Little mouse," the woman said. "Hickory."
"Dickory," the man said.
"Dock," the woman continued.
"The mouse ran up the clock."
"The clock struck blood."
"Bodies in the mud."
"Hickory."
"Dickory."
"Dock," the woman said finished their twisted version of the old nursery rhyme.
"They're really insane," I said backing away. I put my hand on Grant's head but he didn't seem to need any encouragement. Rogues or one thing but insane rogues are another. They may seem harmless but they're unpredictable and that makes them dangerous.
The woman lurched forward, no that's not right, she seemed to fall or tumble forward, into me. On instinct alone I caught her.
That was a mistake.
I felt a sharp pain on the inside of my arm. Like something pricked me. I push the woman off of me and to the ground but it was too late. There were a syringe sticking out of my arm. An empty syringe. I yanked it out just as Grant shifted and came to me. I looked at him wide-eyed. "Katrina?" he whispered just as shock as me.
I uncurled my hand so he could see the syringe just as I felt suddenly woozy. I swayed unsteady and Grant wrapped an arm around me to keep me from falling. "Why is it that every time I come out here I get attacked?" I whispered sleepily.
"No, no, no," Grant whispered. "Stay with me, Katrina. Come on. Keep your eyes open." Black consumed my vision.
"Kate?" I heard Tristan's voice as if it were traveling through water to reach me. I felt myself being lifted and passed from one set of arms to another.
"Find out what was in that syringe, we'll handle the rogues." That sounds like Jason. What are Jason and Tristan doing here? A small part of my brain rationalized that Grant probably linked with someone to call for help the moment he caught the scent of the Rouges. That small rational voice got softer and softer until I could no longer hear it or anything at all.
I fell back into a black abyss.
~*~*~*~
"What do you mean you don't know what was in the syringe!" Grant yelled. "You're a scientist, figure it out!"
"There was barely anything left in the syringe," the woman replied, she was on the verge of trembling in fear of the frightening, half-crazed man in front of her. "What was left was used up in our preliminary test and we found no matches."
This only angered him further. "Can't you just make more based off what you have?"
"Of course not!" she said.
Grant growled but was then pushed back by Trina Greenfield. "Back off. They are doing their best." She turned around. "What do you need to synthesize an antidote for someone who'd been injected with whatever was in that syringe?"
The woman thought for a moment. "Blood samples. And if at all possible results of a blood test taken prior to the injection so we can compare the results," she answered. Then, almost as an afterthought, "And medical charts of any and all symptoms."
Trina nodded. "I'll have it sent to you." The woman relaxed slightly to this less threatening presence. "Did you find anything about the two trespassers from this morning?"
"That we did have some success on," another scientist cut in. He led them over to his work station to show them the information already up on his screen. "One man and one woman, correct?" Trina nodded. "DNA tests showed a fifty-four percent match to each other."
"What does that mean?" Grant asked.
"They're siblings," Trina answered before the man could. The man nodded to confirm her answer nonetheless.
"But the blood test showed something quite fascinating." The man secretly got a little thrill from his scavenger hunt. "Both siblings have Huntington's disease."
"I fail to see why that is fascinating," Grant said in a harsh tone.
"You fail to see a lot of things," Trina muttered. "Huntington's disease is a genetic disorder that destroys brain cells making it difficult to think, talk, or even move. But it's rare."
"And it's especially rare for siblings to both be diagnosed with the disease unless they are identical twins. They aren't by the way," he added in helpfully.
"Obviously," Trina said with snark. "Identical twins share one hundred percent of their DNA and thus are the same gender."
"How do you know all of this?" Grant couldn't help but ask.
Her mood soured further. "Kate placed a high emphasis on learning and schoolwork."
He nodded accepting the answer. It made sense to him considering how Katrina was in school. "Okay, how does any of this information help us?"
"It doesn't," Trina said glaring at the man. "All he's told us is that the two trespassers are insane and dying. The other rogues probably sent them for that very reason. A suicide mission for people already dying. Anything they say is going to be useless."
"Not necessarily," the man said, "it depends on how far the disease has regressed their minds."
Grant thought of their babbling out in the forest. "Pretty far. She's right. They won't help us."
He left them there to go down to see the two rogues. They were in separate cells and had been searched in case they had any more syringes. They didn't. "Ooh," the female said. "The puppy's come to play!"
The male didn't reply but muttered nonsense quietly to himself. Clearly the female was the one to try to talk to. "What was in the syringe?" Grant asked her not for the first time.
She laughed a weird cackle. "All around the mulberry bush, the rogues chase the Alpha, the warrior thought it was all in vain, POP goes the Alpha," she said.
This spurred something in the other one and he too started singing his own deranged version of a nursery rhyme. "The wolves go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah! Boom! Boom! Boom!" With each boom the male banged his head against the wall of the cell.
Back and forth they chanted their rhymes until Grant couldn't stand to remain in the basement with them any longer. He left them down there singing away.
"Any luck?" his Beta asked him.
He shook his head. "They're completely insane."
"Maybe not," a soft voice interrupted. "I was listening to them through the video feed."
"And?" Tyler asked hopefully.
She shrugged. "It mostly seems like nonsense but maybe it's not. Something about it... it doesn't feel like crazy talk, not really."
"If you thing some sense can be made of that," he waved a hand towards the basement door, "then you can get anyone you need to help try to decipher it."
"What are you going to do?" she asked gently.
He sighed feeling so much older than he really was. "I'm going to sit with my mate for a while." He didn't say it but they were all thinking the same thing: It may be the last chance to be with her if we don't figure out what was in that syringe.