Chapter 4

Ryker-

When was this going to end? For years we have been dealing with this threat and haven’t gotten anywhere. Although I had no one to blame except for myself. When the breakout first happened, I had been tasked with finding a cure. Or rather my pack was.

We weren’t an exceptionally large pack, in fact, we were potentially the smallest pack in the world, consisting of only twelve members. We used to be a lot larger, but this parasite has taken out the rest. Just because we were small though, didn’t mean we weren’t one of the best.

Every member of my pack has been trained to fight off those that have been infected. We were also the ones that could find a cure. At least at one point, I thought we were, but now I wasn’t so sure.

When the breakout first happened, my pack had been one of the first ones hit. The ones that remained are immune to the parasite. Everyone, including me, has been infected, but we were able to overcome it.

When the Alpha King learned of this, he sent over one of the top scientists in the world to have all of us trained in finding a cure. Up until six months ago, the scientists had been working side by side with us to find the cure, but he was infected himself. Unlike the rest of us, he wasn’t immune.

Even though we are the ones finding the cure, until now we have been unable to get any assistance to help protect everyone. Because of this, I haven’t been able to help as much in finding a cure, because I have been trying to keep everyone safe. I swear, it was like we had a beacon over our head.

For the past year, we have been constantly attacked as if they knew we were trying to cure them or something. Which I guess was a good thing. We needed test subjects to find the cure.

If it weren’t for the fact that I didn’t have the means to hold all the infected, I would cage them all, so we didn’t have to kill anyone. While I have trained everyone to be some of the best fighters in the world, since I had been trained by the best, it was still too much for just us to handle alone.

After nearly a year of asking, I finally got a response from the Alpha King that he would send someone to aid us. He didn’t give me much information on who was coming, other than it was one of the top warriors in their class. I just hoped this guy was good enough to do what needed to be done, without getting infected.

The last thing we needed was to have another infected werewolf that tries to kill us in our sleep. That was what happened with the scientist anyway. It isn’t like the infection happens right away. At first, it makes us sick, then we are unable to control our wolves or connect with them.

We suspect that it is our wolf that is being affected by the parasite, which makes it harder to understand the cause. If only we could get our hands on someone that has been infected but has yet to be taken over. If we had known at the time we needed a newly infected werewolf, we would have used the scientist.

“There is someone at the door trying to get entry. It is hard to see who they are because the cameras have been damaged. It was also hard to hear them, but it sounded like they said something about being sent here.” My Beta Julian Drake spoke from the door to my office.

“They are two weeks early if it is who the Alpha King sent.” I stated, standing from my chair, practically running out of the office.

It hasn’t even been a full day since I was told that he was sending someone. I was told they would be here in two weeks, so how was it he was here now? This guy shouldn’t be here already, so if it wasn’t him, who was it?

When my pack had been infected, the few of us that remained had to leave our home so we could move to a more secure location. We didn’t have any of the equipment we needed back home, so we were sent to a large facility with a top-of-the-line security system.

At first, it held up great. When we started getting attacked, there was some structural damage done as well as some technical damage. Every time we tried to get someone out here to give us a hand, so we could repair things, they never showed up. We now resided in an eight-story building, with a full basement.

I kept my office on the first floor, which was right next to the security room. Running into the security room, I looked at the monitors and noticed that three of the eighteen monitors were not even working at all, while two of them were not giving a clear picture. If it weren’t for the fact we needed the cameras to help alert us of an attack, I wouldn’t even worry about it.

Now we were going to have to make an additional trip outside the facility to get more supplies. If we could make it to the human territory we would be in the clear, but it was making it that far that was the issue. That was why we tried to make as few trips as possible outside.

We didn’t understand why, but the infected seemed to avoid the human territory. I have been attempting to monitor their behavior, which has shown they stay away from humans. I still couldn’t figure it out though.

“Any way you can attempt to clear the picture?” I asked my tech guy, Carter Burgess.

“I have tried but it looks like the camera is fried. I am surprised we can even see this much.” Carter said while tapping a few keys on his keyboard.

Looking at the screen it was hard to see anything. It was dark outside, but that didn’t affect our vision. The screen, however, was blurred and kept going in and out of focus. If it weren’t for the static on the screen, we may be able to get a clear image of the face.

“Who are you?” I asked, after pressing the red button on the desktop.

“Ta… Dan… I was se… king… Can… its col…” The speakers echoed.

It was as if they were underwater or something, it was extremely hard to get a clear read of what was being said as well as who was talking. It wasn’t as if we got many visitors, but for safety purposes, I was going to need to get those replaced as well. For the most part, my tech guy was surprisingly good, but there were things even he didn’t know.

“I am going out.” I told Carter and Julian.

“I don’t know if that is a clever idea.” Julian spoke, taking a couple of steps towards me as I turned to leave.

“Why not?” I asked.

“You said that the guy the Alpha King sent wasn’t due to arrive for two more weeks. Can we risk letting in someone we do not know?” Julian asked, making a valid point.

“We can’t risk not letting him come in either. If he was the one sent, then we can’t risk leaving him out there to just be attacked.” I told my Beta, before leaving to make my way towards the entrance.

As soon as I got to the door, I had to type in a code for it to open. Once the door was opened, I stepped outside but didn’t see anyone. Normally I would just go right back inside, but something made me venture further out.

It hadn’t taken me that long to get outside, so where did he go? There was a movement near a vehicle that caught my attention. Walking towards the car, I prepared myself for an attack. The trunk was open, so I couldn't see who was behind the car.

When a female stepped out from behind the car, I was sure this isn’t who the Alpha King sent. Did she come here looking for protection? Of course, I would offer it to her if she weren’t a threat to the others.

She was absolutely stunning. With long red hair that was like a glass of dark red wine. Under the reflection of the moon, I could tell her eyes were a dark shade of green. She was beautiful, but that wasn’t the thing that caught my attention.

It was the fact that Instantly I wanted to protect her. Even my wolf, Jaxon, perked up at the sight of her, which I found interesting all on its own. Because of my father, who thought it had been a promising idea to cheat on my mother, I was cursed to never find a mate.

The girl my father decided to bed, hadn’t known he was mated. She knew he was a wolf, but that didn’t bother her. She had fallen in love with my father, but when she found out he was mated, with a son, she decided to punish the son.

Now here I was, twenty-five, without a mate. Not that I haven’t had my fair share of women over the years, but I didn’t want to tie myself to a mate. If I couldn’t have my fated mate, I didn’t want a mate. Jaxon agreed, which is why he hasn’t so much as shown interest in a female.