Total pages in book: 46
Estimated words: 43373 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 217(@200wpm)___ 173(@250wpm)___ 145(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 43373 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 217(@200wpm)___ 173(@250wpm)___ 145(@300wpm)
“Then why do you even need me here! You saw the mess you made. I cleaned it up, and yes, the bones and fragments appeared to be that of a young transitioner who didn’t make it. The bones that were not destroyed showed the changes, the structure of the start of the change. The blood is like any other blood, but … there were like chunks of black, almost like some parts of the blood were dying.”
“Are we talking zombies?” Enzo asked, lifting his head.
“Unless the mulch you keep getting is suddenly mutating and walking around Poison, then no, zombies are not happening,” Rose said. “She took a deep breath and looked toward Alpha. Why do you need me here?”
“I don’t.”
“Good.”
With that, she turned on her heel, and Rocco had to just sit on his ass and not move a muscle.
“Was that really necessary?” Gunnar asked.
“She is disrespectful.” Alpha threw up his hands.
“Disrespectful or not, you know the cleaners are a little peculiar, but they have to be to do the job,” Gunnar said. “Why won’t you take her suggestions? She’s not here to destroy the pack, and she doesn’t work for Milton.”
Alpha pulled out a seat and sat down.
Rocco wanted to leave, to catch up with Rose, and to just be with her. His wolf wasn’t happy, and they knew she struggled with the job.
He was aware she cried as he’d stumbled onto her after a job. A damn fine cleaner she might be, but it came with a cost. He also knew she hadn’t eaten. Rose had cleaned, but not taken care of herself, and he felt this sudden overwhelming need to do something for her.
“I know she doesn’t work for Milton, but none of us know how vast his … experiments were. I don’t want to run the risk of starting something that could in essence destroy the pack.”
“Why would it destroy the pack?” Draco asked, surprising them all by speaking up.
Rose’s idea made sense. It was gross, but it made sense, at least to Rocco. Also, he didn’t like it.
Her suggestion was to feed the wolf some of their blood next time. Milton had used mainly human experiments in the hope of creating an army, or something. None of them were quite clear on his reasons, and they had yet to find anyone associated with him. The paperwork was in the basement, and Agatha was trying to make sense of it all, along with Amelia.
Milton had started to experiment on himself, which is why they believed he got as mad as he did. Only, he’d gone one step too far, which was what made him feral.
“We don’t know the numbers. We don’t know what they’re capable of. If they get a taste for wolf blood, and we offer them up a supply, what happens when it is not enough? Will they overrun the pack? When do we say enough is enough?”
“You fear them going feral?” Rocco asked.
“You’ve seen what they are like.”
“I’ve seen it, and I’ve also made the suggestion that we kill them to show an act of mercy, and you don’t like that option either,” Rocco said.
He truly believed it would be easier for them all if any mutation entered their pack, they took care of it humanely, without causing them pain. Also, it would be a lot easier on the cleanup for Rose. He didn’t want to see her suffer, but he knew she did.
“What do you have to lose?” Draco asked.
“The whole pack. We don’t know what is going on inside their heads. We don’t know anything about them, other than the fact they are not capable of taking care of themselves. They cannot survive the transition, and that is the way it must be for now. I will not risk our entire pack to save them. People can call me a monster, I don’t care. The pack comes first.”
****
The following day, all Rose wanted to do was lay under her covers and hide away from the world, but her garden didn’t agree with giving anyone a rest, so she was out weeding between her plants.
She’d already done the day’s harvest, and her produce was waiting for her at home. After weeding, she’d go and do her prep work, and then at the end of the day, she’d come out and give it a nice big watering.
Standing up, she brushed the dirt from her jeans and turned around to see Draco in her backyard. She pressed a hand to her chest and nearly screamed.
“Draco, you scared me.”
“I knocked on the door. I was knocking for a good ten minutes, but no one answered, and I heard you outside, so I thought I’d come to see you.”
She nodded her head. “Sorry, as you can see, I was busy.” Lifting the barrow, she walked down her path, going toward the compost heap, to deposit her weeds. “What do you want?”