Alpha Blood Box Set(75)

“You mean the pill that hides our scents? That’s only useful against our own kind,” Luke countered.

Lance shrugged. “I knew not everyone would agree on my plan, so we had to create an advantage. Of course, it took some doing to turn a potentially lethal chemical for werewolves into something that was ingestible, but it was for the greater good.”

Luke scoffed. “Not for the greater good, but your thirst for power,” he argued.

“Ah, but you’ve passed judgment without even hearing first how I would convince everyone that this was for the greater good,” Lance replied. He walked in front of our captive friends and to a table against the far right wall. Liquid bubbled and gurgled, and a vial of gas with a stopper on the top sat in a tripod stand. Lance plucked the vial from the stand and held it out so we could see it. “On experimenting with blood and scents my friend Mullen and his scientists found something very interesting, didn’t you, Mullen?” Mullen stiffly nodded his head, and Lance laughed. “Don’t brush off your scientific achievements so easily, Mullen. This is perhaps the pinnacle of werewolf experimentation, this Alpha Formula.”

This was getting old. “You’re monologuing,” I spoke up.

Lance paused and scowled at me. “Be thankful I’m speaking and not killing your friends outright,” he snapped.

Luke stepped in front of me and grinned. “You are rather boring, brother. Could you get to the point before we’re all gray-haired wolves?”

I peeked over Luke’s shoulder and caught Lance sneering, but he rallied himself and slipped his sneer into a smirk. “Why don’t you ask your friend Stevens there how this works?” he asked us as he held out the vial. “He’s had first-hand experience with the power of an alpha scent over a weaker werewolf. Am I correct, Stevens?”

Stevens scowled at him. “You monster.”

Lance laughed and walked toward our bound friends. Alistair stood at the end closest to Lance. “It was rather by chance that the scientists were working with my blood and the scent pills when they stumbled on the ability to mix both and produce a more powerful, but nearly invisible scent. Just a whiff of this gas and the person becomes a willing slave to anyone who carries my blood, even if that happens to be merely carrying a vial of my blood in their pocket. Right, Cranston?”

To make matters even more dire, from the shadows behind us stepped Cranston, former secretary to Stevens and one of the most worst traitors in traitor history. “It is, sir,” Cranston agreed.

“Why are you wasting our time telling us all this?” Luke questioned his brother.

“We’ve had to keep this a secret for so long that I’m bursting with the news and feel you should be the first to know the truth, brother. Everyone else will know the truth soon, anyway,” Lance explained. His eyes flitted between Alistair and Luke. “Besides, I like to explain the mechanisms of my experiments before I do a demonstration.”

Lance nodded at the guard behind Alistair who pushed the old wolf a yard in front of the others. The gag was pulled down so his nostrils were unobstructed. Lance popped the cork top of the vial and held it under Alistair’s nose.

“No!” Luke cried out. He moved to stop Lance, but Cranston jumped forward and caught Luke’s arms and pinned them behind his back.

Alistair tried to pull his face away, but the guard clapped his hands on either side of Alistair’s head and held him still. The scent wafted into Alistair’s flared nostrils and his face, twisted in anger, softened and became blank. After a few moments Lance pulled the vial away and stepped away from Alistair. The guard released his hold on Alistair and, at a signal from Lance, untied the ropes of silver.

“Alistair, step forward,” Lance commanded him. Alistair stepped forward, and Lance turned to us with a triumphant expression. “Isn’t it amazing? War and strife obliterated in just a matter of moments.”

“And free will,” Luke argued.

Lance shrugged. “Perhaps, but there is one complication with using my blood. Yours is relatively the same, dear brother, and that makes you a threat to my loyal subjects. They might confuse your scent for mine and not be as obedient as I prefer. That’s why you have to be the first casualty in the coming war.”

“Then you’ll have to kill me, too,” I spoke up. “I have the same scent.”

Lance turned to me and his eyes took on a carnal glint. “Not quite, and that’s why I’ll keep you around for a while longer. You may prove useful. However, speaking of usefulness.” He glanced at Mullen. “I’m afraid your usefulness has expired, and I don’t like sharing my toys with anyone else.”

Mullen eyes widened and he slowly backed up. “What are you talking about? You still need me! You still need this facility and-”

“And I already have the loyalty of all the people working here, and if I don’t then I can always change their minds. You, however, know too much and are a bit of a bore.” Lance turned to the guard who stood behind Stacy at the end of the lineup. “Kill him.” The guard pulled a gun from his holster and fired a single shot at Mullen. His eyes widened as a single hole appeared in the middle of his forehead, and he fell backwards onto the ground.

Stevens’ jaw dropped open. “You’re mad!” he cried out.

Lance shrugged. “Perhaps, but we’ll see what history writes of me. For the present let’s see how my new guard does against you, dear brother.”

At a signal from Lance Cranston grudgingly released Luke and stepped back. Alistair stepped up to within three yards of Luke and his hands lengthened into claws. Luke kept his arms to his sides and shook his head. “I won’t fight you, old friend,” he refused.

“Then this will be a very short fight. Oh, and don’t think about just slapping him. My scientists have strengthened the formula so no mere knock will loosen their loyalty to me,” Lance spoke up. “Alistair, kill him.”

Alistair bared his teeth and dove at Luke. Luke stood still until Alistair was two feet from him. Then he ducked down, grabbed Alistair’s shirt, and spun in a circle. The dizzying effect caught Alistair off guard and Luke was able to release him after the full spin. Alistair flew across the room at Stacy and Baker, who’s eyes widened and they both ducked. The guards weren’t so fast and Alistair crashed into them. They fell backwards over the table, spilling chemicals and causing a thick gas to rise from the liquid. It enveloped the room in a heavy haze that obscured the vision past a yard.

Stacy somehow managed to get her handkerchief off because I heard her voice yell through the smoke. “Run!” she ordered us.

“Not without you!” Luke argued.

I saw a shadow move through the smoke toward Luke and jumped on their back. It turned out to be the guard from the door. My dainty weight sent him to the floor and a good whack on the forehead sent him into lala-land. I proudly sat on my kill and looked to Luke, but saw another shadow come up behind him. “Luke, behind you!” I yelled at him.

He spun around and grappled with the shadow. Judging by their deft ducks and swings I guessed it was Cranston. Somewhere around me Stevens wandered through the smoke. “Stacy?” he cried out.

“Get out of here, Dad! Now!” she insisted.

“I’m not leaving you!”

The whole place was a madhouse of fighting, stumbling, and yelling. Things got a little better when Lance door opened nearby and light from the hallway spilled into the mist. He stuck his head into the hallway. “Guards! Quick! Lord Mullen has been murdered by Lord Laughton!” As if things weren’t bad enough already.





7





A shadow flew from the mist and slammed into Lance. Lance knocked into the wall beside the door hard enough to make a body outline and slipped to the floor. The attacker was Baker, and he still had the ropes wrapped around him. “Luke, run! We’ll hold them off!” Baker ordered us.

Another shadow knocked into Cranston and freed Luke from the battle. “Hurry!” Stacy commanded him as she took over the fight with Cranston.

Luke sprinted from the mist, grabbed my hand and pulled me against him. He also grabbed Stevens and carried us both out of the room. The hallway was fast filling with the smoke from the room, but we could still see groups of guards running toward us. Luke slammed us against the wall. “Don’t move!” he whispered.

The ruse worked. Our shadows blended into the wall and the guards rushed past us and into the room. Luke dragged us down the hall, but at the first intersection Stevens broke free of his grasp and turned back. I ran on ahead a few yards, but slid to a stop when Luke turned around and ran back to Stevens. “What are you doing?” he yelled at the old wolf.

“I will stay behind while you make your escape,” Stevens told him.

“You’re no good to anyone dead!” Luke argued.

“This time I know what I’m doing. They won’t kill me if they can use me, but you’re too much a threat to them, now go!” Stevens assured him. He turned Luke around and pushed him forward toward me. “Go! You two are our only chance now to find the others and tell them what’s going on!”

I grabbed Luke’s hand. “For once I’m going to agree with Stevens. Some of us have to make it out of here,” I told him.