Duke(64)
“Can you tell me what I’m watching for, and what the guys are doing tonight that’s put us all in danger?”
“Yes to the first. No to the second.”
“I want to go home.”
He shook his head. “Not an option.”
“Then I want to go to my brother’s house.”
“Again, not an option. You could’ve gone home with Isaac earlier and been safe, but I don’t have anyone to escort you right now. You’re safest inside these walls right now, and Duke would never forgive me if something happened to you.”
“So you’re saying I’m a prisoner? I’m stuck here until Duke returns?”
He looked at her a few seconds, then back to the monitor. “No. If you insist on leaving I won’t stop you. I know Duke told you about someone he used to date who kept doing dangerous shit and needing to be rescued. One of the reasons he’s so into you is because you’re smart. Think it through, Gen. We need you to stay here through the night to keep you safe. There’s no reason to leave. If you want to go down with the other women, I’ll make things work without your help. But you have a good head on your shoulders and if you’ll be awake anyway, I could use the help and the company.”
“What if I see or hear something I shouldn’t? Something I might feel I need to lie about, if asked?”
He shook his head. “I’m using headphones so you can’t hear what they say to me, and what I say back won’t tell you anything. I don’t have cameras on the action tonight.” He hit a few keys on his keyboard, reached forward and touched the monitor closest to him, and six screens lit up on the other wall. It took Gen a few minutes to recognize he was asking her to watch the areas around the compound.
“Need you to watch for suspicious activity, for the same car showing up more than once, for people paying too much attention to the walls. Also, someone walking who just seems off. We had them try to throw Molotov cocktails over the wall back in the beginning. Unless they hit the woods, there’s nothing close to the wall that’ll burn, but we still need to know about it so we can be sure they don’t do damage.”
She nodded and sat in the chair, facing the monitors. She could watch the area, help keep them safe.
“Thank you, Gen. Oh, and one more thing. I’ll know before anyone walks in the door. No one comes into the control room without using the walkie to let me know. If I don’t tell you someone’s coming in, then hit the floor if the door opens. I’ll handle whatever or whoever it is.”
“Why do you do this? Why not find a nice, safe, job somewhere? You have computer skills, you could probably make more money doing something else. Something safer.”
“I’ll answer your question in a little bit, but I want to talk you through what you’re doing, first.”
Twenty minutes later, Gen felt like she’d taken a three month long class in surveillance. She knew what to watch for, and her eyes glanced over normal activity and zeroed in on suspicious people and vehicles. Three cars were keeping an eye on the compound, moving in and out of the area in a well-choreographed dance she’d have never noticed without Brain’s excellent instruction.
She thought he’d forgotten her question, but just as she was starting to get comfortable enough with her six camera views to get a little bored, he said, “You know what I am. Do you really think I could be happy with a normal desk job?”
“There are other options available to someone with your skillset.”
“Abbott gave an explanation I don’t think Duke was going to give just yet, but basically, most wolves have the choice of being in a pack or going lone-wolf. Neither of those options work for me. I can’t handle the totalitarian aspects of being under an Alpha, but I don’t want the bother of being Alpha. I know I’m strong enough, and smart enough, but I’m not interested. Lone wolf doesn’t work for me, either. I need my brothers, need a pack around me, just not an Alpha whose word is law.”
Gen zeroed in on a fourth vehicle, told Brain about it, and then said, “I wish Duke and I had been able to talk before all the drama hit. I get that he needs to be the one to explain things to me, but I have so many questions.”
“I can actually give you some of the basics. Like telling you he can’t change you into a werewolf when he’s in human form. A bite when he’s in wolf form will change you. A scratch might, but probably won’t. However, when he’s in his hybrid form, those claws will change you. If he goes into hybrid form to fight humans, he has to kill them. One, they’ve seen him and our code says we can’t leave a human alive with knowledge of us unless they’ve been bound, and two, he’d never risk turning a bad guy into one of us.”