So here we go again. Took some time to get this in order but finally it's done.
A big thanks to Mandarabe and LiterKnight for editing. You guys do an awesome job!
**
The shrill sound of the generic ring tone filled the dirty motel room. The phone's display lit up where it lay on the bed but Anthony could do nothing but stare at it, too stunned to remember how to answer. He'd been waiting for days for the phone to ring. Now on the eve of his surrender it chimed as if sent from the heavens.
The gun he had been clinging to for hours while trying to gather enough courage to end it slipped out of his limp hands and fell to the floor with a dull thud. Climbing to his feet he staggered over to the bed and gripped the phone with his shaking hands. It was a disposable phone with an untraceable number and the only one who had the number was Josh. Pressing the 'answer call' button he put the phone to his ear.
"Josh? I had given up hope."
There was a long stretched silence before a voice answered on the other side. "No professor... I've missed you. Have you missed me?" The husky female voice seeped through the phone like a seducing smoke. Filling his senses.
"Jessica?"
"Mmmm... You've been a bad boy running away from me."
"Just please. Let me be. I can't give you what you want." He sobbed into the receiver.
Her twinkling laughter spilled from the speaker. "Tsk. Tsk. Anthony. That's a lie and you know it."
"No. No. NO!" he screamed into the receiver.
"You know that's not a word I accept."
"Then I will end it! I will never give you what you want!"
"Ah. The coward way out. You are so predictable sweetheart."
"I have a gun! I will do it right now!"
"Mmm... Do it. But first..." Silence followed her and when he removed the device from his ear he saw that the call had been disconnected. Confusion left him standing there staring at the phone dumbfounded until it pinged and a 'message received' symbol popped up. Dreading what he might find he pressed the icon and an image popped up on the screen.
Shocked Anthony fell to his knees clutching the phone until his knuckles went white. "No. No. No." He mumbled in a repeating litany as tears streamed down his face.
The phone pinged again. Pressing the icon once more he read the message.
One down, one to go. Come find me and we'll make it all right again. Remember the first time we met? Remember what you told me? I can make that real for you. But first you need to do something for me.
**
The rain pattered against the window of Liam's suite; the drops merging on their way down the glass pane creating mesmerizing rivulets and patterns. He was leaning against the wall, his head resting against the window frame, listening to the two women talk. They had been at it for hours now, trying to sort out the papers that were Project Moonlight. Despite the dark subject there was something soothing about the scene, they were here within the walls of his sanctuary and it soothed him, calming his aggression to a more manageable level.
The three of them had shared a nice, if a bit awkward, meal. Lucy was obviously still not convinced he was suitable company for her daughter but considering what she had discovered recently he could understand why it would take some time to adjust. Admittedly he might not make the best impression either, being social wasn't his forte. But despite that he welcomed her. Lucy and Natalie was not Aarik's pack. They were his.
His eyes left the darkness of the outside world and traveled across the room to where his mate and her mother sat. Natalie was on her knees next to the coffee table, all the papers and pictures of the project spread out before her, and Lucy was in the couch staring at the same papers in despair. This little part of his life had quickly become a haven from all the terrors that usually haunted him. Something inside of him was healing and he reveled in the feeling.
But while his world looked a lot brighter hers became steadily darker. What had been revealed to them in the small nondescript folder was a horror hard to fathom. The purpose of Project Moonlight had been to develop a virus that targeted the shifter gene, and judging from the pictures it wasn't a very pleasant way to die.
The fronts of the animals depicted were covered in blood, originating from their mouths as if they had been throwing it up. There were dogs, wolves, monkeys and most disturbing of all was the last three pictures of humans; humans whose teeth and mouth looked bloody, their hands were covered in it and the white in their eyes had gone completely blood red.
They clearly lacked some of the data but if you put the pictures in the right order to form a time line it seemed to indicate that they had succeeded around two years ago. What had happened since then? Aarik had managed to get his hands on the financial records from the laboratory and even though Dr. Jessica Miller no longer worked there and the project had been finished her father had still received anonymous donations to keep the rest of his work going.
"I just don't get it." Natalie moaned dropping her head to the table with what looked like a painful bang, making Liam wince. "He's such a fucking bastard!"
"Hush Nat." Her mother prompted. "Don't speak like that."
"I think this situation calls for some colorful language mother." Sighing deeply she turned her head to the side until her cheek rested on the tabletop, her eyes connecting with his. There was a lot of pain and sorrow in them; it was affecting her a lot more than she let show.
Giving her a comforting smile he pushed away from the wall to join her on the floor, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her close to him. Surrendering to his presence she leaned into him with a relieved sigh, her head dropping back to rest on his shoulder. The warm fuzzy feeling of belonging enveloped him again, turning his lips up into a very content smile.
Lucy squirmed uncomfortable and pursed her lips. "So... How long have the two of you been together?" She queried trying her best to sound unperturbed by his claim on her daughter.
