Unnaturals (36 page)

`Take this.' Ruth went to a cupboard and pulled out a small key ring. `It's so the security systems recognise you as a guest, not an intruder.' She tossed it to her.

Renee caught it one-handed. `What will we do about Mason?'

`After lunch we might try waking him,' Ruth said, glancing at Nikki. `If we all try talking to him it might help.'

Renee ate the last of her steak. `You think if we were our other selves it might work?'

`Maybe.' She had thought about that. `We can try.'

`Good. Back soon.'

Ruth blinked, unused to how fast Renee could move.

`Let's eat.' Nikki stood up and Ruth's eyes went to her visible baby bump.

`We're going to have to get you another top, I think. You're showing already.' Ruth smiled as she went back to the cutting board. `When Mason wakes we're going to have to tell them.'

`Yes,' Nikki said, sucking in a breath and holding her stomach. `But right now we need to eat. A lot.'

`Okay, okay, I've plenty for us.' Ruth moved faster, enjoying the speed she now had.

The delight she felt was something Ruth so hoped Mason would share with her, even Renee.

Her worry faded as they sat down and ate together.

Another child was coming and she would be a mother again.

Max looked down at the tablet chiming in his hand.

A message popped up. It had come from the secure portal in the Douglas household in Queensland.

`All home. House is secure. Dad teleported us. He's down but uninjured. Will advise when we know more. Wilson.'

Max sighed, reading it again, to be sure. It contained no hidden code but the reference to Mason teleporting made him frown. Was that even possible?

`Anyone here?'

Max started. He checked the security screens and saw a yellow Sandman parked outside the warehouse. Four young men stood outside the main door, peering up at the security camera.

`You in there?'

Max pressed a button. `Ralph, I gather?'

`Yep, Mason said to be here tomorrow morning but,' he shrugged and looked into the camera, `we got nowhere to live now. Missed the rent again and the landlord is a prick. So we thought—'

`Come in.' Max buzzed them in. He had come straight to the warehouse after his discussion with Mason. He had felt the need to act quickly. Now he stood up, looking down at the four men who wandered into the echoing expanse of the concrete warehouse.

`Stay there.' They stopped. He nodded to himself. Good, they could follow orders. It had been a simple, but important, test. He buzzed the doors shut behind them and jogged down the stairs to the ground level, nervous and excited at the same time. He was going to meet Wolves.

`I'm Ralph.'

Max didn't take his hand but moved sideways. `Show me.'

`What?' the one called Ralph stuttered.

`I need proof of identity.' He settled, alert, ready to move. Could they control themselves? Would they be able to work with him? With the Fund?

`We don't do that,' Ralph said, arms crossed.

Max measured them up. All four were muscled and fit but, if he was to understand Mason, they'd had little real combat training. He could see the promise Mason had seen, but time was short. Bloodells roamed Sydney.

`Bloodells made a move today in broad daylight and there's more coming. It's going be open warfare, maybe worse. Time is not on my side, so stop arguing with me. You're children. If you want to live through this—'

He prodded their leader in the chest, hard. Shock flashed across their faces. `Show me.'

`Hey!' Ralph's face filled with blood and he pushed his face toward Max.

Max skipped back, reading the play of muscle that said the Wolves were about to move.

Too slow.

Max moved first, darting into the pack, hitting Ralph full force in the chest as he slipped past, then clipping two others. Speed had kept him alive when he'd hunted with Mason. `Wrong answer.'

Ralph snarled, morphing, and Max slipped behind a post as the rest of the pack followed suit. They were Wolves. Real Wolves. Plenty big enough to take down Bloodells. `You're big, but can you move?'

Ralph lunged. Leaping high, Max grabbed a beam and swung out of reach of the snapping jaws. He swung onto the beam, watching as the pack fanned out below, studying the layout.

Good. They did think. Wolves with human thought processes. Mason had been right. They could be magnificent — if Max could keep them alive in a fight to the death with Bloodells.

`Slow in a tight space, boys,' he mocked. `That will need addressing.'

Max watched the way they seemed to work together even while in different quadrants of the building. They were seeking a way up rather than a way out. It was obvious they could communicate, so training them wouldn't be as difficult as he'd imagined.

One by one they finished their search and returned to the beam, where they stared up at him with huge yellow eyes.

Ralph shook himself and was human again. He stood up, planting his hands on his hips defiantly. `Okay. You've proven we can't climb cement posts, but we're Wolves, not monkeys, so you've proven nothing. Mason—'

`You're here because Mason wants you to be. I'm here to train you, keep you alive and give you the skills you need to survive combat against Bloodells. That's not tooth and claw combat, but modern combat with firearms, explosives, poisons and whatever else the Bloodells come up with — including locked rooms.' He waited while they took in everything he said.

Three sets of yellow eyes watched, unblinking. Ralph had changed back but seemed to be holding himself in human form by sheer will. Wolf lurked just under the surfer's skin. Max had to admit, the effect was unnerving. `

Mason's more than my employer. I will do anything to protect him and his family. What he and I do together is more than a job. It's in our blood. He is my family. That is how we operate. If you stay and survive the training, you will be part of this family. If you're not ready for that, then I don't care what Mason said or did. You can leave now.

One by one the wolves morphed back. Four young men. Well-muscled and big but somehow slight. Still half-grown, perhaps.

They had that gangly `I'm too big for my feet' look. From above he read the muscle movements that suggested something was going on between them. An almost nod of the head, a glance sideways, an odd hand movement. They didn't look at him, though. Finally, it was still and they all looked up.

`Mason didn't offer us a job.' Ralph flexed his shoulders and the others followed suit. No one broke eye contact. `He offered us a chance to be a part of a family, a clan. We were a pack with no real purpose but he's given us one. This is what we want to do. We want to be here, fight by his side.'

Max let a smile touch his lips and dropped to the floor, landing near them. `Well, then,' he wiped hands on his pants, `looks like you're staying.'

Ralph watched him closely, the others so still it was uncanny. They were like wound springs.

Max pushed his hand out, as Mason had for him not so long ago. `Welcome to the family.'

Ralph's big hand was hot and firm in his. He shook each hand, feeling the passion and joy of the pack as they grinned at him; the smiles genuine.

Noise outside broke the brief moment of understanding.

The smallest of them glanced outside. `Some trucks are here.'

`They're for us. Supplies. Everything we'll need.' Max had mobilised the trucks the second he had got off the phone with Mason. `Food, clothes, weapons and whatever else you'll need.'

`Okay, then,' Ralph said, still smiling at him. `What's first?'

Max smiled, toeing fabric remnants left from their morph. `Clothes might be a good idea.' They began to pick up the shredded remains of their clothing. `Then I'm going to make you bulletproof.'

 

Wilson sat down in the shop, watching Lilly and Sally looking for clothes. His relief at how well Sally had so far accepted Lilly made him dizzy. The drive into town had been a blur for him.

`Room for me?' Renee stood beside him.

`You got to stop sneaking up on me like that,' he said, sliding over as she sat beside him.

`No, you've got to be more aware.' She leant back, arms crossed. `I know you're distracted but don't let your senses fail you.'

`It's just that,' he sighed, `all this is still freaking me out. And now Sally's here.'

`Well,' she said, leaning against him. `If you had told me last week I was going to meet Butcher, fall in love and end up living with his family, I would most likely have snapped your neck for saying so.'

Wilson snorted, suppressing a giggle. `Jesus, listen to us, will you. Everyone else in this shop is worried about what to buy or what they can afford. Not us — we're so freaky all we think about is fighting Unnaturals and having sex.'

`I'm not thinking about sex,' she whispered as people wandered past. `So that just leaves you.'

`Renee!' Heat flared up his neck. No matter how open his parents were about sex, he had always struggled to talk about it.

`I lied.' She nudged him. `It's kind of a journey for all of us. I've never had it. You and Sally are thinking about it. Don't doubt it. She nearly split in half when Ruth gave her permission to sleep in your room.'

`Bloody hell,' he muttered. `Nothing's private any more. Wait.' He glanced at her. She was wearing an odd smile as she sat beside him. `You, you've never?'

`No, Wil,' she whispered. `Not yet anyway.'

`Oh.' He frowned. `But you're, like, a lot older than me.'

`Yes, I am that.' She sat back, looking across the shop. `Consider how you feel now, the desire you have to be with her. Imagine that lasting for about fifty years. Imagine that every time you kiss someone they die a terrible, painful death.'

`Shit!' His idea of who she was changed. The angry Renee he thought he knew had really suffered. `And Dad didn't?'

She stood, looking down at him. `He didn't. What's more, I believe we're meant for each other. Not like Ruth is meant for him. I'm meant for the other part of him. I'm here to be part of his life. Not to take him away.'

His ears hummed. He hadn't expected all this sharing. `I never saw you like that, as being here to take Dad away. I have never felt that he would ever leave me.'

`That's true,' she said, looking around slowly. `Only a fool would try to do that and I'm no fool. Most of the time.'

`So, you and Mum?' He stood beside her, checking the shop as she was. `How does that work? I mean, I know she and Nikki, you know. But Mum has always been with Dad.'

`What's between your mum and me is — strained is the word I will use. She is not used to having Mason interested in another woman. It is hard for us both, but I want this to work. It won't be easy.' She shrugged. `This is all I've ever had and I'm not going to screw any chance I have of being happy.'

`Heavy stuff,' he whispered as two girls walked past, glancing at them.

`They desire you,' she said, too loudly for his liking. `They're definitely thinking about sex.'

`Renee. Stop that. It's creepy.' The girls turned to look back and he recognised them from school. `But true, I guess. You can hear their thoughts?'

`No, just what their pheromones are doing. Their body language helps as well.' Renee stepped over to a clothes rack and studied a shirt. `Wil, there's something going on between your mother and Nikki.'

Her tone had changed and Wilson found himself feeling defensive. `Well, yeah. That's their business.'

`Not that,' she said, walking back to him. `They're hiding something from me and Mason, even from you.'

`Why don't you just ask or do the thing with reading them?' He really didn't want to get involved but she had him curious.

`If they are concealing something asking won't help, and what do you think would happen if your mother found you snooping in her diary or private emails?'

`She'd go right off.'

`So, me poking around in their minds is out of the question.'

Sally and Lilly were approaching with arms full of clothes. `Whatever, Renee. I'm staying out of it.' His own problems were more of a concern, but he filed her question away, just in case.

 

Max waited as the last truck left the warehouse. A green light flashed on the security console advising the gate had closed and was secured. The boys were busy in the kitchen, making sure everything was packed away in the cold room.

Excellent.

He clicked his fingers, eager to get started. Slipping a pistol into his pocket, Max made his way into the kitchen. Time to start training.

`This is some hot shit, Max,' Ricco said, stepping out of the cold room. `Everything is still new and built like it was meant for us.'

`This section was built as a gym with a commercial kitchen attached and offices upstairs. The other half was left empty when the previous owners ran short of cash.'

`Sweet.' Justin puffed from testing the weights training machine. `Everything is top notch and we even have air conditioning.'

`And hot water.' Ralph stepped out of a door that led to the showers. `Lots of concrete and steel. Suits us.'

`Good, how are the nano suits? Fitting well?' He nodded at the tight-fitting bodysuits they were all wearing.

`At bit odd, but comfy. Like spandex but way stronger.' Ricco flexed in his. `They change temperature as I move.'

`They're reacting to the environment and your body temp. They also get their power from your body. The nanos activate once you put the suits on. So, shall we test them?'

`You mean we can try morphing in them?' Ralph stopped in front of Max.

`That, too.' He pulled the pistol up and shot Ralph in the chest. Before the boy hit the floor he'd squeezed off three more shots. Four bodies hit the floor almost simultaneously.

`Son of a fucking bitch!'

Max half smiled as Ralph flipped back onto his feet.

`You fucking shot me, you prick!' His face was red as he dug at the flattened slug stuck in his nano suit. The others cursed and got to their feet.

`Yes, a 45 right into the heart. Yet you live.' He didn't put the pistol down. Lack of blood was an encouraging sight. How fast could they heal?