Page 40 of The Scent of Seduction

A sharp pain in his ass pierced his foggy consciousness, and a few seconds later Jaryn’s vision cleared and his mind was once again sharp. He tried to shift and howled in joy as the familiar change overtook him. Colors turned gray, and the world seemed to shift as his body changed shape in an instant. He was a large wolf, and naturally his perspective of the environment changed as he ended up standing on all fours atop the gurney. He let out a little huff and bumped Shaun with his snout.

Thank you!

Jaryn jumped off the table and stalked over to the corner, growling. He saw the scientists cower. Jaryn imagined it was probably pretty intimidating to the humans to have a black and white furred paranormal predator heading your way with murder in his eyes.

“Jaryn, don’t. We need them.”

He turned his head to look behind him and saw Shaun standing next to another scientist. The man had saved him, had saved Jaryn’s wolf. He figured he could allow one to live. He looked back at the remaining three in the corner and let out another growl. The scent of their fear permeated the air, and Jaryn was perversely proud.

He turned around and walked back towards Shaun. By the time he reached his best friend, he was human again. Shaun handed him some scrubs that were lying on a shelf nearby and Jaryn quickly dressed.

“Thank you.”

Shaun smiled. “It’s all good.”

Jaryn nodded to his Beta, then turned to the thin man beside him. “Now, who are you? Tell me what the fuck just happened, and what’s going on here.”

“My name is Dr. Craig Johns. The knife used on you was coated in compound CRS-264. When used in small doses, it prevents a shifter from being able to make the change. Broyles uses it to control his hostages. What you experienced was basically an overdose. Without the antidote, you were minutes away from death. We keep a supply on hand just in case.”

“Why would you help me if you work for him?”

“What makes you think I do any of this willingly? Broyles has my family here in the compound. If I didn’t do my job, he threatened to kill them.” He pointed towards Shaun. "He told us you freed all the hostages in the barracks, and that Broyles was gone. That your men have control of the compound?"

Jaryn put his hand on Craig’s shoulder. “It’s true. He’s not dead, but he’s definitely not here.” He saw the man’s complexion go white. “Don’t worry. We’re going to put you someplace safe until I find the son-of-a-bitch. And when I do, you’ll never have to fear for your family’s safety from him again.” He looked at the double doors and remembered what lay beyond them. “Now, tell me what was happening down here.”

Craig looked over at his colleagues still huddled in the corner. “Let them go, first.”

Jaryn glanced over at Shaun and gave him a slight nod. Shaun walked over and released the others’ bindings. They all slowly got to their feet, rubbing their wrists.

“Done. Now talk.”

“I know you will not believe me, but those are not your normal children out there.” He walked over to the doors and peeked out the window. “They are genetic engineering at its most terrifying and finest. Each one is a shifter, but with the added twist of some type of extrasensory talent or power. Born of human surrogates, sacrificed for the cause.”

“What cause?” Shaun growled.

“Those children are supposed to be a new generation of super-shifters bred specifically to act as soldiers in a revolution that will change the world.”

For the first time in his life, Jaryn was truly speechless. What could a person possibly say in the face of such a revelation? How did one process such atrocities committed against the innocent?

“How long has this been going on?” he croaked.

“Twenty-five years. For the first few years, there were numerous failures.” He shivered and wrapped his arms around his waist. “I’ve seen recordings… the things that happened during the first trials were inhumane, degrading. We currently have fifteen in residence. The oldest is nineteen, the youngest is two months.”

“How in the fuck does something like this happen?” Shaun exclaimed.

“Do you mean literally or ethically?”

“Both!”

"From the literal aspect, we achieved all conceptions through in vitro fertilization. We used various combinations of sperm and eggs from shifters, humans and mutants, depending on Broyles’ goals for that test subject. We could bypass the enzyme that prevents conception between non-mated pairs by introducing a synthetic hormone that tricks the egg into accepting the sperm of the selected donor. Then, with the help of advanced gene therapy, we either triggered a mutation in the shifter embryos during the initial stages of brain development that allows latent extrasensory talents to emerge, or we spliced in the shifter gene to a subject with inherited extrasensory talents.”

“That’s sick.”

"I know. As a human, I am disgusted by the callous disregard for life, even though the scientist in me is in awe of what we accomplished."

One of the other scientists walked up to Jaryn. “I’m Dr. Tran Guppa. We only know a little bit about what those kids’ lives were like before we arrived five years ago. Our predecessors left detailed notes, both in what they did during the developmental stages and the kinds of experiments they performed on the children, starting as early as two months of age. They treated them as expendable commodities. No sense of identity, kept in isolation… and you really don’t want to know what else. We’ve done what we can to take care of them. To nurture their development as best we can under the limitations placed on us.”

“What about the experiments? Did they suddenly stop when you came on board? Why do the children trust you?” Shaun asked.

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