1 Chapter 1

"The males are restrained by shock-collars," Commander White said through the headphones. "Whilst they aren t, precisely, hostile, they are reluctant to interact with our staff, and prefer to stick to the routines that they know.

"They sleep in their cells, although we no longer lock the doors. They wake to routine, work out in their cells, march in their accustomed lines to eat breakfast, and then exit their barrack building into the forest. They return for the midday meal, and again for the evening meal, before taking themselves off to bed. Rinse and repeat.

"Our problem is that once they disappear into that forest, they are lost to us. We cannot work with them, if we cannot get them to attend our training sessions, if they won t talk to our staff, and if we cannot find the f-kers. Your job is to get into that f-king forest after them and make friends."

"Why not lock the doors to the forest?" Xavier asked.

Lycan Island was beautiful he thought as the helicopter crossed the ocean towards it. A private island, it was out of sight of any major landmass, and surrounded by a reef that made it impossible for boats to approach by sea. The only way on or off was by air.

Its isolation had served to protect its natural beauty, with the majority of the island a jungle wilderness. Only a small section had been cleared for the facility – twenty-four transportable buildings which must have cost a fortune to ship out and airlift from ship to island, Xavier thought.

But money had been no object to Thornton Experimental as they had made billions off its super soldier project. Up until the heiress Vivienne Thornton had exposed her grandmother s pet project to the world, at least. Now Adriana Thornton and her team of scientists were behind bars for a range of crimes that would ensure that they never saw freedom again, and the world was left with the problem of the Lycan super soldiers.

Altered humans the planetary council had deemed them, classifying them amongst those that voluntarily were medically altered to suit off-planet locations, deep sea, or deep space travel, or who needed alteration due to medical reasons – injury or congenital anomaly.

Twelve hundred and thirty-one Lycan males, ranging from children to adults in their thirties, trained to be soldiers, educated in warfare, and not a single one possessing an understanding of the basics of life – from money through to operating a washing machine.

"Tried that," Commander White shook his head. "Bad day for everyone. You don t want to locked up in one of those barracks with a couple hundred, big pissed off guys. The scientists had it right, giving them free-roam of the island. They need to burn off their energy somehow. They know where the boundaries of their collars are and don t go beyond them, but otherwise the trackers show them travelling huge distances at great speed."

"Got it," Xavier nodded with a grin. "Play in a tropical jungle chasing down a bunch of big guys. Sounds like fun."

"Yeah, glad it s you and not me," Commander White grinned back. "So, the Lycan s are genetically altered as the file says. Not sure of the details. I am not a scientist. But they re big f-kers, fast, strong.

They have night vision, and you ll see their eyes reflect back light. Facial structure is a little off, not so much that you d stop to stare on the street, but enough that when you re looking one eye to eye it s hard to miss. Nasal bone is flatter, jaw heavier, cheek bones more prominent.

"The scientists tell us they have improved immune systems, faster healing, and a bunch of other shit that doesn t really matter. If you want the full outline, find yourself a squint and ask them," the helicopter was coming down to land. "You re going to be housed in the barracks with the guy that seems to be the leader. 12412 is his designation."

"Right," Xavier nodded crisply.

The theory was that if he immersed himself in living like them, ran with them in the forest, they would grow to trust him, and he would be able to create a bridge between the Lycans and the scientists and army officers on site. Xavier thought it was possibly one of the most stupid f-king ideas the military hierarchy had come up with in his experience, but who was he to argue? He d f-king go and run in the forest and do his f-king best to make friends.

"This is us," Commander White said unnecessarily as the helicopter landed. They took off their headsets, dropping them onto the seats, and grabbed their kit. Commander White slid open the door and they ran half crouched out of the reach of the rotator blades.

A woman stood waiting for them off the landing ground. She was not dressed like a squint, and Xavier knew enough about female clothing that this one screamed expensive. Vivienne Thornton. Pretty woman, Xavier noted, except for the tight pucker of a scar along her left cheek that dragged the corner of her eye down and the corner of her mouth up.

The scar had been given to her by the thugs that had abducted her, Xavier knew from the files he had read in preparation for the assignment. The thugs had planned to ransom her to her father, but they had bitten off more than they could chew when Richard Thornton had appealed to his mother for aid.

Rather than the financial assistance that Richard had sought, Adriana Thornton had sent one of her Lycan soldiers to rescue her granddaughter and that rescue had sparked Vivienne s two-year obsession with finding out the mystery behind the man who had saved her, and had, ultimately, led to the exposure of the Lycan s and Adriana s arrest.

Xavier would bet that Adriana regretted now not simply paying the ransom.

"Vivienne Thornton," Commander White yelled over the sound of the helicopter as it lifted off again, whipping leaf matter over them. In the quiet that descended as the helicopter gained height, they approached the woman. "Miss Thornton, it s nice to see you."

"Commander White," she inclined her head with the graciousness of good breeding. "And this would be Xavier Williams, our Hunter?"

"Yes, ma am," Xavier replied.

"Elite military force, the Hunters, I understand," she said in the way of someone unfamiliar with the rank. "Commander White tells me that you will be able to track and keep up with the Lycans?"

"Yes, ma am," Xavier confirmed.

"Well," she was dubious. "We shall see, I guess."

She led them along a wooden path linked by chain and laid over the undergrowth, connecting the barracks, towards the building farthest from the helicopter landing field. A wooden staircase led up to a set of double doors. She pushed one open and held it for the Commander and Xavier to enter.

Xavier took the door from her.

"Oh, thank you," she was flustered by the courtesy. "So, this is the mess hall attached to the barracks," she gestured around to the room which was dominated by a long rectangular table surrounded by bench-style seats. The back wall held an arrangement of bain-maries. "The chefs put the food into the bain-maries, the Lycans serve themselves, eat, stack their trays and plates there," she gestured to a table. "And then leave."

She crossed to another set of double doors. Xavier bet her to them this time and held them open.

"Thank you," she slid past him and waited until all three stood in the corridor and had a chance to take in the rows of cells that framed the central walkway. "Due to a heightened sense of smell," she told them. "The Lycans have fastidious personal hygiene habits. Each cell, therefore, contains its own toilet and shower."

She led the way down the walkway. "Two bunks per cell," she gestured. Xavier noted that some bunks were pushed together. She caught his glance. "Yes, there are couples amongst them. They are quite sexually active amongst themselves."

"No privacy," Xavier observed. Even the bathrooms had no doors.

"No, they re not big on privacy. I guess they grew up without it. They aren t shy about, umm," she rolled her eyes upwards with a smile. "If they want to have sex, they just do."

"Okay," Xavier drew the word out. "Got you." It was going to be an interesting assignment, he thought ruefully, sharing a barracks with a bunch of guys who weren t shy about f-king in sight of each other. "Sounds like fun," he smirked.

"Just like being back in cadets, eh?" Commander White observed.

"What cadets were you in, and how come I wasn t assigned there?" Xavier replied, amused.

"Well," Vivienne glanced at her watch. "We had best pick up the pace," she said. "Your cell is here," she pointed to one with two separated beds. "21412 sleeps that side," she gestured to the left. "So, you get that one."

"Fine," Xavier dropped his kit onto the mattress. Vivienne glanced at her watch again. "Are you late for an appointment, Miss Thornton?" He wondered as she was getting fidgety.

"No women allowed," she said with a small smile. "They re not used to having women around. I only come to this section when they re in the forest. It s getting closer to dinner time, and they have impeccable timing."

"Where do you stay?" He wondered. The helicopter had left, and it was the only means in and off from the island.

"With the young boys," her smile warmed. "They re beautiful little people. The women on duty here stay there or at the guard barracks. Children adjust much easier than grown men. The men know that we are there, and we catch them sniffing around out of curiosity occasionally, but the children s area is fenced off from them. We hope that it will help the men to get used to us, to be able to scent us and see us from a distance with the children. I had best return," she added glancing again at her watch. "If I can leave you to it?"

"I ll walk you back over," Commander White offered. "The men and I are staying in the guard s barracks," he said to Xavier as they walked back towards the mess hall. "We maintain the schedule and rotations the guards used to hold to, so you will see us around."

In the mess hall, the army chefs were filling the bain-maries.

"Good luck," Vivienne said to him before shuffling past the chefs moving up and down the staircase.

"Sure," Xavier selected a spot against the wall out of the chefs' way. They finished loading the bain-maries and withdrew, and within five minutes, the doors opened again and the Lycans began to file in, casting him looks and sniffing in his direction before ignoring him as they formed an orderly queue at the bain-maries.

His breath caught in his chest. The reports and Commander White s description had been utterly inadequate, he thought.

"Big men," was right. They were big in every way – tall, broad shouldered, and heavily muscled. But "big men" wasn t an adequate description for their beauty. They reminded him, oddly enough considering their predatory nature, of the wild horses of the plains near his home, sleek, muscular, and almost haughtily regal in their bearing.

They wore a uniform of grey tracksuit pants and white t-shirts printed at breast and back with their number, and almost all had long hair that had never been cut from the length and the natural line of its ends.

They did not talk amongst each other as they served themselves and took a seat, sliding along the benches in an orderly fashion. Their trays held an impressive sized helping of almost raw meat and vegetables, Xavier noted. It was a good thing, he decided, that he liked his steak bloody, as that was how it was served here.

He spotted 12412 by the numbers on his shirt. A massive, square jawed blonde man with blue eyes that flashed yellow-green as they caught the light, 12412 paused, the queue behind him waiting patiently whilst he dragged his eyes from Xavier s army boots up to his eyes. His sneer was pure alpha-male.

"The not-guard thinks he will run in the forest with us like that," he observed to the men around him. "He will thrash like prey."

The men all chuckled, eyes flicking to Xavier and then back to their plates.

"Well, not-guard," 12412 gestured before him. "Don t keep us waiting."

Xavier stepped into the queue, his heart racing, and his c-ck hard.

F-k, he thought as he took a tray and began to serve himself from the bain-maries, he hadn t anticipated sharing barracks with a bunch of altered-humans would give him a raging hard-on.