7

Lapu blinks. "Haken? You can't be serious."

"I'm just trying to use all the resources I have available to me."

"How do you know he'll even go along with it?"

You laugh. "Give up a chance to go after the humans and steal powerful weapons? Haken?"

Lapu raises an eyebrow. "A fair point."

You nod. "Anything else on the agenda?"

"Whether or not we get ahold of any weapons, we should at least put some thought into defense," Lapu says. "There are a couple of ways we can go with that. You said Ahote was working with the pack's engineers down in the Yale labs to develop a way to hide us from the humans' radar. That might be worth exploring, but those minds could also be used to develop new defenses or even offensive capabilities."

"Not a bad idea," Lapu says thoughtfully. "We need to be prepared going forward."

"We'll see it done then. Haken doesn't appreciate anything other than brute force. I think we can show him what proper planning can accomplish."

It's getting late. You press your fingers to your temples, groaning at a sudden headache. You're getting ready to dismiss Lapu when the door to Ahote's office bursts open. You stand bolt upright at the intrusion as Razor drags a struggling human child into the room. It's Justin.

"Caught him eavesdropping outside the office window," Razor says, her nose twisted up in disgust. "Bad news to have a human wandering around Haven. Figured I should take him inside and see just who he was listening to. Now I wish I hadn't bothered.

"Whatever you two are up to, I want nothing to do with it, ya hear me? I've already got a foreman with delusions of grandeur prancing about getting us all fired up for war rather than an honest day's work, and now I find you here in Ahote's office? Take the boy and keep me out of your cloak-and-dagger bullshit. I'd take him to Haken, but I don't want a death on my conscience."

Razor flings Justin at your feet and stalks back into the hallway, slamming the door behind her.

Justin stares at you with wild eyes from beneath a tangled mop of shoulder-length brown hair. "I had to get out of there!" he says, panting. "You said you'd talk to me, let me out! We had a deal!"

"I'm sorry," you say, "but it's been crazy. We went feral during the full moon, then Ahote was kidnapped."

Suddenly the radio sputters to life from the desk, several bursts of static giving way to a looped message. You listen intently, disbelief evolving into astonishment.

"I can't believe it," Justin says as the message begins playing again. "The human civilians haven't forgotten Haven after all! They're taking the military to court for war crimes!"

Next Chapter

Chapter 9 Democide

"The only good werewolf is a dead werewolf!" — Radio personality Robert Sheridan, one week after the Jackson Slaughter

Next

The Assembly Hall is packed with shifting, nervous bodies, rank with the sweat of fear coupled with its elusive cousin hope.

Power was cut to the building a week ago, the military citing issues with Haven's generators and power grid, but most wolves know that the story is only a cover. Forcing the Haven Assembly to shut down or cower in the dark at its former seat of power is a not-so-subtle reminder of human dominance. It has the opposite of its intended effect however, driving formerly peaceful and powerful assembly-wolves into Haken's camp, gathering for war.

Shortly after you heard the radio's broadcast, Lapu called together the wolves who supported you in your bid for election, gathering them here in private, away from the prying eyes of Haken's supporters.

Justin, too, came with you; you dared not leave him where he could get into more potentially fatal mischief. Flickers of flame pop and sizzle in the broad fireplace in the center of the northern wall, casting a long, wavering shadow from the chair sitting before it. The activists' radio has been placed on its cushion, positioned so all can hear it as they huddle for warmth together in what might appear from the outside to be an atavistic ritual, the savage werewolves worshipping at an altar of fire and disembodied voice.

Tiva has attended to listen, as well as Dena, Lapu, and Jolon. Their solidarity and unwavering support raises your spirits. The activists' radio crackles with another burst of dry static, by now a familiar prelude to the looping message that follows.

A female voice springs to life from the tinny speakers, summoned by a brief musical jingle.

"And in national news today, Congress has opened an investigation into the Haven Werewolf Sanctuary after reports of physical abuse were circulated in the pages of several major publications along with graphic photographs of what appear to be squads of armored US soldiers viciously assaulting two male victims.

"While the military has declined to comment, congressmen from both sides of the aisle were quick to join in bipartisan support of the sanctuary, praising the military and the humane treatment that the Haven werewolves receive.

"This all changed after activist group Werewolf Rights Now! released files obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, profiling werewolves interned in the Haven sanctuary following the events of the Purge. Two of the internment profiles appear to depict the assault victims.

"Werewolf Rights Now!, long considered conspiracy theorists, have been flooded with donations, their crowd-funding campaigns alone bringing in over fifty thousand dollars in support of a lawsuit against the US government with new donations coming in regularly."

Dena nudges you. "You think anything will come of this? Maybe outside of the military the humans aren't so bad after all!"