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and definitely irrational. Insane even.  You abominations, you beasts, you evil creatures. You will be out of all
of mankind s misery soon.
I wanted to scream that I was so tired of hearing those same words coming from him and from the techs and
interns. Over and over and over. I wanted to fold his face in on itself into a tiny piece of paper, hack it into
pieces the size of confetti and burn every piece with my fire element.
Adam had placed his handgun on the floor a foot away from him before kicking it to the other weapons as
Olivia did the same. They both added their sheathed knives by tossing them onto the pile, each landing with a
thunk. Adam added his police baton when Johnson ordered him to.
I didn t remove my buckler and thank the Goddess that Johnson said nothing about it. Storm looked like a large
belt buckle, not the dangerous weapon it was.
A lot of firepower, daggers, and other weapons were in that pile& but paranorms don t necessarily need
weapons. We have our own ways of dealing with situations. I was counting on that.
Something had to happen to set things in motion.
But what?
Johnson s face relaxed.  I want the phones, too.
Eight cell phones hit the pile. As I unholstered mine, I tried to push the emergency button that would reach
Rodán, but my finger slipped and Johnson was staring at me.
Goddess.
My phone made phone number nine.  Let the pups go, Johnson. I tried to keep my voice even as my phone
landed with a thud.  They re just children.
Johnson s expression kept changing from rational to irrational so fast it had to have screwed with his mind. He
snarled and spittle flew from his mouth.  How dare you call these monstrosities children?
 Shut. Up. I couldn t help myself. I said it with enough venom that I felt the words alone could have killed
Johnson. More and more I thought my head would explode from hearing those words to put it as Olivia
would so many fucking times.
Johnson s gaze was narrowed at me.  Under the microscope, this serum attacked and destroyed the weak gene
of samples of both your and the blood of the  Doppler, as you call it. He nodded to Angel. She kept her
expression neutral.
His next gesture was meant to include the Were children as he tipped his head slightly toward the other
scientists who held pups.  The blood from these three beasts reacted in the same way.
We said nothing as he continued.  In each case, the blood turns the entire slides black, within twenty-four to
forty-eight hours, proving the virus will destroy you all once I inject these beasts.
Muscles in each adult Were twitched or flexed but they kept their faces expressionless. Adam s jaw had
tightened. Olivia was the only one who couldn t seem to control the emotions on her face. Her glare was deadly
as she stared at Johnson. I knew her mind was working through every scenario she could think of.
The dryness in my throat made me want to swallow and I was almost afraid to make even that small movement.
Yet I wanted to keep him talking to give us time& time to figure out what we would do. And what Joshua might
be doing and have planned.
 What about humans? I glanced at the poor norm children caged to the side.
 Their blood has no reaction. Johnson looked pleased.  Unfortunately I did not have time to test this virus on
the human children themselves or these abominations. A slow smile spread across his face.  But with the
blood-test results I have no doubt I have found the one.
That burst of hope I d felt earlier with Joshua nowhere in sight broke like a soap bubble as Johnson moved his
gaze from one of us to the next and said,  Where is the beast who managed to gain entrance to this laboratory?
When no one answered, Johnson s face took on that mad expression again.  We will inject one of the pups now
if you do not cooperate.
Damn.
Joshua rose from a shadow in a corner not far from the scientists, and the expression on Johnson s face was
between horror and hate.  Child of Satan. Abomination of Hell. He almost screamed at Joshua as he said,  Get
with the others. Now!
Damn, damn, damn.
Joshua moved toward us and stood in line next to Angel.
A thought occurred to me. Johnson hadn t injected the pups yet. Why? If the contagion would spread from the
pups through the air, it would get to us. That eliminated us as a threat. So it was probably not an airborne virus.
There had to be a reason, or more than one. Johnson wasn t confident that the virus he d developed wouldn t
spread to humans; the virus wouldn t carry from paranorm to paranorm fast enough to stop us from killing him;
the virus wasn t contagious and wouldn t carry at all from the paranorm he injected it with; or the serum didn t
work at all and he was bluffing.
We couldn t take any chances on any of the possibilities. All we could do was assume that Johnson had what he
needed and was buying time. He wanted to disperse the virus as well as get safely away from us before we
could tear him to shreds. He might even be concerned about being exposed to the toxins.
Tension rippled from the Weres and my team and I could taste it in the air along with something foul and bitter.
My sense of smell had almost fully returned and I could smell fear from the pups, children, even the junior
scientists. The others didn t look afraid at all.
They should have.
I blinked as something caught my eye, but I didn t turn my gaze to look at it. A white mouse crouched in
shadows cast by the cages. The mouse began to edge silently alongside the cages, working his way past
Johnson, the other scientists, and Sanderson.
Ice.
Had to be. He was alive. I hadn t realized he could shift into such a tiny form. But I knew it was him. No doubt
in my mind.
Ice moved, keeping to the shadows until there were no more for him to hide in. He had to scamper into the
lighted areas. He passed under tables and other equipment when he could. I mentally crossed my fingers in the
human gesture I d have used if I dared to really move.
 What now? I said to Johnson. Had to keep him talking. Had to keep him talking.  Every one of us will make
sure you suffer in the same way you tortured the Werewolves. You will be mutilated and flayed like the Weres
you captured and murdered.
No fear in Johnson s gaze, only confidence.  You will be dead before you reach me.
Then why hadn t he injected the pups already? I didn t want to ask.
A roar, the loud, terrible scream of a furious jaguar filled the laboratory, the sound coming from behind the
scientists and techs.
The screaming roar startled the scientists and techs so much that they didn t know how to react. Didn t have
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