Berman's Secret: Berman's Wolves, #3

By Gretchen S.B.

Poison courses through Lyra's veins and the only hope in sight comes from anonymous letters.

The suppressant cobbled together from incomplete notes is working less and less as time goes on. Lyra's family and pack can do nothing but stand by and watch as she deteriorates. With nerves wearing thin, other problems become harder to bear. Word has gotten out in the born werewolf community about the made wolves and the other families are not happy with the swelling numbers recently added to the family in western Washington. Now they have formed a tribunal to judge the threat these increased numbers can bring. This leaves the family scrambling to protect themselves.

Meanwhile, the made wolves are struggling with what little information they have about the current whereabouts of Dr. Berman. They know now he is nearby and experimenting on others, but they do not have all the information they need to move forward. But they are being stalked and anonymous letters were sent to each of them. These letters say someone out there knows not only who, but what they are and there may be nowhere left to hide.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gretchen S.B.
• Release date: Nov 8, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386332701

Gretchen S.B.

Gretchen is a Seattleite that loves her home. She has a day job as a Program Coordinator a local university. She is a struggling Indie Author, struggling as in she is trying to make her living writing books. She loves to read, write and create characters. As well as knit and binge watch Netflix. She is also on a sporadic book blog and internet radio show with some of her college friends. She currently lives with her husband and their mischievous Rotti mix, who always seems to find something new she shouldn't be chewing on. Gretchen loves to hear from her readers.

Book preview

Chapter 1

The yelp echoed throughout the infirmary and out into the hallway of the family compound. As it had three days prior. Lyra looked apologetically at her aunt who was injecting the suppressant that held the drug in her system at bay. Mostly at bay anyway; it worked less and less as time went on.

I'm so sorry, Lyra stammered, trying to concentrate on the apology over the pain of the needle.

Her aunt looked back at her with sad, concerned eyes. It's okay, Lyra. We've already discussed how something about this compound makes your skin extra sensitive. I know it's painful. You don't have to apologize for your body's natural reaction to pain.

Her aunt looked as weary as Lyra felt. In the three weeks since Lyra had been in a coma her skin had grown increasingly more sensitive. At first, it was hardly noticeable, but now it was more difficult to do basic things like sleep, as the cotton would brush her face and be uncomfortable. Her body had adapted to the feeling of clothing, which was good; if Lyra was always fully clothed she fared better. If someone accidently brushed against her bare skin, she was not able to stop the wince that accompanied the pain.

This meant spending the Indian summer fully clothed; it was getting extremely hot and uncomfortable. What she hadn't told her aunt was something was also making it hard for her to eat. Food became a trial as soon as it hit her stomach. It had started out of the blue almost a week ago; the first day or two she was able to move past it, not knowing how long it would last. She didn't want to worry her family or her pack with anything unless it was necessary, but couldn't keep it up forever

I would feel much better if you stayed here and rested for a while after the shot, so I can monitor you. Her aunt pleaded with Lyra.

Reluctantly Lyra slowly shook her head. No, like I said, Jack is presenting all of the information we found about Berman to our pack. To be fair, I'm basically the family's representative for the pack. That makes me most in the know, besides Jack. I can't leave him to answer all of their questions, especially considering I don't even know if he will be able to answer them. With that, Lyra slid herself off the table and slowly slid her arm back in her maroon long-sleeved turtle neck.

In the corner of her eye she saw her aunt reaching out to caress her face, but at the last moment reality set in and her aunt's hand stopped before dropping back to her side completely. Lyra knew this situation was hard on her aunt as well. The older woman, in her ten years as Luna for the pack had never been able to not save someone, minus a handful of mortal wounds. Her aunt's near-perfect track record was about to be ruined by her own niece. Being unable to save her niece made it worse on the Luna. She looked like she hadn’t been sleeping and her eyes were puffy as if she cried when Lyra was not there. The older woman would never cry or worry in front of Lyra, but the effects were clear on her face.

Lyra wanted to do something to comfort her aunt, but she didn't have any comfort to give. Her sole purpose at the moment was to make sure her pack and her family were communicating well enough that her pack would not be left out in the cold, alone and unable to protect themselves should she die.

She gave one last look at her aunt, unable to muster up a smile. Then a thought popped into her head. How is Taylor progressing? I saw him a day or two ago and he was no longer limping. He looked pretty much okay, just more reserved.

Her aunt sighed at the change of subject. He'll be perfectly fine by the end of the week. His body is just exhausted from the effort of healing. It appears his body reached its breaking point when it came to ridding himself of the scars. I don't know how long they will be there or how light they will get, but he’ll definitely have them for a while. I kept him in here as long as I dared but he was starting to get antsy after about a week and said he would rather heal in his own home. So, I let him go and told him he had to check in with me twice a week, so I could make sure his body was progressing in the right direction.

Lyra nodded at her aunt's words. It was good to hear that Taylor would be okay. Werewolves weren't necessarily strangers to scars, so at least in their world he wouldn't stick out, though the rest of society might stare.

I'll see you in three days, she said quietly instead of goodbye before turning around and walking out of the infirmary.

Lyra was grateful she didn't run into anybody on her way off the compound. She had seen two sets of eyes staring at her from the bushes and she was pretty sure those eyes belonged to her brothers. They weren't in wolf form but practicing hiding as humans. Her brothers had always been ones to hide and at this point, as teenagers, they had all but perfected it. Knowing they wouldn't want her to rat them out in case anyone else might be around, she gave a simple wave of her hand in that direction, acknowledging that she could see them before continuing to walk down the drive. When she reached her car and was safely locked inside Lyra took a deep breath. She had precious few moments alone these days and she needed them desperately. Everyone wanted to help her, to be around her, just in case something happened but she had no time to think. No time to herself. With her body wearing out she had quit her job at the fitness center last week. It gutted her but with how many absences she accrued, not to mention the fact that her body couldn't sustain that amount of exercise, she didn't have a choice. She couldn't continue to let them down and while they had all been incredibly sad to see her go, she could tell from their expressions they were suspicious of her motives for leaving; she told them she no longer had the spare time. Luckily no one asked anything out right.

The ride to the pack offices was about what she expected for a Saturday afternoon. Traffic didn't get heavy until she got near downtown Seattle where it was bumper-to-bumper for seemingly no reason. As far as Lyra knew there was no game or event, so it was mere hundreds of people trying to get into the city on a crowded highway. She was relieved she left the compound so early because by the time she got there it was only twenty minutes before the pack was scheduled to meet. Hopefully, that would give her enough time to settle in and make some tea before the others got there with their questions about Berman, about the government takedown, and about her health. If she was lucky she might have five minutes or so to just be.

When she unlocked the door her hope of being alone dashed. The first thing she noticed was Jack's leather jacket thrown over one of the barstools; since she didn't see him she could only assume he was in his office. The next thing she saw was Hazel had rearranged the furniture again. This time there was a great sitting circle with all the couches and chairs in the room. Clearly, it'd been moved in anticipation of today's meeting. Immediately after that, she saw Ryan stand up from one of the large leather chairs that originally had its back to her.

His expression when he saw her made her immediately look away. For a split second he had been happy to see her, then the concern on his face at her appearance had overridden everything else. She was sure she looked unwell. She had not looked in the mirror the last several days because she couldn't stand the weak woman looking back at her from the glass.

Ryan, of course, didn't appear weak or tortured at all. Wherever he had been these last few weeks must have been good for him. His skin was tan, and he was bulkier; thicker muscles filled out his body from three weeks prior. If Lyra had to guess, he must've been out somewhere doing hard labor and only come back now for the meeting.

Lyra pretended not to notice Ryan's reaction to her and walked into the kitchen, thankful for the air conditioning in the building, snatched the pot of what would be tea, and filled it with water.

She could feel Ryan's larger presence towering over her, hovering from a mere foot away and she preemptively muttered before he reached out to her.

Don't touch me. The suppressant or underlying drug has made my skin incredibly sensitive and most contact is painful.

She felt him take a step back but was surprised when he spoke, I'm so sorry, Lyra. I had no idea this was happening.

Lyra couldn't help the snort that escaped her as she set the now full tea kettle on the stove. Of course not. Why would you? You decided to leave us, so how could you possibly know what was happening?

It was an unnecessary slap, but it was out of her mouth before she could take it back.

I needed to sort some things out for myself. You might not understand that since you always have things together, but some of us need to be able to work things through on our own.

She was grateful he wasn’t offended, but it had never been easy to offend Ryan. She missed him in the last couple weeks. Even though the weeks before, Ryan had not been his normal stable self, she still missed him and was grateful he was back. A small part of her couldn't help but wonder how long he would be back for.

Are you here just for the meeting or are you back for good? she asked, finally turning to look him in the face as the water heated on the stove.

What she saw there was his usual stoic expression except for the eyes. His eyes told her he was concerned for her but wouldn’t outright ask about it. Lyra found it ironic that over these past few weeks as she became weaker, he seemed to have gotten stronger.

I'm back for good. I worked through what I needed to and I'm ready to be what I need to be now.

Before Lyra could ask what that meant, they heard the door knob to the pack office turn. Seconds later, Hazel walked in and did a quick scan before walking to Lyra.

You look worse. When is the last time you ate? Hazel barked as she looked Lyra up and down.

Closing her eyes, Lyra took a deep breath. Hello to you too, friend. I don't know. Have you noticed Ryan has returned?

She opened her eyes to see Hazel giving Ryan a once over and from her expression, she appeared to find him lacking. She was more disgusted with him leaving than impressed with his new stronger physique. Lyra didn’t agree with her friend's assessment. Ryan looked pretty good, but she wasn't about to say that out loud.

Hazel turned back to Lyra, eyes laser focused. That answers my question.

Sighing, Lyra folded her arms across her chest. If you count tea, this morning. I had tea and some vitamin supplements.

She snuck a look at Ryan, whose eyes widened a touch at her words. Why haven’t you been eating?

Another side effect; she says she can't hold down food. Did you tell your aunt about this?

Not yet. I was able to keep down a protein shake last night. I'm hoping that's a sign this is getting better.

She looked away from Hazel again and saw the pain and worry in Ryan's eyes, but the rest of his face remained blank. She wanted to comfort him, but she also felt her anger rising. She was sick of people feeling bad for her. She turned her attention back to Hazel.

I would appreciate if you would not go around telling anybody else I'm not eating. I know you have developed this need to not keep my secrets in the last month but if you wouldn't mind shutting the hell up, I would appreciate it. Her voice came out harsher than she’d intended. Hazel was spilling secrets left and right to the point Lyra had stopped telling her things out of self-preservation.

When Lyra glanced at Ryan again, he was watching the exchange with no expression on his face. It was different than his usual blank expression: cleaner, as if there was a lack of emotion instead of hiding. Once he realized she was looking at him, he turned to her and his expression softened some.

How about you go ahead and take a seat. I'll stay here and bring you your tea when it's ready? That way your body isn't working more than it absolutely needs to.

Lyra smiled at that. He was definitely better than before he left on whatever adventure he went on and certainly better than he had been in the weeks before that. The stress of her being hunted had been too much for him. Now that it was over he was back to the calm, problem-solving guy she'd always known him to be.

Thank you. She turned away from both of them and sat in one of the large leather armchairs in the circle.

Apparently Hazel had to let out her frustration on someone, and with Lyra absent from the kitchen, she turned on Ryan. Lyra felt bad about that. Ryan could take care of himself, however, and she didn't have the energy to do anything about it now.

Aren't you worried that she's not eating? Hazel's accusing voice traveled across the room.

Am I worried about her physical repercussions of not eating? Yes, of course, but it isn't as if she isn't eating on purpose. Something in her system is making it impossible for her to eat. It is not her fault, and there is no reason to take out your anger and frustration on her for something she cannot help. If she can keep down fluids like tea, that is certainly something. The finality of his statement told Lyra, even from where she sat, that he was done talking about it with Hazel.

Hazel could be heard sputtering as she tried to restart her thought process, but nothing came. Before she could get any thought together the door opened again; the twins had arrived. Lyra heard them happily greet Ryan and, from the sound of it, both of them hugged him before greeting Hazel.

By this point, Jack had appeared from his office; Lyra found he was standing in the doorway, but he wasn't looking at the people who’d just entered; he was looking at Lyra, a deep frown on his face. He walked over to her chair and squatted down in front of it, resting his hands on the arms of the chair so he could speak quietly enough that it would be difficult for most of the pack to hear him from several feet away. Though, Lyra was pretty sure if Ryan wanted to, he could pick up a conversation.

Are there any new developments I need to know about? Jack asked hopefully.

The family just had Jack and some of the other Alphas over the day before last for a debriefing. They told them everything. Everything, except that they were sending in one of their own as a test.

To get some kind of sting going, security had gone to the location where Berman's people set up shop and kidnapped the family's informant, Parker, but there was nothing. It was an empty office space in an otherwise busy strip mall. Parker recommended various places they could check out to see if any new posters popped up. He described to them down to the font, style, and language. They still had no luck finding what they were looking for, but they hoped eventually one would pop up. Her father and uncles assumed the attack on the building where they found Parker would make the entire operation skittish about advertising for the time being. The business who leased the building that had blown up was owned by a convoluted trail of other companies eventually owned by a big marketing firm. While it was shady, they weren’t obviously connected to Berman at all.

That put them back to square one trying to weasel their way into Berman's operation. But as her father pointed out, Berman did not strike them as a man who could give up on his life's work. Either he would move to a different location or more likely, he would take the time to let the smoke clear and begin collecting subjects for his research again.

It was the latter they were counting on, but she couldn't tell Jack the family’s plan. Everything else, he had been told.

Not that I'm aware of. They're hoping for a break in their information searches soon.

Jack's frown deepened, and he nodded. That's what I figured. I just wanted to double check. Matthew doesn't have anything from our end either; he has people looking up the shell company Berman supposedly belongs to. So far it has been a dead end. I guess they went back to checking to make sure there were no other loose ends with Doctor Paul and her ilk.

Jack moved his hand, so he could squeeze her knee lightly before leaning back and standing up. By this point, more of their pack had arrived and were mingling about in the kitchen. As Jack made his way over, Lyra closed her eyes and concentrated on nothing. She just wanted some time to relax in a familiar place. Sure, it would've been better if her dogs were there with her, but as soon as this meeting was over she planned to go home, take a nap, and begin working on manuscripts. Ever since last week when she quit the job she needed to be somewhere for, Lyra noticed her circadian clock was all over the place.

Chapter 2

As Jack heard the tea kettle begin to whine and Ryan move towards it, he realized Lyra had not gotten up from her chair. A thread of panic tightened its spirally grip on his heart as he spun around and walked back to her chair. He felt himself exhale a sigh of relief when he saw she’d dozed off in one of the giant wingbacks. Her breathing was even, and her eyes were closed but he knew she was asleep versus passed out because her head was doing that slowly leaning thing people do when trying to stay awake.

A second later, Ryan was standing right next to him. Perhaps this suppressant the Luna has been using is not working as well as we all thought it would, Ryan commented stoically.

When Jack looked at the taller man a slight frown was the only indication of how he felt.

I started wondering that myself. I mentioned it to the Luna and she expressed having the same worry. I guess they're working on trying to decipher what exactly about the formula isn't working the way it should. From what I understand they started tweaking it in the last couple days so hopefully the dose she received today will make some kind of difference.

They both stood quietly for a moment, watching as Lyra finally rested her head against the back corner of the chair, hopefully finding a restful sleep. Ryan slowly put the tea down on the small side table next to the chair before backing away. Jack stood there a second longer before following suit.

I don't like this, Jack mumbled to himself, knowing full well Ryan heard.

There was a grunt from the taller man.

*****

Within an hour the rest of the pack arrived. At first, people were quiet, cognizant of Lyra sleeping. As they got closer to the scheduled time of the meeting, the volume in the room grew louder, enough to wake Jack's littermate. She wandered over with her cup of tea, still looking worse for wear and bleary-eyed from sleep. She occupied a small space of the counter next to Hazel, and although the rest of the pack standing in the kitchen gave her worried glances, no one said anything about her appearance. It was clear to Jack the rest of their pack felt the same way about Lyra's health, and its decline, as he did. No one was unwise enough to bring it up to Lyra's face.

Once everyone arrived and settled in, even without the customary baked goods that accompanied a pack meeting, Jack drew everyone's attention to him.

"There have been a few developments and while we have not been a part of all of them, the family has shared enough that we can see the progress. On the plus side the scientists and lab assistants that were after the seven born weres are no longer a threat. It does appear we have other problems replacing them.

A few weeks ago, a scientist approached Lyra's family's investment firm asking them to invest in his project that would help protect the military. Lyra and her cousin, Graham recognized this individual as Dr. Berman.

Jack paused for his packmates' exclamations of surprise. After a moment, there were ten angry faces looking at him. Seth was frowning, and both Lyra and Ryan already had this information, so they observed patiently.

When it became clear to Jack no one had comments or questions, he continued. "Unfortunately for all, the company he brought to the investment firm seems to be a dummy corporation of some kind. The company itself and all its legal paperwork were less than six months old. He did, however, have a link to a parent company that is around a year old. While there is only sparse information, it does give everyone somewhere to start. When looking into the first company, no one could find a single individual who gave any semblance of working there. Only fake names are used. The parent company, which they only began to start digging into, is a place where money gets worked around. There is another LLC that is putting money in and money is getting divided into the accounts. It’ll take some time for the family members to do a proper amount of digging without being noticed. Even the address for that company led to a vacant lot used for parking in downtown and not much else.

"What is worrisome is the information we have on this parent company is from an indirect source. As it turns out, this parent company has been leaving flyers asking for volunteers among recently returned military veterans. They say they are helping create better weapons and protection for soldiers. Our witness is one such soldier. He says things appeared on the up and up to begin with, then they started giving him shots, supposedly vitamins. We still don't know what's in those shots because whatever it was left his system.

After a few weeks when they were doing treadmill testing, they locked several of them in a room and gas filled the space, knocking them unconscious.

Jack watched his packmates grow unsettled, exchanging worried and horrified glances. Even though he’d intended to keep talking, at that moment all of his pack knew what they were dealing with, what would come out of his mouth next.

When he woke up he was in a cage, in an area with many cages. Eventually much to his surprise, he could change into a wolf. The change was painful, and he was put through rigorous testing. Some don't always survive. I don't want to go into the gory details of their testing and training because even thinking about it makes me angry. After a while, they loaned our witness and two others out to be guard werewolves for another company. We don't know whether that company is a smaller satellite of the parent company or someone else entirely. Collars were attached around the three men’s necks to keep them in wolf form. The batteries in his collar needed to be changed every eighteen hours to keep it working. There is also a kind of a shocker in the collar to prevent the wolves from disobeying orders.

Jack watched his packmates as horror grew on their faces, much as Jack had felt upon reading the report that summarized the interviews.

When the family raided this location, the other two wolves were seemingly killed, but one only turned out to be unconscious, so they brought him back to the compound. They have been questioning him for weeks now, getting everything they can; unfortunately, our witness never saw Berman himself.

Jack motioned for the pack to follow him to the large poster he had on his office wall. It was a diagram of all the organizations that were after them. It was identical to the larger one in Mathew's office. It wasn't as massive as the one Matthew had but it was still big enough to display the information they needed it to.

This is Parker Holmes; he is our witness.

There were sharp hisses to his right before he could even finish the sentence. When he looked across the group he saw both twins were fixed on the picture of Parker, shock and horror covering their faces. Cole let out a string of curses before leaning back. As Jack watched, Ryan came around the board with a sigh.

I was afraid of this, Ryan whispered under his breath, only speaking to Jack.

Jack gave all his attention to his second-in-command. What are you talking about?

The taller man ran his hand through his hair in an aggravated gesture. The name rang a bell and the face was vaguely familiar, but I didn't put two and two together. I wish I had thought about it harder, maybe then it would've come to me and I could've warned her. Jack wasn't sure who that part was meant for.

Either way, Sadie answered his questions for him.

I need to see him. I need to see him as soon as possible.

From where she was curled up in one of the wingbacks again, Lyra peeked over the side of the chair, so she could look at the other woman. Why? There was no real emotion in her face and barely a sign of curiosity. His littermate just looked exhausted, as if she hadn't slept in weeks.

Sadie's attention swung to Lyra. Her expression increased in aggravation at the other woman's question. He and I were engaged. We were an item for over a year. I broke it off when this happened to us. She waved her arm at Jack's board with all the information pinned and taped to it. I didn't know how to reconcile what I was with myself, let alone him, so I broke it off to protect us both. What’s happening to him is worse than what happened to us; I need to be there for him. I can't leave him to deal with this alone. At least I had Syrus and Ryan, and eventually Cole, who were already close to me. He's had no one. He deserves better. By the time she finished talking Sadie's eyes were watery and her tone was fierce.

She and Lyra stared at each other for a beat, neither saying anything. Nobody else in the room wanted to interrupt whatever silent communication was happening.

Lyra broke first, setting the back of her skull on the back of the chair and sighing before rolling her head to face forward again. Okay, I'll see what I can do. They won't let you on the compound without me, so odds of getting alone time are slim. But I'll try to get you something. Lyra shut her eyes and waved her arm vaguely in Jack's direction. "Keep going, Jack. Once you're done I have some phone calls