Live Free or Die Complete Series Boxed Set: Age Of Madness - A Kurtherian Gambit Series Hayley Lawson (ebook reader play store .TXT) 📖

he’d done with the Mad. That wasn’t Leandro thinking, but the wolf whose body he inhabited now. He wouldn’t become an animal on the inside just because he looked like one on the outside. That was his greatest fear.

Leandro headed deeper into the trees that ran alongside the road. He’d made sure that all the Mad were dead before leaving with only one thought on his mind—to change back. He was glad he’d brought a bag with extra clothes in it this morning, or he’d have been in the same situation he was last night—naked once he’d turned, and then Carter wouldn’t shut up.

The voices of his friends became muffled as he got farther away from them. The last voice he heard was Carter’s, and it sounded like he was calling him Leandro. He must have been hearing things.

He didn’t hate Carter. It was more that Carter annoyed the hell out of him, always talking and also winding him up. He really did like the sound of his own voice.

Leandro stalled when his pack caught on a fallen branch and pulled him back. Backpacks weren’t a good thing for a wolf. A fanny pack would have been a lot better. Leandro laughed at the image of a wolf with a fanny pack around his body. He wouldn’t be able to fit many clothes in it, but if he became a wolf full time he wouldn’t need clothes anymore.

He dragged at this backpack until the shoulder strap came free from the branch and kept moving.

Leandro thought about becoming a wolf full time. He really should plan for it just in case, take some time to work out a way in which he could still communicate with his dad and the others. Maybe they could have a big alphabet and he could stand on the letters to spell what he wanted to say—but that would take forever. He needed to speak about it with his dad once he turned back.

If he could turn back.

He found a spot deep enough in the woods that all he could hear were the leaves rustling in the breezes and the odd bird chirping. Most had fled the area after the Mad attack.

Leandro stretched out on the ground and cleared his mind of everything and everyone. A gentle breeze blew over him, making his fur dance. He’d miss that feeling once he was back to his human form. He stretched out his paws, and let his muscles relax as the adrenaline left his body. He was going to miss the high he got from being a wolf; he felt inviolable. He loved being a wolf. No, he loved being a werewolf, and if he didn’t stop thinking about all the things he loved about being a wolf he wouldn’t be able to turn back into a human.

He thought about all the things he loved about being a human instead, and Carter’s overgrown bow-bearded face popped into his mind. Of all people! He shook his head to get that image out of it.

As if his mind were a remote-control device, he changed the channel to Massimo in their living room, making Leandro dance with him to ABBA. When Leandro was a kid, he had let Massimo get away with it. Once he was an adult Massimo still tried, but Leandro would stop him, calling him an old fool. Massimo wasn’t offended by it, because he was an old fool, but he was an old fool enjoying himself. Leandro needed to be more like his dad and have fun. Next time Pops offers I’ll dance with him, Leandro thought.

The channel in Leandro’s mind changed to Ryder, who was beautiful and didn’t know it. Her hard edges only made her more desirable to Leandro. She didn’t need him, but he needed her. She’d gotten him to dance, even to sing Dancing Queen. Leandro smiled…if only there had been cameras in Koda’s kitchen. Massimo would have the two of them playing on a loop on the TV.

Being a human was just as awesome as being a wolf, so why couldn’t he continue being a werewolf?

That was what Leandro prayed for as he laid on the ground and willed himself to turn back into a man.

Afana watched Specimen Two intently, waiting for a reaction to the blood he’d just injected him with. A thought hit him. “Was it just my blood?” Afana asked. How could I have been so stupid? I’ve just given one of my cattle my blood. What will it do to him? Afana punched the metal table, leaving a fist-sized dent in it.

Advisor Stuart nodded.

“Speak!” Afana commanded from the pit of his gut. His blood was what made him different from everyone else in the bunker, what made him feared by everyone. Had he just given his advantage away?

What had he just done?

Stuart stuttered. “Yes, that…was all we needed. Your blood is special.”

Afana growled his frustration. “Do not give anyone else my blood. Do you hear me? No one!”

“Yes, Afana,” the two advisors agreed, but their eyes moved past Afana.

Afana was infuriated by their lack of respect. He was about to punish them both for their insolence when he heard the creak of metal.

Afana turned around. The specimen had changed. His arms had doubled in size, and so had his legs. The rest of him had mutated in the same way Afana had over the years.

Afana’s blood had made the specimen just like him. This specimen was not cured. It had another disease, the same one which the advisors had begun inflicting on him all those years ago. Each time they told him they had a cure for his inability to walk in the sun, but each time the mutation got worse.

He wanted to rip the heads off all the advisors, but first he’d need to take care of the mutated specimen.

The specimen’s head bulged, and the leather restraint in his mouth was ripped from the hinges holding it to the gurney.

Stuart ran toward the exit door,