Agent Alpha Ch. 05

Hey everyone! Sorry this took so long! I'm expecting a steady stream of posts this week though.

*****

Rhys lost track of how long he had been sitting by her bed. It was long enough for guilt to wash over him and plenty of time for him to feel completely sorry for himself that he wouldn't be able to court her. He wasn't even sure why it bothered him so much. She probably wouldn't have been receptive to begin with and if courting her meant exposing his pack to open war with the Council? How could he be so selfish? Really, it was more the fact that it was no longer possible that bothered him so much. Like a child being told no, now all he could think about was precisely what he couldn't have.

Fortunately, every time he looked at her, guilt completely overwhelmed his senses. She was covered in bruises and deep cuts. The bite on her shoulder looked incredibly painful. Rhys had never bitten a mate, but he knew that he wouldn't have bitten her as hard as that bastard Marek had. It gave him a great sense of pride to know he was the one who ripped out Marek's throat. Even with his shredded arm, it had been Rhys who ran Analise out of the woods, carrying her in his arms. The woman was arrogant, there was no doubt about it, but for whatever reason he had connected with her and felt responsible for her.

She stirred slightly, quietly battling her unseen foe in her nightmares. He thought about waking her up, saving her from the bad dream, but then decided that she needed the rest more than she needed a savior. Eventually, some long while later, her green eyes weakly opened. She had broken out in a sweat as the virus took hold. In a day or so the transformation would be over. The worst of it was still to come.

"... Rhys?" She let out in weak surprise. It caught his attention.

"Analise... you're awake..." he turned to give her his full attention, eyes wide and attentive. "Are you ok? How do you feel?"

She smiled slightly. "You didn't happen to catch the license plate of that monster truck did you?"

Rhys pursed his lips in humor.

"What happened?" She asked. "No one has told me anything and they won't let me use a phone... And where the hell are we?" Analise had decided this whole "healing center" business was a load of bull.

Rhys swallowed slightly and looked away. "I'd tell you, Shepherd, but you aren't going to like it."

Analise's face wrinkled with concern, followed by the flash of understanding. "... I'm infected..." she didn't want to believe it was true, but of course it was. All of her research indicated that the cult members would bite their victims to transmit their virus. So little was known about it, aside from the fact Analise was about to start hallucinating that she could turn into an animal.

Rhys nodded. "Yep. You sure are," he said in a dark sort of dryness.

Analise let out a long and patient sigh. "God damn it." She stared at the ceiling for a moment hoping that this was just some sort of bad dream and she was about to wake up. That didn't happen. "Where am I," she asked again, though more flatly.

"Some place that knows how to handle the sort of disease you just picked up," he answered cryptically.

Analise flashed a disapproving frown. "No offense, Rhys," she told him in standard Agent-Shepherd-is-in-charge tone, "but I think I'd know if such a place actually existed."

"No offense, Analise," he replied sharply, "but I don't think you know what the hell you're talking about." So it was back to beating each other into submission. Great. Just great.

Rhys was deathly silent and kept his eyes locked firmly on hers. Her face hardened as she figured it out. Rhys was infected too. Had it been a set up? It didn't feel that way but... "I'm such a moron..." She whispered to herself, bringing a hand up to massage the bridge of her nose. "... I don't suppose me demanding to be let go is going to do any good, is it?"

"I'm not holding you here against your will," He answered confidently. "Though," he added with a shrug of consideration, "I wouldn't turn down the chance to hear you beg and plead anyway." That didn't elicit the chuckle he had been hoping for. This was going to be harder than he thought. "Sorry," he let out slightly.

He kept his eyes locked firmly on hers as he shifted approaches. "Let me tell you a story, Analise," he said finally. "You can choose whether or not you want to believe me, but I think you're smart enough to tell when you're being lied to or not. You think you know so much about this cult of yours, and frankly for an outsider your knowledge is frighteningly impressive, but... well, you've got a lot of it wrong. If you're willing... well, I am in a unique position to correct some of that for you." Rhys paused to look at her.

"Unique position." She stated as firmly as she could. Her voice was so weak it was hard to hear any bite in it, forced or otherwise. She paused for a while. "You know me, Rhys. At least, well enough to know what I'm going to do the second I get out. You're willing to risk this?"

Rhys gave her a firm sort of look someone offered an adversary. "I think if you hear the truth of it... well there's no doubt about what you'd do if me or mine were anything like those men that attacked you," he said finally. "But we aren't like that. And I don't think you're so heartless that you'd knowingly destroy the lives of so many innocent people."

"See, this cult of yours didn't start thirty years ago. It's a lot older than that. Isa could probably give you the exact date; frankly I don't give a damn. Sometime in the early middle ages, people like me started banding together for protection."

Analise cocked an eyebrow. "From what?"

"From people like you," he answered surely. "For right or for wrong, we were being hunted for something we had absolutely no control over. To this day, a lot of us still see it as a curse. Only with modern medicine were they able to determine that it's a virus or parasitic hormone or something. I didn't do too well in biology; someone else could probably explain it better. The point is, we were scared. A bunch of real smart and real deadly people were trying to kill us. If that were you, what would you do?"

"I wouldn't play the empathy card right now if I were you," Analise warned. She already saw where this was going and if she had more energy, she'd have been out of the bed in a heart beat.

"Fair enough," He said, holding up his good hand in retreat. "But I think you and I have a lot more in common than you realize. I just ask you to keep an open mind is all."

"I'm listening," she replied through a tensed jaw. She wasn't happy, but she was trying to hear him out. It was a start.

"Good. Well... these people like me formed groups. We were safer in numbers and we mostly kept to ourselves, living out in the woods where the particulars of our condition wouldn't be so obvious. Advances in the rest of society made it easier in some ways and harder in others. It's pretty hard to explain not having a social security number when you were born long before that even became an idea." Rhys licked his lips nervously, trying to keep himself steady. Analise was beyond pissed and he knew he was testing her patience.

"I'm a hundred and six years old, Shepherd," he told her in complete honesty. "I know you probably don't believe that, but its true none-the-less. About a hundred years ago, this special disease of ours caught a disease of its own. The women started dying. The first to go were the strong ones like you. Left us without female leaders and folks sort of forgot what that meant. They were all dead by the time I came of age and the problem didn't get much better with time. The women who were left stopped having female pups-er, babies. By about thirty years ago, almost ninety percent of our... sub race, for a lack of a better word for it, was male. That's when the Council made their decision."

Analise nodded to indicate that she followed, but her tight jaw told Rhys that her anger had not subsided. "The decision that you assholes were going to kidnap helpless girls and rape their fucking brains out until they gave you cute little babies girls for you to raise up and do the same? You make me sick, trying to justify this shit to me..."

Rhys gave her a sour look. "You know, I feel the same way about it as you do," he told her seriously, which came as a slight surprise to her. "I'm a bit surprised you'd have thought I would have been onboard with to, Shepherd," he added with a bit of hurt in his voice. "But it is sick; no argument there. That's why me and mine didn't comply with the decree. Came at a high risk too, not following the rules. Following the rules is sort of something our kind does." Rhys shifted slightly in his chair.

"My pack is a family. I know you just see it as some cult that brainwashes people, and maybe some packs are, but we're far from it. Prior to the decree, we would never bring a human in unless there was a good reason and a consensus for it. Even after the decree, nobody is here by force. Nobody was kidnapped or coerced. If I even caught wind of something like that, I'd have slit the offender's throat personally. Now, you can choose not to believe me all you want but that's the god's honest truth. This is a family and family isn't built on lies and abuse."

"What happened to your sister was horrible," he told her finally, meeting her squarely in the eyes. "I've done everything in my power to prevent that from happening here." He paused, looking as deeply into her eyes as he could. "We aren't all like that, Analise. Some of us, like my pack, well... well we aren't that different from you, far as our principles go. I know if anyone even touched one of my kin like what happened to your sister, I'd stop at nothing until that bastard was dead."

Analise turned and looked up at the ceiling, her fists white as she clenched onto the sheets of the bed. "You going to let me go now?" She asked forcefully.

Rhys frowned slightly. He had been hoping for more of a dialogue than this, though in reality he wasn't fully sure what to expect. "Your body is accepting and integrating the virus. You're going to be one of us by the end of the week. 'At's why you've got a fever and feel like shit, I figure."

Analise flinched slightly at hearing the news. It was probably akin to a death knell to her, given her life's work. "And then what?" She asked, the fierceness and harshness of her tone back in full force.

Rhys let out a sigh. "That's up to you," he told her honestly. "You're welcome to stay here, and frankly I think you should for a little while, until after you get a hold of what's happening to you, but like I said, I won't keep you here against your will." He studied her for a moment before continuing. She wasn't carrying on like some child. No, her reaction was far more dangerous. She absorbed all of the information and seemed to be plotting Rhys's death.

Against his better judgment, he decided to show her one of his cards. "Isa thinks I should kill you. She says you won't show us any mercy and that you won't see the difference between my pack and the others that treated you so badly; you're a threat to us, she thinks."

"I'd say Isa's right," Analise answered sharply. "If I were you, I would have killed me already and not wasted the breath." Analise turned to eye Rhys with heavy criticism. "Fortunately for me, you aren't me." It was as if she were silently calling him a pussy while thanking him at the same time.

That was not the answer Rhys was hoping to hear. He felt a little concerned for the moment, but hid it well enough. "Are you going to hurt my people?" He demanded of her. He was fiercely protective of his pack, and, as his luck would have it, that was probably the single most thing that Analise respected about him.

She gave him a firm and studious look for what seemed like an eternity. Scrutiny and desperation rolled up into one pathetic expression. "Are you joking?" She asked after desperation finally seemed to win. "Rhys, I can barely move. What the hell am I going to do to anyone?"

"By this time next week you'll be feeling fine," he told her flatly. "And compassionate and understanding aren't two words I'd use to describe you. Nor grateful, for that matter," he added a bit bitterly. Isa was right. He should have killed her.

Analise's eyes flashed with injury and they wearily searched his for a moment. "That's not true," she countered, obvious hurt in her tone. "That guy... he..." For the very first time since they had met, Analise broke off eye contact. "I'm grateful."

Rhys frowned. He hadn't meant to be so harsh with her. "Well then I suppose you'll be happy to hear that I killed him," he reported with enough coldness to match Shepherd any day of the week.

"...Why would that make me happy?" She answered in an almost hollow voice. "I became an FBI agent to stop all of this chaotic violence and injustice, not to revel in it just because I was wronged."

Rhys blinked a few times in disbelief but Shepherd continued. "Yeah," she said finally, "Emotionally that makes me pretty happy and in that context I'll never be able to repay you for it. I'm glad that fucker is dead and I shouldn't admit that I hope it was violent and painful." Of course if had been both of those. "But justice goes beyond my hurt. It's a balance in the system so that represents true fairness. It's pure balance, independent of emotion. It's why justice is blind. It hears only facts and weighs them against one another to find the truth. Marek earned his death. He should have been tried first."

Rhys raised both eyebrows and nearly laughed at her in spite of himself. In a way, what she said was very admirable, but it didn't apply to werewolves in the slightest. "By a jury of his peers, I suppose?"

Analise's frown slid into further depth. "Are you mocking me?" She asked genuinely.

"Not intentionally, no," he answered. "Things... things work differently for us. He was an alpha. A rogue. He was challenging my territory and harming people under my care. He knew the potential consequences of his actions and did them anyway. Independent of any other laws, he broke the laws of our kind the moment he entered my land without notification. Challenging the authority of an alpha leads to a death."

Analise's eyes remained fixed on the ceiling. "...how many people have you killed?"

The question was so clinical but it put Rhys on edge right away. "I..." He couldn't answer the question.

"I've killed eight," she said after Rhys couldn't figure out how to answer the question. "They were all in self defense. A junky pulling a gun. That sort of thing. I've never tried to justify those deaths with some explanation of how they deserved to die." Analise turned her head to direct an exhausted glare at Rhys's direction. "And you're worried that I am going to hurt your family?"

Rhys didn't know what to say. He figured that he should have been comforted, given what she implied, but instead he found himself feeling dirty. Tainted. This concept of justice of hers was beyond the sort of thing he ever thought about. He had no idea whether or not she was even right. How could he debate her in such a thing?

Analise turned her eyes back toward the ceiling. "If I understand you correctly, then I'm guessing you and yours aren't connected with the kidnappings," she said with finality. "Of course you realize I will be investigating this, but as a gesture of gratitude, I'll keep it quiet so as not to involve your innocent with my people. They... they won't be very understanding about it." That was an understatement, but that she was volunteering to keep things quiet went a long way to putting Rhys more at ease.

"The people you've killed is a local matter," she continued. "It's not within my jurisdiction to investigate those matters and for the sake of my own sanity, I'm going to assume that these deaths were similar to the situation you rescued me from." The words caught Rhys's attention. Rescue. He wouldn't have ever thought Analise to be the sort in need of being rescued and while she had been, it spoke well of her that she so easily admitted that it was in fact the nature of the situation. The wolf inside of Rhys growled in delight at what it perceived to be the smallest hint of submission out of this woman.

"In such a context, I'm going to assume that if they pertained to anything other than werewolves you'd have reported and thoroughly documented each instance. I don't want to know if I'm wrong."

"I'm going to need your help in my report," she said with a sigh. "Being sick isn't against the law. You're free to practice whatever religion you want. If I understand you correctly, then you've been sheltering Riverton from this insanity which is the same thing I've been trying to do my whole life. Sounds to me like we're on the same page on this one, Rhys," she let out. "Unfortunately, you're the only ones of your kind who aren't raving lunatics in the whole country. There's no way my superiors are going to believe me no matter how logical I make it read." Analise couldn't believe she was asking for his help, but then, she was in way over her head and knew it.

Rhys let out an obviously relieved sigh. He had many faults, but his one strength was his ability to talk to people. Through out the worst of it, it was that trait that had kept his pack's morale from completely disintegrating. It also probably brokered the most important peace treaty his pack would ever know. "Whatever you need," he answered, notably more at ease.

"Is there a cure for this?" She asked with a hint of fragility in her voice. From her knowledge of this, she already knew the answer.

Any excitement he had been feeling was gone again. "No." he answered flatly. "Not one I know about," he added. "I'd have taken it years ago if there were." Rhys let out a bit of a sigh. He had never before told anyone what he had just admitted to and the sad truth of it was, he was completely honest. He often day dreamed about what it would be like to just be normal and not have to worry with most of the things that kept him up at night.

"I should probably let you rest," he suggested. "Allison said she wanted to come in and thank you later, for what you did to save her and the other girls... If you want."

"Did they bite them too?"

Rhys was silent. It was answer enough.

"What's going to happen to them?"

"They're home with their families for right now," he told her truthfully. Analise was skeptical but didn't argue. "I already spoke with Paul, Allison's pop, and explained some of what's going to start happening with her. My guess is they'll keep her at home until she graduates high school. She'll probably join up with us after that."

"So what is going to start happening to them?" Analise asked hesitantly.

Rhys arched an eyebrow at her. "Your internal organs and bones are being restructured," he explained gently. "It's the only way you'll survive the shift. Something about an end on your DNA too. The thing that makes you age. Your genes are being altered; you won't age like you used to."

"How does that work?"

Rhys shrugged. "Can't really say," he answered. "I was born this way. It's always been a second nature to me. I can ask one of the new girls to explain her experiences to you, if you think it will help."

Analise was having trouble keeping her eyes opened. "Am I going to be a different person?"

No one had ever asked Rhys that before. "I... I don't think so. You'll be more aggressive. I know that. There will be some animal instincts too." He was quiet for a moment. "You're going to become a wolf," he answered finally. Analise winced again but said nothing. "You'll be a superposition of a wolf and yourself. I can't say what the wolf side will be like, but the Analise side should stay pretty much the same."