The Alpha Wants Everything Book 1 The King's Queen

Dax was much calmer when Carter and her walked back into the office. Guess you needed a break! Her subconscious spoke to her. Sshhh, he doesn’t need to know that he was right! He can’t hear me! Still, he doesn’t need to know!

“Feel better?” Kane didn’t even look up from the email he was reading when she entered, though a knowing smile was playing on his lips. She could see the others trying to hide their grins. Trying to keep her own from showing, she never answered him and just moved back to the desk and the still locked box. Watching the video again and again, and bending two more paper clips, how they showed she tried to unlock the box again. If she couldn’t get it open this time she was going to throw it, but when she felt the lock turn she couldn’t help the surge of excitement that passed through her.

“You’re getting pretty good at that,” Carter said,

“Thanks Carter!” Though she wasn’t sure picking locks was a good thing to be good at, that could lead her to big trouble, though it would have come in handy when she locked herself out of the warehouse a few times.

“You better not keep anything locked up, feisty pants learned a new skill” Damon said to Kane with a Cheshire Cat grin on his face.

“Clearly!” Kane agreed.

“What’s that smell?” She asked, scrunching up her nose.

“I think something died in there. Maybe he had a pet?” Carter said, pulling his face away from the box and backing up. A piece of folded cloth was gently placed in the box. What was once white was now stained a putrid brown. Not wanting to touch it she grabbed one of his pens and started to move it. The more she moved back the fabric the worse the smell became. Kane recognized the scent but before he could stop her Dax had uncovered the contents of the box. Her eyes shot open, as she pushed the box away from her and off the edge of the desk. Scrambling away from her discovery Dax slammed her back hard into Carter and turned away trying to put as much distance between her and the box as she could. She let out a yelp as a bolt of pain shot through her. The box clattered to the ground spilling the contents on the floor.

“That’s gross!” Carter stated as they all looked at the floor in front of the desk.

“Are those….are those….are those….” Johnny was on the other side of the room trying to choke back the bile that was rising in his throat. “What the fuck is wrong with humans?”

“Cazzo Santo!” Marco was on his feet on the other side of the couch. “Ears, quelle sono le orecchie delle persone….people. Cazzo! a scatola of ears. Quelli appartengono a persone che non sono in una scatola. Perché non li ha seppelliti? (Those belong on people not in a box. why didn’t he bury them?)” Marco was grabbing onto his ears as he stared, muttering in Italian, about the people’s ears that were now scattered all over the floor of the office.

“Easy, Marco!” Kenneth said, trying to keep him calm.

“Non è facile Marco me! (Don’t you easy Marco me!) Quelle sono orecchie in una scatola. Scatola di spighe, appuntito persone spighe, in una scatola, non nel terreno in una scatola, in una scatola! (Those are ears in a box. Box of ears, pointed people ears, in a box, not in the ground in a box, in a box!)” Marco moved further away from the box. Shaking his head back and forth, grabbing at his ears.

“You’ll rip the arms off of someone but you can’t handle a box of ears?” Damon asked him, when Marco bumped into him.

“Non lo metto in una scatola e lo tengo come un mostro, lo seppellisco come una persona normale. (I don’t put it in a box and I keep it like a monster, I bury it like a normal person.)” Marco stated, as he continued to shake his head.

“He doesn’t keep them, he buries them like a normal person” Kenneth said,

“How many arms have you ripped off?” Damon asked, looking at him. Marco could only look at Damon, he didn’t know, it wasn’t like he kept a tally board.

“There all right ears!” Kenneth stated looking at them closer.

Damon looked closer as well, then he looked at her and the big picture with her right ear crossed out. Then back at the ears then her then the picture. Fix what you broke! From Magnus’s email to Carl, realization dawned on him when he looked at Kane, he could see that he pieced it together as well.

“Carter! Get her out of here.” Kane yelled. She had her back to the room, visibly shaking as she was covering her ears and small whimpers were escaping from her.

“Come on Luna,” Carter touched her back, she jumped a little letting out a small scream. He guided her gently towards the door, making sure his body blocked her view of the ears.

“Aiuterò! (I’ll help!)” Marco offered, not even waiting for anyone to stop him, he was already at the door, Johnny just shook his head, he was outta the room as soon as the door was open, just leaving Kenneth, Kane and Damon behind to deal with the ears on the ground.

“We’ll just take care of this then” Damon yelled out the door after they all left.

“Johnny?” Kenneth asked, arching his eyebrow.

“Can handle severed body parts no problems, but he doesn’t do well with decay. Which is why we burn the dead!” Kane explained,

“We could just bury it like Marco, cause that’s what normal people do. New York must be full of buried body parts.” Damon laughed,

“Alejandro likes to bury things,” Kenneth said,

“That’s great, if we ever see him digging holes in the yard then we know he’s burying body parts.” Damon said wide eyed. “Is that why he tried to bury the arm he ripped off?” Kenneth just nodded, what could he really say. If they only knew how many body parts Alejandro and Marco have buried over the last seven years, they would never step foot in New York again.

“Only right ears and all cut into points, why?” Kenneth asked, looking down at the ears.

“To fix what Carl broke! He made her flawed when he tried to cut the tip of her ear off.” Kane replied, trying to suppress a growl. Getting angry and unleashing Ky was not going to solve anything. I want him dead! Me too! I want to rip him to pieces! Me too! He will not touch her! No he won’t, we’ll make certain of that! We protect what’s ours! Yes we do! Kenneth looked between him and Damon, his eyes wide then he looked over at the photo.

“He’s going to cut off her ear and replace it with one of these?” His top lip curled back in disgust. “How did he get them?”

“One of the people on the list we spoke to said he had six sexual assault allegations against him, but nothing came of it, they all recanted their statements. This might be why they recanted, there’s six one eared women wandering around somewhere.” Damon spoke,

“Or he killed them after they recanted.” Kane commented,

“There’s more than six ears, I would go with killing them, that would draw a bit of suspicion if over a dozen one eared women were walking around.” Kenneth said, looking at all the ears on the floor. “I wonder if we’ll find the rest of them in a box as well,” Kenneth added, again curling his lip in disgust.

“Why does he have so many?” Damon asked,

“He hasn’t found the right one. Maybe that’s why he hasn’t taken her, he hasn’t found the right match for her yet. Until he can make her perfect he won’t touch her.” Kane answered,

“Get Marco back in here, we need him to look up missing persons reports, and unsolved homicides involving missing right ears.” Kane ordered.

“Then we better get this cleaned up, he won’t step foot back in here with severed ears on the ground.” Kenneth informed them,

“Fuck that noise, I’m not touching that!” Damon backed away from the ears. “That’s people ears, looking at them is one thing, but I’m not touching them.” He added, staring wide eyed at Kenneth.

“It’s just a severed body part Damon, get over here and help me.” Kenneth hissed,

“It’s a decaying severed body part. Fresh body parts are different; they don’t smell like death.” Damon continued to protest.

“DAMON!” Kane bellowed, drawing Damon’s attention “Come help!” He ordered as he crouched down to help with the ears.

“Fuck! Johnny had the right idea bolting from the room” Damon grumbled as he crouched down to help pick the ears up.

Between the constant shuddering and the urge they were fighting to throw up it took a bit to clean them up.

“Make sure we got them all.” Kane said,

“Yeah, I think they’re all cleaned up,” Kenneth said,

“Missed one” Damon kicked it out from under the table towards Kenneth.

“Fanculo! Thank you for kicking that at me,” Kenneth growled,

“I didn’t want to touch it, it looks crunchy” Damon replied,

“What do you want done with them?” Kenneth asked,

“What do you mean what do you want done with them? Fucking burn them” Damon yelled. Kenneth just glared at Damon.

“If you knew anybody in the medical field we could have them examined, they would be able to tell us how old they are based on the rate of decay.” Kenneth said,

“Ok, that’s a good reason to hang onto them for a bit. James used to work at the morgue, or one of his brothers did, I’ll give him a call and have them meet us at the medical ward….after I wash my hands a couple dozen times first.” Damon said,

“I’ll have someone sanitize this office then get Marco back in here to do some digging.” Kane added,

“I’ll just hang on to these then” Kenneth said, holding the box of ears.

Dax wasn’t sure what she was doing or where she was going, she let Carter and Johnny escort her to the medical ward. Everything around her was a hazy blur, she just kept seeing the ears in the box, the only thing she could smell was decomposing flesh of the ears in the box. Her skin crawled, her body shook, and pain periodically shot across her back when she moved the wrong way too fast. If any one spoke to her the only thing she could say was there were so many or something incoherent about the smell of them. When the doctor saw Carter walking into the medical ward he immediately tensed up.

“No! No, no, no you get out.” He pointed towards the exit. Carter looked at him, shocked by why he was being kicked out already.

“But I didn’t do anything!” He said,

“Get out!” The doctor demanded,

“He’s with me!” Johnny said, grabbing a hold of Carter as he went to leave. “He’ll behave himself, there’s something wrong with Luna”

“What happened?” He asked ushering them into a room

“Lei ha aperto una scatola di orecchie! (She opened a box of ears!)” Marco answered as he followed them.

“A box of ears?” The doctor asked, Marco perked up at the fact the doctor understood what he said.

“Una scatola di orecchie delle persone, da persone in una scatola non su di loro o nel terreno. (A box of people’s ears, from people in a box not on them or in the ground.)” Marco explained, speaking faster and more animatedly. “Orecchie di persone mozzate in una scatola (Severed people ears in a box)”

“Ok, ok, slow down. I’m a little rusty. Luna opened a carton of severed people ears?” Marco nodded

“Scatola….box” Marco repeated

“Don’t say that” Johnny clutched his stomach and held his arm over his mouth as his skin paled.

“Ok. What happened to Luna?” The doctor asked,

“Lei aperto la scatola delle orecchie delle persone (She opened the box of people ears)” Marco answered, huffing, he just answered that question.

“Ok, she opened a box of ears, what happened after that?” The doctor asked. Johnny growled and clutched his stomach, the more the ears were brought up the sicker he felt.

“She smashed against me really hard. Alpha Kane will be so mad, I’m supposed to protect her” Carter asked, panicking. “You can fix her though right, you can fix her. You have to fix her.”

“Let me take a look!” The doctor looked at Carter, who looked at him confused, then it dawned on him what he was talking about.

“No, no, no, no, no, no one’s allowed to see her like that, without Alpha Kane. He won’t be happy if you see her like that, you have to find another way to fix her.” Carter’s eyes were wide as he stood in front of her, protecting her from the doctor.

“Carter, she needs medical attention” The doctor said,

“NO! Alpha Kane is not here.” Carter pushed the doctor away.

“Alright, alright Just let me take a quick look at her.” The doctor said, approaching cautiously. Carter thought about it for a minute, before he finally nodded. He watched the doctor closely to make sure he wasn’t going to do anything.

“You better get here, before Carter hits the doc again, or rips him to pieces.” Johnny said through the link.

Seconds later Kane walked in the room.

“What are you fucking superman?” Johnny asked, looking at him.

“You look a little green brother,” Kane said, looking back at Johnny.

“Le orecchie mozzate lo stanno facendo ammalare (The severed ears are making him sick,)” Marco announced.

“Shut the fuck up Marco!” Johnny snapped at him, holding back the bile.

“Take Marco back to the office and have him look up missing persons, and unsolved homicides.” Kane said, “Paying attention to missing ears,” Kane added quietly. Johnny just nodded and shoved Marco out the door.

“Vaffanculo! Posso sentirti, non devi spingermi. (Fuck off! I can hear you, you don’t have to push me.)” Marco stated. “Non sto mettendo piede in quella stanza, ci sono le orecchie della gente sul pavimento. (I’m not stepping into that room, there are people’s ears on the floor.)” he added, protesting.

“Keep talking Marco and you’ll end up on the floor” Johnny growled at him again.

“Con le orecchie! (With the ears!)” Marco looked wide eyed at him as panic started to set in.

“Carter!” Kane called, drawing his attention from the doctor. “You did good, you can wait outside now, I’m here” Carter nodded and left the room.

“She’s in shock, you need to keep her talking” The doctor informed him. He stepped out of the room to get a mild sedative to help calm her down.

“Baby!” Her eyes snapped in the direction she thought his voice came from, but she couldn’t focus on him, her face was pale and her breathing was shallow and rapid.

“It smelled so bad, there were so many” the words came out of her mouth, but were almost inaudible.

“Hey baby!” He spoke soft and low. “Tough day huh?”

“So many, there was….there were so many” she mumbled.

“I know. He’s a sick bastard and we’ll stop him” Kane brushed the hair from her eyes.

“They….they….smelled….so….bad” her voice was getting quieter, she seemed to be phasing out.

“Hey, hey look at me, keep your eyes on me, focus on my voice” Kane raised his voice a bit to get her to focus on him.

“When this is done, we’ll go somewhere, just you and me anywhere you want to go.” she didn’t seem to be hearing him, her hands would grab at her ears, trailing the scar over and over again.

“So many, so many in the box” when she did look up the fear he saw swirling around in her eyes almost broke him. Then her eyes went wide. Realization set in and she lost control. He wants to cut them off!

“No, no, no, no. He can’t take them, don’t let him take them. You can’t let him take them.” She covered her ears.

“No baby, he’s not going to take your ears, I won’t let him take your ears.” Kane was trying to keep her calm, but when she thought he was coming to take her ears she just lost it, she took a swing at him, deflecting he wrapped his arms around her from behind, she kicked and squirmed and begged him not to take her ears. The doctor returned, with a sedative and she tried to kick him, to get him away from her. She struggled and fought she wasn’t letting anyone cut off her ears

“I’m sorry baby!” Kane said, as he watched the doctor sedate her again. She felt the pinch to her arm and she fought against it, but her body began to feel the effects then her mind and she went limp in his arms. He held her close to him, breathing deep. He placed her in the bed, letting the doctor check her over making sure she didn’t rip any of her stitches open and then he left them alone. He sat in the chair beside her bed with his hand covering hers. He heard Damon and Kenneth in the hallway, he was on his way to the morgue and Damon told Carter to go with him.

Damon sat in the hallway after he sent Carter with Kenneth to the morgue. The look on her face when she saw the ears still fresh in his mind, he had never seen so much fear in his life, it gripped him and it still felt like it had a hold.

“Definitely keeps things interesting” Johnny said as he came around the corner.

“Where’s Marco?” Damon asked, looking up at him

“In the office combing through police reports” Johnny answered,

“You left him alone?” Damon looked at him,

“I told him under no circumstances was he to leave the room, unless it was to use the bathroom and then he was to go straight back to the office and talk to no one but me, or he’d find his ears in a box and not on his head.” Johnny declared. “How is she?”

“Don’t know! I’ve been sitting out here, needing a minute. Did you see the look on her face when she opened the box?” Damon asked. Johnny sat next to him and nodded.

“Never saw so much fear in my life.” Johnny replied,

“How much more does she have to go through Johnny? How much more does she have left in her?” Damon asked,

“I keep asking the same thing. Strongest little thing I’ve ever met.” Damon nodded, before he could say anymore they heard Marco running down the hall.

“JohnnyJohnnyJohnnyJohnnyJohnny” he was really excited about something.

“What’s he doing outta the office?” Damon asked,

“What are you doing here?” Johnny asked him,

“Bath….room” Marco replied,

“There’s a bathroom outside the office,” Johnny said,

“Sì, lo so!” Marco looked at him,

“Aren’t you supposed to be looking up police reports or something?” Damon asked, Marco covered his ears as he looked at Johnny to see if he could answer Damon, he didn’t want his ears in a box. Johnny gave him a nod.

“Sì, I am, I computer doing è magia boopy boops e guardare negli ultimi quattro anni di persone scomparse e omicidi irrisolti, in particolare relativi alle orecchie mancanti. (it’s magic boopy boops and combing over the last four years of missing persons and unsolved murders, specifically pertaining to missing ears.)” Marco answered, still with his hands over his ears.

“English Marco!” Damon said,

“Computer….do job” Marco huffed, looking at him. He was getting a little tired of being told to speak English.

“Why are you here in the medical ward?” Johnny asked, being more specific this time.

“I find, I find, I find” Marco pushed the book into Johnny’s face. “GuardaGuardaGuarda….LookLookLookLookLookLook”

Johnny pushed the book from his face to see what Marco was so excited about.

“What am I looking at?” He asked,

“Right….see?” Marco pointed at a paragraph for Johnny to read.

“What? What’s it say?” Damon asked,

“Lei non è umana, non può essere. (She not human, she can’t be.)” Marco replied,

“What are you talking about?” Damon asked,

“Se è umana, non può essere un’anima predestinata, ma è un’anima predestinata quindi non può essere umana. Lo dice il libro. (if she’s human, she can’t be a fated soul, but she’s a fated soul so she can’t be human. the book say so.)” Marco said matter of factly,

“English!” Damon repeated, Marco released a low growl as he huffed at him.

“Se è umana, non può essere un’anima predestinata, ma è un’anima predestinata quindi non può essere umana. Lo dice il libro. (if she’s human, she can’t be a fated soul, but she’s a fated soul so she can’t be human. the book say so.)” Marco repeated.

“That helps clear that up, thanks” Damon grumbled. Marco released another growl as he fought to find the words in English

“Luna….not….people” Marco said.

“Not people? What is he talking about, how can she not be people, what is she….an alien?” Damon looked at Marco,

“Può essere! Sì!” Marco’s eyes went wide.

“What is going on out here?” Kane stood in the doorway to her room looking at them all.

“Marco thinks your mate’s an alien” Damon replied, his eyes shot even wider as he shook his head and started backing away looking from Damon to Kane.

“NO! Non l’ho mai detto, l’hai fatto. Non l’ho detto! Non l’ho detto, ho detto forse! (NO! I never said, you did. I didn’t say it! I didn’t say it, I said maybe!)” He shook his head furiously at what Damon said.

“What?” Kane, arched his eyebrow and looked at Marco, he dropped his gaze to the floor still shaking his head.

“Non l’ho detto! Non l’ho detto! Non I’ho….said!” He repeated,

“What are you saying then?” Kane demanded, staring intently at Marco. His breath quickened, unsure of what he was going to say. Marco stood frozen in place.

“Luna….not….people. In….the libro” Marco pointed at the book that was now in Johnny’s hands.

“WHAT?” Kane raised his voice, causing Marco to flinch.

“He’s right, it’s right here.” Johnny showed Kane the paragraph.

“The human species is incapable of fulfilling the requirements of being a fated soul. Their natural souls are not strong enough to take on the challenges required of them. If a human does become a fated soul, they will be unable to survive the completion of the second trial, the fire will prove too intense and consume them from the inside upon ignition. It takes the strength of two entities sharing one soul to withstand the eternal fire burning within. The shifter species is the only species capable of doing so, the shared body and soul of the two entities makes it stronger. If a human does survive there is most definitely an underlying reason, they are not completely human.” Kane read.

Damon’s eyes went wide as he looked to the room then to Kane.

“If she’s not completely human then what is she? She’s not a wolf, we’d smell it” Johnny said,

“That is what we need to find out, Damon, find the doctor and have him test her. Johnny, take jumpy here and get back to the office, see if you can find some answers to explain this.” Kane commanded,

“Where are you going?” Johnny asked,

“The morgue!” He replied,

“Non è lì che si trovano le orecchie nella scatola? (Isn’t that where the ears in the box are?)” Marco asked, his top lip curling.

“Yes Marco, the ears in the box are there, and why you’re not invited” Kane replied walking away from them.

“Non avrei mai pensato che sarei stato felice di non essere invitato da qualche parte (Never thought I’d be happy to not be invited somewhere)” Marco blurted.

“You really need subtitles,” Damon said to him.

“20 bucks she’s a bear” Johnny said to Damon.

“We’d smell it if she was, 20 says she’s a wolf” Damon countered.

“Quello è un piccola orso, lei una gatta (That’s a little bear, she’s a cat)” Marco nodded his head.

“We’d definitely smell it if she was a cat. Come on Marco!” Johnny urged,

“Ok” Marco said as he ran off in the direction of the bathroom. Johnny just shook his head and Damon walked off in search of the doctor.

Kane walked into the morgue, the scent of death and decay immediately filling his nose. He hated the morgue, it brought back bad memories of seeing his parents on those tables, getting cleaned up for their cremation ceremony and saying his final goodbyes to them. Blinking the ghosts of the past away he moved over to where Kenneth and Carter were standing with the triplets.

“How is she?” Kenneth asked as soon as he saw Kane.

“I would rather not talk about her while we are standing here” Kane replied instead of answering.

“Yeah, that’s a little creepy,” Carter said,

“Thank you Carter!” Kane said looking at him,

“What do we know about the ears?” Kane asked,

“They’re 17 in total and in various stages of decomp, the oldest one is maybe 4 years old and that’s a rough estimate. A mix of male and female, all right ears and all cut off while they were still alive. Similar shaping but all slightly different at the same time. They were also shaped while they were still attached. This guys a sick fuck. This is a males ear, it was trimmed down and then shaped, then he cut it off.” One of the triplets was showing them one of the ears. Kane couldn’t help but shudder at the thought of that being done to him.

“That was my reaction as well,” Kenneth said,

“These clearly didn’t work, they look nothing like her ears, that one might be the closest.” Kane said, pointing at one of the ears.

“That’s also the most recent, I’d say maybe three weeks old, but again a rough guess.” The brother said. That would be about the time the photo of her in the loft was taken.

“Maybe that’s why he needed the photo” Carter guessed,

“Why did he keep them?” Kenneth asked,

“Ooo! Maybe they’re his trophies, or failed attempts, Luna told me she never throws out failed attempts, each one is a step towards success.” Carter offered,

“How did he do it?” Kane asked,

“It takes patience, you can’t trim an ear then cut it off, it would decompose too fast. Carter, sit down.” The brother moved to stand beside Carter who sat down unsure of what was about to happen.

“You have to cut it off first, right at the base closest to the head.” He pointed to where he would need to cut on Carter’s ear. “Because of how her ears are shaped, he’d have to start the cut here and here and go straight back into a point ending about here.” Carter was starting to pull away, he no longer liked this. When the brother moved away Carter jumped to his feet moving away from them rubbing his ear.

“They’ll never work though. Even if he gets one right, they’ll never be perfect and she’ll always be flawed in his eyes.” James said, stepping forward.

“What do you mean?” Kenneth asked,

“Carter, come back here,” James said, waving him back.

“No, I don’t want to be used for show and tell anymore. Use Kenneth.” He shook his head covering his ears, his skin was crawling already with what the other brother did to him.

“Carter, sit down and let James see your ears,” Kane said. Not wanting to disobey his Alpha, Carter heaved a sigh and sat down one more time. He was already pulling away and James hadn’t even touched him yet.

“See how the ears curl, that curl is what stops the ear from flopping over. No curl and the ear will do this.” James stood the freshest ear and the tip flopped .

“He’s been trimming the curl off so the ears won’t stay up, on top of that he’s not treating them, so over time they’ll decompose and he’ll have to go through the whole process over and over again as each one starts to decay” James moved away from Carter, who again was on his feet away from them, rubbing his ear and shuddering.

“They’d have to be alive when he did it, and he didn’t sedate them, they felt everything. You can tell by the cut marks in the ears.” James explained showing the jagged cuts in the ears. Again Kane felt a shudder rip through his body.

“How would he attach it to her?” Kenneth asked, none of them really wanted to know, but the question needed to be asked.

“He would have to take her ear off and then sew on the new one” James answered. Kenneth unconsciously touched his ear, as his own body shuddered at the thought of having a dead ear attached to his head.

“I think I’ve heard enough, destroy those,” Kane rolled his shoulders, turned on his heel and walked out of the morgue. The fuck is wrong with humans? Ky groaned in his head. That’s just sick! He’ll never do that to her! Maybe we shouldn’t let her leave the pack grounds! It is becoming a strong consideration! He wouldn’t be able to touch her if she stayed here! It’s keeping her here that’s the problem! She’s not safe out there! Why are you trying to convince me? So you can convince her! The only way to convince her is to tell her everything and that she doesn’t need to know! Ky couldn’t argue with that, considering he didn’t want to know.

Damon tracked the doctor down in his office, he looked frazzled and tired when he opened the door after Damon knocked.

“Sorry to bother you doc, but Alpha needs you to test her DNA.” Damon apologized.

“For what?” He asked, a little concerned.

“A shifter gene!” Damon replied,

“A shifter gene? Anyone in particular?” The doctor asked, stepping out of his office.

“Which ones can you test her for?” Damon asked, moving to the side.

“I have bear and cat DNA, but I would need a sample from a wolf. Living on pack territory I don’t exactly keep a sample of that on hand.” The doctor explained.

“You can use mine!” Damon offered.

They started moving down the hall towards the lab. He pulled a couple swabs from a drawer and they walked towards her room.

“You don’t need her blood?” Damon asked, looking at the swab.

“I’m not taking blood from her, she’s lost enough over the last little bit, a cheek swab will work. Your blood I will take though” the doctor said.

“Well I feel special!” Damon said, following him down the hall to her room.

They entered the room she was in and Damon got a good look at her in that bed.

“Do what you need to do doc?” Damon said as he watched as the doctor carefully opened her mouth and swabbed the inside of both her cheeks with two different swabs immediately sealing them in the tubes as he was done with them.

“That’s it?” Damon asked.

“Yup, that’s it” The doctor replied.

“Why can’t I get that done?” Damon asked. He wasn’t afraid of needles, but he wasn’t a fan either.

“You offered your blood,” the doctor replied.

Sitting in the lab waiting for the doctor to come back and draw his blood, he looked around. The fridges, the machines, the lab tables all cold and uninviting. He’d rather have been in the morgue with the box of ears than sitting here. The door opened and the doctor walked in with a few syringes.

“What’s all that for?” He asked, staring at them,

“I checked your file, you’re behind on a few vaccinations.” The doctor said,

“Are you serious? You want to take my blood and use me as a pin cushion?” Damon asked, still looking at the needles.

“Hold still, they won’t hurt” the doctor lifted his shirt sleeve, cleaned his shoulder and stuck him with the first one. “Three to go”

“Sadist!” Damon grumbled,

“Aren’t you happy you volunteered your blood? If you hadn’t you could have gone a little longer before I realized you were past due.” The doctor stuck him with another one.

“Me and my big mouth!” He growled a little when the third went in. The doctor cleaned his other shoulder and stuck him with the forth, a louder growl escaped him.

“Ow! What the fuck is that one?” Damon asked,

“Tetanus!” The doctor said matter of factly. “There, all up to date. Now give me your arm” Damon did as he was told the doctor cleaned the inside of his elbow, he pulled a sterile syringe from the drawer and a few test tubes. Finding the best vein he stuck the syringe in then pushed a test tube on the end. Damon watched it fill up with his blood, then watched him fill another one. He withdrew the needle and pressed a cotton ball against the puncture wound and taped it down. Next he watched the doctor set up a machine with the cotton swabs he took from her mouth, the blood from his arm and two other samples which he assumed were werebear and werecat DNA.

“A few drops, that was all you needed, then why did you take two vials?” Damon inquired looking down at his arm.

“Extra, just in case I have to run the sample again” The doctor explained.

“Right! How long is this going to take?” Damon asked,

“Should have results in a few days. If she is from a shifter species it would explain a few things. Like her glowing eyes and how she was in pain one day and popping up like a daisy the next.” The doctor said, setting the machine up and turning it on.

“But wouldn’t she know, wouldn’t we know? We would be able to smell it.” Damon said.

“Not necessarily, she was raised around humans, she wouldn’t know anything of the shifter world unless she was raised in it. That side of her could be dormant or suppressed.” The doctor supposed,

“It had to at least at some point make itself known to her.” Damon remarked.

“It probably did, but if it didn’t know what it was either, it might just think it’s a part of her” that got Damon thinking, he’s seen her talk to herself, in fact he’s seen her talk to herself like he talks to Titan.

“Like a voice in her head?” Damon suggested,

“Yeah, something like that, just a voice in her head” the doctor nodded as he watched the machine spin.

“What about the first shift? There’s no control over that, 16 and you shift.” Damon pushed his questioning.

“Maybe she was too young to shift or maybe she did and her mind blocked it out or put a stop to it thinking it was more abuse, or the abuse she sustained made her body too weak to shift. I’ll call when I get the results” The doctor answered,

“Thanks doc.”