Chapter 5 5

When Lily got home, she grabbed a bottle of Jack Daniels and threw herself on the couch pushing her thoughts about the fight she just had with her father away. Andrew had embarrassed her in front of everyone, dragging her out of the house like that. Lily opened the bottle and took a long drink. There was nothing that a good bottle of Jack Daniels couldn't fix; she thought as she took another drink and she was in need of some serious JD therapy. "Damn werewolves! Who needs them," she grumbled loudly and took yet another drink.

The next morning Lily woke to feel as if someone had jackhammered her head the whole night. She let out a long slow groan as she forced herself up off the couch. She wobbled to the bathroom and opened the medicine cabinet to grab her strongest pain killer. Once she had swallowed the two large white pills, she brushed her teeth, hoping to rid her mouth of its horrible ashtray taste.

Lily surveyed her slightly pale face in the mirror. She had an enormous blackish-purple bruise where the thief of the lab, or Fluffy as she had nicknamed him, had hit her in the temple and another lighter bruise on her cheek where he'd slapped her. She had to admit the bruises, mixed in with the bloodshot eyes and the huge bags under them did make her look kind of pathetic.

"But I am not pathetic," she told her reflection. She stripped off the clothing from the previous day and got into the shower, hoping the hot water would help relieve her pounding head. She let the warm water wash over her until it had run cold. The tension in her body had slowly eased, and her head felt a little better. Lily shut off the water with a loud sigh and wrapped herself in a towel. She winced as her phone started ringing, sending daggers of pain shooting through her temple. She walked into her bedroom and laid down on her bed, reaching for the phone on the nightstand.

"This is Lily," she answered with little enthusiasm.

"Poor girl, you sound awful. I hope you are not suffering too badly from that hangover," A mechanical sounding voice stated. What the hell? She thought with her face scrunched in confusion.

"Who is this and why do you give a flying flip about my hangover?" she asked wondering how the hell he even knew she had a hangover.

The mechanical voice laughed, "I'm afraid I'm not going to tell you who I am...yet, and I really don't give...a flying flip was it?" He stated and she suddenly felt nervous, wondering who this person was. "I have to say I am impressed Lily. You are braver than I'd figure a human to be. I was sure the incident at the lab would have put you off from helping that sad excuse of an alpha," he continued. His voice was calm and smooth until he mentioned the alpha. Then Lily could pick up the aggravated tone of anger in his voice.

"Well, I don't take kindly to being pushed around, especially when you destroyed the lab, jerk!" She snapped, feeling furious again. She suddenly realized that this man wasn't the same man that had broken into the lab. If were then he wouldn't have wasted his time masking his voice, this man was someone else entirely.

"I had to get my pills back Lily," The caller replied, as if what he said was the most logical thing in the world.

"You should never have given them to those poor kids in the first place," Lily argued and she could hear him laugh quietly. The sound sent shivers down her spine. "You could have done it after hours as well, dumb ass, or at least without destroying the equipment!" She shot, not able to stop what was coming out of her mouth.

"Oh Lily, you are full of surprises, but you ought to be careful what you say. You already are on the outs with your father, best not be on the outs with me. Unlike the alpha, I can have you killed before you even have the chance to scream for help." He told her. The cold amusement in his voice made her extremely nervous and she swallowed hard. How did this man know so much about her?

"How do you know if I am on the outs with him or not?" she asked, hoping she sounded more confident than she felt.

"Everyone in the pack knows a certain werewolf who can't keep her mouth shut." The caller answered and Lily cringed, knowing he was referring to Lacy; she was a horrible sucker for gossip.

"I am not afraid of you so if you're going to do something then come on and try it," she snapped back, then cursed herself furious. Why she could never keep her mouth shut!

"Don't tempt me, my dear, don't tempt me," he answered with a tone that almost sounded like a tease. "Lily, I have a proposition for you," he told her and she scrunched her brow, wondering what he could possibly want from her.

"I thought you were only another stupid human and wannabe werewolf, but I have to say these last couple of days I see you are so much more...interesting. You know, an artist always likes to hear what others think of his work. Since you are the forensic chemist after all, I would love to hear your opinion on my work. I realize you still have tests you want to perform so I will give you until tomorrow to finish," he told her.

"As much as I would love to talk about your work, I'm afraid I can't play along since you so quickly took away the pills I had in hand," she said with a bittersweet voice.

"Now Lily, do you really think I would have gotten this far if I wasn't more astute than that? I know you were smart enough not to store all the pills in one place so you can, and will continue," he told her pointedly.

"No, I don't want to play this sick game with you, Dr. Frankenstein," she told him, hanging up. She stared at the silent phone with a bad taste in her mouth. She jumped slightly as the phone began to ring again. She debated whether to pick it up or not. She sighed and finally picked it up.

"Now that was rude Lily," he stated with irritation.

"I don't really care," she shot back.

"Well then, that's bad news for your friend Lacy," he replied with cool, cold calm.

Lily rolled her eyes with a sarcastic nod, "You can't do anything to her; she's the alpha's daughter and always has some enforcer around her!"

"Lily, I honestly don't care whose daughter she is, I am not afraid of the alpha. If I want to use her as my little play thing, I can, and no one would be able to stop me. If you don't play along I will use her for the next phase of my experiment, but she isn't James and I don't think she would survive the process," he explained keeping his calm tone.

Lily balled her fist in anger, why was this freak dragging her into this game a cat and mouse? "Fine, you win...this round," she relented, not willing to risk the life of her friend. She swore she could feel him gloating.

"Now that's a good girl. All you have to do is continue with what you were doing already. I will call tomorrow evening to see what you have learned," he stated and Lily wanted nothing more than to strangle him.

"Why do you even care what I think?" She asked bitterly, feeling like she was missing pieces in this whole jigsaw puzzle.

"Don't flatter yourself my dear. It's more curiosity than actually caring, you are showing promising signs. If you please me, then I will reward you if not...well let's not make that an option shall we. Now get yourself cleaned up and to work, the clock is ticking!" He finished and hung up.

Tossing the phone down Lily started to wonder if she had begun to wade into waters too deep for her, not that she would ever admit it to anyone. After what happened with Andrew yesterday she wasn't about to go crawling to him, telling him that he was probably right. "No," she told herself getting up, "I can handle this. I don't need anyone's help!" She dressed quickly and ate a meager breakfast, as she was too nervous to eat more then went to the University to do just what Dr. Frankenstein wanted her to do.

The ringing of a cell phone caused Lily to slowly lift her head up from the keyboard where she'd fallen asleep. She rubbed her keyboard imprinted face, hoping to wake herself up some. She had spent the last two days examining the pills she had hidden at her home. She had learned quite a bit, using her own blood as a sample to test the effects of the drug. She didn't have James blood to compare it with, which would have given better results.

The truth was she didn't even ask him because she avoided any and all contact with the werewolves. Lily felt angry at her father and embarrassed that not only did her family, the doctor, and James overhear their fight but thanks to Lacy's big mouth, the whole pack knew of it. Her phone continued to vibrate along the table and she answered it, croaking out a rough greeting.

"I'm glad to see you're working hard Lily, so please tell me what you have learned?" the mechanical voice asked. She sighed, hating the feeling of being manipulated.

"Well, the drug is a stimulant, that's for sure," she started and he made a sound of approval. "However, it would take me weeks to figure out all the details that this substance entitles, if not longer. You have created one of the most complex drugs I have seen in my entire life. I am guessing the pills are your attempt to create a more passive manner of doing what you did to James Lacrosse, but from what I can tell it doesn't work. The tests I have done on my own blood shows that the pills formula is too volatile. It not only changes the genetic code but ends up destroying it; at least that is how it appears. I am only beginning to study pathology, so I can really only guess on that part," she explained and she heard him clapping.

"Bravo Lily, bravo. I don't know how I didn't see it earlier," he told her, making her feel worse than she already felt. "You are brave, attractive and intelligent! I believe you are perfect for the next phase of my plan."

"Thanks, but no thanks," Lily replied hastily, feeling her stomach clenched violently at his words.

"I am afraid this isn't negotiable Lily," he replied and she felt really sick.

"What exactly is this phase Dr. Frankenstein?" she asked, trying to keep the fear out of her voice.

"Quite simple, Lily, in nature there must always be a counterpart. Night and day, summer and winter...male and female," he explained then hung up. He couldn't possibly mean that he wanted to make her... like, James? But that was impossible; James had always been a werewolf and was then changed into...well, whatever he was now. Lily was human and unless she was with a werewolf, there was no way she could become a lycanthrope. She swallowed with difficulty as she placed her cell back to her pocket. As a human, she would never survive what he'd done to James. Hell, he said even Lacy wouldn't survive!

"Maybe he's just bluffing," she told herself as she got up from the large desk. "I can handle this; I don't need anyone's help. He is just bluffing," she continued to tell herself, walking out of the small laboratory. Lily looked around nervously and held onto her jacket tightly, looking frantically around the darkened parking lot, fearing the masked werewolf would be waiting in the shadows for her.

The next morning, just as she was about to make her morning coffee, someone knocked on the door. She tightened her ponytail and opened the door. "May I help you?" she asked the unfamiliar man suspiciously before her.

He shot her a bright smile. "The alpha sent me, I am Greg," he told her and held out his hand. A huge sense of relief washed over her. Lily had hardly slept last night; she jumped at every little sound and had terrible nightmares about monstrous werewolves. She feigned a frown as she took his hand, she didn't want anyone to see her worry.

"Well you can turn right around and go where you came from Greg; I don't need a babysitter," she told him nicely but firmly, hoping he would repeat that "alpha's orders" speech that Tony used on her often.

"I am not here to babysit you, Lily, seriously! Yes, the alpha sent me but not to babysit. He wants to keep you safe that's all," Greg insisted.

"Well, I don't need protecting Greg," she replied. Why couldn't she just shut up and let him in?

His head dropped to his chest and he looked up at her. "Can you please just let me hang out for a few hours? If I go back now the alpha will have my hide," he told her with a pleading look that she had to admit was really cute on him.

"Fine, you can stay here awhile. I don't want you to have problems because of me but only a few hours and that's it," she told him, seeing an open opportunity to accept help without looking like she really needed it. He gave her another charming smile that Lily found very contagious. She moved aside so he could come in the house and shut the door. "Do you want some coffee Greg?" she asked, entering the kitchen.

"Yes, please and thank you very much," he told her politely and followed her into the kitchen. He helped her make the coffee and she couldn't remove the smile on her face. At least Andrew had the good sense to send someone cute, fun, courteous, and did she mention cute?

"So what did you do to get punished by babysitting duty?" she asked as they sat down at the little glass table. Greg laughed full heartedly.

"I don't think sitting here with an attractive woman drinking coffee is punishment," he told her with a flirty glint in his dark brown eyes.

"Wow, aren't you the smooth talker? I guess Andrew has more tact than I gave him credit for," Lily flirted back at him.

Her phone rang in the living room so she excused herself and went to answer it. "This is Lily," she answered. Someone immediately started chattering off quickly in a language she didn't know. She attempted to say slowly and loudly they had the wrong number, but they continued to chatter off mindlessly so she just decided to hang up and hope that they got the point. She returned back to the kitchen greeted by Greg's bright smile.

"Something important?" he asked and she shook her head.

"No, someone got the wrong number," she told him, drinking down a mouthful of her coffee. She scrunched her nose slightly; she really had to switch brands, this one tasted funny.

Lily and Greg spent the morning chatting about this and that. She loved how easy it was to talk to him. He seemed somewhat familiar, but she had no idea where from. She figured she had probably seen him, or a glimpse of him, at one point since he was a member of the pack. She was surprised when she found herself telling him about her whole sad and neglected childhood.

"So, your biological parents spent all their time partying, doping up, and drinking until one day they just picked up and moved, taking everything but you? That must have been hard," he told her and she nodded slowly.

Lily could have kissed him right then and there when he didn't get the sad pathetic look of sympathy and pity on his face that everyone else got when she told them. It was one of the reasons she had refused to talk about it until now. "Thanks for not giving me the whole you poor thing speech," she said finally and he shot her a bright smile.

"No thanks needed, I know what it's like to be the subject of the pity party thing," Greg told her and she eyed him skeptically. Once more he laughed loudly and Lily relaxed, enjoying the sound.

"I had it a little rough as a kid too," he admitted as his face turned into a dark hard expression. "I was quite the disappointment to my parents, mostly my father. I wasn't the son they had expected while my mother tried to change me into her idea of a better son. My father preferred the insults and the beatings."

"Well shame on them," Lily said and he looked up at her surprised. "I've only known you for a little while, but it's enough to see you're a great guy, Greg," She told him and he brightened immediately. She took another drink of her coffee.

"You're not like the other werewolves," she told him and he didn't seem to be pleased. "That's a good thing Greg; most of the others either insult me because they think I am something of a groupie or like Andrew and Tony, who order me around like I am some idiot child. Not to mention the cocky ones like James Lacrosse!" She snapped.

"You don't like the famous James Lacrosse?" he asked with a wide smile and she shook her head.

"I think he is an egotistical jerk! Thanks to him I had to deal with my biological parents for a year without the safe haven of the Roberts's home. Andrew told me I couldn't come over when they fostered him that year," she admitted with bitterness.

Greg cringed. "Now that really sucks."

"Totally sucks, I don't think James has gotten any more humble with age," she continued sourly.

"I am glad to finally meet someone who sees him for what he really is," Greg told her positively, beaming with happiness.

"Now, see that is what I am talking about! You're such a pleasure to have around," Lily told him eagerly.

"Just remember you said that when you really get to know me," he told as a playful warning.

"Well, if the alpha is going to send you every time he wants to babysit me then I don't mind," she replied. He got an odd expression on his face, but it was gone before she could attempt to decipher it.

Someone else knocked on her door and she got up with a little hesitation. She was enjoying Greg's company. "I will be right back," she told him, taking another drink of her coffee and walking towards the front door.

She frowned slightly when she opened it to find none other than James Lacrosse standing there. "What's up?" she asked, moving aside to let him in.