Rise Of The Moonwalker Pack

Chapter 32- We're All Mad Up Here

Torin's pov

Something about the atmosphere in the dining hall makes my stomach dance around, threatening to toss back the meal I ate. Even the air is heavy and carries a lingering odor of testosterone and sweaty bodies.

The poor pup was sitting at a table alone, staring at his plate of food but not touching it. His fear practically radiates around his body, adding to the unbearable smell in this confined space.

I didn't sign up for kidnapping pups, but since he was here, we may as well use this to our advantage. At least, that's what Malcomb thinks. Personally, I have a bad feeling about it. All his prior attempts to get his hands on Jace have failed. This one was not going to be any different. That's what my gut feeling is telling me. I keep my opinion to myself, though. Malcomb would just get that skeptical look on his face. The one that says he thinks I'm trying to thwart him.

Malcombs paranoia has hit an all-time high the past few days. I may have been with him for the last ten years, working on this project, but it doesn't stop him from being suspicious of me and everyone around him. It's hard to believe he has so many followers, considering his plan was straight up crazy. Offering power and status was like a carrot dangling in front of the hungry ones. They wanted to be at the top of this new pack we were trying to create, that's why they didn't see his plan for what it was.

Having a higher status in a pack wasn't my driving motive here. Although I'm sure Malcomb will name me Beta, I have no desire to rule over them. What I wanted was simple. The freedom to experiment with different formulas on the wolf gene. I had several ideas, but no test subjects to experiment with. Malcomb assured me I'd get anything I needed when the time came.

With enough time, him and I could create an army that no other pack could stand against. While he was busy trying to figure out how to attack the wolf side of us, I was trying to figure out a way to enhance it. One of my main goals was to create a resistance to wolfsbane and silver. If I could figure out how to eliminate our weakness, that would be a huge step in the right direction.

So far, all I've done is figure out how the different amounts either make us sick, extremely ill, or dead. While this is a step in the right direction, it wasn't my end game. The problem is that I need multiple test subjects due to the likelihood of them dying during this process. Yes, it was sad, but necessary. One can not achieve greatness without sacrifice. And since we don't have that many people here in which to experiment with, my work has been put on hold.

When we were at Ambersy pack, I made leaps and bounds in my research. Alpha Jason allowed us to do whatever we pleased and use whichever pack member suited us. But here, we don't have access to as many wolves. If Alpha Zane would just contact us and deliver what was promised, I could resume my work. All I needed was a dozen people, most of them younger, to finish up. I learned early on that we are at our strongest for resisting pathogens, bacteria, and life-threatening amounts of posioning within the first two years of shifting.

The average age for going through your first shift is fourteen to sixteen years old. Getting my hands on this many younger ones should have been within our reach when Red Dawn pack went down. However, Alpha Fenris somehow grew a set of balls and refused to give in to our demands. So now, we were back at square one.

Sort of.

Red Dawn has now moved in with Bloodmoon, and Malcomb plans to attack them tonight when Jace is busy trying to rescue his pup. If all goes according to plan, we should be in good shape come tomorrow morning.