Free 4: Jack - In The Pack by Carys Weldon Page B

set my eye on a goal, and figured out what path I needed to take to get to it. I’m halfway there.
     
     
    So, suffice it to say...I survived it all.
     
     
    And I found myself sitting with Hood, in civilized clothes, in human form, chatting about the weather. I had worked hard over the space of, I think, months--to convince him that I was ‘with the program’.
     
     
    I guess I finally passed the test. Or, at least, was up to a new level.
     
     
    Here’s a disconcerting thing...I could go to sleep in one place, and wake up somewhere else--with days passed. They didn’t hide that time loss from me. All I can guess is that they’d done a test on me that they didn’t want me to remember.
     
     
    Multiple tests.
     
     
    The more they did, the more time I lost, the more I plotted revenge--committed names to memory, listened to conversations around me. I could not believe the depth of their operations. The scope of their reach.
     
     
    Hood said, “You know why we did this. Right?”
     
     
    “What?” I played stupid for just a second, then smiled. “You mean...made my life a living hell?”
     
     
    He didn’t even blink. He shrugged as if it didn’t matter at all. C’est la vie. That’s life as he knew it. It was all hell to him.
     
     
    But then, Hood’s a lone wolf. Oh, he plays at ‘pack’, but the man needs to settle down, find a match that works for him. Maybe that’s the problem. With all the genetic info in front of him, he can’t bring himself to settle for anything less than perfection. I feel sorry for him.
     
     
    I knew, at that moment, that I could never settle for what he had. Oh, he had all the money in the world. Or, at least, enough to burn. And plenty of females within reach. And with his arsenal of medications, and the facility he had at hand, he could fuck his brains out.
     
     
    Except, from what I heard out of the mouths of bitches, he was stingy with his personal favors. Had had them all once, then discarded them. Let me restate that. He took them all often in the habitat, but it wasn’t ‘in his bed’. Only Giselle had held his interest there for very long. And she’d disappeared.
     
     
    They got downright bitchy when I asked about it. I don’t really care about her. Just natural curiosity. And, I think she’s a key to something, a lock I haven’t found yet. Hell, I’m not even sure what they’re locking up.
     
     
    Well, I know some of what they’re locking up.
     
     
    So, Hood says to me, “Hell would have been letting you out to work through this on your own.”
     
     
    “So you say.”
     
     
    “You don’t seem to care if you ever leave here. I can’t help but wonder if it’s an act.”
     
     
    I shrugged. Leaning back, nonchalantly--I hope, I said, “I figure my family thinks I’m dead by now. I’m sure my lawyer saw to those details, good man that he is.”
     
     
    Hood tipped his head. I knew I wasn’t off on that mark.
     
     
    “So, here I have food, females, a roof over my head.”
     
     
    I have to admit, the feel of the outdoors that they’d simulated had more and more appeal to me. I’d always been an outdoors type of guy. And I think that’s part of why I was selected for the program. Funny, huh? I was a natural choice...to be unnatural.
     
     
    I asked, “What more can a man want? I don’t have to worry about death or taxes any more.” I grinned. “Death would be a favor--something I don’t fear any more. And taxes? I’m off the hook on that.”
     
     
    He chuckled. “I freed you from both worries.”
     
     
    I offered him a mock bow. “And you sent me room service...numerous times.”
     
     
    “Gestures of friendship, that’s all.”
     
     
    “How can I ever replay the overtures you’ve made to make my life better?” I was joking, of course.
     
     
    But Hood’s eyes grew serious. I felt, more than saw, a change in him. An alertness. He asked, “You think you would like to try?”
     
     
    I leaned forward,