CHARLIE
Bishop didn't come back till after Rosalyn had left and I was almost asleep. He quietly entered and closed the door softly behind him. I had left the bathroom light on and the door open so that the room wasn't completely dark. He walked, with light steps, to the closet. "I'm not asleep." He jumped a little, spinning towards me with his hand on his chest. "Damn Charlie!"

I couldn't help but chuckle at him. "I'm sorry." I was still lying on the bed. I had on one of his shirts. Not tied this time. Rosalyn had given me a few clothes that I could wear. She explained that humans had kept many things going. Textile mills which produced the cloth to make clothing. The pack had a windmill and a wheelhouse on their land that produced enough to sustain electricity and running water. I had learned a lot today. About the epidemic that had swept through the human population. The wars that had been fought. How territories were divided. It was a lot to take in all at once. I didn't realize that the world was so large outside of the lab. That's why I had stayed awake to wait for my mate. He needed to know about the lab. I know he had wanted to discuss it with his higher ranking wolves present but I needed to tell him alone. He could fill them in later.

Taking a deep breathe, I prepared myself.
"I need to tell you everything now, in private, before I share anything with anyone." I was very calm and very serious. I may be naive in the ways of the outside world. But I knew the lab, the doctors, security. I was 24 years old. Having lived my whole life in that lab...I had so much to tell. Bishop slowly removed his shirt. I gulped. Lyra and I had been talking. She had shared sexual encounters from my maternal family line. This whole mate business was going to be a slippery slope. But it was very much a slope I was going to descend. Small slides down at a time seemed the best way to handle it. I shook my head lightly and looked away, a slight burn rising to my cheeks. I touched my heated face lightly. I couldn't help a little smile. I was blushing. His light chuckle deepened my blush but oddly enough made me annoyed. He knew the affect he had on me. My slight enjoyment with my first blush was instantly replaced with a deep dissatisfaction for the condition. I cleared my throat and looked him in his eyes. Those deep brown eyes that made my lower muscles clench. "Doctor Gregory Korbin." I paused for a moment. The disgust I had for him coloring my words.
"There are over 300 people that eat, sleep and live at the lab. Including those like me." The whole story spilled from me. Bishop did not interrupt. He asked questions and I would pause long enough to answer. An hour passed. I told him of the experiments. The doctors and scientists as they poked and prodded and killed indiscriminately. All in the name of science. From what I had seen of humanity I should feel nothing but hate and anger. Oddly enough, it was the contrary. They were scared and dying off as a species. Of course they wanted to survive. I really couldn't fault humans for their want to survive.
"What about the ones other than your small pack?" Bishop asked when I paused.
"We weren't all werewolves. Werebears, I think vampires were the scent of the ones that smelled of death and sweetness." I stumbled on a thought, what were they feeding the vampires? Readjusting my train of thought back to the topic at hand, "there were others but I have no clue to what they were." Now this part I hesitated to tell. I had kept so much of myself private from all others to keep them and myself safe it was almost like a wall I had to break down to share this part of myself. Something happened that I wasn't expecting as I took that wall in my mind down. My mind suddenly cleared. Things I had been hiding, even from myself, spilled free. I felt things. My soul rippled with the feeling of freedom. I was looking right at Bishop. I was still sitting on the bed. He was still several feet away from me. His arms crossed and his eyebrows scrunched up as he regarded my form. Then there was a flash of light and a rush of power filled my limbs an seemed to pour from inside of my body. It wasn't painful. The lightness in my chest was breathtaking. I heard Bishop calling my name. When his large, warm hands wrapped around my arms the power pouring from me wrapped around him. The floor was trembling. The door to the bedroom hit the wall as Beta Thomas rushed in, readiness radiating for his human form and his wolf looking through his eyes. Then, just as suddenly, the darkness over took me and I slipped into a blissful, velvety blackness that whispered to me. I had great things to do.