Mack 'n' Me: The Wolves of Alpha 9 by C.M. Simpson (top ebook reader txt) 📕

out of the cavern in a man-made, or ant-made, channel, and had to flow somewhere. For an instant, I had a vision of a gigantic vat or holding tank, and didn’t want to find out if the vision was accurate. If I ended up in something like that, I was sunk.

I paddled, feeling fatigue weigh down on my arms and legs, and knowing I had to get out of the canal. It took me a little bit to realize the flow was actually getting faster, and felt like it was going deeper into the canyon. That couldn’t be good, particularly with an emergency teleport out of the question.

“You got it, yet?” Mack’s voice cut through my thoughts, interrupting me as I tried to scan the closest ‘bank’.

Damned implants.

I struggled to keep my head above the honey, looking for somewhere I could grab the edge of the canal and hang on while I hauled myself out.

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Call me later. I’m trying not to drown,” and I shut the comms down.

It was a fast-acting trigger, Tens had given me for emergencies. Pretty sure I wasn’t meant to be using it against Mack, but whatever, right? I really needed to concentrate.

Up ahead of me there was a sort of dip in the far edge. If I could come alongside that, I might have half a chance of getting out of the goo. I started stroking towards it, pulling against the current as the honey towed me along. It really was getting faster, but no less sticky. I even thought it was getting cooler.

How was it getting cooler?

Cooler was just temperature, but it was the sticky and the speed that were my main problems. The first, because it made it hard to move, and the second because, if I didn’t haul ass, I was going to miss my low point. I started swimming directly for the bank, knowing I’d be carried to the point I needed, regardless of the angle. I just had to reach that point before I passed it.

It was easier said than done. I was about an arm’s length off where I wanted to be when something grabbed my leg—which was about the same time, Tens broke through the programming in my head, and Mack started talking.

“Where are you?”

I took a breath to answer, and the grip on my leg became a drag, and it was all I could do not to shout. I held that breath, as something pulled me under, tilting my head to try and see what had me. It was a gold-blurred shadow, not quite human, and very strong, which is exactly what was needed against the current.

My lungs started burning, and I clapped a hand over my nose and mouth, trying to see where we were going as Mack demanded an answer. Tens was shouting, too, but I couldn’t make out the words.

Blood roared in my ears as whoever was dragging me, pulled us into a side drain, and over to a door. They let go of my leg, probably figuring I wasn’t going to try and go anywhere, when the only door in sight was the one they were opening.

They figured right, and I flipped forward in the honey so I could grab onto their belt before the sluggish current dragged me away. At least they didn’t object. They even grabbed the collar of my combat suit, and pulled me through the door as soon as it opened. I really wished Mack and Tens would shut the Hell up; I couldn’t focus on them and this helpful stranger at the same time.

It was no surprise to find myself in another airlock, but at least I could figure out what this one was for, even before the honey drained away through the mesh-grilled floor. My lungs were near to bursting when I was finally able to take a long, gasping breath of air, and think about looking around.

The bugs hadn’t stripped the night-vision goggles off my head when they dropped me in the vat, so my eyes are clear, but all I could see was a honey-colored blur. I pulled the goggles from head, and looked at my rescuer—and my heart almost stopped.

“Thank...” My gratitude stopped, too, and fear numbed my tongue.

Well for fuck’s sake! Of all the shitty days I could possibly have, this one had turned out to be one of shittiest.

“What’s going on, Cutter?”

The wolf standing in hybrid form in front of me, didn’t look any better for being coated in honey. The fur on its head was slicked down, and it pulled a set of goggles away from its eyes, before starting to peel itself out of the dive-suit it was wearing. It caught me staring, and curled its lip, and I remembered to break eye contact.

Of course, that made me look down, just as it bent and pulled its legs and feet clear of the suit, which wasn’t so bad until it straightened up. I blushed, turning quickly so I was facing a little bit away, and it grinned, running clawed fingers over a keypad set in the wall.

I waited for the door to open, but it didn’t. Instead, a small drawer slid out of the wall and it dropped its suit inside. When the drawer closed again, it looked over at me, and I backed up a step. I might be coated in honey, and sticky as hell, but there was no way I was ditching my clothes.

The wolf’s jaw dropped in a very wolfish smirk, and it tapped another combination into the wall, and then stood clear. I was still wondering what it was waiting for, when we were hit by a wall of warm, and slightly sudsy water.

The honey melted under the onslaught, and I figured it was partly due to water temperature and mostly due to chemicals, but it was a relief to feel it slide off my skin and flow through the grill beneath us. My boots were soaked, and my feet felt like they were