Page 50 of My Girlfriend is a Werewolf
“He wouldn’t have found out until dinnertime when he got off work. I wish we could have found a way to warn him.” Mom ignored her tray and instead sat huddled.
“I don’t know how you did it,” Selene declared. “A whole month of this? I’d have been skin and bones, not to mention completely bonkers, by the time I escaped.”
“It wasn’t easy,” Athena admitted.
“Did it hurt much?” Selene asked, her tone more somber than usual. “I mean, whatever stuff they did while they had you.”
“Depended on the test. The needles and skin scrapings were easy to handle, but Rogers also kept doing stuff to see how I’d react. Like exposing me to hot and cold extremes. Intentionally bruising me to test my healing speed. He had me running on a treadmill like a hamster for hours on end.”
“Ugh. I wouldn’t last five minutes.” Selene, while slim, hated exercise. She preferred to simply eat right to maintain her body weight.
“Were you molested?” Mom’s stark question, one she’d shied from asking before.
“No, that’s the one thing he didn’t subject me to. Although he did harvest some of my eggs.” Bragged about how much they’d be worth once he proved her lycanthropy.
The lights went out abruptly, and Selene squeaked.
“It’s okay,” Athena soothed. “It’s our signal to go to sleep.”
“Sleep how? No mattress or even a blanket.” Athena could practically see Selene’s pout.
“Try. We’ll most likely have a long day tomorrow.”
A day of being treated like lab rats.
Like Selene, Athena struggled to rest. She blamed herself for the situation. Missed Derek. Worried about him. Fretted about Ares. Wanted to cry for her mom and sister. If only she’d tried harder to locate Rogers. Without him, perhaps they would have been safe.
She must have fallen asleep at some point since she had to blink bleary eyes as the lights suddenly illuminated, shining through her eyelids with stark brilliance.
A different guard, his expression just as blank as the last, brought them each a cardboard bowl of porridge, thick paste that she choked down. She needed to keep up her strength.
Selene complained. “No brown sugar or berries? What kind of torture is this?”
“Are the accommodations not to your liking?” Rogers’ sudden appearance at the bottom of the stairs had Athena tensing.
“This isn’t fit for a dog,” Selene declared, pointing to it.
“Would you prefer raw meat?”
“Ew, no. Although some bacon would be nice. Along with some eggs. Home fries, too, if you have them.”
“This is not a hotel,” Rogers barked.
“Obviously, or you’d have better amenities. Right now I rate you zero stars.” Selene kept poking Rogers.
“Mouthy little thing, aren’t you? Tell you what. You want better food, and other things to improve your stay, then you simply need to cooperate. Shift.”
Selene purposely ignored his request and pointed to the corner. “This plastic bucket you’ve left us won’t do at all. I demand a proper bathroom.”
“Change into your wolf,” Rogers snapped. “Show me your furry side and we’ll see about improving your situation.”
“Me, a wolf?” Selene giggled. “That’s the silliest thing I’ve ever heard. Have you been reading too much Stephenie Meyer? Next thing I know you’ll be accusing us of being sparkly vampires.”
Rogers turned from Selene to Athena. “I already know you’re going to refuse. But I wonder if you’ll still be stubborn if given the right incentive.”
“You’ve got nothing I want,” Athena spat.
“Don’t I?” He turned and walked to Mom’s cage. She was awake, but quiet, her knees drawn to her chest. “The blood work processed overnight. You don’t have the same anomaly as your daughters, meaning you’re not a lycanthrope and thus expendable.”