Artifice - Man x Man - Book Six

Chapter 40

(Guys. I'm so happy with this sketch!!! Nicolas as evaded me for so long, I finally got him to look the way I wanted him to <3 I didn't dare color it beyond this... enjoy it for what it is, a hurried sketch of my favorite boys <3 <3 <3 Please don't let it ruin your perception of these guys. This is just my doodle version of them!) 

"Delilah, maybe you should sit down." I offer her, pulling up a plush rolling chair which she collapses back into. The paparazzi outside knock rapidly on the door, desperate to get the story on the unfortunate state of the Senator. 

She's pale, taking in the scene with an amount of theatrics that seems entirely unreasonable, though I have to imagine this is how an average human might react to their loved one becoming an extinct creature. It wasn't a disease, it was a piece of history, and he was lucky enough to be recruited. I couldn't help but feel the slightest bit hopeful, a lycan horde could be pretty useful if it really came down to it and I had a sneaking suspicion that a fight might be inevitable in some capacity. 

"You have no history of lycans in your family? Where do you hail from?" Verando demands, gaining a confused look as the man searches him for meaning in his questions. 

"Hail?"

"Originate. Where is your family from?" His patience wears thin as the man struggles to understand our lingo, making me think about the woman earlier in the night who reminded him no one spoke as we did any longer; I suppose there was more of a language barrier than I had anticipated though I hadn't spoken to many people since my step back from the public eye.

I press my hand to Delilah to encourage her to stay put before beginning my approach. I don't need Soli to remind me why we work well together, there was a time for the hammer and time for a gentler approach and this was one of those. I take my position between them, flashing Senator Campbell a reassuring glance. 

"Answering the questions will help us best understand why this is happening." I attempt to urge him towards cooperation instead of panic. "You and Verando are friends, are you not?" 

"Europe? I suppose. I.. really don't know my lineage." He isn't fairing too much better than his wife. "Is there no fixing it? Will I become something... else?"

Verando clenches his jaw, glowering at the tile floor as he processes. "It's very strange that it would present so suddenly unless it was dormant. Rhea said that her wolf had 'died,' but we know that's not true as Marcus shifted eventually?" He's turned his attention to me, wanting my take on the situation. 

I'm not quite ready to share my hopes of an 'awakening', it's too early to judge as there's only one case, but I know from past experience that he would not share my enthusiasm.

"Well, maybe seeing you woke it up? As it did Helen, she just had to see Alpha, and it triggered her wolf."

"As in, this thing has been inside me all along?" Johnathan's voice gets softer, accepting his fate. Verando's expression lightens, a sigh leaving his lips as his shoulders begin to relax. It's not the Senator's fault this had happened or anyone's fault. We had come from a world where everything was a conspiracy; there was always an angle, and it was hard to imagine that this truly could have been a random occurrence. 

"I didn't change him if that's what you're thinking. I'd never do that." Verando responds to me shortly. 

"No, but.. you inspired something in Helen, Whitewind did say he wanted you to begin to change people, did he not? You haven't been doing that, so perhaps this is nature taking things into its own hands? Just a theory, at least." There's not much we can do here, surrounded by all these people and risking a leak of this information. As much as he looks disgusted by the very thought of nature bringing this on, it had happened and we knew from experience that there would be no reversing it.