Spend the Weekend with a Good Book!

2/12/2026

As they approached the next entrance, Lucas started in but Forge stopped him, gave him a shove, and motioned farther east. By the time they burst out of the water and hauled themselves to the next cement room, they were both gasping.

“Oh, crap,” Lucas exhaled and gulped in some deep breaths. He climbed out of the water, shaking his hands dry.

Forge straightened, looking around. “Yeah. Sorry. I got a feeling all of a sudden.” He dashed toward the closest room. “Blair!” He charged into the area, Lucas on his heels.

They stopped short just inside the door. It was darker in here, and Forge’s eyes needed a second to adjust. He pushed the goggles onto the top of his head and took in the sight spread before them. There were empty vials in wire racks stacked in one corner. Ripped and tattered clothes were piled in another corner. Next to that were two bodies; Forge could tell by the odor they were dead.

Lucas strode to the bodies, knelt, and checked them. He looked over his shoulder at Forge and shook his head. There were oxygen tanks and masks littering some open shelving along a wall. They could see another room through a partially opened door. Forge charged through and nearly fell over Blair.

Blair was naked, on his back, and barely conscious, his hands and feet twitching. Forge dropped beside him, brushed one hand through Blair’s hair, and lightly touched a half dozen small, round scorch marks. “What the—”

“We’ll figure it out later. Right now, we have to get him out. Use my suit.” Lucas grabbed Forge’s arm. “Now!”

Forge looked up, wanting to ask what Lucas meant about the suit, then saw for himself. Lucas peeled his wetsuit off and dropped it beside Blair. A man and woman stood in the doorway.

The man smirked, and the woman said in a low half growl, “You’ve got to be kidding. I’d heard stories about a werewolf who liked the stink of trash.”

Lucas and the two strangers growled and snarled at each other. In the blink of an eye, Forge was surrounded by three very pissed off werewolves. He wrapped Lucas’s suit around Blair as best he could and pulled the satchel around to dig out the flare gun.

The strangers charged, and Lucas met them head-on. Forge heard gnashing teeth and claws, tearing flesh followed by the smell of blood. He swiveled on his knees, took aim, and fired at the closest werewolf, missing Lucas by a hair.

The flare ripped into the female wolf’s chest. He didn’t know if it would kill her, but it did set her on fire. Forge fired his second flare. The male wolf was the one wounded. He had a long, jagged cut on his shoulder but was able to twist away, so was only grazed by the flare. It landed in a pile of debris, igniting it immediately.

Forge pulled his goggles down, shouldered both his and Lucas’s satchel, then slipped the mask over Blair’s face. He tucked the tank under one arm before scooping Blair up and holding him tightly. He moved as quickly as he could to the outer dock and turned. Lucas wasn’t far behind.

“Lucas! Get us out of here!”

In the next instant, Lucas crashed into them, wrapped both forelimbs around Forge and Blair, and plunged them into the murky waters of Lake Erie.