Chapter Fifty Nine

*Ivan*


Leaving Ariya was so hard. I didn’t know if I would be back in the morning. I didn’t know what was going to happen. I had a thousand things running through my head when I left. But as soon as I left the room and was a little bit down the hallway my memories started to disappear. I knew I was leaving the building for the night. To go home to get sleep. I passed by a couple of the staff that were there at night. They were at entrances and exits but that was it. They weren’t authorized to go into any of the interrogation rooms. Their job was simply that. To guard entrances and exits.
I came to the exit for the building.
“Leaving for the night, sir?” The guard asked me.
“Yes.” I grunted.
I didn’t talk to anyone here. I didn’t have personal conversations with anyone. No one knew details about me. Boss didn’t ask many personal questions. The only time he asked anything was if it was important to him to know. Otherwise he let you have your privacy. He was a private person too. He was in charge and I had worked for him for the last 14 years at least. I wasn’t even sure what his ability was. I was sure he had one. But he kept it a secret.
As I exited the building, I sniffed the air. I made a habit of doing that when I left and when I entered. I knew most of the scents of the people here. When I left the building I was trying to see if anyone was nearby. I had learned to do it discreetly and I doubt if anyone could tell I sniffed the air when I walked outside. There were 5 people nearby when I left the building.
I started walking toward my home and 3 of the scents were following. They smelt familiar but I couldn’t place them at first. It wasn’t until I got a little further down the road that I finally started to remember. My memories seemed to be trapped in a box in the back of my mind but they began resurfacing like someone had opened the box.
I continued heading home. I knew who the 3 scents were now and just continued on with the plan. As I was walking my mind began racing. Ari. I thought about what would happen if I didn’t make it back in the morning. My body began to shiver and a growl forced its way out. My breathing picked up as the anger settled in.
“Breathe, Ivan.”
I stayed standing in place trying to calm down. I knew Keo was behind me. I could hear the worry in his voice. I tried to focus but the thought wouldn’t leave my mind. What would Boss do to Ari if I wasn’t there the next morning? My body shivered aggressively and I growled louder. I needed to shift.
“No one is around, Ivan. We should go into the woods so you can shift. I don’t know if you’ll make it all the way there. We’re not far though.” Keo said, putting his hand on my shoulder.
I clenched my hands into fists. I continued thinking of what Boss would do to Ari. I would kill him if he put a hand on her. I would kill him. I growled, grinding my teeth. I looked at Keo.
“I know. I’m worried about her too. As soon as you shift we’ll know. Whether she likes it or not, if you can’t shift back I’ll break in there with you to get her out.” Keo growled, baring his fangs.
Hearing him tell me that made me relax a little. It wasn’t much but it was enough for us to get to the woods. Caleb and Drake showed up soon after. Caleb shifted back to his human form, his eyes glowing yellow. I looked at all of them angrily. I wasn’t mad at them. But I was angry. I could feel that they were too. We were all mad at the situation. We didn’t want to leave Ari there alone. My mind went back to what Boss would do and my body began shivering aggressively again.
“Is it ok if I run with you?” Caleb asked me.
“Only if you can keep up.” I growled, my eyes glowing Ariya’s blue.
“You’re on.” Caleb smirked.
“Ivan, before you shift let me fix your lock.” Drake said, coming up to me.
“Hurry. I can’t wait much longer.” I told him.
“I have you.” Drake said, placing his hand on my head.
The fix on the lock wasn’t as aggressive as the last time. Last time they practically jumped me. This time Drake was able to fix it quickly and without knocking me out by accident. Since I had some of my memories it was easier. After Drake finished I kicked my shoes off. I pulled my shirt over my head. I handed my shirt to Keo. For some reason when we shifted our shirt and shoes were the only things that didn’t make the shift. But our pants did. Because screw logic. I was thankful though. At least I didn’t end up naked after shifting back. I was also thankful the pants didn’t stay on our wolves because that would have been super weird. But it was like when Hulk transformed. Dude only kept his pants.
“Are we all set?” I asked gruffly.
“Yeah. We’ll be out here watching. When you finish running, come back and we’ll move to the next stage.” Keo said.
“Remember, we won’t be able to communicate with you. Caleb won’t be able to either. So if you can’t shift back…” Drake started to say.
“I’m going to be able to shift back. I’m not leaving her there alone with Boss.” I interrupted, growling angrily.
My body violently shook. I let go of my resistance to the shift. I needed to shift. My body was on fire. I wanted to rip Boss’s throat out for what he’d already done to Ari. I felt my canines come out more as I growled. Keo and Drake jumped back out of the way. Caleb moved out of the way as well. My eyes glowed blue and I felt my body expand. I flailed my arms as they shifted to paws and before I knew it I was on all fours. I howled, feeling the reverberation throughout my body. Caleb growled on my right and I saw his body shiver as he shifted. Caleb looked at me in his wolf form and bowed his head down slightly. I took off going for a run. Caleb followed. He was pretty fast, but it might have just been because I hadn’t shifted in so long. My mind was still racing thinking of Ari. I had to get back to her.
I ran as fast as my legs would carry me and for as long as they would take me. When I finally slowed down, I knew hours had passed. It felt good to run. Caleb had kept up the entire time. I was pretty impressed with him but I’d probably never tell him that. Not anytime soon. Once I was back to my full speed and endurance, if he was still able to keep up then I would tell him. I sniffed the air trying to see if I could catch Drake or Keo’s scent. They weren’t too far off from where we were. I headed in the direction of them with Caleb following right behind me.
“I was starting to worry that you’d run until dawn.” Keo laughed.
“Do you want to try shifting back now or wait until we get to your place?” Drake asked.
I shook my body. I wanted to stay like this for a bit longer. We had other things to test before I shifted back too. I didn’t mind shifting back and forth but I was worried about getting stuck.
“Let’s do the test while no one is around. Caleb, head out about half a mile and then shift back. Keo go with him, you’re not part of the test but I’d rather none of us be alone. Just in case, Ivan, I'm going to alter the lock slightly for a second.” Drake said.
I stepped closer to Drake as Keo and Caleb took off. Drake was going to change the lock so my memories would disappear with Caleb around. It was the only way we figured we could test my memories staying when I was a wolf but without kidnapping someone. I thought it was a good plan but it was only a necessary plan if I was being followed or they needed to “kidnap” me.
Drake finished placing the lock and about 5 minutes later Caleb and Keo came back. My memories started to disappear but stopped. My head began hurting and I yelped in pain. Caleb shifted and ran away from me as fast as he could. The pain subsided and I relaxed a bit.
“I’m going to try something else. I have an idea. You’ll need to shift back first though.” Drake told me.
My body shivered as I tried to shift back, but it didn’t work. I was stuck.