Silas felt incredibly uneasy as he ran directly behind Marquise's human form and two guard wolves. He wasn't sure why the man was rushing to Verander's territory so haphazardly. There was no way he couldn't smell the silver in the air, meaning that they were clearly rushing past traps while heading straight into others. It was a miracle that they hadn't triggered any yet. 

The wolves he had on either side of him seemed uncomfortable, too, but Marquise's stern expression hadn't changed at all since he'd met them at the back door of his pack house, needing to help in some way instead of staying at his pack house waiting. 

He was still honestly curious about the other alpha. The man only showed up when he had official business to deal with, and from what he'd heard, he never shifted to his wolf form. No one dared question that bit of information, though, because it was extraordinarily clear that he definitely did have a wolf beneath his human skin. For some reason, however, he chose to keep it inside. 

The man suddenly came to a skidding halt in the thick leaf litter within the forest, his body tense and alert. Silas ran a few more meters ahead before slowing to a stop and tilting his ears this way and that, trying to pick up any abnormal sounds. 

The strange thing was... there was absolutely no sound to be heard. No birds, no rodents, nothing. 

"Come out," Marquise said as he stared straight ahead, clearly seeing something that Silas couldn't. 

They waited in silence for exactly one minute before a tall, slender man stepped out from behind a massive oak tree. He was impeccably dressed in a pair of white slacks, dark red shirt, and tailored long coat. A top hat sat perched upon his head and a silver pendant hung upon his neck. 

"Jerik," Marquise stated solemnly, his previously unbreakable indifference suddenly fracturing. 

Silas looked between the two before taking a hesitant step backwards. It wasn't that he didn't know who the man was. Almost anyone in London would recognize their own mayor, but what was the man's relationship with Marquise? Why was he standing out in the middle of the woods, as if he had been waiting for them...

"Alpha Marquise," the man said as he nodded respectfully.

Something is wrong. What is going on?

"I was hoping that you weren't the one behind the disappearances," Marquise said, leaving his sentence slightly open, possibly wishing that the man would somehow agree that he wasn't. 

It never happened. 

Instead, the man slowly meandered right up to Marquise, as if the person before him, while maybe a fraction of an inch shorter, wasn't the most powerful werewolf in London. 

"So much stress in those pretty, dark eyes," Jarek said as he reached up, clearly intent on actually patting Marquise's head, but unsurprisingly, Marquise took a step backwards, putting himself out of range of the gesture. 

The other man didn't seem bothered by his retreat in the least, and simply chuckled as he lowered his arm, then clasped his hands behind his back with a small smile. 

"We came to an agreement before I signed the papers for the resettlement program, did we not, alpha Marquise?" Jerik said as he slowly began walking a circle around the other man. 

Marquise gave out a quiet growl in response, but didn't deny what Jerik said, making Silas lick his muzzle nervously. An agreement was logical when working on such a large, important project, but there had been one before the original? 

There are two agreements in place instead of just the signed documents we were given?

"That agreement was between you and I. It did not involve any of my wolves, and it especially did not involve any wolves from the packs I've recruited or the more wild ones beyond our borders," Marquise stated sternly, his voice returning to its stoic, rough tenure. 

Jerik stopped in front of him again and shrugged one shoulder. 

"The deal was for a wolf to take part in important research. Said wolf had no stated name, nor did it say that only one would be used if the first subject was no longer able to participate," the man said, meeting Marquise's eyes without an ounce of hesitation or fear. 

He was definitely human, but it was obvious that he didn't fear Marquise in the least. He also smelled like silver, beyond the scent that just the simple pendant around his neck would give off. 

He literally smells like silver, himself. 

It was a wonder that he hadn't smelled him earlier, since there were so many silver traps hidden around them. His human scent, which was already minimal, was very well covered. 

"I have already proved that the research was not sustainable in our many meetings. The benefits were incredible, but the damage it caused..." Marquise said, his voice cracking near the end, as if he were in immeasurable pain. 

Is this why he was always busy with meetings when not dealing with his own pack? 

His focus had evidently broken as he remembered something terrible, because he jumped and fumbled backwards several steps when Jerik reached forward and pressed a hand to the side of his face, having taken him by surprise. 

"I understand that I hurt you, but that pain has saved so many lives. How could I not keep the program going, even if it hurt a few wolves?" Jerik said with a barely-there bit of remorse in his voice. 

"We were going to release them before the damage got as far as it did with you, so why have you been going against me so much on this? If you hadn't backed out of the study completely, and instead found us another wolf to use to continue our work, we wouldn't have had to hire hunters and trappers to catch the specimens we needed!" 

Marquise's body had grown more and more tense as the other man's voice rose higher and higher. Neither was likely to back down, but they also couldn't hurt each other, most likely. Jerik smelled like he'd literally bathed in silver, and Marquise was an incomparably-strong alpha werewolf. A human could do nothing to him without an impressive arsenal of silver weapons, and Jerik was clearly not carrying any such thing. 

"Your research might help humans, but it tears us apart! I will not let anymore wolves rot at your hands!" Marquise said as his fingers began to sprout inch-long claws.

Silas felt his hackles rise just from the extreme stress Marquise was exuding, but he wasn't sure what the other man wanted him to do. As angry as Marquise seemed to be getting, he still didn't seem ready to attack the human before him. 

His eyes are getting watery...

Silas shifted from paw to paw, growing more and more uneasy about the situation. 

"You were our first subject! Mistakes were bound to happen. We have perfected the dosage to blood-draw ratio and the rotting side effect has been dramatically reduced!" Jerik yelled, his own frustration growing at Marquise's refusal to agree with his decision to continue the project they had evidently started together. 

Wait a moment. They are talking about rot, but drawing blood from werewolves won't cause us to rot. Even Sebastian feeds from Ruoka quite often, but there is not a single issue with him. 

Something wasn't adding up. 

What is he talking about, alpha Marquise? Silas finally asked, needing to know what in the world was going on. 

He was missing a wolf from his own pack, so if there was a possibility they were somehow still alive, he wanted to rescue them as soon as possible. If Jerik was the ringleader causing the disappearances, then they shouldn't be simply standing around chatting with him. 

Marquise spared him a tense, sad glance before returning his attention to the man before him. 

It is complicated. 

That was abundantly obvious, but he was also an alpha and had a pack to look after. He needed to know what the hell was going on. 

Alpha Marquise, I need answers. 

Marquise flexed his clawed fingers as his gaze narrowed on Jerik. His wolf flashed behind his eyes, making a rare appearance as a deep growl rumbled from his chest. 

Then open your eyes... Marquise replied as his body wavered and jet-black fur began to sprout from his arms and along his back. 

The transformation tore his clothing apart as if it were paper, but that was no surprise when Silas saw the insanely-large beast that was clawing its way out of the man's bleeding skin. 

Normally a shift wasn't painful, nor did it really hurt either side of the person. Marquise's wolf, however, was ferocious as it tore his human body apart to finally free itself from its cage of flesh. 

By the time it was finally free, it stood  nearly as tall as Jerik and was panting heavily, blood dripping from its open mouth. 

While its size was immeasurable, even for an alpha wolf, that wasn't what made Silas speechless and, honestly, a little terrified. His wolf tucked its tail and inched its way backwards until it was hunched closely against a tree a good distance away. 

How is he still alive? How is it possible?

His brain couldn't put together what his eyes were seeing. The massive wolf was clearly still alive, but it definitely shouldn't have been! 

That's when he realized something. 

He never shifts in front of anyone. It's not because he can't, but who wouldn't run if they saw such a thing? He keeps it hidden to keep from scaring everyone.

As if it had heard his thoughts, Marquise's wolf turned its massive head toward him. Silas immediately dropped lower into the leaf litter and looked away from the beast's intense stare. 

He wasn't even sure if the man's wolf could even see him all that well, since one of its eyes was silver instead of black. They also seemed quite damaged and blurry. One didn't even have an eyelid and when he'd turned to look at him, it didn't move where it sat in a bony, bare socket. It almost looked like the fur and flesh around that eye had been rotted away...

As the beast returned its attention to the now-silent man in front of it, Silas chanced another glance, but regretted it immediately as his stomach turned at the sight.  

It wasn't just around the wolf's right eye that had rotted. Several of its ribs were visible along its side, and its right front paw was mostly just tendons and bone, somehow still keeping itself together by some miracle. 

As he carefully snuck more and more looks as the wolf and Jerik simply stared at each other in tense silence, Silas realized what they had been talking about. 

Jerik did that to you. 

His mind took a few more moments to realize exactly how he could have done such a thing, though. The answer he came up with made him nearly throw up what he'd eaten earlier. 

Werewolf blood is known for healing... but it's too strong for humans to use. Perhaps if it were diluted, though, it could work. There was only one thing that could truly cause such damage to a werewolf, though, and it would have to be applied in small doses or it would kill us outright... 

The giant wolf turned its head slightly back toward him as it let out a rumbling growl that echoed around the disturbingly-quiet area, its sound harsh and partially hissing, as if some of the flesh beneath the thick fur covering its neck had rotted enough to allow air to slip through. 

Werewolf blood can be diluted enough to be used by humans. It can save them from devastating diseases and terrible injuries... but the diluting agent will rot the wolf from the inside out. 

Silas felt his heart nearly stop in his chest as Marquise spoke into his thoughts. He quickly pressed his nose into the leaf litter, feeling the need to hide, even though his human half knew that just burying his nose wouldn't do anything. He didn't need anymore information. He understood. Marquise had agreed to allow himself to be injected with liquid silver in return for allowing his pack, and several others, to participate in a resettlement program. 

He'd sacrificed his wolf to make sure that others had a chance to integrate into society instead of being hunted down and murdered like monsters. 

(Edited)