📎A/N. I can't believe we are really here! It's release day!!

Congratulations to @keke10000 for winning Competition 1 for the dedication of the first Chapter of Evolution.

I would like to thank you all so very much for all your support. Without you dear reader I would not have been able to not only complete Masked, but be now starting the third story in the series. I hope you enjoy the journey and this book is dedicated to all of you.

With all my love...

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Murphy inhaled and breathed in his surroundings. The air was thick with a mixture of lead, paint thinners and gasoline; interlaced with the impending deluge of rain—and something else he couldn't put his finger on. Careful to remain quiet in case his quarry was nearby, he proceeded with stealth towards the large structure. Every movement he made was precise and calculated as his eyes scanned the vicinity not missing a thing; hearing alert and vigilant for what he couldn't see. His booted footsteps made no sound as he drew closer to his destination.

Decades training with his pack, and his more recent involvement with the F.B.I. had made him wary of any situation in which he didn't have control. This was one of those situations. The area was too exposed and put him at a disadvantage.

Murphy's muscles tensed when the distinctive sharp crack of lightning flashed and lit up the abandoned building. The last remnants of the sun had given up and lain dormant well below the horizon. The full moon hung low and only a slither could be seen behind the heavy rain-clouds as night settled in. His acute hearing strained to pick up any noise or movement that didn't belong. He was eager to get this assignment over with and go home to Boston.

Murphy halted mid-stride. Home? Since when did I start thinking Boston home?

The moment you got over yourself and realised wherever she is—is home.

Murphy rolled his eyes. His wolf had been smug since they had left Kaitlyn's apartment, three days ago. Despite this, he had to agree; he hadn't experienced this level of contentment or joy in years. Much to his surprise, he'd felt that way long before he'd admitted his feeling for her...even to himself.

Kaitlyn was the future he thought he'd been denied when Elijah had viciously murdered June, his mate, four decades ago. With Kaitlyn's help, he had tracked down the werewolf and made him pay for his crimes. June's soul could now rest in peace; and his now belonged to a feisty F.B.I Agent who never ceased to amaze him.

The scurrying of a small field mouse as it ducked for cover from the random drops of rain caught his attention, and he watched its path as it hid beneath a fallen plank of wood. The random beads of water thudded loudly as they hit the dirt. There was no wind or other noise to drown out their contact with the earth. The minute vibrations were eerie against the backdrop of the impending storm and the isolated location.

A grey haze rested over the area and only further illustrated just how desolate this outlying part of town was. In its day, the factory had been the main source of income for those drawn to the small town near Chadron, Nebraska. But that was a generation ago, and since the 1990's, it had lain abandoned. With each passing year, its ability to weather the change of seasons diminished and it now looked ghostly and alone.

The building, a shell of its former glory still retained its structure — barely. Broken glass lay on the ground where local teenagers took it upon themselves to take pot-shots at the windows and removed whatever privacy the old building had. Layers of graffiti caked the walls and had faded with time.

Another crack of lightning touched the ground nearby, and Murphy gazed up as thunder rolled across the sky in an angry rumble. The promised storm only further added to his already bad mood. This was the fifth location he had been to today and he felt like he was chasing ghosts—elusive ones at that.

There was no doubt something was stalking the back-blocks of these small Nebraska towns. The question was—what?

His mission had been to verify the sighting and report back.

After spending the morning in the local diner, either listening to the conversations or talking to the locals, it only further solidified the confirmation that someone or something was killing their livestock; and that something was what human nightmares were made of.

At least that's what Hank, the local drunk had informed him. More than happy to provide information to anyone who supplied him with his friends Jack, Jim or John. It didn't matter which, any whisky would do.

Hank, after drowning half a bottle of the amber liquid, had confirmed what Murphy already knew.

At first, he had dismissed the sightings as their fanciful imaginations. In his experience, humans tended to overreact. However, after the third town, and similar descriptions, he knew they had seen something. Their accounts, while not exact, were too alike to dismiss outright. What had concerned him was that he had no idea what the 'it' he was searching for.

Another crack of lightning flashed across the sky, and a blur caught Murphy's attention. His muscles coiled ready to defend himself, and he spun around to discover empty space. Frustrated, he inhaled again. The myriad of scents from the old factory dampened his ability to be able to separate the elements.

After scouring the outside of the front building and finding nothing, he slowly made his way towards the entrance. Padlocks, which once stopped unwanted intruders, lay broken on the dirt. The air again cracked with the electricity from the magnificent lighting as it snaked across the sky and showed once again the power of mother nature. He followed its path, and his eyes landed on the heavy dark clouds that would shortly let go of the much-needed rain.

In addition to his intelligence gathering on whatever creature stalked this part of the country, he had spent the better half of the past three days listening to locals complain about the drought and speculating on whether the latest seeding would work this time.

From the unnatural way in which the clouds hung low to the ground, he suspected that this time they would be granted their wish.

Not finding anything other than debris and rusted machinery within the wall of the building, and overwhelmed with the putrid scent of the paint chemicals that had leached its way into the floor boards, Murphy headed out the way he had come.

The moment he stepped outside he drew in two deep breaths. While the surrounding air was tainted, it was nothing like the suffocating stench inside.

He had just rounded the side of the building when he detected the panicked and rapid beat of hooves as the nearby cattle scattered in different directions. Murphy crouched into attack position and moved into high alert, something had spooked them. This was confirmed a moment later when a low pained and drawn out moan, he recognised as belonging to a calf, cut through the dull thuds and abruptly ceased its strained cry for help.

Not stopping to think, he raced around to the back of the factory and stopped short. An ice cold chill ran up and down his spine as his mind struggled to reconcile the creature that stood in the middle of the pasture with everything he knew of nature.

"Damnú air!" he cursed in his native Gaelic.

There were no words to describe the thing that was at this moment letting out an unnatural guttural noise that defied logic.

What the hell is it?

Murphy glanced down at the crumpled form at the creature's feet and recoiled when he recognised the outline of a baby calf spasming violently as the final remnants of life ebbed from his broken body. A moment later it lay still, its throat ripped and torn as blood flowed and pooled around its head in the short grass.

The creature, which Murphy could only describe as half man, half animal threw back his head, and another eerie howl escaped its elongated jaws towards the overcast and tempest heavens above. A moment later, it bent down to feast on the fresh kill. The action savage and primal.

At first, Murphy was sure it was a figment of his imagination. Fear ripped through every nerve ending when denial was pushed out of the way by acceptance. The misshapen creature, whatever it was, was covered from head to toe with thick, coarse hair.

It's ribcage, instead of the standard trunk size and shape expected, was oversized and protruding abnormally towards the front in the upper chest area. From where Murphy was standing, he was unable to make out any form of a neck. The head seemed to be formed straight out of the top of the shoulders.

He peered closer and realised it's head, which was just an extension of its massive torso, was half-human and half— Murphy inhaled sharply. Wolf. The distorted face was a combination of the two forms. High atop his narrowed head was the pointed ears of a canine, not that of a human.

How is this possible?

Murphy took stock of the rest of the creature.

The abomination's hand, slender with defined narrow boney fingers, was covered in thick hair and extended into talons where he expected the fingertips to be. Further down and he took in the sturdy legs and feet.

"Bollocks!"

As with the creatures' hand, his legs were just as defined, and his feet was more animal-like than human.

The creature ceased its rabid gorge of the calf and looked towards Murphy just as a bolt of lightning licked at the ground and sent small shock waves around them. Murphy locked eyes with the creature only to discover a very human pair staring back at him. The eyes were framed by a high leathery forehead which was supported by an extended and deformed jaw and nasal area.

Not wolf. Not man. The creature was caught somewhere in between.

It let out a snarl, and blood mixed with saliva dripped from its powerful jaw. Thin lips curled back to expose the sharpened incisors that had cut through and torn the calf's flesh with very little effort.

The hairs on its body bristled and the creature suddenly appeared larger and more formidable. It's ears which, until now, had been barely visible were erect and rigid.

There was no sane creature behind those very human eyes. In fact, the unhinged and frenzied look it gave Murphy, made him rethink his options.

With no frame of reference, he had no way of understanding the creature's strength or ability. He would have no choice but wait for it to attack him before he made a move. This may give him enough time to develop a strategy on how to defeat the creature. From its abnormal size and obvious brawn, if the dead bovine was anything to go by, there was no doubt he would be a formidable adversary.

The creature stepped over the dead carcas and clenched its fists as it once again snarled at what it clearly considered an intruder.

Murphy held his ground and crouched ready to defend himself. His natural tendency to catch his attacker off guard was quelled as he studied the creature's clumsy movements. At first, it didn't appear to move as fast as he expected but then broke into a fast uncoordinated gait as it barrelled towards him.

As the creature ran, its arms flailed at his side rather than used as leverage to propel itself forward. Murphy let out a breath.

Perhaps this won't be so difficult, he thought.

As the creature came closer, Murphy readied himself. It was too late to transform. He would need to deal with the hybrid aberration in his human form.

He was caught unaware when a moment later the creature reached out and knocked him with such force that he found himself flying into a large steel barrel.

"What the hell?"

Murphy recovered quickly and sprang to his feet. He had underestimated the speed of the monster. While his legs were ungainly, his arms were another matter. With the extended reach and unbelievable agility, he hadn't been prepared for the powerful backhand that he had just been dealt.

Before it could gain momentum, Murphy raced towards the creature at full speed. Placing as much force as possible into his upper body, he plunged shoulder first into the creature, and they tumbled backwards, breaking the wooden fence that separated the cattle pasture from the factory.

A guttural sound ripped from hybrid as it attempted to rise.

Murphy, more athletic than his opponent, rolled over and reached for one of the broken posts. In an instant, he was up and swung the makeshift weapon across the creatures back.

It collapsed back to the ground and was winded. Murphy, seeing his advantage, raised the wood to take another swing. This was all the time the creature needed, and it rolled onto its back and used its more flexible arms to take a swipe at Murphy.

Murphy successfully dodged the first swing but wasn't prepared for the second one which followed in quick succession. A moment later he found himself hitting the side of the building with such force, it was now his turn to have the wind knocked out of him.

"You've pissed me off now," he said through gritted teeth as the creature shrieked and again began to bound towards his position.

At the last moment, Murphy sprung up from the ground where he had landed and darted behind the creature. Using its existing momentum, he propelled it into the side of the wall. The concrete cracked under the incredible force.

An instant later Murphy watched in horror as the downed creature rose from the ground unscathed.

Murphy glanced between the fissure and the creature. That's not possible.

Now enraged, the creature swiped at Murphy. Seeing the movement far too late, he managed to dodge the main reach of its arm but wasn't fast enough to escape the sharp talons that cut into his arm like butter.

Murphy ignored the searing pain and glanced around for a weapon as the heavens finally opened up and the rain began to pelt down in a thick torrent. Another bolt of lightning flashed, and he spotted a crowbar a short way off. Murphy scooped it up and swung around to take another run at the creature.

As he got closer, he readied himself and prepared to lunge the makeshift weapon into the creature's chest. Without knowing how, Murphy found himself once again, smashed against the concrete wall. Dazed, he brought his hand up to the back of his head. When he pulled it away, he was dismayed to see his hand caked in blood as it ran off his hand with the force from the unyielding rain.

The intensity of the lightning and rain both seemed to increase in fervour as thunder boomed across the night sky.

"You have to have a weakness," Murphy muttered more to himself than the creature. "I just need to find it."

Taking advantage of the creature's ungainly command of its legs, as compared to the direct contrast of its arms, Murphy again propelled himself towards the beast, and at the last moment kicked out in a roundhouse and made contact with the back of its legs.

He was relieved when it toppled to the ground in an uncoordinated heap.

Murphy picked up the abandoned crowbar and brought it down on the creature's head before it had a chance to get up. In his haste to deliver the second blow, he failed to notice the creatures hand reach out from under its fallen body. A moment later, Murphy found himself looking up at the sky with a steel vice like grip around his leg.

As if Murphy was nothing more than an inconsequential irritant, it tossed Murphy and the crowbar across the yard and into the fence.

As he landed, Murphy felt a sharp pain in his leg and looked down to realise a length of barbed wire had embedded and wound itself into his leg.

The creature roared once again. It was now difficult to separate it from the angry storm.

Now fully enraged it rushed toward Murphy, and before he could unwind himself from the barbed wire, he was being lifted and tossed back towards the factory. As his body's momentum strained under the pressure of the force, the barbs tore through his leg, ripping skin and flesh as it reluctantly let him go.

This time, once Murphy landed, it took him much longer than expected to clear his head. Whether it was from the head injury, the pain in his arm which had now spread through to his chest, or the minced leg he wasn't sure. However, one thing he was sure of was that he couldn't defeat it on his own. He needed to retreat and bring back reinforcements.

Murphy glanced around as he stood and scanned the immediate area once again for some sort of weapon to give him time to get away. While he still had speed over the creature, he needed to take advantage of that fact.

As his eyes darted around, more than once, his vision blurred and his mind struggled to concentrate on the task at hand.

"Fuck," he cursed as he shook his head as if that would clear the haze.

Murphy looked over his shoulder to determine just how close the creature was. He needed to make sure he was out of arm's length. Once again, the monster raised it head to the sky and let out a bloodthirsty howl as he beat his arms against his powerful chest.

As the rain continued to pour, the creature lowered its head and locked eyes with Murphy. Prepared for the worst, he reached for the nearest steel barrel and swung it over his head, ready to throw it at the crazed monster.

The creature took a half dozen steps and faltered. With a low growl, it shook its head from side to side and once again rose its elongated face to the sky and howled. No sooner had it taken two more steps, it again faltered and a pained roar erupted from the depths of his chest.

Murphy found himself looking directly into the creature's eyes as it glared at him and continued to bare its yellowed fangs as spittle flew from his mouth. Without moving forward, it took another swipe in Murphy's direction but, being too far away was pointless.

The rain, by now, had only intensified—if that was possible—and Murphy was unable to distinguish the tortured noise that seemed to come from the creature and the deluge.

A moment later the creature turned and headed back into the pasture. Murphy watched with surprise as it ran towards the grove of trees over the small hill and disappeared into the night.

Murphy threw the barrel away and slumped to the ground, unable to hold himself up any longer. The searing pain that had started in his arm and spread to his chest was now running rampant throughout the rest of his body. He clutched his arm where the creature had cut into him and glanced down to inspect the damage. Instead of the expected crimson blood, he was stunned to discover a green substance oozing from the opening. Slathered on top of this was a small white foam that bubbled to the surface and then burst: only to be replaced by more a moment later.

With as much strength as he could muster, Murphy crawled back into the safety of the building; each movement ripped through his body, and the pain became all consuming.

I need to warn Daniel and the others.

While this creature wasn't a werewolf, it had all the markings of someone tampering with nature; and that could only mean one thing. Elise had finally reemerged with a new threat to them.

With his good arm, Murphy reached into his pocket to retrieve his phone.

"Bollocks," he cursed as he fumbled and dropped the cell.

Crippling pain shot through his body, and he could feel the impending darkness demand another victim. Not willing to give up, he steeled himself to finish this one last task before he could no longer hold on.

The moment he pushed the call button, his body convulsed and shook uncontrollably. His entire being burned as if he was in the center of an erupting volcano. No longer able to endure the effort of his tentative hold on consciousness, he only just managed to utter, his voice gruff and strained, "Elise and that madman is behind this. They've made some sort of hybrid Wolf-man... It's poison... Don't get too close-" before he dropped the phone to the ground.

His last thoughts, as he succumbed to the darkness, was of Kaitlyn.

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📎A/N. So what did you think? Is this creature one of Elise's new toys?

And what a storm Nebraska was having... wasn't all that lightning crazy ;-)

For those of you who have not yet read Buried, you may want to have a quick read before the next chapter is posted. While is it not required, it might allow you to understand who some of the characters are.

Don't forget to vote and let me know what you thought of the 1st Chapter.

Take care.

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