Parker begged off from attending the pack barbecue once she found out about the teenagers' deaths in San Francisco. After a quick shower, she headed back to the barracks to finish setting up. Every hour they did not have answers was another hour closer to the next needless death.

Night had well and truly fallen when she heard a child's giggle, followed by a man's deep baritone. The door opened, and Daniel strode in, followed by a young girl holding a plate of food.

She could hardly miss who the child was, considering Mandy was a full head taller than most her age, and the spitting image of her mother. Her heart skipped a beat as she laid eyes on the jagged scars across the girl's neck and face. More were hidden underneath her t-shirt and jeans.

Mandy's face exploded into a thousand-watt grin, and she thrust the plate into Daniel's hands. "Parker!" She broke into a run, closed the distance, and threw her arms around Parker.

Parker laughed as she embraced the young girl. "It's nice to finally meet you, Mandy. Your mom tells me you've been using those oil paints I sent. I would love to see some of your artwork while I'm here."

Mandy let out a squeal and tightened her grip. "I made one just for you."

Daniel placed the plate on a desk, and stood at attention with his hands behind his back. "Mandy wanted to come and say hello." He nodded toward the barbecued steak and coleslaw. "She was also a little concerned that you hadn't eaten."

From his stiff tone, she couldn't help but feel that both the food and the child were a peace offering.

Her throat tightened, and the back of her eyes prickled. She was well aware what it took for him to bring Mandy to her and appreciated the gesture. "Thank you, Daniel."

She turned to Mandy and smiled. "How about you sit next to me, and we can chat while I eat?"

By the time Daniel informed Mandy he needed to get her home, both she and Daniel had managed polite conversation without throwing barbs.

"Can I show you my paintings tomorrow?" Mandy said.

Parker, unsure of how to answer, looked toward Daniel for guidance.

He rustled Mandy's hair. "As long as it's okay with Parker and your mom, I'm sure we can arrange it."

Mandy let out another happy squeal and threw her hands around Daniel's leg.

The loving bond between the young girl and her uncle tugged at Parker's heart.

Daniel bent down and picked her up. "It's way past your bedtime, and your mother is already going to be angry with me for keeping you up so late. We'd better go." He turned to Parker. "Providing things go to plan, the first set from your list, will be here tomorrow. If you find Jessica in the morning, she'll introduce you to our pack doctor."

Parker stood and placed her hands in the back pockets of her jeans. "Hopefully, I'll have another set of names for you before they get here."

Mandy blew a raspberry on Daniel's cheek, and he half-heartedly growled at her. Mandy giggled, and he glanced back at Parker. "If you do, pass the list on to Simon. I'm heading to San Francisco with the team. We need to contain and limit the damage from the latest deaths." He carried his niece to the exit.

"Night Parker," Mandy said.

She stared at the closed door with her brows knitted together. The loving uncle she had just witnessed was a far cry from the volatile alpha she had come to expect. What had happened to warrant the drastic change?

She turned back to her computer, knowing she wasn't about to get an answer from thin air. She had hours of work ahead of her before she could rest.

The sun was well and truly up by the time Parker awoke the next morning. She yawned. Three hours of sleep was not enough, but she had made progress.

By the time she headed down the valley, her mind was in overdrive. Hopefully, Zeke and Jay had made sense of the instructions she left them, and had made a head start on the lesser known banks. Unless they found the money trail, they would have little hope of tracking down the potential victims or the perpetrators.

The pack, a lot larger than the one she was used to, was a hive of activity. More than once she had to stop as people came up to introduce themselves. She was surprised to discover they were aware of who she was and why she was there. They were worried that whatever was infecting the other Werewolves would make its way into the packs. As far as they were concerned, the sooner she found who was behind it, the sooner their alpha could stop it from spreading.

Her stomach churned. No pressure then.

Instead of the twenty minute walk she was expecting, it took her an hour to reach the barracks where Jessica was standing beside a woman in a white coat.

Jessica waved her over. "Hey, Chickadee."

She introduced Parker to Alice, the pack's doctor. The petite redhead was the last person Parker imagined to be a Werewolf, let alone a doctor. Alice looked around the same age as her. In reality, the woman could be anywhere from thirty to three hundred.

"We were just having a chinwag about the digs for our new arrivals. I think we have everything ready for them," Jessica said.

"How many did they track down in the end? Did they find more than the initial three?" Parker said.

She felt uncomfortable from the doctor's unwavering stare. Had she said something wrong? Perhaps the doctor was still under the assumption they weren't to have contact with her. She endured the glare, but felt on trial.

"Yes," Alice said.

Parker waited for the doctor to add more information. And waited.

She mustn't be much of a talker then.

"Do you know what sort of condition they're in?" Parker said.

"Yes...sort of."

Jesus. It's like getting blood from a stone.

Alice glanced down at the clipboard in her hand and then back up again. This time, Parker detected less reservation in her tone. "I understand that you identified the victims."

She nodded. "I had help. We are still working on compiling more names. Unfortunately, the list gets longer each time we look at it." She paused. "Dr. Hayes, do you think I could speak to them? It might be helpful if I asked them a few questions when they get in, in particular how they knew where to get Wildfire in the first place."

Alice fell quiet and glanced toward the makeshift hospital. "I can't promise anything." She pulled the clipboard tight against her chest and fidgeted with the pen she held. "I'm a little out of my depth, and I don't know what condition they'll be in when they get here."

The doctor's face was pinched, and she had dark circles under her eyes. Alice bit the inside of her lip, and her expression grew worried. "I'll assess them when they arrive and let you know."

Parker nodded. "That sounds fair"

Alice continued to clutch the clipboard, but gave her a hint of a smile.

Her gaze darted to Jessica and then back to Alice. Perhaps she had misjudged the doctor. Being responsible for the medical care of Werewolves who had contracted the fatal disease mustn't be easy. She frowned. The more she thought about it, the more she was convinced Alice was frightened of what was about to descend on them.

Once Alice left to make final preparations for the Wildfire victims, Jessica filled Parker in on the other comings and goings of the pack. "Daniel took a team with him and left early this morning. Reports are also trickling in about missing Werewolves."

"Do they think it's related to Wildfire?"

Jessica shrugged. "The beef is, the packs don't like to air their dirty laundry. That first list you gave us had thirty-two names. Twenty-five were Human. Of the remaining seven, we found four alive, and have confirmed two dead. We know the last one belongs to the local pack and, as it turns out, he has been missing for a while. They've been searching for him without any luck."

"That doesn't mean that the missing Werewolf is taking Wildfire," Parker said.

Jessica did not look convinced. "Daniel confirmed that the Werewolf who offed those high school students went missing two weeks ago. We can't treat his disappearance, followed by their deaths, as a coincidence. To make matters worse, he wasn't on your initial list."

A few hours later, after she had kicked off her latest web crawler, Parker took a break to clear her thoughts. She headed to the nearest building and found Alice talking with a small group.

Once the doctor was finished with them, she wandered over to Parker. Her face was pinched with worry. "They've not arrived."

She gave Alice a warm smile. The woman looked like she could do with a drink—or ten. "I know. I thought I'd see how you were and if you needed any help."

Alice shook her head. "Most of it is sorted. I'll send word to Tech House after we have them situated, if you like."

She raised an eyebrow. "Tech House?"

"Barracks One." Alice nodded toward the group she'd spoken with. "Some of the younger Werewolves have dubbed your new home Tech House—for obvious reasons."

Parker chuckled. Nothing was sacred in a pack. She looked around the large room, empty except for the metal-framed beds. A chill ran up and down her spine as her gaze rested on the metal chains scattered across the room. Iron rings were bolted to the floor beside each bed.

My God! This isn't a hospital, it's a prison.

Alice pushed her hands into her jacket pockets. "I know it looks barbaric, but based on reports from the New York, San Francisco, and San Diego first responders, we'll need to restrain the patients for their own safety, as well as ours."

Parker gulped. This was becoming too real. "There's a very comfortable couch and a fantastic coffee maker in Barracks One, I mean Tech House. How about you join me for a cup?"

Alice's eyes darted around the makeshift hospital. "I'm not sure I should. There's still a few things I need to finish."

She beckoned Alice to follow her. "Nonsense. This might be the last chance you get to take a break. I insist."

Parker handed Alice a cup of freshly brewed coffee. "So, how long have you been the pack's doctor?"

Alice took a sip of the scalding hot beverage, and scrunched her nose. "I worked with the previous pack doctor for about two decades until he passed, which means I've had the role for about forty years."

"Do you enjoy it?"

The doctor stared at the floor for a while before responding. "Well, it's not what I thought I would end up doing in medicine."

"Oh?"

"I was born Human." Alice held her cup in both hands and polished off half the contents of her coffee. She placed it back on the table and rested her hands on her lap. "Before I met John, my mate, I graduated from Albany Medical College and worked at Ellis Hospital in New York."

Parker quickly did the math. "It must have been difficult being a female doctor in the 1950s."

Alice shrugged. "I was lucky. Ellis employed a few lady doctors, and we helped each other through the difficult times."

"Do you miss it?"

The room fell silent as Alice considered the question. "I don't regret my decision to turn. It took a while for me to take that final step, it's not an easy thing to go through, but once I did, I didn't look back."

She put herself in Alice's shoes. It couldn't have been easy to walk away from a life she worked so hard for. She was thankful she would never have to make that decision. "Did you keep in touch with the other female doctors?"

Alice nodded. "For a short while, yes. But as time passed, it became too apparent that they were aging, and I still looked the same. I kept tabs on them over the years, but most of them are gone now."

Melancholy shadowed Alice. Parker tilted her head as she studied the pack's doctor. The more she got to know the woman, the more she realized her first impression of Alice was wrong. Whether Alice had always been careful in letting her real emotions show, or whether it was only since the change, she would never know, but she was warming to the doctor.

"I have to say, the whole aging thing freaks me out. Bobby, my cousin, was two years older than me when he was turned ten years ago. I've aged normally and look a decade older. He, on the other hand, looks as though he's still twenty-five."

Instead of weighing up her answer, Alice did not hesitate. "Staying younger, longer, is one of the perks of being a Werewolf. Once I turned, I helped Dr. Montgomery, the previous pack doctor, but our duties were unexciting. The only thing we did was re-break bones that healed too quickly. A few major injuries changed things up a bit, but apart from that, until now, there hasn't been much to do." Alice's shoulders drooped, and her expression returned to one of concern. "None of us pack doctors are prepared for this."

Parker sighed. I don't think any of us are. "So, what else do you do with your time?"

"I have been fortunate. Alpha Locke has indulged my passion for internal medicine and genetic sequencing. My studies focus on Werewolves, rather than Humans."

Both brows shot up. "Werewolves don't get sick, so how does that work?"

"My research has focused on the differences between Humans and Werewolves at a genetic level. I have also carried out studies over the years on why some Humans turn when bitten by a Werewolf, and others don't." Alice stopped as if she'd said too much.

"Go on," Parker said.

Alice leaned forward as if sharing a secret. "None of that has prepared me for this disease though. I'm a little out of my depth."

Her heart went out to Alice. The poor woman had been thrown into the deep end of something she hadn't been trained for. No wonder she appeared reluctant to share information. Alice did not know anything more than the rest of them did, which was next to nothing.

Out of the corner of her eye, Parker spotted someone waving. Jay and Zeke were frantically attempting to get her attention. She let out a deep breath. As much as she thought Alice needed someone to talk to, her trainees needed her more.

Parker patted Alice's knee. "You'll be fine. I'm sure you're worried for nothing, but I'd better go before one of those two burst a blood vessel."

A small smile graced Alice's lips as she put her cup on the small table. "I'd better go as well." She stood and pushed her hands into the pockets of her white doctor's coat. "Thanks for the coffee, and the...you know, umm...chat."

Parker had a sudden urge to reach out and give Alice a hug. Instead, she waved and headed over to Jay and Zeke.

"Spill."

Zeke huffed and pointed to his monitor. "Boss, we've come up against a gnarly firewall I've not seen before."

Parker pulled her reading glasses from her hair and leaned closer. When she saw the screen, a cold, hard stone dropped to the bottom of her stomach. "Shit!"

Jay jumped up from his seat and came closer. "What is it?"

Her eyes narrowed, and she cursed under her breath. "It's the new Cisco firewall."

This wasn't one she'd had a chance to train them on yet, which meant that she had her work cut out for the next few hours. Not only would she need to break through an extremely sophisticated firewall, but she would need to train Zeke and Jay on how to do it next time.

For the remainder of the morning and well into the afternoon she immersed herself in the task at hand. Even when Jessica breezed in to inform her that the first set of patients had arrived, she remained at her workstation. When Zeke's stomach grumbled, yet again, like a freight train, she sent the boys off to the Pack House for a late lunch.

She grabbed two cans of soda from the fridge, and made her way to the other building to see the infected patients. They might give her more clues on where to look for the people behind Wildfire.

The makeshift hospital was teeming with people, the majority of which were Daniel's enforcers standing guard over the three patients. Her brows knitted together. Anyone would think they were prisoners.

When she moved farther into the hospital, their dire condition became more apparent, and she found it difficult to hide her shocked reactions. Dark festering sores covered the patients' exposed limbs, and they resembled the more extreme disheveled, homeless people who wandered the streets of the big cities. One of them looked to be in a feral state. Enforcers were restraining him while Alice injected something into his arm. The second, while not as agitated as the first, wasn't far off.

The third patient was a young girl who could not have been more than eighteen. The teenager was huddled in her assigned bed, her back against the wall, and her chocolate brown eyes darting around looking for the best avenue of escape. Restraints kept her shackled to the bed.

Parker's heart ached for the young girl. She looked malnourished, her hair was matted and dirty, and her clothes torn and ragged.

Alice came to stand beside her.

"Do they have to be chained up like that?" Parker said.

"They've been restrained for their own safety and are in differing stages of agitation. Those two over there are barely lucid and became increasingly violent during the trip here. We will have to post guards on them."

Parker pointed to the teenager. "What about her?"

"That's Abigail. It looks like she is at the beginning. She's only nineteen." Alice sighed. "They picked her up hiding in an abandoned warehouse."

"Is she able to speak to us?"

Alice tipped her head to the side as she studied her patient. After a moment, she nodded. "Can't see why not. Who knows how long before her condition deteriorates. She knows you want to speak to her."

Careful not to frighten her, she and Alice approached as non-threateningly as possible. Parker held her breath as they drew closer, and her fingers tightened around the soda can she was holding. Even with chains, the girl was stronger than her and could do a considerable amount of damage before anyone else reacted. She held up the can of soda and raised an eyebrow at Alice.

Alice nodded and she passed the girl a can of Coke Zero. In hindsight, she should have grabbed the sugared version. "Hi Abigail, I'm Parker. I understand Dr. Hayes mentioned I'd like to have a little chat?"

Abigail nodded and cautiously took the offered drink. She glanced at Alice, then at the can, before tearing the tab off and finishing the contents in four long chugs.

Parker breathed easier and sat down on the bed. "Abigail, can you tell me how you knew about Wildfire?

Abigail wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. "Gail."

"Pardon?"

Abigail glanced down at the empty can and picked at the lip. "Gail," she said, "my friends call me Gail."

Parker smiled. "Okay, Gail. What do you know about Wildfire, the drug you took? How did you learn about it?"

She placed her phone on the bed between them and pressed the record button.

Gail fidgeted on the cot, clearly uncomfortable with this line of questioning. "I don't feel so well." She tossed the can onto the mattress. "Can you get me some? I haven't had any in a while. Please? I promise I'll be good."

Parker, not knowing what to say, looked to Alice.

At first, she thought the doctor was about to crumple under the pressure. However, Alice squared her shoulders and determination set in.

Good for you. Don't let this get to you.

Alice moved closer and rested a gentle hand on the teenager's shoulder. "Gail, the drug isn't safe and is causing your body to shut down." She indicated the affected areas. "Those sores you have developed on your arms and legs are the result of what it's doing to you."

Alice held up a syringe and showed it to the scared girl. "I'm giving you a dose of morphine. It should dull the pain."

Once the painkiller took effect, Parker repeated her question.

At first, Gail looked as though she wasn't going to answer, then tears welled and threatened to spill over her eyelashes. "I was partying with some of my friends, we were at a club. They were doing their usual thing and getting high. It doesn't affect me, so I didn't bother. They were giving me a hard time because I wouldn't join them." Gail took a deep breath before continuing. "You don't know how hard it is. I just wanted to be like them."

She lightly touched Gail's hand and gave her a tentative smile. "Okay, so what happened then?"

Gail shifted on the bed, brought her knees up to her chin, and wrapped her arms around her legs. "We were dancing, and this dude came up to me and told me he had something that would help me get high, just like my friends." She stopped and looked at both Parker and Alice.

When she nodded, Gail continued. "At first, I didn't believe him, but then I thought—hell, why not try it? What's the worst that can happen? Right?" She looked down at her blemished arms, took a deep breath, and let out a broken sob.

Alice placed a reassuring hand on the girl's shoulder.

"He gave me this red pill and told me to swallow it. You won't believe how wonderful it was." Gail smiled. "The rush I felt—as though I could do anything. I could finally fit in with my friends, and I didn't want it to stop."

Parker's heart beat faster. What type of person would actively go out of their way to make a young girl like Gail become a drug addict? "How long did it last?"

"About an hour."

Parker's eyes widened. No wonder she went back for more. "So, what happened next?"

"Well, the dude that gave it to me, who was a Were, by the way, told me if I wanted more, I could get it online. He said it was totally legal." Gail's shoulders sagged. "I ordered a bottle the next day, and pretty soon after I couldn't get enough of it."

Parker jotted down a few notes. "How long ago was this?"

"Umm..." Gail squinted. "Probably about six weeks ago."

Parker glanced up. "Do you know who the guy at the club was?" She held her breath.

When Gail shook her head from side to side, Parker let it out again. Of course, it wouldn't be that easy.

"Do you remember what he looked like?"

Gail lifted her shoulder in a half-shrug. "I hadn't seen him before. The only thing I remember was that he had a really cool accent, European or something..." She trailed off and toyed with a lock of hair. "He was a bit of a creep though, if you ask me. He was too touchy-feely."

Parker checked her phone to make sure it was still recording. "And you're sure he was a Werewolf?"

Gail nodded and bit her bottom lip. "Oh yeah, definitely. I could smell it."

"Did he tell you which website to order Wildfire from?"

"No, he said to Google it. He told me the first hit was free, but I would need to pay if I wanted more." Gail stiffened and drew in a sharp breath.

She reached out and held on to Gail's arm. "Are you okay?"

Gail closed her eyes and grimaced. "I don't feel so well." She opened them again and looked directly at Parker. "Am I going to be okay?"

The innocent brown eyes imploring her for answers shook Parker to her core, and she broke out in a cold sweat. How could she tell the girl she did not know? That none of them knew.

Parker swung her head around and exchanged glances with Alice. She too, had no answers.

Bolstering more courage than she felt, she turned back to Gail. "Sweetie, we are going to do everything we can to get you better. That much I can promise you." She squeezed Gail's shoulder. "I'm going leave you in Dr. Hayes' capable hands. Thank you for agreeing to talk with me."

Parker rose from the bed, but Gail's hand snapped out and tugged on her arm. The teenager's eyes were wide with unshed tears. "Will you come and visit with me later?"

Gail's desperate plea was nearly Parker's undoing. She took a deep breath before answering. "Of course, I will."

She returned to Tech House and replayed the recorded interview. After listening to it twice, she listed all the relevant information she could use to track down the bastard who had infected Gail. If he was responsible for her addiction, he was responsible for others as well. The teenager wouldn't have been his only target.

One thing was for certain, she needed to let Daniel know that Werewolveswere behind Wildfire.