Roxie Runs

“You feel so familiar to me.” Roxie reached out and touched his paw. “Why? I would have only been maybe three or so? I don't remember anything. Did we know each other?”

“No, it's the other part of the problem. It works the other way too, when you stay too close for long.” He should remove her hand from his paw. Tell her to back up, but he gave her plenty of warnings. “That feeling you feel, it's the same as a project wolf with it's mate. We hardly know each other, but our connection is so strong, we'd die for each other.” There, he said it.

“I . . . it's so strong. I just want to hug you.”

“Yeah, I know, you nestled with me before,” he told her. “You don't remember that though because you aren't supposed to. You need to choose one proper mate to release your memories.”

“Oh.” She smiled. “I choose you. You are so wonderful. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Hopefully, I mean?”

He shook his head. “Hopefully not. It won't happen, I don't need another project in my life, good or bad.”

“Oh.” She reached around his neck for a quick hug. “I am going to miss you. Even though I don't even know you. It's so strange.”

“Don't hug me, you are losing it again.” She's such a sweet hugger. “Get in bed and stay there.”

Hero wished it didn't have to be this way. That after this, she would purr and snuggle up next to him. That he could actually go on a real date with her. Movie. Popcorn. Laughing.- A sound?!

Hero quickly jumped down the staircase. He growled on all fours, poised and ready for a fight. Her parents were scared stiff as they opened the door, yelling in fright and dropping their keys. “What are you doing here?”

“What are we doing here?” Roxie's mother having come to her senses took off her coat. “There is only one white wolf, you are Hero. What are . . . you doing here?”

“Project wolves came after your daughter.” He didn't need to lie. In fact, he was thinking hard. He'd never met her parents face to face. This might be exactly the excuse he needed. “Your daughter was used against me not long ago, and you were out all night leaving her behind?”

“Number one,” her father started in on him. “It's our anniversary, and we planned this for some time. Not only that, but we were worried, so we cut it short this year. Number two, we aren't any better at fighting than her. She has a surveillance team watching for her outside.”

Hero chuckled as he jumped to the counter and stuck his nose on the windowpane. “That surveillance still doesn't know she left this house, that I saved her, and that I've been in here with her. They aren't any match for a project wolf.”

“Boy, there were useless then.” Her father tossed his coat onto a chair. “Then what do we do?”

“She wants to know about project Z.” Hero watched their expressions as he jumped back to the floor. “Did you two know she was a project?”

“She's not a bad person,” her mother chimed in quickly. “She isn't a wolf. She can't even transform.”

“I didn't say wolf. Did you know she was a project?” Hero repeated himself. “Well?”

“Yes. She was small though, and if we nurtured her correctly, she would be fine,” her father countered. “No one ever knew before, why now?”

“That's classified, as is the information she wants.” He tapped his paw on the wall. “She is an extremely rare project and she is in great danger. Regular security detail isn't enough.”

“Then what?” Her mother asked.

“She should be put in a stable area, and I can give her the information she wants,” he said.

“I don't understand. What could you tell her that would make these project wolves leave her alone?” her father asked. “Why are they even bugging her?”

“That's classified,” Hero said again.

“Fine.” Her mother nodded toward her father. “That sounds best, and she deserves to know who she is.”

It worked. This time, Hero would be ready. He could talk to her without them being under the influence of each other. He'd let her understand the truth once and for all, and the pieces would fall where they had to in the end.

“Mom?” Roxie said from the stairs. She moaned. “What are you doing here?”

“We were a little worried about what happened yesterday,” she admitted. Roxie came down the stairs and stretched by the counter like a cat. “Are you okay, dear? No bad dreams?”

Roxie chuckled pleasantly. “No, I woke up feeling kind of funny, but I'm okay.” She scratched her head and noticed Hero. “Thanks for the help, I think? You helped me with something?”

Hero really tried not to smile back, but watching her stretch using the counter didn't help matters. He moved away from her to the other end of the room behind the counter. He transformed quickly into a human, but behind the counter, it wouldn't offend. He grabbed a pencil and a piece of paper nearby and wrote down a number. “This number is Bose's, he's an official territory leader. He works with me on the most classified projects. He'll come and bring her safely to me for our conversation.” After that, he changed back to his wolf form, and headed out the door.

***

Bose didn't make much eye contact the whole trip. Truthfully, Roxie felt like an inconvenience herself, but Hero had recommended she have a private talk to him. This would be some talk though. She felt more like a criminal as she walked into the police station. There was no one around, but Bose led her to one of the areas to talk to people in the jail. Hero was there sitting down, holding the phone on the other side of the glass.

“Before we begin, you will need to sign this,” Bose said to Roxie as he handed her a paper and a pen. “Anything that is discussed between you and Hero is not to become public knowledge, and cannot be held against him. To break this contract, there would be some nasty damages, that, frankly, your family could not afford short from winning the lottery.”

That didn't sound good at all, but Roxie wanted to know what she had to do with project Z. She signed the paper and then grabbed the telephone. “Hello?”

“Hello.” Hero smiled, yet at the same time his eyes looked sad. “How are you, Roxie?”

“I'm okay,” she answered, “I just want to know about project Z.” She knew that she should have been more polite, but she really wanted to know. “I can't find any information about it.”

“You won't.” He held his hand up against the glass as he spoke through the telephone. “This time, you'll remember when I tell you. Then it will be by your own choice what should happen.”

“Are you talking about project Z?” she asked.

“In a second.” Hero took his hand off the glass, making a stroking motion with his hand against hers. “If you decide after you know to leave, then I won't stop you. The choice is yours, when you fully understand it.”

“I don't understand.” Roxie said shaking her head. “What choice is fully mine? What are you saying?”