A Final Answer

Hunter spent the rest of the day checking on the progress of his team and fine tuning his own presentation for the client. The events and revelations of Mr. Dunnigan never strayed far from his mind, but he was largely able to push them to one side and concentrate.

He did notice that his senses seemed sharper, although he asked himself if he had just become more aware of them because Dunnigan had called them to his attention. He also observed that he had gained some strength, finding that he could lift a corner of his desk a few inches off the floor without much effort and with only one hand. The cynical part of his mind told him that he had never tried to do that before, so he had no idea whether this represented an increase in strength.

It was with a sense of relief, but a certain measure of disappointment, that neither Lara nor Petra seemed to notice any scent from him. They neither commented nor appeared to have any physical reaction to his proximity when he came to their work areas to discuss the project.

Monique, however, was a different matter. When he leaned close to her computer to look at some spreadsheets she was working on she sucked her breath in sharply. When he touched the back of her hand, apparently by accident, she gave a little shudder that made her body wriggle most appealingly.

Sally's eyes followed him everywhere he went, and she regularly asked him if he needed coffee or whether he wanted her to stay late. When he told her that he didn't need her help for the evening, and that she should go home and enjoy the evening her face took on a stricken look that almost made him relent.

By six o' clock the office was empty. He phoned Jess to remind her that he was working late, and heard the disappointed note in her voice when he told her he wasn't sure how long he'd be.

That done he closed the door of his office and took out the pouch that Dunnigan had given him. He took out the flashlight and looked at it, then flicked in on and pointed it to the corner of the office. It appeared to be a normal flashlight, the beam perhaps a more silvery blue than most, but otherwise just a light.

Hunter realised that he had no idea how to go about the transformation that Dunnigan spoke of. If was anything more than the fantasies of a deluded old man, his cynical mind reminded him. He pointed the flash into his face and looked into the beam, feeling nothing at all except distinctly foolish. He snapped the beam off with a little snort of annoyance at his own folly in believing there was anything to this nonsense.

But there was the scent issue, he reminded himself. It certainly affected Monique and Toni, and what had happened with Sally was extraordinary.

He snapped the flash back on and stared into it again.

"Well if you're going to become a wolf, get on with it," he muttered.

And in that instant he started to change.