Benji locked eyes with Willa as she ordered him back into the motel room. It took him less than a second to reign in the wolf. She knocked the light out and Benji hesitated for a moment before doing as she had asked. He let her handle the bodies and didn't want his injuries to slow her down. He returned to the room, careful not to scratch up or get blood on anything, and slowly calmed himself down to the point of transforming back into a man. He closed the windows and drapes, grabbed a half empty bottle of whiskey from his duffel bag and headed into the bathroom. His head throbbed and there were a few scrapes and probably a mild concussion. He poured some whiskey onto a towel and cleaned up his head wound a bit. It stung a bit but it sure beat an infection. The glass in his side was the real problem and he knew it would be stupid to pull it out by himself in case he should start to bleed out. Instead he poured the remaining whiskey on wound and snarled at the sting. 

The concussion made him nauseous and the pain, blood loss and loss of energy from the transformation made it hard to stand. He leaned on sink for a few moments as he washed the blood from his hands before his legs gave out and he collapsed to the floor. He leaned his back against a wall and used the whiskey towel to slow the bleeding until Willa got back. The pain alone was manageable, as werewolf he'd been trained to deal with pain especially when it came to the transformation. It was all mind over matter and he'd been through worse. A full transformation took a lot of energy, he'd already been exhausted from the day so the little energy he had was expended during the change and the small fight. 

When Willa returned she handed him a beer and a belt. Truthfully a beer wasn't going to have much of an effect on a werewolf or even a man of his size but he drank it anyway and quickly placed the belt in his mouth and bit down. As Willa pulled the jagged piece of glass out and sowed the wound closed, Benji kept quiet allowing himself only the occasional wince. He could hear the quick beat of heart and stayed stoic so her panic would not increase. 

When his injuries were done being cared for she carried him to the bed, the one without a sleeping dragon, and after a moment she climbed in next to him. Benji would have gladly offered to sleep on the floor if he thought the arrangement made her in any way uncomfortable but the way she hugged close to him made it clear she was fine. Her head rested near his shoulder, her arm lay across his chest while his own head rested close to hers so that each breath he took smelled like Willa. He reached his arm across and rest his hand on her arm, then lightly stroked her arm  with his fingertips. He was thankful for the closeness of another person, werewolves were naturally a lot like wolves;  affectionate pack animals. 

Benji had loved Willa for a long time, and not in a strictly platonic way. He knew she felt similarly about him but he never acted or spoke about his feelings for her. She was strong and kind, as hard as she tried to keep herself safe from the scientists he had seen and heard of several instances where she had put herself in danger for the sake of another. She was the best person he knew and he hated the thought of her not being a part of his life. He'd never acted, not because he feared rejection, if she just didn't feel the same he could go on being just friends, but because he feared he'd destroy their friendship. He'd never been in a serious monogamist relationship, he didn't want to fail at it with someone as important to him as she was. He didn't want to lose her or fail her or most of all bring danger to her. Everyone he had truly loved had been taken from him, his family, most of his closest friends, anyone he'd ever said the words to. Maybe it was the concussion talking but he was tired of letting fears hold him back. “I love you.” He said softly, he wasn't sure she was awake but he felt better for having said it. 

------------------------------------------------

Charlie and the others waited for an extraction team to arrive, a nondescript black van that parked near the back exit and waited for the supernatural bartender to go out for a smoke or a break. His mind started racing with things he could create from such a being, many of the ideas were ridiculous as he had been drinking for most of the night. A shirtless Right walked in and sat among them without a word. 

“Right, whats up?” Charlie asked, his words slightly slurred. “You want a beer?” He added gesturing towards the pitcher of beer on the table and nearly knocking over his own glass in the process. Dr. West got a phone call and while Charlie couldn't hear the conversation the doctor looked pretty angry about it. West gestured towards the the television above the bar. The news was on reporting a break in at the lab with “research materials” having been stolen. Charlie could guess what research materials was referring to. 

Just then the bartender they were watching headed out the back door and Murphy and a few of the other men who worked security headed out the front to make sure everything went smooth. Dr. West paid the tab at the bar and headed over to Charlie.

“They've released the majority of our subjects. We're going to have to replenish our stock, I'm thinking we send out all possible extraction teams to gather what they can. Every day those cells are empty our profits are going down. ” He said to Right. “Any idea how this happened?”

Charlie wondered how anyone could get passed the massive amounts of security the lab had. “You think it could've been an inside job? Like a supernatural sympathizer helped them get in?” He asked.