His Unidentified & Untouchable Mate

The Factory (1)

Zahraa POV

I wasn’t sure what I’d expected when Jacob explained the old lumber mill on the edge of the territory to me, but what we pulled up to wasn’t it. It was an ugly old concrete building that seemed to tower above us for what felt like a mile. The concrete was discolored with dirt and moss clinging to the surfaces, and there were very few windows to be seen.

“And you’re sure no one has searched this yet?” I asked. I desperately did not want to search this place – especially not after Jacob described the things he found in it when he explored as a child. Rats, the bones of small animals, the stench of death and stagnant water, dangerously unstable supports to fallen walls, etc. And that was roughly seven or so years ago now.

It could only have gotten worse.

To my chagrin, Jacob nodded. “It’s not on the map. Dad is keeping extensive records about where we have and haven’t been – we can’t afford to overlap. And we’ve searched damn near the entire territory now – they’re starting on private residences today, then moving out into the city. Which means that this is the only place that might be overlooked.” He flashed a truly charming smile my way, then added, “Thankfully, I’m here to search it.”

I wanted to groan. “If they were this close, don’t you think they would’ve linked someone to pick them up?”

That made him hesitate. Unfortunately, the surety crept back into his steps as he walked up the short, overgrown dirt road that led to the front steps. “You have a good point. But the same could be said within any of the territory – yet we’re still making a point not to leave any ground uncovered.” I followed him, picking my way through the brush and thanking the goddess that I’d chosen close-toed shoes today.

The door was boarded up, and so were the windows. I hoped the space that they’d entered as kids had been sealed off, or perhaps the entry was too small for us. Again, it would seem luck was not on my side – Jacob led me behind the building. There was no path leading back there anymore, but there was a trail in the grass where something had trampled it down.

A stick snagged my leggings, tearing the delicate material and scratching my leg. I cursed under my breath, just knowing I was going to be an itchy mess for a week after this.

“They tightened the bottom floors up so well that I don’t think I could tear down the reinforcements even now,” Jacob said, as he searched a sea of thigh-high grass for something. “But the top levels, well… not so much.”

I didn’t like where that was headed.

He found what he was looking for – a collapsible step stool, thrown aside in the trees and forgotten. He unfolded it, and I took note of the rusted bolts, the deteriorated step. “Please tell me you aren’t thinking I’ll use that.”

He winked. “You can always wait out here alone.”

It was an enticing offer. I could wait in the car, stay clean and free myself having to smell the stagnant water and stench of death.

But no – what if he got hurt? He wouldn’t be able to link me. And what if those wolves were in here, by some miracle? What if something prevented them from calling out for help?

I sighed, noting how the stool creaked and groaned as Jacob climbed up it fearlessly, onto what looked like a large AC compressor unit. From there, he grabbed a ledge and hoisted himself up, catching the ledge of the broken window above and pulling himself inside.

I sighed – there was simply no way I’d be able to do that. But I had a few tricks up my sleeve myself.

In a puff of glittering gold dust, my shape changed to that of a white leopard with yellow spots. The transformation was not like that of a werewolf, my bones didn’t creak or rearrange, my skin didn’t sprout fur, and I didn’t shred my outfit as I changed. It was a simple poof.

“You did not tell me you could do that,” Jacob called, an indignant tone in his voice. “You’re a leopard?”

Unable to reply, I sprang from the ground onto the unit, then leapt through the opening far more gracefully than I could have attempted to climb. In another shower of dust, I returned to my original form.

“That is…” he ran a hand through this hair, mouth hanging open as he searched for the words. “That is… just… wow. I didn’t expect that.”

I adjusted my clothes. “I’m not as strong as a werewolf, but I’m not completely defenseless.”

Jacob mouthed words that didn’t fully form for a moment, then clamped his lips shut. “Okay. I’m going to breeze past that for now. Can you see in the dark, or do you need a flashlight?”

Werewolves could see just fine in the dark. So, fortunately, could I. “I’m fine,” I replied. “So. Where to next?”

His eyes scanned the room. It was dusty, as expected, with long-forgotten furniture pushed aside, papers with illegible writing trampled into the ground, broken glass from broken lightbulbs scattered around. There was a door, propped open a fraction of the way. The darkness of the factory seemed to loom large.

“This place is so big,” I sighed, picking up a paper and dropping it when I could only make out the words shut down, lumber and effective immediately. “What happened to it?”

“Well,” Jacob sighed, “There’s a river that flowed through here. Back in the day, that’s how they moved the lumber – they’d just float it down the river, we’d catch it, process it, ship it out on big trucks. It brought in a huge profit – but there’s a dam upriver from us that busted in 1958. The river rose considerably, and a lot of the building flooded,” Jacob explained. “This room used to be the fourth floor. The first and second are still completely underwater.” He opened the door and held it open for me, and I saw what he meant.

Outside the door, the hallway floor was a mere metal grate, thoroughly rusted and broken in places. In the middle, you could see the lower floors, and the upper floors, all the way up and down. Except there was water filling the lower floors, dangling wires that thankfully no longer housed power falling from the concrete walls like vines in a jungle. I yelped as a fish splashed up in the water below – a reminder that this was an ecosystem of its own.

Jacob followed me to the edge of the railing, looking down with equal measures of apprehension. “We used to swim here when we were little, because our fathers told us, deep down under the water, there could be large water-tight chambers that are still filled with air. We wanted to find them.”

I looked at him with disbelief. “You don’t really think-” his nod cut me off.

“If there anywhere in here, they’d be down there.”