Driven to the brink of suicide, Thomas "Tommy" Crane enrols himself willingly in a secret government project. Given a new designation as Subject 5-15 Alpha, he becomes the Facility's last hope of successfully completing a project that they had embarked upon more than half a decade ago and their final chance to secure funding for the future.
Despite the misgivings of one of the lead researchers, Kent Jamison, the experiment is carried out and the results are far beyond the Facility's wildest dreams. In Tommy Crane, a new breed of man is born. Only, his initial transformation is filled with unfettered, uncontrollable rage. He reemerges into the world a veritable Beast pursuing only the instinct to rut.
In the wake of the destruction that follows, Kent attempts to escape the facility in order to find a cure for Tommy, but instead finds himself cornered by the Beast. He struggles vainly against the Beast's strange, preternatural magnetism and ultimately succumbs to its strange influence.
Once under the sway of the beast, Kent is remade into Kenny, a submissive, precocious omega who serves as a complement to Tommy, now Thomas. Kenny satisfies his Alpha's sexual needs and in so doing and curbs the aggression that otherwise simmers in Thomas' core, giving his Alpha the chance to pursue vengeance against those that drove him to desperation.
Project ALPHA 4-Pack Bundle is a 32,500-word collection of all four of the Project ALPHA stories in one ebook.
Purchase Your Copy
Amazon | Smashwords | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | iTunes
Excerpt
Kent straightened his pristine white lab coat. In all his thirty years, he had never had a better opportunity to both advance his personal knowledge and innovate in his field than working at the Facility. But today, the lab coat he’d been so glad to receive five years ago weighed like lead upon his shoulders. The normally-comfortable cloth itched against his skin as just another sign of how uncertain he was about what they were going to do today.
But it wasn’t like they had any other choice. They had spent five long years working on a promising project that could possibly extend lives, prevent disease, and, because everything must have its military applications, improve the abilities of soldiers on the battlefield. They had also spent five long years failing to produce any results. There were near-misses, but they had been misses all the same.
The Facility was just one organization among dozens, and without results, its patrons were beginning to lose confidence. No, today had to happen because it was their last chance to secure the funding that was necessary to continue their operations. In any case, if today’s experiment failed, they were going to shut down, anyway, and it didn’t hurt to try one last time.
Kent knew all this. Rationally, the test had to happen. He had to see his research to its completion. They all did. But, emotionally, he was having a lot of trouble trying to process what was required to occur.
The door to the subject’s quarters hissed open in front of Kent, revealing a darkened room beyond. Kent walked in and clapped his hands. The lights turned on, though illuminating the room only dimly at first. Over the next minute or so, they gradually increased in brightness until the whole room was bathed in a clinical, sterile white light.
The young man on the bed tossed off his blanket and ran his fingers through his unkempt, dark hair as he yawned. He looked up and blinked blearily at Kent with his soft, green eyes. “Hi, Mr. Jamison,” said Tommy, voice slurred with grogginess as he reached up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. “Is it time?”
Thomas Crane was a special subject. One that, despite Kent knowing better, he had grown attached to. That was because unlike the criminals who were headed for death row who had signed up for this program only because they thought they could cheat the system, Tommy had volunteered. The young man had shown up one day, about a year ago, drenched from the torrential downpour of that night, grimy and beleaguered, and begged to be accepted into the program.
Kent was shaken from his thoughts by the sound of Tommy sitting up in bed. “You look worried, Mr. Jamison,” said Tommy. “Should I be?”
Kent shook his head, taking a look around the room. The walls were barren of any personality, a stark white that revealed everything and hid nothing. Even the bed and the sheets were white. The gown that Tommy wore, which showed off his thin physique and left little to the imagination, was also in the same pristine white. “No, Tommy,” said Kent, forcing a smile. “You shouldn’t be.”
Tommy smiled as he swung his legs over the side of the bed and motioned for Kent to sit beside him. For someone that was about to participate in a dangerous experiment that had seen nothing but fatalities so far, Tommy seemed surprisingly upbeat. That innocence spurred something in Kent into action. Screw the Facility. Tommy didn’t deserve what was likely to happen to him. “Actually, forget I said that,” said Kent. “I’ll probably get into a lot of trouble for saying this but...”
Before Kent could finish, Tommy placed a finger on his lips, promptly shutting him up. Tommy giggled, eyes briefly glancing at the single personal effect that brightened up the otherwise drab and featureless room. It was a photo of Tommy, which, if Kent recalled correctly, had been taken almost three years ago, to the day, during Tommy’s graduation from college with a degree in the fine arts.
Tommy had been a hopeful young actor with the talent and the looks to definitely make it far in the industry. Kent had no idea what had happened to drive Tommy to desperately try and get away from it all. He had always meant to ask, but Tommy had never seemed inclined to talk about it. “There’s nothing left for me out there, Mr. Jamison,” said Tommy, “So, by all means, don’t get yourself in trouble for me.”
“But you could—” Kent began, but was interrupted, again.
“I know,” said Tommy. The smile had slipped from Tommy’s face, replaced by a steely expression. “And I’m prepared for the consequences, Mr. Jamison. I will be all right. You will be there for me the entire time, won’t you?”
Kent nodded, feeling numb. Well, what good was trying to discourage Tommy if he knew the consequences and still felt like going through with it? He wished he knew what had happened to make a young man with such a bright future ahead of him so willing to face death, but he wasn’t about to ask now. “I will,” he said.
“You’re a strange man, you know, Mr. Jamison,” said Tommy, who was now busily looking at his feet. His cheeks were red and there was a tinge of pink at the tips of his ears. Kent couldn’t help but smile. “You were the only one here that treated me with any warmth. I mean, you’ve dealt with other subjects before, haven’t you, Mr. Jamison? What makes me different?”
“We specifically chose the scum of the earth to participate in this program because we knew the risks,” said Kent. He didn’t know why he’d phrased it that way. Why he’d made himself out to be one of the villains. Maybe it was because he felt he didn’t deserve Tommy’s trust for everything that he’d done in the name of this research. “They were criminals all looking to cheat the system. We made sure to check and double check. But you, you weren’t a convict waiting to die. You volunteered.”
Tommy laughed. It was so pure, innocent, and carefree that Kent had trouble believing the more serious expression he’d seen on that boyish face earlier. “Thank you, Mr. Jamison,” said Tommy. “You’re a good man.”
Kent nodded. He leaned over toward Tommy and out of a complicated mixture of guilt, shame, and affection for the brave young man sitting beside him, he pressed his lips to Tommy’s forehead. He had violated one of the most basic, commonsense principles of potentially-fatal experiments: don’t fall in love with one of the subjects.
When Tommy tilted his head backward to catch Kent’s lips in his own, Kent pulled away, jerking back entirely on instinct. This time tomorrow, Tommy could be a bloated, swollen corpse burning in the incinerator along with all the other data. Impulse. Fear. That was what had driven his reaction. He didn’t want to get hurt.
But the moment he saw the hurt shining in Tommy’s eyes, he regretted pulling away. With a sniffle, Tommy wiped the tears from his eyes and stood up. “Okay, Mr. Jamison,” he said, “Let’s go.”