by Eve Langlais
For her daddy, she’d try and see if the escaped patient could be brought back alive.
Which was why she found herself in a cave with a feral man, tawny gold like a lion, his hair an unkempt mane, and body muscled. Thickly muscled all over.
Just the way she liked her men.
Except this one was barely a man. He might be speaking to her, but the wild glinted in his gaze. The beast within burred his words. While he hadn’t quite gone entirely feral, he teetered on the edge, which meant he needed to be taken care of.
Despite him crushing her phone, he’d not actually frisked Jayda. Her watch counted down and had been counting since she’d sent a single message to her father.
Coordinates, actually. But she wasn’t about to wait for backup to arrive. With him calm, now was her chance.
Keeping an eye on his back, Jayda ran her hand down to her ankle, the wound-up shirt binding her wrists easy to slip free from. Marcus had turned away from her, kind of insulting really the way he treated her as a non-threat. Jayda hated it when boys treated her like a plain ol’ girl.
Despite his even breathing, he stiffened. Not asleep after all. She clenched her fist around the object she’d snared and tucked it quickly into the shirt. Just in time, as he suddenly rolled from her and sprang to his feet.
“What’s wrong?” She faked a groggy voice.
“Go to sleep.”
“Why aren’t you sleeping?”
“I must watch.”
“Can you see in the dark?” she asked, rising to her knees then her feet, spotting the odd green glow of his eyes.
“I see well enough.”
“You are rather interesting, lionman. You see in the dark. Speak actual words and you obviously think.”
“And?”
“It just goes to show you’re saner than you let on.” A creature that could think and form coherent ideas obviously had reasons for its actions. “Why did you come back?” Because she knew the question bothered not only Adrian but her father, too.
“Revenge.” The gleam of his teeth was meant to intimidate. She’d seen worse in the clinic cells.
“Revenge will get you killed. You’re outnumbered by guards with guns.”
“Only fools rush in.”
She snorted. “Only a suicidal idiot would think they could take the clinic by themselves.”
“It might take some whittling, but I will have my vengeance.”
“Now you’re talking like a crazy person. Picking people off one by one will take forever, especially since, after the first few, your opportunities will grow scarce. They’re already scared of you.”
“Good.” There was grim satisfaction in that single word.
It only increased his appeal.
“You know they’ll just replace anyone you kill.”
“Then I’ll kill the new ones, too!”
She rolled her eyes. “For a guy who claims he doesn’t want to be a monster, you seem determined to become one.”
“Not me. Them! They made me like this.” He pounded his chest.
“The doctors remade your body, but your mind is still your own,” she insisted.
“No, it’s not,” he grumbled.
“If it’s not, then you need to learn to control it.” Jayda learned at a young age that control was key; in her actions, her life, her emotions. She used to be sniveling brat, who sobbed each time daddy dropped her off at boarding school. Then she grew some armor. Little touched her now.
“I can’t control it. It makes me do things…” His voice dropped to a low murmur.
“Think again, lionman. You’re the one acting out.”
“Am not.”
“Funny, because I only see one guy here, the same one who tossed me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. There are people who can help you with your behavior if you return to the clinic.”
“No!” He roared at her. Snarled a bit, too, and stomped his feet.
She waited until he was done. “And there you go having a fit again. I’m surprised you’re not on the floor kicking and screaming.”
He gaped at her. “I am not a child.”
“Yet you’re having a tantrum instead of reasoning this through like an adult.”
His gaze narrowed into a dangerous glowing slit. “Stop talking.”
“Why? Are you finding it painful to realize just how far you’ve let yourself go?”
“As if I had a choice.” He glanced down at himself. “It’s not like there’s showering amenities out in the woods.”
“You’re right. There’s not, which begs the question, why stay here?” She gestured to the barren cave.
“I live here.”
“We both know your real home isn’t supposed to be a cave.” A firm reminder.
“I have no home.” There was a stark truth to his statement.
Sympathy welled in her because she knew what it felt like to have nowhere to go. No one to truly care. Daddy tried, but he wasn’t very good at emotional connections. Then again, neither was she.
“The clinic can be your home.”
“No.” He practically shouted the word, his feet scuffing as he paced.
“They want to help you.”
“I don’t want their help. I’ve had their help.” He seethed.
“So you’d rather be a lionman forever?” An intentional taunt as she stepped toward him.
“No. I’m not a lionman or a monster. I’m…” He paused. “I am Marcus.”
So he did recall his name. Not as feral as Adrian thought. She gave him a slight smile. “Nice to meet you, Marcus. Do you remember my name?”
“Don’t care,” he grumbled as she moved even closer, close enough that the slightest sway of her body would bring her against him.
He swallowed hard as she leaned near.
She purred against the lobe of his ear, feeling his tenseness. “My name is Jayda, and you should care because that’s the name of the girl taking down your ass,” she whispered against his ear before jabbing him with a needle!
Chapter Six
The problem with injecting a testosterone-hopped-up beastman? Sometimes one dose wasn’t enough.
The lionman roared—literally—a loud, booming sound of rage. He heaved his body, thrusting Jayda from him. A move she had expected, which was why she rolled away into a crouch. Watching the green glow of his eyes, she pulled the second syringe free from where it was stitched inside the ankle of her pants. A part of the seam, he’d never noticed it. Hopefully it was enough. She’d lost her third sedative in the surprise of his very first attack.
He growled, a low menacing grumble. “You tricked me.”
“I did. Silly, kitty.” She smiled, knowing he saw the white pearliness even in the dark.
“You work for them.”
“Work. Volunteer. Daddy calls for help, and as a good little girl, I go running.” She ignored the part of her that claimed she still sought daddy’s approval.
“You were sent to fetch me?” He sounded quite incredulous.
She smirked. “Did you really think no one noticed you? As to fetch? I can also kill.” She rolled her shoulders. “The choice is kind of up to you.”
“I’ll kill you first.”
“Go ahead and try. Already you’re getting slower.”
“What’s in the needle?” he asked, blinking his eyes and shuffling to his left.
She kept him in sight. “You might as well give in. I’ve got you beat. I injected you with enough Special K to put down an elephant.” The big man in front of her might not come close to the weight, but with his potential adrenaline and heightened ability to metabolize drugs, they needed large doses. Problem was figuring out how much was too much.
“Not going back.” The statement emerged guttural. His eyes dipped as he crouched and slowly shifted to the right. She kept pace and watched him. He’d make a move at one point. She had to be ready.
“My daddy can help you.” After all, he’d given Jayda a new lease on life and
since then paid her more attention than he had her entire childhood. Because she was finally interesting to him.
Funny how once she got what she always wanted, she was the one to walk away.
“I’ve seen what his help looks like.” His lower lip curled.
“Which is why you need to go back. It has to be tweaked. Sometimes the process isn’t perfect. It needs to be helped along.”
“More drugs?” He snorted. “No thanks.”
“Got a better idea?”
“You talk too much. Should have killed you.” He bared his teeth, still showing no signs of lethargy.
Dammit.
“Ah, kitty, now that ain’t nice. Here I thought we were becoming friends.”
“Not friends.”
“You’re right, probably better that way. You’ll be less pissed when I put you to sleep.”
“I said no more drugs.” He lunged at her, and she didn’t quite dodge so much as embrace him, letting his weight and momentum drive into her. He slammed them into the wall hard enough her breath caught. Her body tensed as he leaned into her. Close to three hundred pounds of man. Muscle.
And heat.
So much heat…
One of her hands ended up on the bare skin of his torso. A sizzle. A sucked-in breath.
By them both.
Their eyes locked, his glowing gaze captivating. The moment still. Silent. The perfect chance to slam the other needle in and push the plunger home.
The expression in his eyes shifted. Surprise, a touch of fear, followed by anger.
But it was her emotions that surprised her most of all.
Intrigue and arousal.
Both of which peaked when he went limp against her, but not before whispering, “Only beauty can fell the beast.”
What did that mean?
Jayda couldn’t ask. He slumped, the second dose of the drugs dropping him finally. Even prone on the ground, he kept an aura of menace. So much strength in that body. Danger.
Yet gentleness, too. In all their interactions thus far, he’d not harmed her. Not even a tiny bruise. Even when he’d slammed her against the wall, she was cushioned by his hands, his body taking the brunt.
However, she couldn’t count on that forever. She’d read the report. Once projects went feral, they didn’t hesitate to kill, which meant if they didn’t want a casualty they needed to move him. Fast!
Heading to the mouth of the cave, she quickly tapped her heel, the compartment popping open to give her a needle-thin flare. Cracking it first, she tossed it at the rock in front of the slit. Night had fallen. The drones her father had patrolling the sky would quickly spot it and dispatch men to find her.
Having marked the area, she headed back to the cave and heaved—with much cursing of his luscious largeness—the rather unwieldy Marcus through the narrow slit. Leaving him in a heap by the lip of his cave, she paused, listening.
In the distance, she perceived a whine that grew louder and turned into the rev of engines. A pair of all-terrain vehicles shot out of the woods with a fierce whiiiiiing of sound.
Not discreet at all.
She eyed Marcus and noted he still slept. But that didn’t mean the cacophony wouldn’t wake him. Waving her hand, she skipped down the rocks and flagged down a driver.
He was going to talk, so she gave him a look that shut him up on “Hey.”
She snared the cuffs dangling from his belt and headed back up the rocky outcrop.
The metal bracelets might not do much to slow down the lionman, but even a second might make a difference if he woke during transport.
The guys on the noisy rigs eyed Marcus askance, waiting for the final machine to arrive. Larger than the pair of ATVs, it had a cargo area. It took two of them—grunting and heaving—to lift his body. Jayda didn’t even try to hide her smirk.
Pussies.
Literally. Having spent an hour in the gym earlier with some of them, she knew what they weren’t capable of. Add to that the idiots thought it was hot she could bend them into a pretzel. She, on the other hand, wasn’t as impressed.
She liked her men big and strong. Able to handle a little roughness.
Her gaze strayed to the lionman strapped in the back of the full-sized ATV. He’d be pissed when he woke.
She tapped one of the riders of the smaller machines on the shoulder. “You ride with him.” She jerked toward the passenger side of the transport. “I’m taking your machine.”
The guard knew better than to argue, but that didn’t mean he looked pleased about it. She leaned in close to his cheek and whispered, “Keep in mind he’s more valuable than you are. Which is why I’ll be taking this.” She lifted the gun from his holster and tucked it in the back of her pants.
When he lunged with a snapped, “Bitch, give that back,” she lifted a hand and shoved him in the chest.
The guard stumbled, and she said very softly, “I wouldn’t suggest doing that again.” She’d killed for less.
One of the idiot’s buddies chose to walk by and slap him. “Let’s go before he wakes up.”
A wise plan. But they needn’t have worried. The lion slept all the way to the clinic, where her father oversaw his transport to six level. The deepest ward for the more difficult patients.
She kept her tone and expression dispassionate as he was loaded onto a heavy-duty hospital bed. Thick metal bands were placed around his chest. Wrists. Ankles. Even his neck was restrained.
So dangerous.
Which was why she had to walk away, telling her father, “I’m going to wrangle some food.” And maybe see if she could find a guard who wouldn’t break—or cry—if she took him to bed.
She needed something to ease the pressure before she did something her daddy wouldn’t like.
Chapter Seven
The headache throbbed in his brow. A deep, aching thud of pain, utterly familiar. Which made it disturbing.
The sedatives given by the doctors always made him feel like shit.
His tongue sat thick and pasty inside his mouth. Gravity hated his body. Marcus couldn’t move it. At all. Not even if he wanted to, given the restraints holding him down.
I’m not in my cave anymore.
Because he’d been betrayed by a woman.
He should have known better.
Should have killed her.
But how could he when he found himself pressing against her, her body cradled in his arms. The feel of her plush and shapely, her gaze unafraid. Bold and sexy.
Even now he couldn’t hate her. Lust, though… What he wouldn’t give to have her in reach again.
I won’t be touching anyone for a while. Because he’d stupidly gotten caught.
Marcus opened his gritty eyes to a ceiling made of concrete, the lights within it recessed. Nothing to grab should a patient get free. Which would be difficult, given the bands on the bed had been reinforced. Thick metal that didn’t budge when he pulled at first one wrist then the other.
A prisoner because of a woman. The fact he’d so misjudged her should have rankled. Yet, there was a certain admiration in him at her courage.
Who went toe to toe with a monster? Was that why he was loath to hurt her? Why he let her stab him?
Or perhaps, there was a more insidious reason for his capture.
I wanted to come back.
For a while he’d been roaming the outskirts of the clinic, wondering at his return, the purpose for it. He’d assumed it was for revenge. Yet, if that were the case, why hadn’t he killed anyone? All he did was watch. Biding his time because, subconsciously perhaps, he wanted the doctors to do something. Anything. Because if they didn’t help him, then the human known as Marcus would cease to exist.
How could I volunteer for this? Probably on account that Jayda was right when she said he’d die. He couldn’t live in the woods forever.
A scrape of a shoe snapped his attention to the left, to a spot just over his shoulder. A blind spot he couldn’t see, yet he recognized the scent. Irish Spring soa
p. Clean, crisp, and only used by one man.
“You’re awake. Excellent. I was getting worried the second dose she gave you might have been too much.” Dr. Cerberus, with a voice smooth as an announcer on a drowsy four a.m. radio show, preceded the man.
The bed Marcus lay upon tilted, machinery whirring to life and lifting him to an upright position. It had the benefit of making him tower over Cerberus. All the better to scowl.
Marcus showed teeth as he said, “I’m going to eat your heart in front of you.”
The doctor clapped his hands and smiled. “You can speak! I knew you still had your mind. This is marvelous news. It means there is a way to push back the feral nature of the cure.”
“Don’t you mean curse?” Marcus curled his lip. “And who says I’m not a savage?”
“You do seem rather untamed compared to previous times, but that is probably a result of your lack of socialization in the wild.”
“Never claimed I was alone.” He wasn’t the only one to have escaped. Also not the first to return and get caught.
“Really?” Cerberus sounded pleased. “We theorized you might have congregated outside of the clinic. You’ll have to tell us all about your adventure.”
At the statement, Marcus clamped his lips tight.
“Don’t be quiet on my account. Jayda told me you were quite coherent in the cave.”
Jayda, the name of the one who’d brought him down. A beautiful maiden to tempt the beast.
He couldn’t stay silent. “I should have killed her.”
“But you didn’t because you’ve not completely gone over the edge.”
“Haven’t I?” Because he certainly didn’t feel like himself anymore.
“Your treatment of Jayda proves it. I knew she’d draw you out.” Cerberus appeared so smug.
Whereas Marcus felt surprise. “You used your own kid against me?”
Cerberus didn’t seem daunted by the fact he’d put her in danger. “Who better to make sure my orders were followed? Do you know many others would have simply put you down like a dog?” Cerberus shook his head as he headed for a sink to wash his hands. “I wanted you alive.”
“Alive to run more tests.” Marcus sneered. “How many will it take to realize you failed?”