by Eve Langlais
They hit the floor in a tussle that wouldn’t last long. Rap. Rap. Wade’s eyes rolled back. Someone took offense and yelled, “Fucking monster!”
Marcus shot off for his next target.
This was getting ridiculous. Jayda shoved two fingers in her mouth and whistled.
Everyone stilled. Even Marcus froze, his fist pulled back, ready to punch.
With all eyes on her, she snapped, “Everybody get the fuck out before I volunteer your asses for the next round of experiments. I hear they’re thinking of splicing with cockroaches.”
Bodies scattered, as people obviously came to their limited senses and realized she wasn’t to be messed with.
Marcus didn’t leave. Rather he stalked toward Wade, who’d risen to his feet and pointed. “You can’t leave him loose. He’s an animal.”
An animal provoked, which meant she didn’t blame him for his actions. On the other hand, she wasn’t too happy with Wade, which was why she let Marcus slap his head off the wall a few times before saying, “Let him go.”
“Don’t like him,” Marcus said, the guttural words hard to understand.
“Me either.”
“Hey!” Wade protested through bloody lips.
Marcus grinned, his teeth rather pronounced. Definitely a carnivore and yet he’d not eaten anyone. There might be hope for him yet.
“Let the little man go.”
Marcus released Wade, who stumbled before righting himself. “I’m going to tell—”
She interrupted. “You complain, and you’ll disappear without a trace. Your contract states implicitly that you are to follow orders. And right now, that includes my orders. So listen carefully, little man, do your job and do it well, or I’m going to bring you back to visit Marcus and next time I won’t intervene.”
“Bitch,” Wade breathed, only to scurry from the room as Marcus leaned close with a growl.
With Wade gone, they were alone, and Jayda sighed as she noted how many darts stuck out of the lionman’s body. Once he calmed down, the drugs would kick in. “Kitty, you are going to have to learn to control that temper of yours.”
“Not angry,” he slurred, taking a step toward her and then wavering in place. “Protecting.”
“I’m not the one that needs protecting,” she noted, darting quickly to support him. The tatters of his scrubs dangled from his body.
She half carried him over to the bed and then helped him fall on it.
“No wanna sleep.” His eyes fought to stay open.
“Then you should have listened to me. Take a nap, and we’ll have a chat when you wake up.”
“Stay.” He reached for her, and she grasped his hand. Stared down at the strange and intimate interlacing of their fingers.
“I’m not leaving.” Not yet. But staring down at the sleeping Marcus, she had to wonder at her urge to stay.
Especially when her father laid into her the next morning.
“What were you thinking?” her daddy snapped, pacing in front of her, replaying the camera feed. She’d lied to Wade when she said she’d stopped it. How else could she study the subject later and truly get a feel for his reactions?
And holy shit did she get lots to study. Her plan to engage Marcus’s baser instincts worked all too well. She watched and rewatched as her every move seemed to incite Marcus until he snapped.
Yet not once did he do anything untoward to Jayda. On the contrary, his first instinct was… “To protect me,” she mused aloud, watching again as Marcus jumped between her and the guards.
While she found the videos fascinating and useful, her father glanced at them and then harangued. “What did I say about getting intimately involved with Marcus?”
“How do you figure I’m involved?” she asked. “I brought Wade down there to have sex. Not my fault you didn’t have Marcus tied down well enough.”
In that moment, her father, and not the doctor, eyed Jayda, expression a flat mask. “We both know you did it on purpose. Marcus is attracted to you. You intentionally set him off.”
“Yes, but did you see how much better he behaved than in the past?” Much better. No one died.
“What I saw was you getting lucky.”
Not really. If she’d gotten lucky, she wouldn’t have needed her showerhead the night before.
She turned off the video and stood to confront her father. “Adrian told me to deal with Marcus. So I am.”
“Provoking him so that the beast comes out isn’t what I call helping him,” her father retorted hotly.
“Keeping him calm won’t prepare him. He needs to learn control.”
“Let him learn from someone else.”
“What’s this? Are you showing paternal concern?” Jayda mocked. “Funny how selective you are about when it applies. When you wanted to catch Marcus, you were all for my doing anything I could to give a hand. Now that I’m to work intimately with him in your place, you’re having a jealousy fit.”
“It’s not jealousy. The man is dangerous.”
Very. It was one of his most redeeming traits.
“I’m also dangerous. Which is why Adrian has trusted me with this. Pity you don’t have faith enough in me, too.”
“This has nothing to do with my belief in your abilities. I think you being around him is dangerous for your own recovery.”
Her tone went flat. “There is nothing wrong with me.”
“You’re different.”
“No duh,” she mocked.
Her father bristled. “You know it’s more than the treatment. I really wish you’d talk to Dr. Griffon.”
“A head shrink?” Her lip curled. “There is nothing wrong with my mind.”
“What about your emotions?” he asked. “The fact you lack empathy—”
“Makes me excellent at my job. And what makes you think I had much before?”
Pre-treatment, Jayda lacked the courage of conviction when it came to follow through. After her treatment, it became easy to accomplish anything she put her mind to. Even if it involved killing.
“I worry about you.” A softly made admission that brought her close enough to put her hand on his arm.
“And I worry about you, Daddy.” She looked him in the eye and broached the reality of what he’d done. “Have you heard the other voice yet?" The one she’d immediately embraced because of its strength. But others, like Marcus, had fought it.
“I am perfectly sane. And so are you.” As if by mere force of will he could make it so. Perhaps he could. When she’d been a young girl, her daddy always did seem invincible. Look at him, curing her when all the doctors claimed she would die.
Her hero.
And pain in the ass.
“If you don’t think I’m crazy, then why not give me some room to work with? You need my help,” Jayda insisted.
Her father sighed, looking old despite his more youthful features. “Be careful.”
“Never.” Her favorite answer. “So how’s he doing this morning?”
“He’s not yet woken from the darts.”
“But he’s okay?” she asked, needing confirmation.
Her father nodded. “While he was sleeping, we had a new room prepared for him. A more secure one.”
“With thicker chains?” She shook her head. “No thanks. I want him out of level six.”
The laughter proved sharp. Her father still chuckled as he said, “No way.”
“I don’t know how you expect me to make progress when he’s tied down like a criminal on his way to an execution.”
“Better he be tied than free to go on a rampage and kill everyone he finds.”
“Ah, look at you, pretending to have a conscience.” She patted her father’s cheek. “It’s cute. You are also assuming I’ll fail. I won’t. However, to get Marcus to trust me, I need to give him something. A gift to show what is possible.”
“You are not taking him out of level six. If you want him out of the chains, then we’ll put him in the bunker.” The nickname for the r
oom made entirely of concrete. Bed, table, stools. The only thing a patient could throw was a tantrum with his pillow.
Given she’d aimed high, hoping for this exact outcome, she controlled her features as she sighed and said, “The bunker works, but I want to be the only one allowed inside.”
That compressed her father’s lips. “He still needs to be studied.”
“You’ll have to do it from afar. Like I said, I need him to trust me if I want him to listen. Besides, you don’t need daily blood from him.”
“We also don’t need sperm samples.” Her father’s crude words wrinkled her nose.
“Ew, Daddy. Really.”
“I meant it, Jayda. No sex with him. Especially him. There’s no telling what might happen if the two of you…” He trailed off, so she finished.
“Had sex.” She raised her gaze heavenward. “God forbid I find a guy who can handle me and might give me an orgasm.”
That brought a ruddy hue to her dad’s cheeks. “Jayda!”
“What? Don’t play innocent. You know what happened to that guy I dated.” The first one she had sex with after she recovered from the treatments. Poor Perry still had to breathe through a tube.
“You just need to curb your strength.”
But that was the problem. She didn’t want to hold back.
“Don’t worry, Daddy. Now when I break someone, I make sure they never find the body.”
That brought a heavy sigh. “I swear you do it on purpose.”
Sometimes she did.
“There is another way to get him to trust you,” her father offered. “We could always try a dream walk. We’ve had it recently work with success.”
Let someone mess with her head? No thanks. Besides, why have dream fun with Marcus when she could have the real thing?
“I don’t trust that chick and her dream thing.” Another Chimera secret. “I’ll stick to the old-fashioned methods.”
“Hmmph.” Her father made a sound that said everything he felt. Including the one that made her hug him from behind.
“Love you, too, Daddy.” Releasing him, she strode to the door. “I’m going to check on Marcus.”
“Try and keep your clothes on this time.”
“Ah, Daddy. Why you trying to ruin all my fun?”
Chapter Fourteen
Marcus woke to Jayda crouching atop him, lightly slapping his cheek. “Rise and shine, kitty.”
“Go away. I was having a nice nap.” He twisted onto his side, only moderately surprised when it worked. Apparently his subconscious noticed the lack of fetters. Jayda managed to roll with his body and ended up on her side beside him on the foam mattress barely wide enough for two.
Worried she might fall, he placed a hand on her waist.
Why did he care?
He shoved her off.
She didn’t completely fall. Jayda rose, put her elbows on the mattress, and grinned at him. “Feeling better?”
Not really. Having her near just reminded him of how fucking hard she made him. How much he wanted her. The fact that his hands were free with a bed under him.
He glanced at the camera sitting over the door, the red light a reminder they weren’t actually alone.
Perhaps her daddy watched.
The very idea had him reaching out to tug her close, murmuring, “I know what would make me feel better.”
Her laughter wasn’t a blow job or even a kiss. But he enjoyed it nonetheless. “You are a bad kitty. I see what you’re doing. Thinking you can piss off my daddy by diddling with his daughter.”
“Two birds. One stone.” He gave her a crooked smile. “Got any issues you’d like to act out?”
“Many, but not today. Today is about dealing with your jealousy.”
That got him to stiffen and roll away from her. “I don’t suffer from jealousy because I don’t give a shit about anything. Or anyone.”
“So last night you weren’t bothered at all by the fact I was going to bang some other guy? Let him put his hands all over me?”
Marcus never even realized he moved. He hauled her close, his lips brushing hers as he growled. “Don’t.”
“Don’t what, kitty?” she teased.
“Push me over the edge. You might not like what you see.”
“I might surprise you,” she murmured in reply
“Why do you keep coming back?” He really didn’t understand. For all that his mind had cleared, and he could think again, he couldn’t decipher what game she played.
“Told you, you’re my current assignment.”
“You’re not a doctor.”
“Nope.” She popped the p. “Not even close. But I do have experience in dealing with demons.”
The word did more to recoil him than anything. “So now I’m evil?”
“Stop being so bloody melodramatic.” She stalked around the bed to face him. “I was talking about the demons up here.” She tapped her temple.
“What would you know about them?” he sneered. “What would you know about any of this?” He swept a hand.
“Have you forgotten who my dad is?”
“As if I could ever forget his face. He’s the one who did this to me.”
“Then we have something in common. My dad experimented on me, too.”
At the claim, he laughed. “Nice try, baby.” He used the word intentionally, and her expression stiffened.
“Don’t call me that,” Jayda spat, her body bristling.
“Tell you what, I’ll stop when you use my name instead of kitty.”
“But kitty is a nice name. Means I think you’re soft and cuddly.”
“Don’t forget I have sharp claws.”
“You going to carve me up?” she asked, baring her throat.
A nice throat. A long, mocha strip with a pulse beating in the base of it.
“Go away.”
“Why would I do that when we’re having such a fascinating conversation?”
Him conversing, and with someone who didn’t need him to hide what he was. What a concept.
“You can’t fix me. This isn’t a mental issue.”
“Nope, because there’s nothing wrong with your mind. It’s your impulse control that needs work.” She flopped on the bed, making herself comfortable in direct opposite to him.
“I can control myself just fine.” Despite how delicious she appeared lying there, he didn’t pounce on her.
“Says the guy who jumped in front of a bunch of guards armed with guns.”
“Don’t worry. Had it been bullets, I would have used you as a shield.” Such a lie.
Jayda caught it. “Oh, kitty, you are such a bad liar. Something else I’ll have to teach you.”
“Why are you really here?” he asked. “What do you get out of this?”
“A paycheck.”
“So you’ll compromise your morals for money?”
“Doesn’t everyone?” The guileless wide-eyed stare almost brought a chuckle.
“What makes you qualified to help?” A horrid idea hit him, and he gaped at her. “You’re a shrink.”
“Most definitely not. Your horrified tone matches my thoughts about them.”
“So why you?”
“Because you wouldn’t talk to anyone else for starters. And because you apparently missed me saying it the first time. I’m special like you.”
“No, you’re not.” Too quickly he realized how it sounded. To his surprise, she didn’t appear offended.
She laughed. “Oh, how wrong you are. What do you see when you look at me?”
Perfection.
But instead he said, “A cocky lady who thinks it’s a wise idea to be in a room with me.”
“You won’t hurt me.”
“You don’t know that for sure,” he argued. It bothered she didn’t take him seriously as a threat. At the same time, it pleased she didn’t fear him.
“You need to stop seeing yourself as some kind of murdering monster. Unless you enjoy it?” She pierced him with a stare
. “Do you like killing things, kitty? Tearing them apart and licking your claws after?”
He gaped at her. “No.” Which was only partially true. The human side of him hated the violence. But the feline half...
“I enjoy controlled chaos,” she admitted.
“Meaning?”
She shrugged. “Meaning, when I kill, I do it because it’s expedient and necessary. Not out of emotion.”
He snickered. “Trying to convince me you’re a serial killer with no remorse? As if.”
“Why not?”
For many reasons, he stuck to facts. “Historically, women are unlikely to be the perpetrators of mass murder.”
“Unlikely, but it happens. And it’s not murder. Murder implies an emotional act. I kill for other reasons. Like money. Or to preserve a secret.”
Arguing seemed futile. He’d seen her act the night before. How she not only acquitted herself barehanded but had dominated the situation.
She must have gotten the good version of the serum. Beautiful and assertive. What she failed to realize, but he noticed, was she didn’t turn into a monster to fight.
He did.
“I’m not sure what a company killer is supposed to teach me. Or is this about recruitment? Does Chimera need more assassins?”
“Probably.”
“I won’t become his pet killer. So you might as well give up now.”
“If you’re going to be this difficult, then maybe I should blow this joint and go back to my real life.”
“Must be nice to have that option,” he muttered.
She rolled onto her stomach and watched him as he paced his new room. “Your life doesn’t have to be like this.”
“Is this where you tell the monster if he’s a good boy he’ll get to play outside?” The sarcasm rolled thickly off his tongue.
“It’s happened with others. Behave and you get freedom.”
“Freedom to do what?” he snorted. “I’ve been missing, probably presumed dead, for how long now? I have nowhere to go.” All his video games, his comfy chair, everything he used to own probably donated or trashed.
“Cry me a river. Having roots is overrated.”
“Says the woman with a father. And I’ll wager you have friends.”