Male laughter rang out up ahead, and Abbie stilled. Damn. Are they guarding the lab?
She glanced up at a camera in the corner. Monitors were installed in every office throughout the building, along with the security hub. The longer she stood in the open, the higher her chances were of being seen.
After a moment, the voices grew faint, signaling the men had headed off in the opposite direction. She blew out a breath she’d been holding and crept silently forward.
Noticing the door to the lab was closed when she rounded the corner, she quickly fished out the keycard from her back pocket and slid it effortlessly through the vertical groove situated next to the doorjamb. The green light activated right on cue, and she cringed as a click sounded loud enough to startle a sloth.
The predictable sounds of a lab in use met her ears as she eased the door open and entered her father’s domain. He obviously hadn’t heard the lock disengage over the consistent beeps and humming of the equipment surrounding him.
Abbie took in the room with a quick glance, noticing a big pair of feet hanging off the end of a bed her father stood next to.
Her heart began to pound as she crept farther inside. The closer she got the more confused she became. It was definitely a man lying on the bed; only, she’d never seen one that size in her lifetime.
A sheet covered his lower body from waist to ankles, leaving his upper half bare. His chest appeared devoid of hair and stood off the bed about two feet. He was massive and had to be at least six foot ten by her estimation.
Warmth enveloped Abbie as her gaze slid to the stranger’s face. Beautiful would be a gross understatement.
He had a smooth, strong jaw that angled up to slightly pointed ears. Pointed ears? His dark hair lay haphazardly tousled on the pillow. Full lips and a faintly crooked nose made up the rest of his face. She wondered what color his eyes were.
Without conscious thought, she inched forward on shaky legs. Why would they have him here? Is he sick? Contagious? It didn’t matter as long as she could stand there and drink him in.
Her father must have sensed her approach. He stiffened a second before spinning around. “What are you doing here?” He seemed more nervous than angry.
“I could ask you the same thing. What’s going on, Henry?” She nodded toward the incapacitated stranger taking up far too much bed.
“You have to leave. Now.”
Anger surged. “What is that man doing here? This isn’t a hospital, so don’t bullshit me.”
“Honey, please. You’re not supposed to be here. You need to go home. Now. I’ll explain it all in the morning.” He glanced toward to door several times as he spoke.
“Not until you tell me the truth.”
He took a deep breath and pinned her with an impatient stare. “Fine. But then you must go.”
She raised an eyebrow.
Chapter Two
Abbie stared at her father as he attempted to explain away the man’s presence with some fabricated tale.
“This is all I know. It…” Her father took a deep breath and started again. “It washed up on the beach a few hours ago. Newman called me in to run some tests before they extradite the corpse to Area 51.”
“Wait.” Abbie held up a hand when he would have continued. “Newman, the CEO of Winchester Industries? And it?”
He hesitated. “It’s not human, Abbie. I don’t know what it is, but I need to get these samples taken before the crew from Area 51 arrives. You have to go. No one else is to know about this.”
“Not human? That’s impossible.” Other than the stranger’s size and pointed ears, he appeared the same as any other man. “And how did he get here?”
Henry turned to a computer near the head of the bed and tapped a few keys. The screen came out of hibernation within seconds to display what looked to be a chest X-ray.
“Someone ran across the thing on the beach. Apparently it drowned somehow and floated up on shore. Local PD had the creature sent to the morgue, and Newman had it delivered here. He told the police this was a Hazmat situation and needed ‘him’ contained until they cleared the scene. No one questioned Newman since he owns the hospital and this lab. The cops had no idea it was an alien.”
“Why would they think he’s not human? Did the coroner open him up and find a little green man in residence?” She would have rolled her eyes if the situation didn’t already resemble a Twilight Zone episode.
“Come look at this.”
Abbie stood next to her father to gaze at the unbelievable evidence of a six-chambered heart. It took a moment to register what she was looking at, but there was no mistaking it.
“How is that possible? I’ve never seen anything like it. Do you know what this means?” Her voice sounded strained to her own ears.
“Neither have I. And it doesn’t mean anything to us. Once it leaves here, we forget it exists.”
“But, Henry—”
“No.” He glanced at his watch. “The crew will arrive in less than three hours to retrieve it, and then I develop amnesia. Do you understand?”
“We have a little time before they get here. Show me please? This is too amazing to be true.” Several questions ran through her mind at once. She couldn’t voice them all.
With a click of the mouse, another image appeared. “Do you see that?” Henry pointed to an object on the screen.
“Yes, what is it?” She leaned in to get a better look.
“The equivalent of lungs.”
“But what is that?” She indicated something winged that grew from the sides of the organs.
“They’re gills.” His voice took on an awed tone, which she could understand. She was in the same frame of mind.
“It can’t be.” The evidence of it mocked her from inches away.
Henry glanced up at her. “They’re gills, I tell you. I saw them on the back side of his ribs. His arms cover most of them and they wouldn’t be noticeable to someone that didn’t know what to look for.”
“Do you realize what this implies? Gills for God’s sake.”
“I’m seeing similarities to humans, amphibians, reptiles, and fish here, Abbie. The heart of a fish only has two chambers, one to receive blood and the other to send it out to the rest of the body. A human heart has four.
“Notice that our blood leaves the lungs and enters the heart, while a fish’s blood leaves the heart and enters the gills. And take a gander at this.” Henry clicked the mouse once more.
“What in the world?” she breathed, studying the image before her.
“It’s the digestive tract. I would give anything to be able to dissect it.”
His excitement at the possibility of a dissection disturbed her.
Abbie glanced over at the it in question, and something tugged at her emotions. Some kind of beautiful creature had washed up on the beach only to be violated and sent to a place few had ever witnessed. Area 51.
She shuddered and turned back to the screen. “Have you ever seen anything like this before? And why six chambers instead of two or four?”
“I don’t know why the six chambers. I understand that an octopus, squid, and cuttlefish have three separate hearts, so perhaps it has to do with evolution.”
Pinching the bridge of his nose, he continued. “I studied tissue samples taken from an unknown subject many years ago, but I wasn’t told its origin. And it had blood. This subject doesn’t. Well, not enough to fill a teaspoon, at any rate. And there are no wounds that it could have bled out from.”
“What?” Abbie was sure she hadn’t heard him right.
“Come here and I’ll show you.” Henry took up residence on the left side of the bed as she rushed around to the right.
He lifted the creature’s left arm, turning the hand so she could see both sides. “We attempted to draw blood here first. Nothing. Not a drop could be found.”
Replacing the arm, he gripped the subject’s chin next, tugging it to the side for her inspection. “One vein runs along here, from jaw
to the bottom of the neck. Dry also.”
“But— ”
“I’ll come back to that. There’s more.” He dragged the sheet down to a small pink vertical scar on the creature’s abdomen. “Impossible,” he gasped.
“What’s wrong?” Her gaze flew to her father’s face.” Henry had significantly paled.
“I made that incision less than an hour ago. It’s nearly healed already. The thing is dead. I don’t understand.”
“Are you sure he’s…gone?” Abbie couldn’t bring herself to refer to him as it.
“No heartbeat.” Henry laid two fingers on the creature’s neck. “No pulse. It’s dead all right.”
“So how did he heal if he isn’t alive?”
“I don’t know. I was able to remove a very small sample of something resembling blood from the stomach cavity, but it wasn’t in any of the A, B, O, or RH classes. It’s an anomaly.”
“Perhaps you should try giving him a universal donation to see what happens? I mean, if he healed, he has to be alive.”
“He? It’s not a person, Abbie. And I’d thought of that. I was just about to try it before you snuck in here and gave me indigestion. I’m running out of time. I want you gone before that crew arrives.”
“Then let’s hurry. I’ll help.”
He shot her an impatient glance. “So damn stubborn.”
“Yet another thing I inherited from you.”
“You’re not too old for me to turn over my knee, young lady.” He spun on his heel and left the room.
Abbie took advantage of Henry’s absence to study the beautiful creature before her. His wrists and ankles were strapped down with leather cuffs attached to bands that disappeared beneath the bed.
He looked very much alive to her, with color in his cheeks and his lips slightly parted. She was certain his mouth had been closed only moments before.
Her fingers shook as she reached toward him. She gently pushed his top lip up with her thumb. “Holy shit,” she whispered, jerking her hand back as if burned. He had razor-sharp incisors where his eyeteeth should have been.
When nothing untoward happened, Abbie slowly leaned in again and froze. Heat instantly surrounded her upper body. She felt a soft tugging sensation that left a tingle in its wake. Her muscles relaxed without effort as something unseen moved up the sides of her face.
A deeply accented voice invaded her mind. “Open.”
Abbie knew she should run, but the allure of the command was more powerful than her fear.
She allowed the warmth to pull her closer, never taking her gaze from his mouth, until she half lay across his massive chest with her arms on either side of his shoulders.
A gentle pressure wrapped itself around her mind, and she found herself inching toward his parted lips to hover slightly above them. His breath mingled with hers, and she breathed him in. He’s breathing?
Abbie felt as if his very spirit entered her body, traveling down her throat and circling her chest. The pressure continued to slide through her stomach and grew in strength as it reached her abdomen.
She had no desire to move even if it were possible. Her insides turned to liquid, and she exhaled softly into his mouth only to draw him in again. He’s alive…
Abbie shifted on his huge frame and stroked her fingertips down to his wrists. Though no pulse was evident, she could feel his energy, his breath teasing her lips.
On instinct, she gripped his hands and slowly turned them over until she was palm to palm with him. A gentle electrical current traveled up her arms, tingling, throbbing, as if it had a life of its own.
An image of herself as a child coming awake on the beach while waves washed over her legs suddenly flashed through her mind, and she jerked her head back. What the hell?
The pulsing continued through their points of contact while Abbie held her breath, lowering her face close to his once more. Another jolt entered her palms.
“Salutem.”
Where had she heard that before? She recognized it as the Latin word for greetings.
Images and voices began swirling together in a multitude of color and sound, leaving her helpless against the onslaught.
“Abbie, did you know that dolphins can communicate with humans?”
A groan slipped from her parted lips, full of pain and sorrow. Mother.
More current slid from his hands to hers. “Salt from his tears.” Water. Coffin. Death.
“No,” she softly moaned.
Sand. Her lungs hurt. Heat snaking through her arms and legs. “Salutem.” Blessed darkness.
Abbie heard a keening sound and realized it came from her. She slowly removed her shaky hands from his and brought them to his face. “It can’t be.”
With unsteady fingers, she rested her thumbs on his eyelids and gently lifted. A soft gasp escaped as she stared into the emerald-green eyes of a dream she’d thought long forgotten.
Memory was swift and strong, and she clung to it like a life raft on a raging sea.
She’d wondered a thousand times about the day they’d buried her mother, when the teenage boy with the strange accent and rare-colored eyes had magically appeared to save her life.
The memory had faded over the years until she’d convinced herself it’d all been the imagination of a child who’d recently suffered a trauma.
Abbie couldn’t believe the boy from her dreams was actually real and strapped down before her now.
She forced herself to break the connection and stand on legs that felt too weak to hold her up. His warmth abruptly disappeared, leaving an ache and emptiness in its place that was staggering.
Chapter Three
Unimaginable pain. Hauke could hear his sister’s scream piercing the night, ripping his heart in half. Sunlight scorched his skin. The cool, healing power of the water.
He could breathe once again. Voices. More pain. The distinct feel of a blade opening his skin.
His defenseless state enraged him. To be trapped inside his own mind, unable to retaliate as someone violated his body.
A female. Compassion.
Images plagued him, making little sense.
He clung to the female’s voice. She touched him. He knew she attempted to soothe him, yet he couldn’t read her thoughts.
“Open,” he mentally implored.
Her mind became partially exposed to him as he beckoned her closer. His spirit clawed its way to the surface, craving hers. It was a hunger unlike anything he’d ever known.
Her breath entered his mouth, and he felt as if he’d died a thousand times. He saw her lovely face in its true form behind his closed lids. Soft, warm, and expressive. She cared about what happened to him.
He took in her sweet scent, amazed as his spirit encircled hers, wrapping itself around her life force in a slow, sensual slide.
The connection broke unexpectedly, and he panicked. The pain from it went beyond the physical to be felt in his very soul.
Something pricked Hauke’s arm, and warm, blessed liquid traveled up, straight into his heart. It beat for the first time in hours— days… He was unsure of how long he’d been gone. If not for the membrane in the roof of his mouth producing the enzymes he needed to heal and keep his organs from shutting down, Hauke knew he would already be dead. He had no clue how long he’d been in the coma-induced sleep.
The sensation kept coming, and he realized blood somehow pumped into him. The female had to be responsible, he thought, feeling his body soak up every last drop of the coveted source.
Somewhere inside his subconscious, he knew it to be human blood now coursing through his veins. Forbidden among his kind, yet there was nothing he could do but allow it to happen.
Moisture filled his eyes in stark relief, and his protective lenses slid into place. He lifted his lids enough to see shapes moving around the room.
The female’s voice sounded from somewhere near his feet, and he zeroed in on her. She wasn’t beautiful in the conventional sense, though she was still very attractive. Sensualit
y surrounded her. He wished she would come closer where he could see her eyes.
A beeping noise echoed around him, and someone shouted from nearby. “It’s alive, Abbie! Get back.”
“I’m okay, Henry. He’s strapped down and not fighting.”
Abbie…
Hauke’s people had been familiar with the English language since the great flood over two thousand years ago. Some of the words had changed over time, but he had little trouble keeping up. Although, the couple in the room with him did have strange accents, he silently admitted.
Hauke didn’t recognize the voice to his left and cut his gaze in that direction. A tall man with gray hair, wearing a white garment stared back at him with wide eyes. Hauke growled deep in his throat, registering him as a threat.
Abbie’s voice broke through his defensive state. “Hello? Can you understand me?”
He brought his focus back on her, and his chest constricted with emotion. It was her. The young girl that nearly drowned in the gulf all those moons ago.
The foreign feeling did little to slow his curiosity. He openly stared, drinking in her expressive features.
Hauke wanted to communicate with her, but the older man would hear. He sent her a thought instead. ”I comprehend.”
A small intake of air was the only sign that she might have heard him.
He tried again. “Come.”
She slowly moved forward until she stood next to his head. The fact that she’d gone to the same side as the man wearing white wasn’t lost on Hauke. She is protecting me. The thought warmed him.
The female had no idea how much power he possessed. The only reason he hadn’t broken loose and snapped the old one’s neck stood before him now. He didn’t want her to fear him.
“Abbie.” He liked the sound of her name.
She appeared nervous but didn’t run. There was a determined set to her jaw that he found oddly sexy.
Enigma:What Lies Beneath (Enigma Series Book 1) Page 2