“And Carol?” she asked. “You said nothing of Carol.”
“I know you sense the change in her. They’ve gotten to her, Laura.”
Denial flashed in her eyes as she shook her head. “No. No.” She grabbed the front of his shirt as she had the night before. “She was such a sweet girl. She’s mixed up. I won’t let you write her off. I know how soldiers operate—they weigh the risks. She’s not an acceptable loss. None of my patients are acceptable losses.”
He wasn’t going to argue the hard choices in a mission. Decisions were made to save the most lives. It had to be that way. “We’ll sedate her and take her back with us, but I make no promises that she can be saved.” He reached out and tried to stroke her cheek. She leaned away from the touch, and his heart twisted with the rejection. “We’ll try, Laura.” His hands covered hers as she tried to retreat, her eyes flashing to his in anger. “The place we are taking you to is our headquarters. You will have every resource you need to help Carol and to complete your work. No strings attached.”
“So your people can use us like these Beasts want to do?”
It was a reasonable assumption, but no less hard to swallow. For someone who could read his emotions, she judged him harshly time and time again. Perhaps the darkness in him was more than he could contain. He shoved away that unsettling thought. “We don’t need your research. We have our own abilities or we wouldn’t be able to fight the Beasts.”
“What kind of abilities?” There was accusation in her tone, and he jerked back from her, releasing his hold.
“I cannot control your actions, Laura, if that is what you are implying. Only you do. Regret what you might about last night, but that choice was yours, not mine.”
Her lashes fluttered, lifted. “I’m sorry. I…This is all so confusing.”
He didn’t want apologies and ignored it, answering her previous question instead. He was tired of being in knots. Ready to get this over. “We can do everything our enemies can, minus their evil intentions.”
“Yet they didn’t create you?”
Rinehart hesitated, treading on dangerous water, not about to tell her the full story. Not yet. Letting her think he was a lab invention would make this easier for her to process. “Our abilities are born of the efforts made to stop the Beasts. We have no agenda but stopping the Beasts, Laura. None.”
She wet her lips, the act driving his attention to her mouth and tightening his groin. Damn, he needed to get out of here. He needed air and time to clear his head.
“And saving us fits that agenda,” she said.
“You, specifically,” he said, hating that admission. “You’re dangerous in their hands, Laura. And I am not talking about any ability you might possess. I am talking about your skill in a lab. Your capability to clone people like your patients and turn them into dangerous soldiers.”
“I don’t have that ability,” she argued, her hand going to her forehead for a second before motioning to him. “That’s why Walch brought you here.”
“Because Lucan convinced him that using your work and his together could make it happen. Lucan based those assumptions on the same science Walch has already gathered himself. He just wanted someone who would do what you wouldn’t. They know you’re capable of making it happen.”
She didn’t deny his claim. “I don’t believe it,” she said, her voice emotional, tight, her gaze drifting to his chest. “All my life I’ve tried to find a way to set people free, and I’ve done nothing but put us all on the radar screen.”
“Not everyone, Laura,” he said softly, reiterating the hardest blow. “You.”
She raised her gaze. “So there it is,” she said, her eyes glistening with anger. “You didn’t come to take my patients out of captivity. You came to take me.”
What could he say? He’d come to her by destiny a lover and by order, if needed, a possible executioner.
Twelve hours he’d been in that snake pit. Long enough to know he didn’t want to go back.
Walch flung the telephone against the wall. He didn’t want to hear about technical difficulties. He sat down on the edge of the mattress and ran his hands over his head, fury barely contained. Rinehart was behind this; he had to be.
Somehow he had to salvage the situation. But he couldn’t do it with everything going wrong at once!
“It’s not as bad as it seems.” He glanced to the doorway to find Carol leaning against the wood frame. She looked like the Carol of the past, with a schoolgirl skirt and flat shoes that looked sexy instead of prim. “Tezi doesn’t want your glory. He wants his army. Give him that and he’ll go away.”
“You get friendly with a couple of Demons, and suddenly you know everything, I guess.”
She sauntered toward him and stopped when her knees touched his. “I don’t have to know everything,” she said, staring down at him. “I have Lithe and Litha for that. You showed your cards too soon. You told them about the cloning before it happened. They were greedy. Greed made them impatient.” She slid one leg over his lap and straddled him, arms lacing around his neck. “Greed feeds impatience.” He didn’t touch her. It infuriated him to want her when she’d betrayed him. “The guardians want to help you make this go away. I want to help.”
“Help,” he said, his hands reaching behind him on the bed. “Why would they help me?”
“They like making new friends.” She smiled. “Friends who owe them favors.”
As long as it served Tezi. He wasn’t a fool. He was being manipulated. The fact that Carol, his creation, was the messenger only made that bitter pill harder to swallow. “And what favor do they want from me?”
“Nothing now,” she purred, her hands traveling across his chest. “I’ll help you now. You’ll help them later.”
“You can’t do anything at this point,” he said, his tone disgusted. “You can’t even go back to the lab. Your blood is black. It cannot be tested.”
“You really should have thought of that before you bit me the last time,” she said. “But that’s okay. I have a plan. We’ll have everyone marked by the guardians by morning. Then, Tezi will get his army, and you will be rewarded with all that power you so desire.”
“And what will you get, Carol?”
“You,” she said. “I get you.” She smiled. “You won’t mind sharing a little power with me, now, will you?”
Chapter 14
Hours had passed since Laura’s conversation with Rinehart. Hours since he’d been man enough to admit the truth—that he couldn’t let her fall into enemy hands, no matter what the cost. She’d felt the pain in his admission and knew he was battling to reconcile his feelings for her with his obligation to his duty. She’d sworn she would never do anything to aid wrongdoing. But he’d grimly promised that the Beasts would convince her to cooperate in any painful way they could. She didn’t want it to be true, but she was a realistic person, if nothing else. Everyone had weaknesses. They’d torture her, torture people she cared about. Reality drew a clear picture. And it was clear to her now that the Beasts were evil. No matter what the intentions of Rinehart’s superiors, she shared at least one agenda with them: She didn’t want herself to end up with the Beasts.
Laura stuck a vial in the rack in front of her and glanced at the desk a few feet away, where Rinehart had lingered most of the day, always close, always watchful. She studied the man now as if he held the answers to every question in the universe. There was a measured reserve about him, a precision to everything he did that spoke of the military, of the inbred soldier. Except when they were alone, making love. Then there had been wildness, uncontrolled, primal. And Lord help her, it excited her to know she was the one capable of doing that. Her head said caution, but her passion had a mind of its own, and, it seemed, so did her heart. Those parts of her preferred to listen to instinct; they preferred to get close to Rinehart rather than to push him away.
He looked up from the paper he studied, perhaps feeling her attention, and raised his brow in silent inquiry. She s
hook her head, turning away from him as she did. There was tension between them, sexual and otherwise. How could there not be, considering everything that had happened between them in the past twenty-four hours?
A few feet away, Lucan studied the samples of the twins’ blood under a microscope. The sight of him that morning up and about had been a relief. She hated knowing he’d been hurt because of her. She didn’t want anyone hurt because of her. Whatever that might mean for her, she had to live with it.
“Unbelievable,” Lucan said, leaning back in his chair and running his hands over his tan dress pants. “No wonder they aren’t sick. All signs of the viral infection are gone.”
Laura frowned. “That can’t be. Did you rerun the test?”
“Three times,” Lucan confirmed. “Could the original test have been off? Maybe they were never infected.”
“They were infected,” she said. “All of them.” Blake had woken up with a fever and chills. Kresley still felt horrible. And Carol, well, Carol was nowhere to be found. They’d tried her door, no answer. What if Carol was sick? What if she was injured? Laura fingered the master key in her pocket, considering whether she should use it. She hated to intrude on her patients’ privacy.
Rinehart rolled his chair closer to the conversation. “I take it this is unusual.”
Laura shook off her thoughts of Carol momentarily and tapped her fingers on the lab table. “It’s not entirely impossible to never develop symptoms, but unlikely. Especially both of them.”
“Or maybe it’s another ability,” Lucan suggested. “Something to do with their immune systems. Have they ever been sick since you started working with them?”
This was a perfect opening to explain how she’d created this flu bug, but she hesitated to do so. She didn’t want to take any chances of being overheard, although the computers and phones were down, so Max’s cyber virus was still wrecking havoc in all kinds of ways, cutting off communication and surveillance.
“The twins haven’t been sick, but before this, none of them had more than a sniffle. They’ve led a pretty sterile life, so that didn’t raise any red flags. Whatever the reason, it’s good they aren’t sick.” They all knew escaping would be easier without everyone ill. “I wish I could say the same for Blake and Kresley.” She glanced at the clock. “It’s time to give them their injections.”
Lucan pushed to his feet. “I can do it.”
Protectiveness flared and Laura opened her mouth to reject the offer and then reconsidered. Lucan had been working by her side for hours now, and she’d gotten nothing but help from him. The man had been tortured and still worked as if nothing had happened. These men shared an immediate goal, getting everyone she cared about off this island. And she had to take care of other matters, like copying her work, which would have a long-term impact on everyone.
“Yes,” she said. “Okay. Can you stop by Carol’s room again, too, while you’re at it?” She scooped the key out of her pocket and hesitated before offering it to him. “I have access to all the patients’ rooms for medical emergencies.”
Lucan took the key. “I won’t use it unless I have to,” he promised. He cut Rinehart a look, which seemed to include some silent message she didn’t understand, before he headed to the back room to collect the supplies he needed.
Rinehart pushed to his feet and then stepped to her side, his hands running down her arms, sending darts of warmth over her skin. “We’ll find her,” he promised, and she had no doubt he meant the words. But he also believed Carol couldn’t be saved, and that wasn’t acceptable to her.
“We have to find her,” Laura said, and dropped her voice to a whisper. “Because I won’t leave without her.”
“And I won’t leave without you,” he said.
“You mean can’t,” she countered.
“Won’t, Laura. I’m not going anywhere without you.”
She clung to those words in a way that scared her, so she turned away from him. “I should get back to work,” she said, sitting down in front of the microscope, trying to ignore the way he was silently willing her to look at him again. But she wouldn’t. He had a mission and she was it. This could only end badly for them.
About forty-five minutes after leaving the lab, Lucan knocked on Kresley’s door. He’d stopped by Blake’s apartment first, which proved a hostile experience and a dangerous one, too. The kid not only didn’t trust him, he’d made accusations about kidnapping the patients and taking them off the island. It was all he could do to keep from grabbing a sock and stuffing it into the boy’s mouth. He could only hope Max’s technology overhaul of the building was still causing havoc with the surveillance equipment. Lucan had done his best to calm Blake, but he hadn’t been nearly as effective as Blake’s fever, which had spiked and forced him to rest.
The door opened and Kresley appeared—and for Lucan, that moment would be forever engraved in his memory. She affected him deeply, her very existence like a warm blanket sliding around him. On some dim level, he had known she would. After all, when he was being tortured, she’d been the hope he’d clung to. He studied her now, trying to understand why that was.
Red hair, light eyes, light freckles brushing her delicate nose. Her lips were dry, her skin too pale from illness. She wore old gray sweats and a pink T-shirt. And she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.
There was an innocence about her that reached beyond her youth. A rightness he couldn’t explain. Perhaps that was why he had thought of his sister and Kresley in the same moment. Two innocents who didn’t deserve to be victims in a deadly war. Beyond that, there was no comparison between the two, and certainly what stirred in him now spoke of her female allure, not a family resemblance.
Kresley delicately cleared her throat, and he realized awkwardly that he’d been staring. Lucan blinked and shook himself inwardly.
“Hi. Kresley, right?” She nodded, and he smiled. “I’m Lucan. Laura asked me to give you an injection.”
She frowned. “There’s no way Laura asked you to give me an injection. Not unless I went to sleep and woke up in some alternate universe.”
“That’s pretty much what Blake said,” Lucan acknowledged. “It took me about an hour to convince him the shot wasn’t laced with arsenic.”
She laughed and then pressed her palm to her forehead. “Oh. Don’t make me laugh. It hurts.” She motioned him forward. “This bug is kicking my backside.”
“Hopefully, it’s almost over,” he said, entering the apartment. “But the flu can hang on awhile.”
“I guess Blake is sick, too?” she asked, shoving the door closed behind him and then motioning him to the living room.
“He’s feeling pretty rough,” Lucan confirmed. He followed her to the couch, noting the pillow and blanket there. The television was on mute; she turned it off with the remote.
Kresley curled up on the corner of the couch opposite him and pulled the blanket to her neck. “And the others?”
“So far they are fine,” he said, hoping to avoid the topic of Carol, as he deposited the hard-bottomed bag he carried on the coffee table. He pulled the zipper back. “Any trouble controlling your powers since you’ve been sick?”
“Why?” she asked, a teasing quality to her voice. “Afraid I will set you on fire when you stick that needle in my arm?”
“Will you?” he asked, and withdrew the injection from the bag.
“It’s doubtful,” she said in mock seriousness. “But I keep a fire extinguisher handy for emergencies.”
Lucan smiled. A genuine, heartfelt kind of smile that he hadn’t experienced in at least a century.
He pushed the coffee table out of the way and knelt down on the floor beside her. She smelled clean and female, without the scent of perfume or unnecessary fluff. Just woman. But then, she was more girl than woman. A virgin, he was almost certain—someone who should be running from someone as dark as he.
He uncapped the needle. “You ready?”
She cast him an incredulous lo
ok. “After a million needles in my lifetime, I am always ready.”
He quickly completed the injection, his mind wrapping around her announcement. Her life had been complex, full of challenge, yet she seemed untouched by it all, completely without bitterness.
On his knees beside her, he found himself full of questions. “Where are your parents?”
“I scared them,” she said simply. “They left me with Laura.” Again, without any hint of reproach. But it was there, it had to be—the pain, the hurt. His gut said that the biggest fire she had waiting to explode was the emotional one that she had buried. She tilted her head and studied him more closely. “I don’t scare you, though, do I?”
“Not much scares me,” he said, but the truth was, she did scare him. She scared him because he didn’t understand his reaction to her. She seemed to soothe him in some unexplainable way. Perhaps some of her innocence slid into the darkness in him and gave him hope. He disposed of the needle, but found himself unable to move. He leaned back on his heels, still close to her, by her side. “You’re very brave,” he said.
She let a tiny laugh escape her lips. “Obviously you haven’t talked to Rinehart. I had a minibreakdown last night.” She explained to him what had happened. “So, see? I am not brave. I am terrified. Terrified I’ll die before I do whatever I’m supposed to do.”
That statement puzzled him. “Which is what?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “I just know there is something. Don’t you ever feel as if you have a purpose?”
She has just said the same words he’d spoken to Rinehart, as if she knew he needed to hear them from someone other than himself. “It’s what keeps me going,” he admitted softly.
“Then you understand.” With that she reached out and touched his jaw. Desire jackknifed through his groin, and he bolted to his feet.
She jerked back into her couch corner and pulled the blanket over her. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why I did that.”
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