“It would take her time to move them, yes? She would want to move them.”
The situation had spiraled out of his control. “Pull over.”
“Did you think I wouldn’t know about the others? Do you know how many times you and your cronies slipped up and said ‘trans-humans’ or ‘experiments’ or ‘subjects’? As in plural? As in more than one scary, fucked-up Eva floating out there in a tube?” She laughed, the sound a little wild, like everything else about her, and Dante felt his heart breaking for the worry she must have suffered, the disquiet, knowing she might not be the only one of her kind.
He was ashamed to have hidden it from her. Eva deserved to know the truth. She was strong enough to deal with it, smart enough to understand, and she was human enough to need to hear it.
“We didn’t know how to tell you,” he started then paused, searching for the words that might erase fourteen days of doubt. “There are seven others.”
“Did they…look like me?” she whispered, words breaking, jaw working around them stiffly.
“Yes.” It hurt to see the look that shadowed her face then, neither fear nor revulsion, but a strange acceptance. “But you were different, Eva. I saw you while I was looking for Faria—just a vision and a feeling of you in that tank. Alone. When my team and I arrived, we were blown away that you weren’t alone. But you had been pulled aside—the tank you were in—separated from the others. There was a filtration system connecting the others—you had been cut off.”
“Why?”
“We don’t know. It’s one of the things we’ve been working on.” He exhaled, feeling relieved to have it out in the open. “Pull over, Eva.”
“Why should I?” she asked calmly.
He watched her. Saw beyond her façade to the exhaustion, the hurt, but most of all the determination. “Because you can’t drive in the sunlight.”
She swore and he heard the tears in her voice.
“I can,” he said and waited for understanding to dawn.
It didn’t take long. “You’ll drive?” she asked, voice softer, vulnerable.
He nodded. “I don’t want to. I don’t want you to ever go back there. But if it’s something you have to do, I’ll take you back to where we found you.”
Eva pulled over, carefully checking the traffic around her before she eased the car into the emergency lane.
They switched seats without exchanging words. Dante was wearing a black jacket over a knit, cream-colored shirt. He pulled the jacket off and offered it to her. “For your eyes.”
He eased the jeep back into traffic.
“You don’t think we’ll find anything, do you?” she asked much later, voice muffled beneath the black cloth.
“No.”
“What if she’s there?”
“I’ll let you ask your questions.”
Eva reached out and placed her cool hand on his thigh. He felt her touch reverberate through his entire form. “And after?”
He was glad she couldn’t see his face. After…if they were lucky—or unlucky—enough to find Faria, he would exact his revenge. For himself. And for her.
It occurred to him that he might have to kill his woman’s mother.
It occurred to him that his woman might not like that.
In the wake of his prolonged silence Eva pulled her hand away and Dante felt its absence like the cruel kiss of a jagged knife in his gut.
But he held to the knowledge that for both their sakes, Faria had to be judged. Punished. Erased from their lives. Even if it meant losing Eva in the aftermath, Dante knew he had to take care of Faria, if only to set Eva free.
He stomped his boot on the gas pedal, needing the speed of the chase to ease the pain in his too-steadily beating heart.
It was roughly a nine-hour drive to the remote lake hidden within the Adirondack wilds. After stopping for gas and clothes for Eva, Dante made it in eight.
Chapter Six
The trail looked used but wasn’t well maintained. The jeep drove over the pits in the pathway easier than the van had, but Eva felt each one deep in her bones.
This was the place. She remembered the way here well, especially this bumpy, rustic, makeshift road.
“We’ll stop here. Just in case.” Dante quieted the engine. “We don’t want to set off any alarms.”
“How did you keep from setting them off last time?”
“I’m telekinetic.” His eyes glinted, feral and feline, darkened wood.
It was safe enough for her sensitive eyes here beneath the dense canopy of trees, but seeing the gathering violence in Dante’s eyes, Eva almost wished she’d kept her own covered.
“You disabled the security system with your mind?” She knew she shouldn’t sound so incredulous—she’d seen much in her time spent within Sterling’s walls. But she’d never witnessed anything so…otherworldly as telekinesis. At least not from Dante, though she’d heard evidence of his power in the respect and awe of the voices of those around him.
“It’s all about visualization. See the object move, and it moves. In this case, I visualized the wiring of the electronic sensors and saw them…malfunction.” There was a bright flash of his teeth.
It was the only warning she had. And then her newly bought jeans unbuttoned, unzipped and were pushed by invisible hands down her hips. But she remained sitting and the denim could not go lower…so Dante had limits. It was reassuring, but only just.
He laughed, the sound thick and warm as molasses. She heard the echo of her own laugh before she felt it escape her lips.
Wind moved the trees. The shadows stretched and reshaped. She sobered. “Thank you, Dante.”
“For what?”
“For bringing me here.” She sighed. “For being with me.”
He took her hand in his and kissed her knuckles. His skin was, as always, a welcome wash of heat against hers.
His breath played over her hand. “You don’t have to do this. We can go. We don’t have to go back to Sterling if you don’t want to. We can find our own way.”
She thought about it. Was tempted by it. “Could you do it? Could you let it go so that in years to come you won’t dream of finding Faria? Let it go and not find yourself searching whenever you leave your body and streak through the ether?”
He sighed. “I don’t know.”
She could smell the truth of those words. “Me either,” she admitted.
“It’s what makes us human,” he mused. “Our curiosity. Our need to know. Our need to right the wrongs.”
Eva was enchanted that he’d said “us”, including her in the human chain. She was further moved to realize he’d done so naturally and without hesitation.
The scent of the lake permeated her thoughts. It was a reminder of their wild flight on the night of her liberation. A reminder of the uncertain hours to come.
It smelled of rotted vegetation and dead fish.
And then came Dante’s scent, washing away the distasteful lake with the cleansing tang of his maleness. His soap and aftershave also helped dispel the stench of the dark water. He smelled like…Dante. She knew if she put her nose inside her new T-shirt, she’d smell a little like him too.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
Eva realized she’d put her nose in the neckline of her shirt. She laughed and told him the truth. “I was smelling you on me.”
His ocher eyes caught fire. Their golden glow burned through her and he didn’t need to read her mind to know how deeply it affected her, the desire in his gaze.
He reached for her and dragged her across the seat. He opened his door and climbed out, still dragging her with him.
“Dante!” she hissed, mindful of the danger, but also incredibly aroused by it.
“You’ll be surprised to know there aren’t many cameras on Faria’s compound.” His hands pushed down her unzipped jeans. “And none that can see us here.”
Eva didn’t care, not one whit. He palmed her ass cheeks and squeezed, lifting her against him. There c
ould be no doubt as to the effect she had on him. He was hard, hot and heavy against her.
Urgency riding her, Eva pushed at his clothes, putting her hands beneath his shirt to feel his rigid stomach and bulging pecs. The heat of his skin was like fire and she relished the burn.
His nipples were hard beneath her fingertips. She pushed his shirt up and set her mouth to one, biting him gently just to hear him gasp and growl. She brandished her claws on his skin, scoring him, leaving behind pink streaks on his golden flesh.
Her roughness inspired his own, and he turned her fast enough to whip her head around on her neck. She laughed, a deep and throaty sound, the sound of a woman in thrall to her man.
His tongue traced the line of her spine. He pushed her hard against the jeep, his fingers bruising the flare of her hips. With his warm, rough fingers he squeezed her ass again, separating the cheeks, letting the cool air kiss her.
Eva stepped out of her jeans, kicking them away in her eagerness, and threw her hair back out of her eyes, watching him over her shoulder.
Something about her tossing her hair must have enflamed him. He fisted her hair, pulling roughly but not cruelly, twisting her neck about for his kiss. He tasted wild, spicy and decadent, his lips crushing hers against her teeth.
He filled her mouth with his tongue. Filled her head with his scent and imprinted his touch on her skin. Then he freed her. Eva gasped, leaning limply against the vehicle. Dante bent behind her and used his teeth on her buttocks, kneading her with his hands, nibbling her with his lips.
Eva would have fallen if he hadn’t been so strong, supporting her weight so effortlessly.
His fingers found a path between her legs. Found her wetness. Delved deeper, penetrating her, and she bit back her cries. It was delicious, sweet, nearly painful, the desire that racked her. But pain was warm, sometimes hot, and she welcomed the heat.
He rose and pressed tightly against her back. She felt him work the fastenings of his own jeans, felt his fingers seeking, felt the prod of his thick cock at her slickly wet pussy. He slid in, stretching her until she burned but she couldn’t cry out her triumph, her ecstasy—silence was all that kept them secret and safe now.
She wanted to scream.
Instead she pushed her bottom back against him insistently, rising up on her toes, taking his cock deeper inside her. It was all the encouragement Dante seemed to need. He immediately began to pound his body into hers, riding her hard, hands heavy and strong on her hips.
She felt the bite of his teeth on her shoulder and nearly lost it. But she wanted it to last…she fought off her orgasm, but it left her knees trembling. Her mouth dry.
When he sucked the lobe of her ear into his mouth, when he used his teeth there, she couldn’t hold back. Her climax slammed into her with all the force of a mountain crumbling onto her head. The pressure made it impossible to breathe, impossible to move. She rose up, taut like a dancer, muscles hard and shuddering with the strain of her enforced silence and violent coming.
The rhythm of his thrusts increased. The power doubled. His fingers dug deep into her hips, leaving perfect imprints of his possession in bruises that would later darken into a lovely violet.
The hot flood of his release inside her was enough to send her over the edge again. And again. She bit her lips ragged to keep from screaming. Gravity pulled his essence down, smearing creamily down the insides of her thighs.
He collapsed against her, breath bellowing.
A bird called from high up in the canopy. Another echoed the cry. Perhaps they are mates, Eva thought, a bleary smile curving her lips.
Dante recovered first. Eva’s knees stayed weak, her thigh muscles shaking, her breath still coming in pants. He made sure she was steady against the jeep before retrieving her jeans. Dazed as she was, she was grateful when he tenderly helped her dress.
From passion to violence to tenderness, Dante made her feel…kept. Taken care of. Safe.
“But we’re not safe,” he reminded her. “Come on. We’ve got some loose ends that need tying.”
It wasn’t until they saw the camouflaged entrance to Faria’s underground compound that Eva realized he’d read her mind. She was pleased to note that she felt no anger. Instead she felt less…alone.
His hand was warm around hers as he took her into the portal from which she’d been birthed.
* * * * *
Eva had prepared herself for this moment as much as she could.
She’d been naïve to think it would do her any good.
The long walk into the earth, deep into the bunker beneath the lake, hadn’t taken as much time as she’d secretly hoped. She’d wanted the moments to steel herself. To steady her nerves.
No, the walk had not taken long enough by half.
Seeing the tanks filled with cloudy liquid that did nothing to disguise the naked, hairless forms floating within made Eva gag. This was worse than she’d imagined.
Each form was a copy of her. Or close enough. They didn’t have the lines of character she’d earned in her two weeks of life. They didn’t have the wide eyes or wild hair or musculature that improved upon itself every day. But they were her twins, floating there in their glass wombs, tubes in their mouths, eyes closed as if in slumber.
Eva gagged again, sagging against the solid strength of Dante. She was a thousand times glad that he’d come with her now, a million times thankful that she hadn’t come alone to witness this horror, as she’d originally planned.
God, had it only been last night when she’d broken free of her room at Sterling? It felt like a lifetime had passed from that moment to this. Eva felt old, the weight of her age not measured in years but in eons.
“So you’ve come back to your family? And you’ve brought a friend.”
Eva and Dante both froze at the sound of that too-familiar voice. A voice so like hers but richer somehow, inflections in the utterance of vowels belying the neutrality of Eva’s accent.
“Come forward, child.”
The voice touched her like a clawed finger, digging into her cruelly with its benevolent but insincere veneer.
Eva stepped forward, compelled to see her, but Dante held her fast, his hand anchoring her by its grip on her upper arm. “Don’t.”
She frowned. Here, in the shadows of the crypt, where only the faintest light illuminated the concrete décor, she could see him more clearly than perhaps ever she had. He was frowning, his eyes glittering with a feverish intensity.
“Let me see you.” The voice of her mother calling.
“Don’t, Eva.”
Why? she asked him, mind to mind, thought to thought.
You’ve seen enough. We can leave here, now, together, and never look back.
No. She shook her head to emphasize her quiet rejection. I have to speak with her.
Eva. Please.
I can’t. She jerked her arm away.
I love you. Doesn’t that mean anything?
She paused. It means everything, Dante. But…
Their gazes met in the shadowy cold and no more words were needed. He could see the determination in her eyes. Feel it in her mind, that great enigma he’d so longed to plumb, which now lay open and bared to him.
He nodded his understanding, his eyes hard and watchful, looking ahead to where her maker waited beyond the reach of any dim illumination.
Eva turned and walked deeper into the crypt. Her siblings lined her on each side, all quietly sleeping. Her footfalls sounded loud in her sensitive ears and she wondered if Faria’s ears were as sensitive, or if that was simply part of her design, like everything else.
“Yes, that’s it. Let me have a look at you.” Faria’s words sounded so proud, so maternal.
When Eva saw her, at last, it was not at all like looking into a mirror as she’d imagined it might be.
At first glance the woman was beautiful. She had a golden halo of curls, long and shining hair that mocked Eva’s tangled mess of locks. Faria was tall and straight, dressed in red velvet
, like a partygoer in her designer dress. Her skin appeared creamy pale and unblemished, unmarred by time. Too young…
She stood by a massive wooden chair, behind an enormous antique desk, papers laid out upon it like pieces of eight on a pirate captain’s table. Her research, her most prized and valuable asset, displayed like a trophy.
But when Faria stepped away from it, advancing, Eva scented the cloyingly sweet perfume of sickness. Saw clearly that Faria’s body, constructed as artfully as her own, was nevertheless not regenerating cells fast enough to fight off the illness.
“My daughter is beautiful. Come and hug me, daughter.”
Eva saw the taint of madness in the woman’s eyes. But she hadn’t come this far to turn back and flee without answers. She approached, not daring to breathe, and saw Faria open her arms.
Something broke inside her. The sight of those arms beckoning to her beneath that too-familiar face made her heart throb and ache. Tears choked her and Eva fell to her knees, enveloped at last in the embrace of her maker.
Beneath the smell of disease, Eva imagined she could smell the familiar scent of family.
“Mother.”
Chapter Seven
Dante felt his jaw clench. His night vision wasn’t a fraction as good as Eva’s. But he could still see with his preternatural skills. When Eva hugged the thing that was Faria and yet not Faria, he almost ran to pry her away.
Now he knew why he hadn’t been able to find Faria all this time.
He understood why Eva had been set aside. And why there were others like her in this horrible place.
It was a miracle he’d found her before it was too late. And now he’d brought her back, placed her right in the path of the monster that held her so close, deceptively gentle behind the mask of a mother.
Eva, don’t!
But her mind was closed to him. Her thoughts dark and hidden as ever. As hidden as Faria’s had always been.
He ran forward, praying he’d make it in time.
* * * * *
Eva felt the truth without Faria breathing a word of it.
Felt it…when Faria tried to inhabit her cave. When Faria tried to push out Eva—her memories, her independent thoughts, her personality—and inhabit her space.
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