Escape (Project Vetus Book 1)

by Emmy Chandler

A door opens down the hall, and I’m on my feet in an instant, my cookies forgotten. “Brennan!” I shout, banging on the transparent metal door. “Hey! How’s Lilli?” I don’t expect any response, because I haven’t gotten one before, but this time footsteps clack toward me in a familiar, quick rhythm.

  Brennan appears in front of my cell in her fresh white lab coat and low-heeled black shoes. “She’s awake. And she’s fine. We’ve run all our preliminary tests, and the results are no less than fascinating.”

  “What does that mean?” I step back, and my foot sends the packet of cookies flying across my narrow cell.

  “We’re going to keep her here, as an official part of Project Vetus,” she says, and I already know that her avoidance of my question means she has no intention of answering it. “All I’m going to tell you for the moment is that she appears to be in perfect health.”

  “And you’re going to keep her here?” I know she’s already said that, but I can’t quite believe it. I thought I’d have to fight for that. Or make another deal with the devil. “With me?”

  “Captain there isn’t a single member of my staff who isn’t waiting with bated breath to see the two of you…react to each other.”

  “What does that mean?” I ask again, and this time Brennan just smiles at me.

  “My team is packing up. For the moment, we have more than enough data to keep us busy up on Station Delta. But we’ll be watching.”

  “You always are,” I growl. But I can’t even work up any real anger about that, because when Brennan and her team leave, they’ll unlock all the doors. Most of the doors, anyway. Which means there’ll be nothing standing between me and Lilli.

  “Until next time…” Brennan turns and clacks off down the hall, and my pulse races faster with every minute I spend waiting for her and her team to get the fuck out of dodge and unlock my door.

  “Sotelo,” Coleman says. “You’re doing it again.”

  Pacing. I’m pacing. But I can’t help it. After days of exhaustion from Brennan’s tests, I suddenly have too much energy.

  “Captain,” Dreyer calls, and I look down the hall to the left to see her watching from her room. “Your eyes are glowing. Calm down.”

  My eyes. Shit. That means the beast is closer to the surface than I realized. Than I want him to be.

  “You’re going to scare the shit out of her,” Dreyer says.

  “It won’t be the first time,” I growl. But she has a point, so I take a deep breath and try to calm down. I make myself sit and finish my cookies, then I brush my teeth at the sink that doubles as the back of my toilet, because bad breath is the last thing you want when you’re reunited with your woman after several days of lab testing at the hands of mad scientists.

  Finally, I hear footsteps clomping from the other end of the building, accompanied by chatter from the staff, as if this is just any other work day. And I guess for them, it is.

  Bastards.

  The voices and steps stop well before they get to us, then the reinforced front door closes with a deep grinding sound. Several endless minutes later, our cell doors slide open and recess into the metal walls.

  I take off down the hall, shoving Lawrence aside as he emerges from his cell.

  “Hey!” he shouts as he bounces off the wall. I don’t bother with an apology, and he grumbles behind me. “Getting his dick wet turned him into an asshole.”

  “May we all be so lucky,” Zamora adds.

  I race past the break room and all the labs. The doors are all locked, but the walls are transparent, so I can see that they’re all empty. Where the hell is Lilli?

  I skid to a stop in front of lab A, the last one, just as the door of the lounge slides open across the hall. When I spin around, I find Lilli standing in the doorway in a fresh prison-issued tee-shirt and pair of pants. My heart beats too hard, and a soft thrum echoes from my throat. The beast is happy to see her.

  So am I.

  I reach for her, but she retreats into the lounge. “No!” She points one finger at me. “Stay back! This is all your fault!”

  She’s upset. Comfort her, the beast growls.

  I make it two steps toward the doorway before Burke Jamison appears in front of me, his pale blue eyes practically glowing. He puts one hand on my chest. “She’s confused and upset, man. Give her some space.” He’s never met Lilli. He probably hardly even got a look at her before she retreated into the lounge. But he’s right about how she feels.

  He’s always right about that.

  “Move.” My voice is a rumbling slur of sounds. Because what Jamison doesn’t understand is that Lilli does not need space. She needs me.

  “Captain, I—”

  My elbow spires and bone blades shoot through the seams in my skin in an unmistakable show of aggression, and his scent sharpens in response. His body goes tense, and I can see him trying to control his temper, in reaction to my own.

  “Move,” I roar, and when he doesn’t, I shove him aside.

  “Captain!” Dreyer’s voice is sharp, yet calm as she slides in front of me, scowling up at me as if I’m not twice her size. “It doesn’t sound like she wants to talk to you right now.” Dreyer keeps her hands at her sides, making no effort to touch me, and she still looks completely human. No glowing eyes. No scent of aggression. “So take a deep breath and back the fuck down. Now,” she adds.

  I give her a small nod. Then I suck in a deep breath, and it takes more willpower than I’d like to admit to retract my weapons.

  “Just give her a minute,” Dreyer says, more softly. “You’re probably scaring the shit out of her.”

  “I’m not scared of him,” Lilli calls out from the lounge, where I can see her glaring at me over Dreyer’s shoulder. Pacing back and forth in front of the couch. “I’m pissed at him.”

  “Sounds about right,” Zamora quips from down the hall, where he, Lawrence, and Coleman are watching this play out without even bothering to disguise their interest. “You’re gonna fit in just fine!” he calls to Lilli, though she can’t see him.

  “Are you okay?” I ask her over Dreyer’s shoulder. “Brennan said you were, but…” I shrug. This is an experimental lab. No telling what they poked her with.

  “I’m fine. No thanks to you!”

  “What did you do to her?” Dreyer asks, turning from Lilli to look up at me again.

  “Nothing. Lilli, what’s wrong?” I try to move past Dreyer, but she steps in front of me again, facing Lilli this time.

  “Do you want me to let him in?”

  “Hell no!” Lilli snaps. “Keep him away from me.” Her nose twitches as she sniffs the air, then she groans. “Farther away than that. And is there, like, some kind of plastic suit we can put him in? You know, the ones people wear to keep them from catching something contagious?”

  “You want us to put him in a biohazard suit?” Jamison edges closer, until he can see into the lounge. “What does he have?”

  I roll my eyes. “I don’t have anyth—”

  “He has alien…man seed!” Lilli shouts.

  Zamora snorts. Even Dreyer’s lips twitch. But once she gets her amusement under control, she turns back to Lilli. “Um…that sounds like a private conversation. If you don’t want to talk to him, that’s fine, but this might be a little personal for a hallway shout-fest.”

  “I disagree,” Zamora darts forward and peeks into the lounge. “I think we all need to hear about the captain’s alien man seed.”

  I glare at Zamora. Then Lilli bursts into laughter. The next thing I know, all five of my men are laughing with her, trying to figure out exactly what’s wrong with my…seed.

  Not a damn thing, the beast insists.

  “Is this an issue of volume or consistency?” Zamora’s grinning like an idiot.

  “Or flavor?” Dreyer suggests, shoving long blond hair over her shoulder. “My money’s on flavor.”

  “I call timing,” Jamison shouts. “Who’s taking bets, because I’ve got premature ejaculation.”

/>   Dreyer snorts.

  “I mean. I don’t personally have—” Jamison’s face turns scarlet. “I’m just saying I bet that’s the Captain’s problem.”

  “I don’t have a problem,” I growl. And everyone laughs harder.

  I scowl at Lilli, over Dreyer’s shoulder. “See what you started? Do you have any idea how hard it is to regain the respect of your team once they’ve begun speculating on the state of your…man seed?”

  Lilli presses her lips together, trying to maintain a serious bearing, but her shoulders are shaking with the effort to hold back laughter. “I know exactly how hard it is…”

  I roll my eyes, and she erupts into laughter again. And even though I’m the butt of her joke, the sight of her laughing makes me feel…

  That soft thrumming echoes from deep in my throat.

  “What the hell is that sound?” Dreyer’s laughter dies as she looks around, trying to pinpoint the source, and when the rest of the hall goes silent, Lilli hears it. Her smile fades and she presses her thighs together. The sight of which makes my cock hard. Right there in the hallway.

  “Seriously.” Dreyer frowns. Then she steps closer, peering up at me. “What is that? Captain, are you…purring?”

  “No,” I growl at her. “Would you all please give us a little privacy?”

  “Don’t you think we should at least introduce ourselves?” Coleman steps forward, obviously intending to head into the lounge, and I cut him off with one hand on the doorframe.

  “Later.”

  “You good with this?” Dreyer asks, eyeing Lilli through the open doorway.

  Lilli sighs. “Yeah. It’s fine. Thanks.”

  “I’m Tirzah, by the way,” Dreyer says. “If you need anything, just yell.”

  “If she needs anything, I’ll get it for her,” I growl as Dreyer edges past me.

  She gives me a surprised look. “Put the beast on a leash, Captain. We’re all friends here.”

  She’s right. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. All I know is that every second she stood between Lilli and me made me value the six years we served together less. And that’s fucked up.

  “Sorry. And thanks,” I add as Dreyer heads down the hallway. She acknowledges with one hand in the air, without turning to look at me.

  She’s fine. So I head into the lounge, silently cursing Brennan for the open doorway. Doors that can’t be closed are just as infuriating as doors that can’t be opened.

  “Hey.” I stop in the threshold, fighting an urge to race across the room and pull her close. Then rip all her clothes off.

  What is wrong with me?

  “Hey.”

  “May I sit?” I glance at the stiff vinyl armchair to the left of the matching couch.

  Lilli shrugs. “It’s your…lab. This place is super weird, by the way.”

  “It’s Brennan’s lab. And yes.” I sink into the chair, and for a second, Lilli only stares down at me. Then she takes the chair opposite mine, leaving the entire length of the metal coffee table between us.

  “Where are the windows? And the clocks? How are we supposed to know what time it is?”

  “We’re not. There are no windows. This building may look like the metal buildings out there in the open population, but this whole place is actually built out of an alloy that can be rendered transparent at the touch of a button.”

  “That’s why the walls of the lab are clear?”

  “Yes. Brennan can do that to any wall in the building, any time she wants. She could let us live in a glass box, with full views of the woods and fields outside if she wanted. Instead, she keeps us in here, trapped by metal and artificial lighting.”

  “Why?”

  “Because she can. Because we’re prisoners, and the easiest way to keep prisoners compliant is to make them dependent upon you for everything. That way, everything you give them feels like a kindness.”

  Lilli nods. “Brennan’s is the hand that feeds.”

  “And the hand that slices, and pokes, and prods. Also, fair warning, there are cameras everywhere. They can see and hear everything we do.”

  “That’s fucked up.”

  “Agreed.” I lean forward with my elbows on my knees, because that at least feels like I’m closer to her. “So, are you okay? Really?”

  “I’m in perfect health. Haven’t you heard?”

  “I have heard. Brennan also said your test results are ‘fascinating.’ Did she happen to elaborate on that, to you?”

  Lilli stares at me, as if she’s trying to decide whether or not to tell me something. Or whether or not I already know. “She did.”

  “Normally I wouldn’t ask for someone else’s medical information, but Brennan basically told me that whatever was wrong with you was my fault. And the minute you saw me, you started yelling about my—”

  “Fluids,” she interrupts. “Let’s just say fluids, from now on. That’s more accurate anyway, since we’re evidently also talking about your saliva.”

  “So what’s wrong with my…fluids?”

  “Nothing.”

  Not a damn thing, the beast reiterates, as an almost primitive sense of pride draws my spine straighter.

  “According to Brennan, whatever it is in your engineered genes that lets your body adapt to all those new parts, well, that kind of got temporarily passed to me. Through your fluids. And that…fixed me. Or unfixed me, depending upon your perspective. You’re practically secreting the cure for…everything.” Lilli huffs. “Hell, you could probably cure cancer patients by letting them roll around in your sweat.”

  “I…” I frown. “No, that’s not true. I spent six weeks dying from brain cancer out there in zone three. Why wouldn’t my body fix that, if it could?”

  She shrugs. “Because science makes no sense? Or maybe because the genes you used as the blueprint for that form lacked that ability?”

  Interesting…

  “So, what were you cured of?”

  Lilli blinks at me from across the coffee table. “Infertility.”

  That takes a second to sink in. “What?” I swallow a joyful exclamation. I’ve heard her wrong. I must have.

  “Your fucking semen reversed my sterilization, Carson.”

  I’m across the room in a heartbeat, and I don’t even remember getting out of my chair. One minute, she’s saying the most wonderful thing I’ve ever heard, and the next she’s in my arms, with the beast thrumming at her through my throat.

  “Put me down!” Lilli shrieks. “Or I will call your…Tirzah.”

  “Lieutenant Dreyer,” I correct her as I let her slide down my body until her bare feet touch the floor. “And she’s not mine. You are mine.” I tilt her chin up until she’s looking at me, encouraged by the fact that she’s not arguing. Or shouting for help. “Why are you frowning? This is good news, Lilli!”

  “You’re delusional.” She pushes me away and paces across the room toward the water fountain built into the far wall. “I just met you, and even if we’d met at a club, instead of on a prison planet, I wouldn’t be thinking about having kids with you. Carson, I don’t want children.”

  My nostrils flare as her scent changes. She’s…sad. And scared.

  Comfort her. The beast insists that she won’t be receptive to my presence until this anxiety passes.

  “Okay. We can talk about that later. Are you hungry? Can I—”

  “No, we can’t talk about that later. I don’t want children, Carson, and that’s not going to change. You can’t raise kids in a lab. Or anywhere else on a prison planet.”

  “Okay, but—” I bite the rest off before it can spill from my lips. There’s no sense in reminding Brennan that I’ll escape again, at the first possible chance. Or that I’m planning to take the others with me.

  “Carson, I don’t want kids. I’m not even sure I want you.”

  “You do.” That soft sound rumbles insistently up from my throat as I stalk toward her. “You know you do.”

  “That’s cheating. That sound you
’re making is cheating, Carson!”

  “Using all the resources at one’s disposal is not cheating.”

  “Manipulating my body into overruling my head is definitely cheating.” She takes a step back, and I match it with a step forward.

  “Why do you assume that what your head wants is any more valid than what the rest of you wants?”

  Lilli’s brows rise. Then they furrow as she considers the question.

  “You think too much,” I growl as I press her against the wall. Then I lean in for a kiss.

  For a second, she resists. Then she groans, and her body relaxes against mine. Molding to my form. I suck her lower lip into my mouth, and she opens for me. Groaning.

  I have to have her right now.

  16

  LILLI

  Carson kisses me, and my hands slide beneath his shirt on their own. My fingers explore his chest while his tongue plunges into my mouth, and the rhythm of his thrusting makes me want…more.

  I groan, trying to deny the ache between my thighs, but it won’t be ignored. This is real, whatever this is. Whether I want it or not, I need it. I need him.

  That thought—that acknowledgement—brings with it a sense of liberation. I need him. It’s that simple. Right or wrong. Smart or not. My body wants him, and I’m not going to be able to think straight until I’ve satisfied this need. Fighting it is pointless, so why bother?

  I lose myself in the caress of his hands. The feel of his body against me—an intoxicating blend of power and restraint. My hips rock toward him in rhythm with the plunge of his tongue, wordlessly demanding more.

  Until he tries to pull my shirt off.

  “The door’s open.”

  “Can’t close it,” he mumbles, his voice rumbling with that thrumming sound that seems to echo in the empty ache between my legs. “Doesn’t matter. No one will interrupt.”

  “But…cameras,” I breathe as his lips trail down my neck, his hands sliding from my hips to cup my backside. Squeezing. Digging in with a grip that almost hurts, yet makes me…hunger.

  “Nothing I can do about the cameras.”

  “But she could be watching. Brennan.”