by Brenda Trim
Escaping right away would have been the responsible thing to do. He was really questioning his sanity and his ability to be the Omega his shifters needed. He’d caused his current predicament. If he hadn’t tried to enlist the humans and revealed his existence, he would be at home eating a home cooked meal.
Right. Time to leave. The guards had become lax in the days since Hayden had arrived. That had been the second part of his plan. To lull them into a false sense of security. He was weak as fuck, but still strong enough to kick their asses. That is if he faced them one at a time.
“Stan!” Hayden needed to get him to open his cell.
Footsteps echoed informing Hayden the soldier was approaching him. He kept his eyes closed and his head lowered to his chest. A huff of annoyance preceded the infuriating voice. “What do you want? It’s not time for your daily tests.”
Hayden tried to lift his head and let it fall back down. “I don’t feel so good. I need something more than the meal replacement you’ve been giving me.”
“Nice try. You aren’t getting shit.” Stan turned to leave when the newest guard turned the corner. “Go back to the office,” Stan ordered his colleague.
“What happens if he doesn’t make it? Cause he looks like shit,” the new guy replied.
“Dr. Seijo will kick your asses if she loses me.” Hayden made his voice raspy and added a couple coughs for good measure.
Stan stopped and turned around at that. “Dr. Seijo isn’t the one that frightens me.”
“Well, she frightens me.” The new guard shuddered and shuffled his feet.
Stan lifted one corner of his lips at the new guy. “That’s because you haven’t met her boss. That fucker would make you shit your pants. Get him a sandwich to shut him up.”
Hayden wanted to smile. His plot was working. The fact that Stan was terrified of Millie’s boss meant nothing. She was the one cutting him open. She’d removed small pieces of his organs, not this mysterious male.
It was difficult to remain in place while the two disappeared. The new guard was back before long and sliding a sandwich through the opening that hadn’t closed since Hayden broke it when he arrived.
When he tried to get up and retrieve the food, Hayden allowed himself to collapse. A grunt left him when his head bounced off the concrete bed he’d been sleeping on. Stars danced across his vision and for several seconds he wasn’t faking it.
The inadvertent mishap made the guard gasp then unlock the door and rush inside. Bile played ping pong at the back of Hayden’s throat, making him wonder if he was going to puke on the male or manage to execute his plan.
The second a hand landed on his shoulder Hayden sprang into action. It was more of an awkward lunge. He fell on the guard who had managed to roll to his side. The two of them became a tangle of limbs that writhed wildly while throwing punches and kicks.
Hayden was nailed in the chest by the guard which caused black spots to dance in his vision. Holding on by the skin of his teeth, he wrapped one thick forearm around the soldier’s neck and squeezed while shifting positions, so he was at the guy’s back.
Hayden reached for the keycard he’d seen the guards using to come and go from a door just beyond Millie’s lab. “It won’t get you out of here,” the soldier said in gasping breaths.
Hayden loosened his hold to allow him easier breaths. “Why not? It opens the other doors in the compound.”
“But it doesn’t activate the elevator. You need a fingerprint for that.”
Hayden’s arm tightened once again. “Then I’ll take your hand with me. I am getting out of here.”
Alarms started blaring and red lights flashed along the ceiling in the hall outside his cell. Hayden released the guard and jumped to his feet, bracing himself on the wall. He kicked the soldier in the abdomen several times making him curl into a ball.
The loud screeching sound was followed by shouting and feet stomping down the hall. Hayden was in the hallway when Stan and two others reached him. Bracing his legs apart, Hayden threw his fists at those closest to him.
He heard the pop that signaled the dart gun and immediately ducked to avoid being hit. He hadn’t been drugged since the early days and he didn’t want that on top of being weak. His head spun so much he was grateful he wasn’t far from the ground.
Now was not the time to pass out. He was out of the cell and needed to get the fuck out of the compound. The massive adrenaline dump gave him more energy than he’d had in days and he was able to kick the legs out from under one of the guards.
Hayden grabbed the guy and punched him in the nose. Blood spurted out and poured down his face. He kept the guy in front of him to act as a shield. He managed to grab the stick from the guy and swung it at Stan’s head.
Stan ducked, but not fast enough. Hayden’s arm shook from the impact of the weapon. Stan hit the floor on his knees with a shout, his hand flying to his head. He was bleeding, but not like the guy in Hayden’s grasp.
Four more guards came pounding down the hallway, making Hayden’s heart gallop in his chest. It still hurt from where Millie had cut away a section of his rib cage and this wasn’t making it any better.
Hayden swung the weapon wildly as he pushed his way forward. He forced Stan to retreat several steps. “Shoot the asshole,” Stan ordered.
Several pops echoed and the guard in his hands jerked. Hayden didn’t bother checking to see what had happened. He felt the bullets penetrate the guy’s body a second before two darts slammed into his shoulders. One of them skimmed Hayden’s fingers.
The sting told him he’d been cut by the thing. Thankfully, it had lodged itself in the guard and not Hayden. He continued fighting for all he was worth trying to make it to the elevator.
Hayden’s mind wasn’t working properly, or he never would have left his rear open like he had. A ferocious growl echoed through the space when the back of Hayden’s head was struck by something flat and hard.
Turning, Hayden snarled when he saw that the guard that had brought him the sandwich had gotten to his feet and attacked him with the serving tray. Shit really went sideways then.
Stan yanked the soldier from Hayden’s grasp and the other guards fired at him again. A bullet tore through his abdomen while three darts landed in his torso. He swayed on his feet before lumbering toward the wall. He needed to make a smaller target.
He tried to focus and call on his feline form so he could shift into a house cat and take off. His skin rippled and his mantle surged in his chest then went cold before he managed a full shift. His aching head hit the wall and he was on the floor.
Chaos surrounded him, but he couldn’t move. The guards yelled and waved their hands. They’d all stopped attacking him. That wasn’t a good sign. Clearly, he was no longer a risk to them. His stomach roiled and his heart stuttered. He could hardly catch his breath. Was he going to die?
He blinked a couple times and watched the soldiers approach him then the blackness took over completely.
Chapter 7
Millie’s hand went to her stomach to try and tide the nausea churning there. Hayden was covered in cuts and bruises. “What the hell happened?”
A groan came from Hayden while Tom shifted from foot to foot. Stan was supposed to be there with his unit, but Tom’s was on duty instead. Clearly something had gone down before she’d come in that morning.
Millie turned her glare on Tom when he didn’t respond. Tom swallowed and took a deep breath. “The subject tried to escape. He tricked Ed and the others had to intervene to return him to his cell.”
“You tried to escape? That wasn’t very smart.” Millie understood why Hayden wanted out of there, but her chest ached at the thought he was injured while trying to get away from them.
Her boss, Jack, had created an impenetrable base that was largely underground. There would be no escape for Hayden. There were bio-scans along with keycard entry and deadbolts to deal with. And guards at every level. Not to mention the endless corridors. He would need to know
the ins and outs of the system, including where the weaknesses were.
“Of course, I tried to escape. I refuse to die at your hands.” Hatred glowed in Hayden’s dark brown eyes. Seemed he’d finally rediscovered his loathing. It made appearances at various times, but always seemed to lessen when they spent any amount of time together.
“My intention is not to kill you, Hayden. And life would be so much simpler if you would cooperate with me.” No, your intention is only to take what you want from him and torture him in the process.
Millie had lied to herself, reasoning that it was okay if she experimented on him because she was saving herself from her boss’s wrath and eliciting some measure of not quite happiness or pleasure, but something more in Hayden at the same time. Two birds with one stone and all that. No es un juguete, Milagro.
What total bullshit. She’d been lying to herself all along. That knowledge nearly sent her to her knees. Force of will was the only thing keeping her upright. That and the need to make it right. She had no idea how she was going to do that, but she wouldn’t be able to if she was relieved of her position.
She’d had a hard time conducting her experiments. Every scientist had encountered the animal right’s activists and experienced the brunt of their objections. It wasn’t that she had no sympathy for the creatures. She just happened to see the benefit of using them for advancements. It was all for the greater good.
Never took you for delusional. She wasn’t kidding herself. That was the goal for the program she’d helped spearhead. She’d dedicated her entire adult life to researching the supernatural in the hopes of enhancing humans. There was so much good that could come from her experiments, not just creating an unbeatable soldier.
“You keep lying to yourself, mi alma.” The fact that Hayden sounded defeated and hadn’t looked her way once made her want to rush to him and convince him she meant him no harm. Doubt kept her rooted in place.
She didn’t see Hayden as an animal for her to use. Not any more. He was more man than anything. Every test she’d run had proven that to her. And cutting into him and causing injuries hadn’t sat well with her, so she ‘d tried to do it in a way that left him in as little pain as possible.
Oh God, she really was delusional. There was no way she could minimize the pain of being sliced open. She’d been fooling herself. And seeing him beaten like this only added insult to injury.
In her mind he was unbeatable. His current condition only highlighted how wrong she had been in her thinking that she was treating him right. “Has anyone checked to see if he needs emergency intervention.”
Ed sputtered and flapped his hands. “Are you kidding? He injured seven guards severely. Two are in comas and it’s not clear if they will ever wake. Another has a broken femur.”
Pride tried to work its way into her chest. She was only partially able to hold it at bay. He’d beaten so many after almost two weeks of being drugged and underfed. They were barely giving him five hundred calories a day in the protein shakes. He shouldn’t have enough energy to stand up, let alone fight like that. Pride in him puffed her chest out. She liked seeing him kick ass.
“And they’re in a hospital receiving care. Yet the asset is lingering without even water in a cell. If he dies it will be on your head.” Millie wanted to rush in there and ensure Hayden was alright. “Get my kit and a shake and bring it here right away.”
What the hell? She was responsible for getting the secret to his existence so she could alter human DNA. The second Jack discovered Hayden had managed to fight at all he was going to want to increase the testing. He’d take everything from Hayden. Especially, since they were close to capturing the friends searching for him.
The thought chilled her blood.
He shouldn’t be used like this. It made her think of Hitler and the concentration camps. At the moment she didn’t feel any better. It had been easy to agree to be a part of this when she thought of the subjects as animals with no thoughts or feelings. That didn’t apply here.
What was she going to do now that she no longer saw him as a test subject? First thing was to make sure he was alright. She paused with her key close to the lock. “I’m coming in now. Can I trust you not to harm me?”
Hayden growled. The sound so animalistic it made her temporarily rethink how she saw him. “As long as you don’t bring your scalpel with you, I won’t lash out.”
Millie unlocked the door and entered the cell. Her steps faltered as she got closer. He was covered in cuts and bruises. And she was sure he had more than one gunshot wound.
Her hands balled into fists when she saw that. She should have insisted on removing their guns. Dart guns were sufficient with her special mixture. Thank God she had discovered that little concoction. Or not. It was the reason they were able to capture Hayden in the first place.
She knelt by his side and ran a finger gently down his arm. His big body shuddered, and he let out a groan. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
“And I’m supposed to believe that?” His voice was harsh and angry.
Millie refused to lower her head in shame. She’d been doing her job. “I’m trying to help you.”
There was a nasty hole in his arm. This was the first time she saw any sign of possible infection. The skin around the injury was puffy and red. She needed to examine it closely. Thankfully, Ed returned at that moment with her bag and the shake.
“You shouldn’t leave the door open like this, Dr. Seijo. He could have attacked you and tried to escape again.”
Millie got to her feet and thrust her hands on her hips. “You will do well to remember who is in charge here. I don’t take orders from you.” Snatching her satchel from his hand, she snarled, “You can go and lock the door on your way out.”
Ed mumbled under his breath as he stalked out of the cell. She returned to Hayden’s bed and set her supplies down then pulled on a pair of gloves. There was no pus when she prodded the wound, but it didn’t look good.
“Are you allergic to any antibiotics? I need to give you an injection to ensure this doesn’t get any worse.”
Hayden finally turned his head toward her. The movement was slow and caused him pain. “I’ve never needed anything of that nature, so I have no idea. You can always let me go and my healer will take care of me.”
“You know I can’t do that.” She poured saline on some 4x4’s and wiped as much of the blood and dirt from his skin as possible without causing him more pain.
“You can, you just choose not to. You’re lying to yourself if you think otherwise.” He glanced away with that.
He was right. Problem was, she didn’t see a way out of the situation at this point. And, doing anything to help him get out of there would result in her termination and possible incarceration.
Ignoring him, she focused on treating him and noticed at least six wounds from darts. “How many times did they dose you?” She had wondered how much he could take more than once and worried about him being killed on accident. One injection would kill a man.
“I have no idea. I was busy fighting for my life. But it was a lot. That’s why I can’t lift my head yet.” Hayden rarely showed her any vulnerability and she wondered why he had now.
“Carajo Puñeta,” she cursed. “None of this was supposed to be like this. This whole program was designed to enhance human DNA to make better soldiers. And find cures for diseases.”
“It isn’t yours to take. Train better soldiers, give them better weapons, anything aside from stealing the life of an innocent.” Hayden’s censure made her chest clench.
“Scientific and medical advances occur by using every available resource and exploring new boundaries.”
Hayden scoffed at that. “And that makes your actions okay? What you are doing is wrong.”
“Without animal testing, humans would still be dying from countless diseases.”
“Does that help you sleep at night? Is that how you live with torturing someone that wanted to have a drink with y
ou, maybe make love to you?”
Heat engulfed Millie. “What?” Arousal battled with guilt for dominance in her mind. On the one hand she liked the idea that Hayden was attracted to her, but on the other she was ashamed of how she’d been treating him.
Hayden groaned. His body hurt more than ever before. Even as a stripling, training with Zander, Killian and Evzen he hadn’t felt so much agony. They’d all been clumsy and broken more than one bone, but it paled in comparison to this.
He tried to sit up, but he couldn’t even lift his head. His mind was fuzzy, and his arms and legs were numb. “You heard me.” He hated what Millie had put him through, yet he still wanted her. That pissed him off more than her actions. He shouldn’t be attracted to her at all.
“Look, Hayden. I’m sorry you’re hurt and suffering. I hate it more than you will ever know and I wish things were different.” For a second there it sounded like she genuinely felt bad. He could use that to convince her to help him.
His thoughts were scattered, and he struggled to concentrate enough to recall his last thought let alone devise a plan to get her on his side. “Things can be different.”
Millie’s hands were soft as she carefully cleaned his wounds. “You’re right. If you would cooperate with me and tell me what I need to know I could save you from more pain.”
“What do you want to know? How to make a shifter?” He laughed at that. “It’s not possible.” He hadn’t meant to say that out loud.
Millie’s hand flew to her mouth to cover her gasp. Sticking with his new masochistic streak, he immediately missed her touch. “What do you mean not possible? The computer has identified parts of your genetic code. You have many similarities to people.”
“And can you create a human in a lab?”
Her brow furrowed like it always did when she was working through a problem. “Yes, as long as we have sperm and an egg, we can unite them to create an embryo ready for implantation.”
