by Cynthia Eden
Maddox winced. “No, not exactly.”
She jumped from the bed, but Luna didn’t go toward him. She just glared at him. “What, exactly, did you do then?” The cuffs were gone. Thank goodness. No handcuff circled her wrist, and the hospital ID tag had been removed, too.
Nothing else was gone, though. She was very relieved to note that she still wore her jogging pants and her t-shirt. Maddox’s coat had been tossed over a nearby chair.
“It’s part of my power, okay?” He lowered his hands. “All of the Lazarus subjects have psychic, well, bonuses, I guess you could say.”
He was making her temples throb again.
“My gift is that I’m a one-man knock out team. If I can get close enough to touch my prey, I can put them under. Very handy technique when you’re trying to infiltrate an enemy camp.” He gave a little shrug. “If I focus hard enough, I can put people out without touching them. But that drains my energy faster, and the crash afterwards is a real bitch.”
“Impossible.”
“No, it’s a bitch. I can barely walk after—”
“You’re messing with me. Telling me incredible stories when the truth is that you kidnapped me! You cuffed me, you drugged me, and you took me to—to—where in the hell am I?” Her frantic gaze flew around what looked like a bedroom. Wooden walls. King size bed. Four-poster. Big windows that looked out at a snow-capped mountain range in the distance. The sun was setting, casting long shadows over the mountains.
“You’re in a safe house. Only Jett and I know you’re here.”
That meant no one was going to come and help her. Fine, she’d help herself. Luna braced her body, preparing to launch at him.
“Don’t.” Maddox shook his head. “Give me a chance to prove what I’m saying is true before you go for the tackle.”
Her breath was coming too fast.
“We’ve been in this situation before.” His lips twisted. “You wake up. You don’t know where you are. Who you are. And you think I’m the threat.” He shook his head. “I’m not. I’d never be a threat to you.”
She wanted to believe him. That was the crazy thing. Inside, a big part of her was desperate to believe him. But…“So says the man who cuffed me.”
He looked vaguely uncomfortable. “You stole my motorcycle, hauled ass away, and you were going to get the local cops involved. No way could we afford that kind of exposure. I would have needed to knock them all out and did you really want that on your conscience?”
“On my conscience?” Her voice rose a few octaves.
Maddox crossed his arms over his chest. His broad chest. Why was she noticing that?
“Luna.”
Now she frowned at him. “Why did you say my name that way?”
His brows shot up. “What way?”
Tenderly. Like it was some kind of caress or something. But she bit back those words.
When she didn’t answer, he rolled his shoulders. “Luna.” Not as tender. More firm. “You’re part of an experimental government program. Project Lazarus. You were once an incredible Air Force pilot, but you volunteered to enroll in Lazarus.” He cleared his throat. “We all volunteered.”
“How do I know that? How do I know I volunteered? You could just be saying this crap to me. Telling me—”
“There are videos back at the Lazarus facility. Videos showing us all willingly volunteering to be test subjects.” He paused. “The government wanted the best for this program, and that’s what they got. We were given the serum, and when we woke up, we were stronger, faster.”
Yes, he’d said this before—
“And we could come back from the dead.”
She swallowed the very big lump in her throat. “Are you crazy?”
He gave a negative shake of his head. “Neither are you.”
She hadn’t thought she was the crazy one.
“There were side effects, though. Things we weren’t told about.” Now his gaze turned to emerald chips of ice. “The biggest side effect is that we lost all of our memories. Our lives before Lazarus vanished.”
Her breath hitched. Okay, now this story might be going someplace. “Is that why…I don’t remember?”
“You’re different.” He hadn’t moved from his position at the foot of the bed. “Other Lazarus subjects can die—our missions are incredibly dangerous—and when we rise again, we remember…well, we remember everything that has happened since we received the Lazarus serum. But you—you’re different. With each death, it’s like your mind gets wiped clean. You become a blank slate again. All memories are gone.”
Luna realized she was biting her lower lip way too hard. “So you’re saying…I died recently?”
“Judging by all the blood in that hospital, yes, Luna, you died.”
And her memory had been wiped. If she believed this crazy story.
If she believed Maddox.
The man who’d cuffed her. The man who’d kissed her.
The man who’d knocked her out with—a touch?
“I can prove it all to you,” Maddox said.
That was actually what she feared. “I-I saw you in the hospital. You were fast.”
His lips quirked. “I can be faster.” He headed toward the window. Opened it up and let a blast of cold air inside. “Why don’t you watch?”
They were on the second—no, looked like the third floor of a cabin. What did he want her to watch, exactly?
He jumped through the window. Literally just launched outside. Luna screamed and ran to grab the window frame. The window was massive, so big and wide, and he’d just shot outside as if it were nothing.
She looked below.
He was standing there, hands on his hips, gazing up at her. “You’ll want to step back now,” Maddox called.
She—what?
But he was barreling back through the window. He’d jumped up—jumped up three stories—and he was shooting through the window. She stumbled back, but Luna moved too slowly. Their bodies collided, her feet tangled with his, and they twisted, turning, and Luna found herself falling onto the bed.
With Maddox on top of her.
Oh, um.
He braced his hands on either side of her head, making sure that his weight didn’t crush her. His legs were between hers, his body warm and hard, and his eyes seemed to shine at her. “Believe me now?”
What he’d just done was amazing. Impossible.
“Believe me?” This time, his voice was in her head. Only in her head. Because she’d been staring at his mouth, and his lips had not moved.
“G-get out of my head,” Luna whispered.
His mouth tightened, but she could have sworn she actually felt him leaving her mind. She suddenly felt colder.
Even though he was still pressed against her.
“Get off me,” Luna ordered.
He slid back. Offered her his hand so she could rise, too.
She was perfectly capable of rising on her own, but she took his hand. His fingers curled around hers. Held her tight. And then she was standing right next to him. She tipped back her head and stared up at him. “You said that I’d awoken before, and I didn’t know you.” They’d done this routine before. Her stomach knotted. “How many times?”
He glanced away.
Her hand touched his chest. “How many times?”
Sorrow flashed on his face when he peered at her again. “More than you want to know.”
Oh, shit. Tears stung her cheeks. “So, what’s the protocol? You talk me down, over and over again?”
“Something like that.”
She couldn’t deny what he’d showed her. Couldn’t keep pretending that this madness wasn’t happening. Instead, she needed knowledge. She needed to figure out just what was happening so she could go forward. Her shoulders squared.
“There it is,” he murmured.
She didn’t understand.
His fingers skimmed over her shoulder. Down her arm. “You square up. You get determined. You stop thinking I’m feedin
g you bullshit, and you march forward.”
Luna swallowed the lump in her throat. Or rather, she choked it down. “You know me really well, don’t you?”
Maddox shrugged. “I tend to know what you will do. That’s why I was sent to find you when you went missing. Because the lab coats feared you might wake up and need some talking down.”
His words didn’t reassure her.
His gaze slid over her face. “A few things are different this time, though.” And his hand fell away from her shoulder. “You’ve never tried the seduction technique on me before.” He turned, giving her his broad back, as he marched toward the closed bedroom door.
“Really?” Luna considered that. “Why the hell not?”
He stilled. “What?” His voice sounded a bit strangled.
“I’m attracted to you.” Was she supposed to pretend she wasn’t?
He whirled back toward her.
“I think you’re sexy, hard to miss that.” She waved vaguely toward him. “But I am also scared of you. There is something about you…” Again, she wasn’t going to lie. “Something that absolutely terrifies me.”
She saw him swallow.
“Want to tell me why that is?” Luna pressed.
“You shouldn’t be afraid of me. I would never hurt you.”
Easy words to give.
He laughed. “Are you trying to see if I’m lying, Luna? Are you focusing? Can you hear my heartbeat?”
And—when she focused, when she drew in a deep breath, released it, and listened—she could. Steady. Strong.
“The lab coats think Lazarus subjects are human lie detectors. We can detect changes in breathing, can smell sweat, can hear the pounding of a liar’s heartbeat.” He cocked his head. “So am I lying? Or do I mean it when I say I’d never hurt you?”
She thought he meant it. Fair enough. Time to turn the tables on him. Her hands rose to her hips. “Am I lying when I say that you terrify me?”
His lips thinned.
“Am I lying,” Luna continued quietly, “when I say that I want you?”
Now his lips parted.
Right. Just so they were clear. “I don’t understand—if you’re the guy who is always there for me when I wake up and I don’t know who the hell I am…if you’re the guy always taking care of me—why haven’t we kissed before?”
“I didn’t say we’d never kissed.” His voice was a growl. “I said you hadn’t tried the seduction routine before. You’re not the teasing type.” And, once more, he headed for the door.
She felt her eyes widen. “Are we lovers?” Luna blurted.
He opened the door. Maddox left the room, and he didn’t answer her question, damn him.
A blast of cold air blew through the still open window. Luna headed for the window, preparing to close it, but…
I could run right now. She could try jumping from the window. If she truly believed his story, then she had to buy that she could survive the jump, too, just as he had.
But…
But if she truly believed his story, did she want to run from the one man who held all the answers that she needed?
Luna closed the window. Then she hurried out of the bedroom. She rushed down the stairs, her feet pounding on the wood. She barely noticed the cabin around her, vaguely aware it was super nice. Fancy in a touristy style. Lots of exposed wood. White furniture. White rugs.
Maddox was in the den, standing in front of a massive fireplace. He raked a hand through his hair as he stood there.
“You can’t leave me hanging!” Luna called to him as she bounded away from the landing. “Are we lovers?”
The front door opened. The other guy was there—Jett? He’d obviously caught what she’d said and a broad grin split his face as he walked inside, pounding his boots on the rug. “Answer the lady, Maddox,” Jett practically challenged. “I am dying to hear this one.”
Maddox spared him a withering glance. “Screw off, Jett.”
Jett lifted the bags he held and kept advancing. “Even though I come bearing gifts?” He turned his head toward Luna. “Gifts for you, lovely lady. Gifts of clothing that you didn’t steal from a gas station.”
She’d paid for those clothes! Granted, with money she’d stolen from Maddox but—
“Sweaters, jeans, boots.” He brought the bags toward her and sat them at her feet. “Socks. And, of course, the all-important…underwear. Panties, bras—”
“Stop talking, Jett,” Maddox snarled at him.
Luna was flushing.
Jett shrugged. “But Luna likes pretty underwear. You know that. It’s her thing—”
“OhmyGod.” Luna stared at him in horror. At him, then Maddox. Then Jett again. “Am I sleeping with you, too?”
Jett burst out laughing. “I wish.” He winked. “Though if you’re offering—”
Maddox shoved him, hard enough to send Jett flying across the room. “Keep your damn hands off her.”
The humor vanished from Jett’s face.
“She doesn’t remember jackshit, got it?” Maddox’s expression was absolutely lethal. “You don’t screw around with her.” He looked back at Luna. “No, you are not sleeping with him.”
She scooped up the bags.
“If you were,” Jett called out with a wry smile, “I’m pretty sure Mad Maddox would have killed me by now.” He winked. “He’s the jealous type.”
Did that mean she and Maddox were involved?
Maddox moved to stand protectively in front of her. “Get changed, Luna.” His gaze had dropped to the front of her shirt. And his gaze burned. “Use the underwear,” he added, rasping. “Or I’ll have to kick Jett’s ass.”
The underwear? She flushed, hard and hot, as she realized that her nipples were shoving quite clearly against the front of the too-thin shirt she’d gotten at the gas station. And Maddox’s gaze was on the great view she was offering him.
His gaze whipped back up to her face. “Maybe I’ll kick his ass for fun.”
“Those primitive instincts,” Jett remarked with an aggrieved sigh. “Always such bitches for us to handle, huh? Rage, lust, jealousy—they’re like kryptonite to us.”
He was just saying more things that didn’t make sense to her.
But Maddox cleared his throat. “That’s important to remember, Luna. Very important.”
She’d pulled the bags up to cover her shirt. And her nipples. Nipples she was sure were hard just because of Maddox. What was up with her reaction to him?
“Lazarus subjects experience primitive emotions differently from normal humans. We feel them far too strongly. When we rage, we’re lethal.”
Jett stalked closer. He gave a grim nod, all traces of humor suddenly gone from his face. “The darker emotions can wreck us.”
“Dark emotions?” Luna parroted.
“Jealousy is killer.” Jett winced as he cast a quick glance at Maddox. “Sorry, man.”
Maddox was still staring at her. “Lust can get beyond our control. We can want things too badly.”
It felt like he was warning her.
Maybe because he was?
“And when you want something long enough, when you want something badly enough…eventually, nothing will stop you from having what you want.”
He wanted her. She knew it with absolute certainty. Luna licked lips that had gone too dry. Still clutching the bags, she said, “We aren’t lovers.”
Jett gave a low whistle.
Maddox just watched her. “No.”
She turned toward the stairs. “I’m going to change.”
“We’re not lovers,” Maddox added, his voice following her. “Not yet.”
***
Maddox stood on the cabin’s back deck, staring out at the night. The door opened behind him, but he didn’t glance over his shoulder.
“I don’t think we were followed from Bitter,” Jett announced. His steps padded closer. “And when I picked up Luna’s supplies, I made sure no tails were on me.”
Maddox nodded.
“You think she’s going to try running?” Jett put his elbows on the deck’s wooden railing. “Is it wise to just trust Luna on her own?”
“She believes what I told her.” He shrugged. “If she tries to run, she’ll be on her own again. Someone hurt her. Someone took her. We’re the best protection she has, and I think she realizes that now.”
“Luna isn’t exactly defenseless. Maybe she’d prefer to be on her own.”
Maddox glanced at him.
Jett cleared his throat. “Right. Not like she can get away now.” He swiped a hand over the back of his neck. “So what are we doing? Going totally off-grid for her? Because, look, yes, it’s obvious you’ve been hot for Luna a very, very long time, but if we cut ties with our handlers, then we’ll be next on the termination list.”
He already knew that. “You think they’ve been telling us the truth?”
“What?” Real surprise flashed on Jett’s face. “Why wouldn’t they tell us the truth?”
Why indeed?
“We’re the good guys here, Maddox. We’ve been going on missions that help people. Making rescues that no one else could handle because it was too dangerous. We’ve shut down domestic terrorism operations that would have killed normal soldiers. We’ve saved lives, how can you question that?”
He knew they’d helped. He also knew… “Luna is one of us. And the lab coats were ready to kill her.”
“She is a weak link,” Jett muttered.
Maddox stepped toward him.
“Easy!” Jett threw up his hands. “Swear to God, man, you have got to get this shit under control. Ever since her escape, you’ve been on edge. Cage the Mad Maddox part, got it? Get your control back. You have her. Things should have fallen into line again for you.”
“I’m not sure she escaped.” That was the story they’d been given. That Luna had escaped the facility. And he’d been told to bring her back.
Jett blinked. “If she didn’t escape, what the hell happened?”
“She was strapped to an exam table in that old hospital.” He’d been so fucking furious when he saw the blood-covered operating room. He’d wanted to tear apart the whole building. “I think she was taken.”
“Why would someone take her? That doesn’t make any sense. You want a hostage, you don’t take a super soldier.” Then he seemed to catch himself. “Oh, shit. You think they knew about her weakness.”
