Missy looked over Tyler’s shoulder to see the doctor making his way toward his usual spot. No one ever stood near her. She often wondered if it was because they were afraid what Tyler would do. She thought they wanted him to stay focused and didn’t want her to distract him. She didn’t mind, since all these men made her nervous. She might have gotten over her fear of men when it came to Tyler, but that didn’t apply to all of them. Especially anyone working under the direction of Douglas Hatcher.
Missy looked back up at him. “I think they’re waiting for you,” she said softly. Why was he still standing here? He hadn’t looked away once since he’d walked up. Her eyes dropped again to take in all the hard muscles within touching distance. When she looked back up his face was only a breath away.
She was preparing herself for him to back away like he always did when he finally closed the distance between them. Soft lips brushed against hers in a tender caress. Missy sighed, parting her lips a fraction. Tyler’s large hand wrapped around the back of her neck, closing whatever space was between them. His tongue darted out, stroking her bottom lip. Missy carefully met his tongue with her own, unsure of how far he was going to take this. Every awakened nerve in her body prayed he wouldn’t stop, but knew it was bound to happen considering where they were.
He pulled back and she had to swallow the protest that immediately built from the loss of his touch. She’d finally gotten a taste of what having Tyler touch her could be like, and now she felt like a starving woman. Her entire body was practically shaking with want and need. His thumb followed the same path his tongue had, a small smile playing on his lips.
Missy couldn’t find any words as they simply looked at one another. She wanted to ask “why now?” What had changed? Can he do it again? But she said none of those things. She simply waited for him to make the next move. His hand dropped to her neck, wrapping around the back of it, pulling her head closer to him. He kissed her forehead, letting his lips linger there. Time seemed to freeze. Missy closed her eyes, letting his touch soothe her frayed nerves.
When he turned and walked to the ring, Missy watched him with a renewed sense of fascination, ignoring the stares of the others. The muscles in his back twisted and flexed with his movements as he walked. Missy wondered what it would feel like to have all that strength braced above her, have those hands running over her, that intense energy focused solely on her.
Having to stand there and watch him fight while her body was completely in tune with every movement of his was torture. After each fight he’d turn and look at her, his eyes burning with so much desire and need that it made her knees weak.
As the trainer called out an end to the fights for the session, Missy’s heart rate instantly picked up. They were finally going to be able to go back to their room where they could be alone. Would he continue what he’d started? God, Missy hoped so. She prayed it wasn’t a onetime deal.
Missy turned to wait for Tyler to be let out of the ring when a hand grabbed her arm. She gasped and instinctively tried to pull it out of his grasp. It was useless. His hold only tightened as she continued to try to pull away.
The cage beside her head rattled loudly. Missy turned to see Tyler watching them, all desire in those beautiful eyes now replaced with anger.
“Don’t touch her,” he said.
“Calm down,” the technician said in an irritated tone. If Tyler hadn’t been locked in there, the technician would never have given him attitude. Missy knew damn well they were all terrified of him.
“No. Take your hands off her.”
“I’m just bringing her back to your room,” he said. “You have a few things to take care of that she can’t be a part of. No one is going to hurt her.”
“No,” Tyler said, his arms flexing as he gripped the fence tighter. “She stays with me.”
“Not this time.”
The man dragged her toward the door. Missy tripped over her feet trying to keep up. Looking over her shoulder, what she saw broke her heart. Tyler was pacing back and forth like a caged animal, his gaze focused on them. He banged his palms against the fence before pacing again. All she wanted to do was turn and run back to him, to ease his anger. He disappeared from her sight as she was pulled out of the room, the door slamming loudly behind them.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
He was going to kill every single one of them. Tyler tracked the man who was taking Missy away from him, wanting nothing more than to tear him apart with his bare hands. He had faced each opponent with the knowledge that when he was done he would be back in his room alone with her. While he’d been keeping control of his urges, he still craved her company.
As much as he wanted to do all the things he’d imagined doing with Missy, he’d made a promise to himself that he wouldn’t lay a finger on her until he knew for certain no fear of him remained inside her. The last thing he ever wanted was to scare Missy, especially after knowing what had been done to her.
Today was different for some reason. Every day seemed to be different than the last. It was hard for him pinpoint what the difference was, but after every workout his mind would become clearer. He hadn’t even realized there had been a haze there until it began to lift. This change was what pushed him each day to train as hard as he could. Because not only did he not want Missy’s fear to be between them when he finally took her, he also wanted to regain whatever memories the doctors here had taken from him.
Perhaps it was foolish to think he could recover from the drugs they’d given him, but for Missy he would try. For Missy he would fight and try to remember the person she’d known before. It killed him that there were things he didn’t know about himself, people he no longer recalled. These people had stolen it all from him.
His anger only grew as the door to the training room slammed shut behind Missy and the technician. Why were they separating them? An uncontrollable low growl bubbled up his chest and throat.
“Calm down,” the doctor said in a bored tone. Tyler’s head snapped toward him. These men knew nothing of his strength, he thought bitterly. He could snap his neck in a second, and yet he spoke to Tyler as though he was nothing but a petulant child. It incensed him.
“What do you want?” he asked through the rage clogging his throat.
“We’re calling a meeting, and your little woman is not invited,” he replied.
“A meeting for what?”
The doctor motioned to the man named John who seemed to oversee all of their training. John walked around to the cage door, but stopped just before opening it, his gaze locking on Tyler.
“You will not attack me or anyone else when we let you out of here,” he said. “Got it?”
Tyler clenched his teeth together, hands fisted at his side. It was hard to promise that when that was exactly what his instincts were screaming for him to do.
John raised one eyebrow. “Got it, 2140? Otherwise that little lady is going to take the punishment for your actions. We wouldn’t want that, now would we?”
Tyler nodded slowly.
“You’d better not, 2140. I mean it. She’s going to be screaming for you in a way I’m sure you’re not going to want when we’re done with her.”
They would all die. “I will not attack anyone,” Tyler assured him, his anger barely controlled. His skin felt tight, pulsing with the strength of his fury.
The door opened slowly, John stepped back, watching Tyler closely as he made his way to the exit. Every ounce of him wanted to smash the door into the other man’s face, but he mustered up enough control not to. One day, he thought.
Tyler followed John and the doctor, as well as the other men and women that had been training, down a hall that led to the same room he remembered sitting in before. The walls were a plain grey, void of windows or decoration. The floor and ceiling were the same, as though they’d made a box. Chairs were lined up in rows facing the far end of the room where a middle aged man stood waiting.
Everyone began taking a seat, so Tyler headed toward the back row
. His eyes went back to the man at the front of the room. For some reason he interested Tyler. There was something about the way he looked at them all. He held himself in a way that spoke volumes, letting them all know that he ran things here.
That must be it, Tyler reasoned. This man had to be at the top of whatever was going on here. Even the technicians seemed to be wary of this man, which made Tyler lean in, his body ready for what was to come next.
“Good afternoon ladies and gentleman,” the man at the front said loudly. Everyone shifted their attention fully to him. Tyler watched the others out of the corner of his eye, noticing the way he commanded their attention. “I am known as the General,” he continued. “That is what you may call me. Understood?”
There was a slight pause before a handful said “yes, General” at the same time. Tyler remained silent. His pulse had picked up when he’d introduced himself, although Tyler didn’t understand why. Did he perhaps know this man from before? He studied his features, desperately trying to trigger anything that would let him know if he was already familiar with this ‘General’. Nothing came to him.
“I’d like to congratulate you all on your hard work. Here at the Institute, we pride ourselves in improving the human species, evolving what we are capable of and creating a new human that surpasses anything our ancestors could have ever dreamed of. You are our future. You are what all others will look up to. Our world is in a state of war, controlled by a man who is crazed and drunk with power, condemning his people to a life far beneath what we had in the past. This is not our world anymore. This is not the world we want for our children and future. This world needs to end. And to do that, we need men and women like you. Those who have abilities far beyond the ones we were naturally born with. You will save this world. You will take down Ludwig Tennebris and his New World Army. You are our saviours, and now the time has come for you to step up and use these abilities we have so graciously given you, to free us from repression. Your time is now. Our time is now. Will you fight for freedom?”
Tyler ate his food in silence. He could feel Missy watching him, but he was too distracted by his own thoughts to converse with her. Since the technicians had brought him back to his room, he’d kept a careful distance between them until he could sort through what had just happened.
This General seemed to have good ideals. The idea that he wanted to fix their world was admirable, and something Tyler could see himself supporting. It felt right in his bones. Helping people and eradicating a dictator bent on destroying their lives. And yet, a memory or impression tugged at the corner of his mind saying something just wasn’t quite right about it. But what?
He went over the General’s speech again, trying to figure out what was making him wary of it all. As soon as he’d finished, the room had erupted into cheers of encouragement. He’d gone on to state that they were planning an attack on the headquarters of the New World leader, and that they would lead his army of rebels. Freedom was something so sweet, Tyler could taste it in the air when the General spoke. But that bitter edge was something he couldn’t ignore.
Rebelling seemed like a natural course for him though. None of it made sense, and it was frustrating him to a point where he couldn’t focus on anything but that speech, playing it over and over in his head. The General had seemed so passionate, believing in the words he was saying. Could his vision be sincere?
It wasn’t that Tyler simply forgave the General and his doctors for turning them into these mutated humans, as he suggested, yet part of him was grateful for the chance to use his abilities for good. And it would be good, wouldn’t it? Freeing the people and turning things back to the way they were before was a worthy cause, was it not?
“Tyler?” Missy said hesitantly.
Tyler looked up at her, his chest tightening at the look of concern in her eyes. The idea that she worried for him made him want to pull her into his embrace and show her how much she meant to him. She was his one reprieve. Over all the days they’d spent in this tiny room together, Tyler was starting to wonder how he’d ever survived without having her nearby. It was strange how quickly he had become accustomed to her presence, needing it as though she were a lifeline for him.
His mind was still fogged from the drugs, his anger something that simmered on the edge at all times, but Missy was that calming force around him. He thought back to the end of the meeting when he had spoken to the man John by himself. The decision he had come to make was already haunting him, even though he knew it was for the best. His gut told him things were going to get hectic and the last thing he wanted was to have Missy around when it did.
“Tyler?” she said again, reaching out to place her hand hesitantly on his knee. “Is everything okay?”
Was it? He wasn’t sure. There wasn’t much of anything that he knew for certain anymore. Things were so confusing, his thoughts always moving, shifting, never stopping just to think and absorb the things that were happening around him. It frustrated and enraged him.
“What happened?”
He met her blue gaze, debating on whether or not he should be completely honest. He decided he should. Missy was the only person who was completely honest with him, and he would show her the same respect.
“We were taken to a meeting room to discuss the attack again,” he told her.
“The attack on the New World Headquarters, you mean?” she asked.
He nodded. “There was someone new there. He told us that we are to attack in two days’ time.”
She sat up straight, her eyes wide. “Two days?” she whispered. She looked down in thought, before meeting his gaze again. “Who was this man? What did he call himself?”
Tyler tilted his head, interested. Why would she ask that specifically? Unease slithered in his stomach. A part of him identified with the man who called himself the General, and wanted to help him achieve his peace, but now doubt began to nag at him.
She spoke again at his silence. “Was it the General, Tyler?”
“What do you know of him?” he asked.
Missy started shaking her head. “You can’t do what he says, Tyler,” she said, moving until she kneeled in front of him, her hands gripping his forearms pleadingly. “Listen to me. I know what he probably said sounds good. Peace, taking down this government, fighting for the people. I get it. I can see the picture he is painting. But don’t believe him. He’s not good, Tyler. He is pure evil. It is his fault that you are here and that all of this was done to you. He is the one to blame. Douglas Hatcher is his real name, and he has ruined so many lives for a cause that is just as corrupt as the government he preaches against.”
“How do you know all this?”
“Because there are people out there who really are looking out for the best of our people. You were one of them, Tyler. So am I, and all our friends. We are fighting for the right side, and that side is not the General’s. You cannot go and fight for him. If he takes over, we won’t be any better off than we are now. We’ll probably be even worse.”
Tyler’s thoughts went back to one of the things the General had said.
“There are those who call themselves rebels,” he’d continued. “Those who will tell you that they want to save our world. They are nothing but a group of men and women who are looking out for themselves. They lack any of the manpower, firepower, or drive that my army has. They will only lead you to a path of disappointment and uselessness. You are fighting for the winning team now. Do not by fooled by the imposters.”
Is this who Missy was referring to? Was she one of the people the General warned against? He looked her over, trying to see – something. Anything that would tell him who to believe, who to trust. But he could not see in her head, not inside her soul. He could only listen to what they both said and make his own decision. And that choice had been made.
“2140,” John had called out to him when the meeting ended. Tyler had walked over to where he stood with the General.
“I’ve heard good things about you, soldier,
” the General had said when he stopped in front of them. “John here has nominated you to be one of our captains on this mission. We’d like you to lead a team of ten. You are to be the first to infiltrate the NWO headquarters after the initial blast. Will you accept this? Will you fight for our freedom?”
Tyler hadn’t thought about it too long or hard, knowing in his heart that he needed to do this, needed to fight for all those who couldn’t. When he’d agreed, the General had squeezed his shoulder and told him that he would make an excellent addition to his army.
When John had turned to leave after the General had walked away, was when Tyler had reached out to halt him.
“If I am going to lead these men, I want some assurances from you,” he’d said.
“What kind of assurances?” John asked.
“Missy. I want her to be allowed to leave and return to her home. No one touches her, no one hurts her. She stays there until this is done and then she is allowed to return to me. I won’t do it if I don’t have your guarantee on this.”
John had stared at him in silence for a long moment before replying. “I promise you. The girl will be safe.”
Now that same girl was kneeling before him with every plea and hope shining in her eyes that he would believe her. But the fact was, Tyler was going to do this for the General and his army. He was going to fight to change this world, and he was going to keep her safe while he did it. He just needed to figure out how to tell her.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Something was definitely going on with him. Missy could tell Tyler was bothered, but he wouldn’t tell her what it was. The fact that Douglas Hatcher had been here and spoken to him left a sour taste in her mouth. She just prayed that Tyler wouldn’t fall for his schemes. The longer he remained silent, however, the more she worried that was exactly what was happening.
Before she could really get into it, however, two technicians had shown up again and brought them back to the training room. Tyler was warming up inside the ring, his eyes focused on his movements, his mind in the zone. Missy watched from the sidelines, weighed down with the worry that was turning her stomach.
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