Iris

by Yolanda Sfetsos

  Fox watched her place her hands against the wet glass of the window. It fogged under her skin. He took a step forward, unable to resist the temptation to stay close, to touch her. He’d been afraid of this, terrified that although he wanted to make love to her more than he’d ever wanted to do anything else, afterward, he would feel an attachment and fear losing her.

  For a split second, he rethought his plan of confronting his father. What good would it do to dangle this special woman in front of him? Kingsley obviously had an ulterior motive for Iris. One he suspected had more to do with her lethal side than her beauty.

  His father was a corrupt, power-hungry individual, but he hardly cared about human connection. A pretty girl wouldn’t be cause for him to lose his head. Yet, he seemed to be pulling out all the stops to get her back. After seeing what she was capable of, Fox understood his father’s ambition.

  “Iris, Spalding is always up to something.” He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her spine against his chest.

  “Maybe he’s changed.”

  “I don’t believe someone like him can change.”

  “Fox...” She swiveled in his arms. He loosened his hold enough to let her wrap both arms around his neck. “What else do you know about him? Why do you hate this man so much?”

  “I’ve already told you. He’s a mad professor whose only interest is in conducting experiments.” He avoided her eyes and instead focused on the city outside. This high up, many of the buildings below looked like black husks. The dark, threatening sky split with a bolt of lightning and he held her tighter. “Iris,” he began meeting her gaze. “He would conduct experiments on people from the slums. Someone else nabbed them for him, and he would mix, splice, and destroy DNA in order to see what would happen. They were all innocent people until he got his hands on them.”

  “You believe he made the Felines, don’t you?”

  He nodded.

  “If he’s so evil, why would Rue meet with him? Why was Honey so determined to find him?”

  “I don’t know the answer to either one of those questions, but don’t you see how easy it would be for him to buy people from the Weasels and then continue his work?”

  Her eyes glistened.

  “It would be very easy, but that isn’t my intention.”

  Fox turned sharply to find Spalding standing in the doorway. He stood alone and half-concealed by shadows. It seemed almost amazing that it would be this dark even though a new day had already dawned.

  He reached for his gun, but Iris placed a hand over his to stop him. She shook her head when he looked at her.

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing, barging in like this?” Anger raged inside him. This was a complete and utter intrusion of privacy, especially when the flashes of all the intimacy Iris and he had shared during the night and morning flooded his mind.

  “I’m sorry. I knocked a few times, but there was no response,” the professor replied, lowering his head. “I didn’t mean to intrude. I just wanted to see if you were ready to ask your many questions and learn what I am doing here in the slums after so many years of faithful service to your—”

  “We were going to approach you.” He cut him off, maybe a second before the old man had the chance to say “father”.

  Fox wanted to tell Iris who he really was in his own time and not have it blurted out by someone else. The sense of pride most would feel being a Wentworth had never affected him. Fox Wentworth had always been ashamed of the name and omitted its use as much as he could.

  “I’ve now saved you the trouble.” Spalding said. He met his eyes with a narrowed glare. The professor wasn’t stupid. He had to know Fox didn’t want his dirty laundry exposed. “I trust you both had a restful night.”

  “Yes,” Iris answered with a friendly smile. “Thank you.”

  “You’re very welcome.” He had the nerve to bow, as if he were some sort of old-time gentleman. A man with so much blood on his hands couldn’t change overnight. Fox refused to believe it.

  “Okay, let’s get this over with, because I want to move on as soon as we can.”

  “Where are you going, Fox?”

  This time, it was his turn to narrow his eyes. “We’re headed to the upper levels. We need to find someone to help Iris with her memory.” He’d changed his mind about trusting this man.

  “I’ve already told you I can help, so you don’t need to go anywhere. I can try to recapture whatever memories haven’t been permanently erased from her brain,” Spalding said.

  The thought of trusting Iris to him made unease settle heavy in his stomach. “Thanks for the offer, but I think we’ll pass.”

  “Fox.” Iris squeezed his fingers. “If he can help us, I think it would be a good idea to hear him out.” She looked over his shoulder to focus on the professor. “What would be involved?”

  “If you need to dissect her in any way, the answer remains no.”

  Spalding chuckled. “Oh, Fox. You sure have a wild imagination. Why would I need to dissect her to access her memory? We can simply hypnotize her.” He looked at Iris. “We can hook your brain up to a computer that will put you into a hypnotized trance and revert back into whatever is hidden in the recesses of your mind. This may be a simple case of amnesia. If it is, once we connect with the memories and bring you out of the hypnosis, you should once again have access to everything.”

  “If it’s not amnesia?” she whispered. Her hand fell from his as she backed up a step, back toward the window.

  It seemed incredible just how much solace she seemed to draw from the outside.

  Spalding sighed, his eyes darkening. “If it’s not amnesia, it could mean your memories were suppressed, altered, or even erased by someone who didn’t want you to remember.”

  “Someone like you?” Fox asked.

  Spalding shook his head. “I’ve had my hand at tinkering with memories, but I promise you that I didn’t do this to Iris.”

  “Can you help me, either way?”

  Fox stared at her. She looked so fragile, eyes focused on the sky and both arms wrapped around her slim body. He wanted to reach for her, hold her close. The fact that Spalding was here kept him rooted to the spot. The old bastard already suspected their involvement, but he didn’t want him to know just how deep it went. No point in endangering themselves any more than they had to.

  “Maybe, hopefully…I won’t know until I take a look.”

  “All you have to do is use a piece of machinery?” Fox asked suspiciously.

  Spalding nodded.

  “Okay, I agree.” Iris sounded a little uncertain. Her brow was furrowed as she pressed her nose against the glass. Her breath misted the window.

  “What’s wrong?” He took a step closer.

  Spalding wandered into the room. Frantic steps had him standing between Iris and Fox within seconds. He motioned for Fox to stop with a tentative wave. “Don’t touch her!”

  “Hey, what the hell are you doing?” He reached for Spalding’s arm, but he pulled it out of the way.

  “Fox, for once in your life, be quiet and keep your anger in check.”

  “What are you doing to her?”

  He met Fox’s eyes, and a deep glare shadowed his wrinkled features. He’d never seen him look this old, his skin littered with lines and skin too thin over his bony cheeks. “Nothing. Can’t you see what’s happening to her?”

  Fox ignored him to focus on Iris, who seemed frozen to the spot. A low glare of green mist shadowed over her upper arm—the spot where the strange swirl tattoo adorned her skin. He’d touched it this morning and felt the sizzling heat. A tiny zap had jolted him, but it had come and gone so quickly, he was sure he’d imagined the whole thing.

  “Iris…”

  “Don’t touch her!” Spalding repeated.

  “What’s happening to her?”

  “She’s like a beacon. It looks like the tree has finally located her.” Spalding scanned the horizon outside the window. “For her to react this way, it
must be nearby. I’ve been trying to track it since the day I left Wentworth.”

  “A beacon, the tree, Wentworth…what the hell are you raving about, old man?” He turned to stand beside them, his own eyes wandering beyond the wet window. “There aren’t any trees in Nexus.”

  “Ah, there it is, to the East.”

  “What?”

  Spalding pressed a finger to the window and withdrew it just as quickly. He licked the tip. “Her energy is amazing. Fox, look to the right. Can you see the green mist around that building?”

  He narrowed his eyes, surveying the rise and fall of the buildings around them. It took a while, but he eventually located the tall skyscraper, just on the rim of what they could see out this narrow window. “What’s the green stuff?”

  “Can you see it near Iris?” He flicked his palm, careful not to touch it directly.

  “Of course I can.”

  “Like calls to like,” he replied.

  “That makes no bloody sense. If you want me to understand whatever insane notion you’re convinced is going on here, you’re going to have to stick to the basics.” His impatience ran thick. Seeing her standing so rigid wasn’t natural. She looked like a statue.

  Spalding released a dramatic sigh and turned to him, eyes shiny with knowledge. Fox didn’t appreciate the look. It reminded him of the times they’d crossed paths. Ambition and wonder was back on his face. “You have to get Iris over to that building.”

  “Why the hell would I need to do that? As if we haven’t been exposed to enough, already. No, I need you to help her remember, and then we’re going underground. No one’s going to get their hands on her ever again.” Fox straightened to his full height. “I won’t let my father find her.”

  Spalding stepped in front of him. “You don’t understand.” He paused, his breathing fast. “Your father will never stop looking for her.”

  “Can you keep it down?”

  “Don’t worry. In her current condition, she can’t hear anything.” His eyes practically glowed from the shiny glint of the green mist. “I know you’ve become attached to her, but you can’t keep her away from her nature, just as Kingsley couldn’t. He thought he was so clever, taking her from her natural habitat, closing it off in the most armored and secured building in the city. Hell, he built around the tree, and no one knew what was going on. No one except for Daye. She suspected his foul play from the beginning, but no one listened. Not until I came along.”

  “Daye? You mean the owner of York Industries?”

  Spalding nodded.

  “What the hell’s she got to do with anything?”

  “Never mind. Don’t you see what’s happening? The only person able to bring any sort of balance to our dark world was discovered by the most corrupt man in the city. She needs to be kept away from him at all cost and needs to be returned to the building that is calling her.” He looked rabid, out of control. “As soon as I found out she was missing, I visited the Weasels every chance I got. I knew she’d somehow end up there. I just never expected these circumstances. Though, I shouldn’t be surprised, should I? You always were ashamed of your father.”

  Fox shook his head, choosing to ignore every comment he’d made about his father. “Have you gone insane? Is old age causing your mind to slip away and fill with delusions of magical concepts and notions? You’re talking about a woman who doesn’t remember a damn thing about herself before I found her inside a deserted basement.”

  “Tell me you haven’t seen strange changes in her mood? Shifts in the way she deals with things. She’s a serene being, but violence lurks beneath the surface.” The tone of his voice seemed frantic, as if time were running out.

  “How do you know so much about her?” Fox didn’t want to believe any of what the professor was saying. Hell…that would mean Iris was something else, something other than human. What exactly, he didn’t know.

  “I know, because your father had me study Iris for over two decades.”

  “What?”

  “Yes, she’s special, but if Kingsley gets his hands on her, again, she’ll be used for his wicked intentions. I’m not sure what’s going on with him, but I know he’s got something planned, something big. I’m also pretty sure it all depends on Iris. He needs her more than the toxic oxygen around us.”

  His heart jumped at the words. He’d studied Iris…how was that possible? He grabbed a hold of the professor’s collar and yanked him close. “What the hell did you do to her?”

  “I didn’t do anything.” He shook his head, saliva collected at the corners of his mouth. His dark eyes were too wide, too much white showing. “You have to believe me. I had every intention of figuring out how she ticked, of completing the project your father assigned me to. Once I started studying her, I just couldn’t.”

  He stopped, trying to look at her from the corner of his eye. Fox forced him forward. “Not that I could’ve learned anything. I’ve never seen the cells inside her body or the anatomy.”

  “She’s human.”

  “Not entirely.”

  “Are you telling me she’s a mechanical human, an AI?”

  “No, no. She’s completely organic but not entirely human.”

  Fox released him. Spalding stumbled back a few steps.

  “You have to get her to that building as soon as possible,” he repeated.

  “So, I get her to this building and then what?” None of this insanity made any sense.

  “If you get her there safely, your father will never be able to touch her.” Spalding’s face darkened. “Iris doesn’t belong in the city streets, and she certainly shouldn’t belong to him.”

  His heart hammered wildly as he stared at her beautiful profile.

  No, she belongs with me.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Every nerve felt as if it were being twisted inside Iris, and sweat beaded near her temples. Strapped down to the stiff leather seat—both her wrists and ankles secured—made her feel confined. The smell emanating from the chair was rancid with age, as if it had been lost in storage for years. Cobwebs collected under the armrests when she curled her fingers around them.

  “Are you feeling okay?” Fox grabbed a strand of her sweaty hair and pushed it behind her ear.

  She nodded, not wanting to voice her answer, in case it came out as shaky as she felt. For the first time, she started to wonder if it might be better to abandon whatever had come before Fox. As far as she was concerned, anything before him couldn’t be too important, anyway. Not when he made her heart jump and stomach flutter with just his presence.

  The reminder of how well their bodies fit together only confirmed the depth of her emotions for him. Was love the word she was looking for? It seemed like such a small word to encompass so much—scary and exciting at the same time.

  “She looks a little pale,” Fox said to Professor Spalding. “Maybe we shouldn’t do this.”

  “Of course she’s pale. She’s just lost over an hour of her life and has no idea why!” he snapped. “If you’re going to interfere with the procedure, I’ll make you stand outside. You know she needs to do this. It might answer a lot of the questions you both have.”

  “No way. I’m staying by her side the whole time.” Fox pulled up a ratty chair and lowered himself onto it, taking the tip of her cold fingers awkwardly in his.

  The warmth of his skin was a welcome sensation against her cold skin, but Spalding was right. One second, she’d been asking him what this procedure would entail, and the next she was lost in darkness. Except this time, it had been different, because an eerie green light was calling her. A pinprick at first, slowly increasing until she’d realized it was some sort of light at the end of a tunnel making her chest and head feel light.

  She sucked in a breath and let it out slowly. “I’m fine, Fox. Don’t worry. Let’s get this over and done with.”

  “In the old days, they used a technique of quiet and mind control in order to hypnotize. The subject would be eased into it gradually.
Nowadays, all I have to do is connect these plugs to your head, and we’re off.” Professor Spalding stuck the small contraptions onto each temple, two more on her forehead, and then another two on the top of her head, against her scalp. “Before you know it, the urge to sleep will overcome everything else. This won’t hurt…much.”

  Fox looked as if he was about to protest, but she didn’t get a chance to hear or see his reaction. The dim room with the leather chair faded, replaced by pitch black. Panic struck her, and her breathing quickened—too fast for her to gulp enough air.

  She hyperventilated and couldn’t do a single thing to calm her system.

  “Iris, it’s okay. I’m here with you. I’ll never leave you. I know you suffer from horrible nightmares, but they’re not real. None of it is real. Trust me, darling.” The man’s voice soothed her to the very core.

  She opened her eyes and found herself sitting on a soft floor, with a man’s strong arms wrapped around her shoulders. His grip felt comforting, and it helped her breath to gradually slow. Every time he caressed her hair, it helped her relax and feel safer, secure.

  “It hurts so much when he sticks those needles into my body,” she whispered, even if she didn’t know what she was talking about.

  “I know it does, but it’s for your own good. Besides, I’m always there when you wake up, aren’t I? You don’t ever have to worry about a single thing when you’re with me.” His hand flattened her hair as he continued to pet her. “The world outside these walls is a harsh place, but I will keep you safe from it all.”

  She nodded. The sense of security and warmth buzzed along her body but quickly faded. She breathed in and out, the scent of rain suddenly racing up her nostrils.

  What’s going on?

  Iris looked around and noticed the man was gone. What the hell was this? Some sort of nightmare world? Why was she here?

  Remember, remember, remember.

  Confusion raced through her mind, drumming to a violent beat. Iris had forgotten too much already. Not knowing who she was hurt like hell, and the confusion pounded inside her brain. She couldn’t allow herself to slip into so much uncertainty.