“I’m fine. What are you going to do with her?”
Choosing to play the role of proud grandparent, Rex smiled and stepped toward Tom. He slapped him on the shoulder and pointed him in the direction of his bed. “I’m going to take care of her and the baby, Tom. Everything will turn out just fine.”
Tom’s wary gaze didn’t surprise him. “And me? I’m sure you want to punish me, make an example of me.”
“All in good time, dear boy. All in good time. Now, hop back into bed, and I’ll have a nurse bring you something to eat. You need to keep up your strength.”
He made sure the Hunter climbed back into bed before fixing a handcuff around his wrist. Rex secured the other cuff to the bed’s rail. Tom nodded, as if accepting the inevitable.
Oh, my dear boy, you have no idea what you’re in for.
On his way out of the med lab, Rex instructed that Tom be locked in one of the cells by nightfall. He rode the elevator up to the armory and cell block, somewhat amused that the six cells he’d built on a whim were coming in handy. He expected three to be occupied, but their third guest hadn’t yet arrived.
Stevens greeted him with a nod. “Sir.”
“Good work in capturing my escapee, Stevens. You’re starting to prove your worth around here, you know that?”
“Thank you, sir.”
“From now on, you’re on guard detail right here. When the professor is brought in, lock him up.”
“The professor?” Waylon’s voice boomed. “You’ve got Kai, and you’re bringing him here? You are mad, Rex.”
Rex stepped passed Stevens to the cell holding Waylon. He’d demanded a room, but there were no staff quarters available, so the cell would have to suffice.
“That may be the case.” Rex grinned. “But you forget, old man, I hold all the power.”
“Watch who you’re calling old, Rex. You’re no spring chicken yourself. We both know you can’t let Kai see me.”
“And why is that, my friend?”
“If he doesn’t know I’m involved, then I can protect you.”
Leaning against the bars, Rex said, “Good plan, Waylon. There’s just one little flaw in your logic.”
Big bushy eyebrows lifted in question. Rex simply pointed at the blonde beauty scowling in her cell. “Her.”
The blonde, Sarah, shook her head at them, as if admonishing two boys in the playground. “You two are pathetic. When I get out of here—”
“Tut-tut.” Rex cut off her empty threat. “It’s really simple, lady. You aren’t going anywhere. So get over it.”
Done with the two of them, he turned back to Stevens. “So where’s my professor?”
Something brushed along her forehead. Feather light. Gentle. Loving. Soft humming caressed her ears, barely hiding the low murmurings of another somewhere in the distance. She smiled, asking in silence for the kind soul to continue caring for her. It helped ease the throbbing at her temples, though it did nothing for the metallic, coppery taste in her mouth. The taste of blood.
Sari opened her eyes. There was darkness at first. A cold blackness she’d only ever felt a few times in her life, like the first time she came out of a drug induced state, and the time she’d recovered from surgery. She shook her head, but it didn’t help much. The best she could do was make out the silhouetted figure above her. She blinked, hard. Her eyes hurt. It took her a moment to accept that it was dark, that her feline vision struggled to see the human shape hovering over her.
Her heartbeat slowed, her hearing sharpened. Where the hell was she?
“Easy, girl. You’re not alone.”
That voice. It was familiar. Sounded a lot like—
Her entire body sprang to alert. She leapt to a crouch, unfamiliar shapes and objects jumping out at her in the dark. The air held a variety of scents. Bodily fluids, fear, anger, hope. The hard concrete beneath her sent tentacles of cold up through the bare soles of her feet. Chilly air wafted across her skin, raising goose flesh. She was naked.
“Stephanie, you need to calm down.”
Stephanie? Oh shit. Clarity shifted her brain into overdrive and she grabbed the icy steel bars of her cage. Her fucking cage! They had her; she was back. The memory of the plan gone awry flooded her head and she froze. It wasn’t supposed to go down like that. It was supposed to just be Mara and a second Hunter. Where had the others come from?
What had happened to Mara? To Kai? They’d caught him but didn’t tranq him. What happened? Sari pressed the heel of her hand between her eyes. Think, goddammit! What happened to Kai?
“Stephanie?”
Fear pulled a low growl from deep in her throat, and she shuffled to the back of her cage. Whoever had touched her so nicely waited with quiet patience at the bars. Cages side by side, in two neat rows on either side of the room. Correction, the laboratory. Yes, she remembered now.
“I’m not Stephanie. My name is Sari.”
“I know,” the concerned voice said. “Are you all right? Did they hurt you?”
Sari rubbed her shoulder where the first tranquilizer dart hit her. “I’m fine, just a little confused. Who are you?”
Silence filled the room. No one breathed. It was like they’d all taken a collective breath, shocked by her question. Her head grew fuzzy again. Damn she hated being sedated. It took so long to wear off. She fought the resurgence of unconsciousness with every fiber of her being, but the drugs made her weak. This was why she was a Failure. It only took two darts to subdue her. The Hunters needed more.
An image of four darts in the neck of a black cat flashed in front of her. Mara. The Hunter would be up on her feet now, unlike Sari, whose legs threatened to wobble out from under her squatting form. She needed to stand and stretch, but the low bars wouldn’t allow it. Cooped up—caged—after being free for so long riled her, scared her, made her want to cry.
“How quickly she forgets.” A male voice sounded from the cages opposite. “I told you she was lost to us.”
Reality hit her, dropped her on her ass. “Pitch?”
He huffed. “Ah, so she does remember.”
Sari blinked and focused on the figure nearest to her. The one who stroked her forehead. “Mystery?”
A soft purr sounded. “I knew you’d come back to us.”
Tears stung her eyes. Mystery was still alive. And Pitch. Were the others all here too? Sari looked around the dark room, but the drugs continued to play havoc with her sight. She saw figures, shadows and shapes but so little detail. Was this how Pitch saw the world?
Sari crawled over to the side of her cage to where Mystery crouched. The woman reached out to her, taking Sari’s hand and holding it in both of hers. Warmth seeped in, but not enough to shush away the cold creeping up from the floor below.
“Mystery? Is it really you?”
Her hands squeezed Sari’s. “Of course, Steph—er, Sari. Come here.”
Sari couldn’t resist the lullaby in Mystery’s voice. God, how she’d missed that. “I can’t believe you’re still alive.”
Mystery pulled Sari closer and they hugged through the bars, the cold metal pressing down the center of Sari’s chest. Mystery’s small, frail body was all skin and bones under Sari’s hands. Maybe it was a blessing in disguise that she couldn’t see her friend. Three years older than Sari, Mystery should be in her prime, not struggling to live through every day. Curse Zimmerman for this!
The contact eased the weariness in her heart, reminded her of the touch of someone else. Kai. Tears ran down her cheeks as the memory of Kai’s last moments came back to her. The guard, Stevens maybe, had ordered Hunters to kill him. Kai didn’t stand a chance.
Burying her face in Mystery’s tattered clothing, Sari cried for Kai. She missed him, longed to hear the sound of his voice, feel the scrape of his skin on hers.
“What is the matter?” Mystery asked.
Words failed her.
“See, I told you they’d break her. She hasn’t come to save us. She’s broken her promise, like I told y
ou she would.”
Pitch’s words rang loud and clear in her ears, and for the first time in her adult life, Sari prayed for the drugs to take her away from this. They’d worked when she was a kid, the pain meds a beautiful and perfect solution to her many problems. She’d lost track of how many nights they’d knocked her out to the abuse of her uncle and when she woke, bloodied and bruised, she had the advantage of already being dosed up on painkillers. But she wasn’t a kid anymore. Landing in hell for a second time didn’t justify the drugs.
“How did they find you?” Mystery inquired, her smooth motherly voice keeping Sari grounded. “You escaped. I thought you would have gone as far away from here as possible.”
“Not too far,” Sari answered. “Just to Melbourne. I couldn’t bring myself to go further knowing you were still locked up in here.”
“Aw, how swee—”
“Hush! Let Sari speak. Go on.”
Sari lifted her head, feeling as though every other hybrid in the room, her beloved Failures, stared at her in anticipation. Were they expecting her to tell a story of excitement and adventure? Of love and romance found outside these walls? Or did they share Pitch’s disappointment in her? The weight of their expectation pressed down on her shoulders. She couldn’t bring herself to tell them the real world hadn’t changed since failing them dismally the first time round and letting them all end up in here. Damaged. Alone. Lost.
But she wouldn’t lie to them, wouldn’t give them false hope. They needed the truth as much as she needed to believe that it wouldn’t crush them.
“I got a job as a research assistant. I’d heard that there was a scientist looking into black cat sightings.”
“Does he know? About you? About us?”
She turned, the harsh sound of Pitch’s anger pulling more tears from her eyes. “He didn’t, at first. I had to make sure he could be trusted. I only told him this week that I’m a hybrid. He accepts—”
“Bullshit!” Pitch’s shadow rose. He stood on all fours, an inch separating his head from the bars across the top of the cage. “He can’t accept. No one can. Normal people will never understand us, Sari.”
She flinched at the way he spat her name as though it held poison, as if she had been infected by freedom and he couldn’t stand it. The depth of his anger fed the guilt she’d always carried since her escape. She’d had a choice that day. Circle back to attempt to rescue the others or live to fight another day. Her injuries made the choice for her and she’d fled, though not before vowing to come back for them. But Pitch’s hatred simmered in the air and made her doubt.
Life here had been hard for them. It’d been hell for her, and she suspected that her escape had riled Zimmerman, turned him into even more of a tyrant. He ruled with an iron fist over the Failures because they dared to question. He hated that, despised that he had to explain himself to those he considered damaged. They weren’t perfect like he dreamed, didn’t fit into his grand plan. After all, why would he want to breed hybrids with side effects?
Sari never understood why he didn’t just kill them. He’d always talked about getting rid of them, his scent radiating disgust and repulsion any time he stepped into the lab. So why didn’t he do away with the ones that reminded him of his failure?
Kai’s words echoed in her head. There has to be a mad scientist in this story, right? She wanted to grab onto the sound of his voice and hold on. It might be all she had left of Kai, but he’d want her to be smart and think her way through this. He didn’t think Zimmerman was in charge, thought there was someone else pulling the strings. Sari had never seen anyone else give orders. It was always Rex Zimmerman. But if he hadn’t killed them yet and hadn’t done away with his Failures, then perhaps someone else commanded his actions. That someone saw the value in keeping the Failures around, though for what, Sari couldn’t guess. She didn’t want to. Her imagination had a way of twisting the truth into nightmares.
Did Kai understand? Sari swallowed, her thoughts centered on her hunky professor.
“Kai wants to and I think he does,” she whispered. “At least to some extent. No one can fault him for trying.”
“Oh great! Just great.” Sarcasm exploded from Pitch’s voice. “She promises to come back and set us all free but falls madly in love and loses her head. Well, I hope it was worth it because getting your ass thrown back in that cage isn’t going to help one bit.”
His words made some sense, but he didn’t know everything and Sari had learned too much over the last few years to let Pitch and his sour grapes load her up with more guilt. She had enough of her own. Pulling out of Mystery’s grasp, she grabbed the dirty blanket from the corner of her cage. When she’d fastened it around her body, she crawled to the front of the cage and peered through the darkness at Pitch. With the sedative almost worn off, she saw him clearer now.
Twisted by the bitterness and hatred in his soul, he wore dozens of scars. How many times had he tried to end his life? Sari noticed the recent wound on his leg, the scar tissue still young and fragile. It’d take so little effort to open him up again, and she sensed his silent urging of her to make it easy on him. Thought if he provoked her enough, she’d somehow reach across the distance and dig her claws into an artery. He didn’t have to say a word for her to know his thoughts for there were no walls, no barriers left. Either they’d been smashed or he no longer carried the strength to hold them up against the likes of Zimmerman.
Sari raised her gaze from his leg to his eyes. She remembered they’d never glowed like the others. Even in cat form, his eyes stayed human. The first time she’d seen it, she’d pulled away in fear. He’d laughed, called her a scrawny little shit who didn’t belong. Sari smiled wryly. Yeah, he got the part about not belonging right. But scrawny?
He’d always been strong of mind and body. Where had the strength gone?
“What did they do to you?” She kept her voice low as some of the others curled up in their cages and pretended to sleep. “And don’t give me a half-assed story about torture and brain washing. You were the one who taught me how to resist, remember?”
Pitch threw himself to the back of his cage and turned his back. Sullen bugger. She had hoped he’d help them out of this, but it seemed she couldn’t count on him now.
“Fine, go away and sulk. You were like a brother to me, Patrick Mitchell. You made me realize I had to come back for my family. It was your voice that lulled me to sleep those first few nights, giving me the strength to go on. I wish you could see in the dark, I wish you could see the scars they gave me. No matter what you think, I barely made it out of here with my life. Coming back for you with half my spine exposed wasn’t an option, but I suppose that doesn’t matter, does it? I let you down, like everyone else in your life. Well, boo-hoo. Join the freakin’ club.”
He half turned toward her then buried his face in his hands. Disappointment washed through Sari. So much for her family.
“Don’t be too hard on him,” Mystery whispered. “They really did torture him.”
“Yeah, well.” Sari went to the back wall of her cage and curled up, fatigue making her weary. “He wasn’t the only one who got hurt, Mystery.”
Rex watched Mara climb onto the hospital bed, unable to get his mind off the natural conception they’d managed to keep secret for so long. Not one of the Hunters detected a change in her condition. At the very least, one of the other Hunters should have smelled the scent of sex on them, but nothing of the sort was reported. It made Rex suspicious.
Why had none of them noticed Tom and Mara’s closeness? And if they had, why had none of them come to him? When they started keeping secrets amongst themselves, it led to other rebellious acts. He needn’t look any farther than the Failures as examples. They’d known Sari would attempt to escape. Hell, they’d helped her plan it. Keeping the information from him had been their first step to destruction.
If the Hunters followed down that path…he wouldn’t let it happen. They’d all undergo an unscheduled psych evaluation alo
ng with their medicals in the morning. That ought to throw a spanner in the works. He’d know whatever they knew by lunchtime.
“Don’t worry your pretty little head,” Jessica cajoled, tucking Mara in. “She’s going to be fine. You built a fine warrior, a healthy hybrid. My tests tell me she’s going to give you a perfectly healthy human child.”
Leaning against the doorframe of the private room, Rex inhaled deeply. The woman on the bed looked at him, her eyes curious, her bottom lip trembling.
“It’s human?”
Rex laughed, liking the way the sound rumbled in his chest. It had been so long since he felt genuine amusement. “Of course. What did you think? That you’d give birth to a shifter?”
Her silence answered his question.
“Mara, you were born human and then genetically engineered. The one thing we can’t change is the production of sex cells. All of you, Hunters and Failures, produce reproductive cells that are completely human. That was deigned by your birth, and no amount of gene therapy will change that. You produce normal eggs. Tom produces normal sperm. Together, you make a normal baby. Not a shifter. Are you disappointed?”
She blinked and then smiled. “Not at all. Maybe our child can live a normal life.”
Sure. Rex said nothing more to the Hunter. She’d drop her bundle in eight months’ time, but until then, she’d prove a handful. Molding the mind of a pregnant female would be quite a challenge, what with all those hormones running rampant. Now that she’d tasted a little bit of freedom, she’d want more. Putting a stop to it needed top priority.
“You’re going to keep a very close eye on this one,” he told Jessica. “Be prepared for any trick she might try to pull.”
Jessica’s sing-song laughter brought a moment of light to the room. “Quit worrying, old man. You should go and check in on the others. They’ve been asking about you.”
His heart skipped a beat at the mention of the new breed of hybrids recovering from gene therapy. Like the breeding program, it was a phase of the operation he was not yet supposed to have begun, but the progress was excellent so far and he couldn’t wait to see the results of his latest genetic combinations. Jaguars and leopards had only been the beginning.
Sari Page 13
