Wild seduction, p.3
Wild Seduction, page 3
“So, Camilla keeps Jordan around because he is a genetic genius?”
“He is, but with genetics, human ones anyway, Camilla is superior to Jordan. She doesn’t possess Jordan’s computer skills, though. I think she values those above anything else. The synthetic brain is a gold mine. He is keeping the schematics hidden from his mother, but I am sure she wants them. If they lost a soldier, she could clone him and have Jordan download his memories to the clone. Do you understand the magnitude of that research?”
Luca rubbed his jaw. “The thought of it is making me nauseous.”
“It should, but the materials needed for the synthetic brain are expensive. It could never be mass-produced.”
“Only the wealthiest and highly connected criminals can afford it, right?”
“I don’t know. Camilla’s agenda is a mystery. Except for the soldier program, her other businesses are legitimate.”
“So, Kevin is the immediate threat.”
She nodded. “Camilla wants soldiers. Human ones. Kevin wants shifters, he needs you to find a cure.”
“That’s why he wants you. He believes you can cure him.”
Lana stiffened. “No.”
Luca’s eyes narrowed. “You said he would need another geneticist and another doctor.”
“Yes, but he isn’t after me because I’m a doctor.”
Luca pulled her against him. “Why does he want you, Lana?”
She swallowed hard. “I’m the only one who can save Gerald.”
“Why?”
“Jordan used my DNA in the serum to save Gerald. He thought I was dead. He wanted to ensure Gerald wouldn’t live past a couple years.”
Luca frowned. “I don’t understand. Why would that matter? How can you save Gerald?”
She bit her lip. He could feel her apprehension, but the innocent action made his cock thicken. He wanted to do the nibbling, and he planned to start with those perfect pink lips. “Lana.”
“I’m thinking.”
He pulled her close, imprinting his body against hers. “Answer the question.”
“There is only one way to save Gerald, and it isn’t science. Or...”
“How?”
Lana’s eyes flickered in fear. “I would have to mate him.”
CHAPTER 3
Lana backed away as his eyes pulsed amber. “Luca?”
“You are never going near Gerald Kallan. You are mine,” he growled.
She held up her hands to keep him at bay. She forced a calm into her voice she didn’t feel. “I’m not your mate, Luca. I can’t be.” The low growl rumbled in his throat. It should have scared her. It didn’t. The deep vibration caused her nipples to peak and her skin to itch.
Willpower and guilt kept her from reaching out to the angry, sexy man before her. “You don’t understand...”
He unbuttoned his shirt, yanking it from his jeans. “I understand perfectly.”
She backed away. “Luca, stop. You can’t force...”
He pulled her against him. “I will never force you to do anything, but you are the one lying to yourself. Your body craves mine. I can feel it. So can you.”
She looked at his chiseled chest. Every defined muscle urged her to move closer. His tanned skin begged her to lick and taste every inch. She bit her lip to curb the desire. The jolt of pain was a reminder why she couldn’t let desire blur her focus. “Stop.”
Luca tipped her head up. “I would if you believed I would hurt you.”
He slammed his mouth onto hers, demanding she part her lips to allow his invasion. His scent surrounded her as his tongue invaded her like a marauding force. The thrill was as intoxicating as he was. Memories flashed through her mind to the last time she believed herself safe and the consequences of that mistake. The one she would pay for with her life. She stiffened in his arms.
Luca pulled back. “You’re afraid, but it isn’t of me. You know I won’t hurt you. What is it?”
She pulled out of his arms, missing the warmth and safety. “I won’t do it.”
“Do what, Lana?”
She swallowed hard before meeting his gaze. “Get another man killed.”
Luca looked confused. “The Kallans have killed hundreds, maybe thousands of men. Who are you talking about?”
Her words would change everything. Perhaps lose the one chance she had. Still, she couldn’t lie. Not anymore. “My husband.”
Lana turned away, acknowledging the feel of betrayal. She understood it was ridiculous. She hadn’t known Luca or shifters had existed when she met Cam, yet the vise in her stomach wouldn’t let go. It was his silence that made her turn back. It was the look of compassion that surprised her.
“I didn’t know you were married. What was his name?”
She took a stunted breath. “Cam. I met him at the VA clinic.”
“Was he a doctor? Someone who worked there?” Luca asked.
She shook her head. “He was at the clinic doing rehab after being injured overseas. I was dealing with my parents’ death and volunteering at the clinic every chance I got. We were both experiencing a trauma, struggling to get ourselves back to normal.”
Luca pulled her against him, caressing her arms as he spoke. “Why were you volunteering at the Vet clinic?”
Lana looked at him. His gentleness alarmed her more than his anger. “I started going there when my father was diagnosed. It became a habit, I guess. After my parents died, it seemed like the only thing I had left. I met Cam when he was recovering from a hip injury. I was in a dark place. He helped me make my way back. To get my degree.”
“You’re young to have a doctorate.”
“Like Racheal, I was advanced for my years. I didn’t know it then, but Kevin seeks out young protegees. People he can mold or manipulate into the fields he needs for his research.”
Luca nodded. “We are well aware of Kevin’s recruiting optics. What happened to Cam?”
Lana pursed her lips. She had only shared this pain with one other person. The one man she was trying to save. “His hip continued to deteriorate after multiple surgeries. I married him two weeks before he found out he was destined for a wheelchair. He couldn’t take it.”
“He committed suicide?”
“That would have been easier.”
Luca put his hands on either side of her face. “What happened, Lana?”
“I was crying in my office. Cam hadn’t committed suicide, but he had warned me it was a possibility.” She ran her finger over Luca’s chest. The soft texture was at odds with the steel muscle beneath. “Kevin came into my office. I had been working for him for years, never knowing he was anything but a wealthy philanthropist. He said he had an experimental program. That it was in its infancy and that if I agreed to work for him at Kallan Labs, he would get Cam in.”
“He put Cam in the enhanced soldier program.”
“Yes, and it worked at first. Cam improved that first year. I was helping Jordan to extend the life span of the soldiers, and was told they had a three-year survival rate, but I expected to be able to solve the problem of decay. I did not understand I was dealing with shifter DNA. The Kallans do not realize how much time that omission cost me.”
“What happened to Cam? Was he killed on a mission?”
Lana shook her head. “Unlike Kevin’s other soldiers, which were all but expendable, he kept Cam close. He knew he would lose his hold on me when Cam died.”
“How did he die?”
She blinked back the tears. “Like I said, the first year was wonderful. Then his personality changed. He got angry over nothing. Became jealous of any man I was near. He turned into someone I didn’t recognize.”
“What did you do?” Luca asked.
“Cam became convinced I was having an affair. He got Kevin to station him at my lab and started standing outside the university while I was in class. He watched me day and night.”
His fingers caressed her cheek. “Go on.”
“I was never out of his sight, but he was convinced I was having an affair. He beat me.”
Luca stiffened. “I know it isn’t his fault, but I swear I would kick the shit out of him if he were alive.”
“That’s the thing. It wasn’t his fault. He was deteriorating quicker than expected.”
“How did you handle it?”
“I went to Kevin. He became concerned for my safety. Now I know it was because he didn’t want to lose me. I was so close to creating a serum that would extend a soldier’s life expectancy.”
“You did that, didn’t you? We were told they have five to seven years.”
“Yes, I modified the serum to slow the degradation, but once I learned about the shifters, I understood there was no way to stop what Kevin was doing to those men.”
“What did Kevin do about Cam?”
She sighed. “He fast tracked my schooling. I graduated and was working for him in no time. He assigned a second guard to me. One that Cam trusted. I didn’t realize it then, but I ruined two men’s lives. Just so Kevin could control me.”
“What was Kevin’s excuse for Cam’s accelerated decay?”
Lana huffed. “He said he had never seen it happen so fast. That I should work harder to save Cam’s life.”
“And you did.”
“Yes. I wanted the man I married, back. I hated going home. To bed with Cam.”
Luca’s body stiffened. “He raped you?”
She shook her head. “I dosed Cam with saltpeter. He lost his sex drive. I told him it was the serum, and that sex didn’t matter to me. That we would fix it when we cured him, but he held me so close at night that sometimes I had bruises in the morning.”
“How did he die?”
“It was my fault,” she whispered.
“Tell me.”
“Kevin introduced me to Jordan. He showed me his, and Racheal’s research. I was so excited until Jordan slipped up.”
“How?”
“He told me about the shifters. I realized my research was all bogus. I was working on actual cougar and bear DNA. My work was useless. While you shift into other animals, the shifter gene is unique to you and a small percentage of the population. That gene doesn’t exist in the native species you transform into. I did not understand what I was doing when I extended the soldiers’ lifespans.”
Luca frowned. “I’m sorry, honey. I don’t understand.”
“I snapped when I found out about the shifters, and the reality of what I had done hit me. I freaked out and yelled at Cam. Maybe I wanted him to hurt me. I wasn’t thinking clearly.”
“What happened?”
“Cam attacked me. I didn’t fight back. Colin was forced to kill Cam, right in front of me. I condemned him to that fate. I brought both of them to Kevin Kallan and let Cam die.”
“Both?”
Lana let the tear slip down her cheek. “Colin is Cam’s brother. He entered the program because Kevin coerced him into it. Cam trusted Colin. He was the only man Cam would let near me. I ruined both their lives and if you stick around, you’ll be next.”
Luca’s chest squeezed. The hurt in Lana’s voice made his cat groan in pain. The need to comfort her was a primal instinct as strong as his need to protect her. He pulled her against him. “I will never leave you, Lana. I am sorry about Cam. We are aware of the side effects of the soldier program. It isn’t your fault. Kevin Kallan has been manipulating you since the day he noticed you.”
Lana shook her head. “You don’t get it.”
Luca touched her chin. “I do. Tell me when you met Kevin for the first time. Did he know your parents or did you meet him after they diagnosed your father?”
She squinted. “I met Kevin after my father started treatment at the clinic.”
Luca swallowed hard. “Was your father sick before he went to the clinic?”
Lana nodded. “He got sick overseas. He was in stage four by the time he started treatment at the clinic. Kevin had nothing to do with my father’s illness.”
“You have seen that tactic I take it?”
“Yes, but Kevin didn’t know about me until after my father was undergoing treatment. I was too young and devastated to see Kevin for what he was.”
“I understand. Manipulating people when they are at the lowest point in their life is his MO,” Luca said.
“I know. I have seen him do it.”
Luca rubbed her arms. “I have to tell you; we have run across Colin on a few ops. He helped us, but we haven’t been able to figure out who he is. Can you tell me more about him?”
“Colin was forced into the program to save Cam. I don’t know the details. I wasn’t part of that conversation, but Colin became Cam’s partner. They watched me. Protected me. At the end, Colin protected me from Cam. He doesn’t blame me for what happened, but he should.”
“Why can’t we find any background information on Colin? Facial recognition doesn’t work. We can’t find a birth certificate. He doesn’t have any form of social media. There is nothing.”
Lana sighed. “When you enter the soldier program, you give up your past life. Cam and Colin were adopted. Their parents were abusive. The boys joined the military as soon as Cam turned eighteen.”
“They are twins?”
“No, but they looked very similar until the surgery.”
“What surgery?” Luca asked.
“The soldiers undergo some minor plastic surgery to alter their appearance. A goodbye to their previous life. They’re given the serum after the procedure. The serum heals them, then Kevin gives them new identities.”
“Because they take the serum after the change it heals to their new appearance.”
“Yes.”
“Soldier Barbie dolls. Perfect,” Luca growled.
Lana rubbed her neck. “The soldier program is Camilla’s baby. She... likes the soldiers to have a certain look. They are all attractive after their alteration.”
“We’ve seen what she likes to do with her toys.”
Lana’s face scrunched. “Colin is her favorite.”
Luca hugged her. “Oh honey, I’m sorry. That was uncalled for.”
“It’s true. Colin is a seasoned vet, but he’s forced to... please that insensitive bitch at will so he can destroy Kevin and save me.”
“I’m sorry. He sounds like a decent guy. What is his full name?”
“His name is Colin Canmore now, but if you look up his birth name, it will show he died three years ago.”
“Kevin makes his soldiers give up their friends, families, and appearance. That’s cold.”
“Originally, he made the soldiers employees of the Kallan Corporation and that was it, but once he realized they would expire so quickly, he had to kill off the identity of any soldier entering the program.”
“Is there any way to gain the soldiers’ identities?”
“Colin is working on that. It’s the reason he is so... close with Camilla.”
“You said Colin is trying to save you. Did you mean help you escape?”
Lana walked away. He could feel her indecision. Whether to trust him. “He is trying to help save my life. Help me find a cure for him and me.”
“What happened to you?” Luca asked.
“Jordan was tired of waiting for a female shifter. I had the gene, so did Cam. He thought because Cam and I were... intimate, that I would survive a serum induced transformation.”
Luca rubbed his chin. “We had reports you died.”
“They are true. I started the transformation, and it stopped. All my bones broke at once, and I stayed that way until I went into cardiac arrest. I prayed for death. I was in the morgue inside a cooler when I woke up. My bones had returned to my human form. So, I found Colin, and he got me out.”
“You have been searching for a cure ever since?”
Lana looked down. “Sure.”
Luca grabbed her. “Lana, tell me the truth.”
She pursed her lips. “I am looking for a cure, but not for me. For Colin. For the soldiers manipulated into the program.”
“That isn’t your fault,” Luca said.
“I modified the serum and lengthened the time before destabilization. Cam only had three years. I made it five to seven years for Colin and the other soldiers. I lengthened their enslavement.”
“You think that makes you a terrible person?”
“It makes me a monster. You do not understand what Colin does for that bitch.”
“We are aware of her... habits.”
“You think her sex games are the worst part? Think again. Camilla is more a monster than Kevin is. She is the Jekyll to Kevin’s Hyde.”
Luca shook his head. “No. Camilla may be a monster, but Kevin took advantage of your pain. He played you. He needed your brilliance, and you weren’t the only one.”
She huffed. “I know. That only makes it worse. I suspected Racheal wasn’t helping Jordan by choice, but I looked the other way because I needed her research to save Cam. I failed him... and you know the rest.”
“That was the past,” Luca said.
Lana’s eyes hardened. “If you stay with me. It will be your future.”
Lana turned away from him. She had to make him understand that his proximity to her was a death sentence. She hadn’t been able to save Cam. The thought of Luca suffering the same fate destroyed her. A need to run, to escape the pain and betrayal in her life was overwhelming. She started toward the door.
Luca spun her around so fast she had to grab onto him to stop from falling. His amber eyes pulsed with anger and arousal. She opened her mouth to reason with him. To plead, he let her go for his own safety. She moaned when he slammed his mouth onto hers. His tongue swept through her lips, demanding she acknowledge him.
Her body heated at once. The smoldering fire beneath the surface erupted into a volcano of heat and desire. Adrenaline raced through her blood. There was a moment of fear before she realized what once brought her pain, now saturated her with lust. A primal reaction to the sexy man who held her body captive. Her waning strength returned in force. She grabbed his neck, holding him against her. Was this her one moment of happiness? To be the woman she once was? If so, she would take it.
