Wild seduction, p.8
Wild Seduction, page 8
Lana knew she should leave the poor man alone. He had suffered beyond anything imaginable. “Will you let me talk to him? I have an idea.”
Talen glanced at Luca sleeping on the couch. “You can ask. But don’t touch him unless he allows it.”
She didn’t deserve Talen’s trust anymore than she did Cyril’s, but an idea was brewing and she couldn’t ignore it. “I won’t.”
Lana twisted her fingers as she sat on the couch in the lab’s corner. It was comfortable. Luca had placed her coffee on the small coffee table set in front of her. They’d set it up to encourage Racheal to eat while she was working. To take a break. So far it hadn’t worked. Lana understood Racheal’s drive. The need to see a project through. “Are you sure he is coming?”
Luca took her hand in his. “Cyril will be here in a moment. We try not to push him. It took us weeks to get him to leave his cell after we deemed him safe to others in the lair. We didn’t consider the effects that kind of isolation had on his cat. We were concerned about the women’s safety. Now he barely comes near us. His parents visit him every day, but he rarely leaves his house.”
“I met him once. He was already starting to deteriorate. His hair was turning white, and he had lost muscle mass. He was getting harder to control.”
“That’s why they gave him the shifter meth?” Luca asked.
Lana nodded. “Yes, it was the first version, but I thought the one they gave Cyril was the deadliest. They modified it after him because he deteriorated so quickly after his injection.”
Cyril opened the door to the lab and walked over.
Luca shook his hand. “Thanks for coming, Cyril. We appreciate it.”
Cyril gave a curt nod. “Least I can do.”
Lana saw the look of pain on Luca’s face. She indicated the chair opposite the couch. “Will you have a seat, Cyril? I don’t know if you remember me, but we met at the Kallan Lab.”
Cyril sat on the chair. “I remember. Racheal was away that day. You gave me a different serum. It made me feel good at the time, but terrible later.”
Lana cleared her throat, willing the guilt away. “Yes, we gave you an experimental drug that makes shifters more compliant. It’s engineered to make you reliant on it. You were on so many trial serums at the time I am surprised you lived. You’re a walking miracle.”
Cyril’s eyes held no emotion. “I don’t deserve a miracle.”
Lana tensed at the death in his voice. He wasn’t lying. While he was physically healing, guilt was killing him. “Cyril, you’re not responsible for what you did while under the influence.”
“I am.”
Lana took a deep breath. “Cyril, have you heard of PCP?”
Cyril nodded. “Yes.”
“Jordan once dosed a guard with PCP before he left work. He wanted to monitor the effects of the drug. The guard destroyed a bar and beat up the bartender. Is it his fault or Jordan’s?”
Cyril frowned. “If the guard had no knowledge, he was taking the drug, it was Jordan’s fault.”
Lana nodded. “Did you willingly take any of the drugs they gave you?”
“No, but I beat up women.”
Lana raised an eyebrow. “If the guard had attacked a woman instead of the male bartender. It would be his fault?”
Cyril looked down. “No, but I...”
Lana leaned over and put her hand on Cyril’s arm. “You feel guilty. Some days you don’t know how to live with the regret. The knowledge that you harmed innocent men.”
Cyril shook his head. “I harmed innocent women.”
“I harmed both, and I’m the reason the soldiers have longer life spans. I condemned so many innocent men I doubt I will ever get the blood off my hands.”
“They forced you to do it. I saw how they treated you. You didn’t have a choice.”
“Neither did you, but your recovery is a gift. The antibodies in your blood could help Marie and the soldiers.”
Cyril pulled his arm away. “What do you need?”
Lana sat back. “How did the drug I gave you, make you feel?”
Cyril shrugged. “It felt good when you gave it to me, but later I felt jumpy. The next day I was in pain and looking for another injection. When Racheal gave me a higher dose of the serum that made me want my mate, that instinct was stronger.”
Lana tried not to let her excitement show. “The hormone injections, how did they make you feel?”
“They made me desperate to find a mate, any mate. I attacked women without provocation. I’m a monster and should be put down.”
Lana shook her head. “That wasn’t you. They designed the enzyme to force you to find a shifter female. It was the early stages of development. Before they realized they could test for the shifter gene.”
Cyril was quiet for a long time. “My recovery could help others?”
Lana felt sick and excited. She had given him the drugs, but he didn’t care what happened to him. He would help her for the opportunity to help save Marie and the same soldiers that held him down in the lab when he was dosed with the serum. “Yes. As far as I know, you are the only survivor. The stronger you get, the better our chances of helping others who’ve been exposed to the same serums and drugs. I can manufacture a temporary cure or at least a stabilizing agent from your blood.”
Cyril glanced at Luca before looking down. There was no hiding his shame. It didn’t matter what Lana said. Cyril would never forgive himself. She had to get through to him or his cat would give up, and next time the madness would be real. “Take my blood. Help as many as you can.”
“It will help Marie and the soldiers, but Cyril, I’m a doctor. I have every intention of saving you too.”
Lana stood looking at Cyril’s blood samples. Would she find a cure? Could his suffering be the catalyst that would save hundreds, maybe thousands of men? She jumped when Racheal touched her arm. “Sorry, I was lost in thought.”
Racheal laughed. “Don’t be. Happens to me all the time. Even my cougar has trouble getting through to me when I am zoned in on a project.”
Lana smiled. She and Racheal were so much alike. With Jane living here, she had everything she’d ever wanted. Especially the sexy man who occupied her thoughts. “Luca is walking Cyril home. He’s trying to convince him that the things he did weren’t his fault, but I don’t think anything he says will work.”
Racheal nodded. “I know. We have tried everything, but Cyril won’t look Talen in the face and we have to keep Lucy away from him.”
Lana put the blood sample in the small fridge. “Why? Cyril doesn’t appear aggressive.”
Racheal sighed. “He isn’t, but he attacked Lucy, and despite her telling him repeatedly that she forgives him, he won’t accept her forgiveness. Judd caught him on their territory with a gun. It had shifter bullets he stole from the lab. He was in the middle of nowhere, crying. We don’t know if he would have gone through with it, but we can’t take the chance.”
Lana rubbed her temple. “If we can come up with a cure for the soldiers and help Marie with Cyril’s blood, then we can tell him his suffering had a purpose. We need to prove to him that it wasn’t for nothing.”
Racheal leaned toward the fridge. “That might work. It’s worth a try. We have to get through to Cyril or we will lose him.”
“Yeah, I think so too. He doesn’t understand how important he is,” Lana said.
Racheal leaned against the steel table that supported the small fridge. “Do you mind if I ask how you survived the partial shift?”
Lana coughed, covering the shiver that ran down her spine. “Honestly, I don’t know. I was in excruciating pain. My heart stopped, and I woke up in the morgue. I was physically back to normal, but my metabolism seemed to be in overdrive. I felt like I was on the verge of it happening again.”
Racheal raised an eyebrow. “Did it happen again?”
Lana shook her head. “Not like that, I have been taking a suppressant, but I’m becoming immune to it. I never intended it to work forever.”
Racheal’s eyes widened. “Are you saying that you will die?”
Lana looked down. “Yes.”
Racheal grabbed her arm. “Does Luca know?”
She nodded. “He won’t listen but I won’t let him mate me if that’s what concerns you.”
Racheal closed her eyes for a few moments. “Lana, you don’t understand. Luca has chosen you. So has his cat. It’s already too late. If you die, Luca will follow.”
Lana shook her head. “No, you have to break the bond.”
“Lana, you and Luca haven’t bonded yet. This isn’t chemical. There is nothing scientifically you can do. You can’t tell someone not to love you. That’s what you are asking.”
“No, the mating hormone creates a physical reaction...”
“Yes, but that’s after they have chosen you. Luca hasn’t bitten you. He hasn’t established a chemical bond yet. At first, I thought we could break it, but after Sarah and Devon, we realized it is much more than the hormone.”
Lana scratched her neck. “What are you talking about?”
“Jordan created a serum to break the chemical bond between mates. They injected Devon with the serum. It blocked the empathic ability he had, but it had no effect on their mating. Sarah and Devon are as strong as ever.”
Lana put her hand over her mouth. “It’s too late for me. There’s no way to reverse the damage that was done. I will shift and it will kill me.”
Racheal’s eyes hardened. “You are not giving up. If you won’t fight for yourself, then fight for Luca and his brother.”
Lana sucked in a breath. “What?”
“The twins have a bond that exceeds that of the other siblings. Liam doesn’t have a mate. They have lived their entire lives as a duo. Without Luca, he may not survive. Twins are rare in the shifter community, so we have no way to know the effects of losing a twin will have on the unmated brother.”
“Will me mating Luca have an effect on Liam?”
Racheal paused for a moment. “Their bond will remain, but I think it would make Liam fight harder for his lair. For you. The need to protect is instinctive, and Luca having a mate will strengthen it. Liam will do anything to ensure your survival. You mean as much to him now as his brother does.”
Lana looked away so Racheal wouldn’t see the tears forming on her lashes. Would she condemn another set of brothers? Was that her destiny? Her curse? She shook her head. “I can’t let them die.”
CHAPTER 7
Lana squeezed a drop of Cyril’s blood onto a glass slide before returning the vial to the fridge. She was just bringing the sample into focus under the microscope when Garrett tapped her shoulder.
“How’s it going?”
Lana looked up. “I didn’t hear you come in.”
Garrett pointed to the back room. “I got here before you did. That’s the computer room. It acts like a Faraday cage. I have it sealed unless I am entering or exiting the room.”
“That makes sense. Jordan could never track you. He knows you have hacked their systems, but he can never figure out how.”
Garrett shrugged. “I was working with computers when they were big enough to take up an entire room.”
Lana raised an eyebrow. “I bet that’s an interesting story.”
He smiled. “One for another day. How are the tests coming along? Anything that will help Marie?”
“I just started. Racheal will be back in a minute to help me.”
Garrett looked up. “She’s here, now. I’ll let you get back to work.” He walked away as Racheal approached.
“Any luck with the blood sample?” Racheal said.
“I just got the slide loaded up. Take a look.”
Racheal leaned over the microscope. She frowned. “I’m surprised the hormone affected that sample. What caused it?”
“That’s the effect of the drug. I printed out the results. Read them over. The rebound in Cyril’s blood is remarkable.”
Racheal read the report. “This is surprising, but why are you focusing on the drug instead of the mating hormone.”
“Cyril kicked the drug with no medication. I need to understand how he did it. Detox from the shifter meth is designed to be fatal. I didn’t think this was possible. If I can figure out how Cyril purged the drug from his system, maybe I can synthesize a compound to help other shifters or the soldiers do the same thing.”
Racheal put down the report. “I thought we were working on a way to help Marie.”
Lana looked down at her microscope. “I tested her amniotic fluid and know what they gave her. Well, the batch anyway. There are five variations of that serum. In time we will know which one. Marie is safe from the hormone. It’s the complications from the pregnancy under these circumstances we need to be aware of.”
Racheal’s eyes narrowed. “Fair enough, but why are you so concerned about the shifter drug?”
Lana pursed her lips. “It makes the soldiers and shifters compliant. I want to remove it from Kevin and Camilla’s arsenal.”
Racheal watched her. “It won’t work on humans without the gene?”
Lana shook her head. “They lace it with a high dose of Fentanyl. It kills a human who doesn’t have the shifter gene... at least for now.”
“All soldiers have the shifter gene. Why experiment on humans without it?”
Lana pursed her lips. “Jordan is working on soldier clones. They will be stronger and faster, but human. The cloning trials won’t take on subjects with the shifter gene. They die in incubation.”
Racheal eyes widened. “He is trying to clone shifters. Why?”
“I don’t know. He hasn’t had a successful trial yet. So far he has only cloned himself but those degrade so fast the cost outweighs the benefit.”
Racheal rubbed her neck. “Lana, how do you know about this drug? Your interest seems personal. Luca told us about your husband, Cam. Is it because of what it did to him?”
Lana’s eyes burned. The memories of Cam’s last hours burned in her memory. The shame and guilt battered her heart, but she wouldn’t lie. Not anymore. “I engineered the drug Racheal. There’s nothing I can do to correct the wrongs I have committed. The deaths I’m responsible for.”
Racheal’s fingers flexed. Claws pierced her fingertips before she took a calming breath. Lana’s eyes darted to the door. Luca had left her alone with Racheal, believing she was safe. He didn’t understand there was no safe place for her because she was the threat. She was about to leave when Racheal put her hand on Lana’s shoulder.
“Stop. I’m sorry. I lost control for a moment. It isn’t you. I still have nightmares about my time in Kallan custody. My cat rises to protect me because she feels my distress, she can’t always tell the difference between physical and emotional pain.”
Lana hovered on the cusp of curiosity and shame. The instinct to run was overwhelming, but the one to stay with Luca was just as strong. “I’m in the habit of running when things get... dicey. It’s how I stayed alive the last few months.”
Racheal pulled her hand back. “I did things... when I was held hostage by the Kallans. Things I can never take back. Being here, helping the shifters, it makes me feel like I can undo some of the wrongs I committed.”
Lana looked down. “You worked on the mating hormone, I know, but I made the shifter meth...
Luca growled from the corner. His eyes blazed yellow as he approached. “You made that shit?”
Racheal put her arm around Lana. “Luca you don’t understand what it’s like in Kallan custody.”
Lana held back the tears. It wasn’t Luca’s anger. She deserved that. It was Racheal’s willingness to protect her. To physically put her body in front of Lana’s was a knife in her chest. She didn’t deserve anybody’s protection. Least of all Racheal’s.
Luca stood immobile. His eyes never left her face. She didn’t understand what Luca was waiting for until Hunter walked in the door and picked Racheal up.
She couldn’t hear what Hunter whispered into Racheal’s ear, but she stopped struggling in his arms and allowed him to carry her outside.
Luca crossed his arms. “You don’t think you should have mentioned that you made the drug sooner?”
Lana wasn’t an aggressive person by nature. She had always been the quiet, unassuming girl who worked hard, and everyone liked. Now, she had the urge to swat Luca in the face. He had no right to judge her. Did he? Her thoughts went from angry, to scientific, to aggressive. Switching between moods and thoughts so rapidly, she had to shake her head. Unfamiliar situations never confused her, and she had been in some rough ones. Now her emotions and intellect were at war. She let the aggressive emotions play out. “I didn’t want to tell you. So, I didn’t,” she snapped.
Luca huffed. “Now you grow a backbone.”
She slapped him across the face. It wasn’t until the lacerations welled up, dripping blood, that she realized her hand had turned to a claw. She looked down in horror as her claws retracted into her fingers. “I’m sorry.”
Luca wiped the blood from his face. The wound had already closed with the welts receding into his skin. “Your claws were inevitable. It’s your loyalty that is the issue.”
Her vision blurred. The anger surfacing quickly. “I am loyal and I never lied. I told you from the moment I met you what my goal was. Your ego just can’t handle that it isn’t you.”
Luca moved so fast she didn’t see him. One minute she was yelling at him. The next he had her pressed against the wall. His lips were against hers as he spoke. “That is about to change.”
Lana’s eyes flared. “Arrogant much?”
“Your protection is not arrogance. It’s a necessity.”
Lana huffed. “I wasn’t in danger. You’re mad because I told Racheal about the drug and not you.”
“I’m mad you told Racheal when you were alone with her. Do you have any idea how bad Racheal would have felt if she lost control and lashed out? She is a new cougar and struggles to control her cat’s instincts. She has just begun to forgive herself for the things she did while she was a prisoner of Kevin Kallan.”
