Alex’s psychometric ability to get impressions off an object through touch had become stronger since becoming Circ. Like his team, he wasn’t just a beast. He had abilities the Circ serum had enhanced.
His genetics had been modified, allowing him to grow stronger, to hear, see, and smell much more keenly than an average human. His skin could harden into a kind of epidural armor, and he now had an animalistic sentience he lived with on a daily basis. Not to mention a host of other levels of weirdness that applied to his interactions with fellow Circs.
He pinched the bridge of his nose, not wanting to deal with more crap. Not when all he wanted was an answer to a simple question.
With a measured step back, Alex quietly informed Gideon trouble was on the way.
He ignored Gideon’s order to leave and knelt once more by Lowell’s side. “Tell me where you took them.”
“Wh-who?” Lowell coughed and grabbed his throat. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Gideon continued to inform him of the enemy drawing close.Six armed coming up the stairs. ETA two minutes. My ETA is five minutes. And I’m gong to seriously kick your ass when I find you.
Alex ignored him. “If you don’t tell me, I’ll break off your dick. Then I’ll feed you to the mutant outside.” He closed his eyes and pretended to sense one of them. “He’s close, and he’s a friend. Did I mention he’s hungry?”
Lowell’s heart rate increased. The scent of fear sweated through his pores.
Alex could appreciate his terror. Circs were beasts but rational. Well, mostly. Mutants were Circs gone bad. Men turned into monsters with crooked spines, spiked genitalia, tar-black skin, and a hunger for blood and sex that was never appeased. Known cannibals, furious at the world, and prone to excess if not stopped.
Lowell knew as well as Alex did that a human stood no chance against a mutant. Alex himself had trouble, and he was Circ.
“You’re lying.” Lowell’s eyes had grown huge.
“Am I?” Alex smiled, allowing his fangs to descend. A horrible howling pierced the room, and it seemed as if everything around them ceased to be.
Lowell shuddered. Had Alex not recognized Eli’s voice behind the howl, he might have believed he’d spoken the truth.
Instead, he waited, patient.
Another howl, sounding closer this time.
Lowell looked frantically at his backup still lying on the floor then blurted, “Lang’s got the Level 4s sequestered at a facility. The ones still alive, that is.”
Alex could only imagine. “How many are left?”
“Of the original thirteen, six. All female. The men didn’t respond favorably to treatment.”
“Treatment?”
Lowell shrugged and winced, rubbing his throat. “I don’t know. Above my pay grade. I was sent here to grab a Circ and bring him back. Lang’s running out of test subjects.”
“I’ll bet.” The poor bastards who didn’t die right away likely turned mutant or rogue. Rogue Circs could be just as bad. The could fully function, blend in with the human populace, but they had nothing but death and destruction on their agenda. “Give me the location of the facility.”
Eli howled again. Lowell talked faster, and Alex fought not to grin. Despite his annoyance with life in general, he couldn’t help feeling amused that his buddy could so well impersonate a freakish cannibal. He’d have to make sure to let Eli know Lowell had nearly pissed himself in fear.
Lowell rattled off a set of coordinates Alex shared with Gideon. No doubt Carter was even now working to gather intel on the site.
“Anything else you have worth knowing?” Alex asked.
Lowell gave him a smug look. “Plenty. But nothing I’ll tell your freak ass. Because my men will gut you like a—”
Alex cut Lowell’s throat without a qualm, and the man strangled on the rest of his answer. Anyone who worked for Lang deserved to die.
At that moment, Lowell’s backup broke through the door.
Alex smiled. “Finally. I’ve been waiting.”
******
