Chapter Six
KENNEDY WOKE UP all at once, not sure if she’d actually escaped or was trapped in another of Dr. Lang’s twisted experiments.
“You’re awake,” came a low, husky voice. The steady gaze of the stranger who’d held her so protectively snared her.
She stared, surprised to feel so connected to someone she’d just met. Her beast sized him up as she realized she lay in bed in a hotel room. She heard measured breathing nearby, scented another male, and knew getting away would not be easy—if she even wanted to escape.
Charlie had said to find Alex, and Kennedy had found him.
He’d introduced himself as Alexander Palmer. Why did that name sound familiar?
He blinked, and she noted a beast looking out at her through dark gray eyes. Good Lord. Was he one of them? A Circ? But his pupil looked round, not narrow, and he didn’t radiate the same menace many in Lang’s laboratory had.
Alex had brown hair, the color like the bark of a strong oak. His face was that of a warrior, full of character, stern with responsibility. His square jaw and straight, patrician nose complemented the brooding stare focused on her.
Being so close, she couldn’t help inhaling his scent. To her relief, he didn’t smell wrong, the way Myers and Yates had. He smelled clean, fresh. Earthy, almost. Intelligence and caution lingered in his gaze, and she knew to go slowly with this man. He was no one’s fool and her best hope of rescuing Charlie.
“Do I know you?” she asked as she sat up, propping her back against the headboard. She still felt at a disadvantage, but not as vulnerable as she had been lying down.
“I don’t think so.” He continued to watch her. “I worked at U-Ground for a while, undercover.”
“You work for U-Ground?” Her voice rose, and she took a worried glance at the sleeping man next to them.
“No, worked. Past tense. I was only there because I was worried about my sister.”
She saw—no, heard—his grief. A flash of his thoughts penetrated.Katie, damn it, I miss you so much.Then nothing.
“Your sister is gone?” she asked softly.
He nodded. “Katie Sheridan. You might have known her.”
“Katiewas your sister?” Knowing what Katie had gone through, she paled. “I’m so sorry. She helped us, or at least, she tried to. She was a good person.”
“The best.” He cleared his throat. After a moment, he said, “She died trying to save others. I want to continue her legacy. Tell me what happened to you. How did you get involved with U-Ground?”
“Back to the beginning, eh?” Kennedy sighed. “I was suckered in by the generous pay.”And the ability to use my telepathic ability,she thought but didn’t say. No need to let him know all her secrets. She paused. “It was an opportunity to make twice as much money as I’d made working for a supply company, while also doing something good. They needed people as a test group for some experiment the government was doing. Helping to advance science and better pay? It seemed a no-brainer. My cousin was asked to join too, so we did it together.
“Turned out to be a nightmare. Dr. Lang is crazy, Duane Smith is a sadist, and half the guys working there are monsters. At first it was great. Everyone was so nice.” She shook her head, wondering how everything had turned so bad. “Then things got weird. I saw my first Circ, and that was crazy.” Nope. Not a question or flinch at mention of the word “Circ.” He knew what she was talking about. “Then I saw a mutant. Dr. Lang didn’t seem to see anything wrong with experimenting on people. All in the name of science.” She huffed. “I hate that guy.”
“We all do,” Alex agreed.
“I knew I had to get out. And I wasn’t the only one. That’s when Lang imprisoned us in U-Ground. His Level 4 project. We were given injections, pills, tons of tests, and they made some of us do things. Bad things.” The distaste, that Lang had recommended such abuse, still shocked her.
Alex scowled. “Bad things, huh? Stuff that involved male Circs, you mean.”
She flushed. “Yes.” Nivia had been one of the first to be “given” to a Circ team. But Lang had saved Charlie and Kennedy from being passed around, and she still had no idea why. “I’m not sure why I didn’t get the same treatment. But I think maybe cause Lang was grooming me for what he called his B series. He wanted, probably still wants, to pair me with Myers, Yates, and—”
“Myers?” Alex leaned in closer. “Yates? They’re still alive?”
“Yes.”
Staring into his flat gray eyes, she could almost feel his rage, especially when they brightened with an abnormal shine. She shivered, and he glanced away.
“Right.” He blew out a breath. “So what happened to push your escape? How did you get out?”
“My cousin had a feeling we needed to move. She must have overheard something Lang or Smith said.”Or, you know, she predicted the future.“She had a feeling I’d be the best one to get away, to bring back help. I left last night. Or today. I’m still not sure how long I was asleep.”
“It’s only been a few hours.”
