Cain heard Willis fumbling around. The human was so alarmed by the possibility of the feral-looking male breaking free of the restraints that he could barely keep his hands from shaking.
“Is it because she’s female?” Willis asked. “I read in those books you gave me that the males of their kind are very protective of the females.”
“Not just any female,” Cain replied.
“What does that mean?”
“Just hurry the hell up!” Cain watched Finn struggle against the restraints. His eyes never left Lizzy’s still body.
Cain knew he had to bite her quickly. He could hear the leather of the straps creaking. The massive wolf strained, pushing and pulling himself around in the chair. He might get free before Willis could get the damn needle in his neck. “You and you”—he pointed at the two humans that rolled her in—“take her back to her room.” As they began to move her, Cain stepped up next to the gurney and turned the girl’s head. Quick as a snake, he darted forward and bit her soft flesh. The groan he’d successfully held in while drinking from Finn hummed from his throat. Her blood wasn’t as potent, but it was still better than a human’s. A massive roar filled the room, pulling him from the pleasure of her taste. He drew his fangs from her neck. “Hurry the hell up,” Cain commanded. He pushed them and the gurney out of the room, slamming the door behind them and throwing the lock in place … as if that would keep an enraged male wolf from getting out.
He turned back to Willis and Finn. The hapless scientist wielded a syringe, and he was trying to find a place in the wolf to insert it. But every time he got close, Finn would buck violently, and the human would shrink back. Cain noticed the wolf had managed to break one of the leg restraints, and he was flailing his foot wildly, trying to connect it with the scientist. With inhuman speed, Cain ran to the pair. He grabbed the wolf by the head and turned it so the scientist had clear access. “Stab him, dammit.”
The male scientist looked very unsure, but the glare in Cain’s eyes was enough to spur him to action. He jammed the needle into Finn’s neck and pushed quickly on the plunger. Finn fought for at least half a minute more before going still.
Willis fell back against the wall as if his legs might give out. “I thought he came willingly?”
Cain released the male’s head. “He did.”
“Then why did he freak out like that?”
Cain looked at the door where Lizzy had been wheeled out. “Because she’s not just some female to him.”
“She’s family?” Willis’s face scrunched up in confusion.
“Worse,” Cain bit out. “She’s his true mate.”
“What does that mean?” The scientist’s breaths came in quick succession. He leaned forward and rested his hands on his knees.
Cain gave him a disapproving glare. Maybe he needed to get the man out of the lab and make him actually exercise or something. Cain didn’t need his scientist dying of a heart attack before he could definitively solve the hybrid-creation problem.
The vamp king stepped away from the now unconscious Finn and stared out the window at the hundred-plus bodies lying on gurneys. “It means things could get messy if other full-blooded wolves were to join the program and find mates among any of these”—he motioned to the bodies—“test subjects.”
“So, they’re like”—Willis paused as if trying to figure out the right words—“soul mates or something?”
“Yes,” Cain snapped. “True-mated wolves are two halves of a whole. Their souls are designed to complete one another. The males are extremely possessive and protective of the females in their pack, as you mentioned you read in the books I gave you. Those protective emotions are multiplied tenfold with true mates. If Finn got loose, he would tear this place to the ground just to get to Lizzy.”
“Sheesh.” Willis huffed. “This is like the romance crap you read about in books.”
Cain turned to look at the stupid human and cursed the fact that he needed the man for his plan to come to fruition. “You’ve learned about vampires, werewolves, and other supernatural creatures, andthisis what surprises you?”
“Have you heard about the divorce rate in this country?” Willis pushed away from the wall and stood up straight. “Soul mates arenotsomething humans get to experience. And women dream about that kind of thing their whole lives only to grow up and realize that there isn’t some special someone out there for them. Just a whole lot of possible significant others that can’t get past their own selfish needs in order to make a relationship work. It’s painful shit. How cool would it be to have someone out there made just for you? Women want that.”
“And apparently human men as well,” Cain muttered dryly. He watched the scientist moving things around on his table. “I’m assuming you’ve experienced a failed relationship recently based on your little speech?”
Willis shrugged. “I learned the hard way that some women only want one thing. And itisin your pants, but not the front. It’s the billfold in your back pocket.”
“Ahh, yes.” Cain chuckled. “Many humans do seem to be driven by sexormoney, and sometimes both. It’s a curious thing that any of you have successful relationships.”
“Do vampires?”
“That type of relationship is not something any vampire seeks,” he answered. “Our drive to prey on others is powerful, stronger than any animal predator. And since we are notborn, there’s no instinct to reproduce.”
“Is there no drive to create more vampires?” Willis asked. His inquisitive nature is probably what drove him to become a scientist. “Or is that something you just do because there is safety in numbers?”
Cain had to think about the question. These weren’t things he’d ever really considered or discussed with anyone before. “I think the desire increases the more new vampires one sires.”
“Are the ones you have sired… I’m not sure what to call them …children?”
