It would be, technically, ungrateful to complain if the latter was true. Also technically, if her nanites were this good at healing damage, why not inject them into every beaster?
Because they were afraid to, because they still didn’t understand what she was? Or was she miles ahead of them with that bit of logic?
Fuck-it. Whoever said she had tact?
“First, tell me that you’ve found out what we are?”
Vincent puffed out his mouth. Maura looked sheepish. Vargr shrugged and looked to Willow.
“Why am I the fall guy?” She wiped her hands over her face and looked far wearier than Cyn had ever seen before. “We don’t know, yet. We can access Big Daddy through Little Mo. We know he’s running a program to correct some big system problems. Little Mo is worried it’s stuck looping, but Locke says no. I looked inside him, and he’s just too complex for me to figure out easily.”
“Is this relevant?”
“However…” She nodded at Cyn. “Have patience, woman. This needs context. Okay, bottom line. Big D has nothing about this except the timeline for beaster creation and what I’d call the scaffolding of the experiments. What the nanites are derived from is probably hidden in some paperwork we found back there, beyond that door. It’s not indexed, it’s messy, but then the invasion was happening. It’s mixed in with archaeological stuff the doctor was running. There are thousands upon thousands of pages of hand-written notes in his office. Big Daddy was possibly wiped clean or excluded from this data, on purpose.”
They didn’t know. Still.
This lack overshadowed her own survival and cast a depressing cloak over her feelings.
“Then I guess we have a lot of reading to do?”
“That’s our goal. Rutger and Vargr have started, but we need more time.”
They all murmured agreement. She wasn’t sure who, precisely, she was too busy staring at that door.
Willow cleared her throat. “There’s something else, Cyn. Something I have to tell everyone. At the moment it’s a secret.”
“What’s that?” She was no longer the focus of their stares, Willow was.
“Before I will say, I want to give you time to heal. I really need to find out if you can still control the Lure. It only stopped when you got those GL pieces in you. Right?”
“Okay. Why?” Her thoughts ticked by. Willow must intend to go closer to the Top or somewhere she thought the Ghoul Lords might be.
“Not yet. Please. Go on that tour with your beasters.Shoo.Wait. Get that drip out of your arm first.”
“Oh.” She ripped it out, watched the blood that leaked swell into a tiny dot and stop. She even clotted better than a human. Yet there was always a downside to being superhuman in the movies. “What’s my kryptonite?” she muttered to herself.
“Say that again?” Rutger ducked lower and met her gaze. His horns curled above, as impressive as ever, dripping blue motes that ebbed in intensity as they fell. Her beautiful beaster.
She shook her head, smiled, suddenly feeling self-conscious. “Nothing. Thank you, both of you, for watching over me. You went far beyond what I could ever have hoped for…” Or at least, as far as her amnesiac self could remember.
“It was our pleasure.” That was softly said, and he lifted her hand and kissed the back, same as Vargr had been doing. She’d never realized Rutger had some gentleman in his make-up.
When everyone had left them alone and he and Vargr were helping her dress again, because her arms and legs were still being idiotic, he leaned down to kiss her on the mouth. “You’re our pretty fuck-toy. Of course it was a pleasure.”
Vargr moved in behind her, tugging her jeans and zipping them at the front. He slipped his hands beneath the waistline and cupped over her mons, squeezing there. She gasped, closing her eyes. Being a sandwich between these two had to happen soon.
“Fuck, stop teasing me, both of you.”
“Luv, babe… Dream on.” Vargr licked her ear, her neck, the warmth of his breath and voice sifting over her skin. “You provoke us, we tease you. Teasing you is our favorite sport.” His finger curled into her slit and penetrated her enough that she could feel the curl of that finger inside.
“No sex yet?” She felt a little strangled in saying those words.
“Not yet.” Rutger stepped away, and she peered up at him and tried to look wistful.
Then they both abandoned her, apart from Vargr’s grip on her arm to keep her steady. She was dressed, aroused, and wanted to drag them into the nearest corner to get fucked, weak as she was.
“Bastards,” she said, mouth downturned. “Come on, show me Big Daddy.”
