Unsure about giving a potential enemy all this information, Duron’s animal spirits were all tense, preparing to protect their mate, whatever the cost.
Eyes that—Duron noticed immediately—looked like Beaumont’s, swept over them with wariness and fear, before her lips moved and a small wooden house appeared behind her.
Come in.
Beaumont was moving before Duron could utter a protest. Going with it—for now—he held on tighter to Beaumont, attempting to keep up with the shocked thoughts pinging around his mate’s brain.
The willowy woman, dressed in a floor length, figuring hugging, plain red dress, guided them into the dimly lit cabin. The furniture was rustic looking. There were four wooden seats with thick cushions in colors of the rainforest, greens, browns, and golds. One chair held a book, and the small round table next to it held a half-full glass.
Crystals hung from the ceiling, swinging gently in the air. Open windows let in the greenish light of the rainforest, giving the place an ethereal glow with the flickering light of the candles. They were scattered on window ledges, giving off scents of bergamot and lime with a hint of citronella. No sound came from the windows, nothing.
Would you like a drink?
“Maybe we should just cut to the chase. You know why we’re here.” Duron didn’t feel happy, and neither did his animals at the lack of emotions the woman was displaying. It was like she was wearing a mask. It was creeping him out. She might have eyes that looked like his mate’s, but that’s where the sameness stopped. Those eyes displayed nothing.
They were emotionless.
Dead.
Do I?
Beaumont pushed out of Duron’s hold and stepped closer to the woman, and Duron followed, hating the feeling of desperation coming from Beaumont. He peered at her, his hands clenching into fists at his sides. “Who are you?”
Selina.
“Where did you come from?”
Her brows arched. The only change to her expression.The rainforest.
He sensed there was truth in what she said, just not all of it.
Beaumont pushed on. “Before Roiu found you in the rainforest, where were you?”
A secret place.
The soft, melodic voice gave no clue to what she thought about what she was sharing. “Do you know how you were created?” Duron decided this pissing about was too upsetting for Beaumont, despite what DNA this individual had inside them.
When her gaze met Duron’s, his mind filled with images. All of them horrifically familiar. The place might have looked different. The cages did not, or the white-coated men.
The similarities of the boys in the cages to the men Duron had seen getting out of the SUV, suggested they were one and the same. What he couldn’t see was the girl in any of the pictures.
He pushed through the images like he was actually in the room, experiencing it. “Why can’t I see you?”
Beaumont startled and glanced at Duron, then went between the girl and him. “What can you see?”
Uncertain why Selina wasn’t sharing with Beaumont, when she’d clearly been able to speak to both of them at the same time, he realized she’d closed his connection to Beaumont.
Duron stared at his mate, assessing his emotions before he opened his mind to allow him in.
He exhaled sharply, his eyes glimmering with tears, he didn’t let fall. “Where did they keep you?” Beaumont questioned. The choked voice was barely more than a whisper.
They didn’t keep me anywhere. I was free to roam about.
They thought her worthless, in other words. Duron had witnessed how cruel the scientists and trainers could be when someone didn’t meet their strict criteria. Excluded, neglected, and treated like a slave was worse than those caged. In cages, they at least fed them, kept them clean, and gave them a purpose. Free was not what Selina had been.
Beaumont appeared to think this was a good thing, so Duron closed off his thoughts. His mate was already hurting.
“Why did you leave?” Beaumont inched a little closer. Duron followed, his bear going crazy.
