Shaking her head, Zina shrugged. “That’s just it – no one knows. No one reallyknowsall that much about these creatures, obviously. But I did see some people speculating about what kind of eggs they were, as well as what their plans were going to be for whateverdidhatch out of them.”
Trent narrowed his eyes. “Plans?”
“Yeah.” Zina drew in a shaky breath. “You can probably guess. You know what Hargreaves is like. What kind of… experiments they do. But… reading some of that stuff… it made my stomach turn. They weren’t interested in the fact that living, breathing creatures would –might– hatch out of those eggs. Only in what they could do. Only in whatexperimentsthey could carry out on them to find out how their powers worked.”
Zina swallowed, still recalling the sick, horrific things she’d read about what was in store for the innocent creatures – thechildren, really, since they’d one day be able to take on a shifted human form – at the hands of Hargreaves’s scientists.
“The program was being run by Doctor James Sumner – a really, really nasty customer. Completely ruthless. He was the mastermind behind it all, and he’s not someone you mess around with. He barely thinks of other shifters – or humans – as anything more than potential lab samples. So I know whatever he had in store for these eggs, it wasn’t pretty.”
She’d known even as she read it back then that she couldn’t stand by and let it happen. She couldn’tknowwhat would become of them and simply sit there and do nothing.
“I did some work with Doctor Sumner, to help tighten up his lab security – and I knew I could use what I’d learned to break into it. I managed to steal his fingerprints and figured out how to get around his safety features. It took a lot of time and effort. I was all ready to go with stealing the eggs and getting them somewhere safe.”
Trent raised an eyebrow. “But?”
Closing her eyes, Zina bit her lip. “Yeah,but.I asked for permission to steal the eggs and run for it. But my handler said no – he said I had to stay where I was, and continue doing what I was doing. That even if Hargreaves had the eggs, it wasn’t worth risking all the info I’d been gathering to try to steal them. I argued with him – I saidsurelythe eggs would be worth more than that. But I knew at the time… well, that wasn’t the only reason I wanted to steal them and run. Yes, obviously, I thought they were valuable. But I wasn’t being exactly honest, since the reason I wanted to do it was… well, it had nothing to do with the mission, I just – I just couldn’t –”
Zina felt her throat getting tight – too tight to let any more words pass her lips.
Frustrated, she shook her head. Thisneverhappened to her. She wasalwayssupposed to keep her head, no matter what.
“You couldn’t let that happen, though,” Trent said, his voice low, calm, and even. Even in the midst of her unexpected emotional turmoil, Zina found something about it soothing – it felt almost as if he’d reached out a hand and run it gently over her head, calming and comforting her.
Zina looked up, blinking in confusion, but Trent’s hands hadn’t moved. He was still just where he’d been, sitting across the table from her, his hands resting palms-down in front of him.
“You couldn’t bear the thought of knowing what would happen to whatever hatched out of those eggs, and doing nothing,” Trent said, as if he’d read her mind, his voice still low and measured.
Swallowing, Zina tried to force herself to focus. She knew the power suppression serum she’d taken would be wearing off relatively soon – probably sometime in the next forty-eight hours. But it usually took a little while. Her antelope shifter powers would be fading in and out for a while, and she knew she’d be very on edge until then, having hot and cold flushes, and maybe even feeling a little nauseated. It was fine – she knew the drill by now. She usually didn’t like to be around other people while it was happening, though.
Maybe that was why she’d found herself so on edge over the past little while – it had nothing to do with Trent, and everything to do with the serum wearing off.
But I didn’t mean for him to come with me,she thought, confusion swirling within her.Why is he doing this? I don’t understand at all.
“So. What happened then?” Trent asked. “Though I think I can guess.”
Zina nodded, heart thudding. “You probably can.” She licked her lips. “I just… I couldn’t accept it. Iknowthe mission is paramount.Of courseI know that. But is it more important than standing byknowingif you don’t do something, innocent shifters are going to be subjected to fates worth than death?”
She looked up at him, willing him to understand. Could he really think she’d done the right thing? She’d abandoned everything she’d ever trained for. Everything she’d ever believed in. She was on the run from just about everyone. There was no safe place for her to go. And now, somehow, she’d dragged him into this mess as well.
“Of course I understand, Zina. You did the right thing. Well, as far as I’m concerned you did, anyway.”
For a moment, Zina wasn’t sure she could have heard him correctly – and then, as she stared at him and realized she had, a wave of relief washed over her. She had the sudden, near-overwhelming urge to throw herself across the table at him and – uh.
Give him a hug?
Zina blinked.
She wasn’t much of a hugger, and never had been. But it was hard to explain the impulse she was having to fight hard not to give in to now.
I must just be tired. And sleep-deprived. And hungry. Did Trent say he was getting food?She shook her head.No, that must be it. I’m just hungry. I can’t think straight when I’m hungry.
Trent was still looking at her, his eyes steady on her face, clearly waiting for her lead as to what to say next.
“You… you really think it was the right choice?” she asked, aware her voice sounded small, and maybe even shook a little.
“Of course.” His answer was instantaneous. “I would have done the same.”
Zina stared at him. “You would?”
