She lunged for the fireplace, but he caught her around the waist and shifted her back.
Where the fuck had he gotten matches? The question was so irrelevant that she just shook her head. She stood there naked and watched helplessly as her only garments were devoured by hungry flames.
“Why did you do that?” she cried.
“You’re less likely to try something stupid if you’re naked.” He walked to where he’d left his coat and casually put it on.
“You’re leaving?” she blurted before she could restrain her reaction. The strangest combination of hope and fear twisted through her. She welcomed some time alone to sort through her emotions, but what if he never returned?
Then you’ll escape, she insisted silently. She’d earned some humiliation and discomfort with her actions in the past, but she would not let Patrick break her spirit. Her gaze swept the cottage as he zipped up his coat. The main door had simple composite hinges. The windows were covered with wooden shutters, but each was big enough to crawl through. Even if they were all locked, it shouldn’t take her long to find a way out of this building.
“There is no point in trying to escape,” he stressed. “Stay inside the cottage.”
She ignored the warning and asked, “How long will you be gone?”
“Until I return,” he sneered. “The only way on or off this mountain is from the air. If you leave the cottage, you’ll freeze to death in the forest, and I’m not finished with you yet.” His burning gaze swept over her body then he turned and left.
She rushed to the door and confirmed that it was locked. But the rest had yet to be determined. She walked over to the bed and tugged the top blanket free. The cottage wasn’t that cold, but she had no desire to walk around naked.
She glanced toward the door then wiggled her bare toes. The sun had gone down for today, but tomorrow she would fashion some sort of shoes and go see if what Patrick said was accurate. Was there really no way off this mountaintop without a pair of wings? If that were true, how had they built this cabin? Notall the materials present in this place were found on top of the mountain.
She didn’t want to freeze in the forest, but she wasn’t going to accept imprisonment passively either. The first step in any escape plan was gathering information. She would start by inspecting the cottage, determining if there were tools or materials she could use. Then tomorrow she would look around outside. Unfortunately, she was pretty sure that her captivity had just begun.
CHAPTER 2
Patrick strode across the clearing in front of the cottage sucking in an urgent lungful of cool night air. The darkness soothed him, calmed his raging spirit. He purged his mind of Heather’s scent, but her image lingered. He could still remember the first time he’d seen her, so young and beautiful. With sun-streaked blonde hair and the bluest eyes he’d ever seen, Heather was like a ray of sunshine streaming into his cold, dark prison. She’d given him hope, but hope could be the cruelest emotion of all.
Descending the stone stairs with agitated speed, Patrick walked right to the edge of the cliff and stared out across the valley. Moonlight revealed treetops and rocky outcroppings, but little else. The familiar hum of a winged creature announced its approach before the tiny animal swooped around his head and sped off in the opposite direction. Larger than a firefly yet smaller than a hummingbird, the creatures were so prevalent on Rydaria that the inhabitants had named them swarmies.
Patrick shook away the distraction and stared out into the night. This secluded hideaway was more than just his sanctuary. It was a necessary coping mechanism thanks to Nuevo Biotech.
His transformation had ripped open his mind and allowed the emotions of others to inundate his senses and threaten his sanity. Disjointed images, flashes of situations he’d never experienced and people he didn’t know intruded next. At first, he believed that he’d lost touch with reality, but one by one the scenes he’d witnessed began to happen. Reluctantly, Patrick was forced to admit that his ‘flashes’ were a mixture of memories, random thoughts, and future events. The demons at Nuevo had turned him into a fucking psychic.
It had taken years of practice for him to control the input, to filter out the worst impulses and mute the rest into a tolerable drone. But he couldn’t control the visions and prophetic dreams. The continual deluge of unwanted information inevitably took its toll. So, once a month or so, Patrick retreated from everyone and allowed himself a day or two to heal.
He’d been nearing the breaking point when the wolves attacked the bunkhouse. The entire village had been on edge, their emotions spiking and smoldering, which overworked Patrick’s empathic receptors. And each night for the past week he’d seen himself in bed with a female. Sometimes Gabriel was there as well. Other times he enjoyed his mate with no distractions. He couldn’t see her face, but Patrick had no doubt that she was his mate. It gave him hope, and yet it was incredibly frustrating. Did this mean she was on Rydaria? He’d intended to meditate in solitude and see if he could answer that question when he sensed danger and responded to the wolf attack.
Encountering Heather after all these years felt like a sucker punch. The ever-present struggle for survival on this primitive planet had allowed his memory to fade. The pain surrounding his captivity gradually eased, but the second her scent hit his nose the turmoil flooded back. Their attraction had beeninstantaneous and intense, and most of all mutual. She tried to ignore him, tried to retain her emotional distance, but thanks to his new abilities Patrick knew how hard she struggled to resist the instinctual pull.
Of all the indignities he’d endured during his captivity, Heather’s betrayal stung the worst. She was brilliant and compassionate, yet she chose to ignore the suffering of the hybrids and continue to work for the enemy. If he’d discovered any of his other tormentors hiding in the bunkhouse he would have turned them over to the council and walked away. Heather was different. With Heather it was personal. Patrick had fought against the conclusion for as long as he had known her, but seeing her again, touching and tasting her made the fact unavoidable. Not only were his dreams accurate, but Heather was his mate.
A telepathic pulse barged into Patrick’s mind with all the subtlety of a gong.Where the fuck are you?A surge of anger and frustration accompanied Gabriel’s question.
Thankful for the distraction, and relatively sure he wasn’t the cause of Gabriel’s anger, Patrick kept his reaction light.I’m up at the cottage. Are you free to join me? I have a surprise for you.
The only surprise I’d welcome right now is a stiff drink, Gabriel grumbled.I’m on my way.
Along with the ability to shapeshift, Gabriel had developed some unique skills that made him extremely dangerous. He nearly escaped twice before additional security had been established. By the time Heather joined Nuevo Biotech, Gabriel had dedicated handlers, which meant he never interacted with her directly. Still, he knew all about her because she was Patrick’s favorite subject.
Patrick and Gabriel had known each other since their early twenties. They’d been close friends before their captivity and their shared trauma deepened the bond. Patrick had been one of the original employees of Echo, Inc., the company Gabriel founded with his brother Raphael. Echo, Inc. produced low-cost alternatives to popular prescription medications. The ‘imposter’ drugs became extremely popular, resulting in explosive growth for the intrepid startup.
Gabriel was the first to admit that they weren’t prepared for their overnight success. Overwhelmed by the escalating demands, the brothers reluctantly accepted a buyout offer from Nuevo Biotech. The pharmaceutical giant insisted that the brothers would retain control over their products even after the merger. The primary drawback was that they were required to move their operation to the massive off-world complex orbiting Earth’s moon.
Echo, Inc. employees, over three hundred of them, headed to the lunar outpost with a tense combination of excitement and disappointment. Echo, Inc. had been founded with the express purpose of disrupting the pharmaceutical industry. Patrick, and many others, couldn’t help feeling like they had surrendered to the enemy.
Dispelling the memories with a shudder, Patrick refused to become mired in yesteryear. The past could not be changed, so reliving the events was a waste of energy. Besides, the current situation was challenging enough, and Patrick wasn’t sure how Gabriel was going to react to any of it.
Patrick was pacing beside the cliff’s edge when Gabriel arrived a few minutes later. Moonlight silvered his wavy hair and cast his angular features into high relief. His wings disintegrated ina shower of shimmering sparks as his booted feet touched the ground.
