Page 139 of Hostile Saint

“How much do you remember of your mother?”

Fuck. You.

“I’m only curious because you weren’t born under our care.”

This is what you consider ‘care’?

“Supervision is normal procedure with certain subjects.”

There was a strong urge to ask what ‘subject’ meant because I wanted to know what I was, but I was no fool. Lynx had warned me at the hotel that I could be outwitted by street smarts since I had none. The man in front of me clearly had more life experiences than me. I wasn’t going to give him any more power by saying the wrong thing.

I had no idea how long I had been out while murdering Damien, nor whether or not Diesel was nearby. I needed to self-preserve so I could eventually make it back to my girl.

The man said, “We were concerned your early years of receiving love and compassion had made you weak. You’d lacked the drive to dominate and control. Definitely lacked the need for revenge.”

I thought of Lynx telling me I lacked the drive for revenge. Lynx made it sound honorable. This man made that character of mine sound weak.

Not that either mattered now. A trail of blood led to me.

He continued, “My Lord knows I’ve given you ample reasons to react, but you always refused.” He gazed at the body on the ground behind me. “Until now.” His dark and inquisitive eyes met mine. “What changed in you?”

Lynx. His name is Lynx.

“You’ve now killed. Before, you were the annoying boy always trying to rescue the children.” He exhaled. “Just like your father, trying to save your mother.” His expression showed my father’s noble actions to be merely bothersome. “The only good that came out of that was learning about you.” He sighed. “Imagine that. Your mother, my special project, out in the world having babies.”

Babies?

“Your brother didn’t survive.” He winked. “A shame.” Elated, he explained, “That’s why I was so intrigued with you! You did!” He smiled as if dreaming of a bright future. Then his smile faded. “I tried to save you by having these,” he gestured to the dead body, “subjects torture you slightly, hoping to spur a fight in you. But nothing.” He shook his head. “Such a disappointment. Giving up on your potential, I somewhat forgot about you. I never received any reports of you improving. Then,” he rolled his eyes, “you found your even weaker companion.”

Companion?

Keeping his distance from a growling Charlie, he paced side to side. “Lacey ended up being so pointless I easily traded her for her mother’s services. Although, that soon complicated things with her father—a once-loyal employee.” He shrugged. “Meh. Neither here nor there. Back to you.” He placed his hands on his hips. “When you discovered Lacey again,” he pointed at me as if somewhat proud, “I really thought things were about to change for the better.” His hands flew into the air as if giving up. “But no! You went and fell in love!” He spoke as if debating whether or not to vomit in disgust. “In and out of her window like the damn experimental chimpanzee you are.”

What? Wait… They were watching me?

“Oh yes, we see everything.”

In the distance, I suddenly heard Stallions yelling warnings to one another.

Knowing they had each other’s backs like they had mine, I smirked and finally spoke. “You didn’t see them coming.”

“Ah! He talks!” He nodded. “This is true. Ignorant leathered men did, indeed, sneak under our radar for a bit. And I can only assume you are here with no warning because my mole is now dead.” As gunshots now rang out in the air, he casually stated, “But there are always solutions to every problem.”

I guess my eyes showing care for why bullets now rang out showed the weakness this man had been speaking of because he dismissively waved a hand in the air. “Oh yes, security has finally arrived. We do prefer privacy when communicating with our Lord. Therefore, you caught us with our pants down,” he gestured to his robe as if he hadn’t just been violating a child, “as they say. That’s an error now being,” he exaggeratedly cupped his ear to listen to more fired bullets, “rectified.” Again, dismissing violence that most likely followed him everywhere, he added, “That’s not what’s important, Tate.”

I didn’t appreciate him telling me my family wasn’t important. Besides Lacey, those people fighting in the distance were the most significant beings in my life.

And someone was shooting at them.

Amazed, he said, “Ah, there it is again. That crazed look in your eyes.” Crossing his arms, he rubbed his chin with his hand. “Your loyalty is most impressive. Again and again, we sent in our subjects to terrorize, but you and Lacey simply refused to crack.”

I gritted out, “Maybe that’s due to my modifications.”

Regretfully, he shared, “If only we had that kind of genetic power. No. We enhance abilities to heal, so you will survive what is to come, but, alas, inner determination—hope and all that nonsense—is choice, something we can’t control.” He grinned. “Although, within controlled environments and with exposure to certain cruelties, you could say we do our best to ‘create’ our preferred ‘choices’.”

In the distance, all guns went quiet, so I said, “I wonder who chose to live through that.”

Sideways, he leaned forward as he winked again. “Willing to put money on it? I never lose.”