Page 38 of Rupture

Finn followed Rose.

She was already almost out of sight where the corridor curved around a corner.Damn, the woman was fast. He broke into a trot to catch up with her.

His distorted reflection tracked his progress in the curve of the black glass. He was alone. But his hand slipped to the gun holster on his hip. The creepy sense of being watched had not abated. If anything, it had intensified.

Finn halted, spun a three-sixty. His blood thudded way too loud in his ears. He shook his head at his own twitchiness.This is fucking ridiculous.No one here.

He faced forward again. Where was Rose?Shit.Damn woman, when he caught up with her maybe he should tether her to him again, at least that way he would know she was safe.

Ahead on his right, a door closed with the swoosh of compressed air. He palmed the door mechanism and flicked open the latch on his weapon holster.

The lab stretched out before him in a perfect circle, its curved walls broken by floor-to-ceiling windows. Outside,powerful floodlights cut through the lake’s darkness, their beams catching occasional flickers of movement in the murky water. The effect was like being in a fishbowl—looking out from the inside.

Finn turned away from the outside view, skin tight at the back of his neck.

Crisp blue light danced on the floor from a bank of computer workstations. But that wasn’t what drew his attention. Glass columns, thick as a man’s waist, lined the wall to his left, each illuminated from within by an azure glow.

Biological specimens imprisoned behind glass.

Spiders. Fuckers with impossibly long, silvered legs, multi-jointed and hairy. Beetles studded with bulbous compound eyes and razor-sharp beaks. Scorpions with brutal front claws, segmented tails coiled against copper-plated bodies. One massive claw twitched, tapping the glass. The glass looked thick, but his grip tightened on his weapon, regardless.

The light capping the cylinders fizzed audibly. He reached out—the vibration made his palm tingle. Electrostatic containment field? He wiped his hand on his thigh.

Fuck. This place was?—

“Finn.” Rose’s grip on his arm was vise-like, her eyes wild.

“Hey.” He spun, relieved to see her. “You okay?” The question felt hollow.

She shook her head, trembling, and pointed to the nearest container. “Cave Huntsman Spider. A formidable predator, it can navigate in complete darkness. And next to it. Sea scorpion. Parabuthus species. Highly venomous.” Its carapace gleamed softly, as if lit from within. She side-stepped to the last container. “African assassin bug. Theypierce their prey with their needle-like beak to liquefy the insides and then suck?—”

“Enough biology.” Finn wiped his brow. “Jesus?—”

“I studied insect movement to model MARV’s systems. Their biomechanics are a goldmine for improving efficiency and adaptability. But I’ve never seen anything like this before, Finn. These are not normal.”

“Not normal?” Hairs lifted on his arm.

“That metallic sheen on their bodies—it’s not natural. Whatever Thea’s team was working on, this is tampering with nature.”

She swung to face the center of the room and pressed the heels of her hands against her temples, as if trying to physically hold herself together. “Whatarethey doing here?” Her arms dropped. “I should have told Margaret to fuck off with her job threats.”

“Wait. Job threats?”

The Widow had threatened Rose.

She didn’t hear him. Her chest lifted, her breathing accelerating. Her fingers curled against her skull. “Coming here to speak to a sister who hates me about a project that’s clearly gone rogue, and I’m expected to fix this and understand what?—”

Finn moved on instinct, his hands gripping her shoulders. The sudden contact silenced her, her lips parting in surprise. The rapid flutter of her pulse teased beneath his fingers. This close, her scent enveloped him. It wound through him, loosening tense knots deep in his gut he hadn’t known existed.

The whole fucked up situation faded. There was only him and Rose—vulnerable, brilliant, infuriating Rose.

He didn’t think. He acted. Kissed her. A soft kiss. To calm her, to derail her crazy chain of thought. Excuses.Whatever.

For a heartbeat, she tensed, but the moment passed. The taste of her on his tongue was incredible. A soft moan escaped her, the sound igniting a fire in his blood that threatened to consume him whole.

He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her flush against his body. She melted into him, her arms sliding around his neck, fingers tangling in his hair. The gentle tug sent shockwaves of pleasure down his spine.

Heat exploded through him as Rose kissed him back with a ferocity that took his breath away. Blood rushed his cock, the sudden arousal almost painful in its intensity. Under her composed scientific demeanor, Rose had been hiding this wild, untamed part of herself and fuck, it was hot as hell.

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