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“I’m very hungry, Theo. Are you hungry?” He looked down at the small woman. He’d found her attractive right away, although older than his usual tastes. She was physically fit and definitely had a sex drive to brag about.

“I could always eat,” he said in a growl as she rubbed the front of his zipper.

“Oh, I truly wish you would eat, Theo. Shall we have a snack in bed?”

“If that’s what you’d like, ma’am.”

“I’d very much like that,” she grinned, taking his hand. “When you’re done snacking, I get to ride until my thighs are burning. You good with that?”

“I believe I am.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

“Good morning,” smiled Marilisa at her friend, Stephanie.

“Oh, hi,” she said with a sad expression.

“Still not budging?” she asked the woman.

“Nope. He seems to find ways to not be in the same house with me at the same time. So, I took matters into my own hands. I moved out and into my own cottage. If he’s going to act like an asshole, I’ll treat him like one.”

“Did you talk to Pax? I mean, no one knows Brax better than his own twin.”

“I wanted to, but that didn’t seem fair to Pax. I don’t want to put him in the middle of this,” she said, shaking her head with sadness. “I just don’t understand all of it. I get that I’m unusual. I’m a clone, for shit’s sake. But I can tell that he likes me and wants to spend time with me.”

“He’s afraid,” said the sweet voice behind her.

“Oh, hi, Annie. I’m sorry. I meant nothing by it. You know how I feel about Brax.” Annie smiled at her, nodding.

“Yes, I think I do. I felt the same way about his father. For many of our couples here, they met under the strangest circumstances, but I’m not sure any stranger than ours.”

“You were forced together, weren’t you?” asked Marilisa.

“In a manner of speaking. My father was a former SEAL and then a SEAL instructor. Pork, Kegger, and Otto were all on his team. I love those men. They kept me sane as my father was losing his sanity.

“What the team is experiencing now isn’t much different than what was happening then. My father was trying to create a superior race of soldiers. He was matching the top SEALs, Marines, any operative, with highly intelligent, talented women.”

“Was he using radiation?” frowned Marilisa.

“No. No, he simply knew that the men were superior physically, and the women were superior intellectually or artistically. He drugged us all and placed us on islands in the Pacific. Naked.”

“God,” whispered Stephanie.

“It gets worse. He drugged the men using a drug that they give to stud horses. It caused the men unimaginable pain, and no matter how many times they attempted to take care of the matter themselves, it didn’t work.”

“Did Benji rape you?” asked Stephanie.

“No, honey. He was prepared to die before doing that. I wasn’t prepared to let him. I tried to help him, shall we say. But that didn’t work either. In the end, we had to allow ourselves to give in to the urge.

“What my father never counted on was the fact that we didn’t just match from a DNA superiority standpoint. We matched because we genuinely clicked with one another. The men were not just superior warriors. They were true gentlemen. One of them was more willing to harm himself, mutilate himself than to harm the woman he was with.”

“But why would Brax be afraid of that? Afraid of me?” Annie smiled at the young woman, pushing the hair from her face.

“Because, sweet girl, he’s willing to do anything to protect you, even if that means keeping you from him. He doesn’t want to hurt you. He doesn’t want you to regret being with him.”

“I would never,” she whispered. “I thought he didn’t want to be with me because I’m a clone. I’m not real.”

“You’re as real as anyone here, Stephanie. Just because you have the same DNA as someone else doesn’t mean you’re not real. Everything you’re doing is the right thing to do. I think once he realizes you are no longer in the cottage, he’s going to figure out what a stupid mistake he’s made.”

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