Page 15 of Their Defiant Mate

She smiled wistfully. Her childhood hadn’t been that different from Kyle’s. All her memories centered on family. But her sister’s death had changed that forever. Her parents divorced and her brother broke off contact. Even her mother, who had been the life of any party, became sad and withdrawn.

“Which branch of the military did you join?” she asked, trying to stay focused on Kyle.

“Space Force. That’s where I met Isaac. And I’ll spare you the trouble of asking the next set of questions. We were stationed at the Mars Annex when our entire unit was kidnapped by Nuevo Biotech. We were tested and four of us were assigned to the Shadow Program. We were their prisoner for six years and every minute of it was utter hell. Now I’m here.” He spread his arms, indicating the cabin.

With six years in captivity and four years here, it had been a full decade since any of them had participated in their old lives. No wonder Isaac said it was immaterial.

“We weren’t kidnapped. We weresoldto Nuevo,” Isaac muttered bitterly. “The military filled their laboratories for decades and everyone just turned a blind eye.”

“I’m sorry. The added betrayal makes it even worse.” She wasn’t surprised by the revelation, but nothing like that had come out during the trials. All the accusations, all the blame, had been focused on Nuevo Biotech and their employees.

The public outcry had been terrible. A list of names and personal ident codes had been released online, so Tara and many others received death threats. She’d had things thrown at her and she’d been called every obscene name in the book. The worst part was that she hadn’t deserved the abuse. She’d trusted the wrong people and failed to ask enough questions, but she honestly hadn’t known anything about the Griffin Project while she worked for Nuevo.

She shoved the memories aside and looked at Jon. “Were you part of Isaac’s unit as well?”

Jon shook his head, but said nothing.

“Were you in another branch of the military?”

One corner of his mouth quirked as he said, “Depends who you ask.”

What the hell did that mean? It was obvious that he didn’t want to talk about this, but she couldn’t consider them as serious suitors until she understood the forces that shaped them. “That sounds intriguing. Will you please explain?”

“My team had a codename, but officially we didn’t exist,” he told her. “My skillset has been augmented, but being a Shadow isn’t that different from what I did on Earth.”

“I see.” Did he only gather information or was he some sort of assassin? A chill tingled down her spine and Tara shivered. It was all too easy to picture Jon slipping a blade between someone’s ribs or wrapping his hands around their throat. The male exuded danger like no one she’d ever met.

Before she could think of a clever way of digging deeper, Jon asked, “What did you do for Nuevo?”

“I was an executive assistant for the CFO. I hadnothingto do with the experiments.” It was important to her that they knew that. Performing medical experiments on a person without their permission was beyond reprehensible. “I was in the admin building on the other side of the complex from the labs. I had no reason to interact with any of the medical personnel.”

Jon accepted her statement with a subtle nod. “Santa Rosa, California.”

It took her a second to realize why he’d offered the location. “That’s where you grew up?”

“It’s where I lived the longest. I was born in Sacramento.”

“Kyle is from all over, Jon is from California.” She looked at Isaac and arched her brows. “Are you still refusing to participate?”

“We’re all Rydarian now,” he countered stubbornly. “Our childhood homes are irrelevant.”

“He’s from Chicago,” Kyle provided, waving dismissively. “He’s one of four kids, all boys. Jon was an only child until his mom married husband number two and then he had three stepsiblings. What about you? If we’re going to compare childhoods, you need to play too.”

“I grew up in Santa Fe with a sister and a baby brother. I was in my twenties when I moved to Phoenix. That’s where I was living when… that was the last place I lived on Earth.”

“Why’d you apply to Nuevo?” Isaac wanted to know. “There are all sorts of executive assistant jobs on Earth.”

Emotions surged through her mind, subdued yet familiar. She’d lost her sister seven years ago. Why did it still have the power to affect her? Stupid question. It would always have the power to affect her. That sort of loss never disappeared entirely. She had just learned to manage the pain. How often had she taught the people she counseled similar strategies?

“I desperately needed a change of scenery after my sister died.” Talking about Jessica with Akari had been necessary. She really didn’t want to get into it all over again.

A long, tense pause followed so Tara thought they’d let it go. Then Kyle asked, “How did she die?”

Tara sighed. She had probed into their pasts. It was only natural for them to be curious about hers. “Suicide.”

“Jesus,” he muttered. “I’m so sorry.”

“Tell us what happened.” As usual, Jon’s autocratic tone made it sound like a command.

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