Page 82 of Feral Mates
And something darker, musky and almost like… Death.
The thought brought another shudder.
“Yourwolves,” he repeated as closed the distance. As he stood over me, he swept the length of my body with his eyes. “How fascinating that you would think of them that way.”
“What did you do? How did you do it? How?” I jerked at the bindings again.
“Come now, Dr. Morgan. You said so yourself many times you knew there was intelligent life in what I’d once believed to be useless blobs of energy.” He pulled something from his pocket, fingering them before allowing me to see what he was holding. “You’ve obviously already confirmed my findings. Good for you. I knew you were the perfect choice. I could feel it.”
The flash drives. Oh, my God, they’d taken the flash drives. My stomach turned, my mouth suddenly bone dry.
He smirked. “I’m so sorry, but you won’t have the opportunity to turn me in to the authorities. That is what you were planning on doing. Correct? They wouldn’t understand, Savannah. Even most scientists are incapable of comprehending the significanceof my discovery. Now we can harness their power. You proved that at the ATM just like I knew you would. Like the wolves would do. Fascinating to watch. And it was very clever pretending to be a reporter when calling the refuge. I don’t think I gave you enough credit for your ingenuity.”
Fisting his hand, the slight crunch as he crushed the flash drives created a buzz in my ears. He was completely insane. And there was something very wrong with him.
Along with the strange smile and the difference in his eyes, his manner of speaking was not the same. The man’s profession had been his life. He had no family. He’d had no hobbies that I’d ever heard about. He’d worn almost the exact same suits to work, exchanging his jacket for a lab coat. He’d never been seen with friends. He’d always been reading.
No, this man was different. I could feel it the same way I’d been able to do with the wolves.
With a snap of his hand, he tossed the useless flash drives to the floor, stomping on them as if making a point. He had all four of us exactly where he’d wanted. He’d been watching us, following us the entire time. He wanted our connection strong so he could prove his point.
That he was creating new lifeforms.
His nostrils flared as he lifted his arm.
When he acted as if he was going to touch me, I flinched. My reaction irritated him and he fisted his fingers, pulling his arm away. “You were right all along, of course. I allowed you to continue with your tests first out of amusement. Then I realized those very lifeforms behind that glass had become taken withyou. It was truly fascinating to watch their reactions every time you entered or left a room.”
“Jesus. You used me.”
“You can’t tell me you weren’t excited to work on the project, Savannah. I know better. So I allowed you to continue awakening your mind.”
“But you didn’t expect your inability to control the lifeforms once the portal was open. Right?”
He offered a cold smile and this time when he reached out, my immediate reaction wasn’t enough for him to pull back. Using the tips of his fingers, he traced a line down my arm. I threw my head in the other direction, loathing the fact heat rushed to the surface of my skin.
“A wonderful surprise.”
I gritted my teeth, doing everything I could to keep my reaction to a minimum. “Then you had a bright idea with the sanctuary. You knew they’d been in trouble before so you…” A sudden thought dawned on me. “No. You tried this experiment years ago. Didn’t you?”
Oh, my God. I could tell by his expression I was right.
“A pet project of mine at the time. Unfortunately, the timing wasn’t right.”
“What happened to the animals you experimented on?” I knew exactly what had happened to them, the very reason the sanctuary had briefly shut down before. Dozens of carcasses of animals had been discovered, unearthed by a general contractor when digging a foundation.
I took gasping breaths, horrified that I hadn’t put two and two together.
“Don’t look so shocked, Dr. Morgan.” He took a deep breath and allowed his fingers to fall to the skin underneath my armpit. The look on his face disgusted me. Desire.
My stomach lurched.
“With many advancements in science, animals are used and sadly often sacrificed. The work I’m doing is vital to the survival of mankind.”
Once again, I tried to jerk my body away from his prodding touch. “How in God’s name is what you’re doing of any benefit to mankind, Dr. Blackwell? Creating hybrid creatures, some of them potentially evil, how does that help?”
“You said so yourself in your reports to me that you believe we can learn much from the potentially millions of different organisms.”
“Not by playing God.” I flinched again, groaning to try to keep him from continuing to touch me.
