Page 69 of Savage Mates
I turned my head as I heard voices outside along with a few growls from lions. I already knew the answer. Just like I’d mentioned to them before.
Control.
Blackwell believed the hybrids could be controlled. Only he’d been unable to control the science because the lifeforms hadn’t wanted him and his team to do so.
The lifeforms had wanted to live. What if… What if a few had indeed escaped? Or hundreds? The thought was crazy, but…
Possible.
“They weren’t all brought here, were they?” I dared ask the question because I also knew the answer.
“No, little human. They were taken elsewhere and we do not know where.” Zeus finally stood, moving toward the open door and leaning against the doorjamb.
“If Blackwell is alive, why did he let you and the others go?”
“I don’t profess to have all the answers, but I believe for further study. We overheard things, plans for the future. Scientists were angry. The project was being shut down.”
What Thor was suggesting made sense. If the details about the secretive project were true, the human whose knowledge had been passed to them had been privy to sensitive knowledge. And in turn, so were they. Which also made their existence that much more dangerous for everyone involved in the project.
If Blackwell also went to the extreme of bringing back an extinct species, he certainly wouldn’t be inclined to destroy his own creation. “He was waiting for the heat to die down to resurface.”
“You are highly perceptive, little human.” Titus had a gleam in his eyes.
“Zimmerman is either working with him or wants to take the glory for himself. I would bet on that. If I’m right, we’re all in danger.” I sucked in my breath. The only way out of this was potentially to play along. “He’s the one I told you about who funded my grant.”
“We won’t allow anything to happen to you. You are our mate.” Thor was so possessive, exactly like the other two and I wanted to continue feeling safe and secure with them, but I knew otherwise. I realized we were sitting ducks on an island.
Just like in the controlled environment of a laboratory.
I’d walked right in on the horrific ongoing experiments.
For scientists, knowledge and accurate details were crucial to determining the correct path forward.
Without tested, proven information, theories would fail.
Black and white. That’s all there was in my profession.
But not in this world.
This world consisted of alien lifeforms, and the ability for DNA to adapt, assisted by modern science. Only in a way that could be considered evil. That was tough for me to believe after spending time with the three lions.
Kings of the jungle.
I could see them in their natural settings, all powerful and controlling, threatening all who dared come close to the members of their pride. As silly as it might sound, when I was with them, I’d never felt so safe.
Or so deeply saddened.
“Tell me everything that you know. Please. So I can understand.” My imploring words brought different emotions to the three lions, but finally, Titus nodded and began to speak, telling me how they came to be transformed into shifters.
For all the atrocities I’d witnessed as a child growing up in Africa, nothing could equal the stories of the horrific experiments, testing done on bodies and minds, scientists breaking spirits and destroying populations.
I’d listened to them with rapt attention, sickened to my core at what they’d shared.
Yet I knew there was more, things that had occurred in Blackwell’s secret laboratories that defied logic and humanity, experiments the rest of the world hadn’t been told about. Everything had been hidden, shoved under a rock.
And now some people who’d been involved with the top-secret project wanted to destroy evidence of its existence. Wipe the slate clean. Or… Exactly the opposite. To pick up where they’d left off only remaining enshrouded in shadows.
After gleaning whatever information from the existing shifters, they wanted to try again. This time able to control the outcome. To create a group of engineered beings that could be easily manipulated.
