Page 70 of Savage Mates
I couldn’t allow that to happen.
With my head on my knees, my arms wrapped around them, I tried to process what I’d been told. I had to figure out what I needed to do. And why I’d really been allowed to come to the island. One thing was clear. Dr. Zimmerman had hidden the truth from me. Why had I not been alarmed at his eagerness to step in and his determination to make that happen?
Shit. The email I’d sent him was fairly clear that I wasn’t a happy camper. He would know I wasn’t going to be placed under some spell.
I’d trusted him when I should have been paying attention to my instincts.
“I was drugged by a member of my own team. Correct?” I asked, almost in passing. I was simply putting the pieces together. Making them make sense. If that was possible.
Titus nodded. “We were surprised given he’d protected you during the fight with the mutants.”
“He wanted me alive, not dead. Maybe they were fearful I couldn’t be controlled, especially if I found you.”
“You had an allergic reaction to the drug. It would have killed you had we not intervened.” Thor bristled. “That’s why he had to be punished.”
Punished. They’d killed him and instead of being angry or horrified, I felt vindicated. What did that make me?
“I need to know why for certain. What were they trying to accomplish? Were they going to lock me away to use my more extensive knowledge of predatory beasts?” To use me as a test for mating? A nervous laugh bubbled to the surface. “My instinct tells me I’m right. I don’t even know who they are other than the glossy information I read. Can I trust Abbott and Douglas? Or should I pretend to work with them?”
“As you said, maybe they felt the need to control you, little mate. You are a handful. You ask questions. You refuse to accept what’s right in front of your eyes.”
Thor’s gruff voice sent a small thrill into my core. My body’s reaction was another reminder that the deep sense of connection I felt to the three men… the three lions was abnormal.
Then again, everything I’d been taught had been blown to shit.
“That’s what I was taught to do, Thor. To question everything. That’s what makes me good at what I do.”
“And dangerous to them,” Zeus added.
Nodding, I knew he was right, but I still had a feeling there was more. Were they hopeful I could mate? I cringed from what could be their plans.
I had a strong desire to talk to my father. How long had it been? A few months and only on the phone. He was a brilliant man. Maybe he could help me make sense of what I’d stumbled my way into. Or maybe forced into after the paper I’d written years before. I couldn’t ignore the possibility I’d set a course for my own personal collision. How else could I think about what was happening?
“How will pretending to work with them change anything?” Thor was adamant I shouldn’t return. I felt it even more than hearing his words.
“I require answers, Thor. That’s something that has been instilled in me for as long as I can remember. My parents were insistent I work every problem through. They gave me the tools to find answers to almost every question I had. Almost. If I can discover their intentions, maybe I can expose them once and for all while providing your pride with a way off this island.” As memories of the life I’d led until I’d turned eighteen surfaced, I laughed, almost wishing I could return to the past. Everything about the last few days had felt off, yet opening up about aspects of my life with three shifters felt normal.
“Why should we trust you or what you’re trying to do?” Zeus asked as he presented a hard stare.
“Let it go, Zeus. We’re all angry and bitter about what happened, but she is not to blame,” Titus snarled.
“Do you think I understand any of this? Do you think I enjoy feeling as if I’ve been lied to, possibly forced into participating in something that goes against everything I believe in?” Yes, I was hot, but there was no reason to be angry with the lions. They were victims. “You said so yourself. I’m your mate. Whether I’m convinced or not, the four of us are connected. Somehow. Yes, I feel it too. I just can’t understand why and I need to. What I do know is that we are a team. I can’t and won’t allow the experimentation to continue.” I raked damp hair from my face, trying not to allow my rage to cloud my judgment.
“Which ones couldn’t you answer?” Titus asked. He was sitting closest to me, the heat of his massive body keeping mine electrified. When I looked at him quizzically, he offered acomforting smile. “When you were talking about your parents. Questions you couldn’t answer.”
I nodded several times. “Why both my mother and I could talk to animals, mostly lions, although we had a beautiful Great Pyrenees as a pet and I swear that furry girl understood every word I said to her. My mother was a true animal whisperer.”
“A gift you inherited.” Zeus had been almost silent since leaving the most beautiful setting I’d ever seen.
Outside Africa.
He remained angry. I could feel the vibrations. He was uncertain, which was exactly where I was. He was also furious as to what he’d been forced to become.
“Maybe.”
“The scar on your arm. A lion who thought of you as a playmate.”
I studied Thor and sighed. He was just as majestic as a human as he’d been when seeing him as a lion. “How did you know?”
