Page 75 of Savage Mates
“You have no understanding of what we were forced to endure, human. You couldn’t possibly know what it feels like to be ripped from your world, from the creatures you spent your entire life protecting and hunting with while enjoying the freedom of the wild. Not only were we taken from everything we knew, we were chained, kept in small cages, and forced to endure agonizing tests only to be driven to shifting into something we wanted no part of. Do you have any understanding of what it feels like to become something you’ve spent your life hating? Do you know the sheer agony of what it feels like to have your bones snapped, fur ripped from your body?”
The horror of what he was saying turned my stomach. Zeus took a step forward and I moved in front of him. “Let him speak.”
Zeus hissed.
When I had no immediate answer, Alexander laughed. “No, of course you don’t. Yet even though your expression reads as if you’re horrified, I can tell you plan on undertaking additional experiments. To what end?”
The electricity in the air was as petrifying as what he’d just spouted off.
“You’re right. All of you are. I don’t know what it feels like to be ripped apart and put back together. What you’ve all endured is an abomination. Yes, I work in a field that celebrates research and new findings, but creating new life while destroying or altering another is not who I am. As someone I care about recently told me, playing God is dangerous. I don’t know if the people I came here with and who supplied the funding are associated with the ones who took and held you captive.”
“But that’s likely, little human,” Titus interjected.
Nodding, I know the odds of Zimmerman simply wanting to fund my project out of the goodness of his heart were slim to nil. He’d read the paper I’d written. He knew about my background as well as that of my parents’. He knew I had an innate scientific knowledge of large breed anatomy, which would help in the possibility of reproduction. Especially if I could control any diseases that might interfere. Of course he’d fund my project. It was a drop in the bucket in comparison to the possibility of what could be created in the future. “The probability my benefactor isn’t involved is very low. But hurting you any further is not why I came here.”
“You trust her?” Alexander pressed.
“The three of us do. Yes,” Thor answered. “Her only interest is in the animals.”
“I doubt what has occurred to your molecular structure can be returned to what it was,” I admitted. “Even if that were possible, I don’t have that level of expertise. But I promise to find a way so you can live out your life in a much better and safer place. A location where you’re free to roam. To raise cubs. Where food and water are plentiful and the monsters are easily dealt with. But you’re going to need to trust me.”
The quiet in the pride was unnerving.
“How can we trust any human?” Gabriel’s voice was twisted in anguish. He was also injured much like Zeus had been. Both had fought their captors only to be punished harshly. My anger was increasing just like theirs. How could anyone allow such an atrocity to occur?
“You have no other choice but to put some faith into what she’s saying and her abilities,” Thor snarled. “We need to work together. There is new danger we face.”
“From her.”
“No, from the people who created this atrocity in the first place. It’s my belief that they waited for a better opportunity to return to their experiments. Whether or not her benefactor and his team are involved won’t matter if what I’m thinking is true. That’s why we were brought here. That’s why the cub is in the greatest danger.” The pride deserved to know exactly what they were facing. “If I’m right, all of us are in a giant fishbowl.”
“That’s why we trust her,” Titus said with a strange tone in his voice. “I assure you she won’t be unsupervised.”
I didn’t argue. At this point not only would my defense matter, but I wasn’t a stupid girl. If Blackwell was still alive, still determined to continue his experiments, he might consider eliminating anyone who stood in his way.
The only choice I had, or the pride had, was for me to fake my interest. Even if doing so went against everything I believed in.
“So you’re asking us to wait?” Alexander questioned, the wry smile he wore one of disbelief. “There are other marauders on this island, violent lions hungry for blood and flesh. What do we do with them?”
“You wait and secure the camp. And we will protect both the cub and our mates with our lives. Understood?” Thor wasn’t asking. He was telling. And his command wasn’t well received.
There was another moment where I knew the pride members were communicating silently.
Alexander walked closer, cautiously eyeing me. “Fine, Thor. We will do as you ask. However, if she betrays us, we will have no choice but to eliminate the danger.”
“The marauders will return,” Gabriel added to the conversation. “Their mutant lions as well. And we need to be ready for them.”
“Agreed,” Conall snarled. “We need to kill them and be done with it.”
All three of my mates bristled. I could feel their beasts clawing just beneath the surface. The realization fascinated me. It was as if our connection was stronger than before. Was the reason geared toward the assumption I was in heat? Maybe so. I shoved the thought aside even though I could feel an increasing tic inthe corner of my mouth. A telltale sign I’d experienced since I was very young.
A warning of some type of danger. My mother had been uncanny with her ability to sniff out potential hazards, saving my father and me from a horrific animal attack when I was three or four. I would never forget the incident. Or the terror.
My intuition was never wrong.
“The mercenaries will return and likely when you least expect it. They won’t kill you, but they will use the lions to distract you,” I said, my statement catching every pride member off guard.
“Why do you say that, little mate?” Thor asked, his voice softening.
