Page 28 of Feral Mate
“Not only are there iron linings in the restraints but most of the newer parts of the complex have iron rebar throughout as a safety precaution. Surely you can’t believe that we wouldn’t take precautions to ensure we know who and where shifters can shift. We wouldn’t want to lose the upper hand, now, would we?
“How would you know which of your employees are shifters? We’re pretty good at hiding in plain sight.”
“Yes, but we have scanners built into some of our observation equipment that can tell a shifter from a human—maybe not which kind of shifter, but I’m not sure it matters.”
“Think not? I have to tell you, I’d far rather face a cute ragdoll kitten-shifter than say a snow leopard-shifter.”
“Touché. But the iron within the structure does greatly inhibit the ability to shift in most cases.”
She was right. It was only the true apex predators that could shift in such a case. He was pretty damn sure a snow leopard qualified, and he was absolutely certain a cave lion did. However, Emery had introduced her DNA into his system, it had been fast and effective. Not only could he feel the effects surging through his system, but now in his mind’s eye, the snow leopard was gone, replaced by an enormous cave lion. As much as Mason could and did embrace the necessity to become a cave lion-shifter, there was a small part of him that would always miss the snow leopard he had been. The cave lion was now what would separate him from being an ‘identical twin’ to his brother Carson. He prayed that his twin could accept and even embrace the change in him.
“We did a lot of experiments to figure out what would work and what wouldn’t. But then, you know all about our experiments, don’t you, Dr. Payne?”
In that moment he would have given a great deal of money to have access to a recording device, but that was not an option so he tried to focus on the words she said, committing them to memory the best he could.
“Since you believe you know far more than any of the other teams, why don’t you enlighten me?”
“We’re trying to right the wrongs of the past. For far too long shifters have been relegated to some kind of half-life, living in the shadow of humans. It’s unnatural. Shifters—even the lowliest among us—are far superior to our purebred human or animal counterparts…”
“I read an interesting article a couple of months back that said when humans invariably destroy their world, it will be the insects that take over—most likely bees. Makes sense when you think about it.”
“You’re a fool if you really believe that. Our kind will not allow that to happen. It’s only one of the reasons we’re going to rise up and take back what once was ours.”
“How exactly do you plan to do that?”
“We’re working on cutting edge technologies. We’re trying to build better soldiers, better servants. We’ll keep humans around to be used for breeders if we need them, and the beasts will take their place in the food chain. We have almost perfected the technology for cloning a kind of obedient super soldier…”
“I understand the EnGen project working with dragon DNA was a complete and utter failure. Didn’t your boss run that project? What happened to Oscar?”
“He learned the price of failure and then added his uniqueness to our database. I was asked to take his place.”
“In other words,” said Mason, realizing he would probably never forget this conversation, “you killed him and then sorted him into parts you could use in some of your other crazy ideas. Grafting extra limbs onto a human or a shifter is never going to work. If you’d studied history, you’d already know that.”
“What do you know? Things the generation of scientists before us thought were impossible are very possible. We can learn from the past, but we don’t have to be bound by it. We can make our soldiers better, faster, stronger…”
“Wasn’t that the intro to The Six Million Dollar Man?”
Perkins slapped him across the face. “Don’t you mock me. Need I remind you, Dr. Payne, that you’re the one in restraints, not me. I really hope you survive the experiments. Dr. Smoak is worried that some of her therapies will result in a loss of free will amongst the subjects. I only hope if it does that your cognition is still good enough that you understand what is being done to you.”
“You’re a scientist, Perkins, or at least you used to be,” said Mason. “And you seem to have a higher-than-average IQ. You have to know that what you’re planning is not going to work. The science just doesn’t support it. Even if it did, and given that shifters are inherently stronger and better able to adapt physically, we are woefully outnumbered. If history has taught us nothing else, it should be when mankind is threatened, for the most part, they band together against a common enemy. Shifters have never been able to pull that off—not in sufficient enough numbers or lengths of time. Hell, we have species that are still locked in the Dark Ages warring against one another.”
“You’re wrong,” she said, pounding her fists on the end of the bed. “We will emerge victorious and usher in a new age. Our Master is older than all of us…”
Mason shook his head as well as he could and clicked his tongue. “Have you learned nothing about dealing with dragons? Do you really believe a dragon-shifter as old and as rich as Apophis or Abraham or whatever he’s calling himself is doing this out of the goodness of his heart or to restore shifters to the top of the food chain? Are the lot of you that delusional? He’ll use you until he has what he needs, and then he and his dragon buddies will turn on the lot of you and turn you into crispy critters—literally.”
“You’re wrong. Apophis was one of those who ruled in the Age of Dragons…”
“And got banished to a cave off the coast of England for more than a thousand years. All it took to put him in suspended animation was a little old wizard with a magic spell waving a wand. And this is the guy you people have put your faith in?” Mason snorted. “You haven’t spent much time around dragons. They’re not what you’d call benevolent. Oh, and by the way, the dragon you tried to turn into your experiment in Seattle? He really wants a shot at payback. He and his brothers of the Phantom Fire are looking to take this place and the Shadow League apart and roast your tasty bits as a snack.”
“You’re wrong, but even if you were right, the League will have its own dragons. Dragons who are loyal and answer only to us.”
Mason laughed. He couldn’t help it. The woman was a raving lunatic. “So, you’re all about shifter solidarity and yet you’re planning how to double cross Apophis. If I wasn’t worried about the harm you would cause to humans, shifters and beasts alike, it would almost be fun to sit back and watch you idiots have at it. The problem is, I worry you’d leave the world and all of its civilizations in ruins.”
“You couldn’t be more wrong,” she vowed. “Our time has come, and we will be victorious.”
“You’re delusional. You’ve bought the company spiel hook, line, and sinker. I’d applaud you or whoever sold you this load of bullshit, but you’ve ensured I can’t do that, which is probably a good idea since if I was free of these restraints, I’d probably snap your neck.”
She shoved up from the end of the bed, leaning down so that her face was mere inches from his. “What did you do with the data, Dr. Payne?”
