Page 1 of His Asset

Chapter One

The skirt of my lilacdress flared out as I spun around and paced barefooted across my self-contained bedroom, glancing out the huge, bulletproof window that showcased the gorgeous, sunlit landscape outside.Though it was late afternoon, the leaves looked golden and burnished, the distant river glinting invitingly.

I glared.Even Mother Nature mocked me from outside of my confinement, driving the point home that this place reallywasn’tmy home.But then, since I’m not considered human, I’ve never had a real home.I’ve been incarcerated in one way or the other for the entire twenty years of my life.

I’m a genetically modified asset, the lone survivor of my gene pool.I had to watch in horror as, one after the other, the people I’d considered family died thanks to their abnormal genetic makeup.

Homo sapiens weren’t meant to be interwoven with chiropterans.

What were they damn well thinking to genetically engineer a human and a bat?

If it wasn’t bad enough the scientists who’d created me had enjoyed taking endless blood samples and employed new ways to hurt me while filming the enhanced rate of my healing ability, they’d also enjoyed shaming me because of my mutated genes.Thanks to those so-called eminent geniuses, I was considered a monstrosity and a miracle all at the same time.

I was a miscreation, someone the general public would tear apart if they knew the truth.Yet another reason I’d been put in this gilded tower in the middle of the wilderness, where my master used a helicopter as much as his fleet of cars to bring in supplies or to personally go into the city, where his lab was hidden in plain sight.

Though he liked to be in control, to conduct and oversee every aspect of the experiments going on in there, he liked even more to keep an eye on me.It was why he used virtual meetings to communicate with others.He knew I’d do anything to escape and experience real freedom...not this opulent excuse for one.

He was just as aware I refused to be vulnerable to a man, toanyhuman.Theywere the monsters, not me.And I refused to be anyone’s asset.

My leathery wings, compressed against my upper back under my dress, quivered with outrage.Or perhaps they needed release too?It was always a relief to unfold my appendages and stretch them out to their extraordinary size.

“Don’t worry,” I muttered, looking away from the views outside and the vague reflection of me in the glass pane that showcased my seriously long, dirty blonde hair and my startling blue eyes.I instead peered down at the thick gold cuff just above my left ankle.Not only did it reveal me as being an asset, it was also a tracking device that allowed my owner to know where I was at all times.“I have a plan.”

Opening my walk-in closet, I chose a pair of white runners and left them by my bedroom door.Then pushing back one of the loosened spaghetti straps on my dress, I stalked toward the kitchenette at the other end of my room.

In the twelve months I’d been here—I had no doubt my master had bought me for a staggering amount of money, despite the fact he’d been one of the masterminds who’d created me—I’d persuaded him to buy me everythingbutmy freedom.

The kitchenette had been my biggest triumph.

The bare, stone wall at the far end of the room was less austere now thanks to the swirly cream and gray marble countertop that sat flush against it, complete with a farmhouse sink and mixer tap.A toaster and kettle sat in the corner, a bar fridge beneath.

Releasing a pent-up breath, I filled up the kettle and flicked it on to boil.

My mouth dried at what I was about to do, but compared to the mental torment I’d suffered in the lab, this physical pain would be child’s play.Even so, I gripped the edge of the sink, my knuckles turning white.

Freedom was all I cared about, as was never getting emotionally abused or hurt ever again.The love-hate relationship I had with my so-called master meant he had the very real ability to gouge out my heart and deeply wound me.

I couldn’t allow that.

A shiver skated down my spine.His obsession with me had been obvious from the start.That it was reciprocated almost turned my stomach.I wasn’t like him, I never would be.I was literally born to be alone.

But I perceived he was waiting for me to be twenty-one, a fully-fledged adult, before he made a move on me.He might be a monster, but he was also a gentleman.My breath quickened, my nerve endings tingling as my belly compressed with stark need.I needed to get out of here before tomorrow...beforemy next birthday.

Before I made the biggest mistake of my life.

I couldn’t be with him.Idefinitelycouldn’t fall for him.Not knowing he was a big part of what went on in the labs.

The experiments.The degradation.The trauma and pain.

I shuddered.The death.

The kettle steamed and whistled, then automatically turned off.I blew out a long, slow breath and looked at the clock.Though my master was due to arrive in the next half hour or so, he’d be here the moment the cuff’s internal, silent alarm was set off by my spiked blood pressure.

The device that wrapped just above my ankle had multiple functions.

Tilting my left foot, I lifted the kettle with shaking hands, then poured the boiling water over my cuff and the skin around it.I silently screamed as red-hot, lancing pain exploded through my nerve endings, then bubbled the flesh around my ankle.Gritting my teeth, I carefully placed the kettle back onto its hob.

Security lights flicked on, no doubt also triggered thanks to the cuff’s silent alarm.That the illumination only highlighted my self-harm made gorge rise in my throat.I kept it down along with shrieks of agony as I shuffled over to one of the four dining chairs, pulling out the nearest one before collapsing into it.