Page 58 of Savage Mates

The excitement ebbed to that moment of horror and now, she was thinking that someone she knew had been right. Playing God was wrong.

“We’ll simply say our DNA was formed from something not of this world, but our intellect came from a scientist at the very facility.”

“Oh, my God. The rumors are true.” Her blood pressure was rising, her pulse increasing rapidly.

And for some crazy reason, my hunger for her was exploding all over again.

“Don’t worry, little mate,” Thor said. “We have no interest in eating you, at least not in the way you’re thinking.”

“How do you know what I’m thinking?”

Shit. Even I had to admit there was a strong connection between us, but I still refused to believe she was our one and only mate. Why was it so difficult for me to believe? We were shifters, for fuck’s sake.

“Because you are our biological mate.” Titus made the statement as if it was no big deal.

“Not possible,” she said too quickly, while her mind processed the possibility. “That would take a total DNA reconfiguration. Something I doubt any scientist could replicate. Although…”

“Go on,” Thor commanded.

She moved through the water, her heart rate increasing much like the carnal needs were doing within the three of us. Being close to her was dangerous. Even her scent was growing stronger, which was like catnip. The thought was ridiculous, but accurate.

She dragged her tongue across her bottom lip, her chest heaving. “Blackwell Industries. A portal opening to a parallel world. You said lifeforms not of this world.”

“Yes…” Titus hissed, inching closer to the edge of the rocks.

“So they really discovered lifeforms coming from a parallel world. According to rumors and someone involved, several of these lifeforms escaped. Imagine if that is really true. The genetic possibilities are endless. But on the flipside, the dark ramifications of the power of creation getting into the wrong hands would be devastating.”

This time, the three of us remained quiet.

The little human became uncomfortable, the possibilities against her usual scientific ideals. “From the stories told, Blackwell and his team accidentally discovered these lifeforms, but the portal they created malfunctioned, causing several to escape. The scientists had no understanding how intelligent or adaptable the lifeforms were. Just like what you said, these lifeforms learned about our world from humans yet created life from animals who were being used as bait. Maybe once upon a time they believed experimenting on animals wasn’t an atrocity.”

She’d put it more succinctly than I thought possible. Easy to understand. “And in doing so, they created a new form of life,” I added. “Both good and evil.”

Her nod was jerky, her pulse even higher than before. She was only beginning to come to terms with the horror. She pressed her hand over her lips, a single sob pushing up from her throat. “Yes. Maybe. They tortured animals for what reason? So theycould prove some stupid theory?” Now her emotional state was clouding everything else.

“They just didn’t care about what we suffered.” Titus’ voice was quieter than usual.

“It was believed the animals who’d suffered had been destroyed.” Now she was looking away, remembering something she’d read while piecing together the rest. “But there were more hybrid animals than anyone knew about.” She snapped her head toward us, taking gasping breaths. “The mutant lions from yesterday. The experiments failed.”

“Or their experiments weren’t allowed to be completed,” Thor said far too casually for my liking. He was taking it all into stride while my anger was surfacing all over again.

Raw and powerful.

“Why are these mutants here?” she asked innocently enough, now searching our eyes for answers she honestly didn’t want.

“To kill us.” I didn’t mind sharing the reason. Why shouldn’t I? “Or to test their abilities against ours, using a scientific control mechanism.”

“Interesting and disheartening,” she whispered. “But possible.”

Another drag of her tongue across her bottom lip and my mind was having difficulty controlling my body’s reaction to her. The need was eating me alive.

“The remaining scientists and investors in the project involved are afraid if the lions get off this island, they’ll tell the world the truth. Those horrible men I saw with whips can control them through a pain and reward system.” Her voice was shaking.

She was still unable to accept who or what we were.

“Notthem, Lauren. Us.” My voice was little more than a rumble.

“The female lions I saw this morning…” She didn’t finish her sentence. “They aren’t altered. Are they?”