Page 29 of Savage Mates (Ruthless Instinct #2)

“We won’t allow anything to happen to you. You are our mate.” Thor was so possessive, exactly like the other two and I wanted to continue feeling safe and secure with them, but I knew otherwise. I realized we were sitting ducks on an island.

Just like in the controlled environment of a laboratory.

I’d walked right in on the horrific ongoing experiments.

For scientists, knowledge and accurate details were crucial to determining the correct path forward.

Without tested, proven information, theories would fail.

Black and white. That’s all there was in my profession.

But not in this world.

This world consisted of alien lifeforms, and the ability for DNA to adapt, assisted by modern science. Only in a way that could be considered evil. That was tough for me to believe after spending time with the three lions.

Kings of the jungle.

I could see them in their natural settings, all powerful and controlling, threatening all who dared come close to the members of their pride. As silly as it might sound, when I was with them, I’d never felt so safe.

Or so deeply saddened.

“Tell me everything that you know. Please. So I can understand.” My imploring words brought different emotions to the three lions, but finally, Titus nodded and began to speak, telling me how they came to be transformed into shifters.

For all the atrocities I’d witnessed as a child growing up in Africa, nothing could equal the stories of the horrific experiments, testing done on bodies and minds, scientists breaking spirits and destroying populations.

I’d listened to them with rapt attention, sickened to my core at what they’d shared.

Yet I knew there was more, things that had occurred in Blackwell’s secret laboratories that defied logic and humanity, experiments the rest of the world hadn’t been told about. Everything had been hidden, shoved under a rock.

And now some people who’d been involved with the top-secret project wanted to destroy evidence of its existence. Wipe the slate clean. Or… Exactly the opposite. To pick up where they’d left off only remaining enshrouded in shadows.

After gleaning whatever information from the existing shifters, they wanted to try again. This time able to control the outcome. To create a group of engineered beings that could be easily manipulated.

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 a comforting 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?”

“Because we can read your thoughts.”

Zeus’ statement was fraught with frustration. “Because I’m your mate.” Just saying the words seemed so incredible I was still taken aback. Of course in their human form they had all the abilities of anyone born with human DNA. Yet, there was a stark difference.

For example. How had it been possible a cub had been born to a shifter and a lion?

The thought boggled my mind. But I’d had nagging feelings the very first time I’d read anything about Blackwell Industries.

I’d known then evil had occurred, which was what had prompted me to write the paper.

Now that paper was being used against me.

“Maybe I was born with some of my mother’s gifts. If only she were alive to walk me through what to expect.”

“Is it possible this benefactor knew about these gifts?”

Thor’s question was a valid one and something I hadn’t thought about.

“Yes, it is, although I don’t know what angle he’d use.

My parents were widely known for their work with wild animals and the sanctuary they created.

Not cages, but creating a protected environment where lions, leopards, panthers, and wolves were allowed to roam freely.

Including where we’d lived and our clinics had been located.

People thought my parents were crazy allowing wild animals to coexist with them and a small child, but they proved everyone wrong. ”

The three of them looked at each other.

Using my skills and my gifts had been planned since discovery of the paper I’d written. I could feel that in my bones. That scared me more than almost anything else. The moment I’d applied for the grant… “Wait a minute. When were you dropped here?”

“Time has no meaning,” Thor admitted.

“This could be important. Weeks. A year?”

“Maybe six months.” Zeus’ answer brought yet another wave of chills.