“I should kill every damned scientist sitting in that tent,” Aiden growled. “Eventually they’ll be released, just as the other bastards were six years before. It will never stop, Keegan.”
The knowledge that there was little he could to stop the madness ate at him, just as it always had. The experiments still continued and the Council cruelties seemed to only magnify each time another Lab was found. There was no mercy, no humanity in the men and women who ran those Labs. Only the experiment mattered.
The wings at Keegan’s back shifted as though in agitation. He breathed in deeply, his gaze rising to the sheltering branches overhead before his eyes returned to Aiden’s.
“It seems very hopeless I know,” he sighed. “But I do not believe it will always be so, Aiden. I believe the new future, desperate though it may be at times, will make a way for us all. We must prepare our children for that day. Keep them strong enough to lead. Strong enough to survive.”
As though the Breeds needed children to worry about as well. Innocent lives thrown smack in the middle of a scientific war on humanity versus the lack of. And as Keegan hinted, victory would be a long way down the futuristic road.
Aiden grunted. “Yeah, I figured I could forget ever seeing it myself.”
He wiped a hand over his face before spearing his fingers restlessly through his hair. Regaining his control was a battle this time. This Lab, the tests that had been described to him, were too horrific for him to accept.
“A day will come when it will end. But it is yet far off,” Keegan finally shrugged. “Nature has smiled on us, though. She has found us worthy of life, and of continuing. Your mate will prove this to the world. Your son will help lead in a future race to triumph. We can do nothing but pave the way for him and the others that shall follow.”
Mate. His teeth snapped together at the word. His mate and his child. He ignored the flare of heat in his cock, fought back the instinctive possessive instincts and snarled violently.
“I do not accept this woman as my mate,” he bit out.
A chuckle echoed in the darkness. Keegan’s laughter. His superior attitude was beginning to grate on Aiden’s nerves.
“Nature has done this for you,” Keegan informed him with no small amount of amusement. “Perhaps she knew you were not worthy to choose. Often pride and our human frailties will hide the truth from our eyes until our mistakes are too excessive, have caused too much damage to ever set right. So she has instead given such choices to the animal that resides in us, to recognize our other half. The one created exclusively for us.”
Aiden snorted. “There are, at last count, five women for every male out in the world…”
“There is at present less than a dozen female Breeds from all those created. There are over six hundred known Breed males, and perhaps more unknown.”
Shock widened Aiden’s eyes. “Three hundred,” he bit out. “Last count is three hundred.”
“Ah.” Keegan nodded. “Over six hundred known to me then. My count is of course more accurate I can assure you. But that is neither here nor there. Humans are naturally predisposed to female children. It will not be so for Breeds, who will be predisposed to males. What would you make of this, Aiden?”
Shit. He bit back a stream of curses at the information. Not that he wholly trusted the Winged male’s knowledge. Unfortunately, he suspected the man knew exactly what he was talking about. Which only complicated things further.
“More trouble than we need,” he sighed roughly. “Our males will mate with full-human females. The Purists that will arise will go crazy.”
“Yes.” Keegan nodded slowly. “But not more than the Breeds can manage.”
He would have said more, Aiden thought, if one of the Enforcers hadn’t chosen that moment to call his out his name as he approached them.
“Aiden, Armani needs you back at the tent. The girl is bleeding again and she’s frightened she may need another transfusion.”
He flinched, turning back to Keegan with a flash of worry.
“Her life is in your hands, Aiden,” he said softly. “It is your choice now if she lives or dies. Now is the time to make it.”
Aiden narrowed his eyes in frustrated fury. “You know, Keegan, I could grow to hate you,” he snarled. “Quite easily.”
He didn’t give the Winged Breed a chance to respond. He turned and rushed back to the camp, heading for the medical tent and the woman, Nature, in all her supposed wisdom, decided was his mate.
“And I could grow to hate you as well, Aiden, quite easily,” Keegan murmured as he watched the other Breed rush from the darkness toward the well camp.
“Is this not the way of all alphas?” a soft voice asked him with gentle amusement, touching his mind with a light, feminine touch.
He snorted. “There are alphas and then there are fools. Which, I wonder, will he ultimately be?”
“You have not seen this yet?” the voice asked softly. “It must be because you have refused to look.”
He shrugged defiantly, as though the voice could see such a movement. “I would prefer not to regret what I can not change.”
He had a fondness for Charity. Not a love, or a jealousy of what Aiden possessed, but a fondness. Her soul was gentle, her heart filled with warmth. She was the only human he had met who possessed such qualities.
“And if you do not look, how do you know it cannot be changed?” the voice asked.
He sighed wearily. “Are there not duties for you to attend to? Surely wherever you are, there are things you must do other than harass me.”
“Actually, my duty is to harass you more often.” Her laughter filled his mind. “I have been accused of being quite lazy where you are concerned.”
“Who would dare?” he mocked her patiently then.
She laughed again. A whispery little chuckle that tempted him to smile.
“Will you be leaving there soon?” she asked.
“Within the hour. We are preparing to fly now. They will be upset at our absence.”
“There are things you must do, Keegan. They will survive without your knowledge. Remember, what comes easy is not near as important as those things you must fight for.”
And there was much, he thought, left to fight for. Shaking his head at the cruelties of man and the fickleness of fate, he moved farther into the jungle for the clearing he had landed in earlier. Unfurling his wings he lifted them to the breeze coming behind him and took a running leap into flight.
Charity would suffer for the desertion, but he had seen enough to know that her trials were those she must face alone. He had his own destiny to conquer, his own trials to endure. And it must all begin now.
Chapter Four
Breed Compound
Colorado Mountains
Charity came awake with a moan of pain. How she had managed to sleep, to escape the blinding pain of the drugs, she wasn’t certain. How she came awake in the unfamiliar room was even more confusing. She blinked weakly up at the rough beamed ceiling wondering where she was, what had happened.
A spasm of convulsive reaction shook her womb, taking her breath, as she moaned harshly. She could feel the dampness between her thighs, the ever-present arousal that spiked through her body. The sexual need she could tolerate, she had learned to accept it over the years. It was the blinding pain of the attempts at forced fertility that weakened her mind.