Hale ran a hand over his face. “Shit.”
“Hale's psychic?” Evan frowned. “Hale, you've never said anything about that before.”
“Because I wasn't. I mean, my parents were, and a lot of my relatives can do stuff, but it never hit me until…Paige.”
“His wacko dreams,” Derrick offered. “Hale's been dreaming about her for months.”
Paige sat up and stared at Hale. “You have?”
Hale stood and walked away from the pair on the chair. He leaned against the kitchen counter, looking uncomfortable. “Can we get back on topic? McKinley, tell us what you know about Pearl.”
McKinley scowled at him, showing a hint of fangs, and Evan itched to study the male. Something about him seemed so familiar yet so foreign at the same time. He wished he could put his finger on it.
“Fine. Be a dick,” McKinley muttered. He slid out from underneath Paige and stood, running a hand through his hair. “I took the job with Pearl only after I'd taken a job with General Shields. Mike Shields is a stand-up guy. He always hated the project.
He didn't trust it, didn't like the idea of science messing with perfectly good Marines and sailors.
“So when it was under way, he kept a close eye on things from the inside. After everything went to shit, he continued to watch Elliot Pearl. He'd heard rumors of more government interference. The Senate committee hearings that should have happened were swept under the rug. No way the Defense Department wanted to publicize that nightmare.”
Evan sighed. “I can well imagine. Rogue Circs murdering innocent civilians would go a long way to ruining careers. With Elliot's money and contacts, it would have been easy to make everything go away.”
“Yeah. So he started making new Circs. After a year of going it his own way, he needed more funding. He couldn't get money from investors and continue with his mad science at the pace he wanted.” McKinley paused to run a hand over Paige's hair.
The instant connection between the pair was obvious. Hale seemed to approve of the casual touching. But when he saw Evan looking his way, he tightened his jaw and hardened his glare.
“Is that when Senator Kuntz got involved?” Zack asked, sitting close to Ace. The pair always sat together, touching more often than not. Like Hale had been with McKinley.
Not sure if he liked thoughts of his niece with not one, but two men, Evan mentally castigated himself. Who was he to judge? He knew better than most that Circs didn't fit into any mold. Instinct and basic necessity played a greater role in Circ relationships than anything science could describe.
McKinley nodded at Zack. “Kuntz jumped at the chance to be a part of Elliot's nonsense. So two years ago, he came aboard. And then General Harold Kohl stepped in.” The hatred in McKinley's golden eyes blazed. “The bastard kept it quiet. None of us knew who he was, but we all knew Elliot wasn't calling the shots anymore. Not that Elliot seemed to care. He worked all day and night in his damned labs. The blood work he'd taken from me, the stuff I thought I'd disposed of when no one was looking, found a way into his research after all.
“The new mutants are a result of using the control drug—generated with my blood—on rogue Circs. At first it worked to delay the inevitable change that turned the rogues psychotic. But then it did more than that. They grew stronger, faster. And then they turned into something monstrous.”
“We know,” Ace said quietly, probably recounting his own experience with a mutant a few months back. Had it not been for Zack, he might have died under a mutant's sharp claws and teeth.
McKinley looked to Evan. “I need you to develop a cure. More, I need you to find a way to slow the rogue transformation. There are some good men in there who need help. But they can't get it from the labs.”
“What do you mean?” Paige asked, her brows drawn.
“I was getting to this. Yesterday, someone ratted me out to Kohl. I'm no longer any use there.”
“Do you know who it was?” Hale asked.
“Simon Dunn.”
Roane swore. “That shithead? He's still alive? He's been so quiet, I thought Derrick had killed him last time they met.”
“We should be so lucky,” Derrick muttered. “Asshole tried to kill Sabrina.” Sabrina glared. “Tell me about it.”
“And kidnapped Kelly.” Ace swore. Zack growled.
“Let's not forget what he did to Caitlyn,” Roane added. “Bastard tried to rape her with that creep Vincent Hoff.”
Evan watched McKinley's reaction. Caitlyn sparked an odd reaction in the male.
The mention and sight of her seemed to pain him.
“Hoff's dead,” McKinley said, rubbing his forehead.
“We know. A rogue female killed him six months ago,” Roane said in a low voice, the challenge in his gaze as he stared at McKinley impossible to miss.
“I killed him six months ago. The female was already dead. Hoff was—” He stopped to look at Paige and sighed. “Hoff wasn't right. He did bad things, things you really don't need to know about. He died wishing he'd been a little nicer.”
“Good,” Paige growled, stirring Hale to move away from the counter. The room suddenly smelled like cherries.
“Paige?” Hale and McKinley spoke at the same time. Evan didn't know what to make of his niece, for she suddenly stood and began growing.
Her eyes flashed from a light to a darker brown, and her pupils elongated. She didn't quite change, but she definitely looked larger.
The others rose from the couch, but McKinley barked at them to stay back.
“Do it,” Roane said, and they listened. All but Hale, who continued to approach Paige.
“I'm so tired of hearing about Elliot Pearl. He was a monster who let people like Simon Dunn and Vincent Hoff treat Circs as no more than slaves. They raped and murdered,” she cried, her nails sharpening to impressive lengths. Still, she looked normal. Her skin remained an olive gold, her features still proportional and human.
McKinley tried to console her. “It's okay, honey. Dunn's not long for this world.
The stuff he's taking is ruining him from the inside out. Eckles and I are friends, and he tells me things.”
Evan leaned forward. “What kinds of things?”
“Uh, Doc? I think we might want to hold off on this conversation right now.” Hale slowly crossed to stand between Paige and the others. “McKinley, what say we take her up to my room?”
Paige continued to rant. “He did terrible things. He didn't feel, didn't have a heart.” She ripped through the chair's bolster, shredding the leather as if slicing through butter. When Roane took a step forward, she growled low, a warning to back away.
“Dammit, Roane. Please,” Hale breathed. “Let me handle this.”
“Let us handle this,” McKinley corrected in that low, gravelly voice. “Except I'm not asking. I'm telling you to back the fuck up.” Seeing the unnecessary light of challenge in Roane's eyes, Evan suggested an alternative. “Hale? Why don't you and McKinley take Paige downstairs? I've just finished transforming the blue room into a comfortable area. You know, where Kelly, Zack, and Ace will go after the baby's born?”
Hale shook his head, as if trying to process Evan's words through the sweet smell of cherries in the air.
“Yeah, Hale,” Roane said in a hoarse voice. “That's a really great idea.” Evan noted the sudden tension in the room that grabbed the others. He felt nothing, thankfully, but the Circs were definitely aroused. Whether pregnancy hormones had subtly affected Paige or not remained to be seen. But if she didn't get out of here soon, Evan feared a bloodbath, because McKinley appeared on the verge of seriously breaking down.
“Hale?” Evan said loudly, to be heard over all the growling. “Take your mates to the blue room. Now.” He could see Hale fighting the change.