“Dreyer’s still asleep,” Carson says as he comes in from the hall. “I have no idea how to tell her what they’re planning to do to her.”

“To both of you,” I insist as he sinks onto the edge of the cot. I sit up to make more room for him. “They’re doing this to both of you.” To all three of us, really.

“Yes, but you know it’ll be worse for her. Like it’s worse for you.” He reaches out to lay one hand over my stomach. “Lilli, I swear on my honor that I’m going to get us out of here. You will not give birth in a lab.”

“Shh!” I hiss, glancing up at the camera in the corner of the high ceiling.

“Fuck that. Let them hear. They already know my intentions anyway. And I will get you off this planet.” He sucks in a deep breath as he removes his hand. “And once we’re out of here, if you decide this isn’t want you want, I will make sure you get the medical care you need. Just please…once there aren’t biological imperatives pulling us together, don’t leave me. And don’t think that I want you any less. This isn’t about pheromones for me, no matter what that walking waste of sperm said. And I want you even if you don’t want to have my child.”

I burst into tears, and for a second, Carson looks bewildered. Then he pulls me into his lap and that low thrumming sound envelopes me in a warm, comforting cocoon of sound, even as the oscillation beats against my back, from being pressed against him. “Shh, Lilli, I mean it. If you don’t want the baby—”

“I do want the baby!” I sob. And dimly, I’m aware that the low-pitched, tense conversation going on between the other four men in the lounge has gone suddenly silent. Because they heard me.

I twist in Carson’s lap until I’m straddling him, looking straight into silvery eyes narrowed in concern for me. At a brow furrowed in skepticism, as if he can’t quite let himself believe what I just said. “I didn’t want this, for so many reasons. And none of those reasons have changed. I can’t survive losing another child.”

“I will never let that happen.” His arms wrap around me, holding me firmly, and I want nothing more than to pull him down on the cot with me and curl up next to him. To fall asleep and let him take care of everything. To believe that’s even possible.

But it isn’t.

“Carson, I know you would mow down any human threat to this child. But there’s nothing you can do to fight disease—”

“Immunizations. The best medical care.”

“—or accidents—”

“Constant vigilance.”

“—but my point is that no one can ever anticipate every danger or control every aspect of someone else’s life. Even a baby’s. Especially a baby’s. But I believe you will do your very best, and that your best is probably better than all the other bests out there. Because of how badly you’ve wanted children your whole life.”

“Because of how badly I want you, and our child,” he leans forward to whisper into my ear, as his comfort sound worms its way even deeper into my soul. “That’s what this is about, for me. But this isn’t just about me. Are you sure you want this?”

“I…yes. I know this baby won’t replace Eldon. And I wouldn’t want that to happen. But if you can really get us out of here… If you can give us a shot at a normal life… I want this baby. I’m willing to fight for this baby. For us.”

Carson’s irises thin out as his eyes dilate. He pulls me close and his mouth finds mine. He tugs my bottom lip with his teeth, and I open for him, losing myself in the stroke of his tongue against mine and the soft oscillating thrum that—again—matches the rhythm of my pulse. And makes me ache down low, desperate to be filled by him.

“Carson,” I murmur as his lips travel down my neck. I fumble at his waistband and I can already feel his cock growing hard between us. “I need…”

“I know what you need,” he says as he lifts me. The next thing I know, I’m on my back on the cot, hoping the thin aluminum frame is sturdy enough to support us both, because my body feels desperately, tragically…hollow.

“Hurry,” I groan as he pulls his shirt off. “I—”

“Hey!” Tirzah shouts from down the hall, followed by the thud of her fists against the transparent wall of the breeding room. “What the fuck am I doing in here?”

I groan, and immediately I feel guilty for the fact that I don’t want to stop what we’re doing. But she has a right to know what’s happening.

“I’ll talk to her.” Carson stands and fastens his pants, and it’s everything I can do to keep from reaching into them before he can get them zipped. I’ve never tasted him. I need to taste him.

“Are you sure you want to go out there like that?” I whisper with a nod at the massive bulge beneath his zipper.

He shrugs. “It’s nothing she hasn’t seen.”

An angry sound claws its way up my throat before I can stop it, and Carson’s eyes widen. Then he smiles, his silver eyes flashing at me. “Jealous, petal?”

“Yes.” There’s no sense in lying.

“Dreyer has been my second in command for years. I would defend her with my life, and the reverse is also true. But nothing—no one—will ever come before you and our child.” He leans down to kiss my forehead and lays his hand on my stomach. “And you already know that what happened between me and Dreyer was not voluntary, on either of our parts.”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.” His quiet smile grows heated. “You have every right to be possessive of me, and jealousy makes you even wetter for me.”

“Stop…smelling me!” I snap as I smack at his arm.

“I’ll be back. Why don’t you go get a snack to feed our child?”

“It’s just a handful of cells right now, Carson.” But I am hungry. “You’re not worried about the other guys…smelling me?”

“They know about the baby,” he says, as if that’s all the explanation I should need. Then his expression becomes sober as he heads for the hallway. To explain to Tirzah what the two of them will suffer, if we’re not out of here by next week.

I find Vaughn, Thiago, Burke, and Everett in the lounge, seated around the coffee table. Doing nothing. Literally nothing. “What, no card game?” I ask as I sink into the only empty chair. Cards are the only distraction Dr. Brennan has offered us, despite the psychologist on staff, who surely warned against the psychological dangers of extreme boredom. And our one deck is so well used that several of the cards are actually falling apart.

“Not in the mood,” Thiago says, and the absence of his usual grin worries me. He studies me for a second, and I realize my face must still be red from crying. “You okay?”

“Yeah. I mean, not even a little bit. But also, yeah. I am. And I assume you’ve all heard that you’re going to be uncles.”

“We heard,” Vaughn says, golden eyes staring up at me. “We’re just not sure whether we’re supposed to congratulate you or…apologize.”

“Well?” I glance at Burke. “You want to tell them?”

He studies me for a moment, but his gaze doesn’t roam my face. Because he’s not looking at me. He’s looking…inside me. “She’s happy,” he says at last, as a huge grin slides over his face. “Scared…but happy.”

I shrug and give them a smile. “I hear the man’s never wrong!”

Thiago jumps out of his chair and wraps me in a hug. “Congratulations, mama!”

Vaughn pointedly clears his throat, and I peek over Thiago’s shoulder to see all three of the other men watching us warily.

“It’s okay,” I tell them, as Thiago lets me go. “The beast seems less possessive now that Carson knows about the baby.”

“And you’re really okay with this?” Vaughn asks softly.

“Yeah. I mean, it’s scary as hell. For a multitude of reasons. But this kid couldn’t ask for a more protective father.”

“Or uncles,” Thiago says with a smile at my still-flat stomach. “This’ll be the most well-defended baby in the universe. Though I can’t promise the kid’s first words won’t be profane, with the examples these assholes will probably set.”

“When are you due?” Everett asks, and the rare personal question from the quietest of the zone X prisoners gives me a good idea where his thoughts have gone. “Nine months. Seriously. It’s still very early days. But my due-date isn’t our deadline for getting out of here.”

Also…what if an alien hybrid fetus doesn’t develop along the typical nine-month timeframe?

“Oh, we’re talking about that out loud, now?” Thiago says. “Because our escape plan is so badass that we can pull it off even if we tell them what to expect?”

“We don’t really have a plan yet, and they already know we want to escape, so…” I shrug.

Burke’s quiet gaze seems to see past my casual statement. “What’s the deadline?”

“Does this have something to do with the reason Dreyer’s locked in the breeding room by herself?” Vaughn asks.

Before I can answer, Tirzah unleashes as profanity-laced shriek from the other end of the building. “Fuck you, you sadistic scientist fucks! The first one of you to stick a baster up my hoo ha is going to lose his fucking hand!”

Thiago flinches. “She’s not bluffing.”

I sink back into my chair and exhale slowly.

“What’s going on?” Everett asks.

“The short version? They’re dosing her with synthetic pheromones this week, hoping to send her into a mating frenzy, and next week they’re going to lock Carson in with her. If that doesn’t give them what they want, they’ll artificially inseminate.”

“Bastards…” Vaughn breathes. “We have to get her out of here.” His golden eyes meet mine. “We have to get you both out of here.”

“Yeah. And fast.”

Thiago nods. “Otherwise, some poor sadistic scientist fuck is going to lose a hand, halfway up Dreyer’s honey pot.”

For the second time in as many days, I wake up to the intrusion of bright light through my closed eyelids, and this time the circumstance is so familiar that there’s no disorientation. I know exactly where I am.

When I open my eyes, I’m not surprised to find myself strapped to a table in Lab A again, staring at Justin’s back, while he taps something on his tablet, standing at one of the metal desks built into the wall.

But I am surprised, when I roll my head to the other side, to find Tirzah Dreyer strapped to a wheeled desk chair in one corner of the room, her head fallen forward so that her chin brushes her sternum. It cannot be healthy, how often they render us unconscious.

I’m equally surprised to find Dr. Brennan absent.

“Good evening, little lab rat.” Justin’s faux cheerfulness grates on my nerves like the squeal of a fork against my plate. Not that I have access to either forks or plates these days.

“Is it evening? It’s hard to tell in here.” I haven’t seen the outside world in at least a week and a half.

“Well, that’s about to change.”

My pulse skips faster. “Why? What’s happening?”

“We’re getting out of here.” Justin tosses a glance at Tirzah. “You and me, and baby makes three.” He shrugs. “Four, with Dreyer. And since it isn’t safe to sedate a pregnant woman for as long as this will take, I’m going to politely ask you to cooperate.”

“I don’t understand.” A sick feeling churns in my stomach, though it’s way too early for morning sickness. This is creepy-assistant-director sickness. “Where are Carson and the guys?”

“They’re not coming.” He rolls his eyes at my look of confusion. “I’m not arrogant enough to think I can handle all six genetically altered super-soldiers, especially considering that they’re just waiting for an opportunity to escape. I know exactly how dangerous they are. I made them that way.”

He made them that way?

“I don’t understand. Where are we going?” I pull on my bindings, though I know I can’t free my hands. “Wherever it is, I’m not going without Carson.” Wait. “Where’s Dr. Brennan?”

“Station Delta is on lockdown. A very dangerous prisoner got loose up there, and until he’s captured, all employees who aren’t trained for combat are restricted to their quarters.”

“Well then how did you get out?”

“The prisoner got loose right after I left the station.” His cocky smile tells me that’s no coincidence. “By the time the lockdown ends, we’ll be gone.”

“What’s going on, Justin? You’re helping us…escape?”

“Not exactly.” He bends to lift a cylinder from the floor, then sets it on the desk, where he slides it into an insulated covering.

“What is that? What’s going on? Did you set a prisoner loose on Station Delta?”

“I didn’t personally let him out. My partner’s in a much better position to pull levers and push buttons up in orbit. But yes. The only way to keep everyone up there busy was to create a legitimate and immediate distraction. This is the culmination of years’ worth of work, little lab rat. Work I helped pioneer, by the way. Which means I have as much right to it as Brennan does. As UA does.” It’s the bitterness dripping from his words, more than the equipment he’s readying that clues me in.

“You’re stealing her work? You’re stealing me? Us?” I ask, with a glance at Tirzah.

“It’s my work. She may have the famous name and reputation, but I’ve done just as much work here as she has.”

“But…doesn’t UA own any products or techniques developed in its labs?”

“That, little lab rat, is why we’re not just walking out the front door.”

“And you think I’m just going to leave with you? Voluntarily?”

“I think now that you’ve decided you want this baby, you’ll do anything to protect it.”

“If you weren’t willing to sedate me and risk hurting the baby, why should I believe you’d hurt the baby if I don’t cooperate? Don’t you need it for… Wait, what exactly are you doing? What are you going to do with a human/alien hybrid soldier and a pregnant woman who no longer menstruates?”

Justin doesn’t answer—he’s busy transferring files on his tablet—but suddenly the conclusion seems obvious.

“You’re going to sell us? To whom? A competitor?” Does Universal Authority even have any competitors? “You’re going to separate me and my baby from its father for money?”

Justin laughs. “This isn’t a dating service, petal,” he spits, and his use of Carson’s nickname for me makes me feel sick. “We break up the actual lab rats too, after we’re done breeding them. But no, I’m not just doing this for money. I’m doing this for credit. With UA keeping this whole project classified, I can’t exactly put this work on a resume, can I? Or publish the findings. But if I take my work elsewhere…” He shrugs. “The competitor is willing to pay and let me publish. And with all of UA’s records destroyed, they’ll be set back years. Especially since they’ll also be missing their only breed-able hybrid and the only living proof that our hybrids are not only compatible with the human reproductive system, but that they can alter it to fit their needs.”

“There’s no way you can destroy all those records. UA must have backups, upon backups, upon backups. Plus, they’ll still have the guys. You’re not going to cripple Project Vetus, Justin. You’re just going to really piss UA off.” Not to mention the remaining super-soldiers, who will do anything to put their family back together again.

“I’m the one who kept all the records, little lab rat. Which means I know exactly where all the backups are. All Brennan will be left with are her personal notes, and a few soldiers—successes she can’t replicate without spending years reverse engineering her own process, because all of the data is gone. Which will give my employer a chance to catch up. To become competitive. Especially with you two in its labs.”

“But for that, you need the baby.”

“No, I just need proof the embryo existed. That hybrids can be bred in captivity. You and your records are that proof. So while I do want the sizable bonus they offered, once they found out you were pregnant, I don’t need it. If you so much as look like you’re going to be a problem, I will stun you stupid, and if that doesn’t work out for the little rat embryo, oh well.” He shrugs. “We’ll plant another one in you soon enough the same way we’re going to breed Dreyer.” He holds up the insulated canister where I can see it. “With the sample papa rat donated last week.”

The sick feeling in my stomach becomes ice in my veins. I have to stop him. But I can’t risk hurting the baby to do it. Because he’s right. For so long, I thought my life was over. I thought my entire future could only consist of sewing curtains and cushions at best, systematic rape, at worst. But everything’s different now. Now I have Carson and his makeshift family. And I do want this baby.

So I have to be smart about this.

“You’re not going to get us off the planet, Justin. You’ll need authorization from Station Delta to get through the pyro-shield.” The transparent forcefield that will incinerate any ship that hits it.

“Well then, I guess it’s a good thing I have a friend in the control booth.” Justin slides his tablet into a small satchel and sets it on the desk, next to the canister. “I appreciate your concern, but I don’t need your help. This thing has been in motion a long damn time, and I would have been out of here nearly two months ago, if not for Carson’s disappearing act.” He shrugs. “I guess that worked out for the best though, because if I’d left then, I wouldn’t have known anything about you, and I wouldn’t have been offered that bonus.”

“How long?”

“What?” He crosses the room and lifts Tirzah’s eyelids, so he can shine a light into them. “How long what?”

“How long as this been in motion?”

“Oh. Eight long years. Since well before Team Zeta was chosen. Since before most of them even signed up to serve.”

“UA’s competitor bribed you eight years ago, and you’re just now taking them up on their offer?”

He laughs as he stands, satisfied that Tirzah is still unconscious. “Not the smartest rat in the maze, are you? I wasn’t bribed, honey. I was planted, as was my friend in the control room. Straight out of grad school, in my case. We’ve long-outlasted any suspicion focused upon new employees, and considering that I helped pioneer this splicing technique…” He sets one hand on the canister again. “Brennan won’t see this coming until the lockdown ends and they examine the footage. Not that that’ll help, with the cameras blacked out…” He points up into the corner of the room, and I notice that the red light has gone out, for the first time since I got to the lab.

“Wait, we’re just going to disappear? In the middle of the night?”

“That’s the plan. And if you play nice, ‘we’ will include little embryo lab rat. If not…” He shrugs. “There are still things we can learn from the dead tissue we’ll scrape out of you.”

And with that, anger overwhelms my fear. I can’t let this happen.

“I can see you thinking, little mama rat. Weighing your options? But you’re not going to risk that baby, are you? Not after what happened to the last one.”

Grief rolls over me, untempered by time and distance from the loss. It’s like a punch to the soul. It’s an empty, seething ache that can’t be eased.

And Justin can see every bit of that on my face.

“Good. Then we understand each other. So here’s how this is going to go. I’m going to walk you and the biological samples down to the shuttle and secure you to your seat. Then I’ll come back for Dreyer and the data. You will be quiet and cooperative. And if everything goes well, I won’t have to hurt baby rat. But if you so much as twitch before I get you strapped in, I will stun you unconscious, and we’ll just have to cross our fingers for your little passenger. Got it?”

I nod, trying to control my pulse. To disguise the fury surging through me with every beat of my heart.

“Good.” Justin reaches into the front pocket of his satchel and pulls out a laser pistol.

“Your friend in the control booth got you a gun?” I can’t tell anything about the settings, so I have to take his word that it’s set to stun, and not to blow a hole right through me.

“Yes, and it only responds to my prints, so don’t get any ideas. I’m going to bind your hands.” He digs into his bag again and comes up with a set of wire cuffs, no doubt also courtesy of the corrupt guard working with him. But then his gaze flicks from one of my wrists to the other, both still strapped to the table, and I can see the reality of this situation as it occurs to him.

He’ll have to put the gun down in order to free my hands, then bind them together. Which is exactly why he’s not even trying to take any of the guys. And why he’s not willing to wake Tirzah up.

Justin grabs my chin and leans in until he takes up my entire field of vision, his fingers bruising. “I swear to god, if you try a fucking thing, I will kick you in the gut until what’s left of that baby lab rat runs down your legs. Do you understand?”

My entire body trembles as I nod in his brutal grip.

Finally he lets me go, then taps on his com device. The bindings fall away from my right wrist, and it takes all of my self-control to resist the urge to punch him in the gut.

This is not my moment.

Justin sets his gun on the metal desk at his back, then he slides one of the wire loops around my right wrist and adjusts the clasp to tighten it. “One down,” he mumbles, and I realize that’s a sign of his nerves.

To bind my left wrist, he has to either lean over me or go around the table. He chooses the safer, longer route, rather than leaning over my currently free right arm. Which would’ve been the right move, if not for the fact that he left his pistol sitting on the desk, next to his insulated cylinder.

In position on my other side, he frees my left wrist, then discovers that he still has to lean over me to grab my right one. Justin may be a brilliant scientist, but he is less than proficient at prisoner control.

Maybe he should have brought his guard friend with him.

Jaw clenched, he leans over my midsection to grasp for my arm. I suck in a deep breath and sit up as I wrap my left arm around his neck and squeeze. My non-dominant arm isn’t very strong, so I brace it with my right hand, scratching his face with the wire cuffs, and I hold on for dear life.

I hold on for my baby’s life.

Justin flails, trying to get free. Desperate to draw a breath. Then he realizes his hands are still free, and he starts punching me. I’ve never put anyone in a headlock before, and my technique is terrible. That and my general lack of strength mean that by the time he finally passes out, draped over me on the lab table, my legs and back are bruised from his fists. Fortunately, he’s a scientist, not a fighter, and his position means he didn’t have access to my stomach.

For nearly a minute after he slumps over me, I maintain my grip, in case he’s faking unconsciousness. I have no idea how long he’ll be out, so I let him go and grunt as I maneuver him into a position that will give me access to both of his hands. And his wrist com.

Like the pistol, it will only respond to his fingerprints, so I bend his elbow and wedge his arm into what I truly hope is an uncomfortable position so I can use the fingers of his right hand to tap through unfamiliar menus on the device.

Bindings…

Bindings…

Finally, I find the controls for bindings, listed by proximity. Evidently they transmit a signal. Which makes sense, considering that they can only be remotely released. I tap the button to release what I assume are the wires holding my ankles to the table. But while my legs remain bound, the clasps holding wires tight around Tirzah’s wrists pop open.

Her arms slide off the narrow arms of the desk chair, and she slumps forward. Then she tips out of her chair face-first and I flinch when she hits the floor with a thud. “Sorry!” I whisper as I tap to release all of the other bindings within signal distance of Justin’s wrist com, just in case.

The wires around my ankles loosen, and I pull them free just as Tirzah slumps even flatter on the floor, with the release of her own feet.

A relieved sob bursts from my throat, and I shove Justin to the floor. Then I climb down from the table on the other side, my thoughts racing.

Station Delta is on lockdown. The lab cameras are turned off. There’s a shuttle with departure clearance waiting somewhere in zone X. And I have access to both a pistol and a wrist com I’m not authorized to use.

I have no idea what to do.

I need help.

My pulse races so fast the room begins to spin as I round the table and squat next to Justin again, terrified that he’ll wake up while I’m close enough to grab. I use his finger to navigate through more menus, cursing the complicated structure, until I figure out how to unlock the lab doors. While I’m at it, I run through and unlock all of the cell doors too.

Please, please, please let Carson and the others be conscious.

To keep him from locking everything down if he wakes up suddenly, I slide the com device off his wrist, then I race around the table and grab his pistol from the table, mostly to keep it out of his reach, should he wake up. Then I race into the hallway, headed toward the cells.

“Carson!” I peek into Burke and Everett’s cells as I pass them, and I find them both asleep, Burke on his bunk, Everett on the floor, as if he passed out suddenly.

Gas. Justin locked them in and piped some kind of gas into their cells.

Thiago and Vaughn are both starting to stir as I race past their open doors, but I keep going until I burst into Carson’s cell. He’s lying on his bunk with his left arm and leg hanging over the side, his eyes still closed. “Carson!” I shout as I cross the small space, and his arm twitches. Then his foot moves.

He groans as I shove him over and perch on the edge of the cot. “Carson!” I shake his shoulder, and his eyes begin to flutter as footsteps shuffle toward me from the hallway.

“Lilli?” Vaughn appears in the doorway, with Thiago behind him. “What’s going on? Where’d you get a laser pistol?”

“Corporate espionage. I think that’s what you call it. Justin’s trying to take Tirzah and me, and a bunch of data and samples, to UA’s competitor. She’s unconscious in the lab.” I stand and shove the gun at him. “We can’t fire it, but I assume it has blunt force potential. Will you go check on Tirzah?”

“Lilli?” Carson’s eyes open and for a second he struggles to focus on me. “What’s going on? What’s wrong?”

“Justin has more book sense than common sense.” I give him a nervous smile, even as my pulse seems to tick away the seconds, keeping me almost miserably on-edge. I have no idea how long we have before the lockdown on Station Delta will end and armed guards will descend upon us. “Get up. There’s an unconscious project assistant director in Lab A, and somewhere around here, there’s a shuttle with departure clearance waiting for us to board, but I have no idea where it is or how to get to it.”

He frowns as he looks past me to where Everett and Burke are now watching us from the doorway, looking half-asleep and puzzled.

I fill them in quickly on the way to the lab, where we find Thiago kneeling next to Tirzah, trying to wake her up, while Vaughn stands over Justin, evidently ready to bash his head in with the butt of the pistol, should he wake up.

The second Carson steps into the lab, his entire bearing changes. He blinks, and all vestiges of drowsiness are gone. His spine is straight, his silver-eyed gaze sharp. “Status?” His focus stalls on Tirzah’s prone form as he scans the lab.

And I realize I’ve just met Captain Carson Sotelo for the first time.