Chapter Nine
“He can’t die.” Jay’s words were flat as he stared at Dr. Elizabeth Parker. Elizabeth…his friend, former lover, and the woman who’d created the Lazarus formula. The woman who hated Wyman Wright just as much as he did.
No, probably more. Because Wyman had killed Elizabeth’s lover and put Sawyer in Project Lazarus.
“You have to keep him alive, Beth.”
They were in a private hospital. He’d taken over the whole floor. Money could be handy—money could buy nearly anything in this world. Right then, it was buying him a place to hide Wyman Wright and a mini-army of guards to keep the floor secure.
“He’ll need transfusions,” Elizabeth said. She was wearing green scrubs and a face mask dangled around her neck. “I checked before I came to talk with you. The wound is bad, not going to lie, but I think he’ll pull through.”
“He has to pull through.”
Her eyes gleamed. “I understand how important it is to find the others, okay? I get this, I don’t—”
“You have Willow’s DNA.”
Her lips parted. “Uh, yes, I have the DNA for her, Flynn, and Sawyer. Why do you—”
“Wyman said he was her father.”
She stepped back. “What?”
“Wyman Wright.” Jay glanced over his shoulder. No one else was there. “Bastard said he was Willow’s father.”
Elizabeth shook her head. “I didn’t know that Wyman had any children.”
“The guy’s life is shrouded in mystery. He’s got enemies all over the globe. Makes sense that if he did have kids, he’d keep them secret.” Wiley bastard. “Or could be he was just jerking me around. We all know how much he likes his mind games.”
Elizabeth pulled in a deep breath. “What if it is the truth? What are you going to do?”
Cross that damn bridge when he got there. “Priority one is keeping him alive.”
She gave a brisk nod.
“We make sure he keeps living. We make sure he stays in our custody. Then we find out about Willow.”
He heard the double doors swing open behind him. Jay looked back and saw Sawyer marching toward him.
“Status,” Sawyer prompted.
“In surgery. And I’m heading in to monitor right now.” Elizabeth squared her shoulders.
“I’ll be here,” Sawyer vowed. “I’m not leaving until I talk to that bastard.” Rage vibrated in each word. Sawyer was justified in feeling his fury. His hate.
Plenty of people in the world hated Wyman Wright.
Plenty of people wanted to hurt him.
Is that why he kept his daughter’s existence secret?
Elizabeth hurried away. Jay expected Sawyer to immediately rush after Elizabeth and push into the operating room, but instead, Sawyer asked him, “What in the hell happened with Willow?”
Jay straightened his shoulders. “Wyman happened to her.”
“She was out of control.” Sawyer’s face was tense as he grabbed Jay’s arm. “I tried to reach her mind, tried to use our link, but there was nothing but chaos inside.”
“I’m going to her.” He shrugged out of Sawyer’s hold. He’d already been away from Willow too long.
But before he could get to the doors, Sawyer was in his path. Sawyer’s eyes had narrowed. His body was tight with tension. “I need to know why Willow attacked.”
Jay didn’t have time for this interrogation. He needed Willow. He had to get to her. “The guy used some kind of trigger word. One minute, Willow was normal.” Well, that wasn’t exactly the truth. She’d seemed different, almost scared, when Jay first saw her in the study’s doorway. “He said something about needing her to bloom, and then she was attacking me.” His chin notched into the air. “But she stopped herself, you understand me? He was trying to control her, he wanted her to force my fears into my head and immobilize me, but she didn’t. She fought him. Fought whatever mind control shit he did to her.”
Sawyer shook his head. “Didn’t look like she was fighting him when I was there. The woman was in a killing rage.”
It hadn’t just been rage fueling her. When he’d looked at Willow in that moment, he’d seen grief in her eyes. Grief and…betrayal?
Because I’d nearly killed her father? Did Willow know the truth? Somewhere, deep inside? Was it possible? Or maybe just seeing Wyman Wright had stirred memories for her. It happened that way with some Lazarus subjects. They could connect with certain individuals from their pasts. The stronger the emotional tie, the more likely the subject was to pull forth memories.
Sawyer was the perfect example of that scenario. He’d remembered nothing about his past, not until Elizabeth had come back into his life. As soon as he’d seen her, a primitive awareness had flared to life within him. After that, the guy had been determined to claim Elizabeth, determined to reconnect with the one person who mattered to him.
“We don’t know how many men and women might be working for Wyman.” Those at the scene had fled as fast as they could when they realized Wyman had been taken out. Jay had let them go, because his priority had been Wyman. And it wasn’t like he could just lock up all those bastards. “We need to keep our guards up. Be ready for anything.”
“Always am,” Sawyer murmured.
“I’m going back to Willow.” He nodded once, curtly, “I can trust that you’ll make sure Wyman doesn’t leave? And that nobody from his team comes to save his sorry ass?”
“No one will be getting in,” Sawyer assured him. “Count on it.”
Right.
Jay headed forward, reached for the door.
“I know you think she needs saving.”
He stilled at Sawyer’s low words.
“I thought the same thing. Flynn did, too. She’s one of us, after all. She’s been hurt. Damaged. But, hell, at one point, I thought Bryce King was one of us, too.”
Jay swallowed.
“We all know how that turned out,” Sawyer added darkly.
Yes, they did. Bryce had been a sadistic killer, and he’d formed an obsession with Flynn’s lover, Dr. Cecelia Gregory. Cecelia had originally been hired by Wyman Wright. Her job had been to help the test subjects transition to their new realities. She hadn’t been told the full truth about Project Lazarus. Cecelia hadn’t realized that she was literally working with the dead, not until it was too late.
And Bryce King already had her in his sights.
“You should get Cecelia to talk with Willow.” Sawyer’s voice was low. “And, damn, I hate to say it, but you shouldn’t let Willow out of containment until we get Cecelia’s take on this shit.”
Jay turned on his heel, once more facing Sawyer. “You’re saying I should just keep Willow locked up? You are telling me this shit?” Sawyer had been locked away, too, once upon a time. He knew what hell it was.
But Sawyer nodded. “I don’t like it, but I also don’t like the fact that I couldn’t touch Willow’s mind. It was like she was gone, and someone else was in her place. Willow is very, very powerful. And when she wants to use her psychic strengths, she can completely disable anyone near her. She’s a threat that can’t be underestimated. We need Cecelia’s take on this, and we need it now.”
“Willow hates being locked away.” He already regretted his order of containment. But when Wyman had been bleeding out, when Willow had lunged forward and had been fighting Flynn…I just wanted to get her to a safe spot. An area where she’d be protected. No threat to anyone. Sonofabitch. He’d done this.
Sawyer’s face was grim. “I can get Cecelia to meet you at your house. Let her talk to Willow. Let her figure out this trigger stuff. If Wyman somehow turned on Willow’s mind to follow his commands, then Cecelia can figure out a way to turn off what he did. She’s the best shrink out there. That’s the whole reason Wyman hired her. She can help your girl.”
“Willow isn’t mine.” His hands had fisted.
Sawyer just gave a rough laugh. “Try telling that BS to someone who isn’t a human lie detector.” He inclined his head. “Get to her, and I’ll make sure nothing happens here.”
Jay didn’t waste any additional time. He’d already been away from Willow for too long.
***
She was in prison again.
Willow sat on the bed. It was a big, comfortable, four-poster bed. A large TV was positioned on a nearby table. A heavy dresser was to the right. A small bathroom, complete with shower and toilet, waited to the left.
It looked like a typical bedroom. Except for the giant mirror that made up the wall directly across from her. A one-way mirror. People could see her from the other side of that mirror. She wasn’t supposed to be able to see them.
But then, she wasn’t supposed to be able to do a lot of things.
The walls were reinforced. So strong that even someone like her couldn’t break out of the room. Not that she was trying to break out. Not right then. She was just trying to figure out what the hell had happened.
Bits and pieces were in her mind. She shoved her palms against her pounding temples. She’d been in Jay’s study. Standing in the doorway. That stupid dream—memory?—had come to her again, and she’d left his bedroom because she’d needed to find him. She’d just wanted to be close to him, as crazy as that seemed. But when she’d found him, Jay hadn’t been alone. Another man had been in there with him. She hadn’t seen his face, but his voice had been familiar and Jay had said—
Wyman.
Then she’d…she’d lost track of what happened after that. She remembered being on top of Jay, having her fist ready to strike him.
Had she hit Jay?
Her temples pounded harder.
She couldn’t remember anything else about being in the study. But…but she’d also been on the porch of Jay’s house. She’d seen him, crouched over Wyman. Wyman had been bleeding. So much blood. And when she’d seen that blood, Willow had sworn she’d felt something just break inside of herself. She’d been screaming. Screaming on the inside, screaming out loud, and a red haze of fury and fear had overtaken her. She’d attacked…
Attacked Jay?
Why? They’d been on the same side. They’d been lovers. She’d started to lower her guard with him. He’d treated her as if she were normal.
But normal women didn’t get locked up like this.
And Jay—he’d been the one to order her containment. That was one memory she had that remained crystal clear. “Take her to containment.” His order. His shouted words. His face had been so hard and angry.
Her shoulders hunched. She pulled her legs up toward her. She was still just wearing Jay’s shirt and a pair of panties. The shirt smelled like him. Her legs were bare, and she wrapped her arms around her knees, rocking a little bit, the movement instinctive. Why couldn’t she remember everything that had happened that night? And why, why did her heart hurt so much?
She kept seeing Wyman. Bleeding.
And her heart hurt.
“Willow.”
Her head whipped up. She stared straight at the mirror. Narrowed her eyes. Saw beyond the glass.
“Willow, I’m coming into the room.” Jay’s voice. Not cold, not like it had been before. But tired. Sad?
She rocked forward a bit more, but didn’t get off the bed.
“Don’t attack, Willow.” His low order.
She’d attacked before. Tears stung her eyes. He’d made love to her, and she’d attacked him right after that. Talk about being a freak.
He must hate her.
Or fear her.
Both, probably.
Her head lowered, pressing against her knees. She didn’t want to look at her reflection in the glass. She didn’t want to look at him. She didn’t want to see his disgust or his fear. “Go away.” Her words were hoarse.
Instead of leaving, she heard the soft tread of his steps approaching. The keypad outside of the containment room beeped, and the door opened a moment later. She held her breath as he entered. His steps were hesitant, and Jay walked forward just a bit before he stopped.
“Willow…” Her name seemed to sigh from him.
A lump rose in her throat, but she swallowed it down. She should look at him. But she was afraid of what she’d see.
“Wyman is alive, Willow.”
The pain in her chest actually got worse.
“He’s in surgery. He’s going to need a lot of blood.”
She still didn’t look at him.
“I didn’t mean to shoot him. Hell, I wasn’t even holding the gun when it fired. I tackled him. He had the gun. It went off. The bullet hit Wyman in the stomach when we fell. When you saw me, I was trying to keep him alive. I wasn’t trying to kill him.”
She heard Jay step closer.
“I wasn’t trying to kill him. Dammit, Willow, will you please look at me?”
Her head lifted as she pulled in another deep breath.
Jay flinched when he saw her face, and her heart just stopped. He hates me. He fears me. He—
“Baby, you’re crying.” He rushed across the room. Climbed into the bed with her and yanked her into his arms. “I’m sorry.” He kissed her cheek. “I just said containment because things were so out of control. He did something to you. You weren’t responding. I didn’t want you fighting with the others. I couldn’t have you hurt. Couldn’t let you hurt them.” He kissed her again. “I’m so fucking sorry. We’re going to figure this out. I’m going to make this right. I’m going to make you—”
He broke off, but she knew what he’d been about to say. I’m going to make you right. “I don’t feel right.” Her temples wouldn’t stop throbbing. The dull ache nagged at her. She lifted her fingers and pushed against her temples. “I don’t know what happened.” Her voice was so low. “Did I…hurt you?”
His fingers slid up. Moved to her temples even as her hands fell. He began to gently massage her, moving his fingers in soothing circles, and her breath whispered from her. “No, baby, you didn’t hurt me. The guy wanted you to shove my fears at me and immobilize me, but you didn’t. He was trying to control you, but you didn’t give in to him. You stopped.”
She had?
His fingers kept sliding in those soothing circles. Warm, strong fingers. He massaged her in silence as the moments slipped by. Some of the tension eased from her body, and Willow felt her shoulders sag as she seemed to sink into him.
“Tell me what you know about him,” Jay urged her.
Her heart ached. That strange burn again. “He was…Wyman. I recognized his voice.”
“The guy changed his appearance, got a nose job, did something different with his jaw. Dyed his hair, lost weight, but, yeah, that was definitely Wyman. He came out of his hiding spot for you, just like we thought he would.”
A shiver slid over her, and Willow burrowed even closer to Jay. “Because I was the control experiment.” That was what she’d been described as before. She’d been kept in isolation, while the other Lazarus subjects had been together. At least, the subjects in Sawyer’s lab had been together, anyway. They’d gone out on missions for the government. They’d been tested, studied.
She’d been locked away and seemingly forgotten.
“I think you’re a whole lot more than that.” A new note had entered his voice, but his fingers never stopped their careful massage. Her temples weren’t hurting any longer, but she didn’t tell him that. Willow didn’t want him to stop. She liked having him that close. Liked pretending…
I just like pretending. Hadn’t he once told her that everyone pretended?
“How did you feel when you saw him?” Jay pushed.
She bit her lower lip. “I was scared.” That part she remembered. “I’d had another bad dream.” And that was odd. “I-I don’t have dreams like that. Not typically, but it was the same dream, coming back at me, and—”
“Are you sure it was a dream? Maybe it was a memory.”
She licked the lip she’d just bitten, a quick, nervous swipe of her tongue. “That’s what scared me. I was afraid it was a memory.”
“Was Wyman in that dream—that memory?”
“No.” She was definite on that. “Another man was. Someone who knew me. Someone who’d been looking for me.” Willow swallowed. “I think we were lovers.”
She felt his body tense.
“He said I belonged to him.” The words felt wrong. Goosebumps had risen on her arms.
“You have a lover out there? Someone looking for you?” His voice was different. Harder. Colder. But he was still moving his fingers in that careful massage.
“I told him it was over.” Her eyes closed. “But he said it wasn’t. That we weren’t done.”
Silence.
“I was afraid of him.” Her stark confession. “That’s why I went downstairs. And I saw Wyman, and for just a second, I felt…” Now her words trailed away because this was the craziest part of all. For just a moment, she’d felt, “Safe.”
“Safe because of Wyman?”
She knew that didn’t make any sense. “Everything got so mixed up. I can’t even remember what happened next, but I can see myself on top of you, with my fist pulled back.” Now she eased away from him. Moved to face him. “I’m so sorry.” She was. “I don’t know what happened. I don’t know why—”
“I think he triggered you.”
Her stomach twisted. “What?”
“I think he used some kind of mind control on you. He said something, and it was like a switch had been flipped inside of you. You fought his control, but for a moment, he was definitely in your head. Wyman told you to attack, and you flew at me.” The words were quiet, oddly calm, and his gaze was steady. She looked for fury. Judgment. Disgust.
There was nothing. She couldn’t detect any emotion at all in his gaze. That scared her.
“When you saw him bleeding on the porch, what happened then?”
Her lips trembled. A tear slid down her cheek. “I…hurt.”
His face hardened. His eyes seemed to blaze. “Right.” That one word. Clipped. Hard. “That’s going to fucking change things.”
What?
He slid from the bed. Stood nearby, and his hands were clenched at his sides.
She didn’t know what to say or what to do. She didn’t… “You can’t trust me,” Willow whispered. It was something he must have already realized. “I can’t trust myself.” A truth that hurt the most.
His eyes narrowed. He leaned over her, putting his hands on either side of her body, caging her there. “You can trust me,” he rasped back at her. “Trust me to stay with you. To get you through this. I’m not going to give up.”
A lump rose in her throat again. “Maybe you should.”
“Fuck that. I’d never give up on you.”
The ache in her heart finally eased. She stared at him, wishing she could see past the mask he was wearing. Wishing she could understand him. “Why?” The word tore from her. “Is it guilt?” Because he’d given Wyman the money for Project Lazarus? Willow shook her head. “I don’t want guilt, I want—” Her lips clamped together.
“What do you want?”
She wanted what they’d had hours before. Two people, making love. Giving each other pleasure. No other worries. No other fears. Just him. Just her. Normal.
But Willow heard the soft tap of footsteps beyond her room. Someone was coming to watch her.
Her gaze darted over Jay’s shoulder, going to the big mirror.
“Easy,” he soothed. “It’s Cecelia. She’s coming to talk with you.”
The shrink?
“He got into your mind, Willow. We have to find out how.”
She didn’t want this.
“Just talk to her, for me, okay? Just talk to her for a few minutes, and let’s see what happens.”
She stared up at him. “I need clothes.”
He blinked. Glanced down at her body. “You’re wearing my shirt.”
His scent covered her. Maybe it had even made her feel better when she’d been alone in the containment room. “I want my clothes. And I want you to stay.”
His head jerked up.
“Stay,” Willow said again.
“Baby, I’ll do whatever the hell you want.”
***
Reva Gray wasn’t sure what time it was. Didn’t really care, either. She’d just left another club, the pounding beat of the music fueling her blood. She’d had more drinks than she could count, and she didn’t plan on stopping anytime soon. So what if dawn came? Screw the day.
She’d already closed down two places that night. Good thing some clubs in the city partied until the sun came up.
She breezed past the bouncer at another bar. She always got entrance to any place she wanted. A perk that came with her looks. So few people ever saw beneath her beauty.
Jay doesn’t want me back. Her heels tapped too hard against the floor. She hadn’t loved Jay, that was true, but she’d had plans for his money. And she’d liked him. He hadn’t been a total prick. Maybe, with time, maybe she could have loved him.
If she’d believed in love.
Reva made her way to the bar. She didn’t buy her own drinks. Hadn’t in years. Wouldn’t be starting any time soon. She drummed her fingers to the beat of the music, knowing that a helpful fellow would arrive any moment. Someone who’d be happy to get her drink.
And sure enough, a tall, handsome stranger appeared, as if on perfect cue.
“Buy you a drink?”
Her gaze swept over him. His sandy blond hair was carefully styled, brushed back from his forehead. His body was muscled, lean and hard. He wore an expensive suit—she could always tell the price of a suit by just one glance.
The guy was money, all right. Money and muscle, and he was just her type. “You may.” Reva smiled at him. Maybe she’d forget Jay.
He’d sure forgotten her.
The fellow motioned for the bartender. Then her new guy glanced back at Reva. “I believe you and I have a…friend in common.” The hesitation was brief, but obviously deliberate.
She shrugged her shoulders even as she put her hand on his chest. A flirtatious move. One she’d perfected long ago. “And who is that friend?”
“Jay Maverick.”
Her eyelashes flickered.
“And when I say friend…” the man continued in his deep, dark as sin voice, “I mean asshole that I’m going to destroy.”
Maybe she’d had too much to drink. Because at his words, Reva laughed.
He smiled. There was something about his smile…
Her laughter stilled.
A shiver slid over her.
“Want to help me?” he asked.