CHAPTER THREE
Sonia came awake with a gasp and sat up in a strange bed. Her gaze flew around the room, what looked like a studio apartment with a leather couch and chair directly in front of her and a dining room to the right.
“You’re safe,” came the familiar male voice that she knew couldn’t be real.
She turned slowly and went to her knees to bring the black leather chair sitting in the corner by the bed into her view. And there he sat, the man she’d loved, the man she’d lost. His hair was longer now, loose around his shoulders, his eyes the same iridescent crystal blue.
“I’m dreaming again,” she whispered, her heart beating wildly in her chest. He couldn’t be here.
“You’re not dreaming,” he said. “It’s me.”
She didn’t go to him. She wanted to, but she was afraid the dream would shift and he’d be gone. He seemed as if he was afraid to move, too. “You aren’t real.”
He nodded. “I’m real.”
“Kel?”
“Yeah baby, it’s me.”
She was off the bed and in his embrace in a flash, wrapping her arms around him, feeling his heat sink in through her thin shirt. “I can’t believe it. I can’t believe you’re here. You’re real. You’re really here.” He kissed her and it was heaven, spicy and male, and so very Kel, so real, so perfect. “How? How is this possible?” She couldn’t stop touching him, trying to prove to herself he was flesh and blood.
“It’s complicated,” he whispered, his mouth caressing hers, holding her close, like he thought she might escape. “God, I missed you.”
She pulled back, tracking the lines of his face. Kel. Kel was alive. After nearly three years of believing he was dead. “Are you sure this isn’t a dream?”
“It feels like one to me,” he murmured, his lips brushing her neck, her ear. “I didn’t think I’d ever hold you like this again.”
A shiver of pure heat rushed down her spine, the kind of need no one but Kel could create. “Me either,” she said, kissing him, caressing his cheek. She was sitting across his lap now, and all she wanted to do was get lost in the man she’d lost and now found, but memories rushed over her of their free will, and Carrie’s screeches of fear ripped through her mind. “You’re sure my friend from the bar is safe?”
“Absolutely.”
“The men, they came out of nowhere. There was wind and then they were there. And you too. I’m confused. I don’t understand what happened back there at the bar. I don’t understand how you’re alive or how I’m here and why did you put me to sleep?”
“We’re at one of the top-secret facilities where my special ops team operates,” he said. “I had to put you to sleep. It’s protocol.”
Her stomach knotted. Something wasn’t right. “Kel, what’s going on?”
He maneuvered so that she sat in the chair and he knelt in front of her. “Sonia, I...it’s not easy to explain. I...” He lowered his head and a wave of emotion rolled off of him.
Her hand stroked his hair. “What is it?” she asked gently, certain whatever he’d been through must have been horrific, since everyone had believed he was dead.
When he lifted his head, his expression was etched with torment. “I didn’t want this for you, Sonia. I didn’t want you in danger. I didn’t want you to give up everything you knew to live in a world that is this messed up. But you got the wrong people’s attention when you made that phone call about the missing woman, and now, now everything has changed.”
She stiffened, dread pooling in her stomach. “What are you saying? Oh, God. No. I don’t believe this. You faked your death to get me out of your life, didn’t you?”
“It’s not like that, Sonia-”
Confirmation hit her hard. She shoved away from him and stood up, stepping around him and backed away. “Then how it is? You’re alive and clearly everyone but me knew that. Do you have any idea what hell I have lived thinking you were dead?”
He rose to his feet. “Sonia-”
“Did you fake your death for me?” she demanded, every word tight and exact. She was shaking. Tears prickled at the back of her eyes.
“I was trying to protect you.”
She hugged herself. Protect her. She didn’t even know what to say to that. “Why show yourself to me now?”
“Because I’m no longer the most dangerous person in your life.”
“You haven’t even been in my life so how could you be dangerous?”
“That’s the idea,” he said. “I had to stay away. And it killed me. I know you don’t understand, but-”
“I understand that you chose for me, which must mean you didn’t want me anymore. Why not just break up with me Kel? Why? Why let me mourn you?”
“Leaving you behind killed me, Sonia,” he said, his voice raspy with emotion she knew had to be fake. He’d left her. He’d walked away like she was nothing.
“And yet you did.”
“You would have chosen me,” he said. “I had to choose you.”
“By playing dead?”
“Yes,” he ground out, drawing out the word. “I chose your safety. You don’t understand what happened. I’ll explain-”
“You are Special Forces,” she said. “I knew the danger. Nothing you can say will change how much you hurt me. And now – now you say I’m in danger so you pull me back into your world by necessity, but not choice?”
“It’s not like that,” he argued and took a step toward her.
She backed away. “And yet it is. It is.”
“They changed me, Sonia,” he said, his voice gravely and thick. “They turned me into something I don’t even recognize.”
She hugged herself, not sure how she was holding back the tears, trying to control her shaking. “I don’t either, because the man I thought I knew and loved wouldn’t have done this to me, to us.” She inhaled and let it out. “Can I leave now?”
“It’s not that simple.”
“Why? What does that mean?”
“It means that you’re being hunted by Adam Rain and that’s a very dangerous thing to be.”
“Caleb’s brother?”
“Yes,” he said. “Caleb’s brother. He’s leading a rebel group called the Zodius who took over Area 51 and they intend to take over far more than that.”
“What?” she gasped. “Why? When did this happen?”
“The immunizations they were giving us at Area 51 weren’t immunizations at all. They were experimental DNA that changed us. We aren’t...human. Not fully anymore.”
She was stunned. “What does that mean? What kind of DNA?”
“The rumors of a ship that the government recovered in New Mexico were true,” he said. “And with it they acquired some unique DNA. After years of study, they finally decided to see if they could create what you might call a ‘super soldier’ while the government calls them GTECHs.”
She gaped in total disbelief. “Oh my God. And they didn’t tell you what they were doing?”
His lips thinned. “No. They didn’t tell us. The change took months to occur. That’s why I didn’t initially pull away from you. I simply had no idea what I was or what had happened. Once I knew, I was afraid of what I was becoming. For all I knew I might become a monster that would hurt you, or worse, kill you. Much later, Adam decided the GTECHs were evolution and overthrew Area 51 and created what he calls Zodius Nation.”
“Zodius?”
“Project Zodius was the name of the experimental program the Army undertook to make us,” he explained before going on. “Caleb organized the Renegades, an opposing force to the Zodius, and I knew I’d made the right decision. Anyone a Renegade loves is a weapon Adam would use against us. Adam had met you. Had I not ended what was between us long before he became the monster he is now, you would have been a target. Now, unfortunately, you are anyway. He might not know you have a special gift, but he thinks you have an insider telling you his plans to kidnap women. He won’t stop until he captures you.”
She sat on the bed, stunned and unsure she wasn’t dreaming. “This seems impossible.” Her gaze lifted to his. “Adam is kidnapping the women, then?”
He gave a nod. “The GTECHs are only fertile with one woman. Finding that woman is a mystery and he’s conducting dangerous and pretty horrific fertility testing. And if you want to know what that means, ask Sterling’s lifebond. She knows firsthand.”
“Lifebond? What is a lifebond?”
“The one woman the GTECH is fertile with. Sterling is one of the rare GTECHs who found his.”
She inhaled sharply and let it out. “And you?”
“There is no woman for me but you, Sonia. There never has been.” He cut his gaze and seemed to grapple for control before slowly shifting his eyes back to hers. “There are things you don’t know and I can’t tell you right now. I need to leave this room before I do something we will both regret.”
The next thing she knew he was stalking past her, clearly headed for the door, and intending to leave.
Would he come back? Would she ever see him again. Sonia pursued him and shackled his arm. “Please don’t go. Please. Not when I’ve just found out you’re alive.”
“I have to,” he said, sounding as if he was in pain. “I don’t have control with you and you have no idea the implications of what that means.” He ran a rough hand through his hair. “I’ll be back. Just...just give me some time. You can’t leave the facility, but you can go anywhere inside. I’ll send someone to show you around.”
“You show me around,” she said, regretting how she’d doubted him, how she’d reacted to what he’d told her.
“I can’t, Sonia. I just...can’t. You don’t understand that now but you will. You will.” He pulled away and was through the door before she could stop him.