"She's not a wolf," I mutter, the word mate knocking around in my head like a bowling ball tipping pins. But Kylie's right. If Layne was a wolf, I'd have marked her as forever mine twelve hours ago. But that's just a sign that my wolf is damaged. Why would he pick a human? And a human from Data-X, no less. Enduring torture during the puberty years probably imprinted the wrong thing on me.
"I'm not a wolf, either," Kylie reminds me.
"I mean she's not a shifter," I say, but recall the Tucson pack leader, Garrett, kidnapped a human female and made her his mate. "Mating's not a possibility." That much is certain. I sound more curt than I mean to, but only because the idea that Layne can't be my mate pisses me off. "Listen, I could use some help. I got some files of other shifters who have been experimented on. Can you help me locate them?"
"Sure. Send me the information."
"I uploaded the data to the CG server. I'm trying to find anything that will lead me to Smyth. Oh, and Kylie? Two things. One-I think the government might somehow be involved. Smyth was a military doctor. I found pictures of him with the lion shifter Tank released from the facility in Utah in uniform. It would explain the funding and high-level security. And two-Santiago was there. Tell Garrett, he'll want to know."
Santiago is the shifter responsible for Garrett's sister's kidnapping. Our pack and his brother-in-law's pack in Mexico have been hunting him.
"Okay. I'll be in touch. Answer my messages next time, okay?"
"I'll try," I mumble and hang up the phone.
Although my senses already told me Layne entered the room, when I turn, I go still at her beauty. Raven black hair and smooth, pale skin. She's more exquisite than any Snow White depiction I've ever seen. She's back in her dress from yesterday. Remembering pulling it up over her breasts, my first discovery of her ripe flesh beneath it makes my already blue balls contract.
She clears her throat. "Who was that?"
I'm confused by the wary angle of her shoulders, the way she seems to be holding her breath. And then it hits me. She heard a female voice.
She's jealous.
I shouldn't be so overjoyed by that realization, but I am. I grow about ten feet tall, my chest expanding.
"My pack brother, Jackson's mate."
Her shoulders relax and her head falls to the side. "Doesn't that make her your pack sister?"
I shrug. "I guess, except she's not a wolf, she's a panther."
Layne absorbs that, her intelligent gaze seeing everything. "Where do they live?"
I only hesitate for a second. I have nothing to hide from Layne; she's not the enemy. "Tucson."
"Is that where you're from?"
"I'm from a test tube in a lab." I don't keep the bitterness from my voice. "Jackson found me on a mountain after I escaped Smyth's lab and took me in. When he moved to Tucson, I moved with him." I was a dangerous, traumatized prick, but Jackson's no buttercup himself. We formed a reluctant alliance. Basically, he left me alone, let me freeload off him and I promised to stay. When I got itchy and the beast took over, I'd run away. He'd track me down and force me back to my human form. Drag me back to his place. After a while, we grew to trust each other. Watch each other's backs.
She nods. "Sam?"
Fuck, there's a vulnerability to the way she gazes at me from under her lashes that charges my wolf up, ready to defend her to the death. "Yes, doctor?"
"I need to go to my apartment."
I shake my head. "Not going to happen. They'll be looking for you there." I try to figure out what she needs. "We can stop somewhere and buy you clothes and a toothbrush. Whatever you need."
She sucks on her lower lip, making me wish it was my teeth dragging over that plump flesh. "I need to go to my apartment," she repeats.
I frown and advance on her, cupping her chin. "Tell me why."
Her pulse flutters near my fingers, cleavage lifts and falls. "I, uh, need to pick up a prescription-my birth control."
I tilt my head as I smell the untruth. Why is she lying? I don't pretend to have much experience with females, but up to this point I thought I understood Layne. "I'm sorry, I don't think it's worth risking our lives for. Do you?"
She sags, but shakes her head. I almost ask her what the real reason is. After what we've been through, I'd hoped we were beyond mistrust.
But then, what do I know about relationships, anyway?
A big fat nothing.
And I'd better stop pretending that we can be together. It's not going to happen. She's got a bright future in front of her.
I've got nothing else left in me but revenge.
~.~
Layne
MY HAND TREMBLES a little and I clench it. Sam is at the table, working on his computer, but I turn away so he won't notice. Hiding my symptoms, just like my mom used to.
Barrington's is slow advancing disease, and the first signs are easy to miss, unless you know what to look for. If, for example, you watched a loved one die slowly in front of your eyes. My mom didn't know the signs until after she had a child. Otherwise, she might have done the research and chosen not to have me. To leave her daughter motherless.
I need my medication. Why didn't I just tell Sam?
Because I don't want this to end. This thing between Sam and I. I can't be in a relationship. I'm not going to do to him what my mom did to my dad. But now that I've had a taste, I'm selfish enough to want to take it a little further.
It's not too much to want to have good sex before I die, is it?