Her hand shook as she reached for another test tube.
“Dammit, Kat, do not shock a doctor when she’s sticking needles in your body.”
“Oh, Doc, I’m so sorry. I thought you knew.” Kat set down her fork and laid a hand over Brit’s arm.
“I knew,” Brit said and shook her head. “Or rather I understood it on a scientific level; I just didn’t realize.” Her hands finished filling the three tubes absent of direction from her brain, which had stalled on the realization that she was pregnant.
“No
could
about it, love.”
Vin’s voice rang clear and warm in her mind.
“You smelled all sweet and ours this morning. Definitely pregnant.”
Tag sounded smug
.
Brit inhaled to calm herself as she removed the needle and pressed gauze over the site. She cast a narrowed glance up at the camera and said a bit louder than she intended, “My hour is not up yet, Taggart Jennings.”
Raife cocked an eyebrow at her from his post on the other side of Katya’s bed.
“I didn’t promise anything,” Vin said from the door.
In her surprise, Brit spun and knocked the used syringe off the surgical tray. They were reducing her to a walking catastrophe in her own lab. She pressed a palm to her cheek and drew in another steadying breath.
“Can’t I at least have a little space?” Brit groused as she leaned down to retrieve the needle.
“Good luck,” Katya muttered and swiped the loaded fork from Raife’s hand when he tried to feed her. “It’s impossible with one of them; I shudder to think of being mated to two.”
“I’m beginning to believe it will be quite suffocating.” Brit tossed the used syringe in the sharp’s container and turned to glare at her mate.
Vin watched her from the door. “Sorry, love. I’m afraid biology necessitates we keep in close proximity for all of our continued health.”
Raife watched Katya take a bite before turning his bemused gaze to Brit again. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen the doc so flustered. It must have been a damn good mating.”
“Raife!” Katya slapped him in the chest. “Give her time to adjust. Carrying one of you people around inside you is like
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
in real time.”
“You never complained about me being inside you before.”
Katya’s face went pink, and the monitor squealed as her heart rate leaped.
Brit flicked the thing off with an impatient gesture and met Vin’s gaze across the small room. Despite his negligent posture against the door frame, he watched her as though he was afraid of her reaction. It was obvious he wasn’t as confident as he put on. That realization steadied her.
“Eat your breakfast, and I see no reason why you can’t be comfortable in your own apartment,” Brit told her patient, her gaze lingering on Vin. “But”—she focused on Katya—“I want you off your feet for the next couple of days. I will regularly check in and draw blood.
Agent Merrick,
one Drachon in her is the limit until further notice.”
The smile left Raife’s face, and if she wasn’t mistaken, a little flush took its place.
Humor warmed her from the inside out, and she realized it wasn’t just hers. She could feel both Vin and Tag inside her, could feel their amusement filling her center, blending with hers. It made her feel connected—a part of something.
Brit walked to Vin without any thought as to what she would do once she reached him. Not that any thought was necessary. As soon as she crossed over the threshold into the lab, Vin pushed her against the wall with his body and fitted his lips over hers. That comforting warmth spiraled into something altogether hotter, but before she could decide if that was a good or bad thing, he broke away from her and sank his face into the curve of her neck.
“Vincent.” Brit sighed and swept her fingers over his thick hair. She felt dwarfed by him, but his bulk was reassuring instead of intimidating. His breath fanned the crook of her neck.
“I know things didn’t start off well for us, but I’m yours. Whatever you need from now on, I’ll make sure you get it.” He inhaled shakily.
“I can’t even consider my future right now.” Brit gripped him tighter when he stiffened, and pressed her cheek to his temple, absorbing him. He radiated strength. Determination. He was a real warrior. Scarred inside and out, and she realized she wanted everything he had to offer, but she couldn’t take it.
Not yet.
Her sister was out there somewhere—infected with ARSA-2. Brit wasn’t sure what had caused the gene to mutate in Katya, but what if it mutated in Meghann before they found her? It would kill her before anyone even knew what was happening. Brit could still see the image from Vin’s memory of little Meghann attacking a full-grown Guardian to defend her. Her sister had died, or almost died, to protect her. Now it was Brit’s turn.
Vin lifted his head, and his eyes were hard. “You will not risk yourself again. Not even to save your sister.”
Brit stepped back from his embrace. She pulled the edges of her lab coat together against the sudden loss of his body heat and folded her arms. Vin didn’t try to draw her back in. He just watched her. Waited. Brit looked past him to the slim column of windows on the far wall. She could see the rising sun reflecting golden off the glass of the neighboring buildings.
She maneuvered around him and moved to stand in front of those windows. She’d stood here countless times and stared out into the offices of that structure, watching the humans work and imagining their lives. Some of them had to have wives and husbands. Children. And she’d dreamed…
She splayed her hands over her belly and thought of her life now, imagined her own unborn child, and heaved a sigh. Meghann deserved as much.
“She’s out there, Vin. That gene is a time bomb waiting inside her. She could be hurt. Alone.” Brit lowered her voice to an aching whisper. “No one deserves to be alone.”
Vin came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her, layering his hands over hers. “She’s not alone, love. She’s just away from us right now, but we’ll bring her home.”
“Consider this,” Tag chimed in from the door, where he held a cellophane-wrapped tray of food. “Mating us was a very strategic move on your part. You just acquired a very diverse and talented group of individuals—all dedicated to helping find your sister.”
Vin’s laugh moved his chest against her back, and his humor slid through her.
“Irreverent boy.” Kahn stepped in behind his son with a shake of his head and a frown. His expression lightened as he approached them and reached for Brit’s hands. Vin released her to his father, and Brit started when the big Drachon drew her in to press a kiss to her forehead.
It had been so long since she’d been a part of this type of easy affection. It was unsettling.
“Finally. Britony, welcome to our clan. You will make a perfect addition to our nest in Arizona. My little Amali will be thrilled with you.”
Brit knew her reflexive smile was weak at best when she cast a questioning glance at Vin.
“My mother,” he supplied.
“I…” Brit glared at a smirking Tag around Kahn’s shoulder. “Ah. Thank you, Dr. Jennings.” Amali. Brit was mated and didn’t even know her mates’ mother’s name. Suddenly she felt very much out of her realm. Awkward and unbalanced. It was a feeling she didn’t favor, and she glanced back at her lab table with longing.
This was ridiculous. Brit shook her head and firmed her voice when she turned back to Kahn. “While I appreciate the sentiment, I can’t leave Incog. I’ve got a responsibility to cure this mutation.”
Vin’s and Tag’s astonishment swelled around her, and she felt their impending protests.
Kahn lifted a hand, and his sons settled back. His expression was difficult to read as he stared at her for a long moment, and she was relieved when he finally gave a slow nod. “I understand.” He motioned back toward the lab. “I’d like to continue to assist in any manner I can. Several of the Drachon here with me are very respectable scientists as well. They are at your disposal.”
Brit sighed and nodded, grateful that Kahn was able to comprehend how important her objectivity was right now. Too many lives and not just Meghann’s depended on Brit being able to isolate what caused the mutation in Katya’s ARSA gene. So many of the crossbreeds they’d rescued from the research facility had been injected with the synthetic gene. None displayed the mutation Katya experienced, but Brit couldn’t discount the possibility it might happen in the future. And what of her sister? Her files clearly stated she was injected with the gene. What if she already displayed symptoms of the mutation? What if they found her too late to help her?
Nausea churned in Brit’s stomach, and panic rushed over her skin with a prickling intensity. The ache at her temples gained strength. Had she already failed her sister?
Vin was immediately behind her, the solid heat of his chest braced against her shoulders. Tag reached her side in a blurred rush. Just like that she was surrounded by them, and her panic instantly eased.
“We’re going to find Meghann, love,” Vin whispered against the crown of her head. “You focus on having the means to treat her once we do.”
Tag tipped her chin up with one finger, and as absurd as it was, her body instinctively rose to his touch. Every nerve—every cell—immediately attuned to him. His eyes were so green rimmed in that rusty brown and glowing. She couldn’t look away. He pressed his lips softly to hers. The kiss was gentle, the consuming passion of earlier subdued by something stronger. It was so unlike Tag, always such a tempest, but she didn’t question it. She drew on it. Let it soothe her.
The headache eased, the nausea faded.
His breath was warm as he drew away and pressed his forehead to hers. He lifted the tray he still held.
“Now eat.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
It was difficult to stand aside and trust. As he stared down at Brit’s glossy dark red hair, Vin struggled to mask his unease but was unsure how successful he was. More than once the few Drachon scientists that were trusted to work in her lab glanced cautiously up at him, likely feeling the emotion he couldn’t seem to contain.
Screen by screen she flipped through the data they’d received this morning— his data from the Dublin labs. Brim Fallon had contacted Tag from their labs in Arizona to arrange a secure path to transfer the files. All of them. Brit knew of his role in developing the ARSA-2, but these files would lay out every detail of his research, every inhumane observation he’d made, every cruel decision. He wanted to pick up the monitor and hurl it through the floor-to-ceiling windows; wanted to explain things again, to defend himself. Instead he just stood there—waiting for her reaction, for the inevitable rejection.
Right now she wasn’t assimilating the information, just committing it to memory as she scrolled through the screens so quickly he was barely capable of recognizing any words as he watched over her shoulder. He didn’t even think she was aware of him there. Tentatively he touched her mind and sighed. He was becoming familiar with the indecipherable arcs of energy her brain patterns became when her mind was consumed with science.
“It’s time to dance for the piper, bro.”
Tag’s words cut across his apprehensive thoughts.
“The boss’s office in ten.”
Yes, Kyeros Forestor would want detailed explanations now. The Guardian had backed off and allowed them to complete the mating, and considering his knowledge of Vin’s meeting with Irial, Forestor had proven to be surprisingly patient.
Vin leaned down and inhaled Brit’s fresh, beguiling new scent, drawing it deep into his lungs to sustain him until he could return. Tag had visited the lab twice already this morning to paw at their mate, who grumbled and threatened him. Lucky for Vin, he was working in the same room with her and could use a little more tact fulfilling his need to absorb her scent.
“I will be gone for a time,” Vin told the other males in the room and looked pointedly down at his mate, who didn’t so much as blink. His unspoken command for them to protect and watch over her was unmistakable.
The other males nodded and cast glances filled with curiosity and wonder at his mate. He could easily read them. Brit was not even a full Arcane, and yet she mated with Drachon males. It gave them hope. Even now they were feverishly doing lab work-ups and genetic profiles on the other victims on the upper floors in the hopes of discovering how it was possible, and if there were more potential mates. If it
was
possible, Brit would discover it, and they would protect her for that alone.
Vin left the lab, unconsciously pulling the location of Forestor’s office from Tag’s mind. They were once again sharing their knowledge in a way that they hadn’t since before he left. Tag was still cautious, but his mind was open, and Vin was grateful for that much. It meant there was a path he could follow back into his trust. Brit was responsible for that, for giving him his life back, and he owed for that and so much more.
He walked to the end of the hall and paused at the open door, seeing his father and Tag were already present.
“Dr. Jennings,” Forestor greeted smoothly, his dark eyes betraying nothing. “Please have a seat.”
Vin moved toward the chair opposite his father, noting that Tag leaned negligently against the wall. Neither seemed overly concerned, and Vin wondered if perhaps this meeting started long before he arrived. He girded himself to do whatever needed to be done. This place was important to Tag and Brit, and he couldn’t contrive of a location where she would be more protected from the Triumvirate.
Kyeros Forestor eased his large frame into the chair behind his desk and turned his dark regard on Vin. There was nothing to give away his thoughts, but Vin could feel the powerful man studying him, waiting. Almost curiously. With a sigh, Vin folded his body into the leather chair and gazed back at Forestor in silent expectation. He knew some concessions would be needed to retain their position within Incog; however, he wasn’t just going to offer them up easily, and he would surrender only what information was absolutely necessary.
The silence stretched for long, heavy moments. He’d been interrogated and tortured by all manner of morally defunct Arcane while under the suspicion of the Triumvirate, so a juvenile waiting game would hardly faze him. Vin could feel his father’s rising ire with him, and he was fairly certain his brother was amusing himself during the battle of wills by irritating their mate.