"So, again, I have to ask myself, are you worth it? You're only three years into the society. You're strong, you're effective, but you're proving impossible to control. I put you with Primes because I assumed you'd fall in line with their level of excellence and temper yourself. Instead, you killed them."
Mr. X felt his blood rise and reminded himself that anger was not appropriate for a leader. Calm, levelheaded domination worked best. He took a deep breath before speaking again.
"You took out some of our best assets tonight. And it is going to stop, Mr. O. Right now."
Mr. X lifted his boot. The other lesser immediately sprang up from the floor.
Just as Mr. O was about to speak, an odd, discordant hum weaved through the night. He looked toward the sound.
Mr. X smiled. "Now if you don't mind, get the hell into that bedroom."
Mr. O crouched into an attack pose. "What's that?"
"It's time for a little behavior modification. A little punishment, too. So get into the bedroom."
By now the sound was so loud it was more a vibration of the air than something ears could register.
Mr. O shouted, "I told you the truth."
"Into the bedroom. The time for talking's passed." Mr. X glanced over his shoulder, in the direction of the hum. "Oh, for chrissakes."
He froze the large muscles in the other lesser's body and manhandled Mr. O into the other room, shoving him down on the bed.
The front door burst wide open.
Mr. O's eyes bulged as he took in the Omega. "Oh... God... no..."
Mr. X tidied up the man's clothes, straightening the jacket and the shirt. For good measure, he smoothed all that dark brown hair down and kissed Mr. O's forehead, as if he were a child.
"If you'll excuse me," Mr. X murmured, "I'm going to leave the two of you alone."
Mr. X took the back door out of the cabin. He was just getting into his car when the screams started.
Chapter Eight
"Ah, Bella, I think our ride is here." Mary let the curtain fall back into place. "Either that or a third-world dictator is lost in Caldwell."
John headed for the window. Wow, he signed. Check out that Mercedes. Those blackened windows look bulletproof.
The three of them left Bella's house and walked over to the sedan. A little old man, dressed in black livery, got out of the driver's side and came around to greet them. Incongruously, he was a cheery sort, all smiles. With the loose skin on his face, his long earlobes, and all those jowls, he looked like he was melting, though his radiant happiness suggested disintegration was a fine state to be in.
"I am Fritz," he said, bowing low. "Please allow me to drive you."
He opened the rear door and Bella slid inside first. John was next, and when Mary was settled back against the seat, Fritz closed the door. A second later they were on the road.
As the Mercedes glided along, Mary tried to see where they were going, except the windows were too dark. She assumed they were headed north, but who knew?
"Where is this place, Bella?" she asked.
"It's not far." But the woman didn't sound all that confident. In fact, she'd been on edge since Mary and John had shown up.
"Do you know where we're being taken?"
"Oh, sure." The woman smiled and looked at John. "We're going to meet some of the most amazing males you've ever seen."
Mary's instincts knocked around in her chest, sending all kinds of tread-carefully signals. God, she wished she'd taken her own car.
Twenty minutes later, the Mercedes slowed to a stop. Inched forward. Stopped again. This happened at regular intervals a number of times. Then Fritz put down his window and spoke into some kind of intercom. They cruised along a little farther, then came to a stop. The engine was turned off.
Mary reached for the door. It was locked.
America's Most Wanted, here we come, she thought. She could just imagine their pictures on the TV, victims of violent crime.
But the driver let them out immediately, still with that smile on his face. "Won't you follow me?"
As Mary got out, she looked around. They were in some kind of underground parking lot, except there were no other cars. Just two small buses, like the kind you took around an airport.
They stuck close to Fritz and went through a pair of thick metal doors that opened into a maze of fluorescent-lit corridors. Thank God the guy seemed to know where he was going. There were branches splitting off in all directions with no rational plan, as if the place had been designed to get people lost and keep them that way.
Except someone would always know where you were, she thought. Every ten yards there was a pod set into the ceiling. She'd seen them before in malls, and the hospital had them, too. Surveillance cameras.
Finally they were shown into a small room with a two-sided mirror, a metal table, and five metal chairs. A small camera was mounted in the corner opposite the door. It was exactly like a police interrogation room, or what one must be like according to the sets on NYPD Blue.
"You will not have to wait long," Fritz said with a little bow. As he ducked out, the door eased shut of its own volition.
Mary went over and tried the handle, surprised to find it released easily. Then again, whoever was in charge here clearly didn't have to worry about losing track of their visitors.
She looked over at Bella. "You mind telling me what this place is?"
"It's a facility."
"A facility."
"You know, for training."
Yeah, but for what kind of training? "Are these folks of yours with the government or something?"
"Oh, no. No."
John signed, This doesn't look like a martial-arts academy.
Yeah, no kidding.
"What did he say?" Bella asked.
"He's as curious as I am."
Mary turned back to the door, opened it, and stuck her head out into the hall. When she heard a rhythmic sound, she stepped from the room, but didn't wander.
Footsteps. No, a shuffling. What the -
A tall blond man dressed in a black muscle shirt and leather pants lurched around a corner. He was unsteady on his bare feet, with one hand on the wall and his eyes focused downward. He seemed to be watching the floor carefully, as if he were relying on his depth perception to balance himself.
He looked drunk or maybe sick, but... good lord, he was beautiful. In fact, his face was so dazzling she had to blink a couple of times. Perfectly square jaw. Full lips. High cheekbones. Broad forehead. Hair was thick and wavy, lighter in the front, darker in the back where it was cut short.
And his body was just as spectacular as his head. Big-boned.
Thickly muscled. No fat. His skin was golden even under the fluorescent lights.
Suddenly he looked at her. His eyes were an electric teal blue, so bright, so vivid, they were almost neon. And they stared right through her.
Mary sank back just the same and thought the lack of response wasn't a surprise. Men like him didn't notice women like her. It was a fact of nature.
She should just go back into the room. There was no sense in watching him not acknowledge her as he passed. Trouble was, the closer he got, the more mesmerized she became.
God, he really was... beautiful.
Rhage felt like holy hell as he weaved down the corridor. Every time the beast came out of him and his vision headed off for a little vacation, his eyes took their own sweet time in getting back to work. The body didn't want to play, either, his legs and arms hanging like heavy weights off his torso, not exactly useless, but damn close.
And his stomach was still off. The very idea of food made him nauseous.
But he'd had it with being stuck in his room. Twelve hours flat on his back was enough wasted time. He was determined to get to the training center's gym, hop on a recumbent bike, and loosen himself up a little -
He stopped, tensing. He couldn't see much, but he knew for sure he was not alone in the hall. Whoever it was stood close beside him, to his left. And it was a stranger.
He spun around and yanked the figure out of a doorway, grabbing it by the throat, forcing the body into the opposite wall. Too late he realized it was a female, and the high-pitched gasp shamed him. He quickly eased up on his grip, but he did not let go.
The slender neck under his palm was warm, soft. Her pulse was frantic, blood racing through the veins that came up from her heart. He leaned down and drew a breath through his nose. Only to jerk back.
Jesus Christ, she was a human. And she was sick, maybe dying.
"Who are you?" he demanded. "How did you get in here?"