Full Moon Rising (Riley Jenson Guardian 1)

"Exactly."

"And maybe one or more of those creations are running the other lab." Which might or might not be called Libraska

Jack gave me another of his pleased smiles, but I was too tired to get annoyed by it

"Did all this come from reading his mind?" I asked

"And the files in his office. Many of them are his father's."

"So you know who Talon's working for?"

He grimaced. "No. That section of his memories has been burned away. Someone with very powerful psychic gifts has been at him in the last forty-eight hours. He's only reciting what they've told him to recite."

"So why has he been so chatty?"

"Their erasing was not as good as it could have been."

"It also means they were willing to sacrifice Talon and this section of their work."

"Quinn was getting close, as were we. This project was probably becoming too hot to hold on to."

That made sense. "What about Misha? Where does he fit in, do you think?"

"I think he's definitely involved, but the force behind it? I don't think so, especially given his apparent willingness to let us investigate him." He looked at me. "If Talon is right, and the person is someone who knows you, then they may also know what you are."

"No one else knows what we are."

"I knew. Quinn knew. Liander knows."

"You want me as a guardian, Liander loves Rhoan and wouldn't harm a hair on my head because of it, and Quinn wouldn't have used the man he's known forever to be the source of those clones."

A smile tugged Jack's lips. "All true. But if Talon was telling the truth, and the person behind all this is someone you know well, then guessing the truth might not be as hard as you think."

I frowned. "But that doesn't make sense. I mean, if they've known all along what I was, why wait until the last week to send a shooter to test me or two things to kidnap me? And why suspect what I am, and yet apparently not Rhoan?"

He shrugged. "I really don't know."

"And here I was thinking the Directorate knew it all."

"We will. Eventually."

Great. In the meantime, I was stuck in the middle of it all, with no option but to remain involved no matter how much I might wish otherwise. I closed my eyes again, and asked the one question I didn't really want an answer to. "So where do we go from here?"

"Misha is the only lead we currently have."

"You can't say that until you've had time to go through all the files in the lab."

"True."

"I don't want anything more to do with Misha."

"I know."

"Then don't ask."

"I won't. But you have to ask yourself how are you ever going to know which mate you can trust and which mate might be another plant."

I knew all that. Knew I was really doing nothing more than blowing smoke, because truth was, I was going to see this through. I just didn't want Jack to think I was going to let it go further. Didn't want him to think he was getting me easily. "I will not become a guardian."