Megans Mark (Breeds 6)

Silence filled the air as his lips twisted in knowing mockery. He turned and stared through the open door before stepping back into the house and securely closing the panel. She was staring at the monitor, her

hands lying gracefully on the keypad while she went through the thumbnail pictures displayed and the stats given.

"Fourteen marks, three waste points," she recited the statistics. "What does that mean?"

"Fourteen kills, three of which were innocent marks I was unable to save. " He no longer tormented himself over the three he had been unable to maneuver out of the line of fire.

"Three. " Her voice was raspy, uncertain. And who the hell could blame her? This wasn't exactly a woman's dream of happily ever after.

"Three. " He nodded as he moved back to the coffeepot. "The files are there, Megan. If you have questions, read them. "

Maybe the fact of who he was would distract her from what he was.

He was careful to keep his senses open, to catch any hint of condemnation that could come from her. He felt none. He felt confusion, anger, but no accusation. Finally he turned to her, watching her curiously.

Her emotions were as easy to read on her face as they were in the air around her. She would be easy for the Coyotes to find if she were caught in a situation that required her to hide not just her physical self, but her mental self as well. The animal senses were rapier-sharp in all Breeds.

Picking up on emotions was nearly as easy as using scent to guide them. How she had managed to surprise them the day they attacked her home, he had no idea. She was confused, aroused, and hurting. Surprisingly enough, the hurt seemed to be for him, not because of him.

"You didn't write the reports. " Her eyes were moving over the page as she clicked on the details.

He tilted his head, watching her intently. "How do you know?"

She shrugged. "I can tell. It's too graphic. Too focused on the fact that you didn't kill savagely enough. " She lifted her eyes, the blue orbs dark with pain.

His lips twisted at her last words. His Trainer had written the reports, and in each, Braden knew the emphasis on his apparent mercy had been notated. Braden would have been canceled eventually, and he knew it, simply because he could not force an illusion of satisfaction in killing.

"I regret their deaths, not my actions," he assured her. "I did what I had to do to protect others. To protect myself. Those of us who survived realized early on that we would only do so by being smarter than those who created and attempted to train us. "

"The three innocents?" He watched her swallow tightly, saw the

compassion in her gaze. It soothed him, even when he felt he deserved no ease for those deaths.

"A scientist who attempted to break away from the Council. He escaped with a newly born Breed babe and attempted to reach someone within the media. He was killed, though the child was never recovered. Also, an Interpol agent investigating one of the European scientists, as well as his contact, the young son of one of the Council members. "

He kept his voice cool, his manner distant. He had done what he had to in his battle to survive. "If I hadn't killed them, if I hadn't performed as ordered, others would have died. If a Breed failed, then his closest littermates died as well. If he didn't return, then every Breed within his assigned Lab was murdered and the facility shut down. "

He clenched his jaw as he remembered the bonds of loyalty and the fight to survive that had tethered them during those times.

"Loyalty," she whispered.

Braden inclined his head slowly. "Foolish perhaps, but the majority of us were born with a sense of bonding, of loyalty to those we considered littermates. There was no breaking it. "

"Did you try?’ He saw the shimmer of tears in her eyes and felt his heart clench at the emotion reaching out to him. There was no pity, but there

was pain. For him. For those he had fought to protect.

"I tried. " He nodded slowly. "Each mission. I had a plan in place; I could have escaped. I could have found safety for myself. " He grimaced at the thought. "The others wouldn't have died easily, and I knew it. I couldn't be the reason for it. My own death would have been preferable. As long as we lived, there was always a chance of survival, of finding a way to save the others as well. "

"I thought the Council frowned upon loyalty and friendship between the Breeds?’ He could feel her searching for clarification, for understanding.

"They punished us severely for it. " He pushed his hands into the pockets of his jeans as he leaned against the wall, his lips tilting mockingly. "We were created to murder, to revel in any blood we could spill. We were their disposable soldiers, their robots if you will. Animals who could pose as humans and could strike with deadly force. We weren't created for loyalty, but the scientists and trainers knew it existed. There was no way for us to hide it entirely. "

Tears shimmered in her eyes before she turned away from him, the compassion that filled them clenched his heart. She had forced herself to be so strong, enduring alone for so many years. But he could feel her now, reaching out to him, a warmth that eased into his soul and relieved

the bleak chill of his memories.

She moved from the table quickly, hitting the power button on the laptop to abruptly disconnect the pages she had pulled up. Her face was pale, her body tight with tension.