Mine to Possess

CHAPTER 28

Jonquil looked at the fine needle marks on his arms and knew he’d gotten off easy. The wolf-eyed woman, the one he’d named Blue, had done nothing to make him scream, hadn’t hurt him at all. In fact, all the screaming had stopped since the day of her visit.

He was too terrified to wonder what that meant.

She’d taken blood, skin, and hair samples, made him answer what felt like a thousand questions. Today he was supposed to go in for a brain scan. He had a feeling that that was what Blue was really interested in, though you wouldn’t be able to tell from her or the Blonde’s expressions. They were the coldest, most icy people he had ever met. He knew what they were, of course. What he didn’t know was what they wanted from him.

But no way in hell was he going to let his uncertainty show. Talin had taught him better. That thought in mind, he was waiting tall and proud when they came to the door—the Blonde and an unfamiliar male. No woman with wolf blue eyes and smooth chocolate skin.

Jonquil figured he could flatten the man in a physical fight, no problem. But these people didn’t fight with their bodies. They fought with their minds. He’d been on the streets long enough to have witnessed the end results for those who got on their wrong side. Like when Sal had tried to pull one over on that group that had wanted to buy him out. He’d been found with his brains leaking out his ears.

“I’m ready.” He didn’t bother trying to see if they’d fall for his voice. When he spoke in a certain way, all slow and easy, people seemed to get real caught up in it, but Blue had known about it, had warned him not to try it on the others. She’d said not only would it not work, it would sign his death certificate. He had decided to believe her…for now.

The Blonde nodded. “Your cooperation has been noted.”

He wondered if that meant they would give him anesthetic when they tortured him. He opened his mouth to ask about Blue, then snapped it shut, remembering what she’d said after returning him to the cell.

I was never here. You will keep your silence on that point.

Why? Who are you to me?

The woman who caused you no pain.

True enough, he thought, very aware of the reptilian light in the male’s eyes. Cold or not, that one liked hurting people. Jon’s senses were screaming at him to run, run, RUN! But there was nowhere to run—not yet—so he followed them down the corridor.

As he walked, he decided to call the man Lizard. He had secret names for everyone, even Talin. She’d think her name was hysterical, he thought, fighting to keep up his courage in the face of the threat emanating from Lizard.

“Please enter.” The Blonde pushed open a door.

Halting a few steps inside, he frowned. “What the hell is that?” He was facing a chair but one hooked up to devices that, even to his inexperienced eyes, promised pain.

“A machine that will allow us to better understand your brain.” The door shut behind him as Lizard spoke for the first time, his voice cool…dead.

Jonquil got a queasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. He knew Blue hadn’t authorized this. He stared at the Blonde, a silent question in his eyes.

Her expression didn’t change. “Take a seat in the chair.”

“No.” A sharp pain stabbed into his skull, making him stagger. But he didn’t scream.

The Blonde glanced at Lizard. “Perhaps we should use one of the others?”

“There’s only one other left. Open the screen.”

Jon clenched his head in his hands as the wall behind the chair suddenly silvered from opaque to clear. There was a little girl on the other side. She was sitting hunched into the far corner, her knees drawn up to her chest. Her eyes met his. Big, brown, filled with excruciating fear and—at seeing him—a desperate flash of hope.

“If you don’t cooperate, we’ll use her,” Lizard told him.

Jon decided he’d have to kill the bastard before he escaped. “Why do you think I care?”

“You’re human.”

And Jon knew that this time, there would be screaming.