Tempting Evil (17 page)

Merle’s body began to grind harder against mine and the fire of gathering ecstasy was greater in his mind—a warning I’d better hurry before awareness returned and he caught me in his thoughts.

I slipped a little deeper, trying to find mention of Dia’s kid or even a location for the labs. Nothing. Either I wasn’t deep enough or Merle was a linear-thinking guy. The sort who only contemplated the things he had to do in the immediate future—which is why I could get so much information on the bus and the other cartels. One thought linked to the other.

Merle began to jerk spasmodically as his orgasm hit, meaning I had to get out, pronto. I pulled back through the glue, the process seeming a little easier the second time around. Or maybe it was simply the fact I was leaving, not entering.

As I opened my eyes, a sharp ringing split the air, just about frightening the shit out of me. My heart seemed to leap up my throat, and I froze like a rabbit caught in a spotlight. Had someone somehow caught my psychic explorations?

Merle swore under his breath and climbed off, and I realized the ringing was a telephone, not an alarm of some sort. I blew out a relieved breath, then sat up and hugged my knees to my chest. Drawing deep breaths to ease the trembling that was part exhaustion, part fear, I looked around. And noticed, on the dresser near the bathroom doorway, a small set of keys.

The elevator I’d come down in had key locks. I had the code, so having the key was the next step forward. Whether the key that controlled the elevator was amongst those on the table was anyone’s guess, but I had every intention of finding out. Of course, snatching those keys and getting them out without being caught wasn’t going to be easy. Especially when I had no clothes and basically nowhere to hide the keys.

Well, there was
one
place. But shoving them up
there
wasn’t exactly practical—and it would be more than a little noticeable given the maneuvering it would take.

Though cold steel was in some ways preferable to Merle’s foul flesh.

Merle grunted and slammed down the phone. He didn’t even look at me, just grabbed some clothes from the pile on a nearby chair and began dressing.

“Iktar,” he said, as he pulled on his shirt.

A spirit lizard appeared in the doorway. Whether it was the same one that had been in Moss’s room, or another, was anyone’s guess. These things really did all look the same.

“Escort her back to the upper levels.”

I shoved on my best outraged expression. “What? No ‘thanks for the great time’? Not even a damn shower?”

He snorted as he swept up the keys I’d been eyeing and shoved them in his pocket. “No. Now get your butt out of here.”

I flounced off the bed and out of the room—a fine piece of acting no one seemed to notice. The black thing led the way out of Merle’s colorless rooms and down the sterile corridor, then key-coded the elevator. A soft chime indicated the elevator’s arrival. As the doors opened, Merle stomped down the hall toward us, his expression dark as he stopped at the set of doors opposite. He inserted a key, then punched in a code and pressed his hand to the scanner pad. No bell chimed, but those doors opened to reveal, as I’d guessed earlier, another elevator.

More than that I had no chance to see as the spirit lizard all but pushed me inside our elevator.

My shoulder hit the wall with enough force to cause a grunt, but I quickly regained my balance and turned around. The spirit lizard pressed the ground-floor button, then turned to face me. Lust burned in his eyes, and his cock was out and erect.

I crossed my arms and feigned indifference. “Looks to me like the servant wants in on the action.”

His smile was every bit as cold and as dangerous as Merle’s or Starr’s, but it was the astute glint in his eyes that made me think something was going on—something other than just the need for a bit of sexual relief.

“Which,” he said, his soft tones barely audible over the hum of machinery as the elevator began to ascend, “I will get, or I shall inform my masters just what it was you were doing while you were being fucked.”

Panic rose, swift and hard, but I forced myself to ignore it. If he’d been intending to report me, he would have done so by now. I clung to that belief, to the feeling that he wanted something more than sex, and said, “I have no idea what you are talking about.”

His smile grew. As did his cock. A tremor ran down my spine. God help me, part of me wanted what he was offering. Wanted to feel his dangerous flesh inside.

Damn Merle and his selfishness.

“They can see, but not hear us, you know.”

Like I was going to trust his word. I merely smiled.

“As long as this elevator is moving, they cannot hear conversation. The machinery interferes with the signal and they cannot fix it. And the guard who currently watches the monitors does not lip-read.”

I still wasn’t trusting him, so I simply asked, “And why are you telling me this?”

“Because I can taste the use of psychic power, as much as you might taste the scents carried by the wind. I know what you were up to.”

Oh, fuck.
I should have done as Jack asked, and scouted things out before going full steam ahead. What the hell was I going to do now? I glanced down at his cock. The thick spines lining it. Not fuck him, that was for sure.

“Yes,” he continued, obviously catching my look if not the actual direction of my thoughts, “I can taste auras as well as telepathy.”

My gaze rose to his. “You bring that near me, and I will kill you.”

He raised an eyebrow. “And what makes you think you could get close enough to kill me before I rendered you unconscious?”

The mere fact I’d killed his like before—but that wasn’t exactly something I could admit.

He glanced up at the floor indicator. “We have ten seconds left. I want you to meet me near the front of the zoo in half an hour. If you don’t, I shall report your activities and you will be killed.” His dark gaze met mine. “Deal?”

“I have a choice?”

He merely smiled and stepped away as the elevator stopped and the doors slid open. I walked out and headed back to my room. Berna and Nerida weren’t in their beds, which given the ratio of men to women in the arena didn’t entirely surprise me. And some men did prefer their bedmates at least willing rather than simply paid vessels of satisfaction. Though I guess that’s exactly what those of us who were here as fighters were anyway—we just had a little more choice in the matter.

I hesitated near the foot of my bed, briefly consumed by the ache of tiredness. I wanted to sleep, to just lay down and forget Merle and Starr and every other weirdo in this godforsaken place. But sleep wasn’t an option just yet, because I had a lizard to meet, a brother to find, and an ache to ease. I grabbed my toiletries bag and headed for the shower. A good scrub washed the smell and feel of Merle from my skin, but did nothing for the trepidation curling through my gut. I needed to talk to someone
now,
not later, and the only choice I had was Jack.

I headed outside, ensured no one was within listening distance, then lightly pressed the com-link. “Hey, boss, you awake?”

“About time you reported in,” he growled. “I was starting to worry.”

Yeah, he was so worried he’d sent in the rescue troops. Not. “You’re the one who insisted on sending in the amateur. Don’t whine at me if I don’t do things the way you want them done.”

He grunted. What that meant was anyone’s guess. “What’s happening?”

I headed up the small path that snaked around the building and on to the zoo. “Several things. Some good, some bad.”

He sighed. “Tell me.”

“Well, I’ve rubbed groins with Merle and made him a happy, happy man. And I’ve discovered that, with a little effort, I can slip through his thoughts, though I didn’t dare go too deep tonight.”

“Glad caution won out for a change.” He paused. “So there weren’t psi-deadeners in the lower areas?”

I hesitated, but the fact was, sooner or later he was going to have to know about my apparent ability to override the force of the deadeners. It might as well be sooner. And at least he couldn’t rip me into the Directorate for more tests. “There are. My talents are apparently slipping under them.”

“We noted a slight increase last time we tested, but it wouldn’t have been powerful enough to slide past deadeners.”

“Would it have been powerful enough to breach Quinn’s defenses?”

He didn’t say anything for a moment, then, “When did that happen?”

“Yesterday. I did catch him by surprise, mind.”

“It shouldn’t have mattered.” Again the silence stretched a little, and if I didn’t know better, I would have thought he was worried. “It’s six months since you were given the ARC1-23. This could be the first sign that it
is
changing you.”

“Or it could simply mean that Dia is right, and my talents are maturing thanks to the fact I’m finally menstruating.” There was nothing like clinging to a forlorn hope until the very last moment, but what other choice did I have? I wanted to be normal—wanted to have a normal life. Well, as normal as a half-werewolf, half-vampire guardian could, anyway. I
didn’t
want to be some freak monitored by the labs for every little outlandish change the drugs made. “Wolves do mature slower than humans. And remember, neither Rhoan nor I have any idea what our father was, besides a vampire. He could have been a hawk-shifter with massive psi-talents before his undeath, for all we know.”

“There were indications of latent talents in all previous tests, I’ve told you that. But latent doesn’t always mean those talents will develop.”

“Maybe it’s a result of the training you’ve been giving me.”

“Two weeks ago you couldn’t have broken through my full shields, let alone Quinn’s. If that’s what you did, then this is more than maturing talent. You’ll have to come in for full tests once this mission is over.”

I closed my eyes, blew out a breath. It did nothing to ease the deep rush of hatred and anger. The end of my life as I knew it was one step closer, and I had Starr and his fucking desire to not only build the perfect killing machine but take over the world—or at least the Melbourne section of it—to thank for it. If he’d been near me right then, I would have killed the bastard and been done with it, no matter what the consequences.

“I never wanted to be a guardian, Jack. You know that.”

“There’s only two places that can give you the sort of help you need to control the power you seem to be getting—us, or the military.”

“I don’t want anything to do with the military.”

“Then my option is the lesser of two evils.”

Which wasn’t really saying much.

“What else happened?” he said.

I rubbed a hand across my eyes. “I’ve met Starr. He’s not living on the same planet as you and me. You know that, don’t you?”

“He may be insane, but he’s also extremely clever. Remember that.”

“I will.” I hesitated. “He asked me if I was from the red pack. He seems to think he knows me.”

Jack swore. “That’s not good.”

“Oh, it gets worse.”

“How much worse?”

“I’m about to find out.” I rounded the corner of the building and walked onto the soft grass. The night breeze stirred around me, filled with the scent of animals and captivity. Up until that moment, I would have sworn that captivity didn’t have a smell, but there it was, filling the night with an odd sense of frustration, desperation, and hopelessness.

Odd that such things had aromas.

Odder still that I could smell them. I might have the nose of a wolf, but until that moment, fear, lust, and death were the strongest emotions I’d caught.

Though technically, death wasn’t an emotion. Just a passing that lingered, a sadness staining the air.

“Merle and Moss have a spirit lizard houseboy. He’s apparently sensitive to the use of psychic power.”

“I take it he knows you were reading Merle and didn’t report it?”

“Yes. But he did want a meet.”

“Any chance it’s just for sex?”

“If he’s sensitive enough to catch auras, I have no doubt he’s mightily aroused and needing relief. But there’s no way known I’m going to be a good fuck-puppy when it comes to
him
.”

“Riley—”

“His dick has spines, Jack.”

“Oh.”

“Oww is more like it.” I grinned faintly. “But I think he wants a whole lot more than sex.”

“It wouldn’t hurt to have an ally in that place.”

“If he can be trusted.”

“Rely on your instincts. I do.”

Only trouble was, my instincts had been wrong before. And this time, there was no one near to bail my butt out. “I’m heading to meet him now.”

“Be careful. Keep the line open.”

“Natch.” I glanced up as high metal fences came into view. “I’m almost there.”

“Just be prepared to kill him if things go wrong.”

I didn’t answer. If things went wrong, I’d do what I had to do to preserve the mission and keep everyone—including myself—safe. But killing wasn’t something I wanted to become comfortable with—even if that’s exactly what Jack wanted.

I walked up the small knoll and stopped. The zoo stretched before me, metal and wire entwined with desperation and anger. The things inside might be caged, but they certainly weren’t accepting or passive. Which pretty much explained why so many guards went missing. Any misstep was taken as a chance of revenge.

I scanned the cages, taking in the array of creatures, then headed left, to what looked to be the main entrance. Cages containing blue creatures with wings gave way to spiny trolls which in turn gave way to fish people. Few of them slept. Most of them were awake and watching.

Their misery resonated deep in their eyes, deeper inside me. I hated it—hated that I was feeling it. I couldn’t do anything for these things from nightmare and imagination. They’d been bred for death, and that’s exactly what they’d get, whether from Starr or the Directorate. It wasn’t fair, but life often wasn’t.

I hated that, too.

Iktar stood, arms crossed, near the main gates. The light above the gates caressed him, making his skin glow blue-black and his eyes eerily luminescent. His cock was nowhere in sight.