Anger whirled through me like a freight train. “You make it sound like you’re doing the world a favor.”
“We are.” She leaned back, sliding her hands off the table. “We are studying Luxen and hybrids, trying to cure disease. We are stopping potentially dangerous hybrids from hurting innocent people.”
“Kat’s not dangerous,” I ground out.
Nancy tilted her head to the side. “That’s yet to be seen. The truth is she’s never been tested, and that’s what we’re doing now.”
I leaned forward very slowly, and the room started to carry a white sheen to it. “And what does that mean?”
Nancy held up her hand, warding off the three stooges by the door. “Kat has proven to show signs of extreme anger, a hallmark of instability in a hybrid.”
“Really? Kat’s angry? Could it be because you’re holding her captive?” The words tasted like acid.
“She attacked several members of my team.”
A smile spread across my face.
“So was I. We have so much hope when it comes to you two. The way you’ve worked together? It’s a perfect symbiotic relationship. Very few Luxen and humans have reached that. Mostly the mutation acts as a parasite to the human.” She folded her arms, stretching the drab brown of her suit jacket. “You could mean so much to what we’re trying to accomplish.”
“Which is curing disease and saving innocent people?” I snorted. “And that’s it? Really, do you think I’m stupid?”
“No. I think you’re very much the opposite of stupid.” Nancy exhaled through her nose as she leaned forward, placing her hands on the dark gray table. “Daedalus’s goal is to change the landscape of human evolution. Doing so requires drastic methods at times, but the end results are worth every fleck of blood, trickle of sweat, and teardrop.”
“As long as it’s not your blood, sweat, and tears?”
“Oh, I have given this everything, Daemon.” She beamed. “What if I could tell you that we could not only eradicate some of the most virulent diseases, but we could stop wars before they even started?”
And there it was, I realized. “How would you do that?”
“Do you think any country would want to fight an army of hybrids?” She cocked her head. “Knowing what a successfully mutated one is capable of?”
Part of me was disgusted at the implications. The other half was just plain old pissed off. “Creating hybrids so they can fight stupid wars and die? You tortured my brother for this?”
“You say tortured; I say motivated.”
All right, this was one of the moments in my life when I really wanted to knock someone through a wall. And I think she knew that.
“Let’s get to the point, Daemon. We need your help—your willingness. If things go smoothly for us, they will go smoothly for you. What will it take to come to an agreement?”
Nothing in this world should have made me consider this. It went against nature; that was how wrong this was. But I was a bartering man, and when it came down to it, no matter what Daedalus wanted, what Luc wanted, there was one thing that mattered. “There’s only one thing I want.”
“And that is?”
“I want to see Kat.”
Nancy’s smile didn’t fade. “And what are you willing to do to accomplish that?”
“Anything,” I said without hesitation, and I meant it. “I will do
Calculating light filled her dark eyes. “Then I am sure we can work something out.”
Chapter 9
My legs ached as I trailed behind Archer, limping our way to the training room. Who would I fight today? Mo? The guy with a Mohawk? Or would it be the girl with the really pretty red hair? It didn’t matter. I’d be getting my butt kicked. The only thing I did know was that they wouldn’t let any of the other hybrids kill me. I was too
Archer slowed his step, allowing me to gimp my way up to him. He hadn’t said anything since he left my cell yesterday, but I was used to his silence. I couldn’t figure him out, though. It didn’t seem like he supported any of this, but he never said it outright. Maybe it was just a job to him.
We stopped in front of the doors I’d come to loathe. Taking a deep breath, I stepped through when they opened. No point in delaying the inevitable.
Sergeant Dasher waited inside, dressed in the same uniform he’d been wearing since the first time I saw him. I wondered if he had an endless supply of them. If not, he had to have one hell of a dry-cleaning bill.
These were the stupid things I thought of before I was pummeled into one giant bruise.
Dasher gave me a once-over. From the brief glimpse of my reflection in the foggy mirror in the bathroom, I knew I looked like a hot mess. On the right side of my face, my cheek and eye were an ugly shade of purple and swollen. My lower lip was split. The rest of my body looked like a smorgasbord of bruises.
He shook his head and stepped aside, allowing Dr. Roth to check me over. The doctor took my blood pressure, listened to me breathe, and then shined a light in my eyes.
“She looks a little worse for wear,” he said, tucking his stethoscope under his lab coat. “But she can participate in the stress test.”
“It would be nice if she actually participated,” grumbled one of the guys at the control panels. “And not just stand there.”
I shot him a glare, but before I could open my mouth, Sergeant Dasher cut in. “Today will be different,” he said.
Folding my arms, I fixed my eyes on him. “No. It won’t. I’m not fighting them.”
His chin went up a notch. “Perhaps we’ve introduced you to the stress test incorrectly.”
“Gee,” I said, smiling inwardly at the way his eyes narrowed. “What part of this whole thing is incorrect?”
“We do not want you to fight to just fight, Katy. We want to make sure your mutation is viable. I can see that you are unwilling to hurt just another hybrid.”
A tiny smidgen of hope flared inside me, like a fragile seedling poking through the ground. Maybe making a stand, accumulating all these bruises, had meant something. It was a small step that probably meant nothing to them but everything to me.
“But we must see your abilities under high stress.” He motioned to the guys at the panels, and my hope crashed and burned. The door opened. “I think you will be more accepting of this test.”
Oh God, I didn’t want to walk through those doors, but I forced one foot in front of the other, refusing to show an ounce of weakness.
The door closed behind me, and I faced the other door, waiting while knots formed in my stomach. How in the world could they make this acceptable? There was nothing they could—
In that instant, the other door opened, and Blake stepped through.
I choked out a dry, bitter laugh as he swaggered into the room, barely paying heed to the door closing behind him. Suddenly Dasher’s words about being more acceptable made sense.
Blake frowned as he stopped in front of me. “You look like crap.”
The simmering anger sparked. “And you’re surprised? You know what they’re doing in here.”
He thrust his fingers through his hair as his eyes moved over my face. “Katy, all you had to do was tap into the Source. You’re making this harder on yourself.”
“
“Look at yourself.” He waved a hand at me. “All you had to do was do what they asked, and you could’ve
