His Asset (The Unnaturals #1)

Chapter One

The skirt of my lilac dress flared out as I spun around and paced barefooted across my self-contained bedroom, glancing out the huge, bulletproof window that showcased the gorgeous, sunlit landscape outside.

Though it was late afternoon, the leaves looked golden and burnished, the distant river glinting invitingly.

I glared. Even Mother Nature mocked me from outside of my confinement, driving the point home that this place really wasn’t my home. But then, since I’m not considered human, I’ve never had a real home. I’ve been incarcerated in one way or the other for the entire twenty years of my life.

I’m a genetically modified asset, the lone survivor of my gene pool. I had to watch in horror as, one after the other, the people I’d considered family died thanks to their abnormal genetic makeup.

Homo sapiens weren’t meant to be interwoven with chiropterans.

What were they damn well thinking to genetically engineer a human and a bat?

If it wasn’t bad enough the scientists who’d created me had enjoyed taking endless blood samples and employed new ways to hurt me while filming the enhanced rate of my healing ability, they’d also enjoyed shaming me because of my mutated genes.

Thanks to those so-called eminent geniuses, I was considered a monstrosity and a miracle all at the same time.

I was a miscreation, someone the general public would tear apart if they knew the truth.

Yet another reason I’d been put in this gilded tower in the middle of the wilderness, where my master used a helicopter as much as his fleet of cars to bring in supplies or to personally go into the city, where his lab was hidden in plain sight.

Though he liked to be in control, to conduct and oversee every aspect of the experiments going on in there, he liked even more to keep an eye on me.

It was why he used virtual meetings to communicate with others.

He knew I’d do anything to escape and experience real freedom. ..not this opulent excuse for one.

He was just as aware I refused to be vulnerable to a man, to any human. They were the monsters, not me. And I refused to be anyone’s asset.

My leathery wings, compressed against my upper back under my dress, quivered with outrage. Or perhaps they needed release too? It was always a relief to unfold my appendages and stretch them out to their extraordinary size.

“Don’t worry,” I muttered, looking away from the views outside and the vague reflection of me in the glass pane that showcased my seriously long, dirty blonde hair and my startling blue eyes.

I instead peered down at the thick gold cuff just above my left ankle.

Not only did it reveal me as being an asset, it was also a tracking device that allowed my owner to know where I was at all times. “I have a plan.”

Opening my walk-in closet, I chose a pair of white runners and left them by my bedroom door. Then pushing back one of the loosened spaghetti straps on my dress, I stalked toward the kitchenette at the other end of my room.

In the twelve months I’d been here—I had no doubt my master had bought me for a staggering amount of money, despite the fact he’d been one of the masterminds who’d created me—I’d persuaded him to buy me everything but my freedom.

The kitchenette had been my biggest triumph.

The bare, stone wall at the far end of the room was less austere now thanks to the swirly cream and gray marble countertop that sat flush against it, complete with a farmhouse sink and mixer tap. A toaster and kettle sat in the corner, a bar fridge beneath.

Releasing a pent-up breath, I filled up the kettle and flicked it on to boil.

My mouth dried at what I was about to do, but compared to the mental torment I’d suffered in the lab, this physical pain would be child’s play. Even so, I gripped the edge of the sink, my knuckles turning white.

Freedom was all I cared about, as was never getting emotionally abused or hurt ever again. The love-hate relationship I had with my so-called master meant he had the very real ability to gouge out my heart and deeply wound me.

I couldn’t allow that.

A shiver skated down my spine. His obsession with me had been obvious from the start. That it was reciprocated almost turned my stomach. I wasn’t like him, I never would be. I was literally born to be alone.

But I perceived he was waiting for me to be twenty-one, a fully-fledged adult, before he made a move on me.

He might be a monster, but he was also a gentleman.

My breath quickened, my nerve endings tingling as my belly compressed with stark need.

I needed to get out of here before tomorrow. ..before my next birthday.

Before I made the biggest mistake of my life.

I couldn’t be with him. I definitely couldn’t fall for him. Not knowing he was a big part of what went on in the labs.

The experiments. The degradation. The trauma and pain.

I shuddered. The death.

The kettle steamed and whistled, then automatically turned off. I blew out a long, slow breath and looked at the clock. Though my master was due to arrive in the next half hour or so, he’d be here the moment the cuff’s internal, silent alarm was set off by my spiked blood pressure.

The device that wrapped just above my ankle had multiple functions.

Tilting my left foot, I lifted the kettle with shaking hands, then poured the boiling water over my cuff and the skin around it.

I silently screamed as red-hot, lancing pain exploded through my nerve endings, then bubbled the flesh around my ankle.

Gritting my teeth, I carefully placed the kettle back onto its hob.

Security lights flicked on, no doubt also triggered thanks to the cuff’s silent alarm.

That the illumination only highlighted my self-harm made gorge rise in my throat.

I kept it down along with shrieks of agony as I shuffled over to one of the four dining chairs, pulling out the nearest one before collapsing into it.

My vision blurred as tears fell and my burning, blistering, pulsating flesh left me barely holding it together. I was rocking back and forth when the door behind me was shoved open. That my master didn’t shut and lock it showcased his urgency.

Despite my distress, wild hope surged inside me.

At least I didn’t need to fake my suffering. The scalding pain was insidious and vicious. I was beginning to feel faint, the room doing a slow spin around me.

“Bella, what the hell happened?”

That I was no longer a number barely crossed my mind as my master—Adam Segmund to anyone else—ran toward me.

I could no longer hold back a sob as I lifted my leg, displaying my blistered flesh.

He inhaled sharply, his hands gentle as he crouched and lifted the hem of my dress to peer more closely at my burn.

He looked up at me, and despite my blurring vision I noticed his golden-brown eyes darkening to black when he said fiercely, “We need to get your ankle under cold water.”

I shook my head. “No. Not until you take off my ankle cuff. I-It’s melting into my flesh.”

He didn’t hesitate. Loosening his maroon tie, he tucked his hand inside his navy jacket and white dress shirt, then pulled free the gold chain from around his neck. He held the carved gold medallion in his palm and said hoarsely, “I can only take your ankle cuff off for a short time.”

I nodded and said meekly, “I know.”

He pushed the flat of his thumb against the square button on the medallion. A click sounded and my cuff loosened, taking with it some of my melted skin. I flinched and sucked in a strangled breath, but otherwise I couldn’t move.

Shock held me in place.

I’d worn the ankle cuff for twenty years. It’d kept me enslaved to the scientists and their sponsors, then kept me imprisoned here with my master by the simple fact I’d never get away thanks to the tracking device inside it.

Having it off was my one and only real chance at freedom.

My master gently peeled away the ankle cuff and dropped it to the floor. The bottom of my leg was a burned and blistered mess, the redness as raw and angry as the feelings I’d kept buried deep inside for longer than I wanted to remember.

He winced, his styled dark hair glinting under the security lights. “Let me carry you to the shower and get cold water on the injury, then I’ll apply some burn cream before I bring my medical team in here.”

I pushed away a sudden flare of guilt as I looked down at him and said, “Let’s not.”

He blinked, his long dark lashes sweeping low to cover his brilliant tawny stare that was suddenly clouded with doubt. A heartbeat later his lashes swept apart and his eyes sparked with clarity. “You intentionally hurt yourself.”

It wasn’t a question and I didn’t have time for lies. “I did.” He was already halfway to straightening to his six-foot-five height when I pushed to my feet and slammed my knee into his groin. He doubled over with a harsh oomph and I head-butted his face with every bit of strength I had.

He grunted, his nose spurting blood.

My battered skull felt as though it had split in two, my vision blurring even worse by the impact. But there was no more time to waste. He’d hate me for what I’d done and I’d gladly die before being captured and imprisoned once again.

Slamming the chair sideward as I twisted away, I ran for my life, adrenaline taking away all my pain. I’d taken him by surprise today, but it’d never happen again. He wasn’t just a brilliant scientist with a keen mind; he was a martial arts expert.

Not only had I seen him overcome and defeat other men in his dojo at home where he regularly practiced, he’d once knocked three men unconscious when they’d tried to overpower and rob him after one of our rare expeditions outside his home.

There would be no second chances for me.

I grabbed my runners and dived through the door, slamming it closed behind me before I activated its red lock button, the same one he’d pressed on me every day for the last twelve months.

I made out his muffled shout, the tormented break in his voice.

I paused for a second, then pushed my feet into my white runners.

He didn’t care about me, not really. He cared more that he was losing his asset, a lab-bred species that, thanks to me surviving against all odds, was unlike anything—anyone—else on Earth.

He collected unique, priceless things, and I was one of them.

Though I’d learned there were other species that had been bred with humans, none of them had intermingled bat genetics. So far, the blend had proven unreliable, and only I seemed immune to dying young.

Perhaps that was why I’d locked hold onto the one human who pretended to care. I just hoped my noxious Stockholm syndrome would eventually fade. I’d read all about it in one of my daily one hour screen sessions, where I crammed as much information into my head as possible.

Did he not get that I wanted to make my own choices, right or wrong? That I wanted to explore the world freely and use my abilities without fearing they’d be used against me? That my body was my own including my heart, which was the most fragile part of me, and one he could so easily break?

Tugging off my dress, I tossed it aside.

There was no way I could fly with fabric covering my wings.

I’d have to make do with my black panties and my bra with its back strap that fitted perfectly under my wings.

They rippled open as I raced down the long, curving corridor where more bulletproof windows showcased mountain views to the left, priceless paintings on the right between artifacts that were set inside niches in the rock wall.

It’d taken me months to learn the window at the end of the corridor wasn’t anywhere near as strong thanks to my master—no, he wasn’t that anymore!—having plans to extend his already substantial granite tower.

Though that one window was triple-paned glass, I didn’t doubt my competence in shattering it.

I’d been secretly practicing my echolocation ability.

Not only did my soundwaves enable me to see all around me in the dark, when I escalated the frequency and pitch, it turned the waves into a weapon that broke objects and materials while having the capability to hurt others.

A shame I’d never had the chance to try it out on my master—on Adam.

Doing so would only have made him enhance his already first-rate security and likely make him break his promise to never put security cameras in the so-called sanctuary that was my bedroom.

I’d had to stay patient and lay low while practicing my ability in private.

Inhaling deeply, I sent out a high-pitched scream that no ordinary mortal would hear. The window rippled, then blew apart. I grinned. My runners would bear the brunt of any jagged pieces of glass lying on the corridor floor.

“Bella, no!”

Though my heart squeezed like a fist at Adam’s shout—of course he had a failsafe method of opening my door—I ignored him and instead pumped my arms harder, intent only on the gaping hole ahead that was my ticket to freedom.

Glass crunched beneath my runners, adrenaline pouring through me as I launched out of the corridor and into the sky, my wings at full stretch as the air billowed beneath them and lifted me high.

Alarms blasted and men shouted, no doubt the security detail he kept on the ground floor. I scowled. Adam and his men would not catch me.

I flapped my wings, and immediately careened out-of-control, the ground racing up to meet me. Shit. I straightened my wings, my pulse galloping as I somehow stabilized, the ground and surrounding treetops growing a little more distant.

Apparently the best I could manage was to glide.

Why had I thought flying would be natural to me? I was as inept at it as I was at embracing my freedom. The farther I got away from Adam the more my chest restricted and my doubts expanded. My independence would be laughably short-lived if I couldn’t release his spell over me.

I had to get as far away from the tower that was my prison, and Adam who had been my master, before what was left of my willpower dissolved like grit in a stiff wind.

He’d be gloating if he knew the truth. His abnormal, overpriced pet fighting to quell separation anxiety.

A warm thermal flung me up high, the air puffing up the leathery membranes underneath my huge wings. I didn’t look down. If I did my balance might get skewed again, threatening to send me flailing to the ground.

I managed to cover a lot of ground by staying motionless while steering by carefully dipping my left or right wing. Was I too heavy to do anything but glide? The thermal dissipated and I slowly drifted lower, but not before I noticed a town or even perhaps a city in the distance.

I laughed, giddy with anticipation. I’d glide as far that way as possible. There was a good chance I’d be able to get lost amongst other people.

Then I heard the roaring start of Adam’s helicopter as its rotors turned.