Chapter Two
I hit the ground with my wings pulled back to slow my descent. It didn’t stop me from gasping as my body jolted from the impact, a stick digging into my already injured ankle.
There was no time for self-assessment. To my left was a rocky incline with a sprinkling of stunted trees. To my right was a forest of pines and evergreens that rose straight up into the sky. The earthy richness filled my lungs even as the burbling river farther away teased my enhanced hearing.
I turned right and hobbled through the dense foliage that concealed me from above, freezing as the helicopter approached and flew straight over me before it continued onward. A pity its noisy rotors had cloaked the barking of approaching dogs.
Shit.
Adam wasn’t going to let me leave. He was putting all his resources into getting me back.
What would he do to me if he did catch me?
A cold shiver trickled down my spine. I didn’t want to find out. Though he’d mostly shown me his gentlemanly, kinder side, I’d also been witness to his ruthlessness. He had a low tolerance to anyone who didn’t conform to his ideals.
My mind drifted back, recollecting a time I’d rather forget, a flashback that seemed like hours but was mere seconds in my mind.
I wrapped my wings around my nakedness as my teeth chattered, my skin covered in goose bumps. But though I was trying to keep me warm, I was also attempting to cover myself from the lustful eyes of the two scientists who watched me—leered at me—through the unbreakable flexi-window of my cell.
They were testing the limits of my endurance. Yesterday I’d been close to being cooked alive from heat exposure. My throat had become unbearably parched while my skin had burned and blistered, my vision blurring.
I looked down at my arms and almost laughed. Though my skin was blue from the cold, there were still parts of me that were red and scalded from my previous ordeal. I might have enhanced healing ability, but with my body using all its resources just to stay alive, I’d yet had a chance to fully heal.
The tinny and nasally voice of one of the scientists infiltrated my cell as he spoke through an intercom. “You’re tougher than you look, Q27. But though you survived scorching desert temperatures, will you endure a full-on arctic winter blast?”
I scowled at the fool. Didn’t he realize I could have heard his every word even without the intercom? Lord only knew they’d done enough tests on me to understand I not only had superior healing, but also heightened vision and hearing.
He pushed his wire-framed glasses up to the bridge of his nose before he exchanged a wide smile with his white-coated, sandy-haired contemporary. “We can’t wait to find out.”
A fog of icy-cold air immediately wafted in through the vents, far colder than what I’d endured so far. I stood tall and defiant. I would not succumb, not to these idiots disguised as scientific geniuses. A pity I was beginning to shake uncontrollably and swaying on my bare feet.
The door next to my cell swung open and a man in a black suit and ruby tie stepped into the observation room with the two scientists. I blinked. I remembered him. Adam. I’d seen him at least a dozen times in the past couple of years.
He wasn’t exactly easy to overlook. He commanded whatever room he was in.
His presence was electrifying, magnetic.
Though he’d mostly kept silent as he’d observed me, I’d been overwhelmed by how my body responded to him.
I’d wanted to look away and hide my wings, even as I’d wanted to stare right back and flaunt them.
He towered over the scientists, his height made even more impressive by the white-coated men’s less than average size.
Though I was hyperventilating, the shivers wracking my body intensified under his gaze that was locked onto me, evaluating my predicament before his eyes narrowed, then settled onto the two scientists. “What the fuck is going on?”
The wire-framed scientist’s throat bobbed before he finally found his voice. “We’re carrying out tests on our subject, sir. Seeing how far we can push her before—”
“Before what?” Adam interjected. “You kill her? Destroy my billion dollar investment?”
Despite the chill, my chest suddenly burned, my heart savaged by the truth. He was just another scientist getting all he could from his venture...his asset. That he clearly helped to finance this project—finance me—turned my attraction to him straight into revulsion.
As if aware of my turnaround, Adam stiffened, then ground out, “Bring her room back to a normal fucking temperature.” His eyes were colder than the air in my cell when he swung back to view me, assessing me far more carefully.
I lifted my chin and his hands fisted at his sides when he noticed my seared throat. “You’ve burned her, too?”
The sandy-haired scientist flicked a nearby switch, cutting off the icy air even as he babbled, “We tested her ability to withstand heat without hydration. She was remarkably adaptable. What would have killed an ordinary mortal only mildly damaged her.”
Adam’s jaw compressed, his stare still fixated on me. “Are you trying to take out my most valuable resource?”
I briefly squeezed my eyes closed, my chest compressing along with my throat. I’d been right. I was nothing more than an asset, a possession to this man and others like him. I meant nothing to him personally. I was his business venture and probably his biggest gamble yet.
“Haven’t I made it clear?” he added harshly. “She’s worth more to me than a thousand of you two.”
Wire-frame stiffened, his jaw jutting out. “We’re doing our jobs, sir. Testing our subject’s physical and mental limits.” He tugged the lapels of his white coat together. “Just be glad we haven’t touched her intimately. She might be a freak but she’s—“
Adam exploded with a primal motion that was both beautiful and terrifying. Spinning high, he sliced his arm down, hitting wire-frame’s throat full-force with the side of his hand. Adam was already spinning again, kicking the throat of sandy-hair before wire-frame had even crumpled to the floor.
The second scientist’s eyes were already empty of life when he collapsed next to his dead colleague.
I blinked, but otherwise stood motionless and emotionless.
I’d learned not to show any thought, any reaction whatsoever to what happened inside the lab, though fear pulsed through me along with disbelief as Adam straightened his tie, then glanced dismissively at the two bodies.
Pushing an intercom button on the far wall, he said, “We have casualties in observation room 7D. I require the removal of two bodies. Discretion is advised.”
He didn’t wait for a response. Instead he approached my cell, his eyes softening ever so slightly as they caught and held mine. I inhaled sharply. It was pointless hiding anything from this man. He seemed to read deep into the depths of my soul, unravelling my every thought, my every defense.
Then he pushed a button and the lock to my cell door unlatched.
I blinked, but didn’t move. Not even when he pushed it fully open and stalked inside.
Warm air rushed in with him, before his very presence sucked the rest of the oxygen right out of the room, constricting my lungs, my heart even before he took off his jacket and drew it around me.
His fingers brushed my chin before he lifted my gaze to his, ensuring I looked directly into his brilliant, golden-brown eyes. “You’re going to be all right,” he said huskily. “Even if it takes me a month, a year—ten years—I’ll find a way to get you out of this hellhole.”
My body involuntarily leaned his way even as my mind screamed aversion.
I shook my head, bringing myself back to the present.
I’d experienced enough merciless behavior in my short life from humans to expect nothing less than retribution from Adam. That his payback would likely include physical release pushed my shiver straight into a hot shudder that settled deep into my core.
One thing I did know for sure, if he had the chance to take my virginity, I’d never escape from him again. I likely wouldn’t even try. He’d own me body and soul.
An embankment ahead caught my eye, my brain immediately whirling as an idea formed.
Limping toward the muddy edge, I pushed my feet into the wet earth before I backed away, carefully stepping into my already made tracks.
It wasn’t until the ground hardened and my prints faded that I turned and hurried to some trees, rubbing my back and arms up and down their trunks.
Doing all I could to mark my scent on them.
Then choosing a low-limbed, towering pine, I grasped its bottom branch and pulled myself up, climbing as fast as possible while the dogs barking grew louder. I stopped and tugged off my shoe. Pulling back my arm, I threw my runner just shy of the embankment.
Taking off my other shoe, my arm muscles bunched before I threw the other runner even harder. My breath caught as the shoe sailed high then bounced and skidded, before disappearing over the embankment.
I slumped, relief filling my body while the scent of pine filled my nose, spiky pine needles prickling my skin. With any luck I’d fool Adam’s men, though I doubted their dogs would be as easily duped.
Three canines materialized below me, their leashes stretched tight as their handlers held them back.
I pushed harder against the trunk, the needles of green foliage helping to conceal me.
The dogs barking and whining escalated as they sniffed beneath me.
One of them, a tan shepherd, circled the base of my pine tree with its fluffy tail swishing.
The other two dogs, a golden retriever and a brindle of indeterminate breed, strained against their leashes to sniff the tree trunks I’d rubbed against.
The retriever broke away first, its snout to the ground as it trotted to the embankment, then with an excited yip, picked up my runner and shook it. The other two dogs raced toward the find, leaving me behind.
The handler issued a command and the retriever dropped my shoe, all three of the dogs then sitting obediently, their tongues lolling.
One of the handlers spoke into his wrist-talker, then ended the conversation before looking at his comrades. “We have to wait here.”
“But his asset will get away!” another handler disputed.
The first handler snorted. “Do you really think Adam would let that happen?”
My mouth dried. Did Adam know I was here? Or did he not want the evidence disturbed any further? He wasn’t a scientist and investor for nothing, very little escaped his critical thinking.
It must have half-killed him having me outwit him.
Womp, womp, womp.
The returning helicopter and its rotors grew louder, my heart slamming against my chest while the branches on my tree and the ones surrounding it swirled and rocked as the chopper hovered overhead.
I stayed motionless even when Adam slithered down through the trees in a harness with a rope attached, his descent rapid and fearless.
Holy shit.
I’d had no idea he was capable of such a feat, but then I really didn’t know him at all other than what he’d inadvertently revealed, which wasn’t much. That he was still in his suit with his ruby tie flapping around his face couldn’t be safe.
I pressed a hand to my mouth.
Big mistake.
His eyes instantly flared and locked with mine.
Fuck.
I was frozen until the moment his feet hit the ground and he disconnected the rope.
Once it was reeled back up and the helicopter wheeled away, I climbed the tree in a frenzy of motion, ignoring my severe burn and my other cuts and scrapes as I ascended.
I was close to the top when I paused for breath and looked down at Adam and his men below me.
One of them lifted a gun.
“No!” Adam commanded. His voice might be faraway, but I easily heard him. “If that dart strikes her and she falls, she’ll die. Then you will die.”
One of the dogs whimpered as its handler slowly lowered his dart gun, not the firearm I’d originally imagined. Of course it wasn’t. I was too valuable to Adam to die on him. My lineage ended with me.
Adam looked up at me once again, his voice hoarse when he called out, “Come down, Bella, please. I promise I won’t hurt you. You can trust me. I’m nothing like those other men who tried to break you.”
I hesitated, my throat constricting until I could barely breathe.
Then I lifted my chin and my lungs filled with air.
Did he think I was a fool? I’d dishonored him.
I’d already decided there would be consequences for that.
I didn’t say a word as I turned my back on him—on all of them—and climbed the last dangerously thin branches to reach the top.
“Bella, I implore you, don’t—“
My wings billowed out as I jumped, Adam’s sentence cutting off as he no doubt watched in horror from below. Adrenaline washed through me as I dropped—if I died it wasn’t from a lack of trying to escape—then got caught up in a small thermal that lifted me back above the treetops.
With a shaky laugh I dipped one wing and headed toward the city that I’d seen earlier. With any luck I might just glide all the way there.