Chapter 16
Chapter
Sixteen
“I … I don’t understand,” Whitney stammered, her gaze locked on the news stream displayed on the TV. “I'm wanted for murder? They know?” At her words, her arms twisted behind her back, and he knew that she was fingering the brands on her skin.
This was not the news he’d been expecting when he’d caught the worried tones of his teammates while still in bed with Whitney.
Not how he wanted to spend his morning either.
If she hadn't been too sore, he would definitely have taken her again, as many times as he could get her, but at the least he would have run her a hot bubble bath, let her relax, and ease any pain she had between her legs. This urge to take care of rather than just protect was new to him, but he’d liked the idea of washing every inch of her perfect body just as much as having sex with her.
But all of that had been ruined now.
“No, darlin’,” he said gently as he crossed the kitchen to grasp her wrist and tug her hand away from the wounds she was forced to wear for crimes she didn't commit. “Not about those. It’s the warehouse. Someone called in a tip that a former employee was disgruntled and blew the place up.”
Her brows knit together in confusion. “Then who did I supposedly kill?”
“There was a mercenary there, after the bounty on Cassandra,” Steel explained, and Whitney nodded.
“Yeah, she told me. Dragon did too. Apparently, she found out there was also a contract out for Rose. Both women were to be delivered alive to Dr. Gardner,” Whitney said.
“Right, and when we split, the explosion occurred,” Thunder added, making Whitney wince.
“I'm sorry, I really didn't know anyone was in there. I should have checked, but I was scared and desperate to get away, I'd already been there too long and—”
Crushing his lips to hers to stop her rambling, Blade kept the kiss a lot more PG than he would have if they’d been alone. “We know, and we believe you,” he assured her when he pulled back. Although she nodded, she didn't look convinced
“When we found the room empty and went after them, Cassandra had been able to get away, running off into the forest. We followed, and when Dragon saw the man on top of Cassandra, he lost it and killed him,” Lion explained.
“So they think I killed him?” Whitney asked.
“From what they’re saying, the body was found inside and died in the explosion,” Voodoo said with an eyeroll. There was no way the damage Dragon had inflicted matched that scenario.
“There were sirens coming when we left,” Steel told her. “So we’re assuming that Dr. Gardner has a contact at the police department. That’s the only way the reports wouldn't match the scene.”
“And he’s saying it was me?” Whitney asked.
“You're no longer wiped out,” Steel informed her.
“When we got your name, you didn't show up anywhere on any database, just like you said you wouldn't. But now you do. Everything. Everywhere. You’ve been working for From Nature since you were sixteen, and before that, they have you down as doing a range of internships with various pharmaceutical companies.”
“I never did any internships,” Whitney said, voice strained. “I went straight from graduating college at ten to being sold to Dr. Gardner.”
“We know that, darlin’,” he soothed, sweeping a hand up and down her spine as he kept her tucked against his chest.
“They’re setting me up,” she whispered.
“They are,” he agreed.
“But I did set the explosives. So I am guilty.”
“Of blowing up a building you thought was empty,” Lion reminded her.
“Not of killing anyone. And don’t even start in on what he told you you're responsible for,” the man warned when Whitney opened her mouth.
“Because not a single one of us thinks that you are responsible for a single death. From what you said, and from what Blade got out of one of the guards, the reason the drugs keep killing people is because Dr. Gardner keeps messing with them.”
The words coming from someone other than him seemed to do more good, and Whitney relaxed a little against him.
While he wanted to be the one to soothe and comfort her, Blade understood that Whitney knew he had some feelings for her, even if she didn't understand the magnitude of them—he didn't either—so someone else saying it meant it had more weight.
“Why are they setting me up?” Whitney asked.
“Trying to draw you into a trap,” Dragon replied. Growled would be a more appropriate word. Seemed that after almost killing her, the man had now completely accepted his role as protector and didn't like someone messing with their little genius.
“A trap?” Whitney asked.
“A warrant for your arrest means that as soon as you're found and taken into custody, whoever was paid off will hand you over to Dr. Gardner,” he explained.
“And likely wipe out your existence all over again,” Steel added.
“You’ll go back to being invisible, another news story will come along, and people will forget all about the woman who supposedly killed someone when she blew up a lab.
With no one to ask questions about where you are and what happened to you, Dr. Gardner is free to do whatever he wants with you. ”
He didn't need enhanced hearing to hear Whitney’s gulp, and she began to shiver against him.
“Do … do you think that Dr. Gardner still … wants to use me, or … is he ready to just kill me and be done with it?” Whitney asked, and Blade loved that she was handling this head-on and not trying to run or hide from it.
“What do you think?” Steel countered. “You know him better than any of us, other than maybe Rose, but she had a different relationship with him.”
“I … think that deep down he knows he can't do this without me,” Whitney answered. “I’m smarter than him. He hates that, but not enough to get rid of me. I don’t know if he has a particular reason for it or not, but he really wants this drug to work the way he wants.
The way he wants … it’s never going to completely work.
I can't erase a conscience. I can't remove emotions. I can disrupt the brain connections and dull them, but that’s it. The other things are easier, but it’s the lack of conscience and emotions that he really wants.
I think it’s just to prove that he can, then use it to gain respect, power, control, and money.
I think he sees this as the future of the world, and himself as the God who orchestrated it all. ”
“Agreed,” Rose piped up. “My brother has always had delusions of grandeur. And he’s smart but not a genius like Whitney.
He isn’t stupid. He won't get rid of her because if he does, his whole program falls apart. But … sorry, Whitney … he’s going to punish her for the trouble she’s caused him.
Badly. And if he gets her back, she’ll never have another chance to escape. ”
Fear for the woman in his arms flooded his system, trying to push his anger into overdrive. It wasn't until her small hands lifted to rest on his biceps and she squeezed gently that he realized he was basically crushing her.
“Sorry,” he murmured, dropping a kiss to the top of her blonde head.
“Good news is, he’s looking for you still close to the site, he has no idea you're with us,” Voodoo said.
“What about all those dead bodies?” Whitney asked. “There’s no way Dr. Gardner can think I killed them all.”
“My guess would be that when they didn't check in, he sent out more guards. When he found the bodies he probably knew you had help, but that doesn’t mean he knows it was me,” he told her.
“Chances he knows we were there when the building blew up are slim. Even if he does, he probably thinks we left before we could be found. That means you’re safe here.
He won't think to look for you with us, and if he did, he has no idea where we are. He’s not getting his hands on you again, darlin’, I won't allow it.”
In his embrace, he felt Whitney drag in a deep breath, and he assumed she was taking his reassurances to heart, convincing herself that her tormentor wouldn't get her back and would have zero control over her future, like he’d controlled her for the last twelve years.
“Dr. Gardner wants me back. We all agree on that. We also agree that he has to be paying someone to have me framed, because he’s the one who wiped out my identity, so he’s the only one who would know to put it back up.
He’s obviously desperate enough to go to any length to try to secure me.
What if we use that to our advantage?” Whitney asked.
“What do you mean?” Blade demanded, afraid he knew exactly what she was trying to say, but not willing to accept it.
“I mean, what if instead of him luring me into a trap, we lure him into a trap? We use this opportunity for you guys to get the revenge you so badly deserve, and we use me as bait to do it.”
January 14th
8:21 A.M.
“Absolutely not,” Blade roared.
So loudly in fact that Whitney winced and would have pulled back, only his grip on her had tightened again, to the point of being painful, even though she knew he wasn't trying to hurt her.
Everything inside her screamed to backtrack, to submit, to tell Blade what he wanted to hear. Anything to prevent getting in trouble.
But that had been the story of her life.
Avoid trouble no matter what.
Never rock the boat.
Do what’s expected of you so that you won't be punished.
Where had any of that ever gotten her?
Nowhere.
It had gotten her stuck in a situation she hadn't tried hard enough to get herself out of quickly enough. It had gotten her a back seared with marks for all the people who had died because of a drug she’d created.
It had gotten her almost killed by this man, who had quite rightfully been seeking revenge against the monsters who had played with his life like it wasn't important, like it didn't matter.