Michel/Striker Read Free

out.
    Raphael nodded. “Jazz found the lab and followed a male she believes to be Locke onto the nearby air base.”
    Okay, she’d done her part. Right?
    “What do you want from me?”
    “I want you to travel to Bossier City and search through whatever research files we can manage to steal from his lab,” Raphael explained. “You’ll know what we need to bring back to the Wildlands and what should be turned over to the human authorities.”
    Ah. That made sense. She gave a nod. “Very well.”
    “I also want you to discover what his connection is to the human military.”
    Chelsea hissed in horror. She’d desperately hoped Locke would refuse to give in to Christopher’s greed. It was, after all, one thing to use the Pantera blood to try and create a miracle drug that would heal the sick. It was another to use the research to prolong the lives of the rich, or to increase the strength and endurance of soldiers.
    A potential threat she hadn’t shared with the Pantera.
    Along with her other little secret…
    “That’s impossible,” she finally managed to say, her voice thick.
    A sudden anger prickled in the air. Michel, of course. Still, it was Raphael who spoke.
    “Why?”
    She continued to chew her nail, her stomach churning. “If Locke sees me he’ll know something is wrong.”
    “You’ll be with Michel,” Raphael said in smooth tones. “No one will see you.”
    With Michel? Was that supposed to be reassuring?
    God almighty. She should never have come to the Wildlands. After Locke had released her, she could have fled Louisiana and travelled to Siberia. It might have been cold as hell, but at least no one would bother her and she could forget her past.
    “It’s too dangerous,” she muttered.
    Michel abruptly thrust himself into the conversation. “Are you frightened?”
    She instinctively bristled. Somehow Michel always rubbed against her nerves.
    “Not for myself,” she said, her gaze skating over his starkly beautiful face before returning to Raphael. It was too hard to concentrate when the disturbing male was standing so close. “But Locke is ruthless. If he suspects he’s been found he’ll destroy all evidence of his crimes. Including any—”
    She stumbled over the proper word. Naturally, Michel didn’t have any trouble offering the most vile suggestions.
    “Hostages? Lab rats?” he drawled. “Disposable victims?”
    Her gaze remained grimly focused on Raphael. “Patients he might have,” she finished.
    Raphael nodded, his expression bleak. “It’s a risk we have to take.”
    “Why?” She glanced around the small glade surrounded by towering cypress trees and narrow channels of water. It was as close to paradise as possible on this earth. “You have your people safe.”
    The two males exchanged a silent glance. There was something they weren’t telling her.
    At last it was Michel who spoke. “What about the children he created in his Frankenstein lab?” he reminded her. “Don’t you imagine that Karen would like to find her sons?”
    She flinched. She adored the kindhearted woman who’d treated Chelsea far better than she deserved. The woman had been a breeder and was still looking for two sons who’d been born in Locke’s New York labs.
    There were few things that she wouldn’t do to reunite Karen with her children.
    “Of course,” she muttered.
    “Not to mention the danger if he shared our blood and semen with the military,” Raphael piled on. “We have to discover who has access to our DNA.”
    God. It was so much worse than they even suspected.
    She grimaced, biting her tongue. Hopefully they would stop Locke before he could reveal the superpowers of the potent Pantera blood. God only knew what would happen to the Wildlands if the military thought it could provide super-strength to their soldiers.
    “Why me?” she demanded.
    Raphael studied the flush she knew was staining her cheeks. She had many talents, but lying wasn’t one of them.
    “You know Locke,”