Claimed

  Wrong? This was beyond wrong. She straightened her shoulders. “Nothing.” The cure for her sister lay inside that damn building. Emma had understood her time was limited, but to be face to face with the place she was supposed to die, well...

  His hands tightened on her arms. “Tell me.” A warning tone slid into his voice that did nothing but warm her blood further.

  She shook her head. “I’m worried about Cara and need to get to work.” Her tennis shoes slapped against the smooth concrete as she yanked Dage into motion. Her time to find a cure for her sister was limited. Besides, she had no intention of actually dying in the laboratory. Fate had given her a warning she’d heed. Destiny be damned.

  His boots clomped on the path. “Damn it, woman. Prepare yourself because your shields are about to be ripped to shreds.”

  “What about my fragile mental state?” She rolled her eyes, grabbing the doorknob to yank. The door refused to open and she fell back into Dage’s arms.

  He tightened his grip on her, his mouth at her ear. “I’ll take my chances, love. You have one day to lower them. This time tomorrow I invade.” His teeth closed over her ear and sent a hard shaft of need through her body.

  She trembled—whether in fear or desire, she wasn’t sure. There was no way she could keep the king out of her head if he decided to plunder.

  Dage flipped open a thick cover to reveal a keypad, quickly punching in a code. The door released with a soft click.

  For a wisp of a moment, Emma thought about running—back to safety, away from the lab. But if death wanted her, death would get her. That much she knew. Maybe being able to know the place, if not the time, would be to her advantage. The scent of tulips and fresh earth always foreshadowed the explosion, so she had until next spring when they emerged from the ground. She’d spent plenty of time researching tulips; they only poked out of the earth in early spring.

  Was she smart enough to cheat death?

  She grabbed the doorknob and opened the door. Dage grasped her hand and tugged her inside a square entryway with freshly painted walls where two armed guards stood to attention. The farthest wall held a maroon metal door next to another keypad.

  Dage nodded to the guards, punched in the code, leaning his face toward a small window. “Kayrs24256.” He lifted his head. “We’ll get you set with an iris and voice match today.”

  The door slid open to reveal another Kayrs brother. “Hi.” He held out a hand. “I’m Kane.”

  Emma took his hand, tilting her head back for a better view of the scientific brother. Intelligent violet eyes set in a square face studied her. Deep brown hair fell to his shoulders and was held back in a clip. He had the Kayrs size. He pulled her into a hallway lined with intriguing posters of amoebas and viruses.

  “Pretty artwork,” she said, traipsing along. The climate controlled environment settled her nerves. She was back home. In a lab.

  “Yeah. I thought so.” He grinned, then lowered his head to whisper in a mocking tone, “Though some of the images gross out the king.”

  “Really?” Emma slanted a glance back.

  Dage rolled his eyes. “A picture of a creepy crawly is just icky.”

  Did the King of the Realm just say icky? Emma stifled a laugh as Kane directed her into a large room. Then she sucked in air as they entered a large lab equipped with genetic analyzers, computers, printers, and high-tech equipment that must’ve cost a fortune. “Is that an ABI Prism 3100 analyzer with ninety-six capillaries?” The one at her previous lab had only forty-eight capillaries.

  “No.” Kane followed her into the room. “This Prism has four hundred eight capillaries.”

  Impossible. Emma shook her head, the truth of the matter sitting before her, waiting for her to push the buttons. “That’s incredible.” The vampires had some serious clout, money, or designers. Even the printer sitting peacefully in the corner was an array printer she’d only dreamed about.

  “It will do.” Kane tugged her over to a round table overflowing with papers. “Okay. This is our private lab—only members of the Kayrs family are allowed here. I’ll give you a schematic of the rest of the building. We have four clean rooms sealed by vacuums and you have access to them all. There are fifty researchers on the other side. They have access only to the first clean room as well as the twenty labs on the other side.”

  “Humans?” Emma asked, her mind spinning.

  “Yes.”

  She turned, pinning him with her gaze. “Do they have any idea what they’re researching?”

  “No,” Dage answered from behind her.

  She pivoted, both hands going to her waist. “Just like the Kurjans. You’re treating humans just like the Kurjans treated the researchers at my lab. Like they treated me.”

  Dage shrugged. “I don’t give a shit.”

  Angry breath caught in her throat as temper had her eyes widening on his. “Excuse me?”

  Dage lowered his chin, his gaze hard. “The words were clear, love. We’re paying the researchers plenty for their help and they may even cure some human genetic diseases on the side. But under no circumstances are they allowed to know about us.”

  She sucked in air to keep from kicking him in the shin. “Listen here, buddy. It’s impossible to conduct research without a complete picture of the matter at hand.”

  “Too bad. It’s your job—and Kane’s—to put all the data together in one complete place. The humans are workers only. Period.”

  She saw red. Plain and simple. “I’m not saying we announce to the world that vampires exist, Dage. But breaking all of the research into small sections isn’t the best way.” They were talking about a biological weapon with unknown implications and final results. As many good brains as possible needed to be solely focused on saving mates. On saving Cara.

  Kane chuckled low. “Much as I enjoy a good marital spat, I’ve had my ten top researchers working on their individual projects for several months now before moving them here. As a process, I’m pleased with the results, which I’m happy to go over with you right now, Emma.”

  “No marital spat. We’re not married,” Emma hissed, stalking around the table and dropping into a thick orange chair.

  “Yet,” Dage said with a hard glare, which he turned on his brother. “I don’t like these ten people having access to the residence, Kane.”

  “I know. But they need a place to live until we buy them houses, Dage.” Kane’s calm façade didn’t waiver.

  Emma shook her head. “Where do the other forty people live?”

  Kane shrugged. “Somewhere in Boulder. We bought out Colorado Labs last month and put their geneticists to work for us. They already lived here.”

  “I want the humans out of our residence facility within a week, Kane.” The king strode toward the door. “I have some calls to make from Kane’s office, and we’ll meet again in two hours to discuss our options with Talen.”

  Emma gave him a glare while Kane nodded, glancing back and forth between them with a small grin. “Sounds good. See you then.”

  A pounding set up at the base of Emma’s skull a couple hours later. She sat between Kane and Dage on one side of a large oak conference table facing Cara, Talen, Maggie, and Katie. Jordan paced behind Katie, the muscles vibrating along his forearms, a vein standing out on his forehead.

  Emma tried to be inconspicuous in her survey of Maggie, who looked like the girl next door with curly brown hair and deep chocolate eyes. How could this pale woman change into an actual wolf?

  “So”—Cara leaned forward, hope filling her eyes—“what did you find out?” The shades behind her allowed in enough light to bathe her in silhouette, turning her into an angel.

  Emma shook off the fanciful thought and twirled her key card in her hands. The card that granted her access to every half-painted lab in the building. Labs with a myriad of test tubes, centrifuges, incubators, and autoclaves. Top of the line. “Well, we already knew Virus-27 attacks the twenty-seventh chromosome of mates and shifters.” Every s
ingle twenty-seventh chromosomal pair in every single cell of the body.

  “But definitely not vampires,” Kane said. His broad hand tapped papers together before him.

  Talen raised an eyebrow. “How do we know that for sure?”

  Emma turned toward Kane. They didn’t know that for sure. Did they?

  Kane shifted, his gaze going to the papers he shuffled. Silence pounded around the room.

  Dage pushed back from the table, his jaw clenching shut as he stared at his younger brother over Emma’s head. “You dumb bastard. You did not.” Disbelief combined with anger in his voice.

  Emma frowned and realization dawned. “You didn’t.” She’d just spent two hours with the man going over her results, and he hadn’t even mentioned the risk he took.

  Kane shrugged. “It was the only way to make sure. I mean, it’s not like we own animal test subjects who have twenty-seven chromosomes.”

  Katie frowned. “I don’t understand.”

  Dage’s eyes blazed a hard silver. “My dumbass brother infected himself with the virus to see if the bug impacts vampires. He used himself as a lab rat.”

  “Jesus.” Talen shook his head. “You’re supposed to be the smart one, Kane. How could you?” His hand covered Cara’s on the table.

  Kane met his gaze squarely. “Like I said, there was no alternative. Once I heard your mate was infected ...”

  Cara paled even further, her skin a complete contrast to the black sweater covering her shoulders. “You did this for me? But ...”

  “Damn it.” Talen’s gaze went from Kane to his mate and back to his brother again. “Kane, you only found out last night. You wouldn’t even know if the virus has taken hold in you yet.”

  “I feel fine. We’ll monitor my blood and will know for absolute certainty in twenty-four hours.” Kane reached for a pencil to tap against his papers. “But so far everyone infected has shown symptoms within hours. I’m fine.” He rubbed his square jaw. “Emma and I put our research together and discovered the Kurjans have been able to pare the virus down to two injections. But only the first one is truly necessary.”

  “Yes.” Emma rolled closer to the table. “The heart-breaking films you told me about where the infected Kurjan mates went crazy from injection led to the Kurjans creating two separate injections. The first is the virus, which attacks the chromosomes, the second is a catalyst, which speeds up the process.”

  Jordan stopped pacing. “Catalyst?” His eyes shifted to catlike gold, then back to brown.

  “Yes.” Emma leaned forward. She’d love to see him shift into a cougar. “Look at it like radiation combined with chemotherapy to treat cancer. The two combined often get the best results.”

  Kane nodded. “Similarly, while the virus itself is engineered to eventually reach the desired goal, we think this catalyst speeds up the process—so the Kurjans would acquire their werewolf slave class much faster. So far Maggie is the only person who has had two injections.”

  Maggie blew out air, having arrived the night before with her test results in hand. “Yippee for me.” She watched her hand tremble on the table as if not quite sure the appendage belonged to her.

  Emma reached for the applicable file, her gaze concentrated on the pale brunette. “The virus immediately attacked the twenty-seventh chromosome, which affects your shifting ability. The catalyst made the virus attack the twenty-sixth and twenty-fifth chromosomes, taking you down to twenty-four—or to the genetic makeup of a werewolf.” The protein binding the virus to the chromosomes held like glue, and they needed to find an unraveling agent. They also needed to run another battery of tests on the wolf shifter.

  “But I shifted into a wolf instead.” Maggie bit her lip.

  “Exactly.” Kane nodded. “The virus is new and hopefully not as strong as we feared. So far your natural defenses are fighting the illness, and your chromosomes are struggling to repair themselves.” He cleared his throat. “You’ve beaten one full moon so I’m greatly encouraged you’ll beat this bug.”

  Emma nodded. Apparently when humans were bitten by a werewolf, the human went through changes during three full moons, remaining in full werewolf form for the rest of its short life after the third change.

  Katie’s gaze slid to the table’s surface. “What about me? I can’t shift.”

  “Right.” Emma shifted her focus to the lioness. “You were just infected. You’re sick right now, for a lack of a better term. Your body is fighting the virus—and we don’t know the cycle. Without the catalyst in your blood, you may even beat the virus faster than Maggie is.” They hoped. The wolf shifter had been kidnapped by the Kurjans and kept at a hospital for an unknown amount of time and had no memory of the experience, or of her life before the capture, so they were just guessing at possible experimentations.

  “So I’ll be able to shift again?” Hope filled Katie’s dazzling brown eyes.

  Emma couldn’t promise that. “I hope so.”

  Jordan took up position behind Katie’s chair and clasped both her shoulders with his broad hands. “You’ll shift again, Kate. I promise.”

  The young woman paled further and remained silent.

  Dage frowned. “So if a feline shifter doesn’t fight off the virus, will she turn into a werewolf?” He sent a sympathetic smile toward Katie.

  “We think that’s the goal,” Kane affirmed. “But again, we don’t know if it actually works that way.”

  Talen stretched an arm across Cara’s shoulder. “And mates?”

  Kane sighed. “The virus initially takes away the individual mating aspects.” His gaze softened as he glanced at Cara. “So you’re immortal right now but not tied to any particular vampire.” He grinned. “In fact, you could choose a different brother if you wanted.”

  Cara smiled, rubbing her bare wrist where the cuff had been clasped. “I’ll keep that in mind.” She pursed her lips. “But I can only mate with a vampire? I mean, I couldn’t be mated with a Kurjan after this short time. Right?”

  Talen stiffed next to her, a semblance of a snarl curling his lips. Emma crossed her legs under the table, fighting unease. Damn but her new brother-in-law looked deadly. Was Cara safe with him? From him? She’d need to get her sister alone for a discussion and soon.

  Kane nodded. “Yes. The virus immediately removed, er, the bond with Talen.” He cast a sympathetic glance at this brother. “A long term progression of the virus is designed to turn you back into a human at twenty-three chromosomes. So you could be mated by a Kurjan.”

  Talen’s long fingers played in his wife’s hair, and relief filled Emma. The guy may be able to kill on demand, but he adored Cara. Emma wondered for a moment if he had any idea how affectionate he was toward Cara. The big dangerous vampire was touchy-feely. Emma fought a grin.

  He tilted his head in response. “So worst case scenario is that Cara ends up human again?”

  Dread pooled in Emma’s abdomen. She so didn’t want to have this discussion. “Um, we really don’t know yet.”

  “Excuse me?” Talen’s eyes hardened to gilded coins.

  Emma focused on Cara. “The virus is designed to reduce the amount of chromosomes in your body from immortal to human, we think.”

  Cara paled. “Ah. So what’s to stop the virus from continuing the reduction?”

  Talen frowned. “I don’t understand.”

  Cara bit her lip. “The Kurjans are creating an unknown virus. What if they screwed it up? Why would the little bug stop attacking at the twenty-third chromosomal pair? Why not keep reducing chromosomal pairs past human? To animal? To single cell organisms? To nothing?”

  Talen slashed his gaze to Kane. “Is that possible?”

  Kane stared at his brother before glancing at Cara, his gaze softening. “We don’t know. None of the data from the Kurjans includes final results. They’re still conducting tests. We’re conducting tests now, but if nothing else we’ve discovered that the virus reacts differently in a test tube than it does in a human body.”

&nbs
p; “So my mate is a guinea pig?” Talen roared, his face flushing with pure danger.

  Cara flinched next to him before reaching out and patting his arm. “Knock it off.”

  He turned his focus on her. “What did you say?” Deadly softness coated his words. Emma began to stand, pausing only when Cara flicked her a warning glance.

  “I said to knock it off.” Cara’s chin hardened in an expression Emma knew well. “We’re all doing our best here and getting pissed won’t solve anything.”

  Talen sucked in air, a hint of a smile threatening on his full lips as his shoulders visibly relaxed. “But I like getting pissed.”

  Cara grinned. “I know. But you’re scaring my sister and I just can’t have that.”

  Talen caught Emma in his golden gaze. “Sorry.”

  Emma frowned. What an odd interplay. “Okay.” She studied her sister. “Kane has designed a new software program that greatly reduces the time needed to map DNA and chromosomal differences. We should be able to keep track of the changes and know if you begin to go too far.” Maybe. Maybe not. The virus could continue deleting chromosomal pairs. Or just create single chromosomes, thus creating an aneuploidy, which would open Cara up to genetic diseases.

  Talen threw an arm around Cara’s shoulders. “So the solution here would be to remate my mate and her chromosomes would start increasing again?” Interest and something darker wove through the words.

  Cara blushed to the roots of her hair.

  Kane huffed out a laugh. “Well maybe. Unfortunately, we don’t know enough about this virus. Since the bug is still in her very pregnant system, you may do more damage than good. I’d advise against it at this time.”

  Maggie frowned. “Wait a minute. If my chromosomes keep deraveling, I could become human?”

  Kane sucked in air. “We’ve been mapping your DNA for the past month, Maggie. Your twenty-seventh through twenty-fifth chromosomes have been attacked. The virus is progressing and we just don’t know where it will end.”

  Talen frowned. Not what the strategic leader wanted to hear. “So what do we do now?”