Read Online Blood Mate: The Project Rebellion, Book 2 by Mina Carter - Free Book Online
Authors: Mina Carter
Ads: Link
him talk, make him spill every last secret he had just so the pain would stop.
Bile rose but she fought it down and ignored the guilt. Guilt was for humans and she wasn’t human. It was survival of the fittest, dog eat dog. That’s what evolution was all about, wasn’t it? Only the strongest survived to pass on their genes, until the whole race was propagated by those individuals fittest or ruthless enough to make it. The fact that she couldn’t have children didn’t enter into it. Another pang twisted her heart, but again she ignored it. She wasn’t human, so why should she subscribe to the human model of reproduction? Perhaps her children wouldn’t be cute and wear diapers.
Gritting her teeth, Toni clamped down on that train of thought, crawling over to the Lycan to start bundling him toward the back of the truck. A door slammed nearby and the sound of wheels rattling over asphalt reached her ears.
“I’m telling you, man. Janie from the office swears that’s what it was.”
“Yeah, yeah. And last week she swore she saw Elvis in Wal-Mart.”
“She did. It was a freaking impersonator, a good one. I told you that, remember? For fuck’s sake Charlie, it would help if you’d actually listen when I’m talking to you.”
Toni tilted her head as the voices, and the trolley, approached. It had a damaged wheel, a click-click-click that would drive her mad until it was either fixed or she ripped it off. Scent reached her next. Both were male, easy enough to work out from the voices, but confirmed by the smells that reached her delicate nostrils.
The first had showered recently and wore a clean shirt. The dual scents of a woodsy, citrus shower gel and laundry powder assaulted her senses, almost hiding the sharper scent of an anti-dandruff shampoo. He’d showered and changed his clothes recently—perhaps just on duty and getting into his day. Tough shit. His first job of the day was to lump around a sweaty, blood-covered Lycan. She doubted the laundry-shower freshness was going to win out against that.
She turned her attention to the second speaker, dragging in a deep breath and rolling it over her tongue. The second guy had been on duty for a while, no doubt on an overlapping or double shift to the first. The aroma of lunch and numerous cigarette breaks clung to him like a shroud and under it, not one but two perfumes. One was expensive and luxurious, but already fading. From kissing his wife this morning perhaps? The second was newer, and a cheaper brand. The sort of perfume a younger woman would pick up at a superstore. His mistress? Perhaps the Janie they’d mentioned earlier?
Her lip curled back in disgust. She’d never understood why people felt the need to cheat on their partners. If they didn’t want to be in the relationship in the first place, why be there? Why not leave and be with someone who made them happy? Someone they didn’t feel the need to cheat on? Perhaps it was the excitement, the danger element? Anger rolled lazily through her. Any guy who cheated on her had better like the danger element, because she’d rip his freaking heart out and make him eat it.
“Yeah, well.” The second speaker huffed. “I would if you didn’t talk utter shit most of the time. She says this friend of hers saw a Hybrid? Ha! Read my lips. There’s no such thing. They don’t fucking exist. You’ve seen the data, James. We’ve never seen even a hint of a viable cross infection, you know that.”
They’d reached the back of the truck now, shoving the trolley into place with another clang of metal. She cast it a cursory look. Plastic sheet over the hard mattress, heavy duty steel with reinforced restraints. Once they got the Lycan onto it, he wasn’t getting loose any time soon. Neither had noticed her where she was half crouched in the darkness at the back of the truck, so she cleared her throat. Both men jumped, their faces draining of color when they recognized her, fear in their eyes before they
Bile rose but she fought it down and ignored the guilt. Guilt was for humans and she wasn’t human. It was survival of the fittest, dog eat dog. That’s what evolution was all about, wasn’t it? Only the strongest survived to pass on their genes, until the whole race was propagated by those individuals fittest or ruthless enough to make it. The fact that she couldn’t have children didn’t enter into it. Another pang twisted her heart, but again she ignored it. She wasn’t human, so why should she subscribe to the human model of reproduction? Perhaps her children wouldn’t be cute and wear diapers.
Gritting her teeth, Toni clamped down on that train of thought, crawling over to the Lycan to start bundling him toward the back of the truck. A door slammed nearby and the sound of wheels rattling over asphalt reached her ears.
“I’m telling you, man. Janie from the office swears that’s what it was.”
“Yeah, yeah. And last week she swore she saw Elvis in Wal-Mart.”
“She did. It was a freaking impersonator, a good one. I told you that, remember? For fuck’s sake Charlie, it would help if you’d actually listen when I’m talking to you.”
Toni tilted her head as the voices, and the trolley, approached. It had a damaged wheel, a click-click-click that would drive her mad until it was either fixed or she ripped it off. Scent reached her next. Both were male, easy enough to work out from the voices, but confirmed by the smells that reached her delicate nostrils.
The first had showered recently and wore a clean shirt. The dual scents of a woodsy, citrus shower gel and laundry powder assaulted her senses, almost hiding the sharper scent of an anti-dandruff shampoo. He’d showered and changed his clothes recently—perhaps just on duty and getting into his day. Tough shit. His first job of the day was to lump around a sweaty, blood-covered Lycan. She doubted the laundry-shower freshness was going to win out against that.
She turned her attention to the second speaker, dragging in a deep breath and rolling it over her tongue. The second guy had been on duty for a while, no doubt on an overlapping or double shift to the first. The aroma of lunch and numerous cigarette breaks clung to him like a shroud and under it, not one but two perfumes. One was expensive and luxurious, but already fading. From kissing his wife this morning perhaps? The second was newer, and a cheaper brand. The sort of perfume a younger woman would pick up at a superstore. His mistress? Perhaps the Janie they’d mentioned earlier?
Her lip curled back in disgust. She’d never understood why people felt the need to cheat on their partners. If they didn’t want to be in the relationship in the first place, why be there? Why not leave and be with someone who made them happy? Someone they didn’t feel the need to cheat on? Perhaps it was the excitement, the danger element? Anger rolled lazily through her. Any guy who cheated on her had better like the danger element, because she’d rip his freaking heart out and make him eat it.
“Yeah, well.” The second speaker huffed. “I would if you didn’t talk utter shit most of the time. She says this friend of hers saw a Hybrid? Ha! Read my lips. There’s no such thing. They don’t fucking exist. You’ve seen the data, James. We’ve never seen even a hint of a viable cross infection, you know that.”
They’d reached the back of the truck now, shoving the trolley into place with another clang of metal. She cast it a cursory look. Plastic sheet over the hard mattress, heavy duty steel with reinforced restraints. Once they got the Lycan onto it, he wasn’t getting loose any time soon. Neither had noticed her where she was half crouched in the darkness at the back of the truck, so she cleared her throat. Both men jumped, their faces draining of color when they recognized her, fear in their eyes before they
Similar Books
