someone made a reservation. Asymmetrical chairs the color of
the Atlantic Ocean curved around like a horseshoe. Trays of hors d’oeuvres covered the black table
sitting low to the ground. If not for the sconces illuminating the black walls, the room would have
been depressingly dark.
We chose to sit at a round wooden table with leather-seated barstools. There weren’t enough
stools for Christian to join us, so he paced about the room and gave us a rundown of his trip.
Sunny and Knox remained outside as they were not part of these private matters.
“So that’s all Grady told you?” I sighed with disappointment.
Christian peeled off his leather gloves and stuffed them in his coat pockets before plopping
down in a blue chair in the seating area. He had used his Vampire charm to extract information
from the man who had taken my mother, years ago, to the fertility lab where I was made.
“Not quite.” Christian ruffled his disheveled brown hair. His smile looked more like an invisible
hook was tugging at the corner of his mouth. He still hadn’t grown fond of shaving and always
sported a scruff that wanted to be a beard when it grew up. “Your Grady knew nothing of the
experiments initially. He really did like your mum.”
Novis sipped on a cup of coffee while Logan pulled his loose hair away from his shoulders and
tied it with a band. Logan had gone as protection but wasn’t privy to the interrogation that
Christian held with Grady.
Christian went on. “The poor bastard had no clue his woman would be the first offered up in
the experiments until they baited him. They promised the child would be his.”
“His? A Mage can’t have children, can they?” I looked at Novis and he shook his head with
absolute certainty.
“They told him otherwise, and his curiosity and need to procreate got the better of him.” He
shrugged indifferently. “I suppose dear ol’ mum was in for a shock.”
“So he met my mom and it was love at first sight?”
Christian scratched his short beard and threw his feet on the coffee table with a thud, his dirty
black shoes disgustingly close to a cheese tray. “I think he’s been tampered. Em… scrubbed.
Something’s missing I couldn’t get from him. I suppose it may have to do with how they met;
perhaps it was arranged or he was given a list of women to find and they erased those memories.
Maybe he kept your mom in hiding before he gave her up. He liked her, but he obviously didn’t
love her. Grady was your spark daddy,” Christian said with a dark chuckle. “When you were
conceived, it was known from the start you would be female. Grady said it had something to do
with how they created the embryo—Breed magic and all that shite. That was to his
disappointment, and he washed his hands of it.”
“Because I was a girl?” I dropped my eyes to the table. “So I have an actual father, but…”
“Not quite, lass. You’re not paying attention. Grady put his light in you, but he wasn’t positive if
he was your sperm da. You have mixed DNA. Hell, Silver, you’re a fecking cocktail.” He snorted and
swayed his feet left and right on the table.
“Can we not laugh at my genetic flaws and my father disowning me because I’m a girl?”
It shouldn’t have mattered, but it did.
“You’re not a flaw,” Novis assured me. “Grady provided us the location of one of their labs. They
kept in contact with him over the years because of his involvement. That’s why we suspect his
mind has been tampered with and selectively erased. Perhaps they thought that Abigail, your
mother, would one day try to contact him. They wanted to find you, study you. You were their first
patient.”
“Where’s the lab?” I tapped my boot on the rung of the chair.
“Simon is there as we speak,” Novis said, gliding his finger along his bottom lip. “He’s doing
what he does best. We might find out who’s coming and going from that location.”
Justus always had
the Atlantic Ocean curved around like a horseshoe. Trays of hors d’oeuvres covered the black table
sitting low to the ground. If not for the sconces illuminating the black walls, the room would have
been depressingly dark.
We chose to sit at a round wooden table with leather-seated barstools. There weren’t enough
stools for Christian to join us, so he paced about the room and gave us a rundown of his trip.
Sunny and Knox remained outside as they were not part of these private matters.
“So that’s all Grady told you?” I sighed with disappointment.
Christian peeled off his leather gloves and stuffed them in his coat pockets before plopping
down in a blue chair in the seating area. He had used his Vampire charm to extract information
from the man who had taken my mother, years ago, to the fertility lab where I was made.
“Not quite.” Christian ruffled his disheveled brown hair. His smile looked more like an invisible
hook was tugging at the corner of his mouth. He still hadn’t grown fond of shaving and always
sported a scruff that wanted to be a beard when it grew up. “Your Grady knew nothing of the
experiments initially. He really did like your mum.”
Novis sipped on a cup of coffee while Logan pulled his loose hair away from his shoulders and
tied it with a band. Logan had gone as protection but wasn’t privy to the interrogation that
Christian held with Grady.
Christian went on. “The poor bastard had no clue his woman would be the first offered up in
the experiments until they baited him. They promised the child would be his.”
“His? A Mage can’t have children, can they?” I looked at Novis and he shook his head with
absolute certainty.
“They told him otherwise, and his curiosity and need to procreate got the better of him.” He
shrugged indifferently. “I suppose dear ol’ mum was in for a shock.”
“So he met my mom and it was love at first sight?”
Christian scratched his short beard and threw his feet on the coffee table with a thud, his dirty
black shoes disgustingly close to a cheese tray. “I think he’s been tampered. Em… scrubbed.
Something’s missing I couldn’t get from him. I suppose it may have to do with how they met;
perhaps it was arranged or he was given a list of women to find and they erased those memories.
Maybe he kept your mom in hiding before he gave her up. He liked her, but he obviously didn’t
love her. Grady was your spark daddy,” Christian said with a dark chuckle. “When you were
conceived, it was known from the start you would be female. Grady said it had something to do
with how they created the embryo—Breed magic and all that shite. That was to his
disappointment, and he washed his hands of it.”
“Because I was a girl?” I dropped my eyes to the table. “So I have an actual father, but…”
“Not quite, lass. You’re not paying attention. Grady put his light in you, but he wasn’t positive if
he was your sperm da. You have mixed DNA. Hell, Silver, you’re a fecking cocktail.” He snorted and
swayed his feet left and right on the table.
“Can we not laugh at my genetic flaws and my father disowning me because I’m a girl?”
It shouldn’t have mattered, but it did.
“You’re not a flaw,” Novis assured me. “Grady provided us the location of one of their labs. They
kept in contact with him over the years because of his involvement. That’s why we suspect his
mind has been tampered with and selectively erased. Perhaps they thought that Abigail, your
mother, would one day try to contact him. They wanted to find you, study you. You were their first
patient.”
“Where’s the lab?” I tapped my boot on the rung of the chair.
“Simon is there as we speak,” Novis said, gliding his finger along his bottom lip. “He’s doing
what he does best. We might find out who’s coming and going from that location.”
Justus always had
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