asked.
“I only know the designations given. We’re the Alpha lab, the others are Delta and Theta, but I have no idea where they are. None of us know where the others are. It’s a security measure they put in place in case one of our labs were discovered by the public,” Dr. Mussberger admitted.
“Do you know what states or countries they’re in?” Mikal asked.
Dr. Mussberger shook his head.
“No. Any time we spoke to one another in order to share data and information, we only referenced the lab designation,” he said.
Mikal tried to hide his frustration so it wouldn’t magnify Alpha Two’s, and he tried another line of questioning.
“How many are at each of the labs? Are they male or female?” he asked.
Dr. Mussberger sighed, hoping Alpha Two wouldn’t kill him when he answered.
“There are only two at Beta and Theta. After the failure of Alpha One, we never allowed another male to survive. We only allowed females specimens to be produced after that,” he explained.
“He didn’t fail!” Two exclaimed, and Mikal turned around to stop her from going near the doctor.
Two stared up into his eyes and immediately began to match her breathing and heart rate to his own until she was calm again.
Mikal smiled her, enjoying the feel of their hearts and breaths in synchronicity before he turned back to the doctor.
“How did the male fail?” he asked.
The doctor cleared his throat and peered nervously around Mikal to look at Alpha Two before he looked up at Mikal with pleading eyes.
“She’s going to . . .” he said.
Mikal leaned down and sneered at him.
“I’m going to . . . if you don’t answer the question,” Mikal growled.
Dr. Mussberger took a shaky breath and looked up at Mikal.
“He refused to kill the targets he was given. He demanded that he and the other specimens be freed, and he had to be kept drugged because he would use his abilities against us every chance he got,” the doctor admitted.
Mikal shivered at the heartbroken sound of Alpha Two’s voice behind him, and he clenched his fists in rage at her whispered words.
“They forced us to watch his dissection, while he was alive, to teach us a lesson,” she whispered quietly as silent tears slipped down her cheeks.
Dr. Mussberger saw and felt the fury overtaking the strange man in front of him and cringed back into the chair as much as his bonds would allow.
“It wasn’t my decision!” he said, trying to defend what had happened.
“But you didn’t stop it either. In fact, you were the one who wielded the blade while the guards forced us to watch, under threat that we would be next if we didn’t. It was the only time I saw how many of us were being held there,” Two whispered as she stepped from behind Mikal to stare at the monster who’d so brutally killed the man she thought of as her father.
Mikal couldn’t take any more of her pain and his own at what he feared she’d gone through. He dissolved into air and carried her back out of the cabin into the small clearing in front.
He continued to hold her as the tears slipped down her face, and he wasn’t sure which surprised him more-the fact that she let him or that she had her arms wrapped around him and was holding him close. Either way, he was going to remain as he was until she no longer needed his strength and pulled herself together again.
Mikal held her close a few more minutes until she finally pulled away. He kept his eyes trained on the trees behind her as she wiped the tears from her face and drew a shuddering breath, not wanting her to feel awkward about him seeing her like this.
“Thank you,” Two said quietly, saying the words for the first time in her life.
It wasn’t that she wasn’t a grateful person. She’d just never had anyone give her a reason to thank them.
Mikal nodded his head and motioned towards the cabin.
“We need to find out as much as we can,” he said, giving her a chance to finish calming herself.
“I’m OK,” she
“I only know the designations given. We’re the Alpha lab, the others are Delta and Theta, but I have no idea where they are. None of us know where the others are. It’s a security measure they put in place in case one of our labs were discovered by the public,” Dr. Mussberger admitted.
“Do you know what states or countries they’re in?” Mikal asked.
Dr. Mussberger shook his head.
“No. Any time we spoke to one another in order to share data and information, we only referenced the lab designation,” he said.
Mikal tried to hide his frustration so it wouldn’t magnify Alpha Two’s, and he tried another line of questioning.
“How many are at each of the labs? Are they male or female?” he asked.
Dr. Mussberger sighed, hoping Alpha Two wouldn’t kill him when he answered.
“There are only two at Beta and Theta. After the failure of Alpha One, we never allowed another male to survive. We only allowed females specimens to be produced after that,” he explained.
“He didn’t fail!” Two exclaimed, and Mikal turned around to stop her from going near the doctor.
Two stared up into his eyes and immediately began to match her breathing and heart rate to his own until she was calm again.
Mikal smiled her, enjoying the feel of their hearts and breaths in synchronicity before he turned back to the doctor.
“How did the male fail?” he asked.
The doctor cleared his throat and peered nervously around Mikal to look at Alpha Two before he looked up at Mikal with pleading eyes.
“She’s going to . . .” he said.
Mikal leaned down and sneered at him.
“I’m going to . . . if you don’t answer the question,” Mikal growled.
Dr. Mussberger took a shaky breath and looked up at Mikal.
“He refused to kill the targets he was given. He demanded that he and the other specimens be freed, and he had to be kept drugged because he would use his abilities against us every chance he got,” the doctor admitted.
Mikal shivered at the heartbroken sound of Alpha Two’s voice behind him, and he clenched his fists in rage at her whispered words.
“They forced us to watch his dissection, while he was alive, to teach us a lesson,” she whispered quietly as silent tears slipped down her cheeks.
Dr. Mussberger saw and felt the fury overtaking the strange man in front of him and cringed back into the chair as much as his bonds would allow.
“It wasn’t my decision!” he said, trying to defend what had happened.
“But you didn’t stop it either. In fact, you were the one who wielded the blade while the guards forced us to watch, under threat that we would be next if we didn’t. It was the only time I saw how many of us were being held there,” Two whispered as she stepped from behind Mikal to stare at the monster who’d so brutally killed the man she thought of as her father.
Mikal couldn’t take any more of her pain and his own at what he feared she’d gone through. He dissolved into air and carried her back out of the cabin into the small clearing in front.
He continued to hold her as the tears slipped down her face, and he wasn’t sure which surprised him more-the fact that she let him or that she had her arms wrapped around him and was holding him close. Either way, he was going to remain as he was until she no longer needed his strength and pulled herself together again.
Mikal held her close a few more minutes until she finally pulled away. He kept his eyes trained on the trees behind her as she wiped the tears from her face and drew a shuddering breath, not wanting her to feel awkward about him seeing her like this.
“Thank you,” Two said quietly, saying the words for the first time in her life.
It wasn’t that she wasn’t a grateful person. She’d just never had anyone give her a reason to thank them.
Mikal nodded his head and motioned towards the cabin.
“We need to find out as much as we can,” he said, giving her a chance to finish calming herself.
“I’m OK,” she
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