Page 80 of Mysteries, Menace, and Mates

HORVAN HADonly just shifted back when Aelryn stormed into the hall, his eyes blazing, his cheeks flushed.

“What’s happened?”

“It’s taken longer than we anticipated, going through the Geran records and data, but details are starting to emerge.” Aelryn gritted his teeth. “Monstrous doesn’t even begin to cover it. I think if the rank-and-file Gerans knew what was happening, they’d defect in droves.”

Horvan had never seen Aelryn so riled up. “What have you found?”

“The breeding program? It wasn’t cranking out the foot soldiers fast enough.” He widened his eyes. “Do you know they were actually discussing the possibility of implanting embryos in men. Seriously? And what makes this ten times worse is the people they were going to use? The Gerans knew they’d never survive the attempt, and they didn’t give a crap.”

Horvan went cold. “Tell me this is a joke.”

“Oh, I wish it were, but it gets worse. They wanted to see how soon children could be impregnated. Children!”

“But… that would’ve killed them.”

“Exactly. Their bodies wouldn’t be able to handle the surge of hormones, not to mention a life growing inside them, or giving birth to a child that might have been huge. Then it gets really interesting. The Gerans had a ‘preferred ability’ list and wanted to see if they could increase the pool of shifters with those abilities.”

“What sort of abilities are we talking about?”

“Things like telekinesis, pyrokinesis, etc. Stuff thatwe’renot even sure exist,theywanted to try and make reality. And the scariest part? On paper it seems like they were really fucking close on some of these things.” Aelryn shivered. “I hope and pray Jake finds what he’s looking for, because this needs to end—now.”

HORVAN FELLback against the pillows, utterly exhausted. Playing with the kids had been fun, and even Dellan seemed to be having a good time, although there was clearly something on his mind he was keeping locked away. When he’d dragged Dellan and Rael to the bedroom, Horvan’s intention was to find the perfect way to exhaust them all, allowing them to shut down their brains for a while.

He still couldn’t believe what Aelryn had told him. He knew the Gerans were monsters, but he never would have guessed there wasn’t a shred of humanity in some of them.Children, for fuck’s sake. He’d rolledaround with those kids, and he’d seen their smiles, heard their laughter, felt their need to be shown they were loved.

And the fucking Gerans had exploited that. When Eve had told him about Logan, Horvan wanted to hit—or kill—something. Maybe someone.

Possibly a lot of someones.

“If three rounds of sex didn’t wear you out, we’ll need to get some warm milk and cookies, because I don’t think I have another go in me,” Rael said, stroking his fingers over Horvan’s chest. “Or a drop of spunk, if it comes to that.”

“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to keep you awake.”

Rael sat up. “Youdoknow the darker your emotions, the harder it is to blot them out, right? Who’s got you pissed off?”

He didn’t want to tell them. Better they remain somewhat innocent.

Except that’s wrong. They’re my mates, and I have to trust them to make up their own minds.

Horvan sighed. “What I have to say is hard. Like enough to put you into an anger-induced frenzy kinda hard. That’s what has me so worked up.” He kissed the top of Dellan’s head. “It will be worse for you.”

Dellan craned his neck to look Horvan in the eye. “It has something to do with kids, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah.” Horvan took a deep breath. “It seems as though Alec wasn’t the only one. The Gerans did horrible things to a lot of people, kids included. And we might never know the full extent of it all.”

Then he told them about Logan, and Eve’s intention that she and the guys would adopt him. Even knowing that his life might be shortened, like Alec’s, by something the Gerans had done.

Dellan snuggled against Horvan’s side. “I wish I didn’t want all the Gerans to die. I never thought I had it in me to yearn for harm to come to people like that. But God help me, I want them all to be turned into rock, then ground to a fine powder. I want them put on an island, then have the military nuke the fuck out of them. Like brainwashing the kids wasn’t bad enough, they had to dig deeper to show how low they couldreallygo.”

Rael reached over and stroked Dellan’s side. “We’re going to win this. It won’t fix everything, I know, but we can at least put some things right. The kids they were indoctrinating are being deprogrammed and shown that life as a kid can be—shouldbe—fun. We can only do so much. We need to get everyone on the samepage and working together.”

“Sounds like a perfect job for you, Rael,” Horvan suggested.

His eyes widened. “What?”

“You’re smooth and confident. You’re used to getting people to gather around a problem and solve it. This fight isn’t just a war of weapons. It’s a war of words. Of winning over the people who aren’t sure which side to believe. We have a few others, but they need a leader to help them band together. That could be you.” Horvan smiled. “Rael Parton, photojournalist. Who writes books. Perfect.”

“And what about Dellan?”

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