Page 61 of The Rabbit's Foot
It didn’t matter. This man—this monster—was about to die under Mal’s jaws. He would rip the asshole apart, limb by limb, and relish the taste of the blood as it spurted over his tongue, the screams of agony that would send jolts of pleasure through Mal, and when Hyde finally died, Alp would be—Alp. Mal had told Alp they weren’t monsters. If he killed Hyde, that was one thing. If he took revenge against the man, that would scare Alp, and Mal couldn’t have that.
A quick, clean kill. That was what he needed. Something that would put Alp’s mind at rest, knowing the dark thing that haunted his dreams was no more. It didn’t matter how Mal felt, Alp was the one who’d been hurt, and it was his feelings that were important.
Hyde moved slowly down the hall, casting furtive glances left and right. He obviously hadn’t seen Mal yet. When he got near the room, he turned and started to head down the hall. No way was Mal about to blow this chance to get closure for Alp. He yanked open the door.
Hyde spun on his heel, his blue eyes narrowed. “You’re one of them,” he snapped.
“Gee, what gave it away?” Mal snarled, flexing his fingers, itching to eviscerate the son of a bitch. “The fact that I’m standing here, naked? Or is it the blood covering me? None of which is mine, by the way.”
The tensing of muscles let Mal know that Hyde was going to try and bolt, but that wasn’t going to happen. He gripped Hyde’s lab coat and jerked him back. He should do it now, here in the hall. Snap his neck like a dried twig, then go in, pull Alp into his arms, and let him know the nightmare was finally over.
But Alp had said he wanted to look Hyde in the eyes and let him know he wasn’t afraid, and he wanted to see the dawning of his impending death when it hit Hyde. He dragged Hyde into the lab, staying far enough away from the room Alp was hidden in where he could see, but not be seen.
He glanced toward the closet, and in that distracted moment, Hyde struck.
* * *
“Mal!”
Alp watched, horrified, as Hyde slammed a needle into Mal’s neck, pressing the plunger. When Mal’s grip slackened, Hyde jerked away. Mal stiffened a moment, then stumbled. He shook his head and stalked toward Hyde, his lips curled back into a snarl.
“You hurt Alp,” he ground out. “What you’re doing here is horrifying, but I’m going to kill you because of what you did to my mate.”
Hyde scrambled back, keeping just out of Mal’s reach. “This is science,” he snapped. “We have to make sacrifices.”
“Humans—children—are not sacrifices!” Mal shouted.
“If a few animals die for the betterment of mankind, then it’s worth it in the end. Yourmateis no different than any other animal we’ve experimented on.”
Mal slammed his fist into a steel examination table, launching it across the floor where it slammed into a cabinet, shattering the glass and sending the instruments crashing to the tiles.
“Alp is a fucking human being!”
Hyde smirked. “But he’s not, is he? None of you really are. You play the part well, but we both know it’s nothing but pretend.”
Alp noticed that Mal was moving slower now, and though he wanted to do something, it was as if roots had sprung from his feet and were holding him in place.
“I’m saddened that we need their help. I truly wish we didn’t have to harm anything, but for mankind to move forward, we need knowledge. And the things we’ve learned from examining these creatures? It’s remarkable. Who knows where this research might lead? We could be able to make medicines to stave off aging, we might learn how to make vaccines that will save tens of thousands of lives, or we could unlock the secrets of how to regrow limbs. In the end, anything we’ve done here will be hailed as nothing short of miraculous.”
Mal howled his rage, and it sent shivers zipping up Alp’s spine. He could feel Mal’s despair, and the force of it nearly knocked Alp back. It was like a living thing, writhing and slithering inside Mal, tearing him up.
“We are fucking human beings, you psychotic son of a bitch.” He moved closer. “Alp is a human being,” he ground out, his voice dropping low and getting more gravelly.
“He’s a rabbit, nothing more, nothing less,” Hyde snapped. “He’s no different than the ones cosmetics are tested on. No, I take that back. He’s better, because he mimics human attributes.”
Another step, and Mal’s knees buckled. Hyde gave him a creepy-as-fuck smile as Mal slid to the floor, his chest heaving.
“Oh, I should have mentioned, another thing that we discovered? How to protect ourselves against your kind. That venom? When we heard there were aquatic shifters, that opened up new avenues of research. Marine life is so vast and varied, it was incredible. Then we discovered a box jellyfish shifter, and from his sacrifice, we learned how to bring your kind to heel.” He knelt next to Mal and patted his chest. “Hard to breathe, isn’t it? The venom’s toxins can cause extreme pain, paralysis, delirium, shock, cardiac arrest, and even death within minutes. Box jellyfish are among the deadliest of animals. Each one has enough venom to kill sixty adults. In all our testing, not one of your kind survived. Now, tell me how any creature that deadly is remotely human.”
Mal clutched his throat, gasping for air, his skin paling. His gaze, defiant at always, stayed locked on Hyde.
“Consider this your contribution to my experiments,” Hyde said. “Will your accelerated healing allow you to survive this? I think the results will be fascinating.”
Alp’s heart sundered as he watched Mal’s breathing become shallower, harsher. Why couldn’t he move? When Mal’s gaze flicked to him, rage poured into Alp. He couldn’t move because he was fucking terrified of Hyde. Of what the man would do if he got hold of Alp again. And while he stood there, useless, Mal was dying.
“No!” screamed Alp, slamming against the door and throwing it open against the wall with a bang.
Hyde’s head snapped in Alp’s direction, and a slow smile spread over his face. “You came back. I knew you would.”
