Page 109 of Fanged Embrace
“Noted.” I managed a hushed chuckle and a smug little smirk when Leo grimaced at the mention of my ‘girlfriend.’ Then I was off, running full tilt to my car to meet up with the rest of the infiltration team.
I tested my visions, casting my net wide for a possible future where this all turned out okay. The flashes came faint and foggy, a million different ways this could all go wrong, but I didn’t let that uncertainty slow my step.
Nothing was set in stone. The future could change at any moment, the slightest twinge in reality could alter entire timelines.
The future was whatever I believed it to be, whatever I was willing to fight for. And I was ready to fight. I was ready to kick down the doors of the organization’s stronghold and rescue the woman who had come to mean the world to me. I picked up the pace, curls streaming out behind me, heart clenching tighter in my chest.
I hadn’t realized it until right now, with my lungs burning and my pulse racing a mile a minute, that Laurie had claimed me—just as I had, unknowingly, claimed her. That sacred bond forged between us spurred me onward, an invisible ribbon of fate that tied the two of us together.
I’d sunk my teeth into her neck and left my mark, but Laurie had left her mark too—on my heart. And now, with that monumental revelation nearly bringing me to tears, I was readyto face whatever danger the world would throw my way if it meant getting her back.
I would bend the future to my will.
I would find my mate—and I would bring her home.
54
Laurie
The first thing I noted about the organization’s leader was that the guy loved to talk.
“Marcus Bream,” was how he introduced himself, while he pulled out a chair at the end of the table and motioned for me to sit. I complied, hesitantly, and looked around to find all sets of supernatural eyes pinned on me—something I was pretty used to by now—while Marcus Bream launched into a long tirade about his life, his work, and how he came to be the leader of the organization in the first place.
What I learned, mostly unwillingly, considering I didn’t manage to get a word in edgeways, was that Marcus Bream (CEO-philanthropist, well-connected andincrediblywealthy) loved the sound of his own voice.
“Lorelai, I must say, I am most grateful for your decision to return to us,” was how he began. He offered me a smile, a genuine smile that felt at odds with the tight-lipped, stony expressions of his associates. “Your brief absence wasunfortunate, but hardly unforgivable. The youth of today are prone to flights of fancy. I’m sure it was nothing more than a mild misunderstanding.”
I curled my lip and bit back a snappy comment at the way he waved away the details of my ‘absence.’ Like I hadn’t fought tooth and nail to get out of that facility. Like I hadn’t lost something precious in the process. Marcus spoke to me like I was a child, and the more words he spewed, the more I came to realize that was exactly how he saw me.
He hovered at the far end of the table, ran fingers through his graying hair, and forged ahead. “You are very important to us, Laurie. You are, quite literally, the base template for the future. Something in your genes enables a stability in hybrid offspring that we’ve been chasing for years. With your cooperation, we’ll be able to use your DNA to welcome an era where disease, weakness—even death—are mere footnotes in humanity’s history. Isn’t that exciting?”
“No, not really.” I bristled at his self-congratulatory tone, at his delusional take on what the organization was doing. “Tell me, Marcus, how often do you actually visit your own facilities?”
His smile flickered, faded for a moment, then returned with vigor. “Ah, I can rarely find the time these days. I have obligations after all, congressional hearings and all that… My calendar overflows. But I’m assured—” he swept an arm toward the silent board, “that everyone under our care receives exemplary treatment.”
I barked out a laugh, loud enough to have the others narrowing their eyes at me. “Exemplary treatment, my ass. Try kidnapping, torture, and general abuse. Not to mention severe medical malpractice.” I counted out the sins on my fingers.
A few board members shifted, irritated by my tone, but Marcus merely blinked—bemused, not offended. “Hyperbole isa common defense mechanism,” he said gently. “You’re young. You underwent procedures you didn’t comprehend.”
I felt heat crawl up my neck. Hot, fiery hatred flickering to life. “Dandelion was a procedure?”
He missed the warning entirely. “Dandelion? Ah, your offspring, I presume? Her biochemistry would have?—”
“Would have what?” My voice cracked, fury spiking in my chest. “Made her a better specimen than her mother? A better experiment? Clearly, you have no idea what goes on down there, Bream. You’re a puppet in your own operation.”
At that, a thin, severe-looking vampire to my left cleared her throat. “Chairman, perhaps we should postpone?—”
Marcus lifted a placating hand. “No, no. Lorelai is allowed to have her opinion.” Those polite eyes slid back to me. “You were hurt. I understand. But soon you’ll see why sacrifice is necessary. Imagine a world where no child suffers disease?—”
“I’d rather imagine a world where no child suffersyou,” I shot back, knuckles whitening on the table edge.
A fractional tension rippled through the board, but Marcus only sighed, a patient father with an unruly teen. “One day, you’ll thank me. Just…. Imagine this,” he was pacing back and forth now, yapping with a dramatic flourish of his hands, “being offered a cure for frailty. A key to bypass every human limit. You would take that offer, wouldn’t you, Lorelai?”
I opened my mouth to bite back another scathing retort, but Marcus was already steamrolling ahead. He talked. And talked. About how heart disease, a so-called family curse, had loomed over him. How a mysterious patron in this very room had “saved” him.Turnedhim, gave him hope when he was at his lowest.
The night he learned he’d never breathe hard climbing stairs again, he’d sworn to share the gift of vampirism with the rest of the world. A humanitarian vision, he called it.
He thought he was doing the world a favor, ushering in anew era where no one would have to suffer the ‘limitations’ of being human. Vampirism had worked for him, apparently, so he wanted to offer a refined version of it to the rest of the world. By force, by the sounds of it.
