“They’re coming for him,” Danil whispered, fear and anger vibrating through him. All of them looked to the door that Anton had disappeared through. “They’re coming back to claim all the work they did on him. Their greatest weapon.”
“That doesn’t make sense!” Maxim said, standing up to pace around the small room. “If they are so close then why wouldn’t they have broken our door down? Taken him as they did before?”
“Because they saw what we can do,” Emin replied. “When we rescued him before. We three nearly destroyed entire facility. They wouldn’t be eager for more.”
Dora was listening, but her thoughts were racing as well. She was rearranging everything she’d observed and learned over the last year about Navuka. The answer hit her like a brick. “They’re building shifters who will be able to fight you.”
Every head turned to her. She put a hand over her mouth to keep the disgust down. “Every site that I’ve found and investigated over the last year had the same signs. Chemical tests, surgical tools, signs of human and animal suffering. I thought that they must be creating shifters out of some poor souls. But no. They were augmenting shifters that they’d found. If they’re sticking this close, it must mean that they’re building some sort of crew to try and take you all down.”
Danil had to stand now, too. “We have to slow down here. We need more evidence. Dora, we’ll need to see all of your notes. Everything you have on them.”
“Of course. But I can also lead you to their headquarters.”
“How?” Danil asked, his voice chilled and serious.
“With the packages. I know the schedule now. Kip revealed it to me this morning. A week from now they’ll get a new shipment of chemicals and supplies in for their experiments. They drop them off at a dummy location. And then a few hours after that, whoever is working for Navuka comes and picks them up and brings them to wherever they’re doing their experiments now.” She took a deep breath. “I can go and tell you where it is.”
“You won’t be going alone,” Danil said, his eyes boring into hers from across the room.
“We’ll all go,” Maxim said. And no one else spoke. No one else had to.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Dora slept in Danil’s bed that night. It surprised her a little that it came so naturally, but he didn’t blink twice, arrogant as he was. She woke up tangled in him, his mouth tracing a tingling path down the side of her neck.
The next night, she fell asleep at the desk in the guest room, combing through her notes, looking for anything she might have missed. But she awoke that morning in Danil’s bed. She’d looked at him in the dim morning light. Smelling his pine smell. She smiled when she realized that the morning was their time. So many moments had happened to them in the mornings. She rolled on top of him and made another moment.
She wasn’t surprised when she came home from the coffee shop - an unsuccessful attempt to meet with Kip - and found that all of her things had been moved into his room. No discussion. No extra words. Just the reality of living in his room with him now. She wasn’t surprised, but she did roll her eyes. What a bossy-ass bear.
She asked over and over to see him shift.
“Come on!” she’d cried. “My name is Pandora, for the love of God! Curiosity can kill! It killed the damn cat. Show me, Danil!”
Her begging had almost worked. But he’d shaken his head, pulled her against him, and showed her other things instead.
Danil went to work that week. Although Dora had no idea how he did. She was damn near coming out of her skin at every turn. She tried to be useful, to keep gathering information. But her nerves, her head, spinning with information, was making her sloppy. She was drawing attention to herself in ways that made her nervous.
With three days left until they were going to the package sorting facility, Dora figured it was best just to toss up her hands and try to concentrate on something else.
She regretted that decision about thirty seconds later when she found herself roaming from room to room in Danil’s house. She should feel funny, being there without him, but she didn’t. She was extremely comfortable here. Perhaps because he’d made a point of having sex with her in every single room. Dora swallowed hard as she sauntered through the living room, recalling what had happened here.
She’d been trying to read the paper last night when Danil had strode into the room, ripped it from her hands and tossed it across the room. He’d fallen on her like a starving man. Her lady parts had been the main course. Dora clamped her thighs together as she remembered how ravenous, how focused he’d been. She’d come harder than she ever had in her life. All because of his talented mouth. And when she was done he’d flipped himself onto his back and pressed her right down in his lap.