table. “You wouldn’t have to kill if you would let the world know what is going on.”
“God, such innocence,” he growled, throwing his hands up in exasperation. “Fickle public that America
possesses. We would likely be burned at the stake as monsters.”
“Get real, Callan, it’s not the middle ages anymore,” she burst out. “Don’t you think the public has a
right to know? To be aware of the atrocities going on? Show them for the monsters they are and it will
ensure your safety.”
“It will not do this,” he bit out, shaking his head roughly. “You have no idea of the men you go against,
Merinus. Men whose social, financial and political resources span not just America, but also other
nations, other pocketbooks. You will not take these men down. You cannot stop the killing.”
“You won’t even try,” Merinus argued fiercely. “Look at you, Callan. Hiding, never knowing what the
hell is going on with your own bodies, unable to get the help you need, when you need it. This isn’t
living.”
“This is the best I can do.” His eyes were blazing. “Let me tell you an alternative, Merinus.” Her name
was a curse on his lips. “An alternative is living in a structured lab, taken out only for tests and training, or
breeding purposes. It’s cold and sterile and a worse hell than you could ever know. At least here we are
free.”
“As long as you kill?” Her fists clenched as she fought to understand the life he lived. The war raging
against him, through him.
“If they would cease to try to kill me, then I would no longer kill them,” he informed her coldly,
arrogance settling over him like an aura of danger.
“You can stop it,” she bit out.
“As can they,” he told her as she watched him fight for control. “I would not kill their damned
mercenaries if they would cease in sending them out.”
“Go in. Father can help you.” She couldn’t understand his need to hide when help was being offered.
“I am not a freak for your tabloids to ponder my humanity over.” He shook his head sharply. “I have as
much right to live as you or your brothers. I will not have that questioned, nor will I leave it up to a fickle
public to decide my fate.”
“This isn’t how it happens.” Merinus clenched her fists angrily. “The public will help you.”
“Only if your ‘spin’ on the story is better than that of my enemies,” he bit out. “And trust me, Merinus,
you are good, as are your brothers. But they will bribe your scientists, your doctors, they will jerk every
weapon you have out of your hands until I am branded as no more than a monster. And then, there will
be no place where I can hide.”
“That won’t happen,” Merinus assured him.
Merinus knew her father, uncle and brothers had been very careful. They wouldn’t take a chance with
his life.
Mockery washed over his face.
“Will it not?” he asked her. “Jacob thought he could aid us and refuse their offers. He returned home to
the brutal deaths of his wife and children. A lesson. How many of your scientists would risk that?”
Shock sped through Merinus’ body. She knew the Council killed indiscriminately, she had the proof of
it. But hearing Callan voice it, so coldly furious, made it somehow more real.
“I promise you, my family has made a way for you,” she whispered. “Look at us, Callan. Look at me. I
can’t be away from you for more than an hour without my body going into some kind of crazy
withdrawal. I can’t live this way.”
“It will only be temporary,” he promised her. “Doc will fix it.”
“How do you know?” she bit out. “What if it can’t be fixed, Callan? What if we can never be free of
each other? What if we don’t want to be?”
“I didn’t want to be born an animal, or an experiment. Wants don’t count.” His voice held a ring of
finality.
“And if Doc doesn’t fix it?” His attitude only spurred her anger further. “What about me, Callan? Will
you just run away and leave me to deal with it as best I can?”
He grimaced, turning away from her. She watched his muscular back heave with a harsh breath, his head
lower.
“If I must,” he told her softly, refusing to look at her now. “I will if I have to make the choice of revealing
my secrets, or being with you, Merinus. My family must come first.”
“I know about your family,” she told him, unreasonably furious at the stand he was taking. “What’s to
keep me from telling?”