Her Wild Hero

This was the part of the story they’d gotten to when Harry had started pressing her about why she was asking so many question.

“They asked for volunteers and started with the guards. But it wasn’t long before they were testing on the rest of the support staff,” Albert explained. “It wasn’t like we had a lot of options.”

Kendra didn’t bother to mention Stutmeir’s preferred method of finding candidates to turn into hybrids—kidnapping homeless veterans.

“Marcus was the first in line,” Harry added. “I have to hand it to him. I thought he was a bully and a thug from the moment I met him, but he wasn’t going to expose his men to a risk he wasn’t willing to face himself.”

Or he simply decided that if anyone was going to get turned into a super soldier, he was going to be the first in line. A big alpha male like Marcus probably thought he couldn’t be in charge if he wasn’t the biggest dog on the block. But Kendra didn’t point that out.

Kendra hated to keep asking questions, but she needed information if she ever hoped to get out of this place. She had no idea why she’d been thrown into this room, but sooner or later, someone would come looking for answers from her. She had to have a plan by then.

“It went well in the beginning,” Harry said suddenly. “Marcus and the other four volunteers went into…well I guess you would call it their hybrid state within an hour of the first treatment. The increase in strength, speed, and endurance was immediate and obvious. Improvements in vision both day and night, as well as the complete loss of pain receptivity, came later.”

“Mahsood, and whoever he was communicating with back in the States, were ecstatic, and asked for additional volunteers,” Lester added. “We wanted them to wait until we did some baseline testing and looked for long-term issues, but they wouldn’t listen. That’s when they started injecting the rest of the support staff. Mechanics, lab techs, medics…anyone they didn’t think were essential to the test trials.”

“Then someone started pushing for a field test to evaluate what we’d accomplished, and that’s when we lost complete control of the project,” Harry continued. “Marcus took over and before we knew it, they were going out armed to the teeth, taking most of the guards who hadn’t been through the process with them.”

“We found out later they attacked some military types out in the jungle on an exercise,” Albert said. “You and your friend, apparently.”

Kendra was about to ask what had happened to Dr. Mahsood when the door slammed back against the wall. Two hybrids strode in, looking bored and hungry. They flexed their claws as they focused on her, and it was hard not to cringe.

“Come with us,” one of them said. While he was the less animalistic of the two, she could still barely understand him.

She wanted to fight them but knew it wouldn’t do any good and might end up getting her killed. They seemed to want her alive, and she wanted to stay that way. But when she stood up to go with them, Harry and the other men jumped to their feet faster than she would have thought them capable of and moved to stand in front of her.

“You’re not taking her anywhere,” Harry said firmly.

The hybrids tensed, their claws flexing again, their eyes glowing a darker red. These two were seriously on edge and seconds away from ripping the old men apart. Knowing she couldn’t let that happen, she shouldered her way past the doctors and stopped in front of the hybrids.

“It’s okay, Harry,” she said. “I’ll go with them.”

The hybrids almost looked disappointed that they wouldn’t have a reason to beat the doctors into submission.

Harry caught her arm. “You don’t have to go with them.”

She gave him a small smile. “It’s okay. Don’t worry. I’ll be back.”

Kendra hoped she sounded more convinced than she felt. Turning, she followed the first hybrid out the door. The other one fell into step behind her as if she was some dangerous spy who might try to escape. If she thought there was even the slightest chance she could get away, she would.

They led her across an open space between the various other buildings that made up the research facility. The rising sun hadn’t quite crested the ridgeline yet, so she couldn’t make out much, but she saw enough to realize the place hadn’t been built recently. In fact, some of the buildings looked as if they’d been here for a few years. Maybe it had been some kind of conservation center or something.

Even though escaping was probably going to be impossible, that didn’t stop her from surveying her surroundings anyway. The wire fencing encircling the camp didn’t bother her as much as the hybrids patrolling the perimeter. Getting past them would be difficult, even if she could somehow ditch her two guards.

But the hybrid in the lead was already walking up the steps to a building. He opened the door, then moved back and ushered her inside.