More Than Life (Arcane Crossbreeds) by Amanda Vyne Page A

an image coalesced in her. Curtains curling and turning to ash, lights fracturing. She’d done it…by screaming. Of course. The cameras. She knew they were there. They were always there. Always watching.
    “Not that our male’s assistance wasn’t extremely helpful in getting them to manifest. Now, I would like to know what else has manifested.”
    Our male. Raife.
    Humiliation burned through her. Every detail of what happened was seared into her mind. She could still feel his touch, marked just as surely as he was. The mating had felt primal and sacred. But it was only another torturous way to get what they wanted from her. Heat curled down over her flesh, and rage intertwined with anguish, filling her until it mingled with the blood on her lips.
    “Emotion seems to be a trigger for manifestation.” His voice became more distant, as though he were talking to someone behind him. “Miss St. Vincent, document that the subject has exhibited accelerated healing in both lower extremities.”
    Katya forced her eyes open and focused on him.
    “Bilateral dark optical occlusion congruent with the Guardian species. Infuse her with Serum B. Collect samples before and after infusion.” Then he turned his head, and beady little eyes focused on her. His clammy hand patted her thigh, and disgust rolled up through her and clogged her throat. “See, now, that wasn’t so bad, was it, my dear?” His gaze roved over her naked form. “It appears we will not even be required to treat your wounds.”
    Katya jerked in her restraints. Her flesh crawled and went ice-cold. An overwhelming urge to kill something, to make it feel as wretched and riddled with pain as she was, came to the fore. It took an effort to control herself, to make her body relax back on the metal table, but she pushed the heat of a dark promise into her gaze, made sure it was a tangible force that radiated from her. She wanted him to feel it. Fear it.
    She hadn’t been aware she could heal herself. That was one ability he knew about before she did, but the others were still secreted away deep inside her, waiting for when she could use them to escape. What else could he possibly infuse her with that would make her any more of an abomination?
    The doctor stepped away to allow his assistant to draw her blood. She was impossible to read, most likely because she wasn’t human. The woman was cold and impersonal, never taunting or purposefully cruel like Dr. Rupple was, and Katya usually disregarded her altogether. Cool smooth fingers touched her arm, and she noticed the woman wasn’t wearing gloves.
    Then she felt it, a gentle brush against her mind as though someone was trying to gain access. Startled, she reinforced her mental barriers. She darted a worried glance at Dr. Rupple, who was writing in his lab books with his back to her. The assistant expertly drew her blood and placed the vial in a rack on the metal table. She retrieved a large syringe from the tray, her bare hand never once moving from Katya’s arm.
    Words brushed over her. Faint. Distorted. She stared hard at the woman. Was she trying to communicate? Why, after all these months?
    Distrustful but curious, Katya eased her mental barriers back. The words grew louder but no clearer. She flared out her senses and lightly touched the surface of the assistant’s mind.
    “If you can hear me, please listen carefully; we are arranging for you to be transferred out of here. Don’t be afraid; my men won’t hurt you.”
    Transferred , not freed. Katya didn’t miss the distinction, which made her distrust the woman all the more. Yet she didn’t want to lose the opportunity this might give her to escape. Should she pretend to be agreeable, make them think she believed them? She’d have to open her mind more to respond, and she wasn’t sure that was such a good idea. It couldn’t be a coincidence that she was being “transferred” barely hours after Raife was brought in to mate her.
    “You don’t understand