Falling in love with him had been a mistake, something that she’d tried to stop herself from doing, but clearly she was an idiot because-
“They came for us in 1941,” he announced as he closed the bedroom door behind them.
“What?” she asked, turning around to face him only to find him by the window, bathed in moonlight as he stared off into the distance.
“It was a cool night, much like tonight when they came for us. My father thought, hoped really that we had a few more weeks, but someone must have tipped off the SS because they’d showed up at our door, armed and looking for me.”
“Why were they looking for you?” she asked, her anger pushed aside as her curiosity got the better of her and she found herself sitting on the edge of the bed, waiting to hear the rest of his story.
“Because I was an oddity,” he said with a sad smile. “I was sixteen years old, on the cusp of manhood, but trapped in the body of a child. Someone in the village had talked, someone that my father had helped, had kept safe, had decided that a few dollars was worth betraying my father’s kindness. They came with orders to find the boy that wouldn’t age and bring him to one of the labs that the Nazis were so fond of.”
“My father refused to let them take me. He screamed for me to take Marta and run, but I couldn’t force my legs to listen. I stood there like a fool while a soldier pulled out a gun and placed it against my father’s temple as he struggled to get to us. I remember screaming his name as his body fell to the ground, but nothing much after that.”
“A few days later I woke up in a cage being held in a large white lab. I had no idea how I got there or where I was. I just remember being hungry, really hungry, which was odd since my appetite had waned over the last few years.”
“What happened after you woke up?” she found herself asking once he’d grown quiet.
“The guards told the doctors that I was awake. They started asking me a million questions, but once they’d realized that I wouldn’t talk they brought Marta out, fresh from surgery.”
“What did they do to her?” she asked, immediately wishing that she hadn’t.
“They performed an autopsy of sorts on her, the first of many,” he said, folding his arms over his chest as he leaned back against the wall. “When I fought to get to her, one of the doctors placed the sharp edge of a scalpel to her throat and just like that they owned us. I couldn’t do anything without risking Marta’s life.”
“W-what did they do to you?”
“Everything,” he simply said, looking as though he wasn’t going to continue, but much to her horror, he did. “They started off with trying drugs out on me, then gases, looking for better ways to kill. When nothing worked on me they turned to weapons, fire, acids. They systemically cut off every body part, watching in fascination as it grew back.”
“Oh, my God,” she whispered, horrified.
“When they realized that I couldn’t die, they decided to try and make an army of monsters. They stole my blood and would give it to volunteers, prisoners, anyone that they could get their hands on and when that didn’t work, they started to shove women in my cage.”
“Women?”
He nodded as he shifted closer to the window. “They were brainwashed, led to believe that they were doing their part for the Aryan race. At first, I’d attack the women, half-starved and desperate for blood, but soon the scientists running the lab learned to overfeed me before placing a woman in my cage.”
Her stomach dropped as she imagined all the women being shoved in his cage. “Did you…..,” she started to ask, but she couldn’t make the words come out of her mouth.
“Did I f**k them?” he asked, looking at her for the first time since he’d started. He shook his head as he dropped his head back against the wall. “No, I didn’t. No matter what they did to entice me, I refused to touch them. I refused to let them get their hands on my child. I’ve touched women after that, but I’ve never risked a child, not until you,” he added with a shrug as she struggled to accept what he was saying. He’d been a virgin? Impossible. Before she could ask him, he continued distracting her.
His eyes locked on hers as he said, “And I refuse to let it happen now, Cloe. I wasn’t leaving you behind to be an ass**le. I was trying to put an end to this and keep our child safe. To keep you safe.”
“By leaving me here to wonder if you were okay, Christofer?” she demanded, angry with herself and with him for feeling like this, like she’d die if anything happened to him.
“You don’t understand, Cloe,” he said, shaking his head as he pushed away from the wall and headed for the door.
“Then make me understand,” she said, coming to her feet and grabbing his arm to keep him from leaving.
“It’s my job to protect you and to keep you safe,” he said firmly, his muscles tensing beneath her touch.
“Who says?” she asked softly, moving to stand in front of him.
“My father,” he said with a sad smile as he looked her in the eye. He ran his fingertips along her jaw, his touch tender and sweet.
“And what exactly did your father tell you?” she asked, reaching up and covering his hand with hers.
“To always guard my heart,” he said as he leaned down and kissed her. “And that’s you.”
Chapter 58
Manhattan, New York
“What the f**k?”
“Good morning, sunshine,” Kale said as he popped open a fresh can of Coke and took a long, satisfying sip of the sweet, life-giving nectar that allowed him to function without killing everyone in sight.
Well, almost everyone in sight, he amended a moment later when he opened his eyes and spotted the man that he’d knocked out and chained to a chair only an hour ago. He would have killed him immediately, but there were two parts to the contract that he needed to fulfill before he could collect his pay. Granted, he would have done this job for free, planned to the moment he saw those marks on Cloe’s back.
Since the ass**le had stirred up a bee’s nest that had ended with shifters sneaking into his territory and coming within a mile of his godchildren, he’d decided to pay this piece of shit a visit sooner than later. The job offer had only given him the excuse that he needed to leave.
“I’m under protection,” the piece of shit snarled with a cocky grin. “You can’t touch me until my property is returned to me.”
“Yes, I can,” he said, taking another sip as he glanced down at his watch, noting that his contact was two and a half minutes late.
“You work for the Sentinels, don’t you?” his mark asked, sounding disgusted. “You’re a f**king traitor, aren’t you, mutt?”
“Occasionally,” Kale said unconcerned, looking down at his phone when it chimed and shaking his head when he read the message that waited for him.
She really was a greedy little thing, he thought as he texted Izzy back and agreed to pick up three boxes of fudge. Not that she’d see any of it, but that fudge had been pretty good and he wouldn’t mind having a little extra for the trip back to the mansion.
“You have no idea what you’re doing,” Aidan snarled.
“I’m collecting a bounty for killing a sick f**k who likes to tear apart little girls for fun,” Kale said, meeting Aidan’s cocky glare with one of his own, knowing just how much it would piss the piece of shit off.