Authors: Rebecca Zanetti
conducted—all while being bound. Every doctor and scientist had approached him cautiously, and he’d
held still for each, amusement keeping him from going insane.
Then he’d fought for six hours straight.
In a training field much like the ones he’d grown up on, he’d fought highly trained soldiers. With
knives, with poles, even with guns, they’d come at him—often two or three at a time.
The commander had watched while several others had filmed him and taken copious notes. After the
fights, they’d brought him here. He glanced down at his bare chest and already purpling ribs. Blood and
mud covered his ripped jeans and combat boots. He smelled like blood, death, and dirt.
Some doctor had taken more blood and made notations of Nate’s breathing, heart rate, and blood
pressure before disappearing.
High heels clicked outside the door, and every muscle in Nate’s body stiffened.
Dr. Madison entered the room, her dark hair up in a bun, a tablet in her hands.
Great. Nate lifted an eyebrow. “Seems like old times.” Except for the tablet—she used to scribble in
notebooks. Score one for technology. The woman had tended to his wounds many times through the years,
although she wasn’t a medical doctor. Not once had she offered sympathy or kindness. Just Band-Aids and
medical jargon.
She smiled and eyed his bare chest, interest gleaming. “You’ve filled out even more in the last five
years.”
He swallowed down nausea. “I’ve made it all day without puking. Let’s keep it that way.”
She giggled.
The sound assaulted every muscle in his gut. For years, he’d heard that giggle—unnatural and weird
from such a brilliant scientist. “I’ve always thought you might be crazy,” he said conversationally.
She shrugged and moved forward to tap her fingers along his ribs. “You’ve broken a couple.”
No shit, lady. “They’ll heal.” He tested the ties at his wrist—solid.
“Yes, they will.” She hummed to herself. “Do you still heal quickly?”
Faster than ever, actually. “Not as fast as Jory. Where is he?”
Madison giggled again. “I’m asking the questions today. You fought well—kept up the training, have
you?”
“Did you think I’d get fat and slow after I escaped you?” he asked lazily.
“No.” Madison shook her head, reaching for disinfectant and a cotton ball. “I figured you’d prepare to
come back and try to take the commander out.”
Nate gave a short nod. The woman had studied him since birth, and she was an expert in psychology
and all of that crap. “I considered it. Planned it, in fact. But things change.”
“I’ve noticed. Where are your bothers, anyway? They should be mounting a rescue by now.” She
dabbed the cotton along a cut above his right pec.
Pain bit into him, and he kept his expression bored and his body relaxed. “Like I said, things change.”
She leaned into him, wiping blood off his shoulder. “Don’t be silly. There’s no way you and your
bothers have had a falling out bad enough that they wouldn’t save your sweet ass.”
He swallowed and turned his head so they were eye to eye. “We’re as solid as ever, but now they have
something else to protect.”
Madison breathed out, her gaze dropping to his mouth.
He levered back.
She sighed and stepped away. “You don’t mean those silly women, do you? I met Josie once, and I’ve
read all about Laney. Those twits wouldn’t come between you.”
Nate chuckled and shook his head, ignoring the strained muscles in his neck. For once, he could give
her the truth. “My sisters-in-law haven’t come between us. But they’ve given my brothers a reason to keep
living, and nothing, not even me, will keep my brothers from protecting them.” Nate tugged on the
restraints. “You don’t know either one of them if you think they’re sacrificing those women for me, and
you don’t know me if you think I’d let them.”
Madison clucked her tongue. “I taught you all better than that.” She studied a cut above his right eye
that was still bleeding. “When you’re fighting, when such pain is inflicted on you, I figured you’d be
thinking about your brothers. Or escape. Or some beach in Cabo. Is that true?”
“No.”
“Then, what?” she asked, reaching for the tablet, fingers poised to type.
“Fuck you.” The woman would never understand. When he fought, when pain tried to trap him, he
thought of
nothing
. It was a trick Mattie had taught him early on, and it had saved his life more times than
he could count. Think nothing, feel nothing, and just fight back.
His childhood had shaped him into a survivor, into a predator, and those lessons had taken hold and
dug deep.
Madison reached over and jabbed a bruise along his jaw. “Not nice, Nathan. Considering we’re going to
share a little boy, you might want to be nicer to me.”
Rage ripped through Nate, and only a tight rein on his control kept him from showing it. “Audrey and I
are going to share a little boy. He won’t need nutty granny, you bitch.”
Madison barked out laughter. “Did I hit a nerve? Sweet boy.”
Nate shook his head. “I really don’t get it. How can you not care a whit about the baby? Or Audrey?
She’s your daughter.”
Madison gave him a blank look. “I do. Audrey is safe, and we’re going to train that boy to be even
better than you.”
No way was his kid going to be a cold-blooded killer. No fucking way. “How could you impregnate her
like that? Without even asking her?”
Madison smiled. “Why ask her? The girl has loved you since day one. She would’ve said yes. And the
baby is yours, Nathan. I promise.”
She was telling the truth, but he’d already known the kid was his. Regardless of the sperm donor.
“Don’t make me kill you, Madison.” His voice became hoarse.
She blinked and then scoffed. “You couldn’t kill me, Nathan. Not only did I raise you, but I’m also
Audrey’s mother. She might not understand me, but like any child, she wants to love me. She does. No
matter how much you might dislike me, she’d never forgive you for killing me.” Dr. Madison patted him on
the top of the head. “You sweet boy. Think.”
Nate jerked his head away. As much as he hated it, the woman was right. Audrey wouldn’t be able to
deal with him killing her mother. Plus, he wasn’t quite sure he could handle killing the woman, as horrible
as she’d been to him through the years. Unless—“Did you shoot Jory?” he asked.
Madison stepped back. “How did you know Jory had been shot?”
“I saw a video.” Nate watched her closely.
Her eyebrows rose. “Interesting.” She reached out and brushed a finger over his tattoo. “Freedom.”
“Yes.” He kept his face stoic, wanting nothing more than to kick her away from him.
“I don’t understand you.” Dr. Madison frowned. “We could give you the world. A freedom you can’t
even imagine.”
“That’s not freedom. That’s fear.” Nate shook his head. “No matter how smart you are, you’ll never
understand.” The way the commander and Madison had controlled them, with threatening harm to their
brothers, guaranteed no other outcome but escape. “We will never want what you have to offer.”
She scratched her chin, frowning as if trying to solve an impossible puzzle. “You and everybody you
love are going to die in slightly more than two weeks if you don’t come back.”
He lifted his chin. “I’ll take freedom and death over the life you’re offering.”
“For your brothers, too?” she asked, her painted lips coy.
“Yes.” He kept her gaze, allowing no expression to cross his face. The thought of his brothers dying
hurt deep inside him, but the thought of them being subjected to the commander’s whims again sliced deep
beyond the here and now.
Her head jerked up, and her frown deepened.
The door opened, and Audrey rushed inside and toward him. “Nate!” Her eyes widened when she eyed
the damage marring his chest. She touched a bruise under his eye. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine.” He glanced at Dr. Madison as she turned to furiously type on her tablet. “Taking notes, are
you?”
“Yes.” Madison didn’t lift her head. “The emotion in your relationship intrigues me. It’ll be interesting
to see how it changes when the baby arrives.”
Audrey went pale.
“Audrey,” Nate said softly. “Look at me.”
Her tear-filled eyes lifted to meet his.
He forced a smile through battered lips. “We’re going to be fine. I need you to stay calm.”
“What should I do?” Her brow furrowed as she leaned around to look at his restraints.
“Nothing.” He wished he could hold her. “Trust me. Please.”
Dr. Madison leaned against the counter. “I’m sure he has an escape plan. Don’t worry.” The scientist
didn’t seem too concerned with the possibility.
Nate gave a short nod that hopefully only Audrey caught.
The door opened again, and two soldiers stomped inside. “The commander is ready for him,” the taller
one said.
Dr. Madison nodded and slid her tablet onto the granite counter. “Very well.”
One of the soldiers reached behind Nate and released him from the table. Unfortunately, his wrists
remained bound. He jumped off, smiling when both men tensed.
Audrey backed toward her mother. “Where is he going now?”
Dr. Madison rubbed her neck. “The tests have just begun. Next we’re going to see how well Nate
handles pain. A lot of it. Plus, we do need to show other soldiers what happens when the commander is
betrayed. Nate will make a good example.”
“No.” Audrey darted toward him, and one of the soldiers snatched her away.
Nate growled low.
Audrey furiously struggled, tears sliding down her pale face.
“Audrey.” Nate put enough bite into his voice to halt her movements before she got hurt. “Stop it.
Now.”
She paused, confusion clouding her eyes.
He kept her gaze. “Stay calm and take care of the baby. I’ll be fine.”
“But—”
“Now.” This time his voice cut hard.
Audrey blinked and stilled.
“It’ll be okay,” he murmured as the soldiers shoved him out of the room to head toward pain.
Whips and electricity hurt less than simple needles pumping drugs into his veins. Nathan spit out blood,
aiming for the commander’s boots. Chains held his arms high above his head while cold concrete bit into
his bare feet. Blood and other fluids slid across the floor and into a drain in the despondent cell.
The commander threw an electric prod across the room to smash against a table holding all sorts of
interesting devices. “How’s the head?”
Cloudy as fog. “Fine.” Nathan concentrated on the concrete beneath his toes. Cold. Hard. Real.
“I doubt it. There’s enough sodium barbital in your veins to make a priest confess.” The commander
eyed a grate in a far corner of the ceiling. Through the night, rain had poured down the grate, and a couple
of trucks had passed over it, sending down leaves and water. “Dawn is breaking.”
So dawn had broken before he did. Nathan eyed the locks on the one door and smiled with cracked
lips.
The commander nodded, an odd pride glowing in his black eyes. “I made you tough.”
“No, you didn’t.” Nate tried to roll his bellowing shoulder to snap it back into place. “Matt made me
tough.” Nate tried to bite back his comment, but the words flowed freely. Stupid drugs.
“Yes, he did.” The commander twisted his wrist, frowning at a growing bruise from one of Nate’s early
kicks. “Mathew’s obsession with training, with learning, with becoming so deadly—I was impressed. Not
once did I see his true motivation.”
“Which was?” Nate fought to keep his head from lolling forward.
“Escaping me.” Injured ego and bewilderment glimmered in the man’s eyes for the briefest of seconds.
“Training you. Training Shane and Jory to survive. To someday leave.”
“Yes. Leaving was always our plan.” Nate couldn’t stop the truth.
The commander’s gaze hardened. “But your duty, your role, differed from your older brother’s, didn’t
it?”
“What role?” Nate’s words slurred on the end.
“Oh, don’t think I don’t know you, Nathan.” The commander chuckled, low and deep. “Matt taught
Shane and Jory to avoid death. You taught them to embrace life.”
Nate shook his head. He’d never embraced shit. “You’re crazy.”
“Am I?” The commander scraped blood and tissue off one boot with the heel of the other. “You tried to
give them a childhood. A sense of normalcy, of being wanted and protected in this environment.”
Nate spit out another clot of blood. “You’ve been reading too many of Madison’s psychology journals.”
“You gave them the one thing you wanted more than anything else in the world. To belong. To have a
family
.” The commander smirked.
A slow smile lifted Nate’s bruised lips, the feeling malicious. “I succeeded, you prick.”
“Think so?” Anger burst red across the commander’s face. “You will never have normalcy. You’re
abnormal. We created you like a science project.”
Nate started to laugh. “So?”