Full Moon Rising (30 page)

Actually, killing him was too quick. Maybe I'd settle for ripping his fucking balls off.

"I gather you know who's behind it?"

I nodded and began to pace. "One of my regular mates was talking about me having his child recently."

"But you didn't consent to take this drug?"

I snorted. "Hardly. If I ever do take the risk of having kids, it'll be with someone I love, not with someone I just fuck."

"Have you still got the chip in your arm?"

"Shit." I ran my fingers up my arm, and found the small lump under my skin. Relief slithered. Thank
God.

"We need to do more tests," Jack continued, obviously reading my relief correctly.

I frowned. "Why?"

"Because the quantities of ARC1-23 in the blood sample suggest you've been given this drug over a couple of months, and, as I said, it's known to have some serious side effects."

I pushed my hair away from my face and began to pace again. The anger surging through my body wouldn't allow me to remain still. "What kind of side effects are we talking about?"

"It seems the drug can mutate once in the body, altering not only its own chemistry but the chemistry of the host."

"That . . . that . . ."

Jack nodded, as if in understanding. "The drug had passed all lab trials, so they decided to run a series of tests on some volunteers who were having trouble conceiving, using a mix of humans, shifters, and werewolves. Of the fifty who were in the first trial, ten were unaffected. Thirty became pregnant, and had normal gestations and births, with neither the parent nor the child showing any adverse reactions to the drug. The remaining ten, however, began to transmute in one way or another."

With the way my luck had been running of late, I wouldn't be one of the lucky ones who was completely unaffected. I wouldn't even be one of the ones who got pregnant. I blew out a breath and changed my mind. I was going to rip the bastard's balls off,
then
kill him. "Why did it affect some and not others?"

"Studies undertaken suggest it might have something to do with the fact that the ten who changed rather than getting pregnant were all of mixed heritage."

His expression was grim and somewhat speculative. I didn't have to read his thoughts to know he was thinking about
my
mixed heritage. I felt like screaming. Jesus, as if I didn't already have enough weirdness in my life.

"So where did they find so many crossbreeds?" Breeding between nonhuman races--especially other shifters and werewolves--was extremely rare. Though we were sexually compatible, something in our genetics made it next to impossible for one breed of shifter to impregnate another naturally.

"They advertised throughout Australia. Natural crossbreeding may be rare, but it does happen."

"How long was it before the side effects became apparent?"

"The trial was conducted over a year. It was six months before the side effects started to show. Up until then, everything had been proceeding exactly as expected."

So I had months to wait before I'd know one way or another. I kicked some stones out from under my foot, watching them splash into the water. Dragonflies buzzed the ripples, their wings jewel-like in evening light. "And how is the drug taken?"

"Via injection, once a month."

I closed my eyes. Talon had been giving me the injections for at least two months, then. Why else had I been blacking out after drinking his "fine" champagne? "I knew he was single-minded when it came to getting his own way, but I never thought he'd go this damn far."

"I gather we're talking about Talon Lasalle?"

I squinted up at Jack. "How did you know?"

"Had him investigated." His sudden smile was wry. "You may think of yourself as little more than a paper pusher, but the truth is, you work in a sensitive area and know more about the workings of the place than most of the directors. The Directorate has many enemies, and the information you and the other liaisons hold could be extremely useful to those intent on our destruction." He shrugged. "So I know exactly who all my people spend time with."

"You investigate everyone we come in contact with?"

He snorted softly. "Hardly. We haven't the manpower. Just those who feature prominently in your life. The only reason Liander is involved in this mission is because I know all there is to know about him--and his exemplary record in the military. He'd make a good addition to the new team I want to set up."

"You'd have as much hope conning Liander as you've had with me."

"He's not as stubborn as you."

I ignored the gibe. "So what did your reports say about Misha and Talon?"

"Talon is a very successful entrepreneur with fingers in all sorts of pies--and many of those companies have fingers in other pies, not all of which we've tracked down yet. He's ruthless when it comes to getting what he wants but has never stepped beyond the law--as far as we know."

"Until it came to wanting a kid," I muttered. "What about Misha?"

"Misha's even more difficult to pin down. He's very successful, but as yet we're not exactly sure how."

I frowned. "He owns Rollins Enterprises."

Jack nodded. "Which has suffered five years of substantial losses, yet Misha's personal fortune keeps getting larger."

"Undoubtedly thanks to good investments." Like the South Bank apartment complex.

"Damn good. Only, as yet, we can't locate all of them."

I stared at him for a moment, not sure what to think. "You think Misha's a crook?"

"I honestly don't know, because both the gold and silver packs are notoriously tight when it comes to giving out information about pack members and money. I do know he's covered his tracks very well, and my instincts suggest he's up to something. While I doubt
that
something involves the Directorate, I
am
sure it involves you in some way."

I rubbed a hand across my eyes. The day that had started out so well was becoming positively shitty. "Why haven't you mentioned this before now?"

"Because I haven't any evidence that he
is
up to something. My instincts could be wrong. It wouldn't be the first time."

I took a deep breath and released it slowly. Misha and I were going to have a heart-to-heart when he got back. If I didn't get answers that satisfied me--and Jack--he was struck off my list, right alongside Talon.

And to think only a couple of days ago I'd been blissfully happy with them both.

"So how did Talon get hold of ARC1-23 if it's not on the market?"

"It's his company doing the fertility research."

Fingers in every pie, as Jack had said. "He doesn't know I'm part vampire. He probably thought it was safe to give to me."

"That doesn't excuse what he's done."

"No." I paused, trying to calm another rush of anger. "So what happens now?"

He considered me for a moment. "He'll be charged, of course."

As long as I got to him first, I didn't care what they did to the bastard. "I hear a 'but' after that."

He nodded. "The military badly wants to explore the possibilities of this drug, and Talon is the key to their getting their hands on it."

Meaning, of course, they weren't about to let anything happen to him until they did. "I'm gathering it's no longer being marketed as a possible fertility drug?"

"It's undergoing a larger trial, and test applicants are being carefully screened. After all, it worked for a good percentage of the test group."

I took another deep breath, then asked the one question I'd avoided. "So what, exactly, does it do?"

"It appears to enhance certain abilities. Six of the ten were either human-werewolf crosses or human-shifter. All became able to take on
any
shape."

Relief slithered through me. Taking on any shape was pretty cool when compared to some of the scenarios I'd been imagining. "That doesn't sound too bad a skill to have."

Jack snorted softly. "Yeah, only if they changed too often, they discovered they couldn't change back to human form. Their body chemistry had altered so much the cells no longer remembered true form, and they got stuck in animal form."

Which wasn't a good thing. Death would surely be better than never being able to regain humanity. "And the remaining four?"

"Were shifter and werewolf crosses, and all four had psychic skills. Three of the four were unaware of the fact. These skills were all enhanced to the point where they became dangerous. I believe all four have now been transferred to one of the military programs."

I glared at him. "Don't try putting me in any military program."

He gave me a toothy smile I didn't trust one bit. "Darlin', you're mine. If you go anywhere, it'll be into the guardian program."

"That ain't going to happen, either."

"You may not have a choice. If that drug does affect you, it's either us or the military until we discover the full breadth of the changes."

Then it was the Directorate. But that didn't mean I was entering the system without a fight. If Jack wanted me as a guardian, he was going to have to drag me there kicking and screaming.

"So what happens now?"

"The drug doesn't appear to have had any ill effects yet, but even so, we'll begin regular blood tests and cell scans. We'll also begin regular psi tests, in case alterations start showing there."

"I'm telepathic--you know that."

He nodded. "Entry tests also indicated latent skills in clairvoyance."

"Which is not exactly a skill the military can give a damn about."

"On the contrary, clairvoyance provides an excellent means of information gathering."

"Yeah, but as you said, it's latent. As in, not active and not used."

"Granted. But your telepathy skill isn't. Given it can be used for both information gathering and as a weapon, it definitely
is
a desirable skill as far as they are concerned. You already rate high--this drug could very well put you off the scale."

I didn't want to be off the scale. Didn't want to use my skills for anything more than defense. But I had a vague feeling Talon had taken all choice away from me. I kicked another stone into the dam and imagined it was the head of a certain golden wolf sinking under the murky brown water.

Jack squeezed my shoulder gently. "You could be one of the lucky ones. It might have no effect at all."

My smile was grim. "You don't believe that any more than I do."

He hesitated. "No. But right now, there's nothing we can do about it. Time will provide our answers. Meanwhile, we have a clone factory to hunt down."

I turned and followed him down the path. "Did you know a company named Konane apparently owns Moneisha?"

He glanced over his shoulder. "No. How do you?"

"Misha told me."

"Interesting. Wonder how he knows--and why he told you."

"Because I asked him."

"Maybe you should ask him a few other things--like whether he knows anything about the clones or the crossbreeds."

"I can if you want."

"Might be worth a try. In the meantime, I'll get a search done on Konane."

"You don't think the crossbreeds are coming out of the same factory as the clones?"

"No, and the evidence that Quinn has collected confirms it."

Rhoan was no longer sitting out in front of the cabin when we arrived. But given the delicious smell of roasting meat that hung on the air, he was probably inside harassing Liander to hurry up and serve the meal.

"I'll never get tired of that smell," Jack said, taking a deep breath. "Which is why I live above a restaurant."

I opened the door for him and waved him on through. "I always thought the smell of food turned a vampire's stomach."

Jack shook his head. "Hollywood myth. You of all people should know better than to believe something like that."

"Hey, some myths sound very reasonable."

"Sounding reasonable doesn't make them so."

He moved over to the table and I looked around for Quinn. He wasn't in the living area, but a second later he came rattling down the stairs. His gaze met mine, dark eyes warm and filled with hunger. The fever surged through my veins, its intensity soaking me in an instant. And the full moon was still two days away. If the mission went on much longer, I'd be in trouble. The fever was still leashed, but the sheer force of it suggested it wouldn't remain that way too long.

"Hey, pretty lady," he said, wrapping an arm around my waist and pulling me close. "Guess what?"

"What?" I said, my voice little more than a husky whisper. God, he felt so good pressed up against me that my hormones were begging me to drop him to the ground and shag him senseless.

"Rhoan and I drew straws. We won the bed tonight."

I linked my hands behind his neck and kissed his chin. "Meaning we're under the stars tomorrow?"

"Afraid so. But the weathermen say it'll be fine."

"It doesn't matter anyway, because I've had scout training. I'll make us a shelter."