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Lauren
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Beady eyes dragged over me, slow and predatory. "Your son . . ." Killian grinned, like he had just discovered something astronomical. "Well, I'll be damned."
"Step away from him," my father ordered, his tone clipped and cold. "I'm warning you, Killian. Dodgeson will shut you down the second he hears—"
A short laugh cut him off as Killian's leer swerved to him. "The Lieutenant Colonel? What's he gonna do? He ain't even here," His watchful eyes slid back to my father. "Relax, Everhart. I ain't killin' your kid. He's too valuable. I just wanna closer look." Killian flicked two fingers to the man at his right. "Bring me the boy."
The pressure on my back vanished, replaced by brutal hands yanking me upright. My vision swam as shouts crammed in my ears. The moment I regained my footing, Killian's meaty fist closed around my throat, fingers digging in hard enough to hurt.
"Keh!"
Agony laced down my spine as I was roughly hoisted up, clawing at the hand wrapped around my throat. Frenzied shouts morphed into distorted wails, my larynx closing under the harsh pressure.
"Killian!" My father shouted.
"Get the fuck away him!" Peter thrashed wildly against the guards restraining him.
The brute cutting off my air supply didn't even blink at their way, his stiff fingers flexing, lifting me just enough that my sneakers scraped the cold stone. A whining grunt left me as I scrambled for air.
"What makes you so special?" Killian leered, single-handedly holding me aloft. "I heard there's somethin' in your blood that don't match anythin' in our database. Human, but not."
Darkness crept into my peripherals as my nails dug into Killian's wrists.
With a grotesque chuckle, he tightened his grip enough to make blacks spots burst across of my vision. "So what the hell makes you so damn important, huh? One tiny squeeze and I could easily snap this puny little—"
"That's enough."
The commanding timbre cut through the hangar, crisp and stoic. A white figure emerged from the corridor, the hazmat suit stark beneath the bunker lights. Behind the clear plastic visor, I glimpsed dark hair, tan skin and wire-frame glasses. Recognition smashed through me like a punch to the gut.
Dr. Marcus.
A cold weight burrowed in my chest cavity, the same fear I'd felt for every needle he'd stuck me with and every painful test that I'd endured. My arms twitched, muscles remembering the cuffed restraints that weren't actually there.
"Put that one down. You can brutalize the others all you want," the doctor chastised. "But if you ruin all my hard work, we're going to have a very different conversation."
The military leader sneered. "He's breathin', ain't he?"
"Barely," Marcus observed, his stare cold and assessing. "And I don't recall authorizing you to test how long it can go without oxygen."
YOU ARE READING
Setting Fire to the Stars (a MM Sci-Fi Romance)
قصص عامةWhen Lauren Everhart and his former high school bully, Peter Ducane, are thrown together in the chaos of an alien invasion, the last thing either expects is to rely on the other to survive. As Earth falls under attack, Lauren suddenly manifests dang...
