Toxic Game (GhostWalkers #15) - Christine Feehan Page 0,36

I do, and I like the freedom of working alone. Whitney treated Zara the worst. I hope whoever she ends up with loves her like crazy.

He does. Gino can’t breathe without that woman. He looks at her like the sun rises with her. He hadn’t understood that look until he was in Shylah’s mind. He liked just looking at her. She had the kind of face that lit up when she was happy or excited. Her frown was the cutest thing he’d ever seen. And those freckles … He could spend a lifetime kissing every one of them.

Stop, crazy man.

The laughter in her voice teased at every one of his senses.

I’m so glad she’s found someone like that, she added. Tell me about him. Will he take care of her? Will he see how special she is? She needs a family, Draden. She’s so brilliant, but she wasn’t cut out for this way of life. Whitney despised her for that, even though she kept him well ahead of everyone else. She’s the best industrial spy ever created.

Gino watches over her and is quite willing to put himself on the line for her, against anyone. She was sent to China and Cheng caught her and tortured her. She never broke. Never gave up the GhostWalkers. There was admiration in his voice because it was impossible not to admire Zara. Gino’s building her a research center along with the house they both want. He plans to travel with her if she speaks anywhere. Otherwise, she’ll be staying home, protected by Gino and our team.

He understands her?

I believe he does. She looks to him often in uncomfortable situations and he immediately takes the weight off her shoulders. He’s that kind of man, and I think it’s what she needs and wants.

Shylah smiled, lifting the binoculars to her eyes. And Bellisia?

That girl is a different kettle of fish. He smirked at his own joke and she made a small sound in his mind, letting him know she got it. Bellisia had toxin from the blue-ringed octopus in her, and she was fast in the water and could stay under for very long periods of time. She’s a warrior woman like Trap’s wife, Cayenne. She’s married to Ezekiel, one of my teammates. He’s crazy about her. More than once she’s been an asset to us.

Cayenne?

He knew what she was doing, delaying the inevitable of going inside. Getting the information about her friends and the other women because she believed they were going to die. Not entering the hut gave them a few more minutes to believe there was hope that they could find a therapy that would work against the hemorrhagic virus.

Cayenne was one of Whitney’s mess-ups. At least one of his people who oversaw the experiments decided she was a mess-up, and he scheduled her for termination. She’s very spiderish. She can weave webs and kill with a bite.

That gave him pause. He waited, but Shylah didn’t volunteer any information. It occurred to him that Cayenne had been considered a failed experiment, yet Shylah had been given similar traits. Cayenne was developed in a dish. The dose of spider was fairly hefty. Can you weave a web if you want to do it?

No one has ever asked me that, besides Whitney. I told him no. He was using silk to try to build armor for his supersoldiers. Do you know how much silk that is?

Cayenne said they forcibly removed it from her at times.

If he was going to terminate Cayenne, who clearly is an asset to you and was to him, why would he keep me?

I don’t think Whitney gave the termination order. I think Cayenne was his protégé’s experiment and she scared the crap out of the man. He’s dead, by the way. Whitney didn’t shed any tears. He was going to kill three little girls and Wyatt’s wife, Pepper, as well. The three children, not even two years old, are Wyatt and Pepper’s girls. Whitney wasn’t too happy with his protégé for that order either.

Poor little babies. I’m glad they’re safe now.

He wasn’t so certain, not with Whitney’s three rogue virologists on the loose. You didn’t answer the question. You told Whitney no, but you didn’t tell me one way or the other if you can spin a web.

Yes. I can spin silk.

That’s awesome. He poured admiration into his voice. She was sensitive about the ability to make a web because she thought it made her appear less than human. He thought