been amusement rippled over the strange, exotic face. “I’m not talking about test tubes and microscopes.”
“I don’t understand.”
The woman waved a hand toward the kitchen table. “Why do you bother with this junk anyway?”
Was this some sort of trick?
“I need it for my research,” she said slowly. “Although I admit it can’t compare to my lab at the university.”
“Come on, Angela,” the intruder scoffed. “You don’t have to hide the truth from me.”
Angela went rigid with a strange sense of wariness.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
The woman gave a sharp laugh. “You haven’t figured it out yet?”
“Figured out what?”
“You, Angela Locke, are a freak.”
“No.” Angela shook her head, squashing the ridiculous urge to slap her hands over her ears. The woman was nuts. A full-blown wackadoodle. “No way.”
“How do you think you’re able to manipulate cells that no one else can?”
Angela sucked in a ragged breath. Why wasn’t she laughing at the woman’s outrageous claims?
“The magnetic particles I’ve developed—”
“No.” The woman stepped close enough for Angela to feel the heat she radiated from her skin even through her clothes. Obviously her mutation made her run at a higher temperature. “It’s you. It’s always been you.”
“This is crazy.” Angela was trapped, reaching behind her to grasp the edge of the counter. Her knees were threatening to collapse. “I want you out of my apartment.”
“If you insist.” The creepy smile returned as the woman reached out with terrifying speed to lock her hands around Angela’s upper arms, her claws digging through the sweatshirt to puncture the tender skin beneath. “I was going to let you pack a bag, but whatever.”
“Stop it,” Angela cried, fear and pain hammering through her with equal force. “What are you doing?”
The crimson eyes glowed with an eerie light. “I have a comfy little home all prepared for our arrival. You’re not leaving my side until you fix me.”
Her grip tightened, but even as Angela braced herself to be dragged from the room kicking and screaming, the stranger was tilting back her head to sniff the air. Like an animal.
Angela shuddered. Oh . . . God. What now?
In answer, the woman whirled toward the door, her hands clenched in tight fists.
“Niko,” she hissed, not nearly as dumbfounded as Angela as a tall, stunningly familiar man stepped into the kitchen.
“Dylan,” Dr. Nikolo Bartrev drawled, his handsome face carved from granite. “I knew you’d eventually show up here.”
It was rare for Nikolo to be caught flat-footed.
No, it wasn’t rare.
It was never.
But trailing Angela from the university to her apartment building, he’d taken time to make a sweep of the neighborhood. He was certain Dylan was going to make her move. And make it soon.
He just hadn’t expected her to already be in the apartment.
A mistake that might have cost Angela her life.
The realization detonated a strange explosion of fear and fury in the depths of his soul.
A sensation that was as unfamiliar as it was unexpected.
Niko was trained to hone his feelings into a smooth blade of cold, calculating resolve. Becoming emotional only clouded his mind and dulled his instincts.
But silently entering the apartment, he hadn’t been worried about his prey. Or even his own life.
His sole focus was reaching Angela before she could be hurt.
Stepping into the kitchen he came to an abrupt halt at the sight of Dylan standing directly in front of Angela. Shit. She was too close to risk an attack.
One swing of her hand and she could crush Angela’s skull. Or use her claws to rip out her throat.
He swallowed a growl, ignoring the voice that warned his hesitation might cost him the opportunity to put an end to Dylan’s murderous rampage.
He would have his revenge, he grimly assured himself. But not at Angela’s expense.
Wiping all expression from his face, he watched Dylan slowly turn, her crimson eyes filled with a mocking amusement that didn’t entirely disguise her seething frustration.
“Long time no see,” she drawled. “Did you miss me?”
“Like a fucking hole in the head,” he retorted, allowing only a brief glance toward Angela who was studying him with a shocked gaze. “You gave up any claim to loyalty when you killed Adam and Fiona.”
“I know you won’t believe me, but I wish their deaths hadn’t been necessary.”
Niko shrugged aside the female’s genuine regret. He’d been the one to discover the two Sentinels. Adam had lost his throat when he’d obviously gone into Dylan’s room to check on her, while Fiona had been shot in the back of her head while standing guard at