Flame’s breath caught in her throat. Her gaze darted around the room until she found him. He was sitting close to the bed, his legs sprawled out in front of him. He looked tired, and his five o’clock shadow was getting unruly. “I don’t like you being here, Lily. You shouldn’t have come.”

Ryland turned at the edge in Gator’s voice. “There’s no need to talk like that. Lily had to come. Flame is her sister, just as Dahlia and the other girls are. Of course she had to come.”

“Flame doesn’t trust her.”

“She has no reason not to trust her,” Ryland snapped.

“Shh,” Lily cautioned. “Don’t wake her. And she does have reason not to trust me.” She moved closer to the side of the bed to touch Flame’s arm. “She was going through chemotherapy and she planned to escape. I told him. She would have died without treatment.”

Flame opened her eyes to stare up at her, wondering why she was all grown up instead of Lily the child. “I wanted to die. I wanted to get away from him that much.”

Lily drew in her breath. Her gaze met Flame’s. “I knew you wanted to die, but I couldn’t let you. You were my family. I loved you, Flame. I know you felt it was a betrayal to tell him, but I had to save your life.”

Flame closed her eyes. “I can’t remember those days. They’re too painful and I’ve wiped them from my memory.”

“No, Flame. You didn’t. He did. He didn’t want us to be close. He didn’t want us to have memories of one another. That’s why it hurts to look at our pasts or try to remember one another. It’s why we don’t. He even took that away from us.” There was a sob in Lily’s voice. “I didn’t realize until I tried to remember why you never liked me. I knew there was something between us, but I couldn’t remember. It hurt to remember.”

“I’m not going back.” Flame sounded tired even to her own ears. Maybe she really was dreaming, otherwise she’d be telling Lily what she really thought of her. “How could you side with him when you knew what he was doing to us? Did you tell him I was here?”

“He’s dead, Flame,” Lily assured in her most soothing voice. “You’re perfectly safe now.”

Flame turned her head away from Lily to find Raoul. He was her only hope, even if she was caught in a dream. “He’s not dead,” she whispered.

Raoul caught her hand and held it to him. “I know, baby. I know. Everything’s in place. He can’t get to you.”

“You can’t possibly think Peter Whitney is alive, Gator,” Lily gasped. She threw out her hand to Ryland, who immediately took it. “He’s dead. I felt him die. I saw it. even though I wasn’t there. He disappeared, no one has found a trace of him.”

“I don’t think he is dead, Lily,” Gator said. “I’m sorry, I would have told you differently, but something’s not right. The men who attacked us are trained, just as we are. They’re all enhanced both genetically as well as psychically. I think Whitney has a private army and we either got in his way when he was trying to reacquire Flame, or he was running a little field operation to see how his boys stacked up against us.”

Pressing a hand protectively to her stomach, Lily felt behind her for a chair. “This can’t be happening. I feel like he’s taken everything from me. Everything.”

She had to be dreaming, Flame decided. Lily wept so quietly, so hopelessly it nearly broke Flame’s heart. And she didn’t feel for Lily. She would never trust her again, never be her friend, never call her sister. But if she didn’t stop crying, Flame was going to have to find a way to drag her butt out of bed and comfort her. “Men are so freakin’ useless,” she muttered.

“I’m pregnant, Ryland. It’s too late to stop trying. I’m already pregnant. What if he is alive? This is a nightmare.”

Ryland crouched beside his wife’s chair. “Listen to me, honey. This doesn’t change anything. We have a mission. We’re going to find the other girls and protect them. We’ll find them.”

“But what if this is all about the next generation? What if…” She trailed off, weeping again, this time into her hands.

Flame felt the choking terror rise. ‘Whitney was just monster enough to have created such an experiment. It would explain why she was so attracted to Raoul. Why he was in her thoughts every moment, why she dreamt about him at night. Why her body burned for his. She couldn’t have children, since the treatments had left her sterile, but all the others would have to be protected.

“Raoul?” She slipped her hand under her pillow, needing to feel as if she could defend herself. Her fingers found the smooth edge of the hilt of her knife encased in a leather sheath. She looked at him and smiled, some of the tension leaving her body. “Thanks.” She looked through the open doorway of her room and saw a man mopping the floor. He looked familiar. She was certain it was Ian, Raoul’s friend, but why would he be a janitor in the hospital? She had to be dreaming.

Gator eased his body onto the bed, stretching out be side her, careful of her broken arm as he wrapped his arm around her waist. “You’re welcome. I like you with knives.”

“You’re such a perv.” She snuggled closer to him, already drifting, uncaring anymore if she was dreaming or if Lily was real. She only cared about the warmth of Raoul’s arms.

The sound of whistling woke her. It was off-key and hurting her ears. She opened one eye cautiously. Raoul was asleep beside her; although how he could sleep through the noise she didn’t know. It was morning and there was no Lily or Ryland in the room.

“Wyatt, what are you doing now?” Raoul asked, his voice grumpy. “You’re hurting my ears.”

“I was warning you. We’ve got company coming. You don’t want everyone seein’ you lookin’ like a jack ass, do you?”

“I look like a jackass?” Raoul sat up slowly, careful not to jar Flame.

“You’re besotted. Whipped. Had. You can’t leave the woman alone even after she’s had surgery.”

“Who’s coming?”

“Grand-mere.” Wyatt straightened his scrubs. “She went shoppin’ for Flame, got her all kinds of clothes. And Kadan went over the airboat, retrieved the duffel bag and put it in the cabin. Everything’s locked down the way you asked. Are we movin’ her tonight?”

“I am awake,” Flame declared. “Someone could ask me. And I have to go to the bathroom before your grand mother comes in. Does someone have a toothbrush?”

“I’ll help you,” Gator said.

“I’m her nurse,” Wyatt said. “There’s no need for you to be doin’ my job.”

“Go away, Wyatt,” Flame said. “I have to ask your brother something and I may have to shove a knife through his heart when he answers me. I don’t want any witnesses.”

“You take all the fun out of my job,” Wyatt said and winked at his brother as he went out.

Flame sat up slowly, feeling a little dizzy. “They’re giving me pain medicine, aren’t they? You have to stop them. I have to be able to function.”

Gator slipped his arm around her. “Just sit for a minute on the side of the bed.”

“Was Lily here last night? Lily Whitney?” She turned her head and looked him directly in the eyes.

Gator glanced down at her hand, making certain she didn’t have the knife and wasn’t about to pull it out from under the pillow. “I couldn’t keep her away. She wanted to see you and Ryland brought her. I told her how you felt, but she came anyway.”

“Was it necessary to tell her I was here in the first place? Couldn’t you have waited?”

“Ryland is my commanding officer as well as my friend. I was using Lily’s private equipment and he asked Kadan what the hell was going on. I wasn’t going to put Kadan in the position of having to lie for me. We told the truth, but we took precautions. You were never, at any time alone. I was in the operating and the recovery rooms. The others guarded the doors. Once you were moved to a private room, we took over all care. And you aren’t in their computers.”

“She took my blood.”

She’s worried the cancer has returned.” He hesitated. “So am I, Flame.”

“You should have just asked me. Of course it came back. It was meant to come back, remember?” She slid the bed, trying to wrap the flimsy hospital gown closer around her. “Don’t look. I may be weak, but I can still kick your ass. This is humiliating and I’m already irritated with you. She had no right to come into my room when I was so out of it.”

He was still reeling from her casual affirmative answer the cancer question as he watched her walk to the bathroom. “Flame.” He couldn’t quite catch his breath.

She paused by the door. “I don’t want to talk about anything important here.”

“We are going to talk about this.”

“I love it when you get all alpha male on me, Raoul.” She flashed a smile at him. “A lesser woman might be intimidated.” She disappeared into the small room, closing the door behind her. “Did you beat that nasty little weasel James Parsons into a bloody pulp for me?”

“Not yet. but he’s on the list. What the hell was going on in that car?” Gator looked down at his hands. He wanted to smash something. James Parsons would do.

“I think he was trying to drug me, as if I wasn’t already a mess, but it’s all a little hazy.”

“You smashed his head in with a glass.” Gator leapt off the bed as his grandmother entered the room.

“Did I? Good.” Flame’s voice purred with satisfaction. “He’s such a slimy little bastard.” She opened the door and came waltzing out, at least until she caught sight of Nonny. Color washed immediately through her face. “Nonny. I didn’t know you were here.” She sent Gator an I’m-going-to-strangle-you-with-my-bare-hands look before flashing a tentative smile. “Sorry about the language.”

“No bother. I raised me four boys and I’ve heard it all. Which slimy bastard were you talking about?”

CHAPTER 14

Someone had tried to fix up the cabin to make it less of a hunting cabin and more of a home. Flame suspected Nonny had paid a visit while they were gone. A homemade quilt, the craftsmanship beautiful, covered the bed there was a tablecloth on the small makeshift table.

“Are you tired? Do you need to get into bed?” Gator announced.

“It’s a broken arm. I’ve spent more time in bed than I ever have.” She wandered over to the window and looked out. “I love this place. The bayou is so peaceful. I think I love the nights like this the best.”

“We’re alone,” Gator announced.

She glanced at him over her shoulder. “I’m very much aware of that. You’re still angry with me.”

“Damn right I’m angry. You took off.” He threw his gloves and everything else in his hands on the table and crossed the room to stand behind her. “You know how casual you sounded when you told me you knew you were sick again?”

Flame turned to face him, resting her back against the wall. “There was no question that the cancer would come back. Dr. Whitney made certain of that.”

His gaze darkened. “You knew that?”

“Not at first, not until I realized he’d coordinated my escape.” She shrugged. “Oh, it wasn’t all that easy. I was kept in a laboratory in Colorado for years. I escaped when I was nineteen. He made certain my escape was difficult so he could record it and see what I could and couldn’t do. He soundproofed everything so I couldn’t use sound against him. He made it hard enough, but after I managed to get out, it occurred to me that he wanted me to escape. How else could he test me in the world? In the field? Unlike his beloved Lily, I wasn’t co operative. He didn’t give me any run of the mill cancer; he made up his own. He needed to find a way to ensure I would have to come back to him. It didn’t occur to him I’d be willing to die.”