Page 20 of Mated to the Vikings

I shivered when he scoffed out the words. I had no way of knowing what they’d been told, and I hadn’t bothered asking, but their assumptions about what we would face were entirely different than mine.

“Let it go for now, Shane, for God’s sake. You have no proof of that,” Samuel snapped. “I don’t think they like us very much and meddling into their experiments from the get-go isn’t going win us any points.”

“Yeah? Ask me if I give a shit,” Shane retorted.

“Please undress. Let’s get this over with,” Dr. Marcus said in a lilting voice, the tone far more comforting than her compatriot, but I could tell her demeanor was fake. I ventured a guess that every word we said would go straight back to the great Dr. Fields and quite possibly to Dr. Forrester.

I glared at the closed door, my hackles raised. The last thing I wanted was a physical. What if this doctor discovered that I’d been… I had no words to describe what might have happened. I clenched my pussy and the soreness between my legs wasn’t caused by a hallucination. I’d been fucked multiple times. I was certain of it.

And a very bad feeling settled in the pit of my stomach for several reasons.

“You don’t want to cross him, Dr. Bloom. Kevin is a very formidable man,” Dr. Marcus continued, speaking in a hushed tone.

“What is really going on here?” I threw in her direction, able to see she was hiding concern. The ache in my head had dulled, but my entire body was tingling. The same sensations occurred whenever I had a dream.

“Please, allow me to do my work,” she answered. “Then you get what you came for.”

“Follow her orders, Cassia. That’s what you’re required to do,” Samuel stated, pushing me forward. “I want to get the hell off this shithole and never return.”

“You and me both,” Shane muttered as he started to remove his clothes.

I had the distinct feeling that we were being watched. Whatever the hell was going on here, I planned on getting to the bottom of it.

CHAPTER 5

Cassia

“Dr. Marcus, can you give me a full report on what kind of creatures have been created?” I kept pace as I walked with her, the others finding solace in their quarters. I was the only one who deemed meeting them important.

“Rowena, please,” she said at first, her expression blank. “We’re in very close quarters. We might as well be friendly. It’s all right if I call you Cassia?”

Nodding, I could tell she was holding back, had seen the despondent look in her eyes while she was examining us. She’d offered nothing in the way of explanation or results, merely allowing us to get dressed. Blood had been drawn, our bodies scanned and heartrates checked. There’d been other tests that I hadn’t been able to identify, but nothing invasive. She’d written a few notes, but otherwise offered nothing. “Do these monsters outside the compound have anything to do with your scientific experiments?”

This time, she flashed a glance in my direction and I was able to notice the tic crawling up from her lip to her cheek. Nervous. She was nervous as hell. The secrets within the entire crew were layered and my guess would be they started with the government.

“Of course not. They are creatures from this world. We didn’t know they existed when we arrived and are working to eradicate them.” Her statement was well practiced, polished but stilted. She’d been warned what to say. I noticed an odd expression on her face.

“Is something wrong?”

She stopped briefly, glancing at both sides of the corridor before inching closer. “Did something happen to you when you were lost in the snow?”

“What do you mean?”

“I detected… I detected sexual activity recently.”

Shuddering, I bit my lip to keep from reacting. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“The beasts out there. Did they take you?”

“No. I was lost.”

She lifted her head, studying my eyes. “The creatures who live on this planet are dangerous. They are also possessive. Whatever happened while you were lost, they will come for you.”

The words filtered into my mind. I had no idea what to say to her.

“I won’t tell anyone, but be very careful, Cassia. Just promise me that you will be.”

She turned and started walking. There were dark secrets and lies occurring in this place. My instinct told me that Kevin had an entirely different operation going on that we’d been led to believe. Jesus.