The sandy-haired man did exist, and his eyes were even darker green in person.
She hadn't known he was Circ, though she probably should have guessed as much.
Every damned thing in her life revolved around the unnatural genetics of her blood.
Elliot had spared her the ability to change. Or at least, she'd thought he had. For twenty-eight years she'd lived with the increased senses, speed, and strength of a Circ. But lately, she'd felt an itch beneath her skin, a need for something more that wouldn't go away.
Robbie would understand, but she didn't want to worry him. Her best friend for years, he'd been there when no one else had. He understood how hard it was to interact with normal people, to accept that animalistic part of herself that needed to dominate, to persevere, no matter the cost to others. Normal kids shared and played nice with each other. Paige had never been happy to share when that inner voice inside her told her she could take by force what she wanted.
Learning to balance human frailties and an inner wildness hadn't been easy.
Especially with Elliot Pearl riding her all the time. Her adoptive parents hadn't been cruel, but they hadn't been kind. She thought of them as gentle jailers, feeding Elliot information on a weekly and sometimes daily basis until she'd graduated high school and then college. Finally freed from Elliot, or so she'd thought, until he ripped her brief reprieve away.
If not for Robbie in her life, Paige might have gone insane. With his help she'd been able to tolerate her time at Pearson Labs, as well as hide some of her late-developing abilities from her father. And now with Robbie in place at the labs and with his contacts, she thought they might just break free from Project Dawn and start a new life.
A subtle sound alerted her of company.
Robbie stepped out of the shadows, appearing from out of nowhere. Black sunglasses hid his eyes, a dark leather jacket and jeans covered the rest of him from his neck to the tips of his black boots. She idly wondered where he found clothes to fit his huge frame. Though she had always thought herself freakishly tall at six feet, Robbie dwarfed her.
“Paige?” he murmured, his voice gravelly with concern. Robbie, a threat to everyone but her.
She ran into his arms and hugged him tight, soothed by his calming presence. As always, just being near him made her feel safe and loved…and aroused. She reached up to brush a lock of dark hair from his forehead. “I'm so glad to see you.” Robbie nodded and tucked her head back against his chest. His heart raced, and his body tensed when she snuggled closer. As he'd once said, he was a man with a man's working parts. His physical response to her meant little compared to the emotional comfort he provided, or so she tried to convince herself.
Paige wanted to strip him down and use him in ways that would make him blush.
Thoughts of him made her burn with lust, but when he hugged her tight and she breathed him in, the need eventually dissipated. She'd thought sex might bring them closer together, but Robbie never encouraged it, despite the hunger in his eyes. He never talked about the possibility of intimacy, so she took her cues from him. Scared of hurting the only person she loved in the world, she continued to leave the decision to further their relationship in Robbie's hands.
She sighed. “I always feel so good when I'm with you.”
“Me too,” he murmured, stroking her hair. He pushed her back to study her face and raised his glasses. Blazing yellow eyes stared back at her, the pupils thin and elongated like a cat's. An anomaly, just like her. “You sure they didn't hurt you?”
“I'm fine.”
“Circe's Recruits,” Robbie said. “Those dicks didn't do anything to scare you either, did they?”
“No. But Robbie, it was him. The man I sometimes see in my dreams. He was there. He was real.” She studied him, aware of the telling silence. “You know who he is, don't you?”
Robbie grimaced.
“Tell me.” That inner voice demanded to know more, and she felt something ripple beneath her fingertips as she gripped his forearms. “When I close my eyes, I see him. I know him, and I've never met him. In my dreams he's there, watching me. But he's watching you too, Robbie.”
He blinked at her in surprise. Robbie was never surprised. “What?”
She nodded, knowing this time she needed to tell him the full truth, or as much as he could handle. “In my dreams, that man is there, watching, like he's waiting for something. I can never tell if he's there to help or hurt me. But you're there too, behind me, protecting me.”
Robbie drew back and paced like a caged lion. “Why didn't you tell me this before?”
“What does it matter? They're just dreams.” She waited to hear him deny it, as he'd done before. But she knew he didn't mean it. Robbie was a Circ, and something more.
He could do what the others in Pearson Labs couldn't; he could manipulate psychic energy like a weapon.
Unlike the rogues her father tried to fashion into true Circs, Robbie had been born this way. The rogues turned crazy, psychotic. The newer ones didn't even look human anymore, nor could they change into anything other than the deformed mutants they'd become, slaves to their hormones and hungers. She'd seen enough in her excursions to Pearson Labs to know her father would have killed to create Circs like her Robbie.
Robbie didn't have mating heats. He didn't change. He retained his strength and abilities in human form, the better to blend into any populace and successfully perform missions for the highest bidder. If her father's bosses had known exactly what Robbie could do, they'd have captured him and never let him go. Smart man that he was, Robbie hid his psychic talent from everyone but her. And something else her father had never known—Robbie didn't blindly follow the orders her father had given him. He had an agenda all his own.
“They're just dreams,” he repeated. He shoved his glasses back on and ran his fingers through his hair. To her satisfaction, his fingernails sharpened into claws.
Good, he wasn't unaffected. Far from it.
“Who is he, Robbie?” she asked again.
He must have sensed her determination, because he stopped pacing in front of her and sighed. “You're a pain in the ass, you know that?”
“Oh, please. You're no picnic, you monster.”
He grinned, flashing fangs at her. Another part of Robbie she loved. With him she felt free to be herself. They both knew they didn't belong in society, but with each other.
“You're not going to let this go, are you?”
She crossed her arms over her chest.
“Shit. Okay.” Robbie paused and looked around, then focused his attention on her again. “His name is Hale Rogers. He was one of the original subjects in the first Project Dawn. He's second in command of Circe's Recruits.” Hale Rogers. Like a silent click, his name snapped into place within her mind.
“What else?”
“What do you mean, what else? The guy was a Marine, and now he's one of Doc's civilians.” Robbie's gaze narrowed. “One of Doctor Evan Dennis's men. Your dream man belongs to your uncle.”
She'd been trying her best not to think about the man her father had respected, loved, and ultimately tried to destroy. Would Evan want to know her, or would he want to continue her father's experiments? What would he do if he knew everything she was capable of doing?
Robbie sighed. “Honey, you need to see your uncle. If for no other reason than to get some closure. I might be wrong, but I don't think he's anything like Elliot. Doc seems like a genuinely nice guy. His Circs love him. He takes care of them. And Mike Shields can't say enough about him.”