Valor, Variant - 2: A Dark Genetic Manipulation Romance, page 1
Contents
Cover Credit
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
About This Book
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Epilogue
From The Author
About The Author
Cover Credit
Christopher Coyle
darkandstormyknight.com
Thank you for adorning my words so beautifully.
Sandra R Neeley
P. O. Box 127
Franklinton, LA 70438
authorsandrarneeley@gmail.com
Independently Published
82,631 words.
Valor
Variant - 2
Sandra R Neeley
Copyright © 2021 SANDRA R NEELEY
All rights reserved.
Thank you for purchasing and/or downloading this book. It is the copyrighted property of the author, and may not be reproduced, copied and/or distributed for commercial or non-commercial purposes without express written permission from the author.
Your support and respect for the property of this author is appreciated. This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales, is purely coincidental. The characters are creations of the author’s imagination and are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademarked ownership of all trademarks and word marks mentioned in this book.
For my readers. Thank you for all your support.
About This Book
This book is a work of fiction — creative license has been taken. This book is not suitable for sensitive readers. Please do not buy this book if you have triggers to sensitive situations.
Valor survived betrayal, captivity, torture, and DNA manipulation along with his special ops team. Most of the males who survived this testing and restructuring have no memory of who they were beforehand. Valor, however, has repetitive nightmares that are always the same. A female running after him, calling out for him — only she’s calling him another male’s name. She’s desperate, begging for him to wait for her, come back for her, but he doesn’t know her and other than in his dreams has never even seen her. He can’t sleep, he can barely function, and he’s becoming a danger to all who depended on him. Then on the way home from a meeting with military brass, he sees her from the window of the vehicle they are traveling in. He jumps from the vehicle and pursues her, snatching both her and her daughter from a very public grocery store parking lot, and takes them back to Alliance with him.
Becky has struggled for five years to scrape out a life for herself and her daughter. She lost her husband — a special forces soldier — before she ever gave birth to her baby. The military refuses to give her any information at all about the incident that took his life, stating only that he was at first missing in action, then confirmed dead while carrying out a critical mission. Angry and resentful, blaming the military for the death of her beloved husband, she refuses any benefits that she may be entitled to and moves across the country to Texas in an effort to start fresh. It’s hard most days, but she’s managed. Until the day she’s kidnapped from the parking lot of her local grocery store by a man who places a hood over her head and angrily growls commands at her as he shoves not only her, but her four-year-old daughter, repeatedly to the floorboard of the car.
Becky and Valor forged a connection years ago that even memory loss, and DNA manipulation cannot sever. Valor refuses to allow her to leave his side. He doesn’t know who she is, but he does know it is his responsibility to protect her. While at first terrified, Becky becomes furious when she realizes the lunatic who’s kidnapped her isn’t even supported by those associated with him, as they plead for her patience and offer apologies while promising to get her and her daughter home safely. But then she gets a look at him, and both their worlds come to a crashing halt. She knows this man. Her long-dead husband is the lunatic.
Warning: This book is intended for mature audiences. This book contains violence and abuse both real and implied, and sexual situations that may be disturbing for some readers. If you are offended by these subjects, please do not buy this book. While some aspects of this series and the beginnings of the world it is set in are dark, this series is ultimately a tale of survival, revenge, healing, and love.
Chapter 1
Steel took point as he led the team through the shadowed corridors of the ramshackle hospital they’d penetrated. Valor was a close second, followed by Nina, then Lethal, with Scorn and Feral bringing up the rear. All held their weapons at the ready. All were on high alert, face shields and helmets in place, communicators in their ears as they reached the end of the corridor.
Steel flattened himself against the wall and quickly peered around the corner before resuming his position against the wall. “Deserted,” he whispered.
A whisper was all that was needed, his team would have heard him even without the earbuds they wore. They were Variant, their senses heightened through the genetic manipulations they’d endured. All except for Nina, that is. Nina had earned her position on the team the old-fashioned way… blood, sweat, and tears. And the fact that she was as brutal as each of her male counterparts, and happened to keep Lethal on an even keel just by being near him, didn’t hurt.
“Steel, Valor, Feral… left. Scorn, you and Nina with me,” Lethal said. Lethal was alpha of this group, their leader, but Steel had quickly asserted himself as more than capable and risen to be his second in command. Lethal stepped out of formation and took point just across from Steel. Nina and Scorn took their places behind him. He held up his hand and three fingers, counting down from three. Once all fingers had been tucked into his palm, he stepped into the corridor and turned right with Nina and Scorn right behind him, at the same time Steel did the same followed closely by Valor and Feral.
They’d searched the entire facility, finding nothing but a hastily deserted building and abandoned equipment. The team, split in two groups, each moved down the corridor in opposite directions, throwing open doors and making a sweep of each room off that corridor which was the final place anyone could possibly be hiding themselves away.
On one side of the corridor, Lethal held point in the center of the corridor as they moved slowly, sure to thoroughly search each room. Nina opened the doors on the left, Scorn opened the doors on the right, and Lethal kept watch as they did so to be sure no one could approach without a kill shot from him.
Same on the opposite end… Steel kept point on that end of the corridor while Feral opened all the doors to his right and Valor opened all to the left.
“Sonofafuckingbitch,” Nina murmured, darting into the second to last room on the left.
“Nina?” Lethal asked.
“Two Variant males down,” she said from inside the room. Lethal remained in the corridor, securing their position as Scorn checked the last two rooms.
“Report!” Lethal barked into the communicator mounted in his helmet.
“The room’s clear, but two Variant down. In cages, seem dead,” she said, as she finished checking there were no other entries or exits in the room. “Secured the room, checking the males.”
Scorn finished with his sweep of the remainder of the rooms at his end of the corridor and quickly moved toward the room Nina had found the two Variant males in.
A single shot could be heard and Lethal snarled as he and Scorn rushed to get into the room with Nina.
She looked up as they rushed into the room. “What? I didn’t see a key,” she said as she stepped back and kicked at the less than adequate lock she’d just shot at. It gave way and clattered to the ground.
“SOT 1, report!” Steel demanded.
“Opening a cage, all’s well,” Lethal answered. He looked around the hospital room they were in. Steel bars had been assembled and welded together in corners of the room, forming cages around two opposite ends. There were hospital beds in each. Buckets for the males to relieve themselves, and not a single thing more.
Nina wasted no time swinging the door open and stepping into the cage the male was locked in. He was collapsed on the floor, just inside the cage almost as though he’d been at the door when he’d finally passed out.
Lethal was right beside her as she knelt beside the male. “Keep your weapon drawn and at the ready,” he said to Scorn.
Nina was kneeling beside the first male, her rifle now slung across her shoulder as she held her handgun against the downed male’s head while checking for a pulse. She closed her eyes and leaned closer, trying to determine if that was indeed a pulse she felt.
“Nina?” Lethal said, his rifle still aimed at the downed male.
“I think… I think there’s a pulse,” she said, tucking her handgun into her waistband.
“Scorn, stay alert,” Lethal said, then he knelt beside Nina. He reached
Without further hesitation, Nina reached for her knife and sliced the male’s shirt, dropping the knife beside her and ripping the cloth the rest of the way from his chest. She tilted his head back and cleared his mouth, then began CPR. She continued to administer CPR until Lethal signaled for her to stand off for a moment. He felt for a pulse again and shook his head. “It’s still there, but no stronger.”
Nina went right back to performing CPR. A moment later she sat back. “I’m getting a metallic taste and scent. He’s been drugged.”
“Naloxone?” Scorn asked.
“Yeah,” Nina answered.
Scorn flipped up the front pocket of his shirt and removed what looked like a small, thick wallet. He opened the flap and extracted a syringe filled with Naloxone, then stepped forward and handed it to Nina.
Nina reached for her knife again and sliced one leg of the pants the downed male was wearing, baring his upper thigh to her. She pulled the clear plastic top from the syringe, then stabbed it into his thigh, none too gently.
“Entering!” Steel said, as he and his two team members approached the room to be sure no one shot them thinking them unfriendlies.
“What do you have?” Steel asked.
“Two males, check the other one,” Lethal said.
Feral went toward the cage on the opposite side of the room. “Locked,” he said. He glanced over at the cage Lethal and Nina were now in with the first male, then at the lock on the door. He slung his rifle over his body like Nina had, then reached for his handgun. “Clear,” he said, then fired at the lock keeping the second cage locked.
“Got you covered,” Valor said, standing behind Feral with his rifle trained on the downed male.
“This one’s breathing, too,” Feral said.
“Shoot him with Naloxone. If they drugged one, I’m sure they drugged both,” Lethal said.
The male Nina knelt beside began to stir a little.
“Can you hear me?” Nina asked. “You’re safe. You’ve been rescued.”
The male didn’t open his eyes, but his chest rumbled.
“Get out of the cage, Nina,” Lethal said.
“No, I need to be sure he’s okay,” she answered.
The male’s head lifted just an inch or so off the ground before he dropped it back to the cold, hard floor making a cracking sound.
“You in there?” Nina shouted. “Wake up. This is not your day to die.”
The male’s eyes fluttered, then slammed shut again.
“What do they call you? Are you One, Two? Wake up!” Nina ordered, standing up and backing a bit away from him since his limbs were beginning to move more.
Lethal stood opposite her with his rifle at the ready. He had no desire to kill any Variant citizen, but, if necessary, he would. Nina had been training with the medical teams back at Alliance and when they found Variant people, she usually assessed them and determined the best way to administer whatever they needed until they could be brought back to Alliance. He didn’t like it, but, telling her she couldn’t do it was like telling him he couldn’t do something — so he tolerated it, and watched over her closely while she went about her new self-appointed position of medic to their team.
The male struggled to open his eyes, one of them halfway, the other less than that. He was still out of it, and not in control of his body, but at least he was moving now.
“You hear me? You’re no longer in danger. We’re here to free you,” she said, her voice loud to be sure he heard.
The male lifted his lip and snarled softly.
Nina raised an eyebrow and stepped forward, kicking his leg as hard as she could. “Do not fucking snarl at me. I’ll lock your ass back in this fucking cage!” she threatened.
The male’s eyes widened then he appeared to focus a little better before he slowly grinned at her, then let his head fall backward again to slam onto the floor once more.
“You still breathing?” she shouted.
“Nnnnggghhh,” he snarled.
“Good,” she said, walking out of the cage.
Lethal followed her out and closed the door to the cage the male was lying in. He remained in position, his gun aimed at the male as the male gradually regained more and more of his faculties.
“You alive?” Feral yelled to the male he was attempting to rouse.
There was no answer.
“Is he alive?” Nina asked, coming to a standstill beside Feral.
“Yeah. He’s alive,” Feral answered.
“Hey!” Nina said, kneeling beside the second male and tapping his face lightly. “Wake up. We’re here to free you,” she shouted.
There was no snarl like with the first male. There was no attempt to lift his head or to move his limbs at all. Instead, his eyes popped open. They were focused, clear, looking right at her.
“Hi, there,” Nina said. “I’m Nina. This is Feral. They,” she said, thumbing over her shoulder, “are the rest of our team. They’re like you, Variant. We’re here to free you.”
The male’s eyes watched her suspiciously for several seconds longer before allowing his eyes to travel to Feral, then to the other males standing behind her. He said nothing, just returned a cold, unfeeling stare to Nina.
“Take off your helmets, guys. Let him see you’re like him,” Nina said.
Feral unstrapped his helmet and took it off, as did Steel and Valor.
The male watched them, almost seemingly studied them, before looking back at her. “Waller,” he rasped.
Nina shook her head. “We’re here to kill him. But he slipped away before we arrived. All we found is a deserted hospital, and you.”
The male watched Nina, for a moment longer, then struggled to sit up.
“You want help?” Nina asked.
The male didn’t answer her, but he still struggled to sit upright. After a few moments longer, he managed to prop himself up against the hospital bed beside him.
“Who are you?” Nina asked… “One, Two, Three?”
“One,” he rasped out.
“One, I’m Nina. I came from a place like this. So did all these males. Now we work for an organization focused on finding and freeing others like us. Welcome to freedom, my friend,” Nina said.
“This one’s getting up, too,” Lethal said.
The male Nina was talking to swung his eyes over to Lethal. Lethal turned around to glance in that direction, not liking the fact that Nina was so close to the male, and his eyes met One’s. One seemed to register recognition and canted his head to the side in an animalistic fashion as he considered what he was seeing.
“Nina,” Lethal said.
“I’m coming,” Nina answered. She spoke to One again. “These males are here to help you. Don’t fight them, you’ll find yourself outnumbered and pissed off because we’ll tranquilize your ass.”
The male watched her as she left his cage and approached Lethal.
“I’ll go back in and ask if he’s okay,” Nina said.
“You’ll stand out here and ask if he’s okay,” Lethal snapped.
“Really?” Nina asked.
“They’re volatile, Nina. Don’t make me shoot them,” Lethal said.
Nina didn’t reply but she stepped forward and wrapped her hands around the bars of the cage the first male was in. “Hey! You alright in there?” she shouted.
The male, his eyes still looking a little cockeyed, grinned again. “Alive,” he croaked out in a barely used voice.
“Good. Alive is a good thing. In case you weren’t listening before, we’re here to free you. We all came from a place like this. We work for an agency that is dedicated to finding and freeing other Variant males and females like yourself. Your nightmare is over,” Nina said.
Rolling over on his side, the male looked at her, then at Lethal. “One,” he said with hint of sarcasm and amusement behind his voice.
“Lethal,” Lethal said, staring the male in the eye.
