Valor, Variant - 2: A Dark Genetic Manipulation Romance, page 8
“You asked one of those men if he was your daddy. Why did you ask him that?” Becky asked.
Nina reached out and gripped Brutal’s hand. He looked at her with an intensity that clearly showed his beast was present and on alert.
“Because he looks like the picture of my daddy, that one that you put on my wall by my bed,” Skylar said.
Becky closed her eyes tightly shut, doing her best to maintain control of her emotions in a situation that was quickly becoming more and more surreal. “Okay,” she finally said, her voice scratchy. “You can watch your cartoons again.” A moment later she opened her eyes and pinned Nina with an intense look. “What is Valor’s real name?”
Nina shook her head. “He doesn’t know. None of the males on our team know who they used to be. Some of the other Variant males have been identified, but our team refused to participate. They’re satisfied with being who they are now. Their memories have been wiped clean. They just don’t know, and don’t want to know, who they used to be.”
~~~
“You did what?” Roscoe yelled.
“I’m not repeating myself,” Valor said, sitting in one of the kitchen chairs that he’d brought into the living room so he wouldn’t have to sit on the couch or love seat with everybody else. He preferred to sit in one of the firmer, high-backed chairs to face them all.
“This is not good, Valor,” General Ferriday said.
“I know that,” Valor said. “Don’t you think I know that?”
“Where is she?” Roscoe demanded.
“She’s in the apartment next to Two’s. He and Nina are with her and her daughter,” Lethal said.
“Daughter?! You kidnapped her daughter, too?” Roscoe shouted.
“We couldn’t leave the kid there alone,” Scorn said. “She’s a little thing.”
Roscoe shook his head and stood up, walking around the living room, and linked his fingers behind his head and mumbled to himself.
“Son, this could cost us our entire operation. What is going to happen to all these men, what will they do if we’re forced to disband this operation? What about those we’ve not yet found? What hope do we have of finding them if we have no back up and the American people fear us instead of empathize with us?” General Ferriday asked.
“I couldn’t leave her there. I saw her, and I had to have her near me so I could protect her. I had no choice!” Valor said, getting to his feet and looking at General Ferriday.
“Why? What was threatening her?” the general asked.
Valor shook his head.
“What’s that mean?” Roscoe asked.
“Nothing,” Valor said quietly.
“What?” Roscoe asked.
“Nothing! Nothing was threatening her. But I dream of her every goddamn night, and she’s running and calling for me. Something is going to threaten her and I have to have her here so I can protect her!” Valor shouted.
Roscoe’s mouth dropped open and he met Lethal’s gaze. “He kidnapped her because he dreams about her,” he said incredulously.
“Yep,” Lethal said. “And you can stop screaming or you and me can go outside and talk privately,” Lethal said with a sinister smile. “He’s upset enough. Care to push him over the edge?”
Roscoe glared at Lethal who continued to smile at him.
“Son, did you recognize her? Maybe she looks like someone you used to know. We can try to explain this to her, surely we can make her understand, then we can get her home and compensate her for the inconvenience,” General Ferriday said.
“No! She’s staying here!” Valor shouted, his countenance becoming aggressive.
~~~
Nina, Brutal, and Two walked with Becky toward the house Nina and Lethal shared with their team. Skylar laughed and shrieked the whole way because she was riding on Two’s shoulders.
“I need to be sure you understand, Becky. If it is him, he is not the same male you remember. His DNA has been mixed with that of a predator, or any number of predators for that matter,” Nina said.
“Like what? Wolves? Cougars? Lions?” she asked.
“Mine’s with a bear,” Two said.
Becky stumbled in her gait, and turned to look up at Two with her daughter riding on his shoulders.
“You can only tell when I’m angry. My teeth grow longer and my eyes change color. But if I’m not angry, I’m just bigger than I used to be. But I’m even bigger still when I’m angry,” he explained.
“They’re completely safe, Becky. They were made like this to be super soldiers. It was not something they chose, but it is what it is, and we use it against those that created them to help track them down and more,” Nina said.
Becky looked over at Brutal.
He grinned at her. “Big cats… Black panther, black lion,” he said, knowing she was trying to determine what he was mixed with.
“They don’t totally change from their human-like selves, but they change enough to be scary if you’re not prepared. They’re not human anymore,” Nina said.
Becky nodded, tears filling her eyes again. “Even if he’s not Aiden, it just breaks my heart. All these men’s lives, all these families broken and shattered.”
“Just don’t be afraid of him, okay? They always know who they care about and care for even when they’re angry. I’m concerned he may react negatively if he senses you’re afraid of him,” Nina said. “He still won’t hurt you, but they can all be scary as hell.”
“If he’s Aiden, I will never fear him,” Becky said. “I can’t help but think he’ll remember me if we just talk a little.”
“They don’t remember, chances are he won’t ever remember. Their memories start in the training facility they were housed in. Anyone they care about has come into their lives since. None of them remember anything,” Nina insisted.
“Some do,” Two said.
Nina looked at him but he didn’t meet her gaze and instead kept staring straight ahead. She knew that Two remembered, and just wasn’t sure if it was a good thing, or a bad thing. Since he never wanted to talk about it, she just always left it alone. “Just be aware, if he is your husband he won’t know it. Count yourself lucky he’s been dreaming of you and work from there. Don’t expect something he can’t give you,” Brutal said.
Becky inhaled deeply and let it out slowly as they stood outside the house as she prepared to knock on the door. Finally she nodded. “I understand as well as I can.”
“Knock, then. There’s only one way to know if Valor is Aiden,” Brutal said.
Becky knocked on the door and waited until it was opened.
“Well, hell,” Scorn said.
“I need to see Valor,” Becky said, trying to see around the male. Then she focused on Scorn and looked at him speculatively. “I know you…”
Scorn’s face looked like someone had slapped him when she’d said she knew him. But before he could react, General Ferriday called out.
“Who’s that?” General Ferriday asked.
“The woman Valor kidnapped,” Scorn said, watching her suspiciously now.
“Let her in,” General Ferriday said, as he stood to greet the woman.
Scorn stepped back so Becky could enter.
General Ferriday approached and stood right in front of her, holding his hand out to shake hers. “My dear, I’m so very sorry this misunderstanding has taken place in the way that it has. If I may do anything to make your stay here more comfortable, please, let me know. We are working to put all to rights…”
“I need to see Valor,” she said, tilting her head to peek around the general. Her eyes scanned the room as she stepped out from in front of the general, and walked further into the room. She heard the door close behind her and Nina and Brutal both speaking in muffled tones to the general and to Scorn, but then all that went out of focus when she finally found the male she was looking for.
Her hands flew up to her face and she pressed them to her mouth as tears began to stream from her eyes and she began to tremble. She shook her head back and forth as she questioned what she was even seeing. He was there, her husband. He was older, he had a few new scars, but it was clearly him.
“Aiden,” she whispered. “Oh, my God! It’s really you.”
Valor watched the woman that had haunted his dreams walk into the living room, her eyes searching, scanning everyone’s face that was in the room. Then she settled on his face, and he felt calm, calmer than he ever remembered feeling. Until she called him another male’s name.
“Aiden,” she said. “It’s really you.”
His brows came down over his eyes and he took a step toward her. “No,” he said, shaking his head. “I’m Valor.”
The woman shook her head as her tears continued to fall. “No, your name is Aiden Conley. You’re Aiden, and you’re my husband.”
Valor’s expression fell and his eyes widened.
“Are you sure?” Lethal asked her.
Becky looked his way. She nodded and gave him a sad smile. “And you’re Lieutenant Larsen.”
Lethal’s expression didn’t change. He just stared at the woman who continued looking around the room.
“You’re Santiago,” she said, turning to look at Scorn again, “and I think, you’re Phelps,” she said, looking toward Steel. She looked at Feral, then Roscoe. “I don’t recognize any other faces. I only met the three of you once or twice,” she said.
Scorn stood where he was, looking around the room as they all looked back and forth at each other. Finally he shook his head. “I’m Scorn,” he said, putting emphasis on his name. “I’m just Scorn!” he insisted, then he turned and walked out of the front door, pulling it closed behind him.
Becky watched him go, suddenly remembering knowing their names would not be what these males wanted, according to Nina.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, before turning to face Valor again. She gasped and took a step back when she found him standing directly in front of her, just inches away.
He examined her closely, his head canting this way and that. “You are the woman I dream of,” he said. “I’m sure of it.”
“I don’t think they were dreams, Valor,” Lethal said. “I think you were remembering her. She obviously knows you.”
“And us,” Steel said.
Valor reached out and cupped her face very, very gently, still looking closely at her face. “I don’t remember,” he said, the frustration clear in his voice.
Chapter 8
“You know me! You do. You knew me when you saw me. Somewhere inside, you knew,” Becky said.
“But here,” he said, tapping his head, “here I don’t know you.”
“Is he Daddy?” Skylar asked from her perch in Two’s arms.
Becky turned around to look at her daughter.
“She’s mine?” Valor asked, his expression horrified as his voice lowered to barely a whisper.
Becky nodded. “I was pregnant with Skylar when you disappeared. I got word a few months later that you’d been killed in action.”
Valor looked at the little girl Two was holding. Slowly he walked over to where Two stood, and reached his arms out for her to come to him.
“Are you going to yell again?” she asked.
Valor didn’t speak, he just shook his head.
Skylar leaned forward toward Valor and he lifted her from Two’s arms. He didn’t hold her to his chest or pull her near, he held her out from himself like he was afraid she’d break, but he turned and carried her back to Becky.
“Skylar,” he said, as he looked at the child now in Becky’s arms.
Becky nodded. “I show her pictures of you all the time, and tell her how kind you were — are. What a good man you were and how lucky we were to have you in our lives.”
“But I’m not anymore,” he said.
Becky blinked away a few stray tears as she watched the man she loved with all her heart and soul try to reconcile the fact that he was married and had a daughter, yet had no memory of them. She searched her mind for anything that could give them a common ground that he could cling to for now. “I dreamed of you, too,” she finally said.
“What?” he asked, taking his gaze from Skylar to her.
“I dreamed of you. Every night, I’d wake up screaming, calling out for you. But no matter how fast I ran in my dreams I couldn’t catch you. You always left me behind,” Becky said.
“That’s the same dream I have!” Valor exclaimed.
“Maybe our hearts knew something we didn’t. They’ve been trying to unite us while we slept,” Becky said with a shaky smile.
“My heart doesn't know you,” he said honestly.
“It’s okay. I know you,” Becky said, smiling up at him through wet lashes.
Valor shook his head “No, you don’t. Whoever I used to be is dead. I’m some other thing even I don’t know.”
Becky’s smile fell. She took a shaky breath. “Then where do we go from here?”
“I don’t know,” he said, looking from her to Skylar and back again. “But you’re not leaving.”
“Let’s just take a moment and go over everything,” General Ferriday said. “Why don’t we all have a seat and talk about our options?”
“She’s not leaving,” Valor repeated.
“Valor, you can’t tell her what she can and can’t do. But maybe if you ask she’ll be willing to stay while you get reacquainted,” Brutal said.
“Hey, here’s an idea,” Lethal snapped. “Why don’t we all go the hell somewhere else and let them talk? What they decide is none of our concern.”
“We can’t leave them here unattended,” Roscoe said.
“Why? Because we’re unpredictable — like wild animals? Afraid Valor will attack?” Steel snapped.
“That is not what I meant. She’s just been through a traumatizing situation. She may not want to be alone with her kidnapper!” Roscoe said.
Becky smiled sadly, then she turned to face the man they called Roscoe. “He’s my husband. He won’t hurt us,” she insisted. “And it doesn’t matter that he doesn't know us. I know him. I know his soul down deep inside — he won’t hurt us.”
“Do you want to speak to Valor in private?” General Ferriday asked.
Becky nodded. “I do.”
“We still need to discuss the day’s meetings,” General Ferriday said to Lethal. “Let’s go across to my office. We can have some food brought in and discuss it, and other things,” he said, tossing a glance pointedly toward Becky, “while they have some time to talk.”
As everyone except Valor, Becky, and Skylar filed out of the front door while General Ferriday waited just inside for them to precede him, Becky spoke to him.
“Sir? There is no situation to discuss. I will not be pressing charges of any type.”
General Ferriday walked over to her and took her hand in his. “That is very good news, Mrs. Conley. We are doing good things here for these males, and the females. If we were forced to stop, I don’t know how we’d continue searching for those still in captivity, and providing for those we’ve already rescued without public support.”
“If nothing else happens at all, at least I want you to be able to continue to help them. I will not do anything to jeopardize your work here,” Becky said.
“Thank you. If you need anything at all, I’m right across in the same building as the cafeteria. Just walk over and you’ll see our offices to the right. Mine is toward the back of the building,” General Ferriday said.
“Thank you,” Becky answered, before turning back to Valor.
Valor just stood where he was looking from Becky to Skylar, then back at Becky.
“I’m sure this is as much a shock to you as it is to me,” Becky said, reading the near panic on his face.
“More,” he said solemnly.
“I think we’re about even,” Becky said. “To find my dead husband standing there very much alive and looking at me, and to have him be the one who kidnapped us is pretty shocking.”
“Didn’t know I was a husband,” Valor said. “Or that I had a kid,” he answered, his mind ticking off all the times he’d taken advantage of the rewards that were given to his squad while in captivity. He had no memory of being a husband, but his conscience was certainly serving him huge fucking helpings of guilt over betraying the wife he’d suddenly found.
“You want to sit down and talk a little?” she asked.
Valor just looked at her. He was completely on unfamiliar ground, unsure of himself and not sure what he should say or do. “Don’t know what to say. Just know you need to stay here.”
Becky smiled. “Well, that’s something. At least you want me near,” she said.
Valor didn’t respond, just looked at her.
Becky walked over and sat on the couch with Skylar sitting next to her, being unusually quiet as she sensed the tension in the room.
“So, are you well?” Becky asked.
Valor gave her a single nod, then thought better of it and shrugged.
“What does that mean?” Becky asked.
“Don’t know. Seem to be, but nobody knows what they shot us full of when they made us. Could have some problems, but for now I guess I’m okay,” Valor answered.
Becky nodded like she understood, but in reality, she was about to break.
“Are you well?” Valor asked.
“For the most part. It’s been really hard, you know? Trying to make it on my own. I refused to take any of the benefits or compensation the military offered. I was so angry at them. I blamed them for your death and refused to accept any assistance at all. So, I’ve been struggling to make ends meet, but, we make it every month, somehow, huh?” she asked, snuggling Skylar. “When I first got the news that you were missing, our friends and family rallied round me, but after a while it began to wear on my nerves. Then we got word you were dead. It wasn’t even a year after and my mother was pushing me to date and find another husband to take care of Skylar and me. I couldn’t take it.”
“Why not?” Valor asked.
