Free TherianPromise by Cyndi Friberg

back in here. Why were they out there?
How did they know where to find you?”
    He glared at her, nostrils flaring. “Who said they were
searching for me? There’s nothing connecting me to this project. I’ve made damn
sure of it.”
    Was he being purposely obtuse? One glance into his cold
brown eyes assured her that she was the one missing the point. Osric was
nobody’s fool and he knew far more about this project than she would ever be
allowed to know. “Then why? You don’t seem surprised, just frustrated.”
    “I have Kyle’s sister.”
    This was new information. “One of the test subjects is your
rival’s sister? How did you get the backers to sign off on that?”
    Spiteful pride curved his mouth into a thin-lipped smile.
“They don’t know and you’re not going to tell them. She’s a contingency plan,
nothing more.”
    “If all else fails, you’ll offer to trade his sister for
Ava?”
    “Exactly.”
    “Which one is—”
    “I’m not a fool, Carly. You’ll know what I want you to know
and nothing more.”
    She nodded, but her gaze shifted to the double row of
monitors. Which one was Klye’s sister? Osric had hidden his treasure in plain
sight. Her attention gravitated toward Devon’s holding cell. Devon had been one
of the first test subjects to be acquired. At present, she was curled up like a
child, sound asleep. Relaxed and peaceful, her lovely features gave no hint of
the fiery personality hidden within the compact package. Every moment Devon was
awake was a challenge. Carly had often wondered why she hadn’t been scrubbed
from the program. Devon’s body responded well to the formula, but she really
was more trouble than she was worth.
    But this new possibility explained so much. Osric was
obsessed with Devon. He spent hours watching her, and more than once Ava had
caught him pleasuring himself as he stared at images of Devon.
    “Maybe they’re more telepathic than we realized,” Carly
mused. She needed to pass on what she’d learned to General Milliner, but first
she’d have to sneak away from Osric’s watchful eyes. “The sister could be
sending out some sort of signal, guiding Kyle to her location.”
    His gaze narrowed thoughtfully, but he didn’t seem
convinced. “Then why’d they come on foot? They can’t execute a rescue without
an escape vehicle. And why drag Ava along? This doesn’t make sense.”
    He hadn’t rejected her hypothesis, nor had he confirmed it.
Osric seldom shared specifics about the Therians with her or the other
scientists. Anything he was willing to divulge was given to the backers and
they determined who benefited most from each tidbit of information. It was a
frustrating and counterproductive policy, but it kept anyone from learning too
much about the mysterious Therians.
    “We don’t know for certain it was Kyle.” She’d meant to
soothe him with the thought, but his reaction was anything but pacified.
    His lips pressed into a thin line as he glared at Devon’s
monitor. “There’s only one person who can tell me for sure and this time she’s
going to talk.”
    * * * * *
    “Finally!” Kyle’s hands shook so hard he could barely
operate his phone. He’d never ached this badly in his life and he still wasn’t
sure where he was.
    “Can’t they use your phone to find us?” Ava glanced at him
then looked back at the winding mountain road. They’d reached pavement about an
hour ago, but they had yet to stumble across anything familiar. They were
headed west on Frying Pan Road and they were forty-six miles away from Basalt.
But those clues didn’t mean much to either of them.
    “The phone’s disposable,” he told her. “That’s probably why
it’s taken me so long to find a signal.”
    “Who are you calling?”
    “Jake. He’s lived all over the mountains. If he can’t point
us back to civilization, we’re doomed.”
    The call connected and a female said, “Toulouse Tavern,”
over raucous music and overlapping