Free Wrenching Fate by Brooklyn Ann

made any unwelcome advances towards her and he was truly gone from dawn to dusk. She borrowed his car without permission and was rewarded rather than punished. More confusing was that he spoke to her like an equal, yet he’d treated his client like a subordinate.
    She sighed and tried to push the thoughts away. What do I care as long as I get to work on that beautiful car!
    A reluctant smile tugged at her lips. For a business man, Silas knew how to aim a flashlight well. Maybe he could assist her in adjusting the clutch linkage when the time came. At least then he wouldn’t be in danger of hitting his head.
    Her smile vanished and her heart jumped a moment as she remembered stopping him earlier. Had he realized her abnormal strength? At first, from his gaping expression, it seemed like it. But then he hadn’t said anything and they’d gone back to work as if everything were normal. Her pulse eased. He must not have noticed.
    As her trepidation faded, Akasha couldn’t stop remembering the feel of hard muscle under the fabric of Silas’s jacket and the faint scent of his cologne when he stood next to her. When his silken hair had brushed her cheek, she’d shivered, but not in fear. Strangely, she hadn’t noticed that it was cold in the garage until he left for his walk…She forced the thought away.
    It seemed Silas went on a lot of walks. Maybe he had OCD or something.
    Akasha shifted around on the bed awhile longer before she gave up and kicked the blankets aside. Maybe a cigarette would help her relax. She pulled on her robe, grabbed her smokes, and went out on her balcony.
    Before she struck her lighter, a movement from below made her freeze. Silas was in the backyard, shirtless and wielding a sword. Her breath caught. She felt as if she was struck in the chest by a ball peen hammer. His body was not the typical soft form carried by most business men. No, this was hard steel masculinity displayed in the bright moonlight.
    Though it was so cold that the ground was crunchy with frost and Silas’s breath came out in puffy clouds, a fine sheen of sweat glistened on his smooth muscular chest. He thrust the massive weapon with such controlled strength she could tell he was an expert. What the hell was a financial guy doing with a sword? The thought ceased as she watched sweat trail down one hardened nipple to run down his flat stomach. She gasped as warmth flooded between her legs.
    Was this what Xochitl called “lady wood?” Akasha’s cheeks heated. Because of her traumatic past, she’d never been sexually aroused before. But now, at the sight of this Scottish wet dream, her core seemed to throb and pulse with its own inner life.
    Silas looked up, and their eyes met for one eternal moment. The breath fled from Akasha’s body as electric heat flared between them. The world tilted as she stumbled backward. At the last second, she caught herself on the balcony’s support beam and fled back to her room with her face flaming.

Chapter Nine
    Phoenix, Arizona
     
    Agent Holmes listened with rapt fascination as Francis Milbury related the story behind the missing mutant woman.
    In 1979, a cell mutating serum was invented. When injected into chimpanzees, it gave them quicker reflexes, greater endurance, resistance to disease and extreme temperatures… and incredible strength. The U.S. military was elated. They could create the perfect soldier. Eager to see the effects of the serum in action, a squad of troops bound for the Gulf War was injected. At first the results were optimistic. The squad had the highest kill count, succeeded in the most difficult ambushes, and arrived fastest to rendezvous points.
    Unfortunately, another side effect evinced itself. The injected soldiers also developed heightened intelligence and became too independent. They refused to follow orders, preferring to do things their own way. Many refused to kill civilians when necessary. It was decided that the project would be terminated. The soldiers