Free Mick (The A'rouk Brothers Book 1) by Serena Simpson Page B

don’t have a tracker in you.”
    She took a deep breath and smiled the joy that she couldn’t be tracked was making her stomach dance. No one knew where she was, but more importantly, she wasn’t putting Mick in jeopardy, that worry had been in the back of her mind.
    “What’s wrong?” It suddenly dawned on her that he said there was some not so good news.
    “Seems that whoever did your cloning added a nasty little virus.”
    Her mind whirled taking it all in. She might work in cryogenics, but she spent ample time researching cloning. Cloned DNA could be manipulated before the cloning sequence began. That’s when they would have added or subtracted any genetic defect. Maybe you had an extra gene you didn’t want or carried the markers of diseases like Crohn's, Down’s Syndrome or any multitude of others. They could all be eradicated in the cloning process.
    In the beginning, the thought was to transfer the mind of the Original into the clone so they could have an unparalleled lifespan. The backlash of such thinking was severe and those who could afford such a thing didn’t want to be exiled by their peers. They dropped that plan but genetic alteration was happening in the medical community, there was no reason to tell the population about it.
    “What did they do to me?”
    “You have a nasty little virus in your system that was uploaded to begin spreading if and when you were called in to be harvested. It doesn’t matter whether you flee or not, your death is imminent.”
    “All that soul searching for nothing. They knew I would never get away from them.” She eased back on the bed and looked at the yellow ceiling. Damon had a point; the yellow made her feel slightly tranquil as opposed to the white that would have made her feel sterile, uncared for.
    “How much time do I have?”
    “Approximately forty-eight hours if not treated.” He stressed the last three words, but she didn’t hear him.
    Mick reached down and took her hand into his shaking one. How could he have just found her only to lose her? Every dream he was beginning to have went up in smoke as he leaned over and held her tightly to his body.
    Her mind cluttered with thoughts of what life would have been like with Mick if she had a chance to get to know him. Would they have had children? The desire that she was trying to deny swamped her making her want to touch him one last time. Feel his lips on hers. She mourned for the ocean she would never see with her eyes. Then she rejoiced for the opportunity she took to think for herself. Now the only question was how she would spend her last two days. Would Mick still want to make love to her? Her heartbeat picked up when she thought of him rubbing his hands over her naked body.
    Her hand went to his face as she touched the one person she wanted to connect with.

Chapter Ten
     
     
    “Jaz, are you listening to Damon?” The more his brother talked, the more Mick’s body relaxed.
    Uh no. She was too busy building a happy world to exist in until her time ran out.
    “Sorry Damon, I was sort of preoccupied. What were you saying?”
    There was humor in Mick’s eyes when he smiled at her. Eyes that changed too fast for her to register their color. He was holding her so he stepped back so she could focus on Damon.
    “I said when did you want me to operate on you. That is the only thing that will allow me to stop the virus.”
    “You can stop the virus?”
    “I can try. Since I am the best doctor on the face of the Earth and in the universe, I do believe you need my help. Whatever you do, don’t tell Nicolas I said that.” He laughed, as he waited for her answer.
    Nicolas was Ash’s brother although he wasn't on the Earth right now. She knew that he was also a physician and that he and Damon went back and forth on who was the best.
    Damon could fix her or at least he thought he could. He held out a carrot and dangled it in front of her. There was no way she could resist especially now that she spent