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growled. "How?"
    Dr. Chase took a steadying breath. "Anarchy," she said succinctly. "They plan to designate an entire level to it. Men and women will be led inside in near-equal proportion and then the guards will leave and the doors will close."
    "What's the scope?"
    "Total. No exceptions."
    The next thing Tristan growled was not in English. Dr.
    Chase stared at him, her mouth agape. "Was that Greek?"
    she asked in amazement.
    Gaelic, actually. But he spoke Greek and Latin too. Wasn't worth it to read The Odyssey or The Aeneid in the English translation. Like paying the price of a 3-D interactive admission to watch the movie on TV. But he couldn't say that; he could barely make a sound.
    Tristan was struggling to keep from lashing out. The previous studies done on him had changed him significantly, altered his mental and physical abilities. His muscles have been enhanced—a side effect of one of the serums Dr. Chase always pumped into him. They caused him to have outbursts of incredible strength that he couldn't control, because they were triggered by stress or anger—times when he didn't want to be in control. He was literally a primed bomb ready to go off at any moment.
    Even as he gripped the armrests of the chair he was sitting in, the material indented, right down to the alloy center.
    There would be marks left on it.
    "Tristan, listen to me. You have to breathe through this. I don't want to have to sedate you."
    46

    Blood Moons
    by Alianne Donnelly
    "Of course not," he managed to say through gritted teeth.
    "That would mean no more experiments today."
    Dr. Chase stepped away. "You know that's not true," she said and Tristan could hear the hurt in her voice. She wasn't one of them, he tried to remind himself. If she hadn't told him, that reproductive study would have come as a nasty surprise.
    He breathed in, instinctively reaching out to the only person like him within ten light years. He felt Dara start and drop her book. Cursing himself, he pulled back instantly, throwing up all his shields. He told himself that the next breath came easier, and his vision settled to normal. He pretended that the details faded until he couldn't see the miniscule writing on the computer screen twelve feet away from him anymore.
    Dr. Chase was next to him again, her fingers pressed to the inside of his wrist, but she wasn't looking at her watch to measure his heart rate. Tristan looked at her and she blinked.
    "Your eyes have changed. The pupils contracted vertically just now, like a cat's." There was something in her voice, some kind of emotion he couldn't pinpoint in his current state.
    His jaw was clenched so hard the muscles ached. "Amelia,"
    he said, fighting to regain his senses. "I need to ask you a favor."
    "What is it?"
    "Keep her out of it."
    She frowned. "The woman? I'm not sure if I can. I told you the scope—"
    47

    Blood Moons
    by Alianne Donnelly
    Christ, his teeth were about to start cracking. "You can try.
    There are ways. There are always options."
    "Tristan, I can't make her disappear. She's on the list.
    She's coming in tomorrow for—"
    "No," he told her fiercely, meeting her gaze. His hand turned up to capture hers for emphasis, though it took everything he had to control his muscles and not crush her bones. The more he fought himself, the more it enraged him, eroding his control further. Tristan focused on his breath and nothing more. In and out. He closed his eyes. In and out.
    The security cameras beeped as they turned back on. A deep male voice called Amelia's name from the intercom by the door.
    "Please," Tristan said and opened his eyes. If it was all he could ever do for the woman, he had to keep her away from this mess. Dara exuded innocence like an aura he could practically see around her. She'd be broken by this.
    Irreparably. Tristan had seen rape victims in the memories of some of the men here. Those women had lost everything that had ever defined them, leaving nothing but a shell of a human being.