Read Circe's Recruits 1: Roane for Free Online

tested reminded her of torture chambers, though that could have been due to the labs’ less-than-friendly scientists.
    To her surprise, all the rooms here remained empty save one, the one they entered.
    “Caitlyn.” A handsome, gray-haired man smiled at her. His blue eyes twinkled behind gold-rimmed glasses. He wore slacks and a dress shirt under an oversized lab coat, all covering a wiry frame. “Welcome to the compound. I’m Doc.” Roane set her down gently. She wobbled on her feet, clutching at his arm so as not to fall on her face. Weakness invaded her limbs. She felt not at all herself but managed a shaky smile.
    “Thanks. I think.”
    Muttering under his breath, Roane took her in his arms again and deposited her on the lab table in the center of the room. He didn’t immediately let go, but trailed his fingers down her arms to her hands, where he swept his thumbs over her palms. Had she not known better, she’d swear he was purring. She felt possession in his touch, and the rightness of it confused her.
    “You two can go.” Doc motioned Roane and Hale to the door. Neither man moved. Doc raised his eyebrows. “Problem?”
    Roane scowled and slowly stepped back from Caitlyn. “We’ll be down the hall if you need us,” he said, more to her than to Doc. Then he stalked off before anyone could say a word.

    “That’s what I didn’t say before,” Hale said cryptically, glanced at Caitlyn, then followed Roane out the door.
    When Caitlyn shifted her gaze from the door to Doc, he was watching her.
    “Can you explain what’s happening to me?” Caitlyn meant the events of the day, but Doc answered her with a much more detailed version than she’d wanted.
    “My pleasure.” He pulled up a swivel stool and began. “From the notes I’ve gathered, your father served ten years in the army special forces before he was killed.”
    “Yes.” Her family had been coming to pick her up from a weekend at the labs when they’d been hit by a semi. What did that have to do with the PPA and this venture down the rabbit hole?
    “During his military days, your father underwent the typical vaccinations of a basic entry workup. But he also received a little something extra that manifested in you, Caitlyn.”
    “Come again?”
    “Your father was given a particular enzyme that stimulates brain development, particularly in areas of the cerebellum and in the limbic system. The cerebellum plays a vital role in joining sensory perception and motor control. The limbic system includes such vital areas as the hypothalamus, the amygdala, and the olfactory bulb, which you Circs tend to use almost exclusively when --”
    “Doc, stop. You’re giving me a headache. What does all this mumbo jumbo have to do with my father?”
    Doc flushed. “Sorry. Your father was given an experimental drug, unbeknownst to him.
    Out of everyone dosed with that particular ‘vaccine,’ only one percent of the soldiers experienced any aftereffects.” He sighed. “You happen to be one of those aftereffects.”
    “How so?”
    “According to Pearson Labs, you possess the ability to secrete a powerful pheromone. Is this true?”

    “Yes, but that ability went away years ago.”
    “Did it?” Doc asked quietly.
    “I thought it had. The lab kicked me out, said I no longer held any interest to them. To be honest, I was glad. The experiments using my ‘pheromones,’ as you call them, used to give me a whopper of a headache. The tests became less and less fun and more and more draining.”
    “So they kicked you out.”
    “Yes.”
    Doc took off his glasses and rubbed the lenses with a corner of his white coat. “Elliot Pearl had high hopes that you would be the one to bridge the gap. You see, you were his first Circ, what we call people who have doctored abilities far beyond normal men and women.” The skin on Caitlyn’s forearms rippled, and she swore in astonishment.
    “That’s part of it.” Doc pointed to her arm. “Your physical change.