“No. Of course not. But I could give her a loving home. She’s like any other human being. She needs love. She needs to know she’s all right just the way she is. I can teach her the control she needs.”

Her long braid had fallen over the edge of the sofa and he wrapped it around his fist, wishing he could push back all the strands that had escaped and curled around her face, but he didn’t dare touch her so intimately again. Not when his body just wouldn’t settle and his mind seemed consumed with her.

“I can see that. What are the other two like?”

“Beautiful and smart, just like Ginger. They used the same cocktail for all of them. Three little identical girls.”

“Three?” That surprised him. He would have thought they would stick with two of them. “They used in vitro to develop the child they wanted and produced three with the same DNA. Snake, cat and human?”

“Dashes of snake and cat,” she corrected. “They’re human.”

She made a sound and drew up her knees, writhing on the sofa. Her breath slammed out of her lungs. He pressed her braid to his face. She didn’t want a painkiller, but if it got worse, she was going to get one anyway.

He waited until she was able to lie still again. Hoping to distract her, he continued the conversation. “She ran barefoot, just like you. In the swamp. Neither of you should be able to do that. Not to mention it’s unsanitary.”

“The babies have feet like a cat, with a cushion. The soles of their feet don’t look as if they do, but they’re tough and actually aid them in running, jumping long distances and climbing.”

He looked at her feet. She had washed them when she first entered Nonny’s home and they were small, fine-boned, almost delicate. There was no paint on her toenails and no adornments such as toe rings or ankle bracelets. He’d never had a foot fetish but he considered starting one now. He tugged the blanket down around her feet again without running his finger over the sole of her foot. He already knew it would be deceptively smooth.

“Why did he want three the same?”

“He needs one for a control and two for his experiments. He wanted to know what situations would push the girls to become more dangerous.” She broke off abruptly, a soft moan escaping. She clamped down hard on it, her breath hissing out between her teeth. She drew her knees up and rocked her body back and forth.

“I can’t stand this,” Wyatt snapped.

Abruptly he stood, picked her up, blankets and all, and carried her to his boyhood bedroom. She didn’t protest, her eyes closed tight. He doubted if she could protest. She could barely breathe.

He laid her on his bed and tucked the blanket around her. His equipment was just down the hall in the little office he’d used to see a few patients there in the bayou. Most, he visited in their homes, the old-fashioned way. Quickly he set up an IV beside the bed, pushing fluids and a heavy painkiller into her system.

Pepper shook her head, her eyes wide with fear, her hand reaching for the needle he’d put into her vein. Wyatt covered her hand with his, sinking down beside her. “Leave it, sugar. I mean it. You’re in no condition to fight me and I’m not goin’ to let you have this round. Take the damn painkillers and let them do their work.”

Dangerous to you. To the others. Out of control. She shook her head again, those dark purple eyes looking so frightened he took a breath and forced his voice to be gentler when he was feeling anything but gentle.

“No one else can get into this room, Pepper. I’ve locked the door. I’ll keep you safe, I promise, and I won’ hold you to anythin’ you say or do while on this drug. If you want me to, I’ll wear earplugs. The truth is, I can’ stand to see you suffer. I want you to sleep through this if possible.”

Her gaze drifted over his face. His heart jumped. Pounded. His pulse reacted. The physical pull to her was far stronger than he’d imagined it could ever be between a man and a woman. He sure as hell didn’t want his friends feeling the same thing for her or having the same erotic fantasies playing through their heads.

Was she feeling the same way? He was certain she was. He told himself the enhancements they’d given her had made her a sexual being. Every move she made, the way she talked, it was all very sensual. His fantasies were most likely hers and she was sharing them with him through the connection he’d forged when he’d merged their minds – at least that was what he wanted to believe.

He saw the moment the drug took her, sweeping her up and away from the pain the snakebite had caused. Her muscles still cramped, but he was pushing fluids that would help. He examined the bullet wound first. His heart contracted for no real reason other than she looked vulnerable. The white knight was rising fast and he didn’t like it. He’d already been a fool once; he didn’t need to do it twice. Except… Sometimes a man just had to take what he wanted and make it work.

Wyatt set his jaw and picked up her arm to examine the site where the bite had been inflicted. Pepper was a good healer. Oftentimes, a bite from a viper could cause tissue damage – a lot of it. The older marks were faint, just small white scars. The new bite was more of a dark bruise where the puncture marks were, and already the arm was very swollen.

Clearly she had built up somewhat of an immunity against the viper bite as well. He supposed that it would be a good idea to start the process for him, and maybe Flame and Gator as well as his other two brothers… What the hell was he thinking? He’d lost his mind. He was going to help get those babies free and shut down whatever Braden was doing in that laboratory, but that was all. No way were those babies staying in his family home.