He could swear he could still smell Reed, but that was impossible.He’d showered as soon as he got home, and he’d put on fresh clothes.There were no traces of Reed anywhere on him or near him.It was like Reed’s scent had been branded on the inside of Franklin’s nose, and Franklin didn’t know how to stop that from happening.
Maybe it wouldn’t.It forced him to think about Reed and his story, and he could admit that even with everything he knew, maybe he’d reacted harshly.He’d been angry and worried, and he still was, but he could see more clearly now.
He’d worked for the labs, too.He’d worked for more than one because he’d been looking for his siblings.For a lot of people, that made him the bad guy, and while he didn’t think he was bad, he understood why, from the outside, it looked like he was.No matter how hard he’d been trying to help the people in the cages, he’d known that if he was too soft and understanding and too obviously on the side of the suffering subjects of those evil experiments, he wouldn’t be allowed to stick around.
But Reed hadn’t needed to stay because he was looking for someone the way Franklin was.No, he’d stayed because it was his job.He’d stayed until he couldn’t anymore, until he’d become one of the test subjects he’d worked on before.
Franklin snorted softly.He couldn’t imagine how that had felt.Reed had mentioned waking up in a bed, not knowing what had happened.That had to have been terrifying, especially as he started to realize that he wasn’t fully human anymore.After seeing how other scientists treated their test subjects, Reed had to have known exactly what would happen to him.
He’d said that he was a prisoner for six months.What had been done to him for six months?What had he been forced to do?
Franklin had seen some of that, too.The scientists and the people backing them wanted to see results, and what better way to obtain them than to have the mutants they created work against each other?Franklin didn’t know how they forced them to do it, but he still dreamed of it sometimes.Was that what they’d done to Reed, too?
Franklin’s chest tightened at the thought.His lion stirred restlessly inside him, agitated by the mere idea of his mate in pain.It was instinctive, this need to protect, and it didn’t care that Reed had worked for the enemy.All his lion knew was that Reed belonged to him, and someone had hurt him.
Franklin pressed the heels of his hands against his eyes, trying to block out the images his imagination was creating.Reed strapped to a table.Reed being forced to fight.Reed screaming.It made Franklin’s skin crawl, even though he had no way to know if any of it had actually happened.He didn’t want to care.Heshouldn’tcare.Reed had made his choices, and those choices had led him where he deserved to be.
But did anyone really deserve that?Franklin had worked in the labs long enough to know what happened there.He’d seen the aftermath of the experiments, the broken bodies and the destroyed minds.He’d heard the screams in the corridors late at night.No matter what Reed had done, Franklin couldn’t bring himself to believe that anyone deserved that kind of torture.
And Reed had escaped.He’d survived hell and then somehow managed to get free.That took strength, didn’t it?It took courage.Franklin knew from experience how difficult it was to escape from those facilities.Security was tight, the guards were brutal, and the scientists were always watching and taking notes.Yet Reed had done it, and instead of running as far away as possible, he’d stayed.He’d gathered information.He’d risked being caught again so he could help free the others.
Franklin rolled onto his back, staring up at the ceiling again.His thoughts were going in circles, alternating between anger and sympathy.The mate bond pulled at him, urging him to go find Reed to check that he was safe and to bring him somewhere Franklin could protect him.It was infuriating.
He wondered what Reed was doing right now.Was he sleeping?Or was he lying awake too, thinking about Franklin the way Franklin was thinking about him?Did Reed feel the bond as strongly as Franklin did, or was it different for someone who’d been human first?Did his being a mutant now change the way he felt the bond?
Franklin shook his head, trying to clear it.None of that mattered.What mattered was Garrett and Leah.Everything else was just a distraction, even if that distraction happened to be his fated mate.
But no part of Franklin liked the thought of his mate being hurt, no matter who he was.He’d seen enough to understand where Reed was coming from, though.He was angry, and he wasn’t sure he could trust Reed, but a large part of him felt like he couldn’t blame Reed for what he’d been forced to do, not once he became a mutant.
But what about what he’d done before he became a mutant?
Unfortunately, there were no easy answers.Franklin didn’t know how to feel.Part of him desperately wanted to be with his mate and yearned for the comfort and support his mate could give him, but he had to remind himself who his mate was.At the same time, Reed hadn’t needed to contact them to give them the information he’d gathered on the facility.Yes, Moore and his mutants could probably raid the facility even without all that information, but it would be easier and safer to use it.
Just like it would’ve been easier and safer for Reed to leave.After he got free, he hadn’t had a reason to hang around.Hell, he had a reasonnotto do it.Every day he spent close to the facility, watching it, was one more day that put him in danger of being caught again.It would’ve been so much easier for him to leave and forget everything that happened.
He hadn’t.He truly felt guilty over what he’d done and what he’d been forced to do.He was trying to redeem himself, and no matter how angry Franklin was, he couldn’t deny that.He couldn’t deny that his mate was trying, and that maybe, he deserved a second chance.At the very least, he probably deserved to show that he was in this for the right reasons.
Yet, it could still be a trap.Franklin wouldn’t be the one to decide whether or not they should trust Reed, and he was grateful for that.He had no idea if they could trust him.The part of him that yearned for his mate wanted to say yes, but the part of him that wanted to find Garrett and Leah was more cautious.As eager as Reed seemed to help, this might still be a trap, and Franklin couldn’t afford to walk into it.
* * * *
BY THE TIME REED FINISHEDtalking, he was exhausted.He’d lost count of how many coffees he drank, and he’d refused Moore’s offer to buy him food.He wanted to power through this so that he could go home to his tiny, empty apartment and drop into bed, possibly for the next week.
Because he could do that now.He’d handed over all the information he had on the specific facility where Garrett was being held.There was no reason for him to go back there to spy on them because soon, Moore and his mutants would raid the lab and free Garrett.There was nothing left for Reed to do there, which left him feeling a little lost.For the past six months, his life had revolved around the facility, even though he’d escaped it.Now that it wouldn’t anymore, he wasn’t sure what he’d do.
He could stay in his apartment, maybe find a job, but was that a good idea?Being so close to Franklin made Reed feel odd because he knew that Franklin didn’t want anything to do with him.Would it make Franklin uncomfortable to find out that Reed was still around?It wasn’t like they were going to see each other, anyway.Franklin would probably not even find out that Reed was here.How would he?
Reed realized that both Rikar and Moore had fallen silent, and he could feel them watching him.He plastered a smile on his face, even though he doubted it was necessary.“Well, you know everything now,” he told them.“Hopefully, this’ll help you get into the lab without anyone getting hurt, at least on your side.”
“Knowing where the cameras are and how the guards work will definitely help,” Rikar said.He kept glancing at Moore, and Reed wasn’t sure he liked it.He didn’t know what it meant, but it was obvious it involved him, which couldn’t be good.
When they’d agreed to meet in a public place, Reed had thought that would keep him safe.Now that he thought about it, though, no one had reacted to what had happened with Franklin.No one had asked what Franklin was doing or why he was slamming Reed against the wall.It was like they’d expected something like that to happen or maybe like it wasn’t their place to step in.
Reed looked around.There were still a few people sitting at their own tables, talking and acting casual, but now that he gave them more attention, he could tell that they were far from casual.These people were probably here with Moore and Rikar.Hell, they were probably tribe members or mutants who could kill Reed with barely a thought.
Reed swallowed.Was this how he died?It wouldn’t be a bad way to go.He’d handed over everything he had on the lab so the mutants would be able to save the people there, including Garrett.He was a little sad that he wouldn’t get time with his mate, but he suspected he wouldn’t have gotten it, anyway.There was no way Franklin wanted anything to do with him.Would Rikar and Moore tell him what they’d done with Reed?Would Franklin want to know?Would he wonder?
Would Moore try to stop Reed from leaving?There was only one way to find out.
