Page 89 of Monster. Me.

And for a moment everything is perfect.

But can a monster hold happiness?

Or are these only fleeting moments, gone with the wind?

◆◆◆

That horrible day, Reed wakes me up.

"Get up. Lomax wants to talk to you."

"What’s this about?" I growl. I’m never in the mood to talk to that weird doctor. "I’ve got a day off today. I’m supposed to leave in about half an hour."

"I don’t care. Lomax wants to talk, so you’re talking."

"Shit," I curse under my breath because I was supposed to leave the facility with Marlow for his small birthday celebration. We want to go to the place where the town of Rainbow Spring gets its name, a beautiful set of waterfalls that create fairy-tale rainbows…

"What does Lomax want?"

"You’ll see. It’s definitely not something you’re going to like," he drawls with a strange smile.

I feel a nervous shiver, but I get dressed and follow Reed.

We move through the labyrinth of corridors, but not to Doctor Lomax’s office. We enter one of the underground laboratories, protected by a reinforced metal door.

Interesting. Why would he want to talk to me here?

Dr. Lomax is standing bent over some machine that might be a large microscope or another kind of analytical device.

He slowly straightens and turns as we enter.

I notice he’s not alone. Against the wall, on a white bench, a young alpha is sitting, watching me in silence. He doesn't have a nose clip, which is unexpected.

There is also a large machine that looks like a CT scanner or something similar, a huge chamber, clearly a device capable of scanning an entire body.

The door behind Reed closes. He leaves, and I’m alone with the doctor.

Lomax’s shark-like eyes follow me as I approach. He points at a stool with his bony hand.

He folds his arms across his chest.

"Recently, someone pointed out to me that this entire program may be built on very fragile foundations."

I grimace.

"Let me guess, Dr. Lee."

He ignores me.

"I’ve always wondered why Blue Lowen shut down his version of this program so quickly, as if he didn’t see any potential in it, even though some of his results were very promising, and yet… they simply stopped. Maybe it was scientific intuition?"

I clench my teeth because I’m starting to worry about where this is going.

If Lomax really had a conversation with Dr. Lee, or reached his own pessimistic conclusions, I’m in trouble.

"I have a theory that you don’t have control over how you activate the reproductive system of the people you have sex with. I believe it’s simply part of your nature, as if your body somehow, perhaps magically, stimulates their gonads. Your pheromones and hormones, however, don’t produce the expected effect. We are at a standstill, Mr. Drax. None of the program participants has entered a full heat yet."

I listen to the whole lecture without being sure what his goal is. One thing is clear, nothing good will come of this.