Page 104 of If I Were Wind

“Tut-tut. You know perfectly well what I mean.” The pleasant tone became a whispered menace.

Lukas shifted his weight, fists clenching.

“Spill it, Kristin,” Nathan said. “Doctor Traube knows much of it, anyway.”

The thought that I’d merged with that creature made me sick to my stomach.

“You’re a skin changer, like Lukas and Nathan,” Traube said in heavily accented English. “Why don’t you show me what you can do?”

“I can’t do anything.” I folded my hands in my lap.

His pale face whitened further, causing his platinum-blond hair to blend with his skin. “Nathan disagrees. He said that you did something to him that forced him to tell you the truth about the bomb.”

“I think he realised the guilt was too much to bear,” I said with as much confidence as I could muster. “Or maybe he’s simply a coward. I have nothing to do with his guilty conscience or lack of courage.”

Nathan strode towards me, the tips of his fangs appearing from underneath his top lip. “You forced me to confess. If the second bomb went off, killing more people, it’s your fault. I didn’t plan to destroy the manor. You gave me no choice with your little trick.”

“You’re nothing but a murderer.” Venom laced my words, and I hoped he sensed it.

His nostrils flared as he marched closer. “I’m fighting for our freedom. Even yours.”

“You’ve found an odd way to do that.” I almost stood up.

“A few casualties are necessary in every revolution,” he said.

Lukas shifted his weight into a wide stance.

“Nein, Nathan.” Traube held up a hand. “The lady is mine.”

My beast stirred and reared. I had to push her down. But my anger couldn’t be stopped. I slammed a fist on the armrest. “I’m not yours, you sodding bastard.”

A gruff noise which sounded like a forcibly concealed laugh hiccupped from Lukas.

Traube wasn’t amused. His claw-like fingers clenched around his gloves. “Perhaps we should have a private chat.”

A feral growl rumbled out of Lukas. I had no idea why he was bent to protect me. Perhaps Shoshanna had something to do with that, but at that moment, I was grateful.

“You don’t understand the importance of science,” Traube said, not sure if directed to me or Lukas. “Your species is the next evolutionary step. Imagine what we can achieve with the strength of the skin changers. Humanity can reach perfection.” Red flushed his cheeks, making him look like he could have a brain haemorrhage at any moment. “We’ve already started to purify the race from the weak and unworthy—”

“Weak and unworthy?” I cut him off.

His excited gaze trained on me. Even his chest heaved. “Our work is progressing well. Jews, mentally ill people, those affected by Down’s syndrome, homosexuals, Gypsies. Their blood soils the purity of our race. In nature, they wouldn’t be able to survive, overcome by stronger specimens. Only the strongest survive in nature. This is what I do. I make the race stronger.” He lifted his chin and glanced at a portrait of Hitler on the wall, back straight, as if he were a hero.

“You murder them? All those people?” A lump of sorrow swelled in my throat. I forgot about Nathan and Lukas.

Traube pressed his lips in a displeased gesture, as if I’d insulted him again. “A merciful injection, and the problem is solved. I’m not a barbarian, miss. I’m doing Nature’s job. Only faster and more efficiently.”

“Oh, my God.” The room spun. I had to slouch back on the armchair to not cast up my accounts on his polished shoes. It couldn’t be possible.

“That’s why you’re so fascinating,” he continued, a smirk lighting his soulless eyes. “Your genes must be unique.”

Lukas said something I didn’t catch because my ears were buzzing with an annoying hiss. Then a glass of water was thrust into my hands.

“Drink,” Roy’s voice said behind me, but the relief of hearing Roy’s voice didn’t last. It was Lukas.

Mechanically, I did as told as the doctor kept blathering about race and purity, his noble work, and how he was lucky that finally there was a man, his beloved Führer, who understood the importance of racial purity. When my head stopped spinning, I took a deep breath that didn’t ease the nausea in my stomach.

Traube’s glacial eyes narrowed to slits. “I can’t assess her value unless—”

Source: www.allfreenovel.com