AllFreeNovel
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Somehow, everything is starting to feel real, from the off-gassing stench of the new carpet, to the lame attempts at making a dorm seem homey.
“You can unpack. Take a nap if you want. I should have told you not to bring many clothes. We’ve provided them for you. Wear a Hawaiian shirt and a pair of khakis to dinner. It will be your uniform for the entire time you’re on base. You’ll hear an overhead announcement when it’s time to eat. Just follow the crowd to the dining hall. I’ll make sure the women know you’re here. They’ll show you around.”
He awkwardly bends to give me a fatherly kiss, but thinks better of it and turns on his heel to leave. It’s just as well. We never were a touchy-feely family.
My room looks like any college dorm on the planet, with sturdy faux wood furniture and an attached bathroom that’s surprisingly roomy considering this is compliments of the United States Army.
After stowing the few clothes I brought, I lay down to take him up on his offer of a nap.
I thought it would be hard to nod off with so much adrenaline coursing through me, but I must have slept hard, because I’m startled awake when Alexa’s computerized voice wakes me with, “Would all members of the crew join us in the dining room? Please join us in the dining room.”
Her voice, so calm and welcoming in this sterile environment, is like something out of a dystopian thriller.
I pull on a pair of khaki shorts and one of the seven Hawaiian shirts hanging in the closet as I wonder what Machiavellian sadist chose the wardrobe. Dear god, I hope it wasn’t Slater. I’m surprised he hasn’t been fragged for it.
As soon as I step into the hallway, the words, “Stepford wives,” pop out of my mouth before I can think. Did Slater bring me here to use in some diabolical experiment? The twenty other women in the hallway are all dressed exactly like me.
I guess things aren’t too nefarious. Everyone seems happy as they surround me to say hi.
“You must be Slater’s daughter. You don’t look a thing like him.”
They sweep me forward down the hall, through the women’s lounge, and out a door to the nearby dining hall.
Everything is all rainbows, butterflies, and kittens until I step through the doorway. That’s when my forward motion stops. I’m in a room with twenty splicers.
I’d swear the world slowed on its axis as I take a moment to assess each and every one. A woman who whispers that her name is Olivia grips my right hand and pulls me toward a wall. Another woman clutches my left hand, so I’m flanked on both sides, my back to the wall.
“That first meeting is terrifying. I’m Jenna, by the way,” says the woman on my left. “They’re the nicest people you’ll ever meet. I guarantee it.”
I’m having trouble paying attention to her words. I’m too busy noticing random details like the wolf-guy’s teeth, or the scales on the snake-guy. Oh, perhaps the politically correct term is naga. There’s a big, burly male who must have an abundance of grizzly DNA.
“L-lion,” I say. Then, as if my meaning wasn’t clear, I point.
“Yeah,” Jenna says. “Don’t get any ideas. That one’s mine.”
I stop moving. Completely. As if I’m paralyzed. My gaze is glued on the lion until I turn my body toward Jenna, tip my head forward, my brow furrowed and ask, “You? And the lion?”
“Yep.” She nods happily, her ponytail bouncing. “The best male I’ve ever known.”
I allow myself a full sixty seconds to take in the rest of the males, doing a double-take on the handsomest male in the room. If he weren’t shirtless, I’d think he was a soldier—a very tall soldier.
His upper body is completely human—only… more. Wide shoulders taper to a slim waist with an eight-pack so pronounced it looks as if it were airbrushed onto his well-tanned skin. And his hair! No one under seventy has hair that perfectly silver. It hangs to the middle of his back and shines under the dining room lights.
His silver eyebrows are striking on the chestnut skin of his face. What’s he doing here? He should be in Hollywood.
Then he steps out from behind the buffet table—on four horse-like legs.
“Centaur.”
“He’s new here. Kind of still in shell shock himself, he’s only just joined us from the other barracks.”
“Shell shock? Yeah. Join the crowd,” I murmur as I try to slow my pulse. It was originally racing because of all the fangs, fur, and claws. Now is it galloping because of the handsome male who is the only person who could literally gallop out of here?
The women explain how there are three lines of tables: women only, coed, and males only.
“That way you can keep your distance if you want.”
The idea is great, but aside from the centaur, everyone in the room is crowded into the coed area. If I choose women-only, I’ll be eating alone.
