Reluctant Protector Read Online Free PDF

happened, he was still skeptical. “As a child, I had a congenital heart defect. The condition kept me from doing a lot. Everything actually. I was always sick. My father worked for years to improve my quality of life. And I had some improvement. I could go to school, even the occasional sleep-over. He died when I was sixteen, leaving me in the care of my older brother. Peter was a genetics wunderkind having graduated from Harvard with his PhD in genetic science and a medical degree from Columbia all before he was twenty-six. He worked for my father for years and was already poised to make some radical changes.”
    She carefully tied off the knot of his stitches and inspected her work.
    “When I came home from boarding school, things were different of course. I was so depressed I didn't know what to do with myself.  Being near Peter helped a little, but nothing made up for the loss of my father.”
     Ice licked her skin at the memory. “Two weeks before my seventeenth birthday, I had a major relapse. I spent the next two months in the hospital. That’s when Peter came to me with a solution.”
    Seth flopped his head back against the pillows and studied her, all traces of sarcastic humor wiped from his face and replaced with a scowl. “What did he do to you, Cassie?”
    “He had me moved out of the hospital and back home. And at the time, I was so happy to be away from the sterility and loneliness that I didn’t see what was happening. I was being isolated. Gradually, over time, I wasn’t allowed any friends. Then, I wasn’t allowed to go out.” She sighed. “The experiments started small. Peter tried several medications. Eventually the doctors I’d seen my whole life were replaced by Peter’s experts. The drug combinations my doctors tried were replaced by experimental ones produced by Gentech. Peter told me they'd help me feel better. And in some ways they did. I started getting stronger and my appetite came back. I went to his labs every day for observation. He spent the majority of his time there and I wanted to be with him.” She shook her head. “I was so stupid and blind.”
    “You seem healthy now.”
    Cassie shrugged. “If that’s what you want to call it.” She cleared her throat and continued. “At first, the tests were simple mind games and sports to keep up my strength and help me stay fit. Finally, I was moved to intravenous medications. When I would ask what I was being given, Peter always said he would never hurt me, that I should relax.”
    Cassie covered Seth’s hips with the blanket and moved closer to the headboard to work on his shoulder. “I'm going to have to cut your shirt off to make this work.” He nodded and she flushed. He was just the kind of guy she'd have had a major crush on before Peter made her a monster.
    With tiny deliberate snips, she cut away his shirt, careful of his shoulder. She'd been around men half her life, but never enjoyed this kind of closeness. She tried to fixate on his shoulder and not how good he smelled, despite the blood. His stomach was flat with a hint of six-pack abs, but With his slim frame and hard, lean leg muscles, she could tell he was more a running guy not one of those muscle-heads on television.
    “Did you ever try to escape?”
    His question caught her off guard. “Every once in a while when I complied with his tests and took my medication without complaint, he used to let me out of the labs so I could have friends over to the house. One time I snuck out to see a boy. Harmless teenager stuff. When he discovered me climbing back in the window, he grounded me, and told me I wouldn’t be spending my free time with anyone he didn’t approve of. Then he assigned me a caretaker. Only the guy was more refrigerator-sized James Bond than Nanny McPhee.”
    “I don’t understand. How does Symcore play into all of this?”
    “I’m getting there. The second time I ran was when the telepathy abilities started to manifest. I thought I was losing