Read Online An Alpha's Lightning (Water Bear Shifters 2) by Sloane Meyers - Free Book Online Page B

all kinds of ways. But the most direct threat to me personally is a group of scientists who are trying to develop a poison to eliminate all bear shifters. These scientists know what they are doing. Five years ago, they fabricated a virus specifically aimed at panda shifters. There used to be hundreds of panda shifters in North America. After the virus swept through our ranks, only four of us remained. That’s how brutal the epidemic was.”
    “That’s awful,” Jade said. “How did you manage to survive?”
    “Luck, and good genes. I carry what’s called the alpha panda gene. Alpha pandas are extremely resistant to disease. Fortunately for me, my body was able to resist the virus, and I’m now immune to it. But the disease was so bad that even many of the alphas didn’t survive. The other guys on my Coast Guard rescue crew—Ben, Lance, and Brett—they’re all alpha pandas, too. We’re the only panda shifters left in North America, as far as we know.”
    “The other guys on your crew are panda shifters, too?” Jade asked, her eyes widening in surprise again.
    “Yup. All four of us.”
    “Wow. Do the scientists know you survived?”
    “We’re not sure,” Ace said. “We think that they suspect so, although we’re pretty sure they don’t know where we are, at least for now.”
    “If they don’t know where you are, then you can’t be in that much danger, can you?”
    Ace shifted uneasily in his seat. He didn’t want to upset Jade, but he wanted her to understand the full extent of what he was dealing with. If she decided to go ahead with dating him, he didn’t want her to be blindsided later by unexpected danger. “Well, it’s not so simple,” Ace said. “They don’t know where we are, but, like I said, they are working on poisons to kill bear shifters. We discovered recently, thanks to some polar bear shifters and black bear shifters that we’re in contact with, that the scientists are in Alaska right now. That’s why I was up there the last few days, actually. We’re trying to figure out exactly where they are and keep an eye on them. We’re not sure yet exactly what they’re up to, but they appear to be looking for a way to poison and kill bear shifters on a global level. They’re trying to wipe us all out completely.”
    “Can they…can they really do that?” Jade asked, her voice sounding nervous.
    Ace shrugged. “I wouldn’t underestimate their abilities. They’re smart, and powerful. And they want us all dead.”
    “So, you’re saying that, in addition to worrying about you possibly dying on a Coast Guard rescue mission, I should also worry about your possibly dying at the hands of crazed scientists?”
    Ace nodded. “Yeah. That pretty much sums it up. And it’s not just me. If they find out I have a girlfriend, they’ll come after her as well. So if you date me, you’re putting a target on your own head as well. I would give my life to protect you, but nothing in life is ever certain. You need to know what you’re getting into, if you decide you still want to be with me.”
    Jade looked thoughtfully at the beige carpet on her floor and absentmindedly chewed on one of her fingernails. When she spoke, she seemed to be choosing her words carefully. “What do you think the odds are of them actually killing you? Or of them killing me?”
    Ace took a deep breath, and let it out in a ragged rhythm. “I’d say the odds of them killing me are pretty high. At least fifty-fifty. We’re doing our best to thwart their efforts, but, like I said, they’re smart. As for you, well, the odds are probably slightly lower. Their interest in you is to get to me. If they kill me first, then they probably won’t be as interested in coming after you anymore. And I mean it when I tell you I would die to protect you.”
    Jade’s eyes widened a bit. “Well, okay. But then you’d be dead. And I would have lost another man I care about. So this seems like a pretty shitty situation all