6. Oscar

Chapter 6

Oscar

A blanket of warmth surrounded me like a cocoon as I dreamt of binary code and specimen slides and a certain sexy alpha who filled me up in places I never realized were empty.

And then, the blanket lifted.

I fidgeted in the bed for a few moments before whining at the loss of heat and opening my eyes. "You're leaving?"

Daxton pulled a hoodie down over his gorgeous abs and then looked up at me. "Morning."

"Morning." I covered my mouth, suddenly self-conscious of my morning breath.

He chuckled and leaned over me, caging me in so I was forced to face him. "How ‘bout a kiss, cutie?"

I grinned behind my fingers. "I need to brush my teeth first."

"Nope." He nudged my hand away with his nose and then attacked my mouth, smashing his lips to mine while his tongue explored like it was the first time. When he finally pulled away, he pecked the tip of my nose and then stood up. "My omega is always perfect, so don't ever be shy with me."

His omega? "Um, okay."

His grin was back. "I'm gonna run down the street to get coffee and muffins. Any requests?"

"A tuxedo mocha, please. And any kind of muffin is fine." I sat up and looked for my pants. "Let me grab some cash from my?—"

Daxton's smile dropped, and his brow furrowed. "I don't think so, cutie. Go back to sleep for a few minutes. I'll wake you when I get back."

I watched him leave the room and then threw my head back onto the pillow. Was this actually happening? Did a gorgeous omega actually bring me home, knot me, and then call me his omega? It all seemed like a drug-induced fantasy dream. Definitely too good to be true.

I closed my eyes and considered going back to sleep, but my bladder had other plans, so I slipped out of the bed, put on my boxers, and went in search of the bathroom.

Everything looked different in the light of day, and all the doors were shut, so I went to the end of the hall and opened the door closest to the kitchen, hoping that was it.

It wasn't.

My jaw hung open as I stared at the wall of monitors and equipment that definitely didn't belong in a bachelor's apartment. At least not one who didn't spend his weekends chopping people to bits.

Almost afraid to get too close, I leaned in, taking a better look. The equipment in that little room was not your everyday home set-up. This was heavy-duty equipment that I knew for a fact came from the lab at AIDEN because there were still asset tags attached to the bases of several pieces. What the hell was this guy doing?

And if the equipment itself wasn't enough to freak me out, the little vials of blood and other substances definitely did the trick.

I stood there for a long time, and before my brain could register that I needed to get the hell out of there, the front door opened. Daxton was suddenly right behind me.

"Hey, Oscar. I can explain." I guess I watched too many scary movies because I completely expected a cloth soaked in chloroform to appear over my mouth so he could tie me up and do whatever type of weird experiments on my body he was into. Instead, his hand softly landed on my back, and he kissed my shoulder. "I brought breakfast."

"What is this room?" I took a step back, putting as much distance between me and whatever was happening there as possible. There were rumors of terrible things happening in the AIDEN labs, and I tried not to believe them. But Daxton was making it really hard for me to give him the benefit of the doubt. "Why do you have all this stuff?"

"It's a long story, and I will definitely tell it to you. Let's sit down and have some coffee, and I'll start at the beginning."

I pressed my back against the wall and looked at Daxton with new eyes. I wanted to believe him. He was still the same guy who was so gentle with me last night, giving me exactly what I wanted, and more importantly, what I needed. That ridiculous attraction to him was as strong as ever as I finally nodded while taking another step back. "Yeah, okay. You got any bourbon to add to that coffee?"

He chuckled as if it was a joke. It wasn't.

Daxton put everything he'd purchased on the coffee table and took a seat on the couch, waving me toward him.

My body was desperate to be closer to him, even just for a conversation, but my mind was slowing me down. "I just don't understand. Last night, we fucked like bunnies, and now…"

He grinned. "Bunnies are pretty smart…" Then suddenly, Daxton was gone, and a little gray rabbit poked out of all the clothes he had just been wearing.

My knees buckled, and I swayed before falling onto my ass, staring at the bunny until it was gone, and Daxton was pulling me up into his arms, completely naked. "Oscar, are you okay?"

"I think I'm having a mental break… You won't believe what I just saw." I stared at the wall, wondering what was happening to me.

"I will believe it. I promise." He tugged me toward the sofa. "Come, sit down while I get dressed again."

Again? I suddenly realized he was naked. Why was he naked? "Where are your clothes? How long was I out for?"

"You weren't out at all. What you just saw really happened, Oscar. I'm sorry if that sounds scary, but I promise, I'm a good guy."

I sat at the edge of the couch while he put on his clothes and then handed me the biggest cup of coffee I'd ever seen in my life.

Daxton leaned back on the couch for a long moment before finally turning to me. "I've only had this conversation with one other person, and it turned out he was exactly like me." Daxton raised an eyebrow. "You don't happen to turn into any kind of animal, do you?"

He had to be joking, but on the other hand… I just shook my head, unable to form words.

"Can I trust you with a secret that could get me killed?"

"Killed?" My heart was racing as I wondered if there was any chance I could make it out the front door before he stopped me.

"Yeah, literally killed." He took a deep breath and seemed to be steeling himself for something significant. If it had anything to do with him being a bunny man, it did feel pretty significant. "Okay, the short version is, I was genetically modified to be an alpha." He opened up his arms as if gesturing to himself. "But also to be a shapeshifter. And not just one animal, like a wolf or a bear, but…every animal. Maybe not every single one in existence, but so far, every species I've attempted to shift into has worked. Hence, the bunny."

"What?" I still couldn't quite wrap my mind around what he was saying, but I tried very hard to focus on his words. "I don't understand."

"I know. It's not something you can just understand." He sucked in a deep breath and reached for my hand, allowing me the choice to take his.

After a second, I did. "You actually turn into animals?"

"I do. At first, I thought it was just a fly. That happened years ago, and I never understood how or why. It was just a thing I did. But recently, I met somebody who's like me. He came to work at AIDEN in an attempt to figure out what they're really doing."

My throat was suddenly dry. "What are they really doing?"

Daxton shrugged and shook his head. "We don't know yet. But it's pretty bad. I didn't know any of this when I first started working there, but now that I do, I'm trying to figure out not only what happened to me, but what might still be happening to other innocent people… And shifters."

I squeezed his hand, then turned and looked in the direction of his mini lab. "So you stole equipment to try to figure out where you come from?"

"No, I didn't steal any of that equipment. It was all heading to the dumpster, and I just repurposed it. But…" He sighed. "It doesn't work. At least, not all of it."