Savage Hunger (Project Nemesis) Read online

  Table of Contents

  Other titles from Celeste Anwar:

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Epilogue

  Project Nemesis 3:

  SAVAGE HUNGER

  By

  Celeste Anwar

  Copyright by Celeste Anwar February 2013

  Cover art by Eliza Black, copyright February 2013

  www.celesteanwar.com

  This is a work of fiction. All characters, events, and places are of the author’s imagination and not to be confused with fact. Any resemblance to living persons or events is merely coincidence.

  Other titles from Celeste Anwar:

  Carnal Appetite

  Carnal Knowledge

  Carnal Thirst

  Mating Fever

  The Color of Twilight

  Her Every Desire

  Resurrection

  Pleasures of the Flesh

  Indecent Proposition

  Project Nemesis: Wolfen Domination

  Project Nemesis 2: Island Fever

  Project Nemesis 3: Savage Hunger

  Cajun Heat

  Hungry Eyes

  More Than Friends

  Revenge Sex

  Pinned and Punished

  Strictly Forbidden (Coming Soon)

  Chapter One

  A prison had never been made that could contain the more than two dozen men trapped inside its confines. It’d taken weeks to get them under control to where they could speak again as men, longer still before the scientists had been able to begin their experimentation to see where they’d gone wrong in infecting them with the virus.

  “It’s not supposed to be like this,” Dr. Wagner said, frowning at the woman standing beside him with her tablet. “I thought after the first time we wouldn’t run into this problem again. You assured me they wouldn’t be able to achieve full immersion into animals, Dr. Dallas. It’s just getting more out of hand now. We can’t keep this up if we expect to continue with our funding. At some point, the government is going to realize we have no control over the subjects and shut us down!”

  Doctor Freda Dallas sighed and crossed her arms over her chest. “And you think I have some control over this? I’ve run every simulation through the computer. They aren’t as infectious as previous versions of the virus, but it’s losing stability. I’ve done everything you’ve asked of me. I’m beginning to think the chimera we’ve been working on isn’t going to be any better—”

  A siren rang through the building, signaling breach. Dr. Wagner and Dr. Dallas were familiar with the sound. They’d all gone through drills in case an emergency like this happened again. The lights suddenly went out, leaving them in darkness. Freda stifled a scream, feeling relief when the emergency lights kicked on, flooding the corridor with flashing red light.

  “Not again,” Dr. Wagner said. He grabbed Freda’s hand and they rushed to the safety cells designed to protect the scientists in case the prisoner’s cells were breached.

  Freda felt enormous fear. The collection of fluids had gone to her. She abhorred the monsters the former soldiers had become. She admitted to taking delight in stabbing them with needles and causing them pain, amongst other methods of fluid collection. Had the bastards just behaved and not acted like the animals they’d become, it wouldn’t have been a problem, but as it was, she despised working for Project Nemesis. If the project got shut down after this breach, she’d be glad.

  If she didn’t get killed this time by escapees, it would be a miracle.

  She’d narrowly avoided death too many times to count. She knew her luck would run out at some point. It was only a matter of time.

  They reached the safety cell, seeing their assistants cowering inside. Dr. Wagner entered the code to open the door. The five inch thick door slid open, allowing them inside.

  “What happened?” Dr. Wagner demanded of one of his assistants.

  Adam stood up and visibly swallowed. “I have no idea. One of the guards said it was an inside job. That someone on the inside had connections to one of the men and let them go. They’re everywhere!”

  “Fuck!” Dr. Wagner said. All the guards had undergone extensive background checks. Some fucking bleeding heart had just fucked up everything.

  “We’ll be back to square one and no subjects. I knew we should have terminated them all when we had a chance. It wasn’t enough just to get rid of the unruly ones.”

  ***

  Zachary Cooper stood with Dante Jackson and Lucas Mathews at his back. The others were hanging back, awaiting the signal for them to move forward.

  Zach held up his fist, watching for boat at the dock that was supposed to be meeting them on the beach. If Riker’s cousin was to be believed, their ride would be there.

  A sliver of moonlight gleamed in the sky, flickering on the water, and then he heard the sound of an engine striking up and knew it was there.

  He moved his hand forward, urging the men to stay low.

  They erupted from the cover of the jungle. A rush of adrenaline surged through him, more powerful than he’d ever experienced before the change had come over them.

  They’d rescued the drone from the wilds of the jungle, but at what cost to themselves?

  They would never be human again.

  Zach shook off the crippling thoughts with disgust, running along the beach. The prison was far enough behind them, they could no longer hear the sirens inside, but they knew their pursuers weren’t far behind.

  Nemesis would do anything to destroy the damning evidence which had virtually just walked out the door. Had it not been for inside help, they’d be dead right now.

  Hell, they might still die.

  Behind them, the sudden peel of gunfire erupted. Sand burst like fireworks around them.

  “Fuck! Run for the boat! Go, go, go! It’s the only way out!”

  A bullet caught him in the back, slamming him forward. He screamed and jumped to his feet, anger and rage spurring him on.

  They had to make it to the boat or they were all dead.

  Dimly, above the roaring in his ears, he could hear the soldiers pursuing them radio for backup.

  The coppery scent of blood filled Zach’s nostrils. He hadn’t been the only one who’d been hit.

  The boat waiting at the lonely dock revved its engine as the driver saw the men running towards it.

  “They’re trying to leave us!” Dante said with a grunt, increasing his pace.

  “Not if I have anything to do with it,” Zach replied, ignoring the pain stretching through his back and legs. He’d been peppered with bullets, and even with their increased healing time, it couldn’t curb the pain they felt when struck, even with non-silvered bullets.

  ***

  Jasmine was beginning to think she’d been tricked into coming to Cuba to procure cancer treatment medicine that the organization her friends worked for could no longer afford to provide for free to patients that needed it. As much as she distrusted foreign countries and their medical practices, it was hard to turn someone down who was dying and couldn’t afford the medicine to keep themselves or their children alive.

  She’d lost her mother and brother to cancer, so she knew the familiar pain of loss and hope—the exorbitant cost of trying to keep your loved ones alive.

  When she’d been approached to make the pickup with her father’s yacht, rather than shying away, she’d
seen it as her duty to help those in need. She’d never been needed before, never had a chance to do something good for another person, and she thought this was her one chance to do something great.

  Even if it was, technically, illegal according to the United States government.

  She just didn’t feel guilty about it like she would have if she was smuggling illegal narcotics into the country. She wasn’t that kind of drug smuggler, for god’s sake.

  Nerves cramped Jasmine’s stomach, tying it into knots and making her feel like she could pass out from hyperventilation at any moment.

  She’d found the small dock at the beach easily enough. Dominic Riker had told her to wait until she heard from him on the phone, that he’d probably meet her at the dock at dark so it would be easier for her to slip back to the Miami coast undisturbed by the coast guard.

  She’d been fine with that, until she realized fairly quickly that she didn’t have cell service in the remote area and he had no way of contacting her once she arrived.

  She’d been reassured by the presence of the small dock out in the middle of nowhere, convinced it’d been constructed in such a remote locale for the simple reason that no one would think to check there for any nefarious happenings.

  Jasmine had dropped anchor and tied off to the dock, then spent the rest of the day waiting. And waiting. And waiting.

  She’d begun regretting her decision ever since she’d arrived and no one was there to meet her with the packages, even though he’d told her he’d arrive near dusk. She just didn’t think he’d arrive so late, not when she had to navigate back to Miami in the pitch black.

  She hadn’t had any service on her cell phone, so she had no way of knowing if Riker had cancelled the drop off or not, or rescheduled it in a different place or a different day.

  Effectively, she was stuck waiting without any certainty that anything was going to happen.

  As much as she wanted to leave, the possibility that her pickup was just around the corner continued to dog her, and she’d chose to wait it out rather than leave.

  Her nerves had only grown with every passing hour, however, and when dusk approached and she’d still gotten no sign, she’d really begun rethinking her motives for coming here. It was all well to think she was going to help save someone’s life. It was a different matter altogether to wonder if she’d been setup.

  She’d walked along the small stretch of beach in the morning. The jungle was held off from encroaching straight to the sea by the glittering white sand. She’d been charmed at first, but had quickly grown bored.

  After lunching on some of the stocked canned food and catching a cat nap, she’d pretended to fish the other half of the day. As the sun dipped in the sky, turning the clouds to pink and amber, then violet, she was pretty sure something had happened on the opposite end of the spectrum to call the whole thing off.

  That was when the quiet she’d enjoyed all day suddenly erupted into chaos.

  In the distance, echoing through the wide, empty space, she heard sirens going off. The fact that there was anything around in the area alarmed her. When they abruptly cut off, then started again, she began to grow concerned that her meeting with Dominic had been exposed. Maybe he’d gotten caught somewhere along the way.

  She didn’t like it.

  Casually, she climbed down the ladder and walked along the small dock, wondering if there was something she could see in the dark.

  That was when the horn of a boat blared, breaking the silence of the night.

  Jasmine jumped, startled at the closeness of the sound.

  Someone had caught her or sold her out.

  Panic had her mind racing for why she was docked in the middle of nowhere. With her luck, the police were coming and would be sure she was trying to smuggle drugs or refugees or both.

  She had enough supplies inside the boat for the latter.

  Kanye rapping from her ipod dock wasn’t enough to cover the sounds of activity and alarm from somewhere in the dark. Jasmine lifted her head over the railing, expecting the coast guard to come barreling down after her, demanding to know why she was somewhere she shouldn’t be.

  Reacting with pure fear, she raced to the rope tying her yacht to the dock. She looped it off and clambered up the ladder, her feet slipping from the dew collecting on the rungs.

  She cursed under her breath and caught herself, feeling a bruise form on her shin.

  Someone was setting off fireworks in the distance. It sounded like bottle rockets.

  She turned and looked over her shoulder and caught a flashing burst of light, then realized it wasn’t fireworks she’d heard.

  The beach was alive with men in ragged clothing, heading straight for her!

  A flashing spotlight swept over the beach. Men ran and ducked. Someone with an automatic rifle let loose, covering the beach with bullets.

  “Oh my god!” Jasmine shrieked, climbing the ladder the rest of the way and swinging over the railing.

  She needed to disengage the anchor and find the keys. Her brain reacted sluggishly. It took her a moment to figure out how to disengage the anchor, and then she was stuck trying to remember where she’d put the keys.

  Her shorts!

  Men shouting caught her attention. She looked over the rail and saw the men coming for her.

  How had they gotten across the beach so fast?

  They had to be refugees trying to leave Cuba.

  Finally finding the key, she charged to the pilot deck, scrambling to push the key into the ignition. She started the engine, hoping the sound didn’t draw attention from the boats and soldiers on the beach.

  The boat roared to life, making her grit her teeth.

  Behind her, she heard the smack of a body as it tumbled into the deck.

  The hair on the back of her neck stood on end. Three men had landed inside the boat. They all had wild looks in their eyes and were panting and gasping. Blood seeped from wounds on their arms and legs.

  Jasmine muffled her shriek with her hand.

  She might as well not have bothered. Three heads swiveled in her direction, their gazes landing on her like a firebrand.

  She screamed then, looking frantically around for a weapon. She couldn’t have refugees or escapees from some military prison on her boat—especially with no good reason why she was out here in the first place.

  She was going to get caught and go to some jail where she’d never see the light of day again. Be tortured and who knew what else.

  She made a dash for the cabin, hoping she could lock herself below and maybe the boats chasing them would just gather them back up. But she had to run by the men first.

  Jasmine moved, seeing the men seemed frozen momentarily by her presence. Her movement snapped them out of immobility.

  Her hope withered and died when some wild-eyed black haired beast grabbed her and snatched her back. He manacled his hands around her arms, pinning her against the deck.

  Simultaneously, gunfire erupted around them. Wood splintered from the deck like pop rocks.

  Jasmine screamed, certain she was about to be killed or wounded.

  The man who’d grabbed her covered her with his body, crushing the breath from her lungs. She grunted and gasped to recover some oxygen. He soaked her skin and bikini.

  More thumps reached her ears. Her boat was being confiscated by more of the men!

  “Did everyone get on board? Good. Take control of the boat, Lucas!” the man crushing the life out of her yelled. Her eardrums rattled with his baritone.

  The boat took a wide arc in the water, making them roll on the deck as Lucas took control of the boat.

  The man holding her captive snatched her to her feet, scanned the deck, then dragged her down to leap through the open hatch she’d initially tried to escape to.

  Jasmine grunted, feeling pain seep into her arms from misuse and unfamiliar action.

  Dog tags hanging from his neck, the black haired stranger whipped his head around, scanning the cabin and
sniffing the air.

  He released her to drop onto one of the perimeter couches. “You get hit?” he asked.

  Jasmine just stared at him, at a loss for words.

  His jaw tensed with impatience. “I said are you hurt? Nevermind. You’re not screaming in agony. You must be okay. Stay down here and keep low. I don’t want you taking a bullet or something. We don’t know how long they’re going to chase us.”

  The initial adrenaline rush had receded, leaving her to feel like every bone and muscle in her body had been dragged through a wringer and bruised.

  She nodded shakily, watching as he bounded back up the ladder to the deck. Bullets ripped through the boat, and she dropped to the floor, covering her head and hoping she didn’t get hit.

  Terror erupted along every nerve ending, sapping her of strength and warmth. Her outfit didn’t do a damned thing for protection from the elements except extreme heat.

  She heard more thumps and yells from the deck above.

  Above her, were who knew how many nearly naked men who’d either escaped from some prison or were refugees. The way they were moving and being pursued, she thought the former was the likely prospect. In that case, it’d probably been a while since any of them had had a piece of ass. And she damned sure didn’t want any of them noticing her like this.

  Her mama hadn’t raised an idiot.

  Crawling across the floor, she decided to hide under the center table. She pulled a blanket off the bunk and curled up, hoping some random gunshot didn’t take her out before her time. If nothing else, at least she wasn’t cold anymore.

  She was too scared to go in search of clothes in case she ran across one of the strangers in her search. She knew her dad kept plenty of supplies on board, even though he’d never gotten to really use the boat like he’d wanted.

  Outside, the sound of gunfire began to fade, and she wondered if they’d given up or if her boat had just outrun them. Her daddy had had a love for speed and racing, and bought this boat model specifically for that reason. She wanted to smile at the memory of her speed demon daddy, but all she could do was struggle to ignore the battering her body had taken in the short scuffle.