LITMIR.BIZ

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      Cover Copy

      It’s a dirty job, but some mutant’s got to do it…

      Joel Eisler is a mutant with special talents. He can detect an oil leak in the ocean simply by tasting the water. Because of this unique ability, he’s been purchased by a large oil company, along with his dolph sister, Amy. The upside of spending his days and nights in the ocean is that it gives him the opportunity to save the lives of his brother dolphins. The downsides are life as a closely monitored slave—and that he can’t be with Piper, the dolph-girl he loves…

      To make matters worse, Joel discovers the lab he grew up in has extracted his sperm and Piper’s egg and created a baby, and his handler, Craven, is plotting to kidnap Amy for more experiments. Now Joel must rescue the infant, bring her to Piper, and find a way to save Amy. And if that’s not enough of a challenge, he needs to convince Piper she belongs with him instead of her all-too-human boyfriend—if Craven doesn’t get to them first…

      Visit us at www.kensingtonbooks.com

      Books by Sandra Cox

      Mutants Series

      Love, Lattes and Mutants

      Love, Lattes and Danger

      Ghost for Sale

      Published by Kensington Publishing Corporation

      Love, Lattes and Danger

      A Mutants Novel

      Sandra Cox

      LYRICAL PRESS

      Kensington Publishing Corp.

      www.kensingtonbooks.com

      Copyright

      Lyrical Press books are published by

      Kensington Publishing Corp. 119 West 40th Street New York, NY 10018

      Copyright © 2015 by Sandra Cox

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      Kensington Publishing Corp.

      119 West 40th Street

      New York, NY 10018

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      Lyrical Press and the L logo are trademarks of Kensington Publishing Corp.

      First Electronic Edition: August 2015

      eISBN-13: 978-1-61650-608-7

      eISBN-10: 1-61650-610-5

      Printed in the United States of America

      Chapter 1

      The door opens and my breath stops. I’m not sure my pounding heart hasn’t as well. Inside a five by four foot tube, filled with a blue aqueous substance, I see her.

      Tingles of electricity shoot through me, leaving me immobilized, powerless to move. A baby! Light blond hair floats like seaweed in the water. If I were to guess, I’d place her at seven pounds.

      Instead of giving me an unfocused look, she stares directly at me and places both hands on the side of the tube. A long umbilical cord runs from her tiny belly button to an outlet inside the cylinder where it’s attached.

      As if in a trance, I move forward and put my hands up against her small ones on the other side of the tube. She smiles at me. Piper’s smile. The dolph-girl I’m in love with. That I saw for the first time in these very labs. I remember the day after Piper’s tests, how weak and shaky she was. It should have clued me in then. Stranger must have harvested her egg.

      My spinning thoughts return to the infant. If my heart could move from my body, it would drop at the little water nymph’s feet. I study her as closely as she studies me. She has the turquoise eyes of a dolph. They shine in the bright blue liquid

      Even with Piper’s mouth and nose, she has the look of me.

      No.

      It can’t be. It’s not possible, we never…

      A thought comes like an iceberg breaking up into dangerous fragments. The weird erotic dreams I’d had while under sedation. I hadn’t thought of them in months.

      My mind recoils. She can’t be mine. But she is. I know it deep in my bones. Somehow, Stranger extracted my sperm.

      As I walk around the tube, she turns with me. I need to see her shoulder. “Stay still, little one.” I’m stunned when she stops moving. Can she really understand me?

      I move around until I can see her left shoulder. There’s a small brown birthmark in the shape of a fish. It exactly matches the one on my shoulder.

      My breath comes hard and fast. Somehow he did it. The bastard took my sperm and Piper’s egg and created this little beauty.

      I should hate him, but how can I hate him for creating something so exquisite? She turns her back to me. If I needed any more confirmation that she was Piper’s, I don’t any longer. She has a blowhole, just like her mom. Floating, she turns around. Once again, she places her hands up against mine. They are so very tiny. I fight back feelings that threaten to overwhelm. I have a daughter. Piper and I have a child.

      Panic surges through me. What am I going to do? I’m nothing more than a slave myself. They’ll treat her like a pedigreed dog and sell her and I’ll never see her again. I fight against the protective urge that overwhelms me, afraid the weight of it will bury me. Not wishing to transmit my despair, I smile and say, “You’re a smart baby aren’t you?”

      She giggles, causing bubbles to float in the liquid. I relax a bit, fighting down the panic. Somehow I’ll get her out of here. I’ll take her to Piper. Piper is free. She can raise her.

      Breaking the glass and making a run for it is an option, but at this point, I’m not sure she can survive outside of her tube. In the corner of the room is a bassinette and changing table, signs that it won’t be long before she can be detached from her unnatural umbilical cord. I place my mouth against the side of the tube and whisper, “When you’re out of that liquid, I’ll come back for you and take you to your mom.”

      I swear she nods. Her intelligence is uncanny. What the hell did Stranger add to her gene pool to produce it?

      I tear myself away. No one must know I’ve been here. “I’ll be back for you, sweetings.” She coos, causing more bubbles to float to the top of the tank. For a moment, she’s just a baby.

      It makes my heart hurt to leave her. This isn’t good. I can’t have this attachment to her. It’s bad enough dealing with the feelings I have for her mother.

      I force myself to walk away on legs that I’m having problems bending. I’ve only ever felt this way about two other people, my sister and Piper, and yet this is different. This baby is part of me and the woman I love, even if she

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