Army Beasts 2042

By Dahlia Rose

Sophia Johnson knew what she was from the time she was able to understand the word shifter. Her father and all the men she called Uncle in the Army Beasts unit made sure she was proud of who she was. She grew up with other children like her on the unit compound, and when their true nature was revealed to the world, they were hunted. The family she knew had to break apart and stay hidden to survive. They left the country her parents bled for and almost died for, but now she was back on United States soil sent on a mission to save others like her. They thought they had destroyed the Army Beasts, but they were so wrong.

Lachlan Kincaid was the one she was sent to protect and bring into the fold. The sexy Scotsman and lone wolf would be an asset to the team if she could get him to behave and listen for more than thirty seconds. But when he kissed her, she didn’t expect the curl of desire in her belly. Nor did she expect her mission to save him would end up with them up against a billionaire holding his sister hostage in a castle on the cliffs. All she knew was that when he claimed that she was his mate, and she told him to go to hell, it was a lie. Now she was fighting alongside him for their lives and for love.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dahlia Rose
• Release date: Sep 16, 2012
• ISBN: 9781939151995

Dahlia Rose

Dahlia Rose is the best-selling author of contemporary, military and paranormal romance with a hint of Caribbean spice. She was born and raised on a Caribbean island and now currently lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, with her five kids, who she affectionately nicknamed “The Children of the Corn,” and her biggest supporter and longtime love. She has a love of erotica, dark fantasy, sci-fi, and the things that go bump in the night. With over six dozen books published Dahlia has become a reader favorite. Not only because of her writing but her vivacious attitude in talking to her fans online and at various events. Books and writing are her biggest passions, and she hopes to open your imagination to the unknown between the pages of her books. http://hearttoheartwithdahliarose.blogspot.com www.facebook.com/author.dahliarose www.twitter.com/dahliarose1029

Book preview

Army Beasts 2042

Copyright © September 2012 Dahlia Rose

Cover Art by Mina Carter

ISBN 978-1-939151-99-5

All rights are reserved. No part of this may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Chapter One

I don’t know if I should be letting you do this.

Sofia looked at her dad and rolled her eyes. He said this every time she went out lately, yet he always let her go. Why? Because she was the best they had right now, the one who could get in and out unseen. In 2042 the world had changed so much that they were in survival mode. The Army Beasts were trying to do the right thing, and protect others. Yet they were the ones hunted and had to leave the United States. She was sneaking back in to find another shifter and get him to safety before the government got their hands on him. When your name was on their list for the shifter genome, it was guaranteed you would go missing. The world at large didn’t care, the acts were hidden beneath the guise of protecting the public from an unknown mutation. But she knew the truth, and her father and the rest of the team knew the reason behind it all. The government was scared of them, of what they were inside. They couldn’t understand it, tried to control them and when all else failed, experimentation and extermination was next on the list.

Sofia put her hand over her father’s and squeezed gently. Dad we go through this each and every time I go out. You know I’m the least recognizable since you and my uncles are on the watch list. Luckily you guys kept us kids out of the public eye as much as you could.

It still doesn’t mean I have to like it, her father replied.

Sofia stood up and kissed him on the forehead. Yeah I know, Dad, I know.

She glanced at her father. Casey Johnson was the epitome of a soldier. At sixty-six he still looked like a man in his forties. In fact they all did and that was another reason why the government wanted to study humans with a second nature. They saw them as a fountain of youth. When the Army Beast became privatized, it didn’t change him. He still took care of every mission with the honor that was instilled in him as a soldier. As she grew up, she was never alone. Her uncles and their wives had children and they were all raised on the compound. They played, laughed and went to school together until the day when Casey got the entire group together and let them know the world was changing and not for the better.

She was eighteen and looked around the room at her family faces while her dad explained the war that was coming. Casey gave them the choice stay in America and live in fear of being hunted or leave to a place where they couldn’t be touched. Her mom, Nia, her aunts and uncles, their children all made the hard decision. The vote was unanimous to leave. None of them wanted to see their children hurt. With the help of their benefactor they left under the cover of darkness and never looked back.

They lived on an island now in the middle of a cove in the tropics. Three islands made up their secret haven and where they housed more shifter refugees as they came in. They were self sustaining with, electricity and their own computer grid, compliments of Camden. There was one way in though the rocks and reefs and in international waters. Which meant the government could not touch them. But that didn’t mean that the rest of them still living around the world weren’t in danger. They sent cleaner groups, searching out shifters and all two natured humans. In 2042 the world had been flooded with technology and advances that made people’s lives easier or harder, no one knew for sure. It also meant that the government could hide their secrets better and operate outside the law. Casey finally agreed to let the younger member of the team go in and rescue the hunted. All of them worked towards the better good. Bring the refugees to the islands and keep them safe until they found a way to end the game, permanently.

Are Zane and Stavros back yet? Sofia asked her father.

No, Sable got word from them they’ll be in tonight, he replied. The small plane is ready to go when you are. Do you remember the target name?

Sofia rolled her eyes. Yes dad, Lachlan Kincaid in Scotland. I read and re-read the file.

Good. He can make this group stronger, Casey said.

He’s a con artist and a freaking hacker. I don’t see how a criminal can help us, Sofia replied.

The second natured are being hunted like dogs, to even get a job now a DNA sample has to be given, Casey snapped. Imagine trying to get a job when they can test for the genome that makes us who we are. Lachlan adapted to survive. Don’t judge unless you can walk in another man’s shoes, Sofia. We have it pretty easy here, protected.

I’m sorry, dad, Sofia said and walked over to wrap her arms around his shoulders. She knew living like this affected him more than he said. While they slept in their own beds and watched TV and was able to shift and run, but in essence it was still a prison. The epitome of a gilded cage, one that they could only leave in hiding and risk their lives in the process.

He squeezed her arms. It’s okay baby girl. Sometimes it just gets to me, you know, and the unified worldwide police force doesn’t help things.

Her father was talking about the world bill that just passed, which all the countries in the world signed. It stated that all police can move back and forth across international lines with the full support of whatever country they were in. With that, the Cleaner unit could do whatever they pleased in whatever country they found a shifter. Essentially, the new laws screwed them all.

We’ll find away dad. Find the experimentation centers, the black ops files, anything to take to the president, Sofia said.

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