Dual Lives: Genetically Altered Humans, #15

By Rena Marks

"Where do you go sometimes, Winnie, huh? To ghost worlds?"

 

A child's innocent question, but in Winnie's world, nothing is as it seems. Her love is flowing, and with her new boyfriend bringing his adorable four-year-old child into the relationship? Her family life is full. Her heart is full.

 

But what would they think if they knew she lived a dual life?

 

Sam knows the beautiful Xeno Sapien is more than she seems. Winnie is a Wisp and tunes out every now and then—as if she freezes in time. And Sam can't seem to turn off his ex-police officer tendencies when he wonders where she disappears to during that phase.

 

But when he finds out—he may wish he'd remained in the dark.

 

* The story behind the series: When futuristic Earth finds alien DNA and creates a new species of hybrids in hidden labs, Dr. Robyn Saraven helps the "creatures" escape. She uses her connections to establish their own city on Earth-Ground where they can learn, grow, and avoid the corruption and greed that created them. *

 

Each book can be read as a standalone, but will be richer if read in order.

 

Other books in the Genetically Altered Humans Series:

Book 1—Xeno Sapiens
Book 2—Earth-Ground
Book 3—Siren
Book 4—Beast's Beauty
Book 5—Almost Human
Book 6—Forbidden Touches
Book 7—Coveting Ava
Book 8—For Everly
Book 9—Assassin's Mate
Book 10—Sextet
Book 11—Tempting Tempest
Book 12—Falling For Trance  
Book 13—Damaged Goods
Book 14—Alien's Bride
Book 15—Dual Lives
Book 16—Reson's Lesson
Book 17—A Mate For Max

Book 18—Dragon's Mate

Book 19—Fated

 

"Dual Lives - it's not your traditional time-travel love story."

• Language: English
• Publisher: Terran Publishing
• Release date: May 12, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393982722

Rena Marks

Welcome to my Worlds! Rena Marks is a bestselling author with over eighty-five novels under her belt. She combines her love of science fiction with paranormal romance because no matter what happens in real life, a happy-ever-after never disappoints. Come get lost in my worlds for a few hours!

Book preview

DUAL LIVES

A XENO SAPIENS NOVEL

The Genetically Altered Humans

Book 15

Rena Marks

DUAL LIVES

A Xeno Sapiens Novel

Rena Marks

Where do you go sometimes, Winnie, huh? To ghost worlds?

A child’s innocent question, but in Winnie’s world, nothing is as it seems. Her love is flowing, and with her new boyfriend bringing his adorable four-year-old child into the relationship? Her family life is full. Her heart is full.

But what would they think if they knew she lived a dual life?

Sam knows the beautiful Xeno Sapien is more than she seems. Winnie is a Wisp and tunes out every now and then—as if she freezes in time. And Sam can’t seem to turn off his ex-police officer tendencies when he wonders where she disappears to during that phase.

But when he finds out—he may wish he’d remained in the dark.

Table of Contents

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

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Epilogue

Reson’s Lesson

Owned By The Orc

Saved By The Orc

Bought By The Orc

Matched To The Monster

Maddie Mine

My Alien Baby

Space Babies

Xeno Sapiens

Blue Barbarian Series

Miack

Khane

How My Jingleballs Saved Christmas

Zearn

Merry Monsters

Chapter One

WINNIE XENO SAPIEN cuddled four-year-old Olivia on her lap, smoothing the fluffy skirts around legs encased in iridescent tights.

Thanks for bringing me to the wedding, Olivia said. Tomorrow daddy’s gonna take me to Baby’s house and Ima gonna tell her all ‘bout everything I saw.

Going to, sweet one. We must practice proper English, yes? Winnie murmured against her ear.

Olivia snickered. Daddy says we lived too long in the dank bowels of Earth-Ground and sometimes I sound like a scurvy sailor.

Winnie inhaled her sweet hair. She’d washed and curled Olivia’s hair for the wedding reception of Cassie and Milo, a Xeno Sapien who had fallen in love with a human woman. The child had begged and begged Sam and Winnie to bring her and they’d agreed to allow her one hour to be with the adults.

I don’t even know what a scurvy sailor is, Winnie whispered.

Me neither, Olivia declared. But Daddy says I need to eat my spinach so I can grow super muscles like him.

Winnie couldn’t deny that Sam had super muscles indeed. Her time with the sweet child was almost up now, so she squeezed the baby softness to her.

I love you, too, Winnie, but for a ghost, you’re squishing me like a bug.

Winnie felt a gurgle of laughter as she released some of the pressure. I’m not a ghost, she said for the umpteenth time.

You’re very white. I like to tell Baby you’re a ghost. She loves that. I love that, too. Besides... where do you go, sometimes, huh? Ghost worlds?

Where do you go sometimes? Such an innocent question and one Winnie couldn’t really answer. Not that she didn’t know—but one that was so tricky and so hard to believe she couldn’t tell her wonderful man, the father of this precious little girl, much less a child.

I just disappear into a fantasy in my head, little one, she murmured. Sometimes I imagine I’m a superhero and I can fly around the city, capturing the bad guys for the police. Eating spinach to make my muscles grow.

A fantasy was close enough to the truth, she imagined. She did disappear. However, the fantasy was real and she wasn’t at all a superhero. But the fabricated pitch made Olivia giggle because she remembered when her father was a policeman before coming to live in Xenia. The idea of Winnie flying around in a cape handing bad guys to her dad gave her new fuel for her overactive little imagination.

That’s why Daddy liked you the first time he saw you. And you liked him, too! Winnie?

Hmm?

When will you and Daddy get married?

Winnie froze. Drat, she’d never thought of that. Olivia watched the wedding proceedings happening, knew Sam and Winnie were dating, and wanted to progress to a wedding also. Smart, smart child. Beautiful, smart child.

Not sure, little one. She decided to be as honest as possible. That is a difficult decision for grown-ups. And one she averted with Olivia’s father as much as she could.

Yes, Olivia said sadly. Besides, if you married, you’d be my mommy. And mommies die in my family.

Livvie, Winnie said gently, twisting the adorable baby around to squat on her knees facing Winnie.

Winnie peered into her eyes—not that she could see, but she found that people, especially little girls, paid closer attention with the visual connection—and said clearly, Mommies don’t always die. But when they do, mommies always stay with you. Sometimes it’s in the little things you miss. A butterfly’s kiss. A kitty cat rubbing against your leg. But you’re never, ever alone.

Chubby arms locked around her neck and sweet baby breath whispered near her ear. My mommy sent you to me, Winnie. I knows it.

And eerie feeling hit Winnie’s midsection. Something in that statement rang true—her spidey senses felt it. The other part of her—that part that made her Xeno Sapien.

How are my beautiful girls doing? A sexy male voice rumbled from behind her, making both her and Olivia raise their heads.

"Ladies, kind sir, Olivia said, her adorable nose up in the air for her father to tweak. We’s all dressed up."

Apologies, my lady, he said, hunching down low enough to mock growl against Olivia’s neck.

Olivia giggled, the sound warming Winnie’s heart. There was nothing in the world as sweet as her laughter.

And you, beautiful? Did you miss me? Sam let her know who he was speaking to by punctuating his question with kisses just under her ear lobe.

I missed you, she admitted, tilting her head to give him better access.

Now it’s grown-up time, he said to Olivia. Here is Covet to take you to the daycare.

Hi, Uncle Covet, Olivia said, raising her arms. Does Baby miss me?

Winnie felt the weight of her lift from her lap.

You know it. Oomph. A deep voice rumbled. What has Winnie been feeding you? Stone soup?

No, just lasa... lasan-ga.

Spinach lasagna? Covet chuckled as he carted her away. Everyone had heard Olivia’s tales of spinach growing instant muscles for scurvy sailors.

Sam, the love of her life—this life—lifted her hands and pulled her to her feet. Then he lifted her hands to lock them around the nape of his neck. He dragged his fingertips down the length of her arms and down the sides of her body as he spanned her waist with his big palms.

She loved that. It was like he communicated with touch—as if he couldn’t stand to not touch her for every second that he held her. Most men would lead a blind woman around by the hand, maybe a gentle touch at the waist. If anyone touched her at all. Usually, her odd coloring made people stand back as if she had a contagious disease. Sam touched her everywhere. He always had from the first moment they’d met, and she craved it.

Dance with me, Winnie the Wisp? he murmured, looking into her eyes.

That was another thing he did. He never treated her as if she was blind. Technically, she wasn’t, she just didn’t use the human eyes she was born with. She had other senses—Xeno Sapien senses. She could see people inside their human forms. She could see the solid blue light that shone inside of Sam. The uniqueness of the shade. She could see the lighter blue light inside of Olivia—the light that linked her to her father. Marked her as a relative, a descendent. There was something oddly familiar about the color and Winnie liked to surround herself with the same color of blue.

I’d love to dance with you. She pressed her body to his, let her form shimmer for a moment and felt the bulge against her groin.

Careful, he warned, but didn’t release their closeness despite his words. You know I always want you.

I know. Despite her resolve, her breathing quickened. They hadn’t taken that step. Not yet. Because—well, Olivia. That final step might tie her to the sweet baby girl that she already felt was hers. She knew Sam was the one for her but things could blow up in her face if he knew her secret. And he was curious. Every time she disappeared, he asked her where she went. Intelligent man was beginning to suspect there was more to her than met the eye.

Now she was at a fork in the road. Could she continue living life and loving this wonderful family and risk them learning her secret? Or was it time to break free before they ever found out?

Could her heart take either choice?

Chapter Two

THE RECEPTION WAS WINDING down. The newly married couple, Cassie and Milo, had left about an hour earlier. While she loved her time slow dancing with Sam, Winnie knew her time was winding down also. Sam would take her home and then he’d go home to his sleeping daughter. Not that she’d never spent the night. Livvie loved when she woke up to find Winnie in their home—a small, two-story house on the edge of the south side of the city. But it was harder and harder to abstain from touching each other. The sexual tension was ever present. And growing.

Something had to give.

Are you ready to leave, my love?

She wasn’t, but she understood Sam had responsibilities. A baby girl. So, she nodded. Sam looked down at her hungrily, his gaze roving over her like she was a goddess. No one ever looked at her the way Sam did. People tended to look past her if they knew her and look warily at her if they didn’t. She understood now she looked different, but Sam was the only person in the world who saw her as she saw herself. Strands of different colored silver hair, waving in locks down to her waist. Bright blue eyes. Naturally red lips. Pink cheeks set in creamy skin. She was his winter queen, he’d told her.

But even Livvie saw the image everyone else did. A ghost was how the three-year-old— no, now four, had described her. White hair. Colorless skin. Beige dress. Eyes that might be blue if you squinted hard enough, but were covered by white film.

It made her sad. Did everyone wonder what Sam saw in her? It didn’t matter when the two of them were alone because when he held her in his arms, the world fell away. In his arms, she was the gorgeous winter queen he described. The one she saw within her other sight.

Winnie, my love, Sam said. You know I love you, right?

Her breath froze in her chest, lifting the breasts that were mashed against the hard planes of his chest. As soon as she realized how intimately they danced, her traitorous nipples hardened.

I love you, too, Sam. A brief kiss descended onto her lips.

Come home with me tonight. I just want to hold you—I promise nothing else needs to happen. I want you to be there when Livvie wakes in the morning and crawls into bed with us. I want her to see you more often, Winnie, because I want us to take the next step. I want us to be a family. I want you physically, and emotionally, forevermore—

A knot of butterflies wove through her midsection. Normally she dreaded when it happened in public, but this time she was somewhat glad. She wouldn’t have to yet make the decision she’d known was coming, but wasn’t ready for. Not that putting it off would do any good. She took a deep breath and felt her body freeze in time, heard Sam’s deep rumbling voice fade away to nothing—

Sarah Elizabeth! Look at you, daydreaming again. Winnie blinked at the Texas twang—so familiar but unexpected because she’d just been in Sam’s arms—to find her husband, Christopher, smiling at her.

Chris! She flung herself into his arms, because, well, she missed him. It had been weeks since she’d seen him.

Whoa, he blurted, catching her and spinning her around. Beautiful, you’d think you’d been gone for a month instead of it being an hour since breakfast.

Chris had no idea it had been longer than