It felt eerie to wake up in bed with Chase. My bed, my room, my sheets. We had gone straight upstairs after the previous night's breakthrough and collapsed onto bed, exhausted. I had fallen asleep before he even put his arms around me. A whole night wasted. Gabriel would be awake soon. Maybe some things just weren't meant to be.

But as I stared at his relaxed, sleepy face, I couldn't find the strength to pull away and go and do what needed to be done. I ran my fingertips on his forehead, along the bridge of his nose, and over the faint scar on his left cheek. He smiled when I touched his lips, and his eyes opened.

"You're still here," he murmured.

"Where else could I be?"

"I don't know. I thought it was a dream." He propped himself on one elbow and looked down at me. "You haven't changed your mind?"

"Have you?"

"Well, the guy in the basement is rather hot…"

He smirked when I playfully slapped his shoulder. Then my fingers curled up around his arm and glided towards his neck, and he stopped smiling. He took my hand in his and placed a kiss on top of the bandage covering my palm. Then his eyes turned to my face and his lip parted.

"I think you're about to discover it's very hard to make me change my mind," I said, "assuming you didn't know that already. I think there's even an AA-like type of meeting for those who had to suffer from it—"

His lips met mine, and I forgot what I was about to say.

Much later, after we finished making love and Chase fell back to sleep, I left the bed, showered, dressed, and went downstairs.

Del was waiting in the main hall. "Mistress…"

"Is he up?" I asked.

"Yes, but … I ran a simulation based on the data provided by Cammie, and the probability is 86% in favor of—"

"I know."

"You know?" Del took a step back and blinked at me.

"Yes. It's fine." I started towards the door leading to the basement.

"It's definitely not fine," Del muttered one step behind me in one of those rare moments when he openly disagreed with me.

"Well, it's going to be." I opened the door but then stopped and gave Del a pointed look. "Lock the door and don't let anyone in."

"Okay ... For how long?" Del's eyes flashed in panic.

"Until I come out."

I stepped into the dim lit corridor and pulled the door closed after me, in time to hear Del ask, "What if you don't?"

I didn't want to think about that. As I walked down the steps, I thought that maybe I should have postponed sleeping and watched those episodes last night. But action shows left little room for character development, and Gabriel could be a whole different person for what I knew. It wouldn't have helped. And I needed a clear head for this.

How do you break a person's programming when you don't have access to the code? I knew from experience that one could break clones with love. Sometimes it took a while, see Chase, but they all broke in the end. Unfortunately, there was no time to establish an emotional connection here. I had barely spoken to the guy twice then I had cracked his skull with a vase and tortured him for days, even if he didn't remember all of it. This couldn't possibly work in my favor.

It looked like I would have to play it by ear. Improvisation could be a lot of fun and great stimulation for the brain but not so much when one's life was at stake. Mine. Here goes nothing. I put on a smile and opened the cell door.

Gabriel was just putting on his shirt. "Does everyone sleep so late in this house?" He stretched the fabric over his abs.

"We're a lazy bunch," I said. "Chase is still sleeping, but he'll come soon to check on you."

"Del didn't let me out." There was an edge in his voice when he said that.

"He has a problem with understanding orders sometimes. His brain is rusty." I shrugged as I circled the room and turned off all of the machines left on. I wasn't sure why they were still working, but I decided against asking. "I hope he at least fed you."

"Oh, yes, that he did." Gabriel nodded at the stack of trays loaded with food placed on the table. They could have fed a small army. "He even offered to bring me cable down here so I wouldn't get bored."

"He can be a little overbearing while in full mother hen mode, but he means well," I said, still moving around the room. I glanced at him. "You look well."

Gabriel grinned. "Thanks."

"It wasn't a compliment. How are you feeling?"

"I'm still getting used to all that empty space inside my head. I have no idea what to do with it."

"It's only fifty teras. There was no time to customize the chip and add more," I said. "You can use it to store memories I guess … and of course, if everything else fails, you can always rely on porn."

"Right." He smirked, but his eyes were watching me on alert.

"Other than that, how do you feel?" I asked. "Any problem with the render module?"

"No."

"Residual pain?"

"I have a headache."

"The hairline fracture in your skull will take a while to heal. Sorry about that." Who knew Bohemian crystal was so hard to break? I turned, and he turned after me predatory-like. "Any other pain?"

"Not really…"

"Confusion?"

"No. Is this an interrogation?"

"Yes."

I held his gaze, and his hands flinched, looking for something to grasp—possibly me.

"Who gave the order to kidnap me?"

"I don't know."

"I think you do. We removed the extra module, so even if you weren't aware of it before, now you have access to everything that's on the chip. You can check if you don't believe me."

His eyes went vacant for a second. "Not entirely true but for the sake of the argument … those who gave the order aren't a threat to you anymore."

So Cammie and the rest of the crew had done their job. They wouldn't tell me what happened, thinking it was better for me not to know, but I had sort of figured it out anyway. I turned my eyes back to the real threat. "But you are."

"What are you talking about?" Gabriel stepped back as I advanced towards him.

"It makes sense," I said. "No one would invest so much money in this—" I pointed with my chin at him, "—and send the chip to be examined with the risk of having the module discovered without implementing a failsafe protocol."

"What's that?" He raised both hands as if trying to protect himself from me. In different circumstances, it would have been hilarious because he was at least one head taller and twice as heavy.

"A bit of coding that makes sure you complete the order and then destroys any evidence that connects you to them."

"How do you know that it's in my head?" His back pressed against the wall. He had nowhere else to go.

"It's how I would do it. I'm usually right." I watched him intently, aware of how his muscles tensed with every breath he took and how deadly they could be.

"Well…" Gabriel tilted his head, his jaw set. "You're wrong."

"I also know because you're afraid that if you touch me, you might snap." Another step forward. Teasing the lion in his own den, so not smart.

"Do. Not. Test. Me." The words came out strained.

"I have no choice." I reached out with my hand.

His throat worked, and he panted. "Why?"

"Because if you hurt me, my guys will suffer." I held his gaze without the slightest hesitation. "No one messes with my guys."

I saw the exact moment when the decision was made. His hand snatched out, gripping my arm, and he turned me around, slamming me against the wall. The air left my lungs with a painful whoosh.

"Too late," he whispered by my ear.

"Not yet." I slammed my elbow back, hard.

The hours spent watching my guys train paid off. Gabriel stumbled backward, clutching his waist. With a little luck, I might have cracked a rib.

I took advantage of his lack of focus and ran away, out of the cell and deeper into the basement. Probably not the brightest idea, but I couldn't go up. Not yet.

"How do I stop?" he yelled as he ran after me.

"You just do. The failsafe protocol is weaker, simpler, and it's not supposed to last long."

"Very helpful, thanks a lot!" his voice echoed along the corridor.

He nearly caught me when I entered the cellar. I turned abruptly around the corner despite his grip on my left hand. Pain flashed in my joint, the shoulder nearly popping out of its socket, and I screamed. Gabriel's grip slipped.

I mentally apologized to Demetrius for his wine collection and grabbed two bottles from a rack. Before Gabriel could pass around the corner, I tossed them his way. One bottle hit him while the other missed its target and exploded at the contact with the wall behind him, spraying him with white wine.

"That's all you've got?"

"I'm not a soldier! I'm improvising!" I ran away and thanked God we didn't keep any weapons in the basement. Or at least he wouldn't find the ones we did. But I couldn't run like this forever. His legs were longer than mine, and even after almost a week of slipping in and out of consciousness, he was still stronger than me. I had planned this all wrong. There wasn't going to be a fair fight. If he caught me, I was dead.

I tossed back more bottles and advanced deeper into the cellar. Where was it? It should be close now. I checked the racks and found the one covered in cobwebs. No one would think to look there unless you knew they were fake. I pulled on the lever on the side. The rack opened like a door, revealing a narrow corridor behind it. I entered it despite the darkness and ran, counting the steps. Light would have made it easier for him to follow me, but I knew my way and had no interested in helping him. This corridor didn't appear on any blueprints he might have access to. Thirty-eight, thirty-nine … I slowed down, not wanting to slam into a wall again.

Gabriel's rough breathing came from close behind me. My hand reached for the metal ladder and I climbed up and held on tight. I waited to hear Gabriel swear when he hit the wall, and then I turned on the wheel to have the door on top open. The metal bit into my hands, but I gritted my teeth and kept turning it until light burst in. Fresh snow fell over me as I crawled outside into a world of blinding white. Something clawed at my leg, but I kicked back and escaped.

I could have locked the door, though it probably wouldn't have taken Gabriel more than a few seconds to break the code, but I didn't. I ran ahead through the snow towards a bright sun. It was still morning, around the time when Jaffar took his walk. If twenty steps earlier in the tunnel I had turned to the left instead of right, I would have ended to the west exit, closer to Logan. But then again, Logan might not have stopped to ask questions before striking. I had more chances reasoning with a tiger. This was nuts.

The cold air, the exhaustion, the panic—they all took away the last of my strength and when Gabriel caught up with me, I was ready to give up. He threw me to the ground and pinned me there. "Now what?" he breathed down my face.

For a second, I was surprised to see the blood on his forehead, but then I screamed, "Now!"

Heavy footsteps pounded on the snow, and Jaffar pounced on us, tossing Gabriel several steps away. Then he lay his half a ton body over him, making it impossible for Gabriel to move, and licked his face.

"Don't hurt him!" I gasped between panted breaths and rolled onto my knees.

Both man and beast stared at me as if not sure who the order was for. Actually, it was for both of them.

"Sorry, we did this wrong…" I said and crawled a little closer. "I thought I'd have more time to explain. "

"Explain what?" Gabriel grunted, trying to push Jaffar off, but of course no success.

"That you can beat the programming, the failsafe protocol…" I tossed the hair away from my face and tried to brush the snow off it.

"How?"

"The mutation that allows your brain to use the chip? You can control what goes in and out through the brain waves. You need to fool it into believing you accomplished your mission."

"I have no idea how to do that." He made another attempt at getting rid of Jaffar and again failed.

"Well, you better figure it out, and sooner rather than later … Do you know what the last instruction of the failsafe protocol is if the time runs out?"

"What?" He glared at me.

"Terminate."

Gabriel let his head back and stared at the clear blue sky. It was a beautiful morning, and it could be his last.

I made myself more comfortable, although my butt was already freezing. "I can sit here all day. We'll probably both catch pneumonia and on top of all receive a good scolding but…"

The look of concentration on Gabriel's face made me shut up. He was at least trying, that was still something. So I waited. Jaffar threw me several glances as if asking when this game was going to continue to the next stage. I shuffled closer and caressed his large head to keep him there.

The relief came when Gabriel let out a big sigh followed by a groan. "I think I did it … But can you get him off me? I think I busted my ribs."

I gestured at Jaffar to move over, and he did.

Gabriel waited a few more seconds before he sat up, wincing. There was blood on his face and bruises on his forehead again.

I watched him warily as it could still be a trap.

"It's okay, it's just me," he said, giving me a side glance, and rubbed the back of his head. "Are you hurt?"

"I'll survive."

"Will they shoot me?"

That made me smile. "No, they'll be more mad at me for being an idiot, but I obviously wasn't, so it will be fine."

"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that," he muttered but held out his hand, and we helped each other get up.

We cut it through the garden, walking in the direction of the house, and by the time we got there, we were both laughing.

The execution platoon waiting on the front steps was not impressed with the blood on our clothes and the fine wine aromas surrounding us.

"I'm sorry, Mistress," Del babbled. "They threatened to dismember me if I didn't tell them what was going on."

Alec opened his mouth to say something, but Chase snapped first, "Are you insane?"

"I have it on good authority that I'm not," I replied, recalling one of our early discussions.

Chase shrugged off his jacket, placed it on my shoulders, and ranted at me all the way to the living room. I kept my head down and nodded while waiting for him to finish, being used to it.

"Wow, you're good!" Alec patted his back when Chase made a pause to breathe. "Welcome to the family. Let us know when you get tired so we can take over."

I glared at Alec, but Chase wasn't done yet.

"Are you kidding me? You lot are useless! Look what she did to herself. Look, her hands are bleeding again."

Indeed, they were. It must have happened when I opened the last door.

Chase shook his head, hands on his hips. "That's it. I'm moving in!"

If he had hit me in the head with something, I wouldn't have been more surprised. I leaned in towards Gabriel and whispered, "Did he just say he's moving in?"

Gabriel smirked. "Don't you want the good doctor to move in?"

"I…" I snapped my mouth shut, which wasn't easy to do since I was still shaking from the cold. What did I want?

I looked at Chase and found myself smiling. He wouldn't survive our crazy family life, not in a million years, but the guys liked him, everyone did, so maybe it wasn't such a terrible idea to at least try.

Glancing at Gabriel, who still looked at me, apparently waiting for an answer, I walked up to Chase, wrapped my arms around his neck, and kissed him. "It wasn't irresponsible, it was a calculated risk. I did what needed to be done, and I am still here. You can yell at me all you want, I'll still be here. And I'll still love you."

Chase drew in a sharp breath. I held mine, afraid I had pushed it too far and scared him off. But his eyes softened as he gazed at me and he didn't pull away. "Let me see those hands."