Alphas - Origins by Ilona Andrews

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    â€œCome,” Lucas said.
    Karina bent down and took Emily’s hand. “Come on, baby.”
    Emily blinked, as if waking up from a deep sleep, and walked with her. They passed through the arches and Karina stopped again.
    Pale buildings with curved roofs spread before her. On second thought, the complex was all one huge building in the shape of a horseshoe, rising three stories high. A beautiful garden lay in the crook of the horseshoe, crisscrossed by covered passageways, stonelined paths, and lush flowerbeds, artfully bordering artificial ponds. Picturesque shrubs spread their branches. Flowers bloomed, blue, orange, yellow . . . The wind brought the by-now-familiar tart flower scent.
    A large white sign stood next to the wide path leading into the garden, its smooth surface marked with an odd script. It had to be writing of some sort—groups of symbols separated by spaces—but it wasn’t any language Karina was familiar with.
    â€œWhat does it say?”
    A string of odd words spilled from Lucas’s lips, lyrical and surprisingly familiar. She waited for the meaning.
    â€œIt says ‘The Mandate is everything.’ ”
    â€œWhat is the Mandate?”
    â€œThe Original Mandate. It’s hard to explain in English. There is a word in the primary language, ile . It means ‘we,’ ‘us,’ but it also means civilization, the best of us, the best of our kind. The mandate is ‘ Ile must survive.’”
    That explained nothing. “That’s it?”
    â€œThat’s it. On this world, under this set of circumstances, the people among whom you lived are ile . We exist to make sure they survive. When we’re no longer needed, we’ll die out like many other subspecies before us.”
    The more he explained things, the more confused she became. For now she had to just gather the crumbs of information and hope all would make sense sooner or later.
    Lucas walked on, down the wide path of smooth stones. Karina scrambled to follow. They walked side by side along the path and over a bridge. The gardens burrowed into nooks in the buildings here and there, forming small sitting areas. To the left two women sat on a bench, discussing something. They looked so normal. Both wore jeans; the older of the pair had on a flowered top, white on blue; the younger woman wore a familiar yellow blouse—Karina had looked at it in J. C. Penney last week.
    Last week. A lifetime ago.
    The women saw Lucas. Their faces took on a certain tightness, as if they were straining to keep calm. They looked her over next. Karina met their gaze and saw pity in their eyes. Suddenly it made her furious. If Lucas grabbed her throat right now, they wouldn’t lift a finger to help her. They would just sit there and watch him choke her to death and feel sorry for her. She raised her chin and stared at Lucas’s back. No, thank you. She didn’t need anyone’s pity.
    Henry’s words came back to her. Lucas is the most feared. “They’re afraid of you,” she said.
    â€œI’m the security specialist here; I have the right of judgment,” he said. “I can kill anyone on base at any point without any retribution.”
    â€œYou protect them, and all you get in return is fear. Why do you keep doing this?”
    Lucas kept walking. “Because everyone must have a purpose. The Mandate tells me what I am doing is right and must be done and because I’m the biggest and the strongest it’s my duty to put myself between my people and danger. I would do it for you.”
    He would. She believed him. “Lucas . . .”
    â€œYes?”
    She wanted to tell him that if he ever shielded her or Emily, she wouldn’t be afraid of him. She wanted to tell him that he didn’t have to put up with people shrinking away from him, but inside a cold rational voice warned her that she was losing her grip on reality. The plan had to be to escape.