A/N: First up. Apologies for keeping everyone waiting. Next... I usually add 'Interludes' to move story forward but this time I thought hey, why not hear it from Four's pov (Hunter's Clone)

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Well, I'll be damned.

That's all it took, a kiss to weave an enchanted spell inside my mind and a hypnotic drumbeat of need pulsed inside my chest.

What the hell was happening here?

Heat swam through my veins, lighting lustful sparks as Sage Stone wrapped herself around my senses, her gift flowing over me, through me.

My heart beat so loudly it drowned out everything else, and she tasted every bit as sweet as I'd imagined.

Not to mention the erection I was now sporting because of one kiss.

I wasn't supposed to feel this way.

I was supposed to hate her. She was the mate and wife of Hunter Stone.

My sworn enemy, I'd been told every day for last two years.

Sage suddenly stiffened, pulling away, sucking in a startled breath. "Who are you?" she murmured, taking another step back, looking at me like she was seeing me for the first time.

Had she seen the truth? Felt it?

Her chest rose and fell in short bursts. All the anger and pain that had been splashed across her face inside my office had all but vanished, to be replaced with confusion and worse... fear.

The elevator chimed its arrival.

"Hunter!" I heard Elaine Stone's snap before she drew a halt, keeping her distance. My gaze slid her way. "Come and see me in my office. I need your assistance."

Her interruption pissed me off immensely.

Twisting my head back to Sage, our kiss lingered on my lips, those sparks not abating one bit.

Had she felt the same thing... anything?

Most likely not. She wasn't mine.

But I now understood why Hunter Stone loved this woman with everything he was.

The elevator door opened up behind her and she tentatively took steps back but held my gaze, trying to figure out the puzzle that stood in front of her.

But I could see it written all over her face as the pieces clicked into place.

I wasn't Hunter Stone.

Well, technically I was... just not her Hunter Stone.

And then she was gone, and I brushed a thumb across my lips, staring at numbers lighting up as the lift passed each floor, taking her away. Away from me.

"My office!" Elaine Stone's haughty tone cut through the air sharply. "Now!"

I met her hard, furious look, my skin prickling under the anger of the woman... Mummy dearest.

She spun around and marched off.

I followed the woman, or rather the Devil in Prada, back down the corridor into her office.

"Close the door behind you, Four."

Four. That's what they called me. Not worthy of an actual name. Same with my brothers. I was four of seven. And just a number. A toy or a weapon.

Door closed, I gave her office the once over. The air in the light, spacious room was already thick with tension and the heavy smell of whatever sickly sweet perfume Elaine Stone had lathered herself in.

I moved to stand in the middle of her office. Elaine Stone dropped her mobile phone on the table and turned swiftly, her eyes scanning my face as if reading a report. "Is it done?"

She was referring to Sage walking in on me with a woman from... well, fuck knows where she was from. I hadn't even caught her name, although I will say to her credit the woman gave pretty decent head. Well, at least I thought it was good. It was only the third blow-job I'd gotten in my very short life.

But I definitely planned on getting more, and right on cue, the image of Sage on her knees wrapping her lips around my dick filled my thoughts. And didn't that do all crazy shit to my insides, not to mention had my dick perking up again.

Did last long though, as Elaine stone's cold tone reached inside my chest, wrapping those spindly fingers around my heart and turning my blood to ice.

"What happened?" Her features tightened. "Miss Jenks came running out of your office like a bat out of hell."

Shrugging. "Sage happened." I slipped my hands inside my trouser pockets, my fingers wrapping around the cool object inside the left pocket. "I can only guess from what I read in her file she used her gift to get inside her head."

I was supposed to report back on anything unusual, but felt inclined to keep it to myself that Sage had somehow lifted the woman into thin air and tossed her half-way across the room. Her file never mentioned her gifts stretched to telekinesis, and she didn't even break a mental sweat.

Maybe that sick bastard, DuPonte and Dr Calder didn't know?

Elaine Stone's eyes danced with obvious satisfaction, her lips teased into a smug smile. And as pretty as the woman was, attractive, she was not. "And she caught you—" her gaze slid down, her brow arching. "—With your pants down?"

"She saw enough to come to the conclusion that her marriage is over."

Head cocking slightly, her gaze sharpened. "Then why did I see you kissing her?"

Fuck. She'd witnessed it. I tried to keep my mask of indifference in place. "Just driving the point home that I... he is a bastard. Simple." I scraped my hand across my stubbled jaw. "And you saw her reaction." Clucking my tongue I tossed in a wink. "Job done."

She hummed, nodding slowly and then moved with a lethal grace to stand directly in front of me, clasping my wrist in her hand, tugging it from my pocket. "Why are you not wearing the watch, Four?"

Her eyes bored through mine as if she wanted to empty my head of every single thought.

I slipped my other hand free of my pocket with the watch in question. "Buy cheap. Buy twice." I said, holding it up for her to see the broken strap.

Which may or may not have been accidental.

Hated wearing the thing. Piece of shit irritated my skin.

She took it from me and walked back to her desk, taking a seat, examining it. "Was you wearing it when she arrived?" she asked, not looking up.

"Yes." I lied.

Her head lifted, and eyes narrowed on me. "You understand the importance of it?"

I heaved a sigh. "She didn't get inside my head, if that's what you're worried about."

Another lie.

She weighed up my answer and I could hear my heartbeat in my ears as a thin sheen of sweat coated my upper lip.

Elaine Stone laid the watch out flat on the table and picked up a paperweight and brought it down hard, smashing it pieces. Opening her drawer in her desk, she pulled out some tweezers and shuffled the debris of parts around, plucking out a small purple shard. It had come from a stone. A powerful stone. She held it up to the light and it shimmered.

Safe to say I wasn't wearing that again.

Opening a small trinket box, she carefully put the shard inside and closed the lid. Returning the tweezers, I grumbled when I saw her pull out another box.

My relief was short-lived. It contained another watch. Identical to the piece of shit she had just smashed to pieces.

"Here." She thrust out her hand. "Put it on."

Fuck. I bit back an irritated breath to walk over. Forcing a smile, I took it from her and fixed the damn thing in place adjusting the cuff on my shirt.

All the while, her eyes stayed locked on me, until her mobile phone cut through the space and she picked up, waving me off.

As if I was interested in her phone call.

Turning away, I strode toward the floor to ceiling window to look out on London. A City I was still becoming accustomed to.

The phone call lasted less than a minute before I felt her move next to me and I shifted to face her. She cupped my chin, drawing our gazes closer. "You would do well to remember never to disappoint me, Four."

Moving her hand, I nodded, rolling my shoulders. I knew one bad word from this woman's mouth would have me on Dr Calder's infamous surgical table being taken apart bit by bit. And he didn't necessarily wait until your heart stopped beating before cutting you open.

Not that I was afraid of dying. But I hadn't even lived yet.

"I want you to return to the house tonight, collect your..." she corrected. "His belongings and tell Sage you want a divorce. That you don't love her any longer, and you will live in the City," she advised. "Oh, and you want full custody of the children."

"What!?" I pulled my head back. I had zero experience with kids. And that wouldn't wash with Sage. She loved her children.

"Don't look so horrified. You won't be raising them. Charles wants them in his care."

Charles DuPonte. From what little I'd seen of the man, I wouldn't trust him to raise rats, let alone a child.

Shaking my head. "There is no way she will go for that."

"That is not your concern. Just tell her she will hear from your solicitors." She paused to think. "Once you have delivered that news. Go straight to the clinic."

I gulped. "Clinic—why?"

"They want to run a few tests before he is terminated tomorrow." She turned her attention out of the window.

"Who's terminated? Seven?" Me and Seven were the only two clones left.

"No. Hunter Stone... the original. He has served his purpose and no one here suspects you aren't the real Hunter Stone."

Oh...

"They will also want to transfer his wolf's spirit to either you or seven, when he is close to death."

"They can do that?" Other experiments had failed.

"Yes," she replied with little to no feeling.

My jaw dropped, but to be honest, I cared little for him. Sage, on the other hand. "What about Sage? What happens to her? Will she be terminated?"

Returning her attention to me. Her eyes went wide and there was something wild and crazy about this woman, at odds with her elegant dresses and expensive shoes. How she ever became a mother... and one that would hurt her own child was illogical in my head.

She turned away from me, walking back to her desk, taking a seat. "In time."

Ah, fuck.

They could do whatever they wanted to the original Hunter. From what I'd heard, he was a bastard anyway. But I would be damned if I let anything happen to Sage.

And with her Hunter gone, I could take his place and in time a place in her heart.