by Kyle, Celia
“I’ve come too late.” Whelon stepped into the middle of the room.
“Not at all,” Dawn informed him. “Melissa is in the far room. Please go and check on her because Chashan can’t leave Ellie.”
Whelon headed into the next room, one that connected to the clinic and was prepped for an operation. When he found Jarek slumped in a chair, his hand barely touching his mate’s, he knew the situation was bad.
“Melissa?” He leaned over her, lifting her eyelids and peering at her eyes. “Can you hear me?”
“Where is Jarek?” she moaned.
“He’s here, holding your hand.”
“I can’t feel him… I can’t feel him!”
“He is here sharing your pain. He appears to be in a trance while you endure labor.”
Melissa sobbed. “I can’t do this, Whelon. I can’t.”
“Hush, now.” He moved gentle hands over her distended body, checking her over. “Females have been giving birth and presenting sires with dragonlets since the dawn of time. You are no different.”
She sobbed quietly, and he knew his words had not brought her much comfort. He was not surprised. It appeared that the contractions were growing closer together, but her body was not responding appropriately, and the child was breach.
I need Chashan.
“Just relax, Melissa.” He gave her a shot that would relax her and slow the labor. The child was not yet in any danger, but it would be within a few hours. He could not handle the emergency by himself.
He headed back to the main room to find Chashan and Dawn coming out of Ellie’s area. Vende immediately went and hugged his mate.
“How is Ellie?” Whelon asked the duo.
“She’s well. We need to make peace with that damned creature. All she needed was magnesium and electrolytes, but Charlie would not let us in.” Chashan wiped his hands and nodded in the direction of Melissa’s room. “How is she?”
Whelon shook his head. “Not well. I gave her a shot to calm her and slow labor. Let her rest a little before we bother her again.”
Chashan nodded and they both sat in the lounge area. Hannah was present, drinking tea and playing with her baby, but Delaney and Lily were in their own spaces.
“This stuff is getting more hectic by the second.” Hannah pointed at the TV. “A huge conference is being planned. All the countries in the world are getting in on it. It’s to dictate new rules for everyone to live by.”
“Mostly just so a few stupid humans can understand we don’t carry off unwilling females,” Brukr muttered.
Whelon barely had time to think about Sasha when he watched Jenna appear on screen. She wore a beautiful red suit that set off her dark hair. If she could have smiled, she might have been as beautiful as his Sasha. Whelon did not think the woman even knew how to smile, though.
“It is with great sadness that I announce to the world that Sasha is dying.” She lowered her eyes and gave the crowd a second to react before she continued. “She will be the first casualty in the Preor-human conflict. Yes, it has come to this. If they work their sickness and the woman is unwilling, she dies.”
All the Preor in the room reacted, but Whelon barely noticed their words and actions. He was too busy walking toward the door, unable to see or hear anything else.
Sasha.
His mate was dying. Truly dying. And there was none to help her.
“Whelon, stop!”
“Whelon, no—”
But he was gone. He ran up the stairs, never so in tune with his dragon as he was in that very moment.
Fly, fly, fly…
He bolted to the edge of the roof and threw himself over, allowing his wings to catch him as he grabbed the winds. People screamed and pointed from down below, but he did not care. He cared for nothing except getting to Sasha and having her safe in his arms.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Sasha pounded on the door with all of her strength. Her mother’s report had just hit all the channels and she snapped awake with Jenna’s words—getting to hear it at least five times.
I’m going to die!
“Please,” she moaned, her fist colliding with the door with all the power she could manage. “Please let me out.”
“I can’t do that, miss.” Dave’s voice was hard now, immovable. He wasn’t going to help her. Jenna had probably told him Sasha couldn’t be saved and they should keep the contagion locked in the room.
She sank to her knees, gagging and holding her stomach as nausea overtook her once again. She was so cold she couldn’t feel her fingers or toes, but still she kept sweating as if she were in a sauna. The harder she tried to yell, the weaker she became.
“Please help me,” she whispered. She curled into a ball and squeezed her eyes shut, begging for the pain—the agony—the stop.
Then her cellphone rang. Sasha crawled across the floor and stared down at the device. She had discovered it was locked and her mother had made sure Sasha couldn’t call out for help. Sasha assumed the device was useless.
It stopped ringing for a second but then came back on, buzzing across the table. She scrambled for it with clumsy fingers.
“Hello?” she whispered.
“Baby, it’s Penelope!” the AI announced. “How is it down there?”
“I think I’m dying.”
“I know, sweet pea, but we’re going to get you out of there.”
“How are you calling me? Is this real?”
“It’s real, baby cakes. Your mother tried to lock the phone, but that’s a minor hurdle for someone of my skills.”
“Huh?”
“I hacked your phone while you were on the ship. I actually hack everyone’s phones the second they arrive. Then I replicate my file and bingo! I’m on everyone’s hard drive.”
Sasha thought there should be a lot to say about that, but it wasn’t important that an immensely intelligent AI was becoming self-aware and replicating its software through every digital system on the planet.
Didn’t they make a movie about that? More than one, if I recall correctly. I tried out for the third remake of Transcendence.
“Are you with me, Sasha?” the phone trilled.
“I’m… I’m somewhere.”
“Better than nowhere. Okay, here’s how it’s going to go down. There is going to be some calamity in the next few minutes. Because I’ve hacked your phone, I need to jump into the apartment system. Can you hold me up next to the electronic keypad by the door?”
Sasha sat up a little, one hand crawling up the wall for balance. She lifted the phone as high as she could and heard a faint chuckle. “I’m in, baby. Oh, my God. This hardware is a goddamned joke. Fuck me. They call this a security system?”
“Penelope?”
“Yes, yes. Gotcha. Now, all hell’s gonna break loose. I’m going to give you directions. Hang onto me, okay?”
“Okay.” Sasha tightened her grip on the phone, feeling like Penelope was the only friend she had in the whole world at that moment. She held the little device to her chest and prayed.
An angel with a potty mouth, she thought with some amusement.
A few seconds later, the lights blinked on and off, a faint alarm sounding in the distance, and the door made a hard clang.
“What’s that?”
“I’m imitating a complete systems failure. The noise was the door going into a hard lockdown. That will make your guards think the building is locked down and secure and you can’t get out. Then all I have to do is…”
Outside the door there was a rush of sound and two men yelling.
“You turned on the sprinklers.” Sasha grinned.
“Yup, I can’t understand how grown men run screaming when they get a little wet.” Penelope giggled. “Oh, my. Too many jokes in there to count. Now,” she cleared her throat, “let’s get you out of here.”
The door buzzed, another clang sounded, and Sasha pushed on the panel. When it swung open, she crawled out into the hall.
“Go left. K
eep going straight until the end of this hallway.”
Sasha half-walked, half-crawled toward the end of the hallway. Though she had lived in this building most of her life, she had only ever gone between the lobby and her own apartment. She had no idea where Penelope was taking her, but she put her trust in the AI she called a friend.
“At the end, in the corner, there’s a service entrance. I’m opening it for you now.”
Sasha watched as the door clicked open, a shaft of light behind the metal door. She crawled through and slammed it shut behind her, waiting to hear the tell-tale clang that Penelope had locked it in Sasha’s wake.
“Oh, shit,” she whispered, eyeing what the door hid from view. “Stairs.”
“Yeah, there’s a lot of them, I’m afraid. Nothing I can do about it, unfortunately. Using the elevator was too predictable and might have led to you being caught. So, just keep following them up.”
“What happens next?” Sasha was exhausted just looking at how far she had to climb.
“Whelon’s coming. He’s going to meet you up there.”
The thought of Whelon being there, right ahead of her and waiting at her destination, gave her a renewed strength. She had to crawl up the steps at first, but soon she got her feet under herself and hauled her way up the stairs using the bannister.
“How far?” she gasped.
“It might be better if you don’t know,” Penelope muttered.
Sasha kept putting one hand in front of the other, moving each foot slowly along the steps until she sensed the next and slid her foot onto the concrete. The movement became a habit, a familiar exercise. She tried not to think and simply repeated the same step over and over again. She kept her eyes closed most of the time, trying to breathe through the pain as she traversed the stairwell.
“There we are, sweet girl. You’re at the top.”
Sasha could have cried, but she didn’t have the energy. She did sob as she pushed open the door and struggled out into the fresh, frigid air. The wind tossing around the building was cold and sharp, and Sasha felt as if she was being torn apart by the gusts, the frozen air attacking her joints and flaying her skin.
“Penelope,” her teeth chattered. “Where is Whelon? You promised he would be here.”
“Er, he’s coming.”
“I’m going to freeze to death!”
“No, you won’t,” Penelope soothed gently.
“Why didn’t you tell me to bring a blanket?”
“Could you have carried it?”
Sasha grimaced and shook her head. The sweat that poured from her skin froze in the night air. Everything was dark and it seemed as if there were no lights in the city at all.
I’m in hell, she thought. This is hell and I’m already dead.
“I need you to do something, Sasha.”
“What?” she moaned, unable to imagine moving in the frigid temperatures.
“You see the edge of the roof on the north side? Can you put your phone up there with the video rolling?”
“Why?” Sasha demanded, wanting to know exactly why she had to endure more pain.
“Because I’m in the CCTV system, but none of them have a clear shot. Just prop the phone on the ledge and then get back into this spot.”
Sasha tried to move and cried out in pain as she crawled across the roof, small rocks catching on her palms and knees. Her breath hissed through tight lips and her teeth were set together, clenching hard enough to hurt.
When she got the phone on the ledge and hit record, she collapsed for a moment, exhausted by all she’d done in her current state. Of course, Penelope started yelling at her straight away.
“Move! Please, move. Come on, it’s such a good plan. Don’t let it fail!”
“Plan?”
“You’ll see. Seriously. The footage is going to be incredible.”
Penelope sounded so much like her mother at that moment that Sasha almost told her to go fuck herself, but then she thought better of it at the last moment. Using what energy remained, she struggled to return to the spot near the door.
“Is that it?” she asked weakly.
“Perfect. Now, we wait.”
Sasha wrapped her arms around herself, curling into a tight ball. The wind clawed at her, digging into her flesh with every gust. Horrible back cramps wrenched through her as if her body were being twisted by a giant fist.
“Whelon!” she cried out for her mate. “Whelon, my love. Shaa kouvi…”
Her voice was soft and plaintive, but it carried on the wind. Sasha had no way of knowing that Whelon could already hear her… or that Penelope’s footage was going out live.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Whelon heard the cry of his mate singing to him through the breeze. He could scent her delicious flavors and almost taste her on his tongue.
She was weak and irreparable damage had been done to her merely because she had been forced to endure the Knowing sickness for so long. She could be healed, but it would take so, so much time to repair the damage.
It made him angry, angrier than he had ever been, and his dragon’s fire burned hotly in his veins, anxious to lay waste to any who would deny him his mate now.
My mate. My beauty. My heart and soul.
He took a deep breath of the chilled winds, inhaling Sasha’s aroma. He was getting closer and closer. His keen eyes picked out the rooftop and the small, pale shape crumpled against the roof’s door.
He was unsure how she managed to get to the roof, nor did he care. He only cared that she was there. With a small bit of focus, he spied her shivering, the gooseflesh that rose on her skin due to her chill.
He turned in the sky, roaring his displeasure at his mate’s condition. He spied people gathered on the ground, running and screaming in fear. He hurtled from the heavens like a black-scaled demon, belching hellfire.
I do not care.
Now that he and his dragon were as one, it seemed ridiculous to allow humans the freedom to fight among each other over such stupid things. Especially when it enabled a mother to kill her own child simply with neglect and ignorance.
He could see the heat in Sasha’s body dying rapidly in the cool winds. In infrared, she appeared in a pattern of blue without even the faintest flicker of yellow or red.
I will warm you, shaa kouva…
He dove straight at the roof, evening out so he was at its level. As he hurtled toward it, the wind screaming against his wings, he opened his mouth and engulfed the roof in his flames.
Screams came from the people far below, some running away and others running toward him. He did not care what they did or why they ran. Some part of him tried to remind him to be careful but it was as if all the nervousness he’d ever experienced was completely gone. He would never hold himself back again.
As he poured flame onto the rooftop, he came level with the ledge and perched on it with his massive hind claws. The concrete cracked and crumbled beneath his weight, but the building itself was strong enough to hold him—just. He balanced there, wings outstretched as he continued to roar, blowing out all the flame that had scorched his heart.
In the center of the flames, his mate stood. Her clothes had been burned away and her dark hair fanned out in the wind of the firestorm, but the flames did not—could not ever—harm her. She smiled and tilted her head, holding a hand to her heart.
She turned and stepped onto the edge of the roof, staring down at the crowd. Her fans, who had been screaming in grief at the idea she was incinerated by an evil Preor, suddenly went completely silent.
He continued to blow flame, seeing that Sasha reveled in the heat of his fire.
It’s as if I’m touching her, truly touching her.
Her naked body was a perfection he could have never imagined. She was so tall, with long curves and a small waist. Her legs were graceful, breast sculpted in ivory and pink.
His fires finally began to ebb, and he stood on his hind legs, stretching his wings high. He roared loudly enough to shake th
e concrete and steel building, sending more people down below fleeing.
Sasha turned to face him, and he thought she would run to him. Instead, she grinned and took one long step… back, over the edge and into the air.
Instead of fear consuming him as she disappeared over the edge, he was expectant and playful. He opened his wings and dropped after her, following her fall. They were not even halfway to the ground when he flew beneath her and collected her on his snout.
“Shaa kouvi…” she whispered, hands stroking his midnight scales.
“My love,” he tried to speak, but it came roaring out of his throat, nothing like a word at all, but an outpouring of love and devotion.
He circled the building, rising back to the roof where he shifted, the massive layers of reptilian bulk slowly melting until he was in his two-legged form once again.
Sasha was in his arms, pressed to his chest, their naked bodies aligned in the most perfect of ways. They kissed, lips still warm from the fires. Whelon could feel her skin beneath his hands, no longer cold but lit with inner flame.
My fires saved her.
She put her arms around his neck, pressing her body more tightly to his, and the kiss deepened as Sasha struggled to tug him closer.
“Okay, okay, let’s keep it PG for now. I’m still rolling.”
“Penelope?” He furrowed his brow and glanced around, searching for a speaker or some other device the AI could use for communication.
“Yup, thanks for the great angles, Whelon! Let me show you what’s going on downstairs.”
Sasha left him and walked to the far side of the roof, that portion untouched by his flames as he’d concentrated his fires on his mate. She strode over to a cellphone and picked up the device before returning to him. The screen flashed to a live feed from the cameras in the lobby. There were a lot of them, as every news crew in the city had been called to cover Sasha’s story.
“I guess Mother really did launch me into super stardom,” Sasha murmured wryly. Then she laughed and laughed until she was chuckling so hard she had to hold her stomach.
“What is it—oh.” Whelon soon caught on to what his mate found so humorous.
