The pain I feel from the Squad Telepaths is beyond anything I’ve ever felt. Carol sets every nerve ending on fire before twisting and warping the neural pathways. The Squad ‘Paths scream and fall to their knees, but Carol’s not done yet. She continues her assault until they are nothing more than limp bodies on the ground, twitching with the last lingering electrical signals jolting dead synapses.
I tear my eyes away from the gruesome sight and see that Sam, Vinnie, and the frontline ghosts have made short work of the Squad Athletes. Their bodies are riddled with steaming stab wounds from the plasma blades, and the two Bloodhounds’ throats are slit.
We did it. We turned things around, and we managed to secure a transport in the process.
The ghosts in the engine let go and step back through to the outside. Some of the ghosts give me a nod before fading into the mist, but Greta, Zeke, and Carol stay behind. I’m pretty sure I know why Carol’s staying, but Greta and Zeke shouldn’t have to stay—unless they want to.
…[Thank you, Greta. You did great. You, too, Zeke; probably saved my life there. But I don’t want you guys to think you have to stay. It’s up to you, but if you want to go like the others, you’re not bound to us.]…
They nod, but neither one moves to leave. I shrug and turn to Carol. …[I know why you’re staying, though. I understand. You’re welcome to come with us to the Dead City to see Clare, if you’d like.]…
…[Yes, I would like that very much. I haven’t seen my little girl in so long…]…
I chuckle and wink at her. …[She’s not so little anymore, from what I hear. You’re a grandmother now, you know, and I’ve ‘spoken’ with Ellie on a couple of occasions. Your genes are amazing. That baby can project thoughts and connect minds over thousands of miles. It’s unbelievable.]…
Carol’s pale face lights up, and I’m happy that I can bring her some joy. I take a step forward to give her a hug when I’m reminded of two things: I can’t hug a ghost, and I’ve been bleeding from a pulse blast to the shoulder for a good ten minutes. I probably should have Hal administer some first aid before I try to walk.
Vinnie catches me before I hit the ground. His strong arms lift me up like I’m weightless, and he carries me back to the cabin with Sam and the ghost trio trailing behind us. Carol offers to use her Gift to anesthetize the wound for me so I can rest, but I’m used to taking care of myself, so I give her a polite “No, thank you.”
Being around Carol makes me miss my own mother. She was killed in a freak accident during a Squad raid on the Dead City while I was away. A young Abnormal Sniper, untrained in how to use his Gift, had missed his target and hit her. I never got to say good-bye to her, never got to apologize for being gone so much, never got to tell her how much she meant to me. Maybe the thing in the stasis pod will bring her near, too.
Hal’s ready with our medkit when we get back, and he sets right to work with SanguiSeal to stop the bleeding and a TransDerm to help with the pain. Once I feel the medicine kick in, I relax my mind and ease off my self-anesthesia.
A couple of ABX bandages later, and I’m as good as new—or at least, as good as our limited resources can make me. The shoulder still stings, but the majority of the pain is alleviated by the TransDerm. I rotate my arm a few times to test it, and it seems like I’ve managed to maintain full function and range of motion. No deep-tissue or muscle damage that I can tell.
Sam hands me a meal pack and a pouch of vitamin-enriched fluids. Standard Abnormal fare, really, especially for those of us in the Railroad that don’t venture into the cities much. Hard to get real food unless you’re lucky enough to hit a supply convoy somewhere on the roads between cities.
As I chew on the tough protein bar of questionable substance, I calculate our timetable. We wasted a good hour on our last hurrah in the cabin, another two getting ready for the ambush, and another getting me put back together again. Add to that the time spent traveling to the cabin and—
We’ve got probably a little under forty hours by now. A day and a half, give or take. I look to Hal.
“Can you go out there and check out the tank? See how much fuel it has, the speed capacity, all that?”
He nods, and Vinnie follows him out the door.
Sam sits next to me on the animal skin rug and tosses his hair out of his eyes. He gazes at me with intent, and I know the next words out of his mouth aren’t going to be ones I want to hear.
“I love you, Ky, but this mission has become suicidal. Do you really think that tank can get us to the Dead City in time—or that if it does, they’ll have even bothered to get the baby’s DNA?”
I shake my head. “Not necessarily. But Eli, I hope, will be receptive to using the weapon against the Gifteds, especially after I tell him how much it helped us out just now.”
“That was pure dumb luck, Ky. We can’t guarantee that once that stasis pod is opened the thing inside will be any more useful than a rock. What if the thing only works while in stasis? What if it brings bad ghosts next time? There are a lot of factors that we haven’t considered, a lot of unknowns here.”
He’s right, but my gut is telling me to get the pod opened before the self-destruct goes off. My gut is pretty reliable—and, as I may have mentioned before, I’m a stubborn bitch sometimes. “Sure. Factors that need to be studied. What if Alyssa had more of these made? What if it’s not the only one? What if there’s an army of ghost-summoning creatures in stasis out there? Wouldn’t it be better to have one of our own to study? Then we can figure out countermeasures and strategies based on what the pod holds.”
Sam pulls me close and rests his head against mine. His beard tickles, but I don’t mind. “So you’re set on this? There’s no changing your mind?”
“Nope. I’m digging in my heels, Sam. My way or the highway.”
“Okay,” he says, his voice soft. “Suicide it is, then. At least I’ll die with the people I love most.”
Six
Vin and Hal return a couple of hours later with good news—almost too good. Unlike our ancient SUV, the tank has more than enough fuel capacity to make it to the Dead City, and it’s got the overland speed to make it, too. Best of all, Hal’s ocular interface hacked the nav system with ease, so driving won’t be a problem.
We just might survive this mess.
We pack up our things and file into the tank, ghost companions and all. While Hal interfaces with the computer system and gets the tank moving, Greta walks around inside the tank with her hands clasped behind her back. She reminds me of when I was little, when Mom would take me into one of the cities to go shopping as a treat. I wasn’t allowed to touch anything, so I held my hands just like Greta.
I catch Carol gazing at Greta with a sad smile, and I bet she told Clare to hold her hands like that, too, when she was little. An idea starts to form in my head, and I think I know how to get someone in the Dead City on our side.
…[Carol, I know you miss Clare. Would you like me to send a message to her for you?]…
Carol’s face lights up, and she nods.
After a quick telepathic conversation, I activate my com and call Clare. Eli’s told me about her, and he says she knows who I am, but we’ve never met. I was on a rescue mission for the Abnormal Railroad when she was first brought to the Dead City by Eli, and I’ve been on the go ever since
“Hello?”
“Hey, Clare? It’s Kylie—Eli’s friend. Do you have a minute to talk?”
There’s a chuckle on the other end of the com. “I’m on modified bedrest until this baby is out of me; I’ve got lots of minutes.”
Her voice is sweet. She sounds nice, and I hope we all survive to meet. It would be nice to say “thank you” to the woman who mended the relationship between Eli and Harper that I helped break.
“Clare, this is going to sound crazy, but I have a message for you.”
“Why is that crazy?”
I pause as I realize I didn’t think this through well enough. How do you tell someone that their dead mother says hi?
“Uhm…Well, the message is kind of long-distance.”
Clare’s voice takes on a cautious tone. “That is kind of crazy, because just about everyone I’ve ever known outside of here in the Dead City is dead.”
A dry laugh escapes my lips. “Funny you should mention that.”
“Are you trying to tell me you’re a medium in addition to being a Telepath?”
That makes me stop to think. Am I a medium? I assumed that I was using good old-fashioned telepathy to speak with the ghosts; is there more to it? I shake my head, chasing the thought away for now. “I’m trying to tell you that your mom misses you, and she says to tell you that she’s proud of you for doing what you did.”
Now she sounds suspicious. “What does she say I did?”
I didn’t activate the tank’s holocam, but I shrug anyway. “She doesn’t say. She just says…She says it’s what you did after she died. She’s proud of you for that. She says don’t be ashamed; you did what you had to.”
At first, I think the line’s gone dead. Clare is silent for a long time, and when she speaks there’s a hitch in her voice. “I should’ve done it sooner. I was too scared, though.”
“Hey, I’m not judging here. Sounds like you were pretty young, so scared is normal.”
“Does—does she say anything else?”
I turn to Carol and raise an eyebrow at her. She shakes her head and says, …[Not for now. I’ll tell her when we see her.]…
“She says she’ll tell you when we see you.”
“When you see me? Are you still coming here?”
“Eli didn’t tell you? I swear, I’m gonna slap him silly when we get there.”
“No, he didn’t. He said you weren’t going to make it in time, so you were going to get rid of the bomb and give up on the mission.”
Damnit, Eli. I know he’s trying to spare Clare from undue stress, but he shouldn’t lie to her. He knows I’d never give up on this mission. “Well, Eli’s—misinformed. We managed to secure a Squad tank that has plenty of fuel. We should make it in time, provided nothing goes wrong along the way.”
“Hmm. I’ll have to have a talk with Eli, then, because he said we didn’t need the amniocentesis supplies anymore.”
“Well, it’s the safest way to get the baby’s DNA right now.”
“Mmhmm. And we’ll get it. I’m not about to let you go to all this trouble only to get blown sky high.”
I laugh. “Thanks for that.”
We exchange pleasantries for a few more minutes before we disconnect. Clare promises to contact Hal’s brother Nate to arrange for the amniocentesis, and I promise not to slap Eli.
“Can I slap him?” Vin’s got a sour look on his face, and I feel the rage and jealousy slip through the PermaLink.
“No slapping Eli,” I say as I walk up to Vinnie and straddle his lap. “And stop with the jealous crap. He’s never had me, not like you three do. Eli and I have always just been friends, and that’s what we’ll always be. Chill.” I lean in and kiss Vinnie deep, my tongue exploring his luscious mouth.
Sam chuckles from the other side of the tank’s interior. “You really wanna do that in front of the kid?”
I break away from Vin’s face and feel heat rise in my cheeks. Greta’s been so quiet I forgot her impressionable self was still in the tank with us. I look to Carol, who winks and nods. She takes Greta’s hand and leads her through the wall of the tank to follow us outside. Zeke leaves as well, a huge, wrinkled grin plastered on his weathered face.
Zeke can laugh all he wants. I’ve got needs, and if I’m going to die in a day and a half I might as well live it up with my boys while I still can.
It occurs to me that the ghosts may be able to see through the tank just as easily as they walk through it, but my hormones are in overdrive, and I decide I don’t care if they watch.
The tank is too small for the kind of antics we partook of earlier, but I can take care of one at a time just fine in here. Everyone except Hal strips down, and through the PermaLink I sense his frustration at having to drive the vehicle.
…[Don’t worry, Hal. I’ll get to you, too; just be patient.]…
Hal whines in the back of his throat, but he stays on task.
My first task is to tend to Vinnie. He’s ready, willing, and eager, and I can’t wait to climb on top of his massive black cock and take him for a ride.
His eyes roll back in his head as I lower myself onto him, inch by inch. He tries to grab my hips, to take control, but this moment is about me showing him how much I love him, about me servicing his needs—
—This moment is for the Red Mistress.
I pull his hands off my hips and hold them up over his head. With his Athlete strength, he could break my grip in no time, but he knows the rules. There’s a safety harness above his seat, there in case the ride in the tank gets bumpy, and I use the straps to secure his hands in place. Again, with his innate strength he’s not really restrained, but he submits to my kink.
At first I’m slow, rising and lowering my hips with deliberation, but as the sensations of our joined minds mingle in my head, I find myself increasing the tempo. Within minutes I’m grinding my hips against his at a fever pace, my breath coming in short, shallow gasps. Vinnie grunts and moans, and as I bring him to the brink of climax, I see Sam out of the corner of my eye, stroking himself as he watches us. I feel the silky-smooth shaft in his hand through our link, and it’s just enough to push Vin and me that last bit to the edge and beyond. We come in an explosion of heat and emotion, but I can’t let it drain me; I have two more rounds to go before I can rest.
Sam knows he’s up next, and “up” is an appropriate word to describe it.
I saunter over on shaky legs, bury a hand in his silky hair, and press my lips to his. I tease his cock with featherlight strokes of my fingertips, but I don’t want him like this. I dominated Vinnie to remind him who the true alpha is; with Sam I know my authority is never questioned.
Guiding Sam with gentle yet forceful hands on his shoulders, I turn him around to face the console he was leaning against. With a wicked grin on my face, I bend over the console, offering Sam an exquisite view of my tight ass.
Sam’s hands entice and explore, his strong fingers probing my moist depths. He finds my most sensitive spot and thrusts his fingers until I scream, building my orgasm to a fever pitch before he slides his dick inside. He pulls me to his chest with a gentle hand around my throat, using the perfect amount of restraint. I’ve seen those hands crush throats in the heat of battle, but in the heat of this moment he’s so soft, so tender…It drives me crazy, and I whimper, on the verge of begging him to ram me.
His hand moves to tangle itself in my red waves. I arch my back as he begins to pump his hips, crashing into me. He reaches around with his free hand and massages my breast, toys with my nipple, glides down my stomach, strokes the sensitive bundle of nerves between my legs. It’s enough to send me over the edge time and time again, and I hope I’ve got enough energy to fulfill my promise to Hal when Sam’s done with me.
His final thrust has me seeing stars in the edges of my vision, and my voice breaks as I scream.
God, I love these men.
I steady my breathing, trying to recover, and once I’m sure of my footing, I move to my final destination: Hal’s eager lap.
He’s already got his pants unfastened, and he’s steering the tank with one hand on the controls. The other hand is occupied, but I’m about to free it up to do other things.
“Hal, baby,” I say, my voice low and husky, “can your ocular sync with the controls to steer?”
He nods, his eyes half shut and jaw lax as he focuses on stroking himself.
I take his knees and ease them apart. I kneel between them, maintaining eye contact, and help him out of his pants. I kiss and lick my way up his slim thighs, and the PermaLink tells me exactly where his most sensitive spots are. He twitches a little as I get close to my goal, and I pause just before my target and give
him a wicked grin.
…[You’ve been so patient, Hal, my love. You’ve earned a special reward: this time, you’re in charge. You call the shots, sweetie. Whatever you want, whatever you need.]…
Hal swallows hard and nods his understanding. He’s hesitant at first, unaccustomed to having this kind of authority over my actions, but when he grabs my hair and guides my head to his cock, I know he’s already got the hang of it.
I let him lower my mouth over his throbbing shaft, and I take him all the way in. He’s firm but gentle in his control, pushing and pulling my head with his hands as he rocks his hips to meet my lips.
…[Touch yourself, Ky.]…
Hal doesn’t use my nickname often; he’s the most submissive of my three, so he prefers to call me by my full name. He’s testing his limits, seeing how much control I’m really willing to give him. I reach between my legs and rub my sensitive node. I moan deep in my throat, and through our link I feel the vibrations travel down his shaft. He shudders, and he wraps fistfuls of my hair around his hands as he gains confidence.
I suck and lick at his command, and despite the years I’ve spent with him I’m surprised at his stamina. I may have to let him take charge more often.
He’s almost there, almost reached climax, when he gives me his final order.
…[Make me come on your tits.]…
It seems a mundane enough command, but when I see the sight through his eyes, through our link, and feel the excitement he gets from it, I’m glad I was able to give him this gift.
I straighten to give him a kiss. …[Was it worth the wait, baby?]…
…[Oh, God, yes!]…
…[Good. Now, are you okay to keep driving, or do you need to rest for a bit?]…
Hal chuckles and releases my hair. …[I’m an Intellect, Kylie; my mind can multitask just as well as yours, maybe better. I’m fine.]… He looks to Sam and Vin, who are both damp. Sam’s hair drips water, and I’m confused until Hal tells me through the link that the tank has a built-in shower in the back compartment.
I take the hint and excuse myself to go clean up. Every nerve ending is on fire, but it’s a burn I could get used to.
Wicked Souls: A Limited Edition Reverse Harem Romance Collection Page 173
