Endangered

by Michelle Larkin

  “Well, maybe more than one.” Skye whispered, “I’m really hungry. And cold, too,” she added, looking at her expectantly.

  Aspen watched as Skye made her way down tunnel one. She waved good-bye to her beloved earmuffs. First the Skittles, then the lava cake, and now Spidey. She shook her head. When would the madness end?

  * * *

  Tora cracked the basement door open and listened at the threshold. Since the age of ten, she’d always been greeted by Edna’s singsong humming upon ascending these stairs. Even when Edna was reading in her armchair, she hummed along to a song only she could hear.

  Edna wasn’t humming today.

  Now on full alert, Tora shifted into her lioness and pushed the door open the rest of the way. She heard a man’s voice as she crept down the long hallway.

  “Make this easy on yourself, and tell us how to get inside the damn nest.”

  “Young man, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” came Edna’s befuddled reply. “I’m just an old woman. I live here alone.”

  “You may look like an old woman, but we both know what you really are. You’re an abomination!” he spat.

  Tora rounded the corner as he struck Edna’s face with the butt of his gun. The sickening sound of a shattering cheekbone filled the small room. She barely registered the other four soldiers standing nearby as she reared up and sank her teeth and claws into his face and neck.

  Edna took that opportunity to shift into the massive African elephant Tora knew her to be. But the cabin was much too small to accommodate such a huge animal.

  Tora was already leaping through a window for the safety of the outdoors before the soldiers knew what hit them. Chunks from the cabin’s roof and walls crashed to the floor as Tora’s paws landed on the snow-covered ground.

  She looked up to find hundreds of SEA soldiers waiting outside. Armed with fully automatic weapons, they were poised and ready to kill. There were so many of them. Even with Edna’s size and strength, Tora knew confronting this army was a suicide mission.

  With debris from the cabin still raining down around them, Edna stepped past her and gently ran her trunk along the side of Tora’s face, as if to say good-bye.

  The elephant trumpeted loudly, swayed her mammoth head from side to side, and charged at the soldiers. She managed to pulverize the first line of defense and skewer the second with her tusks before the onslaught of gunfire halted her in her tracks.

  Unable to leave her faithful sentry, Tora could only watch as the giant finally collapsed and drew her last breath. The soldiers continued their assault long after her death, oblivious to the fact that they had just murdered the kindest and most gentle soul Tora had ever known.

  * * *

  Aspen’s breath caught in her throat as she watched Tora exit the bedroom and walk toward her. She was thankful to set eyes on the beautiful doctor once again, but she could tell something was wrong.

  “Edna’s dead,” Tora said, trembling.

  Aspen set a hand on her back and led her farther down the hallway. “SEA?” she whispered.

  Tora nodded.

  “What about everyone else? The parents, hospital staff…are they—”

  “Fine. Everyone got out safely. Our vehicles are located five miles from the entry point at the cabin. No sign of soldiers there.” Tora took a breath. “I went by to check on Edna. I wanted to make sure she was okay and give her a heads-up that the SEA was coming. My plan was to bring her down here with us, but the soldiers were already there.” Her eyes welled up as she met Aspen’s gaze. “Dammit, Aspen. I should have gotten her sooner.”

  She took Tora into her arms for a long hug. Aspen thought about the frail-looking old woman who’d shuffled out in her pink bathrobe and fuzzy slippers to greet her with a hug when she first arrived. Now there was a Shroud who knew her way around a hug. Her heart broke for Edna.

  Tora didn’t pull away from the embrace. She allowed Aspen to comfort her. Baby steps, Aspen reminded herself. She was proud of Tora for taking them.

  “We need to tell the others,” Tora said, drawing back to dry her cheeks. “Looks like this battle with the SEA is closer than we thought.”

  Aspen nodded in agreement. There was no time to waste. They needed to formulate a definitive plan.

  She glanced at her watch: 7:33 p.m. Felt like the day had sped past at warp speed. Her stomach growled. She and Tora had skipped lunch. She was pretty sure everyone had. It was quite possibly the first time in her life she hadn’t thought about food for the better part of a day. “Let’s gather the crew and have another meeting over dinner.”

  “I’ll meet you in the kitchen,” Tora said. “I’d like to check on Skye first.”

  “Just saw her. She already put in her dinner request and hijacked some really cool earmuffs.”

  “She’s my patient, Aspen. I need to make sure she’s doing okay.”

  Aspen lowered her head, ashamed of herself. With everything that had happened over the last few days, Skye’s suicide attempt had been pushed to the back burner. She hadn’t even taken Skye aside to ask how she was doing—like, really doing. How could she have let the kid down like that?

  Tora set a hand on her arm, apparently sensing the internal browbeating session. “That’s not your job. It’s mine,” she said firmly. “Your job is to lead us. I’ll take care of Skye.”

  Aspen stepped closer, studying Tora’s face and lips. Her senses as a Shroud were now heightened. She could hear Tora’s breathing and heart rate increase. “Just promise me one thing.”

  “What?”

  “None of that robo-doctor stuff.”

  Tora met her gaze.

  “Skye doesn’t respond to that. Just be real with her.” Tora’s eyes were mesmerizing. A very pale brown, there were small golden flecks in them that made them sparkle.

  “Now look who’s trying to micromanage.”

  “Touché.”

  “Is the kissing lesson about to start?” Tora licked her lips seductively and studied Aspen’s with the bold confidence of a lioness.

  “I hadn’t penciled that in to my schedule yet—”

  Tora shoved her against the tunnel wall and slipped her tongue inside Aspen’s mouth with a ferocity that surprised her. Nothing tentative about this kiss. Tora dove right in for the kill, sparing them both the torture of an awkward getting-to-know-you kiss. The feel of Tora inside her mouth made her forget everything else. They were suddenly two predators vying for dominance…with a kiss.

  Tora pulled back, breathless.

  Hands down, that was the most passionate kiss Aspen had ever had the pleasure of sharing with someone. It left her mind and body reeling, feeling things she’d never, ever felt before.

  “You haven’t been intimate with anyone as a Shroud, have you?” Tora asked, narrowing her eyes.

  Barely able to catch her breath and focus, all Aspen could manage was a shake of her head.

  “You’re in for a big surprise.” Tora threw her a devilish grin as she sauntered off down the hallway to check on Skye.

  Totally unfair. Tora deserved to be benched with a yellow card after pulling such a reckless stunt. How was she supposed to get her head back in the game after a kiss like that?

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Tora savored the look on Aspen’s face as she made her way through tunnel one. In an uncharacteristic change of heart, she’d decided to throw caution aside and move their friendship to the next level. She shook her head, chastising herself. Who was she kidding? She hadn’t decided anything. She was drawn to the Myriad, like a moth to a flame. She couldn’t stop herself. Their connection was fierce…raw…primitive. Resisting that type of attraction was simply beyond her control.

  She’d read about this in her youth—in one of the ancient Shroud texts her father had kept in his collection—but she hadn’t given it any real thought since then. Myriads hadn’t been around, so it had never been worth her time to contemplate. Until now.

  The text had claimed there was a ce
rtain process a Myriad would initiate when choosing a mate. Myriads were known to be particularly adept at finding their soul mate. Tora had never believed in soul mates. She believed Shrouds fell in and out of love at will, just like humans. Love, to her, was like a revolving door. You were either falling in love—pushing the door forward from the outside while trying desperately to get inside; in love—trapped inside the enclosed space between the entrance and exit but too blinded by the thrill of being there to realize the door had stopped moving; or falling out of love—the door would resume its forward motion as you were granted sweet release from quarters that, over time, grew to feel unbearably confining.

  Tora had never been in love. Not once. She had finally come to believe that kind of nonsense just wasn’t for her.

  Ironically enough, when referencing the Myriad’s hunt for a soul mate, the ancient text had likened the Myriad to a lion—one that had fatally maimed its prey before allowing it to escape. The prey would then run off, believing it had escaped with its life. All the lion had to do at that point was follow the scent of blood until the prey succumbed to its injuries.

  Something told her she was the prey in this scenario. Damn.

  * * *

  Aspen looked up and frowned as Tora waltzed into the kitchen wearing her Spider-Man earmuffs. Those earmuffs sure got around. Maybe they were like a boomerang and would eventually return to their rightful owner.

  All hands were on deck helping with meal prep. They had decided on salad, garlic bread, and rigatoni topped with Oscar’s top-secret marinara that was tangy, sweet, and spicy all in one bite. She had never tasted another that could even come close to rivaling the deliciousness of his sauce. All in all, Oscar was an incredible cook. She’d already decided he would launch his own restaurant after he retired. She just hadn’t told him yet.

  Aspen watched Tora from the corner of her eye as she quickly intuited where she was needed. Efficient as ever, Tora went straight to the industrial-sized oven as the timer marched down to zero. She grabbed a red oven mitt from the counter and was already withdrawing the last of four baking sheets when the timer sounded its alarm. The aroma of fresh-baked garlic bread filled the kitchen.

  Tora was someone Aspen knew she could count on. She was strong, smart, independent, hardworking, opinionated, and damn sexy—Aspen’s equal in every way. Minus the sexy part. Tora definitely had one up on her there. That kiss. She just couldn’t get it out of her mind.

  Oscar sidled up beside her. “Are we feeding mutant Shrouds with itty bitty mouths?”

  “Huh?”

  He glanced at the stack of veggies on her cutting board and raised an eyebrow. She’d unwittingly chopped every single piece into teeny tiny slivers. “Easier to digest this way,” she lied.

  He shook his head and sighed. “Have you kissed her yet?”

  “I am not talking to you about this, Pop. We’ve been down this road. Remember?” Anytime she made even the tiniest reference to being intimate with someone, Oscar would get this look that made her think he could go into cardiac arrest at any moment. She remembered the months he’d wasted trying to convince her to become a nun instead of a cop, despite the fact that neither of them was a practicing Catholic.

  “Good, because I really don’t want to hear about it. All I’m saying is, if you haven’t kissed her yet, you should probably do it soon.”

  “I didn’t know there was an expiration date on that sort of thing.” She grabbed a green pepper from the pile. “And for your information, she kissed me. Pretty forcefully, I might add. She threw me against the wall and—”

  “TMI.” Oscar winced.

  “My bad. Sorry, Pop.”

  He plucked a knife from the chopping block, grabbed a pepper, and began slicing alongside her like a professional hibachi chef.

  She stared at his hands, mesmerized by the speed with which he chopped. How come he wasn’t missing any fingers? “You trying to make me look bad here, Pop?”

  “There are certain things you need to know”—he lowered his voice to a whisper—“when it comes to choosing a Shroud mate. Things I’ve never prepared you for.”

  “Who said anything about choosing a mate?” she whispered back. “All we did was kiss.”

  “But you’re a Shroud now. Everything will be…different,” he said vaguely. “We should sit down after dinner and talk.”

  “Is this, like, the talk?” she teased. “I can’t watch you go through that again, Pop. I don’t think your heart could take it a second time around.”

  “I’ll be okay.” He nervously cleared his throat. Some sweat was already beading on his upper lip. “Is it hot in here?”

  “You’re too valuable, Pop. We need you for this fight. I can’t afford to lose any of my soldiers before the battle even starts.” She spotted Helga across the kitchen and smiled at her. “Why don’t you pass this one off to Helga?”

  “Really?” he said, his face suddenly filling with hope. “You’d be willing to let Helga talk to you about this?”

  “Why not?” She shrugged. “She did a pretty good job the first time around.” Oscar had made numerous attempts to talk to Aspen about sex when she was a teenager. It always ended in disaster. She remembered the time he fainted in the kitchen and smacked his head so hard against the table on the way down that he knocked himself unconscious. Another time, he choked on an apple, and she was forced to do the Heimlich. There was also the time he wrecked his patrol car after he’d decided that talking about it over the phone might be easier than a face-to-face conversation. She could go on and on. Out of genuine concern for Oscar’s safety, Aspen had been the one to suggest turning the job over to Helga. She’d been seeing her for weekly therapy sessions anyway, so it was no big deal. Helga had handled it like a pro.

  “Super.” Oscar slapped her on the back. “I owe you one, kiddo.”

  She threw a glance at Tora. “Get me my earmuffs back, and we’ll call it even.”

  * * *

  Alpha Genesis gathered around the table for dinner. The only one missing was Skye. Aspen had no idea how long the newborns would sleep, but she was secretly relieved Skye had been sidelined. What she was about to propose to the group would be dangerous. She didn’t want Skye involved at all.

  She took a sizeable helping from the pasta bowl and passed it to Oscar. When Tora handed her the garlic bread without taking any, Aspen hesitated, momentarily conflicted between her love for garlic bread and her desire to kiss Tora again. After much deliberation, she passed the platter to Oscar without taking a piece. He raised an eyebrow in question but said nothing. She’d be damned if she was the only one with garlic breath later.

  “Who made the salad?” Hank had already removed his ball cap before taking a seat at the table. His thick graying hair was a prizewinning example of hat head.

  Oscar wasted no time in pointing his finger at Aspen, so she kicked him under the table.

  Hank leaned so close to his salad bowl that his nose was practically touching it. “The vegetables are microscopic. I need a magnifying glass to see them.” He looked over at Aspen. “Did you think you were feeding a family of mice?” he asked, casting a glance at Michael. “No offense.”

  “None taken,” Michael said with a wave of his hand.

  Tora updated the group on her recent trip to the surface to evacuate the parents and remaining hospital staff. She also told them about Edna.

  Everyone set their forks down and lowered their heads. They shared a moment of silence in Edna’s honor.

  “How could they kill a helpless little old lady?” Liam asked, looking up.

  “Edna was little and old, but she was hardly helpless. In fact, she was our largest and most powerful Shroud here at the sanctuary.” Tora had tears in her eyes. “She did everything she could to stop them. She managed to crush more than a few soldiers on her way out and even impaled a few with her tusks.”

  “Way to go, Edna!” Beckett cheered, clapping and whistling loudly. Everyone else joined in with gusto. A long r
ound of applause ensued for their fallen comrade.

  Tora looked around at everyone. Aspen could tell she was touched by their support.

  Wineglass in hand, Miller stood from the table. “To Edna.”

  Everyone stood and raised a glass.

  “Welcome to Alpha Genesis, Edna,” Oscar said as they all clinked glasses.

  They took their seats with forlorn expressions and began eating in earnest.

  Beckett was the first to break the silence. “So, the SEA is here already?”

  “Dad, we knew they were coming sooner or later,” Liam said. “No big surprise there.”

  Beckett sighed. “Guess I was hoping we’d have more time to prepare.”

  “What if they found that hidden door in the cabin’s basement?” Tony asked, already going for seconds. “Couldn’t they be in the tunnels by now?”

  Tora shook her head. “We have security cameras with motion detectors at each entry point. Any unauthorized activity would’ve triggered a silent alarm. I would have been notified immediately on this.” She held up her watch. “Whenever someone enters the sanctuary, I must manually disarm the system, camera by camera, as they make their way through the tunnels on foot.”

  “Are you the only one with access to the system?” Oscar asked.

  Tora nodded at Michael near the end of the table. “We both have one.”

  Michael pushed up his sleeve to reveal a watch identical to Tora’s.

  Aspen wasn’t familiar at all with the ins and outs of the security system in place down here. Learning how everything worked would be time-consuming. Right now, her efforts were needed elsewhere. Tora clearly trusted Michael, and so did she. She hadn’t known him long, but instincts told her he was solid. “The good news is this place is built like a fortress, so that’ll buy us some time,” she said. “But it would be foolish to believe the sanctuary’s impenetrable. Soldiers will breach the perimeter. That’s what we need to prepare for.”