Procris (The Complex Book 0)

by M. Stratton

  Right then and there, with the thought of her leaving and me never seeing her again, I knew I couldn’t live without her. I would do whatever I needed to keep her.

  With a flick of my wrist, I changed my clothes from the boring brown color they gave us to black, at least that fit my personality better. I climbed into bed with her and gathered her in my arms. I didn’t need sleep, but I needed her. I needed to feel her against me. When she sighed and her body calmed, I knew she recognized me and could finally relax.

  There was nothing better for my soul than her scent. The way she’d sit back and observe everything. When she finally spoke, you knew there was a reason for it. She was able to pick things up quickly, and her intelligence made it so she could switch from one subject to another in rapid succession. When she became immortal, this would only increase. She’d truly be a force to be reckoned with.

  Summoning my magic, I took us to my cave on Creda. I couldn’t wait to bring her there in person. I’d never shared this place with anyone, but seeing her there now, I knew why. I was waiting to bring her.

  Chapter 13

  April 9, 4 AS

  Halley

  As I slowly came to, I could hear birds and water falling. Taking a deep breath, I could smell the dampness and started to wonder where I was. I tried to figure out what was going on.

  Before I opened my eyes, I felt him behind me. My mate. The man magic had chosen for me. I wasn’t sure if he felt the same way about me as I feel about him. But I knew I wasn’t going to be able to leave him. No matter what, I’d be by his side.

  I will admit, going into the tunnels last night and seeing the club he created for the goods on the black market here was a bit of a shock, but as he pointed out, everyone was free to come and go as they pleased. One time, or multiple times. Lucian’s crew, led by Fandare made sure none of the Humans that gave their blood, or other things, were ever taken advantage of, or gave too much. They were trying to make a S-Co or two, while keeping everyone safe.

  While I could appreciate what the Complex was trying to do, some of the rules they came up were plain stupid.

  “Good morning, Halley.”

  Hearing his voice like that, almost a whisper in my ear, sent shivers down my spine. He always made me feel safe, but sleeping in his arms? There was nothing better.

  “Good morning.” I finally opened my eyes, looking around I gasped. “Where have you taken me?”

  “When this is over, and we leave this planet, I will take you here, it is my place on Creda. No one comes here. No even Fandare.”

  “It’s beautiful.” I reached out and put my hand in the water; surprised I could feel it. “Your magic is so strong.”

  “It is strong for you.”

  I slightly turned in his arms to look at him. “What do you mean ‘for me’?”

  “There have been times, over the centuries, I haven’t been able to come here, so I create it from my magic wherever I am. So I can sooth my ravaged soul. I’ve never been able to make it come so alive, as I have this time, with you here in my arms.”

  “What could that mean?” My heartbeat increased.

  “It means we are bonded. It means that because of what I feel for you, I am able to create this for you, so you can experience what it is actually like.”

  “So you do care for me? It isn’t just because we are bonded, and you feel like you have to be with me?”

  “No, no, Halley, not at all. At first I didn’t know why I was so protective of you, why I made sure I saw you ever day. I should have told you sooner that I can’t see my life without you, and it isn’t just here, I can see you fitting in so well into my life back on Creda. I don’t want to lose you.”

  Watching the emotions cross his face, I knew he was serious, and this took a lot for him to say. The Strogi were strong men, who didn’t want to admit they needed anyone. That was why bonding was so hard for them. When they fell, they fell all the way. Every bonded woman was treated like a queen by her man.

  “I choose you.” As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I knew it was the right thing to do. No doubts. Seeing the happiness in his eyes, I knew I’d made the right decision, and at the right time, in his magical cave from his home, which he created.

  Quickly he pulled away from me and stood up, the cave flickering and shifting back into my quarters.

  “What are you doing?” I didn’t understand why he pulled away from me after I said I wanted to do the ritual.

  “I want to make this special for you. We’ll have a ritual tonight; I must leave you right away and not see you until it is time. Fandare will come for you and bring you to me.”

  “But I don’t know anything about the ritual. What am I supposed to do? Wear? Bring?”

  “All you need is to bring yourself. Fandare will witness our vows then leave. It will just be the two of us for the rest of our immortal lives.”

  He started backing away from me, toward the door. This was all so sudden. “Why do you have to leave right away?”

  “I have much to do. Fandare will be by with some information you need. Until tonight, my love.” With that he was gone, disappeared right in front of me.

  I was more nervous about doing something wrong in this ritual he decided we needed, than the fact I chose to be bonded to that one man, who happened to be the leader of his clan and become immortal in thirteen hours.

  Briefly, I wished for the type of family that I would have been upset that they wouldn’t be able to attend this huge event in my life. But I didn’t have that kind of family. If the rest of his clan were like Fandare, I would be getting a new family I could rely on.

  Chapter 14

  April 9, 4 AS

  Lucian

  I had made sure Halley didn’t come into work today and was spending it with Fandare at Uni-Body. The only thing I needed was to make sure she was safe, and there was no one I trusted more than him.

  I couldn’t stop the feeling that something wasn’t right from crawling over my skin. Now, some mere hours away from completing the ritual that would make Halley mine, I felt impending doom settle over me.

  Scanning the crowd, I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, until I spotted him standing outside the Uni-Brew, looking in. When he locked eyes with me he smirked. Opening the door, he strode in and came over to me.

  “Where is she?” he hissed.

  “Where is who?” I certainly wasn’t going to make this easy on him.

  “Halley.”

  “She isn’t working today.”

  Merrill’s eyes narrowed at me. “She is supposed to be working.”

  “Not today.”

  Licking his lips, he raised his eyebrows. “She didn’t answer the door to her quarters.”

  I did everything I could to not rise to his bait.

  “She can do whatever she wants when she is not here.”

  Merrill tilted his head to the side. “You know I’d love to be able to bring you in, Procris, show you exactly how much authority I have. I could get you, your brother, and the little operation you have going on here kicked out. No money. Just like that.” He snapped his fingers.

  I wasn’t worried; he may have suspicions, but no proof. Our magic was strong. He was all hot air. On the other hand, I did not want him anywhere near Halley.

  “If I see her, I’ll be more than happy to let her know you’re looking for her.”

  Sometimes playing nice had to be done, didn’t mean I liked it. Didn’t mean I didn’t want to rip his throat out.

  “See that you do…boy.” He started to leave, but turned back around and slapped a piece of paper on the counter. “Just so you know.”

  I waited for him to leave, and was out of sight, before I picked up the piece of paper and went into the office. There was no way I wanted him to see that I cared anything about what he was possibly doing.

  Involuntarily, my magic exploded out of me, for the briefest of seconds, but it was long enough for all the power to be shut down for a few moments
before the backup generators kicked in.

  Focusing my magic, I went and found Fandare at the Uni-Body. Alone in his office, I showed him the piece of paper.

  “You know what needs to happen.”

  “I do. Promise you’ll keep her safe, no matter what happens.”

  He bowed his head to me. “You know I will.”

  “The clan is to keep her safe, she will have all that is mine. Do not let her go back to her home planet. She needs freedom, to have her own place.”

  “You have my word, brother.” Fandare placed his hand on my shoulder.

  “Thank you.” I turned to leave and his words stopped me.

  “I will look after what is yours, because through you, she is mine, but I will not mourn you because I have faith in you. You will make sure to do what needs to be done to protect her, and in turn our clan, and you will come back to us. There is no one stronger than you, Lucian.”

  I kept my eyes focused on the wall and the things I had to do. “Just keep her safe, so I do not need to worry about her, on top of everything else.” Gathering my magic, I went back to my office at the Uni-Brew and purposely walked out and waited for a glyder to come pick me up. Traveling around Main City, I made sure cameras saw me and were able to track me. Merrill would have access to them all, if for some reason he lost me, I wanted him to be able to find me, easily.

  Stopping at one of the furthest shops from the Alpine/Snow dome, I went into the Uni-Bloom, which had exotic flowers from the Jungle dome and picked a vibrant, almost blood-red flower for Halley.

  Every once in a while, I would catch his scent; I knew he was still following me. Hopping on another glyder, I went back to my side of the Complex and up to my quarters. I needed him to think I was up there. Once inside, I created a system of complex wards to keep him out and warn me if he, or anyone else, came near to my door or was trying to break in.

  Marfa tended to be quieter during the day than at night. I didn’t even hesitate as I appeared in the middle of the room and saw who was there.

  “Everyone out. Now.” My voice left no option for anyone to disobey.

  Once I felt everyone leave through wards I prepared. Systematically removing everything I had built, except the floor of Marfa, I then closed my eyes and used my power to find Merrill. I smiled when I found him in an area the cameras couldn’t see, watching my quarters. Before he knew what was going on, I brought him to me.

  “What the…”

  “Hello, Merrill. Welcome to the bustling underground black market you are trying to say Halley is the mastermind behind.” I spread my hands wide. “As you can see, she has quite an elaborate system here.”

  “Shut up, Procris. I know you were the ringleader, but you’d do anything to protect her.” He licked the sweat off his top lip.

  “You do understand what I am and what I can do to you?

  He barked out a laugh. “That is where you are wrong. There is nothing you can do to me without getting caught. I’ve made sure that if something happens to me, everyone will know what you had going on down here and that you killed me. If you’re lucky, they’ll allow you to leave and serve time on your home planet, if not… well, then you’ll be dead and that would make me happy.”

  “Why do you hate me so? I do not know you.”

  “No, you don’t. But one of your clan knew me, knew me well enough to take everything I had and leave me with nothing.”

  I folded my arms across my chest. “You must have been playing the wrong game in order to lose everything.”

  “It was no game to me.” His raised voice echoed throughout the tunnels. “I was left with nothing!”

  “What did you think you were going to get?” I knew I could end things now, but I needed to know what drove him to hate me so much.

  “Her. Aritond. She promised me everything, but instead took it all.”

  I shook my head. Aritond was a handful; she loved tormenting Humans. We tried to keep her in line, but she always seemed to sneak behind our backs and cause them problems. Usually they were harmless pranks, but occasionally, she’d do something that we would spend a great deal of money to clean up. “What did she promise you?”

  “Her love. She showed me her mark; she said we were destined to be together. Since I was Human, we were going to end up owing the clan money, in order for your approval. I gave her everything I had and she came to me, with tears in her eyes, saying you disapproved. There was no way you’d allow a Human into the clan.” His fists were clenched and he was shaking. “Yet here you are with a Human!” He yelled the last word.

  “She never came to me, Merrill.”

  “No, she did. Aritond said you wiped the mark away, forbade her to ever see me again.”

  “That is not within my power. Once the mark is given by magic, only the female can make it disappear by rejecting the mate.”

  “You lie!” he screamed. “We were in love.”

  “No, you were in love, not her. She isn’t capable of loving anyone.”

  “Then you come here and end up falling for a Human. I’m sure your clan will allow her to join, since you are the leader, but someone without any authority in your clan? They get nothing.”

  “That isn’t how it works. Magic decides who is marked, and as a clan, we have to accept whoever or whatever that is.”

  “I don’t believe you.” His fists moved in agitation at his sides.

  “You don’t have to, all you have to do is leave Halley out of this, she has nothing to do with it.”

  “No, it’s too late for that. They should be picking her up any time now, and then she’ll be shipping out of here. No money and going to prison. That’s what she gets for getting involved with someone like you.”

  “There is no proof of anything going on down here.”

  “I have the proof I need; besides the fact this floor shouldn’t be here.” His lip curled.

  Shaking my head, I tsked my tongue a few times. “You shouldn’t have said that. Out of the two of us, who do you think would survive if this floor suddenly disappeared?” My memory was long and I still remembered the time when the Strogi could roam free, hunting, and taking what we wanted. We were tame now in comparison, but occasionally, it still felt good to play.

  “You don’t scare me. You can’t kill me. Suspicion would fall right to you. I’ve made sure of it.” He nodded his head in blissful ignorance.

  My voice lowered, “But you should be scared of me. Very scared.” We’d learned to mask ourselves around the Humans, but now I allowed my magic to run free and let him see what I really looked like.

  Towering over him, I could plainly see what was going through his mind, it was written all over his face. He didn’t know how I could grow taller and wider. Opening my mouth, I made sure he saw my teeth growing and chomped down on them, the sharp sound echoing around the room. My eyes glowed red, and a very unhuman growl came out of my throat, rumbling the floor on which we stood.

  A sharp pain exploded on the side of my head, I shook it trying to clear it, but the pain was spreading. I dropped to my knees and saw the gleeful expression on his face. I knew he’d set me up. Struggling I stood up. I couldn’t let him beat me, but I could feel myself getting weaker.

  I tried to call out for my brother, but I couldn’t. He had no warning, which meant Halley had no warning. They’d both be at the mercy of Merrill.

  Chapter 15

  April 9, 4 AS

  Halley

  “Really, Fandare, I’m fine. You don’t need to follow me everywhere.”

  “I promised Lucian to keep you safe.”

  “What could happen to me?” I frowned at him, trying to figure out why Lucian didn’t want me left alone. As we grew closer, our bond grew stronger, and so did I. I knew I wasn’t immortal yet, but I wasn’t Human anymore either. Between the two of them, they’d taught me everything I needed to know to take care of myself. “What aren’t you telling me?”

  “Nothing, just thinking of the ritual tonight, I don’t w
ant anything to go wrong.”

  “What could possibly go wrong?” I raised an eyebrow at him.

  “Nothing.”

  “Then we have nothing to worry about, I’m running a couple of errands, alone.”

  “But...”

  “But what, Fandare? I’m waiting.”

  He sighed. “Nothing, go. Just let me know when you are back in your quarters.”

  “I’ll do that.” I narrowed my eyes at him. He was keeping something from me, and he wasn’t about to let me go off alone. Now I was torn about rebelling and trying to lose him out there in Main City, or just letting him follow me and have the illusion I was alone. Since I knew he only meant to keep me safe because he cared about me, I decided to let it go. But I wasn’t going to let him off the hook about what he was keeping from me.

  “Fine. I should be back in a couple of hours.”

  “Great. Have fun.”

  He waved to me as I boarded a zipper with other people and punched in my destination to take me over to the shops that were closer to the Aquatic dome. There were stones there that glowed based on emotion, Humans had always felt they held magic. But even now that I knew what magic was, I still felt there was something about the stones. I wanted to get one for Lucian.

  Entering the store, I allowed myself to open up and see the different ones lying around, there was nothing that I was drawn to, but something kept pulling me toward the backroom.

  “Excuse me,” I said. “Can you help me?”

  “Of course,” said an older lady, with pure white skin and her completely black eyes. Her long blue hair danced in the air like it was underwater.

  “I’m not seeing a stone I want. I was wondering if you had any others in the backroom you haven’t put out yet.”

  She leaned toward me and inhaled deeply, closing her eyes.

  “You are part Strogi…how can that be…Ahhhh…Lucian…bonded…becoming more…what’s that…no…that won’t work…trust your inner voice…yes…possibly…danger…stronger together…trust…faith…death…” She opened her eyes and they were completely white. “Come.”