by Leeda Vada
Belen had forgiven her mate many things, most paramount, his decision to take the offensive and annihilate the bloodline of the Powhatan Canid’ strongest opposition in the territorial wars, the Monacan clan on Bear Mountain.
It had cost him a large chunk of his soul, but Apollo felt then, and still felt today, that the survival of the Powhatan clan was worth any sacrifice. Was that how Belen felt about Calli being Canaan’s mate? Did she feel that Calli’s blood would taint the offspring of their union?
At the time when Apollo made his decision to annihilate the Monacan clan, Belen had been so repulsed by the idea that it had almost destroyed their marriage. She had argued for their assimilation instead, but Apollo did not share her position. His argument was that the Monacans were a proud race who would not follow an Alpha from outside their bloodline.
Belen had not come to their bed for a month afterward. Instead, she sought solace at her father’s ranch, her childhood home. Her father, John Alexander, a wise man, never questioned Apollo about the estrangement between him and his wife.
Belen’s pregnancy with Canaan, their firstborn, had demanded her return to the security of Bakari, the Powhatan clan’s Alpha den. Even with their renewed cohabitation, it took several years to heal the breach in their relationship.
When Apollo looked into her eyes, the love was still there, but the worshipful adoration was missing. The innocence was gone. Was its replacement the bitterness that fueled her almost obsessive opposition to Canaan and Calli’s mating?
Was she subconsciously doing to the Powhatan line what Apollo had done to the Monacan pack?
No, he couldn’t—wouldn’t—accept that. Belen’s love for her son was absolute, as it was for all their children. She would never do anything to harm him or any issue of his loins.
Then, why? What caused her to deny that call?
Sensing his presence, Belen turned to face him. “Apollo?” she whispered. “Is something wrong?”
“No, baby,” he soothed, as he sat down next to her. Bending to pull the cover up to her chin, he kissed her forehead. “Go back to sleep. I’ll join you as soon as I shower.”
“Okay, but hurry,” she encouraged, turning back to snuggle under the covers.
Belen was his life. He had no existence without her. No Canid male did once he had found his mate and claimed her. He could never betray her.
#
A few minutes later, Apollo slid in behind her, spooning her body to his. Belen responded by placing her hands on his hips and drawing herself more tightly into the warm cocoon of his body. They knew each other so well—as any mated pair came to do over time—so she could feel the tension in the stiffness of his caress.
Something was bothering him. She was concerned because it was unusual for Apollo not to share everything with her.
But what could she say? She was not sharing everything with him either. The rot that was eroding her soul was her burden alone. If her actions ever came to light, she feared the fallout would destroy Apollo’s already very fragile relationship with their oldest son.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Not too long after Calli’s trial, Apollo summoned Neo to his office to assign him a new position bodyguard for Tau, Apollo’s second son.
Apollo wanted Neo to reside within the residence. He was not only to see to Tau’s training and safety, but also to become familiar with everyone who frequented Alpha House and to be especially alert to anyone who seemed to be in a place he or she shouldn’t be.
One of the key players in the domicile was Donoma, the head housekeeper. For some reason, Neo felt a certain affinity for her. She had told him that he reminded her of her grandson who had been killed in one of the territorial raids. He had her eyes, she said.
“He would have been about your age now, a tall, strapping young warrior. Please, allow an old woman a bit of happiness, pretending you are he.”
“I would be honored,” Neo told her. “I have no family that I know of. I have no memory of my life before Commander Duncan and his team found me when I was a child. I’m not even sure of my age.”
“It is not important how old you are. Let the past be the past.” Taking his hands and giving them a squeeze, she said, “Look at the future. It will give you all you need.” She reached up and kissed his right cheek. “Your ‘bibi’ will take care of you.”
Her solemnity gave Neo momentary pause. It seemed a little out of place, but he remembered her tragic past, and so he shook it off and went to find his charge. Tau was running late. Again.
#
Three Wolf Star Fighters were poised over the exploding buildings as the rescued survivors headed in small groups of four to the pier where the hovering airbuses would lift them to safety.
Apollo had put in a frantic call to Sheba to send a team of her Scythians to assist his Warrior B team as the last stage of the rescue plan began to unravel. Sheba had Calli join her old team since most of the Bakari children knew her.
Since her release from Sheba’s Scythian army, Calli had become an independent agent for hire. This way, she could still use the skills that she had developed over the years. She and Canaan had reached a compromise.
The two of them would confer about each job before she accepted an assignment. He did not interfere unless she needed backup. She mostly took jobs that involved testing the effectiveness of Canid organizations’ security systems and then fixing them when necessary.
Calli also often went on pre-rescue operations to disable or dismantle systems to facilitate entry by Mestizo forces. When successful, she was not seen by any of the parties involved, with Canaan the only one aware of the special talents she used.
Three of the four juvenile packs of mostly prepubescent girls had been successfully pulled into the hovercrafts, but the last group—those from the innermost bowels of the slave compound—was still progressing through the tunnel. One of their human operatives had betrayed the team that had been sent in earlier to secure them, a much-trusted member of their team since its splinter from Warrior Team C five years before.
The team captain, Massat, had no clue that he was harboring a traitor, but just moments ago, one of his senior recruits, Gero, had mowed down two of his fellow squad members. The only thing that saved Massat was the distraction of Calli’s entrance. She was on her way to the exit after disabling the firing system long enough for the rescuers to complete their work.
Calli took out Gero. Then she joined the others in shepherding their charges into the incendiary-resistant oxygen tents for passage through the inferno. The flames were climbing the sides of the hallways that led through the tunnels to the opening on the cliffs above the river.
Sheba’s Amazons acted independently of any other units when they worked a job. The team members’ actions were so synchronized after four years of intensive round-the-clock training sessions before they ever went afield that their routines were imbedded in their psyches.
They anticipated each other’s moves so well that conversation was not necessary, but this being his first experience with the femme fatales, Massat was wary of trusting his life and those of his charges to them alone.
He put in a call to Wolf Star One to back them up by getting into position to receive some of the children.
Sheba’s Amazons, unaware of any change to the original plan, proceeded on course. The racing flames and incoming explosions allowed no time for hesitancy.
Ainu, being the first to reach the tunnel exit, hooked the first metal clamp hanging from the transport ship into the steel ring at the top of the secured transport tents. Grasping the netting, she anchored herself, rolled the carrier into the center of the steel catchall, and gave the signal to pull up.
The other three—Mai, Nerissa, and Orithyia—were following suit with their charges.
Suddenly, a strong gust of wind caused the Amazonian vessel to pitch to the side. It forced Mai’s carrier to roll too close to the one Aegea was steering.
Mai frantically yelled into her comm
for the Wolf Star positioned too close to move off, but it was too late.
By the time the pilot realized his error, the tail of the jet had whipped into Aegea’s tent, knocking her from the carrier and into the ocean.
Calli, whose group had already been secured into the craft, grabbed the rudderless carrier and guided it toward the waiting hands of the Amazon inside the jet.
Then, she dove into the ocean to assist Aegea.
Bloody and knocked unconscious by the impact from the Wolf Star, Aegea floated face down on the surface of the water.
Turning her over, and hitching her hand under Aegea’s chin, Calli held them both afloat as the transport circled back to pick them up.
She barely noticed the screams overhead or Mai frantically waving her hands to warn her of an approaching shark that had surfaced just seconds away from their location.
Calli did not even feel the penetration of her abdomen as a row of razor sharp teeth sank into her, so mesmerized was she by the cascading red pool forming around her.
She didn’t feel the splash as Mai and Nerissa hit the water behind her. A blast of sound was heard as a Scythian blazer disintegrated the great white who gripped her torso.
Calli’s hand was numb from the death grip she had on Aegea’s jaw and by her own efforts to tread water. Her whole being was focused on keeping her friend afloat.
“Let her go, Calli,” Mai exclaimed. “We got her.”
“What?”
“Let go. Let us take her so we can get you out.”
“I’m okay. I’ve got her. Just hoist us up,” Calli responded.
“You don’t understand,” Mai cautioned. “You’re wounded. Let go, so we can help you,” was the last thing Calli remembered.
Nerissa, noting the bluish-chalky tint of Aegea’s skin, checked her pulse. It was weak and sporadic. Looking at Mai, she shook her head.
“We’ve got to go,” nodding her head to indicate the approaching fins, summoned by the large pool of blood spreading on the surface of the water. “We’ve got to get Calli into the transport to check the bleeding,” Mai insisted.
“We can’t take them both,” Nerissa insisted.
Both women had sustained wounds that were life threatening. The Scythians stared into each other’s eyes, realizing they only had seconds to decide.
Before she could react, Nerissa watched in horror as Aegea rolled her body and turned her face into the bloody water, wrenching her chin from Calli’s fingers. She began to sink but was jerked across the water as a shark latched onto her right leg and pulled. Before Nerissa could even scream, the retrieval basket bumped her shoulder.
A shark grazed Mai’s leg as she grasped Calli’s lower left leg just below the knee. Nerissa, her right hand anchored under Calli’s breast, tightly gripped as far around Calli’s upper torso as she could.
Both—grabbing the lowered retrieval basket with their free hand—hung on as the pulley hauled them up. Numerous hands grabbed hold of the basket, pulled the three women into the craft, and then slid the door closed.
The silence in the interior of the jet was deafening. The remaining team members worked feverishly and silently, packing Calli’s abdomen with large gauzes to stem the bleeding. They spread a liberal amount of a germ-suppressing zinc oxide antiseptic powder to stave off any possible infection until they could reach Bakari’s medical facility.
Usually, they took their wounded directly to their own facility in Artemis, but Calli would not survive the trip because they had to stop at Bakari to offload the children into the care of the waiting recovery units.
Bakari had the largest and best-equipped facility for the rehabilitation of newly-rescued children. They also boasted multi-faceted databases containing information that would facilitate re-uniting the young ladies with their families.
As the rehabilitation team members lined up to receive the children, Ainu could not shake the image of Aegea’s body being devoured by the sharks in their frenzy.
Robotically, she repeated comforting platitudes to the frightened children, but the scene played repeatedly in the periphery of her consciousness.
An unconscious Calli was off-loaded. Pushing the medics to the side, Canaan commandeered the gurney, his countenance frozen and impassive. Khan assisted him by taking hold on the other side, and the two of them rolled it quickly into the emergency room.
#
Calli lay in a fetal ball, Canaan’s shirt wrapped around her as she huddled in the warmth of the sheets and comforter on his bed. She shivered, sobs rocking her body.
She didn’t notice Canaan placing the tray of hot coffee and whiskey on the nightstand, or pulling back the covers, or sliding in to lie beside her.
Canaan pulled her into his arms, turning her to position her head against his heart.
“Breathe with me, Calli,” he coaxed. He stroked her slowly, moving his large hand up and down her back. “Follow me.”
Calli would not be comforted. She was consumed by anger, one so overwhelming that it suppressed all other emotions.
What had made Aegea think that her life was less valuable than Calli’s? Aegea had a child, for Christ’s sake, a beautiful little girl who needed her mother. How could Aegea choose to take her mother from her? Damn her! She had no right.
“Shhh, mitawan,” Canaan whispered, pushing back tendrils of her hair. “It’s going to be all right.”
He feathered kisses on her forehead, down her eyelashes to her nose and cheeks. Following the trail of tears with his tongue, whispering soft words of comfort as he went.
Canaan ached with need. But he dared not touch her lips. He would not be able to contain the lust that began to tunnel through him at first contact with her skin.
Calli’s body responded to Canaan’s ministrations with a violent and overpowering desire to get closer to him. She needed him to purge the grief and loss that was consuming her.
She pushed into him, trying desperately to get inside his skin. “Help me!” she pleaded, gripping his forearms so hard that her nails pierced his skin.
“Slow down, baby,” Canaan soothed. “Let me make sure you’re ready.”
“No time.” She arched, grabbed his buttocks, and rammed his manhood into her. She needed the pain, needed it to drive out all of her other senses. She used the walls of her channel to manipulate the fury inside her, to squeeze and release the grip at her will. The control was hers, the only control she had in her life at that moment.
And Canaan let her have it, more than willing to give her what she needed.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Since the sensation caused by Calli’s trial, Neo had been re-assigned to head up security in Alpha House. Chayton, head of one of Duncan’s Stealth teams, was to work with Neo to provide an outside perspective in the search for the saboteur.
Somehow, Calli’s efforts to contact Canaan for help during her attack had been sabotaged. It was the charge of the two Warriors to find out how, who, and why.
They initiated a more thorough investigation into the household staff after Duncan informed them that Calli’s call for help had been intercepted. Neo and Chayton agreed that it had to be someone who had daily access to Alpha House, someone whose presence in all areas of the residence would not be suspect.
During their review of the staff, they were surprised that they couldn’t find any record of Donoma before Duncan’s men discovered her at Bakari’s gates all those years ago.
“That’s not so unusual, is it, Chayton?” Neo asked. “We have taken in so many refugees who have come to us with questionable histories.”
“True,” Chayton responded, popping another black licorice bite into his mouth, “but they all had histories, Neo, especially when they came to us as adults.”
“You have a point there,” Neo agreed. “Do you want me to interview her or would you rather?”
“You already have somewhat of a relationship with her, don’t you?”
“Yeah. She says I remind her of her grandson.”
“Well, ‘sonny’, see what you can find out from the sweet little old lady,” he said, chuckling.
#
Neo approached Donoma during her morning break in the south arboretum. Noting his approach, a smile lit her countenance.
“Grandson,” she greeted him, approaching as if to give him a hug.
Neo stepped back.
Her smile became tentative. “What is it, neto?”
Neo bristled at the pet name.
“Nothing to concern yourself about, Miss Donoma,” Neo said to reassure her.
“I’ve asked you to call me ‘grandmother,’ young man.”
“I appreciate the honor, Miss Donoma. I really do, but that would dishonor the memory of your real grandchildren.”
Forestalling her impending protest, Neo took her right hand and guided her to a nearby backed bench. “I need your help.”
“Anything, neto. Anything.”
“Stop calling me that,” Neo commanded.
“You will always be my baby to me, neto.”
Ignoring her response, he continued, “I have some questions I need you to answer.” He seated them both. “I need you to tell me about your life before you came to Bakari.”
Neo watched Donoma’s whole body go taut, as her hands stilled and tensed.
“Relax,” he soothed. “No one is going to make you leave Bakari. This is your home now.” He took her hands into his. “It’s just that there has been some unusual activity within Alpha House, which may be the work of subversives. We need to investigate all residents and nonresidents who have access to the premises to eliminate them as suspects. Commander Montauk knows that you and I have a special relationship, so he has allowed me to interview you.”
Donoma pulled her hand free, stood, and turned away from him.
“Donoma?” he called, rising to follow her across the yard. “I don’t mean to upset you. I know your past is a painful one, and I am sorry to cause you distress by having you re-visit it, but we have to interview everyone.”
