by S. J. West
With Michael giving himself an excuse to not provide any more information, Jace turned his attention to me.
“Are you feeling any better?” he asked me.
“I have feeling in my legs now.”
“Are you feeling anything else?”
“Yes,” I said, looking at him without trying to disguise the fact I physically wanted him.
Jace looked confused.
“Maybe we should take Michael’s advice and get some rest before we get to where we’re going,” he said. “You just had your brain cut into. Your body needs some time to recover.”
“Sleep isn’t what I want,” I said, laying a possessive hand against the top of his thigh and slowly inching my way down between his legs.
Jace looked at my hand and back up to me. “What are you doing?”
“What do you think I’m doing?” I asked, leaning toward him. “I know you want me too.”
Jace shook his head. “Not like this. After we figure out how to deactivate the chip, we can talk about what we both want but having you while you’re still a Harvester isn’t really having you, not the real you.”
“A bit prudish of you, isn’t it? Considering what almost happened back at the Queen’s castle. Or have you forgotten how close we came to having sex then?”
“No,” Jace said patiently. “I haven’t. But you were you then, not a Harvester. As a Harvester, all you’re capable of feeling is lust and anger because they’re the most primal human emotions. That’s the only reason you’re acting this way.”
“I bet Ash wouldn’t be so holier-than-thou about it. He’d take me to bed without asking any questions.”
“I think you’re wrong,” Jace said confidently. “If he truly does love you, he wouldn’t let you give yourself to him the way you are now, either.”
I sat back in my seat feeling angry at Jace. “You’re not the only two men I have to choose from. I’m sure I can find a real man to do the job if I have to.”
“No, you won’t.” Jace’s statement was absolute. “I’ll kill anyone who tries to lay a hand on you.”
“You can’t kill every man I invite into my bed. Just because you’ve taken the moral high ground doesn’t mean everyone will. I’m offering myself to you first. It’s not my fault you won’t accept.”
Jace leaned forward. “I won’t do it because I love you, Skye. And this,” he said, raking his eyes over me, “is not you. I told you I won’t share your heart with Ash, but I also won’t share your body with that chip in your head.”
“What if this is all I’ll ever be? If you love me so much, why not bed me?”
“Because I want the real you, and trust me, this isn’t it.”
“Because you’ve seen my future?” I scoffed. “Just how do you plan to undo what the Queen has made me into?”
“I’m not sure yet,” Jace admitted. “But I know you’ll be human again and that person is worth waiting for.”
Jace leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes. I watched him and knew he wasn’t sleeping. I supposed it was easier for him to shut me out by not having to look at me.
One thing he said was right: lust and anger were primal emotions—ones I didn’t want to stop feeling because not feeling anything was worse. I knew what I wanted now. It was just a matter of finding the right time and using a little persuasion to get it.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Eventually, Jace actually did fall asleep. I marveled at how men could simply shut down their thoughts and instantly find succor in the world of dreams. I didn’t feel the need for sleep and had to endure an almost two hour flight before the helicopter finally made its descent and landed. Michael woke wiping the sleep from his eyes before sitting up straighter and looking at us.
“We should probably take you over to our doctor first,” Michael said to me.
“Why?” I asked, suspicious of his motives.
“We know your blood can cure the Cain virus. He wants to study it.”
“Why would you be interested in the cure?” Jace asked, not quite fully trusting our newfound benefactor either.
“Because if we can figure out what it is about her blood that acts as a cure, maybe we can design the virus to be immune to it.”
“What do you mean ‘design the virus’?”
“The group I’m with is responsible for making the Cain virus,” Michael revealed. “We just haven’t found a good way to mass distribute it yet. But if Lucena can use your blood as a cure, what’s the point? We need to find a way to make the virus immune to whatever special properties your blood contains.”
“How much about me do you know?” I asked.
“Enough.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“I know it’s not, princess, but we’ve got things to do first. I’ll answer all of your questions in good time.” Michael slid the door of the helicopter open, effectively cutting off any more of my questions.
When I stepped out of the helicopter, I saw we had landed in what looked like an old military base. Michael walked to an old green Humvee and got into the driver’s side, waiting for us to follow him.
“We’ll go see Wilford first, so he can take some samples of your blood, and then I’ll show you where you can rest.”
“What are you planning to do with us?” Jace asked.
“We can talk about that once you’re settled,” Michael said before starting the engine and driving away from the tarmac.
A few minutes later, we stopped in front of a large five-story building. Michael instructed us to follow him inside. Once inside, we had to go through two checkpoints before being allowed to enter the elevator. In the elevator, Michael pressed the basement button. When the doors opened, we were instantly inside a laboratory.
It looked nothing like the one the Queen had. Where her walls were white and pristine, this lab was old with cracked, tan painted walls and a grungy looking tiled floor, which obviously hadn’t seen the head of a mop in ages. There was some scientific equipment on the counters, but it looked old. I was surprised any of it still worked.
“Wilford, she’s here,” Michael called out.
I heard movement from behind some cardboard boxes in the far corner. A man dressed in a blue and white plaid shirt and baggy blue jeans with red suspenders came out from behind the boxes. He looked to be in his early seventies with balding white hair and a white upside down U-shaped mustache hanging from his upper lip. His wire-rimmed glasses were perched on a bulbous nose, and from the brown age spots on his face, you could tell he had spent a lot of time out under the sun before the war. His face seemed to be puckered into a permanent scowl.
“Well about damn time,” he grumbled. “What took you so long?”
“Stop complaining,” Michael told him good-naturedly. “It’s not like you had to risk your life to bring her here.”
Wilford grunted, tucking his thumbs under his red suspenders as he continued to shuffle toward us.
“Well,” he said, stopping a hairsbreadth away from me. “I certainly see a lot of that woman in you, girl.”
“Thank you,” I said. “The Queen is very beautiful.”
Wilford’s bushy eyebrows shot up as he turned to Michael. “I thought you said you were getting to her before she got converted.”
“We tried,” Michael said, “but we were a few minutes too late.”
Wilford grunted again and looked back at me. “Not sure your blood’s gonna be worth a shit now with all those Harvester nanites running around in it. Guess we’ll just have to see.”
“So you think my blood is no longer valuable to the Queen?” I asked, troubled by the thought, knowing how disappointed she would be in me.
“Don’t know yet. Didn’t I just say that?” Wilford grumbled.
“Take it easy, Wilford,” Michael said. “You know what it’s like for Harvesters, especially right after the conversion.”
“What do you mean?” Jace asked.
“Newbie Harvesters are all about pleasing th
e Queen,” Wilford said, like it was a bad thing. “It’s programmed into that damn awful chip in their heads.”
“Can you get the chip out?” Jace asked hopefully.
“Sure,” Wilford said, “if you want to kill the girl, I can get it out.”
“Wilford …” Michael warned.
“Well, it’s the truth. What do you want me to do, lie to the boy?”
“No, but you’re making it sound like there’s no hope.”
“Well, I doubt she can be turned with the Cain virus, especially if her blood still contains the cure.”
“Then what can be done?” Jace asked. “There has to be another way.”
“I … might have a way,” Michael said hesitantly.
“What is it?” Jace and I asked at the same time.
Michael shook his head. “If I told you, it would never work. You’ll just have to trust me.”
“You throw that word around a lot,” Jace said. “But you still haven’t given us a good reason why we should trust you.”
Michael looked at Jace. “You can trust me, because I’m your father.”
Jace slowly shook his head. “That can’t be true. My father was a Harvester.”
“I was a Harvester once,” Michael said. “The first male one, in fact.”
“So, you’re infected with the Cain virus?” I asked.
“No.”
“Then how did you regain your humanity?” Jace asked.
“I can’t tell you that just yet. There were other factors involved.” Michael looked directly at me. “But I’m hoping we can use the same strategy on Skye. It’s the only other way I know to fix her.”
“I don’t need to be fixed because I’m not broken,” I said, feeling an irrational anger build inside me. “There’s nothing wrong with me. I’m perfect.”
Wilford grunted. “Yeah and you’ll be perfectly insane just like that woman if we don’t change you back soon.”
Jace turned his attention back to Michael. “Is my mother really dead? Or did Lucena lie about that too?”
“No, she told you the truth. Lucena had her harvested right after you were born.”
“Why?”
“Because I loved her.”
“Why would Lucena care?”
“Because I used to be married to Lucena.” Michael crossed his arms as if he were fortifying himself to tell us the rest of the story. “As you might imagine, Lucena wasn’t the easiest person to be married to. She was demanding in her work and her personal life. When I met your mother, it was like I could actually breathe again when we were together.”
“So you and my mother were having an affair?”
“Honestly, I felt like I was more married to your mother than to Lucena. When Lucena found out about the affair, she converted me into a Harvester before she was able to perfect the chip. I think she thought it would make me into someone who adored only her, but she was wrong. I was still able to feel the love I shared with your mother. I think that’s how she became pregnant with you. That’s why you’re the only child of a Harvester and human. After Lucena found out you existed, she altered the chip to make sure Harvesters could only feel love for her. I don’t think she liked the idea of divided loyalties.”
“Why did you let her take me?” Jace asked.
“I was told you died in childbirth. I didn’t even know you existed until a couple of years ago. I’ve been trying to get you back ever since.”
“Wait a minute,” I said. “Jace looks like he’s at least twenty-five, but Lucena didn’t start making Harvesters until two years before the war. How is that possible?”
“Jace is actually only fifteen years old. Lucena used growth stimulants to accelerate his aging.”
I looked at Jace, realizing I was older than him. The thought seemed odd, to say the least.
Wilford gasped. His eyes were opened so wide I thought they would pop out of his skull. Michael drew his gun from the holster at his hip and pointed it at something directly behind me.
“Where the hell did the two of you come from?” Wilford demanded, his face was as white as a sheet.
I turned to find out what had spooked them both and saw Simon and Ian standing directly behind me. Simon was smiling as if pleased with himself, and Ian just looked shell-shocked.
“Where have you been?” I asked Simon. Rose had visited me once already since our first encounter, but I hadn’t seen Simon since he released Zoe from his protective shield.
“I wasn’t allowed to come until now,” Simon replied, knowing full well I knew my future self was the one controlling when and where Simon and Rose traveled to in the past.
“How the hell did I get here?” Ian asked, taking in his new surroundings.
“I’m sorry,” Simon said to Ian. “I couldn’t take the risk of anyone seeing me when I took you, or I would have explained myself before bringing you here.”
“Can someone tell me what the hell is going on?” Michael said, his gun still pointed in Simon and Ian’s direction.
“It’s ok,” Jace told Michael. “They’re friends.”
Michael reluctantly holstered his weapon but didn’t close the catch on the side in order to keep it easily accessible.
“How the hell did the two of you get here?” Wilford asked.
“I think the more important question is: why are we here?” Simon said, deflecting Wilford’s question.
“Are you here to help Skye?” The hope in Jace’s voice irritated me. Why did everyone think I needed help? Why was Jace so insistent on making me human again?
“No,” Simon replied. “I’ve brought Ian here to help you rescue Ash and Zoe.”
“Rescue?” Ian asked. “Rescue them from what?”
“Lucena has them,” Jace told Ian. “We don’t know where they are.”
“Ian can help,” Simon said.
“I can?” Ian asked. “How the hell do I know where they are?”
“You have the knowledge to find them,” Simon said. “That’s all I’m allowed to say.”
Simon turned to me and placed a comforting hand on my shoulder. “Have faith in your friends to help you. I’ll be back when you need me again.” He leaned down to kiss my cheek, but I turned my face so that our lips met instead.
I instantly pulled away. The meeting of our lips wasn’t the physical release I had expected. Instead of quenching the lust I felt, it made me feel strangely revolted.
Apparently, Simon felt the same from the way he used the back of his hand to wipe any trace of the kiss from his lips.
“I wish you had warned me about that before I came here,” he said before vanishing.
“Ok,” Ian said, staring at the empty spot where Simon had just been a second ago. “Who the hell was that guy, and how did he just disappear?”
“He’s from the future,” I told Ian. “It’s how they travel.”
“They? You mean, there’s more of them?”
“Don’t overthink it, Ian. It would probably just give you a headache.”
“Where were you before he brought you here?” Jace asked.
It was a question I should have thought to ask but simply didn’t think about. If I had been my old self, I suppose I would have wanted to know how my father and friends back south were doing. But the thought didn’t even occur to the new me.
“I was in the backup Southern Kingdom helping Doc Riley set up the new orchard unit there.”
“How is everyone? Kirk? Teegan?” Jace asked.
“Not the same since Skye left. People down there are divided into two groups now that the cat’s been let out of the proverbial bag about trading humans to Lucena. Some of them want to come over here and kick her ass, and others just want to keep handing them over to her to save their own asses.”
“And what does my father say?” I asked.
“He’s leading the people who think we should fight.”
“Hypocritical of him, isn’t it? He was all for it when it served his purpose.”
Ian e
yed me up and down. “Since when did you turn into such a hard-ass?”
“Lucena converted Skye,” Jace said.
Ian’s face darkened.
“How the hell did you let that happen?” Ian said through clenched teeth. “I thought you would protect her while she was with that monster.”
“Do you honestly think I willingly let it happen?” Jace’s voice rose with each word in anger.
Ian’s scowl slowly faded. “No,” he answered, taking a deep breath. “I don’t.”
Ian looked at me with newfound interest.
“So, how are you feeling?” he asked me.
“I don’t feel much,” I answered.
“Riiigghhtt,” Ian scoffed, “that’s why you just tried to have a battle of the tongues with future boy before he left.”
“Well, if you think you’re such an expert on how I’m feeling, why ask the question?”
“People come out of the conversion process differently. I guess I was hoping you had retained some of who you were.”
“I’m better than I was,” I said.
Ian shook his head. “Just physically stronger, not better. You’re weaker in a lot of ways.”
“How so?”
“Being able to care about the people around you makes you stronger than any nanites can. It’s why the human race will eventually win this war.”
“Didn’t take you for such a hypocrite. You chose to be a Harvester once.”
“Now I’m a reformed Harvester,” Ian reminded me. “Do you remember asking me what it was I missed about being human after I became a Harvester?”
“Yes. You said you didn’t know me well enough to answer the question at the time.”
“I missed being able to feel what it was like to love people. When I was a Harvester, I didn’t give a rat’s ass about my family or friends. They could have been strangers to me, and I couldn’t have cared about them any less than I did. And because of that, do you know what I have inside of me?” Ian pointed to his chest but didn’t wait for my response. “I have my brother’s heart beating inside my chest. I stood there and watched them butcher him and harvest his organs for me to use. And you know what I did? Nothing. I didn’t care enough to stop them. All I cared about was myself. If anything like that happens to you while you’re still a Harvester, I don’t know if you’ll ever be able to recover from it once we figure out how to make you human again.”
