* * *
Saebin adjusted her position on the chair for the hundredth time. Expectation pressed in on her from every side. Their operation was stalled, paralyzed by her inability to sense Seth.
Seth is the key. I’m not sure how but he will lead me home. As if she weren’t stressed out enough, Saebin heard the fervent echo of Krystabel’s voice.
She was a soldier, not a Mystic. Give her an attainable objective, someone to overpower or apprehend. How was she supposed to accomplish something that was intangible?
Her fingers dug into the chair’s arms and her sensory inputs buzzed. “It isn’t working.” She hissed out a breath and opened her eyes. “They must have him in a shield suit or I don’t know what the hell I’m doing. Take your pick.”
Without a word, Drakkin took her by the hand and led her off the bridge. “You come too,” he said as they passed Lyrik.
“Keep scanning,” Lyrik told Dro Tar before stepping into the lift.
Drakkin led them down the corridor and stopped before Lyrik’s cabin. “She is trying too hard. When she summoned the metaphysical plane, yours was the first image she visualized. Strip her naked and distract her in any way you can. Once she relaxes, her power will do the rest.” He turned and walked back toward the lift.
Saebin covered her eyes with her hand. “He can’t seriously mean for us to…”
With a wicked chuckle, Lyrik pulled her inside the cabin. “You used me to stabilize your visualization?” He sounded inordinately pleased. “Were we naked?”
She slapped his hand away as he reached for the fasteners at the front of her suit. “Seth is at the mercy of those monsters. How am I supposed to—”
“You don’t have to do anything. I’m supposed to distract you. If you relax and let your energy flow naturally, the connection will come.” He laughed again. “Literally and figuratively.”
She had yet to recover from her brazen behavior in the planning hall. When had she become such a wanton? “If it doesn’t work the first time, we go back to the bridge. Agreed?”
“Whatever you say.” His sparkling eyes promised no mercy but they had to do something. All her determination and concentration hadn’t accomplished anything.
She disengaged her input rings and unfastened her armor. He peeled it down her arms and sealed his mouth over hers. Pushing the stiff material past her hips, he paused to explore her bottom while she worked her legs free of the suit.
His tongue stroked against hers, caressing the interior of her mouth. Her nipples tingled and heat gathered between her thighs. She opened her mind—scanning, searching—while his hand moved across her flesh. He cupped her breast, his thumb teasing her nipple. His touch never failed to excite and thrill her.
“It was over way too soon,” he whispered against her lips. “I didn’t get my fill of you before.” He smiled into her eyes. “I’m still hungry.”
He slipped to his knees and Saebin’s body clenched in greedy anticipation. Each touch, each experience was wonderful with Lyrik. She loved the way he used just a hint of teeth when he sucked on her nipples. She craved the tender swirl of his tongue against her clit. And his… He lifted her leg to his shoulder and her thoughts scattered.
Using only his fingertip, he traced her slit, forward and back, forward and back. She braced her hands against his shoulders, her leg trembling.
“Relax. I’ve got you.” His breath wafted across her damp folds and she closed her eyes, the tension mounting.
I’ve got you. Such a comforting thought. She wasn’t alone. He had her back. He would fight beside her.
Sensation curled up through her and blossomed in her abdomen. Reaching up, he cupped her breasts, rolling her nipples as he lavished attention on her swollen nub.
“I love your taste and the throaty moan you make just before you come.” His mouth moved against her as he spoke, heightening her arousal. “Moan for me, sweetheart. I love you.”
His mouth became more insistent, leaving her to wonder if she’d imagined the last phrase. Did he love her? She was modified, changed, ruined. How could he love her?
Over and over, he adored her until she slumped against the wall, her leg shaking. He pressed against her, supported her as pleasure washed her anxiety away. He eased two fingers inside her, prolonging her release.
As if launched by the push of his fingers, her mind expanded its search. The signal was faint at first, tiny yet intense. Gradually fear and confusion traveled across the fragile link.
Seth?
The pleasure of her orgasm receded while she latched on to the signal, binding her being to Seth’s. Lyrik looked up at her. “Did it work?”
“I…think so.” She panted.
He eased his fingers from inside her and lifted her into his arms. Cradling her against his chest, he moved to the bed. “I’ve got you,” he repeated in a passion-roughened tone.
Supported by Lyrik’s strong arms, she focused entirely on Seth, strengthening the telepathic link.
We’re here, little one. Don’t be afraid. Open your eyes and show me where you are.
* * *
“There are two adults in the lab, one male and one female,” Lyrik stated. He had assembled the crew in the planning hall for the final briefing. “The soldiers are not free to move about the complex. There are eight Rodyte guards equipped with standard pulse rifles. Six have specific patrol patterns. The other two protect the Stirate. That’s the Rodyte word for head honcho. So the odds aren’t wonderful but they aren’t impossible either.”
“How can you possibly know all that?” Hermlin shook his head.
“Seth told Saebin what to expect.”
“Seth?” Hermlin scrunched up his face in a disbelieving frown. “Isn’t he the baby we’re here to rescue?”
“Seth is no ordinary child,” Lor replied. “He is the son of two of the most powerful Mystics Ontariese has ever known.”
“And his natural abilities are enhanced by genetic and technological augmentations,” Saebin said. “Picture my implants and body armor only integrated at the cellular level.”
“Holy shit,” Hermlin muttered.
“I second that,” Dro Tar said.
Lyrik looked at Drakkin. “How many of us can you get inside?”
“As many as you need.”
“All right.” He scrubbed his jaw as he debated the details. “Seth is our primary concern but I’d like to recover the soldiers if it’s possible. Somehow I don’t think they volunteered for their present assignment.”
“I’ll teleport everyone into the lab and send Dro Tar back to the ship with Seth.”
“No friggin’ way. I don’t want to miss out on—”
“You’re the logical choice,” Lyrik agreed. “No more arguments. Hermlin, we’ll need you on the ship in case things go badly. Lor, have you ever used your abilities in a destructive capacity?”
“Not intentionally.” He grinned. “But I have no problem doing so.”
Lyrik accepted his statement with a nod. “Any questions?”
“Why can’t the teenagers baby-sit?” Dro Tar narrowed her eyes in a mutinous glare.
“Zane shoots better than I do and that’s saying a lot. Lor is a pyrokin.” Lyrik shook his head. “Why am I arguing with you? Any other questions?”
Dro Tar harrumphed.
“The next move is yours,” Lyrik told Drakkin.
Hermlin returned to the bridge and Drakkin instructed everyone else to congregate in the middle of the planning hall. Unlike Ontarian transport conduits, Bilarrian teleportation was instantaneous.
Lyrik looked into the male’s eyes, confirming he was Rodyte before he dropped him with a single blast to the chest. The female screamed and Saebin fired precariously close to her head. Seth was strapped to a treatment table in front of Ensley.
“D-159, cease and desist!” Ensley’s voice was shrill.
“My name is Saebin, you heartless bitch.” Saebin shot out her knee and watched with dispassionate eyes as Ensley wri
thed on the floor.
“Get the baby out of here,” Lyrik ordered. “The fun has just begun.”
Saebin stared at her former handler, targeting her with both fists. Lor stood in the doorway of the lab, his curly hair wild about his face. Two guards charged down the hallway. Lor drove them back with dense bursts of fire. Zane rattled off shots in the other direction and Saebin slowly tightened her fists.
“You can’t kill her, sweetheart,” Lyrik said softly. “We might need her to control the soldiers.”
“That’s what she does best.” Logic restrained Saebin’s anger. If she surrendered to rage, she’d be no use to the mission.
In her peripheral vision, she watched Drakkin and Dro Tar unstrap the child. Joy surged across their telepathic link. Absorbing the emotion without being distracted by it, Saebin fixed her gaze on her former handler. “You are beneath contempt, Ensley.”
“You’ll never get out of here alive.” Saebin lunged forward and Ensley scrambled back, clasping her knee with both hands. “The new soldiers are faster, smarter and more powerful than the original D series. You’re already dead. You just don’t know it yet.”
Drakkin sent Dro Tar and Seth to the ship then moved up beside Saebin. “Lor and Zane have incapacitated six of the guards. The other two won’t leave the Stirate. We’ll have to take the fight to him.”
“We can’t drag her along and her implant makes her immune to my mental pulses.”
Drakkin smiled and glanced at Ensley. She moaned and toppled over onto her back.
Saebin looked at Lyrik. “You should have let me kill her. She deserves no better.”
Lyrik didn’t argue. “Let’s find the Stirate.”
Lor remained in the doorway to the lab as Zane fell in beside Drakkin. Saebin covered Lyrik as he carefully rounded each corner. “Any idea where he’s hiding?” Lyrik asked no one in particular.
Drakkin snorted. “Only a Rodyte would hide at the first sign of trouble.” The Rodytes didn’t hold the patent on cowardice but Saebin wasn’t going to start a debate.
Lyrik peeked around the next corner and a shot grazed his face. He jerked back with a muttered curse. “I think we found them.” He pressed his fingers to the burn on his cheek.
Zane darted to the other side of the archway. Rapid bursts of energy followed in his wake. He tucked his rifle close against his shoulder and prepared to return fire. Waiting for Lyrik’s signal, the younger man aimed over Lyrik’s head as the commander lunged into the corridor.
Drakkin and Saebin followed close behind. Two guards sprawled on either side of a doorway long before Saebin reached the threshold.
“Come out with your hands up,” Lyrik ordered. “If we come in, we won’t be nice.”
A moment passed in strained silence.
Drakkin’s gaze narrowed. “There are two people within, one male and one female.”
“Does he have one of the soldiers with him?” Lyrik asked.
Before anyone could answer, blasts exploded inside the office. Drakkin insinuated his fingers into the seam separating the two panels and forced the doors open. Lyrik and Zane hurried past, Saebin covered them from the corridor.
A woman dressed in a Mystic’s robe struggled with the Stirate.
“You foolish bitch,” the Stirate shouted. “They won’t shoot you!”
Zane caught the Stirate around the throat as Lyrik wrested the pistol from his hand. One last burst from the weapon rocked the Mystic backward and she grasped her abdomen.
“Why did you have to fight me?” the Stirate yelled. “They wouldn’t have hurt you.”
Drakkin rushed forward and knelt beside the Mystic. He looked at Lyrik and shook his head. “I can’t help her. Her being is slipping away.”
The Stirate jerked and tugged against their restraining hold. “Gema! I cannot sense her. What have you done with Gema?”
“Look at his eyes.” Saebin watched as the blue rings, so similar to Drakkin’s red, faded completely, leaving a solid field of black.
“Who are you?” Drakkin looked at the Rodyte but sent his thoughts directly to Saebin’s mind. I no longer sense a Rodyte. This being is altogether different. “How should we address you?”
“My name is Berk. I can’t remain in control for long. This beast is very strong.” He panted, his voice reverberating with a deep, echoing timbre. “We were forced through the portal when the other barged in.”
“What portal?” Lyrik asked. “We don’t understand.”
“All I remember is the explosion. Ripples of power disrupted our dimension, creating a rip, a portal. We were forced into the female.”
Images swirled through Saebin’s mind, memories twisted with impressions. She closed her eyes, retreating into the memory, gleaning details unavailable before. “He belongs where Krystabel is now.”
“Who is Gema?” Lyrik asked the being.
“My mate.”
Saebin forced herself to see beyond the torment of that day, to remember every action, every emotion. “They were drawn through the portal when Krystabel retreated from the pain. Ensley! They were forced into Ensley.”
“The journey nearly dispersed our energy,” Berk added. “We were both so depleted we were forced to hibernate, to slowly rebuild our levels.”
“Once they woke, it became dangerous for Ensley. Come. We must rouse her.” Saebin ran down the corridor, blood rushing through her ears. This was the only tangible link they had to Krystabel. They couldn’t let it slip away.
Berk flew past her as they entered the lab. He knelt beside Ensley, gathering her into his arms. “Gema, my love. You must awaken.”
Lyrik dragged him away from Ensley’s unconscious body. “How did you end up in the Rodyte?”
“The female was not strong enough to sustain both of us. When these two joined together, I took control of the male. But he is much stronger than I anticipated or I am weaker than I realized.”
“If you return to your dimension, will the female who forced you out return to hers?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know. We have been in these bodies too long. Our beings have fused with theirs. If we return to our dimension, these two will cease to exist.”
“That’s not a problem,” Saebin said without inflection.
“The female must have a receptacle or she cannot return,” Berk explained.
Saebin looked at Ensley and shuddered. “Can she inhabit the body Gema will vacate?”
“No. It will be destroyed by our leaving.”
Without explanation, Drakkin blinked out of sight. He strode into the lab a moment later carrying the female Mystic. “I will work to repair this body. We don’t have much time or death will taint the transfer.” He looked at Saebin. “You are a conduit. You must guide Krystabel home. Bring her into her new body.”
Saebin’s head pounded so forcefully she could barely think. “I don’t know how!”
“You know,” Drakkin shot back without looking up from the female Mystic. “You have always known.”
“Will this work?” Lyrik asked Berk. “Can she return if she has somewhere to go?”
“I do not know.” He paused, compassion gleaming in his fathomless eyes. “All we can do is try.”
Kneeling between Ensley and the Mystic, Saebin formed a link between the two. “Rouse her,” she said to Drakkin, knowing her own mental compulsion would have no effect. Ensley jolted, her eyes flying open, horror contorting her features. The blue rings returned to the Stirate’s gaze as his body began to shake.
Saebin sensed Berk and Gema gathering energy, draining it from the Stirate and Ensley. Their bodies trembled and their faces twisted, shriveled then wasted away. With sudden, violent force Berk and Gema projected themselves to a destination beyond Saebin’s comprehension. The Stirate screamed. Ensley moaned and fire erupted inside Saebin. She fought the searing pain, forcing her energy to flow away from Ensley and into the female Mystic.
Strength drained out of Saebin. She closed her eyes, fire giving wa
y to cold. Isolated and afraid, a signal emerged from the abyss. The faint smell of flowers teased her nose.
Krystabel! Here, I am here! You’re not alone. Saebin sent the thought into the darkness with the last of her strength. Come back to us. All Ontariese is waiting for you.
A trickle of energy flowed through Saebin, growing stronger with each passing second. Relief and happiness flooded her senses. Energy rushed, surged and bubbled, making her want to laugh.
She turned her head toward the female Mystic and slowly opened her eyes. Their gazes locked. Purple marbled the dark brown, intensifying and expanding until only purple remained.
“Saebin?” The Mystic spoke, but it was Krystabel’s voice.
Saebin’s fingers went numb and she released her mother’s hand. “Welcome back,” she whispered then slipped into the void.
Chapter Thirteen
They gathered on the banks of Rainbow Falls the following morning. Water rushed over sheer cliffs and pounded into the pool far below. Light passed through the resulting mist, creating a multitude of tiny, colorful arcs. Saebin suspected the others had seen it all before. How else could they gaze upon such beauty and not gape with awe?
Lyrik intertwined their fingers and drew her away from the falls. Dense trees surrounded the grassy clearing. Trey kept his feisty life mate near him by resting his arm across her shoulders. Charlotte embraced Krystabel so tightly and held on so long that Tal smiled and gently pulled her back.
“I can’t believe you’re here.” Emotion made Charlotte’s voice tremulous. “I refused to give up hope, but each day, each passing cycle, made it harder to believe I would ever see you again.” Happy tears shone in the High Queen’s turquoise eyes.
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