by A C Warneke
“Clever,” she said approvingly. “And much more just than the quick death I had planned for her.”
“Blood thirsty, little thing,” he repeated with a chuckle, brushing his thumb over her lower lip. His breath caught in his throat as his eyes darkened but he restrained himself. Clearing his throat, purposefully bringing himself back from the edge of desire, he met Malorie’s eyes and murmured, “Thank you for giving me back my son.”
She could only offer a slight smile because she hadn’t really done anything. Varick was the one who had reached out to her through her dreams and if she had been less stubborn, she would have been able to save him sooner. Licking her lip, tasting just a hint of Feryn, she asked, “Does having Varick back change your mind about our baby?”
He looked at her in horror. Flipping her onto her back and covering her with his hard body, he glared fiercely down at her as he rested a hand on her belly, “This baby was conceived in love, Malorie. If anything, having Varick back makes me love you and the baby that much more. It makes me love my son that much more. Don’t ever think I don’t want you or our child. Ever.”
“Even with all of the trouble I cause you?” she asked in a soft voice as moisture glistened in her eyes. “It’s not all a game?”
“You have to understand that before you and your father, a Breeder’s life was so short and it was all we could do to keep them alive. Humans succumbed to death so easily so it was easier to keep the Breeders in an isolated village to… protect them,” he offered instead of giving her an answer. Gently caressing her cheeks, he continued, “You and your father have changed everything and I am still figuring out how to adapt. And it’s not a game, Malorie. This is very real.”
She wanted to believe him but he had seduced too many girls with heated words and solemn promises to easily accept it. Someday she’d believe him, when he wasn’t running so hot and cold… or maybe that was why she should believe him. In all of his memories in her head, he had never lost his cool. Biting her lower lip, she softly asked, “Are you going to keep the others here against their will?”
He shook his head but his expression remained grim, “Malorie, you have to understand that humans are incredibly fragile despite their feelings of invincibility. Breeders are no different and infinitely more precious to us. I can promise to give them as much autonomy as possible while keeping an eye on them but to be perfectly honest, not everyone is as fiercely independent as you.”
“I don’t know if that is a compliment or an insult,” she said, making a face.
“It’s just a statement of fact. Humans are very contrary creatures and none are more so than you.” Resting his forehead against hers, he closed his eyes, his long black lashes curving against his cheeks. “Gods, Malorie, do you have any idea how much it kills me when you pull away from me?
“It’s not you I’m pulling away from,” she said softly, lowering her lashes to hide from his too-perceptive gaze. “You’re so overwhelming, Feryn, and it would be so easy to lose myself in you. I’m afraid of disappearing.”
“Sweetheart, that’s never going to happen,” he said with the utmost confidence. Raising her lashes, she had to suck in a breath at the passion burning in the green depths of his eyes. “I’ve seen into the depth of your soul, my love. If anything, I should be worried about losing myself in you.”
Her lips curved into a slight smile at his teasing because there was no way Feryn would ever lose himself in anybody. Biting her lower lip, she carefully asked, “If we keep the baby Breeders here, can I train them so if there is ever another attack they’ll be able to defend themselves?”
He threw his head back and laughed, falling onto the bed next to her. With a frown, she propped herself up on her elbow and glared down at him, “I’m serious, Feryn. The children, and probably the mothers, need to be able to protect themselves. There’s a whole world of trouble out there and if they’re cossetted….”
“You can train them,” he gasped between each laughing breath. Opening his eyes, he captured her in his green gaze and grinned, “Did you honestly believe you’d lose yourself if you let down your guard around me? You are, without a doubt, the most stubborn, single-minded woman I’ve ever known and I love you for it.”
Her brows drew together in bewilderment, “Even when I’m pissing you off?”
“Even then,” he grinned. “I love you, Malorie, that’s why it destroys me when you push me away. I only want to protect you, love, to keep you safe. We just have to figure out the logistics.”
She smiled slightly before the frown returned as a random thought came from out of nowhere. “Will you have your, um, pets in the human world keep an eye on those who wish to leave?”
Arching an eyebrow, he asked, “What do you mean by pets?”
“Well, there was a rumor amongst the Blade Soldiers that there were pets in the hospitals,” she explained slowly, watching his face for any indication that he understood what she was talking about. But he was very good at keeping a neutral expression. “They kept tabs on patients and people with certain blood types mysteriously vanished.”
“There are pets in hospitals and various other places,” he said carefully. “But they don’t belong to the Aradians. We try to remain hidden so our humans are kept on at the compound or in the special villages located nearby and their memories are wiped before they return to the real world.”
“Yes,” she nodded, remembering a conversation she had with Ginny eons ago. “A… friend of mine explained that to me when I first arrived.”
He looked momentarily surprised before the neutral mask descended once again. “The pets could belong to any number of creatures. Perhaps it’s not such a bad idea for you to train the Breeders when they arrive. Of course, we’ll wait until they are old enough to walk.”
She tried not to laugh, but the sparkle in his eyes was too much and a giggle escaped. Slamming a hand over her mouth, she stared at Feryn with wide eyes, surprised by the silly sound. With a tender expression, he reached up and brushed his fingers through her hair, “No matter what happens, Malorie, we’ll work it out.”
“And you promise to never try to remove your mark again?” she asked bluntly.
Wincing, he nodded his head, “That was a moment of temporary insanity. Forgive me?”
“Always,” she promised. Catching her lower lip between her teeth once more, she softly added, “We can give the young Breeders a GPS tracker or something, just to keep an eye on them if they decide to go out into the world. But they need to be just as autonomous as you Aradians.”
“And Toby?”
Her heart raced in her chest as she thought about her young son, as she thought about all of the other things that went bump in the night that she hadn’t known about until recently. Slowly, she said, “We can discuss the options when he’s older and ready to leave the island.”
He smirked at her, “Still so protective.”
“Always,” she said readily. Pursing her lips, she took a deep breath and murmured, “There’s something else I need to tell you.”
“And what is that?” he asked, running his finger over the length of her nose before pressing his finger to her lips.
“Jack’s a Breeder now,” she blurted out quickly, squeezing her eyes shut for some unknown reason. When he didn’t respond immediately, she pried an eye open and found him staring at her aghast. “I don’t know how it happened… okay I do know how it happened but it’s not something I’m comfortable doing all of the time because it requires turning a human into a vampire and then having them suck my blood until I nearly die and then I have to step through Netherspace and then I kiss the former vamp but….”
In the next instant, his mouth was over hers and she was on her back as he filled her in a single thrust. Her back arched off the bed and the thoughts about Jack and becoming a Breeder evaporated. In a low, primal growl, he ground out, “You are not going to risk your life creating any more Breeders, Malorie. That’s just not going to happen.”
&n
bsp; “Okay,” she agreed softly, closing her eyes and just experiencing the joy of Feryn’s passion.
“What? You’re not going to argue?” he asked, amusement lacing his voice as he continued making love to her.
“No,” she answered, lifting her hips to take him deeper. “You’ll have no argument from me on this one.”
“Good.” Capturing her lips, he kissed her until there was nothing in her head except Feryn.
Afterwards, trying to catch her breath, there was one last question she wanted to ask. “Feryn?”
“Yes, Malorie?”
“Now that female Aradians can have children, how do you think that’s going to change things?”
“I guess that depends on if there are any females who want to have children,” he answered quietly. “But whatever happens, it’s bound to be interesting.”
“Feryn?”
“Yes, Malorie?” Even though his eyes were closed, he was grinning and she loved seeing his grin.
“Can we come up with a better name than Breeders?”
Chapter 15
Malorie couldn’t wipe the smile from her face if she tried. Six weeks of utter bliss and she was finally glowing with impending motherhood. Resting a hand over her stomach, she couldn’t help but do a little hop-step in utter joy. She was almost five months along, Toby was thriving, Jack was happy, her father and Tari were tentatively living amongst the Aradians and Feryn was… he was perfect. They actually spent time talking and he listened, he actually listened to her.
Even though he had her memories, he encouraged her to tell him about her childhood, about her life after Jack was taken from her and how she struggled to be normal. He had kissed her and told her that there was nothing normal about her and before she could be offended, he murmured, “You are extraordinary.”
How could she not love him?
Having just dropped Toby off at Jack’s, she was on her way to meet Varick at the lab since Feryn actually had duties to perform. It was the perfect opportunity to see if Varick needed any more blood. So far he had discovered that in very small doses, her blood cured various human diseases, at least in theory since he was only using blood samples. Too much and her blood seemed to mutate the human blood so Varick had held off on human trials until he had a better understanding of her blood’s properties. She was just grateful Jiro seemed to be okay with Varick being in charge of the testing.
Of course, Jiro had been dodgy since the caves but Malorie figured it had to do with his disgust at how well she and Feryn were getting along.
While she was at the lab, she’d have to talk to Varick about the mothers-to-be. Some of them were complaining of boredom, though she didn’t know how that was possible with the vast repositories of knowledge at their fingertips. Maybe they could have a mass baby shower, since they were all six to eight weeks further along than she was.
“Malorie,” Jiro said, abruptly stepping into her path and startling her.
“Speak of the devil,” she laughed, putting a hand over her racing heart. “I was just thinking about you.”
“Yeah?” he grinned, a slow, sensual curve of his lips that was so similar to Feryn’s but did absolutely nothing for her. Reaching out, he ran a finger along her arm and asked, “Anything naughty?”
“Not at all,” she assured him, stepping out of his reach. Feeling strangely alert, she rubbed her arms and tried to remind herself that this was Feryn’s brother and he had promised to protect her. She trusted him, didn’t she? “I was just wondering what nefarious plans were brewing in that overly-bedazzled head of yours.”
“Nothing nefarious,” he crooned. With a wink, he added, “Well, nothing too nefarious.”
She let out a nervous laugh and took another step away from him, looking past him to see if anyone else was around. There was something off about him but she couldn’t put her finger on what it was. “I’m heading to the lab.”
“Ah, yes,” he smirked, matching her step for step. “My little pet project that Varick took over. How is the recluse doing?”
“Good,” she said, a slight smile curving her lips as she thought about Varick. He still struggled with his freedom and spent an inordinate amount of time in the lab but he had a dark and slightly twisted sense of humor and the two of them got along better than was probably wise. He was like the brother she had always wanted and she loved him. “He’s good.”
“Do you think he’d mind if you don’t show up this afternoon?”
“Um….” How could she answer that since Varick wasn’t actually expecting her? Catching her lower lip between her teeth, she prevaricated, “He’d probably mind.”
“Liar,” he chuckled, wrapping a large hand around her elbow. Before she knew what was happening, he jabbed a needle into her arm and drew some blood. In the next instant, he closed his eyes and squeezed out a red droplet while chanting beneath his breath. She watched in amazement as the droplet seemed to hover there for a heartbeat before disappearing.
“What was that?”
“I put your essence into an echo chamber of sorts,” he explained as a tear in the fabric appeared and he stepped into Netherspace, pulling her with him. “It will give Feryn the illusion that you’re alright.”
With a gasp, she tried to pull away from him but he was far stronger than her in the best of circumstances. In Netherspace, it was all she could do to keep from passing out. It has been weeks since she last travelled this way and it was even worse than she remembered. It was always worse than she remembered. “Jiro!”
“Hush, Malorie,” he growled, stepping back into the world and letting her go as he strolled across the small chamber. He busied himself with something while she frantically searched for an outlet for the energy surge. Without looking at her, he calmly murmured, “The plant is in the corner.”
“Thank you,” she gasped, scrabbling over to the potted soil and thrusting her hands into the dirt. A few moments later, the room was filled with the fragrant scent of night-blooming jasmine and she collapsed against the wall. Warily watching Jiro, she asked, “What is this about?”
“I want a Breeder,” he growled, keeping his back towards her. “I know I’ll never have you because my brother is inordinately fond of you even though you have thwarted me and the other Aradians at every turn.” Looking over his shoulder, he stared at her as he rumbled, “But you can make me a Breeder, Malorie, just as you made Jack into a Breeder”
“Feryn will be furious.”
“If he were thinking straight, he would have done this himself weeks ago,” Jiro countered, anger and longing twisting his features. With a smirk, he asked, “Does he even know about this new development?”
“I haven’t kept it from him.” She shrugged her shoulders because Feryn was just as against creating a Breeder as she was. It was simply too risky…. Her eyes widened as the full impact of Jiro’s words and actions slammed into her. “You’ve done it, haven’t you?”
“I’ve done many things,” he sneered, turning back to the counter. “What specifically do you think I’ve done?”
That was what was different! He was… colder than before, as if he had lost some of his warmth, his light, his goodness. In a hushed voice, she breathed, “You’ve created a vampire.”
“Vampires,” he corrected. “I’ve created vampires and, yes, I did suffer some when I lost the first two but nowhere near as bad as what I suffered before.”
Malorie stared at him in horror, “What happened to the first two?”
Heaving a sigh, he turned back to face her once more. Leaning against the counter, he crossed his arms over his broad chest and looked down at her. “Your son and your dead husband were able to return the vampires back to their human forms.”
“What did you do?” Pushing to her feet, she crossed the room and slammed her hands against his chest as rage boiled her blood. “What did you do to my son?”
“I took a little blood, Malorie,” he told her as if it wasn’t a huge deal. She wanted to rip his head off. “He w
as never in any danger and the little man’s blood supply regenerated fast enough.”
“Why… how….” She was so furious she couldn’t even put her thoughts into coherent words.
“I erased their memories,” he explained, obviously understanding her garbled question. As she stared at him, her brain trying to catch up with his words, he chuckled, “You don’t have to worry that I’ll try my experiments with their blood again. I have no use for creating humans.”
“Jesus, Jiro,” she gasped, slamming her hands against his chest one more time. “You’re an asshole.”
“I’m an Aradian,” he countered smugly. “And despite my brother’s fascination with you, you are merely a Breeder, a vessel for an Aradian’s seed.”
“Fuck you,” she sneered, surreptitiously looking around for an escape but there were no doors or windows. There was a hallway that led to another room but she had the feeling she wasn’t going to be able to escape without stepping through Netherspace and she didn’t bring a key with her.
His chuckle made her cringe but his words made her tremble with fear. “We’re a mile beneath the surface, Malorie. There is nothing but rock between you and freedom.”
“Feryn is going to kill you.”
“Feryn is never going to know,” he countered.
“You’re insane.”
“It’s the damnedest thing, really,” he said conversationally as he moved about the room. “Humans, specifically females, are inordinately attracted to your dead husband, Malorie. Even women who are marked watch him, lust after him, and if I gave a damn for any of them I might be a little hurt.”
Malorie could only stare at him as he talked about Jack. As if sensing her disbelief, he chuckled, “The same thing happened with your father, though I hadn’t noticed at the time because the girls we used were from the general stock. All of them were so eager to spread their legs… well, until the moment his seed was firmly planted in their bellies. It makes one wonder what sort of pheromones male Breeders emit, doesn’t it?
