by Ivy Barrett
“That’s not possible,” she whispered, barely able to hear beyond the rushing of blood in her ears. Her nanites surged, soaring through her bloodstream and congregating in her index finger. A transfer tube had been implanted beneath her nail. All she had to do was jab it into his chest and her nanites would incapacitate him. But the effect was temporary and a second jab would stop his heart. She didn’t dare kill him until she figured out how to get out of this room. Fane was on the way, but even with the clues she’d given him, it could take hours, even days for him to actually find her. “I found Nicho’s body. My father wouldn’t do that to me.” She tugged on his wrist and pleaded with her eyes as she angled her finger toward his chest. “You’re hurting me.”
His hand released and slid lower, slipping beneath the silky fabric of her blouse. He rested his fingertips on the upper curve of her breast, touching without actually fondling her. Cassie watched lust ignite in his gaze and tasted bile in the back of her throat. If he’d brought her here to rape her, why this trip through yesteryear?
“If I remember correctly,” he continued, “you left the opera during intermission because you had a headache. You weren’t supposed to arrive until after the body had been removed.”
This was ridiculous. What did he gain by discrediting her dead husband? Nicho had been kind and tender. He’d never given her any reason to question his loyalty.
“I don’t believe you.” She lunged to the side and darted past him, but there was nowhere to run.
Grabbing the waistband of her skirt, he jerked her back. “What was the first thing you did once you pushed through the sorrow and ventured out?” He wrapped both arms around her, trapping her arms at her sides. Shit! She had to get her hand free.
“Stop it.” She twisted and wiggled, but his hold was firm and she could feel his cock hardening against her back. A violent shudder shook her body and she went still in his embrace.
“You went to a party at the Ralton Estate,” he whispered in her ear, his tone softly mocking. “And a mysterious man caught your eye.”
Guilt swept up from the depths of her soul and Fane’s face appeared within her mind. Each detail preserved through repeated access, mysterious and captivating. How the hell did Max know about the affair?
“You tried to ignore him and still your gaze gravitated toward him again and again.” His tone changed, became caressing. “It’s not your fault, Cassie. Fane has a mystique, a sort of mutant charisma. No one can resist him.” With abrupt violence, he shoved her forward, sending her crashing onto the couch. She landed on her knees then rolled to her seat, instinctively positioning her hand. “Prim and proper Doctor Myer spread her legs on a bathroom counter!” He paced in front of the couch, assailing her with hateful words. “You let a total stranger fuck you while half of Sanctum listened and laughed. I’ve never been so humiliated.”
“You were at the party?” Her voice cracked and he paused to look at her.
“Of course you wouldn’t remember. I’ve always been invisible to you.” His gaze narrowed on her face and pain threaded through the lust. “Was he really that good?”
She drew her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs, comforted by the stinging pressure in her index finger. “Why am I here? What do you want from me?”
He clasped his hands behind his back and erased all emotion from his features. “Nicho and Fane both fucked you to get to your father. Doesn’t that bother you?”
She couldn’t let him upset her. That was obviously his intention. “Nicho is dead and Fane was a momentary distraction I’ve all but forgotten.”
“Sure you have.” His gaze focused on her mouth for a moment before he recaptured his expressionless mask. “You haven’t had a serious relationship since Fane returned to the Underground. Why is that, Cassie? Why won’t you let anyone get close to you?”
“I haven’t had a serious relationship since I found my husband murdered in our bed. My reticence has nothing to do with Fane.”
“Has he contacted you yet?”
Shock stole her breath and she quickly averted her gaze. His chuckle told her she hadn’t looked away fast enough. “Has who contacted me?”
“He’s kept tabs on you. Did you know that? He’s aware of every move you make.”
“That’s ridiculous.” She glared up at him, tired of his mind games. “I was a means to an end, nothing more.”
“You better pray that’s not true.” He returned her glare, hatred burning off his other emotions. “I won’t stoop to fucking Fane’s whore, but I’ve developed quite a taste for pain. If he doesn’t arrive within the hour, your screams will echo all the way back to Protaria.”
Chapter Two
“We don’t have time for this!” Fane snapped. Sean Wylie traveled through the shadow dimension beyond tangible space with hardly a thought. Even dragging Fane along didn’t seem to faze him. Fane, however, felt nauseous and shaky after the metaphysical trek from Protaria to Stilox. “This has to be fast and lethal. We can’t risk an all-out assault.”
“This is as close as we’ve ever come to capturing Max,” Roark objected. “I think we should make sure we don’t need another opportunity.”
Sean shook his head. “Fane’s right. A small team has a better chance of getting her out alive.”
Mal Ton crossed his arms over his chest, his expression troubled. “It’s a trap.”
“A trap?” Sean shook his head again. “What sort of trap?”
“His only hope of staking a claim on the Underground is if he takes out Fane.”
“My death would accomplish nothing,” Fane said. “My people will never follow Max.”
“Everyone knows that but Max. I say you stay here while Sean and I spring Howyn’s daughter.”
“No.”
“No?” Mal Ton arched one dark eyebrow in disbelief. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”
“Cassie is my responsibility. I’d love to have you at my back, but this is my show.”
Mal Ton shrugged his brawny shoulders, though his expression remained wary. “Have it your way, but don’t be surprised if this thing blows up in our faces.”
“I can only take one of you through at a time,” Sean reminded.
“I’ll pinpoint their location while you go back for Fane.” He silenced Fane’s objection with an upraised hand. “If he takes you first, you won’t wait for me. I know how your mind works.”
Fane smiled. He’d known Mal Ton for most of his adult life. They had few secrets from each other. “All right.”
Pausing long enough to arm themselves with a variety of weapons, the three men returned to Roark’s office for departure. Mutant powers were nothing new to the Stilox rebels, but Mal Ton preferred not to flaunt their abilities.
“I’ll be just a minute,” Sean said casually. He firmly grasped Mal Ton’s wrist while Mal Ton grabbed his. Reaching for the wall beside them, Sean pushed his fingertips into the brick. His features tensed and energy pulsed out from his hand. He swept his arm down, expanding the opening from his shoulders to his knees.
Specters were arguably the most valuable mutants. Only fifteen people had survived the particular mutation, all of them Stilox and all of them male. Sean was not the most powerful specter, but he was by far the most skilled.
Mal Ton followed Sean into the metaphysical realm with obvious reluctance. If their hold on each other slipped for even a moment Mal Ton would be trapped in shadow dimension beyond physical space.
Fane checked his weapons one last time as he waited for Sean’s return. The possibility of capturing Max held infinite appeal. Even so, Cassie was his primary concern. Cassie. Her name filled his mind with images and triggered a cascade of sensations. If his life had been his own, he would never have left her side. But he’d pledged his future to the people who depended on him for survival. Could he make her understand? If her attitude in his vision were any indication, he had a rocky road ahead of him.
The
wall bowed outward then Sean’s hand pushed through the bricks. “Ready?” He created an opening large enough for Fane to enter.
Reasserting his purpose with a stiff nod, Fane locked wrists with Sean and followed him into the shadowy void. Light dimmed and sound became a muffled buzz. Like a living ghost, Sean passed through the fabric of space, traveling directly from one point to another. Reality blurred and Fane tightened his hold on Sean’s wrist. Physical sensation numbed, so Fane reached out with his mind.
Almost there. Fane didn’t miss the amusement in Sean’s thought.
You know I hate this.
You hate anything that robs you of control.
He didn’t argue. Sean knew him almost as well as Mal Ton.
They emerged in an empty storeroom and Fane braced his hands against his knees, struggling to clear his head of the spectral fog. Mal Ton crouched near the doorway and motioned them down with an anxious gesture.
They have her locked in Roark’s old office. Max has a flair for irony.
Sean dropped to his knees then crawled closer to Mal Ton. They?
You didn’t think Max would face us alone, did you? Mal Ton looked at Fane as he added the question.
How many and what are they carrying? Fane didn’t react to the provocation.
Three Protarians and one mutant. My sensors don’t identify specific munitions.
Sean reached into the pouch at his waist and retrieved a tiny spybot. The control band strapped around his hand allowed him to trigger functions with his fingers and thumb. He activated the ‘bot and its long legs sprang free from its disk-shaped body. The legs spread wide as Sean rolled it under the door then bent with smooth agility and scurried up the wall.
The storeroom was across the hall from the laboratory. Wide transparent panels framed the main access door. Sean angled his hand so Mal Ton and Fane could see the small display resting against the palm of his hand. As soon as we leave this room, they’ll see us.
Fane nodded. They’re outfitted like Protarian militia. This shouldn’t be too difficult.
Max is in the office with Howyn’s daughter, Mal Ton pointed out. How do we keep him from teleporting out with her as soon as we make our move?
I’ll beat him to it. Sean grinned. Now that I know her exact location, I can blink in and out before he knows what hit him.
Fane bit back his objection. Cassie was his responsibility, but Sean was better suited to the rescue. He couldn’t allow his pride to compromise her safety.
Sean retrieved the spybot and moved away from the door. Mal Ton counted them down with distinct hand signals. Tension twisted through Fane, cramping his gut and speeding his pulse. He’d run headlong into danger more times than he could count, but Cassie had never been at risk before.
With a violent yank, Mal Ton jerked open the door and flew into the hall. Sean disappeared from Fane’s peripheral vision as Fane rushed out of the storeroom in Mal Ton’s wake. The Protarians turned as one and fired in a shower of bright, sharp pulses. Anticipating their reaction, Mal Ton and Fane ducked and launched themselves through the observation window. The panel shattered, no match for the combined abuse of the pulse blasts and two strong shoulders.
Fane rolled through the shards of glass and shot to his feet, blasting one guard with his pistol as he trapped another with a mental compulsion. The first guard collapsed against the wall while the second stared back at him in impotent fury. “Sleep,” Fane commanded, and the second soldier joined his comrade on the floor.
Two additional Protarians came running down the corridor, drawn by the sound of the fight. Mal Ton motioned Fane toward the office as he turned to engage the newcomers. Half expecting the office to be empty, Fane pushed the door open and froze.
Sean stood beside Cassie, and Max lay unconscious at their feet.
“How did you incapacitate him?” Fane asked Sean.
“I didn’t. She did.”
Fane glanced over his shoulder to make sure Mal Ton had control of the lab then turned his full attention on Cassie. Her hair was a tangled mess, half down around her shoulders, half secured to the back of her head. She was barefoot, but her clothing was intact and scattered bruises appeared to be her only injury.
“Are you all right?”
“I’m fine.” Her large brown eyes stared back at him with hostile interest. “How did you get here so quickly?”
“Max isn’t the only one who can teleport off-world. This is Sean Wylie.”
She glanced at Sean, her expression clearly curious. “Should I be thanking you?”
“Fane found you. I’m just the driver.” He offered her a playful wink and headed for the door. “I’ll go help Mal Ton secure our uninvited guests.”
Her gaze turned thoughtful and she looked out into the lab. “That’s Mal Ton Adoha? My father would kill to get his hands on that man.”
“A fact Mal Ton knows well.” Fane smiled and knelt beside Max. Even after scanning him, Fane was unable to determine the cause of his unconsciousness. “What did you do to him?”
“I chopped him in the veratinian nerve cluster as hard as I could and he went down.” She motioned toward the side of Max’s neck. “He’s been pretty out of it since he regained consciousness. I got lucky.”
If anyone could locate a nerve cluster it was Cassie. Still, it was hard to believe she hit Max hard enough to drop him. Fane had no reason to doubt her claim, but something about it rang false. He cupped her chin and turned her face so he could assess the damage to her cheek. “Did he hit you?”
“He must have known your friend could teleport. He expected you far earlier than I did.” She stepped back, easing away from his touch. “I’d like to call my father now.”
“You didn’t answer my question. How did you get the bruises?”
Their gazes locked and she crossed her arms over her chest. “I know it’s wisest not to resist an armed kidnapper, but surrender is not in my nature.”
“Then he didn’t—”
“He didn’t rape me. He said he wouldn’t stoop to fucking your whore.”
Heaving a sigh, he tucked his gun in the back of his pants. “I’m sorry.”
“You’re sorry about using me three years ago, or you’re sorry Max used me as bait to draw you out of hiding?” Challenge snapped in each syllable. “For some reason he thought if he threatened me, you’d come running. Do you have any idea what brought him to that conclusion?”
Her bitterness was understandable, expected even. Unfortunately, the situation was too complicated for a pithy answer. “I need to secure Max then we’ll talk.”
“You’re bleeding.” She motioned toward the tear in his shirt and the long slash in the flesh beneath.
He glanced at the wound and shook his head. “I didn’t even feel it until now.”
“Adrenaline,” she suggested, her gaze moving over his face.
“As soon as we arrange transportation for Max and his men, I’ll take you back to Stilox headquarters.”
“Let me com my father. He’ll do the rest.”
He made a noncommittal sound and returned his attention to his unconscious enemy.
* * *
Cassie stayed out of the rebels’ way as they secured Max and his men. Sean found a blanket to wrap around her shoulders, but she wasn’t really cold, just rattled. Of the three rebels, Sean was the most likable. He smiled often and even flirted with her from time to time.
Mal Ton was all business. He bound the guards and carried them to the waiting transport as if they were children, not heavily armored men. Everything her father had said about the Stilox warrior replayed within her mind. He was ruthless and fanatical about Stilox independence. So what had he gained by rescuing her?
Despite Sean’s blond appeal and Mal Ton’s brooding handsomeness, her gaze drifted to Fane with predictable regularity. Did he possess some form of mutant magnetism like Max claimed? It wasn’t hard to imagine. She’d been uncharacteristically drawn to
Fane from the first moment they met.
The years had changed him, hardened and refined his features. His cheekbones slashed now and the brackets framing his mouth were etched into his cheeks. The wariness in his pale green eyes hadn’t been there before. He stood beside Mal Ton, speaking in hushed tones.
She ran her thumb over the tip of the transfer tube barely protruding from beneath her fingernail. She’d launched the first round into Max. The second round would be lethal. She didn’t feel threatened, exactly, just anxious. Still, she’d been patient long enough.
Drawing the blanket around her shoulders, she approached Mal Ton and Fane. “I’d like to contact my father now.”
“Long-range communications have been moved to the new outpost,” Mal Ton told her. His features were expressionless, his tone calm. She had no idea if he was lying or not.
“We need to blindfold you.” Fane sounded regretful yet a sharper emotion lit his expressive eyes. “For obvious reasons this is all a little awkward.”
“My father already knows about the fourth dome.” Fane smiled and her stomach fluttered with unwanted awareness. She was unnerved by the sensation. There was no way she was still attracted to him.
“Let us keep a few of our secrets,” Fane said. “At least let us try.”
His silky tone did little to soothe her. He moved toward her and she stiffened, refusing to retreat yet growing more uncomfortable with each passing moment. Mal Ton circled behind her, his steps soundless despite his size.
“There’s no reason to be frightened.” Fane placed his hands on her shoulders and she stepped back, right into Mal Ton’s arms. “Relax. We won’t hurt you.”
“Then why are you…? What are you…?”
Cassie kicked and twisted, all her efforts useless within the circle of Mal Ton’s strong embrace. Fane held a small canister beneath her nose and expelled a cloud of mist. Each of her frantic breaths drew the chemical deeper into her lungs. Her nanites released adrenaline in an attempt to counteract the sedation, but Fane released a second puff of mist. Warmth pervaded her body, muting her emotions and bleeding the strength from her muscles. Her legs gave out beneath her and darkness drove reality away.
