Assassin's Mate: A Xeno Sapiens Novel (Genetically Altered Humans Book 9)

by Rena Marks

  He had a mate.

  “And why would I annul it?” Zealish drawled. “In fact, the plan’s changed. I’m not waiting a few weeks to retrieve my mate.”

  Robyn looked wary. “She doesn’t really know you…”

  “Doesn’t she?”

  “She saw you in your other form…”

  Then she should be quite all right with this form. While he was ugly, he certainly wasn’t smelly and beastly. “And yet she agreed to be mated to me.”

  “In name only.”

  He shrugged. “Be careful what you wish for.”

  “I’m sure she can extricate herself from Crested Ute on her own.” Robyn crossed her arms, narrowing her eyes at him. Her bravado was false, because hell if they didn’t owe him.

  To everyone’s surprise, Kaden shook his head vehemently. Back and forth, over and over. Trying to communicate when one had no words was a hell Zee understood from his fresh trauma.

  “What do you know, little one?” Zee asked, holding out his hand. While the baby was too young for language communication, he was still one of them and had telepathic abilities.

  The small, silver-skinned baby clutched his finger and then held out his other hand…to Thane’s human. Like Zee had, Everly held out a finger, which the baby clutched.

  Images filled his mind.

  His mate—in chains. Cold and blue, sluggish with the extreme chill in the room. Unable to get free because she was drugged. Time had passed since he’d seen her, because she looked different. A bit more like Everly than she had while in his den. Her hair a bit lighter, her skin a bit darker. But she smelled the same—the mate he remembered. The taint of chemicals flooded her system, but it was her.

  As the image swirled, a sense of calm filled him. He realized what the infant was trying to convey. Not to panic, because the moment wasn’t here yet. It was coming—but she was still healthy as of right now.

  Zee opened his eyes also, the connection broken.

  “It hasn’t come to pass yet,” he said. “Kaden can see ahead. But that scene is coming.”

  “What’s going on?” Robyn asked, unaware of her son’s vision.

  “Angela can’t escape,” Everly said. “She’s chained and drugged. And cold. So very cold. It keeps her sluggish. Unable to think. Unable to move.”

  Zee turned his head to stare at Robyn. “I need to be cleared from medical so I can retrieve my mate. Because, Robyn, I have no intention of annulling it.”

  Best to make that clear right now.

  Chapter Four

  Angela:

  “G ood morning, Everly. I hope you don’t mind the chains and the extreme temperature. We’re keeping it colder in here to make it a bit more difficult for you to use any mental pushes in our direction.”

  Angela lifted a groggy head, but it flopped back down to her chest. Her naked chest. Why was she naked? Why were they calling her Everly?

  Everly was dead.

  Wasn’t she?

  Her memories hit with a vengeance. No, she’d found Everly. Everly was safe within the walls of Xenia. She, Angela, was pretending to be her twin sister.

  “I don’t have…”

  “Of course, you don’t,” the voice said, softly mocking. Angela forced her head up enough to see the woman watching a video playing across the bare wall.

  The scene where Everly had killed their father.

  He’d had cameras in his laboratory. How had they never known? They’d been so stupid, so naïve.

  On screen, Angela lay unconscious, filled with drugs while Everly magically made things move with her mind. Her sister’s power was incredible; objects as large as metal tables floated easily in the air.

  But the reason why Crested Ute was enthralled with them became obvious. Their father lay on the ground, slaughtered, his reproductive organs destroyed. Subconsciously, Everly didn’t want him to create any more “special” children. They were it. And Crested Ute was going to utilize them as much as they could.

  And now, Crested Ute was going to use every “trigger” imaginable to get Everly to expend those psychic powers again. This time, they knew the trigger. Attack what Everly loved.

  Angela.

  “Any word on the sister’s location?” The voice in the background was deep and smooth. Lulling. But Angela fought with herself to stay awake. To listen.

  “The last image captured from a drone showed that she was heading toward Xenia to find her sister.”

  “So she should be trying to blend among the homeless camps about now. Find her and bring her here. If Everly wants to save Angela again, we’ll have to recreate the scene. Except this time, we’ve got you drugged and sluggish, my little telekinetic doll. But it was a smart move, pretending to be Angela while you snuck out of the city. You must have discovered she wasn’t dead? But you forgot that we know Angela’s the ugly twin.” He laughed.

  Her eyes popped open. The round face that peered down at her was white, his eyelids so pink he looked slightly piggish.

  “Go to sleep, Everly.” He smiled. “We’ll find Angela and bring her to you. You haven’t seen her since that scar of the video was healed, have you? You’ll see what I mean by ugly.” He shuddered. “And once we have you both together? We’ll see which one lives.”

  Shit. Her plan had backfired. They wanted them both. She’d assumed they wanted Everly and once they got her—even if it was Angela pretending to be her—they’d lose interest. But that was never their plan.

  The only good news is they thought she was Everly. Perhaps security here would be more lax since Everly had never trained to fight…or to kill.

  If she could just wiggle the tube from her arm long enough to get the drugs from her system. But no, she was bound tight.

  He pushed a button on the monitor and more drugs flooded her veins.

  * * * * *

  “Since Kaden was able to help the two of you see the future, we’ll need you to collaborate and remember as many details as you can about the location where she’s being kept,” Robyn said.

  “There was nothing,” Zee said, glancing at Everly. She didn’t seem to be too thrilled over his announcement that he wasn’t annulling his mateship with her sister.

  “I could only see she was chained and drugged. The inside of the room, which was set up with lights. Kind of like my father’s old-fashioned surgical suite with bright lights. All white and light blue. There were no clues as to where the location was,” Everly said, glaring at him.

  “Like I said,” Zee said.

  Everly narrowed her eyes at him. She carried a chip on her shoulder—perhaps breaking her mate’s leg wasn’t as forgivable for humans.

  “Well, we’re going to work together to figure this out,” Robyn snapped. “I’m going to get Kaden. We’ll see if he can re-create another vision for you two. In the meantime, I’d suggest you talk.” She stormed out of the conference room.

  “I know you’re upset with me,” Zee said. “But Thane healed well.”

  Everly raised her brows. “You think that’s why I’m upset?”

  “Isn’t it?”

  “No,” she said. “Thane is healed from the incident. He forgives you, therefore I do. I’m upset because you think you can force my sister to be your mate like you tried to force me to be your mate by simply getting rid of Thane. I could forgive that. You were out of your mind. But now? This is your correct frame of mind…and you’re no different. You think you can force Angela to be your mate.”

  He leaned in toward her. “Nothing could be further from the truth. I know your sister’s scent inside and out. She was my life, every minute of the day, for three weeks. Everly, I’m the best person for the job. I could pick up her trail despite the chemicals flooding her system. If you and she were in the same room, I could differentiate between you blindfolded. She is my mate.”

  “Yet you were confused three weeks ago as to who was who.”

  “I wasn’t in my right mind three weeks ago. I ran on instincts and nothing else. Now I ha
ve all of my senses at my disposal. As far as I can tell, you have two choices. Demand that I step down and risk your sister’s death. Or allow me to retrieve my mate.”

  She leaned in, as ferocious as any Xeno Sapien he’d seen. “I can demand you step down and let trusted others retrieve my sister. And then when she returns? She’ll tell you to hand over the annulment.”

  He glared at her. She glared at him. And then Robyn walked in with Kaden in her arms.

  “You’ve gotten nowhere, I see. I hope for Angela’s sake that Kaden can.”

  She handed her son to Zee, who settled into his lap with ease. He cuddled against him, but made no move to grasp his fingers which usually signaled a vision.

  “Here, sweetie,” Everly said. “Want my finger again?”

  Kaden gurgled, taking her finger. But that was it. He squeezed her finger like a normal baby, not as an advanced hybrid being with alien DNA.

  “Let’s just play a while then, won’t we?” Zee said, bouncing Kaden. Kaden giggled, dropping Everly’s hand.

  “Let’s try again,” Everly said, holding her finger out to Kaden. He grasped it, so Zee held his out for Kaden’s other hand.

  A vision slammed into him, a tall, mirrored-glass building in the center of Earth-Ground. The building they saw on newsfeeds that promoted the airport.

  He opened his eyes to see Everly and Robyn staring at him. “Did you see it?” he asked Everly, unsure of the building’s name.

  “N-no. I didn’t get anything.”

  “You didn’t get a vision?” Robyn asked.

  “No.”

  Robyn turned to Zee. “What did you see?”

  “A building. Tall, a skyscraper. We see it frequently on the news feeds. The one that leads to the airport.”

  “Zealish, there are tons of buildings with that description,” Robyn said.

  “But I’d know it if I saw it. She was there.”

  “They wouldn’t keep her in the middle of Earth-Ground, not so close to the airport. Radio waves are interfered with, which would disrupt their medical equipment. They would want somewhere remote and deserted. Maybe on a bad side of Earth-Ground, where they could disappear and no one would talk.”

  “I’m telling you what I saw. Maybe Kaden means if I can get there, I can scent her trail. Find a clue.”

  “It’s not much to go on. Let me get Jason and Steele on the assembly of the team.” Robyn picked up Kaden as she left.

  “I’ll make you a deal,” Everly said softly.

  He turned his gaze to her.

  “Bring my sister back safely and you can have her.”

  He intended to have her no matter what, but it was easier to work with Everly than against her. Besides which, a tiny part of him worried that Angela may not be receptive to remaining his mate should she return. The last thing he wanted was his mate living away from him—and with Thane and Everly.

  “Have her?” he asked.

  She nodded. “If she’s uninjured. If she’s returned unharmed, I’ll even encourage her to give you a chance.”

  A chance was all he needed.

  “You won’t hold my…looks against me?” He had to know.

  “Your looks?” Her eyebrows knotted. “No. I’m wary of the violence barely contained within you. Within your other form. But in this case, it may serve my sister.”

  “I’ll tear up anyone who’s touched her,” he snarled.

  Everly leaned in. “If she’s harmed, the deal’s off.”

  “If she’s harmed, I’ll kill everyone in sight.”

  Chapter Five

  A ccording to Robyn’s blueprints of the city, the mysterious tall skyscraper had a name. The Thespian Project. It had various floors and offices rented to so many people, it seemed like a dead end.

  But it was all they had to go on.

  “We can’t raise suspicions,” Robyn said. “I’ll rent it out and let it slip that a few Xeno Sapiens are having a conference in the city. Backdate the paperwork to show it was in the works for a while.”

  “That’s not lying low,” Steele said.

  “There’s no point in trying to be undercover with our bunch,” Robyn said, smiling easily. “We stick out like sore thumbs. Best to allow them to become distracted with trying to get glimpses of us, like we meant to be there.”

  “Ahh, subterfuge,” Jason said. “I love it.”

  “We’ll only take a handful of Xeno Sapiens, of course,” Robyn said. “And they’ll be hooded.”

  “Hooded?” Several of the Xeno Sapiens looked insulted, but Zealish was relieved. The last thing he’d want was to have his ugly mug plastered on the live feeds and possibly have Angela know that was what was coming for her. If she was able to watch the feeds, of course. She’d run screaming before he even had a chance.

  “Yes, hooded,” Robyn said firmly. “Because we have an arrangement with the government to keep them updated on the exact number of Xenia citizens on the outside at all times. And if someone gets accused of a crime on the outside, we want to be able to prove that it couldn’t have been that person.” She looked straight at Zee. “Because he was safe and sound within the walls with hundreds of witnesses.”

  Jason laughed. “They’re our own witnesses.”

  “Well, of course,” Robyn said. “But that’s not our problem. Who else lives within the walls but us?”

  “What about Angela voluntarily leaving Xenia?” Renegade asked. “How will we get her back in should we find her there?”

  Robyn strummed her fingers against the clear glass of the conference table. It was a hologram table—set up to feel like the real thing. It also enabled Robyn to have access to computer files she may need, such as blueprints or maps. The drawback to a hologram was the ability to see through the table. That meant he had to hide his impatience, otherwise known as his tapping feet.

  “We’ll have to come up with a reason why she left. And we can’t have her return immediately—unless she needs medical care, of course. It would look too suspicious if she returns right when Everly does. Zee, I want you to remain hidden with her on the outside.”

  “How do we account for getting all hooded figures back inside Xenia if one stays out?”

  Pax replied. “We have a set of twin Xeno Sapiens with camouflage capabilities. We include Jett and Brax on the conference team, have them both affix their signatures to the logs, but have one stay back here with their mate and have Zee replace the other.”

  “And how do we account for another person entering Xenia if Zee stays behind?”

  “Make sure Jett is outside the gates when we return, camouflaged, of course. We’ll hand him an extra hood and he’ll slide in with us.”

  “And to get Zee back in?”

  Thane cleared his throat. “Angela can come to the front gates like she’s returning. She has access as Zee’s mate. I’ll volunteer for patrol and bring him up the wall the same way Everly and I used to clear it.”

  “I did not just hear that,” Robyn said.

  “It could work,” Steele said.

  “I suppose. Timing is everything. I received the subpoena to request Everly’s presence for her testimony. As many of you remember, we thought Crested Ute would use the angle that favoritism was used for her to be released from prison so early. They’re saying the rehabilitation program was created for her. It looks especially suspicious since she is now a citizen of Xenia. It’ll be easy enough to refute—she and I had never met previously. She had never met any Xeno Sapien and has only become mated and therefore a citizen since her freedom was obtained. But their actual goal is to get her out of the protection of the city. She’ll have heavy guard, of course. I have several dates I could choose from. We need to pick the date closest to when our team is ready for Angela’s extraction. Angela’s kidnappers will assume that Angela is pretending to be Everly since they believe they already have Everly. They’ll be distracted—maybe even send a team to watch the court hearing, which means less watchful eyes over the real Angela. It’ll be the perf
ect opportunity to strike—when their resources are between two places.”

  “If you can schedule us a two-day conference, we can visit the conference the first day. Zee can sniff around for Angela. The second day of the conference, you can schedule Everly’s court date. Hopefully, Zee will have found Angela by the second day, while the rest of Crested Ute are busy with Everly’s court hearing.”

  “That’s the best we can do,” Robyn acknowledged. “Thane, I’ll have you on Everly’s patrol, along with Team B from security. Any questions?”

  “Yeah,” Renegade said. “What cool gadgets do you have for us?”

  Steele smiled. “I thought you’d never ask.” He pulled a tiny foam piece from his bag. “This little button is a volume magnifier. Place it in your left ear. Anything that you focus on with your left eye can be increased in volume by pressing on the button. Works great in crowded rooms, because you can zero in on one conversation. The only downside is having to be careful you’re not caught staring at someone.”

  “Too bad we don’t have Rivet here. He can focus his eyes randomly.” A couple of people snickered.

  “The hoods should mask our focused staring,” Robyn said. “No one will notice.” She nodded at her mate. “Go on.”

  “This little bit will knock out all cameras within a mile radius. Use it sparingly, because it won’t take long for computers to unscramble the frequencies. You have no more than ten minutes. Then we have common trackers, and a time freezer.”

  “What’s that?”

  Pax grinned. “That signifies something cool that we couldn’t really name. It doesn’t actually freeze time, of course. It basically throws someone into a frozen unconsciousness, but the brain is amazing and tries to compensate, hence the term, freezing time. The time frame is brief, maybe fifteen, twenty seconds. Try to use it when they’re still so they don’t notice the span. For example, if someone is sitting in a hot tub and you toss it at them, they may slide underwater. In fifteen seconds when they wake submerged, their brains will notice something happened that they missed. However, if they’re sitting in a chair watching live feeds and not moving, when their brain becomes conscious in fifteen seconds, they’ll think the feeds had a bump that cut some footage instead of thinking they lost time. We have the power punch rolled into this small marble that explodes upon impact, the gases merging and knocking out the consciousness of the brain immediately. If you’re within a foot of the person, make sure you hold your breath so as not to be affected.” He held up the round object.