Unclaimed (The Complex Book 0)

by Candice Gilmer

  Mori found it hilarious.

  Luke Cadell had turned in to Ula’s pet programming project. As much as Luke grumbled about it, he felt a little bit better every time she left.

  An officer--a high-ranking officer, to be precise--from Climintra spoke to them both, asking specific details about the assassination. He even brought a series of images for Morrigan to look at, to see if any of them were the victim.

  Unfortunately, none of them were her.

  Mori wouldn’t forget the woman’s face, even if it had been a vision. She could still make her out behind her eyes. Part of her just needed to know that the woman was all right.

  She’d been paying attention to the news, and no reports had come in of any unexplained deaths in the Complex. Minor skirmishes, a few cultural issues in different quadrants, but no deaths.

  It was mostly peaceful.

  “Mori,” Cadell said.

  She glanced at him. “Luke.”

  He took a step toward her. He looked tired. She imagined she did too. The last few days, the connection they had kept weakening.

  Their bond was disappearing. Sure, they’d come together, and lived out the moment of her visions, but that didn’t mean that he was her true love or anything so dramatic.

  He was Cadell.

  She was Mori.

  What else was there?

  But did anything else matter?

  “Mori.” He took a step toward her and took her hand. “Can’t you see anything?”

  She shook her head.

  “Can you tell what I’m thinking?” he asked.

  She shook her head again. “Not at the moment.”

  A bit of a smile turned up on one side of his face. “Good.”

  “Why?”

  “How can I surprise you with a marriage proposal if you can hear my thoughts?”

  She blinked. “But… Why would you-- “

  “Stop worrying,” Cadell said. “Marry me.”

  “I--”

  “I never cared about anyone or anything as much as I care for you,” Luke said. “I don’t care if we’re bonded. I don’t care if your Meta and I’m Human. We’ll figure it out.”

  “But, what if, I’m not--”

  “You’re Mori. That’s all that matters.

  She smiled and he pulled her into his arms. They embraced and came together, kissing each other with the same passion and desire they’d felt before.

  Without the intensity of someone trying to kill her underneath.

  And it was beautiful.

  A woman and a man walked into the room, both in doctor-type clothing, looking very official.

  And they would have seemed no different than any other doctors walking the halls, but the man wore a patch over his eye.

  Morrigan took a step back.

  Cadell’s posture stiffened, and she noticed that he blinked three times, which would have clicked on his HUD.

  Morrigan put her hand on his arm. “No,” she whispered.

  Cadell glanced at her, and then back at the doctors.

  Morrigan met the gaze of the woman, and then the man. She had no reason to ask, she knew who they were, and why they were there.

  “I see you have blossomed, Morrigan,” the man--though Odin, even in Human form rarely looked like a simple man--said.

  She bowed. “Yes, Allfather.” Her hands trembled as she spoke, for the last time she’d been in the presence of Odin, he’d banished her from Valhalla.

  “Among the Humankind, there are many challenges. You have handled yourself honorably.”

  “I have done what I must to survive, Allfather.”

  “As required of anyone touching this plane.”

  Morrigan waited. Why were they here? Had they been watching? Waiting for her to fail?

  “Your choices,” Odin said, glancing at Cadell, and then back, “were the best you could do, as limited as you were.”

  “Hey, she wasn’t that limited.”

  Odin glanced at Cadell like a bug that needed to be squashed. “You know nothing, Human.”

  Cadell took a step forward. “I know that I will fight for her and defend her until I die.”

  Brynhildr, the leader of the Valkyrie, snorted.

  Morrigan touched Cadell’s arm. “His position has nothing to do with your appearance. Why are you here? Didn’t you destroy me enough for one existence?”

  “It is time for you to come home,” Odin said.

  “But I was banished.

  Odin waved his arm. “Everyone gets banished. Even Brynhildr did once, did you not?”

  “Yes, Allfather.”

  “You had your banishment. Learned your lesson--“

  “What lesson is that?” Mori asked.

  “That you follow orders.” Odin blinked at her, like she’d gone mad.

  But she had.

  Mad with frustration at Odin and his assumptions. “Even if the dying soldier still has a life?”

  “There is a reason, Morrigan, that I choose the warriors I choose, when I select them. You cannot understand the minutia of my choices.”

  “Or your whims,” Morrigan said.

  “Mayhap I am wrong. Perhaps you are not ready to return to Valhalla.” Odin’s voice got louder as he spoke, and the air in the room began to quake.

  Cadell put his hand on her back. His emotions washed over her.

  “Do not go.”

  “Stay here. With me.”

  A voice from the doorway stopped all the conversations at once.

  “Hi all!” A woman, dressed in maintenance clothing, came in the room, humming a tune. She glanced at everyone and stopped. “You don’t seem to have a leaky pipe, do you?” She glanced at the doorway, then back inside. ”Oh, I’m in the wrong room,” she said.

  Morrigan looked her up and down, their gazes met. “You’re not a bother,” Morrigan said.

  The woman smiled. “Sorry to interrupt your, uh, thing here. Bye now.” The woman went back to her humming and darted back in the hallway.

  She felt the nudge of Cadell in her mind. “Who was that?”

  Morrigan smiled and glanced at him. “The ambassador.”

  Cadell raised his eyebrow.

  Odin bellowed after the woman--the ambassador, the woman from Morrigan’s vision that Dumol had planned to kill.

  She was alive and just fine.

  “Be off with you,” Odin bellowed, then turned his one eye to Morrigan. “We have to discuss this.”

  “I don’t think we do,” Morrigan said, a strange sense of calm washing over her. Seeing the woman, knowing that she was okay, and that all of this really had mattered, more than even Odin realized, filled her with a sense of calm that she’d not experienced since she’d been banished.

  “And now you know the will of Fate?” Odin boomed.

  Morrigan shook her head. “I wanted nothing more from the day I was banished from Valhalla than to return. To come home. To repent my failings and return to your haven. To be once again in your great presence.”

  “You have a funny way of showing it,” Odin said.”

  “Because that was all I knew, it was all I wanted.” Morrigan took Cadell’s hand. “I know more now. And your choices are not always right. You cannot have all the warriors. Some are supposed to live beyond the wars.”

  “You cannot see the bigger picture,” Odin snapped.

  “Not like you, no. But I can see. I can finally see that sometimes we have to feel horrors in order to see the light.”

  “And what light have you seen, Morrigan?”

  She squeezed Cadell’s hand. “That I belong here, among the Humans, with Luke Cadell. That even one person can turn a war. Can change their fate.”

  “The Butcher that you created because you had a whim,” Odin said. He glanced at Brynhildr. “She has learned nothing.”

  Brynhildr held up her hand. “Wait, Allfather.”

  “I would not say that,” Mori said. “I have learned that there is more than what you show your Valkyrie. And Fate do
es not care what you think about a series of events. Fate will determine her own path.”

  “My fate is mine,” Cadell said. “She didn’t create me or make me. All she did was not claim me. I’ve been claimed by some faction or another for the last decade. I prefer to be unclaimed, thanks.”

  “She made you.”

  Cadell glanced at Morrigan, then back at Odin. “She merely let me live. I made my choices. I live with those. What I did was not her fault.”

  “Do you truly think this war between Metas and Humans is over?”

  Cadell shook his head. “It’s not. And it may never be. But I want to make my own decision about where I stand.”

  “And so do I,” Morrigan added.

  “Where do you stand?” Odin asked. “With me, in Valhalla?”

  “With Luke,” Morrigan said. “I stand with him, among the Humans. My choices may not make sense to you, but they are mine. Not yours. Let me fall down. I will rise again.”

  Odin glared at her.

  Then turned to Brynhildr. “Leave her.”

  The woman nodded, and waved her arm. “I am sorry, Morrigan.” As soon as she finished the gesture, Morrigan felt the last bit of her powers draining. Worse than before, because she started to fall, and felt so incredibly weak.

  Cadell caught her. “Mori.”

  Odin turned and walked out, followed by Brynhildr. While Odin didn’t look very pleased, Brynhildr at least looked remorseful.

  “Mori, are you okay?”

  She nodded. “I will be.”

  “What did he do to you?”

  “He took my powers. All of them this time. Including my ability to see the future.

  Cadell spat a curse, and stroked her head. “Are you going to be okay?”

  She nodded. “I guess you’re stuck with me,” Mori said.

  “I think I can handle it.”

  She smiled. “I can too.”

  He stared at her for a moment. Didn’t say anything. Kept staring.

  “What are you doing?” she asked.

  “Wanting to see if you can still hear my thoughts.”

  She shook her head. “No, I can’t.”

  He nodded. “You didn’t answer my question.”

  “What question?”

  “Marry me.”

  “That sounded like an order.”

  He smiled. “Maybe. But one I hope you’ll follow.”

  “Yes.”

  He grinned.

  End

  Thank you so much for taking the time to read my novella from THE COMPLEX!

  All reviews are appreciated.

  If you would like to read more from THE COMPLEX series, please click on the link below:

  The Complex Website

  About Candice Gilmer:

  USA Today and NY Times bestselling author Candice Gilmer leads a dangerous double life as a mommy and a writer. In between boo-boo healing and fixing broken toys, she writes stories usually to the tune of children's television shows.

  Her books range from vampires and werewolves to mermaids and fairies to contemporary and fairy tale romances--a huge variety, just like her broad, geek-girl heart. She adores Star Wars, Star Trek, Marvel, and DC, (you CAN love them all), and her hero will always be Captain America.

  Growing up in the Midwest, Candice stays close to her family, especially the ones with basements when the tornadoes come around.

  All in all, she stays very busy, but really, she wouldn't have it any other way.

  Well, maybe a little less children's television.

  Other Books by Candice Gilmer:

  Paranormal Romances

  (All series are set in the same world, with some crossover between series)

  Guys and Godmothers

  Under His Nose (Guys and Godmothers #1) – This Fairy Godmother has her work cut out for her.

  Before His Eyes (Guys and Godmothers #2) – Can her magic save his bad decision and bring him his Happily Ever After?

  Just His Taste (Guys and Godmothers #3) – Magic be damned, she was making this Happily Ever After work, because he deserves it.

  The Mythicals

  Saving Her Destiny (The Mythicals #1) Sometimes the future comes knocking. Sometimes it knocks you into next week.

  Guarding Her Secret (The Mythicals #2) -- Sometimes, to protect the monster, the rules have to be broken.

  Finding Her Place (The Mythicals #3) A princess’s place isn’t always on the throne.

  The Mythical Knights

  Brightest Shadow (Mythical Knights #1) The darkest shadows sometimes have the brightest moments.

  Dark Within (Mythical Knights #2) There are monsters, then there are monsters. Which kind wants her dead?

  Not a Gentleman’s Christmas (Mythical Knights Holiday Story) She thought a gentleman would save her. He’s no gentleman.

  Bravest Flame (Mythical Knights #3) All it takes is a spark...

  Darker Cravings (Mythical Knights #4) She wanted it hot. But is two too hot to handle?

  Darkest Judgment (Mythical Knights #5) In the heat of the moment, a Templar’s judgment is his last hope.

  ~*~

  Fairy Tale Romances

  The Charming Fairy Tales

  Out of the Tower (The Charming Fairy Tales #1) He thought he was rescuing her from the tower, but truly, his heart was the one in danger.

  Slipping Away (The Charming Fairy Tales #2) He didn’t want any responsibility or commitment. His heart had other ideas.

  Ending The Curse (The Charming Fairy Tales #3) Honoring promises was what a nobleman did, even when his heart tells him different.

  ~*~

  Contemporary Romances

  Barrum, Kansas Books

  CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE NOVELLAS SET IN THE SAME TOWN

  Fantasy Girl – His fantasies will kill her.

  The Reluctant Prince -- Duty comes with a price--his heart.

  Mission of Christmas – This year, he was going to give her what she really needed--a real Christmas.

  His Velvet Touch -- He was going to use her, but he didn’t expect to need her.

  Celestial Springs Salon Trilogy

  Set in Barrum, Ks

  Summer Burns (Celestial Springs Salon #1) – He was only supposed to check on her. Not fall for her.

  Autumn Falls (Celestial Springs Salon #2) -- The last thing she wants may be exactly what she needs.

  Winter Chills (Celestial Springs Salon #3) -- Letting go has never been so hard. Or so incredible.

  For excerpts and the latest information, check out

  www.candicegilmer.com