More Than Life (Arcane Crossbreeds)

by Vyne, Amanda

  His big body was tense, and she gripped the back of his shirt in her fists. “If it hadn’t been for you, the past twenty years would have been hell instead of just the past couple months.”

  He let his breath out in one gust, ruffling her hair, and his body relaxed. “Fuck, I love you, kitten.”

  The room went silent, and Katya buried her face in Raife’s chest, his heartbeat fast under her cheek. “I just said that out loud, didn’t I?”

  She nodded against him, squeezing him tighter. He lifted his head and cast a chagrined look at Kel.

  “Don’t look at me, dumb-ass. I wasn’t the one that just blurted my feelings to the room at large.” Kel laughed next to them.

  “Stuff it, Sheridan,” he said to Kel as he pulled slightly away from Katya and looked into her face. His golden eyes were bright, and she thought there was a slight pink tinge to his cheeks. “I’ll do it again if that’s what it takes.”

  “I believe you.” Katya reached up and pulled him down for a kiss.

  Kel rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. “Now that we got that taken care of…can we get back to the stuff that pays the rent?” She shook her head and turned back to the table. “All the people in those files are crossbreeds. That they were experimenting on you doesn’t make sense. We need to access the GenTest files and find out what was so special about you. No offense.”

  Katya caught Raife’s gaze. He’d shared his blood with her when he’d rescued her as a child, but that couldn’t be the reason. Dr. Mahoney insisted species couldn’t be changed after birth. That meant one or both of her parents had to be of mixed descent. Her mother was from the Bay House, and her Uncle Canton said her father was from the Great Lakes House. Somebody was lying to her.

  “That shouldn’t be a problem if you wrote the software for GenTest.” Tag’s voice was flat.

  Katya exhaled the breath she hadn’t realized she was still holding and nodded. “As long as the software’s still mine. I always leave a back door. I can gain access to whatever they have stored on their network servers.”

  “Funny thing about programmers,” Tag said drily, carefully watching her, “each one has a unique way of writing code. The security software at GenTest was written by the same programmer who wrote the security software at the research facility in Death Valley. Why do you think that is?”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  “Just what the hell are you trying to say, Jennings?”

  Raife pushed Katya behind him as he andTag launched toward each other. The two large Drachon faced off, the barely leashed power drifting from them like smoke, tainting the room. Gideon slowly came to his feet. Distantly, she felt Kel put a hand on her shoulder as she took in the distrust and disgust in Tag’s expression, distorting the face of someone she’d thought was a friend.

  But then what the hell did she know about people? Obviously someone she loved and trusted betrayed her.

  “What the hell else should I believe? That you just happened to be taken where she was being held? How convenient. She’s a freaking computer genius that was led right into Incog. The Triumvirate would love to get their hands on Doc and her research. Your mate could be a damn Trojan horse for all I know. Hell, and I just led her right to my security system.”

  A dangerous rumble vibrated in Raife’s chest, and his pupils elongated.

  “My mate almost died more than once. She’s the reason we’ve even gotten as far as we have on this.” Raife’s chest expanded; his lips curled in fury.

  She should be able to feel it—his fury—but she felt suspended, separated. Numb.

  “How do you even fucking know that for sure?” Tag’s face looked so…so grief stricken and furious. “Fuck, it could just be them making you think she was so she’d be welcome here.”

  She frowned as she stared at him. The two men leaned in closer.

  “You don’t want to go there”—Raife lowered his voice—“because Katya is my mate. You don’t want to make me prove it.” His fists clenched.

  Had she put everyone in jeopardy? Had she inadvertently created a weakness here? How had those Guardians known to strike at Defoe? Especially then, when they were getting ready to pay him a visit. If the Triumvirate had known about the information Defoe had, why had they waited until that day to try to retrieve it?

  Was she a Trojan horse planted by the Triumvirate?

  Her hands started to shake, and dread solidified low in her belly as realization dawned.

  A Trojan horse.

  “Oh my God, he’s right.”

  Before the others could react, she moved forward and grabbed Tag by the arm. Raife’s cursing was cut off as she shimmered with Tag to the computer lab.

  Tag wrenched his arm from her hand and looked around. “What the hell are you up to now? If you think—”

  “Did you attach those blades to a network host?”

  Tag’s mouth snapped shut. He frowned at her and glanced over at the static-controlled room. Through the clear glass, she could see the server blades Gideon had recovered from the research facility laid out on a table, one of which was connected to the computer.

  Katya pushed her hair back from her forehead as her mind quickly moved the pieces into line. Someone had been a step ahead of them with Defoe. If Tag recognized her security software from his attempted hack on the research facility, there was a good chance the server blades were hers as well. If they were…

  “I think the entire network might have been compromised.”

  “Fuck.” Tag pushed to the door and laid his hand on the biometric scanner. The glass door opened with a hiss, and they moved swiftly inside.

  Tag dropped his large frame into the worn office chair and rolled himself up to the computer, his giant hands moving with surprising speed over the keys. “I don’t know what you’re thinking to gain, but these blades were wiped clean, most likely when they were disconnected. I’m sure you already fucking know that.”

  Ignoring him, Katya picked up one of the server blades and inspected it. She hadn’t had an opportunity to look at them before. They looked much the same as the hundreds of other blades she’d seen in the years since she started working with them: several rows of memory modules, the controller array that housed the hard disks, processors, and a multitude of wiring. Carefully turning it over in her hands she swallowed hard as she felt along the curved rim of the underside of the metal housing. She could just feel the dip in the metal with the tip of her finger.

  Pain flooded into her, filled every cell, and she closed her eyes as it seeped thick and dark from her pores. She hadn’t wanted to believe it. Didn’t want to think her uncle was capable of that level of treachery…of cruelty.

  “Baby, are you okay? Where are you?”

  Raife’s words brushed across her mind, but she was afraid to open herself enough to respond. The rage and agony would overwhelm her. Overwhelm him.

  “Katya?”

  Tag had stopped clicking at the computer and was turned in his seat, his green eyes focused on her. She met his gaze.

  A tremor moved through her. Those months of being treated like an animal. Stripped. Beaten. Starved. She’d had her biology twisted and turned until she was unrecognizable under a microscope.

  And her uncle had known.

  Clenching her teeth, she swallowed the betrayal down and inhaled a fortifying breath. She nodded to the screwdriver on the table. “May I?”

  Tag watched her closely, confusion and concern marking his features as he picked up the screwdriver and placed it in her hand.

  “What’s going on?”

  “When you said I could be a Trojan horse, I remembered it.” The words were soft and even. She was proud of them. She sounded so in control of her emotions. “A year ago, my uncle asked for the ultimate in secure hardware and software…something even I wouldn’t be able to beat.” The laugh was dry and humorless. Her uncle would be proud of her. She’d finally learned how to be cold and in control like a true Sanguen. Like him.

  She w
edged the tip of the screwdriver into the dip in the metal and felt the metal slide back. After slowly setting the screwdriver on the table, she carefully lifted the hidden panel away from the underside of the server-blade housing.

  “What the hell is that?” Tag came to his feet to scowl at it.

  “Your Trojan horse.”

  The small bundle of electronics would have fit on the pad of her finger. It, in fact, had. She remembered that indomitable sense of success and pride she’d felt when she presented it to her uncle. It was the best in technology. The best of her.

  And it had been used to create her prison.

  “It’s processor, memory, and hard drive rolled into one. I wired it to the underside of the housing so it would make direct contact to the cables connecting it to the server.”

  “Memristors,” Tag whispered in awe and lifted the blade to look more closely at it, then turned it over to look at the traditional configuration of the server spread over the top of the blade. “So this is nothing but a decoy. I thought this technology was still years out. Holy fuck.”

  “Katya, just tell me you’re okay.”

  Katya looked over at the blade currently connected to Tag’s computer. “That’s not the best part. I created a software for it that was defensible in case it was taken. It has the ability to port scan the host machine and create a remote uplink so the information can be retrieved.”

  The fascinated expression drained off Tag’s face, and his gaze followed hers.

  “Fuck.” Tag jerked the cable from his computer, disconnecting it. “You mean this little bitch can create a back door for those bastards to get into the host machine? And I plugged it right into our network.”

  Katya nodded.

  “Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.” Tag moved for the phone sitting on the desk.

  Distantly she heard him letting Forestor know they were compromised. The words were absorbed into the buzz gaining strength in her head. She felt Raife trying to bond with her. She yearned to make that connection, to lose herself in his acceptance and strength. But she couldn’t.

  Not yet.

  Her heart pushed blood heavily through her body. Air moved in and out of her lungs. The room stilled around her. Her entire life was a lie; she’d been betrayed by her own family. For what?

  Deep inside, the need to know why was the single coherent thought that pierced the static hum of her pain and confusion. It reverberated through her, fracturing the shield of cold numbness that had protected her the past few minutes.

  Fury rushed through her system. She deserved to know why her only family had sacrificed her humanity. Had he sentenced her to that place to gain a better position in their House? For money?

  Her body started to shake.

  She wanted some answers.

  And her uncle was going to give them to her.

  WITH A CURSE, Tag pulled the phone with him to dig through a cabinet for his custom laptop so he could safely hook up the Trojan processor. “Little sister, this is a total fucking mess…” He turned, but his words trailed off when he realized she was gone. “Fuck. Forestor, Katya’s gone.”

  “Is Katya with you?” Tag sent the mental question to Raife moments before he felt the asshole charging into his work room.

  “No, she’s not with me.” Raife dragged his hands through his hair and paced away from the glass partition that separated the static-control room from the rest of the room. He felt the faint buzz of the other man trying to reach out to her telepathically. “She’s trying to lock me out.”

  Tag cursed. “Forestor, I think Katya’s gone to the citadel to confront her uncle.”

  “Is Raife with you?” Forestor, as usual, was calm.

  Tag watched Raife flip a table that had a collection of scrap parts on it, wincing when several of the pieces launched across the room and crashed against the glass wall. “Ah, yeah. He’s here.” Keeping the receiver cradled between his ear and shoulder, he hard-lined the Trojan processor to his laptop and flicked a glance up to watch the other Drachon kick a server blade. “I’m uncovering the files from the research center now.” He frowned as they filled his screen. “Hell, they’re all medical files. Research notes from the experiments. ”

  “Good.” Forestor’s voice rumbled through the line. “Send Raife to the meeting room with the others. Sheridan will calm him down and get him focused on recovering Katya. I want you to send those files to Dr. Mahoney to process.” There was a pregnant silence. “I want you to monitor her response to them.”

  Tag clenched his teeth. The doc wasn’t a part of this mess, and if he had to record her every move to prove it to Forestor, he would. “Understood.”

  KATYA SHIMMERED TO the Bay House lobby and was on the House marshal guarding the entry to the tunnel before he saw her appear. She slammed his head against the wall before he’d even made it completely to his feet. He slid unconscious to the ground as she continued down the tunnel, her bare feet moving silently over the gleaming wood floor. The tunnel opened into the main entry, and she glanced at the ornate mahogany stairs with the low-hanging glittering chandelier. She’d once thought it so majestic. Now it felt garish and empty.

  Katya shimmered to the top of the stairs and rematerialized in full stride, meeting the three unsuspecting marshals head-on. Using the heel of her hand, she snapped the middle marshal’s head back, shifting on her bare foot to kick out at the one to the right, and jabbed the third in the throat with her hand. Before they could respond, she shimmered behind them and delivered another series of strikes to their necks that left two unconscious and one struggling to get air through his crushed windpipe.

  “Where are they?”

  The gasping marshal pointed down another hall toward the Elders’ council chambers. Moments later Katya strode inside, throwing aside the limp body of yet another House marshal. All the elders were in their big leather seats around the dark glossy table as she crossed the floor to stand in front of them. Elder Grayson sat the center, with her uncle to his right. She focused on him.

  “Uncle Canton.” Her voice slid lethally from her lips. Her vision was sharp, not completely heat vision but distorted enough to let her know her eyes probably were black or red or…who the hell knew. She was such a mix of species, even the best minds in genetic research had a hard time sorting her out.

  Although it wasn’t for a lack of trying.

  Elder Grayson motioned her uncle back down when he started to come to his feet. “Gentlemen. Perhaps it would be wise to retire to your suites. I believe you will allow that, will you not, my child?”

  Katya tilted her head as she let her gaze move from one face to another.

  Comprehension. Fear. They knew what she was and why she was here. Every one of them.

  She had grown from a young girl to a woman in this citadel; she had grown with a sense of family in them, trusting them—loving them—and they betrayed her.

  A tremor rolled through her, but she suppressed it. She let a taunting smile curl the edges of her lips. “Leave, then.”

  Katya watched them as they stood. They gave her a wide berth as they filed toward the door. Not a single expression of guilt or remorse. She was nothing to them.

  It hurt, and she was angry enough to want them to feel it. To feel something for what they’d done to her.

  She watched the last man pass. Their expensive leather loafers moved silently over the polished floor. She could almost see the watery color of filtered sunlight casting shadows over their indifferent faces as they moved past the special stained-glass mural that made up one wall outside these chambers. She imagined every curve of color, every dark line, every ripple of textured glass, and she allowed her anger to move through her. The power of it shook her, shook the glass.

  She clenched her fists as it gained force. She focused it. Finally there was a boom, and the tinkling of shattering glass was followed by shuffling feet and cries of pain.

  “Well, that was satisfying,” Katya gasped.

  Anger and disgust distorted
her uncle’s face. “An animal, no better than your parents.”

  Elder Grayson lifted a hand to silence him, and she moved her gaze to take in his face, once so beloved to her. She had wanted nothing but to see approval in these men’s eyes as a child, and right now she couldn’t remember one damn reason why. His lips were thin, but he held his coveted composure.

  “Was that necessary, my child?”

  Katya shrugged and advanced on them. “A few paltry burns, Elder. Surely no more than they deserve.”

  He rose with a shake of his head. “Even had I not known you were nothing but a mixed blood, your actions would have betrayed you. Always so unable to control your baser emotions.”

  Her smile melted. “After what you knowingly subjected me to…the fact that you still live…” She let the sentence fall away and lifted her chin. “Believe me. I am in control of my baser emotions.”

  Her uncle sniffed disdainfully, his lip curling in disgust. “You are no more than a misbegotten mongrel of Rebels. Allowing you to believe you were my niece was the deal I made for my seat on the Elders’ Council. For over twenty years, I was forced to tolerate you, but no more.”

  Elder Grayson sighed. “Be quiet, Canton. It was not like it was any great hardship. She was such a pretty little girl and so eager to please. Her computer skills alone made you and this House quite wealthy. And she will place us in high regard with the Triumvirate once she’s returned to the GenTest Research Center.”

  Katya felt the air being sucked out of the room as she listened to them speak of her entire life as though it were a no more than a discomfort they tolerated. And this past year, the hours of terror and pain. The harrowing of her every strength and weakness. Her being stripped of every dignity. For their gain. To them it was no more than a means to an end. They’d nearly traded her soul for their status. A tremor shook her as she sucked in a breath. Energy crackled around her body, and she drew it down her arms into the palms of her hands, closing her fingers around it. She maintained her control.