by C Cato
The bacon melted in his mouth but was leaner than stuff he used to buy in the store. “Not domestic pig?” he said, holding up a piece.
Balin took the empty seat at the head of the table and shook his head. “Wild boar. There are plenty of them in these woods. The only domestic animals we keep are the horses and chickens.”
Kofa came down the stairs and kissed Balin, sat in the seat at the corner of the table, and accepted the plate his mate-brother had fixed for him.
When everyone was pleasantly full, the kids ran outside to play, and Connie kissed him on the cheek and slipped from his lap to go with them. Morgan gathered the dishes and took them into the kitchen to clean.
With the table cleared, their lazy, well-fed faces all hardened again.
“You were saying before, you don’t want to use us,” said Lirra.
“Yes, at least not until the power goes out. Then you’d have the cover of darkness and the advantage.”
“But we wouldn’t,” said Nor. “We don’t see in the dark.”
“Your job, along with the other Hounds, will be to secure the prisoners before the power goes out. All of them. Can someone fill me in on the layout of the arena?”
Using whatever they could find, Nor and Riley made a small model of the arena, including a person made from a shriveled potato.
Cole chuckled at the ingenuity. “So, it’s a cone-shaped pit with tiered layers for seating, right? No tunnels in or out. Everyone would need to climb the tiers to get away. Does that include Mother Superior?”
“Yes,” said Nor, sitting back and slinging an arm over the back of Riley’s chair.
“And us, if we go down there,” said Lirra. “If there are still Valkyrie in the city at the time of our attack, they will converge.”
“Staying at the bottom of the pit isn’t the point,” said Cole. “Risa will be down there, and so will Sonya, and your kids, Lirra. They’ll guide you back to the top.”
Cole fished the controller from his pocket and tossed it on the table. “We have this too. Not sure what it opens, but we got it off Willow.”
Soren picked it up. “She wouldn’t say what it opens?”
“No, but I’ll take it with me.”
Everyone quieted, and Cole glanced to the door to see Ray standing there. He went rigid with tension, and Zaro put a hand on his knee.
“Is there some way I can help?”
“It would be best if you stayed here with your sister,” said Lirra.
“No,” snapped Cole. “It’s too dangerous to leave that woman here. She’s coming with us and will be under heavy guard.”
“Is that wise?” asked Lirra. “If she gets away, she will run straight to the Valkyrie.”
“She’ll do the same if she’s here, too. At least this way we can keep a closer eye on her. As for you Ray, yes there is something you can do, but for security reasons I’m not going to share that with you yet.”
“I understand,” he said softly.
When the footsteps from the doorway moved up the stairs, everyone relaxed back into their chairs. Except Cole.
“We, too, are having a hard time with this,” said Lirra. “We want to remember the baby that was stolen, but circumstances have pitted that baby against us. For the sake of my brother and his son, I want to try and find a way past it. I will try. She has hurt my son and daughter. What’s worse, she knew who they were.”
“How did she know?”
“She heard them speak of home, and they thought they could speak freely,” said Kofa. Head bowed, hair over his face, with hands clasped he appeared like a penitent asking for forgiveness. “She knew they were from the same Enclave she was born in, and she tortured them, used them to hunt down Sonya and the rest of you. A mystery all on its own. They are being treated like animals, when she knows better. How do I reconcile how much I want to hate her with how much I want to love her?”
Cole lifted his chin to meet Lirra’s gaze, her black eyes, reflective black orbs in her pale face. He felt ashamed of himself. They were suffering just as much, if not more. Time to move beyond his own pain.
“Does Sonya have the same abilities as you and Risa, Cole?” asked Nor. Arms crossed, he had a fierce frown as he glared between Lirra and Cole.
“Yes, and you’re goin’ to have to accept we talk without you hearin’ sometimes. It’s not like you can’t whisper secrets to each other.”
“Fine, but as soon as we get to your Vault, you’re fitting me with one of those devices.”
Soren raised an eyebrow. “Been making some campaign promises, Sarge?”
“Ugh,” he said, throwing his hands up. “You can deal with it, Ren.”
“Actually, I have an idea for a mostly external device that could replace it. You guys can be my guinea pigs.”
“That sounds dangerous,” said Morgan.
Soren shrugged. “All things come with risk.”
“There’s one more thing we need to do,” said Cole, ending their back and forth. “Lirra, can you assign a group to take the kids back to the horse station? We need to take them back with us, and I want them as far away from the fightin’ as possible.”
“Agreed,” she said readily. “Bim, will you see to it?”
“I will escort them personally,” he said, rising to leave.
“Good,” said Cole. “Now all we need is a truckload of luck, because we are still grossly outnumbered by murdering, sword-wielding women.”
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
Sonya
“Wake up, Nuse’a.”
Power: 18%
Sonya came awake with a gasp and sat up, jarring Talic who held her, and nearly colliding with his chin. “Talic?” Groggily, she noted she was back in the holding cell.
Keet held Lafa a few feet away, and they both appeared to be asleep.
“What happened?”
Talic growled deep in his throat. Fury carved deep roads in his beautiful features.
“You’re touching me. I thought you didn’t want—”
The fierce demeanor relaxed in a more neutral expression. “I must apologize for that. I let my personal prejudices blind me to the truth.” He brushed the side of her face with the blade of his hand. “You are our mate.”
“But why now? What has changed? What about the woman you are promised to?”
He gazed down, and hers followed his more troubled one. A large bandage obscured her left hand up to her elbow.
“They cut your arm off. Yours and Lafa’s. You were both in bad shape when they brought you back. You barely had a pulse and Lafa had lost too much blood. I think they feared your deaths, so left you in our care. Keet was devastated, and I experienced fear I had never known before. The mere thought of losing you was more painful than I could endure. When you helped that boy before, I saw you for the compassionate woman you are. Beyond genetic compulsion, and base primal need. You are a beautiful woman, not just this,” he said, grazing his fingertips across her forehead. “But here.” A single talon pressed lightly over her beating heart.
“I am ashamed of my behavior toward you. My only excuse is that I’ve seen humans do terrible things to my people in the past. Not just A’amoth live on the other side of the wall and not all humans are willing to live in peace with us. And I was—am afraid.”
“Afraid of what?”
“That your human will not want us. That I give my heart to you, but you choose him over us.”
“Cole wouldn’t do that.”
“How do you know?”
A corner of her mouth lifted in a knowing smile. “You’ll just have to trust me. I doubt anything I say will convince you, but I know he won’t do that.”
Talic pressed his lips to hers in a chaste kiss. “I hope that is true. Please, forgive me?”
“You’re forgiven, and I accept you. Both of you, but there is still the issue of this woman you were going to see”
Talic sighed, his eyes taking on a far away glaze. “Our clan and our allies are few. We number less t
han two thousand, and only half of those trained in combat. There is a much larger force of A’amoth that threaten our way of life. Shun our choices. We were trying to seek a truce. A way to appease the woman that leads them. It’s her daughter that we have a genetic match with.”
“Then shouldn’t you go be with her? If it means the safety of your people that makes sense,” she said. The point was logical, but each word was like a hammer on her frail glass heart.
“No, Nuse’a. We will find another way.”
She nodded, bringing her attention back to her arm when it came into view. Memory flooded back like a broken levy after a rainstorm. A thick bandage covered her arm from elbow to wrist stained a dark brown. Old blood. “How long have I been out?”
Talic tightened his hold around her shoulders and waist. She was sitting across his lap. How had she missed that?
“You’ve been in a coma state for over half a day. Fifteen hours or so.”
So long? Was the coma part of the healing process? Probing her arm with her undamaged hand, she didn’t feel any tenderness or discomfort so slowly unwrapped the bandage. Just below her elbow was a clear line of scar tissue that circled her arm, proving there was a limit to the healing of the nanobots. Her stomach turned at the memories that line provoked.
Talic slid his hand over her arm, covering her scar, and she lifted her face to gaze into his dark eyes.
“We despaired that you wouldn’t come back to us.”
Sonya twisted to gaze at the sleeping form of her second mate. The need to be close to him overwhelmed her. “Keet?”
Dark eyes fluttered open and blinked several times. “My Sonya?” Moisture gathered in Keet’s eyes, and his chest bounced with hitched breaths.
“Come closer,” she said.
Moving fluidly, without jostling his sister, he repositioned himself to sit with his knees touching Talic’s. Sonya pressed against Lafa’s side. There was a steady rise and fall to her chest, but it was faint. Sonya shivered with intensity of Keet’s gaze. There was almost a weight to it.
“What do you need?” she asked.
“Please touch me. I need to feel you. Know you are alright,” he begged.
She raised her arm over Lafa’s still form to cup his cheek. With a deep sigh, he closed his eyes and turned his face to kiss her palm. Talic kissed her neck. A brief peck. Enough to let Sonya know that he was there.
When he lifted his head, she bent forward, checking Lafa’s pulse. Slightly irregular, but Sonya wasn’t sure if that was normal or not. “Keet, lean forward so I can feel your pulse.”
Moving close enough to almost kiss her, he stopped when Lafa moaned and stirred. Blood pumped through the carotid beneath her fingers with a steady pulse. The skin beneath the tips was hard. No not hard, unyielding. Muscles played just beneath the surface of the smooth white skin. A moan vibrated through his throat as her pulse check became a sensual stroke.
“Nuse’a. Lafa needs you now,” reminded Talic.
Pulling her hand away, she rechecked Lafa’s pulse to confirm that it was irregular. A quick exam didn’t produce any other injuries, so she gingerly lifted the bandaged arm. It was as bloody as hers had been, but the blood was fresher and nearly black. Unwrapping the gauze and some cotton padding, she found Lafa’s arm sewn back on. Sonya could see signs of healing, but it was at a slower rate than her body regenerated cells.
“Keet, can you touch Lafa, gently and with a small amount of pressure, with the tip of your talon in the places I indicate?”
Choosing spots along her friend’s arm and hand, she was satisfied that there was adequate blood flow when she flinched at each touch.
“I don’t know enough about your physiology, but I think she’ll recover. If her body is healing her arm at this rate, it may be taking just as long to replenish the blood that was lost.”
To ensure there was no infection, Sonya rewrapped the damaged arm. “It would have been nice if they left us more bandages and water or something. At least they washed us and gave us clean clothes before bringing us back.””
Once she’d assured Keet and Talic that there was no immediate danger, they both wilted. Clasping arms together, their brows met above her head, effectively cocooning her and Lafa between them. A heat washed over her that was different from before. Not pheromone induced. Centered not around her core, but higher. The pounding drumbeat of her heart was all she could hear as she closed her eyes to sleep.
“Isn’t this cozy?”
Sonya was awake instantly, and Keet and Talic pulled apart enough to give a full view. Mother Superior was there, so many Valkyrie behind her that they didn’t all fit in the room.
Jenna stood with her feet apart, and her hands on her hips. Gone were the wispy gowns. Instead, she wore the same white suit of her Valkyrie with gold plates attached to it. “Where is she?”
Sonya didn’t have to fake confusion. “She, who? I don’t know what you’re talking about?”
“Yes, you do. We’ve already caught your little spy friend, but when Willow went to arrest the rest of the traitors, she disappeared.”
Risa!
Sonya tried to maintain a neutral expression, but her panic must have leaked through.
“You should worry. My General better be returned to me unharmed or things are going to become very difficult for you.” She turned to leave and threw her hand up. “Take one of the males. Don’t care which.”
Keet and Talic growled and stiffened. She tensed as well, expecting the painful flare of the collar, but nothing happened. The cell door opened, and the many women poured inside. As many that could fit anyway. Sonya got wrenched away from Keet and thrown against the wall of the cell. Someone stepped on her good hand. She hardly noticed.
“Leave them alone!”
A pile of bodies wrestled just outside of the cell and both Keet and Talic were missing. Sonya crawled to Lafa and checked her pulse again to make sure the scuffle hadn’t done more damage, and then a bleeding Keet was shoved back inside and the door slid just. The Valkyrie poured out of the room, leaving only the three of them.
“Talic!”
There was no answer.
“I think they used a sedative. He won’t be able to answer if unconscious.”
“Why did they take him?”
“I don’t know, Nuse’a, but I doubt we will have long to wait.”
The waiting was tense. No one came back to their prison for another two hours, and neither of them could contact Talic mentally. Sonya used that time to try and clean up the slashes Keet had received during the fight.
Lafa finally began to stir after three. “What…”
Sonya and Keet helped her to sit up, but her head still angled to the side as she worked to hold it up.
“Lafa, how many fingers am I holding up?” asked Sonya holding three fingers steady in front of Lafa’s face.
“Three… I think.” A hiss pushed through her teeth when she moved her arm. “So that really happened?”
“Yes.”
“The blonde woman, the one that cut—”
“That was Risa. My friend. I haven’t heard from her since.”
Lafa grimaced and clutched her arm to her chest. Then she blinked and scanned the cell as though seeing it for the first time. “Where’s my brother?”
“Taken. I think they have him under sedation. I can’t reach him,” said Keet. Sonya scooted closer to him and draped her arm around his waist.
They huddled together in the box for reassurance. Sonya had hope that Cole would come for her. That there was a way out of this hell for all of them.
Eventually, Keet and Lafa dozed while Sonya kept watch. When more Valkyrie entered the room and placed a pile of cloth on the floor, Sonya gently woke Keet and Lafa.
“Put these on,” said one of the women. She left the room, and their prison door hissed open, giving them access to the larger room beyond.
“What do you think this is about?” ask Lafa.
“No idea, but fresh clothes
are better than what we have on.” Sonya found linen clothing in the pile. Three sets. They had similar cuts to hospital scrubs and were large enough to fit all of them. Each set was a drab olive green. She removed the soiled set of scrubs she wore, and slipped on the new clothes, while doing her best to not gaze in Keet’s direction. Lafa snickered at her.
“Don’t laugh. You’re the one that said touching was a no-no.”
“I think you’re well past that.”
Sonya helped her remove her simple linen dress so she didn’t further injure her arm. Together, she and Keet dressed her. There were no shoes so they would all have to go barefoot. Using her discarded scrubs, Sonya fashioned a sling for Lafa to keep her arm stable. Keet ripped the arm off the top so it wouldn’t irritate her wound. She was tying the last knot when the Valkyrie returned.
One of them lifted their hand to flash a small box. It could have been the controller for the collars. “Don’t try anything, I won’t be forced to use this. You will come with us,” said the nameless Valkyrie.
Outside, ten more women waited, all armed with crossbows. Had any of these taken her Talic away? Keet reached for her hand, and Sonya slid her own inside, appreciating the contrast between the calloused skin of his palm and finger joints and the cool smooth surface of his talons curled around her.
Lafa was to her right, Keet her left. The Valkyrie allowed them to ride down the elevator together.
In the atrium, waiting in the center of the garden-like space, was Mother Superior. “We have some official business to attend to today, and I thought you might be interested in seeing our justice system in action.”
Sonya was suddenly sick to her stomach.
“What have you done with Talic?” she said, raising her chin defiantly.
“Talic? Is that its name? We weren’t aware they spoke a civil language. We’ll have to explore that further,” said Mother Superior, a sly smile curling her mouth.
Sonya wanted to kick herself. The A’amoth had managed to maintain the ruse that they didn’t speak English, and she gave it all away in seconds. Stupid mistake.
