The World For My Zombie Kings: A Reverse Harem Romance (Zombies Rule The World Book 3)

by McCoy, LeeSha

  “Thank you, Sweetheart.”

  “Me too,” Dagger says. ‘Don’t panic yet.’

  “Uh-huh,” I say before quickly biting my lip. All I want to do is cry my eyes out again. I know I need to keep strong for all of us, but if I can't figure out how to undo this, I really don't know what I'll do.

  “It will be alright, Angel.”

  I nod back at him, but I'm so far from okay...

  I demand that all the kids sleep on the couches in the living room when we get home. I don't want any of them out of touching distance. Raeni and Thorn, though, come upstairs to the lab so Dagger can take their blood while I start analysing the liquid in the dart.

  I got an email from Mason when we landed, with all the information off the servers and links to all the news reports of ZoNaR’s labs on fire. He even apologised again, but I didn’t reply.

  I really need to look through those files…

  “I have them,” Dagger says, holding two vials of blood. “You want me to set them to run?”

  “Please.” I look at Thorn and Raeni. “Go eat.”

  Raeni quickly disappears, but Thorn lingers. “Don’t kill yourself over this, Mikka.”

  “I won’t.”

  He leaves and I see Dagger look at me. ‘I guess it’s a good thing he can’t hear us right now, ‘cause he wouldn’t’ve been happy about you lying to him.’

  ‘I know…’

  I’m not leaving this lab until I find a way to fix this, and I don’t care how long it takes.

  I sit down at my Mac to work my way through all the files Mason sent me. There’s a lot of information here. Tests on multiple animals, human trials on vaccines, and then I find a file labelled ‘13’.

  I click it open but I’m met with an error about it being encrypted.

  “Shit.”

  Pin appears behind me and lowers to have a look at the error message. “Hold on.” He disappears to his office and then returns with a memory card. “Cross your fingers.”

  I cross everything possible, hoping like hell we can open this. Pin is a whizz at all things tech, though, so if anyone can gain access, it’s him.

  “Fuck,” he suddenly curses, making me jump.

  “What?”

  “It’s not—”

  “Let me have a look, Dad,” Emerson says on his way up the stairs. He comes to my right side and then turns my Mac towards him a little. I don’t understand much of what he’s doing, but after opening up several new windows and typing furiously for a few minutes, hundreds of files open up on the screen.

  “There.”

  I’m filled with relief. “Thank you.” And I actually smile. “You are so your father’s son.”

  He gives me a quick kiss on the cheek. “I know.”

  “Smart ass,” Pin teases him as they leave, and I hear them go next door so Emerson can show him what he did.

  I quickly scroll through the files and find a folder labelled ‘Cure’, so I click that.

  And my stomach turns.

  “Princess?”

  I point to the screen when Dagger pulls a chair over to sit beside me. “They had the files from the ZoNaR lab at Cambridge. Look. See all the DNA testing I did. All the outcomes of our DNA… Even the tests with the babies in the tanks are on here.”

  They’d been trying to create zombie babies for months. It looks as if Gia and Myers were the subjects this time, though. Failed after failed attempt is listed, each baby taking one breath and then dying.

  “Same as what happened to us before you came along,” Dagger says. “So they thought if they found a way to get rid of the extra chromosomes, they’d return to humans again and their babies would live.”

  “Looks so…” My heart literally stills when I see the technique they were using for the cure. There is no way in hell this should’ve been approved.

  “What’s gene editing?” Dagger asks hesitantly.

  I run through the ingredients list, becoming more horrified by the second. How the fuck could any country agree to fund this? He must have lied… “Um, it’s an extremely new technique, where you use molecules and certain enzymes to target DNA strings to either fix or remove them…”

  “And that’s what they did?”

  I nod as I turn to face him. ‘We have more cells than them, so if this has worked, it means…’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Either some of their chromosomes are missing, or they’re damaged.’

  “So just bite them,” Axe says as he enters with Blade. “Turn them back that way.”

  “Right,” Blade agrees.

  “I suppose I could try.”

  “Thorn!” Dagger shouts, and it’s weird how long it takes him to get up here.

  “Yeah?”

  “Let Mikka bite you, bro,” Axe says.

  He gives me a look, but then he shrugs. “Alright.”

  Pin arrives as I get up to lead his brother over to the couch beside the window. “If this hurts, I’m sorry.”

  He shrugs as he lies down. “It will be worth it.”

  “Yeah.” I lift his hand and kiss it before tipping his wrist towards my lips.

  “Just be quick,” he says.

  “Okay, okay.” I bite down on his wrist until I taste blood on my tongue, trying not to think about how different it tastes compared to last time. He groans a little, too, and I know that it’s hurt.

  I pull away and blink when it continues to bleed.

  He hasn’t fallen asleep either.

  Don’t cry…

  “Um, Dagger, could you grab me some swabs?”

  “Sure,” he replies, and I feel all the brothers’ disappointment. I hear Jaden telling his siblings and feel theirs, too.

  “Remember, Angel. There’s no fun in easy.”

  I nod as I take the swabs from Dagger, but I can’t stop the tears falling like crazy down my face as I press them to Thorn’s wrist.

  “Hey,” Thorn says, sitting up, “don’t get upset. We only got back a few hours ago. We have time.”

  “Yeah.”

  He holds my face, so I’m forced to look at him. “I know what you’re capable of. You’ve got this, Misses Clarke. You can figure it out.”

  “He’s right, baby. Just take a breath. We’re all in this together, and we’ll all help.”

  I turn to face the rest of his brothers, and when I hear all the kids telling me the same, I have all the encouragement I need.

  “You’re right,” I say as I stand and wipe away my tears. “Doctor Clarke, bandage your brother up, and then you all need to leave me to work.”

  Twenty-Five

  Mikka

  I look at Raeni's and Thorn’s karyotypes and feel my heart break all over again. It could be worse, but this still feels just as bad.

  No chromosomes are missing—they still have all ninety-eight of them—but their thirteen chromosomes look almost fractured. The enzymes have literally broken them all into pieces, so now I just need to figure out how to put them back together again.

  But how?

  I rub my head in my hands and close my eyes. I’m already tired. Jetlag along with not sleeping for thirty-six hours has started to catch up with me. I can feel my eyes not wanting to open again, but I sense Thorn coming up the stairs and smell coffee, so I snap them back open again.

  I turn to face him when he enters the room. He has coffees for both of us. “Hey.”

  “Hey.” His eyes tell me something, but we can't hear his thoughts at all anymore, or Raeni’s. It’s as if their DNA has locked us out. It cuts like a knife, not just to me, but to every one of us. They’re lost to us and it's not right, not fair, not after everything we went through to get here.

  He rests a coffee down on my desk and sits in the chair beside mine. “Results in yet?”

  “Thank you, and uh, yeah, just.” I pull his seat closer. “See these cells here...”

  “The ones that look broken?”

  I nod. “Yeah, well, the cure you were hit with has caused yours
and Raeni’s thirteens to break like this. I just need to find a way to bring them back together.”

  His eyes return to mine. “And do you think you'll be able to?”

  I bite my lip. Stay positive, Mikka… “All your DNA is still inside you both, which is a good thing, so I’m sure as hell going to try.” I take a sip of my coffee, almost moaning from how good it is. I love his coffees the best.

  I rest my cup down, but he captures my hand with his. “Angel, I miss you. We all do. You can take a minute’s break.”

  “You're already gone from me.” I sigh. I never thought I’d have to be without any of them again. “I can’t stop until—”

  “Will you feel differently, if I stay like this?”

  I'm suddenly overwhelmed by a torrent of heartbreak. The thought of watching him grow old, eventually leave us... “Don’t say that.”

  I can see the realisation in his eyes. “I have to, Angel, ‘cause I need to know. If you don’t find a way to fix those broken cells, will you still love me like this?”

  His vulnerability slays me further. How could he ever question me on that? “Nothing would ever stop me loving you, Thorn. Human, zombie, I don't care. Even if you told me you didn’t want to be like us again, I would still love you just the same.”

  He breathes a sigh of relief that makes me wonder how long he’s been thinking about that. “I do want to be, don’t worry,” he says, lifting my hand to kiss it. “I forgot how much time you have to think when it’s only your own thoughts inside your head.”

  Thorn… “I can’t even remember what that’s like.”

  He smiles sadly. “It’s lonely.”

  “Thorn—”

  He suddenly pulls away from me to stand. “I’ll let you get back to work. Just think about what I said.”

  I sigh heavily. “I will.”

  He leaves, dapping Dagger when he passes him in the hall. Dagger gives me a look straight away when he enters, and I know he’s been listening in.

  ‘I don’t like seeing him like this,’ he says, sitting where Thorn just was.

  ‘Me either.’

  ‘Raeni seems to be taking it in her stride, though.’

  ‘So Blade told me.’ Been ignoring everyone, apparently, and spending a lot of time on her own. I hate not knowing what’s going on in that mind of hers.

  “Pin and Emerson have finished editing the video from America. They’ve cut pretty much everything after Gia and Myers shifted. The fans might be a little annoyed about the abrupt ending, but it is what it is.”

  “Whatever he decides.”

  “Some of the kids want to reveal their faces on TikTok. I said I’d run it past you.”

  “I’d prefer if they waited until their father and sister are back to themselves.”

  He nods. “We felt the same. I’ll tell them.”

  “Thanks.” I sigh as I look back at my Mac. “Did you hear what I told Thorn about the broken thirteens?”

  “Yeah. So what are you going to do?”

  “I have no idea. I could try using a different combination of molecules and enzymes to fix them, but I’m far from an expert in that and I don’t want to make it worse. I mean, I suppose I could try to use my blood, maybe? If I injected it into them, maybe it would force their bodies into healing themselves?”

  He stares at the cells on screen while I drink the rest of my coffee. “What about using stem cells?”

  I frown. “Stem cells?”

  “Yeah, the kids’ stem cells. What if you used those?”

  I rest my cup down. “Oh, my God. I completely forgot about them!”

  “And if you use Hope’s, you’ll be using both their DNA.”

  “Yes! But…”

  “What now?”

  I get up to find the stem cells. “Nothing bad, we’re just going to have to run a few tests through MDP. We might still need my antigen.”

  I hear him in the cabinet looking for a syringe. “Let me take your blood, and then we’ll get started.”

  God, I love him.

  “I love you, too, Princess. Now give me your arm.”

  I run down the stairs, almost falling on the last few steps, but Dagger catches my arm just in time.

  “Calm your ass down,” he says, telling me off.

  “I can’t.”

  Yeah, I’m exhausted—I’m in my sixtieth hour of no sleep—but as tired as I am, I’m also happier than I’ve been in days.

  “You can. Come. I’ll make you a coffee while the kids make their way over.”

  He switches the coffee machine on, and I grab a tub of strawberry ice-cream out of the freezer. It reminds me of my wedding cake mum took home to freeze for me. None of us remembered to pack it before we left.

  Flights will return to usual by the end of the month, and Pin’s already sent them money for their flights as soon as they are. It gives mum enough time to say goodbye to her friends, and for Vince to decide if he’s going to bring Cary, too.

  I know there are some commitment issues on Cary’s end. Raeni’s been texting with him over the past few days. They seemed to have clicked as soon as they met, and I’m pretty sure she has a lot to do with convincing him to come back here with mum. I’m not sure if it was with her mind or not, though. A lot happened out there, and my mind was definitely overloaded.

  I grab a spoon and then make my way to the living room where the rest of my kings are. They’re tired, too. None of them have slept much. The hollow feeling is unsettling for us all.

  “Let me have some,” Axe says, tapping the space beside him on the couch. He’s dressed in a tracksuit, they all are, and I’m in two-day-old leggings and one of Blade’s t-shirts.

  We haven’t touched each other since we got back.

  And I really miss that.

  I sit down next to him, turning sideways to feed him between my mouthfuls. I remember the first time he ever asked me to do this. He ended up stripping me naked and smearing it all over my body before licking it off and screwing me all over the house. We finished in the swimming pool, to wash off the stickiness.

  Not just from the ice cream either.

  ‘Yeah, that was one hell of a night.’

  It was…

  Dagger brings us all a coffee before sitting beside Thorn, across from us. The kids arrive quicker than usual, but when I see Raeni on Jaden’s back, I see why. It makes me feel a little sad, but I’m hoping she’ll be back to herself soon.

  “So, does this mean you’ve cracked it?” Axe asks, once the kids are sitting down.

  I look over to Thorn. “We think so.”

  I start explaining how we’ve used the stem cells from Hope, then extracted my SARA antigen from my blood to mix with it, but Thorn suddenly stops me.

  “Angel, will it work or not?”

  I nod. “Yeah, I really think it will.”

  He takes a quick look at Raeni before he gets up. “I'll go first.”

  My nerves fray on the way up to the lab with my five kings in tow. Dagger and I have been working so hard on this, so it will be heart-breaking not only to me if it doesn’t work, but for him, too. We miss them so badly and just want to feel whole again, but I’ve already promised myself that if this fails, I’ll just have to try again until I don’t.

  He lies down on the couch beside the window while I grab one of the filled syringes from the fridge, and then my heart beats faster on my way over to sit beside him, I feel like I might throw up.

  “If this doesn't work, Angel—”

  I rest my hand on his face. “Then I will still love you, and I'll keep trying.”

  He nods before lifting his gaze to his brothers, and they nod back. They’re never very sentimental with each other out loud, their love for one another is mostly felt. The most emotional they get is when we’re in the throes of passion, but right now, their love is palpable.

  “Alright,” he finally says. “But if this does work, don’t be consummating shit without me.”

  I lean down to kiss him softly, c
losing my eyes briefly before sitting back up again. “We won’t.”

  “We'll wait,” Dagger says, “if it does work.”

  “Right,” Axe agrees. “We wouldn’t fucking do that shit.”

  Thorn gives him a disbelieving look before giving me his arm. “Go for it.”

  I take a deep breath as I feel for his vein, and then I press the needle into his arm. “If it hurts, tell me,” I say, and I slowly begin to inject.

  He doesn’t groan or give me any indication that it hurts, and when I’ve given him all of it and pull the needle out, sadness grips me because he hasn’t fallen asleep again.

  I can see his devastation clear as day. “It’s okay, Ang—”

  And then he falls asleep.

  I turn to the brothers, unable to hide my smile. “It worked.” I jump up to hug them. “It actually worked!”

  We hear the kids downstairs having their own celebrations, but we all turn to the door when we hear Raeni coming in.

  “Mum, Dads?”

  “Yes. Sweetheart?”

  She comes closer and then looks down at her dad on the couch. “Has it really worked?”

  “We won’t be certain until he wakes up, but he's asleep, and that’s a good sign.”

  I hear her sigh deeply, so I step closer to her. “What’s wrong?”

  She looks at the rest of her dads before her eyes return to mine. “Would you be mad if I didn't change back?”

  My heart tries to escape out of my throat, not only from my own shock, but from feeling everyone else’s, too. Kids included. “What?” we all ask, unable to hide our horror.

  “Why wouldn't you?”

  She holds my hand and I dread what’s coming. “I just... I'm not ready.” She looks up at us. “I want to be normal for a while.”

  “There’s nothing fun about normal, baby girl,” Axe says. “Trust me.”

  “Maybe not,” she says quietly.

  “What happens when you start school, Rae-Rae?” Dagger asks.

  “That's the point. I want to be just like everybody else.”

  “But—”

  I hold my hand up to stop Blade from saying something that might hurt her feelings. “Raeni…” I sigh deeply now. “We won't force you to change back. This is your choice. But I want you to think long and hard about this. Really hard. You'll be vulnerable. You won't be able to defend yourself if anything were to happen.”