Immortal Becoming (32 page)

“Yummy.” She handing them off, along with the larger pair of moccasins, and picked up what had been left for her: a leather halter the same style all Elven females wore, a smaller pair of leather pants, and moccasins.

“I have no idea how to put these on.” She held the tiny halter and pants up to Shane. The ties were intricate.

“I’ll help you.” He chuckled and stepped into the form-fitting leather pants. His erection pressed against the leather ties as he finished lacing them. A rush of heat flooded him from Jess, her appreciation of his form-fit leather, causing his dentes to extend again. “Your train of thought is fucking killing me, Jess.” Smiling, he laced the moccasins next.

“Oh, right. It’s your own fault,” she teased. “Change my panties, you are hot!” Grinning, she put her hair into a quick braid.

Chuckling, Shane took her clothing and knelt before her so that she could step into the pants and moccasins. He tied the mocs first, and then stood, sliding the soft leather up her legs as he rose. It was almost sacrilegious to cover her body. Sighing with regret, he laced them at her waist, showing her how. Turning her to face away from him, he tied the halter at her neck and her lower back. An angry welt began to rise at her shoulder blades, the location of her skin flaps already making itself known. It was the start of Jess’s Becoming.

“
Shane, my brother.”
Conlon voice intruded. “
We just got word that something has happened with this Moira woman. Sam’s sister says we gotta go. Hate to interrupt, but shake a wing back here.”

“Son of a bitch.” Shane snatched Jess to his chest and launched skyward. He flew faster than he ever had, landing them amongst their family. The first wave of Jess’s pain rolled through him. The minute Shane’s feet hit the ground Enlil was there. Jess lifted to her toes and placed a sweet kiss to his lips. “I love you, Shanley Einar. Don’t forget. I will see you in a few weeks.”

Giving Jess one last hug, Shane whispered back, “I love you, my beautiful Jess. I’ll never forget. You are mine.”

Enlil met Shane’s look when he released his new mate with understanding and sympathy. “Take care of her.” Shane asked and warned in the same statement. Enlil nodded.

Gil handed him his weapons and he strapped the blade-filled holsters to his forearms. He reached out for the chest belts that held the two deadly sharp curved scythe blades, his weapons of choice, slipping them into the arm slots and securing the curved blades against his chest. He was ready. She was biting her full bottom lip again. Love and concern radiated from her.

“Let’s get this done.” If he didn’t go now, he may never be able too. They ported to the African nest, leaving Enlil and Jess to follow.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Moira was pulled from her thoughts and the second act of Madame Butterfly playing in her mind when the wall opened again. Two hulking soldiers entered and lifted her limp form by her arms. Moira maintained her unresponsiveness, and they drag-carried her out of the room and into a hallway where Sofia waited, standing beside her “big monster.”

“Time to see how strong you truly are, hmmm?” Fualth/Mason taunted. He appeared ill; maybe that would make him think twice before arbitrarily biting into someone’s neck uninvited. Sofia’s expression was controlled, cold, uncaring, and blank. Nice. Moira liked her more and more.

After incalculable attempts without success, Moira had learned long ago that she would never be able to accomplish the dormancy that Elven could achieve. Seeking an alternative to ensure the safety of the people she loved, should she ever find herself in this very situation, she’d committed to extreme meditation and self-hypnosis. The meditation had always had the added benefit of alleviating Moira’s emotional impact on Jorie via the maternal bonding. She’d tested the self-hypnosis during minor injuries, and it had worked.

While installing netting in a cave on the farm, she’d stumbled off the cliff edge. Stupidly she had worn a shirt that didn’t allow her wings freedom, and she’d had nothing to break her fall. The sharp, sudden pain of breaking her legs had alerted her daughter to her situation. When Jorie arrived and found her mother with two broken legs, she’d thought Moira was knocked unconscious.

Neither Jorie nor Napoleon had remembered the phrase needed to bring her out of the hypnotic trance until several days had passed without Moira coming around. By then her legs had fully healed. Moira had felt no pain after the initial impact. Today, Moira was sure, would be the ultimate test. She was dragged into a room between two hulking Elven and hung from chains suspended from the ceiling, her arms lifted into restraints. She focused on the tiny compartment she’d developed in her mind for complete withdrawal.

Thank you, karma, one of the Elven lost his grip on her arm, allowing her the final moment of indiscernible control to activate the GPS behind her ear. It was unlikely that the signal would be picked up while she was in this lead room. She hoped her body would be taken to the surface while the signal was still active, letting Napoleon know where she was.

She cleared her mind of what-ifs. They would only hinder her ability to fully surrender to the level of hypnosis she was pretty damn sure she was going to need. It was her only hope of surviving whatever Fualth the madman had planned for her. She began the rhythmic breathing, steering her mind to focus on the box, folding the sides shut tightly, and scooting it deep into the recesses of her mind. She was weightless, her mind suspended adrift on a warm current of air accompanied by the comforts of her favorite musicals.

She never heard any of Fualth’s questions, never felt the electric currents that were sent through her body, never screamed when her underdeveloped wings were torn from the anchors against her spine, never responded to the drowning or smelling salts. The only thing that would release her mind now was the right phrase issued from the voice of either Napoleon or Jorie. If this was bad, she felt confident neither would whisper that phrase until her body had healed enough for her to never know the true pain Fualth intended for her. That was, if she survived.

****

Sofia strode briskly across the courtyard. For all appearances, she was on another dire directive from the self-proclaimed master of the fucking universe. Oh, how she hated him. Fualth was in rare form. He usually tried to justify and excuse his sick, sadistic behaviors. With Moira’s persuasion, he’d given up the pretense of just doing what was necessary hours ago. It was obvious to all who witnessed just how much he was enjoying the challenge of trying to break the tiny female.

Sofia didn’t know whether to applaud Moira or beg her to talk and save herself, anything to make the interrogation stop. She wondered if Fualth was starting to realize that his questioning of Moira was becoming harder on his witnesses than it appeared to be on Moira. Fualth had even hooked up a heart monitor to her to see if her heart rate changed, because no matter what he did, he failed to gain any response from Moira whatsoever. Her heart rate never changed from the steady beat. Ironically, Sofia wasn’t the only one forced to watch who was beginning to root for Moira.

It was both fortunate and unfortunate that Fualth had finally reached his end. He had determined that whatever information Moira had could go to the grave with her. He proclaimed satisfaction in taking her out of her network, and hoped it would collapse or reveal itself further without her diligence. If he were less of a monster, he would have just killed the female, but that would be too kind. He decided to have her dissected while still alive. He’d sent Sofia over to the infirmary to have a room prepared for a living autopsy. Heaven forbid they might lose any of her blood, and of course he wanted to harvest her reproductive organs. Animal.

While she had waited for the orderlies to prepare the room, she’d slunk off. This location only housed the few females who had either just given birth or were within a few days of delivery. This was the first time she had actually been to the Kenya Africa nest. She knew of this place only because its primary purpose was advanced militia training. The birthing infirmary was a secondary function. Sam was sent here to complete his training for the elite guard, and he had been stationed here when Sarafina had been rescued a few weeks before giving birth to Nathan. He had been planning on trying to rescue Sara himself, though the chances of either of them surviving would have been nearly zero, especially since they would have been trying to escape either with Sara in labor or with a newborn. Post-birth bleeding from an anemic was one of the reasons female birthing mortality rates sucked. Many females still died from childbirth blood loss. Luckily Sara had been rescued before being transferred to Africa.

Tonight there were only three females on the premises, two Heredity females, due any second, and a Hulven female who had given birth a few hours earlier. While Fualth was performing big, fucked-up fun on poor Moira, Sofia had gotten all three females and the newborn out of the building and into a waiting tunnel generated by the Tellus outside the truck delivery doors. The Tellus had burrowed underneath the electrified fence while the Volaticus had infiltrated the electronic continuity, never setting off the breached alarms.

The two Heredity were being protected somewhere in the surrounding area, awaiting the arrival of someone who could evidently port non-psychics. The Hulven and her infant had already ported to a safe location, hopefully far far far away from this hellhole. The missing females thus far had not been noticed. The skeleton crew of the farce healing staff raced around to do the bidding of Fualth and anything else Sofia could think of to keep them busy.

Thank the Fates, the building where Moira was being tortured did not have an underground passage between it and the infirmary. All that was left was for Sofia to go in and announce that the autopsy room was ready per specification. Fates willing, Moira would still be alive. She would telepathically let Sam know the second they left the building and were in the courtyard with Moira. The SOSC would engage, then finally she would be able to join Sam and Sarafina; get to meet her nephew, Nathan; and get power over her blood. Never again would she have to fake enjoying sex with that monster. With her freedom within her grasp, she prayed that the missing females would go undiscovered. She had to hurry, aware that the alarm could sound at any moment. Increasing to a borderline unprofessional jog, she nodded to the armed patrol she passed.

****

Jess had felt the first moment of discomfort while Shane was tying the lacing of her pants at her waist. When he’d turned her away from him to tie the halter, she’d touched her tongue to the two aching spots at the roof of her mouth. Her shoulders felt like someone was trying to cut into them with a scalpel. Her ears felt like they were being ripped from her head, and to top it off, she felt the worst female cramps coming on. Okay, this was going to really suck.
Be strong for Shane and Moira
was to be her new mantra.

She wasn’t sure what Shane saw on her back, but she wasn’t surprised when he swore. She felt a sudden flash of horror from him through the new bond, followed by a powerful determination. Her mate was freaked by whatever he saw. It motivated him to get this party started so that it could be over. That was her thought too.

She’d felt her heartache and Shane’s when he had ported away, leaving her with Enlil. A cry caught in her throat, and she reached into the space he’d just vacated, touching only air.

“Try to focus on when you will again be able to be with him. It helps.” Enlil offered. Jess nodded, letting Enlil pull her into a consoling hug. Jess stiffened as his arm brushed her painful back and wondered how Enlil had lived without Etana all these years. Did he look forward to his death so he could be with her again?

“What if he gets hurt or killed?” She wouldn’t even be able to take care of him if he did, until those moments at the springs she hadn’t considered that when she’d agreed to everything.

Enlil hugged her tighter. “Shane is a superb warrior, Jess. Gil swears he’s the best trainee he ever had. The male leads a black-ops Ranger unit. I am sure he is having the same fears you are. Remember, you feel each other now. If you’re strong, it will be easier for him.”

Taking a deep, bracing breath, Jess stepped away. It was time to put on her big-girl panties. “So what am I supposed to do?”

En smiled at her. “Drop your shield to me and follow my lead. I will guide you. Your quick mind will do what needs done. If everything goes according to plan, the Heredity females who need our aid will be waiting for us. We port in, link hand to shoulder with them, and draw the energies from whatever source we can, the enemies, preferably. Then we port them to the nearest chortal. From there they can be taken to the hospes for medical eval. We will move on to the next place.” He must have seen the pained look come over Jess, because he paused, his expression sympathetic “I will do my best to hold as much of the psychic burden of retaining the energy for as long as possible. I fear there is not much I will be able to do to ease the physical pain of Becoming for you.”

“I know. Innanna explained everything. I won’t be able to use painkillers because it may allow the psychic energy I … siphon … to be released prematurely. I won’t be able to be near Shane for the same reason. It is the pain of the change in combination with the estrus hormones. That is going to make my ability powerful enough to accomplish this. Any alleviation of it will strip it of its strength.” Jess felt a burning, tearing sensation in her back, followed by a warm trickle of what she could only assume was blood. “I am going to ruin these leathers.” She gritted her aching jaws against the wave of pain, standing strong.