The Change: Episode one (26 page)

I thought back to my matches, to the
interviews I’d given… dominated. Maybe I’d been planning things
even then, going through their reporters one by one to prove that I
could. Maybe I’d been plotting then, too. I had never intended to
go home with my prize and settle down without handing out justice
to those responsible. His family was an easy target, but it was the
Network who made all of these horrors possible. Even then, I’d
known who the real enemy was.

Irony prompted the harsh laugh that spilled
from my lips. No wonder Baker had come to me. For a duty this big,
the one doing it had to be fearless, and I was as close as it came.
My only terror had always been Daniel. Now, I didn’t even have that
weakness to stop me from joining their cause.

“
Would it help to know
there are a few more of us than I may have implied?”

My lips drew back, and I pushed my buzzing
mind into concentration so I wouldn’t miss any of the details. “I’m
listening, Convict.”

D

I was surprised when she left us alone.

She’d brought Baker into the middle car and
then closed the door while she talked to Angelica in the hall.

Baker was also surprised she had left us
with no divider. It was in those flashing silver eyes, and I stared
at him as evenly as I could. The Convict and I needed to get some
things straight and it had to be now while we had this minute. I
didn’t know when we would get the next one, and I glared as I
opened my mouth.

“
You can stop. She already
made her choice.”

I hadn’t been expecting that, and I leaned
back, trying to figure out if he was a threat. My expression made
him shake his head.

“
Yeah, I don’t understand
it either. What the hell does she see in you?”

I growled at the insult, but there was no
denying the pain in his voice. She had told him they were through.
It went a long way toward soothing my wounded ego, and I stopped
the words I’d been going over in my head.

“
You better be what she
needs,
boy
!” Baker
growled at me, showing a little of the menace I was sure that
Candice was attracted to.

I leaned forward, showing him I had picked
up my own version of her rage. “I’ll still be holding her when the
Network shoots your ass.”

“
Slam you,
Playboy!”

“
Right back at ya,
Convict.”

The door slid open, and we both stopped as
Candice stepped into the room. She read the tension, let out a deep
sigh, but I sensed she actually liked it, and I puzzled over that
impression.

“
I see you two are getting
acquainted.” She waved a hand. “Come along, Daniel.”

With a last gloating glare at Baker, I
followed her to our rooms.

C

I’d put Angelica on Baker
for the night, but I saw she had herself set to spend the time out
in the hall, and I jerked a hand toward the door. “You can’t keep
someone like
him
by being so far away.”

She growled at me. The change was flickering
in her eyes, and I shrugged, moving around her stiff stance. “He’s
healed enough. Ask him.”

There was another of those nearing violence
snarls, and then she was storming into the middle room where we had
Baker stashed. I doubted she would take my advice, but having them
together would keep both of them from stewing on their own
miseries. Angelica and I were enough alike that I thought maybe the
two would pass the night talking… about me.

The motion of the train was usually steady,
so I wasn’t expecting the violent shudder that ran through the
metal. Grinding in an ear-splitting shriek before straightening
out, I assumed we’d hit debris on the tracks and continued to our
room. Just next door, I was glad the walls were thickly padded for
privacy. Screams might carry, but not conversations, and I sensed
my new mate had a tirade waiting for me.

Daniel had been silent since I’d put him in
his place, and I was actually looking forward to setting things
straight. I’d made my choice. Now, I could take him with a clear
conscience. I still didn’t plan to rush it, but there was no longer
anything holding me back, except timing. I wanted to be able to
remember it forever.

As we stepped inside, that creak of agonized
metal came again, this time without the shudder. I didn’t let it
worry me, though I saw Daniel’s tense shoulders and knew it did
him. “There are escape hatches all along the cars.”

He nodded, turning to look at me, and I
braced for his jealousy.

“
Why didn’t you claim him?
Before?”

I hadn’t been expecting that. Without a
rehearsed answer, I gave the truth. “He wasn’t you.”

Daniel’s grin lit up the darkest places in
my heart and I stepped closer. “Nothing happened last night. It was
cold. That’s it.”

“
But you… care for
him.”

I didn’t lie. “Yes. He helped me through the
worst years of my life.”

Daniel’s beautiful face darkened. “While you
were… changing.”

I shook my head, pulling on the string to my
cloak. “While I was without you.”

That eased his jealousy, and I finished it
off. “Baker and I are over.”

“
Why not? You’re allowed to
have both.”

His quick response made me wonder what all
he and Baker had talked about when I’d left to settle us in for the
night. I snorted at the thought of trying to live that way. “One at
a time.”

Daniel winced at my choice of words, and I
cursed my thoughtless mouth. Instead of explaining my meaning, I
pushed off my boots and sent my hands to the long black shirt I
always wore over my normal clothes on runs.

D

I watched her come into focus like it was a
movie, and I think I stopped breathing as her silken body began
emerging. She had muscles tattooed with roses, stars, and flags of
the places she’d been during her bounty runs… and I couldn’t look
away.

Her peach swells glowed in the flickering
train light, and my jealous thoughts faded into desire. She had
that effect on me, and I was starting to suspect she knew and was
using it. I was aware she wanted me willing, but I don’t think she
realized how well her plans were working. I’d been scared before,
but after getting to know her over the last week, my body had
already decided I was agreeable, and without any help.

She stripped down to her bed clothes – a
sheer black half-top and matching shorts - and I had to clear my
throat before I could speak. “Where do you want me?”

The heat in her pink gaze made me flush and
I hurried to remove my own over-clothes, thinking it would be
perfect if she took me tonight with Baker in the next room. Hoping
she didn’t pick up on my gloating attitude, I folded my cloak and
laid it on the side of the bed.

Her eyes burnt holes into
my back when my hands went to the buckle of my jeans, and I had the
sudden intuition that if I pushed, I could get her to take me
tonight. Candice had spent the night in
his
arms without seeking relief. She
had to be ready.

Hiding my face from her sharp gaze, I took
off my pants and then started on the buttons of my shirt.

C

When he took his time instead of scurrying
under the covers as usual, I understood what he was doing. On
another day, it might have made me angry or forced me to teach him
another lesson on trying to manipulate a female, but right now,
there was too much heat.

The time in Baker’s arms, smelling him all
those hours, had given me a wall of fire I’d been storing behind my
rage. The sight of Daniel now trying to push me into what I wanted
anyway had me waiting to see how far he would go... and burning. If
it was as far as I suspected, the cuffs were in the drawer.

His shirt fell away, was neatly folded and
placed on the stand. Bare skin gleamed at me, and I gave him my
Games grin. It was only fair to know when you were pushing a
Changeling into an attack.

Instead of a flinch, Daniel nodded. “I’m
ready.”

Heat. Lightning and
flames
. I pulled down the sheet and
delivered a single warning, “I can break most cuffs.”

D

Her words made my grin widen, and my body
responded. “I hadn’t planned on using them anyway.”

Candice paused; taut body hardening into
pointed peaks that drew my eye. She was so sexy!

I felt a tremor of worry as I watched her
nails shred a thin hole in the top sheet. She didn’t seem to be
aware of it. Hoping I wasn’t about to make a big mistake, I dipped
the mattress with my heavy body and rolled toward her.

She was lying stiffly with
her hands clenched at her hips, and I slowly raised my hand to her
face. She didn't move, and I slid my thumb along her cheek, her
lips. She was beautiful to me, so different from before when I
couldn’t stand to look at my renter.
I
traced her shoulder scars - her badges of honor - with my heavy
thumb. I was awed by her resilience. She’d been sliced, stabbed,
shot, beaten, and little seemed to affect her. What I wouldn’t give
to be like that!

I moved carefully over her, bracing an arm
on the other side of her head, and she flashed pink eyes at me,
then grinned. Scared again, my lips hovered just over hers. When
she slowly moved toward me, I held still.

She pressed her mouth to mine, a moan of
need in her throat rising to fill my ears, and I found myself
pushing back. Candice let the kiss linger, our lips sliding, breath
mingling. When she pulled back, her eyes were almost solid red.

"Any farther and I may not be able to stop,
Daniel.”

"I don't want you to," I admitted shyly and
watched her nostrils flare, like she was scenting prey. Her head
rose back to mine, and this time, her mouth was demanding,
insisting. My grip tightened on her arm as I slid my tongue over
those sweet lips. She tasted good!

“
Mmm…”

Her moan had me a bit dazed, and I kissed
her like I’d been wanting to since we’d left the complex. I
threaded my big hands through her short, silky hair and held her
still as I stroked her tongue, teasing. I heard the sheet rip
again. It was incredible, sending my need into a new level, and I
shuddered when her hand touched the bare skin of my chest.

"Easy..."

She breathed against my cheek and my heart
thumped as she stroked my skin, lightly raked her nails over my
taut nipple.

I dipped my head to her
neck, nose full of her exotic scent, and pressed a kiss to her
throat, feeling the hunger rise up to match the need she'd woken in
me. It had
never
been like this.

C

My hands were pushing clothes aside, his
silken hair against my bare skin making me arch, and then I was
groaning against his neck as he rolled us over to lie between my
legs. "Kiss me!"

He raised his mouth obediently, and I met it
with a snarl of lust. His hand slid up my ribcage to cup my breast,
and my legs went around his hips. I thrust back against his
hardness with no thoughts of stopping except maybe long enough to
put on the cuffs.

He shifted, bringing our bodies flush, and I
groaned into his mouth when his member twitched against my thigh,
seeking entrance. The kiss deepened, electricity flowing between
our bodies.

I was aware of a noise
beyond our groans and breathing, but the need to finish was driving
at my control. He was more than willing, and I was… about to be
attacked!
In our passion, I hadn’t noticed
the train stopping.

I watched the door inch
open with red eyes, and then I was
Changing
. Blood red fury flashed
through me.

I rolled Daniel toward the wall and shoved
him off the bed as the door swung open wide, and shadows darted
inside.

I followed him over, snatching my guns from
the table. I pressed him into the corner as I opened fire

“
Don’t hit the
male…sss!”

The shout startled me more than the
recognition, and I swept the room with gunfire, hitting one of the
five.

I swung high, spraying a line that took out
a second slithering bitch, then switched to the other gun as the
remaining three Snake Trackers lunged.

D

“
Candy!”

They hauled her away from me before she
could finish reloading, and I was snatched by rough hands that were
about to throw me over their shoulder. I shoved backward, forcing
the female to follow.

It was the Snake woman I’d offered the drink
to, and I instinctively spun us toward the wall and slanted my
mouth over hers. It was all I could think to do.

She froze against me, and I
deepened the kiss.
Touching her
scale-covered form was disgusting – slimy and unpleasant – and I
struggled with my fear and my need to survive as she rattled
against me. I didn’t want to know what part of her made that
sound.

The Tracker had frozen, but
that was turning into something dangerous now, and I tried not to
gag as her forked tongue hesitantly met mine.
Determinedly seeing Candice in my head, I pressed against the
revolting woman and willed my owner to hurry.
I’d been trained in the needs of a Changeling, and I sent my
hands over her body in fast, knowing movements that had her control
weakening and her grip tightening. Much more would see me killed
when I couldn’t give what I was promising, but I kept at it even
though I’d never been so limp. I had to buy Candy time to deal with
the other two…