Edrian smiled and motioned to one of his men. “That is not necessary.”
Olivia’s eyes widened when two rebels walked up to them and pulled off the masks that were covering their faces. The smaller figure she recognized as soon as her long dark-brown hair burst free from its confines and settled around her perfectly shaped face. “Two?”
Two rushed forward and yanked her into her arms. “Twenty-four, I knew it was you, but Edrian warned me not to say anything until he had questioned you both. There is always the chance that Schultz and Schmidt will send some of the recruits to fight against us alongside the true insurgents. And please, call me Starla.” Two released her. “This is David.” She smiled at the good-looking young man next to her.
“My name is now Olivia, and this is Jason from the male division.”
“It is good to finally know your name, Jason.” David pulled Jason into a hug, then stepped back and stood beside Starla.
Olivia felt a tear slide down her cheek. Was she crying? Her heart was filled with happiness, so why were there tears? From when they were young, tears were forbidden. If they cried, they were punished, so she had long ago learned to control the urge to cry. Now, she couldn’t stop the tears from escaping. Jason’s arm slid around her waist pulling her close to his side. She leaned her head on his shoulder and brushed away the tears.
Starla cocked her head at them and grinned. “It looks like we have a lot to catch up on.”
“Come, we have a meal ready, and I am sure you are both hungry. You can tell us about your mission while we eat.” Edrian led them to one of the campfires and motioned for them to take a seat.
Olivia started off, with Jason filling in details. Olivia felt as if a weight had been lifted from her when they had finally finished the tale of their mission, the discovery of Ryan and his laboratory, the sorcerer, Valindra, and the ingredients of the forever young serum.
David brushed his hair out of his face. “I can’t believe that twisted bastard has a twin brother.”
“Had. Ryan is dead. Reduced to dust. I shot him in his laboratory after he threw a jar of some kind of acid at me. I was faster.” Jason poked a stick in the coals.
“The king will need to be notified of this laboratory. Do you know where the goddess Valindra is now?” Edrian asked. “I would like to speak to her about the Schultz brothers and their gold. There must be a traitor in the palace who supplied them. Maybe she can give me more information.”
Olivia wrinkled a brow. “She vanished once she had led us to the rebels. She told us she was returning to her home, to her temple.”
“I must inform my father. He will get word to the king.” Edrian stood, a grim expression on his face. “For now, the four of you stay here. My men will provide you with a tent and bedrolls for the night.”
Olivia’s jaw went slack when Edrian stepped into a nearby large clearing, his body shifting from a man to that of a great reptilian beast. Golden scales glittered in the light of the setting suns when the dragon beat its wings and leaped into the sky.
“You’ll get used to it.” Olivia patted her shoulder and grinned.
Olivia stretched out on the bedroll in the tent Edrian’s men had provided her and Jason. So much had happened the past couple of days that it was making her feel giddy at times. She stared at the ceiling of the tent, memories the goddess had freed flashing to the forefront of her mind. Was her family still alive? She knew General Henry Fitzgerald was, but what had happened to her mother? Where were Vera and Robbie? Did her father have something to do with their disappearance?
Jason stepped through the flap and slid his body next to hers. “What are you thinking about?” He brushed his fingers across her cheek, then tangled them in the strands of her hair.
Her skin felt scalded where his fingers had touched. All she wanted was to lose herself in his arms and forget who her father was. “Do you believe what Valindra told us? That we were meant for each other?” Her voice was a whisper so low she could barely hear it herself.
Jason pulled her into his arms, her back flush against his chest, and held her. “After what we have seen on Brevona, I am not sure what to believe, and I am through letting someone else dictate my life.”
Olivia sucked in a breath. It felt as if he had cleaved her heart in two. She tried to pull away from him, but he held her too tight. “Let me go.”
“Olivia, I am not finished.” He loosened his hold and gently turned her to face him, his eyes blazing blue fire. “I have feelings for you that I have never experienced before. Feelings that I can’t explain, and for once, they are my own. Not the numbness and anger that has been drilled into me by the doctors. Do I believe that we are meant for one another? Yes, maybe... I don’t know, but I sure as hell don’t want Valindra’s words to influence the way we feel about each other. All I know is that I don’t ever want to lose you. That somehow, I want to build a life and a future with you.”
She squirmed beneath him, aching to wrap her arms around his neck and taste his lips. She succumbed to the impulse and pulled his head down. “I fell for you long before we met the goddess,” she whispered against his lips, then kissed him.
When she pulled back, he shifted to his side, settling her against his chest. “I fell for you the moment I saw you at the portal. No recruit had ever dared to speak to Schultz the way you did. I was impressed.”
“I knew deep down that the message Twelve gave me was true. They planned for us to activate the implant, to die. We are expendable according to the Institute and the WLO.” An image of her father’s face flashed before her eyes. She peered up at Jason, a lump forming in her throat. I have to tell him. “My father is General Henry Fitzgerald.”
“I know.”
She pushed herself to sit up. “What do you mean you know?”
He yanked her back down and kissed her soundly, then nestled her in his arms. “You told me your last name was Fitzgerald. When you shared your experience about the terrorist attack and the bus explosion, I put two and two together. General Fitzgerald lost his daughter while he was stationed in Austria. He was a captain then. Her school bus was hijacked by terrorists. During the ensuing chase and after WLO would not negotiate, the bus exploded, killing everyone on board. It is part of the biographical articles of the WLO members we were allowed to read at the Institute.”
Her skin prickled, and her heart felt as if it would burst with excitement. “We weren’t allowed to read any of those. What did it say of my mother? My brother and sister?”
“There was nothing about any other children, but it said his wife had died of recurring leukemia quite some time ago.” He tightened his arms around her. “I’m so sorry, Olivia.”
Her mother had been ill. She remembered that now. But why was there no mention of Robbie and Vera? Had her father hidden them? He certainly had the power now that he was such a high-ranking official of WLO.
“After we deal with Blood Eclipse, we will find both our families. For now, let’s get some rest.” Olivia savored the feel of Jason’s body next to hers and for the first time in a long time drifted into a restful sleep.
Olivia sat in front of the communications console. Jason was seated beside her. Edrian had explained to her that her father had accepted his commission as a general with WLO so he could avenge her death. He blamed WLO for the explosion, and for years had been trying to find a way to punish those that had taken his daughter away from him. Edrian also explained how he came to know her father, and how the general had become part of the resistance. Hearing her father was not in league with WLO, she could hardly wait to talk with him.
The big moment was about to happen. Edrian had made it possible. After all these years, she would be able to see and speak to her father. Maybe he would explain why he was still working with the enemy.
She and Jason had settled on Brevona as part of Edrian’s resistance group. Their priority? Assist in taking down the Blood Eclipse faction, then demolish WLO, destroy the Ins
titute and the two doctors that controlled it. It scared her. Her father was an active high official of WLO, that meant he could be hurt during the attack. The thought alone devastated her. She couldn’t have found her father only to lose him to the pending attack on the WLO regime.
She tapped her fingers on the table, impatiently waiting for the incoming transmission.
“Nervous?” Jason gave her a sidelong glance.
“What do you think? Hell, I’m not even human anymore. I’m a damn cyborg.” She held her breath, then let it out slowly to calm her nerves.
Jason gently grasped her chin and turned her to face him. “Olivia, you are the most incredible woman I have ever met. You are beautiful, intelligent, and one hell of a resistance fighter. Your father is not going to care that you have a cybernetic arm and leg and a bit of cybernetic stuff on your face. You are perfect just the way you are.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “I love you.”
Olivia had fallen head over heels for this man, and she didn’t care who knew. Living among the dragons had been a crash course in social skills, and she loved every minute of life on Brevona. “I love you, too.” She wrapped her arms around Jason’s neck kissing him soundly.
A deep cough sounded over the communications speaker, making her jump. “Your young man is right, Olivia. You will always be perfect in my eyes.”
She turned her attention to the projector screen and smiled at her father through the stream of tears that fell steadily. Happy tears. He looked older now, but still the same loving face from her memories. “Dad... Daddy... I have missed you so much.”
“Pumpkin, I can hardly wait until we’re together again. This has been the most unbelievable news I have had in my life. Your brother and sister will be overjoyed, though of course, they don’t remember you. They were too young.” He swallowed hard. “If only your mother were still...”
Sadness filled her heart, even though she had grieved the loss of her parents so long ago, there would always be an emptiness in her soul where her mother’s presence had been. “I heard that the leukemia finally got Mom. I’m sorry, Daddy. Where are Vera and Robbie?”
“With your grandparents. I will see if you can talk to them soon, too.”
Oh, my God. My grandparents. They’re still alive? Their faces floated through her mind for a moment until her father’s voice interrupted her thoughts.
“You know, after the explosion, all I found was your scorched backpack. I still have it. Hoping that you had been thrown clear, I searched for you but found nothing but body parts, all too horrible to describe. After that, everything is kind of hazy. The shock of losing you hit me hard, and in such a terrible way. What was interesting, when I was sitting in General Pichler’s car, I vaguely saw Schultz drive away on the country road next to the highway. I mentioned it to the general. I can’t imagine how the bastard managed to smuggle you to his limo. You were terribly hurt, from what Edrian has told me.”
“I was. In a way, I should be grateful because Schultz and Schmidt saved my life. Their technology is way beyond normal medical techniques. I doubt I would have lived otherwise.”
His expression hardened, and his voice sounded as cold as steel. “That may be true, and I am thankful for that, too, but he is still a monster and always will be. You became one of his experiments, like so many other children and babies, many of whom were not in accidents or hurt. Children ripped away from their loved ones. It has to be stopped. Now that the scientists on Brevona are in possession of all his data, his research, it will help the medical field tremendously, but Schultz and Schmidt will pay dearly for their atrocities.” His gaze softened. “I am so proud of you, Olivia. You always had your mother’s fighting spirit. Trust Edrian. We speak quite often to discuss strategy on how to take WLO down. He is a good man, and—”
Crackling noises began to interfere with the transmission. “Dad, I think we’re going to lose connection. I hope we can talk again soon. I love you.”
“I love you, too, and—”
Static filled the screen, then suddenly it went blank. Olivia sighed and leaned her head on Jason’s shoulder. The communication had been too brief, but her heart flowed over with thankfulness. Even more so now that she knew her father was against WLO’s regime but had continued working for them to spy on them and relay information to Edrian, who was the leader of the resistance. How, why, or what, she did not know yet. She still had so many questions. Maybe Edrian could answer many of them later, or... her father could enlighten her when they were reunited.
“Two of my personal missions are accomplished—to be free and to find my family. Now we need to find yours,” she told Jason.
Her father was alive, her brother and sister safe with her grandparents, and she was free to build a life with Jason. No matter what lay ahead, they would face the future together.
Other books by Taryn and Gabby:
Crimson Realm Chronicles
In Search of Pride
The Dragon’s Lion
Sword of Betrayal
Sword of Judgement
Testing the Crown
Shard in the Mirror
Initiation Genesis
The Lion’s Stowaway (Star Chasers anthology)
Veiled Eliminators
Extrication
Virama
About the Authors
Taryn Jameson is a mother, artist, and avid reader who lives in an enchanted forest that sparks her imagination to create. Her latest outlet is the written word. She is the alter ego of cover artist Angela Waters.
Gabriella Bradley has been a writer and artist all her life, though only ventured into erotic works in 2003. Her hobbies include hiking, gardening, swimming, sewing, embroidery. Favorite movies are old timers like Gone with the Wind, Spartacus, etc. Favorite music is Abba.
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