Wicked Souls: A Limited Edition Reverse Harem Romance Collection

by Rebecca Royce

  “So, like, three a.m. on Halloween it’ll blow?”

  “If it’s not disabled by then, yes.”

  “That’s one fucking hell of a coincidence, Ky.” Vinnie leans over the console from the back seat. “Fuck. They knew we’d be there. They targeted you.”

  I shake my head. “I doubt it. If this was a setup, it’s a damn sophisticated one, because there’s no way they could have known the exact minute I’d steal the thing. No, unless those Squads weren’t in on the plan, it’s just a coincidence. I was scanning all the minds in the area when shit was going down, and the Squads were all surprised when Sam’s mark got exposed. They genuinely didn’t know I was there.”

  “I still don’t like it.”

  “Regardless, we’ve got until oh-three-hundred on my fucking birthday before we’re blown sky high.” My blood turns ice cold as I run some calculations in my head. We need to get to the Abnormal home base, the Dead City, but it’s days and days away from us. Our SUV has about eight hours of fuel, with the closest stockpile being about seven hours away in the opposite direction. That leaves more than a day and a half to go it on foot if we head straight to the Dead City and ditch the transport as soon as it runs out of fuel. Vin and Sam could walk that long, but Hal and I would falter a few hours in. And even if we were all Athletes, we’d never make it.

  “Shit.” Vinnie’s no doubt made the same deductions. “What should we do?”

  I mull it over. “Well, we can’t go to the rendezvous point. That just puts everyone else at risk.” A quick tap behind my ear activates my com unit as I change course and steer the SUV between some dead trees. I signal my boys to sync their coms with mine. Eli, my best friend since we were kids and the de facto general of the Abnormal armies, picks right up.

  “Hey, Ky. How did the mission go? What did you find?”

  “Trouble.”

  “What kind of trouble?”

  “The kind that can explode in a couple of days.”

  “Explode?” Eli’s voice rises, and I cringe. “This big weapon we heard about is just a bomb? Can Hal disable it, or did you have to get rid of it?”

  I look over at my youngest companion. “Can you disable it, sweetie?”

  Hal shakes his head. “It’s got a bio-lock, so not without Alyssa Howard’s DNA.”

  “So that’s a ‘no’ on the disabling, I guess.”

  “Well—” Hal’s tone is hesitant, and I sense apprehension from him.

  Sometimes his self-doubt is endearing; right now, it’s irritating. We don’t have time for this. “Hal, we’re not going to Heaven’s Light to steal a sample of Alyssa’s DNA. That would be more suicidal than keeping the damn thing. We need other options.”

  “We have another option, though. Right there in the Dead City.”

  Eli catches on before I do, and even though we’re far out of telepathic range I feel his rage when he answers. “If he thinks I’m moving my sick, pregnant wife to intercept a bomb that may or may not blow us all to Kingdom Come if he’s wrong, he’s got another thing coming.”

  I wrack my brain for a solution. Hal has a point; one of Eli’s wives, due to some unfortunate events, is pregnant with Alyssa Howard’s child. That fetus might have enough of Alyssa’s DNA to deactivate the self-destruct. From what Eli’s told me, though, Clare’s on strict travel restrictions due to some complications with the pregnancy. She can only travel by stasis pod, and it’s a gamble each time they move her.

  The only thing I can think of that keeps Clare out of harm’s way is risky as well, but less risk than the not-a-bomb thing that Hal’s holding in his lap. My freshman Twentieth Century MedTech class comes to mind, and I’m grateful for the eidetic memory that comes along with being a Telepath. “How fresh does the DNA have to be? Can they do an amniocentesis and bring a sample to us?”

  “Ky, no one’s done an amniocentesis in over a hundred years—not since the genescan tech was developed. I don’t even know if the Dead City has the equipment necessary for that, or if any of our medics know how to do it.”

  I roll my eyes. “I wasn’t asking you, Eli. I was asking Hal.”

  “Provided that it’s preserved properly? I think a few hours old should be fine. If you want, I can have my brother Nate start to work on jerry-rigging a setup, and I’m sure there’s at least one Intellect medic who can research and teach themselves the method in time.”

  “Or,” Eli’s voice over the com is a low growl, “you could get rid of the fucking bomb.”

  “Self-destruct.” Hal corrects him, and I pinch the bridge of my nose. I love Hal, but he’s got to learn not to piss people off.

  “Just get rid of it! Throw it out the damn window and be done with it!”

  Our transport isn’t equipped with a holocam, but I shake my head anyway. “No, Eli. No dice. If this weapon is important enough that they sent it out in a convoy of motherfucking modern-day tanks, then it’s important enough to disable the self-destruct and study it.”

  “A convoy of tanks and a lone recon team, from the looks of it.”

  My head swivels to glare at Hal. “When were you going to tell me we’re being tailed?”

  Hal flushes as he scratches the back of his neck. “I didn’t want to interrupt…”

  I pound a fist into the steering wheel. “Well, fuck me sideways.”

  “Now will you ditch the bomb?”

  “Are you kidding? This just proves how important it is to them. I’m keeping the damn thing, and we’ll get it safely to the DC where they can open it up and see what’s in there.” I pause. “How long before you can get an air transport up and operational?”

  A moment passes before Eli answers. “We’ve got one that’s not deployed right now, but it’ll take a while to get it ready. Your timer will be almost up by the time we get to you, and that’s assuming we can get all the stuff together for this amniocentesis you want us to do.” He sighs. “I don’t like cutting it close like this. Are you sure I can’t convince you to dump the package?”

  “Sorry, Eli. Whatever’s in this stasis pod could be the key to turning things around in this fucking war.”

  “If we all survive to study it.” With that he disconnects.

  “That’s it? That’s the plan? Drive towards DC and hope they get to us in time?” Vinnie’s expression in the rearview mirror is sour. He sits back in his seat with a huff and crosses his arms over his chest. “I don’t want to fucking die on your birthday.”

  “You won’t die on my birthday.”

  “I don’t want you to die on your birthday, either.”

  “Oh, for fuck’s sake! No one’s dying on my birthday,” I say with a sigh. “Look, Eli will come through. They’ll get an air transport up, get the DNA, bring it to us, and all will be well.”

  We ride in silence for several minutes, and the tension builds. Vinnie, as always, is concerned for my safety above all else, though his ego would never allow him to admit how scared he is in front of the other two. He rubs his bald head, a nervous habit that reminds me how great it feels to have him between my legs—even if the goatee does tickle a bit.

  Sam, on the other hand, has a full, luscious head of hair that is like thick spun silk. Most days he wears it loose, and the feel of it running through my hands always sends a thrill down my spine. Sometimes, in the heat of the moment, I grab a handful and hold on for dear life.

  Hal continues to inspect the stasis pod, his mind preoccupied with figuring out the puzzle inside. His mind is a fascinating thing to watch, and it gives me something to do as I drive over hills, between dead trees, and across rocky ground. I’ve always loved slipping into the mind of an Intellect; they may be more analytical than your average Abnormal, but their thought processes have a creative beauty to them that most non-Telepaths wouldn’t appreciate.

  Hal’s my omega, my underdog, the one I protect first and foremost. Vinnie and Sam are stronger, both physically and mentally, so I don’t worry about them as much, and both of them keep watch over Hal when I’m
not there—Vinnie especially. Those two have a bond, a love between them that predates our meeting.

  My pack. My charges, my friends, my lovers, my own personal harem. I hope I wasn’t lying to Vinnie when I said no one would die on my birthday.

  I blink to keep the burgeoning tears at bay as a young girl dressed all in white appears in my headlights. I slam on the brakes, and Hal grips the stasis pod tight.

  “What the hell?” I unbuckle the safety device and scramble out of the SUV. How the fuck did a child get all the way out here? I walk around the front to ask who she is, maybe help her find her parents, but by the time I get there, she’s gone.

  “Boss, you okay?” Sam’s voice startles me. I didn’t hear him get out of the transport.

  “Did you see her, Sam? The little girl?”

  He squints into the dense fog that’s rolling in. “No. Ky, there isn’t any little girl out here. There’s no one.”

  “I swear I saw someone standing right in the path of the transport…”

  “C’mon,” he says, taking me by the shoulders and turning me back towards our vehicle. “I think it’s time I took over driving for a bit. You’re probably just tired. A little nap back there with Vin will fix you right up.”

  “You know where to find the next safehouse?”

  “Yep.” He gives my shoulders a squeeze and nudges me to the back door. “I know. You rest. I’ll get us there.”

  I give it one more glance before I climb in, but there’s nothing in front of us but dead trees and fog.

  Three

  I see the girl three more times as we travel through the Midwest wastelands. After Hal says he can’t see her, even with his ocular, I shut up about her. Maybe Sam’s right; maybe I am just tired.

  Hal dozes off two hours in, and I take the stasis pod from him so he doesn’t drop it. As I turn it over and inspect each side, I look for a holoprojector. Nothing breaks the smooth metal surface other than the timer, the DNA lock, and the seam where I assume it opens. No way the girl’s image is coming from this.

  I almost drop the stasis pod myself when two loud pops startle me as the transport lurches. Sam stops the transport, and Vin and I get out to investigate.

  Of all the rotten luck…

  We can handle a flat tire—we have a spare—but two at once?

  I lean against the SUV with a groan, my head in my hands. “Fuck. We were cutting it close as it is—now what?” I turn around and kick one of the flats with the toe of my boot. “What do you think, Vin? Think we still have a chance if we foot it from here?”

  Vinnie rubs his goatee. “Maybe. I mean, Sam and I can’t run as fast as this thing can drive, but we’d be willing to take the package for you. We might be able to save some time on our own.”

  “No.” I shake my head. “I’m not splitting us, and I’m sure as hell not letting you guys take the risk on yourselves.”

  Dead sticks crunch under Sam and Hal’s feet as they join us outside. Hal’s blonde hair is sticking up in places where he had leaned against the window for his nap. He knuckles his eyes and yawns. “What happened?”

  I point at the tires.

  Hal kneels to investigate. His ocular clicks and whirs, and when he sits back his expression is grim. “How the fuck did we hit nails out here?”

  “Nails?” I gaze into the surrounding fog but see no evidence of there ever having been a road here, or construction of any kind. “Are you telling me we ran over two nails at once, out here in the middle of nowhere?”

  “The odds are astronomical, but yes.”

  I squat down next to him and brush his hair down back in place. “And do you see any other nails around here? On the ground, maybe?”

  He leans into my touch. “No. There’s nothing else.”

  “You think it’s sabotage or something, Ky?” Sam asks.

  “No, I don’t think it’s that. It’s something, but according to Hal’s scans, the Squad on our tail has been pretty far behind us the whole time. I doubt they managed to route a second Squad in front of us. It’s suspicious, but I don’t believe it’s sabotage.” My hand drifts down to the small of Hal’s lean back. “Sam, how far are we from the safehouse right now?”

  He activates his UniWeb and pulls up a holo-map. “A couple of hours, if we don’t stop.”

  “Then let’s not stop.”

  Sam and Vinnie take our bags, and I insist on carrying the stasis pod. We leave the SUV behind to rust in the middle of nowhere.

  It’s midmorning by the time we reach the rundown cottage that serves as a safehouse for Abnormals on the run, but to our surprise the fog hasn’t burned away. If anything, it’s thicker, palpable.

  The little girl’s back—and she brought friends. Half a dozen white-clad people mingle around the cabin.

  I’m sure that I’m really seeing them by now, though I can’t figure out why I’m the only one. Perhaps it has something to do with my telepathy; perhaps I’m just weird. Regardless of the reason, they all stare at me with blank faces.

  Thankfully, none of them follow us inside.

  Once we get our things inside the cabin, I instruct Sam and Vinnie to gather more firewood from the surrounding fallen trees. Hal and I start a small fire with the wood available and sit next to each other on the patchwork animal skin rug in front of the fireplace, huddling together for warmth. He slides an arm around my waist, wrapping a thermal blanket around us, and I lean my head against his slim shoulder. Deft fingers, adept at handling tiny electronic parts, work my braid loose until my hair falls free down my back. His idle hand works the tangles of the day out of my long waves.

  I rest a hand on his inner thigh and massage muscles that I’m sure are sore from the forced march. As his hand moves down past the ends of my hair to slide under the waist of my pants, I work my way upward, inching closer and closer to the growing bulge between his legs. He moans and squeezes my ass, but I stop short of my goal.

  “Wait,” I say, breathless. “Wait for Sam and Vin.”

  Hal whines but does as I say; his hand stops in its tracks.

  I continue to rub his leg, just below the groin, and through our link I feel his excitement. He arches his back as waves of desire crash through him. His soft fingers cup and caress my ass, and I can’t wait any longer. I reach through my telepathic links to Vinnie and Sam.

  …[Come back.]…

  Concern radiates from the two of them. I feel Vin’s body tense; his every muscle is on edge. …[Is something wrong, Ky?]…

  …[Yes.]… I say, sending our desires through the link. …[We’re waiting very impatiently for you to return.]…

  Both men relax, and they convey that they’re on their way back.

  “Please—” Hal’s voice is hoarse and strained as he struggles to maintain control. “Please let me be first this time.”

  I stretch up to give him a long, lingering kiss. As our tongues battle, I unfasten his pants and slide a hand in. His member is rock-hard and throbs under my touch. He shudders and returns in kind, fumbling with my zippers until he’s able to peel the NeoSkin off. His skilled fingers slip inside my soaking wet slit, and it’s my turn to moan.

  By the time we’ve completely disrobed, Sam and Vinnie return. Without taking my lips from Hal’s, I wave the two Athletes over. As I climb on top of Hal’s lap, I hear the rustling of clothing as Sam and Vinnie undress.

  It’s a dance we’ve done many a time, though never before with a self-destruct timer ticking down just a few feet away. Somehow, the notion that we could all die tomorrow adds to my excitement.

  I lower myself onto Hal’s cock and start to rock my hips. My nerve endings are on fire, and the sensation of being inside Hal’s mind as I ride him—of feeling my warm, wet pussy wrapped around his throbbing manhood—adds to the flame.

  Vinnie’s the first to join us, and as soon as he’s positioned himself behind me, his dick slides into my ass. He presses his bare chest against my back, and I shudder as his Athlete muscles add their warmth. Vin’s hands s
nake around to my breasts, and I revel in the feel of my firm mounds beneath his calloused fingertips.

  Hal’s PermaLinks are the best thing since sliced bread. Six hands are exploring and enticing, three sets of lips, three tongues—we’re all feeling everything as one—but it’s not enough. Not yet.

  Not one to leave anyone out, I motion for Sam to come over. He stands next to me and grabs a fistful of my loose hair. I turn my head and welcome his ready cock into my mouth. My lips wrap around his shaft while my hand grips the base, and as my head bobs his orgasm reaches a crescendo. Sam is gentle, never forceful, as he pumps his hips to meet my mouth.

  In the back of my mind, deeper than the PermaLink penetrates, I know we’re wasting time. We should rest. We should sleep for a couple of hours and get back on the road as soon as possible. The closer we are to the Dead City when Eli has the air transport ready, the sooner they’ll get to us with the baby’s DNA sample.

  I don’t care, though. If the plan doesn’t work out, this will be my last day with these three. I want to relish it. I want to cherish it.

  Hal finishes with a scream, and with a few final pushes he fills me.

  I disengage from Sam and pull Hal in for a deep kiss. …[Thank you, my love.]…

  Vinnie kisses Hal after I’m finished, and says, …[Now, Ky?]… His mental voice is pleading, and I know he wants to get on with his favorite part.

  …[Now.]… I think back with a moan.

  Without pulling out, Vin stands and faces us to Sam. Sam slides in with ease, and the two pump in unison while I keep my legs wrapped around Sam’s narrow hips to hold myself up. I wrap Sam’s silky hair around my fist and pull him in for a deep kiss. He moans into my mouth until the combined sensations through the PermaLinks send him over the edge. Our screams echo in the tiny cottage.

  Hal’s ready again in seconds, and when he slides into Vinnie’s ass and joins us, I lose it. My juices squirt all over Sam, and it creates a riptide of orgasms that leave us all breathless. The three of them stand together with me held aloft, none of us wanting the contact to end. I’m enveloped by love and affection, and I drink it up.