ShiftingHeat

by Lynne Connolly

  Faye watched in silence, forcing down the tears that sprang to her eyes when she was reminded of her parents and what she’d left behind. She swallowed. “How is that possible? How didn’t we know?”

  “No laboratory,” Ann told her. “The Cardross family sold Talents for years. They passed on the skill from generation to generation. Your parents weren’t the first ones they sold, nor were they the last. Serena was just carrying on the family tradition.”

  Faye gaped.

  Ann muted the TV. “You didn’t hear? I’m sorry. I thought Daria had told you.”

  Faye found her voice. “Serena was a Cardross?”

  “Yes, my dear, I’m afraid she was.”

  She couldn’t doubt Ann. Already she’d learned that Ann didn’t state a fact without being totally sure of it first. “I thought I’d walked away from that.” Her head spun but slowly details returned to her. The antique weapon that Nordheim had used, the way he noticed her from her first appearance at the university. He’d worked with Serena and done her a favor when she’d asked. To draw Faye closer. If Ann was right and she was the real target that day in Nordheim’s office, it made even more sense.

  She sighed. “As long as you have that killing on your conscience, they will be after you and you will have that vulnerability. I want you to make a full confession to our FBI friend. He’ll file it and you might have to go to court. There is no statute of limitations on murder, but in your state, there is a limit on manslaughter and self-defense and those have long passed. The only way you can suffer is if the judge decides to go ahead with a murder prosecution. That or nothing. That won’t happen in your case.”

  “But I—”

  Ann wouldn’t let her finish. “Self-defense. He drew his weapon first. We will provide all the legal help you need and they will run around the question until it becomes a financial burden on the state. That’s the worst-case scenario. Now we’re uncovering the truth about the Cardrosses, it wouldn’t be a good idea for them to prosecute the person who killed a mass murderer. Because that is what the Cardross family did. The authorities are more likely to thank you.”

  She sat numbly, clutching a hand that couldn’t grip back. He heard, he knew. “Serena was really a Sorcerer, wasn’t she? How could she be a Cardross?”

  “She’s the result of a union between a Cardross woman and one of the prisoners they took. Tracing her background made the last piece of the puzzle fall into place. She was brought up as a Cardross and they nurtured her Talent. They used her as a weapon.”

  “The bitch dies.” She would do it herself, if she had to.

  “Oh there’s no doubt about that.” Ann paused. “I believe Andros was identified when he linked with you publicly.”

  “Are you sure about Daria? Is she that good?” Faye couldn’t help her doubts now. Ann had just pulled the proverbial rug from under her feet and Faye wasn’t sure of anything anymore. No, scratch that. She squeezed Andros’ hand. She was sure of one thing.

  “Daria doesn’t come into the city often. She fights to maintain her sanity, sleeps in one of the iso rooms. She’s massively Talented, even for a virgin Sorcerer, and I don’t ask for her personal services too much because I know how much she suffers when she comes into the city. But we need her now. And when she discovered the existence of the Cardrosses, she insisted on coming because one of her kind was involved. It’s thanks to Daria we have discovered all of this so quickly. I know what you’re thinking.”

  Ann didn’t need psi, only her own native shrewdness. She stood perfectly still, framed in the open doorway, all her attention on Faye. “It wasn’t all your fault, there are other factors. I think there’s a connection between Serena and Andros. She wants him, but she can’t admit it. So she took him. She didn’t pass him on, she kept him. We waited at the hotel she took him to, hoping to pick up the next connection, the person who would take him, but all we found was someone turning up with a rented car in her name. She was taking him somewhere on her own. Maybe she planned to keep him as a kind of pet. That’s what we plan to work on, it’s what Daria is insinuating into Serena’s mind. She’s slowly stripping Serena, but there’s a danger that Serena will decide to self-combust before Daria can get near her core. So Daria is feeding her images of Andros, reminding her that Andros is here and he needs her, that only she can unlock him from this stasis. We won’t appeal to her better nature. I don’t think she has one. But slight hints, suggestions that she might see him again or even have him for her own might keep her going. We need to move Andros now. Take him down to see her.”

  Faye held her breath. The risk was immense, but no worse than keeping Andros in this form for the rest of his life or risk destroying him. She knew what Andros would want. He wouldn’t want to live this way. Far worse than anything that had gone before. He’d go insane.

  He’d seen Faye’s shock when she first set eyes on him and he agreed with it. He wouldn’t live like this. He’d refuse to eat or drink if they couldn’t save him. While they heaved him out of bed, dressed him in sweats and loaded him into his wheelchair, he had time to think. It wasn’t desperation or self-pity. He’d already tried to control his blinks or even his breathing to try to communicate in a rudimentary way, but Serena had left him with only involuntary actions, the kind that kept him alive. That was cruel in itself. To do that was to turn him into the living opposite of a zombie—his mind intact, but not his body.

  If this proved his fate, he’d die. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t thought about it before. He even knew his preferred way and since he could still swallow, it remained his favorite. Drift away with the right drugs. Faye said she loved him. He believed her, but if he lived, she’d never move on. She’d care for him, maybe hoping for something she couldn’t have. He wouldn’t do that to her. Better to make the break and let her go on with her life.

  Having made the decision, Andros felt better, as if a weight had been lifted away from him. He could face death although he didn’t seek it, and he had little else to fear. He’d even found love.

  He wouldn’t give up yet. He had to give Daria a chance.

  They wheeled him down to the iso rooms. With his fingers on the rests, the feel of the raised spots where he’d put stickers of the moon and stars and the rough patch he used to pick at reminded him of times he never wanted to see again. This was a state-of-the-art wheelchair. It reclined at a touch, moved via the joystick affixed to the control panel by his hand. Not that any of it would help him now. The last time he’d used this had been the afternoon he’d been abducted, just before his conversion. Thinking of that time reminded him of the stoicism he’d possessed, the humor he wielded like a weapon, as if death was the worst thing that could happen to him. Now he knew better.

  A familiar black cloud descended on him, hovering around his head. He could feel it, sense it. But he refused to let it in. Used to rejecting it, used to pushing it away, it still came much harder this time. He couldn’t fight it much longer before he’d descend into the pit of despond. Rather than that— Shit, he was doing it again.

  At least they didn’t encounter many people on their way to iso room three. With such a powerful and hostile being around, Ann had probably had the floor cleared, if not the building. Necessary security staff only.

  Ann paused before she opened the door and he knew she was checking with Daria before she entered, although he couldn’t contact anyone that way. If he concentrated, he could persuade himself he was back in his room, trying to meditate. Deliberately cutting the world off instead of having it forced on him.

  Two heads turned at their entrance, brunette and blonde. Power throbbed in the air, combative and menacing. It prickled his skin, made the small hairs stand on end. He almost welcomed it.

  Then came a voice in his head. Hello, Andros. Have you found a way out yet?

  He was so glad to hear someone he could communicate with he nearly welcomed her in. Serena. Can you fix this?

  Oh yes, I can fix it. But you have to give me a good reason to
do it.

  Ann bent down and murmured in his ear. “Keep going.”

  Shocked that she realized what was happening, Andros almost lost it. But he had Serena now, and he concentrated on keeping her. Not that she couldn’t leave as soon as she wanted to. But he had to talk to her, not appear desperate or she’d pounce on that and use it.

  I can teach you what I promised, he reminded her.

  I might enjoy that. To take you somewhere quiet, just the two of us. They’d let me do that.

  No, no they wouldn’t. Not after what she had done.

  He felt something stir, deep inside. Was it something Serena was doing, or something that was happening despite her? It felt like cells coming to life after a long sleep.

  Serena turned away from him but kept her presence inside him.

  Then he realized what was happening. Every programmer left a backdoor or two into a program so they could get in and alter things, monitor things. Serena probably had one. That was how she’d gotten in without disturbing the layers of protection she’d put around him. Please God that was Daria he felt as an extra, lurking presence, not his own imagination.

  I can cope like this. I’ve been crippled before. But I’d rather not have to.

  A pet. Her musings sickened him. I’d like a pet.

  He controlled his revulsion, barely. A hand on his shoulder. He didn’t have to look, he knew it was Faye. Warmth and desire blossomed within him and he sensed the moment when Serena sharpened, her attention honed. Shit, she was going for Faye. If she did, he’d kill her. Somehow he’d make sure she died.

  But someone else got in the way, threw up a ring and then blocked. He couldn’t feel Serena anymore and when he tried, he couldn’t converse with her.

  Daria leaned back in her hard chair and covered her face with her hands. “You did well, Andros. If you try, you can move now.”

  He tried. It hurt, so bad, but he rejoiced that he could feel the pain. Like a masochist reveling in his suffering, he pressed his hands against the arms of the chair, flexed his feet. He got up from the wheelchair and took Faye in his arms. They could lock him away there if they liked.

  *

  They behaved themselves, right until he closed the door to his apartment. Then Andros slammed Faye against it, taking her breath, and she panted a laugh as he dragged up her T-shirt and bent to her breasts, drawing one into his mouth with ravenous hunger. He fumbled with her pants and she reached for his, dragging his sweats down as he tugged her panties away. She heard the rip as fabric tore, kicked her pants aside when he’d pulled them down enough for her to finish the job with her feet. Thank fuck she’d worn shoes she could toe off, otherwise she’d be completely hampered. And she wanted to get as close to him as she could.

  He touched her, roughly inserted a finger inside her pussy. “God, you’re so wet!” He thrust a couple of times but then pulled away. “I can’t wait. I need you.”

  “I need you too. God, I really thought I’d lost you!” She’d never forget the despair she’d hidden from him when she realized he couldn’t move, might never move again. But Daria had worked her magic and now Serena had the problem, not Andros. He still wasn’t sure what magic she’d performed, but he didn’t care, not right now.

  He thrust and drove his hard, wet cock into her. She lifted her legs, sandwiched between Andros and the door, loving this imprisonment. Adoring him. The door rattled when he shoved her against it, banged in rhythm to his thrusts. The sweetest music she’d ever heard. She cried out, craving his ownership of her, knowing she shouldn’t.

  “Just let go. Do it. It doesn’t matter what anyone thinks or what they want. We’ll do what we want and we’ll love it. You want it harder, don’t you?”

  “Yes! Oh God, yes!” She was almost sobbing now, and if he stopped she’d beg him not to.

  But he didn’t stop. He grunted as he thrust, a gloriously male sound of possession. Her breath escaped in tiny pants, a yelp escaping her involuntarily with the deepest part of each thrust. He touched her sweetest spot every time, drove her higher but caressed her with his mind, curled his thoughts around her and refused to let go.

  “Let me come.”

  “Together.”

  Without warning, he released her mind, changed his rhythm and gave a series of sharp, hard stabs that drove her mindless. Fireworks burst in her body, bathing her with heat, but she shivered with her orgasm. She came and came until she was barely conscious.

  He carried her to the bedroom and laid her down.

  She smiled up at him. “Shouldn’t we bathe?”

  “In a little while.” He drew a finger down her body, still half clothed and wet with her sweat and his. “Maybe I want dirty sex. Would you like that?”

  “If you would, so would I.” She sat, stripped off her T-shirt and reached for the back fastening of her bra. He came back to tug her into his arms.

  “I shouldn’t feel this exhausted.”

  “Stress. And you haven’t changed yet to fully heal.” She slid her hands up his chest, dotted a kiss on each pectoral, tasting the saltiness of his desire for her. “We don’t have any reason to hurry now.”

  “What about your job?”

  “They can suck it up. It’s time I changed, anyway. I was getting into a rut. I’ll think about it another time.” She didn’t care. She knew she’d have to do something, but she wasn’t sure what she wanted to do yet. Except stay here and fuck Andros senseless, of course. “What will they do with Serena?”

  He gave a short sound that sounded a bit like a laugh but not quite. “In the past they’d have taken her quietly away and executed her. She’s broken the only two laws Talents used to have in the old days.”

  “Never compel, never tell.” She remembered so well. Making someone do something against their will using psi and telling people outside the community what she was. Serena had done both, and she’d killed too. “Times have changed. But I can’t say I’d care if they did that.” Her hand stilled over his heart. It beat steadily against her palm. “They’ll take her to court. She’s committed murder. Daria can destroy her psi abilities so she’ll be unable to use them anymore.”

  He shuddered and she stroked him, trying to soothe him. “It’s over now.”

  “I’ll remember it. Always.” He turned his head and pressed a kiss to her brow. “But I won’t let it eat at me. I’ll just remember how lucky I am. To have you and to have my health.”

  “And to be a dragon.” She stroked the mark on his thigh, fading now, but she knew she’d see it again.

  He laughed. “Oh yes, definitely that.”

  *

  Faye turned to pick up a washcloth from the side of the bath. “Do you think they’ll want you back at the university?”

  Andros enjoyed the sight of her delectable figure, her breasts giving an extra jiggle when she turned back. He cupped her breast. “I should care, shouldn’t I?” He smoothed his thumb over her nipple, loving the way it came to meet him, peaked for him. Her slight sigh reaching his ears was a balm to his soul. Her skin under his questing fingers felt like everything he ever needed. “I love you.”

  She smiled into his eyes. “I love you too.”

  The moments of silence they shared were the sweetest he’d ever known. He drew her close and kissed her, gently and sweetly, sealing the unspoken bargain they’d just made.

  He took the cloth from her and smoothed it over her shoulder and arm, then cast it aside in favor of using his hands. He washed her all over, spreading the sweet-smelling soap that he’d bought specially for her. He’d smell like a fucking rosebush if she wanted it. When her skin was slick with soap, he slid his hands over her, relishing the warm silkiness, the feminine curves.

  She returned the favor, massaging his body, but when her hands crept lower, he laughed and drew her close, draping her legs over his thighs. His cock, ready and eager, touched her stomach, caressed it, leaving its own wetness there.

  This time there was nothing gentle about their kiss. Their mouths sl
ammed together and they ate at each other, lips, tongues and teeth devouring rapaciously. His cock found its way home as a natural development of their union. As it slid inside her wonderful pussy, slick with the juices she’d made to welcome him in, he knew he’d never be happier than when he was inside her, never feel the thrill with anyone else. They moved together, her nipples hard against the muscles of his chest, the satin-slick flesh moving against him, counterpointing and complementing his slow, deliberate thrusts.

  “Let’s get married.”

  Her small start of surprise quivered against him and then she drew her head back and looked up at him. “Are you…? Yes. Let’s. But we live in my place, not yours. That way they can’t call you over to work as easily.”

  “I love your place.” Still moving, he touched his lips to hers. Then he pulled her close, enjoying her gasp when he drove deep and hard. “Lock your legs behind me, sweetheart. Oh God, you’ll kill me yet.”

  “What’s that?” Her feet shifted higher and she rubbed her heel against his skin. “Scales. You’re shape-shifting, Andros.”

  “How? I didn’t intend to.” He concentrated and felt the scales, a different sensation when she rubbed them.

  “Sometimes shape-shifters half-change when they’re making love.” She giggled, a delicious sound. “They can’t help it.”

  “Seduced by an older woman, turned into a ferocious dragon!” He laughed too, and they were so close that the vibration echoed deliciously where he was embedded in her body. He thrust, gritting his teeth when she clenched her inner muscles around his cock. He didn’t want to come yet. He wanted it to last this time.

  But she could work him like Charlie Parker worked a saxophone. She was part of him now. He opened his mind and took her body, knowing she was his. She ran her hands along his shoulders, shoved them into his hair, disheveling it further. A strand fell in front of his eyes and he blew it aside before she dragged him close and took another kiss.