by I. T. Lucas
Unlike Richard’s first ceremony, this time only a few friends accompanied him to the gym. Bowen and Leon were there, as well as Jin and Arwel, Wendy and Vlad, and Ingrid. Merlin was there as the supervising doctor in case anything went wrong.
“Thank you for doing this for me.” Richard extended his hand to Kian.
“No problem.” He shook it and clapped him on the back. “I hope this time it works.”
“And if it doesn’t? Have you given any thought to letting me stay in the village as a human?”
“I have, but I don’t have an answer for you yet. Let’s wait a few days and see if my venom does the trick. If it doesn’t, we will revisit the issue.”
Richard nodded. “I’ll pray to the Fates. Maybe they will take pity on me.”
Kian put a hand on his shoulder. “Maybe it’s not meant to be, and your fate awaits you in the human world.”
He shook his head. “My gut tells me that I belong here.”
The problem was that Kian’s gut was telling him the same thing, but that was neither here nor there. It was up to the Fates.
“I’m not going to repeat the ceremonial words. As far as I’m concerned, Bowen is still your initiator. Do you agree?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Let’s do it.” Kian clapped Richard on the back again, kicked his shoes off, and stepped onto the mat. “Come at me.”
Taking a deep breath, Richard released it slowly through his mouth, shook his arms out, and assumed a fighting stance.
“Good luck!” Jin started clapping, and soon the others joined her.
Uttering a battle cry, the guy came at Kian with unexpected force, but he was too slow for Kian’s quick reflexes. Kian spun out of the way, deflecting his kick with one of his own.
Richard was giving it all he had, which Kian appreciated. He also needed a good fight to awaken his aggression.
His pity for the guy was not conducive to a fighting mood, and for long moments it seemed like his venom glands and fangs were not going to respond.
Was he getting too old? Too soft?
What if he couldn’t get his fangs to elongate when he was fighting an actual enemy? What if they remained dormant when he needed to protect his wife and his daughter?
That thought was enough to ignite the fire under his primitive urges, and as his fangs punched out over his lower lip, Kian smiled, letting Richard know that playtime was over.
For the next couple of minutes, he let Richard believe that he still had a sporting chance. But his patience was running out.
It was time to end the game.
The next time Richard came at him, Kian twisted away, caught the guy around his waist, and slammed him down to the mat. A moment later, he sank his fangs into Richard’s neck and counted slowly to sixty.
“That’s enough,” Merlin said.
Kian retracted his fangs, licked the puncture wounds closed, and then listened to Richard’s heart. “He’s fine, Merlin. I wanted to ensure that this time he had an adequate dose.”
“I know. But I wasn’t sure if you knew when to stop.”
“I was counting.”
Ingrid sat on the mat next to Richard. “I’ll watch over him until he comes through.”
“Me too.” Jin sat next to her.
“Do you mind if I join you?” Wendy asked.
Jin patted the spot next to her on the mat. “The more the merrier for Richard. You know how much he loves attention.”
“I do.” Wendy sat down and crossed her legs. “He’s an attention hog, but I like him anyway. He was always nice to me, even when he thought that I was a bitch.”
44
Eleanor
By the time Eleanor was done with Simmons’s records, it was after four o’clock in the morning, and she could barely keep her eyes open.
She’d found five additional notebooks tucked under false bottoms of cardboard filing boxes, but she was too tired to start reading and too scared to stay any longer.
So far, she’d been lucky, and no one had shown up to stop her. The prudent thing to do was to leave and disappear, which meant that going home to sleep was not an option. She was going to pack a suitcase, head to the airport, and purchase a plane ticket on whatever outgoing flight she could find an available seat on.
The destination didn’t matter. Wherever she landed, she would check into a hotel room, read through the notebooks, and figure out where to go from there.
After checking that all the documents she’d scanned had copied to the flash drive, she pulled it out and tucked it inside her bag together with the six slim notebooks. Next, she wrote a thank-you note to Simmons’s widow, including instructions on how to access the files on the computer, taped it to the monitor’s screen, and let herself out.
With exhaustion fueling her paranoia, she kept looking in the rearview mirror while forcing herself to stay within the speed limit.
That late at night the roads were deserted, and if anyone had followed her she would have known, but no one had. Perhaps she was indeed paranoid, and Roberts considered her a closed case.
Back at her place, Eleanor made herself instant coffee, packed the few belongings she’d brought with her into a single suitcase, and left a note for her landlady together with next month’s rent.
Living on the run was nothing new to her, which was why she’d been smart enough to keep a couple of fake identities that neither Simmons nor Roberts had known about. Her money was distributed between five bank accounts under several different names, and she also had plenty of cash on hand.
With her compulsion ability, carrying around a small fortune wasn’t a problem. If anyone tried to rob her, she could freeze them and then command them to march themselves to the nearest police station.
So why was she running scared?
Because Roberts knew about her ability, and therefore he could circumvent it. He could send an assassin who was wearing earplugs, or one who was either immune or deaf. Or a sniper could just shoot her from a distance, or an operative could clobber her over the head from behind. And those were just a few of the scenarios she’d come up with while her brain was on the verge of shutting down.
Roberts was clever, and he might find even more ways to get rid of her that would look like an accident or natural causes.
That was why the first thing she did after getting into her car was to check that the brakes were still working.
When Eleanor left her car in Charlottesville Albemarle Airport long term parking lot, it was after seven in the morning. And it was nine-thirty when she boarded a flight to Atlanta.
Buckling up, she debated whether to utilize the hour and a half for a short nap, or to pull out the notebooks and finally get a look at what was inside.
Despite her exhaustion, curiosity won, and as soon as the plane was at cruising altitude, she pulled down the folding table and put the stack of notebooks on top of it.
Conveniently, they were dated, and the first one corresponded with Simmons’s nomination as the program’s director. In his neat handwriting, he’d outlined his ambitious goals, those the higher-ups approved, and those they hadn’t been aware of, like the breeding super-paranormals program. He’d drawn detailed charts of combining and recombining abilities to produce his supers.
Except, he couldn’t have hoped to see the results during his lifetime. Had that been the purpose of the notebooks? Had he planned to give them to a successor?
After a while, Eleanor got bored with the genetic combination charts and Simmons’s crazy ideas about changing the world by bringing about the next leap in human evolution, and just kept flipping pages until she reached the last notebook.
That was where things got really interesting, and her excitement burned through the haze of exhaustion.
When the trainees had escaped, Simmons’s first suspicion was that they had been taken by the Chinese, who he’d known were collecting paranormal talents as well. But then the nano trackers with which the trainees had been injected started transmit
ting. He’d written down all the locations from which the signals had been received.
After getting the phone message from Wendy, in which she’d told him that the people who’d assisted the escape belonged to an organization of paranormally talented people, he’d still suspected the Chinese, but his mole in their organization had reported that they didn’t have them.
His next step had been to send private detectives to investigate the locations from which the signals had been coming. Jacki had been tracked to a mansion in the Bay Area, Richard’s and Wendy’s had come up and then winked out, and Jin’s had transmitted from an unpopulated area in the Malibu mountains before winking out as well.
Simmons and Roberts had gone to the Bay Area with a crazy plan of attacking the mansion with a long-range noise cannon and capturing the paranormals they’d suspected were living there, but only Roberts had returned alive.
Simmons hadn’t.
Had the fatal accident been faked? Had those paranormals captured Simmons and were they holding him captive? And if so, whose body was in the casket?
Perhaps it had been empty.
Or was he really dead, but not as a result of a fatal accident?
What if the paranormals had killed him?
45
Rufsur
Rufsur lay awake in bed and stared at the ceiling. Edna was still asleep, her arm draped possessively over his torso, and her leg thrown over his thighs.
Her body language was all about commitment and ownership, but her mind wasn’t there yet. That was why during this visit he hadn’t brought up his idea of them having a child together. It had sounded good in his head when he’d first thought of it, but upon further reflection, at this stage it wasn’t a good idea.
First, they needed to figure a way to have a life together. It was difficult enough to see her only twice a month; keeping that same schedule with his own child was unappealing.
Rufsur didn’t want a long-distance relationship, let alone a long-distance family. Perhaps the shift in thinking had come about when he’d realized that there might be a different solution, and that he could have his cake and eat it too.
Not that they had a solution yet. It was still a work in progress, and he was debating whether he should present it to Kalugal half-baked. On the one hand, it would make the probability of him rejecting it right off the bat more likely, but on the other hand, his boss’s powerful brain might come up with ideas that neither he nor Edna thought about.
In any case, he needed a good angle, something compelling enough that Kalugal would have no choice but to consider it seriously. In that regard, having a child with Edna could be just the thing.
Kalugal couldn’t dismiss a father’s plea to be with his child. Or could he?
Even after all this time and everything that they had been through together, Kalugal was still an enigma. Who knew how he would respond?
Neither of them had a positive paternal figure in their lives. Rufsur didn’t know who his father had been, and Kalugal had never been close to Navuh. Hell, the guy had to fake his own death and disappear because he feared what Navuh might do once he discovered his compulsion ability.
Edna’s hand on his belly started a slow trek up to his pecs. “What are you thinking about that makes you frown so hard?”
He took her hand and brought it up to his lips for a kiss. “I’m plotting the best way to manipulate Kalugal into hearing us out.”
“I have no intention of talking to him. We only have a skeleton of an idea. We need to come up with a doable plan before we approach our bosses.”
“That was what I thought too, but then it occurred to me that both of them are smart men. They could help us come up with the solution. After all, four brains are better than two.” He kissed her fingers. “Or three and a half.”
She chuckled. “Who’s the half brain?”
“I am, of course.”
“You are not stupid, Rufsur, so stop pretending. The same way you don’t like me to put myself down with regards to my lack of feminine charms, I don’t like your self-deprecating fake modesty. You know that you are smart.”
“I do, but I’m nowhere near as brainy as you, Kalugal, and Kian. Although I have my doubts about Kian too. He’s way too emotional and paranoid.”
With a sigh, Edna plopped on her back. “Kian is cautious, not paranoid. But you are right about him thinking more with his heart than his mind. Kalugal seems more cerebral.”
“He is, but I wish it was the reverse. I know how to appeal to emotions, and you know how to appeal to logic. Perhaps we should switch jobs and bosses.”
Edna chuckled. “I don’t have your leadership abilities, and you don’t have my legal expertise. I’m afraid that we are stuck doing what we do. But you can coach me, and I can coach you. How about that?”
He turned to her and smiled. “Brilliant. I told you that you’re much smarter than I am.”
“Stop it!” She slapped his arm. “You have emotional intelligence.”
“You have it too, and that’s in addition to a superb analytical mind.”
Edna shook her head. “You don’t need to win me with flattery.”
“I don’t?” Stifling a smile, he pretended confusion. “How do I win you over then? Do you like gifts? Flowers? Chocolates? Or is plenty of fabulous sex the key to your heart?” He cupped her bare bottom and gave it a squeeze.
“It’s the sex.” She winked. “And I also can’t resist your dimply smiles, so those too.” She pushed his arm off. “Right now, I need to attend to a pressing need. We can discuss your methods of winning me over later.”
“I have a better idea. We can do both at the same time.”
She arched a brow. “Do you want to talk while I pee?”
“I was thinking along the lines of demonstrating my best approach in the shower.” He waggled his brows. “We haven’t made love in there yet.”
46
Edna
Sunday morning sex was the best. It was lazy, unhurried, and after all that exercise, breakfast tasted much better.
“This is the best omlet I ever had.” She scooped up the last of the mushroom and onion filling that had fallen out with a piece of bread. “And you said that you are a poor cook.”
Rufsur’s smile was the epitome of male satisfaction. The guy loved taking care of her. “I only know how to make a few things, but I make them well.”
Edna wiped her mouth with a paper towel. “You apply yourself to everything you do, which I find admirable. You don’t half-ass anything.”
Rufsur put a hand over his bare chest. “Edna, did you just say half-ass? I’m so proud of you.”
He was hilarious. “I’m not as prim and proper as I look.”
“Oh, I know, my delightful hellcat.” He leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest. “So we’ve established that you love my body, my lovemaking, my cooking, and my dimply smiles. Did I win you over already? Or do I still have to prove myself?”
Damn. That was a trick question.
The truth was that he had and then some. She was falling in love with him, or maybe had already fallen, but he was leaving in the evening, and she would have to wait another two weeks before she could see him again.
In theory, the arrangement sounded doable, but it was damn difficult, and they still hadn’t a solution in sight. As long as she didn’t admit her feelings for him, she could at least pretend that they weren’t as strong, and that she could survive on his bi-monthly visits.
“I’m waiting.” He tapped his fingers on his impressive biceps.
“You don’t have to prove a thing to me. I like everything about you.”
Rufsur looked disappointed. “I was hoping for more, but I’m a patient man.”
He was also an honest man who deserved the same from her. “I wish I could just open my heart to you. But I’m afraid to do that before figuring out a way to make it work. How about that coaching that you promised? How would you handle Kian?”
“Kian is easy.
All you have to do is tug at his heartstrings, and he will give you what you want.”
“How am I supposed to do that?”
Rufsur rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. “Tell him that you love me and can’t live without me, and that a federation is the only way we can be together.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “That wasn’t what you wanted to say.”
“Did you probe me?”
“I wouldn’t do that without asking your permission. But I don’t need to do that to figure out when you are being evasive. I don’t think you’ve ever lied to me, but you don’t always say what’s really on your mind.”
“I do most of the time.”
She waved a hand. “And that’s why it’s so obvious to me when you don’t.”
“I didn’t say what I’ve been thinking because you’re not going to like it.”
“Try me.”
“Remember our last conversation from two weeks ago?”
Edna swallowed. “You said that you wanted to have a child with me. I thought that you’d changed your mind about that.”
“Did you?”
“Don’t answer my question with one of your own.”
“Fine.” He let out a breath. “I did, and I didn’t. I realized that I don’t want to be a long-distance father. The two-week separation from you proved that it’s too difficult. I thought that twice-a-month visits could sustain me, but I was wrong. I want to have a life with you, and I want us to raise our child or children together. But it occurred to me that pregnancy could put pressure on Kian to give the federation serious thought. He wouldn’t dismiss it out of hand.”
What Rufsur hadn’t said in his emotional speech was that he loved her. Not that it would have made a difference, but shouldn’t that come before talking about raising children together?
Except, she hadn’t told him that she loved him either, and the same kind of thoughts had been swirling through her head as well.