by Mia McKimmy
“That’s one serious female,” Riana whispered.
Elle smirked at Kyra’s retreating back. “And just think. We get to spend four whole weeks with Little Miss Congeniality.”
“Yes, we do. So, how smart do you think it was to get on her bad side in the first two minutes?”
Elle shrugged and headed into the lodge. “I’m not the one who tried to steal her boyfriend.”
Riana laughed and smacked Elle’s arm. “I did not.”
“Are you sure about that?”
They entered the lobby of the building Kyra referred to as their quarters. A three-story mountain lodge built as an Adirondack styled log cabin. Riana took a deep breath, pulling the aroma of natural pine into her lungs. The floors, ceilings, walls, even the furniture were made of natural wood. A double-sided fireplace made from mountain rock adorned the center of the lobby, reaching to an open cathedral ceiling. Couches sat around each side of a roaring fire, giving the large space a warm, cottage-like atmosphere.
They moved to the concierge desk and received their room number, and then took an elevator to the third floor. As they opened the door to their room and stepped inside, their mouths gaped open.
“Quarters?” Riana said. “Man, was that an understatement. This looks more like a small condo.” She walked over and sat her bag on the bar separating the living area from a galley kitchen. She ran her hand along the back of a tan, leather sofa, so soft she had to check twice to make sure it wasn’t made of silk. A large flat screen TV and stereo system were mounted above a gas log fireplace covering one corner of the room.
Riana smiled. “See? I told you…definitely not a prison.” The butterflies from earlier began to disappear as she settled on the comfy couch.
“The fridge is stocked with synthetic blood, water, and protein drinks,” Elle said from the kitchen. “It’s nice. I’ll have to give them that.”
They chose their bedrooms. Each had its own bath, and a set of French-doors led onto a large balcony. Moonlight outlined the surrounding Appalachian Mountains. She couldn’t wait to see them in full sunlight. When they first arrived the sun had set, but the entire area glowed orange from the fall leaves atop the mountains, making it appear as if they were nestled inside a never-ending fall bouquet. The view from the balcony overlooked a large lake with docks and canoes.
“I hope we have time to enjoy some of this,” Elle said. “I’d love to hike these trails.”
“I’m sure we will.” Riana inhaled the aroma of earth and evergreens. Calm settled over her and the tightness in her muscles relaxed for the first time all day. According to her mom, it
was the reason Sivadians felt more energized when living in mountainous regions. The need to feel closer to the mountains of Sivadia was embedded within their psyche.
Someone knocked on the door. “I’ll get it.” Riana went to the living room and pulled open the door.
A short man with a food tray stood in the hallway.
“Good evening, ma’am. My name is Mr. Connors. I’m in charge of the kitchen and housekeeping. I deliver everyone’s first meal so I can introduce myself. If there’s a problem with the meals or you need anything, please call. My number is in the directory by the phone. I’ll be happy to take care of it personally.”
Riana took the tray of food. “Thank you, Mr. Connors. I’m Riana Martin, and this is Elle Nichols.”
Elle reached around Riana and shook his hand. “Nice to meet you.”
“Likewise. You ladies have a nice evening.” He turned and continued pushing his food cart down the hallway.
Elle closed the door and went to the fridge, grabbing two bottled waters.
After dinner and a couple of glasses of synthetic blood, they went to their rooms to change into the uniforms they had been instructed to wear. Riana’s closet was filled with shiny, gray uniforms identical to the black ones Kyra and the guards wore, minus the Protectors emblem. She held one out in front of her. Crap! It looked like it would fit a six year old. She crossed the hall to Elle’s room. “I think they gave me the wrong size.”
“I thought so too, but I got it on. They must be one size fits all.”
“I hope so,” Riana mumbled on the way back to her room. She tugged one leg through the pants. It slid on easily, and was lightweight and comfortable. She stared at herself in the full-length mirror. The thing fit like a second skin. You could definitely tell a man designed them. The material accentuated every curve. The neckline plunged down to show off just the right amount of cleavage, without being vulgar. After pulling her long hair into a ponytail, she glanced at the clock on the bedside table. Fifteen minutes before class. If she didn’t get Elle started out the door, they’d never make it.
Riana glanced at the tight uniform in the mirror, again, and shook her head. Hope I don’t run into Hot-Cakes wearing this thing.
Chapter 4
After Cy finished telling Kyra about the feeder they had captured, he glanced back at the girl he’d just met. In over three hundred years of existence, he’d never had such a strong reaction to a female. From the moment he laid eyes on her, every cell in him hummed with awareness. As if something inside him had awoken for the first time since birth. He watched her talk to one of the other girls. Her long auburn hair hung in loose waves across ample cleavage. He’d never seen a more perfectly proportioned body.
She glanced up as if she felt his stare. Blush tinged her fair skin. Her large, emerald eyes held him captive. Eyes that somehow seemed intimately familiar. He shook his head. No, he’d never met her. She wasn’t someone he would have forgotten. He smiled, and she looked away, breaking their connection.
Cy headed toward his apartment and had a strange urge to turn around, to go back and be near her. The horrified look on her face when she saw the blood on his hands popped into his mind; she wanted nothing to do with him. She regarded him as a ruthless killer, not someone dedicated to saving lives.
Why had he jumped to defend what he did? By letting his mother rule their race, and masquerading as second-in-command of the Protectors, he had saved thousands of lives. It had never mattered what people thought. But for some reason he couldn’t identify, the auburn-haired beauty’s opinion mattered.
When he reached his apartment, he strode straight to his bedroom, and stopped at the entrance to the walk-in closet. He punched a code into the keypad on the wall, and the hidden door to his personal weapons room slid open. A smile played at the corners of his mouth as he looked around the small arsenal, his gaze lingering on the glass display cabinet holding his father’s daggers. Constructed from the strongest Sivadian metal, they were as perfect as the day they were forged. An image of his father standing proud with the daggers at his side flashed into Cy’s mind. If only he had lived, this war would never have taken place. Father was the only person who had ever been able to keep Vind in line.
Cy shook his head. He had more important things to do than dwell on a past he couldn’t change. He loosened the holsters strapped to his frame and replaced his weapons. On his way to the bathroom, he grabbed the ruined leather duster and tossed it in the garbage.
As Cy started the hot water in the shower, he caught his reflection in the mirror. No wonder the girl had recoiled when he introduced himself. Blood splatter covered his face, neck and hair. He shrugged out of his fighting clothes, and then stepped beneath the warm spray, grateful to wash away the evidence of his profession. I’ll not have someone as fair and innocent as her see me covered in blood again.
After his shower and fresh clothes, Cy picked up the phone in his office and punched the number for the infirmary.
“Doc Regan.”
Hey, Doc. How’s our prisoner?”
The older man hesitated. “What prisoner would that be, Cy?”
“The one Miles and Kam brought in.”
“Son, I haven’t seen anyone.”
A vise tightened in Cy’s gut as he glanced at the clock. Miles and Kam had plenty of time to return with the feeder. “I need t
o go, Doc.”
He hung up and paced the length of his office. He shouldn’t have left them. What if the prisoner called for back-up before he lost consciousness? Cy grabbed a gun from the desk drawer and shoved it in the waist of his jeans. He headed for the door and glanced at the screen monitoring the courtyard on his way out. Two guards carried the unconscious feeder. Miles and Kam followed, moving as one toward the infirmary. One of them was injured.
His heart sank and fear rose up to greet him like an old, familiar foe. Miles had been the brother Vind should have been. Miles had always had Cy’s back and actually stopped Vind from killing him on their eighteenth birthday. Cy couldn’t transport from inside the compound and tore out of the office at a dead run.
Cy ran into the infirmary, and a loud crash vibrated the wall as the door slammed against it.
Miles and Kam stopped in their slow progression to an exam table and turned.
Miles pulled his gun and pointed it at the door, as if expecting someone to be fast on Cy’s heels. When no one appeared, he looked at Cy. “What’s wrong with you?”
“I saw you come in here and… well… I thought one of you was hurt.”
A mocking smile crossed Kam’s face. “Aw, Cy. I didn’t know you cared.”
Heat flooded his face. “Shut up, Kam.”
Cy glanced at Kam’s bare foot, and the dark trail of blood oozing from a nasty gash on top. “What happened?”
“That bastard regained consciousness enough to stab me.” Kam sat on a gurney and propped up his injured foot. He took a cup of synthetic blood from Miles. “Nothing a couple of these won’t fix.”
“Where’s the prisoner?” Cy asked.
Miles motioned toward the treatment room. “The guards took him for Doc Regan to patch up. When Doc finishes with him and stitches Kam’s foot, we’ll take him to the interrogation room.”
Cy headed toward the door and then stopped. “Let the guards take the prisoner to the cell. Oz scheduled a quick meeting with all the Protectors. As soon as Doc finishes with Kam’s foot, you two come to the conference room.”
He left the infirmary and headed to his and Oz’s adjoining office. He inhaled the crisp scent of fall air deep into his lungs. Normally the surrounding Appalachian Mountains would soothe his raw nerves, but tonight, it didn’t help.
When he entered the office, Oz sat at the desk with a deep crease furrowing his brows. “What’s happened?”
Oz’s lips thinned and he shook his head. “Call it a feeling. Feeders showing up at the same time as trainees… it reeks of one of Vind’s plans. At the rate he’s abducted our females over the last couple of decades; his army could outnumber Protectors three to one. Training the women to defend themselves isn’t enough. The only way we’ll win this war is to recruit more Protectors.”
“You’re right,” Cy said. “I’ll insist on another increase of our forces at next week’s meeting with the Royal Council. The last time I mentioned it, those assholes acted like I’d asked for the moon.”
“You are the future king, Cy. Don’t let the council sway you. You know the queen will do whatever you want. You’re the ones who hold the power, not the other way around.”
Cy’s fingers scrubbed across the day’s growth of stubble on his chin. One of the best decisions he’d ever made was choosing Oz as commander of the Protectors. He had been his father’s most trusted friend and advisor, and a fundamental part of his and Vind’s childhood. If anyone knew his twin as well as him, it was Oz.
***
Cy sat in the conference room with Oz and thirty-six other Protectors assigned to the Southeastern United States. Everyone was parked around the long conference table when Kam and Miles arrived.
“Hey guys,” Oz said. “Good work out there tonight.”
Cy and Oz exchanged a prideful glance as each of the tight-knit group of fighters stood and pulled Miles and Kam into a quick man-hug. A sturdy pat on the back and, “Good job,” echoed throughout the room. Their mutual commitment to stopping the slaughter of innocent lives was an unbreakable bond.
Cy pushed down a sliver of guilt that tried to rear its ugly head. Guilt that his brother was the one who had started this war. Guilt that he couldn’t stop the carnage Vind and his followers inflicted on humanity and Sivadians. At least only a few of his fighters knew his true identity. A strange stirring started in the center of his chest as the image of long auburn hair and emerald green eyes flashed into his mind. She really would look at him with disgust if she knew his twin was one of the most evil Sivadians to ever hit Earth.
Cy had never allowed himself to become involved with a female. Even though he longed for something more than a one-night-stand, it wasn’t an option as long as Vind was free. Since childhood his brother had destroyed everything he’d loved.
“Doc Regan called a few minutes ago with an update on the prisoner,” Oz said, drawing everyone’s attention. “He’s shown signs of coming around. We need answers to why they were here. When this meeting’s over we’ll get back out there and make sure there are no more feeders lurking around this area.” Several agreements and a few expletives came from Protectors around the table.
“Fifty females arrived at this compound tonight. I don’t have to tell you the extremes our enemy will go to get their hands on those girls. Above everything, their safety comes first. As an extra precaution, we’ve called in some of the West Coast Protectors to help us search Asheville and the surrounding towns. If Vind suspects we’re here, they’ll start killing humans first to flush us out. This extra muscle should be sufficient until we know how much of a threat there is. If this is bigger than we think, we’ll send the girls home and pull in some of our European Protectors.
“Since the search so far hasn’t turned up more feeders, for now, it may be overkill to confine the ladies to the compound. We’ve decided to only allow them to leave in groups. I’m sure this next part will not hurt any of your feelings. One of you will be assigned to guard each group of five ladies.”
Kam burst into laughter. “The only way you’re going to hurt my feelings is by leaving me out of that rotation.” Everyone in the room laughed and grunted their agreement.
Cy smiled and shook his head at Kam. “Okay, down boy. Don’t make us have to neuter you on day one.”
Cy and Oz gave the Protectors their assignments, sending half out to search until dawn, and the remainder taking the day rotation. The forecast for clear skies tomorrow would render the feeders immobile, one advantage Protectors held over the enemy.
After Cy left the meeting, he headed to his apartment at the Protectors’ lodge. As he passed the building housing the trainees, a fierce need consumed him to go inside and find Riana. Why was he so drawn to someone he’d only briefly met? It didn’t make sense. He stopped and looked up at the balconies outside the rooms, knowing she was up there. Although he couldn’t see her, for some reason he felt her with every fiber of his being.
The need to go inside worsened with each passing second. A tingle started in his groin, and his jeans grew tighter. Confused by the sensations taking over his body and mind, Cy forced himself toward the lodge and away from the stranger he craved.
He went inside the vacant game room and straight behind the bar. The Protectors gathered there to relax and blow-off steam. He poured a double shot of Patron Silver, killed it, and then poured another. His head fell back and his eyes closed. As if on cue, her face popped to the forefront of the darkness. What the hell is going on? I’m acting like a hormonal teen. His eyes sprang open and he stared at the bottle. “Man, I might need you to sleep tonight,” he mumbled to the tequila. Cy picked up his drink, shoved the bottle under his arm and headed upstairs.
Chapter 5
Riana and Elle walked to the long, brick building for their first class. As Elle opened the door, an animated grin crossed her face.
“Check out this gym!” She dashed to the other side and pointed to a glass enclosure filled with workout equipment. “I’ve never seen some of t
hese weight machines before.
They entered and walked through a room holding every type of exercise device imaginable.
Riana’s medical mind went into action. “Neither have I, but it does make sense. We’re so much stronger than humans we’d never reach our maximum strength on their equipment. To stand a chance against a feeder, we’ll have to spend a lot of time in here.”
Elle pick up a set of weights and began doing reps.
Riana decided to try one. After one rep, her muscles protested against the strain and she dropped the load back into its resting place.
Man, I should’ve worked out with Elle more. I have tons of lower body strength. Hell, I could probably kick the head off a donkey. Long hours as a hospital intern saw to that. But flipping the pages of a medical text book doesn’t require much upper body strength. “Come on Elle, we need to find the classroom.”
They entered an auditorium styled classroom large enough to hold the entire class of fifty students. The group of girls who had been at the gate with her and Elle were huddled together talking in hushed tones. As they glanced up, their chatter stopped, and a smirk crossed most of their faces.
What’s with them? It wasn’t her fault that the hot Protector had stared at her and not them.
Kyra sat at a desk down front. She looked up from her book and pinned Elle with a hard stare.
“Man,” Riana whispered. “We haven’t gotten off to the best start with this group.”
“Does it really matter?” Elle shot the group of girls one of her infamous ‘I’ll kill you and make you like it death stares,’ and then proceeded to an empty seat directly in front of Kyra’s desk.
Riana took a seat behind Elle, and then squirmed as Kyra and Elle proceeded to have another stare-down. She leaned forward and whispered in Elle’s ear, using her best ventriloquist impersonation. “Would you cut that out? We have to live with these people. And I’d prefer not to be found dead in my bed while we’re here.”