“Shasta? Are you there?”
Weak, tenuous, her mental voice responded. “I’m still here.”
The walls between them fell, ripped away by their need, by his desperation and her fear. Intertwined, there was no hiding who and what he truly was. She held on, the tenuous hold somehow keeping the connection even though he was miles away.
His mind grasped hers in a grip that would not be denied, holding her close. “Yes. Stay with me, Shasta. Where are you? What’s happening?”
“It’s completely dark. I can’t see a thing. I think I passed out after they hit me with some kind of bomb.”
“A shatterbomb. It’s an Ang weapon.”
“It figures. I think Tylan is somewhere in here, but I don’t know where.”
A cold fist gripped Andev’s stomach. “Is he alive?”
“I don’t know. He…”
Her silent waiting made him nervous. “What is it?”
“They’re coming.”
* * * *
The darkness around Shasta didn’t frighten her. Even the dank, cold floor didn’t faze her. But when the florescent lights lit up the room and the door opened, her heart lodged in her throat. On the floor, across the room from her, Tylan lay propped up, his head lolling to the side. There was no furniture, no nothing in the room, except for herself and the Dormrelian warrior.
In the doorway stood an older Dormrelian male she recognized as the man in the video who had presided over the rape and murder of a human woman. She clenched her teeth and forced her gaze to his. There was no way she would let this pervert see she was afraid.
“That’s my bilana.”
His cherished one. That’s what he’d always called her. Andev, her dream lover, would come for her. She just had to hang on and not allow her smart mouth to get her killed.
The Dormrela wore a MI and spoke to her. “Do you know why you are here, freak?”
Freak? Huh. Whatever, dude. I’m not the one who gets off on watching rape. “No.” She kept her body still.
Andev was in her mind. “He will respect you if you do not cower but don’t press him. Keep your answers short and to the point. And don’t let his threats frighten you.”
“Easy for you to say.”
“I’m on my way. I swear I won’t let him hurt you.”
“You are here because the Ang will give us the weapons we need to destroy the council, exterminate the humans and save Dormrela.” The older warrior stepped into the room, all four of his hands clasped behind his back. He stared at her, studying her from head to toe. “First, we will sell you for the arms we need. Then, we will dissect your sister. And then, we’ll capture your older sister.”
Adrenaline shot through Shasta’s veins. Her family, her sisters, were threatened. She wanted to leap to her feet and attack him. But Andev’s warning voice kept her still. Instead, she held the warrior’s gaze and waited.
When he smiled, she wanted to puke. “But before we give you to the Ang, I have a little additional test for you.” He strode over to Tylan and kicked the unconscious man. “You see, the Ang think I will hand you over unscathed, but I have a little gift to send with you.”
Shasta tensed. What was he going to do? The warrior bent down and removed a syringe from his tunic. Efficiently, he injected something into Tylan’s bloodstream. Then, he turned back to her, supreme satisfaction on his face. “I’m going to get you pregnant with a deformed baby.”
It took all her strength to keep her breathing steady, but Shasta did it. “That’s just what the Ang are hoping for,” she stated. “And here I thought you were for the Dormrela.”
“Shasta, be careful,” Andev warned. His worry for her was palpable.
But the old warrior only smiled. “The Ang will get their DNA miracle, but it will be tainted.” He gripped Tylan’s hair and yanked it back. “This garbage will implant his poison that will kill you in the end. By the time they realize we tricked them, we’ll have won. The Ang will die. The Dormrela will live.”
She didn’t understand. “Tylan getting me pregnant will destroy me? I think you underestimate human females.”
He laughed. “No, I don’t think so. You see, I’ve been studying this for a very long time.” The man’s features twisted in a hateful mask. “The council forbade DNA profiling, hiding their own secret pairings. Every Hadaji was a lie. So, I found their profiles and used those studies to further my own cause. Finally, last night, we stole the names that matched the profiles.” He let go of Tylan’s hair and headed for the door. “Tylan has just the right amount of human DNA. When your baby begins to grow inside you, it will poison you, kill you. We know,” the man said, his smile bleak. “We’ve seen it time and time again. It’s a delicate balance, my dear. Little Ana died because she had too much Dormrelian DNA. Your baby will die because of your super DNA. That Ang, Dormrelian and human combination may save some lives. Mixed with Tylan’s blood, it’s toxic. Of course, the Ang will insist that you carry the child. And you won’t be able to tell them a thing.”
A streak of terror moved through Shasta’s bloodstream. She didn’t ask because she didn’t want to know. But he answered the unspoken question anyway. “You won’t be able to tell them, Shasta Pasquel, because your mind will be wiped clean…of everything.”
Her stomach rolled, and she almost threw up. Yet, she hung on, counting on Andev, hoping her family would come through for her. Hope was the only thing that kept her sane.
This warrior, this older version of Andev’s father, strode toward the door. “To overcome Tylan’s reluctance, I’ve given him a dose of Synthetic Endorphins Xstasy. And you can choose whether you want to watch him die now or die yourself later.” The door closed behind him, and the lights blinked out.
“My sweet bilana, he couldn’t have taken you far. I’m here. I’m coming for you.”
Across the room, she heard Tylan stirring, and she knew Andev would be too late. Raised on Asberek, she knew what S.E.X. did to the human body. She’d only seen vids of anyone who died of S.E.X. poisoning, but she knew it was as bad as the shit she saw during the war. Their veins popped out, and blood went everywhere. She assumed it would do the same to a Dormrelian system.
“I don’t want you to worry, Shasta,” Tylan’s voice sounded tired and weak. “I don’t care if I die; I’m not touching you.”
“You already did, you big idiot,” she snapped.
“Andev!” Her desperation was severe. “What can we do?”
He settled on a solution that made her nod. And there wasn’t a trace of hesitation.
“I won’t let you die, Tylan,” she said firmly. And she meant it. If fucking the man saved his life, she would do it.
Tylan, however, had his own ideas about it. “My lady, I will not touch you. How would I face my friend if I did?”
“He considers you his dominant, Andev. How can I convince him?”
“Tell him to remember the story of Marianna, the warrior queen.”
“Remember the story of Marianna, the warrior queen?” In the darkness, she heard Tylan shift.
“This is different.”
Andev provided the story to her.
“Different? How? Marianna mated with the Dormrelian king, a disfigured warrior who had been deformed by experiments performed by the Ang. The warrior tried to kill himself out of despair, but Marianna forced him to mate with her during a Hadaji. She gave herself to him, even though he resisted her, and refused to admit he loved her. She bore him a son, Farid, who founded the warrior class you have today.”
“I am not your mate. Andev is your mate.” Tylan’s breath sounded labored. The effects of the drug were kicking in.
“You are Andev’s closest friend. Hell, he thinks you belong to him. You. If you die, he has no one.”
“He has you,” Tylan said quietly.
Losing Tylan would hurt Andev. Badly. “He has us both. But only if you let me help you, let me save you.”
“Shasta? I’d rather die than betray Andev.” Tyla
n’s desperate sounding voice wrenched her heart.
“Tylan, do you think there’s anything that can break the mating bond, the telepathic one, what you call it—Anshallah?”
Tylan was silent for a moment. “No. There isn’t.”
“I was born to be with Andev. All my life I tried to escape my destiny, and all the time it was right there.” She closed her eyes, Andev’s face in her mind.
“All the more reason for me to keep my dick to myself.” Tylan’s voice was strained.
“No.”
“Andev? Hurry!”
“I can smell you, my love. I will find you.”
“You can smell me? Jeez! You got here fast!”
“Baby, I flew. Councilwoman Patel gave me a hovercopter.”
“I don’t think he’ll last much longer.”
“Help him, my sweet.”
She saw that Andev didn’t entirely trust Tylan under the influence of S.E.X. Rape might happen, and he worried what it might do to her.
When she crawled to where she knew Tylan was lying, he was sweating and breathing heavily. The lights flickered on, revealing that their captors were able to follow their movements even in the dark. The bastards.
Her gaze met Tylan’s glassy eyes, and she silently pleaded with him to let her help him. His lips tightened, and he tried to slide away from her, put distance between them. But the drug was powerful, and when her hands gripped the edges of his trousers, he stilled beneath her touch. “No, Shasta. Don’t.” He closed his eyes and hissed when she yanked his pants down.
But if her captors thought she was going to follow their plan, they were sadly mistaken. When Tylan’s cock bobbed free, he said in a strained voice, “I hope it’s not disappointing.” On the contrary, she thought. Smooth and lean, it contrasted with the rough scales around his pelvic area.
“Not at all.” She bent closer, inhaling his scent.
He chuckled. “See? Only one. Four would be a bit awkward at the moment,”
Shasta remembered her nasty words captured on video. “I wonder if they have four penises? Or is it penii?” She’d been so frightened of the Dormrela and turned it into hatred.
She jerked her gaze back to his. “I’m sorry about that, Tylan. I was drunk when I said it.”
Tylan’s hand curled around the nape of her neck. “I know that.”
She hesitated for a second, still unsure of the consequences. But then, Andev sent her a potent order.
“Do it. You’re sucking my cock.”
That was all it took, and with Andev’s permission, she bent down. Tylan’s cock twitched, and he hissed in a breath. “Shit, Shasta.”
“By the stars, I’m going to slide my cock inside your mouth as soon as possible. You like it! Do you know what a fucking turn on that is?”
“I can tell.” Shasta worked Tylan’s cock hard and fast, driving him higher. He tasted slightly different than other men she’d sucked in the past, sweeter, hotter. She wasn’t sure if it was because those other times hadn’t mattered so much or because he was Dormrelian, but it didn’t matter. Hungrily, she swallowed all of him, reveling in the way his width stretched her mouth.
His hand grasped her hair and pressed her closer. Her pussy dampened, and she moaned against Tylan’s cock.
Tylan moved, and Shasta placed a hand on his huge chest in a silent order to be still. He froze, obeying her. It was a heady feeling, Andev in her head, giving her instructions, ordering her to suck this warrior’s dick. And then Tylan, quivering beneath her, remaining still because she commanded it.
Her tongue slid over Tylan’s length, and he trembled beneath her, a warning growl rumbling from his throat. Then, he exploded beneath her, his cum filling her mouth.
“Spit it out!” Andev ordered.
She choked a little and did as he told her. Shasta wasn’t exactly sure why Andev insisted she not swallow.
“I’m the only one who will give you cum to swallow.”
“He told you to do that, didn’t he?” Tylan’s panting voice got her attention.
“Yes.”
He nodded. “Rightly so.”
She snorted. “Do you want to know what he thought? While I was blowing you?”
“Shasta!” Andev’s warning and Tylan’s negative answer didn’t faze her.
“He was thinking how much he’d like to dominate both of us.”
Tylan’s face turned a brick red, his scales brightening and tinged orange. He cleared his throat and wouldn’t look at her. “Well, I don’t know what to say to that.”
“He’s not opposed to the idea, lover. He told me you’ve shared before so—”
“Shasta, you shouldn’t have.”
“Don’t worry. I think you’ll both like it.” She chuckled and reached out and touched Tylan’s face. “I’m sorry, Tylan. I was trying to get Andev’s goat, not yours. How long do we have?”
“They’ll have to come in and dope me up again.” He shot a glance at the door.
“Where are you?”
Andev’s thoughts were dark, angry. He was kicking in doors in an underground basement, her scent leading him on, and she could feel his urgency to get to her.
Suddenly, the door opened, but it wasn’t Andev. It was his grandfather and with him were two familiar figures.
The Ang.
Two white-purple figures, blob-like, their tentacles undulating like wicked snakes slid across the metal floor. Their eyes on stalks met Shasta’s and she froze.
Memories. Anguish. Fear. Uncontrollable fear. The knowledge she had clashed with her past, and she recognized their threat, their intention. It had always been an Ang wish to own her, to own her sister. To delve into the secrets of their DNA. All it required was that she let them dissect her, control her.
Shasta began to scream and scream.
One of them produced a syringe and jammed it into her arm. A flash of light and then, nothing.
* * * *
Andev burst into the room, the hallway behind him littered with dead Dormrela. But his grandfather had tricked him and brought the Ang here to take them away. They were gone. He howled in frustration.
Councilwoman Patel was right behind him. “What happened?”
“The Ang,” he said through gritted teeth. “Your people were supposed to keep them out of this.”
The woman tightened her lips. “They were. I have no excuse, Andev.” She straightened and turned to the waiting Dormrela behind her. “Get the vid streamers. We tried to do this without revealing what we know. I will not let Shasta Pasquel die for that secrecy.”
“What are you going to do?”
Her gaze met his. “I’m going to reveal what your grandfather is doing. Perhaps then—”
“No. Give me a small force and let me choose them. I know how to deal with this.” He planned on making the Ang pay. And he planned on getting some help.
“Andev, you don’t have to—”
“They killed my mother,” he snapped. “They kidnapped me and threatened to have Shasta, who was a twelve-year-old little girl, raped by Dormrelian warriors in their pay.” He stared at the councilwoman. She’d known. A feeling of betrayal threatened to derail him. “Why didn’t you tell me?” he demanded furiously.
“We hoped you’d forget. What they forced you to do, what they demanded, it damaged you, hurt you.” Shera’s lips pursed together. “You can’t have remembered it. We mind-wiped you.”
Bleakly, he shook his head. “I didn’t remember, but Shasta did.” His throat was raw. “I saw it all in Shasta’s mind. We were connected, when the Ang took her. She remembered, and I saw it all. How I dried her tears as I forced her to fuck me. I was twelve, Councilwoman. Twelve. The Ang took away our choices, our innocence and our security.” He clenched his hands into fists. “I want them dead. All of them. But I’ll settle for the ones who have taken my mates.”
“Mates?” the councilwoman said. “You’re not mated to Tylan.”
“In every way that matters, I am.”
> “What about Shasta?”
“I said mates Councilwoman. I will fight anything to keep them both. Even you.”
The woman stared at him and finally nodded. “Done. Whatever you need.”
Every one of his men would be humans in cysuits. They had a stake in what happened.
It would take time to get his force together, and he could only hope the damage done wouldn’t be irreversible. When the Ang had come in to take her, to steal her, she was back at the moment she’d been kidnapped, the moment the Ang had taken her from the ones she loved to torture her. He reached out with his mind, searching, hoping.
But Shasta wasn’t there.
And that scared the shit out of him.
Chapter Ten
An Ang ship. For several minutes, Shasta was twelve again, terrified and naked. She shook, her whole body trembling uncontrollably.
“Shasta!” A huge Dormrelian male had his hands on her shoulders, but she saw concern in his eyes, not that ugly hate she’d seen—wait, when was that? She shook her head.
She wasn’t twelve. And this was Tylan. “I’m alright,” she said through a tight throat.
“You’re not. Can you connect with Andev?”
She tried and then stared wide-eyed at Tylan. He cursed. What could they do? And what the hell was next?
The door opened, and two Ang entered the room. They ignored Shasta and crowded Tylan. She attacked them, pounding her fists into their jellied bodies. Firmly, she was pushed away, and they carried a now unconscious Tylan from the room.
She started after them, determined to stop whatever they had in mind, but Andev’s grandfather loomed in the doorway. When she attempted to pass him, he casually slapped her back. She skidded across the floor but sprang to her feet, though her head was spinning.
“What are they doing to him, you bastard.” She tensed, ready to try and kick this old asshole’s ass if he didn’t let her by.
“Want to see?” he said with relish. “I want you to watch.”
She fought him when he grabbed her arm and shoved her toward one of the walls. He pressed a button and a vid screen showed another room with Tylan’s limp form on an operating table. They strapped him down and injected him with a huge needle.
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