by Mikayla Lane
*****
“What can I do for you, doctor?” Grai asked impatiently when the man picked up the phone on the third ring. He had more problems than he knew what to do with at the moment, and the multiple messages, from the man was beginning to get on his nerves.
“Sir, I just wanted to let you know that the conditions were perfect yesterday, and we completed the procedure. I do believe that our chances of success are very high.” Jose couldn’t keep the excitement out of his voice. He’d been hoping to speak to Grai last night after the incident with Lucretia, but he’d been unable to get hold of his employer.
“That is excellent news, doctor. How long until we know for sure if it was successful?” Grai asked, getting his hopes up for the first time since this nightmare began.
“With the equipment you gave us, I should be able to determine that by Monday morning.” Grai could hear the arrogance in the man’s voice and was irritated with him already. He couldn’t stand petty little creatures like this. The human world was far too full of people like this for his taste. It reminded him too much of his father.
“If that is all, then I will expect to hear from you first thing Monday regarding the results.” Grai waited a moment expecting the doctor to have nothing more to say and prepared to hang up the phone.
“Wait! They have successfully bonded as you said. They woke up this morning with the Ater… Alter… the tattoo that you said they would get.” Grai wasn’t the least bit surprised that the Ator-Ma manifested. It had been obvious from the live video of them that they were mates. He gave a rare smile to his empty office that they had found one another. It would make things much easier.
“You have allowed them proper areas of privacy correct?” Grai asked sternly, hoping that the fools didn’t ruin the chance for them to bond properly. And in relative peace.
“Of course! I have also given her until Monday without tests to give them more private time together.” The smug attitude of the man, made Grai want to reach through the phone and rearrange his face.
The idiot was completely oblivious to the fact that his subjects were much more advanced and developed than he was.
“Yes, see that you give them a good reason to remain calm and complacent. Is that all?” Grai was already sick of dealing with the ignorant fool. The man had no clue about how rare and extraordinary such a bond between mates could be and his flippant attitude was irritating.
“There is one other problem…” The man’s hesitation made Grai clench his fist in anger. He was tempted to smash the phone on the desk until the idiot found his tongue again. Damn if the human penchant for speaking around issues didn’t piss him off! Direct honesty was so much more time effective and less irritating.
“What is it?” Grai ground out through tightly clenched teeth.
“We have a problem with Lucretia. It seems she’s having a slight mental breakdown and has become a distraction with her ranting and raving over the closeness between the captives.” The hesitation and sudden nervousness of the man told Grai that this was much more than just a distraction.
“What kind of distraction? Is she dangerous? How well was she checked out before you brought her out there and put her with the women? She was supposed to be a comforting, motherly presence for the girls, and you brought in a disturbed monster?” Grai’s anger and fear were rising quickly as he thought of the damage that one crazy human woman could do to his plans.
“We’ve kept her away from the girl since the first day when it was obvious that there was going to be a problem with Lucretia. Brak had said that she was not using her real name, but that she would be easy to control and wouldn’t be dangerous.” Jose rushed on, hoping to calm the angry alien.
“I needed the help, so I took him at his word. At this point, since I have no assistance, I have been doing all the work myself, and it’s taking a little longer.”
Grai sighed in frustration. If the man wasn’t being arrogant or ignorant, he was whining. There was nothing appealing about this particular human, other than the fact that he might be able to do the one thing Grai could not. So against his nature, he kept the rest of his anger to himself.
“If she continues to be disruptive, you have an empty cell downstairs that she can stay in, so she doesn’t disturb my guests. I will email Brak about a more permanent solution if it becomes necessary.”
“Until then, use one of the other men to assist you, as long as they are kept out of the lab when Dare is present. And do not use Brak. Now if that is all?” Grai rubbed his temples hoping to remove some of the pain building up behind his eyes from the headache that had started making a daily appearance. Really, how many more problems could the doctor have with so few people around to deal with?
“Yes, yes that should work fine. I will email you on Monday with the results of the tests.” Grai couldn’t believe the man’s depth of idiocy and smacked his palm to his forehead at the doctor’s words.
“You will CALL me on Monday the moment you have the results! Is that clear? You can EMAIL me any other minor problems that you encounter. Is that understood?” Grai waited, silently fuming, until he heard the man’s shaky, “Yes, sir.”
Slamming down the cell phone, he pulled back his strength barely in time to save it from being smashed on the top of his desk. He was wound too tight today, his emotions teetering on the brink of extremes. Although he could see his behavior was clearly not normal, it was taking everything he had to maintain a thin veil of civility around anyone right now, and he couldn’t seem to control it.
Concentrating on his laptop, he hit the replay button and watched the most important male in his life succumb to another violent seizure. His body jerking and twisting painfully… until he couldn’t watch helplessly any longer and slammed his finger on the stop button.
He didn’t need to watch the rest of it to know that the people he paid great amounts of money to, would be running to the male and desperately trying to help him. And they would calm him, stop the violent shuddering of his body… until the next tremor took him. Then they would do it again. And every time it happened, Grai lost another piece of himself as he watched the male’s life spark, diminish.
This had to work; it was the last chance to save him.
*****
“You have to know that I’m right. Just give me a chance to go to him, talk to him. You’ll see.”
Brak almost shuddered at the crazy look in Lucretia’s eyes as she begged him to give her the chance to go to the Valendran. Man, he’d hate to be the one on this sick bitch’s radar; she was really nuts; he thought.
She was also surprisingly quick and dangerous for such a short and overweight woman. He loved the human women who had more padding, than the too thin ones who looked like Dare, but this woman with her hate and delusions turned off even him. Brak almost felt sorry for the Valendran. Almost, he thought with another grin.
“We can discuss this outside of this house. There are far too many ears to hear. Meet me at the hummer after the doctor goes to bed, and I’m sure we can come up with something that would be satisfactory. For both of us.”
Brak’s grin rapidly turned into a grimace when Lucretia attempted a sexy smile, her cruel, thin lips twisting into a caricature of grin. Brak stepped back quickly, when she batted her stubby lashes at him and ran her finger down his chest.
“If you want my help you better keep your damn hands and your crazy thoughts to yourself. I told you once before I am not interested in you. Either control yourself or the only help I will give you is a bullet in your crazy brain. Do you understand?” To make sure he was able to be understood through the fog of her mental issues, Brak grabbed her arm and squeezed brutally until she yelped in pain.
“Yes, I understand! Why are you helping me then? What will you get out of it?” Lucretia demanded as she rubbed her abused arm, the sane part of her brain finally realizing how dangerous this alien was to her.
Brak shook his head as watched the bruise already forming on her arm. He should
just take her to the back of the property and kill her like Grai suggested in his email.
“My reasons are none of your concern. If you want my help, keep your hands and your crazy to yourself. Otherwise, the next time I have to lay a hand on you, it will be the last time. The hummer, after the doc goes to sleep.” Brak gave her one last hard and dangerous look before walking out of the door.
Lucretia watched him leave as a shudder of fear shook her frame. For a moment, she considered giving up her attempts to get to the Valendran. Remembering the way he had tenderly held and touched that bitch Dare, she shook off her doubts. She deserved to be treated like that! Not that pathetic bitch! Her! She was special; she deserved the best!
She would definitely keep her hands off of that nasty Brak, hell she was only going to give him a freebie for helping her, not because she wanted to. She was trying to be nice, if he didn’t want nice, then she was fine with that. She could save all her luscious self for that big, beautiful alien upstairs who had probably been visualizing her the whole time he’d been forced to touch that nasty bitch; she thought.
Lucretia was definitely going to meet Brak at the hummer later. Once she ran away with the Valendran, she’d never have to deal with the likes of Brak again. Lucretia smiled to herself and went to her cubby to watch her beautiful alien.
*****
Something was very wrong. Dare could feel it. There was nothing normal about the violent changes in her emotions. One moment she would feel overwhelming peace and love and the next fear, terror and unbelievable sorrow. The bone deep kind of sorrow that made her soul scream from the pain.
Dare braced herself against the shower wall as, she had sunk to her knees and clutched her stomach; willing the pain to subside. Why would she feel this way? What was wrong with her?
“Momma?”
Dare grabbed her head in surprise and fear at the soft whisper of the voice in her head. What the hell, was that? Was she losing her mind? Had being here made her snap? Was it the drugs? Sliding down the shower wall until she sat under the warm spray, Dare wrapped her arms around herself.
There was a calming sensation again, a feeling of love that she couldn’t help but feel comfort from. The sensation made her smile and try to block the feelings of fear and loneliness that threatened to overwhelm her. Again, the sorrow of rejection warred with the feelings of love and peace, preventing her from enjoying the happiness she’d initially felt when she’d awakened to the Ator-Ma.
What the hell, was wrong with her? She wondered, running shaking hands through the wet mass of her hair. Fighting through the thick layer of fear, Dare cleared her mind. Using the meditation technique’s her father had taught her and her siblings when they were young, Dare focused her mind on inward reflection.
Sucking in deep calming breaths, Dare tried to refocus again. This time when she encountered the voices, she stepped back and ignored them until she could brace herself better mentally. Feeling much more stable, she opened her mind again and concentrated on only one of the voices.
Choosing the strongest and loudest voice, she easily forced back the weaker, more emotional of the three.
“Yes, ignore the young ones right now. You’re not crazy. It’s highly unusual for the female to bear the bond of a beast. In your case, it was determined to be necessary under the circumstances. I have been trying very hard to free us of the drug. I wasn’t doing well until the Tezarian assisted.”
The voice was clearly a male; it's soft, yet deep sound seemed to vibrate along a part of her brain that physically felt cooler than the rest of her head right now.
“Who are you? How are you speaking to me?” Dare whispered quietly as she tamped down her panic; desperate to find out everything she could before she spoke to Baldy about it.
“I am beast. Child of the beast of your father.” The softly spoken words rang hollowly through her mind, almost shaking her concentration.
“That’s not possible, women are not born with a beast, only the males. Who are you?” Dare became more frightened, whoever or whatever had invaded her mind was lying to her.
“All offspring, are born with one of us. Those of us who are born unto the females remain dormant as we are not normally needed. We are also not allowed to form a connection that may end up causing jealously and turmoil with the male mate of our host.”
“What are you saying? That you just stay hidden and watch? My whole life? What the fuck!?” Dare wasn’t sure if she should be angry that she’d been cheated out of a beast like Baldy’s just because she was female, or angry that it just watched her like a stalker because it was afraid to make a mate mad if they became friends!
Oh hell, she’d fix that pretty easily by setting Baldy straight! She’d rather chat with the beast than know it just lurked quietly in her head. Damn! How many times did the beast think she was being stupid or ridiculous or could have given her advice! Yeah this was crap, and she wasn’t going to deal with this as well as everything else going on. She’d learned enough from Baldy’s trial and errors to make this work much faster.
“I’m naming you…," she thought quickly, “Thorn. What do you think?”
“I’m not sure. I never expected to be named.” Thorn’s voice sounded surprised and slightly concerned, but Dare didn’t have time for uncertainties right now.
“Well, I think it’s an awesome name. Can you help me fight the drug? Get my ability back? Can you use my abilities for us while I’m under the influence of the drug?” Dare’s mind was working quickly trying to figure out what to ask while she could. She had no idea, how long she’d be able to communicate with Thorn and needed as much information as she could get.
“I am attempting to learn as quickly as I can, but I am much weaker than a beast with a male host because we were not able to establish communication while you were younger. The assistance of the Tezarian has helped us to communicate now.”
“As our bond and my strength grows I will be able to assist you the way your mate’s beast Ibix, assists him. It will take time.” As Thorn spoke, he could feel the bond strengthening between them. He knew Dare could feel it as well when he heard her mind recognize the coolness of her brain where he was located.
“Why the hell do we get a beast if we can’t use one? What the hell, is the point of having you then? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not mad that you are there; I'm pretty pissed off that you’re there, and we could have been friends all this time. Wasted time. The drug would have never worked if we could have bonded. It’s stupid and could have gotten me killed. How many of us did you die helplessly with because you wouldn’t bond?” Dare was angry and frustrated. It was becoming harder to ignore the other voices when she let her emotions get out of hand.
“I do not know. It is instinct for us to go silent when the girl child develops. We stay in the background and assist in other ways. Times where I attempted to help you would be times you would describe it as your ‘gut feelings’ warning you. Like when I tried to warn you not to meet that informant before we were taken.”
Dare couldn’t help but hear the disappointment in Thorn’s voice. Oh, as if she freaking knew that sick feeling in her stomach had been him trying to warn her! How the hell, could her parents have neglected to tell her and her sister True, that they had a beast stalking around their heads?
That sick feeling of loneliness brought her back out of her angry thoughts. Wait… she thought, if Thorn is one voice, then who are the other two voices?
“That is part of the reason that the Tezarian decided to help build our bond. These are extraordinary circumstances. But, we are not alone. The Tezarian comes to help.”
Oh yeah… Thorn was trying really hard not to tell her something.
“What is going on? Who or what are the other two voices?” Dare demanded.
Dare waited long minutes while she waited for Thorn to answer her questions. When she knew he had left or refused to answer she decided to pick one of the other voices to try to talk to instead. She’d get answers one w
ay or another.
“NO! Wait! Don’t do that. You… we can’t handle it ourselves right now. We need help before we try to speak to them.” Thorn hated that the first conversation he got to have with his host was going to be one that would frighten her.
However, he knew how stubborn she was and knew there was no way that he could avoid telling her the truth without her running headlong into trouble if he didn’t. Finding his way to the new connection the Tezarian had made for him, he called to Ibix for help.
Dare was surprised when Baldy came into the shower doorway, towering over her as she sat on the floor. He was silent as he held out his large hand to her, a towel in his other hand. She allowed him to pull her slowly to her feet.
“What’s going on Baldy?” The air in the room was thick with worry as Dare looked nervously into his stormy eyes.
Chapter Twelve
“What are we going to do?” Dare held tightly to Baldy as she was overcome with fear and a sense of trepidation.
“The Tezarian who helped us, Dreadhawk, is on his way to us. He will know what to do.” Balduen had kept Dare in the shower, speaking low and trying to comfort her while he explained what he, and Ibix knew of their child.
The only thing that had kept her from losing it was hearing the outer door open and close as their captors brought their breakfast in the room.
“How is this possible? How do I know which beast belongs to our child? Why can’t I hear our child?” Dare was still trying to wrap her mind around being pregnant, the addition of the Relian abomination sharing the same space as her precious child was becoming too much to bear right now.
Thorn rushed the information of Dare’s fragile state to Ibix so her mate could help her. He felt helpless, more helpless than he’d been when he lay dormant in her mind, and he didn’t like it. Despite their lack of a bond, he had always cared deeply for his host, and he didn’t like her pain.