“So, I started typing in search terms,” Kade continued, “with Countess in them. This is a stretch and it doesn’t mean much, but I think I found who she has named herself after.”
“Who’s that?”
Kade bent over, pushed his glasses up his nose, and began typing. An image of a woman appeared on the screen, a painting.
“This is the medieval Countess of Bathory. A cruel member of royalty in Hungary who lived in a castle and got her kicks off torturing and killing hundreds of young females.”
Axel stared at the woman, long ago dead. Her auburn hair had been pulled back into a harsh knot, while cold, dark eyes stared back at him from an oval-shaped face. Her plump lips pouted, as if she were the most miserable female to ever live. The eyes screamed insanity to him, but there could be no way she could be the present-day Countess.
The Colonists had arrived on Earth two-hundred-and-fifty-plus years ago, and the medieval times had ended in the fifteenth century. This wasn’t the female they looked for.
“She’d lure the females to her castle with promises of jobs. When complaints about weird stuff happening on the estate started coming in, the authorities moved in. They found the dead, the dying, and the tortured.”
“What happened to her?” Blake asked.
“Because of her status in society, nothing. She was put on house arrest for the remainder of her life.”
“Money talks,” Blake mumbled.
“So, you think that this Countess is pretending to be this whore on the screen?” Hudson asked.
“It’s a far stretch, but it’s a possibility. Therefore, I think we should look into the missing persons’ reports across the United States this year and figure out if there has been an upturn in young females who have disappeared, and also see if any part of the country has had more missing reports than others.”
Shit. This Countess could have been abducting and torturing females for centuries.
“Okay, Kade,” Noah said. “Get on that, and I want a report tomorrow afternoon. In the meantime, we need a way to draw this female out. She not only left us a note here in Phoenix, but we also found one in Philly by watching the news. They showed the spray paint and wondered what it could signify.
“She seemed to be pretty bold by having her followers call us out like that, but we have no way of getting to her. Any ideas on how we should make that happen?”
Axel remained quiet, as he usually didn’t participate much in these meetings.
“We get one of her followers and make him or her tell us how to get a hold of her,” Justice said.
“That worked out so well last time,” Titus mumbled.
Axel sighed. The answer seemed so obvious to him.
“Well, I don’t hear any other ideas,” Justice snarled.
He cleared his throat, and everyone turned to him. “Instead of chasing her, we just make her come to us.”
“And how do we do that?” Noah asked.
“Let’s just leave her our phone number.”
The silence in the room became thick, and for a moment, he questioned his own plan.
Blake began laughing, a hearty guffaw that came straight from his gut. “What a fucking perfect idea.”
Hudson nodded. “Let’s do it.”
He wasn’t sure how it happened, but three hours later, he walked down the city street with Hudson carrying a can of spray paint.
“You probably shouldn’t be down here,” Hudson muttered.
“It doesn’t matter,” he answered with a shrug. “It was chaos. No one is going to pay me any attention.”
They walked in silence for a bit, then turned the corner. On the wall, 6 Saviors still remained, beckoning them like a mosquito to a bare leg.
Axel pulled the piece of paper from his pocket, memorizing the number of the cell phone Kade and Blake had set up for this specific purpose. He jammed it back into his jeans.
“Go. I’ll keep watch,” Hudson said.
He approached the wall, and tried to find the best angle to write his message. When certain the whole thing would fit, he began.
In their native language, he wrote, Call us, you worthless female. Quit hiding like a little bitch.
Then he wrote the number, also in SR44ian. By doing so, they were betting the female was a Colonist, and not a Colonist offspring. If she happened to be an offspring, chances were good that she wouldn’t understand the message, unless her Colonist parent had taught her the language. It was a shot in the dark, but one they had to take.
Hudson turned around and snickered. “Oh, that will definitely get her to show herself if she understands it.”
They turned and walked the way they had come. They passed Foster’s tattoo shop, which was now boarded up. He hoped the male would be safe and find happiness, wherever he’d gone.
As they approached the car, he stopped and turned to Hudson.
“Eden and I have agreed to have a mating ceremony on the next full moon. She said she would also like to be married in a human church, which is fine with me.”
Hudson pursed his lips and looked down at the ground.
“I don’t think you understand what Eden has done for me, Hudson. I don’t want to go into details of my life because it’s none of your damn business. But I will tell you this—the new white color of my eyes? It was the color of my SR44 form before horrible things were done to me. I went to a terrible place where my soul was nothing but a black cauldron of ugliness. She brought me out of it and taught me how to trust, how to love.”
Hudson met his gaze and nodded. “I understand. Beverly did the same for me.”
“We hope you will join us at our ceremonies and be happy for us.”
As Hudson crossed his arms, he sighed. “She’s just so childlike and innocent.”
“No, she’s not. Eden has been controlled her whole life. Controlled by fear, controlled by her brother, who fed her fears to keep her close, and then by you, because you thought she needed to be protected. She doesn’t.”
Hudson arched an eyebrow. “And you know this how?”
Axel smiled. “Ask her about the bear. Talk to her. Let her tell you her stories.”
“A bear?” Hudson exclaimed.
“Yeah, a bear.”
As Hudson nodded, he placed his hand on Axel’s shoulder. “We better get back to the silo. I’ve got a mating ceremony to plan.”
Chapter 40
Eden sat on her bed and stared at the ring on her finger, a gift from Axel a week ago. A golden sapphire and a diamond lay in a platinum band, each signifying their SR44 colors. He had told her that when their children were born, there would be room to add their birthstones as well.
She stood and smoothed down the yellow wool dress she wore. She’d chosen it because even though they resided in the desert, it became very cold at night in the fall. Pulling at the turtleneck, she admired the way the material clung to her curves all the way down to her ankles, and she knew she’d be happy to have such a warm garment once she stepped outside the silo.
How things had changed, and she couldn’t imagine being any happier than she was now, but she still felt as if something was missing. She’d turned it over and over in her mind, and she couldn’t place it.
Yesterday, they’d had their church ceremony, and she’d wished her mother could have been there. As she’d said her vows to Axel, she could have sworn she’d felt her mother’s hand on her shoulder, and heard her whispering in her ear. You’ve chosen well, Eden. I’ll always be here with you.
Perhaps it had been only wishful thinking, or maybe it had been true. Either way, the memory brought a smile to her face.
Everyone in the silo had been present, as well as Justice and Holly, who lived in their own apartment. Hudson had walked her down the aisle. Their relationship had been strained, but she imagined that over time, when Hudson saw how well she and Axel got along, he wouldn’t worry so much.
Benedict, on the other hand, didn’t seem so happy about her marriage, but said nothi
ng.
In just a bit, she would go outside and go through a SR44ian mating ceremony. Sighing with absolute contentment, she closed her eyes and thanked God again for her many, many blessings.
A light tap on her door sounded, and she hurried over to open it. She gasped when she caught sight of Hudson. Yesterday, he’d donned a suit, but tonight, he wore a tuxedo that fit him like a glove. His long hair had been pulled back into the standard ponytail, and the smile on his beautiful face took her breath away.
He stared at her for what seemed like a long time, then finally spoke. “Oh, doha. You look even more beautiful than you did yesterday in your white gown.”
“Thank you.”
He took her cheeks in his big hands and placed a kiss on her forehead. “We’re ready for you. Axel is waiting.”
She nodded as he looped her arm into his.
“I’ll walk you upstairs. Usually, a female does this, but I wanted to.”
He pressed the button for the elevator, and the panels opened. They stepped inside, and the doors shut when Hudson hit the floor for the main level of the silo.
As they rode in silence, Eden could see his aura swirling with anxiety, but decided not to address it. If he felt nervous about the mating ritual, then that was his problem. She took a deep breath and focused on the numbers above that indicated what floor they approached.
“I have apologized to Axel for my behavior,” he said, his voice just above a whisper. “But, I realized that maybe the person I needed to apologize to was my own daughter.”
She bit her lip as her heart clenched.
“After I learned of your life before we met, I felt the need to protect you, to make up for everything I didn’t do as your father.”
As she pursed her lips together, her breathing became shallow.
“I realize now that, instead of trying to shield you from life, I should have been the one to push you toward it, to let you fly.” He turned to her and took her hands. “Please forgive me, Eden.”
As she stared into his yellow eyes, a shade or two darker than hers, she realized that he’d delivered the words she needed to hear. This had been the missing piece.
“Axel isn’t who I would have chosen for you, but he’s who you’ve chosen, and I trust your judgment. I trust that you know what’s best for you, because I’ve proven over and over these past eight months that I sure as shit don’t.”
Tears stung her eyes. Finally, she was getting the respect she deserved from her father.
Although her emotions clogged her throat, she smiled and found her voice. “I forgive you, Father.”
Now Hudson’s eyes welled. “You haven’t called me that in so long.”
She shrugged. “Maybe I felt like I had more of a jail warden than a father.”
As he pulled her into his arms, she inhaled his scent. Things truly felt right now. She had her husband, and now, she finally felt as if she had a father who understood her.
He held her at arms’ distance. “At his core, I believe Axel is a good male, but his edges are jagged. He loves you, doha, and that’s all that matters.”
“He almost died for me, Father,” she whispered as a lone tear tracked down her cheek.
“I know.”
The doors opened onto the top floor and Eden glanced through them to find an empty kitchen.
“Go to your mate, Eden. You have my blessing. Love each other, hoist each other up when times are bad, try to find the happiness in every day. Laugh. Hold hands. Kiss often, and even when you want to break his teeth—which will happen—remember at his core, he’s as devoted to you, if not more so, than you are to him. That’s what being an SR44ian male is all about. We love our females, we respect them, we want nothing more than to see them smile, and we would die for them.”
More tears spilled, and she quickly brushed them away. “You’re making me cry!”
“Don’t cry, Eden. This is a time to rejoice. Go to Axel and accept his love.”
She nodded and wiped her face again.
Hudson pulled his handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to her.
As she blotted her cheeks, she tried to get a grip on her emotions. Thankfully, she didn’t wear make-up, so she didn’t have to worry about raccoon eyes or black tracks of mascara running down her face.
She stepped through the open doors and took a deep breath. Hudson placed his hand on her lower back and led her toward the outside door.
Before he pushed down on the handle, he turned to her. “Axel said I don’t know the true you. I’m supposed to ask you about a bear.”
She burst out laughing as he opened the metal panel.
As they walked through the small hallway, Hudson spoke again. “He says I don’t know you, Eden. Can you please let me in? Can you tell me about the bear? Can you tell me about the time I missed with you?”
She grinned and nodded as she threw her arms around his neck. He pulled her close, and a surge of love and relief washed through her.
After a moment, she stepped away. “Yes, Dad, I will. I can’t wait to tell you about the bear, and my other adventures, although Benedict doesn’t know about some of them.”
Hudson raised his eyebrows and smiled. “I guess that means I have a bit of a wild child underneath all this beauty?”
“Maybe,” she said with a shrug as relief washed through her.
He smiled and kissed the tip of her nose. “Go mate your male, Eden. You can share your tales with me at another time.”
Chapter 41
Axel waited in the middle of the yellow and white candles nestled into candelabras—there must have been hundreds of them. The moon hung just above the mountain, a beautiful, silver orb that seemed to be smiling down on them.
Everyone was present—everyone but Hudson and Eden.
He shifted uncomfortably in his tuxedo. Not only did he find the garment constricting, it worried him that the ceremony should have started twenty minutes ago.
Was Hudson trying to convince Eden that she shouldn’t mate him?
It didn’t seem logical because they’d had their human ceremony yesterday. It had meant a great deal to Axel as he’d stood among the rainbow of stained glass windows and heard the human preacher’s words. He’d listened carefully to each one, and when he’d said ‘I do,” he’d never been so sure of himself in his life.
But did that ceremony mean anything to Hudson? Had all of that been a farce, and this was the ritual he felt the need to stop?
He kept his gaze trained down the yellow runner starting at the door to the silo. Everyone who lived there, as well as Justice and Holly, stood around him in a half-circle. As the tradition demanded, the circle couldn’t close until the female was present.
Finally, the squeak of metal on metal hit his ears, and Hudson stepped out with Eden.
His breath caught in his throat as he took her in. The long, yellow dress matched her eyes perfectly, and her curtain of black hair hung around her shoulders. She grinned at him as she walked down the runner, Hudson at her side.
When they reached him, Hudson handed her hand to him, and he took it in his palm.
Hudson spoke in their native language. “I have walked her down the aisle once, and now I’m doing it again in this SR44ian ceremony, the one that counts for me, the one that truly means that your hearts are melded together. Do you, Axel, promise to take care of my little girl?”
He nodded and squeezed her hand. “I promise you with my life.”
Hudson stepped back, and the circle closed around them.
As he gazed at Eden, he took stock of his body. No nervous palpitations, no doubts.
Noah recited the mating incantation in English as well as SR44ian. Axel listened closely to the words, and didn’t find them much different that the human church vows he’d taken the day before. He’d already devoted himself to Eden, and all he wanted was to have her to himself for a bit as the past twenty-four hours had been filled with the church wedding, a late night feast, and then getting ready for to
night.
Noah nudged his arm. “Axel, do you want to answer the question?”
Fuck. He hadn’t been listening, but Noah could have asked him to cut off his balls for Eden, and he’d agree.
“Yes.”
Noah spoke a little while longer, and Axel tried to figure out which ritual was longer—human or SR44ian?
“This concludes this mating ceremony. Axel, you are appointed to take care of this female, to love her more than your own safety. Eden, you are promising the same to this male. If you both agree, please merge.”
In SR44, their smoky forms would tangle together, but here on Earth, they simply kissed.
When his mouth met hers, something in his world shifted. He’d thought things had been perfect before, but he had been wrong. Something had been missing, and he hadn’t even realized it. Maybe his SR44 upbringing meant more to him than he’d thought because right now, he was a truly mated SR44ian male. He felt his deep, unbreakable love for Eden in his soul, his heart, throughout every cell of his body.
Pain surged in his chest, tears stung his eyes, and he suddenly became warm, despite the cool night air. He’d found happiness, something he’d thought would elude him for the rest of his days.
No matter what horrors his past had held, no one could take away the utter joy he possessed now.
No one could destroy his love for the one person in this world who finally saw him.
“I love you, Eden,” he whispered against her lips while everyone cheered around them.
She palmed his cheeks, their noses touching. Her smile rivaled the brightness of the moon.
“I know, Axel,” she murmured. “I see it all around you. It’s beautiful.”
A tear slipped down his cheek, then the sweet pain in his chest almost brought him to his knees.
Eden brushed the tear away with her thumb. “I love you as well, Axel.”
He nodded. “We’re going to be okay.”
She shook her head. “No, Axel. You and I are going to be amazing.”
He took her hand, and the circle around them opened. They walked down the yellow runner toward the silo, everyone following behind chattering and in good spirits. Next, a huge feast would take place, and he grinned. His future seemed so brilliant, it almost scared him. However, he wouldn’t let his past control him, and he would walk into the dazzling future with Eden by his side.
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