Chapter 14
“You have a thing for walls.” She loved to feel his steel length driving in and out of her body. He knew what she needed and made sure she had it.
“No. I have thing for you. The walls just come in mighty handy.” Muscles tightened at the delicious friction building between them.
Heather’s mind let go of the overload of information in her, and allowed the wonderful sensations to wash over her. The movements of their bodies freed her. Flesh against flesh. Heartbeat against heartbeat. Her whole being relaxed and she became mindless. All she knew was him and her, the joining of their bodies and their souls. Heather needed this more than she realized. Reacting to the buildup inside her, she felt the wave of release circle around and sweep her away.
He did this for her. Her mate gave so she could have a few moments peace.
****
Storm had left her mind alone this time. He missed the shared release but knew she needed to think of nothing more than the moment and his thoughts could ruin that. She deserved a few moments to herself.
Slowly she came back to him. Tears sprang into her eyes.
“Why are you crying?” What was upsetting her now? He hoped the reality of their situation hadn’t come crashing in already.
“Because of you.” She placed a soft kiss against his chest. “As much as you enjoy our intimacy you always think of me first.”
“What kind of mate would I be if I only cared about my pleasure?” He eased himself out of her and put her feet on the floor.
“Pretty normal.” She looked down at her state of dress. The black lace he had thought of was the only thing she wore. Heather was surprised to see it. “When did this show back up?”
“I’m not sure.” He ran his fingers along the edges hugging her waist. “But I like it. Maybe I should make that mandatory dress for down here.”
“Really? Then let’s give it a trial run and see how long you can handle me wearing only this.” She turned and faced the computer. “Am I calmer now?”
“Much better,” said the computer. “The ancients always believed that everything happens for a reason. The reason they stopped Ialog the first time was because they knew you would be created too early.”
“Are you saying they knew Storm and I were destined for each other?” Heather placed her hands on the console, arching her back so she could lean forward comfortably.
The tiny little skirt inched up on her, revealing a touch more skin. The image she presented him went right to his groin. Was she doing it on purpose?
“Yes, and I have the records to back that up, if you would like to see them.” The computer loaded the data on the screen, which filled with the images of people Storm had never seen before. They went about their day working in the compound.
One stood not too far from where they were looking at the information. “The data is exact. We have to stop him from creating her now. She is far too important to the future of this planet. The catalyst won’t be born for another thousand years.”
“You are sure about this?”
“Yes. We know our days are limited. Have for a long time. The people on the surface though are strong enough to populate this planet and thrive. As they grow there will be those among them like us. More our race then theirs. Our blood will flow through these people. They will be our future. It is the only way.”
“What about Ialog? He doesn’t believe in the prophesies you have seen.”
“Won’t stop them from coming true.” He turned from the screen and looked at his companion. “He has never believed in the spiritual and never will. He’s too marred in the sciences.”
“He looks like me,” Storm said.
“Yeah. I noticed that too.” Heather straightened her frame and Storm watched.
He found he couldn’t keep his eyes off her as she shifted and moved while they watched the images on the screen. “You think he’s one of your ancestors?”
“He is. Storm is a direct descendant,” said the computer.
The two men continued talking as they went back to their work stations. “What have you told the others?”
“The truth. She will be born to members of the ruling class here. The people will call them elders and she will be sent from this planet to another one. They’re doing it for her protection and it will help shape her into the woman she needs to be.”
“And what about the catalyst?”
“He will be born to members of the ruling families as well. A leader among men. From what I can see he will win her heart quickly.” He pressed a few buttons. “I feel for Ialog.”
“Why?”
“Because these people will wake him, and because he still feels the desire to create this companion he wants so bad, he’ll have a hand in creating this catalyst. The one thing that will come between him and his ultimate goal.”
“And you’re sure of this?”
“Very sure, I have run the scenarios hundreds of times with the same results. He is the one who creates the woman, wanting her as a mate. He also inadvertently creates the catalyst.”
“How?”
“He uses these elders to further his research, using enhancers to see if that will allow him to create the woman. One of those enhancers creates the male who will be her true mate.”
“But I thought we were going to block him from accessing his work.”
“That won’t stop him. He’ll have plenty of time to recreate what he is doing right now.” He pulled up the information on the screen. Mathematical equations sat next to his predictions. “I have put all of this information in books for them to be given when they learn of this.”
A drawer opened in the desk they stood next to. Inside held a large, well worn leather book. Heather leaned over and pulled it out. The front of her top fell forward, exposing her breasts. The small bit of lace hugging her hips inched up a little more. Storm wanted to forget everything except their flesh together. It was driving him crazy.
She turned to look at him with a sultry smile. She was doing this on purpose. He stepped up to her, his need for her strong, but before he could touch her she handed him a smaller leather book.
“This one has my name on it.” Heather looked at the cover bearing her name. The age of the book and the lettering made her look at Storm. “This looks very old.” She sat it down and backed away from the book. “They knew about us?”
“Your destiny is a lot older than you realize,” said the computer. “Ialog didn’t believe in the prophesy even though he played a big part in it.”
Heather found she needed to sit. “This is all a little farfetched.”
“Read the book. It will explain everything.”
****
Kuarto sensed something wrong with Heather. He didn’t know what it was, but she was definitely upset. Not wanting to break the seal between their minds, he let it go. She wasn’t in any kind of danger. He would know if she was.
He had her egg in front of him, debating on what to do. The research he had done on Ialog’s DNA came back inconclusive. There didn’t seem to be anything special about it. The computer had told them his genetic code wouldn’t fertilize the egg. Did Al know that and add something he couldn’t find? He had seemed awfully confident when he handed over the sample. If he took a chance and it did nothing, Ialog could get violently angry and that wouldn’t be good. If he used Storm’s sample and he got wind of it, that wouldn’t be good either.
Toki worked nearby. She seemed to sense his hesitation. “Problem?”
“I’m not sure what to do. I can’t see how his DNA is any different than anything I have already used. It doesn’t look like it will work.”
“Tell him.”
“As angry as he has gotten lately?” He looked at Toki. “Not sure if I want to take my life in my hands like that.”
“He’ll be twice as angry if you don’t.”
“I know and that’s my dilemma.” He pushed back from the desk. “Let’s go for a walk.”
She sto
od as well and followed him out of the room. “You seem to be a little distracted.”
“The link. Even though we closed it off, very strong emotions can still slip through. There’s something going on at home that has Heather upset.”
“It’s not the children, is it?” She voiced her concern.
“No. Nothing life threatening, but it does have her emotions in turmoil.” He grinned as he took her hand. “It’s weird having this link with her but I’m getting used to it now.”
“As long as they don’t share their orgasms with you?”
“Exactly.”
“Have they figured out where we are?” She kept her face away from any camera that might pick up what she was saying.
“I don’t get that much detail. It’s like being in another room. Sometimes you might hear their voices raise but you don’t know what they are talking about.” He led her past one of the cameras, talking about the egg. Once he was sure they were in the clear, he went back to their conversation. “We need to figure out more about where we are.”
“It must be a recognizable sky at night.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Because he never lets us see it.”
He laughed and pulled her into his embrace. “You are wonderful.”
****
The worn leather book sat in her lap but Heather couldn’t bring herself to open it. “Have you looked at yours yet?”
“No, my heart. I figured we’d do it together.” He stood across from her, leaning against one of the counters, his book tucked up under his arm. “I must say you pose quite an arousing picture sitting there in nothing but the lace.”
“I know better than to cover up. I see you haven’t changed your lack of clothing either.”
“Have to be ready to please my mate at a moment’s notice.”
She couldn’t help but smile. Setting the book aside, she stood and crossed to the main console of the computer system. “Please load all data Ialog had been working on.”
The system loaded the information as she requested. She stared at the data, confused. “Is this all he looked at?”
She felt something strange happen before she lost control of her body. It started to move on its own, quickly accessing information she had no idea how to look for. She found she couldn’t speak or stop herself.
She reached out to Storm, just touching his mind when her body went limp and she fell to the floor.
****
Heather dropped to the floor and his heart stopped beating for a moment. He raced to her side, shouting at the computer. “What is going on?”
“The sentry woke when she approached this console. It was able to pull up some files before her self-protection program overrode what the sentry tried to do.”
Storm looked up at the screen, looking at the files opened. “Why did he wait until now to open these files?”
“They were blocked to him before. Heather has access to all data and he used her to get to sensitive information.”
“Did he get anything he shouldn’t have?”
“It depends on what he plans on doing with the information he did get.”
****
Kuarto heard him screaming before he saw the angry face of Al. He wasn’t sure what just happened, but he sure didn’t seem happy about it.
“They trained her too well.” He slammed his hands on the table. “Have you figured out how Heather became pregnant?”
“No. I don’t have what I need to do the research.”
“What do you need?”
“Storm’s DNA.” He couldn’t lie. Al would know if he was trying to avoid fertilizing the egg, and he wasn’t about to say he had his DNA with him already. Without it he couldn’t do anything.
“I’ll have it within twenty-four hours.”
****
“We spend more time here than anywhere else. Why don’t we move in here?” He found he couldn’t keep his eyes off the lace, and he didn’t want her to cover it up just so they could return to their room.
“In the compound?” She gave him an odd look. “After all the work your mother did to free those rooms upstairs for us?”
“For now.” He came within inches of her, his fingers sliding under the lace wrapped around her shoulders. “Then we can use it as we need it.”
“You just love that damn chair, don’t you?”
“This computer can anticipate my every thought wherever I am so I can have that chair anywhere. I was just thinking between watching the data stream on your brother and my sister, and reading these books, we’re going to be here all the time anyway. Why trek back to our rooms every night.” He tried to give her an innocent smile. “You can accommodate us, right computer?”
“There are rooms set aside for that purpose.”
“See? I think it’s a good idea for now.”
She shook her head but saw no reason not to go along with it. “We do spend a lot of time here.”
“Good.” He spoke to the computer then, asking to see the room they should use and then taking off to help set it up for them to live in.
Heather held the book in her hand again. She still hadn’t quiet gotten the nerve to open it up. Not knowing what was on the pages had her second guessing herself on a regular basis now. Her life had been turned upside down since she met Storm and each day it got just a little bit stranger. “My heart, why are our lives in such turmoil? Why can’t we have one normal day amongst the chaos.”
“Now what fun would that be?” He took her hand and pulled her with him. “I have done my share. You need to add your touches.”
“Fine.” She walked into the room and was not surprised to see a huge bed dominating it. Heather shook her head. Was that the only thing he worried about? She half expected to see the chair in here.
Tomorrow she would bring down the things they would need while staying here. She sensed her mate behind her and she turned around. “I see you got the most important piece of furniture placed.”
“Wanted to be sure you were comfortable.” He gave her one of his heart stopping smiles as he crowded her backwards toward the bed. “Want to try it out? Make sure I got it right?”
“You are incorrigible.” She had to laugh as her knees hit the edge of the bed. “But you’re going to have to wait. We’ve been asked to join your mother for dinner. She wants an update on your sister.”
He eased her onto it and started to nibble on her neck. “We don’t have to eat with her. I can call her right now and give her three words. I don’t know.”
“And then your mother would lecture you on having to change your ways if you’re going to be the leader of the council for about an hour or so.” She said it softly, not wanting him to stop either, but knowing his mother needed their company. “Personally, I’ll get hungry waiting so why not just play nice and have dinner with your mother?”
“Because I don’t know what to tell her.” He pulled up and looked at Heather as he helped her to her feet. “We have no idea where they are so can’t get them out and their time there is starting to run out. Especially after he tried to take over your body to gain information he had been shut out of.”
“So he didn’t get anything?”
“Not much.” He looked at the bed one last time before he looked at his mate. “He pulled up information on the injections he gave my mother but none of the chemicals that he used were able to load before you shut down.”
“So he knows he needs a catalyst and has figured you’re it.” She touched his arm with her hand. “He’s now going to come after you.”
****
Kuarto and Toki sat in their cramped room, trying to figure out how they could get out while it was dark. There had to be a way. He decided to try the direct approach. Banging on the door, he waited until someone answered. “Is there any way we can go for a walk? We’ve been cooped up in here for hours and I’d like to, you know, be kind of romantic and a walk might help me out a bit.”
“You’re not allowed ou
t.”
“Come on. Ask the boss, see if he’ll let us out for a little while.” He leaned against the door and dropped his scanner into the man’s pocket with it on. Hopefully, he dropped it in the right direction and it would scan the sky, not the ground as he walked to Al’s office. Assuming his office was in another section of the compound. The amount of time it took for him to get to them made Kuarto think it was.
The guard seemed to be caught. He wasn’t sure what to do. Kuarto just hoped he’d be able to get his scanner back.
He contacted another guard who just about laughed in his face. Well, that got shot down pretty quickly. Kuarto pretended to stumble so he could get his scanner back and thanked the young man. He came back into the room and shrugged his shoulders.
“No?”
“He didn’t even leave my sight. We’ll have to come up with something else.”
“It can’t pick up the stars during the day time?”
“It’s not designed to do such long distance scans.” He sat it on the table. “I don’t have what I need to modify it and if I try to get the part he’ll know what I’m up to. He hasn’t been the same the last few days.”
“I noticed it too. What do you think happened?”
“No idea.” He walked over to her side. “I’m more worried about him. He seems more volatile now. One wrong move and we could be in real trouble.”
****
Dinner had gone better than expected. Storm escorted Heather down to the ancient compound. The moment they walked into the main part he worked on ridding her of her cumbersome dress. He grinned when the dress disappeared and left nothing but lovely skin for him to look at.
“Storm!” She turned to look at him. “I can have that thing deactivated if you abuse it too much.”
“What?” He was just as naked as she was. She couldn’t help but smile at his innocent look. “I’m just more comfortable this way and I thought you would be too.”
Passionate Desire Page 22