Claimed: Future Found

by Mima

  “Cullen is one of the youngest Council members ever, right?”

  “He moved into politics immediately and held his father’s seat within two years. It took Tavish months to recover.”

  Tavish lived in a different singer compound across the land, but their paths had crossed. Now that she thought about it…

  “Did Tavish know I was part of this plan of yours?”

  “Yes.”

  “How long has this plan been in place?”

  “Years.”

  “How many—”

  “Leave it, Shay.”

  She wondered. She could do the math. If it was developed after Tavish became a singer, then it had been in place over twelve years. How long had Sand been watching her?

  “How did you hide this room?”

  “I built the hall to it myself and created another bioroom for my legal tree. The architect suspects I have an illegal garden at the center of my compound.”

  Shay’s gaze was drawn to the leaf-strewn, mossy ground that surrounded the base of the tree. “I wanted to build just a little stone temple. A place people could go for help, for prayer. Something to focus on, if they want to. For those who can’t afford an altar. I don’t believe it’s as dangerous as the government says. The priests and priestesses I’ve talked to all support the idea. They say there are a few underground temples that already exist that people flock to. But many won’t come because of the danger of being arrested.”

  Sand sighed. “The Council will never give permission. What we have to do is build it secretly. And unveil it so publicly it will be impossible for them to reseal it into secrecy. Then make it so amazing, even they won’t destroy it. They’ll have to accept it. They’ll want to take control of it and they can. But they’ll never be able to take away the awe of it. It will be labeled a museum, but the people will call it temple. The nulls will come to pray. The fight will be to keep it free. But that will be for the next generation.”

  “You want to design a temple in secret?”

  “Yes.”

  “The workers, the land… It’s impossible.”

  “It’s already been done.”

  Shay blinked.

  “All we need now is to start the forest.”

  She blinked again. Forest. The word echoed through her body like a chord. He played her like a master musician.

  “For that we need the most powerful tree singer who’s ever lived.”

  She remembered to breathe.

  “We need you, Shay, to come to our hidden temple. We need to meld the chi of the place into a nova of life. We need the acorns and seeds to grow, bound together, so that they can’t be undone without losing them all.”

  Chapter Five

  Her heart was pounding so hard, it was going to climb out of her throat. She stared at the oak, imagining a field of them, ringed by people, sharing their chi in prayer.

  “Shhh. Shhh.” Sand rocked her while her brain restarted.

  “I’ll need air, sun, water and earth support too.”

  “Working on it.” His hands rose to cover her breasts. “Cullen is your sun, and there’s Tav, of course, for earth. I’m still identifying air and water. They’re slippery traits to pin down, and there are so many factors to consider. I have a very narrow pool and an idea of how to proceed.”

  When singers united to bring life to a seed, to nurture a garden, to cleanse some new piece of recovered stone, they united in a blend of elements, their chi dancing and binding. What it would take to raise a forest, all at once, entwined… She wanted it. She wanted to dare to reach for that power. “It will require a binding ceremony of a level never before done, between all of us.”

  “Tavish says that my systemic skills can be integrated into the traditional singer unit. He says I can help balance everyone, at the same time linking them. It sounds intense, but much more manageable than the transference. I’m looking forward to it.” He purred, palming her harder. “Does that mean you’re in?”

  “I should say of course not. It’s insane. But I’m looking at an impossibility right here. It’s like Spirit is daring me not to believe. I already made the commitment to lay my faith out as a laughingstock when I started my own project.” She stopped, considered. “I shouldn’t have done that. Now they’ll be expecting something like this from me.”

  “They can’t conceive of something like this. They don’t have the vision or the faith. You’ll have to keep agitating like you have been. You can become disappointed, let it slack off in a while. We’ll have to keep our association secret. This contract is as much public contact as we’ll ever have.”

  Shay breathed sharply. She was surprised at the pain. “Ever?” she whispered.

  “Until it’s done, Shay. Only until it’s done. Then I’ll approach you about a more significant contract length. As in a formal, sealed one.”

  She hadn’t considered a bond of that depth. Why would he say that?

  “It’s a ways off, a year at least,” his voice soothed her. “In the meantime, I’ll be in contact with you on the lattice, in secret. Tavish can pass messages.”

  Shay sat cradled in the body of the most amazing mind she’d ever met. Her hands traced the scars that lined his forearms. There would be more over the back of his neck. The pain he’d undergone, all because he was born with the physiology that wouldn’t reject cyber enhancements. He’d been found by a secret line of transferred priestesses. He’d dared to plan a forest. This was amazing. This was right. This just might be possible. Maybe. If they weren’t assassinated or burned out. So many things had to come together, and stay apart.

  “Sand?”

  “Hmm.”

  “Thank you for choosing me.”

  “Shay…” His fingers played gently with her nipples. “Thank you for listening.”

  “I’m ready. To share my chi with you.”

  He groaned. Rubbed his face in her hair. “Those are the sweetest words I’ve ever heard. Come on then, I’d like to share that with you in a special place.”

  He stood and resealed the oak’s defenses.

  Moving back, he walked down the hall and triggered a lattice connection she’d missed in the wall. She watched his face tighten as his hand splayed on the glass, how his skin lit blood red from inside, blue cybernetics lighting up like jewels. A wall slid into place, another fell down. Turning, she saw a magnificent doorway of carved wood. The scrollwork was pre-Cataclysm.

  “Oh!” She couldn’t help but go to it, touch it. She noticed the hidden door’s lasers only when their light faded. Then the wash of fresh-earth scent rolled out to her. “Sand!”

  “Meet the official reason you were hired.”

  In a tub of earth as wide as her car sat a red oak sapling. It had four branches and about twenty leaves. She knew at once it wasn’t descended from the ancestral oak.

  “It’s five years old in a month.” The fondness in his voice, the respect, moved her.

  She faced him. Raising on tiptoe, she curled her hand behind his neck, ignoring the ridges of scars. She kissed him. Softly, gently. She moved her lips over his as his head lowered to meet her, so she could come off her tiptoes. The glass was slick beneath her feet, and he smelled of her. She delved into his mouth. Warm, wet tongue met hers delicately, testing.

  How long they stood there, she didn’t know. Their lips sealed, and after the wash of heat ignited when their bodies pressed close, they settled in to the give and take of the kiss. It was a precursor of what was to come.

  When he began to walk her into the room, she followed without any awkwardness, their bodies moving as one, swaying. His kiss was deep and drugging, and his hair was so soft. One hand went down over his chest, around his ribs, caressed his tight ass through the sensuous cotton pants.

  Then, he wrapped her tight and breathed into her mouth. She stopped, adjusted her body and breathed back. He took in her air as his inhale, then exhaled into her. Moisture burst between her legs, her knees trembling. It was so beautiful, so incredible,
to share breath from him. After another exchange she was overcome and broke the seal to bury her face in his chest, shuddering.

  “Shhh. I’m here.”

  He was. An elite standing solid around her. She trusted him.

  “Shay-non, Tree Singer, sing for my tree.”

  She turned her face to the infant sapling.

  “I’d be happy to, Sand.”

  Slowly peeling herself off him, she knelt near the tub of earth centered in the glowing light. She closed her eyes, gathering herself, closing off awareness of his presence behind her. She was suddenly fiercely determined to prove to him just how powerful she was. When she’d steadied her breathing and heart rate, when her blood was ignited and the well of her will was opened, she called forth Spirit. Her body suffused with power, tingling, hot. She knew she was glowing softly now, less stunning than when Sand used his enhancements, but all over.

  Eyes closed, her hands moved through space until they connected with the tree. She gently closed both palms over the thin trunk. The life within jumped and writhed, but she soothed it, flowed into it. When it had resumed its circular pattern, and she had the whole of its energy traced, she opened the gate she controlled in her hands. And sang.

  The power rolled out of her, into her, Spirit moving around everything natural, everything alive. When she closed her gate, she knew the tree as well as her own body. She buzzed with sensation, her skin tight, her thighs damp. Singing made her feel good.

  “Spirit, that was gorgeous.”

  He was right behind her.

  “Cue in to me, Shay.”

  She expanded her well of power, pushing the bubble out and felt him near her back. She connected to his heartbeat first. It was hard, fast, but hers was right there to match it. Then, she stretched her energy down his torso. Her power coiled there and spread into his limbs.

  “Spread your legs. Arms up.”

  She widened her kneeling stance, rising up. Lifting her hands, she twined them in the air, playing with the feel of the energy pulsing between each of her fingers. It was an exact copy of her position earlier on the altar. Her knees on the glass floor were still slightly sore.

  His energy moved forward, then his heat, and finally his skin met hers as he slid between her legs, his hands on her waist. He gripped her hard and lifted her onto his folded thighs, setting a bare erection against her sopping cunt. He swiveled his hips, the head of him shifting in her folds.

  He held her there, poised. She’d shown him how she liked the delay, the hint, the promise, as much as the act. He’d listened, already proven he could give her what she needed. His mouth closed over her nape where her shoulder met her neck. He mouthed her gently, licking, nipping, then licking again. Switching to the other side, he moved his hips under her again, his tip slipping up to brush her clit, before sliding back to notch in her hole.

  His tongue trailed up her spine to play in the base of her skull, his breath scalding her even through her hair. “You just dripped cream all over me. I can feel it running down the front of me.” His thumbs swirled once on the back of her hips, his cock head slipping between her cheeks, leaving a trail of dampness, before sweeping back to her center.

  He nibbled down her spine, and he tightened his grip, lifting her higher so his mouth could nip at her tailbone. Without warning he dropped her, and she fell onto his erection, his fat tip lodging halfway into her channel.

  “Ahhh!” She cried out at the sudden force of it.

  He grunted behind her. With a snarl, his hands came up around her front to hook on her shoulders. He drove his hips up as he yanked her down, tunneling his cock deep. She panted for breath, her hands gripping each other tightly in the air above her. Like her initial contact with the tree, her chi spun wildly at a foreign addition in the midst of her. She surrounded the energy, swayed on him, claimed him.

  He snarled again, grinding into her. She felt the fat head plowing deep inside, trapped as she clamped hard around the thick shock of him. She quivered, shaking, balanced on his spike, his thighs spreading hers to the point where air brushed over her exposed clit. His hands softened on her shoulders, trailing over her breasts, down her ribs, her belly, to play in the line between her hips and thighs.

  With a moan, she lost strength, her hands falling to his, gripping his wrists tightly. He moved one of his hands back to her throat, another into the cave of her clit. She dug her nails into him, felt the sizzling presence of his enhancements. He gripped her throat gently, stroking it with long curls of his fingers. His other hand echoed the same curling strokes above where they were joined. His hips thrust up against her again, and she felt his well open, the place where he held his chi. His will poured over her, wringing a cry from her lips. He was coming silently, but his chi was screaming into her.

  She came too, her chi pouring from her core into him. He caught it, returned it in another pulse, and the loop began. He held her twisting body against his as she fell into the timeless place where pleasure merged with Spirit. The happy little tree before her eyes shimmered into view, and she saw in her mind’s eye a field of them, dozens. Without thinking, she opened the gates of her fingertips and sank into his body.

  He screamed, bowing them forward. Her heart stopped.

  “Sand!”

  “Shay,” he groaned.

  “What happened?”

  “Shhh…” He was able to straighten after a moment. “Oh, Singer. Thank you.”

  “I hurt you!”

  “Yeah. Sweet, biting pain. Like your cunt had teeth.”

  “I’m so sorry. What was that?”

  He chuckled weakly. “You sang.”

  “But…it hurt?”

  “Sure. I’m not a tree. Look.” He twisted his hands gently to dislodge her grip on his forearms. Burned into his skin was an imprint of her hands.

  “Sand…”

  “It was sweet, Shay. I tasted you. I held you, inside. You can sing in me anytime, lady. Spirit, I feel like I could run from here to land’s edge right now.”

  He gathered her up, hugged their sweaty bodies together. The feel of him shifting out of her wet clasp brought a moan to her lips.

  He hummed. “How do you feel?”

  She considered. Her brain was awake, her heart was steady, her body relaxed, but powerful. “Like I could run to land’s edge right now. Or raise a forest.”

  Both of them focused on the oak in front of them. It was now half again the height it had been, and would continue to grow on its infusion of singer chi for the next day.

  “You will.” The rock-solid certainty of his voice echoed in her belly like a kettledrum’s solid, solemn toll.

  She swallowed. “If they find out, they won’t imprison us. They’ll kill us.”

  “Yes. But between my skills on the lattice and Cullen’s Council insight, we’ll be all right.”

  “Tavish is a singer liaison.” He’d seemed a natural choice for an envoy to the elites. He’d been one.

  “He’s been in contact with many supporters in secret.”

  She shivered, leaning against his heat, breathing deep of the scent of their sex and the tree’s soil. “How many people know?”

  “Just we four know everything.”

  “You said there’s going to be more. We need others. Will you…contract with them as well? Show them the oak?”

  He was quiet. Lifting her, she moaned to feel his come slide from her warmth, painting her thighs. He helped her stand, turning her into his arms. Holding her as if she were the most precious, rarest of his natural treasures. His green eyes glowed. “I don’t know yet if I’ll be the contact or not, Shay. Ideally, it should be the person who’s going to be their partner in the ceremony.”

  “Sun to air, water to earth.” She cuddled against him, petting his nipple.

  “Yes.”

  “So Tavish and Cullen aren’t partners?”

  “They’ve contracted a few times.” He smoothed one hand over the back of her head, a gesture that reminded her of her mother
, dead now for several years. Singers led shorter lives than elite. The more powerful, the shorter. She expected to be dead in twenty years.

  “If it wasn’t for this plan, would they have taken a formal contract?”

  “I’m not sure. They’re complicated.”

  “Hmmm.” She was needed to do the Spirit’s work. She was part of an amazing project, honored to be part of it. She’d no place laying claim to the sexual ties she was enjoying.

  “You never contracted with an elite before.”

  “Nope.” She snorted. “I’ve not met many I’d even view as human beings let alone bedmates.”

  “Elites enjoy many benefits for the path they travel, but it is not as easy as it appears. We subject ourselves voluntarily to what amounts to torture, for the good of the whole. Shay, you don’t know what it’s like…the daily pain we train in to survive our enhancements. Pain so deep it makes your bones ache. It can suck the life out of you. It can suck the Spirit out of you. I’m not excusing them. But I understand how they get that way.”

  Shay was silent. She knew the elite performed vital services with which life in the protected lands continued. “Without elites, we would not exist. But most are such bastards it’s hard to be grateful.”

  Sand grunted. “Do you have a lover who is special?”

  Do you? She bit the question back. “I have friends I go to when I’m lonely.” Strangely, the chi loop between singers was never as strong as it was between singers and elite. Even a singer and null partnering was stronger than singer to singer. But it had been enough to get by. She didn’t have sex for power, but for comfort.

  “I was sorry to hear about your mother.”

  “Thank you. It’s weird to think of you spying on me for so long.”

  “I prefer to think of it as watching over you.”

  She pulled back and studied him with disbelieving eyes. “Conductor.”

  “I never interfered in your life. Not even when I thought you would be taken in by that protein elite with the pin oak.”