Mick (The A'rouk Brothers Book 1)

by Serena Simpson

  Now she simply waited.

  “Jazlyn Summers,” Sloan’s voice rang out with authority. “Clone number 786542, I am enacting override code Gamma Delta 5432. You will now revert to your original programming Delta Tau 7245.”

  She stiffened knowing what was going to happen. She took one last look around committing Mick’s face to her memories. This isn’t what she wanted to happen, how she planned to go out.

  Any moment the override would wipe out her free will. She would revert to the nameless clone she was when she first woke up. She could feel it working its way through her body. Her limbs stiffened as it took over her mind. She would die clueless, but that’s all right; at least she wouldn’t realize what she was losing.

  Roy laughed when her eyes went blank.

  “Clone 786542, come to me,” Sloan commanded her.

  Her feet tried to move.

  She could hear Mick’s voice echoing through her mind telling her he loved her. Dante telling her how proud he was of her went through next. Mick being willing to die for her so she could live. How he loved her, because he did, even if he hadn’t said the words. He took her to face the Patron and showed her he trusted her in so many little ways. When she asked him if he could lie, he told the truth. She shut him out, but even then she knew he would never lie to her.

  So many memories flashed across her mind, and she didn’t want to lose a single one of them. Dante visiting her every day when Mick couldn’t. Brook calling her sister while Ash called her little sister. The strength it took to save Brooks life when it was needed.

  “Mick,” she reached out to him refusing to let him go.

  “Stay with me, Jaz. Don’t leave me alone.”

  It was that simple. Jaz was staying. Sloan could take his override and whatever else he had up his sleeve and dump it because she wasn’t going anywhere.

  “No. I won’t present myself so that you can terminate my life, and I’m not your clone or anyone else’s.”

  Chapter Twenty-five

  There wasn’t a sound in the room. For a moment it was surreal. The blank looks on the faces before her couldn’t believe she broke the programming, and she didn’t know how she did it although she suspected she had help. All she knew was that she was free, an individual free to make mistakes as well as do everything right. The freedom she dreamed of belonged to her.

  “That’s impossible,” one of the women said in shock. “This can’t be allowed to happen. Kill her anyway!” she commanded in a superior voice.

  Roy must have thought she was talking to him. He took a laser out and pointed it at her heart. Mick’s Symphor appeared in his hand, and he threw it. It cleaved through Roy’s chest and embedded in his heart. He died without a whimper.

  She should feel sorrow, pain, remorse…except she felt none of those things. He died as he lived, violently.

  “And then there were four,” Mick said quietly as his Symphor flew back to his hand.

  “Do something, Sloan,” the second female demanded.

  “What do you suggest I do? Jaz broke the clone override. I no longer have jurisdiction over her.”

  “You know what happens if she lives,” Harold hissed.

  “There are more. We will simply stop the others.” He spoke in a reasonable voice as he looked around at the three surrounding him. “We lost this one. It’s a blow, but we will simply win the next round.”

  “No,” one of the females said. “We kill her and end this farce this very second.” Her hand stretched out, and she changed before Jaz’s eyes.

  She was no longer a human female. She was something totally different. Still humanoid, but obviously not human. Her hair waved behind her like it was alive. It was gold but more gold than she ever saw before. Her eyes changed shape; they became totally oval. Her body grew taller, and there was a small tip on her ears.

  A coil wrapped itself around Jaz making it impossible for her to move. Mick reached for his Symphor, but a coil wrapped around him too.

  “They are but children. Should we lose to them?”

  “Deanna, you must have forgotten that it’s not nice to hurt children,” Dante said as he appeared in the middle of them. He was sitting on a throne that was lazily floating over the floor.

  Deanna paled as she stared at him.

  When I get out of this, Jaz thought, he is going to be my second best friend forever with Mick always being my first.

  Dante turned and winked at her before going serious again.

  “No one invited you,” Harold said, moving closer to Deanna.

  “You have my brother and my sister in here. That’s all the invitation I need. She resisted the reprogramming; I was surprised when they didn’t come home and thought I should check on them.”

  “You’re the reason why she resisted.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I would appreciate it if you let them go.”

  Sloan raised his hands and they were once again free.

  “Mick, take care of your mate.” Dante waved his hand in their direction and Mick and Jaz disappeared.

  “The Darkness will simply kill them and then what, Dante?” Sloan asked.

  “Then they die, but at least they will have had a chance to fight for their lives, something you didn’t plan on giving them.”

  “You cheated,” Harold said.

  “How so? Did I take a daughter of the Earth and make her believe she was a clone, repressing her, retraining her so when the time came I could kill her ending the dream of humanity?”

  “You won’t win,” Sloan said, dropping the reasonable act. “I will fight you for every female. I might not get them all but in the end, I will get at least one, and that’s all I need.”

  There were six daughters of the Earth, children of the females that came together to make the planet they were standing on. If one were to die, the planet would begin to destroy itself, allowing its enemies to have a chance at overtaking the Earth.

  “Good Luck with that.” Dante disappeared with Sloan’s snarl in his ear.

  Mick was sitting on the couch with Jaz on his lap when Dante and Eli walked in.

  “Ash took Brook back to my place. I think he just needed to be alone with her,” Damon said, catching them up.

  The brothers were surrounding Mick and Jaz. Now that Dante was there, they stood up. “I think we’re going to wander through Sin City,” Damon said for all of them before they disappeared.

  Eli groaned. “I hate when all of you descend on my poor city at once.”

  “Then it’s good for you that you’ll only have four brothers tonight,” Dante told him. “Come have a drink with me.” Eli nodded, and they disappeared leaving Jaz alone with Mick.

  “What does this mean, Mick? The Clone Council is no longer going to hunt me down? Since when did the Clone Council become aliens and why? Am I still in the database? Will facial recognition go off the minute I try to walk into a store?

  “Let’s find out.”

  “Maybe tomorrow. We should get some sleep.” She wanted to put the experiment off for another day.

  He laughed and stood up holding her. “Brook’s hover is still at the Galleria. I just told Ash we would bring it back with us.”

  “I need to change.” She looked at him with hopeful eyes.

  “Hurry, this will be fun.”

  Fun she muttered to herself, how did I fall in love with the brother who had a screw lose? She stopped in her tracks. She loved him. She couldn’t remember when that last layer, protecting her heart from feeling, shred apart but it did, and she loved him. A wide smile took her face as she ran to the room to change. Now all she needed to do was gather the courage to tell him.

  “Mick, are you sure this is a good idea?” she asked him one more time.

  He came into the room tired of waiting for her and caught her around the waist, swinging her around the room with a kiss before putting her down so she could finish dressing. Now he was ready to go, but she was still nervous.

  “I
t’s a perfect plan, all except the part where Brook gets upset with you because she didn’t get to go.”

  “She can go next time if I survive,” she whispered.

  “What was that?”

  She shoved him before straightening up. “I’m ready.”

  “Let’s go.”

  One minute she was in the bedroom with him. The next she was standing in a small area next to the Galleria under an overhang.

  “This area is protected, so we come and go from here. It’s just easier.”

  She nodded, took his hand, and followed him to the main entrance. Her picture and biorhythms were on file. The minute she stepped through the doorway, it would light up like a Christmas tree in the entrance. There would be arrows that pointed to her telling the world or at least the people around that she was a clone.

  “Mick, I need to walk in by myself, and you can’t do anything to stop the system from recognizing me.”

  “You have my word.” He walked away crossing the threshold of the store and going far enough in that she could see him, but he wasn’t close enough to the entrance to influence it.

  Taking a deep breath, she walked toward the entrance of the Galleria. It didn’t matter anymore whether the alarm went off or not. Jaz knew who she was and felt confident in her skin.

  She crossed the threshold and came to a stop waiting for the system to go off, but nothing happened. A woman plowed into her.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “I wasn’t looking.’

  “No problem, it was my fault.” The lady gave her a polite smile and walked away.

  “Mick?” The expression on her face was dazed and confused.

  He stuck his arm out, and she placed her hand on it. “Come Ms. Summers, we have shopping to do.”

  He wanted to tell her how much he loved her, but the Galleria just didn’t seem the place.

  They went to one of the most prestigious stores. Jaz had come here once with Brook, and they had embarrassed her, made her feel lower than slime. When she walked in, she saw the male who had made her life miserable that day. He checked his database looking for her. He looked up and frowned and checked it again. With a final shrug of his shoulders, he went on to something else.

  “Do you want something from here?” Mick asked her looking around.

  “No, but there’s this cute shop downstairs called ‘Retro for the yesterday girl in you.’ I want to go there,” she said with excitement.

  “Well, let’s go.”

  She led him out the shop and down to the lower level, where she tried on an obscene number of clothes, most of which he insisted on buying for her. Then he took her to a shop that sold lingerie.

  “Mick.” Her eyes were big with pleasure.

  “Mick, nothing. I’ve had centuries of listening to my half-brothers talk about the thrill of shopping with their mates, and now I have a mate. I have you. I want to do everything, Jaz.”

  She stopped and kissed him in the store. She wasn’t sure it was normal procedure, but she needed to let him know how much she cared for him, besides a couple of the women in the store were eyeing him up like he was a side of beef.

  That’s right turn away; he’s taken. He tried to buy out the store before she finally pulled him out.

  “I don’t think I’ve ever owned as many clothes as are in that bag.”

  “That’s a shame. We need to hit some more stores.”

  “Not tonight, I’m tired.”

  “Ok, do you want to eat here?”

  She thought of it for all of two seconds. “Julian and Lucca made a cherry pie today, and there are steak and potatoes in the fridge.”

  Mick gave into joyful laughter, “We have spoiled you. Let’s go home.”

  They left the Galleria and made their way to the hover Brook was driving earlier that day.

  “Soon you’re getting lessons so you can come to the Galleria whenever you want to.”

  “That will be nice.” She yawned and closed her eyes.

  She opened her eyes to find herself on the couch. “Hey sleepy, you’re awake. I was going to go and start dinner.”

  “Could we talk for a minute?”

  “Sure.” He sat next to her, and she curled up beside him.

  “I’ve never met anyone like you before, Mick. I used to dream of meeting someone like you. I would watch the people around me at my job and wonder what it felt like to be with someone you cared about, but I just couldn’t picture it in the end. Then I saw you. I remember my heart beating fast and needing to get another glimpse of you. I also remember that I knew it was wrong, forbidden, and for the first time in my life I didn’t care.

  “They told me I was incapable of love. People like me couldn’t know what real love was, but my heart didn’t care about that after I met you. It kept moving closer and closer to you. I don’t know when it happened, Mick, or how it happened, but I know I love you.”

  She stopped and waited trying to calm her racing heart down. She waited to see what he would do. Did he love her, maybe it was one sided?

  “Today at the Galleria I wanted to tell you I loved you, but I knew saying it there wouldn’t be romantic. So I was going to make dinner, pull out the candles, play some of the music you like and then tell you that you hold my heart in your hands. I love you, Jaz. I can’t imagine my life without you. Stay with me forever, Jaz mine.”

  She lifted up to meet him in a kiss.

  “Dinner can wait,” she said against his lips as he picked her up and carried her upstairs.

  Her arms wrapped tightly around his neck when he laid her on the bed causing him to follow her down. She gave a moan of pleasure as she felt his body on hers. His weight gave her comfort; it reminded her that he was real, and this wasn’t some dream from which she was going to wake up.

  Micks lips touched hers gently, allowing her to feel them moving overs hers. The silken feel of his mouth making her hotter even as he worked her gently. His tongue came out to lick hers bringing a smile to her face before she sucked his tongue into her mouth.

  Their tongues clashed and dueled as her body heated. He kissed the side of her mouth before he went to her neck allowing his lips to skim the skin there. She shivered at how sensitive he was making her neck. His teeth came out to nip her as she ran her hands up his back and played with his hair.

  She loved the feel of his hair, how it tickled the palms of her hand. He always dipped his head a little when her hands were in his hair like he was saying yes please touch me, Jaz. Her fingers went to his scalp caressing him.

  “Mick.” His name came out a little slurred from the pleasure she was feeling.

  He was working his way down the front of her throat slowly kissing and nipping at her tender skin. He was dragging it, going so slow when all she wanted to feel was him deep inside of her.

  “Let me love you, Jaz. Cherish you, worship you.” His words, his voice, drugged her making her want to feel every soft caress.

  His hands went down to the shirt she was wearing. It was a button down, and he slipped the first button through the hole and kissed the skin revealed.

  “Please,” she said with a sigh, encouraging him to do it again.

  The next button came loose and he kissed her, slowly taking each button out of the hole teasing her with what was coming next. When her shirt was hanging open, he took his hands and swept over her skin with large movements making her eyes widened as her body tried to get closer to his hands. The more he caressed her, the more sensitive her skin became.

  She could hear his voice in her head telling her how beautiful she was. “I love you,” he whispered, as he moved to take her shirt and bra off, uncovering the bounty of her breasts. His lips curled into a smile as he looked at her.

  Jaz moved her hands to her breast and pinched one of her nipples. Mick’s eyes darkened at the movement, and his tongue licked his lips in greed as she saw a hint of a fang. He buried his nose between her breasts breathing her in before he moved to suck a nipple deep into his mouth.
/>   A whimper of need escaped her as her hips punched up looking for something solid to connect with. Her hands went wild touching him, caressing him, spurring him on. He bit her nipple, and a high keening sound came out of her as her body shook demanding he do it again.

  She felt his deep laughter course through her body seducing her as he moved to the other nipple, worshipping it like he had all the time in the world. The faster she tried to get him to move, the slower he moved taking his time.

  “You’re my princess, Jaz. My new reason for living.” He licked down her body taking the time to stop and nip at her skin or to suck on little parts of it making her toss and turn with the pleasure. His mind caressed her, reassuring her of his feelings for her, his devotion to her. He showed her how he felt, allowing himself to be mentally bare before her, and then thanking her with humbleness when she did the same.

  To be totally transparent before another being was enough to make Jaz cringe, but this was Mick. He was her mate the male she loved. The one she would die for. She showed him everything, being as open as honest with him as he was with her. His acceptance and loved flowed through her; she could feel it like a soft cover that surrounded her keeping her warm. I love you, Mick, she cried out; she needed him to know how real her love was.

  He stopped and looked up meeting her eyes. The love in them almost stopped her heart for a minute. She knew with one look that he understood, and he felt the same. A wicked smile curved those chiseled lips and then his mouth was on her pussy licking her, and all she wanted was to get closer to him.

  She growled with satisfaction as he took a finger and inserted it before adding a second. Her pussy sucked at his fingers, trying to get them deeper as he sucked on her clit making her hips punch up faster.

  “Please, Mick,” she pleaded, needing him deep inside of her. They could go slower another day, now her passion, her desire, her need to become one with her mate was overwhelming.

  “Mick,” her voice touched him, and he rose over her like a Prince storming the castle in an old vid.

  He moved his hips, teasing her with the feel of his cock at her pussy. He thrust up but he moved back, a smile on his lips. She forced herself to give up her control to him. His hips lowered and she felt him at her entrance. She waited until she couldn’t control herself and thrust upward impaling herself on his thick cock. The two of them let out moans of satisfaction.