He moved to Rylee pulling her off the bench seat. He grunted when he realized one of the women had a hold on her. He forcefully tore them apart and began dragging her across the floor all while cursing the fact that he must leave the truly beautiful one behind.
*~*~*~*
“What train hit me and why is my shirt open?” Piper groaned her hand going to her head. She looked around the restaurant.
“What the hell?” Quinn asked as her eyes finally focused on where they were.
“Wasn’t this a functioning restaurant when we entered it?” Brandi asked.
“You’re not asking the most important question,” Serenity told them. “Where is Rylee?”
“Who?” Brandi asked.
“Rylee? Remember her, flame red hair, green eyes that Phoenix couldn’t stop staring at, timid in our presence to begin with even though she’s a badass. Rylee!”
Her name hit them all, and they collapsed once again as it tore through their minds lifting a shield that hid her presence in their lives.
“Someone clouded our memory, so we wouldn’t remember her. How?” Quinn was on the floor covered in dust from an active construction site. She clawed her way up until she was sitting on a chair.
“We need to get out of here.” Brandi stood swaying from side to side from whatever was done to her. The others got up. They walked out like four drunks who needed each other to stay up but were pulling each other down at the same time.
“Who can drive?” Piper asked.
“I’ll drive; I think I’m the most stable.” Serenity climbed behind the wheel while the rest found a place in the SUV. “Keys.”
Quinn fished them out of her back pocket and turned them over.
“Not too loud,” Brandi groaned as Serenity turned the SUV on.
Serenity drove until the ‘I’m on drugs feeling’ began to wear off. When everyone could at least sit straight, she pulled to the shoulder of the road.
“How did you remember Rylee when the rest of us forgot?” Piper asked. Everyone looked at Serenity wanting an answer.
“Combination of being able to walk through time and this.” She raised her hand to show them part of a shirt that didn’t belong to any of them and then skin that was under her nails.
“Rylee’s DNA. It’s a neat trick Akron showed me. He calls it beating them at their own game. The DNA allows you to follow someone; the shirt is a trigger to remind of what you're forgetting. I used them both, in case.”
The grim faces in the car told her they understood.
“Do we go after her now?” Piper asked.
“And sleep on the couch?” Quinn asked.
“I’ve never slept on the couch, but I know if we go after her alone putting our lives in jeopardy it will happen,” Brandi told them.
They nodded in agreement. Whoever took Rylee not only knocked them out but managed to get them to forget her. They were going to need back up.
Serenity pulled out her phone. When Akron answered she told him what happened and where they were. They all knew when he told Phoenix. The wail of frustration and fear followed by sheer determination to rid the world of whoever held Rylee blasted through the phone.
“That went better than I thought.”
Brandi eyed Piper. “You always were a bit too optimistic for me.”
“Maybe, but I’m running a computer simulation on what happened to us. I should have a tentative answer, by the time we get home.” She held up her smart phone. Piper was a computer genius, and her phone was a separate and extremely intelligent A.I.
The rest of the drive was made in silence as they processed what they could remember.
“Stay in the car,” Serenity told them. She met Akron at the door to the kitchen.
He wrapped his hand around Rylee’s torn shirt and took the DNA that Serenity secured before he moved away.
“I can feel what they hit you with. We’ve set up showers out back. Wash everything, including your hair. We don’t want this around the children or the cats. Especially not Elfin if he is what I’m beginning to suspect.”
She nodded, “What about the SUV?”
“Lysander or Troy will come for it. They’ll give it to someone who doesn’t know Rylee.”
She walked out and gathered everyone for one mass community shower. It was dangerous to love a created; it was heartbreaking to leave him alone. Akron’s love was worth the battles they faced together.
*~*~*~*
“They’re in the shower,” Akron told his brothers.
It was times like these that made him happy they could communicate mentally.
“Serenity got what we need to be able to follow Rylee,” he told Phoenix when he walked in.
“I never doubted it.”
“Never?” Slade asked as he walked in.
“No, but I will admit it wasn’t until now that I saw how special they all were.”
“The fact that Serenity cannot only walk through time but manipulate it on her own.” Akron’s voice was filled with both respect and love.
“We’re ready to leave when they are washed and dressed,” Slade told them. There wouldn’t be an argument about whether the mates were coming with them.
Troy, Lysander, Jamison, and Piper’s father walked in after a knock on the door.
“Where are they at?” Jamison asked with a smile.
“We should have said no,” Ly groused. “We would have if Rylee’s life didn’t hang in the balance.”
“No, you wouldn’t because you’re a softy dad.” Serenity kissed him on the cheek. “You’re right though. We need to have more time away, so you guys can watch the kids, cats included,” she laughed.
“They are in our room,” Thrice told them. “Ivory is watching everyone.”
“Bring her home safely. I’m counting on you take Elfin with you,” Troy said before he opened the door to the stairs.
Elfin jumped on Phoenix’s shoulder. The males were dressed in the outfit they used when they were going on missions. The clothes would change with them and act as a protective barrier. It also helped them blend in. Although they no longer used it for that since their mates’ outfits did the same but were in jewel colors.
“I can’t wait to see what color Rylee picks.” He hated that his sisters decided to stand out. Now he just wanted to see Rylee standing tall and proud with his sisters with that look on her face and that grin that tugged at his heart and twisted it sideways.
“Serenity take the lead.” Akron gave her back the torn shirt and the DNA that would lead them to Rylee.
Chapter Eleven
They didn’t want to use Rylee. That should have made her happy, it didn’t. They planned to dissect her, to find out how she was able to access the gifts she was born with. The fact that they wanted to do it while she was still alive was pissing her off.
Not like she was begging for death. It was the fact that they wanted to inflict as much pain as they could before she died. The only satisfaction she could get, and it was small, was that they were going to die with her.
Whatever they did to her was wearing off. She could feel the growing power accumulating under her skin. It couldn’t be touched yet, but that was okay with her. According to them, she would suffer for hours if not days. Pain was a trigger for her. The more she hurt the hotter she burned, and she needed to burn hot to melt the whole facility down.
She closed her eyes refusing to look into the director’s eyes as the scientist made his first cut. The onlookers all grinned, there would be no anesthesia for a prize that only deserved death.
She let her mind sink into a dream of her and Phoenix on his bed. He would touch her with his strong hands. They were a warrior’s hands. Strong with callused fingers from fighting for truth, justice, and the American way. He was a superhero, well; he was her superhero. His eyes would glow with that crazy flame. The one she thought she imagined the two years they spent getting to know each other.
His deep voice would whisper in her ear telling her to b
urn him. She’d protest, the bed, the house; she would whisper back. He would laugh, the one that walked down her spine and made her pussy gushed with need. Then he would remind her she was living in a houseful of aliens a flame wouldn’t even make them blink.
A rugged groan of pain came from her. The laughter around her made her seal her lips tighter as she fought the pain for her fantasy of being loved.
“Your mother never should have run with you.” A voice growled in her ear as he slashed her arm open.
She could feel the blood moving sluggishly down her arm. There were murmurs and shocks that she bled so slowly.
It was a side effect of being able to call on fire, but she wouldn’t be volunteering that information.
Phoenix took her lips in a mind-numbing kiss. She needed him. Come rescue me; she screamed in her head. It wasn’t fair to him; he didn’t know she was missing. He wouldn’t even remember her. The man in the suit, the one she wanted to burn. Told her everything they had done. No one would remember she existed by the time her friends got back to the house.
She remembered them. She clutched the memory of Phoenix close to her heart. Then there was Troy and her mother. The cats and how could she forget Elfin? She would take every memory she had with her into oblivion and hope that it would keep her warm.
There was screaming now. It took her minutes to realize it didn’t come from her. Her eyes felt like lead as she tried to open them. A groan came from her lips though her eyes refused to open.
“My God they’re dissecting her alive!” She knew that voice although she couldn’t remember who it belonged to. It was one of the mates, the sisters, the women she was claiming as her sisters.
“Mekhi, love, get your ass over here now.”
“Shit.” That voice was low and dangerous.
It was the guttural yell that made her relax. Now she could die; Phoenix was here. She wouldn’t die alone.
“What the hell, did you know Elfin could do that?”
She stopped listening when Phoenix touched her.
“Rylee love.” He bent to kiss her. It was as sweet and as desperate as she dreamed it to be.
Maybe this was a dream, and she was dying. She had to let her fire out to take them with her. She concentrated as the heat surrounded her hair.
“I got her, when you’re ready give me the shot to put her out.”
All she felt was a flame cover her body. It engulfed someone. They were flame together. Phoenix? She groaned his name getting lost in the feel his body holding her. She wanted to tell him how she felt. The feel of something cold running through her body distracted her. The heat that she was producing died down. Then there was nothing but darkness.
She came awake trying to fight the weight that held her down.
“Careful, you’ll undo all of Mekhi’s hard work.”
“Mekhi?” Why was he working on her? “Phoenix?” She reached out blindly needing to touch him.
“I’m here. This is just a blanket covering you. It must feel too heavy, but you need the heat. Your body is demanding it.” He pulled her up carefully and took her into his arms. He placed the blanket around her again.
She was pulled back under by darkness as he cradled her.
The next time she woke she knew she was being held by Phoenix.
“Water?” Her voice came out with a croak. She felt like she hadn’t drunk anything in forever.
“It’s room temperature. Mekhi says nothing cold until we know your fire has stabilized itself.”
She wrinkled her nose but didn’t object. Phoenix gave a short chuckle before the bottle was lifted to her lips.
Normally, she was so hot that even cold things didn’t really quench her thirst. She shivered.
“I asked them to bring you some tea.”
“What happened?” Her memories were sharp and then fuzzy. She remembered shopping and bonding with the others. It brought a smile to her face. She remembered the award-winning acting job Piper did. Then everything got fuzzy. She was in and out from that point.
“They wanted to dissect me.” She tried to jump up, but her body screamed in pain. “Phoenix?”
“We think they started the moment they had you in their facility. It took a while for Quinn and the rest to wake up. We estimate they were out for about four hours. Then they still had to get home and decontaminate. We estimate it took us another one point five hours to get to you.”
“I was with them for over five hours?”
“You were; they took you out of the state. That trip would have taken close to three hours. Mekhi doesn’t think they cut you until they were at their secure facility.”
There was a knock on the door and then the room was filled with everyone. Brandi handed Phoenix a cup of tea. Her eyes were filled with tears she refused to shed.
“You guys rock,” Rylee told them after she took a sip of the tea. The heat made her feel somewhat better.
“They almost killed you because I suggested we try the new place,” Quinn said. She was wrapped in Mekhi’s arms.
“I’m alive because of all of you. The plan was to abduct me at the mall, but you guys wouldn’t leave me alone. The guy in the suit said it was like all of you were my personal security detail. I don’t know how they set up the restaurant, but it was their last chance. He cursed me because they had to take me out of the area instead of using the perfectly good lab they had set up here.”
“Piper, baby find that lab.”
“I’m already on it.”
“The guy in the suit had to be an alien. Did Ali get a pic of him?” Thrice asked Piper.
“Of course, I did.”
“Did your phone just talk? I’m dreaming, aren’t I? I’m still strapped down to that table.”
“Ali is an A.I.; she doesn’t like to be called a phone. Treat her like one of the family.
“I also don’t like to be left in the other room when they’re having sex, but they don’t care about my feelings then.”
“Gremlin’s.” Rylee reminded herself.
“I think that one is broken,” Ali said. It was enough to dispel the tension in the room and cause them all to laugh.
“What happened?” Rylee asked.
“It was kick ass; you should have been there. Well, you should have been awake,” Ali said.
There was a projection in front of them with Rylee naked and tied to a table. Were her insides on the outside of her body? Phoenix stepped out of the air. His growl made the men surrounding her turn around. Damn, it looked like one of them peed himself.
The room was then overrun with military pointing guns. She tried to feel sorry for them as they died but didn’t feel any remorse. Each one of them was okay with her dying.
Wait why was Elfin there. Phoenix broke off from the fight and moved towards her. She remembered that kiss. Then she lit up with a flame so hot it should have killed everyone in the room. Phoenix siphoned it into his body. The fight didn’t last much longer. Then there was Mekhi leaning over her trying to put her together enough to move.
The last shot was the whole facility caving in.
“They’re all dead?”
“Not all of them we were able to capture two of them thanks to Elfin; they are in the basement.” Phoenix gave her a quick kiss on the lips.
“Did I see the facility implode?”
“Your cat is scary,” Ali said then the image went away.
“She’s sleeping,” Piper told her. “You would think an A.I. wouldn’t get tired. I think it’s because she’s growing, expanding her knowledge. Give her some time she’ll have a body like everyone else.”
“Out.” Mekhi picked up an instrument and waited until the room was empty of everyone except him, Phoenix, and Rylee. Phoenix moved to give him space, so he could examine her.
“How long was I out?”
“Three days,” Mekhi told her.
“What?”
“Putting a human back together isn’t as easy as it looks in the movies.”
“Did you say…” She looked up and caught his smile, then burst into laughter. “Ow don’t make me laugh, I still hurt.”
“Count it as a blessing. It’s either hurt or dead.” He pressed an injector in her arm. “This will help with pain. You're alive, but your body isn’t at its normal core temperature. That means no cold drinks, cold showers, or getting cold. You need warmth so that your internal fire will both return and stabilize.”
She nodded, the look on his face said this wasn’t a laughing matter.
“I understand.”
“Phoenix keep an eye on her. If she sneezes call me.”
Rylee laughed at the joke. Reddish-orange eyes and blue eyes stared at her pinning her down where she lay.
“I. Mean. It. A sneeze, a cough, anything other than what you’re doing now, I want to know about it. Until you are stabilized, you're at risk for sudden death unless the thought of self-combustion is one you like.”
Her smile disappeared. It never dawned on her that with her body being in flux that she could suffer the fate of so many before her. She was a believer in the fact that a body could burn from the inside out. It’s what she did every time she called fire and now her body wouldn’t be able to handle her gift or curse depending on what day it was.
“I don’t want to be burned alive.”
“I’ll watch her,” Phoenix sat down pulling her closer to his side.
Mekhi packed up and left.
“Mekhi never said what was done to me.”
Phoenix closed his eyes as the sight of her lying on the table blasted his brain.
“Do you really want to know?”
“Yeah.” She took a deep breath. She could still remember the glimpse she caught of herself on the table. She was sure there was more footage, but Ali had moved past it too fast for her to concentrate on it.
“There was one male who was torturing you with cuts and fire. He wanted to see if he could get your skin to burn. There was another who was opening you up examining your internal organs.”
Phoenix (The Broken Book 5) Page 6