by Viola Grace
Her family is gone, her body has changed, and her world is in an uproar. Time for a plan that will ripple through history.
Brneary lived a life of luxury in preparation for responsibility. One night that should have been a celebration turns into national horror, and she is the sole survivor. Waking in the hospital when no one else even left remains behind, she grieves her family and then finds out that there have been... changes.
She is left with a huge corporation, a vast personal fortune, and a family of thieves and assassins who cling to her as the last of her line. They help her gain control over the gift that rises, and while learning, she finds out that her world is even more twisted than she had imagined.
Generating armour from anything she touches is not a skill that helps when personal betrayal hurts her worse than any projectile.
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Wrapped
Copyright © 2019 Viola Grace
ISBN: 978-1-4874-2616-3
Cover art by Angela Waters
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.
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Devine Destinies, an imprint of eXtasy Books Inc
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Wrapped
Team Eight: Origins, Book 4
By
Viola Grace
Chapter One
Brneary sat with her family on the embankment overlooking the basin where the new power station was ready to spring to life.
The elite of Akerhar was all here, lined up at a safe distance to watch the experimental power supply kick on for the first time.
“Eerie! Get over here and have a seat. They have notified the locals that they are ready to start the generator.” Her boyfriend called her over to his side.
Brneary headed for the next blanket where her friends were sitting and consuming more intoxicants than they probably should have. She sat next to Itian, and she leaned against him as they watched the building for signs of life.
Her family looked over, and her mother sighed, shaking her head.
Brneary held Itian’s hand, and they watched and listened to the chanted countdown.
The power system that had been created would power their entire world from one small building. The energy created would be harnessed and broadcast across the entire world. They would be independent of all the imported minerals that they were currently pulling in through the portals.
“So, what do you want to do next weekend, Eerie? My parents have work off-world, so the summer house is available.”
“Let me think about it. I have to finish my first-year reports this week, and a weekend with you isn’t usually restful.” She nudged him.
He chuckled and squeezed her hand.
In the background, she heard the chant, “Three... two... one!”
Everyone stood up and watched the building below. Light began to flicker in the windows in the distance.
Brneary stepped toward the edge of the embankment. She whispered, “Total freedom.”
Light flared in the power station, and Brneary watched a wave of energy expand out from that one point. It broke across her body and shattered. She turned to Itian and said, “Did you see that?”
His eyes were focused behind her, and she turned to see the blast wave moving across the floor of the basin. The power centre was gone.
The wave crashed into the embankment, and the screams that she had barely heard were drowned out as she was covered in earth and falling with all of the other sightseers.
Everything went dark, and she was fighting for air, and then, the world was silent.
* * * *
Two days later
“Move that chunk of debris!” The foreman of the recovery mission ordered, pointing to a huge orb of dirt and vehicle remains.
One of the recovery team scanned it, hit their scanner, and started swearing. “There’s someone alive in there!”
After two days of pulling corpses out of the rubble, the teams were delighted to have an actual person to rescue. They pried and pulled at the dirt and wreckage until a young woman, filthy but alive, was on a stretcher and being airlifted to the nearest care facility.
It was the only bright spot to the deaths of over three thousand citizens, some of the best and brightest on the planet. Their world had lost more than just the rich and powerful, it had set back their power development decades.
Maybe, just maybe, with this one survivor, hope could flare up as well.
The crying had finally stopped. Brneary had been sobbing for ten days. Her head hurt, her eyes burned, and her throat was raw.
“Miss Ornuac, you have a visitor.” The bodyguard assigned to her by the government spoke softly.
She looked up from the tablet that had images of her family as well as the other three thousand plus victims of the explosion.
“Let them in, Leadra.”
Three of the senior officers of her family’s company were standing next to her medical bed.
She inclined her head. “Mecor, Jarli, Danvers. What brings you here?”
Administrator Mecor stepped forward. “We are very sorry for your loss, but the business has been suffering from a lack of leadership at the helm. We have come up with a solution to the problem, but we need your signature.”
He handed her a data pad.
“Please, while I read, explain your solution.” She scrolled away from the signature portion of the screen and went back to the top.
“You don’t need to read it.”
She gave him a dark look. “I have been working for the company in a variety of capacities since I was fourteen. In the last four years, I have learned to never sign anything without reading it and always activate the original document.”
She tapped the screen, and the text changed. “Ah, you are trying to sell the company out from under me.”
She flicked down the page. “For a fraction of the market price. Well, I am going to thank you.”
Mecor leaned forward. “You are going to sign it?”
She turned to the side table, picked up her water pitcher, and smashed the glass down onto the screen. “Oops. I believe that I have broken this one. Bring another one in a few days, and I will take another look.”
Mecor took the smashed tablet that she handed him, and his colouration shifted from pink to scarlet. He was furious at her, but he couldn’t express it. Poor man. Things were not going to go well for him once she got to the office.
“You, gentlemen, can go now. I will think about the offer.” She smiled tightly. She was going to think about it constantly.
Kiniak Corp was her family’s import business. They engaged in trade with twenty of the thirty worlds in the cluster. Even Duboss welcomed trade with her family. That might change now that there was going to be a woman at the helm, but she would deal with tha
t as it arose.
She ran her hands through her hair and looked at the pale strands. All of her beautiful melanin had been flushed from her system. She was chalk white from head to toe, and her eyes were a disturbing reddish pink.
She had no idea how she had survived, but something had wanted her to carry on, and while she missed her family and Itian deeply, it was time to start living again. That is what they would want her to do. Her father would have wanted her to break the tablet across Mecor’s head, but her mother would have urged a more cautious tone. Nothing should push Mecor into working against her. He was going to do that on his own.
“Leadra?”
“Yes, Miss?” Her long-time friend and bodyguard was standing in front of her in seconds.
“I need to leave this facility.”
“Are you sure? They want to run more tests.”
“They can come to my home or office to run the tests. I have been crammed into every machine they have here already, and no one can explain how I was encased in that protective layer.”
“I will fetch you some clothing and get the house cleaned and ready for you. I have a list of staff members who are able and willing to return to service in the household. All will be in place by tomorrow.”
“Thank you, Leadra. You are my lifeline.”
“I have known you since the day you were born. My mother was your midwife, and my position as companion and bodyguard was set in motion.”
Brneary swung her legs out over the edge of the bed and let them dangle. “But, I never thought that I would have to activate your training. I much preferred to keep you as a friend.”
Leadra smiled. “I don’t mind. You are a friend in need, and I know all the inner workings of your household. I will use what I know and work on things from there.”
“Thank you. It means a lot to have you here.”
Leadra reached out and squeezed her hand. “It means a lot that you survived. I am going to make sure that you never consider your survival a waste.”
Brneary smiled. “Don’t worry. I haven’t succumbed to survivor’s guilt yet. With the administration coming in here to take my company from me, they have provided me with a goal and a purpose. I am going to protect my family legacy. They had better not get in my way.”
Leadra nodded. “I will summon the vehicle and get you some clothing.”
“Thank you. Send in one of the staff. I am going to inform them of my decision to leave.”
“Yes, Miss Ornuac. I will be back within the hour.”
Brneary sat, and when she felt her feet throbbing with the blood that had only been sluggishly moving prior to this moment, she stood. She had been in bed far too long.
“Miss Ornuac, get back into bed. You shouldn’t be up yet.” The nurse was scowling.
Brneary looked at her. “I am not ill. I am recovered from restricted oxygen. There is no reason for me to be here, so I am leaving.”
The nurse frowned. “You can’t leave.”
“Oh, I beg to differ. There is no medical reason to keep me here, and as I am the head of Kiniak Corp, any money that they promised this facility to keep me here will not be paid out. If they try, I will register it as embezzlement, and their little empire will be under as much scrutiny as I can manage to bring to bear.”
The nurse flushed, went pale, and cleared her throat. “May I at least get a doctor to speak with you?”
“Certainly, but it won’t change my mind.”
Brneary walked to the window, and she looked out, sighing at how the world hadn’t changed, but her universe had been shattered.
She heard the slight scuff of a shoe and turned to greet her visitor. The hypo coming toward her did not indicate friendly intent.
Brneary grabbed the chair behind her and ducked as the hand came toward her. She fell as the chair disappeared, the metal and fabric evaporating under her touch. The impact of the hypo hit her shoulder, but there was an impediment.
Brneary stood up and faced her attacker. A hand came toward her, and she lifted her own to block the attack.
The physician was coming for her, his eyes wild. She picked up the hypo and held it. It fused to the casing on her wrist, and she nodded. That felt right. She extended the injector toward him as he stepped into her range.
The hiss was unmistakable, as was his shock. He collapsed to the floor and lay there, motionless.
Brneary sighed and touched his neck. He was still breathing, but his pulse was very slow.
A glance around the room showed that she wasn’t going to miss anything if she met Leadra downstairs. Brneary walked through the hospital halls, out if the private wing, and down the wide steps to the main entryway.
Her friend and assistant pulled up a few minutes after security tried to restrain her. She gave them doses of the same medication that the doctor had been intending to administer.
“Miss Ornuac, what are you wearing?”
“I believe it is armour made of a hospital chair. I am sure I will be billed for it. Shall we go? They are rather eager to keep me.”
Leadra opened the door, and there was a bag waiting on the floor of the vehicle.
Brneary smiled. “Hello, Alfus.”
“Good afternoon, Miss. I am glad that you are still with us.”
“Me too. I am going to have to change back here, and I don’t know how to get this armour off. Bear with me and ignore any thrashing.”
“Yes, Miss.”
Leadra got in on the other side of the car, and they drove off, the diminished security staff looking at their fallen comrades and wisely deciding not to pursue them.
It took thirty minutes for her to figure out how to dismiss the suit, and when it cracked so she could remove it, it was a bit of a relief.
Leadra held a chunk of the casing. “Is this how you survived?”
“I am thinking it might have something to do with it.”
“What is it? How did you do it?”
Brneary sighed and rubbed the back of her neck. “Fucked if I know.”
Chapter Two
Brneary smiled slightly as they pulled up to her family home. “Everyone is waiting.”
“They have been worried. The doctor has reported that you are physically incapacitated.” Leadra frowned. “I see now that we have been gravely misled.”
“I was more in shock from the confinement than anything else. When I found out that everyone was gone, that took a toll. It was emotional, and I still feel the loss, but I can function now.”
“It will be worse at home.”
“I know, but there are things I need to set in motion. The administrators are moving against me to get control of the corporation, and that is not something I am in the mood for.”
“The Kiniak Corp has been in your family for generations.”
“Seven generations to be precise. I am not going to lose it on my watch.” She knew her voice was grim.
“You are serious about this.”
“It is all I have left. I am not going to lose it, too.” She clenched her hands together as the vehicle glided to a halt.
“What about the other matter?”
“I am looking for a tutor.” She gave her friend a look and smiled slightly before she got out of the open door and saw the faces that she had grown up with.
They stared at the change in her appearance and then each one locked on her features. They relaxed when she quirked a sad smile at them. “It is really good to be home.”
The maids and other servants rushed her, and she was buried in a round of hugs and sobbing.
Her housekeeper looked at her with a solemn expression. “Would you like to take over the master suite, Miss Brneary?”
“No. I will observe the six months of mourning before I make any changes around the house. Thank you for asking, Monarth.” She smiled at the man she had known her entire life.
“Very good, Miss.”
“I am going to be speaking to
many new faces, and I will have to do it here.”
He nodded. “I shall keep provisions on hand. If you could tell me on the day of the meetings, I can make sure that there is a welcome for any guests you invite.”
“Thank you, Monarth. It is a relief to know that I can count on you.”
“Until you or your children dismiss me.” He smiled.
She chuckled. “That again?”
“You may find love again, Miss.”
“Itian was never love. He was entertainment. Don’t get me wrong, I will miss him, but he was never a forever mating for me.”
“Then, I am both happy and sad for you. Now, may I tidy your father’s office for you?”
She nodded. “Yes. That is highly desirable. His office has the best com system.”
“I will have it prepared immediately.”
“Thank you again. I will just grab a shower and make my list. Once I have that, I would like a meal brought to the office. The hospital food lacked the subtle nuances that Morcai can bring to the table.”
“I will have him start on something immediately.”
She smiled. “I will be in the office within the hour.”
He nodded and straightened his shoulders, taking on the challenge of getting the office cleaned and ready and the meal order underway.
She headed to her room and gathered the items she wanted to wear after she scrubbed off the residue from the hospital.
Everything was just as she had left it, and she fought the pang of memory as she got into the shower and began to scrub.
She wanted to wrap herself in the warm water, and she worked off the grime that had been missed by the hospital crew when she was rescued.
When she felt she was clean, she simply stood under the waterfall and let the tears flow. Home had never felt so empty.
She was staring at the financial situation of Kiniak Corp. The stock had dipped, but it had a sudden rise two days after the disaster. That was when she had been found.