The Change: Episode one, page 21
“I’ll be in the hall.”
Angelica spun from the now-silent room with a fast movement, and I let her go. There were forty well-covered men out there. In here, there were fifty half-naked targets with only slick skin to protect them. The scent of it was enough to make even my eyes flicker, and Baker tossed an amused look toward Daniel.
“We keep cuffs in the rooms for… guests.”
I turned to see Daniel flush and motioned him back toward the door. “Distract Angelica if you can.”
I gave a pointed look that said to do it carefully, and he moved out of my sight with a snotty look at the rebel leader. His spine reappeared with Baker, I thought, delighted.
I turned back to the watching rebel males. They had moved toward each other and the weapons lining the walls… I couldn’t help flashing them another pink-eyed Games grin.
Now they were rushing for the knives and chains.
Baker stepped forward with a look of resignation. “She’s with me.”
“Who is that?”
“Baker?”
“Baker’s back!”
A few of them had the courage to approach us, but they didn’t run to him like I suspected they wanted to. I understood these males were much more careful than Daniel. They really had been trained. Questions began forming in my mind.
Baker let them encircle him as the others had, and I saw he was being subtly moved away from me. Maybe he had made some progress trying to prepare them. He spent long minutes talking in low tones, and those listening darted quick, disbelieving glances in my direction. The rest of them never took their eyes off of me.
The room held no photos or anything that could have been mistaken as a personal decoration, but a small area in the corner with a stack of books drew my eye repeatedly. When they weren’t eating, sleeping, or training, Baker had them reading. Interesting. What had he thought they needed?
I moved closer to inspect the small, well-worn stack and my lips curled upward. They were all romance novels. He was trying to teach them to be men, considered that more important than a normal education. Very interesting. What exactly did Baker have going on? Leading by example, he was trying to exude that sense of complete calm and control over the situation, and it impressed me. I’d known Baker when he was a rebellious teenager bent on finding a way to take down the Network, and this image didn’t really fit… yet in some ways it did. It would seem he was fulfilling his dreams.
D
“Is there anything I can do for…”
I stopped when Angelica spun around to face me, expecting the worst. I didn’t know her very well, and I was more than a little leery. I wondered if she looked as dangerous to the other males as she still did to me. She was smaller than Candice, with shorter black spikes and paler skin, but I suspected there was a fire in Candy’s little cousin to rival her own.
“Yes.”
I blinked. “What?”
“There is something you can do for me.”
I had already tensed, and I tried to relax. “Name it.”
“Tell me how you do it.”
“Do what?” Clearly, I was confused, and I watched Angelica master her impatience.
“Help her control it. She spends time around you, and she’s suddenly this rock of indifference.” Angelica’s voice lowered, and she stepped closer, drawing attention that had rebel males moving toward us.
“I… When I pick a mate, he has to be able to do that for me so I don’t hurt him!”
I shook my head at the trio about to interrupt, noting the hulking forms of those they’d chosen for security, and then ignored them.
“I’m not sure.” I looked at her, wanting to explain what I had no real words for. “She feeds off my happiness… I think. Knowing I’m here - that she was able to win - helps her when it gets bad.”
Angelica pinned me with a pair of pink eyes. “How do I know the right Bachelor?”
It hit me then that she’d already gone far beyond thinking about the Games, and my voice went up a level. “What did you do, Angel?”
She shoved me against the wall, hissing angrily, but it wasn’t the name that had her upset. “Tell me!”
Ignoring the rebels running off to find Baker, I gently pushed at the arm across my throat, and she eased her grip. I doubted she realized how strong she was. Most Changelings didn’t. “I’ll try.”
She slowly moved back, and neither of us responded to the yells of the men with the guns, nor the doors opening or feet moving our way. She needed information I had and I made sure she could hear me over the din.
“They’ll feel it too, and there’s no hiding that.”
She blinked, not expecting such a simple answer. “Then… they want …?”
“To be loved. As much as you do.”
Hurting, she spun away from me.
“The legends say there are visions that spark up.”
Baker’s voice was more amused than upset as she stormed by, and he shook his head at the near-panicked males. “They’re just talking, stand down.”
Baker looked at Candice with a face that held embarrassment, but also a meaning that I didn’t miss. What did the rebel leader want from her?
“Maybe we should stay together for a while.”
Candice gave a short nod at his suggestion, but her eyes were all over me. I wanted almost desperately to know what she was thinking right then, but I had to settle for going to her side as we joined Baker and his rebels for a meal.
As we went by two doors, the rebel leader pointed out our rooms, and I noticed the handcuffs on the wall with a red face. Next to the cuffs was a wide bed with no less than eight thin poles welded to the sides. Spaced a few feet apart, I understood what they were for and flushed darker.
C
“They’ll feel it too and there’s no hiding it.”
Daniel’s words rang in my head as we settled on the hard steps of the huge arena to eat. At another time, being here might have sent my thoughts to the Games I’d won, the blood I’d spilled in other places like this, but all I could think about was what I had just learned.
“There’s no hiding it.”
The look in his eyes as he’d said that! Daniel loved me. It was only a beginning flicker - with the short time we’d had, there was no way it could be more - but I planned to encourage that tiny glimmer into a fiery explosion. I wanted him in love with me, the way I was with him.
The realization stunned me. He was the opposite of Baker’s dependable strength. Pale and ignorant of the world. Quick to get emotional, and even quicker to find trouble. I’d retrieved my mate, and it was an important moment for me. It was that turning point from which there would be no going back. I would spend the rest of my life trying to make him love me the way I did him.
“Stop drooling and listen, will ya?”
Baker’s annoyed growl swung my eyes from Daniel’s flushed face, and I let out a hiss of need that sent those closest scattering. There were roughly thirty males in here with us now, all dressed in t-shirts and jeans without the shadowy colors to hide what they were - men. Everywhere I looked, hard bodies and wary eyes met my assessing stare. They were healthy looking, and I stored the thought. Baker had his strength in these men. Would he be able to give them the courage they needed to go with that brawn? Compared to these free men, Daniel looked happy. Most of them were bigger than he was, healthier, but his face was a mask of contentment that Baker couldn’t give his rebels, either. They needed women for that.
I rolled my eyes at the fearful males. “When I snap, you’ll know it.”
Baker chuckled again, and Daniel surprised us both by joining in with a flushed smile. He was starting to relax with us, to belong…
“Candy…”
Baker didn’t know the name no longer held any power, and he frowned when I didn’t react.
“That’s it then.”
I nodded. “Yeah.”
“You gonna go sparkless on me, too?”
That got a violent growl that even Baker drew back from. “Never on your life!”
He flashed those stunning silver eyes at me. “Then listen.”
“I am.”
“There are 500 of us.”
My mouth dropped open in shock, and I heard Angelica move closer.
“Most are at the safe zone.”
“You’re gathering an army.”
Baker shook his head, silver eyes flashing, and I braced for it.
“I have one now. I’m trying to train an army.”
I knew then what he wanted me for, and I opened my mouth to say no… “Sell me.”
Even I was surprised, but when he’d said Daniel was changing me, Baker had been completely wrong. The Network had opened the door to this whole other person that I was suddenly very eager to explore. For this new world, I might be a leader of a rebellion, of men! The thought was terrifying and exhilarating, and I listened with an intensity I had been lacking before.
“My father escaped from a Network auction and took refuge here. After he realized they wouldn’t come into the vines after him, he began gathering other runaways and male convicts set for execution. He started when he was still in his twenties.”
That explained the high number. The man I’d seen killed by the Network was at least double that age, maybe triple.
“He spent his life hiding here, organizing safe zones for others like us. Word spread, and now, when males escape, most try to find a zone. We only put them in places the Network won’t go.”
My mind spun out a fast list of possible locations for the main bunker with the other males, and the Borderlands topped it. I confirmed my guess right away. “Yeah, the guards don’t like dust, bandits, and mutations all in the same place.”
Baker grinned in satisfaction, nodding. “I knew you were the right one for the job.”
I frowned darkly. “I haven’t taken it yet.”
He waved to a few of the timid males hanging back. “Join us. She has questions only you can answer.”
The two who came over were Eric and Greg, from our first meeting. Without the paint, they were both incredibly beautiful. It was clear they had been abused, though, and I loathed the scars across their arms and wide shoulders. Those were defensive wounds, and I had little doubt their jeans and tank tops hid more of the same.
“Eric and Greg were broken out after they were won. They’ve both spent their lives in the Games, from birth.”
I studied them, collecting more information from their appearances and reactions than I thought they’d be able to tell me. Both of them were shaking, though Eric’s eyes held a slight gleam that I recognized as need. It was hard to miss when you spent so much time battling it.
“Tell me about the training - as much detail as you can manage.”
My soft request pulled a reluctant nod from Greg, but I could tell he was scared to talk in front of two un-cuffed Changelings.
“She won’t. My word on it.” I didn’t need to look at Angelica to know she was emanating waves of menace as the fire tried to take over. Her strength was amazing, all things considered.
“You’re sure?”
Eric asked it, and even I had to close my eyes at the sound of those bell-like tones coming from that stunning face. It made me want to sink my teeth into his skin and bite until the blood soaked into me like it was mine.
I turned to look at Angelica, but she was already moving toward the door. “I’ll be around.”
I gave a deep sigh, and then drew in a tight breath. It filled my lungs with the scent of the male at my side, and heat flared inside my gut. Daniel’s face was almost ugly compared to Eric, but it was the sight of him that had my vision tinting pink. “They’ll feel it too and there’s no hiding it.”
The same was true of a Changeling.
I saw his lips curl upward as he realized the effect he was having on me, and I motioned toward the long tables of food they had spread out. “Go eat something else.”
He was still much too thin, and I was glad to see him head toward the sweets trays. Any fat he put on, I would turn into muscle. The grin spreading across my face was unstoppable.
Baker was waiting patiently, and I saw the same was true of the others in the room. They were used to dealing with Changelings despite being hidden here, alone. My mind snapped it into place. “Where are the women?”
Baker’s look was smug as I continued to prove my intelligence, declaring myself for the job.
“We don’t have them here very often. There are none right now.”
“Not without you here?”
Baker nodded, again showing his emotion, his caring for these orphaned males. “They wouldn’t handle it well on their own if one of the females was strong enough to feign normalcy and sneak in here... they’d be wiped out.”
“Do you bring them in for experiments or relief?” I questioned, my tone daring him to lie.
“Mates.”
I raised a brow as though I’d misunderstood, but I hadn’t, and my mind reviewed my earlier impression from seeing the reading material. He was match-making in the middle of a rebellion. Beyond interesting. It was downright exciting. Baker was trying to repopulate the earth… right under the Network’s nose. I suddenly liked him, respected his sand, a lot more than I ever had before. Courage was something I found irresistible.
“A little detail on that would be good.”
The rebel leader shook his head at the offer of a second helping of food, but I gave him a sharp look and he took the plate of dried staples. I didn’t say that if he thought to do all this, he, too, needed more weight to throw around, but he knew. Baker took a bite and went on with eyes I was sure were reading my every reaction.
“There are women who’ve helped us. In return, we help them. The males who only want an owner are allowed to pick from the few friends we have who can protect them, keep them out of sight.”
His tone grew proud. “The Stone Mountain compound has placed more than a hundred bachelors with good homes over the last thirty years.”
I gestured at the timid male on his right. “And the ones like this, who have no wish to be owned or loved?”
Greg flushed, and I understood that might not be true. Another case of great acting to be left alone until he made his own choice of owner? I hadn’t thought bachelors could be clever, too, and it was a delicious thought.
“I get them to the main safe zone after I give them a few months training to help them make it. There are no females there, ever.”
“You realize that will have to change?”
“I’m counting on it. After we take down the Network, they’ll all need to be placed with mates so we can rebuild the world of light my father foresaw.”
Chapter Twenty
C
“Tell me how you know Daniel.”
Eric and Greg both flinched back, and I grinned. “Your quick looks at him gave you away.”
One was scared, and the other… a temptation to be resisted. Eric had decided he wanted to belong to me, and his beautiful eyes were busy searching for any signs of something to use to pry his way in.
Baker nodded at them, and I steeled myself against their voices.
“The Network pulled DNA from the Immortality Drive that was on the international space station when it fell back down in 2308. It contained markers without the mutations, and they’ve been working on it ever since.”
Instead of lust at the sound of their voices, the information kept me focused. “You know about the vaccine.”
There was no surprise in the entire room, and Eric’s voice grew bitter. “They created it by using the blood of bachelors who only produce male children.”
My eyes immediately swung to Daniel. Only produce male children. I instantly sensed he was one of the twelve, and wondered if he knew. “How long have they had the cure?”
“Five years that we know of.”
I listened in furious silence as they filled in the rest of the ugly picture that Daniel had only held small pieces of.
“They don’t want the women cured or the male population restored. If that happens, men might regain their former power, and there isn’t anything the Network won’t do to stop that.”
Greg picked up where Eric left off, his incredibly sweet voice rushing over me like a wildfire. No wonder he was so scarred… scared. The feel of it!
“They figured out that if the mating is willing, with one of the twelve bachelors who only have male children, then the offspring will be immune. They’ve only managed to create that mix a dozen times. There’s a certain… spark that’s needed.”
I turned to Baker. “How many of the twelve have you gathered?”
His grin told me I would like the answer. “Six or seven.”
No wonder they wanted him dead. I leaned back, and began sorting and organizing the new, deadly information as they dealt it out.
“They’ve known for a long time and hid it to keep things in chaos. They sell these secrets to other governments and the sister Network in the Western Outpost. It lets them control our world.”
I thought of the discovery we’d made years ago. The Pruett’s knew of the wall around the entire country they’d accessed so far and I didn’t doubt the west was the same. To keep us in, or others out? Both came to mind, but I hadn’t placed all those pieces yet.
“And no one knows,” I muttered.
Eric’s voice took on a determination that sent hunger through me. I liked a rebel. My relationship with Baker proved that.
“We do, and we’ll die to take them down.”
Greg added another piece to the puzzle, one I slammed into place with a final click that had my grip tightening on the spoon.
“They use those dozen males for a lot of things. Most of the time, it’s as a breeding tool for those rich enough to buy a child. When it’s a boy, it’s passed off as coincidence, but they make sure the parents are compatible first. When these male children get old enough, they take them back and use them in the program.”
