Read Changeling Winds: Episode Two (The Bachelor Battles Book 2) Online

Authors: Angela White

Tags: #futuristic love story, #apocalyptic romance, #angela white, #action romance, #Fantasy Series, #romantic horror, #apocalypse rebellion

Changeling Winds: Episode Two (The Bachelor Battles Book 2) (12 page)

BOOK: Changeling Winds: Episode Two (The Bachelor Battles Book 2)
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“Remission.”

I breathed the word with my hands clenched into tight fists of my own kind of terror. It was the first time I’d spoken it.

“But that takes a perfect match! It’s only happened 12 times in 500 years…”

I closed my eyes, fighting the waves of misery at his tone of disbelief. Even he knew how unlikely it was.

“We’d better be more specific on the questions, then, if that’s what you need.”

The pity in his tone pity was hard to stand and I turned away. “Later.”

I heard him get to his feet, felt his concern.

“Angel…”

That name! That peace I could never have back!
I punched the bedroom door, growling when my fist went straight through it.

“Wait.”

“Later!”

But he wasn’t getting the message, not cowering from my anger. I froze when his big hands settled on my shoulders.

“We’ll find him - your match.”

Jason turned my rigid body around and didn’t flinch from my brilliant pink stare.
 
He did drop his hands, though. “We’ll find it. I won’t leave you until we do.”

It was too much,
him
offering to stay by me except in the way I needed most, and I shuddered with the urge to spill blood.

“How did your cousin do it?”

That brought me back enough to force words out. “Do what?”

“Keep from burning up until she won Daniel?”

I thought of Baker and the base we’d stayed in, and felt another chill of hatred for the Network. They’d taken their cut. Had my match been one of the bodies we’d been forced to leave for the Network’s cleaning crews?

“She had a… friend - Baker.”

I saw his surprise and it helped me draw that dangerous anger back in. “We all thought she’d keep them both, but…”

“Pruetts aren’t built that way?” Jason guessed.

I was surprised to find the rage fading. “We’re for freedom.”

“Why don’t you have a friend?”

That was harder to explain. I leaned against the door, marveling over how he’d unknowingly calmed me.
Had it been unknowing?

“I’ve always known I was burning faster than the others. I don’t want to waste what time I have on a friend.”

I could tell Jason didn’t like my pain,
nor
the idea of the awful, bloody death waiting for me.
Sweet.

“Would he stay with your family after that?”

I nodded, thinking he sounded a lot different than the trembling males in the cells - different than he had seemed then, as well.
“If he wanted to.”

“Would he… I, belong to one of them, then?”

Jealousy stole my compassion. “Yes. Pruetts don’t waste men!”

 

Jason

The thought of going from this well-controlled Changeling to one of her brutal relatives was bad, but it was her pain that kept me pushing. I had to get that desolation off of her face, even if it was replaced with lust for me.

“That should be on the list.”

Angelica studied me like she suspected the dangerous game I was playing with her emotions, and I opened my mouth to distract her again. She was faster.

“Do you have a list?”

My mouth closed. Would she want to hear it? Did I want her to? “Yes.”

“Is it long?”

“No.”

“Is there anything you would feel comfortable sharing?”

She was reading me, curious, and I gave her a minor detail, hoping she’d stay with it. “Not loyal to the wrong people.”

Angelica shook her head. “That’s too easy. We have a deal, Jason. You’re learning a great deal about me - and comparing, I’m guessing. It’s not fair that I can’t do the same.”

“I’m not picking a mate…”

“Aren’t you?”

Caught, I flushed, smiled ruefully. “I might be noticing a few things that I’d like to have at some point.”

“Such as?”

There was the heat again, from
me
. My gaze went to her chest and she laughed!

It gave me the courage to ask the question I wanted to know the most at that moment. “Why does having a friend make a Changeling burn slower?”

The flare of electricity was instant, and I took a step back at the red flicker.

“I don’t know. You’d have to ask my cousin.”

I acted like I wasn’t dying to get to the next question. “So, you’ve never…”

“No.”

The thought of Angelica under me, pleading for me to take her, was one that had my eyes dropping to those…

“The list, Jason!”

I flushed, turning toward the note-writer to copy down the things we’d covered - and to find some air. She had such an odd effect on me.

I determinedly sent my mind back to the things I needed to know the most. “The males there are probably damaged, in one way or another. Do you have a line for handling that?”

Angelica let out a tortured sound. “I’d help them all if I could, but… I’m burning!”

Her shoulders drooped, and her words told me she’d had this thought before, fought with it.

“They have to be able to provide a ‘service’ when it’s needed, but more than that, they have to
want
to.”

Angelica moved for the bedroom. “None of this matters if they aren’t truly willing, and I can tell the difference.”

She felt my response coming, didn’t turn.

“I can’t take you that way, Jason. Please stop dishonoring us both by offering.”

That hurt me a little and I let her go. I didn’t like these games, but I only had so many ways to protect myself.

I glanced over the list we’d made.

Black hair - long

Size - big

Beard

Add 25 pounds?

Sense of humor

Courage - follow instincts when alone

Smell good

No kids – big problem

Hates the Network

Knows she’s burning up - how can I help when she won’t take a service?

Hunt with them - check out family - who gets me?

Remission - no friends – Pure!

 

It would seem that I’d crossed her list with mine, and I stared at the many ways we matched. In one short conversation, she’d shown nearly half the traits and emotions I needed. The two biggest I’d been sure few females would ever get by, she’d already passed - the ruthlessness to stand up to Rankin and a loathing of the Network that matched mine. Even if she didn’t meet the rest of it, I already doubted I’d find a better match for my vision of the future.

I thought about my own list again.

Drugs not needed

Kids, a family

Strong enough to resist the Burn-out stage or willing to train me
before
we mate so that I can protect us.

Must hate the Network.

Has to want me for more than sexual relief.

Can kill Rankin.

It wasn’t very long, but I wouldn’t budge on any of them. Not even for the chance to match with a Pruett.

 

Angelica

 
Kablammm
!

We were woken by a nerve-shattering explosion that sent us off our bed and couch, and onto the floor.

I hurried for my clothes, waving a sharp hand as Jason came to the master bedroom’s doorway. “Stay in here. Don’t make me hunt you down.”

I knew he would, but I had to say it anyway. He was already important to me.

Ignoring the other panicking residents of this floor, I moved away from the apartment with a hard glare at the guard on the hall. She was supposed to protect all the males behind these doors when their owners were away, but my glare said she’d better do more than her duty over mine.

I took a minute to look out the window instead of going downstairs in the crush of the mob. Up here, there were slits in the shades that allowed limited glimpses of the main side of New Network City. What I saw was a shock.

The Justice Building, where the Pruetts had done so much dealing, was gone. In its place was a twisted, burning pile of wreckage that could have only been caused by a powerful explosion. The buildings on either side had serious damage too, but the leaning tower of authority that the Network liked to show their logo on, was a smoking pile of rubble.

Less than half a mile north of the doors we would emerge from in a few hours, the train station was a large semi-dome covered platform made of durable foam and lined with security. Behind it, were tracks and the long black train we would take all the way to
Ohio.
Guards began to pour from those sleek transport cars, and I instinctively counted them.

I watched the big females flood the area, and start grabbing the gathering citizens, hitting them with electric clubs. My mind went to the prize I had stashed, and I turned back. We were set to leave in a few hours, and if something big was happening, I would be contacted. Leaving Jason up here alone would be a mistake.

Another swift glance through the next dirty window gave me the unthinkable sight of two Network Hounds tearing a woman apart while her young girls screamed in horror from the nearby church steps. Homeless shanties around the chaotic scene began to disappear as dozens fled in panic.

The Hounds were mutated dogs that the Network controlled remotely by thick spiked collars around their watermelon-sized heads. Bred for security and sport, the Hounds were brutal and ran in large packs to ensure no survivors. It was still a fight that Changelings might have won, if not for the mutated dogs also being infected.

Run girls
, I thought.
You’ll be next
.

I turned away before the urge to help them took over, and the console alarm on my wrist sounded with an incoming message. I went to our rooms and secured the door before reading it. Jason was in the shower and I forced myself not to think about him standing in there...

The message was short.
“No change in plans.”

I deleted the words and then turned off my wrist device. It was hard to track what wasn’t putting off a signal.

Sure the increased security would include searches of everyone who boarded the trains, I started packing… carefully. Some of these things, like the camera with the images of the Network entrances and alarm consoles, would be hard to explain and I tucked them into my hidden pouches. I’d been busy during my time here, and in more than just the obvious ways.

The winner’s apartment was identical to the grungy green room I’d had below, except that there was now this small bedroom that connected by a set of mismatched wooden doors. Hanging oddly, they left a crack. The couch was also a bit wider, but the tiny washroom and the puke-green walls were the same. It was depressing and I couldn’t wait to be outside. Even the windows were tinted black and covered in bars, but it didn’t matter. From this high up, there was nowhere to go but down.

The feel of the apartment was old, almost musty even with the fresh scents we’d put into it during our time here. It was the smell of people long
gone,
the ones who’d left their ghosts behind to haunt the Network. Winner or not, there was no way to come away from these bloody halls unmarked… undamaged. I was no different.

I rubbed the pinky finger I’d lost and regained during the Network’s Wall challenge. It didn’t feel right now - sort of like my damaged soul. The finger was there and it worked, but it would never be the same.

Jason watched me the whole time, standing in my doorway with that dripping skin. I could feel his near panic from across the room.

It was heavy, clearly something he was used to carrying, though, and I offered no comfort. He’d chosen not to be mine, not to accept my full protection. I would do the best I could, but in the end, it might not be enough and I was sure he already knew it.

“We leave at noon.”

“I’m ready.”

Yes, I could hear that. He’d been here most of his life, trapped in hell. This must seem like a new part of his life about to begin…
how terrifying
.

Against my will, my voice softened. “We’ll work something out, for you. Baker will be able to help you find whatever it is that you need.”

Jason didn’t answer. Maybe he already doubted Baker’s influence, even though he’d never met the rebel leader, but more likely, he was considering what it would be like to be out there all alone. My mouth opened.

“I’d have you know, that you could come to me… later. If you got in trouble and needed help.”

His shock was obvious, and I realized he hadn’t believed me when I said I’d free him. Instead of trying to convince, I went back to my packing. In time, he would see that Pruetts were always trustworthy, even when it hurt.

“Thank you… for everything.”

I snorted harshly, but didn’t respond otherwise. I didn’t want Jason to feel like he owed me, though of course, he did. It was a debt I wouldn’t collect on.

BOOK: Changeling Winds: Episode Two (The Bachelor Battles Book 2)
6.65Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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