Changeling Winds: Episode Two (The Bachelor Battles Book 2) (21 page)

Chapter Twelve

Rankin

“Are we going in there?”

I shook my head at Lena’s question. Hadn’t my heavily scarred XO seen the bodies of The Ring spread out like a bloody fan? “Not without a death wish.”

Undefeated, The Ring had supplied me with males for all the years I’d labored to get this coveted position. And the Pruetts had taken them out. It made their level of threat go up in my estimation. I would get this dangerous family with their backs up against a wall, where I could trap them and demand Jason’s return… and then open fire.

“Why aren’t they worried about being infected?”

My second in command was full of questions and I shut her down with a scornful tone, hearing the rise of Nature. “Pruetts don’t fear anything - least of all the walking dead.”

Silence fell.

My orders were to confirm a rebel location and call in the strike, but I would get my property back before then, and my crew should know it of me by now. I hadn’t groomed him for all those years to give him up to a Pruett, and I thought maybe the Network had known that, as well. Maybe it was even why I’d been sent. They knew my relentless nature would eventually give them what they wanted - the rebels. My vendetta against them all would never end now that I’d been crossed.

I knew of the infamous Pruetts from the recent Games, but I’d also known their mother before she burnt out, and I hadn’t liked her haughty ways either. The fact that they resembled her closely - from their tanned, tattooed bodies, to their thick, smooth faces - didn’t help that feeling.

As I worked it out, my crew waited restlessly on either side. They’d been with me when I’d flipped and killed Jason’s family - they were very aware of my obsession. If not for the value of being on my team, they would have turned on me long ago, and I was careful to reward them well to prevent that. Or kill them. I’d replaced a few of my crew not long after lying to the Network about Jason and making them sign the report.

“They’ll exit somewhere else. We’ll get up high and wait them out.”

“And the storm that’s coming?”

I kneed my horse without answering, telling them I didn’t fear anything either.

But they knew that to be a lie, didn’t they? I feared what they all did - losing my place within the Network hive during the time we were out on runs. Tensions had risen since these Pruett women had started winning the Games, and my behavior during the match had my girls on edge.
Not so much that they wouldn’t follow me, though.
There would be big rewards if we could locate the rebels. After the mob at the northern border, they were the biggest enemies the Network had.

“Someone try a call before the bugs get here.”

I picked a crumbling part of the wall that was out of sight of the city, and quickly began making a nest to shelter in. Around me, my hard-asses did the same. It wasn’t the first time we’d sheltered in the open, and they knew what to do.

As we got set, the bugs started coming over the southern landscape, turning it to night. Knowing we had only a few minutes before they reached us, our pace increased.

Thick tarps and spikes provided a flapping shelter that became sturdy when packed with a hard bodied-horse and gear. Once lying down, the animals kept the tarp in place and allowed for a heat source. The mounts would also make a softer pillow than the ground we were used to.

In the lea of the wall, most of the storm would miss us. It was the coming insects we had to be on guard against right now, and I felt my hatred of the Pruetts, of Angelica in particular, grow. They were safe inside, likely enjoying food and exchanging information, while I was stuck out here in this Borderlands hell.

I thought of her and Jason sharing a cozy corner of the ruins and smothered my rage until my vision was black again. My harem of males was my weakness, but only Jason held any power over me. I’d taken the others, not needing them as more than a way to relieve my torment, but with him, I felt something more. I didn’t want to, and I loathed myself for having such immaterial feelings, but there was no fighting it. I wanted him more than anything except my Network career…. and I wanted him willing. It was why I hadn’t taken him yet.

My crew thought I was waiting to buy him, and that was part of my plans, but I’d been lingering for some sign that he was finally bonding to me. I’d been patient with him, compared to the others, and I still had hopes that our time together had marked him, as well.

These women with me also thought I kept him thin so that he didn’t seem so much like his father that it made me snap again. They didn’t understand it was so he would be safe when I finally took him. His father had fought back and the size of him, his strength, had been what triggered my rage. He’d wanted me dead and I’d reacted accordingly.

With Jason, that wouldn’t happen. My control was solid over the Change now, but I still didn’t want him hurt, and he would be if there was a real fight between us. Once I got in that mood, I could spend hours making them bleed…

“I’m through!
Main complex line!”

Lena’s shout over the increasing wind had the others feeling better, and I didn’t deliver a rebuke for her lack of discretion. Out here, there was only Nature to hear anyway, and she didn’t care for man’s secrets. Nature had ambushes of her own to carry out.

I took the satellite phone, hating the feel of it, of the stench of the old world it sent through my mind. “Get me a member of the council.
Now.”

As I waited, the bugs arrived.

Mutations of the harmless grasshopper, these new crickets were the size of a shoe and always hungry. Herbivores before the war, they were now omnivores and not even people were safe from them if they were hungry enough.

The tarp sagged down as the boot-sized bugs landed, screeching wings enough to make the guard next to me growl in dislike.

I put a calming hand on my mount’s nose when it snorted. “Easy…”

These particular hordes were being driven ahead of the storm, unable to stop and eat for more than a few minutes at a time. They would be ravenous.

I pulled the edges of the tarp tighter, and tied myself to my horse. If it spooked and ran, I might have a chance at controlling it. At the very least, I’d end up wherever it did.

“Hold for Council member #8.”

I didn’t like that. I’d never talked to anyone lower than a five before, and it sent ugly ideas into my head.
If my value to the Network had dropped so low…

“
Aaahhh
!”

It was on my left…
Lena.

Unsecured edge
, I thought. It was a mistake she wouldn’t get to make again.

The annoying screams were still coming when the Council member’s rough voice tore through my ear.

“Where are they?”

Angelica

I saw him as soon as I closed the door and turned around.

He was alone. That wouldn’t have been Sam’s idea, but upon seeing his pendant, I understood he’d insisted on waiting for me.

It made me more
posative
that the meek males the Network had tried to sell us on didn’t exist. Oh sure, they were scared and scarred, but willing to risk pain for your wants wasn’t meek. It was brave.

Jason didn’t speak, face full of emotions I wanted to puzzle through and find the cause of. He was so conflicting. Warm and eager one minute, cold and calculated the next. I sigh. It was another part of his charm. A normal, well-trained male would never have pleased me.

I held out a hand and he slowly let me pull him off of the floor, both of us tensing at the contact. It sent us right to the train, to fiery ecstasy we’d shared.

I let go, but didn’t move back.

Jason swallowed, found his courage. “Are you okay?”

I’d never been cared for by a male. Even my father’s love was remote, because I wasn’t safe to be around and the sudden feeling of being the center of someone else’s concern was indescribable.

I nodded, not sure I could answer.

His eyes lightened even further, becoming those glowing gray orbs that I often saw in my dreams.

“Good!”

I controlled the fire, but not my hands as they reached out for him. Just a taste…

“All finished?”

I flinched back, dropping my arm. “Yes.”

The lepers had returned, upon the sound of the door I assumed, and I motioned for Jason to go ahead. His attention lingered on me as he stepped by, and I wondered what his reaction would have been to my kiss.

“We will feed you now, and hear of the conversation.”

As we went down the dank, wooden stairs, Jason stayed only a step ahead and I enjoyed the descent as the breeze rising up smothered me in his burnt chocolate scent. I didn’t think I’d ever get tired of it.

Jason

Angelica directed me to the place on her right and I sank down gratefully. I hadn’t liked us being split up and I only let her put a foot of space between us.

This room was only walls of sand held in place by neatly layered debris that no longer had any identifying marks. In the center was a neat, narrow fire that stretched roughly four feet and provided heat for warmth, cooking, and light. It was soothing compared to the other areas we’d been in so far.

As Cain sat down, he used the staff and was unable to hide a painful grimace as he dropped awkwardly to the hard floor. Made of stone or perhaps metal, I suddenly realized how hard this environment must be for them, how much it had to increase their suffering.

The lepers seemed to know we wouldn’t take any food they’d handled, going to great lengths to show us that the teenage children, who were not infected, were doing the cooking.

Hoods began lowering and I averted my gaze from the bald heads and sores, suddenly queasy. I didn’t think I could eat, but when Angelica accepted her bowl without complaint, so did the rest of us. It made me feel better to see a few of the Runners avoiding the sight as well, but no one protested Angelica’s choice to eat the food.

There were only half a dozen lepers in this room with us, but ten times that number lined the various doorways and peek holes, watching, listening. I hoped we wouldn’t have trouble when it came time to leave, but none of my protectors seemed worried. The Runners were already busy shoveling down the food, and I realized hot meals were probably hard for these tough women to come by while on runs.

“What did our captor say?”

My head rose in surprise
. They were prisoners?

I saw that their heads were once again covered and was relieved…
And very sympathetic.
Now that we were still and seated, I could see that most of the lepers around us were female, and heavily scarred from their battle with the flesh-eating disease. What agony these people were enduring while the Network held their cure.

“That the world will become a plague if we free you.”

“It is the answer that is always given.” There
were no surprised, angry words, only resigned sorrow
.

“You know it to be true.”

“But we have no choice! This curse wasn’t ours. Why must we suffer so?”

“Would you destroy the world again, to have a few years of freedom?”

Angelica’s words were gentle, and I was glad. The Runners were all tensing, subtly setting down warm bowls in favor of cold weapons.

“No. But, I’d have more than this!”

“And so you might. Listen well.”

Angelica’s words drew every head to her.

“Your master says if the Network comes here, to this place, that you will join the fight. He also says that if a contained area is found, you may leave this place, but only after the fall.”

Cheers and happiness, among a single harsh voice.

“And what did you promise in return for such generosity?”

Angelica didn’t drag it out.
“Death, of course.
It’s all he wants after centuries of holding you, seeing you rot without being able to stop it.”

The room erupted in mutters and cries of protest that I hadn’t expected.

“Calm down,” Cain ordered.

I got the sense that the others heard it differently by the way they scowled at him, but immediately resumed their silent alertness. I’d had a bit to think while waiting on Angelica, and I’d made the connection after studying it. Cain had thrown me to the ground - mentally, and before I could touch him and possibly be infected.