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) (23 page)

BOOK: Changeling Winds: Episode Two (The Bachelor Battles Book 2)
10.5Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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“Now, she might stay and fight for what she wants.”

The big woman also pushed back to lean against the wall, seeming willing to talk if I was.

“My turn.
Why did she insist we keep going? Is it part of the deal?”

“We’re being followed,” I admitted reluctantly.

Sam snorted. “We knew she’d have a tail. What else has her so alert? Are you in trouble?”

I wasn’t sure what to say, but again, the intelligence surprised me. I honestly hadn’t thought any woman could be as smart as Rankin, and here were two of them in the same family.

“She’s protecting you.”

“Yes.”

I didn’t think it was funny at all, but the Runner let out a bray of laughter I winced at.

“Well, it should be a fun ride, then.
Your turn.”

I tried to recover. “What does she want, from the future?”

“That is a very good question. You should ask her.”

“Maybe I will.”

“What do you want?”

“Freedom.”

It came to my lips automatically, and the Runner gave me another of those hard, insightful questions.

“And after that?
Will you stay with the rebels?”

I slowly shook my head. “I don’t think so.”

“Then the plan would be…?”

“It’s my turn,” I stalled, but she shook her head.

“Answer it.”

I opened my mouth and told this frightening woman what I hadn’t shared with another living soul, including her sister. “I’d have my happy family returned.”

 

 

Angelica

“My happy family returned.”

His words buzzed in my head like angry little bugs that pinched and twisted. He wanted the one thing I would never give him.

My happy family…

I spun away from the entrance and waved a Runner inside, taking her place. Of my sister’s big friends, I only knew five, three being distant cousins that I didn’t like very much. After them, Rose was the hard-ass on Sam’s right, a place the loyal miner had held for ten years.

On Sam’s left, was Wendy, a twitchy, hard-faced gambler with lightning fast hands. Of the two, I trusted Rosa more, but it was Wendy’s bald form I had waved toward the crumbling shelter. She wouldn’t hesitate to kill, and since Jason wasn’t blonde, he was safe with her. Golden-haired boys were all she fancied.

It hit me again.
Jason wanted to have children.

My heart cried when I refused to let the drops fall. All he wanted was what had been stolen from him by Rankin, and it burned that I couldn’t provide it. Some other woman would hold him close as he filled her with life, feel his children growing. They would share everything, and I would be alone somewhere, missing him.

My happy family returned…

The pain was crushing, and I wasn’t surprised to hear my sister come out to relieve Rosa. I only resembled Sam in my thick body and the short, black spikes. From there, her greater height, her loud voice, and her restless urge for adventure, marked us as different, but she still knew I needed her.

“So, you’re setting him free.”

I didn’t answer, but she was aware that I was struggling with it. It had been so different for a brief moment, listening to Jason and my sister getting to know each other.

In another world,
I thought, swallowing the bitterness with a harsh shudder I didn’t try to hide.

“No one would blame you.”

This was the conversation I didn’t want to have - the one where I let her convince me to keep him against his will.

I sent her a sharp glare. “That’s not what he wants.”

“Since when do his wants matter? You won him.”

“Pruetts do not own males!”

The shout surprised even me. I snapped my mouth shut.

Sam grinned.
“Yep.
Gonna
be a fun trip.”

She turned back to the landscape and I did the same, not letting myself be drawn into one of our sisterly fighting moments. Besides being on duty, I was in too much pain to be distracted so easily. Jason wanted the one thing I would never give him.

My dream of remission shattered.

 

Jason

I stepped outside to find that our shelter was a red brick building set into the side of a wide hill covered in sticker bushes. Crumbled into decay, the building was covered by sand and weeds, and I couldn’t tell what it had been. Someone’s home was most likely.

Angelica handed me a roll from her pack, and the canteen from the bike’s holder. Around us, the Runners were doing the same, only consuming water and the hard rolls.

Curious, I turned back to see Angelica still watching me.

“They’re energy balls.”

I’d heard of those. It was described like the drugs for males, increasing a Changeling’s blood flow for stamina.

Still charged from our wakeup together, I took a large bite. It was sweeter than I’d expected and I grunted in approval before taking a second mouthful. It was gone a few seconds later.

“That was good.”

Angelica held out another with no comment and I devoured it the same way I had the first. As I finished, I realized the Runners were laughing again.

“Two! That should stiffen his upper lip!”

I flushed as I realized what it meant, but I didn’t look away from Angelica. She wasn’t laughing. Her gaze was on my mouth… Electricity sparked between us, turning flat black to brilliant pink.

I dropped my head at the fresh brays of amusement.

“Five minutes,” Angelica stated tonelessly, stepping by me.

I studied the area, searching for war relics, and found myself alone with Angelica’s sister. The others, my owner included, were repacking the bikes that were also hidden inside.

Nervous, I waited for Sam to speak, but there was only another assessing glance and silence.

When she didn’t move from my side, I realized she was guarding me, and felt flattered. This big woman was clearly the leader of her crew. Why would she bow to a younger sibling’s wishes? Clearly, I didn’t have these Pruetts figured out yet.

“You have a tracker in your arm. Do we need to sedate you to remove it?”

I turned toward the woman in horror. “Get it out of me!
Now!”

The big female didn’t get Angelica’s permission first, but I sensed my owner standing tensely nearby as her sister drew a large knife.

It didn’t hurt nearly as bad as some of the things Rankin had put me through, and I was able to remain silent for it. The Runners were impressed as she dug the locator beacon from my arm, and then handed me a bandage. What they would do with the tracking chip, I didn’t ask.

“Heads up.”

Movement in the near distance had Sam sounding a sharp whistle. In seconds, I was surrounded by armed Changeling Runners with red eyes and long claws. In front of them, Angelica joined her sister. When I saw our company, I cowered in the middle. My worst nightmare was about to come true.

Rankin rode up slowly, openly, searching for weak spots in the ring around me. There was no doubt in my mind that we were about to be under attack, and the Runners agreed.

“Tie him in.”

Angelica’s order had more female hands reaching for me than I thought I could stand and I cringed back, only to be held mercilessly in place by those behind me. I moaned my fear as they attached numerous ropes to my belt, my ankles, and my wrists.

As they spread back into a tight circle around me, I understood the Defenders would have to kill every Runner here to take me, but I wasn’t relieved. She would do that.

Angelica took a step forward to meet Rankin, and I moved toward her with no further thought of my own safety. She didn’t know who she was…

The Runners jerked me back and shoved me to the ground, where the view between their legs was gritty, but clear. I stayed down and watched the confrontation I’d been dreading since leaving New Network City.

 

Angelica

“If I don’t lose one guard, I won’t call out the Hounds. It’s the only concession you’ll get from me, Pruett!”

Rankin’s tone said she’d seen too many of my close moments with Jason. She wanted me to pay for the view.

I subtly moved closer to her, and to the sleek black horse she was
towering
over me with.
“If I refuse to give him up?”

The Head Defender snarled, hands clenching around the saddle horn. “No survivors will be allowed!”

Those were terms I could live with. I’d rather be dead than see Jason back under her control.
“Agreed.”

I turned long enough to meet my sister’s knowing gaze, and then we both reacted as the situation deserved. We jerked our knives out and threw them - hard.

“Attack!”

Rankin’s pain-filled voice told me at least one of our throws had been good, but I didn’t waste time verifying it as I ducked into the protective circle of the Runners and got set to fight. She could have him over my dead body.

 

Jason

The females on the outside of our circle flipped their heavy fur cloaks over a shoulder, holding them up for shields. The next line hurried to bind these cloaks together with their attached strings, and knives and bullets slammed into the vivid-shaded cloth and were held!

I heard Rankin scream in rage, and I cowered closer to my new owner as the Runners began to return fire. With the cloaks attached, they made a wide circle of protection and freed gun hands that were now knocking guards from panicking horses.

Rankin had underestimated the Runners
, I thought gloatingly. As I had the thought, I felt the Runner next to me, Wendy, tense. She’d just seen the new odds and didn’t care for them.

“Here they come!”

I turned to see a large pack of Network Hell Hounds running full speed towards us from the dusty distance. We were trapped.

 

Angelica

The Hell Hounds snarled furiously, zeroing in on the scent of blood and the sound of gunfire. Their enormous paws shook the ground as they pounded toward us, and saliva flew from their lethal mouths.

 
Welcome to the Borderlands
, I thought sarcastically. “Fall back!”

I placed us with the crumbling shelter to our backs, ready to dive inside, but my sister and her girls were too good for that.

Half of the Runners kept firing, forcing Rankin’s crew to seek better cover. The other half of the Runners pulled long red cords from their pockets, lighting them quickly before giving hefty throws that landed these objects near the Hounds’ relentless path. We watched the slobbering dogs approach the first one…

Kabblllammmm
!

The explosion evaporated the nearest three Hounds in a geysers of debris, and sent the others veering off of their straight-at-us course.

The pack quickly remerged.

Boommm
!

The second impact took two more of the collar-controlled dogs from our battle and split the pack in half, but neither group changed direction. They were coming for us.

Sam tossed two of the red cords at the same time, buying time for her girls to reload, for us to come up with the next step.

Given cover by the arriving Hounds, Rankin and her remaining Defenders had moved back to fire sporadic shots that tried to slip through our defenses. If we came up to fire at the fast approaching Hounds, Rankin and her crew would be able to pick us off from there with clever shots.

“Down!”

We all dropped at Sam’s shout, just in time to avoid the first Hound that sailed over our heads from the top of the building we were up against.

Uncovered, bullets began slamming into targets.

“Don’t hit the male!”

Rankin’s shout had me standing.

Ahhh
!

I turned to see Jason’s ankle in the grip of the Hound that had jumped over us. I fired without thinking, blowing its rage-filled eye out of its head.

Gore splattered, but the teeth didn’t let go of his ankle.

I fired again, taking out another red orb, and the furious dog gave up my prize. I jerked Jason behind me as the other Runners closed the gaps in the shield.

“You sure know how to make friends.”

Sam didn’t sound anything but perfectly pleased, and I snorted, firing as I moved our circle away from the corpse. “You know me. I like a challenge.”

 

Jason

I listened to their banter like they were from another planet. How could they be so calm while we were under attack by both Rankin and the Network Hounds? Didn’t these Pruetts fear death?

My ankle shouted as Angelica jerked me behind her, and I held in the moan of pain, seeing Rankin was aiming, starting to smirk…

I instinctively yanked Angelica down and felt the Runner behind us sag against my rope as she took the hit.

A second Hound reached us and leapt directly into our circle of ropes and cloaks, forcing the Runners to leave the outside unprotected again as they turned and fired. Rankin drew down again…

I did the only thing I could think of. I snatched one of Angelica’s spare guns from her belt and started firing at my terror in the darkness.

Angelica was the only one I wasn’t tied to and I was horrified to see her jump out of the protective circle of Runners. She drew her bow and let an arrow fly. Not pausing, she grabbed the next and fired again. Three more and her quiver
was
empty, but her gun wasn’t. She continued the same lethal aim, cutting through half of the remaining guards like a swift, bloody blade.

She walked forward as she fired, headed for Rankin’s covered area, and I opened my mouth to call her back. She didn’t know what Rankin was…

Angelica launched a handful of spikes, drawing the Defender’s full attention as the sharp projectiles drew more blood. Rankin fired ruthlessly, gun trained on Angelica.

“No!”

I lunged forward and the Runners shoved me back down.

“Retreat!”

Rankin’s shout had me staring frantically…
There!
Angelica was standing in the middle of the chaos while firing, with no care for her safety. It was impressive... and annoying. Didn’t she care if she got hurt?

 

Angelica

“Now, Angel!”

Mental flames shot up from Sam’s call, but I pulled the bow from my belt with steady hands, aware of Jason still using one of my guns.
Good!

The arrow slid into the notch and I drew down on Rankin without stopping to aim. Killing her would be so sweet…

Rankin sensed it coming at the last second, dropping to the side of her horse as my arrow and Sam’s bullet reached her. Both plunged into the guard behind her, and the body slammed into Rankin’s horse as it fell.

The Head Defender seemed to wake at the impact, realizing most of her crew, her protection, was gone or pinned down.

The Runners were still firing steadily, throwing cords, and the Hounds were almost all dead. The Runners had adapted fast, holding the explosives until they were at the end of their fast-burning wicks. Rankin had come awfully light to handle a crew like Sam’s.

Understanding failure might be an option if she stayed, Rankin sounded a whistle and spurred her horse back the way she’d come without helping any of her fallen crew. She hadn’t gotten Jason, but she’d injured a number of the Runners, and reminded us all of who we were dealing with.

The Hounds, however, knew no such fear or compromise. The four left staggered at another close explosion, but they seemed to know if they avoided the cord when it landed, that they would be clear of it. The Hounds also adapted fast, and it let them avoid the rest of the explosives Sam tossed.

“Prepare to fire!”

Sam’s shout had us all aiming together.

“Wait!”

Jason dropped my spare gun and moved closer, almost frantic. “You don’t have to kill them!”

I snatched him back by the shoulder, but he wretched away from my grip to grab Sam’s wrist, ropes jerking at the others.

“Please, you don’t have to…”

Sam shoved him back into my arms before one of her crew could, but her quick glance at me was questioning.

BOOK: Changeling Winds: Episode Two (The Bachelor Battles Book 2)
10.5Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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