Emergence (The Primogenitor Chronicles Book 1) (12 page)

The gate across the yard opened with a soft creak and she looked up. The dark-haired Hunter, Nickolas, stood there watching her for a moment, a rifle held loosely in his hand. He stalked her, never taking his gaze from hers. Something in his eyes scared her more than the reality of the Facility. She tried to rise and back away, but whatever they had put in the hamburger hit fast. She lost her balance and toppled over. Shivers ran across her skin, and she cowered away from him then pressed her face into the cold ground. Her thoughts spun out of control.
Go away
, her mind gibbered.

Heedless of her misery, Nickolas continued to her side. When he stood a foot away, he slung the rifle over his shoulder and crouched down, reaching a hand out to lift her face, trying to make eye contact. Her pupils were already dilating and refused to rest for any length of time. He brushed his thumb across her cheek, catching her tears. She flinched away.

“Please, won’t you just leave me alone?”

“You know I can’t do that. It’ll be easier on you if you don’t fight the tranquilizer. Just try to be calm.”

A wave of dizziness overcame her and she swayed in his grip. He continued to hold her gaze locked with his, and he reached down, pulling his radio off of his belt. “Chris, call up Jays. She’s taken the bait.”

Noise erupted everywhere. Portable flood lights flashed on, illuminating the yard brighter than day. Jessica’s eyes flew wide at all the sudden activity, and she managed to pull her head away from his hand. She turned toward the house and he saw panic settle on her face. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw why. His brother had just descended the steps. Nick carefully set the trank rifle aside. Her body language screamed her intentions, and when her muscles tensed to spring, he lunged forward, tackling her.

An ear-piercing wail of terror, like you would only hear from a trapped animal, rent the air.

“Chris, get over here!” He fought for control, losing ground.

Christoff threw himself into the fray, trying to pin her legs, but even drugged, she was making them work for it.

“My god, she’s strong.” Chris groaned, then looking up, he yelled, “Jays, hurry up. Get that thing over here!”

“Nooo!” she wailed. “Let me go, let me go.” She got one leg free and kicked at Christoff, who grunted in pain. But he dove back for it again, this time managing to secure them both.

“Hush, just relax. Try to sleep,” Nickolas soothed. He had managed to get her wrapped up in a bear hug, her back to his chest, his hands shackling both her wrists. They had her pinned for the moment. Nickolas looked up into Christoff’s eyes as the stretcher was finally rushed up. Taking a breath he asked, “You ready?”

Nodding, Christoff shifted his grip on her legs, and together they forced her writhing body onto the stretcher. Flynn secured her feet and legs while Jules took one arm at a time from Nick and strapped them down. Nickolas backed up. She still wouldn’t give up. He shook his head in amazement. Flynn fought with her to secure the chest straps on the stretcher.

“Nick, didn’t she eat all of the meat?” Christoff asked from the other side of the stretcher.

Nickolas pulled his eyes away from her. She still pulled at the straps, trying to wriggle out in any way she could. He understood the look on his brother’s face. “Yes, actually, she did eat all of it.”

Nickolas ran his hands through his loose hair and watched Jays as the doctor worked on his patient over the moving stretcher. “She should be out cold by now. Let’s get her back to the Facility.”

They followed in the wake of the stretcher. Nickolas jumped into the med unit behind Christoff and pulled the doors shut. The click of the latches resounded and he pulled his wings in tight, sidling along the wall to join Christoff on the bench seat. His breath turned shallow. He looked about at all the medical gadgetry and gave himself a stern talking to.
Plenty of air. Look, Jays can even walk around to do all his doctor things. There’s lots of room.

Really, there was.

“Jules, tell the driver she is secured, we can go,” Flynn called out.

Nickolas watched Jules slide into the front passenger seat, then the vehicle accelerated rapidly. He braced himself against the sudden momentum. His shoulder brushed his brother’s as the van rocked. Jays reached up, absentmindedly grabbing a bar that ran the length of the ceiling with one hand while he rummaged around in one of the cabinets with the other, pulling out a pressure cuff. The doctor squatted down next to Jessica to keep from tumbling about with the momentum of the van. Even with her arm strapped to the stretcher, Jessica still made it difficult for Jays to secure the Velcro around her upper arm.

The young doctor growled in exasperation, turning to Nickolas. “Nick, could I get you to hold her arm still. She’s making this extremely difficult. I’m not going to get an accurate reading at this rate.”

“Personally I think that’s her purpose in life, Jays. To make things difficult.” Nickolas slid off the bench and crouched down next to Jays. His worry over the tight space retreated to the back of his mind when his hand clamped down on her bare forearm. Her skin shivered at his touch.

Pumping the bulb, Jays placed his stethoscope against the inside of her elbow then slowly released the pressure. “She’s too high.”

Jays dropped his stethoscope around his neck and pulled the Velcro free, discarding the cuff in a bin at the head of the stretcher. He pulled a clipboard off the wall to record his readings on. “Hold her head, Nick,” the medic instructed quietly.

Nickolas captured her head between his hands and immobilized it. Jays flashed a light across her eyes while Nickolas stared into her face. The soft brown of her irises were almost completely gone, her pupils were so expanded. Her unfocused gaze roamed over him, and Nickolas held his breath as memories swamped him. Flashes of being in her position ripped through his mind, and gritting his teeth, he let go of her as soon as Jays had finished. It was too much, too similar, to his time in the Hub.

Jays made more notations on the chart then asked softly, “How much of the tranquilizer did she take?”

A fast turn sent the van rocking and Nickolas grabbed at the stretcher before he answered. “She took the whole dose, barely cooked.” He sat back and watched her fight the drug. Her eyes would droop, then jerking awake, she would pull at the straps and look around with a dazed expression, not really focusing on anything.

“That’s enough to drop an elephant.” Jays shot him a startled look. “She should be out cold. Her body is burning it up at an incredible rate. No wonder she’s running a fever. She’ll probably have flushed it all out of her system by the time we arrive at the Facility.” Jays shook his head and resumed his writing.

Nick sucked in a breath as a wave of fear swamped him. It took a second for him to sort through and realize that the fear came from Jessica, not himself. He reached over, brushing a curl out of her eyes and smoothing a hand over her head. The tactile contact gave her something to focus on, and she looked up at him with fuzzy, muddled eyes. He could see the effort it cost her to collect enough wits to form coherent speech.

“Don’t…give me…to them,” she finally managed to whisper. The quiet plea gave Nickolas shivers, making him uneasy with a vague feeling of presentiment.

“Hush. There’s nothing to worry about. I’ll keep you safe. You’re one of us now,” he whispered back and continued to caress her hair until she closed her eyes with a sigh. A quiet noise snapped his attention back to the rest of the passengers in the vehicle. He raised his head and caught a stunned look on Christoff’s face, quickly hidden, but Flynn’s expression prodded his instincts. Aggression flooded to the surface. Not sure what it represented, Nickolas resumed his seat at the foot of her stretcher, holding himself in check.

Christoff coughed then glanced at the others before he asked, “So, Nick…why is she doing this? It’s not like she has a choice. Where does she think she’s going to go?”

“I have no idea. But I doubt that she’s given up.” His gaze strayed back to her. He was having a hard time keeping his attention off of her. “Whatever has her freaked is pretty strong.”

Jays placed the chart back in its holder then took a seat on the bench at the head of the stretcher. “You know it could just be the effects of her changing system. Both of you would understand better than anyone else here how the experience makes you more paranoid and volatile.”

Surprised, Nick looked at Jays. “You don’t truly believe that, do you, Jays? This isn’t within any normal parameters that I’m aware of. Paranoid and volatile, yes, but what she has done is beyond belief. Besides, from things she said to me when we captured her, she knew exactly what she was doing and why. It’s the why that I want to know.”

“We may have ideas about what is normal, Nick, but that doesn’t preclude occasional individuals who are different. We are still studying the mutation. And new differences are cropping up all the time,” the doctor said.

“Besides, Nickolas,” Flynn added sternly, “the why is not your concern. Only the capture.”

He shot a look of disbelief at Flynn. He couldn’t fathom that the man would say anything like that. His temper started to simmer and he narrowed his eyes. The van slowed to a stop, and Nick shifted his attention out the front window instead of ripping into his teammate. His acute hearing let him pick out the conversation of the driver as he bantered with the ferry attendant at the tollbooth for a moment. Emotions cascaded through Nickolas, and he ground his teeth in frustration. The van moved to the head of the carpool lane as the ferry slowly pulled into the dock, and Nickolas noted how few cars there were to unload.
I guess Kingston isn’t a big destination at this time of night. This shouldn’t take too long.
His mind circled back to Flynn’s comment. Unfortunately his temper hadn’t cooled any. Nick pulled his attention away from the window. Only a few moments had passed. He noted Jays’s preoccupied face before turning back to Flynn.

The older man held his gaze. Nick felt a growl try to form, so he took a deep breath. Shoving his temper down, he tried to bottle it before he addressed Flynn’s statement. “Since when?”

His brother’s wings rustled as he shifted uneasily. “Nick…,” Christoff murmured.

“No, Chris. Since when have we been forbidden to question? Flynn?”

“It’s not your job, Nickolas. Leave it to those whose it is.”

“Since when?” he asked again. This time the menace in his voice showed enough for everyone in the van to notice.

“Since always,” Flynn said hotly. “It just never needed to be mentioned since you showed no interest beyond the capture before.”

“What are we, trained dogs? Here, boy, sit, fetch, good boy. Now go lie down, we don’t need you right now.” The van rocked as it started to move again. Anger and betrayal pulsed in Nick. He turned to glare at Jays, who hurriedly found something else to do, obviously trying to stay out of the argument. His brother sat quietly, trying not to draw attention to himself, but watched the byplay avidly. Nick exerted control on his breathing, slowing it down, and thought about the implications of what Flynn ordered. He stared out the window as it sank in. The growl rumbled low in his throat.

“What don’t they want us to know, Flynn?” he asked softly.

He waited for an answer from behind him. Through the window, he watched the ferry attendant motion them on with a bored hand gesture. They pulled to a stop overlooking the water at the front of the ship. The tense silence inside the van fed his fears, and he turned to meet Flynn’s eyes.

“What don’t they want us to know?”

The older man held his gaze unflinchingly.

Standoff.

An emerging predator and the one who thought he had been holding the leash.

The loud blaring of the ships horn interrupted their contest of wills. Jessica screamed. She renewed her panicked struggling. Nickolas leaned forward, intending to get Jessica’s attention to calm her, but he froze instead. He blinked, not sure he could believe his eyes at first. A glow had started to form around the fledgling.

“Oh fuck,” Jays snapped.

Nickolas tore his eyes away to see the usually calm medic in a mad rush. He rummaged through several different cupboards, tossing out vials, needles, and syringes.

Nickolas’s attention jumped back to Jessica. There was most definitely a glow brightening around her. Trusting Jays’s reaction to the bizarre situation, he didn’t wait to see what the doctor had in store. He caught her face in his hands and held her still, forcing her to meet his eyes. Whimpering, she tried to break eye contact with him, but he wouldn’t allow it. The glow around her grew brighter and a tingle formed in his fingers where he touched her. He reacted on instinct. Mentally fighting her, he pushed out, insistently probing at the barrier she had wrapped about herself.