Twenty Five
I turned back toward the crematorium. The doors slid open without difficulty. They both tumbled out.
“Lands.” Zanth leaned over, breathing hard.
I patted Zanth’s back. “What happened?”
Marin answered, putting his arm around my hips. “After you left, the doors shut and would not open for us.”
Hmm. “They must be keyed to me. That is why there are no animals inside. Only the E’mani or people who work for them could get in.”
They’d stuck close before, now Marin and Zanth were a hair on my ass.
We explored some of the side rooms only to find them empty. This level was new. I had no recollection of this. I walked slowly around a room. They had to have kept something here, but what? This room was different from those above. The ones upstairs had desks and chairs that rose when we entered. Theses room had recessed panels in the walls.
I approached the partition ahead of me. No distinguishing marks. I ran my hand down it, my ear pressed to the surface. I tried tapping to see if the sound echoed. When I reached about waist height, my hand fell into the wall. With a hiss, a tube slid out of the wall with a body inside.
My chest tightened, my vision going black. I remembered these tubes. I’d been in one myself. The glass was thick enough to bar clear identification, but the person seemed familiar. Steam coated the surface, I tried to wipe it away, but the moisture was inside the case. What was this? I huffed out a breath, my hands curling.
We all clustered around the body. He lay on his back, hands crossed on his chest, typical casket pose. Blond hair, his mouth open a crack, a line of drool dried on his chin. There were tubes running from his arms, IV’s, cardiac and neurologic leads. Where the wires led, I couldn’t tell, maybe a nursing station in one of the other areas. There was no monitor anywhere nearby.
Zanth ran his hands along the tube. I kept moving my hands along the wall at the same level. Nothing. I went to the adjacent walls, no other occupants in this room.
We traveled next door. Again we found a single body in some sort of tube, same pose, same monitoring, no one else in the room. This body was different. He had thick skin, almost like scales. Claws tipped his fingers. His hair was less hair per se and more filaments with a feathery poof at the end. He had a prominent brow ridge with spikes protruding along the edge. His nose was flat, his mouth a thin line. Not human, not Fost, not E’mani. What was he?
He moved slightly, a twitching of his limbs in his tube. Eyes flicked underneath his lids. REM sleep. A moan filled the air. His claws flexed. Who the hell were these guys?
Marin echoed my sentiment. “Who are these creatures?”
And it came to me. “They are like me. Remains.”
Marin and Zanth exchanged glances.
“Remains?” Zanth asked.
“Yes. That’s what we called ourselves. The remains of all the races the E’mani hunted.” I ran my hand down the glass. “This is why I had to come. The stasis is wearing off. They will either wake soon or die.”
“What do you mean, wake? We do not know these people. What if they are dangerous?” Marin’s words filtered to me through my haze.
My eyes drifted up. “They are like me, my brothers in a sense. I have to free them.”
“How?” Marin asked.
Pop went my bubble. “I don’t know.”
We continued down the hall, eight bodies in all, another one like the clawed man. Two with blue skin, the rest like me, or the Fost, or the E’mani. It was hard to tell, but experimenting on their own was how they started.
We didn’t find a control room in any of the areas we saw. Poking and prodding didn’t help. This was important, but I had no idea how important as of yet. We filed to the stairway and the exit. A small disc of metal floated along the walls to the side of me disappearing into a crevice at the base. There was a whine and then it was gone. Guess I knew how the place stayed clean.
At the entrance, I paused and headed to the main desk, running my hand along the edge. Computers popped up. I couldn’t understand the writing. I closed my eyes then opened them. The words rearranged themselves like a cipher.
The vitals of the men from downstairs flicked before me. Some of the numbers were definitely off from what I expected. Not that I was an expert.
“This is it,” I said, elation running through me, my fingers curling.
“No, Elizabeth. Please.” Marin put a hand on my back. “Talk it over with everyone first.”
I stared at him. He stroked my waist. “Fine.”
A buzz filled the room. We exchanged glances as the noise grew louder. It was probably the air conditioning, but discretion was the greater part of valor. We headed out the way we had come. The trek home passed in a blur.
The bodies were unexpected. What did they mean? I remembered my job there, but not them. At least not a lot, but when I studied them, I felt kinship. They were my brothers and I had to wake them. But what would it mean for the Fost?
Noon had come and gone while we were exploring and dusk was approaching, made deeper by the surrounding trees. The creepy noises were back, and I kept bumping into Marin, fighting the urge to run.
When we saw the lights of the town, it wasn’t soon enough. Marin left without a word to stride to the auditorium. Zanth went to his room and I went to mine.
Finn waited for me on my bed.
Oy.
I halted at the door. My shoulders dropped. “What are you doing here?”
“I thought you might need comforting. I expected this grand reunion when Marin arrived. That did not happen. Why was that? Are things over between you two?”
I flinched. “You need to learn the definition of the word comfort.”
He snorted. “Sorry, being honest. You refused me because you were mated, but he did not seem to acknowledge that bond.” He leaned toward me, fingers outstretched. “Come to bed. I will show you comfort.” For one second, I thought about it, really hard. Finn’s fierceness always made me feel safe. But his weren’t the arms I wanted
Finn saw the answer in my eyes. His hand dropped.
Marin crowded in behind me, arms going around my waist, pulling my hips back into his. He looked at Finn over my shoulder.
I expected a fight, yelling, shouting, harsh language at least. Nothing like that. Marin didn’t say a word and Finn left without resistance, skirting around us.
Marin shoved me onto the bed. “Sleep.”
I curled up on top of the sheets, clothes on, putting my back to him. Marin rested next to me on his back, hands behind his head.
Pain bit into my sides with greedy claws. My back arched, my eyes drifted open. I craned my neck and saw I was in the same amber tube. I remembered this. Finally, I remembered something.
I panted, breath harsh in the enclosed space. I wasn’t normally claustrophobic, but the walls pressed in on me today. Come on, Beta, relax. They like it when you scream.
My hands reached up and braced the glass then drifted up to my face. I had electrodes on my head and chest. A face appeared above me, distorted by the steam.
“Calm down, Elizabeth,” Xade said with a slight giggle. “Just breathe. You have air. We are monitoring you right now. You did very well this time. It did not take long to put you back together.”
What did they do to me?
I glanced down. My belly had a long scar down the middle. I pressed my hand to my chest, wires underneath my skin. A screamed ripped out of me.
I jerked awake, grabbing the covers. Can’t breathe. Oh god.
Marin’s arm fell off me. I looked down at my smooth stomach, rubbing the skin. His hand drifted up my hip. “What is it?”
“Nothing. Bad dream.” I lay back and fluffed my pillow, turning on my side as far away from him as possible.
He gripped my hips and he pulled me back into him, spooning up behind me. His chin nuzzled me.
I tensed.
He laughed, the sound hard. He bit me in the sweet spot where my neck hit my shoulder. “Relax.”
I tilted my head and curled up even tighter. His hand slipped under my shirt. My fingers covered his, holding them in place.
“No.” And he stopped. It wasn’t in him to not stop. He growled and nipped my ear, settling against me. No more words, nothing that we couldn’t take back later. We would talk soon.
~ * ~
A groan sounded in the room. It took me a second to realize it was mine. During the night, I’d turned onto my stomach. Marin kneeled and sucked on the back of my shoulder, his hand wedged between my legs, stroking me.
I arched into his palm, groaning of my own volition this time.
He murmured approvingly as he ran his mouth along the cord of my neck to nuzzle my ear. The sensation. God. He pressed into me from behind and his manhood nudged the crack of my ass. He started to move his fingers in small, tantalizing circles, rubbing along my nub then venturing to dip inside me with his middle finger, spreading me. My honey soon coated his fingers. His other hand held both of my wrists above my head. My movements were restricted by his body pressing me down. But I didn’t feel fear, I felt pleasure.
He had to know I was awake, yet he kept up the slow circles. My hands clenched around his, my breathing sped up. With a growl, he stopped his teasing. The fingers withdrew and he pushed my pants down, keeping my hands above my head.
I belatedly realized he was naked behind me. I remained dressed except for my bottom being bare after he pushed down my pants to right above my knees.
He flexed back and I braced myself as he ground his pelvis into mine from behind, the tip of his shaft sliding between my thighs.
Warm breath heated my neck. He kneaded my shoulders pushing me hard to the side so he could bite his mark on me, emphasizing his place in my life. His right hand moved over the mating bands.
I twisted and his eyes met mine and hooded slightly. He nipped my lower lip. Our breaths mingled. God, I loved that. I loved him even now.
He smiled, a smug, self-satisfied male smile, land knows why.
The knock on the door forced my head down and a furious scramble to pull up my pants. Marin smirked and answered the door, not even bothering to dress.
Zara stood at the entrance. She openly examined Marin while I watched, hackles rising. This girl didn’t know who she was messing with.
He raised his eyebrow at her, his hands going to his hips.
She stuttered out, “They want you in town.”
He grinned at her wording. A blush stained her cheeks. I guess he was no longer the restrained clan chief. I waited for him to step back and cover up. Shoo her out. He did none of those things. The two of them stared at each other, and I realized, the dream, the girl who held Marin’s hand as they ran with his unmated arm. It was Zara. The details were sketchy, but it was her.
My stomach lurched. Oh god, was she his new mate? Once I died? I couldn’t stand the thought. She got around. I turned and tugged on my leathers. Neither of them seemed to note my movements.
“I will be there in a second,” Marin said to her.
The door clicked. Marin pulled his own pants off the floor. We continued dressing without looking at each other. I heard the door click again a moment later, and I was alone.