The Change: Episode one (31 page)

“
Tell me about the training
- as much detail as you can manage.”

My soft request pulled a reluctant nod from
Greg, but I could tell he was scared to talk in front of two
un-cuffed Changelings.

“
She won’t. My word on it.”
I didn’t need to look at Angelica to know she was emanating waves
of menace as the fire tried to take over. Her strength was amazing,
all things considered.

“
You’re sure?”

Eric asked it, and even I had to close my
eyes at the sound of those bell-like tones coming from that
stunning face. It made me want to sink my teeth into his skin and
bite until the blood soaked into me like it was mine.

I turned to look at Angelica, but she was
already moving toward the door. “I’ll be around.”

I gave a deep sigh, and
then drew in a tight breath. It filled my lungs with the scent of
the male at my side, and heat flared inside my gut. Daniel’s face
was almost ugly compared to Eric, but it was the sight of him that
had my vision tinting pink.
“They’ll feel
it too and there’s no hiding it.”

The same was true of a Changeling.

I saw his lips curl upward as he realized
the effect he was having on me, and I motioned toward the long
tables of food they had spread out. “Go eat something else.”

He was still much too thin, and I was glad
to see him head toward the sweets trays. Any fat he put on, I would
turn into muscle. The grin spreading across my face was
unstoppable.

Baker was waiting patiently, and I saw the
same was true of the others in the room. They were used to dealing
with Changelings despite being hidden here, alone. My mind snapped
it into place. “Where are the women?”

Baker’s look was smug as I continued to
prove my intelligence, declaring myself for the job.

“
We don’t have them here
very often. There are none right now.”

“
Not without you
here?”

Baker nodded, again showing his emotion, his
caring for these orphaned males. “They wouldn’t handle it well on
their own if one of the females was strong enough to feign normalcy
and sneak in here... they’d be wiped out.”

“
Do you bring them in for
experiments or relief?” I questioned, my tone daring him to
lie.

“
Mates.”

I raised a brow as though I’d misunderstood,
but I hadn’t, and my mind reviewed my earlier impression from
seeing the reading material. He was match-making in the middle of a
rebellion. Beyond interesting. It was downright exciting. Baker was
trying to repopulate the earth… right under the Network’s nose. I
suddenly liked him, respected his sand, a lot more than I ever had
before. Courage was something I found irresistible.

“
A little detail on that
would be good.”

The rebel leader shook his head at the offer
of a second helping of food, but I gave him a sharp look and he
took the plate of dried staples. I didn’t say that if he thought to
do all this, he, too, needed more weight to throw around, but he
knew. Baker took a bite and went on with eyes I was sure were
reading my every reaction.

“
There are women who’ve
helped us. In return, we help them. The males who only want an
owner are allowed to pick from the few friends we have who can
protect them, keep them out of sight.”

His tone grew proud. “The
Stone Mountain compound has placed more than a hundred bachelors
with
good
homes
over the last thirty years.”

I gestured at the timid male on his right.
“And the ones like this, who have no wish to be owned or
loved?”

Greg flushed, and I understood that might
not be true. Another case of great acting to be left alone until he
made his own choice of owner? I hadn’t thought bachelors could be
clever, too, and it was a delicious thought.

“
I get them to the main
safe zone after I give them a few months training to help them make
it. There are no females there, ever.”

“
You realize that will have
to change?”

“
I’m counting on it. After
we take down the Network, they’ll all need to be placed with mates
so we can rebuild the world of light my father foresaw.”

Chapter Twenty

C

“
Tell me how you know
Daniel.”

Eric and Greg both flinched back, and I
grinned. “Your quick looks at him gave you away.”

One was scared, and the other… a temptation
to be resisted. Eric had decided he wanted to belong to me, and his
beautiful eyes were busy searching for any signs of something to
use to pry his way in.

Baker nodded at them, and I steeled myself
against their voices.

“
The Network pulled DNA
from the Immortality Drive that was on the international space
station when it fell back down in 2308. It contained markers
without the mutations, and they’ve been working on it ever
since.”

Instead of lust at the sound of their
voices, the information kept me focused. “You know about the
vaccine.”

There was no surprise in the entire room,
and Eric’s voice grew bitter. “They created it by using the blood
of bachelors who only produce male children.”

My eyes immediately swung
to Daniel.
Only produce male
children.
I instantly sensed he was one of
the twelve, and wondered if he knew. “How long have they had
the
cure
?”

“
Five years that we know
of.”

I listened in furious silence as they filled
in the rest of the ugly picture that Daniel had only held small
pieces of.

“
They don’t want the women
cured or the male population restored. If that happens, men might
regain their former power, and there isn’t anything the Network
won’t do to stop that.”

Greg picked up where Eric left off, his
incredibly sweet voice rushing over me like a wildfire. No wonder
he was so scarred… scared. The feel of it!

“
They figured out that if
the mating is willing, with one of the twelve bachelors who only
have male children, then the offspring will be immune. They’ve only
managed to create that mix a dozen times. There’s a certain… spark
that’s needed.”

I turned to Baker. “How many of the twelve
have you gathered?”

His grin told me I would like the answer.
“Six or seven.”

No wonder they wanted him dead. I leaned
back, and began sorting and organizing the new, deadly information
as they dealt it out.

“
They’ve known for a long
time and hid it to keep things in chaos. They sell these secrets to
other governments and the sister Network in the Western Outpost. It
lets them control our world.”

I thought of the discovery
we’d made years ago.
The Pruett’s knew of
the wall around the entire country they’d accessed so far and I
didn’t doubt the west was the same. To keep us in, or others out?
Both came to mind, but I hadn’t placed all those pieces
yet.

“
And no one knows,” I
muttered.

Eric’s voice took on a determination that
sent hunger through me. I liked a rebel. My relationship with Baker
proved that.

“
We
do, and we’ll die to take them down.”

Greg added another piece to the puzzle, one
I slammed into place with a final click that had my grip tightening
on the spoon.

“
They use those dozen males
for a lot of things. Most of the time, it’s as a breeding tool for
those rich enough to buy a child. When it’s a boy, it’s passed off
as coincidence, but they make sure the parents are compatible
first. When these male children get old enough, they take them back
and use them in the program.”

“
Studying the next
generation.” Daniel was right to be worried for his missing
offspring.

“
Yes. They have our kids in
the New Network City complex… where the
Games
are held.”

I knew it all from there. It was what I
would want, what I would do. “And you’re not heading for the Safe
Zone until you can take them with you.”

Baker nodded, eyes glowing with pain, and
with determination. “We can still do it from there, but it’s
farther away, and the information trickles in. We’ll be blind in
too many ways.”

My mouth opened. “The Defender said not to
forget your promise.”

Baker’s eyes flashed in regret. “I
won’t.”

I didn’t ask him what it was, or how he
planned to get their children out of New Network City once they
escaped the complex. There was only one method of transportation
that would put them in the Safe Zone within just days, and I
admired his sand. If only Daniel had a bit more…

D

They wanted her to help them get inside the
complex to rescue their missing children. Would my own sons or
daughters be among them? I listened with a thumping heart. She’d
said she would check it out…

“
We need to know anything
you can tell us,” Greg pleaded.

Candice revealed another secret. “You’re one
of the twelve.”

Her eyes shifted to Eric, the one I already
hated for the way she stared at his pretty face.

“
So are you.”

“
Yes, but it’s not about
just us. We want this to end, and we can make it
happen.”

“
What you need is someone
on the inside.”

“
You offering?”

Now my heart was pounding, and I was glad
when she blew out a snort.

“
What the hell would I do
with a second mate? I’d be too busy keeping them from killing each
other to get any relief!”

Laughter spilled out, and I tried to relax.
Candice had won. If anyone had the strength to find a Network
weakness, it was her.

Groan…

We looked up, Candy’s crew anyway, and the
males exchanged amused looks at our nervousness.

“
It’s solid,” Greg stated,
face reddening when she locked onto him.

Baker confirmed it. “The stone shifts with
the weather. It’ll hold.”

“
The Network would have to
send in a plane, and the storm won’t let them do that right now.
Even if they knew where you were, they couldn’t get in,” he stated,
making Candice frown. Did she know something?

“
Are you okay?”

I turned to see an imposing man on my right,
and I nodded, thinking he looked liked he had been beaten so many
times that his nose had more ridges than the mountain we were
hiding under.

“
Yes. Thank
you.”

His dark eyes stared at me, seeing my lack
of fear on their levels. I was getting used to being around my
Changeling, and it showed.

“
We’ll help you get away.
Baker will too.”

I pushed for information carefully and
ignored the offer. “He doesn’t seem like a hero.”

“
He is, though. Baker’s dad
was a bachelor, too, like you. They only found each other through
Candice.”

“
How did that
happen?”

The big male shrugged, and I noticed there
were others sensing that it might be okay to get closer now that
Candice had seen the man talking to me and hadn’t reacted. These
were rebels?

Grind…

I ignored the sounds of the walls to listen
to the backstory I’d been dying to know.

“
She made her parents hack
into Network security to find out who his dad was. She was trying
to get him off the streets where he was renting himself out in
exchange for protection. The information came through while she was
away training for the Games, and Baker tracked us down.”

“
Was his dad glad to see
him?” I hated the tremor in my tone, but a loving father was
something I’d never had.

“
Not at first. Baker was a
wanted convict, and his father was afraid it would get us exposed.
When he found out Baker had a relationship with the Pruetts, he
changed his mind. We never knew why, but I’ve always thought it was
for their Network connection. The Pruetts have been bounty hunting
for them for centuries.”

“
Were they close after
Baker came to live here?’

“
Not really. Baker had a
little brother they were looking for when his father got caught -
Cain. Other than his missing boy, Baker’s father only cared for
taking down the Network.”

“
What about
him?”

The man’s gaze had been on me, but now it
swung to Baker with devotion.