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.

  The leper leader turned back to Angelica. “Our captor cannot die. Many have tried.”

  “He can,” Angelica insisted. No one argued, but their doubt was clear.

  In the silence, the smell of garlic hit me and I realized how hungry I was. I hesitantly dipped the wide spoon into the yellow soup and took a small bite. It was a creamy corn flavor with a potato-like crunch, and I dug into it, letting the heat warm me.

  The strong-smelling wine cups I shunned for the water flask Angelica placed between us. I reached for the canteen, and found her hand still there. For a single second, I let it stay…

  Angelica tensed in surprised heat, and I jerked back. She didn’t look at me.

  After she took a long drink, she wiped the spout and held it out to me with her fingers set in such a way that I had no choice but to touch her again.

  Desire, sharp and unexpected, slid into my stomach as I took it. I could feel her wanting me… wishing things were different.

  Distracting us both, Angelica asked Cain a question I hadn’t thought of yet, but immediately wanted an answer for.

  “Who, or what, was he before the war?”

  I’d gotten a fast glimpse into the room as she stepped out, and those glowing yellow orbs, the size of those hands! would visit me while I slept, I was sure.

  The leader of the lepers lit a new torch. “An experiment we found in area 51. One with more intelligence than any living thing should have. When we fled, it tracked us down, held us in these ugly lands to keep us from spreading our disease to those who survived the Change’s unforgiving rampage.”

  “He saved the future.”

  “We believe so, yes.”

  “And yet, you hate him.”

  “How could we not? He has kept us prisoner here for hundreds of years, never letting us live in the light. There can be only hatred for one such as that.”

  I was confused, but I thought Angelica had it figured out as she set down an empty bowl. Wow. Had she even tasted it?

  I started to sit my own bowl down, and Angelica waved a hand without looking over..

  “Finish it.”

  I thought about her list as I obeyed.

  “You’ve grown accustomed to living by his rules, because it’s easier than thinking for yourselves. You’ve stayed as much as he has held you, because you fear the outside world, as well as long for it.”

  Cain bowed his head in shame and didn’t argue.

  The lepers seemed like any group of people trying to survive. I saw smiles and pats on the back, and even a careful hug between what I was sure was a mother and son. It sent me to my own childhood, and I found my sympathy for these people growing. I understood why they were avoided, but I suddenly wanted to change it, to help them.

  I glanced over at my owner, thinking that was probably her Pruett loyalties starting to rub off on me.

  Angelica shrugged. “That can be over now - some of it.”

  “What if the fight doesn’t come here?” one of the lepers called from behind their leader. Everyone looked to Angelica first.

  “Make sure it does.” Angelica instructed. “You know how to draw their fire, don’t you?”

  “Of course, but we can’t. We have a deal.”

  “Deals are made to be broken…”

  “We will not.”

  “Desperate for freedom, but won’t fight for it. What cowards!”

  I tossed the pendant toward the leader’s feet, drawing attention before I considered the consequences. “Maybe your people deserve to be enslaved. Even we bachelors have to be drugged!”

  I was angry. How dare these people expect Angelica and the rebels to free them while they did nothing…

  I grunted, feeling her stare. Damn.

  My head dropped. “I’m sorry for my rudeness.”

  I didn’t sound it though, and I waited to see how much trouble I was in.

  “You let him speak freely?”

  “Yes.”

  Angelica’s tone said to be careful about that line of questioning, and I was once again grateful to be under her protection.

  “He speaks the truth, but it changes nothing. We will not draw the guards here to involve ourselves in your war - not unless we are free to live in the world as we see fit.”

  “That is your choice to make.” Angelica stood up, hand sliding to her belt of weapons. “But mark these words, my selfish friends. When that Network Dome falls, there’s going to be a mad rush to the vaccines. With those, you wouldn’t be a danger anymore, and he wouldn’t need to hold you here.”

  Angelica moved toward the stairs. “Perhaps you should reconsider. Those fighting with us will be in that first mad dash, and guaranteed a shot at being normal again. I think that’s worth breaking your Network deal, don’t you?”

  Silence as well followed her, and then the leader’s thoughtful voice.

  “That is a life we’ve never dreamed of… aren’t prepared for.”

  Angelica headed up the dank stairs that groaned under her firm steps. “The Changeling Winds have arrived, and I’m sure you already know it’s best to bend, rather than to try standing against them. They tend to destroy anything that doesn’t surrender to their will.”

  Angelica led our group away from the main doors as we reached the top, and I realized the lepers weren’t escorting us out. She must know her way around.

  Angelica’s path took us by more relics of the old world - part of a thick rod and rail that could have once belonged on an arch, the wide metal bottom of a boat - but I didn’t stare as I had when we’d first come in. Already, the constant reminders of the past, the death scenes enshrined here, had lost their allure.

  A bit bothered by that thought, I stayed close to Angelica and was rewarded by the sight of our bikes lined up neatly by another set of large stone doors. We’d left them just inside the main entrance when we arrived, and I wondered how the lepers had moved them. I was sure we would have heard the engines if they’d driven.

  Angelica motioned me toward her bike and I settled onto the rear, hearing the winds. I didn’t think for a minute that I was ready to drive through a storm. She handed me a pair of goggles and then donned her own, before bringing out the rope that I was beginning to hate. I did like how close she had to get to bind us together, however, and I didn’t protest.

  She shook out a poncho-like tarp, and brought it down neatly over my head. While she secured the edges to my legs and the bike, I got comfortable, seeing I could duck beneath the edge of it if I needed to.

  Angelica surprised me with the black mask that was jerked over my head so fast I only had time for a quick flinch. Very soft and thick, it had small holes covered by a patch of cloth that was stuck on in such a way that it could be uncovered for sight and eating. Ingenious!

  Angelica ducked under the tarp, sliding in behind me, and I scooted forward, admitting to myself that it was where I liked to ride. All warm and well cared for, I held still as she adjusted, feeling those perky breasts push against my back.

  She leaned forward to secure us the rest of the way and I couldn’t stop my hand from dropping to her leg, holding her against me.

  Angelica froze, breath catching as tension flared.

  I felt my fingers start to slide back, moving along that lean thigh… I drew my hand back, face flaming.

  When she gently tapped my back instead of delivering a deserved punishment, I gunned the engine to life and smiled under my mask. I could get used to this kind of life.

  I hadn’t felt like a rebel during the ride in, but as I rolled us out into that dust storm, I realized that had changed. I knew where an outlawed people were living at, had listened to a conversation of rebellion, and I’d shown my hidden nature in standing up for what I wanted. Satisfied with my progress on this stop, I gunned it faster and enjoyed Angelica’s approval.

  Angelica

  As the purple dusk began to fall into pitch black, Jason fell asleep in my arms. We’d been riding for the last 6 hours, leaving the storm behind with our Changeling sight to drive by. Some of the side effects of our torment were convenient.

  Jason’s scent washed over me, fire and sugar mixing in a wave of temptation. I wanted him way too much.

  He didn’t stir as the Mopar slowed. He was exhausted - mostly from craning his head so much to stare at the large bugs, as we’d flown through the patches of wounded stragglers.

  His hands gently slipped from the controls as he melted back against me. Cold fingers still near his so that I could rest against his body, I guided the Mopar to a gentle stop and adjusted his light weight.

  The Runners slowed and came back to put us into a circle of protection as I shortened the rope to secure him more fully. I wasn’t taking the chance of him sliding off like Daniel had done with Candice.

  Our escort waited patiently and I could feel my sister’s intent gaze through her goggles. Her group of Runners were dressed the same to keep the Network from knowing exactly who was leading us, and they rotated the Point position regularly to maintain that confusion. As an understudy to Candice, the decision-maker for our family, these females would bow to my wishes if I needed them to. With Rankin on our trail, I hoped they would already know what to do, but I was prepared to take over. These might be some of the more wild relatives - distant cousins and years-long companions of my sister - but at heart, they were Pruetts and they understood strength came in many sizes.

  “Are we there?”

  I smiled tolerantly, shifting a second poncho over our heads. I tied the ends to my belt. It would get coldest before dawn, when we hit the edges of the Borderlands. “No. Go back to sleep.”

  “I wanted to drive you in…” Jason yawned, stretching against me.

  I felt my smile grow as the heat lashed out, returning feeling to my toes. Nice. “You still can.”