CONCEPTION (The Others) (41 page)

The sadness in the other woman’s voice reminded Edie why
this woman was allowed to befriend her. She had no mate, and if Deuce was to be
believed, even if she had a mate, children were very unlikely. In comparison,
she had everything.

“I’m sorry. That was totally uncalled for.”

“Don’t be sorry.” Marlika shrugged. “It is up to the Maker
to provide a mate. If he does not, I will pass to the other side and wait for
my mate there.” She said that so calmly, as if they weren’t talking about a
life stalked by loneliness and a death with no memories to carry over.

“Just a curiosity, but how long do Others and Chosen live?”

“Chosen and Other males live indefinitely if they do not
lose a bonded mate or die in battle.”

“I thought it was only Chosen who lived forever.”

Marlika laughed and rocked the little seat as Jalina fussed.
“The Chosen and Others share many characteristics, but while Others have
learned to blend with humans, the Chosen have a love of the old ways that
interferes with their blending, giving birth to many legends.”

“That and the fact that they are nocturnal.”

She nodded. “There is that.”

Eden motioned to Jalina. “Is she asleep?”

“Like the angel she is.”

“Ha! You’re only saying that because you didn’t hear her
pitching a fit after dinner this evening.”

“I’m sure she felt her reasons were valid.”

Eden rolled her eyes. “I can see I’m going to have to keep
an eye on all of you. “

“I have no idea what you mean.” The abundance of innocence
in Marlika’s expression told Eden she knew exactly what she was referring to.
The other woman’s sense of humor matched her own. It felt good to have a
friend. One she knew hadn’t been paid to steer her in the direction her
grandfather wanted her to go.

“I know you’ve said it’s no hardship, but thanks again for
being so good about all of this.”

Marlika waved off her gratitude. “What are friends for?”

Eden pretended to wipe crumbs from the table and blinked
fast. Twenty-five and her first genuine offer of friendship. Damn, if she
cried, she’d have to shoot herself. She brushed the crumbs into her hand.
“Thank you.” As she wrapped the crumbs in a napkin, it hit her. “You mentioned
that the men live indefinitely. What about the women?”

“We live perfectly healthy lives until…”

The “until” trailed the end of the statement. Eden grabbed
hold of it and dragged it into the open. “Until what?”

“Until we either find our mate, or we reach one hundred
years of age.”

“What happens at one hundred?”

Marlika shrugged. “We die.”

Eden blinked. Not sure she’d heard her right. “Say again?”

“Without a bonded mate, we die.”

Eden knew she was staring, but she couldn’t believe it.
“Just like that?”

Marlika nodded, the only indication that the subject
disturbed her was a tightening around her deep brown eyes. “Just like that.”

Good God! She crushed the napkin in her hand. She couldn’t
imagine such a thing. No wonder her grandfather had been hitting dead ends. He
thought the women held the secret to immortality. Another thought struck her.
“How old are you?”

“Ninety-nine.”

“Just turned or well into the year?” It was a stupid,
painful question, but she had to know.

“Just turned.”

The relief that swept over her was overwhelming, taking the
depth from her voice and the breath from her lungs. They had time. “We have
absolutely got to find you a mate.”

Again Marlika offered that smile that soothed and saddened.
“It is not that easy.”

The woman was stunningly beautiful, kind and courageous. And
she thought there’d be a problem? “How hard can it be?”

“We are not talking a sex partner, Eden. We are talking
mate, the one chosen for me from birth. The only one who will complete me.”

“If he’s out there, we’ll find him.” The alternative simply
didn’t bear thinking about.

Marlika shrugged. “I have decided ‘if’ is a very big word.”

“Have a little faith, Marlika, unless you want us humans
labeling you a wuss.”

“I certainly wouldn’t want that—”

A knock at the door interrupted Marlika’s response.

Be careful.

Deuce’s warning hung in her mind. She caught Marlika’s arm
before she could open the door. “Who is it?”

“It’s Pietre.”

She didn’t know any Pietre. “Who?”

“He’s one of the Pride,” Marlika answered, frowning at her.

Eden shushed Marlika with a flick of her hand as a wave of foreboding
came over her. She grabbed Jalina’s carrier and moved her away from the door,
into the corner. Marlika gave her a sharp look and moved between the door and
them, before calling out, “What do you need, Pietre?”

“I have a message from Dusan.”

“A mate does not need a message delivered.”

“He does when his mate is human and fearful of
thought-sharing.”

It was possible that Deuce had been trying to reach her and
she’d blocked him out, but she didn’t think so. Still… Eden took a step
forward. This time, Marlika was holding up her hand. “Where’s Nick?”

“He took a break.” From the way Marlika stiffened, Eden got
the impression that Nick wasn’t the type to desert his post.

Marlika motioned Eden back toward the baby, every nuance of
her body language screaming danger, but the tone she used dripped helpless
apology. “I can’t open the door, Pietre. Harley was very explicit in his
orders.”

“My orders are to deliver this message in person.”

Eden got a sick feeling in her stomach. This wasn’t right.
Marlika’s worried glance indicated the same sick feeling. She glanced at the
intercom. “So slip it under the door.”

“It’s not that kind of message.”

“What the hell kind of message is it then?” She made it two
steps toward the wall panel.

The door swung open with utter silence. “This kind.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

Eden would have felt better if the door had crashed open. If
the man standing in the entry had sported a grotesque mask or at least a
creature feature or two. She’d have been ecstatic if Nick wasn’t standing just
behind him with a blank look on his face, hands lax at his sides, if Marlika
wasn’t standing with that same unnatural stillness, watching him approach.
Doing nothing. Saying nothing. She’d feel a lot better if the man flat-out
wasn’t there.

In a perfectly normal, perfectly conversational voice,
Pietre said, “I want the baby.”

It was the scariest thing she’d ever heard. With everything
she had, she mentally screamed for Deuce, reaching for his strength as she
moved forward, placing herself beside the silent Marlika. “You can’t have her.”

His smile was more of a shift of mood than a shift of
muscle. “There’s no one to stop me.”

She glanced over at Marlika. She was staring straight ahead.
Her face expressionless as if she couldn’t sense what was going on, but Eden
could feel the waves of hatred rolling off her. “What did you do to her?”

“She, like the others, are thought-bound.”

He’d frozen the entire compound this way? Was that even
possible? “Is that anything like being tongue-tied?”

She couldn’t believe she was cracking jokes, but stalling
was the only thing she could think to do, and if cracking jokes gained her two
precious seconds she’d take it. Too bad Pietre didn’t have a sense of humor.

“Yes.” He looked over her shoulder. “Get out of my way.”

She didn’t like the way he was eyeing Marlika. She folded
her arms across her chest. “No.”

A force hit the side of her face and the room spun out of
focus. Eden caught herself on her hands. Reality centered in a splash of red
against the pure white carpet. Blood. Her blood. She touched her lip. And then
her cheek. She couldn’t feel pain or the touch of her own fingers. Considering
the force of the blow, that wasn’t such a bad thing. She turned her head.
Pietre was in front of Marlika. His hand stroking her cheek. As Eden watched,
he dragged it over her cheekbone, lingering on her jaw in an oddly tender
gesture.

Was Pietre in love with Marlika?

She pushed herself to her feet, receiving the answer to her
question as a trail of red appeared on Marlika’s cheek in the wake of Pietre’s
caress.

He wasn’t in love. He was just one sick son of a bitch.

“Leave her alone.”

“You will be silent.” He said that with a complete
expectation of obedience. She was getting damn tired of these men barking out
orders. “What is it with you Others? Did the lot of you miss the women’s
movement entirely?”

“Be silent and still.”

She wasn’t going to be either.
Deuce, where are you?

There was no answer. In the corner of the room, Jalina
stirred. Adrenaline surged as Pietre glanced at the carrier. No way in hell was
he touching her baby.

“Leave her be.”

“My orders are to bring her back.”

“You, your orders, and the delusional cowards who hired you
can all go to hell.”

“I do not work for the Coalition.”

Trust an Other to split those kind of hairs. She inched
closer to Marlika, angling her steps so that she was between Pietre and Jalina.
“Must be the way you blindly follow their orders that confused me.”

“I am merely repaying a debt.”

“That’s what they all say.”

“I told you to shut up.”

She refused to cower before the lowering of his brow and the
menace he projected. “And I told you to get out of here.” She shrugged.
“Doesn’t look like either of us is going to get what we want.”

She never saw him move, but suddenly he was in front of her,
his hand locked around her throat, cutting off her air as he lifted her off her
feet.

“Why do you not shut up?” The puzzlement in his tone clued
her in to what was bothering him. The man had actually expected her to shut up.

“Is my natural resistance to telepathic persuasion
inconveniencing you?” she croaked out, keeping her own surprise that he
couldn’t control her buried under bravado.

His hands tightened, shutting off the last of her air. “Not
in the least.”

It took everything she had not to give in to her instinctive
urge to kick and struggle, but she’d had a lot of practice in the last year,
enduring. She could endure this too. For her daughter, because every second he
spent choking her was one more her child was safe. Deuce was coming. She
couldn’t feel him or sense him, but he’d promised her he’d come and she was
holding him to it.

Pietre held her like that until she couldn’t stop
herself—she clawed at his hands and saw spots before her eyes.

“Too bad they want you alive.” He dropped her to the floor.

She closed her eyes on a wave of relief.
Thank God!
She dragged air into her lungs. Horror distorted her efforts as Pietre
approached Jalina.

“What did they do for you that you owe them enough to betray
your people?”

He paused and turned so fast his hair flared around his
shoulders. She had no doubt if he were in lion form, his mane would be
bristling. “My people have been playing second fiddle to the Chosen for too
long.”

She propped herself up on her elbows. “And you’ve come to
this conclusion how?”

Human form or not, Pietre could pull off a snarl. “Others
were meant to rule. After today, all will see that. I have seen to it.”

She really didn’t want to know, but she had him talking
instead of walking, so she asked, “How?”

This time his smile was impossible to miss, slashing as it
did across his square features. “By learning how to level the playing field.”

God help her, she didn’t know what he meant by that. “Dak is
the leader of the Pride and he doesn’t have a problem with how things are.”

“Dak is old-fashioned, accepting what is rather than
exploring what could be.” She was once again facing his back as he headed for
Jalina. She had to stop him.

“In other words, he’s not a glory-seeking, power-hungry ass
like yourself,” she retorted, getting to her feet.

Her insult bounced off Pietre like a ping-pong ball hitting
a wall. He didn’t stop and didn’t look back, just headed for her daughter.

Deuce, help me!

Eden threw herself after the man, leaping for his back. He
turned with amazing speed, catching her desperate hope for success and tossing
it aside as easily as he tossed her. She hit the floor hard. Air exploded from
her lungs as she slid. She came up against something unsteady. She grabbed
hold. Denim under her hand, the curve of muscle over bone. A leg. Marlika.

She dug in with her fingers, watching in horror as Pietre
reached for her daughter. “Shake it off,” she hissed at the other woman,
willing her to hear, willing that damn blankness to leave her face. “Goddamn
it, Marlika, shake it off!”

To her shock, the woman blinked. Eden grabbed her leg with
the other hand, fought for a mental connection and threw every bit of willpower
she had behind it when she screamed, “Wake up!”

Marlika blinked again and looked down. Her earrings
glittered and swung in the light. Memory wiped the blankness from her face, and
before Eden’s shocked eyes, those features shifted. Elongated. In the next
instant, she was leaning up against the leg of a wolf. A big, major league,
pissed-off, fang-sporting wolf.

Marlika sprang for Pietre, and Eden headed for the door. She
needed help. She cut across the floor, feet slipping, stumbling in her panic,
terrified she’d feel Pietre’s hand on her shoulder. Terrified that he’d stop
her.

Behind her there was a snarl and a roar. Furniture crashed.
Glass broke. Eden blocked the sounds and kept her goal in sight. She slammed
into Nick, latched onto his shoulder and screamed. “Wake the hell up!”

He blinked. A high-pitched yelp echoed around the hall.

“Oh shit. Oh shit.”
Marlika was in there alone
fighting that sick son of a bitch. She needed reinforcements fast. Eden grabbed
Nick’s face so hard her nails bit into his dark skin. “Wake up!”