Creations 1: The Perfect Creation (17 page)

“We don’t have time for this,” Rafe began when Mara cut him off.

“Make time.” She scowled, giving him that sharp, lavender gaze that normally had her crew squirming with trepidation. “Dammit, Gar, I’m tired of your bullshit. Enough is enough.”

“I’m not Gar.”

Catam and the other stared at him, and Catam blinked in disbelief. “You’re not… Rafe?

What the hell did you do to yourself? You even smell like Gar, like you’ve been claimed…” he trailed off in horror.

“Yes, little brother.
My mate
is right now in the hands of some crazy scientists and I want her back.” In his anger, Rafe let out a burst of energy, effectively shoving the Raggas holding him into the trees at their backs.

“Crap.” Catam scowled. “Okay, okay. Uh, Mara? He’s not lying. This really is Rafe.

And I think it’s best if you guys leave this to us,” he ended, motioning to Rafe and himself.

“It’s a family thing now.”

“You want me to leave you and your idiot brother, and Drekk,” she said scornfully, earning a raised brow from the man, “up against Blue Rim and a Creation?” Rafe glared at her, ignoring Lurin’s frown. “Erin is
not
a Creation. She and her brother and sister did some time for petty theft and were captured by System law. Unfortunately, like many of the others Blue Rim took, she and her family became unwilling experiments trapped in a scientific horror for years.”

Mara paled. “Hell. I’m sorry, Rafe. I assumed, since Gar was so adamant, that she wasn’t natural.”

Rafe fumed at the word “natural” but didn’t argue. Best to let her and the crew believe him. “Yeah, well, if we don’t get her back, she might just become the monster you’re all accusing her of being. You have no idea what she’s suffered for the past four years.” Lurin shook his head. “Four years? I don’t want to think about it. Come on, honey,” he said to Mara. “Let’s get back to the ship. Nu, Set, Catam, let’s go. Rafe, I trust you’ll signal us when you need our help?” Catam looked like he wanted to argue, but Rafe nodded for him to leave.

Rafe was about to refuse their help, however, when Drekk stepped in. “That’s a good idea. We can use you as a distraction when we pull the others out.”

“The others?” Mara asked.

“The other prisoners still trapped inside,” Rafe growled.

Nu and Set flexed their hands, as if anticipating a fight. “Let’s go,” they said as one.

“Yeah,” Drekk added. “Come on,
Cheltam
. Follow me. You won’t believe the stuff our contacts found for us.” Drekk disappeared.

Rafe turned to Catam. “Erin’s mine. I claimed her,
fully
.” Catam’s eyes widened. “She’s Xema? A female Xema?” Rafe nodded.

“Hot damn. Okay, brother. You find her, we’ll help. And hey, just think, when this is all over, she and Mom can bond, leaving poor Isa and the girls alone.” Rafe couldn’t help a small smile at the thought of Catam’s fiery mate and their mother at odds again, putting Catam in the hot seat. “Sounds good. Be careful out there.” And that said, Rafe teleported to Drekk’s signature inside a private weapons class ship.

“We’re going to blow them off the planet,” Drekk said with malice.

“
After
we rescue Erin and the others.” Rafe absently rubbed his chest, feeling half the man he’d been just this morning without Erin at his side.

Erin woke to a throbbing headache. Damned stunners. She winced as she blinked into white light but couldn’t block the brightness from her eyes. Her wrists lay strapped to the table under her, her ankles bound as well. And the coldness of the metal under her skin showed her she wore nothing at all. Completely vulnerable to the powers that be. Her nightmares made real, all over again.

“Ah, there you are.” Canunn smiled, his watery blue eyes as welcome as death would have been...before Rafe.

“Let me go.” Why she bothered fighting, she didn’t know. Canunn would never release her, and she could only imagine how Synster would react to her escape. She could only hope Anin and Ryen remained safely away.

“No, dear. You were a very bad girl, Erin. And to say you caused me some inconvenience is putting it mildly.” Canunn raised a small tool and Erin flinched. He touched one end of the tool to a large transparent energy block and depressed a button. A small probe shot from the tool and landed on her bare belly.

Mind-numbing energy jolted through her, tearing a scream from her with savage intensity.

“As I recall, you never could tolerate the
volmagni
block, could you?”

“Bastard,” she said once she caught her breath. She continued to shiver, the blast of energy stealing her heat, adding to her discomfort at being nude before her Creator.

“That won’t do at all.” Canunn frowned, and Erin realised she didn’t care at all about his disappointment. That urge she’d once had to please Canunn at all costs no longer existed.

Hell, once she got herself free of these bonds, she could snap his neck and be done with him.

The understanding that she maintained control over herself was liberating. Though she’d worked to overcome Canunn’s basic teachings, she’d always feared returning to Blue Rim, that she might fall back into the roll of experimental slave. Funny, but she didn’t mind her forays into submission with Rafe at all. With him she felt safe to enjoy herself.She liked pleasing him, but only because she knew how much he liked pleasing her.

Canunn and Synster, on the other hand, had never cared about her at all. Their focus did and would remain on what she could do for them. Another wave of agony swept through her as Canunn turned up the
volmagni’s
settings. When she could think again, Erin knew that as much as she longed to rip Canunn’s head off his body, she needed to play along until she could escape.

Summoning a few tears and a remorseful expression, she closed her eyes and apologised. “I’m sorry, Sir. I’ve been so confused lately.”
Sorry I’m not free so I can beat you into
a bloody mess with my bare hands
.

“That’s more like it.” The relief in Canunn’s voice told her he hadn’t been as sure about her as he’d have liked. And Erin decided to use that to her advantage.

“Sir?”

“Yes, Erin. You can open your eyes and look at me, you know.” She blinked to find him frowning. “Sir, where is my family?” He normally liked when she asked about them, as if reassured she wasn’t a monster because she loved her siblings.

“They’re safe enough for now.” Canunn glanced at her breasts before stepping away.

He returned with a sheet and covered her nakedness. “Erin, I’d like you to answer me honestly.” He paused, and she watched in astonishment when her Creator blushed. “Are you still pure?”

Understanding what he wanted to know, she decided to needle him a bit. “I haven’t ingested or imbibed of any toxic substances. I suppose then that makes me pure.” She smiled, trying to reassure him.

The little jerk swallowed loudly and glanced away, and she wanted to laugh with perverse enjoyment. Now that she thought about it, Synster had always been the one interested in sexuality. Canunn avoided it like the Mornian plague.

“What I mean is, have you, ah, have you engaged in sexual intercourse?” Even stated in such clinical terms, Canunn made sex sound dirty. With Rafe, their loving had been anything but. Yet knowing what her Creator probably knew and wanted to hear, she summoned more tears.

“I’m so sorry, Sir. I couldn’t avoid it.”

Canunn immediately wiped her eyes with a cloth, and Erin was surprised to see compassion, something he’d never before shown her. “I told you not to leave us, didn’t I?

Poor Erin. Did you find yourself abused at the hands of many? From what I could tell of your scans, you were sodomized overly. My poor Erin.”

Sodomized and loving it.
Damn, she missed Rafe. Already her body softened for him at the thought of their joining. “I am sorry, too, Sir. I’ll never leave you again. Never. Whatever you demand as punishment shall be just, as you are just.” Canunn smiled, a wobbly expression bordering on honest emotion. Tears filled his eyes.

“I am so happy to hear you say that.” He released the bar over her left wrist and paused, as if comprehending how stupid he was to give her the chance to escape. But Erin bided her time.

Canunn wasn’t a complete idiot, and when she glanced around, she saw several armed guards in her periphery. She lay still, not moving at all. Canunn released her right wrist, then her ankles, tense while he waited to see what she might do.

Erin remained still.

“Erin?”

“Sir?”

“Would you like to leave the table?”

“If it would you please you, Sir.”

Canunn exhaled loudly. “It would please me very much. Please remove yourself to lab room one. Clean yourself, then dress. Synster should be back any minute with Anin.” Erin nodded and left, her thoughts abuzz. Synster had Anin, but what about Ryen?

What had happened to her siblings in her absence? As she left Canunn, she noticed the many security guards now posted along the exits of the large room, as well as along the hallway and outside of lab room one.

She entered the lab and sealed the door behind her. Quickly cleaning and dressing, once again in the sterile white pants and sleeveless vest worn by all test subjects, Erin stopped and waited. For several moments she merely stared at the floor, at the cool tiles and their utter sameness that used to drive her crazy. But as she stared, she saw the memories she’d made with Rafe. She felt the heat of the overhead sun as she walked through Mardu’s glorious fields. Rafe’s unique scent called to her, reminding her that somewhere outside the walls of this prison stood a man who loved her—Erin, a Creation.

Stupidly, she smiled, a huge grin she was unable to contain as she made her way back to Canunn’s side. Joining him, she saw his cautious hope and wanted to laugh out loud. That sense of freedom allowed her to resist the urge to choke him. Instead, to her surprise, she felt sorry for the male. The joy she’d experienced in her short life meant everything to her, and she knew instinctively that Canunn had never felt its like.

“Erin?”

“I’m just so glad to be back,” she said quietly, smiling still.

Canunn nodded, pleased with her response. Before he could speak, however, Synster arrived with Anin in tow. Erin could see nothing overly wrong with her sister, with the exception of Synster’s small hand gripping her arm tightly. Anin met her gaze and looked away, but not before she gave Erin a small wink.

Apparently, the time away from Blue Rim had benefited Anin as well, because that wink was the first show of open humour her sister had managed by herself, without being prodded by another.

Synster sneered as he joined her and Canunn. Shoving Anin away from him, he yelled at her. “Sit your ass down and don’t move.”

“Yes, Sir.” Anin sat and stared at the floor, and if Erin hadn’t known better, she’d swear Anin was grinning inside.

“Synster? What’s wrong?” Canunn looked worried.

“I’ll tell you what’s wrong. That bitch refused to have sex with me.” Erin and Canunn stared at Synster, then at Anin, in perfect tandem.

“What?” Canunn asked before turning to Anin. “Anin, is this true?” Anin looked up at Synster. “I should answer, Sir?”

“Yes, yes. Answer him, you stupid slut.”

Anin might not mind, but Erin’s annoyance grew the more he insulted her sister. She’d never liked Synster or his obnoxious comments. But now that she’d had a taste of freedom, she didn’t intend to suffer any more at Blue Rim’s hands.

“Yes, Sir,” Anin said to Canunn. “It is true. I did not want to have sex with my Handler, and when he asked what I wanted, I responded in kind.” Canunn didn’t say anything. Synster, however, began cursing and pacing, completely put out.

“A few months out of the lab and they’re ruined. Ruined! This little
drun
refused me.

My Creation to do with as I please, and she said no.”

“But did she disobey you, or did she answer you honestly?” Canunn asked, a distinction Erin sensed held a great deal of importance. Yet she could only marvel that her sister, once a spineless female, had not only winked at Erin, she’d been honest about her wants. Would wonders never cease?

“Actually, now that I think about it, she simply answered me. I hadn’t actually ordered her to obey.” Synster stared at her sister with a grim smile.

Anin, unfortunately, lost her pleased glow. And Erin knew that as far as Anin had come during her time away, disobeying Synster apparently wouldn’t be one of her triumphs.

“Sir?” Erin asked to take the focus from Anin. Canunn and Synster looked at her.

“Where is Ryen?”

Synster shook his head. “Your brother is another problem, I’m afraid. I had to sedate him rather heavily. He’s in another of his rages and practically tore me apart when I came to get Anin. It took seven stuns to get him to ground, and another four to put him under.” Canunn stared, open mouthed. “But Synster, that much at once could kill him.”

“I don’t think he will ever work out, Canunn. His death will most likely be for the best.”
Best my ass.
Erin counted to ten, but thoughts of Ryen possibly dying without her or Anin, all alone, broke her ability to remain silent.

“Where is he?”

Synster narrowed his gaze. “I hear someone had a time with you. But you don’t look any different to me. She still subservient?” he asked Canunn as he walked around her, eyeing her like a piece of meat.

“Yes. But I don’t think—” Canunn tried before Synster cut him off.

“Erin, Anin, with me.” Synster stormed out of the room and Erin followed with pleasure, wanting more than anything to get Synster alone. Unfortunately, he had more brains than she gave him credit for.

They returned to lab four alpha, Synster’s favourite place to fuck her sister. Anin often complained to Erin about the cold temperature, but apparently Synster liked how it made her nipples stiff, since he obviously couldn’t arouse her.

Inside the room, he posted two guards on either side of the door. The men watched Anin and Erin with interest. Synster meant to put on a show.

“We’re appropriately guarded, Erin, so don’t even think about resisting.”