Mick (The A'rouk Brothers Book 1) (6 page)

“Think of them as homemade bombs. After the danger to Janis was taken care of, Aran got together with Sergey. Then they talked with Dante and before we knew it we were all talking about how to shield from a blast penetrating the house. The whole house shield was born.”

Jaz just shook her head. The more she learned about the Created, the more she liked them. They did what wasn’t possible simply because they believed they could do it.

“What do we do now? Out wait them?”

“Hopefully, until it gets dark. I’m sure Ash has a way out of here. Then we’ll go to the clouds where my house is, and talk about what to do next.” Mick’s eyes were on Jaz noting that she wasn’t panicking or crying. She was taking it all in, processing it, and deciding what they needed to do next.

“Sounds like I should pack a bag.”

“You should and so should Brook. Take it to the living room when it's packed.”

They nodded, left the room, and headed for the stairs.

“Does Brook know?” Mick took a seat in one of the swivel chairs Ash had around the main console.

“She suspects but doesn’t know for sure. I think she’s trying to keep it quiet because she doesn’t want to upset me if she’s wrong.”

“Don’t you think you should tell her?”

Ash took a seat next to Mick and gave him the I’m-about-to-make- your-life-much-better look.

“I have five sisters all of whom have been pregnant. None of them would appreciate being told they’re pregnant when they’re not sure themselves. Women, Earth women, like to come to you with the big news. At which point you act surprised, come close to passing out, and tell them what a miracle the baby is. The last part being true. You also don’t let them catch you trying to make sure they don’t fall or bump into anything before they give you the big news. After that, all bets are off.”

Mick shook his head as his body rocked with laughter.

“I’ll remember this when your delicate red haired, green eyed mate becomes as big as a house.”

Mick’s laughter died down, as he turned green.

Jaz walked into the room instantly concerned when she saw Mick.

“Mick, are you all right, your color’s off. Do you need a doctor?”

“No, I’m fine.” He placed his arms around her and held on tightly for a minute.

“Ash and I were just discussing the future.”

“All right, I got my bag; I just need to take it to the living room. Ash, I think Brook needs some help she was looking at it and said it looked too heavy for her to pick up. Something about not wanting to risk it.”

Ash was up out of the chair and running up the steps before Jaz could even take a step backward.

“You know Brook is pregnant?” she asked him.

“I know but how do you know?”

“I can look at her and tell.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I can see the light of life within her. I can’t explain it. It’s simply something I have always been able to do.”

“Is that a side effect of being a clone?”

“I don’t think so. As far as I know, I’m the only clone that can do this.”

He gave her a puzzled look before standing to pick up her bag and take it to the living room. He turned around and took her in his arms when he dropped the bag. She moved closer and let him hold her.

Jaz knew there was no guarantee of tomorrow or even of tonight. It made her want to hold on tight to the good she was finding in life.

“I know your favorite color and the fact that you don’t yet have a favorite food. What is your dream? The one thing you always wanted to do.”

She took his hand and led him back upstairs into her room. They walked until they came to stand in front of a wall of pictures.

“I have always wanted to go to the ocean. To walk on the sand on a beach and feel the waves wash over my toes. I was never allowed to leave A’rouk Medical Facility. When I petitioned to see the ocean, I was denied.”

Her hand reached out to touch her pictures, her fingertips gliding gently over the waves. Then she touched the holographic one. If she stared at it long enough, it was like she was there.

“Have you ever been to the beach?”

“I have,” he guided her back to the love seat. “I was there long before people coveted the experience. I was there when it was so crowded it wasn’t nice anymore. I was there during the alien-human wars, and I was there after the wars when it was declared off limits. It sits desolate waiting for bare feet and spontaneous laughter.”

“I thought it was so bad that no one could go anymore.” Her eyes sparkled at the thought of walking on a beach that wasn’t crowded with the last of humanity all fighting for a spot of tranquility.

“There’s a lot that humans can do, but they don’t because they believe the investment or time would be too much. We cleaned the beaches up a long time ago, but wisely kept that knowledge to ourselves.”

She peeked out the window to see what the assassins were up to before turning around to talk to Mick again. They stayed on the loveseat. She eventually curled up against him resting her head on his chest.

“Mick, do you have any children?”

“No,” his voice sounded faintly sad. “We can only have children with our mates.”

“Why?”

“It’s has something to do with the DNA cocktail that went into creating us. That’s what Damon says anyway.” His gut clutched with the need to mate with her, but he knew better than to press her. “If one day I were to take a mate, I would have to exchange DNA with her. It would synch our bodies, and she would change just enough to be able to carry my child.”

She thought about what he said, becoming someone’s mate was never something she would be able to claim. Now she was a loose cannon in a sense, she could do or be whatever she desired.

“Do you think your Scientist did that deliberately?”

“No, I believe they meant us to be sterile, and they would have succeeded if not for our mother’s DNA. It’s sentient. That’s why we can connect with memories of her as well as memories of our fathers.”

“How is that possible?” She had stretched out, by now her head was on his lap.

Mick kept taking deep breaths. If she moved over an inch, she was going to get a big surprise, but he didn’t want to scare her by jumping up. It would also make her feel like he didn’t want her. She was totally unaware of how desirable she was.

“We believe she comes from one of the oldest races in any of the galaxies. Her abilities are so far advanced because of what she was.”

Jaz nodded her head feeling extra warmth by her face. She was tempted to turn her cheek and nuzzle into it, but the tenseness of Mick’s body said it probably wasn’t a good idea.

“Do you want children?” Her voice hesitated when she asked him. It seemed like a more intimate action than kissing him had been.

“I do, but I never dwelled on it because I believed the universe would never grant me a mate much less a child. What about you?”

Now she was the one who was tense, how did she answer a question like that?

“I never thought of it. For a clone, the sentence for getting pregnant is death by burning. Any child conceived by a clone is looked upon as an abomination and mother and child are burned for the good of humanity.”

His hands clutched at her stomach. They shook with fury as he tried to control himself.

“I will destroy anyone who tries to harm you, Jaz. You have my word.”

His word sounded like an oath. The kind he would kill to fulfill, the first layer of the protective covering over her heart ripped to shreds.

She smiled up at him and then rose up to kiss him. This time, her tongue slipped into his mouth with ease. The more she kissed him, the more she liked it. Her nipples hardened, and she leaned into him rubbing against his chest feeling the flare of desire hit the pit of her stomach. If she had known that a simple kiss could feel like this, she would have defied the Clone Council years ago.

“Mick, get down here!” Ash’s voice came up the stairs like a command breaking them apart.

Mick turned to look out the window. “Oh shit.”

He stood, grabbed her hand, and ran for the stairs.

“What is that?” Jaz asked staring at the vid screen. There was a massive square object on wheels moving slowly towards the house. There were more than twenty men pushing it. It was progressing slowly but steadily.

“That little gem helped us win the alien-human wars. It can vibrate at any frequency and therefore destroy any shield. When it finds the right frequency, it aligns with the frequency and changes it enough until it blows a hole into the shield and whatever it’s protecting. It is affectionately known as the ship killer. Which means we’re leaving.” Mick answered her question wrapping his arm around her.

“Both of you need to change your clothes. Long pants and long shirts.”

“How are we going to sneak out? They have lights.” There was a worried look on Brook’s face as she stared at the vid screen.

“Let us worry about that. The two of you just go change.” Ash gave her a tender kiss before sending her upstairs.

“Who do you think provided the ship killer?”

Mick stared at the screen before answering. “The Patron.”

“That’s what I was thinking.”

“You realize I’m going to kill him.”

Ash tensed, “What gives you the right to kill him?”

“Right now, you and Brook are just collateral damage or loose ends. The one he is after is Jaz and it’s time for him to realize that coming after the mates of the Created is a death sentence.”

“I should have killed him when I had the chance,” Ash said.

“You gave him a chance to live, Ash. It was his choice what to do with that chance and he chose to throw it away now I will end him.”

Ash nodded. The patron needed to die, but he wasn’t sure if Mick would get to him before he did. Either way, he would be dead.

“What now?” Jaz asked as she and Brook entered the room. They dressed in dark jeans; courtsey of a shopping trip Brook had taken them on. Both wore a long sleeved tee looking like they might be twins.

“Why are they after me like this?” Jaz looked up at Mick expecting an answer.

“The patron hates to lose; since he couldn’t have Brook he set his eyes on you. I don’t know why the Clone Council is so determined to kill you, but it doesn’t matter. I’m not going to let them succeed.” He pulled her close for a moment.

Brook reached into her back pocket and pulled out a slender tablet and took a picture of the four of them. She looked at Ash, and her face crumpled.

“What’s wrong?” He was at her side in a moment.

“The pictures of your family. It will all be gone, destroyed.” Tears came to her eyes as she thought of all the memento’s Ash had of his life over the last few centuries.

“They’re just pictures. Yes, I will miss them, but I have the memories of a life lived well stored in my heart. As long as you survive along with Mick and Jaz, everything will be fine.”

Brook clutched him closer and sniffed. Every reason she fell in love with him was highlighted in that one second, and she wondered again what she did to deserve him.

They all turned and watched as the attackers wrestled the ship killer into place.

“Shouldn’t we be leaving?” Jaz turned to look up at Mick.

“The ship killer can tell you how many people are in range just before it goes off. So we want it to register our heat signatures just before it fires, meaning we will have to move fast. Go to the living room, I will call out when its time.”

“Ash,” Brook clutched at his shirt not wanting to leave him.

“I’ll be right behind you, I promise.” She gave him a tight hug and followed Jaz into the living room.

Mick ran his hand over the seam of the rug next to the wall until he was tugging back a floor panel they had never noticed before. He took the bags and tossed them down waiting for Ash to tell them to go.

“Now!” Ash hollered from the other room.

Mick jumped down the hole landing on his feet. Ash ran into the room picked up Brook and dropped her into Mick’s arms. He repeated the action with Jaz giving them just a minute to clear the space before he jumped down. The house reverberated with the first blast.

Ash handed Jaz and Brook lights that he had stashed so they could see and led them quickly away from the hole as bits of the house began to fall over them.

“You should have hired a housekeeper to come down here and clean once a month,” Brook said in a low voice. The cobwebs were thick, and she kept batting them away as the smell of dust and mildew assaulted her nose. She was thankful that she had something to focus on instead of the fear trying to incapacitate her.

“Next house I’ll make sure the escape tunnel has a self-cleaning feature.”

“I’m with Brook,” Jaz tossed in. “Escape tunnels need to be clean.”

Ash looked at Mick to see him smiling. They knew the women were complaining about the conditions to distract themselves and keep moving.

The house shook above them again making Jaz and Brook jump as more dust shook loose from the ceiling.

“It’s going to fall with the next blast.”

“We’re no longer under the house. I own the property that adjoins mine on all sides. We’re close to the barn on the adjacent property.”

“How will a barn help us?”

“That’s where Ash stores his get-away hovers. He has some beauties in there.”

“You have get-away hovers?”

“I do, all my brothers have them.”

“Are they different from your everyday hovers?”

“Yep. I keep those in the garage attached to the house that is presently under attack. That means no one will be expecting us to escape by hover.”

Jaz just stared at him. Ash continued to amaze her.

They walked a little longer stopping when the house collapsed, there was no missing that. The ground shook even though they weren’t under the house and the dust and the debris were enough to choke them. Mick pulled Jaz close burying her head in his chest protecting her from most of the dust.

When she finally pulled away, she realized that Ash had done the same for Brook. All teasing and conversation stopped. They concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other before someone got wise and realized they weren’t in the wreckage.