The Tenth Legion (Book 6, Progeny of Evolution) (27 page)

In a quick
move, he rolled on top of her, pinning her down. “I didn’t
understand how much I loved you until this moment.”

“You’re lucky
to be a spirit who finds contentment with the love that passes
through his life, even if not perfect. I’m a more restless sort,
unable to be satisfied with what I have, always searching for
perfection. My life has been a string of brief, failed
relationships. After each one ended, I felt more isolated than
before. Mike came closest to the real thing. We might have made
it.

“After each, I
compensated with compulsive work, which makes me not so different
from you. Work had almost taken over my life. Then I met you…”

Ed caressed a
cheek of the round face below him. “I am yours for as long as you
will have me.”

The
reciprocity of the love she had for this man, on many levels, hit
her like a runaway freight train. Ready to call it eternal, for
sure, she determined to see things through, even to a broken
heart.

Getting up
from the bed, his imposing figure walked to the sink for a glass of
water. The profile of his buttocks jutted out like two cast-steel
hemispheres, but pink, with a spray of freckles spilling around
from the small of his back to end at the hollow on each flank. His
manhood hung straight down, still glistening with the liquid
remnants of their lovemaking. A picture lodged in her mind of
riding him, embracing the delicious shaft within the crevice
between her legs, which once again ached for attention.

When he
returned, she pressed him into the bed. Flinching when his back
touched the wet spot from before, he complained, “It’s cold.”

“Don’t be a
baby. You’ll soon forget about it,” she said huskily, straddling
his hips. He easily supported her weight with the front of his
thighs. Her quickening breath fanned his face. Arching her back,
she positioned above him. “Now be a good boy, and attend to your
mate’s needs.”

Saliva-wetted
fingers rubbed the velvety tips of her breasts. Reaching for his
member, she drew the pulsating shaft toward the heat source in the
dark apex of her thighs. When she inserted him, his eyes opened
wide. Wiping a dribble of their mingled fluids from the entrance of
her inner canal, she rubbed it across his chest. Retrieving the
aromatic blend with a finger, he had just enough time to lick the
digit clean before her hips began to rise and fall with the
relentless, repetitive movement of an oil well pump’s saurian
counterweight. An expression of exquisite torture grew on his face;
she increased the friction by squeezing her thighs together to
narrow the inside of her wet cleft.

Lorna
remembered a dream in which Cithara had experienced a similar
situation with Aliff, understanding for the first time the power
she held over Ed. His chest heaved with deep, rasping breaths.

How did
Cithara put it?
Like holding a wolf by the ears.

Two large
hands captured her petite buttocks between them, kneading the
flesh. The thrill of his manipulation rippled throughout, forcing a
last orgasm that sent them careening through timeless time and
spaceless space—where infinity meets nothing to become everything.
Ed’s loins contracted, propelling their offering down his shaft to
deposit in the temple which was the wellspring of all life. His
eyes opened wide. A ragged, deep breath like a death rattle welled
up from his throat. As deep within her as penetration could go, the
torrid impulses of fluid erupted from him.

“I love you,”
he gasped, falling silent.

Getting off,
she expelled his sex, which fell in a flaccid, wet, pinkish loop
onto a thatch of orange hair. Noiselessly, he raised a long arm in
the warm air of the room, opening a space for her to tuck
underneath, against his torso. With a wide, deliberate sweep, the
arm returned to envelope her. She snuggled in the warmth, like the
sensation that came with the first mild sunlight of spring after a
cold winter.

And the winter
had been cold.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

T
hey slept
through the night, awaking in anticipation of measuring whatever
time remained by marathons of unbridled lovemaking. Not that they
wouldn’t do a lot more, but other equally important considerations
crowded in. Lorna lay in Ed’s embrace, listening to the steady beat
of his heart. She believed that until they discovered a final cure,
their lives, and those of The Others were not safe. The prospect
appeared promising. With one in hand, they’d have a lifetime to
concentrate on perfecting their love and commitment, but until
then, everything else would take a back seat.

The next
morning found Lorna on the web cam with Cynthia. The clan prepared
to arrive in the afternoon. Cynthia killed time waiting for some of
the others who had brought families along.

“That’s cool,”
Cynthia said, filling the screen with a white porcelain face,
wide-jawed like Ed’s. “How many are in the oven?”

“Twins,” Lorna
answered. “A boy and a girl.”

Downcast eyes,
with heavy, dark-shadowed lids accented by thick, ebony eyelashes
like curled wire, looked at something off screen. “The whole thing
really crept up on you, huh?”

“Yes. Except
for my boobs getting larger, and the one bout of nausea after
Bobby’s attack, I showed no signs.”

“Speaking of
Uncle Bobby, he was sighted somewhere out west. What’s left of the
X-10 is doing everything they can to hide their new hero.”

Lorna’s mouth
curled downward into a frown. “He should be their hero. He was
responsible for more deaths of our kind than the rest of them put
together.”

The toll stood
at a hundred and forty worldwide.

Cynthia
sighed. Then she brightened, saying, “I made myself a promise. If
we live through this, I’m going to do something useful with my
life, like Mom and Grandma Cynthia did.”

Lorna was
happy the subject had changed from Bobby White. “What’ll you
do?”

“Not become a
Corporation Girl, like Mom,” Cynthia answered. “Not that there’s
anything wrong with what she does. I want something more exciting.
Grandma’s mission work during the Basque Drought, especially what
she did for the UN in the capture of Basque Separatists, is more
like what I have in mind. I think I need to stop living in Mom and
Gran’s shadow and start doing things on my own.”

“That’s a
pretty big thing to jump into. How will you begin?”

“Dive in like
Grandma Cynthia did. The right moves came to her naturally. I
believe we’re alike in that way. If not, I can always go back to
work for Uncle Ed. Now, if only they’d find a real cure for our
little plague.”

“All the
touching and breathing on people seems to work. The sick ones, even
Ethan’s wife, are better. There haven’t been any new cases in two
days. Those who left are returning. I feel like the fountain at
Lourdes.”

“I know. The
pregnant girl here says the same thing.” For a second, Cynthia’s
head moved out of camera view. By way of explaining the absence,
she held up an Emory board. “We’re better off than before, but we
can’t spend the rest of our lives tied to pregnant females,
although the males are willing to do their part to keep more of us
in that condition.”

“Don’t worry,”
Lorna said. “A cure will happen. I’m sure there’s something we can
turn into a vaccine. By the way, I’m moving in with Ed. My
apartment’s vacant, if you or your mom wants it.”

“Oh, how
perfect for us. Leave the key with Housekeeping.”

* * * *

For the next
week, The Others worldwide arranged into groups with close
proximity to a pregnant member, and the virus abated. The
breakthrough that led to the vaccine came soon after.

They gathered
in the conference room. Lorna sat to Ed’s right at the head of the
large table. Doctor Kelso called the meeting. When his face, hard
like worn, brittle saddle leather, filled the screen, he went right
to the point. “We discovered something.”

Ed showed
Lorna a jutting, chinned profile when he faced the screen, asking,
“What do you mean?”

“There’s a
hormone produced by females of your kind in pregnancy to regulate
adrenaline, produced in high levels by morphing. This hormone,
stuvestorol, dampens the adverse effects on the fetus from the
excess amounts of the chemical.”

Lorna sensed
hope in Ed’s tone. “You’ve tested this substance?”

“On five near
death cases. Four are in remission. The fifth is stable.”

“Can we
produce enough?”

Old
Leatherface smiled, the wrinkles in his face deepening. “I can have
five thousand doses ready in a week.”

“I want to be
absolutely sure this works before saying anything. We’re no longer
working against a doomsday clock.”

“A week or two
should be enough, but I’m optimistic,” the scientist said.

Lorna’s hand
shot out under the table, squeezing Ed’s. Above the table, the
Chairman showed nothing, but below, Shadow Ed returned her clasp
with gusto.

* * * *

Until
confirmation of a cure arrived, the local community of The Others
remained barricaded at company headquarters. On the big day, Ed
walked alongside Lorna down the wide hallway, under the modern art
that covered the walls. “This is the answer. I just know it,” she
said. “Can we at least tell the family we made a discovery?”

“Not until
we’re sure…”

“We should
tell Karla. News of a cure would mean a lot for her peace of
mind.”

None of the
hybrids had contracted the disease, but the malady threatened the
family the elderly hybrid loved along with the world familiar to
her, and Karla was Karla.

After
considering the suggestion, the CEO said, “All the more reason to
be sure. Imagine how devastated she’d be if this is a dead end.
Let’s wait.”

“I suppose
you’re right.”

The hallway
opened into a stairwell with an overlook of the atrium and swimming
pool two floors below. When the disease was in full tilt, few used
the pool. Now everything had returned to normal. A crowd, mostly
children and teens, did a good job of churning the clear,
aquamarine-tinted water. While the youngsters filled the pool,
adults laid claim to the sunning benches and cabanas lining the
perimeter. You spotted the vampires by the dark glasses.

“There’s
Cynthia,” Lorna said, pointing to a figure sitting in the shadow of
a blue umbrella, wearing a wide- brimmed hat. A thick coat of
sunscreen covered the exposed parts of her body. “She’s a lycan,”
Lorna added. “The sun shouldn’t burn her.”

Ed laughed.
“Try telling her that. She’s convinced her pale skin will
cook.”

“Who’s that?”
Lorna pointed to a willowy, long-shanked blonde entering from the
women’s locker room. A terrycloth robe wrapped her from shoulders
to mid-calf. Sunglasses gave a touch of mystery to the narrow
face.

“It’s my dear
Valeria.”

“Oh, yeah…”
Lorna felt guilty about the animosity she’d had toward Ed’s
goddaughter. Fortunately, except for the slip in front of Ethan
that led to clearing up the misunderstanding, she’d never voiced
her suspicions out loud. Still, Lorna approached meeting Valeria
for the first time, earlier in the week, with trepidation. The
young hybrid’s cool gaze from oval brown eyes didn’t help. Valeria
extended a narrow hand with long, tapered fingers.

“You’re the
one Poppy Ed’s so smitten by.” A super nova of a smile brightened
her face, breaking the ice.

Every feature
about her except for the large, inquisitive, brown eyes appeared
small in the well-articulated face. She was tall, five feet nine,
with well-shaped, thin legs and comparably proportioned arms, long
for her body. Her hips were so narrow, when she stood, a plumb line
could drop straight from her shoulder to pass a slight indentation
at the waist and brush a hip on the way to the ground.

Relieved by
the warm greeting, Lorna introduced herself, adding. “I’ve heard so
many nice things about you.”

Lorna returned
to the present. Valeria joined Cynthia under the umbrella. The
young blonde, wearing her trademark chignon, leaned over to kiss
Cynthia’s cheek, presenting a compact rump for inspection by the
left side of the pool. Several males alerted before she sat.

“Come on,” Ed
exhorted. “Let’s join them.”

“I don’t
know,” Lorna answered. “We’re not exactly dressed.”

“Now who’s
sounding like the Chairman?”

Lorna
remembered how she’d gotten off on the wrong foot with Toby. Now
they were on good terms. Valeria should be no different. “Okay,”
she said, smiling up at him. “Let’s hang out with the beautiful
people.”

By the time
they arrived, a crowd of males had gathered around the two women,
to disperse at Ed’s approach.

“Oh, Poppy
Ed,” Valeria said in her throaty voice. “You ruin our chances with
the lovely boys.”

“That’s what
the Alpha male does,” Lorna muttered.

Ed and Valeria
didn’t understand lycan humor. Cynthia simpered.

“We don’t need
them,” Cynthia said, locking her arm in Valeria’s. “We’re
BFFs.”

To the
question on Ed’s face, Lorna explained, “Best Friends Forever. It’s
an old expression.”

“They’ve
always been close,” Ed explained lamely.

“I’m so
pleased my Poppy Ed found another mate.” Valeria reached across the
table, enclosing Lorna’s hands in hers. “For so long, he seemed
serious and glum. You made him happy, the way I remembered him when
I was a girl. For doing this, I’m so very grateful.”

Lorna flushed
with pleasurable embarrassment. Besides her and Ed, no one had
characterized their relationship as a mating. “Thank you, Valeria.
Your kind words mean a lot to me.”