Bryce, page 18
part #2 of Anarock Shifters Series
Maurice shook all three of his heads. “We have to. There’s no question about that.”
“Did McCain tell you that?”
“The mandate came long before McCain,” Maurice replied. “It came from the Call.”
Bryce’s eyebrows flew up. “The Call? What’s that?”
“It’s a voice that commands us all to rise and conquer for the Call,” Forsythia told him. “We all hear it in our heads all day long and in our dreams at night.”
Bryce frowned. “I don’t hear anything.”
“You’re from the other world,” Francois pointed out. “Maybe it comes from this world and only Calls those from this world. I can’t explain it, but it makes sense. You’re outsiders. Forgive me for saying this so bluntly, but we all hear the Call and we all have to answer it. It told us all to cross the portal and take the other world so we have to do it. Maurice is right. There’s no question about that. McCain only answered the Call. He didn’t come up with the idea of crossing.”
“If Anarock is the most powerful force on the other side,” Susie added, “then it only makes sense that we attack them and take them down first. We would have to do that before we took anything else. The Call must have been leading us to Anarock when we turned the other groups. The Call must have brought you to us so we would know about Anarock.”
“Anarock isn’t the most powerful force over there,” Bryce told them. “Not by a long shot.”
Susie shook her head. “Even so, it’s the most powerful one that we’ve encountered so far. We engaged them once so we know what we’re up against. We have to go after them again until we defeat them. That’s the most important thing now. We just need to figure out how.”
Bryce surveyed them all from a distance. What was he thinking right now? Alexa couldn’t conceive of anybody running this freak show, but he stayed perfectly calm throughout.
He turned to Boris. “Open the window and let me see inside their war room. I want to see what they’re doing and how they’re responding to the first battle.”
Boris concentrated his eyes and the window flickered open. From her place on the couch, Alexa saw across the miles and interdimensional realities. Her father, Victor, Malachai, and Riley stood around Colonel Weeks’s table engaged in heated debate.
“If she turned against Anarock to join the enemy,” Colonel Weeks was saying, “then she deserves to die with the rest of them. She won’t get any special treatment from me just because she’s my daughter.”
Alexa cringed hearing her own father talk about her like that, but she expected this. She knew when she turned her back on Victor’s offer and ran back to the Omega Battalion that her own people in Anarock would think she’d crossed the line.
Riley piped up. “You didn’t hear them like I did. You didn’t hear the way they talked. I’m telling you, Victor. They’re still loyal. They’re the ones who warned us about the Omega Battalion in time to defend ourselves. If they hadn’t sent me to warn you, we would all be dead right now.” She rounded on Colonel Weeks. “You have to believe me, Colonel. Alexa saved my life. She made it possible for me to escape and she threw herself in front of me to protect me. She and Bryce are doing everything they can to help us. No one can convince me otherwise.”
Colonel Weeks closed his eyes and turned his head away. “I wish I could believe that. I really do.”
Riley spun around and grabbed Victor’s arm. “Please listen to me, Victor. There’s another explanation for everything they’ve done from the very beginning. Bryce said he and Alexa were working for over a week to find a way to warn us. They tried to cross back over to us, but they got trapped by a spell. Don’t you see? She ran away because they took Bryce. She went back to save him. It explains everything.”
“I don’t like to admit it,” Malachai muttered, “but I have to agree with Riley. Alexa deliberately turned her fire away from us during the fight. She could have shot at us, but she didn’t. She held back. She shot her flame, but she turned her head so she didn’t hit us. It looked to me like she was shooting against her will. She was trying her hardest to protect us.”
Victor drew himself up. “I’m not disagreeing with you, but none of that matters now. We’re facing a serious threat. If Bryce and Alexa went over to the enemy, we have to treat them as if they went of their own free will. We have to prepare to defend Anarock against the Omega Battalion invading again. We would have to do that whether Bryce and Alexa are with them or not. We can’t consider them, or if we do, we have to consider them our enemies, too. We have to conduct ourselves as if they’re giving the Omega Battalion information on how to defeat us. That’s our only option.” He rounded on Colonel Weeks. “Rewrite all our codes with new encryption—Violet Ultra Protocol. Contact Venus Puttanesca to weave a web around the central node. Implement the Seventh Layer of Protection and tell me when it’s in place.”
He wheeled and barged out of the war room. Malachai and Riley hurried at his heels.
“That’s enough,” Bryce snapped. “Close it.”
The window blinked out and the lieutenants exchanged glances. “What does that mean?” Maurice asked. “What’s the Violet Ultra Protocol?”
“It’s nothing,” Bryce replied. “It’s just a code of encryption they use for their communications when they suffer a security breach. They did the same thing when Victor exiled me from Anarock for betraying him. They always change the codes. It doesn’t mean anything. We’ll just take another look when they finish rewriting the encryption. Then we’ll be able to figure out what they’re doing.”
“And the Seventh Layer of Protection?” Susie asked. “What is that?”
“It’s another magical defense. It means he’s still using his alliance with NightRage. Venus Puttanesca is a NightRage sorceress. He’s calling on his allies to help defend the city. The longer this goes on, the more heavily they’ll defend themselves.”
“Then we should strike now,” Forsythia suggested. “We should hit them before they rewrite their encryptions and before she weaves her web.”
Bryce nodded. “I agree with you. Go through the whole Battalion and count up everyone we have. I want a full inventory of all their abilities so we can organize them into platoons. We’ll move out as soon as possible.”
“How will we breach their defenses?” Maurice asked. “We still don’t have any way to overcome NightRage’s numbers.”
“You leave that to me. I’m taking McCain’s place. I’ll make all the decisions he used to make and there are some things I can’t tell you. Now go. I want full reports from all of you by tomorrow morning. We don’t have much time.”
The group hurried away and left Bryce standing alone at the table. He stared down at the maps, but his eyes didn’t range over them. He pretended to study them, but he was really looking at nothing.
He stood there so long she worried he might forget all about her, but in a second, he glanced up. He smiled at her and strolled toward the couch. He put out his hand to her. “Are you ready to go home?”
She cocked her head. “Home?”
He nodded toward the door. “To our house, I mean. We’re going to be here for a while.”
She peered into his eyes, but she couldn’t tell what he was thinking. “You didn’t tell them.”
“About what?”
“About the Violet Ultra Protocol. You lied to them.”
Now it was his turn to tilt his head to one side. “What did you think? Did you think I would really lead these people in another assault on Anarock?”
“Then why did you….?”
He burst out laughing. “What do you think I’m doing here? You heard what they said. They think they have to go after Anarock. Whatever that stupid Call is, it compels them to go after our world and try to defeat it. This has nothing to do with McCain. Shit, for all I know, it’s some class of meningeal virus that infects their brains. If you and I fly off home to Anarock and leave this place, they’ll only elect another leader who will attack Anarock. Our best bet is to stay here. I’ll pretend to plan their next invasion. That’s the best way we can keep track of what they’re doing and protect Anarock when the time comes.”
“Then you….” She broke off and gulped. “You won’t tell them?”
“Tell them what? That the Violet Ultra Protocol will cause Anarock to transmit all their communications through protected telepaths? That they’ll never write down any of their codes or communications again? Or that the Seventh Layer of Protection is a paranormal barrier that will block anyone from shooting through these portals into their world? No, I won’t tell them any of that. I won’t tell them that the Seventh Layer of Protection will create an illusion of activity on the other side so the seers won’t know they’re watching something fake and inaccurate.”
“If you do that,” she went on, “you won’t know what Victor is doing. You won’t be able to use Boris or any other seer to keep track of Anarock’s defense.”
“No, I won’t.” He bowed his head. “It also means neither of us will be able to use the seers to see our families. We’ll just have to suck it up and go it alone for now. I only hope our people realize what we’re doing to help them.”
“It sounds like they do. I’m glad Riley is sticking up for us—her and Malachai. I hope they don’t think we’re…. the enemy.”
He clasped her hand and raised her to her feet. “Come on. Let’s get out of this house. It smells bad.”
23
Bryce opened the door and he and Alexa stepped outside into the sunshine. Even knowing they were on a different planet or in a different dimension or whatever couldn’t dispel the illusion. Alexa still found herself falling into the trap of thinking they were at home on Earth.
Bryce halted and barricaded her behind him. Maurice, François, Boris, and three other men lined up outside McCain’s house. They spun around to confront him the minute he set foot across the threshold.
Maurice swelled out his enormous shoulders. “Where are you going?”
Bryce cast his flinty gaze up and down the line. “I’m going back to my own house. What do you boys think you’re doing blocking my way?”
Francois furrowed his brow. “You can’t. You have to stay here. This is McCain’s house. You have to stay here if you’re going to be our leader.”
Bryce’s fingers clamped around Alexa’s hand. He crushed it so hard it hurt, but she didn’t dare interrupt. Was this the end of all their hopes?
“Is that what you boys are doing here?” Bryce snarled. “Are you here to stop me from leaving McCain’s house?”
Francois pulled his head in quick. “Of course not. We were just…. just standing guard. We always used to with McCain. He had us protect him so the others wouldn’t come gathering around him day and night. Anybody that wanted to talk to him had to go through us first. That was his order. We just….” He glanced up at huge Maurice. “We thought you would want to do the same thing.”
“Well, I don’t.” Bryce whipped his head first one way and then the other to glare at them one after the other. “I don’t want you boys hanging around my door night and day and I sure as fuck don’t want you deciding who I talk to and who talks to me. I can do that myself. Now Alexa and I are going back to our own house. I’m in charge of this Battalion now and I don’t much like the idea of living in another man’s house. If one or all of you likes your chances of stopping me, I invite you to try.”
He paused for a fraction of a second. Then he shouldered between Maurice and Boris. He shoved Maurice’s hulking frame out of the way and sauntered down the steps leading Alexa by the hand.
Her pulse throbbed in her brain and her palm sweated, but she refused to look back. Bryce didn’t turn around, either, to see if any of them took up his challenge. If one of them was going to do it, they would do it now.
They didn’t. They could easily take Bryce if they all ganged up on him together. Bryce could probably defeat Maurice if he used his dragon form, but not even a dragon could fight the whole Battalion. If they decided to overthrow Bryce, there was absolutely nothing he or Alexa could do to stop them.
Bryce’s bravado could only go so far. He challenged them with his unwavering confidence, but in the end, he was no more powerful than McCain.
McCain did Bryce a massive favor by pounding these people into submission. They gave way to anyone brave enough and cocky enough and brash enough to demand their obedience. That alone qualified someone to be their leader.
Strength meant nothing. Maurice was far stronger than Bryce. Brains and magical ability didn’t count, either. Francois and Susie possessed enough power between them to control just about anybody. What did Bryce and Alexa have besides their dragons? Nothing, that’s what.
Bryce stepped onto the ground. He crossed a few paces of dirt when, from every door, creatures, shifters, and aliens emerged into view. They flowed into the open and surrounded the couple. They touched Bryce’s sleeves and a few dared to stroke his cheeks. Their faces glowed with surreal rapture and a few brushed away tears.
They crowded around him extending their arms to touch him. They smiled and blew him kisses. Some grazed Alexa’s hair before they drifted away to make room for their comrades.
Alexa fought back the urge to cringe away from them or to push their hands off. Their bizarre devotion made her sick to her stomach, but she and Bryce had to maintain the farce that they belonged to this Battalion for good now. She had to play the part of his consort…. or whatever it should be called.
Bryce made his way across the compound. He smiled at everyone and grasped their offered hands. He even hugged a few people. If their adoration made him uncomfortable, he didn’t show it. To all outward appearances, he lapped it up and enjoyed it.
Alexa couldn’t tell how sincere he was in accepting their attentions. From her point of view, he really remade himself as their leader, their savior, their one true sovereign. Could he really be buying into his own charade?
If he didn’t hold back that information about Anarock’s defenses, she would believe he had gone completely over the edge. She would think he was as despotic and power-hungry as McCain.
Did he hold it back to make himself as mystically impenetrable as McCain? Did he keep the secret from the Battalion to paint himself as infallible and above reproach? Did he really intend to turn against the Battalion at the last second or did he switch his loyalties again?
He conducted her up the steps to their original house, the house where they stayed when they first entered the Honeycomb. His hand enthralled her the same way his presence captivated the rest of his loyal disciples. She found herself falling under his sway. She couldn’t even question him.
If he became a second McCain, then she was his consort. She was his biggest supporter, his most steadfast lieutenant. She belonged to him in a way she never could have anticipated.
She became his adjunct, his right hand. Whatever he planned to do, she would do it, too. She had to trust him above all.
He shut the door behind her and left all those people outside. If they ever questioned his motives the way she did, he didn’t have to consider them anymore. They would obey his orders. They would follow where he led, just like her.
He drew her toward him and she experienced that vertigo of losing her ground. She felt the inexorable pull of his presence demanding her. He cradled her face and kissed her. His will dominated her and overruled her.
His gaze explored her soul, but whatever he saw in her no longer mattered. She was his. His body locked her in place. His skin ignited her flesh to respond to him.
His tongue flickered in her mind. She opened her mouth to let him in. The sodden warmth of his lips made her wet between her legs. Her knees wobbled. She wanted to dissolve in him. She wanted to relinquish her will to the inevitable might of his will. She wanted to do his bidding in this as in all things.
He closed his arms behind her back and lifted her up. He locked her against his iron frame. Her delicate pussy cracked to rub against his hardness. Blistering heat sizzled in her brain. He would take her. He would own her. He would lead her and command her just like all the others.
She had become the slave, the whore, the bitch, the vessel that McCain said she was. She belonged to Bryce as a member of the Omega Battalion belonged to her leader. She was his to use. She existed to please him and serve him and delight him as long as he wanted and in whatever way he wanted. She was his faithful servant in unquestioning subservience and fidelity.
One hand slid to her ass. He gripped her and steered her pelvis over his spike. She melted to him and he pulled her legs around his waist. His eyes discovered her innermost being and she couldn’t look away even as he kissed her.
He carried her to the bedroom and set her feet on the floor. He sat on the bed and guided her between his knees. He never took his eyes off her face transported in stunned rapture. Not even doubting him could make her want him less. If he was maniacally insane and tyrannically evil, she wanted him more than ever. She wanted him to rule her. She wanted him to ordain that she should be his even in this.
He took hold of her jacket and hitched it off her shoulders. His lips quivered when he lifted her shirt over her head. He unlatched her bra and let it fall. His elusive touch said, Mine. His eyes studying her tightening nipples said, Mine. His mouth closed over them and teased them until she moaned. Those moans joined the silent voice claiming her as his.
His fingers unbuttoning her jeans said, Mine. Her legs sliding out of the rough denim said, His. Her swollen pussy lips wept when he burrowed his tongue down to tickle her clit.
She raked her nails across his scalp and bucked into his face. He drank her essence and scraped his cruel, unshaven jaws against her engorged cunt. He pried her legs apart and sat her down on his lap. He kicked his pants off and his pale cock found its way inside her dark leaves.
His fingers digging into her back said, Mine. His balls compressing into her ass said, Mine. His countenance owned her. His tongue invaded her mouth and touched the head of his cock entering her from below.
