I Dated Dark Resonance, page 11
He shrugged. “I am not done growing yet and am still in college. Yukaro started visiting to train me when Jeron noticed what I was.”
They finished the fruit salad and drizzled honey over it, wrapping it and storing it in the designated spot in the fridge.
A cup of cold tea was pressed into her hand, and Revakka ushered her onto the deck. “Things are about to go fast in there, so stay here and watch the men put the party together.”
“Can’t I help?”
“No, sweetie, you are my newborn.” Revakka winked. “As my second daughter, you will learn how things work around here. It will be up to you and Leaf to learn all my recipes.”
“Why not the boys?”
Revakka laughed. “They already know. They learned from their father.”
“Oh. Well, I guess I can just keep my mouth shut then.”
Revakka laughed and stroked her hair. “It’s fine. I know our family is not the same structure as others around here. But he loved us until he was gone and left that mark behind.”
“So, what happens when Yukaro takes me away?”
“Ah, he has to go through your family first. Even as an omega, you have to be courted with flowers and introductions of his family to yours.”
Ysma blinked. “Oh. So, my whole family has to meet his?”
“Yes. If not, your family can create social and economic punishments against his family.”
“Oh, I don’t think that would be a good idea. If my people are like me, they can be cranky when disrespected.”
Revakka laughed. “That is why I have adopted you. I am the primary speaker for my family in social matters. I had already given Jeron full permission and blessings to pursue Xeva even before she arrived here. There were a few moments where I got nervous, but she is lovely and sweet, and Jeron is so happy when he looks at her. He sees a future with her. It is a wonderful thing to see and gives me hope for grandbabies.”
Ysma nodded. “He certainly seems determined, and she is happy to have a new area to care for. Once she is completely healed, things will get interesting around here. Don’t worry about our other sisters. They are settled and will not have to be under your care.”
Revakka paused. “Stone was serious? You have sisters on the island?”
“From the walk we had, it was about half the market ladies.”
“Some of them are married.”
“That is true, and they have babies. The marks they wear are foundling marks.” She smiled. “Beatrix can explain it.”
Revakka gasped. “She’s one of them? There were over a dozen of them. They are the children of the island.”
“When you see us side by side, you will figure it out very quickly.”
“So, it was them that Stone wanted to invite?”
“He has his eye on Haurel.”
Revakka smiled. “Ah. Right. She’s sweet.”
“I am glad you think so. Both of them seem a little fixated when the other is mentioned.”
“How will we keep them apart until she’s out of school?”
“Beatrix has it covered. He won’t make any serious moves until she’s in heat, and Beatrix can stall that until it is more appropriate.”
Revakka relaxed. “Okay. That’s helpful. Now, you stay out here. The party is beginning, and you and the other kids are responsible for greeting everyone.”
A line of people was walking out through the hills, carrying bowls and platters. Torches were lit on the beach and around the low tables that had been set up, and the party began.
Chapter Nine
Xeva stood on the beach and watched the team shuttle slowly glide to a halt on the water. Jeron was next to her and standing as the island’s defender.
The door opened, and the team emerged. Remark flew out and was carrying Zella.
Xeva raised a brow. “Ah, the little bitch sister. Why are you here?”
Zella blinked. “Sister?”
“Oh, yes. I am X. You are Z.”
“I am looking for my twin, Ysma,” Zella whispered. “I need her. I can’t be a hero without her.”
“She is not your twin. You turned her into your symbiote. Regardless, she has defended herself against you, and you cannot access her body to your benefit again.”
Torun, Zera, and three other active team members were now behind Remark and Zella.
Zera’s eyes glowed happily. “Xeva. You are well?”
“Yes, I am. I am also astonished to find that I have so many siblings.” Xeva smiled. “And I have family. Lots of family. Nieces and nephews. Brothers-in-law. Two sisters-in-law. And all of them on this island.” She looked at Zera. “Who knew?”
Zera blushed. “It was necessary. We couldn’t get you all out. My parents were unable to pull that off. Making one transport disappear was relatively easy.”
“Of course. Now, on to Zella. Get her pasty ass on the shuttle, and get her out of here.”
Zella squirmed, and Remark put her down. “No. I need her to be a team member. I need her so I can be an agent.”
Torun cleared his throat and said, “The contract requires a resignation in writing.”
Ysma’s voice called out, “What contract?” Ysma and Yukaro walked slowly from the shadows.
Zella stared and swallowed.
Xeva smiled as the shock of Ysma’s appearance sank into the team. She was cute, petite, super sexy, and, of course, she had feline eyes.
“Hello. I am here to bring a complaint against team member Zella, known as Gemini. I am asking that you receive my formal statement.”
Zella screamed, “No!”
Xeva watched the woman run for Ysma, and Ysma stepped forward. When Zella hit her, the lines on Ysma’s body lit up, and Zella bounced off.
Ysma started laughing. “The last time was the last time.”
Zella burst out crying.
Xeva nodded to the team. “I would suggest you start recording and put Zella under arrest until things are understood.”
A dark doorway opened, and Beatrix and the sisters arrived. A mirrored portal opened, and Nelith and Dmitri walked through.
They all formed behind Ysma, and Nelith said, “Now, as my daughter has stated, she would like to get some information on the record. Torun, I believe you can act as an officer of the court.”
Zella was being hauled to the ship when she snapped free and made a run for Ysma, screaming in rage.
Xeva stepped forward, was suddenly on her horse, got between her siblings, hauled Zella up, and cuffed her with her belly over the saddle and a mask over her mouth.
Jeron chuckled. “Nice, now you can cuff me.”
Xeva’s voice filtered through her mask, saying, “You will have to ask politely, and it costs extra.”
He laughed and patted her thigh.
She kept control of her youngest sibling and listened to Ysma’s heartbreaking tale of helpless confinement for years.
At one point, one of the team members staggered backward and sat down. Xeva guessed he was one of the sex partners that Zella had curated.
Beatrix was on one side of Ysma, and the resemblance was striking. The hair was the only difference. Well, that and the motherly expression in Beatrix’s eyes was ferociously protective.
After an hour where all of the team looked ill, Ysma finally said, “I was forced to engage in intimate contact with men I had never spoken to. They injured me, and I was unable to seek medical assistance. Now, I am free and a citizen of these islands, and you have no jurisdiction over me. I have family who are citizens and am guarded by the defender of this island in particular and neighbouring islands in particular.” She glanced at Yukaro.
He smiled and stroked her arm.
Xeva leaned down to Zella and said, “You had options. She would have worked with you, but you would have had to acknowledge that she existed. Now, you are cut off.”
Zella looked sad and hung her head.
Xeva felt power building, and Remark jolted up. “Watch out!”
Zella blurred and tried to get into Xeva, but she was thrown a distance when the tattoos warmed up.
Ysma sighed, pulled a chunk of minerals from between her breasts, handed it to Torun, and said, “This will keep her confined. Just tape it to her.”
Zella was crying and holding her arm. She had hit a rock when she landed.
Nelith sighed and walked up to her. “You keep finding ways to make them hate you.”
Zella lunged for her, and her arm fell off.
Nelith sighed. “You are of my flesh, but you are done hurting your own.”
The cut was clean, and no blood flowed. Nelith looked over at the team. “I think we have discussed enough. Xeva is now bound to the island. Ysma and the others are bound to the islands, and the only one free is dangerously unstable. Zella can be stabilized with a tattoo Faraday cage. She will live life normally, as a basic human. Train her to live on her own.”
Zera nodded. “I understand. You can’t take care of her.”
Nelith shook her head. “She considers us tools or prey. Either way, she is not socialized.”
Torun looked at Ysma. “You will come and testify if needed?”
“I will do it from one of the islands. I have lost enough of my life to her already. I need to start living.”
Xeva smiled and dismissed the horse, walking back toward Ysma with Jeron’s gaze tracking her.
She slid her arms around him and laid her head on his chest.
Zera sighed. “You are still under contract to the BDC, Xeva.”
“No, I am not. All contracts are over if you die, and I definitely died. Nelith was there. Jeron’s family was there. No getting away from that. Same with the team. I was on permanent disability. Hell, my com died.”
Zera smiled. “Fine. You are dead.”
“Thank you. It isn’t like anyone other than Jeron was interested anyway.”
“Oh, there were several, but he wanted exclusivity, so he paid for it.”
Jeron hugged her close. “I guess that never came up.”
Xeva looked at his amused expression. “No, it never did.”
Her sisters were grinning and giggling.
Ysma was smiling, and Yukaro had his arm around her. She was safe. She was protected and contained the activations of nearly a hundred people right now, but no one outside of family knew that.
Xeva looked at them. “Would you like to have breakfast?”
Torun grinned. “Certainly.”
Jeron whistled sharply, and family began pouring in from every direction.
The tables were filled with leftovers from the night before and flatbread carried by Kala’s little girl, son, and husband.
Zera looked at them. “They are all...”
Nelith grinned. “My family. Most are marked as wards of the island, but they each wear my stamp. I tried to tell my sister in Aksalla, but I had no words. Between Salat and Khytten’s kids, I have a lot of grandkids. The amount I am going to have to spend on holidays and birthdays is going to keep me focused for a while.”
Ysma grinned. “If you want precious metals or gems, I have an activation for that.”
Nelith smiled. “I am not surprised.”
Dmitri chuckled. “I believe I can assist her in that endeavour.”
“Okay. Well, I can help.”
Ysma was sitting next to Xeva, and conversations around them were fun to listen to.
Yukaro was talking with Remark and describing Ysma stopping the wave. Remark was staring and shaking his head. “So, she stopped a killing wave.”
“Yes.”
“By herself.”
“Correct.”
“Shit. We could use power like that.”
“You have Torun.”
“He can’t do that. Nor can any water actives that I know.”
Ysma reached past them to get some flatbread. “Shouldn’t have left me trapped and screaming inside Zella then, huh? Sucks to be you.”
He shrank. “I didn’t know that is what I was hearing. She muffled you very well.”
“I have seen you with your mate. You know what screaming sounds like.”
“Oh, gods. You were there.”
“Every day. Every moment. If she was functioning, I was in there trying to get out.”
She sat back and tore up her bread, dipping it and eating. “I will continue to defend the islands as long as I am here, and I plan to be here for a very long time.”
Yukaro chuckled. “Good. Do you want kids?”
“Maybe. Nelith wants to drown in grandbabies.”
“When is your next heat due?”
Ysma shrugged. “Not a clue. Zella always blocked it. She got extra horny, but she couldn’t control my body.”
Torun lifted his head. “You are due in six weeks. The scent is specific, and this answers the question as to how a standard active could smell like an omega. Mystery solved.”
Zera looked at him. “You should have mentioned it.”
“All actives are different. I thought it was her natural cycle, but she didn’t have other signs, so I ignored it.”
Ysma looked at him. “Shut up, Torun. Just don’t say another fucking word.”
His eyes widened, and he looked embarrassed. “I heartfully apologize for any injury I caused.”
Zera’s eyes widened. “Right. The BDC test. Shit. I am so sorry.”
“It happened for a decade. It is over now. If the cage I had etched into my body fails, the marks of the island will keep her out, just as they did for Xeva.”
Xeva laughed. “That was interesting. I could feel her clawing at my cells. I also felt the tattoo heat up, and out she went. What happened with her arm?”
Nelith looked over and said, “They can reattach it. But if they want to keep her from jumping into anyone else, they can give her a cybernetic arm instead with traces of that mineral in the attachment points.”
Zera frowned. “Do you know what the mineral is?”
Xeva frowned. “Jeron? Do you know what it is?”
“No.”
Ysma raised her hand. “Minerals from a global meteor shower about ten thousand years ago. They resonate on a certain frequency that can enforce or destroy cellular integrity. I can sense them all over the world.”
Zera looked at her. “Could you put them on a map?”
“Of course, I could, but I won’t. I don’t work for the BDC.” She looked at Zera. “And I won’t.”
Xeva patted her on the shoulder. “It wasn’t all bad. It led me to you. If I hadn’t met Jeron via the BDC, I wouldn’t have been here on the island and not have met you at the tattoo shop.”
“Fine. It has done one good thing and created nauseating memories, so it has balanced out.” Ysma held up a hand. “Shut the fuck up, Torun.”
“I am really sorry.”
She looked at him, and to Xeva’s astonishment, two energy beams zapped out of her eyes and burned a giant L into the front of his uniform.
Zera looked and snickered. “Nice penmanship.”
Torun looked down. “I deserved that.”
“You and I both know what you deserve. Let’s leave it there, and don’t fucking talk to me again.”
Yukaro asked, “What happened?”
Ysma pulled him down and whispered in his ear.
Xeva saw fury pour through Yukaro’s expression, and his body hummed with energy. Whales and even sharks began to sound in the distance.
Ysma stroked the dark canvas of his skin, and he exhaled. “But he didn’t know I was in there. I just had to deal with the damage afterward.”
“I understand your rage. I am also not understanding you not aiming lower.”
“I didn’t want to burn the table.”
Xeva laughed and hugged her. “Thank you. Revakka would be pissed.”
Jeron nodded. “She’s not wrong, but our mom would understand, big sis.”
Xeva felt Ysma tense. “Oh, right. I forgot that I am not this side of freedom alone.”
Jeron smiled. “Big sister, you are not alone. Just ignore the team and look around. The rest of us are for you. Just say the word, and no one will ever find their ship or the bodies.”
Nelith went up on her knees. “I can help there.”
Zera held up her hands. “Whoa. We just came to get what Zella told us was an escaped consciousness. We can see now that she was lying.”
“Yeah. She does that a lot.” Ysma sighed and leaned against Yukaro. He was a little startled but wrapped an arm around her.
Down the long table, Quin got to her feet, slinging a bag around her. Xeva looked at her with concern. “Something wrong?”
“No, I have to go to work. A delivery is imminent.”
Jeron asked, “Where is it?”
“Sab’naku Island. My ride is coming. I had better meet it.” Quin walked into an open part of the beach, and a huge eagle manifested. She climbed onto the back of the energy beasts, and the eagle took off, flying skyward on its way to the island in question.
Xeva blinked. “I thought I was the only one born with that manifestation.”
Haven smirked. “We wanted it to be a surprise. Quin can do dozens of beasts and armour to ride. Weapons, too. But she brings our babies into the world with incredible grace.”
Beatrix smiled. “She likes sweets, so bribing her after you get pregnant is a good idea.”
Haurel chuckled. “We have sweets in our shop. Just saying.”
Everyone at the table laughed, and Xeva watched the midwife riding a spectral eagle to a neighbouring island.
Jeron chuckled against her ear. “She’s been delivering babies around here for six years.”
“On an eagle?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
He laughed. “It never came up.”
Xeva looked at him. “How many other secrets are there on the island?”
“Oh, honey, I look forward to showing you.” He grinned.
She kissed him, and he returned the kiss with interest.
The team was dismissed; Zella was still sniffling and glaring at Ysma.
Ysma went and spoke to Remark, and his eyes opened wide. “You know I will have to test it.”
“Sure, but keep in mind that she can use one aspect of the activity of the body she is in. She might try and make a run for it.” She nodded then turned and walked away from the vessel.
