“
IF YOU LIKED IT THEN YOU SHOULDA PUT A RING ON IT!”
She heard her daughter singing at the top of her lungs and the smell of fresh marinara simmering drew Moira into the kitchen. The sight of Jorie shaking her booty while holding up one oven-mitted hand, pointing at it with the other, was classic.
“Having fun?” She shouted over the blaring music.
“MOM!” Jorie’s smile, so happy at seeing Moira, made Moira feel bad for having neglected Jorie all day. She made a point to never schedule anything that would interfere with at least having meals with Jorie. They also spent several hours every day working the farm, training, and furthering Jorie’s education. “Come dance with me!” Grabbing her hand, Jorie dragged Moira into the kitchen.
They danced and laughed together through the rest of the song, Moira reached over and turned down the volume while Jorie used the mitts to drain the noodles into the waiting colander. Jorie finished putting dinner on the table while Moira poured a glass of CPT, the homeopathic combination of orange juice for calcium, almonds for phosphorus, and grape seeds for tannins that naturally blocked her body’s iron production. She put a cup of blood from her earlier letting into the microwave to heat for Jorie.
“You must have found Jess?” Jorie asked, taking her cup out of the microwave and downing it in one swallow.
“She is at the Ryu. I still have no idea why she went off the grid. I’m just relieved she’s back. Hopefully she will be coming soon; this is a long wait for her between drinks.” Moira held up her own CPT in reference. Jorie curled her nose in distaste. The same drink that kept her cousin from iron poisoning would kill iron-deficient Jorie or any other Elven.
“Maybe she met a boy.” There was curiosity in Jorie’s tone. For Jorie’s own protection, Moira had been forced to keep her fairly isolated. They had boarders, usually women in hiding who would come to stay with them, but very few ended up permanent residents on their farm. Only those willing to truly disappear ever stayed around long.
Many were here such a short period of time that Jorie wasn’t even aware of their coming and going. Nor were the visitors allowed to know geographically where they were. Unlike the permanent societies within the network, Moira’s did not offer any form of social outlet. Only one visitor had ever had a child Jorie’s age. Moira had made sure to create a secure network just for Jorie and Nathan. To stay in contact, they liked to play games or just talk. Jorie’s direct link to Nathan was the only computer in the house that had an outgoing web cam.
Nathan and his mom Sara were still in hiding. Moira had created their new identities and helped them get a society established on a small strip of land in Montana. Sara helped Moira with her support groups and served the Underground Railroad in America. Many in hiding lived in Sara’s community, which even had schooling for the children.
“Maybe.” Moira’s voice trailed off, her exhaustion getting to her. “What did you do today?”
In her animated way, Jorie told her how she had done both her and Moira’s farm chores, “’cuz I knew you’d be tired.” She had also beat Nathan at all three games of Black Ops before he’d “wimped out” and gone to bed. She hated being eight hours ahead of him.
Despite her sleep-deprived haze, Moira was able to enjoy her daughter throughout dinner and cleaning up, or so she’d thought. Right after they were done with dishes, Jorie told her to go to bed before she fell over. Hands on her unrounded hips, Jorie was trying to look very grown up, and Moira’s heart swelled with love and pride. She hugged Jorie and stumbled her way to her room for a few hours of much-needed shut eye.
****
Shane spent the next hour, while Jess was teaching a class, in the best-friend inquisition. He must have passed, because Aymee told him that it was okay with her if he wanted to date Jess. He wondered if she’d let him bond with Jess for eternity.
With her cheeks flushed from teaching, Jess seemed really happy. He couldn’t imagine how she had done this her whole life without being able to protect herself. She must have been overwhelmed by human emotions bombarding her psychic empathic nature. Just to get an idea of what she had dealt with, he’d attempted to drop his own shield while watching the end of her class. He’d been painfully forced to raise it after only a few minutes each try. He knew it was Jess’s driven stubborn determination that had carried her for years. She was going to be a handful. Smiling, he couldn’t wait.
He had bought one of the school’s logo GIs from Aymee. He liked having Jess’s logo on his chest. Barefoot, he walked to the center of the mat in her classroom, faced her, and bowed.
“You looking to get your ass handed to you?” she teased, exaggerating the sway of her hips, the gold expanding in her eyes. “You’re an old man.” It was her first reference to Gil’s disclosure of his age. “With a mighty fine ass.” She strode to within a breath of his chest. “What if I damage you?”
Reaching around him, she grabbed his buttock, holding eye contact as she slowly ran the fingers of her other hand from his navel up his chest toward his neck. Shane failed to notice her casually hooking one of his legs with hers until the heel of her hand dug into the ball of his hip. She pushed against her forearm. She’d manipulated him to be in full contact across his sternum and clavicle, she raised her hooked foot into the back of his knee. Shane went down like a sack of flour.
Stunned, he exclaimed, “You cheated.” She slowly circled him lying on the mat, still exaggerating her hip swing.
“Who, itty bitty little me? I need every advantage I can get against big bad boys like you.” Her voice dripped false innocence.
He reached out using his Elven speed, which luckily she wasn’t prepared for. He caught her behind the leg, bringing her down beside him, and rolled his body above hers, pinning her arms above her head.
“Still think you’re all that?” he asked, his lips a breath away from hers.
“Absolutely.” She wiggled her body against his obvious arousal. He had her pinned to the mat, but she still held all the power. Groaning, he closed the distance, capturing her lips in a searing kiss that left them both breathless.
Aymee popped her head in. “Hey, just thought I’d warn you. Eric’s paced a hole in the office. You got some ruffled feathers to smooth, sista.”
“This sucks,” Jess muttered. Shane grinned down at her. Being on the outside looking in, he could see why her family and friends were worried. On the other hand, he also understood Jess’s annoyance. They did seem to treat her with kid gloves. Couldn’t they see that she was hardly fragile? Hell, she could take out the whole place if she wanted to.
“I’m sure Eric will be fine.” He looked down into her eyes and rubbed her cheek with the back of his fingers. “Want me to come with you to talk to him?” Debating, she bit her bottom lip before shaking her head. “Alright, how about if I go pick up some lunch then?” That would give him time to feed, too. Jumping up, he held his hand out to help her stand.
“Oh, there’s a chicken place a few block away that is just to die for.” Jess brightened just at the mention of food. The place she was talking about was two blocks from the Red Cross center. That would work out perfectly. “I’ll call it in.”
Chapter Eleven
Enlil awoke groggy. He must have been dormant for a while, and his physical hunger was beginning to make its presence known already. How long had it been this time? In the last few unmemorable centuries, he had spent much of the time to ground since the murder of his beloved Etana. He missed her so much. No matter how much he wanted to be a part of his people, his son’s life, and the hunt for her killer, ultimately the pain of her loss would cripple him and he would be forced to return to ground for a time. Most gave up their life when a bloodmate died. Only the desire for vengeance and his fear of breaking the bond to his twin kept him from doing just that.
He remembered how the high ones had breathed a sigh of relief when he and Etana had found each other. She had been entirely too good for him. She was from a long line of respected land producers. The farms of her family were known for working in harmony with nature even before it was understood how they came to be that way.
He was a wild warrior, going wherever there was battle, never staying in one place. Against all odds they had found each other. She had given him a sense of balance, stability, and love. She had made him want to be as good a male as she believed him to be.
Etana had been full of vision, compassion, and hope. To her, colonizing was about learning to appreciate the land, its people, and its animals so they could get the most out of a harvest. She was his wonder and his world while she lived.
When she’d died at the hands of a Morsdente, she had been pregnant with their second child. His pain had been so great, Enlil had misused his abilities and created a storm that flooded and nearly destroyed her entire beloved colony. Others before him had exposed their true form to an occasional human, but his demonstration was the first one to have a written account. It had taken the combined efforts of Sargon, Ninlil, his own son Ediku, and the entire warrior community to arrest his rampage.
Most Elven of the time still regarded humans as nothing more than chattel, or slaves, a subjugate species to be used for manual labor, a blood source, and occasionally physical pleasures. Etana was adamant about teaching the colony language skills and was a prominent advocate of mutualism between the species. She believed that Elven had a duty to aid humans and other species in reaching their potential. Because she taught humans to read and write, his grief-induced tantrum was forever misinterpreted in a written account, and the legends and myths began. Until the High Ones determined that the myths and legends were inevitable, regardless of Enlil’s actions, he’d been punished.
Etana’s ideal helped in creating a symbiotic format that became the Symbiosis of Species Council. A political structure whose main purpose was to understand, appreciate, and protect the planet’s species and individual habitats. Unifying in peace all known enlightened species, together with the interests of the pre-enlightened human species, the council combined their strengths for the greater good.
Enlil lay there waiting to feel the familiar sense of loss overwhelm him. Perhaps it was tempered by that sense of urgency that was holding him tenaciously, or perhaps the unimaginable had happened, and time had finally eased the constant ache in his chest that had been like a companion to him. He felt a touch of guilt at his lack of pain, and his immediate inclination was to return his body to a dormant state. That feeling was followed by the drive to find and kill the Morsdente who had taken her from him.
He felt a breeze on his face and a change of air pressure, and then he was pulled from his location. Very few individuals remained who held that level of power or the audacity. Without opening his eyes, he could tell he was not within the Oracles and High Ones Council Chambers or the SOSC. That left—deep breath in—yep, the hint of freesia. His sister, Ninlil, was forever prodding and pushing him through their bond.
“What’s wrong, Ninlil?” he growled at her, sitting upright. His voice was rough from lack of use. “Because you had better be on the brink of death to yank our bond like this.” He felt a goblet pressed into his hand, and he smelled the rich, metallic-laced, fruity liquid it contained. His dentes slid into his watering mouth and he brought the cup to his lips, taking care not to gouge himself with the fingernails that had grown unattended during his dormancy. He couldn’t suppress the moan that escaped him as the blood slid down his throat and into his emaciated stomach.
Only when he’d finished the blood-wine did he open his eyes to look upon the worried face of his beloved twin. She was chewing her bottom lip the way she always had when there was much on her mind. Her dentes were retracted even though she was surrounded by the residual scent of the blood wine, so she was well fed and healthy. Ninlil offered him a second goblet of blood-wine, which he took and began to sip, waiting for her to answer his question.
She finally sighed. “Can’t I just miss my brother?” He raised an eyebrow at her in response. “You look like shit, you know.” Wrinkling her nose at him, she reached up with a nervous hand to unnecessarily smooth her perfectly coiffed, light-red hair. Hers was a color one shade deeper red than his strawberry blonde. She regarded him with eyes that matched his own, the exact shade of emerald green with a gold starburst pattern that encompassed the pupil.
“Look who’s picked up the modern American slang.” He smirked.
She sent him a single finger gesture. “Picked up more than the slang.” Her voice had a naturally soothing, calming cadence to it. She had a gift for being able to temper strong emotions using only her voice. He’d watched her drain battle rage out of an enemy by simply humming.
“You hooked up with their forms of plumbing? A long bath sounds pretty good about now.” He took in her clothing “I take it we are in a human dwelling.” She nodded. “So, running, heated water? Or do I need to have it pulled?”
“You have been asleep for awhile.” She pointed at a door. “Through there. You’ll figure everything out.” Grinning, she added, “I’ll send up clean cloths and bandages.” Ninlil handed him an electronic device. “Here, bring yourself up to speed with the world while you’re at it. In answer to your question, I pulled you here at the request of Gilgamesh. He would never make that request of me if it weren’t important. He wants us to meet him at his home as soon as we can.” She smoothed her perfect hair again. “I will be going as soon as I arrange those items for you, so join us, please.”