Passionate Desire (30 page)

“We?”

“Fine, you will. I stay here at the command post and watch for any changes or issues that could crop up.” She hated not being able to go, but knew everyone was right. She needed to protect the children inside her. It would also give her time to listen to what else the computer had learned.

She programmed the ship to send them down close to the compound. As the computer gave the layout of the compound to her, she loaded the data into their helmets. Information where each guard stood loaded as well. Now they had everything they needed to protect her loved ones and hopefully bring them home.

Then she sat back and spoke with the computer. “Can I have live time now?”

“Yes.” The computer brought up the images she had seen in her head not too long ago. “They have been discussing you and your mate in great detail. Storm’s DNA has changed more than fifty percent in the last two weeks.”

“Is that how long this has been going on?”

“Yes. It seems when I had him place his hand in the receptacle that first time so I could download the data on the ancients, I caused a reaction in his system.”

“Great.” She hated this. “Is he going to be okay?”

“He might have a few moments where the changes cause some slight trouble for him but nothing life threatening.”

“Why didn’t this happen before?”

“He had never been in the compound before.”

“Let me try that one again.” She ran her fingers through her hair. “What is it that activated whatever is happening in him now and not before.”

“Unknown. I need to run several deep scans on him to see what is happening so I can pinpoint the cause.”

Having gone through the same thing, she wondered why Storm was also going through DNA changes. It seemed to be more than a coincidence. She hadn’t really been paying attention to the screen while they were talking but she found herself trying to figure out what was going on.

“Your mate’s sister wants Storm to put his uniform back on now that he’s awake and has asked for him to be dressed.”

“That’s because she knows the uniform can protect him.”

“If she can get the android to do it I might be able to overtake its system. She could be beneficial in the future.”

“I’ll let Storm know.” Heather centered herself and touched Storm’s mind. Hoping he would figure out what she wanted him to do, she sent the suggestion to him. “Now back up the video so I can see what was said.”

****

Storm didn’t like sitting on the table naked. Normally his state of dress didn’t bother him. His mate had pointed it out many times. But knowing how well his uniform would protect his body if things went bad had him wishing he was in it.

Looking at his sister, he kept cutting his gaze to his uniform. The first few times she didn’t seem to understand but then her eyes widened and she gave him a slight nod. He knew she had figured out what he wanted.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t handle this anymore. Can you please let him get dressed?” Toki averted her gaze. “I’m tired of the little peep show I keep getting sitting here.”

“Don’t like what you see?” He gave her a heated smile.

She glared at him.

“If you dislike it so much, dress him.”

She blinked at the thought. “Ew. Why can’t your robot do it?”

The Heather android moved to the uniform and brought it to Storm. Since Al didn’t stop her, she proceeded to help Storm stand and climb into the uniform while wearing the restraints. Once done she stepped back.

“Can you please fix the collar?” Storm moved his neck. “It seems to be tucked under and that will drive me crazy.”

The android slipped her hand behind his head and under the collar. Her skin touched the tissue where his link was. Storm looked at her oddly when he found her touch warm. It felt like she was real. He had to look in her eyes to know the truth. He shivered for a moment.

“She touched you, didn’t she?”

“Yes. I’ve never known an android to have a body temperature before.” He looked at the Heather look alike. “How did you do that?”

“My advanced circuitry allows me to mimic the heat of the humanoid body.”

Storm watched as a flash filled the robot’s eyes. There was no way he could be sure they were successful unless the computer took over the android’s body.

He moved his shoulders and shifted his hips so he could get his suit to settle on him properly, then sat back down on the table. “You know someone is coming to rescue us.”

“I assume your mate will be leading the charge.”

“You want her here.” He didn’t answer so Storm knew he was right.

“She is still important to my plans.”

“You had your chance.” Storm couldn’t believe he thought he could still take Heather from him. “There is no way I’m going to allow you to get within ten feet of my mate.”

“You aren’t in the position to stop me.”

“Really? You want to test that theory?” He got to his feet once again. “I have been in worse situations and gotten out of them so I know I will stop you before you can harm her again.”

“I never wanted to harm her.” He looked at Storm like he was a simple child. “I created her and she is perfect.”

“She is mine.” Storm didn’t mean to sound so territorial about his mate, but this man didn’t seem to understand their lives were intertwined.

“I know that.” He glared at Storm. “You heard part of what I said earlier. What part didn’t penetrate that thick skull of yours?”

“If you think your sad story is going to sway me, you’re wrong. I don’t care how Heather came to be, all I know is she’s my mate and carrying our children.”

“Children? You mean she’s carrying more than one?” A spark entered his eyes.

“Yes.” Storm looked at Kuarto. “You never told him?”

“He never asked.” Kuarto shrugged. “Guess he was too focused on this egg to worry about anything else.”

He smiled at their interaction. “I figured Storm had convinced you to come here and try to get the egg back. He’s a little too predictable.” He turned to Toki. “I also never believed you still had amnesia but since it worked in my favor I pretended right along with you.”

Toki inched over to Kuarto.

“I understand you are to take your uncle’s spot as the religious leader.” He looked pointedly at Kuarto. “Have you explained the rules to him? Or is this just a fling until you take your position.”

Her lips thinned but she didn’t respond.

Storm decided to bring his focus back to him. “We’ve learned a bit about you too, but you know that. You tried to take Heather’s body over while we were in the compound. How’d that work out for you?”

“You think you know everything, don’t you. You and your mate have no idea what I was looking for so how do you know I didn’t get it?”

“The system showed me what you were after and you never were able to open the files all the way. Heather’s protective protocol took over.”

“Was that when you were stomping around here angry earlier? Right before you took Storm?” Kuarto crossed his arms over his chest. “It makes sense now.”

He glared at Kuarto but didn’t respond. “Looks like we’re at a stalemate. You’re all in here with me and the one thing that will free you is out there with about eight people slowly taking out my guards. Heather is going to have to deal with me on my terms if she wants to see any of you alive.”

Chapter 16

Heather heard that and a chill ran down her spine. She knew what he wanted and if she planned on keeping her family safe she would have to give it to him.

Life was less complicated when she didn’t have anyone to worry about. Less than a year ago she would have gone in with her weapons blazing and not worried about who would get hurt. And nine times out of ten she would save the person in trouble without anyone from her team getting a scratch. But this time she knew she couldn’t do that. The chance that anyone one of them could get hurt was one she wasn’t willing to take.

She contacted her team and made them aware of a change in tactics. She transported herself to their location to see a group of concerned faces staring back at her.

“You shouldn’t be here,” one of them said.

“I know, but he won’t negotiate with anyone else.” She set her uniform at one of the higher settings to protect her womb and looked at them. “I know Storm will berate every one of you for allowing me to do this. I know how angry he will be at me for even considering this as a viable option, but if it will bring them home safe I must. None of you have to accompany me.”

“Your mate would tear us apart if we let you go in there without our protection.”

“I’ll secure you in the ship and he’ll have no reason to be upset with you.”

“You can’t go in there alone.”

“I’m not.” She snapped on her helmet and sealed the suit.

“He means without our protection,” Fridon said. Her team did the same thing so they all looked the same. “We won’t let you go if you don’t take us with you.”

“Are you sure?” She knew the size of Storm’s anger but wasn’t sure if they did. They were in for the dress down of their lives once this was done.

“Yes, ma’am. I would rather be in trouble for accompanying you than be in trouble for letting you go alone,” said Fridon. All of the squad nodded.

“Okay, but be warned, you have never seen the level of anger you will today and I hope you never see it again.” She headed to the main doors of the compound.

“How do you plan on getting in there?” one of the team asked.

Just as she stepped up to the door it opened for her. “I plan on walking right in.”

“I don’t like this.” Fridon walked at her side.

“He is expecting me. I have a feeling he knows I have been watching everything that has transpired. Nothing gets by him.” She stopped in front of another set of doors and waited for them to open.

“Very astute, Heather.” He stood on the other side of the door.

Heather felt cold when she saw him, but she came to rescue her family and the first thing she needed to do was search the room for her mate, his sister and her brother. They walked in as a unit, helmets on so no one would know which one she was. Everyone pulled their weapons and trained them on Al.

“I see you brought your entourage.”

“Never leave home without them.” She knew he expected her to be the one in the middle of the crowd so they had made sure she wasn’t. “Is everyone here?”

“Yes. Ma’am.”

“Heather.” That was all Storm needed to say. Anger laced his voice but her heart soared when she heard it.

“I know. This is about the dumbest thing I could have done but leaving you here was out of the question.” The squad shifted positions. “What do you want, Al?”

“You know what I want.” He sighed. “If I promise not to give them a reason to shoot me you think we could actually be able to see you?”

“Sorry.” They all shifted again. “I’m already in enough trouble with my mate, I’m not about to push that anger up a notch.”

“Fine.” He watched them move around in amusement. “You think this little dance is going to make me forget which one is really you?”

“It couldn’t hurt.” She paused for a moment. “You made me come here. What do you want from me?”

“I want a trade.”

“Don’t do it, Heather.” Storm’s voice sounded like music in her ears, but she couldn’t let him sway her.

“What sort of trade?” They all shifted again.

“Your daughter.”

“No.” She fought the urge to touch her stomach, a habit she had gotten into early. That move would give away where she was in the group. “You already tried that one and failed. You don’t get a second chance.”

“I understand you are carrying twins.”

“And who told you that?”

“Your mate.” He turned to look at Storm. “I was surprised he revealed that little tidbit.”

“Doesn’t matter. This is my daughter. The mother daughter bond has already happened. If you were to take her it would hurt her and I couldn’t have that.”

“You’d leave your mate behind? Let me do what I want to him?”

“You will not harm my mate. That I swear, but my daughter isn’t negotiable so you need to come up with something else.”

“Fertilize the egg.”

“You took my mate for that reason. You do it.”

“Can’t. His DNA is changing too much, but I’m betting you were prepared for that when you sent your brother here. I know a sample of Storm’s DNA is in that knapsack of Kuarto’s.” He nodded to her look alike who walked to the bag and picked it up. She carried it to Kuarto’s desk and sat it down. “What do you think of my little creation?”

“She’s a machine.” His smile faded a bit at her words. “What? Did you expect me to be upset over this? It’s actually kind of flattering.”

“Back to the DNA.”

“Right.” The sample they had was after Storm had started changing. She wasn’t sure if it would work any better. She heard the computer explain it had pulled any of the odd strands out of the sample before the doctor took it. It should be good. It also reminded her that Kuarto took a sample of Storm when they first went to rescue Toki. That would be clean. “Kuarto, you still have that sample from when we came to find Toki?”

“Yes.” He still stood between Storm and Al.

“And if you fertilize the egg can you specify the sex?”

“Yes.” He crossed to his table.

“Then do it.”

“Heather.” Storm growled her name, showing he didn’t like what they were about to do.

“And what would you do if I was there and you were here?” She was met with silence. “I know he’ll take care of her and at least he’s not asking for me which is what he really wants.”

“What am I doing here?” asked Kuarto. He was met with silence for a few moments.

“Do as she asks.” Storm’s voice was terse, but at least he went along with her.

Kuarto went to his table and pulled out the sample. “You’re sure?”

“Yes.” Heather closed her eyes and waited. She hated doing this, but hadn’t figured out a better way. This child would be just like her, created in a tube, not from the love of two people.

Kuarto worked in silence. It weighed heavily on her.

“I’m done.”