Authors: Ashlynn Monroe
Bridget, aka Stunner, stood helplessly beside Zane as she gazed in horror at her husband. “For God’s sake, stop him, Zane,” she pleaded. He could see the agony in her eyes. It was too late to stop Aaron.
Zane couldn’t fly, or levitate. That was one thing he couldn’t do. Even with his list of powers growing every day, he was grounded. He couldn’t even will himself into the building. He’d never been there before. His power to transport himself with a thought required him to have been at his destination before. He was helpless. Mind games didn’t work on fire. He could only control people and animals, not the elements.
“I can’t,” Zane replied tightly. He’d always been the leader.
Ella glared at him accusingly. Guilt made him ache. This time Aaron was on his own.
Zane looked around. The fire department still wasn’t here. The city’s resources were thin, but this was ridiculous. Two little faces peeked out of the window. Zane realized why his friend was making the reckless choice. A boy and a girl huddled together, terrified and trapped. The mother stood weeping in the crowd. He heard her babbling. “I had them, they were right here. Why would they go back inside?” She paused and took a shaky breath. “The hamster, dear God, they went back for the cage. Melody. Jimmy. Hang on, Mommy will save you.” A man grabbed the woman. “Let me go. Andrew, let me go or I’ll never forgive you. Melody! Jimmy!”
The man held the hysterical woman. “Everything will be okay,” the man whispered sorrowfully. He made soft shushing sounds.
It didn’t matter why those kids had gone back, not really. The children were as good as dead. A flash erupted behind them and he could hear their screams of terror. The building was going to blow any second. His friend didn’t have consistent control of his ability to levitate, but he was foolishly attempting the rescue alone. Ella could turn into liquid, but not enough of it to put out a blaze of that size and she was unlikely to survive the attempt. Bridget could freeze people, but not fire, so this was beyond their abilities.
Zane watched in horror as the flames licked out around the screaming children and his friend. An explosion shook the building and Aaron moved toward danger. Aaron reached inside just as another explosion rocked the building hard enough to make the ground under Zane’s feet tremble. His friend held the children in his arms as his body sailed backward toward the ground. The sound of Aaron hitting the pavement was sickening. Bridget screamed. Aaron’s arms flopped to the sides. The children sat up, stunned. Aaron had saved them, but the puddle of blood surrounding his body spoke clearly. Aaron was dead.
Zane took Bridget’s hand. She looked up at him. Her face was pale and her eyes were wide. “We have to go now. We have to take him home,” Zane said quietly.
“He needs a doctor. Please. Zane. He needs help,” Bridget half-begged, half-sobbed.
Ella was there. She grabbed Bridget’s face between her palms and forced her best friend to look her in the eyes. “He’s gone, honey. I’m so sorry. We have to get him home or they’ll take him. The assholes who did this to us, they will get their dirty hands on his body. Do you want them to cut him up so they can use what’s left of him to hurt more kids?”
Bridget shook her head. The anguish on her face was heartbreakingly poignant. Sirens blared. Help had arrived—too late. He grabbed the women’s hands and they ran toward Aaron.
The mother had already scooped up her children, holding them tight and burying her face against their blond heads. The mother heaved a great, shaking sob. Then she looked up at the Bridget. “Thank you, thank you. I’m so sorry.”
Bridget scowled at the woman. “I loved him and now he’s gone. Raise them right and keep a better eye on them. Get the hell out of this city. Raise them somewhere green and healthy. Don’t make his sacrifice for nothing, lady.”
The woman gaped at her, nodding fiercely. Zane gathered his friends close and thought of home. They left the blazing building, and gawking crowd, behind.
“Dina called. She wants to meet with you later. I was surprised she still has my number. It must be important.” Disapproval saturated Ella’s tone.
Dina’s name chased the dark memories away. Just hearing her soft voice was a balm to his battle-weary soul. Zane tried not to smile. He’d been missing Dina fiercely. He hadn’t wanted to admit how much he wanted to see her. It had been months since the last time he’d found an excuse to go to her. He hadn’t seen her since Bridget’s birthday, right before Aaron died. She was the only person on the planet who didn’t want to be around the hero. Dina just wanted the man. He always felt complete with her.
Her skin was so smooth. He reached out to stroke her pale cheek. Her long, dark hair curled around her face as she looked up at him with wide, innocent eyes. “I love you,” she whispered.
His heart swelled. His lips brushed hers softly. He pulled back to look into her green eyes. What he saw stole his ability to think. Reality. She was his whole world. When she looked at him he wasn’t a mutant freak created in a lab. Dina Dell loved him.
Zane gathered her into his arms. They were young, but they’d survived things most adults never would face. He was ready for this, but he needed to be sure she was too. “Dina…”
She put her fingers on his lips. “You’re always trying to take care of all of us, always trying to make us strong. I’m yours. I’ve always been yours,” Dina whispered.
She was wrong. She was the one who took care of them and made the hovel they lived in a home. She was the one who’d made them a family and kept them together after they’d escaped the lab. His body craved hers, but he loved her too much to rush her. She pulled his face to hers. The kiss stole his resolve.
“Um, hello? Earth to Zane, Earth calling. Are you home in there?” Rain sounded annoyed. She snapped her fingers in front of his face.
He pulled his unfocused eyes out of the distance and returned to the present. Those old memories were nothing but ghosts tormenting him. He had firsthand experience with torture, but nothing hurt like those old reminiscences.
Rain interrupted his thoughts. “So are you going to go see Miss Average or what? It’s quiet tonight. If I need you, I know where you are.”
“I’ll go to her. I’ll always go to her.”
Rain’s face twisted and, just for a moment, something he couldn’t put a name to flittered across her expression. He nodded. Closing his eyes, he visualized Dina’s apartment. In his heart, he hoped he was the reason she’d never moved. She knew he could always go to her because of his ability.
He gave Rain’s shoulder a quick squeeze, and then he was gone.
* * * *
Dina stood on her balcony drinking the wine she’d bought on the way home from work. She needed the liquid courage. An image of Zane popped into her head. He wasn’t just the best-looking man she’d ever seen—he had compassion and heart. He was the best of them, and the only man she’d ever loved.
None of that mattered, she was still going to throw him under the bus. “I’m such an idiot,” she muttered into the lonely wind.
He would come to her, because that was the kind of man he was…good. She didn’t deserve his friendship. She’d been the one to make the choice to end what they’d shared. She’d done it to protect him.
The man was born to be a hero. Science just gave him the edge. He cared—too much. She adored that about him. She also loved the way his muscles rippled when he moved. Zane was tall. His body was lean and total masculinity. When she looked into his amazing, blue-gray eyes, she felt as if she could see the best in herself. That’s what made rejecting him so hard. She loved him too much to be the reason she lost him, so it was easier to lose him on her own terms. Selfish, but essential for survival. As long as he was alive, she could keep breathing. He was air and sunshine, without him her world would be a wasteland.
The man should be modeling or acting, not doing taxes by day and fighting crime by night. He deserved a normal life, but he’d never really have one. Her hand trembled and she set the wineglass on the balcony ledge. She closed her eyes and took a deep cleansing breath. It shuddered out of her as she exhaled. Her tall, dark, and handsome hero with the soulful eyes would come to her, and she hoped he’d save her—one more time.
Dina looked out between the bars of the cage. Her body had grown, but they’d never given her more spacious accommodations. If she were this uncomfortable, she couldn’t imagine what Zane, Aaron, and even the slightly smaller boy, Ian, experienced. They were all taller than she was. The child-sized prison was just one more daily torment they each endured. She sighed, leaning her head against the cold bars. Ian was watching her again. He was always watching her. It was annoying, but she didn’t have the heart to scold him. What was there to do but wait to die?
Zane was sleeping, but her sister stared blankly out. They were all changing, all but her. She wouldn’t do it, wouldn’t give the bastards the satisfaction of winning. She couldn’t see the others, Aaron or Bridget. She only saw them when they went to the lab or back to the cell. It was so cold. If she ever escaped, the first thing she would do was find a blanket and someplace warm. Then she would just stretch out her body as fully as possible.
Zane suddenly screamed. His body convulsed. She hit her head on the bars as she jumped with surprise.
“Help,” she screamed.
Their monstrous keepers came running in. They dragged Zane from his cage and threw him, none too gently, on a gurney.
“Zane,” she cried.
They took him away and she clutched the bars as she watched him go. This was it. She knew it in her soul. She’d never see him again.
And she hadn’t—at least not as he’d been before the transformation. They brought him back later and he seemed altered, stronger. She’d been so sick and weak. His startling transformation had almost been an insult as she lay dying. Then the others had changed too. Ella had become something more first. Her twin had been the reason they’d worked so hard to try and change her. She’d kept her resolve to fight, even as they’d pushed her past her limits of endurance. It took only a few weeks for the irrevocable development of their abilities. Zane was the last to go through the evolution. Only Dina remained as she was.
“I…we’re getting out of here,” Zane hissed.
Dina was too weak to raise her head. She felt something going on inside of her, but she fought it. Whatever they’d been trying to do all these years was doing its best to work. Dina refused to let those psychopathic bastards win. She’d die before she’d accept what was happening. Focusing all her energy, she held onto what she was, but it was weakening her.
“Agreed,” Ella said. “I’m different. If we stay, it’ll get worse, I know it’ll be bad. I don’t know why they did this, or how safe it is to leave, but I’m taking my chances outside. They know we’re changing, but I don’t think they realize just how much, but they will figure it out if we stay much longer.”
Dina rolled over and tried to look at her sister. She wanted to give her permission to run. She wasn’t going to make it, but she wanted to see her sister free before she died. Her eyes wouldn’t focus. The only thing she could see was Ian’s steady, concerned gaze. She squinted. His face looked starker. His body appeared larger, as large as the older boys already were.