The Change: Episode one (19 page)

“
It’s getting more violent.
We’re losing control.”

“
We’ll be fine once the
Pruetts take us to Baker. He’s the only leader they’ve had in fifty
years with the strength to get them to work together.”

“
I wish the serum was
ready.”

“
So do I. Being unable to
lie would make it to our advantage to capture Baker. Since it
usually kills the subject before they can talk, we’ll have to be
content with just taking him out. We’ll clear the other groups, the
other problems, the same way. Bait and switch.”

“
And the
meeting?”

“
It’s all set. Everyone
will be there.”

The second voice twisted with greed. “Good.
One or two blasts will take care of them all.”

The head of the Network smiled tolerantly.
“Yes, but don’t forget about the rebels. We need them all dead,
just as much as we need control over the West.”

C

We were woken by the sound of cursing.

Angelica was trying to get our gear loaded
onto the Mopars, and it sounded like she was having trouble. It was
like this on normal days, but there was an extra strain to her
voice that said seeing me and Daniel getting to know each other
again was hard. Downstairs, my parents were securing the house, and
I raised my head to find Daniel’s eyes open and alert.

“
Good morning.”

I shrugged. “Woulda been better without the
four letter words.”

He grinned, sexy with sleep still on him.
Vulnerable and pale, his beauty came from the contrast of full,
sexy lips and wide, tortured blue eyes. It gave a woman the
relentless urge to kiss away his fears… whether he was willing or
not.

“
Was she a
sailor?”

My snort turned into a chuckle. I’d felt
more alive in the last four days than I had in ten years.

“
Stay close to
me.”

He knew I meant for the bounty run and
nodded.

“
I will.”

The feel of him was tempting me to have
another ‘moment’, and I pushed myself up and out of the bed
instead. We were about to go on a run for my lover and
Network-marked convict, Richard Baker. There would be plenty of
time for heat and blood later.

D

I watched them in silence as they got set
for the trek. I was trying to stay out of the way, but when they
opened the larger of two sheds, I forgot my vow to be quiet.

“
Bikes!”

“
Mopars.”

I wrinkled my brow in confusion, and Candice
smiled at me with a tender look that her Mother noticed.

“
Mini Urban Pacification
Vehicles. They’ll pull any grade with a two ton load. We call them
Mopars.”

They looked like the wide
wheeled bikes I’d read about and I was eager to give them a
try.
The Pruetts loaded the four bikes with
quick movements that told me they’d done it more than a few times.
I didn’t know much about bounty hunting. That side of the Network
was one the bachelors had no contact with after being brought
in.

I saw Candice give her cousin a nod and
tensed when the shorter version of my owner stomped by me.

“
She wants you in a vest.
Come over to the shed.”

I followed her uneasily, seeing the smaller
building was out of sight of the others. Would I be in danger from
Candy’s family? That was a common reason for signing up for the
Games - to eliminate family members and take their mates. Not just
the contestants were killed during the battles.

After typing in a code, Angelica yanked the
door open and waved a hand. “Pick one from the racks. It should be
snug, but not tight.”

The walls of the shed were
covered with weapons and other gear, and it surprised me to think
they had it out in the open with only a small lock. Then I
remembered who they were, and wondered if their neighbors feared
them.
I felt it then, all the eyes watching
us get set. They peered from chipped, broken windows and blinds,
waiting for Candice and her usual crew to leave. I was suddenly
sure why they left the shed unprotected, and I admired the
intimidation technique. The Network employed similar methods. It
said ‘mess with us at your own risk’. Were their neighbors glad to
have the Pruetts going, or did they worry for their own safety
while this dangerous family was gone? They had to know they were
more protected, the closer the bounty hunters were.

I stepped into the darkness without meeting
Angelica’s eyes and felt her heat lash out to sample my smell. It
wasn’t attractive to me like it was with Candice, and I swung the
door closed in relief. I wasn’t sure about her little cousin
yet.

The first vest was heavy, and a bad fit over
my wide shoulders. I put it back on the hanger and looked around.
The other rack held larger sizes, men’s and women’s, I realized. I
quickly strapped one on, not wanting to keep them waiting.

Angelica was still standing outside, waiting
for me. Her eyes were slightly pink, but the control in her words
was better than what I’d expected.

“
I… I need to ask you
something… about the other bachelors.”

Her head turned to verify we were still
alone, and I thought I understood, but waited to see if I was
right. She had that look…

I stepped out of the door and leaned against
the side of it. She understood why I didn’t speak, but I could see
her wondering if the sound of my voice would hit her like she
expected.

“
Are they all so… scared?
Like you?”

I nodded, seeing she was hoping for a mate
with more courage than I had. It should have been degrading to me,
but I could only pity her for the agony I knew she was suffering
and respect her attempts to control it. “Yes.”

I saw her shudder and her small hands
clenched at her sides.

“
What do they want? I mean,
really want? To be left alone? To be free?”

Oh how I wanted to give
her the truth!
If anyone could help the
enslaved males, I thought it was this tough family, but they were
bounty hunters on the Network payroll, and I hadn’t forgotten
that.

“
A kind, loving
owner.”

To my surprise, she laughed at the Network
answer. It was a hard, bitter sound that suggested she might be on
the edge.

“
Well, I can’t help them
there.”

She spun back toward the Mopars and I
followed more slowly. I only knew the world from a male point of
view. Until being closed up with Candice, I hadn’t ever considered
what it was like to be a Changeling. How awful to always be so
afraid of hurting a mate that you couldn’t love them.

“
Daniel.”

Candice waved me to the back of her bike and
I slid onto the seat with a feeling of excitement. I had remembered
enough now to know I loved being outside, and I cringed at the
thought of all those years spent without the sun. It was no wonder
I was so pale.

Candice slid onto the cold seat in front of
me and pulled her goggles over her eyes. I did the same. She
motioned me closer, patiently directing until I was hugging her
small waist and leaning my head on her shoulder. As she sent us
into motion, I thought I could get used to the feel of it.

They wanted to make it to Kentucky by dawn
the next morning and on the way out, there was a short stop that
gave me something to think about during the miserably long
ride.

Other than the street behind the Pruett
lands, I hadn’t seen any of the neighborhoods around us, and I
didn’t remember what it had looked like when I’d been here. I
wasn’t expecting to see neatly maintained cabins with people living
in them. All around the Pruett homestead was civilization, homes
and even a few businesses. I read their names. Zappers, Si Sho
Shoes, Flo’s Floozies... what?

I stared at the small shack in
concentration, ignoring the uneasy feeling settling into my gut.
Floozies? Hadn’t I heard that before? The memory came without
warning.

The noise from the next room had me cowering
into my corner of the closet with the other boys. We’d been thrown
in here after the women from the crossing check had picked out
their fee. It was being taken in blood and I waited for my turn
with shaking legs.

My parents had sold me into this life. I was
at the mercy of people who saw me as property, and my heart longed
for Candy’s arms.

“
Get two more. Floozies
wants them.”

The door opened, blinding me with the light
I hadn’t seen much of in the week I’d been gone. A rough hand
grabbed my arm, and I didn’t fight as I was jerked out.

“
Not that one! He’s
already paid for!”

I was shoved back into the comforting
darkness, but not before I had seen the face behind the order. Her
red hair was in braids that were as long as her cloak, and she was
covered in scars that I guessed had come from fighting for the top
Network guard slot. I recognized her from the visits paid to my
family during breeding time, and from my purchase. That awful woman
owned me until I was given to… who?

I huddled back in the corner as two other
boys my age were chosen. Then the darkness closed in again, and I
shivered. Already paid for. Who could afford the price my parents
had charged? Only one source came to mind, and I felt a tear slide
from my eye against my will. The Network could afford my price. I
was about to become a Games bachelor.

I returned from the memory as we passed the
front of the shack, and I understood what those two other boys had
been sentenced to when I saw the crowd waiting at the side door
with their paid-for tickets. It was only females in that line.
Hungry, red-eyed women who were snarling with need. Floozies was a
brothel, and the males were the product being sold.

On my right, Angelica’s bike slowed. I
tensed, thinking we were headed there, and reminded myself to give
Candice the benefit of the doubt. She’d said she would never sell
me, and I knew that meant renting me out as well. I belonged to
her, and the comfort of it turned my eyes away from the doomed
males in the shack. I’d known it went on at the Network complex,
but to see it being used so openly on the streets of the outside
world was a blow for me. I had hoped conditions were better on this
side of the fence.

My thoughts were heavy, but when Angelica
disappeared from the spot next to us, it snapped me back to where
we were. I looked around to see her stepping from her ride.

Candice turned the Mopar, but didn’t follow,
and her parents moved to flank us. We all watched Angelica walk up
to the red-eyed woman guarding the door and hand her a
heavy-looking bag. The shopkeeper was clearly a Changeling herself,
and she sneered back in a way that I was sure would have them
fighting. It did turn ugly, even a few shouts from both of them,
but in the end, Angelica added a second bag and the shopkeeper
snatched them from her and disappeared inside.

Was she buying an hour of relief? Confused,
and a bit angrier than I wanted to be, I watched as the door opened
and an extremely young group of males were shoved out. These were
innocent - it was on their terrified faces - and I felt my own
horrors rise up when Angelica began pointing at women in the long
line. Seeing them given away to these dangerous women was
heart…

The women pointed to didn’t attack like I’d
been braced for. Instead, they drew these young boys forward with
black eyes and gentle smiles… Now beyond confused, I turned to see
that Candice had shifted on the Mopar. She’d been watching me.

Her Mother explained.
“These are our neighbors. They stay away as long as they can, but
the
need
… If they
have their own mate, they’ll have a chance at peace.”

I still didn’t understand, but I was happy
to see the women leading these frightened boys away with gentle
touches and kind words.

“
She’s giving them gifts of
hope. None of them forget any of it,” Candice stated and I
understood Angelica was much kinder than I’d thought. She was known
for doing this.

I kept my voice low, but I had to ask. “Why
doesn’t she keep one… for herself?”

To my surprise, Candice flashed that harsh
grin that terrified me. I couldn’t stop a flinch.

“
Because she can’t wait for
them to grow up like the women she chose will. She needs relief… a
mate, now.

Meaning those boys would be taken into homes
and eased into manhood rather than being drugged and raped. That
thought had me giving Angelica a look of respect as she
returned.

I felt her surprise and knew she hadn’t done
it for my benefit. She didn’t like any of this either. The other
bachelors had been wrong. Not all of the Changelings were animals.
Some of them… the Pruetts anyway, were good women.

My feeling of being lucky increased, and I
held tight to my loving owner as we left the Recovery Zones of
Ohio.

C

I found out right away that Daniel wasn’t a
natural-born adventurer.

To get to Kentucky, where our Trackers had
set the meeting, we needed to cross the old Ohio River. It was
dammed further up from where we would cross, and there was no
problem with using the Mopars. If nature ever reclaimed its
property, we would have to find a new way to cross, but right now,
it was a lush oasis of greenery and wildlife winding through a
shallow creek.

After a light spray that
made Daniel grin against my back, I crested the rough banks of the
creek to see a large buck and a small doe.
Daniel also noticed them, and I wasn’t ready for
it.