Chapter 20 Holly
HOLLY
Iwoke up on the exam table. Naked. Paralyzed. Unable to speak.
Screaming in my mind, I tried to find the secret indigo room in my head, but I was still too groggy and scared. Damn it. Why hadn’t I demanded Snyder take the bracelet off as soon as I got put back in my room?
Two silver agents stood on either side of the bed, both staring at a view screen. I wasn’t sure which one was Snyder, until the one on my right turned and saw me awake. Silver flowed into the professor persona, but he didn’t look happy.
The other agent must be the medic. He typed something on a clear panel but didn’t turn to the bed.
“There you are, my dear. How are we feeling today?”
He looked the same and wore the same Indiana Jones cosplay Natalie and I had joked about. But something was off. Wrong. My Spidey senses blared a warning.
“Now that you’re awake, we’ll adjust the amount of sedative so you can speak and feel more of your body.”
I swallowed and moistened my lips. “What’s going on?”
“You didn’t answer the question, Holly. How are we feeling today?”
My knee-jerk reaction was to simply say, “fine,” but when I paused and thought about it, things weren’t so fine at all.
My stomach was sour and acidic, like it’d curdle if I drank a glass of milk.
Without the heavy sedative, my head ached.
My temples felt sore and tender. My eyes burned too hot like I had a fever. “Am I sick?”
“We do not detect any viral or bacterial infection,” the other agent replied.
“We were just about to interrogate you about your recent visit with the SPTD but your scan has the medic a bit concerned.”
Interrogate. Fucking great. Maybe I could puke on them, and they’d put me back in the room. I normally didn’t like to whine about being sick, but I leaned into this like I had the world’s worst man cold. I even managed to whimper. “I don’t feel so good. What’s wrong with me?”
I had the feeling they were communicating on the grid deliberately so I couldn’t hear.
Bastards. The medic extended an implement and touched the delicate skin on the inside of my elbow without turning around to even look at me.
I didn’t feel a needle or taste saline or feel woozy, but my hopes they weren’t injecting me with anything were dashed.
“We’ll try some fluids with a little dose of hCG to make sure that follicle continues to develop,” Snyder said. “The SPTD recommended more nutrients and calories to maintain your weight, so we’ll be sure to offer additional meals.”
The thought of eating anything made me queasier. Evidently I looked a bit green and pale, because Snyder said, “Add additional supplementation intravenously.”
“Acknowledged,” the medic replied. “Though her body will absorb nutrients better from food she’s familiar with.”
“Understood.” Snyder gave me a wide smile that didn’t reach his glittering silver eyes. “We need to get you feeling better, Miss Price. Especially if you’re going to be a mother.”
I closed my eyes, trying not to cry in front of them. Please, Syko. Rekt. Get me out of here before that happens.
“Now then, I’d like to ask you a few questions about your interaction with the SPTD.”
I didn’t open my eyes but gave a tired little nod. “Okay.”
“What did you think of him?”
Starting easy. “He was nice. Considerate. A perfect gentleman.” Until he wasn’t. Though I couldn’t fault him for coming on me. I’d been out of control myself. “I could definitely see him working well on the squad, and I liked his bedside manner.”
“That’s great. I’m glad to hear you approve of our selection. You seemed to converse easily with him.”
“He was easy to talk to.”
“Unlike the BGR++?”
I’d conversed plenty with Syko too—but it’d been all on our private grid. “He was too pissed off to listen to me much.”
Another view screen glided up from the foot of the bed. In the video, I sat on a thick buttress root, holding Rekt’s hand. He was on his knees in front of me, gazing at me so earnestly it made my throat tighten with emotion. He’d tried so hard to put me at ease.
The sound increased in volume, replaying our conversation.
“What do you remember?” I asked.
“Waking up in my sleeping chamber with orders to meet you.”
“I’d have told Snyder to go fuck himself.”
“Perhaps agents could simulate coitus though I’m having a difficult time picturing it.”
I laughed. “I didn’t mean actual sex. It’s slang. Syko said he could adjust his mannerisms to better match mine, including cursing. Is that something you can do too?”
“Language update applied, motherfucker.”
The video paused, and Snyder asked, “When did Syko tell you he could adjust his mannerisms to better match yours?”
Oh shit. My heart rate accelerated. I could feel my eyes fluttering, as if looking around inside my own head for a lie he’d believe. Simple is better. Play dumb. “In the cell.”
Snyder’s head tipped sideways slightly, and the video switched to a dark recording. Static and lines kept racing through the video, but I could see movement. The dark bulk of Syko’s beast. Me, naked, lying on the floor just below. The camera must have been above the door.
The video crackled and hummed, but then I heard my voice.
“Please don’t eat me. You’re dynos, designation BGR++. You’re supposed to be part of a squad. I’ve seen how dyni work together. I might be able to help. Please let me help you.”
A low, sinister growl rumbled through the video.
“No, please! I’m not part of DSC. They kidnapped me from my planet. It’s called Earth. Have you heard of it? I’m not working with or for them. I’m just as much a prisoner as you.”
Seeing Syko’s ginormous head reaching toward me on the camera was surreal. Had I really found the courage to stand in front of such a monstrous beast and not run screaming straight to the loony bin?
“Please don’t eat me. I can help.”
I watched him shove me against the wall. His tongue flicking over me. Despite my fear then—and now—my core tightened. Remembering. Terror mixed with arousal. Explosive pleasure.
The camera whirred, skipping, zooming in closer. Static increased in volume, but I could hear my whisper.
“I don’t know how much they can hear. I’m assuming everything, especially as long as that band’s on my arm. Snyder promised it would transport me out of here if you started to hurt me.”
Great. So they really had heard just about everything. My mind scrambled frantically in circles, a rat trapped in a cage. What else had I said? What excuse could I use for how Syko had communicated with me—that wasn’t the truth?
“Ready for all hell to break loose?” I whispered as I took off the bracelet and flung myself against the massive T-rex. The video fast forwarded through him mauling me. Licking me. The abrasion of his tongue on my tender skin like sandpaper. Too much, but also just right.
Snyder’s voice played. “Breed her, and we’ll release you from the program entirely. You can go anywhere in the universe you want. We won’t pursue you. As far as DSC is concerned, you were already terminated.”
The damaged camera caught everything that followed, though at least Snyder fast forwarded through it.
They hadn’t been able to see much of the actual penetration, but oh boy, did they hear it.
Every grunt and groan and scream and gasp.
I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to block out the image to save myself from responding but it was too late.
My pussy was so wet I could feel it dripping down my thighs. Fucking embarrassing. But there wasn’t anything I could do about it.
“Target acquired,” an agent said. “Running diagnostics.”
Snyder’s voice. “Hold on, Holly. We’ll get you out before he wakes up.”
Then silence, the video paused.
“Where in that scene did you and Syko have such a charming conversation?” Snyder asked, his voice coming entirely too close for my comfort.
My eyes flew open, but I couldn’t jerk away from him. His face hovered mere inches from mine. “I don’t know,” I stammered. “I don’t remember.”
“Hmmm.” He straightened, his hands clasped behind him in the small of his back. “I’m very disappointed, Miss Price. I hoped we could be truthful with each other.”
“Because you’ve been so very truthful with me?” I retorted bitterly, blinking back furious tears. “You let me have the illusion of some control in this program, but the truth is I’m just as much a prisoner as the dyni you stole.”
“Acquired through any means necessary,” Snyder corrected, his lips twitching in a smug smile.
“And you’ve had as much control as I could possibly give you, down to you deciding whether or not you’d fuck the SPTD.
That was your choice entirely, Miss Price, because we would certainly have rather documented another successful mating for the program.
Two possible sires for your offspring are far more preferable from our standpoint, especially given the instability of your first paramour. ”
The view screen switched to side-by-side shots of cells. One damaged and skippy—but one perfectly clear. Showing Rekt slumped against the wall, his head in his hands as if in dire pain.
“Oh, I forgot, it’s much more entertaining with the sound,” Snyder said.
Thunderous roars filled the laboratory, rattling equipment and making my teeth ache in my skull.
Metallic, shrill screeches from claws against the tungsten, making me wince and flinch.
Heavy thuds and crashes, a massive body throwing itself over and over against the door in a fruitless effort to escape.
I choked back sobs for both Rekt and Syko. Trapped, in obvious pain, lost in madness. So much pain.
Indigo sparks flared in my mind, drawing my attention to the mrion network lacing my body. :Not pain. Hate. We can connect to them at your order.:
My heart lurched with hope. Of course I wanted to be on the grid with both of them. But not unless it was safe. Syko had a plan. “Your mrions know what needs to be done. Let them work for you, Holly. Let them protect you until I can free myself.”
None of his last words included initiate a connection before he was free.
I had a feeling that was exactly what Snyder wanted me to do. Reveal my network abilities. Betray the private grid I’d shared with Syko. That’s what all this grandstanding was about.
:Not yet,: I told the mrions. :We do nothing until Syko says it’s time.:
Snyder patted my shoulder and made a low hum of fake compassion. “There, there, my dear. We can fix all of this quite easily, you know. How did Syko talk to you when you were in the cell?”
“I don’t know.” I sniffled, still crying.
Leaning into weakness and vulnerability in case Snyder bought it based on my medical scans.
A little truth in case they were watching my heart rate and temperature to see if I was lying.
“I heard him in my head but then he was gone. I can’t get him back. I tried.”
“That’s very good, Holly. Thank you for being truthful with me. The ability to communicate telepathically is a wonderful new development for the program. Were you able to hear the SPTD in your head?”
“No. Just Syko. Then nothing.”
“What did he say to you?”
I breathed deeply in and out for a moment, centering myself. Though I allowed my voice to tremble. “He admitted he’s psychotic and deranged, but he had something to live for now.”
“Yes, anything else?”
I pretended to wrack my brain before I sighed like a dog who’s done nothing but sleep all day on the couch. “He will find me. No matter what. Then he was gone.”
“That’s very interesting. Where does he think we will take you?”
I didn’t really have an answer, so I let my eyelids close for a moment as if I needed to rest. “He didn’t say. Just that he would find me anywhere. He made it sound like a threat. That he would hunt me down no matter where I went.”
“Not to worry, Miss Price, he’s well contained. I assure you it’ll be impossible for him to break out of his cell.”
Not reassuring. At all. I didn’t have to pretend to tremble. Tears leaked from my eyes. “I don’t know why I’m so tired.”
“Your body is working overtime with all of these changes. Plus, I’m sure it’s been very difficult for you. We’ll give you a few more minutes of hydration and nutrients, and then you can drift back to sleep in your room.”
“The bracelet,” I mumbled, fighting to keep my eyelids open.
Snyder squeezed my shoulder. “Nighty night, Miss Price.”
I don’t think I was meant to hear his response to the medic. “Scan again for any network activity from her brain. The other human female was eventually able to join her squad’s grid. If that happens with Holly, we need to know about it immediately.”
“Acknowledged.”
I sank like a stone into the emptiness of space again. At least I hadn’t betrayed the connection to Syko. I had to hope he could break out on his own and find me.