Chapter 22 Holly
HOLLY
Imust be hallucinating. He needed to do what now?
Come? On me? Here? Now?
“Explain your reasoning, SPTD.” Snyder sounded more and more like the DSC agent and less like the human professor he’d been masquerading as the entire time I’d known him.
“She needs her mates.”
My throat squeezed. A fresh wave of tears flooded my eyes. I do. Desperately. I want to get out of here.
:Soon,: whispered through my head. Mrions? Syko? Natalie? I couldn’t tell. It was too faint. Or maybe I was too far gone.
My teeth chattered. My stomach pitched with dread. I don’t want to die. Not so soon. I’ve barely had a moment with my mates. My squad.
“Explain,” Snyder snapped.
“When dyni mate, it’s not just a physical union but hormonal bonding as well. It’s not the penetrative act that starts the bonding. Chemicals in our body fluids begin interacting and changing us at a molecular level. Mated dyni can reportedly gain fifty percent or more in mass.”
That was true. Every time I saw Kroktl, he seemed bigger, rivaling even his massive alpha. But the others hadn’t gotten bigger. Had they? Maybe I wasn’t paying attention. Or maybe it only happened for the first mate? If Syko got any bigger…
The prison cell wouldn’t be able to hold him. Neither would I.
A crazed laugh echoed through my head. I really am losing it.
“If your hypothesis is valid, I could entertain an argument of the BGR++ giving her the hormones she needs. Why you, SPTD? You didn’t mate her.”
“I did,” Rekt said in a flat, even tone that surprised me.
“We exchanged body fluids. I came on her then. The mating process began immediately. Her body was already primed by her first mating with the alpha. Naturally his hormones would resolve the issue much quicker than mine. Shall we test my hypothesis and bring him up from the hold?”
“You know that’s impossible.”
Rekt smiled in a vicious display of all his teeth. “Precisely why I offered my assistance. My hormones aren’t as high as his, but I believe I can stabilize her until she can be with her alpha again.”
Long seconds ticked by. Or maybe I just zoned out. The room was too bright. I clutched Rekt’s hand like a lifeline, trying to stay in the light. Afraid if I closed my eyes, I might never see him or Syko ever again.
Confirming my fears, the computer announced, “Platelet levels dropping to fifty-five thousand per microliter of blood. Severe thrombocytopenia imminent.”
“Very well,” Snyder finally said. “This program relies on a healthy, living female.”
Rekt stepped closer to the exam table and shifted the blanket off my right thigh. Still holding my hand, he leaned down over me, bracing his forearm above my head. His fingers lightly stroked my check. Heat radiated off his body, making me whimper with longing.
“I know, Holly,” he whispered. “It’s alright. I’m here now.”
Liquid heat dropped against my thigh. More.
A steady stream of droplets. The raw bite of predator cum filled my nose.
Different from Syko’s scent. Saltier, like the ocean.
Like if I listened hard enough, I’d hear ceaseless waves.
Feel them rocking me into oblivion. My body quivered.
I threw my other arm around his neck, lifting my upper body up against him.
Soaking in his heat. His steady assurance.
He grunted softly, his face against my hair, and more cum splattered me. Wave after wave. Just like the ocean.
“Stats?” Snyder asked.
Ugh. For a moment, I’d forgotten everything. The agents crowded around. Watching. Recording. Every sigh and groan and whisper.
“Blood pressure one hundred ten over eighty-eight. Heart rate at one hundred twenty beats per minute. Body temperature forty-five degrees Celsius. Platelet count sixty-one thousand per microliter and rising.”
Snyder huffed out a laugh. “That quickly. Amazing.” Another laugh. Then lower. “Imagine what the BGR++’s hormones will do. Fascinating. We’ll have to find a way to extract his hormones without exposing her to danger so we can explore all possibilities.”
“Noted,” the medic agent said.
With Rekt pressed against me, I didn’t even care. He released my hand so he could stroke my thigh. Rubbing his cum into my skin like lotion. Heat melted into me. It shouldn’t feel so good, but it absolutely did. My fear melted away too, my confidence rising like my platelets.
I’m okay. We’re going to survive this. We’ll find a way out. Soon.
“Luteinizing hormone detected,” the female computer voice announced. “Notifying controls as requested.”
Rekt stiffened in my arms, but he didn’t pull away.
Snyder let out a delighted laugh and clapped his hands like we’d just won a Nobel Prize. “Most excellent. Send the UGRR to the training chamber.”
“What—” I started to ask but black swallowed me.
No! The fucking bracelet activated. Again.
SYKO
I despised every single moment my mate was ill and scared, though the medical emergency was exactly the distraction I needed.
DSC really shouldn’t have given me a basic Comms-specialist framework under my BGR programming.
Even dumber, Snyder’s controllers didn’t have active monitoring on the tubes to ensure the dyni on board actually stayed asleep.
I’d deployed thirteen mrion bots disguised as simple monitoring shells to each of the dyni held in stasis.
I wasn’t sure if Holly would want them all or not, but I started their waking sequence while laying down a secure communication portal with each one. Especially the UGRR primed for rut.
My message was simple.
I’m the fucking alpha. Join me or die on ice when I blow the ship.
Not surprising, they all were willing to take my orders, even before they were fully freed from the tubes.
As soon as Snyder transported the waiting raptor to the training chamber, I initiated the next phase.
:Nihil, deploy the cloak and proceed with Kaos to the hold. Everybody else, stand by.:
With a Ankylosaurus base, Nihil’s plating was lined with adjustable light-bending material to easily match refraction indexes of most surfaces, allowing him to appear to be invisible. Whether his cloak would be wide enough to hide the presence of another dynos was the only unknown in my plan.
Once shifted into his Maip base, Kaos would be too big to take the lift or fit down the hallway, so he simply crawled closely to the Cl-ANK without shifting.
So far, so good. The refraction shield shimmered and sparkled in the vids, but I couldn’t see either of the dyni moving toward me, and no alarms blared.
:Alpha, I can add another layer of firewall protection around this grid.: Terroar, a Comms specialist built on a Dilophosaurus frilled base quickly added, :Not that there’s anything wrong with what you’ve done so far. Just an observation to make it even better.:
:Do it. Make us as secure as possible. Bomb the computer with junk tasks, whatever you think works best. This is a think for yourself squad.:
:I don’t know why I never thought to make a private grid before.: He let out a nervous laugh and released a flurry of commands to the ship’s network. :Now that I see it’s possible, I just keep coming up with more ideas. Adaptive programming at work.:
:He took her!: Rekt roared on our private channel I kept separate from the others until Holly made her choices. :She’s beginning ovulation.:
:Relax. Chonk’s on our side.:
:Would have been nice to be in on the plan.: Rekt made a disgruntled rumble. :How do you know his name?:
:I couldn’t risk telling you the plan in case they detected unusual activity in your headspace. All the dyni are on our side. Awake and executing orders on a temporary grid I set up with them.:
Shock reverberated through our connection. :All of them? What if she doesn’t want them on the squad?:
:We’ll decide once we’re safely away.:
:Don’t know what she’d do with fifteen,: Rekt muttered. :Seems like an exorbitant number of mates for any female to deal with. Can you even control that many at once?:
:Evidently you need to see more of my supremacy in action, or you wouldn’t make such a ridiculous statement.:
:You’re taking all of this very well. Even her imminent ovulation.:
I could only imagine how good she smelled right now. With a vicious, silent snarl, I shoved those thoughts deep and locked them down. :Compartmentalization. I can’t worry about both of us being in heat until we’re away.:
:Humans don’t exactly come into heat. Not the way we do. What does the XAS say about human mating rituals?:
Spike, the Xenobiologist on a Ankylosaurus Spicomellus base had been yapping away in his channel for minutes now but I honestly hadn’t been paying attention. I tuned in to him and listened for as long as I could stand it.
:Dyni haven’t mated in the wild in thousands of years.
Let alone with a species as incompatible and inferior as humans from planet Earth.
Human females ovulate monthly, many on a regular cycle of approximately twenty-eight Earth days.
They ovulate even without a suitable breeding partner present, which in my opinion is a waste of valuable biological resources.
If fertilization and implantation aren’t successful, the female’s uterus sheds the lining and blood for several days.
Yet another example of why humans aren’t considered compatible with us.
Not only must we contend with the ovulation pheromones but also the tantalizing scent of her blood. Monthly! Are you sure—:
:We?: I growled. :And yes, I’m absolutely sure. We are compatible.: I didn’t give him access to all of Holly’s data. Not unless she selected him for the squad. :The initial mating was accomplished.:
The XAS let out an strident squeal I could only hope was on the grid and not audible. :You knotted in her? And she survived?:
:I did. She is definitely still alive. That’s why I woke all of you to help.:
:Oh my. Yes. Alrighty.: Another strident honk. :I’ll do everything I can to help you understand her mating rituals. Have you kissed her? Held her hand? There’s also human slang about moving along the baseball diamond, which is a sport—:
I tuned him out again and focused on Rekt. :Thanks a lot. Now I have baseball metaphors stuck in my head, and I don’t even know what that means.:
:Ask one of the Comms specialists to tune in to Earth’s media, though there’s rudimentary explanation of baseball in my databanks.:
:I don’t give a fuck about baseball!: I roared. Everywhere. All channels. :If you’re not on your way to me, then proceed to Holly’s location marked accordingly. Protect her at all cost until I’m free.:
:Have you told her about your plan?: Rekt asked. :Or is she going to be freaked out when a dozen dyni show up?:
:That’s the general idea. I need her to sell it to keep Snyder’s resources focused on her until I’m free.: A wave of indignation flooded me from the medic, so I quickly amended, :I’ll give her a brief heads up, but I don’t dare pull her fully onto our grid until Snyder’s handled.:
:May I ask how you’re handling him?:
:No.: I focused a tiny thread toward Holly. A wisp of thought. Barely there. Just in case anyone was still watching or listening for interference. :Run. Act afraid.:
Even with such a delicate connection, she flooded my senses. Her addictive scent. Soft and lush, a tender and juicy morsel I’d barely had a chance to taste. Now a new chemical danced in my skull, lighting my blood on fire.
She was ripe. Ready.
For me.
Desperate to hold on to my sanity, I dissolved the thread before she could respond. Hopefully she heard and recognized its source.
Darkness spun inside me, spiraling deeper, tighter, heavier, gnawing against my spine as it slowly collapsed on itself.
Growing bigger, stronger, and heavier, the immense gravity of a supermassive black hole spread through me.
Demanding my attention. Shifting my will, my entire being, to a new gravitational anchor.
Holly. She needed me. Now.