Chapter 15 #2
Cass settled on the edge of the bed, and immediately curled forward with a small, pained sound. “It hurts,” Cass whimpered, sounding bewildered. His arms wrapped around his stomach. “It didn’t hurt this much before. Why does it hurt more now?”
Because I was inside you. Because your body opened up for me and then I left it empty. Because you need me to fill you again and I’m sitting in this fucking chair instead—
Lilac shot Riot a look that promised violence. Her nostrils flared—she could smell everything, the arousal and the need and the frustrated desperation pouring off both of them. “Because—”
“Don’t,” Riot snapped.
“He deserves to understand what’s happening to him.”
“Not like this. He’s scared enough.”
Lilac studied him for a moment—reading something in his face that made her expression soften—then turned back to Cass. “Short version: your body’s confused about why it’s not getting what it was asking for. The pain is temporary. It’ll ease.”
“When?” Cass’s voice cracked. He was rocking slightly now, small unconscious movements, and his eyes kept drifting back toward Riot. Every time they did, he’d catch himself and look away, but a few seconds later they’d drift back again. Like he couldn’t help it.
“Soon,” Lilac said. “Ish.”
“Please, I don’t like this…” Cass pressed his hand low on his belly, fingers splayed over the place where the cramps were clearly worst, and Riot had to close his eyes.
I could fix that. I could fill that emptiness. Could bend him over the bed right now and give him exactly what his body’s screaming for. He’d thank me. He’d cry and shake and come apart on my cock and thank me for it—
Riot bit the inside of his cheek hard enough to taste blood. The pain helped. Not enough, but some.
“I know, carino.” Lilac’s voice softened. “We’ll get you through it. I’m Lilac, by the way.”
Cass was quiet for a moment. Then, very softly, still not quite looking at anyone: “My name is Cass…it’s short for Cassiopeia—” He trailed off, flushing darker, and Riot watched the color spread down his neck and disappear under the collar of his robes.
He managed a weak smile. “Lilac is a pretty name. I’ve never seen one in real life, but I’ve seen drawings. ”
“There are some where I live. Maybe I can show you—”
Cass didn’t seem to hear her, curling in on himself. “Can I go sit with Riot? He makes me feel better.”
“That’s the heat talking,” Lilac said carefully. “Your body picks someone it thinks can protect you, and then it does everything it can to make you want them. Doesn’t mean—”
“It’s not just the heat.” The words came out rough, almost angry, and Riot was as surprised as anyone to hear them from his own mouth. His throat felt raw, his voice scraping out of him like it had been dragged over gravel.
Lilac’s eyes cut to him, sharp as knives. “Riot.”
“It’s not.” He forced himself to meet Cass’s gaze—those glassy, confused, beautiful eyes that kept finding him like he was magnetic north. His heart was pounding so hard he could feel it in his temples, his throat, his aching cock. “Whatever this is, it’s not just biology. Not for me.”
Something shifted in Cass’s expression. Hope, maybe. Or just relief at being told his feelings weren’t entirely manufactured.
“That’s a conversation for when neither of you is running on pure hormones,” Lilac said firmly.
She repositioned herself more squarely between them—not that it helped.
Riot could still smell Cass. and feel the pull of him like a hook in his chest. “Right now, we need to focus on getting you somewhere safe. Which means talking about why Elysian sent you here in the first place.”
Cass curled forward again, another cramp clearly hitting. A small, hurt sound escaped him, and Riot was half out of his chair before he realized he’d moved.
“Sit. Down.” Lilac’s voice cracked like a whip.
Riot sat.
“Please, Miss Lilac…I can’t—It hurts so much. Can’t he just—”
“No.” Lilac’s voice was firm but not unkind. “Not right now. Not like this.”
“But why?”
“Because you’re not thinking clearly. Because he’s not thinking clearly. And because decisions made in the middle of a heat are decisions you might regret when it’s over.”
She’s wrong. He wouldn’t regret it. He wants it. He NEEDS it. I could be so good to him, could make him feel so good, could—
Lilac snapped her fingers in front of his face. “We’re going to have a very calm conversation about Elysian while everyone keeps their hands to themselves. Got it?”
Riot nodded, his teeth aching. Cass nodded too, though his eyes were already starting to drift again.
“So,” Lilac said, her voice shifting to something more businesslike. “Riot tells me you’re from Elysian Dynamics. What brought you all the way out here?”
“Recruitment.” Cass’s eyes fixed on his hands. “I’m supposed to help people find their way to trans-send-dence. But nobody wants that.”
“And if you don’t find anyone?”
Cass’s fidgeting stopped. His whole body went rigid, fear suddenly sharp in his scent.
“Cass?” Lilac’s voice gentled further. “What happens if your mission doesn’t work out?”
“I have to make it work.” His voice had gone tight, almost panicked. “I have to.”
“Why?”
“Because if I fail, they’ll—” He broke off, breathing hard, and Riot could see his pulse hammering in his throat.
Riot was out of the chair and moving closer without thinking, drawn by Cass’s distress.
This close, the scent was overwhelming—sweet and needy and carrying that edge of frustrated arousal that made his mouth water—but the protective instinct was stronger right now than the want.
Something in his chest was hurting at the fear in Cass’s eyes.
“They’ll what?” Riot asked, crouching in front of him despite Lilac’s warning look.
“My friend. Honey.” Cass’s hands were shaking now, his eyes filling with fresh tears. “She’s still at Elysian. If I fail, they’ll put her in the Chrysalis program.”
Lilac and Riot exchanged a look.
“What’s the Chrysalis program?” Lilac asked.
“It’s...” Cass pressed his fingers to his temples, his face scrunching with effort.
“I don’t remember it very well. I went through it, but everything’s fuzzy.
Like looking through old, wavy glass.” His voice dropped to barely a whisper.
“I remember not being allowed to eat for a long time. And the meditations were so long I kept falling asleep and they’d wake me up and make me start over.
And they gave me lots of injections that made me feel sick and dizzy and confused. ”
“What else?”
“Pictures? I think.” Cass grabbed a piece of his hair and started braiding it. “I didn’t understand what they wanted from me. The healers kept getting frustrated because I’m not smart.”
Riot watched him struggle with the fragmented memories, and something cold settled in his stomach. He’d seen this before—the gaps, the confusion, the sense of something important just out of reach. It was what happened when corporations fucked with someone’s head and then covered their tracks.
“What kind of pictures?” Riot asked,
“Pictures of... people, I think?” Cass couldn’t meet their eyes. “I don’t really remember, and when I try, it hurts.” He trailed off, his blush spreading to his ears. “I was the first person to ever fail the program.”
The pieces clicked together in Riot’s head with sickening clarity. “You and Honey were matched by their compatibility program, right?”
Cass nodded miserably.
Riot didn’t dare look at what Lilac’s face was doing. He was pretty sure she was kicking off a boot to hit him over the head with at this point. He cupped Cass’s face. “You’re not going back there, you hear me?”
“But Honey—” His voice broke. “If I don’t finish my mission, they’ll put her through it too. Honey is very smart, she might remember the parts that hurt.”
“Then we’ll get her out.” The words left Riot’s mouth before he’d fully thought them through.
“Riot.” Lilac’s voice was sharp. “Una palabra.”
He ignored her. “We’ll go back to the Collective, figure out a plan, and get her away from Elysian before they can touch her.”
“?Estás loco?“ Lilac’s voice dropped to rapid Spanish. “No puedes prometer eso. Nadie sale de Elysian. Es una locura.”
You can’t promise that. Nobody leaves Elysian. This is crazy.
She was right. He knew she was right. Elysian wasn’t like the Syndicate or SVI or even Gensyn—their people didn’t run because their people didn’t want to run.
The psychological conditioning was too complete, too insidious.
And even if they could get Honey out physically, deprogramming someone from Elysian’s brainwashing was a whole other nightmare.
He had no business making this promise and absolutely no right to drag the Collective into a war with one of the three most powerful corporations in the Incorporated States of New America for a girl he’d never met.
But the thought of disappointing Cass—of watching that hope curdle into resignation—made Riot’s throat close up.
“I mean it,” Riot said, holding Cass’s gaze. “We’ll get her out.”
“Riot…” Lilac started again.
“We’ll figure it out.” He didn’t look at her. He couldn’t look away from Cass if he’d wanted to. “But first, you’re coming with us. Tonight. I’m not leaving you here for that sick fuck to keep hurting.”
Cass flinched.
“Your mission doesn’t matter if you’re dead.
Or worse.” Riot’s voice hardened, but underneath the steel was something that felt dangerously close to pleading.
Come with me. Let me keep you safe. Let me— “Brother Matthias is escalating. You know he is. The thigh wounds are new. How long before he decides there are other places that need ‘release’?”
Cass flinched again and the fear in his scent spiked sharp enough to taste. Riot hated himself for causing it—but better a moment of fear now than whatever Brother Matthias would do if Cass stayed.
“I’m not asking,” Riot said, softer now but no less firm. “You’re coming with us. And then we’ll figure out how to help Honey. Together.”
“You promise?” His voice was barely a whisper. “You promise you’ll help her?”
“I promise.”
The word settled into Riot’s chest like a stone. Heavy. Permanent. He’d made a lot of promises in his life—most of them lies, most of them broken. But this one felt different. This one he’d die to keep.
Lilac made a disgusted sound. “Dios mío, you’re both going to get us killed.”
But she didn’t argue further. She knew Riot well enough to recognize when he’d made up his mind—and well enough to know that trying to talk him out of it would just waste time they didn’t have.
Cass looked between them for a long moment, something shifting in his expression. Then, slowly, he nodded.
“Okay,” he whispered. “Okay. I’ll come with you.”