Chapter 14 #3
I listen with half of my attention as she mentions a storm that will be blowing in over the next few days, the potential for that to cause problems, both with keeping the monsters out—who knows what visibility is going to be like—and with the potential electrical issues again.
“It’s blizzard season.” She waggles her finger at us.
“You’ve lived through these before, gentlesians.
I expect you to take the proper precautions, and for those of you with new additions to your homes, don’t shy away from letting your bondmates know just how scary these blizzards can be.
If you go out in one, you’re more likely to freeze to death than if a monster winds up in your garage. ”
The last is said with a sideways glance at Jess and Trench.
As the meeting breaks up I watch the others move awkwardly. The normalcy has been broken by Chrys.
The habits, the groups they divide into… the routine is off.
Andrea and Strike come over to say hello. The introductions are swift. Strike is distracted, his attention fixed on Kilo rocking their weeun and murmuring an off-key lullaby.
“Who did you see at the pharmacy?” Andrea asks as soon as she’s moved past the necessary pleasantries.
“I don’t remember her name. I have a card for her friend’s jewelry business though.”
“Kari,” I offer. Even if I wasn’t there, the woman’s name was supplied to me… why not share.
“Oh! She’s amazing. Did you let her know?”
“I went through the doctor’s office. I think they would have told her?”
“I’m having coffee with her next week, I’ll ask about it.”
“Okay, thanks.”
“Uh… Drea?” Kilo asks, holding the weeun up. “I think it’s your turn.”
She rolls her eyes. “Everybody loves being an uncle until the diaper’s full. Talk to you later!” She breezes away, but it’s Strike who takes their weeun from Kilo and leads the way to the bathroom.
Chrys moves and Arc stands, helping her up. But as soon as she’s on her feet, Jess is back. “I need your blood.”
“Okay vampire lady,” she says, holding out her wrist. “Do you need to drain me dry here and now? Or can it wait for a little bit.”
“I need it now.” Jess glances at the three of us before saying, “There’s a medfac up here, it’ll take two seconds.”
She wants it now because she doesn’t trust her alone with us… no matter what Chrys says.
Trench watches them go for a moment before he looks at us. “If she was drugged with kirocilicantephen, but she’s not bonded to any of you… the dose must have been quite low.”
“It was,” I confirm.
“Do you think you’re the only one who could have a woman in his house for any length of time and not bond to her?” Arc scoffs.
“If I was going to parrot your earlier accusations I’d ask why she doesn’t want any of you… but I don’t think that’s the problem, is it?”
Arc’s lips twitch, but not because of what Trench said. It’s something Jessica thought as she and Chrys come back.
He presses his lips tightly together, and I’m glad that Chrys goes to him, wrapping her arms around his waist.
“Can we go home now, before anyone else asks for a piece of me?”
“No one else is going to ask for anything from you.”
Smiling at me, she looks at Jess and says, “Bye. Don’t come knocking… the outpost might be a-rockin.’”
Gagging, Jess steps closer to Trench. “We have a lot to talk about.”
“We do! But none of it’s going to change between now and tomorrow.” Chrys walks straight to her other sister, saying a quick hello and goodbye to Cindy as she passes.
“We are going home. Don’t try to make me move in with you like Jess did.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it.” Laurel hugs her tight. “Come visit me soon,” she says before dropping her voice, “and tell me which one’s going to make you stay on this planet.”
Chrys looks at all three of us over her sister’s shoulder, and her smile tells me she has a plan. I just don’t know it yet.
ARC
The meeting was… harder for me than I thought it would be.
All of the usual problems were amplified with Chrys sitting by my side.
The fact that she chose to stay there is the only thing that made it bearable.
The pity was worse than their usual brand of disdain.
Every one of them knew. All they had to do was look at me and they knew.
He loves her… poor guy.
Oh, he’s going to be so much worse when she picks one of the other two.
Damn. Sucks to be him.
And various other thoughts in the same vein.
None of them thought she’d actually consider me among the three of us.
She leans on Risk in the back seat, smiling and holding his hand, and I keep my eyes out the window.
The Paxton ridge outpost is empty. It needs three systems replaced… I could fix them on my own if given the time and the need.
By the time Shock closes the garage door behind the car and pops the top open, I’ve made my decision.
I’m very glad they can’t hear my thoughts.
They’d try to stop me. They’d try to argue with what I already know.
When the proximity warning pops up, I’m almost grateful.
“I’ve got it,” I tell them, not letting them offer to come with me or try to stop me before I go downstairs.
I need…
I need to bury myself under ten feet of snow somewhere no one else’s thoughts can find me.
But there’s no cavrinskh. Just a man.
“Sorry,” Riann says, waving to me. “I came down through Kilo’s sector and didn’t realize I’d crossed into yours.”
I look up the outer caldera. “I didn’t think Kilo was home yet.”
“He’s not, I purposefully tried to avoid him. The Calisan trip was enough for a while.”
But he has access to Kilo’s home and his bike… Even if his thoughts aren’t complimentary, they do tell me a little too much.
“Okay… but why are you out here, so close to dark?”
“That.” He nods at the pod. “Why didn’t anyone tell me about that?”
“I assumed Drift had.”
He’s cleared away enough snow, I can see the numbers again.
“The pod popped shortly before the crash.”
“And it’s occupant.”
“She’s fine.”
“The third Ardem sister.”
Something about the way he says it makes me look at him differently. “Is there something about the family?”
Riann looks up like he’s been caught with something he shouldn’t have. “When Risk told me she was here, I looked her up. She was flagged in our system. The Agency wasn’t allowed to bring her over, even if she matched. Someone found a way around that.”
“Why wasn’t she allowed to come here?”
“Men with Company ties have tried to abduct or kill both of her sisters. It was a safety precaution.”
“And they brought her here anyway.”
“We can only speculate.”
I don’t like the unsettled feeling that washes over my skin. “What else do you need from this?”
“As much as I can get.”
“Can I run some things by you… off the CSS records?”
“Sure.” He uses a multi-tool to pop open a panel and dig out wiring.
“Do you know why the Company wanted Laurel and Jessica?”
“The working theory is that something in their gene panels fit their specific repopulation requirements.” Their bio scores are low, but their Fillio Index numbers are high.
I’ll look the index up when I get home.
“What do you know about kirocilicantephen?”
He freezes, cursing before looking up at me. “I know that a black market for the stuff has popped up in the last year. And that they’ve modified its chemical makeup, just enough.”
“Just enough for what?”
He thinks the answer before he says it, and I feel ill. “It does exactly what it used to do, but it kills the bonding protein that Jessica found.”
Someone wanted Chrys and Shock to have sex, not bond and… think something was wrong. Or worse, they wanted her unbonded and pregnant, so they could take her from us and we wouldn’t be able to find her.
Riann’s focus is fixed on the tiny computer he’s plugged into the pod, and I look up as Kilo makes his way down through the snow to us.
I don’t even pretend to not see him.
“Good,” I say, looking at the dark horizon and then back to Kilo. “You’re on babysitting duty.”
I need to go home. Chrys needs to be bonded. It doesn’t matter which one of us she bonds to. It just has to happen tonight.