Who's ready to play? Are ya? Are ya really?

Dear Reader,
If you are new to my work, you should know that I try very hard to swing away from what everyone else is doing. I prefer original, surprise ideas and scenes, not seen before. (Pun intended.) Some of those will be violent or mature in nature, I promise.

This second edition has new content (more than 300 pages worth!) and professional edits. I do not suggest readers younger than 18 be allowed access to it.

Now that we’ve gotten to know each other a bit, please allow me to take you on a trip through a world none of us has ever known. Try to imagine…

500 Years into the future, nine of every ten babies conceived are female. Men have been enslaved for their own protection and the only way to get a mate is to enter the Network Games and fight for one. The catch? It's a live battle to the death and the competition is fierce.

Who's ready to play? Are ya? Are ya really?

Watch Trailer

*Flipping to the back for a 2 page outline of the rules of the game is recommended, but not necessary.

The Bachelor Battles
Episode One

The Change


By Angela White
Edited by Kim Fillmore, Sharon K. Maybrier
Smashwords Edition

Angela White © 2011
This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only.
Standard Copyright laws apply.
Made in the United States.

Table of Contents

The Network
Luck of the Draw
The Games We Play
Deadly Living
Win Some, Lose Some
A Loving Owner
Waves of Change
Crimson Control
Recovery Zone
Network Run
The First of Forever
Deceptive Depths
Tracker…sss
Untrained
All the Walls
Rebel Charm
Network Rider
Kudzu Karma
Inside Information
There are Ways…
Falling Hard
Turning Tides
Notes
Extras

Let’s meet the Players...

“…Candice Marie Pruett. At barely 18, this intimidating Bounty Hunter resides in the Recovery Zones of Ohio and has a long record of excessive force. Recently fined over one million UDs for injury to a family member, this brutal Changeling only wants one thing. To get back what was stolen from her. Rank at the start of competition: 5/10.
“The Blonde Bombshell. As reigning champion, this scarlet-wearing Dock Worker is heavily favored to repeat her string of vicious victories and claim a second Bachelor. Trying to earn the title of Head Defender by winning all the Games, she starts the competition ranked 1/10.
“The Ex-Defender. Fresh from losing fugitives in the deserts of Nebraska, this former Network guard seeks to make amends by winning and donating her prize to charity. Baker, the dangerous, untrained male she allowed to escape, is still missing. It has lowered her rankings on day one to 7/10.
“And their prize: A choice…
“Daniel is a 20-year-old Bachelor with excellent relief skills and no memory of his life before being sold to the Network. Calm and unaggressive, he has been trained to be the perfect, harmless mate, and now hopes for a loving owner to take him home.
“Or…
“One of the eight other eligible bachelors sharing his quarters. They are lot #21198.
“Who's ready to play? Are ya? Are ya really?”

Chapter One


512AW (After War)

1
What if… the male population was going extinct, and behind them, women, the world?
That was the reason the Network had given for the laws that decreed all men must have an owner, someone to be responsible for their care. Enslavement was the only way to protect our species, they’d insisted… and we listened.
After the nuclear war, when the population fell below seven million world-wide, the birth rate slowly recovered to half of the pre-war averages, but less than 5% of those were male. The fallout damaged reproductive systems, making girls by the hundreds for every boy born, and those rare few were weaker, more susceptible to the toxins still in the air and ground. In small, scattered clans of survivors, this was more proof that by ‘the meek shall inherit the earth’, God had meant women.
 Within decades, the number of men had dropped drastically, and there were new wars, where whole towns of survivors killed each other for their sons. Huge groups decimated the smaller clans, absorbing the useful and disposing of the rest. Cities that had begun to rebuild, fell again to unchecked violence as the remaining scientists confirmed the fears. Unless something was done, the human population was likely to die out within just two centuries.
That’s when the Network took over.
It must have been horrifying at first, for all those who’d gone without contact for so long, to suddenly hear life coming from the devices that still worked. Had they thought maybe it was all over, and for good this time? When the radio station blared to life on July 4th, 085 AW, it was with anthems for all the nations. Played over and over, it was a call that people answered. When the words finally came, the first signs of a civilization about to try again… they were spoken by a woman.
Within ten years, the radio station had drawn nearly five thousand refugees from all corners of the planet and returned New York to some of its former glory. Renamed New Network City in 099AW, it became the first beacon of light in the darkness that hung over the new world. In 114AW, the United States was renamed New America, but there was little new about a world cursed by ghosts of the past.
Now, five hundred years after the nuclear sabotage that had destroyed our planet, the country had been split into three parts. Directly in the middle was an unknown area called the Borderlands, where the Wild West had returned in a new version of hell. The sides of New America were each controlled by a division of the Network, though the West Coast outpost was as foreign to most as those mysterious Borderlands. People from the west preferred to stay there, but it was hard to imagine them attempting the four-month trek anyway, considering the odds of death along the way. Few places beyond New Network City were livable… and those in charge liked it that way.
The Network hid from their subjects, ruling through cameras and audio devices. No one really knew who was on the Council, only that it had ten members. There are no records or photos. From our history books, it seems no one cared. Rules, laws, and the foundations of a society that had existed solely inside the debris-laden walls of the Network City districts, had spread around the globe and been duplicated by other lands, other leaders. It was easy to see why it succeeded.
The Network was strict. More so than any of the previous democracies on American soil… but really, it wasn’t that, even from the beginning. They imposed the bans and the punishments, and we obeyed, even though the War of 2012 had been caused by the very same indifference. Why would we consent to it starting again? Didn’t the death of billions teach us anything? There could have been a world of hope, remade from the ashes of the pain. Instead… we got the Games.
History books tell our female children that the Games came about because there were no jails for criminals. This is supported by the first ten years rolling by using all convicted criminals as the contestants. Mates hadn’t been the prize - just the return of their lives if they were the last one standing. All those who fought and died in the first decade, were men.
That’s the part that has kept the rebels fighting. If those in charge were genuinely trying to protect the population by enslaving the men, why kill them? They could have been set up as donors. Instead, the Network declared pregnancy to be illegal without a breeding pass, further cutting the number of male births. To the rebels, it seemed that the Network was intentionally letting the male population be wiped out.
The rebels managed to come near to their goal of overthrowing the Network a number of times in those first 50 years, never bending on their demand for freedom. They were, of course, were mostly male and were hunted for large bounties. Their determination drew women to their cause, however, and by the year 112AW, the Network was in real danger of losing control. Few believed the stories of protecting the males anymore; it was too lucrative for the Network, and was being done too openly for the people to accept. Men had been picked up for the smallest transgression and thrown into death-battles as their wives and daughters watched in helpless fury. It might have gone on that way forever if not for the Change.
During the War, different chemicals were released, some natural, most not. These toxins not only caused the women to bear only female children… it also Changed them.
The first known cases came from a small pirate island in the south whose entire population was decimated by a mysterious illness that slowly transformed the residents into insane lunatics with a taste for blood. They called it Rage Walkers disease when it migrated to New Network lands in 148AW. By then, it had not only mutated, but had begun to appear in the offspring. No one was immune, and if not for the continued mutations, humankind would have been wiped out.
By the year 175AW, rather than driving the person straight into insanity, the disease had slowed. It became common to see someone suffer with it for years instead of months. After a while, it became like other incurable illnesses. Avoided and forgotten about… for a while.
The post-disease birthrates hadn’t changed from that horribly low number of 5% male, and another, more dangerous pattern began to emerge. These rage-walker children were violent. Three years after the first one entered kindergarten, there was a decree in place for all infected children to be homeschooled to protect the rest. When it became clear that over half the population that had survived the first wave of the disease was infected, the Network took drastic measures.
Realizing their population was about to become highly aggressive, the Network began cracking down, forcing people to swear loyalty and work for them. For more than a hundred and fifty years, they’d been providing everything for their people, and now, they began using them to gather what was needed to keep the city going while they worked on a dome. And the Games kept rolling. Only now, it was all women in the matches, as the children grew up the Network had to do something with them.
By the year 199AW, a good portion of the Eastern lands had been cleared and returned to use, providing homes and farms that the Network controlled ruthlessly. It became almost impossible to get a breeding pass, and the impotent fury behind the eyes of those females may have driven the Network’s next choice. They began to allow innocent citizens to enter the Games. If they won, they would have riches and power. If they lost, it was one less violent person on the streets… and it was incredibly popular.
Everyone was tired of living in the dark, and the Games were vivid, brutal, attention-keeping entertainment. The year the first ‘good’ female won it, she asked for what all of the population wanted – a mate and a family. In that moment, the Network seized an opportunity. They already owned most of the healthy males on New American soil and charged outrageous prices and demands for the purchase or use of one. When that bloody blonde asked for a mate, the Network changed the rules. From the next Game on, the prize was a man. After that, they could pass any law they wanted… 
…Because the rage disease was still mutating. Over the generations, it had stopped killing its host, but inflicted them with so much torment that they wished for death. Many of those first women to go through it killed themselves just to be free of the pain. It hurt on the inside, burnt and stabbed, and jabbed at their control until only the sight of blood would pacify it. And, for some reason the scientists couldn’t even guess about, a mate was the only cure.
Once contact with a male was made, it sent the disease into remission for a while. It might be minutes, it might be days, but eventually, it eased enough to let the person lead a normal life, free of the blinding rages and the need to see blood spraying across the walls. Even there, though, it was hard. Once the fire burned out, it was gone, leaving a sparkless woman with only the will to be with her mate. It was the rare female who kept her man for very long after finding this peace because she was too content to stay alert and fight for him.
The riots of 230AW were all about the men. The disease was changing the women, making them angry, vicious, and the Network, safe in their dome-covered complex, sweetened their deal, promising pure bachelors at special times and even Games with all twins as a double award.  They changed the arenas and the weapons, played with the lighting, and managed to keep the violence swirling, confident in their control through the ugliness that offered a small hope to the post-war females.
By 275AW, the Network had complete control, reinventing many of the old terrors to get the rebels under control during the sporadic raids and attempts to free their fellow-enslaved males. Always worried about the women joining these few brave men, the Network cut off communication between its various cities, and censored anything that was broadcast. It became illegal even to own a hand radio, and the only media reports the people saw were scripted ones.
The bloody battles held us ignorant of the pieces being put into place, and there was little protest when other programs disappeared - replaced with a different version of the Games. Soon, there was no music, no outside news, nothing but the never-ending lineup of vicious death matches.
Even now, in 512AW, the Games are on every wall screen, in every home in Network Land. We kill ourselves by the thousands each year - live, for the chance, the mere possibility, of an end to this pain…


2
"Hello, and welcome to our first interview segment of this week's episode of...  The Bachelor Battles!"
The live crowd goes wild at the start of the highest rated Network game. Cameras pan out to show the adoring viewers who are beating on each other and spilling their drinks. The party in New Network City tonight will be massive.
"We're talking by Com with Candice Pruett right before she steps onto The Block for introductions. Already well known for their bounty hunting, the Pruett family is worth a whopping 700 million UDs! Wadda ya say, folks? Let's make Candy feel welcome!"
The Audience cheers passionately as an average-looking teenager with flat, black eyes flashes onto the gigantic view-screen above the lavish stage. Sunken eyes outlined with dark shadows and glassy irises only hint at the pain she has spent every minute battling. Like all Changelings, she possesses an instinctive fury over which she has little control - except for how she expresses it. Dressed in a high-collared black cloak, the girl’s harsh, eager grin and deadly weapons mark her as anything but ordinary… and the Network knows it.
"Tell us, Candy. Why did you sign up for the Bachelor Battles?"
Silence...
"Miss Pruett?"
A throat being cleared and then a mutter. "Did we lose her?"
"Hello? Are you there?"
"Don't ever. Do that. Again."
Softly spoken, the words rolled through the arena in menacing waves.
The surprised reporter stumbled. "Um, do what, Hun?"
"Call. Me. Candy.”
Click!
Fades to another mutter the microphone wasn't meant to pick up.  "Pull me off this one."
Pause…
"Why? I'll tell you why! She's that Changeling! The one the Network fined a million UDs for hurting a relative! That whole family is ruthless, and I've already paid my dues!"

3
My family couldn't believe I'd signed up for something as deadly as the Bachelor Battles. So what if legal men were only available through the Network? So what if the thing I wanted, needed the most, could only be had here?
What I was doing was crazy, maybe even suicidal. I'd be extremely lucky to come out alive, let alone unscathed... and I couldn't wait for it to start.
"Candice M. Pruett!"
My heart thumped painfully as I padded toward the red velvet curtain, ignoring the roaring cheers of the live audience on the other side of the New Network City dome. It had been a long ten years, but I was finally here, and that relief had me stepping into view with my usual confidence.
I emerged far below the shiny blue cage where I would battle, and understood those screaming fans were inside the dome, in the circular auditorium-like center of the vast Network complex. I hadn’t realized the crowds had such access to the contestants, but it was too late to worry about it now. Set up like a honeycomb, they called this part The Block, and I stepped forward to walk it.
 Too far away to see them clearly yet, the Bachelors were in the grandstands, surrounded by a thick row of Network guards. All around them were thousands of faces staring at me…and then thousands more. The arena-like rafters rising to the sky seemed endless.
"A top-rated Bounty Hunter, Miss Pruett excels in over fifteen different types of weaponry."
Pulling on the shield I’d developed over the hard decade of waiting, I glared at them. My guts crawled into my chest when they began to scream in excitement at my image flashing onto the giant view screens, but my feet never paused as I circled the stage.
"Just 18 this month, barely legal for the Games, and will ya look at that, folks! She even has the Network patch on her bracelet, which means she came out on top of her fellow contestants in the time trials. I'd say we'll be seeing more of her!"
I hid a sneer. The Network reporter had no idea how right she was. I had come to win, and there wasn’t any level to which I wouldn’t stoop. As I moved back toward those deceptively safe-appearing red curtains, I tugged a string to let my cloak fall to the stone floor. Under it, I wore a laced outfit of thin, black strips that left my backside gloriously bare from head to toe.
There was silence for nearly a full second.
"Wow."
Even the announcer was stunned, and as the wails and whistles began, I bent down and retrieved my cloak, giving them a view that sent the noise to new levels and caused the Bachelors to shove forward against their own protection. The Network liked to be sure their males were willing, but I knew they were drugged, tortured, brainwashed… and I was using it.
I slid the cloak back into place over my tattooed, battle-scarred body, pretending oblivion to the chaos behind me. I turned to give them a front view, letting my eyes flash into that dangerous shade of pink we Changelings are known for. It was a warning. When our eyes turned red, it was usually too late.
The crowd of lusty men and women quieted, sensing there was more to come, and I obliged them by sweeping my cloak open. The front was a flared web of black lace over my stomach that faded into the flesh of my body like it was a part of the tattoo. It outlined me like a black and tan glow, and the aroused males went crazy.
Instantly the main story, I would now start out the competition with a full ration of food and medical credits due to high ratings. Embarrassing, but flawless… except I couldn’t look away from the males trying to get to me.
Those eyes! I’d waited ten years to get here, a decade when I‘d been sure every night that he was being hurt… I’d been right. His face was harder now, still as pale, and it looked as if his nose had been broken, but I couldn’t be sure. It was Daniel, though - from the full lips to that pointed jawline… I swung my cloak closed and took a step backward as pain filled my head.
Roars of need and drunken delight were spilling through the arena, along with the sounds of a small stampede. I was forced to tune it all out to deal with my own carelessness as I registered a presence waiting behind the curtain.
I straightened, and something sharp went around my throat. Not flawless. It snapped me back to where I was, what was at stake.
“That's my patch, and I'll have it back!”
The Bachelors pushed closer to The Block, still trying to get to me. I struggled to breathe, to think around the rage… then I reacted.
Opposite hand shoving up to break the hold, I snapped the wrist around my neck with a vicious twist. As we spun, I brought my elbow in from the other direction and slammed it into an unprotected throat. It crunched grotesquely, and the heavy body behind me jerked.
The would-be assassin fell to the stone floor, and I delivered a final blow to her temple without hesitating. Blood sprayed from her mouth, speckling the floor. She never made a sound… couldn’t.
My head spun, searching for the next threat, and all the while, the men and the world watched my every move. Taking tight breaths, I pulled the rage back in, but it went slowly… reluctantly. I wanted more!
Eyes flickering pink, I waved the twitchy, neutered medic over. “Send it to my parents.”
With a cool nod to the camera, I moved off of the stage, and the announcer began to repeat it in brutal detail. My heart, the one saying I couldn’t leave him out there, I ignored. By morning, I should be one of the main contestants to beat, to ambush. Good. The sooner they attacked and I killed them, the sooner I'd have what I had come for.
I took my ID from the scanner as I left the backstage area, noting the first golden star on the top. I grunted in satisfaction. Two hours inside the complex, half of it spent checking in, and I’d already earned my first guard.
Coming from an employee door, she fell into step with a menace I admired. All Network employees wore the same black jumper with a silver-and-black Games logo over the right shoulder and a wide belt with an array of tools meant to cause harm… tools they enjoyed using. Guards were normally former winners of the Games who were too old to keep fighting, but too driven by the Change to get completely out of it.
As I walked, I eyed my competition openly. The Network ran an episode a week of this Game, featuring ten brutal females who fought to the death. The single woman remaining at the end of seven days won her slot on The Block, meaning her choice of the bachelors. I grinned, sure it was fierce, and felt the others in the hall move back.
There were five of us in the long corridor, marked by our hard, wary posture, and I evaluated, judged, searched for flaws. I found plenty, from an awkward step that could be tripped for a quick death blow, to a hair vanity that could be exploited. I grinned again, more confidently, and felt them shrink further back. Apparently, they weren't finding the same weaknesses in me.
The wide passage was decorated in red and black and covered with photos. Each of them showcased a bloody and battered female with a wild, victorious face. I tried not to linger on the one who was familiar. So far, no one knew me for anything more than rounding up New American garbage. They’d forgotten the other Pruett woman who came to these games two decades ago and left with a legal mate. When I won, I'd have my pick of this lot, and one of them...
I shoved the pain away and took in my surroundings with the observant eye I was known for. Powered by massive generators fed by the violent ocean, the annoying hum was a constant sound that kept this complex bathed in flickering yellow light, whereas most of the surrounding areas made do with homemade candles. It was a noise I loathed for what it represented. In contrast, the halls I now walked were neat and free of debris, one of the few places to be so clean. Even New Network City still had entire blocks crumbling into centuries-old decay. In those dark alleys and shadowy graveyards, the motions of rebellion also lurked.
Acutely aware of not seeing a single window yet, I used the middle of the aisle to force my competition to move aside and continued my study. This was the first time I’d been inside, and I wanted to remember every detail. The Network complex was completely covered with a clear dome and the center complex now stood as a gleaming light in the distance meant to entrap survivors. Its streets further out were lightless paths through hell for those forced to live there, but the Network was apathetic at best about the condition of its subjects. In here, they were protected from the misery they’d caused.
The rustic city outside consisted of lavishly constructed brick apartments around the complex, and debris-covered relics of a time gone by rippled out from there. The Network had demolished the entire center of the city and rebuilt their hub, providing narrow flats for important employees and visiting persons of value. They knew how to pamper those they needed, but as for their citizens…
There were lines at the Network stores that often stretched out of sight, and the two churches allowed to operate inside the city limits, had front lawns covered in the tents of the homeless. Cats, along with rats, were nonexistent in this hungry city. The people were thin, jumpy from being under complete control of the street cameras and public executions. Anyone suspected of being in league with the rebels was shown no mercy. I had passed these signs on my way in with no change in expression, but my heart had hardened.
The hall ended abruptly into another, this one lined with more photos set deeply around the frames of tall doors. I went to the one with the brightly striped candy cane on it, sure my cousin had taped it there. Angelica was the only one brave enough to call me Candy, and even she was careful about it. She was a Changeling, too, and she understood the mostly endless urge that took over to spill blood. It made us dangerous, changed us into people our families didn’t know.
Due to the lack of males births, the female body craved a mate, was driven to continue the species. There was no other way to stop the rages, or the awful hatred of those who’d caused future generations to be so cursed. It came with puberty and left with death. The years between were an agony. To be called by the name you’d used before the change was to be reminded of relief, of wonderful times when there was no burning under the skin and no blood behind your eyes. It hurt, and Changelings often lashed out violently at the sound of it. It had the same effect on me as the rest, but I also had a stronger reason I loathed the nickname. It never failed to remind me of what had been stolen.
I pulled the candy cane down with a tolerant sigh. If Angelica’s parents weren't more careful than to let her keep running with me, she'd have them here in a year or two as well. She had a fire, an edge burning, that even I didn’t and I doubted she’d rent a male when she blew her top. She’d come here and win her own.
Before opening the door to my room, I did another solid sweep of the halls I could see, the doors and cameras, the people moving by. I marked the exits, guarded and not, and the sense that I was being watched - from multiple angles. Most of the contestants for Network games were driven by the Change. The need to have a mate outweighed the need to live. There wasn’t anything these women wouldn’t face to get a man, and I was in danger every second I played, in the cage or not.
For me, the drive, the agony, was just as potent, but it wasn’t why I’d come. I had hoped that would give me an advantage, along with my profession as a bounty hunter, of course. As I stored more information, like no windows here either, only walls and guards, I realized it didn’t matter anymore. On the solitary trip I’d insisted on to get to New Network City, I’d worried about being good enough, about surviving even if I lost… but I didn’t want that after seeing his unresponsive eyes. If I couldn’t go home with my prize, I’d rather be dead.

4
My parents both jumped as I entered the room.
My guard, after first sweeping the three people waiting for me, leaned against the outside of the door. I closed it and turned to face my family. Those who had come, I amended. The rest were too far away, too worried, or too embarrassed to be here.
My parents wore their best cloaks and boots, nothing else showing, and I admired their aloofness as they waited for me to speak. The traditional braids, one for each year of marriage, hung in shiny black waves around my mother’s scared face, giving her a halo-like glow. The gouges on her cheeks, by comparison, should have been on a demon’s face, not hers… and I’d put them there.
"Hey, Candy." Angelica grinned at me from the couch in front of the big view screen. Telling me nothing had changed for her despite my harshness, and I appreciated it. Angelica’s parents and older sister were on a call in the Borderlands, or they would have been here, but we weren’t worried. That side of the Pruett family was even harder than this one.
"Angel."
My cousin frowned, but only clenched her fingers into tight fists, that, with her short black spikes, made her appear capable of more than just human concerns… as did I. All families resembled each other now. Genetics were limited, and males with blond or red hair were worth more… were often prizes in these games. Like Daniel.
I winced; I hated breaking my own rules, but forced myself to finish the thought now that I’d allowed it to form. I was here for Daniel, my childhood friend and mate, and only death would stop me.
"That went really well. They liked you."
I raised a brow. "You think?"
Angelica was only a bit shorter than me, but she was a lot lighter, and I promised myself I’d try to strengthen her body over the next years. If she really meant to enter the Games, she would need more weight to throw around.
Angelica ignored my sarcasm. "Sure. It didn't hurt that you have a great butt."
That made me laugh, but my Father turned a harsh glare on the teenager. He was ignored.
"I was nervous before, but you've got a solid chance. Those other girls weren't all so bad."
My Father's face was growing purple from wanting to silence her, but he held it in, knowing it would make me unhappy. I liked it when Angelica expressed herself openly. No one else would. Even my parents, during our row about my signing up, had been very careful. Because I'd Changed.
"Mom. Dad."
I'd known they would come, but they hadn't been sure of my welcome, I could tell. My Mother had obviously seen my performance on the wall screen. She hovered in the kitchen area, leery. Her blue cloak trembled delicately as she watched my every move.
My Father was braver, forcing himself to give the customary hug, and I stood still, allowing it so that my Mother would know it was okay to be so close. When she finally worked up the courage to touch me, light, trembling fingers on my wrist, I remembered then, that I did love her...
I smiled, patted her hand with my own softly.
She gave me a hesitant smile in return, and I finished the thought. Sometimes. I was always furious anyway, but to see her daily, this sparkless vision of my future, was something I denied vehemently.
"It's not too late to..."
She broke off as my body tensed, and I turned away before my sudden rage could frighten her more. I'd only lost control once, but she'd never recovered. It wasn’t true anyway, I thought. When the complex doors sealed shut, turning back had ceased to be an option. She knew that better than most, since she’d been here too.
I loathed my Mother’s weakness, partly because I envied the happiness, the peace. She was still the short-haired, muscular parent I’d been in awe of until the age of ten, and those were still her black eyes, but the rest of those features - the smile, the kindness in her eyes – belonged to a stranger. She’d still been burning while I grew up and it had been ugly. Now that I had my own fire, I could have forgiven her, but I’d expected her to help me, to save my Daniel, and she hadn’t. That was the real source of our problems… my hatred.
"What's next?" Angelica broke the tension.
I waved at the silent screen, where one of my competitors, wearing a traditional Korean uniform, was being interviewed. "Half an hour live with questions and Luck of the Draw."
"Then the… cage."
My Mother's voice shrank into itself on the last word. It was as though all the fear and anxiety I should have been feeling was her burden to carry. She’d been a wonder hacking into the computers, but once again, she was spineless. I sighed, not calm, but far from her panic. "You should go to your rooms now."
She nodded at once, lips quivering from biting back more words that would only anger me. I turned to my Father’s naturally pale face. "You'll have to be on guard. There may be attacks."
"I know firsthand what you've sentenced us to!" he spat.
His harsh tone and words were shocking, but before I could consider a reply, his voice lowered, became urgent with worry.
"Be careful!"
He was gone a second later, leaving me a bit stunned at his display of emotions, but not so much that I didn't see the calculating looks following their unguarded shoulders up the hall. The sharks were already circling, and my family wouldn't have any protection, not here or at home, until I made it to the next round.
The doorway across from mine was dark, ominous. I could feel sharp eyes on both me and the teenager lingering by my side. Mostly on Angelica though, and I did what any loving Pruett family member would have. I motioned her out and firmly closed the door.
Angelica was a lot more lethal than she appeared. She should be. We'd been training together for a long time, before she'd even been sturdy enough to hold a rail against me. My little cousin would follow in my footsteps, I was sure. The Network also had something she wanted more than her life.

5
My room was just that.
A single room with a couch, wall screen, and kitchen set-up, all of it was an ugly green. 10’ x 10’, it held shadows and rats, and I pushed it aside with my usual attitude of ‘whatever it takes’. I’d spent the night in worse on bounty runs, and this den would stay stocked with whatever I needed as long as I survived.
I pushed the volume button as I headed for the tiny washroom, wincing at the loud reporter’s irritating voice as it blared from the Network equipment.
“The Blonde Bombshell legally changed her name from Cassandra Rowe after winning her first Game as a teen. So far, she has survived five of the sixteen shows the Network offers, and is rumored to be shooting for the job of Head Defender. Ironically enough, the former owner of that title is one of the contestants the Bombshell will face in this episode.”
After a quick stop and wash, I hit the couch, only vaguely aware of the Network reporter still talking. It had taken me three straight days on the Mopar to get here, and I was beat.
"Now, a look at last week's highlights. Roll it, Phyllis."
The picture changed to the huge bridge I'd crossed upon arriving at the Games Complex. On stilts to avoid the usual flooding, the bridge had swayed and shuddered as I rolled over. Much like it was doing on the screen.
I leaned back against the buggy couch and covered up with my thick cloak as I studied the competition. The two women were battling the rocking bridge as much as each other, and I recognized the muscle-bound blonde right away. The Bombshell was the reigning champion from last week, the first contestant in more than two hundred years to claim her mate, and then sign on to defend her crown. I’d heard another rumor that she was doing it as a bounty for the Network, who wanted their former Defender out of the way. She was one of the nine I would face.
I snorted. Eight. So easily forgotten, my quick execution tonight had been a little too easy. I suspected the other battles wouldn't be the same.
The champion on the screen used her elbow to land a vicious hit to the taller female's face, and her opponent went careening off the bridge to vanish in the icy sludge below. I watched the Bombshell scream in triumph. She wasn't very intimidating at all, just those emotionless eyes… and that worried me. It was like staring in a mirror. No, the official fights wouldn’t be the same at all.
Out of the contestants I'd seen, only three were real competition - the Bombshell, the Defender, and one unknown. That would be the owner of the menacing doorway across from mine. Anyone who could do that to me, sight-unseen, was trouble in my book.
I grinned suddenly, feeling the longing, the drive behind my every action for the last ten years. It didn't matter. Soon, I'd have an end to this pain, and I planned to enjoy the blood along the way.

6
In my dreams, the world we exist in is gone. The War never happened. Men weren't enslaved for their own protection. There hadn't been hundreds of years of fighting for control of them, or for survival against the fallout that had killed off 95% of the male chromosomes so that nearly the only children to be had, even now, were female.
In my world, there was no shortage of men. So much so, that there was no need for a global list you were placed on at birth for a mate and certainly no cause for a Network-controlled program, where baby-hungry women fought to the death. I'd always known which way I would go, but I still longed for an end to it.
My dreams flashed through deadly lessons, motions perfected until they were razor sharp, all shadowed by a completeness I'd never felt. Until it was gone and replaced by this... this Hunger.
"It's happening tonight."
His voice was terrified, and I threw my arms around him, struggling not to scream in rage. He was mine!
"I will come for you!"
He trembled in my 8-year-old arms, only a boy (my boy!) at his parent's mercy, and my grip tightened. He was being sold to The Network. There was nothing I could do to stop it.
At twelve, he was pale, slender from not getting enough to eat, and his weak arms and legs weren’t shaped quite right. It was the reason his family had kept him beyond the usual age of ten and the reason we’d had these years. Now, they were over, and I was about to be desolate.
"I will find you!"
His blue eyes were full of panic that I couldn't ease.
"You promise, Candy?"
I pressed my lips to his, tasting my new fury, his tears. "On my life, Daniel!"

I jerked upright on the buggy green couch.
Daniel had been taken from me a long time ago, a companion sold into slavery. At fourteen, I had tried to enter the Network complex to rescue him, but was caught and brought home by security. Even then, it was hard to wait.
 Now I was here, in the very game for his papers. He would be mine again in a week… if I was strong enough… if I could win.

Chapter Two

Day Two

1
"And next, we have Candice Marie Pruett, the brutal Changeling from Ohio whose family fills their credits by bounty hunting for the Network, as well as independent clients. Her antics last night at the opening ceremony definitely stirred up those lonely bachelors. Tell us Sweetheart, why the stunt? Are babies so important to you?"
The reporter was a snarky little twit with sarcastic green eyes, and I smiled coolly, returning the sentiment. "Not really, no. You understand right, after being denied?"
She flushed scarlet, and I waited, knowing I had just made a bitter enemy with my perfect guess. Without a Network breeding pass, the only way to get a male was to steal one, and the short woman had obviously chosen to keep her career and forgo a family. The Network reporters were supposed to be unshakable, but I’d never seen anyone try. I was determined to prove them liars and Network stooges. This game would be played on as many of my terms as I could get away with.
"Moving on… umm, your ratings went through the roof, up to five after last night, and there's a picture of your backside on every morning paper. How does that make your family feel?"
Prepared for her attack - it wasn't so much an interview, as a stabbing to find weaknesses - I shrugged. "Humiliated."
I'd thrown her off again, and I smirked when she made a curt motion for the cue-card change.
"Um... What about the woman you brutally killed last night? Even though it was before tonight’s official start of the episode, do you think it was fair of the Network to draft a replacement contestant?"
I hadn't heard that, and she was the one gloating now, happy to have anything, no matter how useless, to hold over me. I pulled the rug out and then shook it in her face.
"I didn't know that, but it's great. I came for the fights, and that one was too easy." I leaned a bit closer. "You wouldn't wanna have a go, would ya?"
She flinched out of my reach like I'd slapped her perfectly made-up face, and I chuckled, sitting back. "Guess not."
She recovered more quickly this time, but the shake of her toga-covered arm as she made the motion, gave her away to me and the watching world.
"Back to you, Dana."
The camera light went to red, and she moved hastily off the lavish set, not sparing me a glance. I doubted she'd be the one to interview me after I won my first cage match. I was still smirking as I retrieved my ID. Not then, and probably not even after I'd won it all.

2
“Hello and welcome to round one of The Bachelor Battles! While the scanners get warmed up, let’s go over some of the basic rules.”
A pause for the crowd to settle back down. It is clear that this game is a favorite of the masses.
 “As you know, ten contestants will fight to the Death for their choice of a mate. Attacks and battles are forbidden in the halls or private rooms. Everywhere else is fair game, and as usual, anyone can kill a contestant, including friends, family, and outsourced labor. A single viewing of the males will be provided, but only one contestant is permitted in the Bachelor quarters at a time. Light sampling is allowed.”
At that, the crowd roared again, and the announcer had to wait for them to quiet down to continue. I was listening from my room, as were the others who’d signed up for this suicide. The Network couldn’t have us together until they were ready for the blood to spill.
Games like the one I was in now were being played all over the complex. Some signed up to outrun the Hounds or to fight the walking dead, but it was the battles against other women that held this post-apocalyptic world spellbound. Outside these walls was a different struggle, not controlled or neatly regulated. Out there, people were killing each other for their sons, and the Network did nothing to help. In fact, families who fell out of favor with the Network were denied access to their credits so that they would starve or have to sell their male children to the Games in order to survive.
“To get started, we will now choose our Luck of the Draw fighter who will face three other contestants for our first round of match-ups. Viewers will vote on the day’s challengers each morning, and the Network will pick a replacement if our Luck of the Draw winner is defeated. No other battles are held during this time, but attacks and assassination attempts are encouraged.”
In the corner of my room, a platform rose from the floor, and a dial slid out of the grungy green wall.
“Please step onto the scanner and remain motionless.”
I did as instructed and saw myself flash onto one of the small blocks lining the outer edges of the screen. The center image was of the arena, where another big crowd of partiers waited restlessly for the fights to start. It wasn’t unreasonable to think they might underestimate me because of my size. I was shorter than most of the contestants and my face held that slightly chubby look that implied I spent my free time on the couch watching these Games instead of training for them. It was a lie, of course.
The heavy look was the Change, a side effect not one of the vain Network females wanted to admit to. It gave us a fuller, rounder figure, and the socialites loathed it. As for the small size, I kept my tattooed arms and thick legs covered by loose trousers and a flowing cloak. If they saw me as my family did daily, thick arms straining as blood dripped unnoticed, they might take more care. I was glad they hadn’t shown any of those images. Surprise was another advantage I often employed on bounty runs, and it was necessary here.
“The contestants are now being evaluated by the Network computer designed specifically to determine which one of our players has the best chance to win. Sending them against three fighters in a row is meant to take away the edge of the fittest over those who’ve had less training.”
I didn’t feel anything as the blue light went over my body in slow revolutions. On the wall screen, numbers and stats began to pop up. These figures were extremely familiar to me, and I forced myself not to grin. Once my name was announced, my Mother had hacked into the computer banks and pulled the models. We’d discovered what the estimates would be and made sure I fit them. There wouldn’t be any luck involved if we’d done it right. I would be chosen and not spend the next two days waiting for my turn. I wanted to be on the offensive, and when you were a Pruett, there were ways…
“Thank you. Please step off of the scanner.”
I moved back and watched myself disappear from the screen. The results would only take a few minutes to come in, and I studied the half a dozen contestants still being scanned. This was the time when the outside world placed their bets and made their predictions. It was also when we sized each other up according to what we read and noticed. For me, it was a time to pass impatiently. I’d done my homework long before I’d arrived.
“We’ll have our Luck of the Draw fighter in just a moment, but before that, a reminder on the protection our contestants can earn from their matches. Stars are given for each kill, high popularity, and by Network decision. Each star gains the contestant one Network guard in the halls and private rooms, and a fresh cache of weapons and medical credits. Stars cannot be lost, but at the start of round two, they can be given away to protect someone else, such as visiting family.”
There was a pause where my nerves started to get the best of me. I wanted this to be over and the fighting to begin. My eyes flickered to pink at the thought.
“And the results are ready. We’ll hit the button here, and… okay, we’ll see the name when the timer counts down. Just watch the screen now…”
The world waited just as impatiently as the contestants, and the mob of females outside the complex was nearly loud enough to be picked up by the Network speakers as the announcer called the name.
“Candice M. Pruett!”
“You have been scheduled for a match in one hour. Please report to the main arena on time.” The voice came from the console in my room at the same time the announcer filled in the listening viewers.
“Our Luck of the Draw contestant is Candice Pruett! Will this eighteen-year-old bounty hunter survive the first three matches? The computer thinks so. Wadda ya say, folks? Wanna place a bet or two?”
I waited to see who I would face in the first match tonight, suddenly thinking of the harsh training I’d done with Baker to get here. When I’d met him, he wasn’t a convict, only a tool to be used to sharpen my chances of winning.
“And the first contestant our bounty hunting Changeling will face is…Diva, Queen of the Bronx Club! This street fighter likes to use her bare hands, and has a passion for singing. She’s been known to hum while bashing in her opponent’s…”
I flipped the screen off. My interview tomorrow might include some of the stats unless I could find a distraction. A few of them were exact matches to this episode’s suggested numbers, and I would have to be careful not to make anyone suspicious. Going against the Network had to be done very carefully.

3
"Cage Match One!"
I didn’t arrive early and expose my impatience for this to be officially underway. I was already feeling like an animal that had been boxed up too long and started going insane from it. I couldn’t have that known.
I walked down the fenced-in area with even steps, feeling that alien coldness settle into my chest at the sight of the Diva. She was enormous and I had a quick moment to wonder if that side of the draw had been rigged as well. Not that it mattered. I wasn’t about to lose to this slave-trading gang leader.
The cage was a small wired dome, with a bar between us that slid down as I stepped inside the arched doorway. The sides of the 12’ x 12’ fighting area were fenced, as much to keep us in as the crowd out, and lined with tiny, durable cameras for those up-close shots the crowds craved. The entire arena streamed with vivid flashes of brilliant blue light meant to make the battle hard, more entertaining, and the sound of the viewers screaming was overwhelming.
I let no expression give away my thoughts as the hulking female in front of me cracked her knuckles and leered. Nicked and scratched, her scars were numerous but light, telling me she was good at ending the fight before her opponent could get close enough to deliver a serious injury. Dressed in white boxing shorts and a half top that accented the size of her, it was clear that the Diva was a brawler, but I was a killer, and I stepped forward eagerly.
I didn't wince at her roar when the bell came, nor did I move when she charged me. What I did was get set, mentally running through the moves in an instant.
I ducked, leaning forward, to drive the flat of my palm into her large, unprotected nose.
Crunch!
Blood splashed over me, and I gave the final killing shove, to silence the howls of agony spewing from her mouth.
The Diva dropped to the mat with a damp, meaty thud, and I added her gang to my already long list of enemies.
Silence...
More silence... then chaos.
"Match to Pruett!"
Cheers and shouts erupted, contestants and viewers now screaming from the stands in disbelief at my quick execution. These were the New Network City residents and favorites of the ruling council. They lived here for the Games and the blood, and they only cared for the favors their rulers doled out to keep a wealthy following. Useless, I especially despised those who modeled for the Network, or starred in their little promo clips for the Games. Starlets had no place in this new world, except as bones under my boots.
Shaking the Diva’s blood from my short, black spikes, I moved from the cage without a thought for the lumbering giant I'd just defeated. She had been the replacement contestant for the one I’d killed during the stroll on The Block, already dead before her name was drawn. I grinned, letting the shouts and jeers drive back the need to spill more blood.
As I walked up the fenced cage length, ignoring those pleading on the other side, begging for mercy for their family member, I felt the tingle of being glared at. It was so strong that I spun to see which contestant it was.
The Blonde Bombshell was cloaked in vivid scarlet, standing with two weaker females on the balcony above the cage. Long lashes framed cold, golden eyes, and arched brows added to the sense of menace. It matched what I’d felt from the doorway across the hall, and slowly, deliberately, I widened my grin. I knew who she was now.
She nodded back with pink eyes, and I turned into the protection of my two guards as I entered the hall, tucking the double-starred ID into a bloody pocket. I was goading her, but I disliked her immensely for playing these Games so willingly. Why anyone would want to work for such brutal masters was beyond me. Only the heartless were close to the Network, and I already knew she would fit the job well. Maybe I felt the need to kill her to save the lives she would take during her reign as Head Defender, but I couldn’t spare the concentration to fully examine my own motives.
I barely had time to finish a fast meal before the Bachelor guards came for me. The reporters followed us, but they hung back, and I was glad. They were vultures on the scene, trying to capture everything you didn’t want to give, and it was a slight struggle to keep quiet as the loud voice began broadcasting.
“And now, our first match winner will take a tour of the prizes!”
Deafening screams emanated from the halls and speakers as the watching world waited for me to step inside the male area. Glaring flat black, I opened the door.
The Den Mother on duty stared in concern, and I sneered at her beehive of blue hair as the door closed, leaving the reporters to watch the cameras out there like everyone else. They weren’t allowed in. Only contestants were.
Wearing the usual Network uniform, the tall, blue bun of hair gave the Den Mother an almost alien appearance. I could tell the live-in guard cared for her charges from the way she hovered, but it obviously wasn’t enough to keep them from being hurt. The first cell I passed held two bloody men who refused to meet my eye for fear of triggering another attack, and I wondered how much she had taken to rent them out. It happened at every Game, but that didn’t mean the sight of it wasn’t turning my stomach against the Network even more.
The Bachelor quarters were nice, luxurious even, but still cells, and without the Network's enhancers, the group of nine men barely noticed I was there. This was my tour of the prizes. I was even free to sample if I so desired, but I was very careful to not meet their dazed eyes. I’d seen happier animals on the side of the road.
Daniel was in the second cell, and I couldn’t prevent the pause in my step when I saw him. Curled onto his side, that thin profile was one I’d seen every night for ten years, and it was hard to move on. The other Bachelors, I couldn’t say much about. I only made sure to pause at a couple more cells to appear I hadn’t already marked my mate for kidnapping or worse. Taking something the main contestant loved was a favorite tactic and I had little doubt that my Mother and Angelica were already guarding my Father against it.
I moved toward the door with the same glare I’d come in with. They wouldn’t know which one I favored, but I did. I had told myself over and over that my current lover bore no resemblance to Daniel - that I hadn’t chosen along that line. Now, I was forced to admit that wasn’t entirely true. Their similarities were in the golden flashes scattered around the tips of Baker’s short black hair and in the exact same curve of their jaws. Had I watched my lover in profile and pretended it was Daniel? I didn’t want to think myself capable of that type of cruelty, but I couldn’t be sure. After all, I was here, playing one of the Network’s bloodiest games.
I had told the reporter that I’d come for the fights, and that was the impression I sent to those watching, but it hurt me more than I can say to leave him there. It also sent relief rushing into my heart, knowing for sure that he was one of the prizes.

Daniel
I let myself breathe once she was gone, but I knew I was on her list. It terrified me.
I had listened to the muffled cries of the rented males I shared this cell with before she came in, sorry for them, but grateful it wasn’t me. Even now, I could still hear them begging to be spared…
Freedom. I shuddered. I wanted no part of that, only a loving owner to take me away from here – away from Rankin. Using her authority as Head Defender, Rankin regularly tormented me, and many of the others. Beyond cruel, she was my nightmare, and I dreaded tomorrow, when she would return from her latest mission in the West. The best future I could hope for was to be won and removed from her reach.
But not by that one! I’d seen Candice, watched her first match with the others and then hurried to my cot in fear. That one was not a bit loving. Nothing like the girl I sometimes still dreamed about. It used to be every night, but for the last year, it had only been when I was in fear of Rankin’s coming visit. Well trained, I hoped to use my skills on a female who was gentler. I had little hopes that it wouldn’t be a Changeling – who else could survive here? But I also wished for just a bit of compassion.
My mind flashed back to Candice, to the woman who had paused at my door. She terrified me with her very presence. I’d get no sympathy from her. I knew it, and I couldn’t stop myself from trembling. I’d been in this complex for a long time and I didn’t remember my life before. I was told I’d had a fever that erased my memory, and had to accept that as fact. Even when I kept having the dreams of a childhood friend, I’d believed the story. Now, though, I’d begun to wonder. Rankin had let too much slip, and I suspected there was more to my being here than just the rules.
I wasn’t trained for the outside world - that was something no one knew. All my education was in pleasure, and it added another layer of worry. If I was taken home by someone, she would have to train me… Except, that I had this sense my being here was just for show. The Network didn’t really want me free and I thought I knew why. It was because of my kids. I hadn’t learned what the scientists discovered, I’d never even been allowed to see my two children, but I’d been pulled from both the renting and the breeding program right after. For the last year, I’d been left alone…except for Rankin’s visits.
I shuddered again. At some point, Rankin would push me too far, and I would kill her. She’d broken me in upon arriving at the complex, I remembered that very clearly. There was no one I hated more. To be free of her hold was a dream that ran second only to being allowed information about my children. Behind those two, was the anguish that rode me the hardest – the need to know how I’d come to be here. Hadn’t anyone loved me?







Chapter Three

Day 3

1
My guards following, I moved down the photo-lined hall to the arena to watch a match between contestants in a different game. I planned to make myself accessible between my own bouts. I couldn’t sit in that room and watch the clock, or I’d lose my edge to nerves.
When I stepped into the arena, I was noticed. A small cheer rang out, and I grinned back with the feeling of playing their games so well that none of them recognized me for what I was… an imposter. I was infiltrating the Network to get my mate back, and my grin widened. The Network wasn’t the only ones who were adept at manipulating things into the path they needed.
I moved toward the other side of The Block, where the actual view was distant, but made vivid by the giant screens set into the round walls. There were Network guards scattered over the levels of the viewing areas, and in the corner, medicos who used to be bachelors.
These were males who had been returned by their new owners, or actually turned on them. Killing a male was illegal, even for the Network, and so they’d come up with the solution of making them medicos… after removing the part of their bodies that got them in the most trouble. They also took the tongues of some, or cut their ankles so they couldn’t try to escape again. The Network denied such brutal tactics, but the pale man in front of me had just limped towards a hand calling for attention.
I saw the heavy-duty suture kit on his hip, the protective gloves, and wondered which of the animal games this shift had come from. Their boots were splattered in crimson, and the sight of a light brown feather clinging to one of their pant legs gave me the answer. They’d been in Vulture Run. Another weekly game, the winding path through a vulture nursery was no easy task, especially when you had only your bare hands to survive with. The prize for making it the full ten miles was a pardon for whatever crime you’d committed. The game was so popular because it had only had a dozen winners in the last five years.
I turned my head toward the stage, but stayed alert. I had no protection while viewing the matches, only in my room and the halls, and an ambush was more than likely. I'd planned on being a target though, and it was good that I had. I'd no sooner settled onto a hard seat than another blade was sliding around my throat, and I was changing.
Breaking the wrist like I had last night, I flung her over the benches in front of me, following with a neat roll that had my assailant sprawling and me on my feet.
Made by trekking the apocalyptic wilderness for criminals, my thick leg delivered a kick to her ribs, hard enough to feel the break as my boot connected. I quickly slammed my other foot down onto her broken wrist, crushing it.
Snap!
"AAhh!"
Her knife went sliding across the stone floor, and I leaned down to deliver the death blow, but had to duck a flying shard meant to sink into my neck. She had a partner!
I spun again, snatching the light woman into a tight grip that only eased when she sagged, unconscious in my thick arms.
"Stop! Don't!"
The older female, her mother, pleaded with me, and I answered her the only way I could. I broke the Indian girl's neck and let the body fall to the benches.
"No!"
The mother shrieked in agony, the sound piercing my head, and we threw our knives at the same time.
Hers sank deep into my shoulder, sending an unwelcome rush of heat into my arm as blood splashed my clothes... again.
My blade was stuck in her throat, and I didn't stare at her stunned face as she fell. Nor did I remove the knife from my arm, choosing instead to stride to an unstained bench and sit down.
I turned my attention to the restarted match and a medic moved warily my way. In the corner, I could hear the scanner whirling out a third star on my ID and I grinned. Those still watching me let out a cheer at my reaction.

2
Word spread faster than I'd hoped. Now it seemed I was the only one to kill, and the attempts grew bold.
I eased the door to my room open, knowing someone was waiting for me. I hadn’t seen anything, but I felt it just the same. The room was dark - I’d left the light on - and I immediately rolled to the floor.
I kicked the door shut, throwing us into darkness again as something sailed by my head. I registered the silenced shot as it hit the door and snatched the first heavy thing my fingers landed on.
Guns were one of the few weapons contestants were forbidden to use, and I reacted as if on a run. I tossed the object to my right, drawing fire, and then lunged at the flash point.
The next shot missed me by inches as I slammed into a heavy body and immediately found a throat. Feeling the gun turn, I jerked the assassin over and into the side of the stove, knocking dishes to the floor.
She sprang to her feet, eyes glowing solid red as she dove for my throat. I swung the pan I’d found next to me and she dropped to the floor with a head-splitting noise that told me it was over.
Instead of backing off, I used the attack for an outlet and hammered her mercilessly with the cast iron pot I'd used to make my meal.
When I had my rage back under control, I dumped her body outside the door, thinking it was very convenient that the guards hadn’t heard anything. I knew better than to accuse them, though, and enjoyed the shock on their faces. They’d thought someone else would emerge from my door, and I grinned, finding their anger amusing. So was the resentful menace from my blonde hall-mate, and I enjoyed the thought that she may now be viewing my abode in the same manner I did hers.
The next attempt to eliminate me came as I slept. Through the vents, and making so much noise that I had no choice but to let the guards in. It counted in the Games if they died in the assassination attempt, but if they were caught doing it in an illegal area, they were arrested and a replacement contestant was drafted.
Not wanting to seem like they were shirking their duty (or maybe not paid-off this time), the guards got to her before I could, and she was arrested for breaking the rule. I'd rather they had let me kill her so I would have been one fight closer to Daniel’s freedom, but I said nothing as they dragged her limp body down the hall after clubbing her unconscious. We were on the Network’s dime here, and I was very aware of what they had over my head. I could only hope that they weren’t.

3
When sunrise came, I was ready.
The noisy woman's replacement faced me in the cage after a wall screen interview by a short, bald female who I guessed worked as a guard when she wasn't filling in for chicken-shit reporters. She took it all in stride, not responding to or faltering on my sarcastic barbs, and I left for my match disappointed. Maybe the Network had my number on that one… maybe.
"Cage Match Two!"
Replacement girl was the Karate Teen. Her wide nose and crooked chin said her training to get this far hadn’t been easy. As she came through the fenced area, she did an impressive set of kicks and jumps that pleased the crowd and showed me where she'd be unprotected, revealing her weak spots. I might take a hit or two, but she would go down hard and not get back up.
As usual, I was impassive to her moves, her hissed threat as we met at the dividing bar in the center. Cool and calm, I was getting my head set, picking my responses. She stood between me and what I'd come for. She would move!
I took her off guard from the ring of the bell, turning as if to run. She was in the air for a nasty head-kick when I spun back, clawed hands reaching out.
Karate girl struggled against the iron grip I had on her throat and ankle, and I slammed her down on my bent knee… as hard as I could.
Crack!
She went limp, head lolling, and I let the body slide to the mat as I stood.
"Match to Pruett!"
The rage was a blood red haze over my sight, and I growled in fury as I saw the menacing blonde in the balcony. She would be a real fight… "More!"
I hadn't meant to challenge her, but I roared in anger when she turned away from me. Her disinterested attitude enraged me and I struggled to control it, to keep from flipping out in front of the whole world.
The cheering was so loud! My head thumped painfully, and I shoved my way into the quiet of the hall, escaping the bloodlust, but not the guilt. I'd prepared for everything. The attempts, the schedule meant to weaken, distract. I'd even hardened myself enough to ignore him. What I hadn't counted on was my guilt, my burning shame.
The four guards hung back, unsure of my mood. Perhaps they understood, but it was unlikely. I didn't feel bad for killing. I felt bad for enjoying it so much… for being so good at it.

4
Not scheduled for anything else until nightfall, I chose to spend the time with Angelica and my parents in their spacious rooms and I headed that way.
The Network complex was immense. Set in what had been New York, one side of the ten mile dome was lined with the waves that had slowly crept closer over hundreds of years. Inside these stone and glass walls, thousands of lives were affected daily. From the Games and Network jobs, to the renting and breeding programs, this covered compound was like a city inside a city.
I moved carefully through the door, and the hotel-like staff shrank back as I passed, recognizing me. They were carrying two slender body bags, and I grinned in return. The Pruetts were survivors - all of us.
"It was amazing. She sent two of 'em out in bags!"
My Father's excitement made it hard to reign in my impatience with the slowly crawling hours.
"She can hunt with us now.” I confirmed it again. Angelica had been on our bounty-hunting crew for years, working for a share we all donated. If the Network had known, we would have been arrested, including her.
"Please..."
My Mother's distress pulled him to her side and drew a comforting hand on her cheek that made my heart clench with longing… and anger.
Angelica shrugged at the praise, busy watching through the velvet curtain. These rooms had windows, all covered in narrow iron bars, but the view of New Network City was blocked by the hazy smog from the factory-type operations allowed to operate under the Dome. The Network had a hand in just about everything.
"Angelica glanced at me before turning back to the window. “Good practice..."
Her mutter was too low for my parents, and I quelled a nod of encouragement. Angelica didn't have a mate to rescue, but she did have something that had served other winners of these games well - the Change.
Not soon enough, I left for my next interview and grinned widely at the part-time guard, part-time reporter waiting for me. With her shaven scalp gleaming in the lights and her broken nails in plain view, I thought maybe I had her pegged now.
I leaned forward as the camera flashed to green, catching us in what I hoped seemed like an intimate moment. "You smell good. Like honey and cherries… the ripe kind."
My tone was a caress. "Bet you taste good, too."
Her eyes cringed, a secret exposed to the listening world, and I blew a kiss as she stormed from the set.
"Next."

5
"Cage Match Three!"
The round was called as I stepped through the door, leaving me little time to evaluate my opponent and I held myself under tight control at the sight of her.
She was lean, dangerous. Her muscles rippled like a cat as she flexed for the crowd, and I placed her as the contestant from the jungles of Georgia. On the belt around her black-clad body was a thickly studded club and I noted the pointed edge of her boot, which probably contained a blade.
The bar slid down, and I didn't react when she drew the spiked club, headed my way. I preferred a more hands-on type of killing, as she was about to learn.
I'd always been good at hiding my emotions, my reactions, until the last possible second. Her thick club was inches from my head before I ducked and slammed my hardened fist into her abdomen with a vicious upward twist that snapped something inside.
Jungle woman grunted, spiked-club falling from her grip and into mine. I smashed it into her head, feeling her skull give way.
Blood and gore splashed from the spikes as I ripped the club free, sending me into that rage I still sometimes couldn’t control, and I began to swing repeatedly...
“Match to Pruett!”
This time, I was prepared for both the rush of fury and the guilt as the crowd went wild, and I grinned, giving them what they'd begun to look for.
I was almost halfway through the contestants now. The luck of the draw had been with me, sending me against each new challenger first, until I defeated three in a row or failed once. Now the public would vote on the matches, or maybe the Network would rig them. From this view, it was hard to see a difference.


The Network
“What if she wins?”
“Plans are in place.”
“I hope they’re really good. ‘Cause she is.”
“She’s a Pruett. Did you expect less?”
“Yes, frankly, I did.”
Silence for a minute as the two rulers watched the chaos outside, from the top tower window of the complex. A family of rebel sympathizers was being stoned in front of the Justice building, and the noise outside the dome was almost as loud as that of the crowd still celebrating the last Game inside.
“Maybe you should tell the Bombshell she needs help.”
A harsh snort. “She’s the best we’ve got right now, other than Rankin.”
“Rankin is busy… but the reporter’s aren’t.”
“Those spineless…”
“Are under Network control, are they not?”
A thoughtful pause. “Yeah. Maybe. The ones she’s embarrassed might.”
“The Bombshell will know the right ones. Just make sure she gets the hint.”
“What about the rebels?”
The ranking council member gave a grin that Candice would have recognized for the violent warning it held. “Plans are in place.”
The other member didn’t argue. With the big meeting coming up, anything could happen. The East and West coast only met once every 30 years. The next line of leaders was supposed to be chosen in two months, but the East had a surprise for her sister Network. Sharing control over this wild land was no longer an option.

Chapter Four

Day 4

1
I watched the percentage go up on the Defender and the Bombshell and felt my wires tighten another notch. The crowd had seen enough of me for the first matches. They wanted someone different spilling blood, and I already hated the wait.
“We’re just about to see our two matches of the day, folks, and good morning to you! It’s a warm here in New Network City, almost 65 to start spring off right…and our first name for match one is…The Korean Killer!”
My nerves loosened a bit, thinking she’d be a decent fight to start my day with.
“She’ll be facing… Mutt-girl!”
I sighed, stepping over to grab a quick meal while I waited to hear the second match. The first one would be played an hour from now, but the second wouldn’t be until dinnertime, to please the working crowds that gathered around their screens while they ate.
“And for the second match…The Defender!”
My nerves went back to taut. If I wasn’t chosen, I had no idea what I’d do until tomorrow. And, I really wouldn’t mind a crack at the Defender. I’d seen her fight and she was…
“And the former Network guard’s challenger is…that Bounty Hunting Pruett from the Recovery Zones!”
I grunted in relief. I didn’t mind being the Network’s tool to get rid of their former employee. It was one of the benefits.
“This should be a highlight fight, folks. Known for being merciless, both of these second-match females are extremely good at what they do.”
I paid no attention to the rest of the usual spiel as I planned my time until the match.
“Neither of these females has indicated a preference of the Bachelors, but both have had their tour, as I’m sure you know.”
I wondered briefly if the Defender had seen what I did, if she cared…if she’d noticed my mate and now wanted him.

2
My interview this time was with a man, one of the very rare former bachelors who had earned good favor with the Network. I’d only seen one of them in my trips in and out of New Network City, and thought their clothing and painted faces made them seem too feminine to draw the fire of Changelings. I was wrong.
“So tell us, Candice. What’s it like to know you may be dead before the dawn?”
His voice had a low tone that immediately woke the flames, and I leaned forward, curious as to what his reaction would be. “Thrilling. How about you?”
He was covered in an extra layer of makeup to keep down the glare of the lights and to help disguise what he really was… an unbroken male who’d found freedom.
He gave a confused smile as I prepared to pounce.
“How about me, what?”
I scented the air openly, letting him see the pinkening tint of my eyes. “How does it feel to know I could spill your blood before they could get to you?”
He scrambled from the chair so fast that he tripped and went sprawling at my feet. His big shoulders flexed as he shoved himself up, and I let my hand trail along his arm as I followed him. He was bigger, stronger, but he froze under my touch, trembling.
Need crackled, and those watching held their breath as I leaned closer.
“You smell like…chocolate.” My eyes flashed red orbs that I had to pull back before I really did lose control. “I like chocolate.”
He paler fuller under the makeup, but he knew not to run. If he’d done that, I might have snapped. He did smell good.
I stepped away and gave him a sharp gesture he couldn’t mistake. Get lost!
He was gone a second later, and I turned to look toward the cameras in the high corner. “But I love blood. When do we fight?!”
The crowd roared, and I flashed my now famous grin. I’d gone through all of their supposedly indifferent reporters so far, and I was enjoying every minute of it.

3
Still hating it that someone else had been chosen to battle first, I watched these angry fighters on the screen in my parent’s room, entourage lurking in the open doorways. I'd left the doors that way to continue my campaign of intimidation. I was aware my security didn't approve of it, but they had respect for me, that I could feel.
"They want to feature you on a talk show if you make it through."
I nodded my agreement right away to the question in Angelica’s tone as she read through the communications and I let my Mother tame my unruly hair one last time. "Good." I loved being interviewed.
My grin must have been fierce because my Mother shrank back, and my Father hurried to comfort her while I resumed my indifferent façade.
The halls were crowded as I moved back toward my nicer room. New females were being set up for the next game, and I ignored their curious stares and fearful glances. None of them were my enemy, I thought, but the Network...
Too wound up to rest, as the other contestants were probably doing, I wandered the halls I had access to and found myself on the aquatic Games floor. All of these shows involved surviving in water and I chose the one labeled with the shark fin. If I couldn’t be the one spilling blood right now, at least I could watch it.
The stands for this game were empty, and I understood why as soon as I saw the blood in the waves. A survivor wasn’t coming from that water, only parts of a body.
I started to go back out when the churning red liquid rose up to reveal a shark fin. Large and black-tipped, those jagged edges told me this was a New shark, and I stifled a shudder. All the chemicals from the War were mostly gone now, except in isolated places where deadly souvenirs remained. The toxins had drained from the land and gone the only place they could – the oceans. As a result, awful mutations had occurred.
I watched the shark speed toward a floating chunk of debris with laser-like movements, seeing how its fin operated like a rudder to allow it a sharp turn these dangerous predators hadn’t been capable of before. New sharks were stronger, bigger, and they liked the taste of men. The days of swimming in the salty waves or surfing them on a board, were over.
I moved out of the room as the cleaning crew came in with a steel chain, and a harpoon with a needle attached to the end. Once they knocked the shark out, it would be guided along a watery tunnel under this floor and put back in the aquarium.
Curious as to the other specimens they’d gathered, I headed for the attraction that drew people from across the world twice a year for the birthing celebrations. Unlike humans and many land animals, there was no shortage of males in the water populations. The oceans and rivers were flourishing with aquatic life…and all of it was bloodthirsty.
The aquarium was off limits to the public on any other day and I had the front of the glass screen to myself. Designed in 3’ x 3’ cages that magnified the view down into the water, each small partitioned pane held something I was both fascinated and repulsed by.
The first was the seahorse pen, and I watched the tiny life forms tear apart a fallen sprite with teeth half the size of their curved heads. The water went red, and I turned to the next window.
Inside were half a dozen crabs, the big kind with long claws and remorseless features. These were trundling along the bottom, no longer able to come out of water and survive. To make up for that, nature had given those pinchers a dose of lethal poison that sent a type of wasting sickness. One of their victims was hovering in the corner, a carp with gills all over its flushed tail. It seemed to shrink up before my eyes, and I quickly moved on.
Behind me, the door opened, and I tensed. This area wasn’t completely deserted, I could hear the occasional voice or step, and I stayed aware as I peered into the third window.
Squeak!
I grinned. The octopus had lunged forward and latched onto the glass like it was my face. Big and yellow, it looked just like the pictures in books, except it now had ten extending arms searching for the prey it had sensed.
“They’re one of the few that can see through the distortion.”
The Blonde Bombshell stood a bit behind me, and I turned to face her with eyes that immediately flashed to pink.
She took a step back, and it threw me off, made me give her the chance to speak.
"Your parents may be protected, but the girl isn't."
I stared at her for a moment, trying to read that icy façade, and then I moved by her. I didn’t know why she was warning me, but I doubted it was a lie. Angelica was in trouble.
She watched me leave - I could feel it - and the sense of gloating came, but there was little I could do from these halls, and I made sure my steps weren’t hurried. The more I appeared to care, the higher the odds went on them killing Angelica to hurt me.
I wondered at the Bombshell’s motives. If she thought she’d get the Head Defender’s job by being generous or compassionate, she was in for a shock. The Network didn’t play that way, and neither did I.
“She’s gone.”
My Father’s tone as I entered their chaotic room was only slightly accusing. He knew not to push right now, and I looked to my Mother. She knew as well as I did that the chances of getting Angelica back unharmed were small if I won. If I lost, she would absolutely be killed. Faced with hard choices, I sent my guards away and talked to them without the eyes and ears we’d had since stepping through those big glass doors.

4
"Cage Match Six!"
Feeling the rage build, I stepped into the ring with The Defender. Unlike the others I’d faced, this fighter didn’t show off for the crowd, but stood impassively near the bars now sliding down. When I stepped into the cage, she got set with a good stance and the alert eyes of a life-long fighter, but I had the rage of ten years of grief to drive me, and I grinned for my fans.
The roaring jeers increased, and I watched her face harden as the crowd displayed their dislike for her, the need to see her pay for her mistakes. I waited, not about to rush in and give her the edge.
I sort of owed this former guard a favor, but there was no sympathy in me as I stared at her stoic, hawk-like profile. I wouldn’t sacrifice Angelica’s life to save Daniel if I could help it, but little would stop me from earning my slot on The Block.
Pushing away the flare of guilt, I tried to goad her into death. “Baker says hello.”
Those who’d heard, laughed at my tactics, but The Defender didn’t. She answered me.
“Tell him not to forget his promise.”
I stared stupidly as she attacked.
The harsh blow to my forehead knocked me off my feet, and I slammed against the fencing with her furious red eyes charging my way.
She delivered an ugly kick to my stomach that shot my breath out in a rush and sent the rage into my eyes.
I kicked out, sure she would jump it, and lunged upward to deliver a staggering punch to her throat.
She gasped for air as I drew back to do it again, and then she was flipping, changing into a brute with more fury than even I had stored.
She dove at me with those sharp claws, ripping away my cloak as she grabbed my arms and lifted me off the mat.
I kicked out again, nailed her in the chest over her heart, and hit the ground as she grunted in shocked pain.
I scrambled to my feet and sucked in a tight breath, letting her get to her feet. She’d caught me off guard, but I was listening now. I couldn't wait for her to attack, it left me blind to her lightning quick blows. Neither could I waste my energy to chase what I had no real hopes of catching.
Determined to find a weakness, I dropped into my training style and began forcing her back with blow after blow that didn’t land, only shoved her toward the fencing as she blocked - trying to get her into what passed for a corner.
She was faster than me, and I growled in anger as she ducked a rough swing and delivered a hard hit of her own to my ribs. I let the rage out a bit more, swinging faster.
She caught my hits with her heavy hands, and then bounced them back to cause me real pain that flipped my eyes to dark pink. I tried to jump over her for a rear attack and took another nasty punch to the ribs that had me gasping in pain and frustration.
Stuck using dirty tactics, I cowered away from her next swing only to lunge back and nail her in the chin with the top of my head.
She staggered back, blood pouring from her nose, and I moved in for the kill while I could. I blocked her automatic defensive swing and sent the changed claws of my other hand in to rip her throat out.
Crimson rained over us as the fire faded from her eyes, and I jerked my claws free, stepping back.
Her mouth opened as she slid to her knees, and I looked back with no remorse. “You underestimated.”
Above the bloody cage, cameras turned, capturing it all to be played back later for the Network Council. The name Pruett was no stranger to those running these games. The reporters hadn’t recognized Candice as the family member of another winner, but the Network had.
“Match to Pruett!”
There was no controlling the crowd. They broke the barriers and swarmed the cage, climbing over me, screaming obscenities as the guards zapped them in vain. The bloodlust had peaked, many of them had bet their life savings on the Defender, and I was stung again and again by the things they managed to hurl through the fencing at me.
The hoses began blasting them off the cage and into the air, drenching me in the process, and I struggled to remain standing as order was regained.
A full squad of guards burst into the arena and escorted me out with brutal blows to anyone who strayed too close to us, and I kept that ugly grin on my face the entire time.

Chapter Five

Day 5

1
“Welcome to the final round of the Bachelor Battles! As I’m sure you know, we’re down to just three contestants and the blood has been flying.”
Clips of the week’s matches flowed along the giant screens as the massive crowd screamed and pushed against the lines of guards and barriers in front of The Block.
“For the start of this round, the Network will pick tonight’s evening elimination match that will take place after today’s exhibition by the remaining contestants.”
The Network liked to mix games for this part, and the crowd quieted as they waited to see what brutal testing tool the Network had chosen.
“Our challengers will have to… run the Tunnel of Time!”
“Please report to The Block.” the speaker in my room instructed and I flipped off the wall screen. Then I switched it off. The Tunnel of Time wasn’t life threatening from what I’d found out, but it was painful, designed to put the remaining contestants on even footing. Aware of what was coming, I winced at that thought and headed for The Block.

2
“Are you worried about your cousin?”
This was my first interview since Angelica’s kidnapping, and I played it like I needed to. I dangled bait.
“No. She wasn’t really taken. It was a misunderstanding.”
The bald reporter I’d recently humiliated gaped at me and I chose not to push, just this one time. I needed this interview heard. “She headed home and forgot to tell us. We just found out.”
I saw her beady eyes narrow and knew instantly what had happened, who had targeted me. I had assumed it was one of the contestants.
I flashed my Games grin. “So, I’m all set for tonight. Are you?”
There was a double meaning she took to heart, and I nodded, not caring that we were on open air with the world and more importantly, the Network, listening. “I’ll wipe out your whole family, and I’ll do it quicker than they will.”
I stood up, eyes flickering pink, and she flinched back out of her chair. When she turned to run, I let my Changeling out.
I snatched her around the throat, spinning her around, and I jerked her up close to my face as the guards began to flood the studio. “I’ll come for you. The Network couldn’t care less about your life… but I do!”
I shoved her to the floor, took a step back as they drew their guns. “If she’s not returned, unharmed, before the match, there won’t be anywhere you can hide. I’ll track you into the Borderlands and beyond.”
I left with those words, hoping it had been enough. I hadn’t realized the reporters could be paid for their involvement, too, but I suspected this was personal. I’d been heartless to them, and they’d retaliated by taking something they thought I held dear. If they’d been smarter, it might have worked, but they’d sent out one of those I’d already conquered. Reading her was easy.
I stopped at the door, still ignoring the guards, and looked toward the cameras. “Are ya ready yet?”
The roar in response was deafening.

3
The contestants entered through a separate area, but I could hear the crowd waiting on the other side of the door. The Tunnels of Time were three caves set side by side. Lined with sharp stones and shards of glass, it was a race to see who could endure the pain to come out of the other end first. I stepped through the door thinking again how grateful I was for the training I’d done with Baker.
The cameras swung to show my entrance, and I saw the other contestants were already at their starting gates. Good. Waiting for me might hurt them, make them reckless. These tunnels weren’t the fast dash the announcer had implied. They were half a mile long, pitch black, and littered with surprises that the former contestants weren’t allowed to talk about. Some always did though, and I was as ready for the bolts of fire and winged blood-suckers as I could be.
“Please remove your weapons and shoes before entering.”
The run was also done barehanded and barefooted. I grinned for the cameras as I pushed mine off and heard the crowd roar in response.
“The first contestant to emerge from the Tunnels of Time will have a guaranteed slot in tonight’s match. The other contender will be chosen by Network decision. Everyone ready?”
The mob of people watching must be huge, I thought, stepping into the center square where a small bar held me back from the dark, cave entrance. The cheering and jeering was echoing back through the arena and even rolling up through the tunnels.
I’d never watched an episode of this game, but I’d trained for it just the same. Walking on hot coals had made me almost numb to the touch and burnt the bottoms of my feet until I had a layer of scar tissue to pad me. I’d had a lot of years to torture myself before I was allowed to be here.
“Ready… Go!”
I shot into the tunnel ahead and disappeared into the darkness.
At first, I could hear the others in the tunnels on either side as they made the same sounds I did… grunts at a particularly painful step, a wild stumble and swipe at a flying shape that dodged it and took a layer of skin in return.
The noises echoed loudly through the pitch black, telling me we were running about even, and I smothered my automatic need to slow down and feel my way through. I wanted this to be over… I wanted blood, and I took off, sprinting through the darkness.
The glass cut into my ankle as I stumbled over the rocks, and the pain brought my pink vision to the front. I wondered if the Network knew it gave us a slight version of infrared?
“Uug!”
I ducked a second swipe of angry talons, feeling blood gush down my back from the gouge. Damn them!
My stride lengthened again as the anger made my muscles bulge. Silence had fallen, other than my own…
Wwwiiii…
I rolled over the pointed ground, protecting my neck with my hands. The flare behind me said I’d had a narrow miss, and I grinned in the darkness. Fire didn’t scare me anymore. I had spent too much of my life feeling the heat to fear it.
I ducked a second flash, but ran straight into the third one and felt my cloak flame up. I quickly pulled it over my head.
The fire blasts were random, constant blinding sparks to ruin my pink vision, and I understood that yes, the Network knew, and they’d compensated for it.
I wondered how the others were doing and pushed myself harder, breath coming in short, even falls. It went still and dark suddenly, and I tried to be prepared for anything.
“Zzzzz….”
The blade flashed up on my right, and I scooped a handful of glass and rocks to throw ahead of me as I ran.
The rocky floor sharpened, shredding the side of my foot as I slid. The motion saved me from losing my head and put me under a hip-level grinder that spun out of the wall.
I stayed lower, still tossing a path that bounced off the stone walls.
Another blade whirled over the top of me, slicing through part of my hair, and I felt the betrayal then. The Network didn’t really want us to come out of this one. It was an ugly feeling that had my eyes flashing red and my feet carrying me on legs that jumped, leapt, and ducked me under death.
When I saw the tiny prick of light ahead, I began to force the heat back. I wanted them to think I’d made it without flipping.
Not sure where the others were, I rolled under a final blade and darted into the center to break the ribbon.
“And that’s our winner, folks! The bounty-hunting teenager will be one of our contestants in tonight’s feature match!”
The Network would choose my opponent… if they lived, I thought, but realized at least two of the other tunnels would have been clear of death-causing dangers simply to have at least two survivors for the final match. Likely only mine had been rigged. Had my being directed to that gate been random or intended?
I didn’t stay around to see who placed second. Winning was all I cared about now. They could torture me, but I’d never quit, never break. What I needed was here, and I would have it at any cost… even Angelica’s life.
I realized that and accepted it with a snarl of pain that had people scurrying back as I strode the halls on my shredded feet. I left puddles and heavy swirls of blood as I went, and it was intentional. I wanted them… the Network, to know it would take more than pain or surprises in the dark to get rid of me.

4
“The note just came.” My Mother’s voice held my relief. “They want 200 million UDs and amnesty from being hunted.”
When situations like this came up, we handled it our way. Together, the Pruetts were hard to beat, and I was smart enough to know I needed their help. My Mother was sparkless most of the time, but on bounty runs, when my Father was in danger, she was merciless. I much preferred that version of her, but either way, I could now concentrate on my opponent, my goal.
I gave a short nod, looking back at her with hard eyes. “Take care of it the way we always do.”
Angelica, along with her captor, would be there somewhere in the throng of drunken, bitter women who had bought passage to tonight’s match. My Mother would make sure the trade-off was set there, and we would risk the Network’s wrath for not telling them.
My parents didn’t argue, and I was glad of it. The reporters had given me a way out, a way to have Angelica’s life and still leave with what I’d come for. My parents would handle it from that side of the cage, and I would be free to do what I did best. Kill.

5
“Feature Cage Match!”
The scarlet-clad blonde waited in patient stillness, and I could see no softening in her golden gaze. Good. Her actions hadn't earned it from me either, and I played on any possible fears she might have. I grinned.
Maybe she paled, but we were too far away to be sure. We stood at the gated entrances to the cage, waiting to be let in to spill each other’s blood.
Outside the cage area, the crowd was roaring in anticipation. Women were screaming, red-faced and drunken, some being beaten on by guards for being too unruly, and I turned my attention away from it. There were no bachelors again for this match, and I shoved that image away as well.
The blue lights flashed as the gate slid down, and I strode confidently toward my life or death. I was as ready as I could be, and I dropped my cloak to the floor as I neared the cage, studying my opponent.
The Bombshell had delicate cheek bones set on a thin, hard face that had clearly seen a rough life. Platinum hair hung to her hips in wild strands that I doubted drew any reaction when pulled. I felt my need to see blood rise to another level. I would draw a reaction from her.
I moved forward. Before I could step into the cage, the bars between us rose, stopping the match.
“Halt!”
A piercing shout echoed, and I looked up to see my parents in the center of the front row of benches. The crowd parted to show them facing off with my Korean opponent, who had Angelica wrapped up with a knife to her throat. The foreigner had underestimated us as well, I thought, a bit surprised to find out how many people were in on the attempt to hurt me. There was already a body on the floor that I identified as the bald reporter.
I watched my Mother deliver a death blow to the Korean’s throat with her claws, as my Father jerked Angelica’s unconscious body from her arms. The Korean wouldn’t get the chance to make that mistake twice.
"Halt there!"
The guard's cry froze them this time, then the gate was sliding back down and the Bombshell moved my way with a snarl of hatred that surprised me.
“And that makes this the final match, folks! Are ya ready?”
I had time to realize I'd been wrong, that she had been behind the abduction, in league with the others, and then the rage was blasting through me. I met her attack with a scream that was primal. No one double-crossed us. No one.
I swung a hard fist to her jaw and was immediately rocked back as she retaliated with a nasty kick that I took in the gut, but managed to catch.
Using the opportunity, I jerked her in a wide arc and twisted her ankle like a lid. Around us, the crowd roared again.
Before it would break, she raked her nails down my evading back, and I spun her against the cage, unwilling to let go.
She slammed her claws through my clothes and into the skin of my shoulder, and I growled, slinging her into the side of the cage.
The Bombshell struck out, raking my neck, and I delivered a vicious hit to her temple that sent her eyes into full red as the Change swept through her. That red jumper ripped as her muscles swelled, and her platinum hair shot out in wild growth. Her claws became talons as she flipped, and I felt my own body start to mirror hers.
The hormones surged, sending teeth into fangs and new strength into my hands, and this time, I met her attack with enough force to drive her back.
Using the power of my thicker legs, I slammed her into the corner. Her arm popped loudly as it broke, and I pinned her with the weight of my Changeling body, driving blows repeatedly into her chest and gut, claws digging into her skin with every hit.
Her blade sliced into my leg in a desperate attempt at survival, and my hands grabbed hers, twisted viciously.
Snap! "AAhhh!"
I spun, delivering alternating, repeated punches. When she sagged against the bloody chains, I barely noticed.
"Match to Pruett! She's won it all!”

6
"Bring out the bachelors! Bring out the males!"
It was the chanting roar of the crowd that made me pause; their lusty shouts for the prize to be awarded that returned my fragile control. Daniel!
My heart thumped as I stepped from the cage and moved up the stone steps to The Block, blood dripping from my Changeling fists. I’d earned my slot. I'd won him back. Who cared that it had been too easy, or that I'd never felt less human? Daniel was mine!
The dazed bachelors, who hadn't been expecting to put in an appearance for another night, were herded into the arena in only their underclothes. Pale and terrified, the cowering slaves were slapped and pinched by the unruly crowd as they were hustled up the steps by twitchy guards in a crew of twice the normal size.
I spotted him right away, his horrified stare as he saw who'd won. My face was as pale as his, I’d shared my own food for years before my parents discovered my obsession, but I appeared indifferent to his terror.
They lined the males up in front of me now, even pushing them to kneel at my feet, and I struggled to complete the plan. The Network couldn't ever know I'd come for just him.
I opened my mouth… "No black hair!"
At my call, the crowd screamed and brunettes were led away through the caged walkway I’d come down to start the match.
I waved a hand, fighting against the Change as the mob shoved closer to us. "No green!"
Another group was cut from the herd, removed among the laughter and drunken shouts. Blue eyes begged me for mercy, pleaded to be left.
"That one!"
His face crumpled in terrified dismay as I pointed, and the crowd bellowed its approval at my choice. Flickering crimson and onyx, I gave them what they wanted one last time.
I grinned.
The loudspeakers drowned out the mob.
"And that concludes this episode of the Bachelor Battles! Tune in next week for another..."

7
Suddenly without the need for my departing guards, I made my way into the hall as the guard tried to hold back the crowd that was congratulating me and each other on gaining the prize, winning the bet. My patience was only a threadbare blanket around me. The Change was impossible to keep caged the way I'd been doing, and I went to my new rooms with quick feet, sure he'd already be there.
The private areas for winners were a complete contrast to the deliberate, camera-ready décor of the games halls. These walls were a blank gray slate that my Changeling eyes wanted to splash blood across.
No carpets softened the steps of my boots, and they drew instant notice from the guards at each intersection. I didn’t need to flash my ID, they knew who I was, and I ignored their hulking forms and lethal eyes. I had my own fire hidden behind these identical doors and glassy floors. The farthest apartment would be ours while the Network verified the win, and I swung the door open as if in a dream.
He stood near the couch, face pale, bruised. His clothes were filthy, his scent overpowering, and yet, there was only need as I moved closer. The door closed and locked automatically behind me, throwing us into dimness.
Daniel had been on the edge of manhood when sold, body finally starting to recover with the extra food I’d been able to provide. His thin face had haunted my dreams, but that image shattered now. The young boy I’d been so attached to was gone, I realized, stunned for a moment by the differences.
I had gotten only a quick glance into his cell, but there was no way to mistake it here. He was still taller than me, though not by as much now, and the hands he had clenched at his lean hips, were big. Flames, hot and hungry, crept through my mind.
Rugged and wild, Daniel now had a pouty mouth that with his lightly stubble-covered jaw, gave him a secretive, sexy look… but it was the pain in those stunning blue eyes that couldn’t be ignored. This wasn’t my twelve-year-old playmate. This was a full-grown man… one I would play with, just not in the same manner.
I grinned.
Daniel flinched back as if I'd threatened him, and I understood in a blinding wave of agony that smothered my rage. He didn't know who I was. He held no memory of me! Of us!
The pain came, sharp and fierce, and it sent my eyes back to flat black, returned my control. I’d known he was being hurt, but I’d been sure he had my promise to see him through. It was crushing to find out otherwise. He’d been completely alone.
I moved toward the washroom to keep from scaring him further by the sight of my pain on my bloody face. It shouldn't have come as such a surprise, his not remembering me. It had been nearly ten years, and I in no way resembled the girl he’d known. Still, our bond had been strong enough for me to spend the last decade training so that I could rescue him, and I scrubbed away the filth from my last match with an aching heart that I soothed as best I could.
He was mine now, bought and paid for in blood, and I had a lifetime to remind him of how close we had been despite the poverty and callousness of his family. And mine would help him adjust, I thought, letting the hot water beat away my pain. My parents had come together under similar circumstances. My Mother’s photo was the one I'd admired in the hall on my first day here, my Father, her prize. Pruetts had been playing these games since before I was born, but I was determined that our children would not. It had to end somewhere.

Chapter Six

Daniel
I didn’t know what to expect when she turned away. My previous… renters had attacked me the instant we were alone, and her control was unexpected. Eyes tinted red, she was clearly a Changeling. Why wasn’t she easing her pain at my expense, like the others? I was braced to take it.
I stared in confusion, vaguely noticing her hair was so dark that it shined blue in the flickering light. She was dripping blood, covered with it in places, and had a limp that made me hurt for her a little. She’d gone through hell to win her choice of the bachelors. Why me?
She turned back, almost like she was reassuring herself that I hadn’t run away, and I froze as a ghost of old voices swept over me.
“When we grow up, you’ll be mine?”
“Sure. I’ll love you and the Change will go away.”
“I’ll love you, too, not just for the painkiller.”
“I know. We’ll always be together.”
“Yes.”

I blinked, and the voices faded like they always did. Why had this violent, tattooed woman triggered a flash of the life I couldn’t remember? I’d dreamed of being chosen, of finally having a loving owner and a true home, but deep down, I hadn’t really thought I’d be picked.
Hoping she wasn’t one of those who liked to punish, I ignored the throbbing of my new mark to make sure she found things okay when she came out. I couldn’t do anything about the way I smelled until she gave me permission, but I was allowed to straighten and cook. I hesitated to touch her things though, the few I saw strewn around the room, and in my filthy condition there was no way I could get near food. I settled for remaking the linens on the couch where I’d been lying. There was nothing to do after that, and the scent of my fear began filling the room.

Candice
It appeared he hadn’t moved when I stepped from the washroom, and I paused in the doorway as I studied his emotional state. He was fragile. From those clenched, trembling hands, to that deer caught-in-the-headlights glaze over his eyes. He needed to be gently loved back into who he was… and I didn’t have it in me. Knowing that would make it both easier and harder. Not ready to start his retraining, I studied him, starting at the top. I didn’t think I had the control to work my way up.
His hair wasn’t long, but it was obvious that he’d never had a real cut. The shaggy, uneven locks fell over his forehead and ears in a golden mane that fit him perfectly. It was darker, not nearly the bright curls I’d been so fond of watching move with the apocalypse winds. Now it was streaked with dark brown, and I wondered if he’d had to dye it for one of his renters.
I swallowed the revulsion, the absolute fury. I would stay away from those doors or we’d spend our time in pain, and I wasn’t wasting it now that I had my future back. I knew I wasn’t the only one who’d suffered, though.
Daniel was also scarred, physically as well as mentally. It was subtle and mostly hidden, but I picked out the nail marks along the grooves of his hairline, the top of his forearms. He’d been hurt so much. Would he ever be able to trust or really accept what I had to give?
Only time would tell, and I went back to my appraisal of the prize I’d killed so many to win.
He wore a network jumper, dirty and reeking, and it clung to that wide chest in a way that outlined the swells of thick muscles and accented the slight bulge waiting for my use. Saliva flooded my mouth, and I swallowed the lump in my throat.
I saw the mark on his forearm, the one proclaiming him now my property… The Network had the ability to power this city, keep food growing indoors, and to run the labs where scientists were currently working on a cure for the Change. It wasn’t a city of light, but it was way beyond the Wild West setting of the Borderlands… and they’d branded him.
My hatred of the Network, which had already been growing, took a sudden leap. If I ever came face-to-face with the bitch who had marked him, I would kill her - just doing her job or not.
His eyes filled with worry at my expression, and I headed for the small kitchen area. “Join me.”
Daniel moved slowly, warily, and I kept my distance as I prepared our first meal. After a minute, he perched on the edge of the stool, watching my every gesture, expression.
When I cracked the eggs, I saw his flinch from the corner of my eye. They’d taken him, hurt him, and left me with this trembling shell instead of my mate. What was I supposed to do? I’d never considered that he might not remember me.
My grip on the wooden spoon was more than I’d meant it to be, and it snapped in half with a loud crack that sent him flying off the stool and across the room.
Controlling myself, I dropped the ruined utensil into the garbage bin and got a new one, saying nothing. It was good the apartments were equipped with double and sometimes even triple of everything. It came in handy when anger was the most common emotion in the population. As for Daniel, I would do the best I could with what they had left me.
The eggs were done before he found the courage to retake his seat. I set his plate and cup on the counter and stood with my own, a few feet back. Seeing I wouldn’t be as close as right over the narrow ledge, he sat down again, body tensed for flight.
I ate and drank in silence, not appearing to be aware of anything but my own food, and subtly watched him shovel the scalding eggs into his mouth like he was starving… was he?

D
I couldn’t stop staring at her while I enjoyed the treat. Without the blood to hide her beauty, I was shoved into a situation I’d never experienced. I’d expected to submit to my new owner like I’d been taught, but the sight of that tattooed body had me a bit uneasy for reasons I understood all too well after my training. I might…enjoy this one. I had spent years in the programs before being pulled out, and never once had I been attracted to any of the females I’d been forced to satisfy. I also thought I might have seen her before. There was something about that profile…
She met my stare, and I quickly dropped my head, but not before seeing her reaction to my obedience. The others hadn’t wanted me to make eye contact while they used my body, it was a Network standard for males to be submissive at all times, but this one was different. I could see that, but to what extent? Did she want a real mate? Children and a family like I did?
That was what the Den Mothers had tried to convince us of, but I’d learned it wasn’t true of any of those I’d met. We were sexually abused, slaved out to the Changeling masses with death as our only alternative. Did the outside world know how awful it was to impregnate a stranger and then never get to see that child or even know if it lived? Did this brutal woman? Did those things matter to her?
The heavenly scent of eggs overwhelmed the soap and dirt of our bodies as the tension thickened. I loved eggs. They were my favorite and always on my list when I received a meal of choice. How had she known that? I stared back, trying to puzzle it out. Did she research the bachelors? Was that how she’d picked me?
This violent female was exciting… and terrifying. Those gentle hands that could break an egg without shattering the shell could snap my neck. I respected her for it, for the lethal strength in her slender body, and I wondered at her control, her reasons for even playing. From the reports, she was rich. Why hadn’t she just bought a mate?

C
The second batch of eggs was done and I got a clean plate from the wall. Daniel had scraped every morsel from the one in front of him as he watched me.
He tensed when I turned, but stayed put as I carefully removed the old one and replaced it with a larger plate. His face wrinkled in suspicion and then confusion, before his mouth opened.
“Thank you…”
I nodded, but didn’t respond. I went back to my sawdust-tasting food with need flaring hotly in my gut. His voice! It was the sound of angels and devils in perfect harmony, tempting me…
He abruptly shoved the plate away, grimacing, and I looked toward the untouched cup. “The milk will help settle it.”
He didn’t notice the too-sweet taste and I watched him gulp it down with flat, black eyes. A very mild sedative, it would keep him from jumping so much and maybe let him sleep.
“You’ll be on the couch tonight.”
The words brought instant relief, and in it’s wake, confusion. I could see that he wanted to ask why we wouldn’t share a bed, and I both longed for him to and wished he wouldn’t. It might all be over if I had to explain it.
He didn’t question me, and I gestured at the steamy room I’d come from. “Clean up if you like. There’s a robe hanging on the back of the door.” My voice lowered into an edge of anger. “And a medical kit in the cabinet.”
He immediately moved off to do what I’d suggested, and I watched him until he was out of sight, thinking of all the times I’d envisioned this moment, this feeling. Reality was a patch over a small part of the gaping wound in my heart.
Knowing he wouldn’t disobey me, I left the mess for the Network cleaners and crawled onto the room’s only couch-bed. I slid back to lie along the seam of the cushions, making it clear where I wanted him, and fell into a light doze almost immediately. It had been a long week.

D
She was on the couch. I’d assumed too much. Covered in only a silken blue robe, I felt very unprotected and stayed in the doorway. After seeing her matches, I held little hope she wouldn’t wake up when I climbed onto the secondary bed.
I tried to be reasonable. It wasn’t as if I hadn’t done this before… or been hurt before. I just didn’t like the fear and the pain, and the dirtiness that I knew were waiting for me afterward. Under it all, the familiar longing to know why I’d been given to the Network, why I was forced to live this way, burned hotly.
It was too quiet. I realized it with a start and understood she was awake. A shudder went through my legs, and I made them move. Better to get it over with. If I had real courage, I’d drop the robe before I got there and push her over the edge, make her use the drugs when I couldn’t satisfy her. I’d done it a couple times with Changelings who’d rented me, when I wasn’t able to stand what they wanted to dish out, but I sensed it might backfire with this one. In the two minutes it took the drugs to work, she might snap.
It happened sometimes, new Changelings who bought or won a mate and accidentally killed them during the claiming. Would she be one of those? Candice was easily the most violent contestant I’d ever seen. It was why I held such fear.
Looking down at her relaxed face, I felt something other than the usual terror of what was about to come, but the sound of her voice stopped me from examining it.
“Daniel.”
Her tone said I was wasting her patience, and I slid onto the couch without waiting any longer.

C
He stayed on the edge, as far from me as he could get. The milky drops would start working soon… only I wasn’t going to wait, I couldn’t. Being careful of his now-bandaged arm, I placed a hand on his damp skin and pulled him closer as gently as I could manage. The feel of his tense hip against mine began to make it final. I had what I’d come for, and it hadn’t cost my life or even a limb.
Only some more of my humanity, I thought, rolling over to enfold his terrified frame into my arms. Daniel would help keep back the fiery darkness that threatened to consume me, and I would return his identity to him. Together, we might even find some measure of peace.
He never really thawed against me, just went out all at once, and I allowed myself to stare then. In a few days, we would head for the Pruett homestead, but due to the mandatory verification period, we couldn’t leave as soon as I would have liked. Not that it would have mattered. He wasn’t ready to be in public with me yet.
I drifted off wondering about his reaction to my home. It was his now, too, but it had been before, as well. Would he recognize the neighborhood or the evil people who’d sold him into the Games? I was asleep before I could venture a guess.

Chapter Seven

C
He flinched away from my heat the instant his eyes opened, then stilled as he realized I was awake…watching.
We’d moved closer during the night, so much that I could feel his erratic breath on the arm I had curled over his wide chest. The couch under us trembled as he waited fearfully.
“I won’t hurt you.” Calm, even tones that didn’t hint at the hunger beneath, as I saw him fresh from my bed. “You’ll figure that out in time.”
I put my head down, closed my eyes… reluctantly withdrew my arm. His indecision was clear, and it took a long moment before he gathered the courage to move from my side.
Thud! “Sorry!”
His fast apology had me trying not to frown. I would have to shove some spine back down his throat. Males had that base urge torn from them by the Network, but the true instinct of a man could never be erased. My Daniel was still in there. I just had to let him out.
Slam! “Sorry.”
Need, sharp and sweet flooded me, and I forced myself back into sleep. He was mine. There was time.

D
I listened to her heavy snore with a slight smile that surprised me. She was so quiet when she moved and during her matches, that her noise had made me jump and duck for cover before I’d realized what it was.
Snorttt…
I flinched again and shook my head. It was easy to tell I hadn’t been around women much recently, and I straightened my shoulders as I moved toward the washroom. While I showered, I went over my rules for surviving a Changeling.
One: Don’t make eye contact…except she wanted me to. I struck that one from the list.
Two: Be careful of smells. Changelings were drawn to good scents and I moved my hand away from the sweet-smelling soap to use the plain bar on the rack. She’d left a hair on it from her own wash, and I quickly picked it off and rinsed it down the drain. Gross.
Okay, where was I?
Three: Keep all exposed skin covered. I’d broken that one last night with the robe, but I didn’t have any other clothes, and there was no way I was putting my jumper back on until it was clean. I frowned, moving on.
Four: Keep them well fed and in comfortable temperatures. Five: Never refuse… anything. Six: Try to distract them when their eyes flicker. Seven: Attack them before they can attack you.
That one had me blushing as I rinsed off. I’d taken the lead like that twice, and it had worked well. Changelings had a very short fuse. If you could get it to burn down quickly, they were blasted with relief and not such a danger anymore. I’d even once seen a Changeling cry, but the easiest way to cool the fire was through physical contact.
My body stirred at the thought. Candice was familiar to me for some reason, and she had amazing control. As long as I followed my own rules, I would probably be fine. Back to it, I thought, stepping out to grab my jumper and toss it into the suds for a wash.
Eight: If the pain gets too bad, make them snap and get it over with by responding as if willing. The medics are very skilled. Nine…

C
I woke hours later to find the room softly lit against the darkness, fragrant with smells of cooking meat, and a genuine smile came to my face. Our lives could begin soon… That second, familiar grin curved my lips into the merciless expression I was known for. Right after I took care of one little thing.
“Would you like to eat now?”
Tremors shook his stunningly enticing voice, and I shook my head, looking around alertly as I stood up. “I’ll wash first.”
“I ordered a new robe for you.”
“Have you bathed?”
His nod was quick; worried I’d be upset at his waste of water by showering twice.
“Good. I like cleanliness.”
At my words, there was a relieved edge to his face that I wasn’t sure about. I placed it as I scrubbed off another layer of the week’s battles. I’d bothered to tell him something personal, something he could use to please me. Did he want that for his survival, or did he long for the life everyone now thought we would lead? There were other questions I needed answers to as well, and I would have them before long, but for today, I wanted to see what he knew about the Ring. The one the Network paid so well to keep a fresh supply of males flowing through the Games… the ones who had taken what was mine.
That thought had me angry as I stepped from the room, but the sight of Daniel in that robe replaced it with a flare of hunger that I knew was terrifying. It had him stumbling back into a corner of the room, but I couldn’t help the need. He was so beautiful! His bare feet were big and noisy, ankles covered in hair, as were his forearms. Arms that were trembling. Anger rushed through me again, as violent as any I’d felt during my matches. I controlled it even as I fed it. Someone would pay, blood would spill for what had been done to him.
“There are clothes for you in my kit!” I heard myself snap and winced inwardly, but didn’t pull it back. The anger would keep me steady and allow me time to reach him before I took him.
I spun back into the washroom at that thought, my eyes no longer flat black. The Change was a torment dealt with daily for the last five years, and as a level two, I had more control than many of my family and neighbors. The Change had five stages, but only three of them were common. First was the start, the uncontrollable need to spill blood. After that, learning to master the violence as it intensified. Few got to this point because of how strong the Change was once it started. The third stage was where my Mother was – burned-out. I shoved the image away in revulsion. That, I would never be!
The fourth stage was burn-up and usually included snapping and killing whoever happened to be around. I almost liked that one. It was infinitely better than having no fire left at all, but there was also a fifth, legendary stage that no one I knew had ever achieved. The disease went into remission. No one knew for sure what combination of environment, diet, and daily life might accomplish it, but that was the goal for my future, not the sparkless female calling herself my parent. But for our bounty runs, I would have no use for her at all.
Daniel was covered in the new clothes before I emerged, my eyes once again darker, but the trousers and sweater were no better than the robe. The soft material clung to his body, outlining thick arms that I needed to make use of. My expression must have been bad because Daniel raised a hand to protect himself.
The need and the rage slapped at me, but for once, the side that hardly ever saw the light of day flew out of my mouth first. “You look very nice. Blue suits you.”
Daniel blinked, not expecting a compliment, and I moved to the set-and-waiting table without smiling. “Let’s eat.”

D
She didn’t like the way I’d been treated. Knowing that was another relief, and I gave her a shy smile as our eyes met over the candlelight. I wasn’t ready to be taken yet, but what was a good dinner without good atmosphere? I’d wanted to play a bit of sound as well, but I knew better than to attempt it. Music was sometimes another of those dangerous triggers, like our voices.
“Do you pray?”
I looked at her in shock. “Of course!”
She indicated for me to go ahead, and I bowed my head dutifully. “Thank the Network for the food and the air and the…”
I felt her sudden wave of rage and froze, waiting to be punished. I’d said it so many times that the words often rolled out without feeling. Maybe she didn’t think I meant…
“Do you know of God?”
Now I was confused. That’s who I’d be praying to, but I instinctively kept that information to myself as I shook my head. “Who?”
Flames flashed up, and I watched her shove them back with a wall of determination that I more than admired.
“We’ll cover it later.”
Her eyes went to the camera in the top corner of the room, and I understood it was something the Network wouldn’t like. I slowly went back to the food, not sure why she’d gotten upset. And who was this God? Was she like the Network? I had no idea how the outside world worked. I hadn’t been trained for that.

C
I hadn’t realized that the Network denied the bachelors even a basic knowledge of their origins, and it was a struggle not to set him straight. The Network was far from God, and I was mortally offended by their insistence to these men that they were. Once we were out of this bug-infested place, I’d make sure his retraining included religion and the wonders of creation. He needed to know where he came from and the proper ways to worship in this new world. When the Pruetts sat down to a meal, we offered no thanks or requests, only an apology for the sins of the previous generations.
The food was excellent, but the way Daniel kept checking for my approval had me scowling and him cringing. So far, he’d done little in his own thoughts to please me, but until he could help tone down this fiery heat, his emotional state would have to wait.
“I need to know some things you won’t want to talk about.”
He nodded fearfully, and I went back to my big bowl of stew. It really was very good, which meant we wouldn’t starve. Cooking wasn’t my skill… killing was.
“What do you remember about your life before the Network?”
His face crunched up in concentration. “Almost nothing. Just words I’m not sure are true.”
I spooned another heaping bite into my mouth and tore off a large chunk of the rough bread he’d obviously baked. It was something the Network kitchens couldn’t stock enough of. “I’d hear those.”
He didn’t want to, but wouldn’t refuse me. As he spoke, I kept my eyes on my bowl to prevent him from seeing my rage… my pain.
“I was sick for a long time. The fever took away the parts I can’t remember. They say I was… sold by my family.”
True so far. “Go on.”
His voice became a low rumble that had my grip bending the spoon into foreign shapes.
“They used to talk in the room, when they thought I was too ill to listen. They said I’m supposed to do something.”
He hesitated, voice dropping to a lower rumble I wanted to taste.
“They said I’m special.”
I raised a brow like I hadn’t known, but of course I had. He was mine. How could he not be unique? “Special how?”
Daniel flushed. “I have a genetic marker that’s different. They studied me a lot.”
There was a sneer to the words, a hint of the true emotions beneath. Perhaps there was more to him than just fear…
“What do you plan to do now that you’re free?”
He stared at me with a face instantly clouded by panic. “Free?”
“You’ll hold your own papers. I force no man.”

D
She was letting me go.
I’d heard of it from other Bachelors, but hadn’t believed it. Freedom. Even the word was frightening. What would I do out there? I had to have an owner, a protector. The Network had made that clear, and I wasn’t sure what to say.
She’d gone back to her food, but I stared, full of distress. Candice had done all this to release one of us from captivity, and I’d looked the worst off, so she’d picked me. It explained everything and sent a hollow feeling into my stomach. I didn’t want to be free, I thought with a well-hidden ache. I wanted a loving owner.
My eyes went over her scars and angry wounds, the burns and missing parts of skin. All of that just to free a slave? It was unlikely and I studied her harder. I saw the tension first, the stiff set of her thick shoulders as she waited for my choice. The feeling of loss hit me next. She was already upset at the thought of my being away from her.
Confused, I ran through my stores of Changeling information, but nothing came up about them needing us willing, outside of mating. I was suddenly sure though, and I wondered if she would like it if I begged to stay with her. I was adept at giving a woman what she needed. Wants, however, I had to guess about.
My shoulders went down and I dropped my eyes to the cooled food. I might just be reading those things in desperation to keep from being put out there alone. I wouldn’t survive, and I was wise enough to know it. Drawing in air to keep myself calm, I stole looks at her and tried to figure out how to respond.

C
It was hard for me not to meet his desperate gaze, observing his dismay from under lowered lashes. I couldn’t let him see how much pain it would cause me to let him go.
I waited, watching the gambit of thoughts and emotions on his handsome face. Did Daniel long for real freedom? After all he’d suffered, I’d give it to him and keep burning inside to see him happy. His simple response made the choice for both of us.
“You don’t really want me, right?”
Those pain-laced words blasted through my layers of ice like they didn’t exist.
Shoving the table aside, I had him pinned against the cold wall an instant later, feeling the blood-red of my irises, the need tickling up my thighs, my spine.
He trembled, bracing for my anger, and I leaned close.
“I want you more than my own life, Daniel!” I let him see how much he already meant to me, and my kiss was a hard press to his clenched lips, urgent and intense, as waves of Change rolled.

D
My first thought was only to survive, and I stayed as still as I could, feeling myself shake. My mind went immediately to rule number eight next, but I hesitated to push Candice in any way.
My new master was deadly. I’d seen it in the first introduction, when she’d had no mercy on her fallen attacker, but she wasn’t drawing blood now… though she was affecting it. My body was recognizing the new match… and approving. I hadn’t been bred in almost a year, and I couldn’t stop myself from hardening against her hip. I’d expected a beating, not an embrace, and I was unprepared for my own response. In the past, only the drugs got my cooperation.
Her lips were soft and hard in equal measures, iron hands around my wrists, and then she changed. Her body melted against me, tugging at my pent-up desires… I let myself hesitantly return her kiss.

C
Control. It returned slowly and I softened my touch, eased my grip. Instead of trapping him, I leaned against his hard body like a lover… and felt the truth pressing into my side. He might be leery, but he also wanted me! His lips moved against mine in confirmation, and I groaned at the feel of it. The stubble on his skin was a delicious torment sliding across my cheek, and I drew back carefully, flames crackling through my body.
“Are you registered?” Have you done this before?
The thrill at his hesitant nod came from my need, but the fury at his violation had my grip tightening again and him tensing for a blow that wouldn’t come.
“Shhh….just a taste….” I soothed him as best I could, and when I dipped my head back to his lips, he met me with a shudder of fear and want.
In my delight, I let go of my tight control a bit, running my fingers down his back to wrap him in an embrace that he went to willingly. I could have him, now if I wanted!
The fire grew hotter, testing me, and I gasp as his lips went to my jaw, my neck. His body leaned against mine with baking need, hands now trailing my arms. I’d planned to wait, to give him time to remember me, but my control was flying away in thick chunks. Soon, I wouldn’t be able to stop.
I pushed away the caution, sliding my hands down his lean hips...

D
Her nails dug into me through the soft clothes and I tensed, but only felt more shaky desire when she slid her warm hands under my shirt and up the bare skin of my back. It pressed me close and I tried not to rock against her hip, but was suddenly sure I would before long. She was too hot, too ready, to ignore.
She was also dangerous, and I was suddenly bracing to bleed in order to be fully bonded with my new owner. I wouldn’t be out there alone. I’d be at her side after this, where she could make use of my talents when she wanted them. I would be a very grateful mate.
Steeling my nerves, I dropped my hands to her shoulders… and then around her waist…
She drew in a sharp breath, and I tightened the hold, sensing what she needed. Most of my renters had wanted to be in charge the entire time, but a rare few liked a bold partner.
Before I could make the choice, she rubbed against me, and I was dazed with the waves of need already bringing me up through the levels of passion. Without the drugs, I was now ready to finish a complete session, and the feel of it was exciting. I’d never had a woman that my body wanted, and some of my fear slipped under the heat.

C
His breath caught when I rubbed against that iron bar, his grip on me tightening, and then he shocked us both.
Daniel jerked me off my feet and spun us around, so that I was now the one pinned by the wall. His mouth slanted over mine, demanding my surrender, body pressing against me! I shuddered as the heat rose to an almost unbearable, perfect height of pleasure and agony.
His hand slid inside my shirt, the hot skin under his fingers now trembling, and I arched as he squeezed. Yes! Another chunk of control blasted off.
I tried to pull back then, to stop, but the lust was stronger, and so was he. His grip on me tightened further.
“Just a taste… Shhh…”
His throaty copy of my own words cracked the remaining ice, and I writhed in his knowing embrace as his hand shoved inside my pants. Not giving me time to hurt him, he was clearly no virgin to handling the needs of a Changeling.
Lightning flashed as his fingers touched me, my body reaching out, and I sobbed against his mouth. The flames rose as he began to stroke, carrying me into a world where only we existed…

D
I used my most reliable tactics, bringing her up so fast there was no time for her to flip, but the feel of this! I wanted to slow down, to explore her silken and rough skin until I was exploding with it.
I shifted, rocking against her in short, quick jerks that had her groaning in the start of release. My body throbbed at the image of her pleasure, and I felt my own needs rise up to carry me into a haze of shocked lust. I stroked harder, hands and hips in perfect time. I already couldn’t wait to do this again...
My free hand curled behind her neck, glad her red eyes were closed. Her lips parted, face tightening, and I pushed a rough finger into her heat as I spoke.

C
Searing, burning, thrusting ecstasy consumed my body at his mating motion, and I felt the snap coming…
“Thank you… for picking me.”
 He pushed deeper, sending me into pleasure that I’d never felt, and the Change was banished to a dim corner as brilliant light exploded. I wanted to do the same for him, but even as I began to shatter, I felt his own release arching against my thigh, drenching… scalding. We groaned and pulsed, holding onto each other for support. Our breathing was harsh in the stillness, two hearts racing together, steaming.
As I drew back, I tried to smile. “I’d start every day as such.” During the Games, I’d had no fear that any weak emotion such as love drove me, only the return of a beloved possession. Oh, how wrong I’d been!
“I’d still give you freedom, Daniel. The close kind.”
He tensed against my cheek, teasing the need into scenting the musky air, and I grimaced as the unsatisfied flames flickered to life. So short a relief!
Daniel moved away from me slowly, and his face was easy enough to read. He was worried he’d gone too far by taking the lead and dealing out pleasure with no permission, that it hadn’t been good enough. And there was confusion. Because he had enjoyed it, too? Registered breeders could be had. Their willingness didn’t matter.
He stood stiffly with his hands at his sides, and I remembered my next question, distracted him with it. “What is it the Network expects you to do?”
I could see he didn’t know.
“They won’t tell me!”
“Who won’t tell you?”
His face became distorted. “I can’t see!”
I longed to be able to provide the answers and ease his pain. Because I couldn’t yet, I distracted him from that, too. “I’d finish eating now.”
I watched him start to head for the kitchen and then stop, face reddening. He turned for the washroom to remove my smells from his hands, and I hid my approval… my unease. When the Network said trained to adapt and please, they weren’t kidding. And the price paid for that obedience was too high.
I thought about how he’d responded so quickly. Did maybe deep down, he recognize me? Was it that self preservation instinct the renters had? I’d seen the Network rooms where the act took place, watched the drugs turn the reluctant bachelors into hard readiness in minutes. They were trained to please us. And, he’d done that well, I thought. The question, was why?
I knew as soon as I questioned what he could gain from it. If we were bonded before leaving, I couldn’t return him for another prize. He was already using the spark to manipulate me. My heart thumped. That was the old Daniel… my Daniel, and I was ever so grateful to see it.

D
I’d just learned something very valuable, and I held it close as I turned on the hot water. My pleasure was not only allowed, she liked it. It would have been hard to mistake. I’d shown her that I knew things she needed. All I had to do was keep her needs taken care of and she would keep me close. In time, maybe I really would have that loving owner.
It wouldn’t be as easy to satisfy her before she flipped next time, though, and the slight fear hit me when I stepped from the room to see her pink gaze. I knew from my training that the temporary methods wore off quickly, and then the female was constantly hungry for it to put out the fire. From now on, I would have to get her near the bed so I could use the cuffs.
Aware of her flickering eyes and my own surprising interest, I carefully tried to distract us both with some of the thousands of questions I had.

C
“How long will we be here?”
I pushed my empty bowl away, shrugging. “Would you stay a while?”
His look was all the answer I needed. He couldn’t wait to go.
“In the morning. Our passage is booked.”
His eyes darkened at that and I understood, but said nothing to comfort him. Transportation of prizes was done like livestock, even down to the crates. It was a Network rule, humiliating, but I wouldn’t break it. The Pruetts were careful to appear loyal.
 “How long will it take?”
“Three days.” Seventy two long hours where anything could happen, I thought. “I’ll be on the train with you, one car away.”
Discounting the expensive train ride we were about to take, by foot and horse were still the most common forms of transportation. Even hunting still held more lure than the odd stores that popped up. There had been very little advancement, and I was sure it was due to the lack of ambitious men with strong backs. The only people with access to the small bits of technology left were the Network and their lackeys. Also, their hired labor, I thought with a mental sneer. The Pruetts had been using their Network connection to pad stocks for years.
“What will I do there?”
Daniel’s fears were endless, and some, a surprise. The Network claimed the males had no real desire to be freed, but I hadn’t believed it until now.
“You’ll help my family clear the old roads.” And help me control the Changeling inside.
He seemed satisfied with that, and I wondered how deep into our mix he would fall. Would he be at my side when we went out on a run, or left at our homestead with the other mates? Would seeing his childhood home make him remember me? Us?
Needing space to avoid demanding a repeat performance, I headed for the master bedroom that I hadn’t used yet, still exhausted and extremely sore. “I’ll sleep in here tonight. Do what you like, but don’t leave this apartment without asking.”
Daniel seemed horrified at the thought, and I settled into the large bed, filled with an emotion I almost didn’t recognize. Happiness.

Chapter Eight

Day 6


C
Hours later, I tossed restlessly in the bed alone, the nightmares not ugly, but still disturbing. Outside, a lightning storm had begun.
Bang!
A loud strike rattled the complex. An instant later, Daniel tapped on the door. “Can… Can I come in?”
I sat up with shadowy images of blood still spilling behind my lids. “Yes.”
He had stripped down to just the trousers I’d brought, a size too large, and my eyes went straight to that bare chest. I wanted him, there was no denying it, and it wasn’t all from the Change. His beautiful eyes were huge, full of fear that was almost desperate. He didn’t like to be alone during storms… or maybe at all. I cursed myself for not thinking of it. During his… stay with the Network, he had probably been around other males at all times.
“I’d be where you are.”
Hunger. It took me by surprise so quickly I couldn’t breathe. I forced a curt nod.
The bed dipped under his weight, and I lay down, closing my eyes. A minute later, I was back under the edge of sleep, certain it would be more restful with him closer. I didn’t like having him out of my sight.

D
I waited until she was snoring softly and slowly inched onto my side to stare. Like most Changelings, she didn’t use a blanket. The heat inside was more than enough to keep her warm, and I was able to run my male gaze over her exposed skin. It kept me from waking her with my moans as the storm grew. I hated loud noises, always had.
“Stop...”
Thinking she meant me, I put my head down quickly before realizing she was still asleep.
Fear of her was something I couldn’t help. The lust in those black eyes said she liked blood, spilling it and seeing it, and as the winner, she had complete control. I’d known slaves who were taken from their owners, but that was only when the male had connections to those high-up. I had none. If I made a claim of abuse, it would be ignored, true or not. The Network wanted Candice out of here, even I felt that. They wouldn’t keep her around to investigate the claims of a bachelor. She was dangerous.
Crack!
I jumped at the loud flash of lightning, wondering briefly what it had hit. Not the Games complex, with its rubber-like roof, but close enough for fire to be a concern. I told myself those running this awful place were also aware of the danger, and watching. After the incident last year when half a cell of bachelors had burned to death, there was now 24-hour weather monitoring by the Den Mothers. New Network City had lost a hundred citizens to the blaze, but it was the rare males the public had spoken up for.
Crash!
I jumped again, and then stilled myself, not wanting her to wake. I was attracted to Candice, this evening proved that clearly, but I was still trying to figure out why. None of the others had drawn a spark, let alone an uncontrolled reaction that had me forgetting my place. They’d all been forced to use drugs that removed my control. Even my first had plied me with drinks and artificial help before she was able to make use of her purchase.
With Candice, my body was eager. Was it because she was so much more deadly than the others? Or was it just the promise in her eyes, the one whispering that mating with her would be unlike anything I’d ever known? Maybe it was that she was my owner and not a renter who might be dead after the next battle. It would be okay to get attached to this one, providing I pleased her.
My body tightened at the hot memory of holding her tattooed skin, showing her a bit of what I knew about surviving a Changeling. Though the pleasure was sure to be incredible when she took me, it was the danger that had my heart thumping. I’d seen older, gentle females turn into blood-hungry animals in the view cells. It was nothing to make light of, and I stared at her for a long time, trying to judge.

C
My eyes snapped open in the darkness, instantly alert. The shadow by the door froze. Close by, thunder rumbled.
“As you were.”
Daniel moved quickly to the washroom, but I didn’t close my eyes yet. Light rain was drumming against the complex, acid melt-off that slowly burned its way through just about anything except rubber. Lightning flashed, the vivid blast glaring off even the black-tinted window.
Something outside thumped against the building as the wind gusted, and I watched Daniel scurry back into the room as if he were being chased. It was the storm that had sent him to me, not fear of being alone, I realized.
Crack!
We both jumped at the next blast, and my lips curved upward. “Nature’s fury.”
His shadow nodded, hesitating as thunder rolled out again. “I know.”
I wondered if he would have the courage to rejoin me in the bed, but knew if he didn’t, I would insist. I couldn’t leave him with only his fear for comfort.
Daniel moved toward me, and I studied him without the usual violent need, but then his weight dipped the bed again and sent a curl of want through my stomach. He settled onto his side, and the storm, as if responding to my lust, intensified.
Crack! Booomm!
He flinched backward at the brilliant burst, and I shifted to be ready for the next hit. While I waited, I let my pink eyes go over his body. Lean and hard, he was made to survive in this harsh world… and to produce children. I grinned, glad he was facing away. In time, I would have all he could give.
Bam!
Daniel jumped again, and I caught him with my palm before he could roll against me. He immediately froze.
I gently tugged on his arm. “Come here.” Willing the weather to help.
Silence…
Crack!
He moved at the reminder, sliding his big body along my hip, and I ducked under his arm to press myself firmly against his side. My head went to his tense chest, and my eyes closed in bliss as his scent filled my nose. I bid the usual nightmares goodbye.

D
It took me a long time to realize she only wanted to be held and even longer to slide my arms around that black-clad waist. It made me lean against her and I wasn’t surprised when her sharp intake of air sent blood rushing into parts of my body. Her pleasure would be mine.
“This is nice.”
Her breath whispered along my chest. I wondered if she knew there were freckles on her nose from sun exposure, or how her hair glinted with blue flashes in the flickering storm. I wanted to embrace her warm body, give her the relief she wasn’t asking for, but I was a coward. She only came to my chin, but she towered over me with her muscular arms and her careful control.
Crash! Bang!
I tensed and was surprised when she comforted me again.
“Easy, Daniel.” Her hand rose up to stroke the bare skin of my arm, and I trembled under her touch.
Lightning flashed, showing her hand on my skin… then darkness. Heat radiated from her. What would she do now? Was this the time? Fear blossomed in my throat, but I didn’t say anything. It would be better to have the first time done than to keep worrying over it.

C
Pushing my control, I allowed my thumb to brush over his shoulder, seeing the next flash through red tints. His skin was hot, smooth and hard against mine, and I shuddered as I swept my nail over his neck. Not sure how far I might go, I eased onto one arm to look at him.
I waited for the next flash before moving again, letting him see my nearly red eyes. It was only fair to know when you were playing with fire.
Crack!
The flare of light was short, but I saw his face fill with as much want as worry, and I leaned down. “Kiss me?”
I was unprepared for the way he lunged forward, rolled us. His mouth crushed mine, demanding, and filled with a need that matched my own. His scent rushed over me again, musky and sharp, and I moaned against his lips.

D
Her lips parted, and I dipped in to taste her, body tight. Thanks to the Network, I knew what to do, but I’d never felt a real attraction to my partner. With Candice, I couldn’t stop feeling it. Each sensation was intoxicating. Her tremble, the feel of her nails digging in to make shallow grooves down my shoulder.
I dipped into her again, licking. So sweet! Without much thought, I held her hip with my big hand and thrust against her. More!

C
I shuddered again, control nearly gone as he tasted me. His bare chest against my fingers was like fire, and I groaned as he rocked faster.
Crack!
My eyes flickered in the light, and at first I thought the Change was what I was seeing. Then I realized it was blood... 
Daniel felt me withdraw, tried to hold me in place. “I’m fine.”
I broke his grip easily and moved out of the bed to turn on a light. Blood had already stained numerous places on the sheet, dripping from my nail-grooves in his chest and shoulders. Two of them were oozing freely, and I shut my eyes. I hadn’t even known I was hurting him. “Why didn’t you say something?”
His voice was trembling again, full of confusion. “I didn’t know you wanted me to.”
My patience snapped a bit, and I glared at him. “Now you do!”
I saw the nail marks darken with fresh blood as he stood up. “And tell me before you bleed!”
“Yes, Candice.”
It was an order received, and I narrowed my eyes. “Do you need help with it?”
He cringed at the thought of calling a medic. “I’ve got it.”
I watched him hurry to the washroom. I’d drawn his blood. That could Never. Happen. Again.

He wore a white shirt when he returned; trying to blend the bandage in so I didn’t notice it as much, but that only had my gaze narrowing in on it harder. I was a real threat to him, even for a lingering kiss. Something would have to be done.

D
I knew what she was thinking. I had only been hers for a full day, but I knew. She wasn’t going to get close to me again, not until she could be sure I wouldn’t be hurt. There should have been great relief that she didn’t want me harmed, but all I could feel was a crushing disappointment…like I’d just lost something special without knowing what it was.
“I’m sorry, Daniel.”
It stung her, the Changeling, to say that to me, and my own concern rushed out amid a stiff jumble of secrets I didn’t want her to know. “It’s only scratches. Please don’t send me back. I’ll be more careful.”

C
But he wasn’t being that now, the sound of his begging was sending flames into my eyes to war with the regret. There were ways… “I’ll think on it.”
He nodded, headed for the bed, and I allowed it, telling myself I could do this much without hurting him. I wasn’t sure I believed it, but later, when he rolled against me in his sleep, I was able to relax in his embrace by remembering the way he’d taken control and smothered the fire. It was something even Baker hadn’t been able to do for me, and I drifted off knowing the future now held hope.


D
I hadn’t wanted her to stop.
It was a shock to realize, and not even the storm’s fury broke through the delighted haze. I… I wanted her. Hidden by the Change, she might be exactly what I’d been hoping for. The urge to force her into taking me was another surprise, especially since it wasn’t being used as a defense. I wasn’t trying to soothe her anger, only her pain. How had I come to care for her in only one day?
…I knew her. That explained it, but I couldn’t place her if that were true. I thought about her reaction to hurting me. Had I found my loving owner? I’d know for sure when we mated, but I was also watching for those other things I would need. Patience, retraining, compassion… It was a lot to ask and I drifted off hoping my new master was up to that challenge.

C
Instead of the instant fear when he woke, Daniel met me with a question I didn’t want to answer.
“Why are you waiting?”
There were too many reasons to list them all, but only one that mattered.
“Is it because I don’t remember anything?”
I winced at his accuracy and felt him tense. “Yes.”
“You know that it doesn’t matter?”
“Yes.”
He wanted to push it and I willed him to.
“Please tell me?”
I sighed. He’d pushed, but much too easily, and I denied him access to my inner thoughts. “I worry for your safety.”
So did he, I was sure. The Change would take over, and I was trying to build immunity first.
“It’s a risk I’d take!”
Daniel was tempting me, I realized in surprise. I’d hoped he might relax a bit without it hanging over his head, but his tone! It said he feared I didn’t really want him, that I might cast him out if we weren’t bonded fully. Would he admit it? Did I need him to? No. I only needed him to be sure it was what he wanted, and after a single day, there was no way he could be. It was too soon.
I started to move from the bed, pain flashing up my spine. And then he tackled me.
We landed with him on top, between my spread legs, and I slammed my eyes shut. I tried not to let his actions anger me, or trigger anything, but I was unprepared for how far he’d chosen to go.
“There are ways, Changeling!”
Again, he snapped my control like it had never existed.
With a fast move, I rolled him under me, straddling those lean hips until I could feel his hard heat… And then I rocked. Head buried against his chest, I pleased myself on his body, groaning and shuddering as he held still and let me have my way. He would learn that I was no one to push.
My climax tore through me, and I cried out in release, body shattering in weak pleasure. It would hold me for a bit and give Daniel time to think.
I could feel his excitement as he stayed still under me, but I rose indifferently and headed for the washroom.
“You’re right. There are ways.”
I left him lying there; hating the embarrassment I was causing, but confident in my plans. He had to obey. Anything else might get him killed.

D
I stayed still until I thought she was busy, and then took myself in hand. I’d been sure she would follow through, and my body was on fire for it. Mentally though, I was relieved, even when I felt her return in time to observe me buck in my own grip and explode.
I opened my eyes to see those solid red orbs staring back.
“That would have done it,” she stated mildly, turning back toward the washroom.
I stored the information for next time. I didn’t understand why she hadn’t used a set of cuffs if she was that worried about my safety, but I wasn’t brave enough to call her on it. I was, however, now determined to be hers.
 The Network wouldn’t take me back if this didn’t work out; they never gave away the same bachelor twice. I would be sold to another Changeling, and through the last hours, I’d made my choice. Candice didn’t want me hurt, I didn’t need drugs to please her, and she was deadly. There was no one else I’d be safer with once we were bonded... I just had to survive it.

Chapter Nine

Day 11

C
We were home.
This area hadn’t changed much in the decade since Daniel had been stripped from my arms. Even the destruction zones we bordered weren’t different by much, only the roads around here. The Pruett commitment to the Network, one for which we were not paid, was a source of pride. We added miles a year, only the six of us. Now, there would be seven.
Behind our property were the slums. To the south, the main road that we had cleared with our own hands, alive with signs of the birthing season. To the east, the Network-controlled cities and larger populations. And to the west?
The other side of the country was a mystery to those here in Network lands. Only the rare visitor from the Coast Outpost came here, and we never went there. Even during all my runs in the Borderlands, I’d never seen someone from that side. The Network news claimed it was uninhabitable…
I turned to watch the crate being unloaded from the Network hauler, seeing tense blue eyes through the cracks of boards sealed with a welded Network patch over the top. Property of Candice Pruett, winner of a games Challenge. I hated him being penned like an animal, but until that box was set on our lands, I didn’t make the rules - the Network did.
The delivery guards were enormous, former winners themselves. A rare few would interrupt a cargo transfer with these big females to face. Only Luck of the Draw survivors could deliver prizes. Knowing they’d killed at least three other contestants was a strong deterrent to those without the courage to enter the Games and win a mate legally. It was a job waiting for me if I wanted it, but even the thought was revolting.
Still, prizes had come up missing, damaged, and I was secretly very relieved to see Daniel step unharmed from the large box. He carried the kit I’d had ready for him, no doubt neatly repacked. I was curious as to how many of the books he’d gotten through. Reading was a treat in any world, and I’d been delighted to find out he knew how. Most males didn’t.
I’d wanted to ride in the same car, but couldn’t afford the distraction while we were so accessible, and I hadn’t actually spoken to him in days. It wasn’t a surprise to me that I’d been miserable the entire time, flashed back to those terrible years alone.
“Anything else?”
I shook my head at the guard’s question, signing the paper with my usual careless scrawl. Daniel was legally mine now - signed, sealed, and delivered.

D
I waited for patiently instructions, determined to behave from the very first second of my new life. I still wasn’t sure why she’d chosen me, but I was finally out here in the real world with an owner, and it was enough to have me feeling hopeful.
Candice was still intimidating to me, but she was also vibrant in a dead world, and I was drawn to her. She was a lot like the owner I’d envisioned as the Game for my life began, only better. She didn’t like the Network either, and I hadn’t even dared to hope for that. I had a home now, one I was determined to fit into. Where she went, I wanted to be.
I watched her flex a scarred shoulder, still marveling over her fast recovery. Her feet had been the only area still bothering her by the time we’d left. I’d tended them right before we took the train out of New Network City, and the sight of those charred, sliced heels had reminded me of her sacrifice. It allowed me to walk to the crate instead of being sedated as most Bachelors were for transport.
It had also let me relax a bit during the trip, enough to read a little and consider the future ahead of me. I now belonged to a bounty hunter who lived in the wild area of Ohio where the Network didn’t even have a hub. Despite my feelings about them, the Network complex had been my home for a long time, and being away from there made me uneasy. Trying to banish the sudden flare of nerves, I studied Candice.
Unlike the fighting clothes she’d worn at the complex, she now wore jeans and a button-up black shirt under a black cloak. It had a high collar that protected her skin from the sharp winds, and added an exotic flair to her alabaster skin and ebony spikes. She stepped lightly my way, full of grace and determination that had me staring. The feet must be better, I thought, swallowing the urge to ask why she seemed so familiar.

C
“Come.” I waved Daniel to my side as the Network truck rumbled on, and he responded quickly. His blue cloak flashed out behind him clumsily, and I watched him trip over the rocks, catching himself with a tempting flush.
“This is your home now.”
I wondered what he was thinking as his wary eyes went over the small, nearly crumbling white dome where we would live. Our mostly underground homestead had looked the same before. Would it trigger a memory?
“Just us?”
I swallowed my disappointment… and the pain. He may never remember. I had to accept that and be happy that I always would. I’d kept my promise to him, found him and brought him back to my arms. In time, it would temper my pain.
“My mother and father, two cousins and their parents also share this place.”
Daniel stared in surprise. Starting to realize how lucky he was that I’d chosen him, or worried that he would be shared, I couldn’t tell.
“You have three males here already?”
I turned a sharp look his way, one he cringed from. “Fathers and mates with changeling children.”
His face relaxed a bit. Clearly, he’d been expecting worse. In other families, he would have been right. The average home held five or more changelings at any given time.
“Do I… speak with them?”
I wanted to smile, but his fear hurt me. He was terrified that I’d slave him out. Damn the Network!
“If you like.”
I could have told him of our bonds, our differences from most Network families, but moved across the yard instead. He would see it for himself, and I was hoping those faces might shock him into recognition if my first plan failed.
He moved to my side, and the hunger rose another notch as I studied him. When he wasn’t tripping over his own feet, Daniel had a swagger he wasn’t even aware of. It made his shoulders seem wider, his face more attractive... Had he been this beautiful as a child? I couldn’t be sure.
Daniel stayed on my heels as I skirted the long row of deadly thorn trees and entered the back yard. From here, we had an open view of the slummy street he had grown up on. We were only a quarter a mile from his former home, and I watched his eyes go over it and then the grimy children playing in the rubble that lined it. Did he feel anything?
“Who are they?”
Did I tell the truth? These were very likely sisters, cousins. His head swung to mine, full of confusion and something else. Awareness maybe?
“Poor people.”
He didn’t understand my scorn, thought I held them in contempt for having no financial value, and I let him. It was better to take the blows in succession than to be nailed with them all at once. Finding out your family had sold you to the Network, and then gone on to have more children, was a vicious blow to handle.
As if he read my thought, his body shuddered. “I know that place!”
Daniel swung back to the street that we’d run on, hidden in, looted for treasures. He’d never been allowed into my home. Not because he was poor, but because his family had always known his value. They’d taken no chances on losing him to the Pruetts for something as unimportant as a mate, when there were millions of UDs waiting as soon as he fit the Network’s sale rules.
“Have I been here before?”
“Yes… with me.”
That admission had him forgetting his place and stepping closer with a voice ringing out in delicious emotions. “That’s why I feel like I know you. I do!”
Daniel stopped, seeing my tension, and his handsome face flushed. “Sorry.”
Carefully controlled, I nodded and pushed him back to the awful memories now waiting just below the surface. “That is where you came from.”
He turned back to the plastic-covered shacks and snotty children, and I saw another flash of my Daniel. It was the third. The second had been how high his head was held as he stepped into the crate marked as my property. It had made me grin.
“I’m feeling very angry right now. Is that allowed?”
I snorted gently. If anyone had the right to rage, it was the males of this new America. “Yes.”
“I want to go down there.”
I waved a hand in answer and trailed him as he headed for the past. He was having flashes. I could see it in a sudden pause and stiffening of those wide shoulders. The memories wouldn’t be easy. Born to sell, the Malin family had done it for centuries. It was how they paid for so many daughters, I guessed, though after seeing how the offspring lived compared to the adults, I suspected it wasn’t out of love.
I had always assumed they were a breeding farm, trying to have more male births than female. What they were doing to ensure such success was a mystery, but they’d managed to produce a male child for every generation as long as the Network had been keeping records. To achieve it though, I had little doubt they were doing something illegal.
I smothered another, harsher snort. Not that the Pruetts always stayed on the Network side of that line.
“I played there.”
My heart thudded. Played, laughed… cried.
“There was a girl…”
Come on! My entire being was centered on willing him to remember me on his own, stealing my attention.
“You’re a man. You’re not allowed to be here!”
The warning came from a small, dirty girl with bright blue eyes and short yellow hair. I scowled at her as Daniel tensed. “Get lost!”
My growl sent her fleeing into her home… Daniel’s home, and I knew the damage had been done. Her voice mirrored his. He knew who she was, what had happened. Memories of me would have to wait.
“Sold? By them?” he choked out the words.
I didn’t lie. “Ten years ago… as with every male they have.”
I had an idea of what to do for the depression or grief I expected, but I hadn’t considered the livid fury that flashed across his thin face as he took my meaning.
“I’ll understand if you send me back for this,” he stated almost calmly. “I really am sorry.”
Before I guessed, he was dipping down the embankment. Debris began to hit the shack in hard thuds, the bricks slamming straight through the plastic over the roof. The missiles rained fast and heavy, his arm full of a pent-up anger I hadn’t suspected.
“Slam you!”
Daniel’s enraged scream sent need, clever and hungry, up my spine. That was completely my Daniel, and it had been so long!
Thud! Thud! Crack!
That last one came from a beautifully hefted concrete block slamming into a support pole. The frame shifted and then collapsed in a spray of dust and debris. It was only a corner dry-out room, shielded from the acid rain, but to have done it with his bare hands impressed me.
I let him go until he was spent and a hard anger had replaced the hurt in his eyes. By now, all the occupants of the street were hovering around their windows and doorways, but not one of them approached Daniel when they spotted me standing tolerantly nearby. As for his cowardly family, there was no sign, but I was sure they were huddling in the back rooms, wondering if I would now come in and punish them for what they’d done.
I grinned, wanting to. As long as I stuck with females, it was a fine I could easily pay. Still, it would tell the Network more than we could afford for them to know. And it wasn’t why I’d brought him here anyway.
I smoothed out my face. “Come along.”
Daniel followed me without question, and he didn’t look back.
Now unclouded by the discovery that had lain in wait, his eyes noticed the differences as we walked. The rubble gradually faded into the rows of trees, shielding the view of the street, protecting them… from us. We weren’t upstanding members of the community. We were bounty hunters who had to be tiptoed around because of our affiliation with the Network… and because we were dangerous.
“Will there be a fine?”
I shrugged, encouraged by the tiny hint of enticing defiance still lingering in his tone. “Don’t let it worry you.”
I heard him sigh miserably.
“Even if I need to do it again?”
There was the pain I’d been expecting, but I knew how to help him now. I could afford to pay for every brick he felt like throwing.
“You’re mine, Daniel. Nothing you can do will ever change that.”
 “You won’t sell me? Ever?”
My snap came fast, and we were on the ground with me reminding him how much he was wanted an instant later. His anger let him kiss me back, and I felt another dark part of my soul light up.
“So this is Daniel.”
He tensed under me, and I reluctantly drew back from his lips. “This is my family.”
Daniel was mortified. He jumped to his feet the instant I rolled off of him, cheeks flushed. Sexy.
“He grew up.”
My Mother’s approving tone had him turning to question and then remembering his place. He looked to me for approval.
My scowl had him snapping his mouth shut. He was so reactive to my expressions, so wary of displeasing me. What would ease that?
“Time.”
Reading me, my Father’s words were comforting, and I nodded. We had that now.
“Um, Candy?”
Heat flared at the name. “Yes, Angel?”
My cousin’s fists clenched. “Have you done much since getting here?”
My mind flashed over our side trip. “There might have been a tense moment. Why?”
“No reason, really. Just wondering about the squad of guards coming up the driveway.”
Battle-mode fell instantly into place. “Have they seen us yet?”
“In about ten seconds.”
My head spun, and then I was reacting, throwing myself at Daniel.
“Grab me!” I demanded lowly.
Angelica understood right away, leading the others. “Don’t hurt him! He’s new!”
She jerked lightly on my arm, trying to keep me from the cowering male, and my parents rushed to help as they understood.
“Stop! You’ll hurt him!”
“Halt there!”
We ignored the order, struggling, and I gradually let them pull me away.
Daniel stayed on the ground with Angelica’s arm blocking his confused face.
“You there! Halt!”
We all turned this time, faces covered in surprise.
“Who speaks for this family?”
“I’m Marion Pruett.”
My Mother’s voice, the one I’d come to loathe since the Change, was perfectly annoyed.
“We’re sorry for the disturbance.” Her tone grew resigned and a bit frustrated. “She brought her prize home today.”
The guards looked me over with lips that wanted to grin, but knew better after watching my matches.
“We have a report of property damage. Witnesses said it was a male.” The lead woman’s stern gray eyes raked over Daniel. “Fitting his description.”
I snorted, playing my role perfectly. “That coward break something?” I laced my tone with scorn. “He’s not worth the ticket I paid to get in.”
I strode toward the house with the appearance that I couldn’t care less. “I made the mess. Send the bill here.”
Angelica waved Daniel after me. “Try not to draw her anger again.”
My Mother distracted the guards with her meek tone, “We had hoped she would settle down…”
She sighed unhappily and Angelica completed the performance. “Maybe another episode of the Bachelor Battles?”
My Mother cracked a weary smile, and I listened to the guards’ chuckle as Daniel and I disappeared from their view. Almost like we’d done it before….
I stormed into the house and Daniel followed. He stared at the luxury of his new home in surprise as I listened, timing the moment the guards would come back around this side of the house to get on their Mopars.

D
Her home was so different than what I’d expected. The few Changeling quarters I’d… visited, were luxurious and full of conveniences the rest of the world had to live without. They were set up for uncaring, lazy people who only wanted the latest in what was popular, but carried no real sense of it. Candy’s home was just the opposite. It was like stepping into the past.
They had art and sculptures, some of them vaguely familiar. The one over the table, I recognized right away, but couldn’t remember the name of the awkwardly smiling woman. I spotted a shiny laser washer for the dishes, and the wall screen had first-class technology for sure, but everything else seemed to be the rustic versions of history.
A massive stereo system, complete with stacks of disks and speakers placed carefully for the surround sound, drew my eye. That alone would get them arrested, I thought, remembering the Network’s newest law on noise. Unapproved music of the old world was a firing squad offense. My head quickly turned away, not wanting her to think I’d noticed. I picked out archaic tools and exotic decorations that I knew not to touch, some so old, they would probably crumble into dust under my clumsy hands.
My new family wasn’t what they appeared to be, that much was obvious. Most Network employees, even as far down the chain as bounty hunters, were strict rule-followers. It was clear that the Pruetts didn’t fall into that line. I thought about her three pale relatives and the expensive home I was now a part of. How did her family view me? Was I the foundling she’d adopted or an intruder to be watched?


C
It was deceiving, but the Pruetts didn’t flaunt wealth. We knew better. Despite being worth more UDs than everyone in our neighborhood, from the outside we appeared as broken as the rest. Stepping into our home forced Daniel to revise that theory.
Plush gray carpet and well-tended wooded walls surrounded us, full of expensive furnishings that included an art collection that would have gotten us arrested if the Network ever saw it. We’d ventured into dark, dangerous places for these forbidden treasures. The Mona Lisa painting hanging over the table wasn’t one of my favorites, but it was easily worth as much as our entire net worth… and no one knew we had it.
The rest of the world had only seen it in old books, but the Pruetts were collectors of such things. Our underground storage room held nothing but blasts from the past. Like the tattered document declaring this a free country. The Network would execute anyone caught with something like that, but we understood that history needed preserving.
I watched Daniel’s face while listening to my family manipulate the guards outside. He was shocked, unable to place this well-stocked, pleasant interior to the crumbling white dome and weather-beaten walls he’d stepped into.
“Welcome to your new life.”
He flashed me an uneasy smile, and I headed for the window, sure he would follow. The blinds allowed a good view into our house, but I doubted the guards would pay too much attention to background after the next show I planned to give them.
As the squad began to pass the house on their rovers, I spun Daniel toward the window. The embrace was light, allowing me to see their nudges and grins, and then he moved against me in response, and I was lost again. His taste was enough to make me drunk.
“Well, this may get old after a while.”
Angelica’s slightly jealous voice had Daniel tensing again, but I refused to let him go this time.
“Did he really do all that damage? The fine is huge.”
I drew back from his lips, but stayed leaning against him as the guards rolled out of sight. “Some overdue justice, don’t you think?”
“Yes…”
Her voice was thoughtful, and I shook my head. “Not yet.”
“But we’ll need help…”
When I spun from the room, Daniel knew to follow. His eyes were wide, face confused. “I’d like to help if I can.”
I didn’t respond, didn’t need to. I’d given my answer.
“Can I come up?”
Angelica’s voice was full of good humor, something I relied on at times, and I said nothing, granting permission. The upstairs, all five rooms of it, had been mine as long as I could remember. Other than the cleaners, no one was ever allowed up here. Because I was free to be me in these room – Changed.
Our home was laid out in a series of rooms arrayed in a circle. Old wood framed it all into a spiral of rooms that almost all had adjoining doors. We were Pruetts. We liked having extra exits. The second floor was the same, circling the steep stairs, and the dark paneling kept it cool despite the height. It also held in the heat in the winter and kept the house warmer than most dwellings of our neighbors.
On the walls downstairs, were a variety of art and family items, but up here were only dark, mysterious collections I’d gathered during our bounty runs. My favorite was the black Jesus on the cross. Had the others really thought God like a man? It was a question I didn’t understand. How could anything so complex, so completely self-sufficient as the planet, be created by a being like men? We didn’t create. We killed.
Angelica had missed our daily workouts. We had no sooner entered the upstairs hall, when I had to shove Daniel to the side so that I could deflect her attack. She slammed against my hip, sending me into the wall with her new strength.
“Long week?”
She answered with a lunge that I caught and used to throw her into the wooden wall.
“Slam it!”
I laughed at her very real frustration, causing her eyes to tighten. I watched her pull it back in approval. She hadn’t been able to do that before I left for the Games.
“Very good.”
I wondered what she’d suffered during her time at the Korean’s hands, but the doctors at the complex had proclaimed her uninjured, and I hadn’t asked. We Pruett women were like that. If we had a problem we couldn’t handle, we gathered help. Until then, our business was our own.
Angelica grinned, a harsh mirror of my Games matches, and I held out a hand, yanked her to her feet. “Come on. I want to get Daniel settled in his room.”
I slung an arm around her thin shoulders, and we turned to see him cowering in the doorway where I’d shoved him. His whole body screamed fear.
“Kinda jumpy.”
I nodded, seeing him understand, flush.
“He just needs time.”
I moved toward him slowly, making sure to control my expression when he flinched. I held out a hand. “Come.”
He moved carefully, taking the light grip I offered. My hand tingled, sending more heat into the furnace, and we moved into my bedroom. I closed the door behind us, ready to start his retraining.
The first thing I did was leave him alone.
“We’ll share this bed on my good nights. For others, you’ll have the adjoining room. You should go there now and put away your things.”
He was out of my sight an instant later, and I frowned at my own flash of worry. His actions today proved that the fear was weaker than his anger. I would use that to pull him out of his misery. What the Network had destroyed, I would patiently rebuild.

D
I stood against the closed door, almost unable to believe Candice wasn’t beating me for what I’d done, the fine she would be responsible for. She was so… different than the females I’d had contact with. If not for the pleasure I knew how to hand out, I would have no idea how to survive her ownership.
My eyes went over the rounded room, the small door indicating a washroom, and I stared in surprise. This was all for me?
It had been set up for a man, from the dark blue walls to the plain-colored blankets on the enormous bed. Braced with tall wooden pillars, it wasn’t as large as the bed in Candy’s room, but it was still more than I was used to. I found myself fearing it a little. How alone would I feel in that empty space?
I looked around from where I stood, not sure I could make myself touch anything yet. There were enough clothes and personal gear to outfit me for a year or more, I estimated, and felt my heart begin to relax from the hard ball it had clenched into upon seeing who had won me. Candice didn’t have plans to sell me if she’d spent this amount of UDs on my future care. She intended to keep me. It suddenly occurred to me that she was more faith-based than I’d first thought. To have gathered so much, she’d been sure she would win. It was something else I hadn’t expected from the brutal fighter.
Remembering she wanted me to unpack, I slowly got started, hands admiring the soft textures she’d chosen. At the complex, new outfits were given twice a year, with no exceptions, and after repeated washings, they became threadbare quickly. The clothes I now had would allow me the decency of being well-covered no matter how many outfits my owner tore up. Inside my heart, those holes left by missing pieces, began to heal.
Aware of how lucky I was, I soon got lost in exploring her gifts, but after a while, the exhaustion had me stretching out on a corner of the bed, surrounded by my new possessions. A week ago, I’d been cowering in my cot, waiting for Rankin’s heavy service call. Now, I was… home? Yes. I already knew I would come to love it here. The only thing that mattered, was could I come to love Candice?

Chapter Ten


C
It was very quiet.
After the two days we’d spent at the complex, I wasn’t sure he was capable of it, and I moved toward the door with a nagging sense that I’d forgotten something. I hadn’t searched it before he went in, but Angelica had been here…
My hand turned the knob before I stopped, remembering these weren’t just my rooms anymore. Smirking slightly at the feeling, I knocked.
“Come in.”
His voice sent that familiar ache into my gut, and I pushed it back, starting to get frustrated with my lack of control. I opened the door and stepped inside, but didn’t go any further. I wanted him to feel that this room, at least, was his, so that he would have a sanctuary. I personally had dens all over our hunting grounds.
“Thank you. I’ll try to take care of it all.”
I was glad he was aware of the cost of replacing things, but I wanted him to understand it didn’t matter. With a deliberate move, I flipped the window open and shoved a box he’d already gone through out the window.
I turned to see his shock, and started to explain…
“What the hell?”
Angelica’s voice was angry, and I snorted laughter at the thought of it landing on her.
I snapped the window shut with an honest grin and finally took in his reaction.
“Why did you do that?”
He was mad! To my shock, Daniel headed for the door.
“I want those!” he complained, hand reaching for the knob… and then he remembered who he was talking to.

D
I expected her to be heading my way in anger, but she was trying not to laugh! Not understanding, but determined to reclaim the gift, I stomped from the rooms without permission.
On the way down the stairs, I became aware of a sound that rang through my head and stuck there. Candy was laughing. It sent flashes of that dream girl into my brain, bouncing around, opening doors.
I stopped on the stairs, head turned toward the sound like a hunter scenting prey. I wasn’t the only one it drew. Her parents came to the bottom of the stairs to stare up at me in shock. I also felt her furious little relative nearby listening, and it took my anger away, replaced it with curiosity. “I guess you haven’t heard that much either.”
My comment pulled a snort from her Father and a pointed look from her Mother.
“When you were gone, she closed up. We haven’t seen or heard from that girl in ten years.”
I watched them step out of view, mind flying over the newest piece of my puzzle. I’d been Candy’s. Before the Change, she’d wanted me. It was a powerful moment, knowing I’d had at least one person I had trusted enough to be attached to. The rest of my family memories were awful, ugly enough to make me wish the flashes would stop. I didn’t need to know everything that had happened to me, but I longed to have those images of Candice in place in the proper order, rather than the choppy picture that I worried might always be there.
Aware of the quiet, I moved outside with careful steps, seeing her cousin was still near the scattered packages. I gathered the items back into the box quickly, sure she was watching. I wanted to say something, like “sorry they fell on your head.” but I knew better. Changelings didn’t handle the sound of male voices very well. Candice was the only exception I’d ever seen.
As I turned to go, Angelica moved in front of me, and I instinctively looked up to the window. I already viewed Candice as my protector, and her cousin saw it. She grinned at me.
I was leery of her, but Candice clearly trusted the smaller woman, and I decided I would give her a chance. She didn’t seem to be hateful, just… in pain. “Sorry.”
Angelica’s face paled, eyes flickering.
I hurried around her, worried again over the new rules I needed to learn. I had no idea what was expected of me, and I was so tired! I’d only allowed myself a few minutes rest, and I could feel the veins throbbing in my head.
I moved through her open door with a quick look that confirmed Candice was still in my room, and kept my steps steady. I had to stop tiptoeing around her. It was embarrassing, but even more, it angered her, and that wouldn’t help my plans to stay close. I stepped into the room and set the box where it had been before.
A small smile was playing along her lips, and those flat, black eyes were warmer, more relaxed than I’d seen so far. She liked being at home, I realized. How nice that must feel.
“Are you done for now?”
I nodded at her amused question, unable to miss the way her cloak clung to her hips. Covered, she was a dangerous foe to be recognized on sight. Clad for bed, she was an exotic, tattooed temptation with fiery eyes and sharp nails. She hadn’t touched me since my lesson about who was in charge, and I was on fire at even the thought… and I was still afraid. I couldn’t seem to get rid of it.

C
I saw the bags under his eyes, the wild hair he liked to be neat, and took pity on him. “Get in bed.”
Daniel flinched back instead of being relieved, and I shook my head. “You, not me.”
He flushed, but moved toward the bed, and I took up a seat on the ledge. I’d often laid here as a child and stared out the window at his house. Now, he was in my room, pushing his boots off to climb into my bed. The moment was intense, and I kept my heat to myself, knowing he needed to sleep before dealing with another of my… attacks.
Despite my good will, the sight of him removing the cloak and tossing it over the headboard like a man getting ready for a fun evening, had me standing up. Maybe I could use a nap as well.
I only took off my cloak and weapons belt, then my boots, before dropping heavily into the soft bed. I turned away, letting my eyes close. I had dreamed of sharing a bed with him, of feeling this peace, but wasn’t sure I’d really thought it would happen. I had bought his things and made my plans because it’s the way I was. I wouldn’t accept any less than what I wanted, but I had felt fear. Now that we were here, I could breathe again.
I listened to him get settled, wondering if my parents’ words had given him a flash of me. I’d heard them with my Changeling ears and hoped…

D
I realized she was tired, too, and relaxed a little. I hadn’t slept on the train-ride except for ten minute droops when my eyes simply refused to stay open any longer. I was grateful for the books and the light she’d provided, and very surprised by the size of the box I’d been shoved into. It had even held a port-o, which kept me from arriving in a totally humiliating state.
I knew who Candice was now. I didn’t remember all of our moments, but I had enough of them to finally understand why she’d chosen me. I was wanted! I had my loving owner…

I didn’t remember dozing off, but I came awake instantly at the feel of the woman lying on my chest.
Candice was snoring softly, breath even, and I guessed she’d been there for a while from the drool spot she was leaving on my shirt. She was open in that moment, no longer the hardened killer, but only that little girl I’d loved, all grown up. The past snagged me, and I went back into the grayness as a flash rippled over my mind.
“I won’t eat them.”
“Yes, you will.”
“You can’t make me!”
“Wanna bet?”
I was under the concrete slabs, one of my favorite hiding places because of the graffiti the runaways left, and she’d tossed the apples into my hideout. I hadn’t asked her for them!
“If I come in there, I’ll make you eat them all right now and get the shits.”
“Go away!” I was still crying from the awful words my sister had beaten me with, and the sight of a Pruett standing between me and escape had me striking out like a cornered rat.
“Fine, starve. Don’t know why I tried.”
She moved away and I waited, not sure if it was a trick. My family hated the Pruetts, called them killers of the worst sort, but the apples, well… I hadn’t had an apple in my whole life that I knew of, and here were five of them!
It took me until dark to finish her gift, sitting in that fly-infested shade with apple juice all over my chin and seeds littering the rubble. I buried a few of them in the gritty sand, not really thinking they would grow, but in my heart, I needed something to hope for.
I woke again at a louder, uneasy snort from the Changeling on my chest, but the memory remained vivid. I ended up getting slapped for the stains on my clothes and the carpet the next day, but that had been the start of a friendship I’d never completely forgotten.
I tracked her down on her own property a week later, sitting in one of the deadly thorn trees outside this very house. She grinned when she came out for school and saw me. We’d been together every day after that.
That friendship had held me through, given me strength to cling to, and it was still hard to place adult Candice with my little friend. Even now, the girl’s face, her eyes… it was hard to believe it was this woman, and I studied her intently. In my concentration, I didn’t realize she’d stopped snoring.

C
My normal process upon waking was to examine the chinks in my control and shore them up before facing a day among my family. I never really relaxed around them, and I feared it would be that way with Daniel as well. I was so afraid of doing it again. The injury I’d caused to my Mother was unforgivable some days, and the only way to face her was to ensure I was in complete control around her at all times. With Daniel, that would be a struggle, and I began like any other day... I took a deep breath.
His smells swirled into my nose and set fire to everything they touched. Musky and sharp, I wasn’t ready for the Change.
My fingers tangled in the blanket as I struggled to keep from flipping into an animal. I didn’t know he was awake until he spoke.
“I still hate apples.”
Those words told me he was remembering how we’d met, and I snorted, not realizing I was being distracted from the rising need.
“Shouldn’t have eaten them all at once.”
“You should have told me.”
“I kinda did.”
Daniel chuckled, but the sadness and anger were clear in his answer. “I’d never had one before.”
I hadn’t known that and felt my heart clench. I drew back to look at him. “You’ll never be neglected again.”
He gave me a slow smile and reached out a big hand to gently smooth a lock of hair back behind my ear. “Thank you for not forgetting about me.”
I leaned into his caress, closing my eyes at the pleasure of his simple touch. “I’ve needed you my whole life. There was no choice to be made.”
I felt him shift and kept my eyes closed; waiting to see what he would do at that admission. Did he know of true emotion… of love? His hand gently drew me closer and his lips pressed softly to mine, but only lingered for a second of fire before moving back.
Wanting a real kiss, I dropped my head to his chest. When he sighed lowly, the noise rumbled through his chest and into my head like a bullet. He sounded happy.

D
I was so surprised by every new thing I learned about her, but even more, by her control, and it made me bolder. She hadn’t snapped once, and the blood she’d drawn was only light nail marks that were mostly gone now. I was remembering our past, starting to relax with her. Would she take me soon? I couldn’t stop the tensing of my arms or the rising of my trousers. She noticed both.
Her breath caught, and then her nostrils flared as she scented my desire. I heard her nails rip into the sheet next to my hip and chose to face my fear. I pushed the rules into a mental file and locked it up tight. From now on, I would play this game by instinct.
“Candy…”
I knew what it did to her, to hear my voice, but I was only guessing about the name. I sensed I had the right to call her that and more, and it was confirmed when she only tensed further.
“It’s the start of a new day…”
I was able to tell when she understood by the way the tension already sparking between us flared up hot enough to burn. I wasn’t sure which way she would go, or even which way I was rooting for. She was so dangerous… so sexy.
“As you would.”
My heart thumped, and a grin spread across my face that surprised me. It seemed I’d been rooting after all.
I wasn’t as careful as I’d intended to be when I slid a hand around her waist and pulled her fully on top of me. My other hand went behind her tattooed neck and tugged her down for a taste of that sweet mouth. I wanted her even though I was scared, and now was as good a time as any to make it clear.
My tongue dipped inside her mouth, catching her groan. It rolled through my body like the drugs they’d used before, and I forgot my place. I rolled us over like I’d been taught, pressing my hard body against her with a sharp thrust that sent the blood pounding into my heads.
I deepened the kiss, automatically protecting myself from her razor-like claws as she writhed beneath me, and I stroked her sleepy skin without a thought to where it was leading, full of her taste, her sounds. She mewled, driving me into sliding a hand under her shirt to cup a full breast. I squeezed, thrusting against her.
“Candice…?”

C
The sound of Angelica’s voice had him rolling away from me, and I groaned. Damn it!
“Candice?”
“We’ll be down!”
My shout killed the rest of the moment, and I reluctantly stood to face the new evening.
“Get a shower and come on down. I’ll be waiting.”
He moved for the washroom right away, and I tried not to think about my flames or charring skin as I laid out what I wanted him to wear. He looked so good in blue.

D
I sat where she’d pointed and kept my head down as her Mother handed out heaping plates that smelled better than anything I’d scrounged from the Network. They didn’t want their bachelors to get too big, too strong, and I slid my hands under my legs to keep from reaching for a spoon before anyone else.
I nodded my thanks and got a warm smile in return.
“You’re welcome,” Mary stated.
The friendly tone made me stare. It took a moment to understand that Candice’s parent was in stage three. How did a… meek woman manage to run a bounty-hunting family?
The table was wide, leaving plenty of room between me and the younger female on my left. The bags under Angelica’s eyes said she’d passed a rough night, and I wondered why she didn’t have a mate yet. Maybe she did, I amended, and turned my attention away before drawing hers.
The light from the windows was a pretty shade of orange and purple, but the feel of the soft breeze and the scents of nature had my eye now. I hadn’t been outside after being turned over to the Head Defender at the complex. I frowned, thinking I might…
Squawk!
A large black shape with broad wings landed on the window ledge and croaked. Squawk!
It had beady eyes that stared at me intently, and I watched it hop around in delight. I’d only seen birds in books. “What is it?”
They were all watching me, my reaction. I flushed, dropping my head. I wasn’t supposed to speak unless spoken to, and I waited for my punishment. Would her Mother be as lenient?
“It’s a raven.”
The tone was warm enough to get me to look up. I didn’t see any anger, and I immediately pushed. “Are they pets?”
That drew a frown that had me cringing back.
“No. Nature turned against man years ago. Pets are not safe to have.”
I nodded like I understood and vowed to keep my mouth shut unless I was asked a question.

C
“A fresh contract came this morning.”
Not expecting a call, I looked up from my soup to see my Mother’s frown.
“They want four of us on this one.”
That got my attention, and I nodded in response to her raised brow directed at Daniel. “Do you want him to hear?”
“Go ahead.” Better that he saw what we did for a living now, so he understood the life we would lead.
She slid the disk into the wall screen, and we listened to the computer-generated voice without speaking.
“Hello and good wishes, Pruett family. The Network sends its regards and hopes to contract your services once again. Your successful record with this particular convict is why we are only paying the standard fee of 4 million UDs. Full details upon acceptance. We await your response.”
My Mother pushed another button and a very familiar face appeared on our screen.
“Baker!”
Angelica’s growl echoed mine. We had brought him in once already, and the coincidence was more than odd that it should be a contract for my lover on the same day I’d brought home my mate.
“Can’t they build a slam that will hold him?”
“How many kills does he have now?” my Father asked.
He was already sure of my choice. Of my parents, he was the one able to guess at my intentions the closest. My Mother had chosen not to go against the Network to help me save Daniel. She already knew I would pick differently.
Mary hit the info button with a resigned sigh. She was perfectly brutal on runs, but she hated them. “Thirteen. Last seen in the South.”
“What extras are they offering?” Angelica asked for me, letting me eat.
“Rations, weapons, a bonus for being fast… oh, wow.”
Again, that drew me, hearing such a fiery emotion as surprise from my changed and done parent.
“If no one else dies, they’ll throw in a breeding pass. The same if he’s brought in dead.”
Damn. Dead or alive had finally been called. What else had Baker done while I was away?
“Just for a male child right? A female would have to be aborted.”
“No. Even for twin girls.”
My heart skipped. I could have a family! But I wouldn’t get the pass, I realized. It would come in my Mother’s name, and she would have need of it when Daniel and I moved into our own home. She would want to refill these rooms with life. For her then - a small payment for the damage I’d done… and maybe a chance to tell Baker goodbye.
“I’m in.” I dug back into my vegetables and slowly became aware of the horrified eyes on me. Daniel.
His face was pale, eyes almost full of panic. “You’re leaving?”
I nodded, hoping he wanted to come because I wasn’t sure I could stand to leave him here. Surprising everyone at the table, I opened my mouth. “You’d go too?”
“Yes.”
I raised a brow at my Father. “You’ll see to it while we get things ready?”
“Of course.” No hint of how much he was looking forward to easing the other man’s fear, but I knew. We all did.
Angelica’s parents, along with my other cousin and her parents, had been away for a while tracking down a fugitive for a high-bidder from Nevada, and my Father had missed their company. With Daniel around, my Father’s needs would be met too, and I could tell I had pleased my Mother with the choice. Daniel however, looked scared, and I distracted him with anger.
“Has the fine come yet?”
“Yes. Paid.”
I nodded, thinking it was probably a surprise to Daniel to realize that our home was run as a group that reported to me. My Mother was the head, the legal ruler the Network preferred to deal with, but she’d been grooming me to take over since I was born. When I’d Changed, she’d gladly passed the reins. She didn’t have enough rage left, no edge to rely on and ensure our survival. She’d found her happiness.
“And the meeting?”
“Contact along the way.”
She’d known I would want to go after Baker, and made the arrangements. Especially after the last time, when I’d captured him only to hole-up for a month of blissful relief. I had turned him in after that, but I’d also given him the knife as we parted, so maybe I didn’t really agree with the Network on this one, either.
“Do you want to listen to the clips?”
I glanced at Daniel, seeing he’d gotten the courage to ask my Father soft questions. I nodded.
She turned it on, and then moved to her seat as the computer voice floated through the kitchen.
“Richard Baker, Male. Responsible for 13 murders of Network employees. Recently, he escaped by slitting the throats of the transport pilots while being taken to the Network’s no daylight compound. With Baker, are two other fugitives. Cowan James and a female named Sammi Moore. Both have separate rewards. Last seen in Nashville, where Network forces were ambushed and took heavy losses. The Network prefers that none of the three be brought back alive, but will still pay for a capture. Please contact the Network rep for your zone with further questions or supply requests not already on the Pruett family lists. On behalf of all the citizens of New Network Lands, thank you and happy hunting.”
Silence filled the warm room, mostly waiting for me and Angelica to run through it. We usually hunted non-stop when we went on a run, and then spent a day resting before setting an ambush. With Daniel at my side, I’d be distracted. Plus, a 4-man crew for Baker was light. My eyes narrowed. “We should bring in the Trackers.”
“I agree.” Angelica had been thinking the same thing, and we looked to the only one legally allowed to make the call.
“In the morning.”
I could tell by my Mother’s tone that she wanted to do it this time, and again, it surprised me. She hated the snake-women. “We’ll need to add up the total payday so we’ll know the split,” I instructed.
“I’ll do it.” My Father moved gracefully toward the wall screen, and I pushed myself away from the cluttered table.
The instant I got up, Daniel began cleaning it. He put things back where he’d seen them taken from, neatly stacking the dishes for washing. No one spoke, all of us watching his practiced, involuntary movements. It had been a long time since we’d had a trained male around. We’d forgotten how deeply they, too, had been changed.
“Daniel.”
He turned to me at once, face etched with worry at our stares.
“Leave it. We have a cleaner.”
His face flushed, and I felt sympathy for him but said nothing else, even though I could feel that my parents wanted me to. Daniel had been broken. It would take time to repair.
“Seven even is 1.4.”
That was a good haul. I turned to my Father. “See what you can do with him while Angel and I sort the gear. We’ll head out early.”
Angelica fell in on my heels, and I could feel the waves of fury radiating from her at the use of the name. I waited until we were almost to the door before spinning around. “Now pull it back!”
It was a command from a level two Changeling, harsh and penetrating. Her red eyes flashed, going pink, and her fists clenched in effort. A snarl, tighter fists, and then only flat black looked back at me.
Without a word, I headed for the door, and she followed. Only a year into the Change… her control was remarkable. Even I hadn’t been able to master it so fast.
“Thanks.”
Angelica hadn’t wanted to attack me, and I slung my arm back around her shoulders. “I do know what it feels like to be called by the old name. It hurts.”
“Yeah.”
As we left the room, Daniel’s eyes burned into my back, and I didn’t have to see the worry in them to know it was there. Fear of being sold or left behind, worry about not being able to keep up with us, but more, worry over my safety against a hardened killer. He may have seen a few matches, but he hadn’t really seen what I could do. Neither had the Network. Just because Daniel couldn’t give me a clue to the Ring, didn’t mean I would give up. Someone had taken what was mine, violated it, and hurt it. Someone would pay the price and maybe… just maybe, it would go higher up than them.
I’d had a fresh look for the last week, views of abuse, cruelty, and humiliation that I could find little reason for. Shouldn’t something endangered be handled carefully and encouraged to repopulate? Was there any excuse for the brutality Daniel and the others had been subjected to? These thoughts had kept me company on the train and left me with a single realization… Something needed to be done.
My mind shuddered, unhappily accepting the shift in plans for the future. I’d hoped to retire next year with my mate. Instead, at the end of this run, I might find myself tracking through Gatlinburg or even the Borderlands with my ears to the ground. There had always been rebellions against New Network control, pockets of resistance lurking. Another mental shudder. Perhaps I would be of assistance to them.
“What are you thinking?”
With anyone else, I would have lied. With Angelica, there was no need. “About taking them down.”
She knew exactly who I meant. “I’m in.”
Her eager tone sent the heat rushing into my veins and I grinned at her. Never mess with the Pruetts. When you challenged one, you got us all. “We’ll think on it during the run and maybe come up with some plans.”

Chapter Eleven


C
“All done?” Mary asked quietly from the doorway of the largest shed.
Angelica nodded, tightening down the storage cap next to the Mopars. “Locked and loaded.”
My Mother’s face was already younger, and my thoughtful mood eased into something that resembled peace. Danger was one of the few things that could still draw a spark of who she had been. Baker alone was a challenge. With two other killers and my mate along for the ride, it should be stressful, and my Mother was already mentally preparing for it.
“He can shoot and load… and he asked to join us.”
I let out a growl that quickly faded. Daniel had to be near me. If he could be helpful, all the better. “Sign him up.”
As my Mother disappeared from the doorway of the shed, Angelica’s voice was curiously low. “What odds would you give me in the Games?”
It wasn’t as if I hadn’t been expecting the question. I gave her a full blast of my Changeling grin and watched her nostrils flare at the direct challenge before she pulled it back in.
“Better than mine were.”
Her pale face held only pride, and I nodded. “We’ll start working on it at your word.”
She spun from the shed before her mouth could betray how bad the agony was becoming, knowing she could take a little more. Being in the house with two males would be more than many Changelings could stand. The sound of their voices alone was torture, one of the reasons my Father spoke so softly. I held little doubt he would teach Daniel to do the same.
Finished with a tune-up of our vehicles, the sound of steady firing drew me, pulled me against my will. I didn’t want my being there to frighten Daniel, but the steady bangs told me he was doing well enough that it may not matter now. My Father would never allow him to waste so many rounds. The Network was generous, but not endless, and we had our own stocks to fill. He was hitting what he aimed at, and I stepped around the shed to watch.
Daniel instantly seemed too young, too vulnerable to have a gun in his hand, but there was no denying the fit was nice. It gave him another level of attraction that was hard to resist. His cloak was pushed back to allow access to the holster he’d been given, and the thick muscles of his arms and back flexed against the material of his shirt with each gentle pull of the trigger. Daniel with one of my guns… heat.

D
I felt her watching me, but tried to keep my attention on the targets. Her father, Bruce, was nice, understanding. He’d already given me three pieces of very valuable advice.
“That’s enough.”
Her voice was laced with that edge of hunger again, the one I was coming to think of as the control line, and I handed the gun to the observant man at my side. “Thank you.”
“Sure. We’ll do another lesson after breakfast.”
I nodded, drawing my cloak closed. I felt the heat in her gaze ease a bit and understood she’d been leering at me. Good. That was one of the three things I’d been advised about, though I wasn’t sure how much of flashing her my body I was comfortable with. Her Father seemed to think that once we bonded fully, Candice would burn down and be safe, like her Mother. I wasn’t sure I wanted that either…
“I’ll be inside.”
Her Father left us alone, and I stayed facing away, thinking about all she’d done for me. Had she known he would answer my questions? Every word had brought me closer to full memory.
“Daniel.”
Of course she’d known, and the tremor of worry had me turning to comfort her.
“I’m not mad that you couldn’t stop my being sold,” I guessed, accurately from her flinch. “How could I be? You came for me.”
Her face slowly melted into the girl I’d been seeing flashes of for as long as I could remember.
“I’m sorry it took me so long.”
Those words broke my heart, but in a good way as well as bad. My family had sold me out, but she’d come for me. I could trust her. “I’m sorry I haven’t remembered everything.”
She shook her head, taking a small step closer. “I remember!”
Instinct said she wanted to be held, and I stepped toward her carefully, but without the weight of the fear I usually carried. I slid my arms around her slowly, feeling the heat of her Changeling body burst into flames at the contact.


C
The feel of his willingness to comfort me was more than a spark, or a fire, or even a blaze. It was an eruption, but not of lust – of caring. It smothered the furious rage, allowing a sense of peace that had me clutching his shoulder in a sob of relief. I’d missed him!
His big hand rubbed my back, causing me to melt into his embrace, and we stayed that way for a long moment. I had my mate, and though he didn’t remember me exactly, he knew who I was. The feeling of it was incredible.
Around us, the darkness turned black, and we faded into the shadows as the moon disappeared. That romantic aura of being totally alone invaded the row of trees, and I forced my hands to let go of him. Daniel had been severely mistreated, and I intended to give him the space to adjust.
His grip on me loosened reluctantly, and I sought only to ease his sudden tension with the brush of my hand against his cheek… except he turned his head at the same time and placed those full lips directly under my fingertips.
…and then he kissed them! My reaction was instant.


D
Taking advantage of the privacy, I surrendered to her sudden passion and let the feel of her lips against mine carry me into that vivid world of pleasure that only she seemed to induce. In my eagerness to be bonded with her, I forgot the other two things I’d been told and allowed myself to be distracted from who she was and where we were. When the ground suddenly pressed into my back, all I could do was arch at the feel of her body lying across mine.
“Oh, get a room, already!”
Angelica’s tortured snarl as she went by had us both laughing. The sound of it instantly sent me into a flash of the past.
“You do it.”
“I’ll get punished.”
“Not if I tell them it was me. Go on now, take a turn.”
I drew my arm back to throw the egg at the window and lost my grip. I squeezed…
The egg cracked open on top of my head and splattered us both in goo.
Candy laughed at my expression, hand coming up to swipe at the yolk. “That wasn’t what I had in mind.”
We’d been friends. Knowing I’d had one was still something of a relief and a shock to me, and I pressed my lips to her cheek. “At least there’s no egg this time.”
She chuckled, sharing the memory with me as we stood and moved toward the house.
“Don’t give her any ideas.”
I kept my arm around those slender hips as we walked and felt her pleasure at the boldness. I had decided if I was going to bounty hunt with her and her family, I’d better try to find some courage. I wasn’t sure I was cut out for being brave, but if I got to be with Candy, I was more than willing to try. It was amazing how fast my feelings for her were changing. I was in awe, with a slight fear that she was breaking through with every minute we spent together.

Three hours later, I couldn’t wait to try the bed.
We were sitting on the long couch, listening to an old collection of music I’d never heard, and the soft tones were dragging me into sleep against my will. The Pruetts were still going over the fine details of the trip, and the comforting feel of the room was one I had little resistance to.
Candice was against my hip, where she’d settled us upon coming in, and I inhaled deeper as a draft blew her scent over me. I could get used to this. The thought had me smiling, and I failed to notice the sudden silence until her hand slid to my arm. Her fingers were gentle, a caress, and I closed my eyes at the contact. Affection was foreign to me, and I absorbed the emotions like a sponge. This was what I’d hope for as I lay in the Network cot. Not an owner, but a lover.
The conversation resumed and I let the feel of her hand on my arm send me into a place of warm comfort.

C
I didn’t look away from his face as the others left the room. It was later than we usually stayed up the night before a run, but the atmosphere had been good for all of us. It was a drastic change for my family to see me be tender with someone, and their thoughts were easy to pick up. They were glad I’d been strong enough to bring him home, but they were even happier to find out he was indeed what I needed. They were already noticing the differences… and so was I.
“Daniel.”
His eyes snapped open, and the fear I hated flashed across his sleepy face as he realized we were alone.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean…”
I stood up before he could finish the apology. My voice was sharper than I intended. “You’re allowed.”
Daniel paled at my sudden mood flip and I drew in a deep breath. “I get… upset easily. It’s not at you.”
He nodded, but I could tell he didn’t understand. I stayed away from him as I struggled to explain why I was angry.
“What happened to you… hurts me. When I see… signs of it, I…”
“Want to spill blood.”
I gave him my Games grin. “I want to taste it.”
Daniel returned my look, face finally twisting into the hatred I had suspected.
“I’d be there for that!”
Satisfied he understood my feelings, I held out a hand. “Maybe you will.”
We moved upstairs with an awkward silence between us. I could feel him wondering about the sleeping arrangements, worrying over it. I let him off the hook despite not knowing how I’d sleep without him. “You can stay in your room if you like. It’s your choice.”
I smothered my disappointment when he headed for the second door, and pulled him back for a fast press of my lips to his that sent the need flaring into alertness.
I drew back, eyes searching his flushed face for some hint of what I needed. “Good night, Daniel.”
He trembled, reading me, and I spun away, very aware of my thin control. It would be safer for him to not be at my side tonight anyway, I told my wounded heart. We had plenty of nights to spend together.

D
I huddled under the blankets of the huge bed. I was determined not to be the coward anymore, but it was so loud here! There was no layer of Network rubber to muffle it or to provide fire protection, and I kept my mouth tightly shut. Why had I chosen my room? I wanted to be in her room, her bed… her safety.
Outside, the storm picked up, and I heard every detail through my fear. The wind howled, shoving at the Pruett family home like it was made of gel.
Whhooo!
The wildlife was another part I couldn’t get past. I’d never heard the real hoot of an owl or the call of a wolf, and it terrified me to realize these were living things I was now sharing a life with.
The walls vibrated, shifting as the storm increased, and I pulled the blanket over my head to hide the sounds.
“Daniel.”
I let out a shout, felt her wince.
“Come to bed.”
My feet hit the cold floor an instant later. I hadn’t thought she knew of my storm fears, but it was clear she did.
I moved inside her room and climbed into her bed before I noticed the blanket on the window landing. She’d been having trouble sleeping, too. It was another of those surprising discoveries. I had assumed Candice quickly fell out like the other Changelings, but from the twisted blankets, I understood that wasn’t true.
She stopped in the doorway, torn about where she should go? I knew where I wanted her, and I slid over with a pointed look.

C
It felt so odd to be following his lead.
From our first days at the complex, I’d been expecting a timid male who would have to be encouraged to even ask for his own needs. I was prepared to deal with it, to try and replace what the Network had taken from him, but it was a shock to learn that so much of my Daniel still existed. How had he managed to retain those manly instincts? Network methods were brutal, total… Did the others have this fire still? Was it possible that these enslaved men had been fooling everyone?
I dropped heavily onto the bed, weary lids closing. After sleeping with his big body so close, I’d found it impossible to drift off. I had moved to the window and managed to doze a bit by staring at his old home and telling myself he was safe now, under my protection.
Daniel shifted next to me, rolling onto his side. “Are you okay?”
My breath caught at his concern. It had been so long since he’d spoken to me that way! I was horrified to find tears sliding from the corner of my eyes. This was the first night of our forever.
“Candice?”
I rolled away from him, embarrassed by my lack of control. I stiffened when he slid that warm body against me and wrapped a big arm around my waist. He buried his head against my neck, melting against me like he’d always belonged there, and I cried for the first time since he’d been stolen from my life.
When he pulled on my arm, I surrendered and let him hold me close while I sobbed against his chest. He didn’t say anything, just rubbed my back and held me. I fell asleep in his arms before the tears stopped.
Chapter Twelve




The Network
“It would have been better if she had died.”
“Yes.”
“Are we sure this is a good idea?”
“As much as we can be.”
“Did they take the run?”
“Yes.”
There was silence in the top tower room of the Network complex, but outside, the streets were alive with chaos. A bomb had destroyed half a block this morning, and the guards were currently turning out apartments, executing suspected traitors. The blast had shaken the very dome around the complex. The rebels were growing bolder.
“I don’t trust them. The Pruetts aren’t loyal.” Meaning they weren’t in debt to the Network and therefore controllable.
“But they are very good at what they do. Baker will be ours in days.”
“I still can’t believe he’s alive after all the trouble we went to with the last ambush.”
“I told you to use the Pruetts.”
“Well, we are now. You’re sure they’ll find him?”
“Yes. He needs help getting the other males out of our lands and into the safe zone.”
“If they make it that far, we’ll lose him.”
“No. We’ll follow the Pruetts right to the stronghold where they’re all gathering.”
“What if they find out? Join the rebellion?”
“Plans are in place for that contingency.”
 “Do they know he’s a rebel?’
“Not that we’re aware of. Baker inheriting it from his father happened while she was away at the Time Trials.”
“Won’t the rebels get suspicious if the Pruetts show up, and then there’s an attack?”
“It won’t matter if we take out the right people. Baker, the stronghold’s current leader, and any other leadership we find along the way. We’ve got moles trying to get inside from a dozen different sources, but these games are always the best draw because they’re watched so much. Perfect place to dangle bait.”
 “What’s so special about these bachelors that the rebels will want them?”
“With these breeders, the male population could be recovered enough for them to become a common part of society again.”
“We can’t let that happen!”
“No shit, Sherlock.”
Outside the complex, the sounds of screams and gunshots rose to drown out the demolition crew already re-clearing the road.
“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.
He let go of my waist, turning around to look, and then toppled from the Mopar like a sack of potatoes.
I spun in a wide circle, spraying dirt and gravel with a harsh grunt as I struggled to keep the vehicle from tipping at the sharp change of direction. I slid to a quick stop next to him, worried.
Daniel looked up at me with something akin to exasperation. “You scared them off!” He swiped at the dust now coating him and frowned deeper. “My ass hurts.”
For the second time in as many days, I heard the sound of my own laugher and felt complete.

Chapter Thirteen

Northern Kentucky


D
We traveled straight through to the Petrified Forests with only a single break. Fifteen hours all at once. I hadn’t ridden a bike before, and when I pried my aching body from it, I slid to my knees at the cramps. It was her Father who clued me in to finding relief.
“Walk around. It helps.”
Candice and Angelica were already securing what I assumed to be our campsite, and I did as Bruce suggested, trying not to groan.
A few of the trees that surrounded us were small and green enough to have been planted after the War, and I wondered who would have thought to do it in the aftermath of a nuclear apocalypse. The petrified trees in comparison were enormous, staggering in their size, and so bland from death that they seemed more like walls left by man than a former part of nature.
“Why are there no animals?”
I saw Candice roll her eyes. Her Mother snorted.
Bruce answered me. “They won’t live where people do. They’ve gotten… smarter. They hide in the forests and jungles. Hunting fresh meat is a lot harder now than it was back in the days when I was a kid.”
That got a grin from me. Bruce and Mary, her parents, were very nice. “Around back then, were ya?”
Bruce snorted happily at the joking, telling me I’d pegged him right. He was lonely, too. “Ancient, that’s me.”
I turned back toward Candice, hiding a groan at the soreness. The bikes rode so easy I hadn’t expected this, but I had enjoyed the beauty of the areas we drove through. Nature was uncontrolled out here… Like the Pruetts, I realized. The Network had them compliant, but under control? Not with this family, and I wasn’t the only one to know it. The few homes we’d rolled by held people, but none of them had come out or even waved from a window at our passing. For some reason, I had thought the Pruetts were upstanding members of lower-Network society, but what I had seen so far suggested they were a dangerous necessity that was shunned unless needed… and feared then.
I looked around at the towering trees, the thick green underbrush that lined this secluded area. I had never camped outdoors before. Should I offer to help even though I didn’t know what to do? I chose to follow the lead of the other male here.
When her Father began unpacking his bike, I headed for ours. He flashed me an approving nod and the next half hour was gone before I knew it, as he showed me how to set up a temporary camp. It was sweaty work, but satisfying to see the results and know I had done it.
I looked up with a smile of welcome when Candice and Angelica returned from their sweep of the area, feeling good.

C
When he smiled at me like that, my heart opened up and became a gnashing pain that demanded I kill someone. He had been mine, and then he was taken, and no one had paid for that yet!
I watched his happiness fade at my anger, but I couldn’t explain that every smile, every tender moment we shared, was a reminder of all the years we had lost and would never have back. Even more, it was a slap in the face to have him so changed. He wasn’t the only one adjusting.
“The Trackers picked up his trail in Jericho.”
My Father immediately started to repack the camp. We always hunted without pause until we caught our man, but this time, my mate was along. “They’ll meet us here.”
My Mother and Angelica stared at me, but my Father’s pleased look was the one I cared for. Daniel and I would get close, no doubt, but my Father was the other male here, and he would be aware of Daniel’s needs (in some areas) before I was. “We’ll have a hot meal, too.”
I moved to where Daniel stood, seeing he was doing exactly what he’d been trained for – following a lead. Suddenly angry again, I grabbed his hand and tugged him away from their prying eyes.
I could feel his tension, his worry, but I stopped us out of earshot (of a conversation) and let go of his warm hand. I leaned against a brittle tree trunk, smelling the centuries of decay and wild growth. To me, it was heaven compared to the stench of New Network City, and I wondered suddenly if he missed it there at all. Had he held friendships to mourn? Sighing, I tried to let the serenity of the area soak into my concerns.
With a population of less than a thousand, Kentucky was untamed country, and I loved it here. Some day, this is where I would build a home and raise my own family. That thought had me turning to Daniel. If we were going to have a future, we had to get a few things straight.
I slid to the ground and waited for him to do the same. He didn’t speak, not sure what he’d done wrong, and I tried to comfort him before we really got into details. “We need to talk before you go any further with me.”
I winced, as he did, hearing how ominous it sounded. I grunted. “It’s just about our future, relax.”
Again, not the words I’d wanted, and I closed my eyes, realizing I was nervous. Why?
Because I needed something from him here, some sign that we had a future. The spark between us said Daniel could help me control the Changeling, but we were about to hunt down my former lover. I had to know where we stood, and the fact that it had been less than two weeks didn’t matter at this point. I would see Baker tomorrow or the next day, and the convict would know we weren’t fully bonded yet. Baker was perfectly content to just be my lover, and if he thought I held any doubt, he would do what he could to remain as such.
“Are you… unhappy with me?”
Daniel’s words had me staring stupidly. Was he kidding? “No.”
I could tell he wanted more, and the lump in my chest eased a bit. I hated emotional talks, but I was glad to see he was willing. “I find you very pleasing.”
His handsome face flushed, and I grinned, the soft one reserved only for him. “Not just in that way.”
Daniel smiled back, relaxing as he understood it wasn’t a bad talk I wanted, just an awkward one.
“And what of you? Are you… unhappy with me?”
He shook his head, eyes growing intense. “Just the opposite.”
There was a charged silence while we stared, exchanging slight grins. I felt so odd to be flirting! I had thought those things were gone for me. “You know I’d give you real freedom? If you ever want it.”
Daniel frowned, nodding quickly. “But I won’t.”
I shrugged, wanting to believe that would always be true, but hadn’t I hurt my own parent? Who was to say the same thing wouldn’t drive him from my arms? He was a trembling mass most moments, but I had my own fears to handle as well, and I conquered one of them now.
“Do you want kids… someday?”

D
That shocked me, and I could only nod my head, unable to speak. I’d been sure she didn’t after the way she’d yelled at my… sister. I couldn’t picture Candice as a mother, and the idea that she wanted children sent so many of my theories up in flames. She must like them, I thought stupidly, seeing a flash of her after she had won the final match. A mother with blood on her hands, murder on her soul.
She was watching me, evaluating my reaction, and I wondered why it mattered so much to her. Candice owned me. If she chose to register us for breeding, who was I to argue?
“Do you have children, Daniel?”
Raw Pain. “Yes.”
She was reading my face for what I didn’t say. I could tell she wanted me to open up, but that was a ghost I shared with no one, and I stayed silent, trying to mend the rift in my heart… again. I had to every time the thought of being a father and never seeing the child tore me apart from the inside.
“I might be able to find them for you… if you give me details on their mothers.”
Stunned into shock again, I gaped at her with my mouth open. Why would she do that?
“How many?”
I forced my mouth to work. “Two.”
“It was recorded?”
I nodded, not allowing myself to hope. “Through the Games.”
“I’ll see what I can find out.”
Her offer came easily, along with a tone that said maybe I’d misjudged this violent female in a lot of ways. It allowed me to form a question of my own.
“If you find them, will I… can I see them? Even if they don’t know I’m there?”
She studied me with those unreadable eyes, but after a week, I had picked up a bit about my new owner. I sensed she held a deep sympathy for the torment I‘d just revealed.
“If I can arrange it.”
She didn’t make a false promise or a claim she couldn’t back up. It sent that hope I‘d denied into my heart and spilling out of my mouth. “Please! I have to know if they’re…”
I stopped, about to let go of a secret I’d been guarding for years.
Candice raised a brow. “If they’re what?”
I dropped my eyes and hoped she missed the tremor in my voice. “If they’re suffering like you and all the others… or if they’re immune.”

C
I stared at him in shock, my turn to be speechless. Immune. To the Change. I’d never heard of anyone who was. The pain in Daniel’s voice, in those eyes, was more than I could take, and I instinctively knew how to ease it. That horror would only fade when he had a child he was allowed to keep. Mine, I thought with warmth running through my Changeling body that was stronger than the rest of the fire he drew from me.
His words slammed through my brain again.  Immune. My children not having to face this agony, our future brighter, more productive and peaceful without the terrors of guiding my kids through the blood.
Was he lying? No. There was too much open hope in his eyes. How did he know of it anyway? Were there others? Questions started flying through my mind, and I took a minute to organize them into what mattered the most.
When I finally responded, I kept my voice even, not letting him see how much hope I also wanted to have. “Why do you think they might be?”
He was ready for me this time and gave the answer I instinctively knew the Network would guard at any cost.
“They experiment on the males they hold. When my tests came back, they put me into the breeding program. We were supposed to be so drugged that we wouldn’t remember most of it, but I have a high tolerance. They talked a lot.”
“You’ve remembered being taken.”
His eyes flamed with an anger he had every right to feel. “Yes. During the ride here.”
His eyes flashed again, this time with bitterness. “I remember what they did to me.”
I knew he was thinking of his family’s betrayal, but my own mind was on immunity. Was it possible? I had a hundred questions to ask, but Angelica’s light steps were moving our way. I pushed it back.
Angelica stepped into the clearing a second later, and Daniel stared at my cousin in a way that had me leaning toward him. “What are you thinking right now?”
His tone was unsteady, and his words stunned us both.
“They could have stopped her pain maybe, by now. They’ve had an experimental vaccine for half a decade.”
“We have company!”
My Mother’s excited call had me instantly moving toward the campsite, motioning Angelica to watch after Daniel. As I went, the word vaccine exploded in my head, over and over, like a bomb blast. The Network had a cure… and hadn’t told anyone. That might be enough to bring them down.

D
I followed Candice back to camp, able to feel the rage and the confusion of the younger Changeling trailing me. She wanted to question, I could feel it, but she kept silent as we entered camp.
Our company was the Trackers, and I stared in utter fascination. I’d heard of odd females, but this! Covered in scales that had to be from real snakes, they were vibrant shapes that flashed and glinted as they moved, a foreign mystery I studied without a thought of my rudeness… my lure to all these females, Snake Worshipers or not.
The three females were extremely tall and lanky, with cruel eyes that lit up in hunger at the sight of me. They wore animal fur for clothes, their weapons and gear strapped to their tattooed skin like shirts, and I stayed back as they entered the camp. Like the Snake women, their horses were also covered in the scales, even their manes and tails, and I realized they would blend perfectly into the natural surroundings. How clever! I continued to stare as Candice stepped forward to greet them.
“Congratulations are in order…sss.”
“Yes…sss. How does he taste?”
There was a round of nasty laughter from the serpent-tongued scouts, and I felt Angelica tense behind me. She didn’t like the females.
“Where’s Baker?”
The tone was hard, enough to snap my head to Candice, and the Tracker females bowed to it as well, turning to her.
“In Jericho.”
“And the others?”
“Nashville a week ago, but there have been storms. No traveling out of there when it floods. They’ll be trapped until the waters go down…sss.”
“You’re headed there now?”
‘Yes, with a quick sss…stop in Cumberland for supplies.”
“Good. Call when you make contact. If we have Baker by then, we’ll meet up, and you can ride in for the exchange.”
The three females immediately shook their heads, and the one I was sure lead them, spoke with fast words.
“We’ll take our cut from you, like always...sss. It’s a bad time to deal with the Network.”
“And why is that?”
“They have a new group coming in for training, and a lot of the old people have been executed. These new rulers are filling the top ranks…sss with their own choices.”
“Yes…sss… one of them is particularly loathsome. Rankin offers high bounties to hunters, and then sends in the Network Hounds to steal the prey from them.”
I froze at the name. I loathed Rankin more than any of those who had rented me, and that very old dream of killing her was still vivid.
The other Tracker’s words made Candice snort. “No need to pay for what you can take.”
The snake females waiting for the meeting to finish were feeding their mounts handfuls of something from pouches on their saddles and I could see the animals were well cared for. Horses were rare, no matter what land you were in.
“Exactly. Be careful that you don’t meet the same trouble.” their leader warned. The huge snake tattoo on her thigh revolved as her muscles flexed to lift her into the saddle. “We’ll still expect to be paid.”
“My coffers are not so low that I can’t cover my debts,” Candice stated evenly.
The Tracker female nodded. “Just so, it is good business to have it clear up front.”
The woman swung the big black horse like it was born to obey her and I flinched back when she stopped next to me instead of leaving.
Aware of Candice moving closer, I looked up at the Tracker’s weary face, and for a moment, was able to see the tired woman underneath. Courtesy had me opening my mouth even when I knew it wasn’t a good idea. “Would you like a drink?”
My offer, or maybe my voice, had her staring intently. I felt Angelica step up to flank me, but the Tracker only shook her scaled head.
“No, but you have my thanks for the asking…sss…” She looked at me for a moment longer, eyes going over the brand on my arm being revealed every time the gusting wind blew my cloak back.
“Perhap…sss I’ll return the favor.”
She kneed the horse and left our camp, all of them kicking up dust that coated me in a layer of grit. What was it with women and ruining my clothes?
The Pruetts all turned to look at me, and I felt my cheeks go red. “I’m sorr…”
“You did nothing wrong. In fact…”
Angelica finished Candy’s thought. “You might have gained an admirer. Trackers are shunned, even by their own kind. To be offered a drink is to show an acceptance of their mutations. Most people won’t.”
I looked to Candice to figure out if I had angered her and saw she was pleased.
“She’ll understand you didn’t know. If you don’t repeat the offer, she’ll also see you’ve changed your mind and withdrawn the acceptance.”
“I won’t do that. It’s not their fault their tongues are that way.”
Candice shrugged. “But they are responsible for their actions. Be careful, Daniel. There is much you don’t know.”
It was true, and I settled, with a slight frown, into the place she liked me. So much to learn. Where did I begin? Who did I ask? Not ready for the hard thoughts waiting, I tried to find a position on the Mopar that didn’t hurt, as I listened to Candice and her family talk about going into the city of Jericho. Back before the War of 2012, it had held a different name – St. Louis.
Now, it was the lion’s den, and heavily-controlled by Network bunkers and machine gun nests. Why would a convict go there? Candice and Angelica were talking like they knew this Baker person would be there. I tried to remember what they had said at dinner that first night. They’d hunted Baker before and knew where to look, then. Would he surrender, or would they have to fight?
I was assuming Baker had escaped from his owner, but if the Pruetts had brought him in before, that meant he had gotten away from the Network. They didn’t like that rare occurrence, and never stopped hunting a male fugitive. I had seen runaway men brought back five years later, beaten, and placed right into the very Game they had fled from. The Network forgave nothing.

Chapter Fourteen

The Tennessee Crossing

D
I knew when we passed out of Kentucky by the increase in homes… people.
It looked so much like the photos that I couldn’t stop staring, as we rolled by row after row of newly constructed log cabins. In New Network City, trees and lumber were rare, and everything was made of durable foam or plastic, then covered with concrete and rubber for extra protection from the storms. Out here, natural materials were used for building, and it was remarkably serene despite the long lines of homes.
I studied the people around these simple, A-frame cabins, and again, wasn’t expecting what I couldn’t deny. They were in as much need as those in the city were, but their eyes! Everyone I met had that tell-tale pink tinge upon noticing me, and I instinctively tightened my grip on my owner’s waist, sensing the danger. These women were desperate.
We stopped for a river crossing a few minutes later, and the feeling of menace grew as we pulled into line. There were dozens of women here, all staring at me with a glare of madness. Candice and Angelica apparently felt it too, because they stood on the bikes and drew their guns. At that point, I began to understand the trouble it would be to have me along for the run. I would attract attention and maybe even fights.
At their quick display, the others went back to what they’d been doing, but their stares only grew harder the longer they were forced to be around me. I tried to shrink into the seat and disappear.
The river was out of my sight, we were that far back in the line, but I could hear a motor of some sort and wondered briefly how we would cross. In the past, they’d had clever boats to shuttle travelers. Those days, along with the old bridges, were gone now. As far as I knew, swimming or a sinker-line were the most commonly used now, but I hadn’t ever crossed even a pool of water and I wasn’t looking forward to getting wet.
I froze as a lanky form in grime-covered clothes slid toward us. “How much for an hour?”
I cringed, grabbing for my new weapon, and Candice’s hard hand on my shoulder stopped me.
“No.”
Her steel tone had the filthy woman moving back with ugly mutters, and I waited anxiously for the battle to start. I had no idea what to do.

C
Those closest were Changelings like we were, but these were also Roamers. The ones who would steal you blind and then slit your throat while you slept if you were dumb enough to do so within 50 miles of them.
I took the safety off my gun openly and heard Angelica do the same.
The Roamers worked together, attacking all at once and grabbing the male or coveted item during the chaos. One would take off and hide it while the others slowed the owner or killed her. We had the only males in sight, and their dirty gazes never left us. The sense of blood about to spill was impossible to miss.


D
“Move on!”
The call of the Network guard had us rolling a few spaces closer, and I was distracted from the tension by the sight of the river. Crystal clear, it looked nothing like the dingy bodies of water we had studied in the faded magazine pages when the Den Mothers were busy. This was beautiful, uncorrupted, and I smiled at the sight of it. “It looks so clean!”
At the sound of my excited voice, time slowed for an instant, highlighting my lethal error….

C
I thought he knew not to speak!
Angelica’s thought mirrored mine, and then we were turning to defend our males against three dozen furious Changelings.
I jerked Daniel from the Rover and shoved him behind me as Angel and my Mother moved to the flank. My Father already knew to get in the middle and he yanked Daniel down as we opened fire.
Unlike us, these women weren’t armed and they lunged at us in vain. Blood splattered before they could get within reach, steady fire coming from our three-sided formation. Four on the right side, three on the left, none of the red-eyed females reached us.
Two more hairy Changelings shoved my Mopar out of the way and dove at my ankles, clearly only seeing Daniel. I pulled the trigger with little remorse.
The gunfire only lasted for a minute. A dozen of the Roamers lay on the ground and the rest were fleeing. Even during the rages, self-preservation was there. I looked down to see that Daniel and my Father were okay, and then swung my head back to the battle scene.
The Network guards were rushing our way, and the remaining Changelings vanished from sight. At my nod, Angelica and my Mother holstered, but didn’t move out of our defensive formation.
“Hands up!”
I slowly put my gun away and lifted my hands. “My ID is in the top pocket.” I gave my Games grin, hoping to be recognized. “Along with a payment for the mess I’ve made in defense of my mate.”
Their eyes went over Daniel and my Father cowering between three well-armed females and the guard in the middle stepped forward.
She wore the same uniform and gear of a Network Defender, but I sensed a sleaziness about her that kept me from attempting to sway her to our side. Building friends and contacts was a natural part of our career, but we chose not to align ourselves with snakes… unless we had to.
The guard looked like it had been a long day, and I forced the rage back to give a half apologetic look. “I can have my males roll them into the water for you…”
“Shut up!” The woman ordered harshly, staring at Daniel with clear intentions.
I snapped back without hesitation. “I enjoyed the Games. Be very quick.”
That garnered an instant response from the guards behind her.
“Pruett.”
“She’s a Pruett.”
“All Pruetts.” I stated pointedly and the Network Defender became very businesslike.
The pink also faded from her eyes, and I allowed myself to breathe. There were only a dozen guards here, but in a riot, I would be sure to lose either my mate or my father, and I couldn’t tolerate either. Guards were much better fighters than Changelings - usually because they’d won a Games challenge that earned them the current job.
As I was patted down and then officially identified, my mind began to fill with more of those disturbing thoughts about the Network… and stopping them. Because of their rules, I had just killed to keep my mate. It shouldn’t have to be this way. I had no animosity towards these suffering females just looking for a relief from the torment.
And then there was Daniel. I had only felt safe bringing him because of the strict training the bachelors got from the Network, but he knew almost nothing. Why hadn’t he been taught these things like the other bachelors? It was as if they had never intended for him to blend into the outside world at all…
Those who hadn’t attacked had cleared the scene, and we’d been as careful as we could to only hit targets, not civilians. As usual, our aim was good, but our luck wasn’t. Two shots had found innocent targets, and we paid the farmer for both hogs. The extra bit of gold dust my Mother pressed into the older woman’s hand also gained us another ally.
Now, the woman could justify eating the two animals and still have something to show for it. Here in New America, surviving was the best most people could hope for. Getting ahead was only for those in New Network City, and the Pruetts never forgot that.
Sure he was a wreck inside over what he had unintentionally caused, I motioned Daniel back toward the Mopar that Angelica now had upright - without the punishment he probably felt he deserved. None of this was his fault. It was a result of the War, of past mistakes, and… the Network.

D
I was too shocked to enjoy crossing the wide river on the ferryboat. I didn’t care that it was my first ever or that the feel of it could have been incredible. Those women had died because I had made a careless mistake and there was no way I could take it back. I wanted to curl up and hide. I kept my head down against her back and struggled to keep from crying in shame. More lives lost, for me. When would it end?

C
I knew Daniel was upset, but I didn’t realize how much until I stepped from the Mopar and turned toward him. He didn’t move, just stared back, waiting for the blows to begin. My heart broke for him.
“Come with me.”
I moved us into the shadows, choosing my words. He didn’t mean to be reckless, and until I had time to train him properly, I wouldn’t blame him any more than he deserved.
As soon as we were out of sight, he went to his knees at my feet, trembling. I understood that he wanted me to give him a punishment, or he would torture himself over it.
“What would the Network have done?”
His eyes shot to mine and his voice held a tremor I loathed.
“Speaking… is a serious rule. I’ve heard they use the whip.”
I scowled. There was no way I would do that, and I chose to try a different tactic. “I am not the Network. If I thought you had broken a rule and needed to be punished, do you believe I would do it?”
He nodded quickly, forehead wrinkled in that familiar way. I struggled to sound angry when I really wanted to comfort him. “Speaking is not against my rules, Daniel. Those women could have controlled themselves. We do.”
I was seeing fresh signs of my Daniel, like the way the middle of his forehead squeezed together when he was frustrated or when he was hurt and couldn’t find a way to express what he was thinking. There was no way I would let him regress into that shaking form I’d first been given. “In my household, you are a person, not a slave to be punished, and my rules stand before the Network’s. If you plan to stay with me, you’ll accept that.”


D
She left me standing there, waiting for pain that wasn’t coming. I didn’t understand why she wasn’t upset, but I was grateful and tried to put it out of my mind – mostly because I knew she wouldn’t like it if she caught me dwelling on it. 
The images I’d seen, the snarls and the screams, the claws I’d felt, those wouldn’t go away anytime soon, but I had gotten good at hiding my thoughts from the other bachelors and Den Mothers. I would use that skill now. I wouldn’t be separated from her. Not after all she’d done for me.

C
We had chosen not to rest, but to take an energizer instead and get this run cleared up. It had already become worthless in the terms of UDs. The Network would have huge fines waiting for us, to balance the mess their employees had to clean up.
Despite it being Spring, only small areas of the eastern half of the country were in bloom. The Western half was a desert with little to recommend it besides the leftover tools of mankind.
I watched Daniel stare at the stars, the moon, and even the blowing leaves as if in a trance, and I shook my head at Angelica’s quick look to him. He wouldn’t get an energizer. He needed some sleep, and he could doze, tied to me this time, while we rolled to Jericho.

Chapter Fifteen

Old St. Louis

D
The City had a wall around it!
I stared in amazement as we crested the rise, unable to see any gaps in the ten foot barrier. Made from boat planks and entire slabs of concrete, the sheets of wood and houses were covered in vivid graffiti, much of it anti-Network. Inside those filthy walls was more of the same. Jericho would be like wandering through a labyrinth.
“Looks like they’ve fixed the south wall,” Candice stated, looking through a pair of expensive Network binoculars. “Not the north side, though. We’ll slide in through the fence and head for the Square.”
The Square was in the very center of the city, where they thought Baker had a hole-up. During our only break in the twenty hours it took to get here, Bruce informed me that St. Louis had been one of the first Midwestern towns to be rebuilt. Its citizens had erected the wall in order to keep others out. The Network had put a quick, harsh stop to that, but left the wall and turned the city into their final outpost before the borderlands of Arkansas. Everything beyond that point was ruled by the West Coast Outpost, sister to the Network council we currently served.

C
He was here. What the hell was Baker thinking? If we caught him, we would turn him in. He knew that, so what the hell was he doing standing outside his hole-up?
I studied the surrounding area and found too much debris and stacked furniture to be sure he wasn’t alone. Likely he wasn’t, and I gave the signal for my parents to drop back and send in a sighting alert. We would then move straight in and snatch him up.
It was a standard plan we used, but thanks to our hunting skills, the prey often thought we were much farther away. Right now, the Snake Tracers were passing the word that we had stayed a night in the Forests of Kentucky. We shouldn’t be expected so soon, but the convict shouldn’t be out in the open, either.
Baker turned suddenly, hand dropping to his lean hip, and I stared as the memories flashed over me at the sight of that body. I’d use it many times, in many ways.
I’d found him hiding under a house a year after Daniel was gone, too exhausted to pay the local runaway gang leader for the night’s room and board after evading Network guards all day. Our friendship had come easily because of our common hatred of adults and authority. Back then, when the change was just starting to show signs, I hadn’t cared that Baker was male. I only saw his strength and his friendship. As the feeling grew out of control, he’d eased me into the pain and pleasure… the cool relief that came after one of our sessions.
Those first few years had been awful for me. Daniel hadn’t been gone a month before the Change was already lighting my small body up from the inside. It didn’t usually come until the age of puberty, but my grief at losing him had sped things up until I was burning alive all the time. Then I’d found a substitute…
Baker wore earrings in both thick lobes, an onyx circle with an indecipherable symbol in the center and a silver chain around his neck that I thought might be made of titanium. In all the times we’d slept together, it had never snapped under my Changeling strength.
He moved with an arrogance that said he was on his own and surviving it. That was another part of him I had been taken with. Even as a homeless teenager, he’d been sure of himself, and I had needed that for what I was planning. We’d spent time working on my strength every day. He was the reason I had made survived the Games.
When Baker made the Network’s wanted list, we had been lovers for half a decade. I’d turned him in before, but it was something I didn’t think I could do now, despite accepting the assignment. The Network would get someone else when I let him go. I hadn’t agreed for the UDs or for the chase. I needed to see him… feel him. I had to know if he still affected me so strongly. I had to let go of Baker to have a real future with Daniel, and after the month we had spent together in the very den he was holed-up in, I wasn’t sure that was possible. Before I’d signed up for the Games, I had feared I might be falling in love with Baker and I now needed to know if it was true. If I loved Baker, too, there were different choices to be made.
I joined Angelica and Daniel at the Mopars we had left just outside the walls, my parents guarding from nearby. “You ready?”
Her curt nod told me she was jumpy, and I gave her a look of recognition. “Why don’t you hang back, have a ride ready?”
She understood what I wanted without having to be told. If there was trouble, she would take Daniel out of harm’s way. I’d rather have her at my side, but my Mother would be concerned with her own mate, and I was the leader. Daniel had to be protected.
I waved us forward with a sense that things were about to go wrong, but I didn’t call it off. Besides needing closure, I was also hoping the Convict might have some information on the Ring. That fury was also still burning hotly.
We spread out in a V-formation that put Daniel in the center and walked into Jericho with our hands hovering over our guns. I knew instantly that Baker was watching us now…watching Daniel. I could feel it. He was close.
Minutes after easing inside the walls of Jericho, we moved through the alley where he’d been standing and the tension crackled. Crates and old garbage littered the narrow dimness, the debris a foot deep and flattened down, but not lifeless.
I waved us forward with a bad feeling in my gut. Was Baker setting me up? He had to know I’d never allow that to pass, lovers or not. I wondered how he saw me now. I’d asked him once, what he was drawn to when he could have his choice of Changelings in the breeding programs. He’d surprised me and won a chunk of my affection with his answer.
“You represent a kind of freedom and strength that I would do anything to have. When I’m close to your fire, I’m sure I’m alive, and there’s hope.”
Now, I was ending that and I thought maybe he was seeing me differently. I was no longer his tattooed mistress. I was someone’s legal mate.

C
“Stop there.”
I moved closer to Daniel, feeling waves of male menace aimed his way. Baker wasn’t happy to see my new mate along for his capture.
“Comin’ in.”
The voice failed to stun me, and I grinned. We would be on equal terms this time. “Slowly.”
My warning was heeded, the shadow moving away from the wall with careful movements. I hadn’t even known he was there.
A big hand raised black goggles and those glinting silver orbs regarded us coolly.
“Baker.”
His shined eyes flashed at the sound of my voice. “Candy.”
He wasn’t expecting my reaction, and really, neither was I. The blade spun by his head and sank deep into the molding wood he’d been camouflaged by. “No more.”
He nodded, not taking any new offense that I could see. “I had to be sure.”
“This is Daniel. My mate.”
The two males took an instant dislike to each other.
Baker’s voice rumbled insultingly. “That weakling?”
Daniel’s anger flared, and his hand dropped to the weapon on his hip. “Can I shoot him now? It said preferred dead.”
Okay, maybe it was more like instant loathing. I listened to my instincts and kept quiet as my lovers glared at each other.

D
I hated him on sight. He was unkempt and unclean, a smirking threat to my place. I wanted her away from him the instant he appeared. This heathen had been with her. Baker knew my Candice intimately, and the jealousy, the absolute fury, made me fearless. “Mine!”
Baker’s laughter was salt in my open wound. “Not likely. Just a new toy.”
Before I could answer, the Convict looked back to Candice. “She’ll break you the first time out.”
He had already sensed that we weren’t fully bonded yet, and my hand moved of its own accord. I threw the six inch spike from my belt as hard as I could.
Baker spun at the last second, taking the blade to his shoulder instead of his neck, and he slid to the ground with a spray of blood.
“Uugg!”
Good!

C
Crack! Crack!
Angelica was already out of sight as the bullets flew from the moldy landscape around us, slamming into anything in their path, including Baker.
Snapping out of my impressed surprise, I grabbed Daniel and shoved him into the corner behind me as I opened fire. My parents darted out of sight to come out behind our attackers, as we always did when ambushed.
“Aim low.”
Baker, not dead, met my eye and there was a second of understanding. It wasn’t his people out there.
“Can I shoot him now?” Daniel demanded, drawing his gun.
I fired at the shadows moving closer. “Later.”
Together, we began sweeping in the pattern my Father had started teaching him and drove the dark forms back. The sound of the Mopar had me grinning.
Angelica slid to a stop, and I spun Daniel her way. “Get him out of here!”
She dragged him onto the ride, and I fired another spray as they vanished. Now, I could let me loose.
“Low!”
Baker’s tone was urgent, and I caught the rest of his meaning this time. As I pulled the pins, the second half of the trap sprung.
They came from the sewers, Network Hounds, and I rolled the pineapples in three directions as I moved toward him. He wasn’t supposed to come out of this alive, I remembered. Apparently, the network had meant that.
Ping! Thud! “Ugg!”
The slugs drove into us and the ground, and I stayed over him as much as I could, waiting.
Kablamm!
Boomm!
The third blast didn’t come, a dud, but the first two had cleared us a path. I tossed my wounded prisoner over my shoulder and got out of sight before the smoke could clear. We darted through the debris cloud, my blades out and hungry as he clung to my waist.
“Get them!”
I didn’t know the voice, but Baker tensed.
“Rankin.” he growled in rage.
I didn’t waste my breath asking questions, but I remembered the Snake Tracker’s words. We’d been betrayed.
I wasn’t used to carrying so much weight and the blood dripped from us both as I picked up speed. I jumped over piles of junk that were unrecognizable, traction boots catching me on even feet. I darted across the deserted roadway, and we vanished into the deep shadows of a nearby alley. There were no sounds of pursuit, but with these hunters, there wouldn’t be. The Network dogs were lethal once they caught the scent.
I quickly slid into the foot-deep muck in the center of the cracked line and kept moving. They would know we had come this way by the swirling water, but it would cover our scent later. We had to hole-up somewhere for the night. Angelica would take Daniel to my parents and come back. Where would she look?
“Go faster!” Baker growled quietly.
I stepped up my pace, mind flying. We couldn’t wait. There was only one choice – a very fast exit from this city.
“Hang on.”
Above, there were few signs of the night, only more debris piled haphazardly, and I tensed for it, pulling on my Changeling strength. I lunged for the beam, caught my footing as we swung. It groaned but held, and I grunted, pulling. Men were so heavy!
We made it onto the beam, layers of precariously dangling debris now right above our heads, and I sucked in a fresh lung of air. “You okay for a hard ride?”
I felt his grip tighten in response, and then I was running along the soft wood, dripping muck and blood into the cesspool below.
The beam ended suddenly and I jumped, landed crouched on the edge of the crumbling wall as I searched for the escape.
Bullets spun through the air, and I got moving again, eyes looking for the right tunnel.
“Coming in low!”
I didn’t look, only pushed myself harder. I flew across a gap, landed lightly and sprang away.
“There they are!”
“There’s the watershed.”
“Cut ‘em off!”
But it was too late. I dove into the churning mass a second later and heard no more.
It had to be a nightmare for Baker, taking it all upside down. His grip was like iron around my hips as we were jerked under. Lungs full, I gripped his arm and yanked him upward. He resisted at first, confused, but my force went with the water, and I wrapped his big arm around my neck as he came upright.
Half a minute later, my lungs were getting tight, and Baker’s grip was nearly frantic as he struggled to hold out. I groped for the button on my belt, got it on the second try.
The raft inflated quickly, pulling us up, and we broke the surface together, gasping for air. I clung to the fragile boat, attached by my belt rope, and secured Baker’s heavy weight the same way. Where the raft went, so would we.
Unable to see or hear any signs of pursuit, I sucked in more air and gathered my strength. It took a lot of effort to get both of us onto the floater without tipping it over. With our weight, it moved faster in the muck, and we stayed still for the first minutes, glad to be alive as the walled city fell behind us. The watershed was unusually clear of debris, and we moved steadily west, still bleeding.
I sat up and leaned forward. “Let me see how bad it is.”
I snatched my hand back as his knife glinted in the moonlight. “You first.”
I shrugged at his wary tone, confident I could take it from him if I needed to. “Feels like one in the arm, no two. That’s a double-tap. One in the thigh. Your turn.”
He wasn’t sure he should let me touch him even though I’d saved his life. I could see it in the way his usually bright eyes were so dark. What Baker did when he was away from me, I still didn’t know. He had never volunteered the information, and I had never asked. I also hadn’t seen him since before the Games and hadn’t told him about it before I left. He’d found out like everyone else – by the Network’s official announcement of the contestants.
“Relax,” I muttered, shoving his hand aside. “If I wanted you dead, you would be.”
With a few quick movements, I had cloth strips around his wounds that I could reach, and I moved away from his temptingly bloody scent in relief. I settled back carefully, sharp ears still straining to hear anything.
“He’s changing you, already.”
I shrugged. “More the Games than him.”
And then Baker became what I least expected… an ally.
“It’s awful. No one should ever have to do that for a mate, and no man should ever be treated that way. It has to stop.”
I didn’t answer, but he knew I agreed. After what Daniel had been through, how could I not?
We spent the rest of the ride in silence, staring at the darkness and each other. It was impossible not to compare Baker to my new mate. Baker was thick from head to toe, but in the lean, dangerous way that had drawn me to him before I’d known what to do with a boy like that. His sideburns came all the way down his face to meet in a light goatee of black shadows and mysterious allure. He liked my tattoo, but only had one of his own during the time we’d been together. On his neck, was the green ink I’d put there myself.
Now he was sporting a new one on his upper arm that made those muscles stand out. Tanned and rarely shaven, Baker’s good looks screamed at me from that unforgiving chin and those deep-set, impossible-to-read silver eyes. He’d told me one of his clients was a doctor, and she had done it for him in place of money when he’d begged. He’d had them when we met, and thinking of it now, I looked over at him.
How long had he thought of me as a friend before he saw me as a future purchaser of his services? Had he ever doubted it? We had used each other for our own reasons, but against my will, a bond had grown. It wasn’t the type I had with my new mate. Baker was too independent for that, but it was still enough to make me mourn a little for the life we might have had together if we had met in a different world, without Daniel’s ghost between us.

Chapter Sixteen

Frogtown, Alabama


1
We drifted for hours before the land finally began looking familiar.
I carefully began pushing us toward the steep side. “I have a den near here. Can you climb?”
Baker shook his head. “Your mate hit a muscle.”
Again, I couldn’t have been more pleased. “Seems like maybe he’ll do.”
Baker grunted as I slid him onto my back. “Maybe so.”
I was careful not to tip us over as we left the raft. It was an ugly, graceless climb where I scrambled for a hold while Baker’s big hands did the same. We were both glad to be lying across the top of the wall a few minutes later.
We looked down on row after row of barbed wire dividers, seeing occasional shadows moving with the darkness.
“You ready?”
He nodded weakly against my shoulder, and I understood he was about done, but my Changeling body was already healing. None of my wounds were life-threatening. His, I wasn’t so sure about.
With Baker on my back, I moved slowly through the tangles, the only way into my Den. I’d chosen to go there because only one other person on the planet knew where it was. That was about to change.
“Down!”
His hiss had me on my stomach in the debris field, where rats, and who knew what else, survived under us. Lights swept the barbed wire, searching, and we stayed motionless, letting the centuries of rubble be our cover. It helped that we were also coated in muck.
“Send in the dogs!”
“It was just an animal.”
“Send ‘em in!”
I tensed, eyeing the shadows of the alley we needed to reach.
“They’ll come straight for us.”
I nodded, working on it.
“You should leave me… Ugg!”
I took off, stopping his words, and we listened hard for the pad of feet.
“Aaahh!”
We dropped again and were relieved and saddened to see another shadow break away. He ran with a noticeable limp, and the dogs got him quickly.
The fire hounds were menacing with their big red eyes that mirrored my fury. Humans weren’t the only living things to be infected with Rage-Walkers disease. The dogs had also suffered from the change, as had the rest of Nature. The contamination had destroyed the males of all the species humans depended on, had befriended. A cat was a very rare sight in New America, but the toads were abundant due to their ability to shift genders. If only people had the same skill.
The Hounds certainly didn’t, and it did to them what it did to us. They grew larger, angrier, and desperate for a mate. Their eyes flamed, and their breath became volatile. Some of them could even snort out flames, and I hated them even as I understood what made them so bloodthirsty. There wasn’t any target the Hounds wouldn’t take down, including the gigantic snakes in the south.
“Cute pets. We gonna be food too?”
Baker’s voice was low and I grinned, got us moving again. Was there any way I could combine my two lovers? I had forgotten a little, how alive Baker could make me feel. We slid into the alley without being noticed, and I kept him on my back as I climbed the stacks of wooden skids, glad I was almost there. Even for a Changeling, this was a bit much to sustain.
I stumbled, regaining my balance as we hit the top. Almost an entire warehouse of pallets had been in this alley, and it had been a simple matter of rearranging things once I’d found the room.
The wood gave easily under my fingers, sliding over, and then we were dropping inside and the hatch was closing behind us. I slung him from my back to the room’s only chair, and he dropped into it with a grunt that became a moan.
Baker slid to his knees, in agony, I thought, and kissed the ground.
“Land!”
I hid my grin, knowing he could see every detail of my expression with those shined eyes. I moved unerringly to the table and lit the lantern to break the sparks. I took stock quickly. There wouldn’t be much to work. It had been a long time since I’d been here. It was really a storeroom in a very old warehouse that included a bomb shelter. The warehouse had collapsed decades ago, but the rock room behind it had stood, buried, until I’d found it. Now it was stocked with a cot, a chair and table, and a number of other basics for when I needed space. It was the first time Baker had been here, and it would be the last.
Minutes later, I had him standing, gripping the chair as I knelt behind him to dig out the slugs. He stayed silent the entire time. He was so different from the males I knew, so tempting. It was no wonder I had given him first honors, but things had changed. I still felt something for him, we had a bond that wouldn’t be easily broken, but all I wanted was Daniel.
“You gonna turn me in or what?”
I recognized the pain distraction, I was no one’s gentle anything with a knife, and shrugged. “I’ll vote we go after the others.”
I felt him tense as my blade went deeper, and I flipped the metal out with a brutal jerk that sent blood streaming down his leg.
I got him settled on the cot a bit later, an indifferent nurse to keep him alive, and the sparks flew every time our eyes met. This would be our last night alone together, ever, and Baker knew it. His wounds weren’t as serious as I’d feared. He had taken a number of hits, but only the leg wound and Daniel’s shot were serious. After rest and food, he would be able to travel.
“You should take the bounty and settle down with him.”
I ignored that, and the convict tried again.
“You could join us.”
That snapped my head up. “Us?”
Baker twisted to watch as I flipped a slug from my arm and quickly wrapped it.
“The rebels.”
I paused. That was why the Network had sent the Hounds when we’d radioed our sighting. He was high priority now. “That’s why they crossed us. They really want you dead.”
Baker’s eyes lightened at my quick calculations. “They knew you’d find me, but they also knew I’d be alive when you turned me in. They don’t want that.”
I didn’t look at him, only let my hands go back to work on my wounds. What was it with me and this convict?
“Your showing up right then was bad timing. Their Trackers had been onto me for a week.”
My mouth gaped open. I couldn’t help it. “Then why come out?”
“I knew you would be the one they sent…” Baker’s silver eyes flashed dangerously. “And I wanted to see the new man.”
He didn’t say “The one who replaced me.”  but I felt it just the same. Despite our casual arrangement, the feelings had happened for both of us.
I grunted, not looking forward to Baker knowing the truth, but willing enough to give it now. Before, when it was only a cool dream in the darkness, I had been afraid to share my plan. Only those closest to me had known why I’d signed up for the Games.
“I knew Daniel before he was sold to the Network.”
“But they put males into a ten-year training program before they’re ever mates. You would have been…”
“Eight.”
It was the same year we’d met, and the convict understood right then what I’d done.
“So that was why! To learn from me so you could go to him. I was nothing to you!”
Unable to take his pain, I shoved myself over him, voice a harsh whisper. “You were my saving grace, my only light in the darkness. So much more than nothing!”
Baker kissed me then, and I allowed it, but the violent flare that had always come had been replaced with a vague flicker.
He shoved me back abruptly, understanding we were through. “You smell like shit!”
I laughed. That was the Baker I knew. I met his pain-rimmed silver eyes. “Will you try not to kill him?”
Baker grinned, almost a mirror of mine from the Games. “Does he know about us?”
“No.”
“You’ll tell him?”
“Of course.”
Baker blew out a sigh, pulled his goggles over his eyes so I couldn’t read them. “Better make the same deal with him, I think. He’s got a fuse like yours.”
Now, I grinned. I was fiercely proud of Daniel, and later, when there was time, I would reward him for it.
“I meant it, my offer. Not just anyone can get you in.”
That told me Baker was more than just a member of the rebels - he was important to them. I nodded, no longer smiling. “I’ll pass it along.”
The convict snorted. “You make the choices for the Pruetts.”
“Not this one.”
My cold tone said I was seriously considering it, and Baker studied me with heat that even those thick goggles couldn’t hide. He wanted me. One last time to say goodbye… and I was tempted. It would give me an outlet for all the tension I had built up being gentle, and increase my control. …but it would hurt Daniel.
I moved onto the pallet I had made up and tried to sleep. I wasn’t used to being confused or hesitant. I liked to react to attain my goal, and knowing I wasn’t free to do as I wanted was displeasing. Women had multiple lovers, it was accepted, but it was still wrong by my standards, and I accepted that my control would hold a bit longer. From across the room, I felt Baker’s pain, but didn’t go to him. We were over.

2
The temperature dropped over the next hours - fast. The wind howled through the cracks in our nook, pushing frigid air into a damp room and over two wet bodies. I didn’t have any other clothes stored here, and I ended up revising my choice not to share a bed with him.
We huddled in the cot, enjoying our body heat and a silent goodbye. Baker understood without being told, when all I did was let him wrap me up tightly. We rested, drowsing, but sleep didn’t come for either of us until the dim rays of sun said the new day had come. Night was a lethal time in New Network Land.


Network
“That’s it. He’ll have them now. Turn on the locator device and send the bomb.”
“Not yet. Give them time to get to the others. He won’t have their base so close.”
The screens behind the Network Council members showed a variety of locations - The Swamps of lower Georgia and Alabama, the Arkansas Borderlands hub, a crumbling bridge over the crystal clear Ohio River in the Recovery Zones. Some of these places had small Network outposts, but most of the screens showed things the Network were monitoring for possible or known trouble.
Like Atlanta, where nature had taken over completely. The Kudzu plants grew a foot per day, and on the screen, there was little to see but twisting vines and insects the same size of the purple flowers they nested in. The Network didn’t control that area. No one did.
The next small screen showed the Deserts of Nebraska. Once an area of lush growing crops, it had been covered in ash in the 2013 eruption and still hadn’t recovered. The ash, which was actually tiny bits of crushed glass, was slowly spreading east with the winds.
One monitor showed a dilapidated nuclear power plant in the Missouri Quake zone. They were still watching it for high levels of radiation from the minor meltdown of 2099, when the temperatures had stayed below freezing and stopped the flow of water to cool the reactor. Another square screen revealed part of the wall that divided New America from Canada. On the other side of the heavily armed wall, was a mob of protestors that grew in number daily.
One of the council members waved a hand. “We don’t have much longer before it all blows open.”
The head of the Eastern Network gave a pacifying grunt. “The meeting is two months away. Our orders for the vaccine are being shipped to the other countries very slowly. It’ll hold them that long, and then it won’t matter. But let the Hounds out. Clear the hiding places we know of. It won’t help us to be caught unaware.”
“Do we capture the Pruetts if we find them at one of the Dens?”
“No, and don’t hurt any of them either, if you can help it. Their duty to the Network isn’t over yet…”


C
“Candy.”
There was that hated name, and a painful flash of the one who had been too weak to stop Daniel from being taken. “What!”
“Remember the deal we talked about?”
I didn’t come awake all-at-once at the concern in Baker’s tone, but I registered it. “What deal?” I was very comfortable against his heat. I wanted to sleep.
“The one where you tell your new man I’m off limits.”
I struggled to think, groggy in his arms. “What about it?”
“Now would probably be a good time.”
Baker’s tone finally sank in. Daniel.
My eyes snapped open to see his glaring face, to feel his fury and reason warring for control as he pressed his new knife to Baker’s throat.
I sighed, flipping into alertness now. “It’s gonna be one of those days, I guess.”
I could see what Daniel was thinking and why not? I was wrapped in the convict’s arms, and we’d clearly passed a long night. “So do it.”
“What?”
“What?”
I yawned sleepily at their reactions and closed my eyes. “I’ll tell you once, Daniel. I do as I please. It’s not his choice either.”
Everyone was stunned, even my parents watching from across the room, and I snuggled deeper into Baker’s tense embrace, needing to prove the point. “Get a medical transport cover ready. We leave in half an hour.”
I wasn’t totally sure Daniel wouldn’t do it anyway, and I was ready to take another wound for the rebel convict to make my mate understand his place with me. I was the lead, always.

D
I couldn’t help the jealousy that drew my blade to my hand. Finding out I would have to share her was a blow I hadn’t expected. My hand trembled, wanting to push, but then she’d be done with me… and even sharing was better than not being at her side.
I lowered the knife in misery, heartbroken. I had thought she would be mine! I moved to a far corner and waited for instructions, as I’d been taught.

C
“Damn. Remind me of that the next time I invite you over.”
Baker’s tone was condemning, but his body said he was mine if I wanted him, and should that level of servitude be required, he would pay the price.
“You fit for a trip to Atlanta?”
Baker nodded, not surprised to learn I would escort him home. “I’ll be good as new in a day or two. We rollin’ or glidin’ in?”
I grinned widely against his big chest. “Neither.”
He rumbled under me. “More water. Great.”
I reluctantly pushed myself up and out of his arms, sure I’d be sore. And I was, but not so much that it would get in the way. I nodded in thanks when Angelica held out a small pouch of supplies. All of the Pruetts were fast healers. Within a day or two, only a sore place and a scar would remain. It was one of the few benefits of this agony. It was also another way we differed from the average New Network citizen, but not from the other Changelings. They also healed fast, and it made learning to kill on the first shot a necessity. 
I dug through the pouch quickly and tossed a small jar onto Baker’s lap. “After you’ve used it on the places you can reach, Daniel will do your back.”
“Like hell he will!”
Daniel’s gasp echoed through the room at Baker’s blatant refusal of an order.
“Fine. Angel?” I triggered her heat intentionally. It would be a test of her new control and she nodded tensely.
“I’ll do it myself.”
“You’ll do as you’re told!” My Father’s commanding tone had Baker backing down.
“Whatever.”
It was a childish response that sent a tiny smile to the female standing guard in the back of the room. I moved to the small table and waved Daniel to the chair beside me. My Father joined us as Angelica went to Baker.
“I’m taking him to Stone Mountain.”
Silence met my words, but it was easy to see they were all expecting it.
“We’ve already sent notice of an assignment withdrawal due to injury.”
I watched Angelica get close enough to extend the jar while Baker dipped his fingers into it. She was holding her breath and so was he. We had met along those lines. Now that I was taken, maybe Baker could help her for a while.
I turned back to find Daniel’s eyes watching me, and I grinned harshly. “So how was your first night without me?”
His mouth opened, and I willed him to fight back with me like he would have Baker.
Daniel’s head dropped. “Long.”
Instead of giving into the urge to comfort him, I fell into making the plans with my parents.

C
Once we had things sorted out, we moved Baker from the den to the medical cart and towed his chained body behind us like it was only a corpse to be turned in. Under the cover of a heavy fog, and the noise of the rushing water from the open watershed provided us cover as our small group slipped out of the area.
This was Frogtown, where the Network had declared Martial Law in response to the riots over the height restriction for a breeding pass. The Network wanted only perfect specimens to reproduce, and the short, squat females of the Bama Swamps weren’t happy about it in the least. The Network Hub near here, that oversaw the only train to the West Coast outpost, had been in their control for a few days last year. The Network still hadn’t let up even though the murk-dwelling females were mostly conquered now. The Hounds had taken care of that.
As if my thought had conjured them, I saw three smaller sets of ears raise from an under the nearby stacks of cut hay. Sure there were more now behind, I made sure my voice only carried through our group and not to the Hounds set to ambush us. “Males in the cart on my order.”
Tension crackled as they understood we had trouble, and then a slobbering Hound bounded from the trees to my right and I was reacting.

D
“Now!”
I scrambled into the cart with her father, Baker making room for us. It was attached to Angelica’s Mopar and she sped up, drawing her gun.
Candice opened fire, showing me where the threat was, and I cringed back in horror at the Hound running along side the cart.
“Down!”
I ducked as she fired, blowing the head off the slobbering animal, but a second Network dog lunged overtop its fallen pack mate, and latched onto my arm.
I jerked backward, pulling the Hound off too, and fell from the cart in an ugly sprawl. My body ached as I scrambled to my feet. The Hound’s face stopped inches from mine as we both recovered from the impact.
I was aware of Candice trying to get a clear shot, but at that moment, staring into the creature’s vivid red eyes, I could feel its pain. Unlike the Changelings, though, I sensed these animals needed comfort and attention, more than sexual relief. I extended a hand that didn’t shake.
The Hound didn’t move and I slid my fingers through its rough fur without flinching. So soft. I murmured the same and felt the animal relax under my attention.
“They used to obey commands…”
I took Candice’s meaning. “Go on now. And take your friends with you, please.”
The Fire Hound responded in a way none of us were braced for. Its huge tongue slid over my jaw in affection, and it gave a gentle, playful growl. Then it left, and the other huge dogs followed with curious sniffs of their merciful leader.
I looked up to see Candice and her family sharing surprised looks. I could tell that they thought I should be dead right now, and I let myself open up a bit to them. “It’s one of the ways I’m different. The Network doesn’t know.”

C
Still stunned by what we had witnessed, as we cleared the city limits, Angelica and I took the road that would lead us to the nearby train. My parents turned for the wild path that would take them north so they could pick up the other fugitives and appease the Network’s anger against us for failing to turn in the quiet Convict currently bumping along behind Angelica.
Daniel was back behind me on the Mopar, his grip a warm comfort and a reminder that once again, I had almost lost him. My choice to help the rebels or not, would be influenced by his weaknesses… and his strengths.
We arrived at the Network hub short minutes later. The train was ready to go when we rode up to the cargo car, with no line to board. A short haggle with the tall redhead minding the wide bays got us all three back rooms of a fancy car. People were staying clear of this area, taking other means of transportation, and the Network guards were lax from boredom.
Not wise, I thought. This area was just as wild as the few people who dared to venture through it. Towering trees and winding paths branched off in every direction and it took a full crew to keep the tracks clear of debris. The reason we’d chosen to take the train was lurking within that dense forest. The Pythons in the southern areas had taken over even the crocodile populations. The effects of the War were uncountable, immeasurable.
The Hub was at the center of three states: Tennessee, where we had captured Baker. Alabama, where Baker and I had denned. And Georgia, where we were now headed. It should have been a busy place, but never had been, as far as I could remember. It was almost as if the Network didn’t want to encourage people to head into any of the areas near the Borderlands…
Once we had Baker secured in the storage car and boarded, the train departed immediately. Later, we could bring him up to our rooms. When the Pruetts rode the rail, they did it in style. It was no coincidence I’d had Angelica book us an extra seat in case he was caught. Baker would appear to have been cleared, given a ticket, and subsequently ignored except as a male wandering on his own. When he mentioned who he was with, he would be escorted back to us and then forgotten about. We often had unregistered males in our company, and were known for enjoying the train’s rentable men. The guards weren’t aware that rather than using their services, we were slipping them food and medicine during our hour.
There was a lot the Network didn’t know about the Pruetts. We tried hard to keep it that way, but I had a feeling that would change soon. My rage wouldn’t allow me to keep playing these games by their rules for much longer.


Chapter Seventeen


D
I loved the train as soon as I saw it, and remembered not to say so at the last second. Although I saw only Network women around, I could feel their eyes on me. It was clear they hadn’t seen a male in a while, and I was careful to avoid their leering eyes. Unlike my crate ride to Candy’s home, I thought I might enjoy this trip.
Long, black, and sleek, the train had silver lining and a feeling of total luxury that was enhanced by the sight of deep red chandeliers in the windows. It rumbled softly, hardly as loud as I’d expected from such a massive machine, and I stepped closer when Candice did, eager to begin this newest leg of our adventure.
I was no longer worried for my safety on the trip - my owner was quite adept at reclaiming her property, and they all knew it. She’d been recognized by at least three of the black-and-silver clad females. I could tell by the way those three watched her and not me.
The cars were lined in silver and black, with red carpet and red velvet draperies to match those fragile light fixtures. The couches were plush, the kind that encouraged a sweet night’s sleep, and they came with cute pillows in all three of the themed shades. After all the paleness and isolated wilderness, it was a little overwhelming.
Our room was the length of a full car, and the silky looking bed took up half of it. I swallowed the lump in my throat and put away the things I thought Candice would want. She was standing watch in the doorway when I slid the cuffs into the top drawer, and I could feel her eyes burning holes into my back.
When I finished with my chore, I looked toward the small washroom and then to her for permission. She stared back without answering, and I went to do as I wanted, understanding what she hadn’t said. My choices, my freedoms, would be as many as she could give me.
The washroom was small, but well-stocked, and I took advantage by using many of the samples provided. I liked to be clean and to smell good, and it was safe enough to do so now. Before, the opposite had made a decent defense. Now, that wasn’t necessary. I wanted to be taken.


C
An hour after checking into the luxurious Network train, we were gathered in the dining area, Baker lying on a couch in the far corner. Angelica was by the door, not eating, and I understood why. The smells in this car were… tempting.
Both males had showered, and the scent of freshly washed meat had my nerves tingling. It wasn’t as bad now, though. I was noticing the subtle differences, but for Angelica, being around them was torture. I could see the fire; feel her heat as she waited for this run to be over. She didn’t realize I was doing it to her intentionally. I could have sent her with my parents, but she needed this. My success at the Games had convinced her, but seeing Daniel had made the final choice. She would probably sign up when we got home and I was determined that she would survive.
Daniel was looking out the window at the darkening landscape. The slight breeze coming from the cracked glass was sending his scent directly toward the door, where it swirled around Angelica before wafting toward me. Her hands clenched at a fresh whiff, eyes flickering from pink to red, and I recognized the moment.
“Get out.”
She was moving a second later, and I waited until she was clear before looking at Daniel. “You too.”
He moved for the door next, understanding I wanted time alone with Baker. His eyes were full of pain, and I clamped down on my comforting words. He would learn to trust me. If I’d wanted them both, I would have told him that up front. As it was, the sight of Baker’s freshly-washed skin held an appeal, but there was little heat behind it for me. I’d made my real choice a long time ago.
As Daniel quietly closed the door to our bedroom - that I could see through the mirror on the back railcar door we’d left open - Baker sat up. “You’re a real bitch to them, you know that?”
I ignored the attempt at conversation. When it came to their safety, I was. She couldn’t be so distracted. It would get one of us killed.
“What’s it like?”
I looked over to see Baker staring at the muted wall screen with loathing. A new episode of the Bachelor Battles was just starting.
 “Are they safe?”
My mind flashed back to the sight of the bachelor cells, of the blood and bruises. “No.”
Baker wanted details, but more than that, he wanted to ask me to help.
“Let’s get this straight. I owe you one for the lies, and I’m paying for it by delivering your injured ass to Stone Mountain. Anything else will have to wait until I see who you’ve drafted to replace the Network you’re hoping I’ll destroy.”
I tried to shut it down, but like him, I suspected it was already too late for that. Instead of silence at all the truth, his voice was a low plea I couldn’t ignore.
“We’re good men, Candy… and they’re dying so fast!”
My grip tightened on the chair. His tone said I would find so much desperation that not helping would hurt me more than facing the Network. “Why were you there, really?”
This time, Baker gave me the truth.
“You won. You can get us inside.” His eyes demanded my assistance. “We have a right to live, too.”
The conversation had gotten more emotional than I had expected from him, and I understood this wasn’t just one of his many challenges or a bought-and-paid-for service he needed handled. He cared for them...
My eyes widened, and there was no stopping the shift to pink. “You’re more than a rebel…”
Realizing he’d given himself away, Baker leaned back against the seat, but didn’t look away. “I’ve been leading them for the last year. Since the Network killed my father for interrupting a live broadcast.”
I placed it an instant later. A tall, blond fugitive had broken into the Games during a live episode of the Vulture Run. As his punishment, he was forced to become a contestant and do it right then. The most brutal of the Network’s entertainment, the ragged, starving male hadn’t made it ten feet into the birdcage.
“Why did he go? He had to know there wasn’t any coming out.”
Baker’s eyes closed, and his voice, that tone of confident power I’d depended on, broke me with the anguish. “My baby brother. We heard rumors he was a prize for that game.”
My heart filled with fury, those swells rising up to mock me now. I’d only thought of Daniel for the last years, and of my own heavy pain, but there were countless others just like the tortured man across from me. They needed help… and I knew how, didn’t I?
Immunity, rebels, Network secrets that I suspected they were about to tell me. This tattered, jealousy-hiding convict was my way into the new Game if I wanted it, my free ride to twist the hands of fate and maybe save a whole world as I played the Network for all our lives this time.
I thought back to my matches, to the interviews I’d given… dominated. Maybe I’d been planning things even then, going through their reporters one by one to prove that I could. Maybe I’d been plotting then, too. I had never intended to go home with my prize and settle down without handing out justice to those responsible. His family was an easy target, but it was the Network who made all of these horrors possible. Even then, I’d known who the real enemy was.
 Irony prompted the harsh laugh that spilled from my lips. No wonder Baker had come to me. For a duty this big, the one doing it had to be fearless, and I was as close as it came. My only terror had always been Daniel. Now, I didn’t even have that weakness to stop me from joining their cause.
“Would it help to know there are a few more of us than I may have implied?”
My lips drew back, and I pushed my buzzing mind into concentration so I wouldn’t miss any of the details. “I’m listening, Convict.”

D
I was surprised when she left us alone.
She’d brought Baker into the middle car and then closed the door while she talked to Angelica in the hall.
Baker was also surprised she had left us with no divider. It was in those flashing silver eyes, and I stared at him as evenly as I could. The Convict and I needed to get some things straight and it had to be now while we had this minute. I didn’t know when we would get the next one, and I glared as I opened my mouth.
“You can stop. She already made her choice.”
I hadn’t been expecting that, and I leaned back, trying to figure out if he was a threat. My expression made him shake his head.
“Yeah, I don’t understand it either. What the hell does she see in you?”
I growled at the insult, but there was no denying the pain in his voice. She had told him they were through. It went a long way toward soothing my wounded ego, and I stopped the words I’d been going over in my head.
“You better be what she needs, boy!” Baker growled at me, showing a little of the menace I was sure that Candice was attracted to.
I leaned forward, showing him I had picked up my own version of her rage. “I’ll still be holding her when the Network shoots your ass.”
“Slam you, Playboy!”
“Right back at ya, Convict.”
The door slid open, and we both stopped as Candice stepped into the room. She read the tension, let out a deep sigh, but I sensed she actually liked it, and I puzzled over that impression.
“I see you two are getting acquainted.” She waved a hand. “Come along, Daniel.”
With a last gloating glare at Baker, I followed her to our rooms.

C
I’d put Angelica on Baker for the night, but I saw she had herself set to spend the time out in the hall, and I jerked a hand toward the door. “You can’t keep someone like him by being so far away.”
She growled at me. The change was flickering in her eyes, and I shrugged, moving around her stiff stance. “He’s healed enough. Ask him.”
There was another of those nearing violence snarls, and then she was storming into the middle room where we had Baker stashed. I doubted she would take my advice, but having them together would keep both of them from stewing on their own miseries. Angelica and I were enough alike that I thought maybe the two would pass the night talking… about me.
The motion of the train was usually steady, so I wasn’t expecting the violent shudder that ran through the metal. Grinding in an ear-splitting shriek before straightening out, I assumed we’d hit debris on the tracks and continued to our room.  Just next door, I was glad the walls were thickly padded for privacy. Screams might carry, but not conversations, and I sensed my new mate had a tirade waiting for me.
Daniel had been silent since I’d put him in his place, and I was actually looking forward to setting things straight. I’d made my choice. Now, I could take him with a clear conscience. I still didn’t plan to rush it, but there was no longer anything holding me back, except timing. I wanted to be able to remember it forever.
As we stepped inside, that creak of agonized metal came again, this time without the shudder. I didn’t let it worry me, though I saw Daniel’s tense shoulders and knew it did him. “There are escape hatches all along the cars.”
He nodded, turning to look at me, and I braced for his jealousy.
“Why didn’t you claim him? Before?”
I hadn’t been expecting that. Without a rehearsed answer, I gave the truth. “He wasn’t you.”
Daniel’s grin lit up the darkest places in my heart and I stepped closer. “Nothing happened last night. It was cold. That’s it.”
“But you… care for him.”
I didn’t lie. “Yes. He helped me through the worst years of my life.”
Daniel’s beautiful face darkened. “While you were… changing.”
I shook my head, pulling on the string to my cloak. “While I was without you.”
That eased his jealousy, and I finished it off. “Baker and I are over.”
 “Why not? You’re allowed to have both.”
His quick response made me wonder what all he and Baker had talked about when I’d left to settle us in for the night. I snorted at the thought of trying to live that way. “One at a time.”
Daniel winced at my choice of words, and I cursed my thoughtless mouth. Instead of explaining my meaning, I pushed off my boots and sent my hands to the long black shirt I always wore over my normal clothes on runs.


D
I watched her come into focus like it was a movie, and I think I stopped breathing as her silken body began emerging. She had muscles tattooed with roses, stars, and flags of the places she’d been during her bounty runs… and I couldn’t look away.
Her peach swells glowed in the flickering train light, and my jealous thoughts faded into desire. She had that effect on me, and I was starting to suspect she knew and was using it. I was aware she wanted me willing, but I don’t think she realized how well her plans were working. I’d been scared before, but after getting to know her over the last week, my body had already decided I was agreeable, and without any help.
She stripped down to her bed clothes – a sheer black half-top and matching shorts - and I had to clear my throat before I could speak. “Where do you want me?”
The heat in her pink gaze made me flush and I hurried to remove my own over-clothes, thinking it would be perfect if she took me tonight with Baker in the next room. Hoping she didn’t pick up on my gloating attitude, I folded my cloak and laid it on the side of the bed.
Her eyes burnt holes into my back when my hands went to the buckle of my jeans, and I had the sudden intuition that if I pushed, I could get her to take me tonight. Candice had spent the night in his arms without seeking relief. She had to be ready.
Hiding my face from her sharp gaze, I took off my pants and then started on the buttons of my shirt.

C
When he took his time instead of scurrying under the covers as usual, I understood what he was doing. On another day, it might have made me angry or forced me to teach him another lesson on trying to manipulate a female, but right now, there was too much heat.
The time in Baker’s arms, smelling him all those hours, had given me a wall of fire I’d been storing behind my rage. The sight of Daniel now trying to push me into what I wanted anyway had me waiting to see how far he would go... and burning. If it was as far as I suspected, the cuffs were in the drawer.
His shirt fell away, was neatly folded and placed on the stand. Bare skin gleamed at me, and I gave him my Games grin. It was only fair to know when you were pushing a Changeling into an attack.
Instead of a flinch, Daniel nodded. “I’m ready.”
Heat. Lightning and flames. I pulled down the sheet and delivered a single warning, “I can break most cuffs.”

D
Her words made my grin widen, and my body responded. “I hadn’t planned on using them anyway.”
Candice paused; taut body hardening into pointed peaks that drew my eye. She was so sexy!
I felt a tremor of worry as I watched her nails shred a thin hole in the top sheet. She didn’t seem to be aware of it. Hoping I wasn’t about to make a big mistake, I dipped the mattress with my heavy body and rolled toward her.
She was lying stiffly with her hands clenched at her hips, and I slowly raised my hand to her face. She didn't move, and I slid my thumb along her cheek, her lips. She was beautiful to me, so different from before when I couldn’t stand to look at my renter. I traced her shoulder scars - her badges of honor - with my heavy thumb. I was awed by her resilience. She’d been sliced, stabbed, shot, beaten, and little seemed to affect her. What I wouldn’t give to be like that!
 I moved carefully over her, bracing an arm on the other side of her head, and she flashed pink eyes at me, then grinned. Scared again, my lips hovered just over hers. When she slowly moved toward me, I held still.
She pressed her mouth to mine, a moan of need in her throat rising to fill my ears, and I found myself pushing back. Candice let the kiss linger, our lips sliding, breath mingling. When she pulled back, her eyes were almost solid red.
"Any farther and I may not be able to stop, Daniel.”
"I don't want you to," I admitted shyly and watched her nostrils flare, like she was scenting prey. Her head rose back to mine, and this time, her mouth was demanding, insisting. My grip tightened on her arm as I slid my tongue over those sweet lips. She tasted good!
“Mmm…”
Her moan had me a bit dazed, and I kissed her like I’d been wanting to since we’d left the complex. I threaded my big hands through her short, silky hair and held her still as I stroked her tongue, teasing. I heard the sheet rip again. It was incredible, sending my need into a new level, and I shuddered when her hand touched the bare skin of my chest.
"Easy..."
She breathed against my cheek and my heart thumped as she stroked my skin, lightly raked her nails over my taut nipple.
I dipped my head to her neck, nose full of her exotic scent, and pressed a kiss to her throat, feeling the hunger rise up to match the need she'd woken in me. It had never been like this.

C
My hands were pushing clothes aside, his silken hair against my bare skin making me arch, and then I was groaning against his neck as he rolled us over to lie between my legs. "Kiss me!"
He raised his mouth obediently, and I met it with a snarl of lust. His hand slid up my ribcage to cup my breast, and my legs went around his hips. I thrust back against his hardness with no thoughts of stopping except maybe long enough to put on the cuffs.
He shifted, bringing our bodies flush, and I groaned into his mouth when his member twitched against my thigh, seeking entrance. The kiss deepened, electricity flowing between our bodies.
I was aware of a noise beyond our groans and breathing, but the need to finish was driving at my control. He was more than willing, and I was… about to be attacked! In our passion, I hadn’t noticed the train stopping.
I watched the door inch open with red eyes, and then I was Changing. Blood red fury flashed through me.
I rolled Daniel toward the wall and shoved him off the bed as the door swung open wide, and shadows darted inside.
I followed him over, snatching my guns from the table. I pressed him into the corner as I opened fire
“Don’t hit the male…sss!”
The shout startled me more than the recognition, and I swept the room with gunfire, hitting one of the five.
I swung high, spraying a line that took out a second slithering bitch, then switched to the other gun as the remaining three Snake Trackers lunged.


D
“Candy!”
They hauled her away from me before she could finish reloading, and I was snatched by rough hands that were about to throw me over their shoulder. I shoved backward, forcing the female to follow.
It was the Snake woman I’d offered the drink to, and I instinctively spun us toward the wall and slanted my mouth over hers. It was all I could think to do.
She froze against me, and I deepened the kiss. Touching her scale-covered form was disgusting – slimy and unpleasant – and I struggled with my fear and my need to survive as she rattled against me. I didn’t want to know what part of her made that sound.
The Tracker had frozen, but that was turning into something dangerous now, and I tried not to gag as her forked tongue hesitantly met mine. Determinedly seeing Candice in my head, I pressed against the revolting woman and willed my owner to hurry. I’d been trained in the needs of a Changeling, and I sent my hands over her body in fast, knowing movements that had her control weakening and her grip tightening. Much more would see me killed when I couldn’t give what I was promising, but I kept at it even though I’d never been so limp. I had to buy Candy time to deal with the other two…
I was suddenly jerked away from the snake woman and spun back over the bed. I hit the floor with a heavy thump and slammed my head against the open door.
Dazed, I watched Candice kill the woman with her bare hands.

C
I sent my nails into her guts again, delighting in her scream. I jerked on her insides as I ripped upward, making sure she was hurt before I lifted my other clawed hand and slit open her throat.
The blood haze had fallen over me when I saw Daniel in her embrace, and I turned toward him in raw fury I couldn’t control.
Angelica burst into the room, weapon drawn, and I snarled a warning she heeded instantly, stopping.
I closed my eyes, pulling it back in the same way I was always demanding of her. When I thought I could, I jerked a hand toward the door where Baker was lurking. “Get him out of sight.”
Eyeing the scene, Baker grunted in amusement and looked down at Daniel. “I knew she’d break something the first time out. Just thought it would be you.”
Angelica shoved Baker back toward the other compartment as the Network guards entered the hall. My eyes were solid red orbs that halted the big women in the doorway of our room. Their eyes went over Daniel, still on the floor, and then the three bodies.
The ranking female gave me a short nod. “We’ll report it and send in a crew. You’ll need to clear the room.”
I motioned Daniel to it and narrowed my eyes in warning as the women stared at his exposed skin when he stood. “I’m ready enough if you’d like to try.”
They hadn’t run across a Changeling that could think and battle the fire at the same time, and each of them shook their heads and started backing from the room.
“Wise choice.” I pointed at the bodies. “They’re all wanted by the Network. Make sure I’m not attacked again, and this shift can split the bounty by ten percent.”
My generosity surprised them and gained me allies I wasn’t sure I’d ever need, let alone use. Still, it was good to have people on the inside when you could manage it.
“Thank you, Ms. Pruett. Please rest assured your remaining time on the Network Rider will be uneventful.”
The red of my eyes was fading to pink and I looked at Daniel as they left. I understood that he was trained to handle horny females in one way, but it didn’t stop the pain. He was throwing on fresh clothes from his kit, and I waved at my cloak. His was covered in blood. “Wear that, too.”
I felt his need to apologize, but I turned away. He’d been saving himself. How could I stay mad at him when his actions had kept him here? If they’d gotten him off the train, he could have been lost to me again, and in more ways than one. When the Snake women finished draining their males, they ate them. It was part of the Network’s most convincing tool in the extermination campaign.
The Snake Women were very secretive and barely surviving the Network’s attempts to make them extinct. Forced out of the cities, the Snake tribes were mainly concentrated in Frogtown and the Bama Swamps, but ones like these had left their people to come farther north for a different life. Most of them ended up being trackers. With their new tongues, they could find anything. This time, it had been death.
As soon as Daniel was covered, we moved to the other rooms, and the Network crew went in behind us to clean up the mess.

D
She pointed to the empty couch between Baker and Angelica, and I went quickly, feeling miserable. I wished I had done anything else now, and I had no idea how to make it right.
Able to see us better now, Baker’s knowing smirk took in the swollen lips I could feel, then Candy’s half-naked body, and my misery deepened. All I did was cause her trouble. She’d have been better off just renting me out at Floozies.
I curled into the corner of the soft couch and ducked my head inside her cloak. The scent filled my nose, and I closed my eyes, trying not to shake. I’d ruined everything.
Angelica was talking to her in low tones I couldn’t make out, and I heard Baker stretch out on the other couch. What would happen now? I’d shown her a disloyalty and that wouldn’t be forgiven… would it?
Scared of losing the first real home I’d ever had and terrified of her not wanting me anymore, I listened to the sound of the train starting back up. I let its jerky motions cover my struggle to find a solution for the mess I had made of things.

C
“You should take him in the back room and finish it.”
Baker’s challenging tone sent the flames back into my guts, but I only snorted. “They don’t make cuffs that strong.”
Baker’s eyes said that with him, I didn’t need them, that he never created this type of chaos. I knew that to be a lie, though, and I raised a brow. “Maybe you and Angel should take it.”
By the way his face darkened, I knew I’d guessed right, and I ignored her gasp of anger. She wouldn’t make a move for him unless I approved it. “She’s generous, too.”
Not wanting to kill anything that might grow between them, I motioned toward the door. “We’ll stay out here.”
“So will I.” Angelica’s voice was strained.
I shrugged. “Suit yourself.” I gave Daniel’s huddling form a heated look, implying I wanted this room for my own purposes, and she jumped to her feet.
“Fine!”
She stormed to the door with a hard look at Baker. “You touch me, and I’ll rip your head off after it’s over.”
Baker chuckled. “Might be worth it.”
The door slammed behind her, and the Convict flashed me a tight grin that I saw right through. “She’s burning hotter than you were.”
I nodded, not upset by his interest in my cousin, but still wounded by Daniel’s attempt to save himself. It was clear who I valued more.
“Be gentle and she won’t be able to resist.”
Baker gave me another of those searching looks that had me shaking my head. “No test. If you can help her, and she wants you to, my approval is there.”
Even Baker understood to ask first - it was the way males were trained now - and I loathed it. I wanted a mate like those I’d read about, someone to stand beside me, not a man who would sell himself out for protection.
I wasn’t sure why Daniel had reacted that way to the attack, but now that I had myself almost under control, I moved toward him to find out. If he’d thought to secure a place with the Snake Leader, then we had more trouble than I thought.
I pulled the edge of the cloak down and was shocked to find tears. He looked at me in utter dejection.
“I didn’t know what else to do!”
In that instant, I let go of my anger. He was so fragile, so vulnerable… I sighed, running a hand along his pale cheek as my heart broke. He may never turn back into the Daniel I’d loved as a boy, but there was no doubt that I wanted him anyway, in any condition. “I forgive you.”
His eyes swung to mine in shock, and I dipped my head to his lips without another worry over his loyalty. He hadn’t wanted to be split from me and had relied on the only skill he’d been taught. It was enough.
When his arms tightened, I gently pushed him back. He’d had enough trauma for one day, and so had I. “Try to sleep.”
Daniel stared at me in worry, still not sure things were okay between us, and I leaned forward to place another easy kiss to the mouth that I was beginning to think I might be addicted to. “I’ll be right here the whole time.”
He obediently laid his head back down, and I moved to the other couch to stretch out. I would miss the feel of him next to me, but with blood still drying on my hands, I was dangerous, and not just to him. Even a trip to the washroom would have to wait until I was seeing through flat black again.
Someone had tried to take what was mine, and I’d killed them. It wasn’t the first time, and I knew I’d be doing it again soon enough. After our betrayal with the Hounds, I wasn’t entirely sure this hadn’t been a case of the same thing. Had the Network paid the Snake females? I thought back to the bullets we’d taken as I had grabbed Baker. Maybe the Trackers had been the ones shooting.
When we returned home, I would check into it. No one double-crossed the Pruetts and lived to tell the story. The Network would not be excused from that strict rule.

Chapter Eighteen

Atlanta

D
Morning brought another long hour of riding in the same room as we waited to reach our stop. Angelica and Baker seemed to have worked some things out. They were playing Hob Jong at the small table, exchanging threats that weren’t so hostile as to cover the sexual tension flaring between them. Did that bother Candice? I couldn’t be sure. She was stealing quick looks at them the same as I was, but her face was blank, and I couldn’t guess at her thoughts.
I knew she was fond of her cousin, but I doubted that type of comfort was the norm for a close family. Still, sharing one male among the entire household was an accepted practice, and I wondered if the Pruetts agreed.
“Atlanta, five minutes to Atlanta.”
The cheery train voice had me turning to peer out the closed blinds in anticipation. I’d read the articles on the Georgian city, but I had never dreamed I would actually get to see it. Last night’s horror was locked away with the rest of the ugliness in my life. She’d forgiven me, and it would never happen again. I’d... I would fight next time. Satisfied with my own progress, I turned to look at our destination.
The city had once been a beautiful southern Mecca backdropped by magnificent mountains and majestic blue skies. I had seen it once, in a very old magazine one of the other bachelors had swiped from a renter. That image had been in my mind every time the Pruetts said Stone Mountain.
It wasn’t like that now. Every inch of the city was covered in green vines. It looked like the jungle pictures on the next page, and I stared in amazed disappointment. “What happened to it?”
I felt them all turn to me, but I didn’t understand how this city could be so overgrown. None of the others we had seen on the wall screens were like this.
Angelica explained. “They used to keep the vines back by trimming them. It grew a foot a day. When the War came, this area was contaminated, and the Kudzu plant took over in man’s absence. It now grows a foot an hour.”
Baker’s voice was low. “It makes it the perfect place for us.”
I turned to look at him, surprised by the tone. “Us?”
Candice flashed the convict a sharp look.
Baker shrugged in response. “It wasn’t like they weren’t going to notice.”
“They didn’t need to spend the time worrying about it,” Candice snapped back.
I was gratified to see Baker flinch back from her anger, but I hated it, too. He might be a harder class than me, but he was still a scarred, scared man looking for a loving owner. The Network had robbed us, and in more ways than just the obvious. I kept my eyes on the jungle of vines as the train rolled to a gentle stop, and Candice filled her cousin in.
“There are males. A lot of them.”
Angelica snorted. “Figures.”
I heard her shove herself to her feet and heard Baker grunt in pain.
“What was that for?” He questioned in surprise and I guessed she’d hit him.
“Don’t go against Candice again. Ever.” Her loyalties declared, Angelica’s steps took her to the door. “I’ll do a sweep.”
The door slid closed behind her, and I listened to the rest of the conversation with an intensity I was glad they couldn’t see.
“Where will we pick up the ride?”
“Two miles in. Already there and stocked.”
“Quiet?”
“Unlikely.”
 “They’ll want to talk to him and see if he wants to stay.”
“I don’t.”
“He’ll talk to them.”
She ignored my words, and I stopped a protest. Candice wouldn’t let them keep me. I knew that.
“What about your cousin? Will we need to lock her in a cell?”
Candice snorted. “Not unless you throw in a male. She’ll rip the doors off to get to them if she really wants one.”
After seeing Angelica’s compassion, even I knew that wouldn’t happen. Candice was joking. It was another discovery.
“We have the titanium cuffs,” Baker taunted.
“Really…”
I felt her eyes swing to me and heard the convict’s amused grunt.
“Yeah, they might hold you.”
I flushed at the thoughts that comment brought and was glad when the train alert sounded again.
“We are arriving at Atlanta Depot. Please check your room for all of your items before disembarking, and thank you for taking the Network Rider.”
My face was still red as we moved toward the door.
The weather had been unusually calm for the last few days, but we saw that had changed as we stepped from the rickety platform. The wind was gusting heavily, the gritty sky above us rolling in shades of purple and green. A storm was coming, and I shivered, stepping closer to Candice. Then my eyes registered my surroundings and I forgot about my fears.
The Kudzu plant was everywhere.
It wound up trees, choking them until the trunks underneath were as petrified from the lack of water as they were in the Forests of Kentucky, but this was worse somehow. Instead of dead trees, these were dying trunks with their killer living around them like a shroud. The Kudzu covered every inch of ground and area that I could see. How did Candice plan to travel through there? I doubted I was much of a hiker.
I looked over to see Baker staring at all the greenery and vines with a slight smile and understood he considered this home. I shrugged. Maybe there was more to see underneath, but from where I stood, it was a jungle to be conquered. The only open area was directly in front of the platform, and a few the other passengers who got off at this stop moved that way. I studied the three signs I could see from where we stood.
“Enter at your own risk. Unguarded.”
“Stay on main path and turn around at the marker. Those who go further will NOT be searched for.”
It was the last one my eyes lingered on.
Number of people who’ve gone off the beaten path and never returned 398 400 401 404
The number clearly wasn’t done growing, and before I could wonder if we would be the next tallies added to it, Candice let out a low snort.
“Laying it on a bit thick, aren’t you?”
Baker chuckled. “Gotta keep them out somehow.”
“How many of those missing people really exist?”
“Ten or so. All but one chose to help us.”
I wanted to ask what they had done with the other adventurer who’d found the rebel base hidden inside this dense jungle and chosen not to keep the secret, and managed not to. There were other people around us, one even staring at Baker like she might recognize him, and I knew better than to speak this time and draw more attention.
The Network guards were also staring our way, and I was very glad to see it was the group from last night. They would report the sighting, but maybe not exactly where Baker had been or who he was with. That sent me into another level of panicked worry. What would happen when the Network found out the Pruetts had aided Baker?
Angelica joined us, and I listened to her words, but my mind was on the future. If the Pruetts were arrested, would I be able to help them escape?
“Your parents have the other two convicts in custody. They’re exchanging them directly to the Network hub there, and then heading home.” Angelica’s dark eyes switched to me before returning to my owner. “I’ll take him back if you want.”
I clamped my lips shut and worried.

C
Angelica’s offer was tempting, but I made the only choice I could. If he were away from me, I’d be too distracted. “No.”
She shrugged and dropped back to take Drag while I took Point. With Daniel and then Baker behind me, it made a neat little sandwich that the males wouldn’t like, but Angelica would keep things under control while I broke a dozen Network rules. Helping the enemy, not reporting rebel sightings and locations, lying, falsifying papers, requisitioned supplies being consumed for personal use, evading, trespassing… I sighed. If we were caught, Angelica and I would be executed on the same wall as Baker and his rebel friends.
As we ventured under the naturally-formed green archway, my mental clock started ticking. The Network would be told, but not for a day. The guards currently holding a heavy pocket right now had me to thank for it, and I turned suddenly to give them a hard look. One of them grinned at me, and I returned the sentiment.
“Let’s go.”
We openly moved off the path and into the dense jungle, drawing shocked murmurs from the few tourists nearby. Most had remained at the platform.
“Won’t the sightseers call it in?”
Daniel’s very low voice had me letting out another sigh. “Yes, but Atlanta is thick and wide. They won’t know exactly where we are.”
“What about your parents? Won’t the Network hold…”
Angelica gave him the comfort he needed. “They’ll be questioned and released. The Network won’t hold them responsible for our actions.”
“But they track all messages and…”
“Stop, Daniel.” I turned to look at him and made sure to include Baker as I laid it out for them. I didn’t bother lowering my voice.
“The Pruetts are for freedom. We always have been, and we don’t consider gender a deciding factor. If I choose to help the rebels, we will, and we’ll handle what comes. Do you understand what I mean?”
Baker was grinning. He did, but Daniel shook his head. “You’re putting your family at risk for him.”
I gave a warmer look, meant only for my mate. “Some things are worth dying for.”
Daniel knew I meant him, and his pale face flushed in pleasure. “Whatever you want to do, I’m in. You know that?”
I nodded, turning back. “I do.”

D
It was hard to walk.
The thick vines kept tripping me up, and I struggled to move like the others. Candice took long, high steps that got her where she wanted to go, but when I tried it, the clingy plants wrapped around my boots and jerked me down. After ten minutes, I’d fallen twice, and Angelica moved to my side.
“You have to kinda jump when you land, or they tangle you up.”
When she demonstrated, I picked it up easily, but my lack of knowledge about the outside world had Baker smirking.
“Thanks.”
She gave a curt nod as she went back to her post, and I sighed as I remembered that the sound of my voice was painful to her Changeling ears. I had hoped to settle into the new life and be happy, but adjusting to this world was harder than I’d expected. I swiped the sweat from my brow and followed my owner into the jungle. Maybe next time we’d go to someplace easier, like the beach.
The jungle thickened as we walked, and it wasn’t until I tripped over a thick patch of purple flowers that I realized we were already in the city. It was so covered in the vines that I hadn’t seen it, and I stared in surprise, bringing our little convoy to a halt.
The thick masses I’d thought to be covered trees were actually walls, pillars, old relics of the past that had withstood the tests of time, but not nature. Considering the level of growth here, I imagined even these relics would be gone but not for the covering that kept them from crumbling. If the vines were killed off, what was left of the city would immediately collapse into piles of rock and gravel.
The very tips of arched roofs jutted out from the green leaves, hinting at decaying frames and thickets full of nasty surprises. There would be skeletons inside those overgrown walls, graying bones with no owners, only ghosts.
The thought gave me a chill, and I turned back to the path…Then flushed at the hard looks. I dropped my head and we got moving again.

C
We reached the river all at once.
One second, we were deep in the jungle, and the next I was pulling my mate back from the edge of a steep incline that overlooked a crystal-blue river winding through the vines. Painfully aware of how fascinating Daniel found water, I turned to give him a sharp look, only to see he was already absorbed in the glistening ripples.
I sighed. “Ten minute break.”
Baker grunted behind me, and I heard Angelica snort in cynical amusement. Thanks to the convict’s loose tongue, Angelica was now stewing on having to control herself around so many males. It was a fun trip we had going so far.
“Can I…”
“No.” I hadn’t meant to be so curt. “It’s not safe.”
And yet, we were about to ride the river. I could see the edge of what was probably a scavenger boat waiting just around the bend. I gave Angelica a quick wave, and she moved off in that direction to get the passage she had secured for us. There were ways… and the Pruetts knew most of them.
Daniel stopped at my side, and I looked back to see Baker leaning against a leaf-covered pillar. His goggles were down, and I wondered what he was thinking as he stared at us. I’d known Baker long enough to be sure he would recover and quickly move on. I’d been very worried about having feelings for him because of it. Baker wasn’t a one-woman kinda man, or at least I’d always thought so.
I swung back to the river we were about to use to delve further into the jungle-like city. We could stay on these paths, but once we reached the edge of town proper, we might have to hack our way in. I had chosen a route easier and faster than that, but a bit more dangerous.
I felt Daniel’s attention shift as the boat slowly rode the waves into view. “We’re sailing in?”
Sweat dripped from his brow, and my need flared hungrily. I found very few things sexier than a man working one up. His eagerness had me smiling against my will, and I lifted a soft hand to push the hair from his damp brow. “For a bit.”
He grinned at me happily, and I spun away before I could kiss him. I wasn’t overly concerned with Baker’s feelings, but I also didn’t want to see him hurt. Behind me, I sensed a new conversation waiting, and waved Angelica toward them while I went to inspect the boat.

D
“What’s she waiting for?”
I hated myself for asking, but Baker knew. He’d lain with her… loved her. No one else had ever gotten as close, I was sure. Did he see me as a weakling because I didn’t know any of these survival things? Was I a threat for my good looks and a joke for my clumsiness? Was he as confused about me as I was about him? I thought that was likely. Candice seemed to have that effect on people.
Baker raised his goggles, and I studied the hard lines of his face, those wild, shined eyes. This had been my substitute, and in many ways, still was. How would I get him out of her mind?
“When I met her, she was determined to do one thing – get something that had been stolen from her.” Baker’s eyes flashed bitterly. “I didn’t know it was you. Until she signed up for the Games, I thought we might… come to love each other.”
 “Candice? In love?”
I knew better, but Baker shook his head like I’d said something stupid.
“She’s always been taken... I just didn’t know it.” He sighed, “She won’t force it on you. Until she knows you’re sure, she’ll stay back.”
I forced it out through the hope… the fear. “And after?”
His eyes glinted again, this time in with sad hatred I instantly pitied him for. “You’ll never be sold, never be alone. She’ll love you so completely your past will vanish into those happy dreams the Den Mothers tried to sell you on.”
Angelica stepped into the area, and I stored that huge discovery for the next one. “And what about you? She cares. You can’t deny it.”
To my surprise, he laughed. “You really are a rookie. She used me, kid, to learn enough to save your ass.”
He slid his goggles back into place. “And I always knew it wasn’t for me, so save your pity. I enjoyed every second of servicing her needs.”
Jealousy seared me. I could see him using those heathen arms to pleasure her, and I spun back toward the water feeling angry instead of sorry for him.
Angelica’s voice made me listen against my will. “So you’re not in love with her?”
Baker chuckled. “Why? You wanna rent me next? I make my living that way, you know.”
I tried to ignore their flirting, understanding Baker really did have feelings he was covering. I didn’t understand that type of reaction. Why lie? His male pride would get in the way of any relationship he tried to have… I realized it was intentional and felt the rest of my anger fade. Baker was trying to keep from appearing hurt or even interested any longer. That was a tempting tactic, except it was off limits to me. I’d already revealed my feelings to her. Hadn’t I? Unsure, I followed her from the land and onto the water.
Our driver was tall and wiry, wearing camouflage clothes and black paint over her hands and face. With her small boat painted the same way, she appeared almost exactly like the images I had seen of the old world army. She even had a weapon on the front that I assumed to be some sort of a machine gun. Those neatly rolled coils of ammunition gave me a flash of our kamikaze captain polishing and reloading while eating from a can.
I looked over the edges to see what could have been the dried husk of a bean and turned my head away to hide the smile. I didn’t see any signs of a male around, but once we got underway, I understood the crazy woman had a death wish that only these debris fields could satisfy.
The ride on the flat bottom boat was one I’ll never forget. It was scary and wild, and I loved every second of it. Candice sat just behind me, with a rope attaching me to her belt in case I flew out during our driver’s frantic plunge down the debris-filled river. Despite the river being so clear and pretty, there were entire buildings in our path that had to be avoided. Instead of a slow, careful pace, our driver flew in and out of these death traps as if it were a race. We were soaked and rattled by the time she stopped.
My reaction was one I couldn’t control. “Again!”
I laughed, leaning back against Candice. “Can we do it again?”
She flashed me that Network grin and shifted for a sharp kiss that made me clutch at her arms for support. In that moment, it was only me and my owner, and there wasn’t anywhere else I’d have rather been.
We moved back slowly, eyes locked, and I drew up the nerve to touch her cheek. My fingers slid along that sensual jawline, and I felt her tremble.
The need was raging in her pink eyes, but she moved out of my reach and stood up. I followed her back onto the land with a small smile on my lips that I couldn’t have hidden if I wanted to.
“How much farther?” Candice asked.
Baker’s tone was unreadable. “We’ll be met right here in about five… four… three…”
The jungle around us had narrowed to a thin path behind the small, wooden dock our crazy driver was tying up to. After that, there was only a single path into a thin canopy that formed an archway that made me think of old legends… and ghosts.
The deepest shadows of this archway moved as we waited, resolving into the forms of three people all dressed in green. It blended them into everything they walked by and had me staring in appreciation. As they got closer, I could see their green clothes were actually streaks and swirls of black and green, giving the shadow illusion that allowed them to blend so perfectly.
Baker stepped forward and the stiff posture of the three shadows relaxed instantly.
“Baker!”
“Welcome home!”
To my shock, each of the males bowed at his feet.

C
“It would seem we haven’t been told the full story.”
Angelica’s comment pulled no response from me, and she frowned, realizing I’d already known.
“Oh, get up!”
Baker’s tone was embarrassed, and I understood he was trying to replace their male instincts and not having much luck. I flashed my Games grin and watched all of his males flinch back. Didn’t he know it took a woman to bring out the drives of a man? My eyes flickered pink… testing.
“What the hell?”
“Are they Changelings?”
Baker motioned the trio away from us to explain, and I turned to my own followers. “Stay close.”
Angelica and Daniel were clearly hoping I would give them the careful words that Baker was delivering, but I didn’t run my ship that way, and really, they knew it.
Angelica gave me a nasty look and then grunted. “Thanks.”
I nodded. “You’re dealing with enough. I know.”
“You ready?”
Baker’s call sent us back to the path, and I studied his two guards. The only marking I saw that set them apart from their surroundings was a tattoo that I instantly recognized. It matched Baker’s and finished selling it for me. He hadn’t lied about his importance, either. I already knew he was a hero to these weak men. How could he not be? Compared to them, Baker was a legend for surviving on his own, and for taking Network lives to do so.
The two males wore their tattooed ribbons lower on their arms and I smothered a grin at the sight of their bare skin under the camouflage. They were wearing tank tops and jeans, but the coloring had fooled my fast eyes a second time. Ingenious.
I pinned the smaller one with a hard look. “Are you the artist?”

D
“I’m security. Eric makes things pretty.”
His wide brown eyes went to the beautiful male on Baker’s right and I understood that these were more than just rebels, but I wasn’t sure what that meant yet.
“I like pretty things.”
Eric’s voice was sweet to her, I could tell, and I moved a step closer. This one wasn’t shy, wouldn’t jump at her touch or fear her embrace. This prissy playboy was a former bachelor and likely a renter too, from the way he was eyeing my Candy.
They stayed on each side of Baker while the third man, a huge, hulking shadow with hands the size of my head, kept watch over the path we had come down. Each of them had a thinly supplied tool belt and a small kit on their backs, but of weapons, all I spotted was a knife. If someone came, what did they plan to do? Talk their way out?

C
We followed them deeper into the jungle than I had ever been, and I felt that sense of being watched begin to fade. It allowed me to place a gentle hand on Daniel’s arm and give him the comfort of a casual walk before we hit all the tension again.
I was very aware of how hard he was trying to fit in with us, but I had already decided he would stay with the other mates for the next run. I just spent too much time worrying with him here. Problem was though, I knew I’d worry no matter where he was. Daniel had a way of getting into trouble without even trying.
I’d no sooner had the thought than he tripped and fell down the incline.
“Damn it!” I dove after him, seeing his head go under the vines, and I snagged the edge of his boot.
“Something’s got him!”
It came from one of the rebel males, and Angelica’s boots stomped over to us.
“It’s the vines. They’re not exactly dead, you know!”
She began swiping at the greenery with her blade, and we were all a bit shocked to the vines retreat a foot. She had been studying on her own again.
Daniel was huddled in a ball under the retreating plants, and I jerked him over to me. “Can’t you be more careful?”
I gave him a slight shake, needing the shock of the vines to fade from his mind. He already feared me. That was enough.
Daniel snapped his head up, voice tight. “I was!”
The anger in his voice immediately sent my mouth to his.
“Help him!”
“She’s gonna hurt him!”
Baker’s growl was full of laughter. “She’s the one who better watch out. Come on. They’ll catch up.”
Around us, the sound of footsteps and then silence, but it wouldn’t have mattered. When these moments came, it was as if only we existed.
I drew back with flames licking my insides, the sight of his swollen lips making them leap higher. I ran my thumb across his bottom lip, tilting his head back before I pressed my mouth to his neck.
He tensed, hands tightening on my hips, and then we were falling down into the sweet smelling Kudzu in an embrace that could have melted icebergs.
I wasn’t looking to shore up my control before we went in, but when he slid a hand toward my heat, I considered allowing it…
Just as quickly, I chose not to and gently drew him to his feet. The next time we got that close, I wasn’t sure I would stop, and our first time wouldn’t be in the middle of a jungle with skeletons buried under the leaves we were lying on.

Chapter Nineteen

The Rebel Base

C
As soon as he saw the cave entrance and realized we were actually going inside the mountain, Daniel turned to me with panicked eyes.
“I can’t.”
His endless worries and fears were usually something I handled with tolerance, but the Network might know where we were even now, and I wanted to be under full cover. I swung him up over my shoulder and strode forward. He only struggled lightly, and we entered the rebel base with him upside down and me grinning.
Made of smooth stones for the seats and rough for the floors, the circular room was a spacious area with four main exits. The 5’ x 2’ stone seats were terraced from the very top of the round room’s high walls, ending in the center to leave a “10 x 10” ring. It reminded me of the posters in the Network Complex of the ancient Roman death games. The architecture was remarkably similar.
Lines for power and other amenities ran along the stone walls, chiseled in to disappear and reemerge like the roots of a mighty tree growing through the quartz. The tunnels weren’t very wide, but they were long and the floors were soft, tan sand that seemed very out of place among the grey walls. Natural torches lined the rooms. Made of jungle plants woven into a cone-shaped handle, they burned with a light smoke and heavy aroma of flowers that floated to the top of the rooms and was drawn out through the cracks in the gray stone.
I looked around, senses triggered. The shadows were deceiving, telling me we were alone when I knew we weren’t, and I was impressed that Baker had been able to teach them that much.
We were met by a group of rebels who looked like they were still teenagers, and I rolled my eyes at their shaky attempts to stop me with old guns that I doubted would even work. “Baker told you we were coming. Clear a hole!”
They flinched back at my order, and the shout brought Angelica and Baker into the tunnel. I shook my head at the timid response to a possible intruder. “This doesn’t look good.”
Baker eyed my now frozen prize, Daniel still over my shoulder. “That won’t to them either.”
I heeded his warning and swung Daniel to his feet as Angelica moved to take the flank. I steadied him and locked our eyes. “You can do this, and you will.”
He nodded quickly, glad to be upright, and I moved into Stone Mountain with my own timid male following. It would seem both Baker and I had a lot of work to do.
We only traveled in the quartz tunnel for a minute before reaching the heavy metal door, and Baker’s now five guards helped him to open it.
“We don’t have electricity for the doors,” he explained, swiping at cobwebs. “And we usually take the long way in.”
That would be directly through the heart of the jungle. I hoped that perhaps we wouldn’t see too much more of it before we left. When we boarded the boat next time, it would take us all the way out of Georgia.
The door opened to reveal an enormous stone room and more male faces than even I had expected. Behind me, Angelica growled.

D
The sound of her Changeling fury sent the rebel males into halls and corners, darting for cover before she had even moved, and I did what I wasn’t supposed to. I stepped forward and tried to calm them down. “They’re not like the others.”
Candice grabbed my arm and shoved me back, turning my words into a lie. The males panicked, grabbing weapons from the walls.
Baker stepped forward. “Stand your ground!”
I noticed he wasn’t limping anymore, and realized the convict was a fast healer, too, like Candice.
“It’s Baker!”
“They’re with the Boss!”
“Baker’s home!”
The males flooded into the room at the calls, and I understood they loved him by the way they flocked to his side, touching him. Their reaction was very much like that with the Den Mothers at the Network complex and I started to relax a little. These males were my own kind.
Baker was busy explaining things, and I took the time to watch Candice and Angelica. Being around so many males usually sent Changelings into a frenzy, but I was expecting better from my new family and wasn’t disappointed.
Despite her first reaction, Angelica stayed behind us, watching the rear like she was supposed to and Candice only listened to their hurried conversation with a slightly bored expression. I straightened my shoulders and tried to look like I belonged with them.
Baker moved our way with his five guards, and I did a quick count of all the faces behind them. Roughly four dozen. How many more were behind the doors that I could see leading from this room? Baker had an army here. What the bachelors back at the Network complex wouldn’t give to know about this! I’d hoped for an owner, but some of the males I’d been bullied by had dreamed of a place like this.
And I was welcome to join. I could feel their automatic assumption that I needed help, and it warmed me. I’d never been around my own kind except under Network control and it was a whole different life in those halls.
“Do you want to talk to them first or eat?” Baker sounded different, more… powerful somehow.
I watched Candice shrug.
“Either is fine.”
The convict motioned toward the largest tunnel to our right. “How about a short tour and then we’ll talk?”
“Agreed.”
Candice followed him and I stayed on her heels, looking around in surprise as we went through the first door.

C
I noticed the noise as soon as we moved inside and assumed the humming was a power source. It wasn’t until Angelica turned to Baker that I realized it was… and it wasn’t.
“What do you use for power that makes so much noise?”
Baker laughed. “That’s the sound of a rookie getting inked.”
That had Angelica’s eyes running over the rebel tattoo on his arm, and then the one on Baker’s neck that I’d put there myself, years ago to declare him protected. Very few knew about our code.
Angelica’s hands went into her pockets, and she moved away from his slight smirk. Baker knew what effect he had on women, always had.
“We use the river.”
They had a natural source of power, and it made no noise to draw attention. Baker was smarter than I’d ever given him credit for. I accepted it with shame it deserved.
“We have nine areas. Three are cooking, washing, and laundry. Two are dorms for sleeping. The others are like this one.”
I didn’t stop my harsh grin as I looked over his training setup. There were rope bridges and rock wall faces with blue grips that gleamed in the natural light. The ceiling of this room had a huge hole in the center, a jagged result of a tremor that had cracked this part of the mountain. It kept nature flowing through, and I could see they had wisely left the vines to curl inside. Why try to deny the plant what it would eventually have anyway? The effort was better spent on other, more realistic goals.
On the uneven floor, there were obstacle courses and workout mats with crates of equipment marking off each individual spot. There were knotted ropes hanging from the craggy edges, and wooden steps that went up for thirty feet to curve around one entire wall before coming back down at an incredibly steep incline. My need flared into a thousand tiny pricks of heat. All over these training tools were men, working up a sweat.
“I’ll be in the hall.”
Angelica spun from the now-silent room with a fast movement, and I let her go. There were forty well-covered men out there. In here, there were fifty half-naked targets with only slick skin to protect them. The scent of it was enough to make even my eyes flicker, and Baker tossed an amused look toward Daniel.
“We keep cuffs in the rooms for… guests.”
I turned to see Daniel flush and motioned him back toward the door. “Distract Angelica if you can.”
I gave a pointed look that said to do it carefully, and he moved out of my sight with a snotty look at the rebel leader. His spine reappeared with Baker, I thought, delighted.
I turned back to the watching rebel males. They had moved toward each other and the weapons lining the walls… I couldn’t help flashing them another pink-eyed Games grin.
Now they were rushing for the knives and chains.
Baker stepped forward with a look of resignation. “She’s with me.”
“Who is that?”
“Baker?”
“Baker’s back!”
A few of them had the courage to approach us, but they didn’t run to him like I suspected they wanted to. I understood these males were much more careful than Daniel. They really had been trained. Questions began forming in my mind.
Baker let them encircle him as the others had, and I saw he was being subtly moved away from me. Maybe he had made some progress trying to prepare them. He spent long minutes talking in low tones, and those listening darted quick, disbelieving glances in my direction. The rest of them never took their eyes off of me.
The room held no photos or anything that could have been mistaken as a personal decoration, but a small area in the corner with a stack of books drew my eye repeatedly. When they weren’t eating, sleeping, or training, Baker had them reading. Interesting. What had he thought they needed?
I moved closer to inspect the small, well-worn stack and my lips curled upward. They were all romance novels. He was trying to teach them to be men, considered that more important than a normal education. Very interesting. What exactly did Baker have going on? Leading by example, he was trying to exude that sense of complete calm and control over the situation, and it impressed me. I’d known Baker when he was a rebellious teenager bent on finding a way to take down the Network, and this image didn’t really fit… yet in some ways it did. It would seem he was fulfilling his dreams.

D
“Is there anything I can do for…”
I stopped when Angelica spun around to face me, expecting the worst. I didn’t know her very well, and I was more than a little leery. I wondered if she looked as dangerous to the other males as she still did to me. She was smaller than Candice, with shorter black spikes and paler skin, but I suspected there was a fire in Candy’s little cousin to rival her own.
“Yes.”
I blinked. “What?”
“There is something you can do for me.”
I had already tensed, and I tried to relax. “Name it.”
“Tell me how you do it.”
“Do what?” Clearly, I was confused, and I watched Angelica master her impatience.
“Help her control it. She spends time around you, and she’s suddenly this rock of indifference.” Angelica’s voice lowered, and she stepped closer, drawing attention that had rebel males moving toward us.
“I… When I pick a mate, he has to be able to do that for me so I don’t hurt him!”
I shook my head at the trio about to interrupt, noting the hulking forms of those they’d chosen for security, and then ignored them.
“I’m not sure.” I looked at her, wanting to explain what I had no real words for. “She feeds off my happiness… I think. Knowing I’m here - that she was able to win - helps her when it gets bad.”
Angelica pinned me with a pair of pink eyes. “How do I know the right Bachelor?”
It hit me then that she’d already gone far beyond thinking about the Games, and my voice went up a level. “What did you do, Angel?”
She shoved me against the wall, hissing angrily, but it wasn’t the name that had her upset. “Tell me!”
Ignoring the rebels running off to find Baker, I gently pushed at the arm across my throat, and she eased her grip. I doubted she realized how strong she was. Most Changelings didn’t. “I’ll try.”
She slowly moved back, and neither of us responded to the yells of the men with the guns, nor the doors opening or feet moving our way. She needed information I had and I made sure she could hear me over the din.
“They’ll feel it too, and there’s no hiding that.”
She blinked, not expecting such a simple answer. “Then… they want …?”
“To be loved. As much as you do.”
Hurting, she spun away from me.
“The legends say there are visions that spark up.”
Baker’s voice was more amused than upset as she stormed by, and he shook his head at the near-panicked males. “They’re just talking, stand down.”
Baker looked at Candice with a face that held embarrassment, but also a meaning that I didn’t miss. What did the rebel leader want from her?
“Maybe we should stay together for a while.”
Candice gave a short nod at his suggestion, but her eyes were all over me. I wanted almost desperately to know what she was thinking right then, but I had to settle for going to her side as we joined Baker and his rebels for a meal.
As we went by two doors, the rebel leader pointed out our rooms, and I noticed the handcuffs on the wall with a red face.  Next to the cuffs was a wide bed with no less than eight thin poles welded to the sides. Spaced a few feet apart, I understood what they were for and flushed darker.

C
“They’ll feel it too and there’s no hiding it.”
Daniel’s words rang in my head as we settled on the hard steps of the huge arena to eat. At another time, being here might have sent my thoughts to the Games I’d won, the blood I’d spilled in other places like this, but all I could think about was what I had just learned.
“There’s no hiding it.”
The look in his eyes as he’d said that! Daniel loved me. It was only a beginning flicker - with the short time we’d had, there was no way it could be more - but I planned to encourage that tiny glimmer into a fiery explosion. I wanted him in love with me, the way I was with him.
The realization stunned me. He was the opposite of Baker’s dependable strength. Pale and ignorant of the world. Quick to get emotional, and even quicker to find trouble. I’d retrieved my mate, and it was an important moment for me. It was that turning point from which there would be no going back. I would spend the rest of my life trying to make him love me the way I did him.
“Stop drooling and listen, will ya?”
Baker’s annoyed growl swung my eyes from Daniel’s flushed face, and I let out a hiss of need that sent those closest scattering. There were roughly thirty males in here with us now, all dressed in t-shirts and jeans without the shadowy colors to hide what they were - men. Everywhere I looked, hard bodies and wary eyes met my assessing stare. They were healthy looking, and I stored the thought. Baker had his strength in these men. Would he be able to give them the courage they needed to go with that brawn? Compared to these free men, Daniel looked happy. Most of them were bigger than he was, healthier, but his face was a mask of contentment that Baker couldn’t give his rebels, either. They needed women for that.
I rolled my eyes at the fearful males. “When I snap, you’ll know it.”
Baker chuckled again, and Daniel surprised us both by joining in with a flushed smile. He was starting to relax with us, to belong…
“Candy…”
Baker didn’t know the name no longer held any power, and he frowned when I didn’t react.
“That’s it then.”
I nodded. “Yeah.”
“You gonna go sparkless on me, too?”
That got a violent growl that even Baker drew back from. “Never on your life!”
He flashed those stunning silver eyes at me. “Then listen.”
“I am.”
“There are 500 of us.”
My mouth dropped open in shock, and I heard Angelica move closer.
“Most are at the safe zone.”
“You’re gathering an army.”
Baker shook his head, silver eyes flashing, and I braced for it.
“I have one now. I’m trying to train an army.”
I knew then what he wanted me for, and I opened my mouth to say no… “Sell me.”
Even I was surprised, but when he’d said Daniel was changing me, Baker had been completely wrong. The Network had opened the door to this whole other person that I was suddenly very eager to explore. For this new world, I might be a leader of a rebellion, of men! The thought was terrifying and exhilarating, and I listened with an intensity I had been lacking before.
“My father escaped from a Network auction and took refuge here. After he realized they wouldn’t come into the vines after him, he began gathering other runaways and male convicts set for execution. He started when he was still in his twenties.”
That explained the high number. The man I’d seen killed by the Network was at least double that age, maybe triple.
“He spent his life hiding here, organizing safe zones for others like us. Word spread, and now, when males escape, most try to find a zone. We only put them in places the Network won’t go.”
My mind spun out a fast list of possible locations for the main bunker with the other males, and the Borderlands topped it. I confirmed my guess right away. “Yeah, the guards don’t like dust, bandits, and mutations all in the same place.”
Baker grinned in satisfaction, nodding. “I knew you were the right one for the job.”
I frowned darkly. “I haven’t taken it yet.”
He waved to a few of the timid males hanging back. “Join us. She has questions only you can answer.”
The two who came over were Eric and Greg, from our first meeting. Without the paint, they were both incredibly beautiful. It was clear they had been abused, though, and I loathed the scars across their arms and wide shoulders. Those were defensive wounds, and I had little doubt their jeans and tank tops hid more of the same.
“Eric and Greg were broken out after they were won. They’ve both spent their lives in the Games, from birth.”
I studied them, collecting more information from their appearances and reactions than I thought they’d be able to tell me. Both of them were shaking, though Eric’s eyes held a slight gleam that I recognized as need. It was hard to miss when you spent so much time battling it.
“Tell me about the training - as much detail as you can manage.”
My soft request pulled a reluctant nod from Greg, but I could tell he was scared to talk in front of two un-cuffed Changelings.
“She won’t. My word on it.” I didn’t need to look at Angelica to know she was emanating waves of menace as the fire tried to take over. Her strength was amazing, all things considered.
“You’re sure?”
Eric asked it, and even I had to close my eyes at the sound of those bell-like tones coming from that stunning face. It made me want to sink my teeth into his skin and bite until the blood soaked into me like it was mine.
I turned to look at Angelica, but she was already moving toward the door. “I’ll be around.”
I gave a deep sigh, and then drew in a tight breath. It filled my lungs with the scent of the male at my side, and heat flared inside my gut. Daniel’s face was almost ugly compared to Eric, but it was the sight of him that had my vision tinting pink. “They’ll feel it too and there’s no hiding it.”
The same was true of a Changeling.
I saw his lips curl upward as he realized the effect he was having on me, and I motioned toward the long tables of food they had spread out. “Go eat something else.”
He was still much too thin, and I was glad to see him head toward the sweets trays. Any fat he put on, I would turn into muscle. The grin spreading across my face was unstoppable.
Baker was waiting patiently, and I saw the same was true of the others in the room. They were used to dealing with Changelings despite being hidden here, alone. My mind snapped it into place. “Where are the women?”
Baker’s look was smug as I continued to prove my intelligence, declaring myself for the job.
“We don’t have them here very often. There are none right now.”
“Not without you here?”
Baker nodded, again showing his emotion, his caring for these orphaned males. “They wouldn’t handle it well on their own if one of the females was strong enough to feign normalcy and sneak in here... they’d be wiped out.”
“Do you bring them in for experiments or relief?” I questioned, my tone daring him to lie.
“Mates.”
I raised a brow as though I’d misunderstood, but I hadn’t, and my mind reviewed my earlier impression from seeing the reading material. He was match-making in the middle of a rebellion. Beyond interesting. It was downright exciting. Baker was trying to repopulate the earth… right under the Network’s nose. I suddenly liked him, respected his sand, a lot more than I ever had before. Courage was something I found irresistible.
“A little detail on that would be good.”
The rebel leader shook his head at the offer of a second helping of food, but I gave him a sharp look and he took the plate of dried staples. I didn’t say that if he thought to do all this, he, too, needed more weight to throw around, but he knew. Baker took a bite and went on with eyes I was sure were reading my every reaction.
“There are women who’ve helped us. In return, we help them. The males who only want an owner are allowed to pick from the few friends we have who can protect them, keep them out of sight.”
His tone grew proud. “The Stone Mountain compound has placed more than a hundred bachelors with good homes over the last thirty years.”
I gestured at the timid male on his right. “And the ones like this, who have no wish to be owned or loved?”
Greg flushed, and I understood that might not be true. Another case of great acting to be left alone until he made his own choice of owner? I hadn’t thought bachelors could be clever, too, and it was a delicious thought.
“I get them to the main safe zone after I give them a few months training to help them make it. There are no females there, ever.”
“You realize that will have to change?”
“I’m counting on it. After we take down the Network, they’ll all need to be placed with mates so we can rebuild the world of light my father foresaw.”

Chapter Twenty


C
“Tell me how you know Daniel.”
Eric and Greg both flinched back, and I grinned. “Your quick looks at him gave you away.”
One was scared, and the other… a temptation to be resisted. Eric had decided he wanted to belong to me, and his beautiful eyes were busy searching for any signs of something to use to pry his way in.
Baker nodded at them, and I steeled myself against their voices.
“The Network pulled DNA from the Immortality Drive that was on the international space station when it fell back down in 2308. It contained markers without the mutations, and they’ve been working on it ever since.”
Instead of lust at the sound of their voices, the information kept me focused. “You know about the vaccine.”
There was no surprise in the entire room, and Eric’s voice grew bitter. “They created it by using the blood of bachelors who only produce male children.”
My eyes immediately swung to Daniel. Only produce male children. I instantly sensed he was one of the twelve, and wondered if he knew. “How long have they had the cure?”
“Five years that we know of.”
I listened in furious silence as they filled in the rest of the ugly picture that Daniel had only held small pieces of.
“They don’t want the women cured or the male population restored. If that happens, men might regain their former power, and there isn’t anything the Network won’t do to stop that.”
Greg picked up where Eric left off, his incredibly sweet voice rushing over me like a wildfire. No wonder he was so scarred… scared. The feel of it!
“They figured out that if the mating is willing, with one of the twelve bachelors who only have male children, then the offspring will be immune. They’ve only managed to create that mix a dozen times. There’s a certain… spark that’s needed.”
I turned to Baker. “How many of the twelve have you gathered?”
His grin told me I would like the answer. “Six or seven.”
No wonder they wanted him dead. I leaned back, and began sorting and organizing the new, deadly information as they dealt it out.
“They’ve known for a long time and hid it to keep things in chaos. They sell these secrets to other governments and the sister Network in the Western Outpost. It lets them control our world.”
I thought of the discovery we’d made years ago. The Pruett’s knew of the wall around the entire country they’d accessed so far and I didn’t doubt the west was the same. To keep us in, or others out? Both came to mind, but I hadn’t placed all those pieces yet.
“And no one knows,” I muttered.
Eric’s voice took on a determination that sent hunger through me. I liked a rebel. My relationship with Baker proved that.
“We do, and we’ll die to take them down.”
Greg added another piece to the puzzle, one I slammed into place with a final click that had my grip tightening on the spoon.
“They use those dozen males for a lot of things. Most of the time, it’s as a breeding tool for those rich enough to buy a child. When it’s a boy, it’s passed off as coincidence, but they make sure the parents are compatible first. When these male children get old enough, they take them back and use them in the program.”
“Studying the next generation.” Daniel was right to be worried for his missing offspring.
“Yes. They have our kids in the New Network City complex… where the Games are held.”
I knew it all from there. It was what I would want, what I would do. “And you’re not heading for the Safe Zone until you can take them with you.”
Baker nodded, eyes glowing with pain, and with determination. “We can still do it from there, but it’s farther away, and the information trickles in. We’ll be blind in too many ways.”
My mouth opened. “The Defender said not to forget your promise.”
Baker’s eyes flashed in regret. “I won’t.”
I didn’t ask him what it was, or how he planned to get their children out of New Network City once they escaped the complex. There was only one method of transportation that would put them in the Safe Zone within just days, and I admired his sand. If only Daniel had a bit more…

D
They wanted her to help them get inside the complex to rescue their missing children. Would my own sons or daughters be among them? I listened with a thumping heart. She’d said she would check it out…
“We need to know anything you can tell us,” Greg pleaded.
Candice revealed another secret. “You’re one of the twelve.”
Her eyes shifted to Eric, the one I already hated for the way she stared at his pretty face.
“So are you.”
“Yes, but it’s not about just us. We want this to end, and we can make it happen.”
“What you need is someone on the inside.”
“You offering?”
Now my heart was pounding, and I was glad when she blew out a snort.
“What the hell would I do with a second mate? I’d be too busy keeping them from killing each other to get any relief!”
Laughter spilled out, and I tried to relax. Candice had won. If anyone had the strength to find a Network weakness, it was her.
Groan…
We looked up, Candy’s crew anyway, and the males exchanged amused looks at our nervousness.
“It’s solid,” Greg stated, face reddening when she locked onto him.
Baker confirmed it. “The stone shifts with the weather. It’ll hold.”
“The Network would have to send in a plane, and the storm won’t let them do that right now. Even if they knew where you were, they couldn’t get in,” he stated, making Candice frown. Did she know something?
“Are you okay?”
I turned to see an imposing man on my right, and I nodded, thinking he looked liked he had been beaten so many times that his nose had more ridges than the mountain we were hiding under.
“Yes. Thank you.”
His dark eyes stared at me, seeing my lack of fear on their levels. I was getting used to being around my Changeling, and it showed.
“We’ll help you get away. Baker will too.”
I pushed for information carefully and ignored the offer. “He doesn’t seem like a hero.”
“He is, though. Baker’s dad was a bachelor, too, like you. They only found each other through Candice.”
“How did that happen?”
The big male shrugged, and I noticed there were others sensing that it might be okay to get closer now that Candice had seen the man talking to me and hadn’t reacted. These were rebels?
Grind…
I ignored the sounds of the walls to listen to the backstory I’d been dying to know.
“She made her parents hack into Network security to find out who his dad was. She was trying to get him off the streets where he was renting himself out in exchange for protection. The information came through while she was away training for the Games, and Baker tracked us down.”
“Was his dad glad to see him?” I hated the tremor in my tone, but a loving father was something I’d never had.
“Not at first. Baker was a wanted convict, and his father was afraid it would get us exposed. When he found out Baker had a relationship with the Pruetts, he changed his mind. We never knew why, but I’ve always thought it was for their Network connection. The Pruetts have been bounty hunting for them for centuries.”
“Were they close after Baker came to live here?’
“Not really. Baker had a little brother they were looking for when his father got caught - Cain. Other than his missing boy, Baker’s father only cared for taking down the Network.”
“What about him?”
The man’s gaze had been on me, but now it swung to Baker with devotion.
“He cares about us and rebuilding the world. We stayed with Baker’s dad because it was safe and there was nowhere better to go. With Baker, we stay because he’s our leader.”
I was still having a very hard time placing the convict at this level of caring. Maybe there was something I wasn’t seeing, and I turned my attention back to the conversation.
“So what happens when you get them out? You head for the Borderlands and get trapped between the two Networks?”
“We wage a final war for our freedom.”
I heard it then, the tone of command that made me stand up straighter. The hulk at my side knew.
“He’ll give us what he promises… if he can get enough help.”
I turned back. “What do you want from me?”
Hulk laughed good-naturedly. “Not you, her. She’ll train his army.”
“He’ll help, too.”
This came from a tall, slim man with a purple streak down the side of his hair that only came when you were the top prize during the Animal Games. He wore the same clothes as the others, but I sensed a wildness about him that gave me hope Baker’s little group of rebels might be more competent than their jumpiness implied.
“You’ll help repopulate the earth. As one of the twelve, your success is just as important.”
It was a lot to take in, and I stored another chunk of information, trying to act like I had known all along. So, I had two sons. Pride filled me… and behind it, pain. “I’ll do my part.”
Both of the males ran hungry eyes over Candice in appreciation.
“Bet you will!”
“With that to work on, I might, too!”
I couldn’t help but grin at their teasing. They didn’t mean any harm, and I happened to agree. Making babies… sons, I amended, with Candice would be a dream come true.

C
I watched him joke with the former bachelors like he’d known them as friends. The bigger of the two was staring at me with shy eyes that said he would be like Daniel and eventually overcome his fear. The purple-haired male on the other side, however, hated women, and I doubted that would ever change.
I turned to the abused shell on Baker’s right. “How do they train you to please us?”
Eric flushed, eyes dipping to my chest, and I felt Daniel’s growl more than heard it. He was keeping track of me, like he was jealous. That was attractive.
“Drugs mostly. When you swallow those pills, it’s very easy to get… aroused.”
“Once you’re trained, you’re rented?”
“Half of each bachelor cell is donated to the renter breeding program, but the babies are always female. They only give a male child when it’s part of the Immortality program.”
“And then they come and take them back…” My mind went to Daniel’s sale. The Network had been planning to take him back all along, just like with every male child in his family.
“Why are the Malins on that special list?”
Baker took over again, and I was glad. The sound of Greg’s voice was wearing down my control.
“Their bloodline. The females in that family have no signs of the Change. They are naturally immune.”
It all fit. That was why we never fought with them. Except for having no emotions towards their children, they were free of the infection and the Network had been using that miracle as a breeding tool to keep a careful number of unique male births to supply their experiments.
I looked up. “Why are they still experimenting if they have the cure?”
“Immortality.”
I frowned. “Say that again.”
“”The children are special. They don’t get sick, and they heal faster.”
Eric had clearly been the… partner of someone high up, to have such detailed information.
“They’re trying to give that to themselves?”
Eric nodded. “They want to rule forever. With our kids, it might be possible.”
Stronger kids, a real future, a Network cover-up to rival that of the War we still didn’t know the cause. So many thoughts, so many possible directions to go in. My mind went to Daniel first, and I took a quick look to verify his safety before turning back.
“Pruetts have been around since the Network was formed,” I stated.
“And always stayed on the same side,” Baker confirmed, watching me. “Until now, maybe…”
Except we’d never been as loyal as we appeared, had we?
“Tell me about being a bachelor. Run down an average day. Maybe I can spot a weakness where you might be able to slip someone in.”

D
“What did this place used to be?” I had been wondering it since we came in.
“Another arena for those who liked to watch death,” Animal-winner answered with a hateful tone.
“We’re not sure where it came from. It’s old, from before the War even, but we couldn’t find any records on it,” Hulk said. “It was already rigged for manual electricity and these tunnels were solid long before we took over.”
“What relics did you find?”
“Not one. Only empty benches set up for people who no longer exist.”
Candice took another of those quick looks to verify where I was, and I felt my pulse increase when she stared.
 “She’s very protective… possessive.” Animal-man directed the conversation back to a more important subject.
I nodded. “I like it.”
“Why?”
The wild man didn’t understand, but the Hulk did.
“I might, too. She’s so… controlled.”
“The Change is hard on them,” I stated quietly. “I think many of them honestly don’t want to hurt us.”
“They’re beasts!”
Animal-man insisted, and again, I let my acceptance show. “So were men, before. The War flipped everything around. It’s not their fault, either.”
They had questions, I could feel it, and I leaned back against the stone wall and gave a short nod I thought Candice would have liked. “What do you want to know?”
“How do you… make them gentle?”
“How do you get them to not attack you?”
My mind went to the moments with Candice, and I flushed. “I don’t know. I like that, too.”
They were staring at me like I was crazy, and I gave them the truth I doubted they were brave enough to accept. “Changelings don’t want cowards. They need men and they like courage. Accept their embrace, willingly, and they just… change.”
“Does she?”
I smiled toward my loving owner. “Even when she flips, she remembers who I am.”
“She hasn’t hurt you?’
I shook my head. Nail marks were not injuries where I came from. “No.” I dropped my voice even lower. “I don’t think she can.”
“What’s it like… belonging to her?”
“I grinned, letting them see how happy I was. “Amazing.”
“Not the sex, the relationship!”
I joined in the laughter without correcting their impressions and felt the last of my worry over our first mating fade into anticipation. I wasn’t one of these trembling bachelors. I belonged to Candice Pruett, winner of a Games challenge. When she wanted me, I was ready.

C
“What then?”
I pushed harder, not caring for the sudden worry of those who were listening. If the conversation sent my need into a danger zone, the man I wanted to put out the flames was in reach.
Baker grinned at my questioning, probably thinking I wanted the information to duplicate it, but the bachelor on his right seemed to sense it was more. Eric gave me the details I wanted with a generous smile that I felt in my gut.
“They bring in level three and four Changelings who no longer have a mate and tell us what to do. If we follow the instructions and films exactly, we’re rewarded.”
That was it, how we got in, but I didn’t tell Baker yet. I wanted to know one more thing first. “And when you fail to please?”
Eric’s head went up, and his face transformed into that beauty he seemed to be very aware of. “I wouldn’t know.”
It was a subtle advertisement of his skill, an offer if I wanted to see it that way, and I felt Daniel’s anger from across the room.
 Testing it, I gave Eric a smile I usually reserved. What would my timid mate do? Anything? I doubted it, but here, in this nest of single males, was more likely to draw out that primal spark than back at home. “What if I wanted proof of that before I buy?”
Now there was complete silence around us, and I felt their desires, those carefully caged male instincts lurking behind their uneasy faces. Baker might not be able to bring that out in them, but I could.
The man-for-rent stood up eagerly. “I have a bed across the hall, but leave him here. I’ll kill your mate if he interferes.”
I didn’t see the reaction coming.
One minute, I was opening my mouth to deny the claim, and the next, Daniel was jerking Eric around and drawing his blood.

D
I watched her flirt without showing a response to the pain of it. If she made the move, it was her choice, but to hear that ignorant little speck threaten my place was more than I was willing to take. These males would see right now that she was mine!
My hands clenched into tight fists, and when I shoved away from the wall, the hulk and Animal-man both moved out of my way. So busy trying to secure a higher place, Eric didn’t see me coming, and to my surprise, neither did Candice.
His nose crunched under my first blow, but I didn’t stop. For a change, it was me drawing blood, me wanting more of it.
When they finally pulled me away, the little speck wasn’t even conscious, and I had crimson running down my fists.
“Kill that!” I sneered, jerking away from their loose grips.
I moved toward our rooms with no fear of being punished, only full of an anger I couldn’t really place. Was it because these men were free? She’d give that to me if I wanted it. Did I? I was full of confusion.
I knew when Candice followed me inside and closed the door behind us, but I didn’t turn. What did I want?
I’d seen the titanium cuffs welded to the wall when we were brought in, and I stared at them now. That was the answer, wasn’t it? I wanted to be hers, and there were ways…

C
Daniel was thinking of doing something I wouldn’t like.
I knew, but the sight of blood on his fists had me watching him with open lust. I had never seen two males fight. I only wished Eric had been a bit more sporting. The rush from it was incredible!
He tore off the cloak, wiping his hands on it, and surprised me again when he tossed it into the corner. Daniel was mad! My need growled.
I hadn’t understood how the women of the old world had let their men get so out of control, but with Daniel storming around the room, sending out waves of anger, I was helpless… hungry.
His boots went sailing against the stone wall, socks following, and he moved toward the wash-cave curtains without asking my permission. Sexy!
I spun to block the way, not about to leave him alone and let that delicious rage cool. “What?”
He stopped, mouth opening.
Come on, I rooted, don’t stop now!
“I don’t like it, what you did.”
I couldn’t stop the laugh of pleasure at his tone, and the reaction it drew shattered my control.
His face darkened and those big hands came up to jerk me against his hard body. “I’m not kidding, Candice. I... I don’t want you to do it again!”
Daniel glared without flinching, and I gaped back, unable to believe it was my timid mouse sending out these piercing waves of authority.
His eyes saw my body respond, how my chest was suddenly pointed and my eyes had turned pink. “I mean it, Candy.”
I inhaled of the lust in the air, feeling the Change sweeping through me.
“If you do it again, I… I won’t please you anymore.”
Did he know what that sounded like to me? The challenge was sizzling meat hot from the pan, and I gave him my Games grin.
As soon as he opened his mouth to argue, I lunged.
We rolled as we landed, and I hissed in need when his body pushed me against the floor with his weight. I wrapped my long legs around his and jerked him down to meet my eager lips. Mine!

D
Clearly, I’d been goading her, but I hadn’t expected it to work so well. She liked it that I was demanding her fidelity, and I allowed her to claim my mouth while I chose the next move. Unless she got totally out of control, I wasn’t stopping. I’d fixed this match.
Instead of the gentle treatment she’d gotten from me so far, I tangled my hands in her hair and gave a punishing kiss that left me more than a little breathless. The taste of her was intoxicating.
I deepened the kiss as I thrust forward, holding her in place, and was rewarded with a low moan I was determined to make louder. She wouldn’t be thinking about renting a male when I was through.
I snagged the corner of her cloak and lifted the string over her head. The black material fell aside, and I nuzzled those perky breasts I still hadn’t seen. That was about to change, too.
I used a hard finger down the button-line to rip her shirt open and she sucked in a tight breath that had me thrusting against her heat. I liked her pleasure, and I couldn’t wait to really taste her. I’d loathed it with the others, but they weren’t my Candy.
Her bra was black, as I’d fantasized, and I slid the straps over her shoulders with hot hands and a thumping heart.
She was watching me, and when I released the clasp between those tattooed swells, her pink eyes started filling with crimson. The Change was coming, I would have to cuff her, but first, I wanted to really see her… all of her.
I jerked on the button of her pants, causing the bra to fall open and I throbbed at the sight of those perfect breasts.
She had tattoos over her sides and hips, the erotic kind with spiked, eye-catching details that said the person who had inked her enjoyed their work. Disappearing into her snug pants, the intricate green and black design ran up both slender hips and came out to encircle bright pink nipples that I had to lick.
My tongue lashed over a taut tip and she cried out, claws ripping into my wrists.
I drew back to see that her eyes were blood-red orbs. The muscles in her arms were swelled, her breathing harsh, and I flicked a rough thumb over the rocky nipple I’d just had my mouth on.
Her body shuddered and her swollen lips parted. “Get… the cuffs.”
I had blushed earlier at the thought of using them, but I wasn’t embarrassed now. I wanted her locked up tight so I could go back to exploring that exotic body. How far did the tattoo go?
She took in another ragged breath when I moved off of her, staying still as I got the metal and snapped it around the nearest pole. Luckily, we’d landed by the bed, but I didn’t even think of stopping long enough to move us onto it.
She extended her arm for the first cuff, and I quickly snapped it into place. On the second, Candice hesitated. Worried I’d hurt her? It was a surprise to think it, and I dropped the other cuff to the cold floor. “That’s enough.”
She shook her head as I carefully lowered my hard body back to hers. “That’s not a good…oohhh…”
My kiss silenced her, and I fell right back into the haze of lust as she arched under me. If not for our pants, I would be inside her now!
The thought had me rocking harder, squeezing tighter, kissing deeper.

C
He’d lost control of himself.
I recognized it, but I wasn’t sure I had the will to stop things. Fire spread through my gut as he ground that steel bar between my legs, and I groaned into his mouth again as he roughly pinched a taut nipple.
My hand threaded through his silken hair and held him closer, already nearing that golden edge. He knew exactly what spot to hit, how hard to squeeze, and I stiffened in his arms as pleasure seared me from head to toe.
I trembled, fighting for air as he slid a hand down my stomach and inside my pants. He wasn’t stopping. The thought had the fire flaring back to life before it had burnt down.
I hissed in agony when he pushed that big hand against me and his fingers dipped in to stroke my molten flesh... I cried out as he hit it just right.
I was aware of him shifting, of my pants being jerked off, but all I could feel was the raging inferno he’d brought to life. The cool air on my skin was another pleasure to be savored, and I kissed him back without a concern for safety as the pain-like pleasure swept me up again.
Fingers moving in light circles, his mouth traced down, skimming my jawline, my neck, my chest…
“Uuuuhhh…”
In my lust, the lack of clothes between us was a blessing, not a worry. I felt his bare leg against my hip... I shivered - so close to that edge again! and I did what I’d told myself I wouldn’t. I forgot where we were, who he was, and what could happen as he moved on top of me.
The thick muscles of his arms clenched as he lowered his naked body between my legs, stiff erection finding my slick skin… pushing into me.
And that’s when I started to snap.

D
I couldn’t stop. I wouldn’t!
Her nails shredded my arm as I shoved forward and buried myself in her tight body.
A scream echoed off the stone walls, and I dropped my mouth over hers in lust. I’d never felt anything like her furious heat, and I grunted as her free hand raked my back.
I slid my tongue into her mouth as I thrust forward harder, and I sank into her flesh like it was made for me. Her legs came up to hold me close, and I ground my mouth against hers, taking everything she wanted to give and more.
Her breasts pressed against my chest in silken peaks, and I ripped my mouth from hers to suck on a swollen tip. Her heat clenched around me and the handcuff split apart with a loud shriek that we both ignored.
She rolled us over, pushing down to take me deeper, and now I was the one arching, thrusting upward to accept what she was offering. Her nails sliced into my chest, and I jerked her down for a punishing kiss as we mated. The pain was distant, but this pleasure! I used my hands on her naked breasts as I shifted, thrust upward.
Her cry had our door opening and my grip on her hot body tightening. I held her head to mine when she would have looked up, craving another taste, and felt her nails sink into my shoulders, drawing warm drops that matched the ones still on my fist.
I rolled us back over and tilted her head, making her look at me as I slid forward. She shuddered, grip on my dick tightening to a pleasure-pain that sent me out of control. I pinned her wrists to the floor above her head and thrust into her again, hard enough to draw another cry, and she stiffened, clamping down on me as she exploded.
Her tattoo flashed as she arched, exotic and now mine! and I shoved deeper. I‘d never felt so good, so alive, and I let my male side have its way. I pulled out of her slick body and pushed her over.
The tattoo ran across her back and the cheeks of her ass, too, and it had me jerking her into the position I wanted so I could rub against it while I gave her a son. That thought finished me off and I thrust deep as I held her by the hips and groaned in ecstasy.
“Now that’s what she needs.”
Baker’s voice came through a haze of pleasure that had me locked against her slippery body.
“Come on.”
“But he needs medical…”
“She’ll see to it. She always did me.”
It was amazing, how fast that drove the need to claim her, back into my body. Groaning, I sent my hand to the trembling flesh in front of me, and leaned down to taste her tattooed skin.

Chapter Twenty One



D
“Good morning.”
Her eyes were already tinted pink as she took in my hardness against her hip, the sights and smells of our pleasure.
“Daniel, about last night, I’m…”
I didn’t let her say anything else, just wrapped my arms around her naked body and sent my mouth to suckle on her neck. I already knew the truth. She didn’t want them. She lusted for me and the feeling was mutual.
My hands slowly slid down her arm to her tattooed breast and I ran a rough finger over the hard tip with a chill. She was so hot! And mine!
I nuzzled her neck, pressing against her cheeks and she shoved back almost frantically. I slid my hand between us to adjust and when she arched, I slid into her from behind.
I growled low in my throat as I pushed deeper, spreading her thighs. She twitched against me, nails out and searching, and I pulled her back against my hard body as I pushed against her again.
"Oooohhh."
My hands went to her flesh, stroking the outside to trigger the inside as I’d been taught, and her cry had me stiffening into full use. I grinned.
Knowing our morning noises would echo in the tunnels sent my lust up a notch, and I thrust slowly in and out of her stunning heat, feeling her hips responding, keeping pace. Her core was soaked, sucking on me, and I pinned her in place with my hand and body as I took what I wanted… her pleasure.
 Shoving harder, I drew a gasp from those lips that nearly sent me over the edge. When her body began convulsing around me, I tightened my grip and pushed deeper, drawing a cry that made me explode.
In that chaotic moment, I saw how she’d bound me, how any other woman’s pleasure would never affect me the same way. Candice was the only one for me, owner or not, and I shot seed into her with every thick wave of piercing pleasure.

C
When we stepped from the room, still sharing looks of satisfied desire, a low cheer started and then swelled.
It came from the bachelors, most of them gathered for the morning meal, and I felt him flush at my side. He was a hero to them for standing up for himself and for surviving it, but also for doing it so well. None of them, not even Baker, would have had the sand to take a Changeling.
I gave Daniel a gentle push toward the two males he had been talking with last night. “Spend a few minutes with them before we go.”
Instead of rushing off, he ducked a head to my cheek and placed a soft kiss on my skin. Then he moved off to play with his friends, leaving me with a smile on my face that felt foreign.
Settled in the corner near us, I heard Angelica’s soft growl of agony. She hadn’t made use of Baker on the train, and I already knew she wouldn’t touch one of these meek males. She wanted what I now had, a match, and there was only one place she could get it.
I moved toward the food with soreness and a satisfied feeling that allowed me to swing my arm around Greg’s thin shoulder as he started to step around me. He froze, like the rest of the room, and I leaned close enough to lick his ear if I had a mind to.
“Send in your spies as the level three and four Changelings. Wait until the final match, when they bring out the bachelors. Do it while the winner is picking.”
I watched his face flood with happiness and discovery, already falling into the planning with his inside information, and I inhaled deeply. Nothing. The grin on my face had him leaning toward me, and Daniel moving our way.
I turned my head to give my mate a glare that sent the frightened males from his side, and he stopped. Satisfied I’d made my point (I was still the lead, no matter how much his defiance pleased me), I looked back at Greg. “You’ll have to leave the adults, and you’ll never be able to use it again because they’ll figure it out after they watch the tapes.”
He was nodding. “What about the sealed doors? They don’t open until two days after the winner picks.”
“You take them out the same way they took you in.”
His face paled. “The Ring…”
I flashed my Games grin and dropped my arm from his stiffening shoulders. “Can be bought. Their profession says it’s true, but there will have to be… sacrifices.”
I sent my eyes over those close enough to hear my quiet words. “A few of you will get hurt to have them distracted enough to not watch the monitors or tunnels.”
Greg looked back at me with more guts than I’d given him credit for.
“If it gets my sons out of there, I’d service all of them myself without the cuffs.”
I snorted. “You’d better take a lesson from Daniel then, because they won’t use the cuffs, it might not work, and you may end up dead.”
I stepped back, tone softening a bit in a way that drew attention. The differences in me were almost obvious. “Send in someone who can take what they dish out and ask for more.”
When his head turned toward my mate, I shut it down. “Win your own!”
Now there was a fury, but it was defensive, striking out only because being away from Daniel had crossed my thoughts. That wouldn’t be allowed… ever.
I took a plate from the stack and slapped a few rolls on it, vaguely wondering which one of them could bake. I hoped they didn’t send him in, even though the bread was good. Someone gentle enough to make crust this flaky had no business trying to infiltrate the Network.

D
When Candice sent me that glare, all the fear from before rose up… and vanished. It was a simple correction. I was able to tell the difference after being so close to danger. When I studied them for a moment, I realized she wasn’t putting off those furious waves of need.
“You’re lucky… strong.”
I let my head lift a bit at that. I’d never been looked up to, and it was a heady feeling. “She makes me this way.”
And she did. I’d been a massive coward before Candice had come for me, and it had only taken her a couple weeks to change it. What could she do for these males in a few months, or a year?
A lot, I thought, and I would be by her side for all of it. We wouldn’t be separated now. I’d known it as soon as she pulled me close right before we stepped through the door… and hugged me. Candice! Hugging!
I had no illusions about who was in charge, but when it came to helping her control that rage, I was the lead. In return, we would all be influenced by this incredibly hard woman. Maybe, just maybe, she could set my kind free and deliver the cure to the rest of the world.
What a way to live! No fear of each other, no death or pain. It was an existence that even our ancestors hadn’t known… but they hadn’t had my mate to teach them. I was sure her idea of training and Baker’s would be completely different and was looking forward to watching them clash over it now. My life had gotten so much better. There were only two things - other than my missing children - that still bothered me. One was the feelings I still thought she might be carrying for Baker. I hoped they would fade in time. The other was sitting in the corner by herself with a look of absolute dejection that subdued my happiness.
Angelica was just like Candice, only burning hotter. I’d seen them come and go at the Network, and it was almost always the ones with that melting glaze over their words and tones who snapped and hurt one of us. For me, it had been while I was still in the care of the Ring.
That took my thoughts to an ugly place, and I moved toward the corner, battling it in my head. I didn’t think of my slavery in terms of the pain very often. I’d learned to ignore it and let it emerge in my nightmares so I could face the day. Watching Angelica and how hard she fought to control it made me feel sorry for her, and even a little for the woman who’d raped me at the age of twelve. I was supposed to be unbroken when brought in, but I had been changed forever in one session of pain and humiliation. A year after that, I was already enrolled in the Network’s breeding program and selling my favors outside of it to survive.
“What?”
Angelica’s snarl was on the edge. We needed to get her out of here soon, give her a break from all of our scents and needs. With the stories of me and Candice circling the males, the looks being cast toward Angelica were enough to bring an attack from an average Changeling, though it was clear she was more than that.
“Can we talk?”
Angelica latched onto the distraction as I’d hoped she would.
“Sit down.”
Her cruel tone, however, made me pause - I wasn’t stupid.
She looked up at me with pink eyes and pale cheeks.
“When you stand over me, it’s like I’m…”
I quickly sat down. “Burning?”
She nodded, closing her eyes as I accidentally brushed her leg with mine. “Careful…”
She leaned slightly away from me and I made sure my voice wasn’t any louder than it had to be. “Do they know yet?”
She flinched, drawing attention, and I did what usually got me in trouble. I reacted without thinking and patted her hand in comfort.
“Get… back!” Angelica’s voice was a razor.
To everyone’s surprise, I didn’t move. I had a plan, though the outcome was unknown. “Look at me.”
It was the same tone of command I’d used with Candice last night, and it had Angelica snapping open blood-red orbs. Her body trembled as she fought to control herself, and I pushed my luck, tightening my grip on her hand.
“They need you to be yourself. That’s all they really want.”
“Daniel…”
Candice wasn’t sure either, but I was, and I leaned closer. “They’ll love you back, whichever one you pick.”
Angelica struggled to talk. “You… you’re sure?”
A tear splashed from her Changeling eye, and I opened my arms as those red orbs flooded with flat black misery. “Yes, Angel. I am. You’re special, too. They’ll sense it.”

C
I watched in complete shock as my brutal little cousin collapse into Daniel’s arms. I‘d known she was planning something - entering the Games eventually was what I’d assumed - but clearly, she’d already signed up, and Daniel knew!
He’d been aware of her true fear of not being wanted, had risked her rage to offer the comfort he knew no one else could. And he thought he was honored! I had a mate filled with courage and warmth that didn’t stop with his needs, or even mine. He would enrich all our lives.
I couldn’t love him more than I do right now. I started to move towards them, eager to let him see how thrilled I was… and then the floor rumbled under my feet.
It swayed, dipping with a violent tremor and we froze, our worst fears suddenly happening. We would be buried! I took off toward my family… saw Daniel lunging towards me…
BBoooommmmmm….
Behind the harsh, ear-splitting crash of grinding rock and shattering stone, the mountain started to collapse.

D
“Candice!”
“Again!”
Her voice drowned out the other shouts and screams, and I drew in a thick lungful of gritty air. “Candy!”
She grabbed my arm long seconds later, and I clutched at her in the darkness. “Candy…”
I was so glad she was alive that the panic around us seemed to recede, and I shoved my mouth against hers in desperation. I’d almost lost her! She returned my emotion with the same fierceness, and I could feel her terror, too, her relief. She ended the kiss abruptly and turned around, but kept a tight grip on my hand as we moved through what remained of the rebel base.
The blast had hit the mountain right over us. If not for the naturally formed strength of the main room, we would be dead right now. As it was, half the ceiling had cracked, sending giant slabs down to crush people. The blood had stained the neutral stone, and I looked away from the sight of Eric’s now forever-closed eyes.
Candice pulled me through the debris, heading for the corner where I’d been sitting with Angelica… I suddenly understood her hurry and tried to help move us faster through the death and destruction.
The males were stunned. Their faces were covered in grit, but their eyes were shining with tears and hatred. We all knew who was responsible. The Network had found us.
“Angel!”
She was lying face down, curled over the top of someone we couldn’t identify yet, but I was already sure who she’d tried to save, and it made me hurry to the rocks and debris covering her. She had been willing to give her life for Baker’s. I wasn’t the only one who’d felt something special just from being around him for two days.
Candice and I started clearing the mess as fast as we could, listening to the others gather around to watch. Above us, there was another grinding sound, but it wasn’t as loud.
Crackkkkk…
A thick chunk of the ceiling broke away across the room and covered Eric’s body.
“Angel!”
“Stop yellin, already!”
Angelica’s snap made us move faster and the males closest - Hulk and Animal-man - began to help. I gave them a nod, and more men joined in.
“You okay?” Candice was keeping her cousin talking, but I thought she was worrying over little at this point. If Angelica could growl like that, she wasn’t near death’s door.
“Peachy.” Angelica’s hand shot up through the gaps in the debris, and the sight of those bloody fingers had the rest of the males stepping forward. I watched in surprise as they crowded Candice back and took over the rescue.

C
I didn’t care about their motives, or their lack of fear around me. I only needed Angelica freed, and I let them move me back with careful shoulders and hands. Their bodies were much more suited to this task, and the debris pile quickly vanished.
“Step back.”
That was Hulk and I did as he said, hearing his furious undertone. I realized I had misjudged them on my first impression. I hadn’t thought they had any courage, but I’d been wrong. It showed itself in their actions to save their fallen friends and to help me dig Angelica out, but as they worked, their growing rage was unmistakable.
Fury was rising amid these shattered walls, and it wasn’t coming from Changelings. The Network had gone too far this time. These men wouldn’t stand for anymore.
The sight of Angelica standing to help pull Baker from the floor made me shove my way through and grab her for a fierce hug.
“Damn it!”
I jerked back to see her arm hanging at an ugly angle and ran my eyes over her for other injuries. Broken or maybe only dislocated arm, heavily-bleeding gash down her hip, blood running from her forehead. There was still that Changeling fury in her blood red orbs, but we all knew her anger was aimed at our assassins this time, and none of the males flinched back. The change had little to do with this awful sense of being betrayed.
“How did they know where we were?”
It was the question I didn’t want Daniel to hear the answer to yet, and I turned to Baker to assess his injuries.
“I’m good.”
The convict knew, too, and I gave him a nod. “I’ll handle it.”
Baker turned to Angelica. “Close your eyes.”
Angelica snarled back at him. “Just do it!”
The rebel leader hesitated… “I can’t with your eyes like that!”
Even the convict was scared of her, and she snapped her lids shut in frustration.
Baker’s rough touch put Angelica’s arm back in place, sending a scream through the stone wreckage that chilled the males watching. They had never seen a man cause a woman pain, for any reason, and they didn’t like it.
I watched Baker swing Angelica into his arms and carry her toward the tunnel. I was way beyond any of the previous rage I had felt, except maybe for the moment I’d lost Daniel. Angelica’s blood was on my hands, and the feel of it was enough to make me near the edge of snapping. She’d been hurt over and over by the Network and their brutal leadership. We all had.
My heart filled with that cold ice that always came before I battled. It wouldn’t be allowed anymore.
None of the other rooms were accessible, but we all knew the fate of those inside by the lack of sounds. Bangs on the stone drew groans, but only from the wounded mountain, and the rebels stopped quickly. Due to the round construction of this room, the outer walls collapsing had held it together with the force. If it had been anything but a direct hit, we would have been buried too.
Baker tended Angelica’s injuries like he knew what he was doing, and I was glad to know they were minor. It could have been worse…
“Candy…”
She was furious, needing an outlet, and I intended to give her one, but not yet… not here.
“Now pull it back in!” I barked.
She did it with almost no visible effort, eyes flipping from solid red to that familiar black, and I delivered what she needed – my approval of her decision. “Remember this moment when you’re at the Games. Use it to feed and control your rage, and you’ll come out with one of your own.”
She sagged against Baker’s hip, and he tugged her gently closer, impressing me. They were already learning from my brave mate.
“How?” Daniel hadn’t been distracted, I realized. He’d just known to wait.
I sighed, understanding I couldn’t protect him from this. The fact that it wasn’t his fault wouldn’t matter to his own guilt.
“They probably have a tracker in you. I didn’t check. I was… distracted.”
I would take as much of the blame as I could, but I heard his steps freeze.
“They followed me?”
I turned to comfort him, and to make sure the others didn’t hurt him in their grief, but my timid mate surprised me again. He slid his knife free and held it out to me.
“Get it out of me - now!”
I shook my head. “As soon as I do that, they lose the signal and send in the guards. Right now, they can’t be sure how many of us survived because even dead bodies put off heat for a while, and satellites are unreliable through quartz.”
“If his beacon suddenly disappears, they’ll know we’ve figured it out,” Greg murmured, clearly the brains of Baker’s outfit.
“You have to go to the Safe Zone now,” I confirmed.
Baker’s tone was full of anger. “We won’t leave our kids!”
“Then you’ll give up your new lives and join them back in custody! You can’t stay here any longer. They’ll firebomb Atlanta next to make sure no survivors are hiding in the vines.”
“How long?”
I shrugged at Greg’s question. “If I were them, I’d wait a few hours to see if there’s movement on the satellites. If there is, I’d send in the troops to round them up. If not, I’d just blow it up to be sure no one else can use it this way in the future. I’d say six hours from the blast at most before the Kudzu plant no longer exists here.”
Baker turned away, looking toward his rebels. If the Network took out the plant with their chemicals, all of their hiding places would be exposed. It was an awful choice to have to make, and I felt more sympathy for him than I normally would have, but I still felt that clock ticking. The Network knew I was here. They thought I had gone rogue on my family, and I intended for it to stay that way. Angelica would be sent home the second we were out of here.
Around us, the males were gathering gear from the bodies and not being particularly gentle about it. The apathy over the deaths, now that they were finally heading out to do something, was disheartening to me, but I understood it. Most of these had come from the Network complex. They’d learned not to get attached so it couldn’t be used against them.
“Candice…”
I could feel Baker wanting me to volunteer to escort them, and I wasn’t sure, before all was said and done, that I wouldn’t agree. I was far too angry to let this go. The males left here now stared in horror, stunned at the sight of what had been their home, their shield against the brutal world. Baker would help them as long as he could, but would it be enough? Would these vulnerable, unmarked males make it to the safe zone with only the convict to lead them? It was a duty I was reluctant to accept, but really, my choice had been made for me the instant the Network had tried to kill us all. I wouldn’t let that slide…. and they knew it.
“We need you.”
I looked to where Daniel stood, Angelica at his hip. They were slightly battered, but alive. Would these males be in a week? And even if they did manage to get there - which would be no easy task with the Ring or the Defenders following - they would be entering the gates of hell.
The Borderlands were two states wide and six states deep. They split the country in half, and because of the shift in the jetstream, it was the most dangerous place to live in New America. The weather on a good day was dangerous and the dust storms that sprang up sometimes ran for weeks at a time. There were also bandits (male and female), mutated wildlife, and even huge pythons that came up out of the ground to swallow Mopars whole. It was a totally lawless land that even the Network had no control over. 
 “Will you meet us there?”
After everything that had happened, it was hard for me to leave Baker. They wouldn’t stop until he was dead. He needed my protection. I thought about his invitation to see how things really were. I also remembered the way the males here had been before the Network had extinguished the lives, how Baker’s quiet, laid-back leadership had begun to change them. The leader could return a lot of what had been stolen, but these males needed someone who could teach them to fight.
“Please…”
I’d never thought to hear Baker beg for anything, and I let myself ask a foolish question that mattered only to me and my family. “Why the Pruetts?”
His mouth opened, but it was my mate who answered.
“They’re scared of you. The Network has no hold over the Pruetts… and they’ve never liked it. With a family like yours around, they know these truths will eventually be discovered… and revealed.”
My family was in danger, but not just the seven or so of us who were close. Our entire bloodline had been targeted. I reacted the only way I could. I grinned.
“I’ll send someone to help,” I stated, thinking of Angelica’s sister. She was on a bounty run in the Borderlands, and knew it better than anyone in Network lands. I was fairly sure she and her parents would agree. After all we’d learned, I actually thought we might have to make sure we included them in our plans for the Network. They were also Pruetts who had been betrayed. They would want to have a say about it.

D
I stepped out of the entrance behind her, my head held high and my mind in tatters. Baker’s safety mattered to Candice. She wanted to go with them. From her words, I assumed she meant she would take me home, and then join them – her and a few of the friends she’d been gathering, maybe. I hated it that I was a hindrance, yet again.
As we cleared the tunnel, I saw her head turn back, eyes spilling secrets I was guessing she had held for a long time. Baker had been her friend… my stand-in. If I wanted her to let go of him, I had to trust.
“Go with them. Send me back with Angelica.”
The few males within hearing distance flinched away from us at my words. Men didn’t tell women what to do. Baker, just behind us, stopped to stare with the same surprise that she had.
“I’ll only hold you up and cause trouble.”
I took a dejected step toward Angelica and found myself on the ground under a furious Changeling a second later.
The males didn’t yell this time, but all of them watched in worry as she pinned my arms above my head.
“We. Will never… Be separated. Ever!”
Candice slowly lowered her head to just inches from my face. “I’ll make you the strongest man in his Safe Zone. You’ll be at my side, and we’ll help him rebuild our world… together.”
Beyond thrilled, I rolled us over and claimed her lips.
Behind us, Baker laughed in satisfaction at the confirmation of her plans.
I slowly drew back from her mouth, still finding the taste of her exotic, even though we were fully bonded. I smiled at her flushed face, those pink eyes. “I love you, Candy.”

C
I’d never thought to hear that from a man and actually return such a foreign emotion, but it came to my lips like it had always been there, waiting for me. “I love you, too, Daniel. Nothing will ever change that.”
He kissed me again, harder this time, and I heard the others move back inside to finish salvaging what they could for the trip.
I pulled him closer, feeling his tremble, his need. I’d woken those instincts Baker would need in the others, and Daniel was already learning to use it. His hands roamed freely, without any fear of my rage, and I didn’t protest when he began to make love to me right there under the tunnel archway.

Chapter Twenty Two

New Network City

Network
“Why did you order that?”
Every head at the long table turned toward the newcomer in surprise at the rudeness.
“I saw the alerts. If you’ve killed them all, we’ll never find out where the Safe Zone is.”
The door slammed shut, and they all turned back to the head of the table, the biggest seat.
“It will demoralize those in that zone. It was a group vote.”
“I wasn’t here.”
“It was unanimous. You would have been outvoted anyway.”
“But we needed him to lead us to the safe zone.”
“He still will. His tracker is moving. As long as he’s with her, she’ll keep him alive. The Pruetts forgive nothing. It’s why we’ve always worked so well together.”
“I don’t understand.”
There was a tolerant chuckle. “That’s because you’re new here. The West Coast may align itself with only untrustworthy dogs, but we here in New Network City prefer a higher class of servitude.” The voice sneered now, “When they figure it out, they’ll join the rebels, fight for them.”
“Why the hell would you want that?”
“Because they’re stronger than most of the animals out there under our rule, and every one of them is smart enough to figure things out. If they stay on our side much longer, we’ll be too busy fighting them for control to accomplish any of the goals. Knowing they’re an enemy is infinitely better.”
“Why not just kill them? I’ll see to it personally.”
There were snickers and wide grins at those words.
“What?”
“You obviously haven’t watched the Bachelor Battles.”
“I don’t watch any of the Games. I have better things to do.”
”Make an exception. Before you try to kill a Pruett, you might want to know what you’re up against.”
A hand moved over the console, and the recent, familiar episode of the Bachelor Battles flickered into holographic life in the center of the table. 
There was a blur while it ran through every clip of Candice – from sleeping to fighting – every move she had made after entering the complex was on tape.
The video slowed and finally stopped on a close-up of the cage where two females faced each other at the end of a match. One was a former Defender anyone would have recognized for letting Baker escape. The other was a teenager with flat, black eyes and a lean, hard body. Under her image was the name of C. M. Pruett.
The video started playing at normal speed, and the Council watched as the wild teenager drew back and sent her claws deep into the throat of her opponent, ripping upward.  As the body fell, she grinned, an ugly glare that promised blood. The hand froze the video there, as the regulars at the long table discussed it.
“Her parent was just as violent.”
“Her mother burnt out when we let her have a mate. We could do the same with this one if there was more time, but the rebels are gaining ground.”
“If we can follow them to the Safe Zone in the Borderlands and bomb it, we take care of both problems at once. I still agree with the plan.”
“You know it’s in the Borderlands?” the newcomer interrupted angrily. “You haven’t told the Coast that!”
“We don’t report to you!” The head chair squeaked as it was vacated. “And you haven’t told us what hits you’ve taken from them, either, so don’t think you can come here on a trade-off for information and not give any. If you want our secrets, you’ll be sharing some of your own! Now, sit down and open your mouth with respect for the freedoms we allow.”
The chair farthest away groaned in protest as the newcomer filled it. The voice was submissive, but still determined.  “We’ve got the same problem as you – the rest of the world, and behind them, the rebels – and it’s getting bad.” There was a deep sigh. “Where to you want to start?”
Before the Head of the council could respond, a lower member’s voice echoed in shock. “Look at the newest list for the Bachelor Battles.”
The name at the top drew frowns and nods, some of the members already seeing how it could be used. With another Pruett in the Games, the Network now had leverage, and they knew how to use it.


D
We were home.
Her parents were surprised by the story they’d been told, but they had accepted it without much comment. It gave me the sense that they had known what would happen as soon as Candice and I disappeared with Baker. I understood her Father had been rooting for her to feel the need to get involved. Her Mother, though, I couldn’t figure out.
Mary was sparkless, as Baker called her, and other than her strength on the runs, I didn’t understand why she was a bounty hunter at all. Why would she want this for her family? Was she really still a bit more dangerous than even Candice was giving her credit for? I held my suspicions to myself. I would watch, and if I could help that Pruett female in someway, I would. I owed them so much!
When we had left Pruett lands a month ago, there were concerned neighbor’s eyes on us, but now they were intense, dangerous. Did Candice feel it? I was sure she did, and I moved a step closer. I had a long way to go before I could really protect her from our enemies, but I was determined to learn, and my new family had already begun teaching me.
Candice turned from the mail-slot, and her face said that whatever was in it would firm her choice as to where we went from here. I waited as patiently as the rest of her crew followed her inside. Whatever she chose was fine with us, and she knew it.


C
We arrived in time for the post, and my hand already knew what I held even as I slid the disk into the wall screen.
“Candice Marie Pruett!
You are under investigation by the Network Council.
The charges include murder of Network trackers, treason against the Network, aiding and abetting rebels, and hijacking a Network train. Your personal account is frozen to prevent flight. Y must turn yourself in immediately! If you do not comply within 24 hours of receipt this message, we will come for you.”
Except I’d cleaned out my account the instant we hit civilization. Computers were lightning fast, but they still depended on people to put in the information, and I’d been banking on it. The Pruetts were traveling heavy now, and I made a mental note to take the heavy gear and the large UPV instead of our backup fleet of Mopars. We would need real protection for this trip.
My Father flipped on the news station that it was illegal for us to watch, and we viewed the evening report in silence.
“…rebel base hidden in the vine-covered jungles of Atlanta was destroyed by Network forces. We have reports of over a hundred dead, including the escaped convict and suspected leader, Richard Baker. Cleanup crews at the scene have now removed his remains. They are en route to New Network City for positive identification.”
“Trying to hurt the other rebels who don’t know he’s alive?”
I nodded at Angelica’s question and went back to listening, but underneath, I was topping off my plans.
“The surviving rebels managed to overtake the Network Rider, a very fast train that has already been found abandoned on the outer edges of the Missouri Borderlands. The group of wanted males swarmed from the Kudzu-covered jungles just hours after the blast, arriving in such numbers that they were able to overpower security. The guards and passengers were removed without injury, though shots were said to have been fired when the Changelings tried to reestablish control.
“The Network considers these males armed and dangerous, and they are wanted dead or alive. Troops have been dispatched to the Borderlands to deal with the growing problem. This group of rebels is rumored to be led by Candice Pruett and her new mate, who she recently won from the Network during an episode of the…”
I snapped off the screen.
Baker hadn’t intended on burning the train, and I doubted he had cleaned it. The Network had seen the tapes and knew I wasn’t on the train, or even a part of the hijacking, but they had made sure I would have a hard time catching up and helping. My face was already known, and it was only a matter of time before our neighbors grew a spine and tried to claim the reward the Network was sure to post when my 24 hours passed.
I moved back outside. My family flanked me, and I ran through it one more time. I couldn’t miss anything now, not when it was all starting so suddenly. Every Pruett would be under watch for suspected involvement. Did it matter if all of us left town for a while? I didn’t want to confirm the Network’s thoughts about the rest of my family, but it wasn’t safe for them without me, and I wouldn’t forsake the cause to stay here. They would come.
They felt it, standing behind me as I planned a future that might spell the end of us. The Pruetts had been on the Network side of the line for as long as we’d been around… until now.
I turned to look at them and saw that my parents already knew which way I’d go. “Maybe you two should get out of here now. We’ll catch up when we’ve gathered things, seen to our holdings.”
My Father nodded, but my Mother didn’t. I hadn’t expected her to. “We’ll go together, and we’ll stay that way.”
It was an order from the legal head of our household, and I bowed to it reluctantly. “You’d be safer…”
“But you wouldn’t be.”
I smiled at her, this usually sparkless parent who I thought I could learn to love again, now that I understood the urge to fall into Daniels’s arms and never come back out. If she had helped me save Daniel back then, before I could help, we might have all been lost. “We leave in three hours.”
Something else I considered mine had been taken – all those males I would have trained to help our world - and this time, there was no way for me to bring them home. The best I could do was to honor their memory by taking down the Network. Help was high on the list of things I needed, but I knew someone who needed the constant workout and testing of her control.
Angelica read it on my face, but instead of volunteering as I’d been expecting, she paled a bit.
“You’re kidding, right? Me, in another compound, but with 500 of them this time?”
My voice was a shard of inner agony that I took out of my hiding place and stabbed her with. “Four hundred. The Network already took their cut.”
It burned her, as I’d meant it to, and I pushed the pain in where it would eat her alive unless she found a cure… my cure. “They’ll have us next, Angel. You, me, Daniel, Baker. We’re all dead to them as soon as this war starts. If you don’t get one of them now, you won’t ever.”
She could have her pick of Baker’s rebels and probably most of those waiting in the Safe Zone once they got to know her, but my little cousin wouldn’t settle for buying a cow from the market. She needed to hunt one for herself and there was only one place to do that.
Her eyes shuttered into full red and she flashed a Games grin I would have been proud to wear.
“To the death!”
I nodded. “Yes. The Pruetts have been manipulated long enough. Now, we’ll be the ones to fix the show.”

End of Episode One

Notes


The first episode was written in hopes of being chosen as a Kindle Single. As it grew, I realized there was a lot more to the Bachelor Battles than a single short story. There is a rebellion brewing against the Network, and the Pruett family will be at the center of it. Are you as eager to watch them fall as I am? As curious to see what role everyone will play in their downfall? I’ll try not to keep you waiting too long.
If you’ve read my big series, Life After War, then I’m sure you recognized a few things from it. Does this Bachelor Battle future connect? Yes. This is the world that might have been, if Adrian hadn’t been able to get his refugee camp of gifted survivors to work together. Not familiar with my post-apocalyptic fantasies? There’s an excerpt at the end of this book.
Thank you to my new editors, Kim and Sharon, and to the Betas for doing such a wonderful job. My ever-lovin’ gratitude, Ladies and Gents, really.
If you’d like to contact me, my website is a great place to start. I hope to hear from you, and in the meantime… Are ya ready?
Extras

Episode Two
Episode Three
Rules of the Bachelor Battles
The Survivors


Episode Two
Changeling Winds


1
"And the final contestant is... Angelica Eve Pruett!”
Voice fades to a mutter not meant for the wildly cheering audience. "Is that the same family as last year's winner?" A Pause.
"Wow, folks, it looks like this episode of the Bachelor Battles will feature another twist. Not one celebrity family - two! That last contestant is a cousin to the infamous Candice Pruett who I'm sure you all remember so well from last year's brutal battles..."
Another fade and mutter. "Is she a Changeling?"
Pause, fingers typing.
"Oh, wow, folks. This is gonna be good. Angel is a Level One Changeling!"
I snapped off the wall screen with a nasty smirk and stepped toward the packed Mopar. She’d called me Angel. Strike one for the reporter.

Episode Three
Unnamed

1
The War Changed all of us in one way or another – and some of us in every way possible. Even now, in 2513AW, the Games are on every wall screen, in every home, in Network Land. We kill ourselves by the thousands each year… living for the chance, the tiniest hope, of an end to this torment.
 “It looks like we'll have another of those infamous, Bounty-hunting Pruetts with us for this episode..."
Almost 500 years of complete Network rule.
"Has there ever been a family so merciless, so Mate-hungry..."
It was past time someone challenged them.
"Samantha J. Pruett!"
I grinned, moving onto the Time Trials field.
I hadn't come for the taste of blood or because of the Change. I was here for the Network… and I hadn't come alone.

Episode Three

Rules of the Bachelor Battles

*10 Contestants will fight to the Death for their choice of one Bachelor. Mercy is discouraged.
*A single viewing of the Bachelors will be provided. Only one contestant is permitted in the Cells at a time. Light sampling is allowed.
*Attacks and battles are forbidden in the halls or private rooms. Everywhere else is fair game.
*Anyone can kill a contestant, including friends, family, and outsourced labor.
*Battle loot belongs to the winner to be disposed of as they see fit.
*Broken rules will result in the contestant being arrested and replaced.

The Fine Print...

*A week before each episode, the contestants are required to run time trials to determine their rankings for the start of day one. The top time will receive the Network logo patch and an extra one million UD credits.
*Each contestant must submit to an interview a day.
*Once a contestant has entered, they cannot withdraw from a match or the game.
*When Round Two is achieved, the remaining contestants will be given larger, private rooms in a more secure wing of the complex.  

Stars & Guards

*Stars are given for each kill, for high popularity and by Network decision.
*Each star gains the contestant one Network guard (only in the halls and private rooms) and a fresh cache of food and medical credits.
*Stars cannot be lost, but can be given away to protect someone else, such as visiting family.

Matches

*Round One (Days 1-3)
Battles are chosen by Luck of the Draw. One contestant is chosen to face three randomly-drawn matches in a row. If they fail, the Network will choose who takes their place with a second Luck of the Draw. The survivor moves on with fresh credits and more guards. No other battles are held during this time, but attacks and assassination attempts are encouraged.

*Round Two (Days 3-5)
There are two matches a day, chosen by the viewers, until seven total contestants are eliminated.

*Round Three (Day 6-7)
The three remaining contestants will face a Network-picked challenge, and the winner gets a set place in the first elimination match. The challenger will be chosen by the Network computer.
The winner and the remaining contestant will then star in the feature fight. This is the final match, though few episodes make it so far. Due to assassination attempts and mind games, most Bachelor Battles are over by Day 6.

The Survivors

Prologue

Like most days now, the sound of the ocean haunts me.
My name is Angela. I'm a mother, doctor, soldier, and now, in the year 2017, I've become a leader of men. Thanks to the end of our world to nuclear war, I'm the Guardian of an American refugee camp named Safe Haven.
Surrounded by carefully watching guards, I sit beside the immense Pacific Ocean as my people work and play nearby, confident my Army will look after them while I tell you about the War of 2012…and how we were forced to leave our beloved Country. It was a nightmare from which we couldn't wake. Some of us still haven't, and soon, we'll be at the water's mercy again. In less than two months, we're going home.
America waits for us to reclaim and to rebuild, but mostly, simply, for us to return. Before we undertake that perilous journey, I have to get the 357 souls here ready for the trip, and I only know one way it can be done - Adrian has to come back, and lead us home, as he promised.
Adrian… That incredibly patriotic man has been exiled, even though he’s the only reason that we survived. His secret was the only excuse the camp needed to turn on him, but I won't. I can't. I swore myself to him the same as the rest of his Council, and like them, I still believe.
I’ve gotten way ahead of myself, far beyond the beginning, when our future didn’t look as good is it does now. Most people here in New America won’t talk about the War or the long, ugly journey we made together. They say the memories have faded, but I know a lie when I hear one. Some horrors you never forget. Like our final battle with Cesar and his large band of ruthless Mexican guerillas.
It's been five years, but I still see the deep red streams of blood running down rain-soaked trees. I still smell men burning alive in their metal coffins. I dream of it sometimes: of the cold, wet night when I was the bait, and I'm sure Adrian does, too. It was the moment we knew our people would live - because of one man’s dream and his lies.
From the very beginning, Adrian kept us alive, gave us everything he had - and he always did what was best for the camp, no matter what it cost him personally. He taught us to be stronger than we thought we could be, to look out for each other, and ourselves, and through it all… he lied by omission, knowing these scared, hurting survivors would never have trusted him, would never have given him a chance, if they had known who he really was.
We came a long way together in the year after the War, over thousands of miles of heartbreaking devastation, and it hurts those of us who remain loyal to see him accept their unfair judgment without a fight. It makes everything we went through seem less important than it was, weakens the magic somehow, and I can’t allow that.
I’ve been seeing open doors again, and that sly ocean cautions me, says the return trip will be just as hard as the one we undertook to get here. If there’s a storm headed toward the flock, it’s our Shepherd we’ll need to see us through it.
So, for Adrian and for those of us standing by him, still ready to die for him, and for the dreams he made me believe in from almost the first minute I set foot in his Refugee camp, I will tell our story and leave nothing out. Maybe then these people will realize what he did for our country, accept how much we owe, and allow him to reclaim what’s rightfully his. Us.
Before I tell you about our harsh, ugly journey, let me show you what happened on that day, what they did to us and what we did to each other. This is how America’s story of survival began…

The Survivors – free on all retailers.

All Angela White Titles 


Life After War series
The Survivors
On The Road
Safe Haven
Adrian’s Eagles

Bachelor Battles Trilogy
The Change
Changeling Winds

Flash Fiction
Twisted Shorts

Alexa’s Travels
A Prelude
Bone Dust & Beginnings

Upcoming Releases
The Network
The Killin’ Fields of Nebraska
Liberation