| |
With a roar, Fanian launched the container full of synthetic blood across the suite. It hit the far wall with a clang, blood product splattered over pristine white walls. Immediately the cleaning bots clicked to life and on mechanical legs, ran to the wall, and began the cleaning process. Another picked up the container and carried it to the recycling receptacle.
They’d been cleaning up his messes for the past three days, ever since Miranda had slipped from his grasp. The cleaning bots were one of the advantages to having an executive suite.
He had a room to himself, didn’t have to worry about anyone trying to steal his belongings, wasn’t stepping over trash, and it smelled a lot better too. As if on cue, a puff sounded from the air vent, followed by a pleasing aroma.
“We’ve adjusted the synthetic blood compound to the exact specifications of the blood sample from human prey XI.9.” The voice of one of the game attendants came from the communication panel on the wall.
“You’ve said that, but something is still missing,” Fanian growled, running a hand across his messy hair. “This blood doesn’t taste like hers.”
“It should.”
“You keep saying that!” Fanian yelled, finally losing his patience.
“We will continue to work on the mixture.”
“What am I to do in the meantime?”
What if he injured himself and needed regenerating? What happened when this fantastic feeling from drinking Miranda’s blood ended, sending him to crash and needing more?
“There’s no reason why you can’t consume the synthetic blood until then.”
“My. Body. No. Longer. Likes. It,” he said as slow as possible because he’d told the attendants that over and over again. They’d had days to figure it out, and they hadn’t.
He hadn’t worried when he’d tried the synthetic blood the first night after Miranda’s escape and it tasted off. It wasn’t as if his body needed the blood right away to regenerate. Other than his pride he wasn’t hurt.
In fact, he felt good, better than he had in his life. With her blood pumping through his system, he felt as though he could go a week without needing to feed.
Instead of thinking too much about why his stomach had rejected the synthetic blood, he’d relaxed in his comfortable bed. The best he’d been in ever. He plotted his next move and used the map of the underground transportation system to get a lock on where she would’ve ended up.
The following day he’d awakened irritated with mild stomach cramps. He still hadn’t overthought it. He had a female to catch. Fanian had gone to where he thought she was. Her scent was there, but the area wasn’t saturated with her aroma. There also wasn’t a scent trail for him to follow.
She’d obviously used another pod after arriving. He’d traveled on foot to where the next pod should’ve taken her, but the results were the same. Her scent was there, but only lingering.
She was smart. He had to give it to her.
Before he could go to the next spot, the evening alarm had sounded, and he was returned to the lodge. Upon arriving, he’d gone straight for the food processor. His stomach cramps had worsened, and his head pounded. He’d wanted to strip from his clothes that now seemed too tight, constricting, and all types of wrong on his skin. He needed to eat.
One taste of the synthetic blood and his body immediately rejected it. He’d called a game attendant thinking the food processor was broken. They’d replaced it. When he’d tried again, he experienced the same result. He couldn’t eat. Every time he tried, the taste was off. He struggled to swallow the liquid. It felt wrong in his stomach, and he couldn’t take another sip.
The game attendants had reconfigured the mixture of the synthetic blood to that of a human compound. They’d said they fixed it. They may have included the elements of human blood, but it wasn’t what his body craved. He needed Miranda’s blood and it was very apparent that without her, he wouldn’t be able to eat again.
With a growl, Fanian stormed over to the food processor and tried again. Desperation made him take a healthy gulp of the product, forcing it down his throat while his stomach tried desperately to heave it out.
Wrong.
“What if there is nothing wrong with the synthetic blood?”
“What do you mean? I keep telling you that it’s off!” he roared.
Fanian lowered himself into one of the comfortable seats in the room. No matter how many times he told them, the attendants just didn’t seem to get it. They were eager to please. His zvodny had something to do with that. With Miranda’s blood, not only was he stronger, faster, and sharper, but his zvodny was also more potent.
“Maybe it’s not the blood you crave, but the female?”
Fanian scrubbed a hand down his face. “That would indeed be a bigger problem.”
A problem he wasn’t willing to face just yet.
* * *
“YOU.” Stab. “Will not.” Stab. “Get your hands.” Stab. “On me.” Stab. “Or my children.” Stab.
“Mommy, I think you broke that robot,” Adam pointed out.
Miranda’s chest heaved, and her lungs burned. Killing was hard work, but luckily she didn’t experience any pesky feelings of guilt that went along with it. She didn’t feel anything at all.
With knees planted deeply in the snow, she hovered over the hunter who’d been following them for days, stalking her. She’d tried to shake him off her tail like she’d gotten rid of Fanian, but this one was good. He showed up always within a half of a day to wherever she’d escaped to, and when he knew she’d run out of pods, he’d made his move and attacked.
Who exactly had told him she was out of pods? She had.
In her defense, she hadn’t planned to tell him. An animal that looked like a cross between a bear and giant bird was about to attack her. The hunter had yelled, telling her to use a pod to escape, or else it would eat her and her kids. When she’d replied that she didn’t have any pods left, the animal had magically disappeared, and the hunter advanced. He’d used some type of holographic projection to scare and trick her.
Well, I showed him.
He may have had the fancy projection gadget, but she had the taser and knife. “I think you’re right. He’s broken.”
“Yay!” Adam clapped, and Lexi giggled and imitated him.
I’m officially the worse mother ever.
Miranda used the snow to clean her knife and fingers. Adam picked up the taser and handed it to her. “Here, momma.”
She took it and stuffed it in her coat pocket. “Make sure to clean your hands on the snow, honey, and don’t touch anything until you’ve cleaned them good.”
“After I’m done, can I ask robot Fanian to tell me another story?”
Miranda sat back on her heels and sighed. Fanian had made an impression on Adam. Adam had been asking about him ever since she’d escaped. She would never admit it out loud, but Fanian had also made an impression on her.
Fanian had been concerned about her kids. There was no faking that. There was also no faking how she’d felt in his arms. Which had scared the hell out of her. How could she be attracted to someone who hunted her and was going to pass her on to another alien? Her feelings for Fanian were all types of stupid.
But if she was all types of stupid, so was he. He liked her. It was in his eyes when she’d awakened from being almost drained to death. She’d wanted to melt against him again. Luckily, her commonsense had kicked in, reminded her of what was at stake and allowed her one last brazen move to escape.
“If he were here, I’m sure he would love to tell you a story,” she said.
Adam’s expression brightened with excitement. “But he’s here. He’s behind you.”
Miranda stopped breathing. The world seemed to close in on her.
“I would love to tell you another story, Adam.” That voice.
“No.”
She tried to push to her feet, but with a firm hand on her shoulder, Fanian kept her in place on her knees.
“This story will be about my ship. Have you ever been in a spaceship, Adam?” His voice was so calming.
“I don’t think so.” Adam’s voice didn’t sound right to Miranda. It was slurred.
“You were probably brought to this planet, I mean to the North Pole, in a spaceship, but don’t remember the journey.”
“Can I see it?” Adam asked with child wonderment.
No! She wanted to run. Fight. But she couldn’t do either. She didn’t have the willpower to move. All she wanted to do was sit and listen to Fanian talk. Forever.
“You sure can. I’m going to take you, Lexi, and your mom to my ship. I’ll show you all the controls.”
“Can I help fly it?”
“Of course, it’s part of the adventure package. Now, let’s all get close together. We’re going to take a short trip. Are you ready, Mishka?”
Miranda mustered up the strength to shake her head. Fanian ran his fingers across her forehead, moving tendrils of hair out of her eyes. “It’s going to be okay now. Don’t you want to stop running? Aren’t you tired? Don’t you want to get the children out of the cold?”
Yes. The warm trickle of a tear ran down her cold cheeks.
“It would please me greatly if you would get rid of your weapons.”
No. No. No. “I don’t want to.”
His fingers lingered over the side of her face then trailed down her cheek. “But you do. Please don’t try to fight this, Mishka. My determination is greater than yours. I need you. Now, get rid of the weapons for me.”
Resist. She wanted to make him happy. Resist. She didn’t want to hurt Fanian. Resist. She wouldn’t dream of it. Resist. How in the world had she ever hurt him before? Resist. What kind of terrible person was she? Resist.
She tossed her taser away.
“Ready?” he asked.
Miranda angled her head to glance at him. He was so wonderful. So beautiful. She would do anything for him. “Yes.”