Ch. 291..300

Chapter 291

Trembling, Sasha sat in the front seat of a Jeep, holding onto the Oh Shit handle above the door as the vehicle rocked and rolled across the cleared land behind the complex, toward a thick forest that stood sentry over the land to the north.

She'd barely spoken to Nick that morning, and beyond making sure that she was okay, he'd stayed quiet too. She was still trying to figure out what to say, whether the events of that morning had actually been real.

She'd woken to a soft knock on the bedroom door, and Nick's voice, apologizing for waking her. He kept saying that the tests had to be done before she'd eaten or had anything to drink.

Sasha had still been bleary-eyed and disoriented when she sat up, then quickly became horrified at finding him in the apartment, though he was careful to keep his eyes averted and his head turned away from the gap in the door.

She was still reeling, still trying to find her bearings when he disappeared and the door opened wider to allow two medics in white coats and gloves to enter. They were both female, but somehow that just made the whole thing more surreal.

They were quiet, professional, and gentle… but Sasha found herself near tears as one provided her with a stick to pee on and ushered her to the bathroom where they checked every inch and corner before stepping her through the instructions again, then finally allowed her privacy.

She'd just stared at the door for a long moment when it closed behind the woman.

Was this really happening?

She wasn't sure why she felt so violated by the process of peeing on a stick, but for some reason, leaving it on the paper towel the woman had left next to the basin made her want to cry.

Then, the moment she'd stepped out of the bathroom—she hadn't even been allowed to brush her teeth—the other woman took her arm and led her to one of the chairs in the living room. They took her temperature, took blood, swabbed the inside of her cheek, and asked her to spit into a test tube, before the woman rubbed her arm and thanked her, then quietly packed her things. The second woman who'd stayed in the bathroom that entire time, emerged and had a whispered conversation with Nick in the corner, before leaving with her little bag, Nick holding the door for her.

Sasha knew she should be shouting at these people—they couldn't just treat her like another experiment. She was a person! She had rights! But the words lodged in her throat.

The woman in front of her met her eyes and there was sympathy in them before she patted Sasha's knee, then gathered her things and left.

Nick held the door for her, too.

He'd turned then, an apology on his face. "I know that was strange. If you want to take a shower and have some breakfast, I'll wait downstairs until you're ready. Just come down to the office when you're ready.

She frowned at him. He waited, but when she didn't speak, he turned away, opening the door to leave himself.

"Nick," she blurted.

He hesitated, turning. "Yes?"

"What did the test say?" Her heart pounded in her ears. She knew. At least, she thought she did. But the question of whether these people had interfered with her body left her suddenly terrified. Could they really do that?

Nick hesitated. He looked out the door as if he was checking that no one else was there. When he looked at her, there was a caution in his eyes. "The human test was negative," he said. "We'll have to wait on the others. They'll take a few hours."

That had been an hour earlier. Except for a hushed greeting to the Receptionist, and a couple single-syllable responses to Nick's questions about her comfort, Sasha hadn't really spoken since.

She was still shaking, and she didn't know why.

Negative. It had been negative, she reminded herself. If she wasn't pregnant, they'd said she could go back to Zev.

She closed her eyes then and for a moment let herself just imagine seeing him—his bright blue eyes fierce and scanning her from head to toe. His strong arms wrapping around her body. His chin on her hair. His deep voice murmuring love in her ear.

Her skin prickled, she felt it all so keenly. She wanted him so badly. Wanted away from this place and these horrible people so ferociously, the urge to just throw the door of the Jeep open and start running was visceral.

Her little daydream was interrupted by Nick speaking in a normal voice, as if nothing was wrong.

"We'll have to stay out of the trees until they invite us in. They'll have heard the car coming, so they know we're here. But we try to give them a sense of independence. So we won't approach until we're invited.

"The Alpha here is female, too, obviously. She'll probably be quite curious about you," he said with a half-smile.

Sasha blinked, then turned to gape at him. "Nick?"

"Yeah?" he was still peering at the approaching trees in front of the vehicle.

"You're a creepy-ass man and I don't trust you. Please don't smile at me like we're sharing a joke."

His brows rose, but he didn't look angry. If anything he seemed a little amused, which pissed Sasha off.

When they were about twenty feet from the line of trees and underbrush, Nick slowed the vehicle to a stop, then turned off the engine.

Sasha's heart thumped and for a moment she didn't want to get out of the car. But then she remembered all the advice Zev had given her about being Alpha, about what the Chimera needed to feel safe. And about what they thought of the humans and those who worked with them willingly.

Then she took one look at Nick, then shoved her car door open and stepped out. Nick got out too, and leaned against the side of the car, staring at the trees. But Sasha slammed her door and started for the trees.

"Sasha," Nick said, warning in his tone. "Stay back. Give them some space to—"

"Kiss my ass, Nick," she called back and set her eyes on the treeline where shadows were moving, praying that these females weren't the type to shift and kill her before they'd heard what she had to say.

 

Chapter 292

Sasha didn't let herself hesitate. Not when Nick's calls became more urgent. Not when the shadows under the trees became discernible human forms. Not when Nick swore and started after her.

When she got within a few feet of the trees and she could finally make out detail of those in the shadows, she found a crowd of females, all dressed in some strange hybrid of Chimeran and human clothing—some wearing leather or fur leggings, with flannel shirts or thick fleeces. Others in clearly authentic fur jackets paired with jeans or motorcycle pants.

Sasha didn't let herself think too deeply about what it meant that these Chimerans looked like they were dressed as an afterthought, she rolled her shoulders back and headed straight for the female who stood a couple feet ahead of the others who spread out behind her like she was the head of the arrow.

The female, the only one in a full set of furs, had long, dirty-blond hair that had twisted into clumps and half-dreads. She stood with her chin down to protect her throat. Her eyes were locked on Sasha, and she stood the way Zev stood when he wasn't threatening, but was ready to fight.

"I'm not going to hurt you," Sasha said, her voice as loud and clear as she could make it when it was still rough from lack of use. "I'm Alpha in Thana and I'm here to help."

Not letting herself think about what these women could do to her if they chose, she strode straight up to the Alpha and stood in front of her, arms at her sides, and hands loose.

"Scent me," she said. "Zev is my mate. And I've been… I've been acknowledged. I killed Xar."

The Alpha's eyes widened, but her expression didn't change.

"I'll share scents," Sasha said, a tinge of desperation in her tone. "I mean no threat to you. I want to help." She needed to find a way to bridge the gap before Nick got the courage to come closer.

"I do not wish to share my scent with any human," the female said, her voice low and hard, but it shook.

Sasha took a deep breath. "I understand. I'll… you can smell me. Zev is with me." She prayed the bond was still a strong enough part of her scent that they'd catch it, even if she wasn't close. She didn't know how these things worked, or whether her showers the day before would have removed him from her skin.

The female scanned her from toe to crown, suspiciously. Sasha raised her hands slowly. "Scent me," she repeated. "I'm telling you the truth. I'm only here because if I didn't come they were going to take Zev again, and he couldn't… it would have broken him to come back here."

Without taking her eyes off of Sasha, the female motioned for one of the others to come closer. One of the three females directly behind her stepped forward. A young brunette, short for a Chimera, but still close to a foot taller than Sasha. She stepped up to Sasha like she was ready to fight, but when Sasha didn't move, she leaned into her hair and inhaled deeply, then walked a circle around her.

"It's true," she said in a husky voice. "She's his mate."

"Unless they have found a way to counterfeit this as well," the Alpha said, her eyes cutting to Nick behind Sasha. Sasha turned to look back quickly. Nick hovered halfway between the Jeep and the trees, still hissing at her to be careful and let them get a look at her.

His tight bravado that had returned the moment they'd left Thana was shredded. He was shaking, unwilling to come any closer.

Sasha frowned as she turned back to the females. Nick seemed almost as frightened of them as he had been of the creatures in Thana. She wasn't sure whether to be worried or amused. What had happened to him with the Chimera that broke through his fa?ade of arrogance so completely.

"Show us your skin," the Alpha said to her in a stern whisper.

"I… what?"

"These men use tools, they record our voices and… if you are not a tool for them, you will prove it. Let us search your clothing and hair. Be certain you aren't bugged."

It was a winter morning. She stood in the shadows of trees wearing a beanie, a thick fleece, a turtleneck, and jeans over a pair of thick hiking boots Nick had provided. Her breath wasn't quite making a cloud, but there was a haze when any of them spoke.

They wanted her to get naked?

Oh, and also, NAKED?

Sasha sucked in a deep breath. "I will," she said through her teeth. "Just give me a moment. I'm human. Our traditions are different. I find being naked… difficult."

The woman smirked and Sasha's anger flared. She was doing everything she could to prove herself! But she tamped it down. If she'd been imprisoned and held for three years away from her family and home, she'd be suspicious, too.

Sasha closed her eyes. She already felt so violated by those tests that morning, but she knew these women had probably fared far worse. She could embarrass herself for a few minutes for their sakes. Swallowing hard she turned to face Nick raising her voice so he'd hear her clearly.

"They need me to prove myself. Turn around, close your eyes, and don't turn back until I tell you that you can. They'll be watching you, Nick. If they see you peeking, they'll eat you."

She cut a look back at the Alpha, worried the woman might contradict her. But she only smiled wickedly.

With a shudder, Sasha turned back to Nick who'd raised his hands and put them over his eyes. "I won't look," he said. She wondered how much of his compliance was an act, but did it matter? She had to do this.

So, with a sigh, she started by unlacing her boots. A minute later, shivering in the cold, she was down to her underwear.

"All of it," the woman said. "We have been deceived before. We will not fall for it again."

Sasha quivered.

Chapter 293

Bracing herself, Sasha nodded, her breathing becoming rapid and shallow, her hands shaking as she removed the last of her clothing and stood before the women, utterly vulnerable. She had to close her eyes when three of them approached and began running their hands up and down her body, into cracks and under lumps, then through her hair, fingers clawing to her scalp, parting the strands, as if they were grooming her.

Sasha trembled with cold and fear, and sheer disgust. But she made herself stand for the examination until all three women stepped back. When she opened her eyes the Alpha stared at her, considering.

Sasha opened her mouth to ask, but then remembered Zev's caution about manners. About expecting the treatment you deserved as Alpha, and she gritted her teeth. "You've seen that I'm not deceiving you. I'm going to dress now."

The Alpha didn't respond, but Sasha leaned down to pick up her carefully folded clothing and dressed as quickly and discreetly as she could. Zipping the fleece up the front felt like putting on armor. She swallowed back the last of her humiliation and met the female's eyes.

"I am the Alpha of those in Thana. All the clans," she said. "Your loss is grieved. They ache to have you back. We all do."

The female's expression didn't change. "Your mate has been here many times. He torments our wolf-sisters."

"No," Sasha growled. "He was forced, deceived, just like you were."

The female huffed. "We have lost dozens of wolf-sisters. Yet your mate still walks—and now bonds with you, apparently. Despite all those given to him before. He is capable of the bond. Just not with those who bonded to him. He is Chimeran, and yet not. He walks alongside the humans—"

"He does not!" Sasha hissed. "He freed me from their influence when I didn't even know they were in my life. He returned to Thana, was banished by Xar, and still fought to claw his way back to Wolf Alpha—and then challenged Xar when Xar tried to take me before we were bonded! His only thought beyond my safety is yours. That's why I'm here. He sent me."

The woman's upper lip curled. "An Alpha who can be sent by her mate?"

Sasha stepped right up into her space, ignoring the foot of difference in their heights to glare at the woman down her nose. "No! An Alpha who understands what she doesn't know, and works to learn it! I am here to try to free you, or at least, to learn how we can," she whisper-screamed. "I know humans. I know this world. But I'm still learning Thana. Zev is my advisor and my second, and yes I listen to him."

The female regarded her suspiciously, but she didn't challenge Sasha by pushing forward. They stared at each other, everyone else holding their breaths, waiting to see what would come of the confrontation.

"You might be Alpha," the female conceded eventually. "But if you believe you can free us from this place when you cannot even free yourself, you're stupid."

Sasha gave her a flat look. "I'm not suggesting they're going to hand me the keys to walk you out of here. I'm… I'm saying that I'm trying to negotiate for you."

"What could you possibly have to negotiate with these monsters?" she hissed.

"Zev. And our offspring."

The female drew back, her face twisting into a snarl. "You would give up your own firstborn to these… these animals?! You are no better than—"

"No!" Sasha growled back, lowering her voice. "I can use the… the promise of our family—the Chimera they've wanted this entire time—to move them to… to… Look, I'm still figuring it out, okay? But trust me. I'm not talking out of my ass here."

The Alpha female stared at her hard. Sasha felt like she was naked again, but she held the challenging gaze. They had to listen to her. Had to believe her! She needed their help to know any weaknesses in their security, or—

"Can I turn around yet?" Nick called, his voice slightly muffled by his own hands.

Sasha's stomach sank. "Yes, you can," she called back without turning away from the female Alpha.

They regarded each other and the woman began to draw back, shifting her weight. Sasha realized none of this would matter if she didn't get this woman on side, so she put a hand on her arm and hissed, "What's your name?"

The female froze, her expression hardening. She looked down at where Sasha touched her.

Sasha removed her hand, but didn't give her more space. "My name is Sasha," she said, determined, touching her own chest. "Zev is my mate." She flattened her hand over the spot where her body felt hollow with the loss of him. "Our goals are good. Not to harm you. But when we have a chance to make a difference, you can't back away from it. You have to believe that we're really working for your good."

The woman snorted air from her nose, but Sasha shook her head.

"I get why you don't want to believe me," she whispered urgently. "I understand that you've been tricked and lied to and coerced and… and everything else. But this isn't that. I'm not here to help them! I'm here to help Chimera. If something changes, if something is different, if freedom is offered, take it. Don't keep yourselves locked up out of fear!"

"We do not live in fear," she snarled. "We live under threat, and we live at the mercy of these… these creatures."

"And we want to free you from them," Sasha hissed back. "But until I know exactly how this place works, and exactly what they're doing with you, I can't be sure that my plan will work. Please! Help me to help you!"

The three females who'd stepped forward to examine Sasha inched closer, their bodies hugging against the Alpha, putting their strength behind her. Sasha met eyes with each of them. "I have been nothing but honest with you," she whispered. "You have to listen. We're in this together."

There was a tiny murmur then, little more than a breath. As if the wind rustled through the leaves overhead. But the air was still. Sasha couldn't make out any words, but she saw the lips of the women moving, all of them whispering to each other below the level of her hearing. They'd clearly spent enough time around humans to have learned their limits, and now they could communicate without sharing what they didn't want known.

There was a back and forth as different women spoke and the Alpha listened. Sasha wanted to groan with frustration, but finally, the Alpha female nodded slowly and the others went still.

Sasha watched her warily.

Finally the woman pressed her lips to thin lines, looked at Nick over Sasha's shoulder, then back to Sasha, offering her hand as a human would, to be shaken.

"My name is Vayl," she said tightly. "I am the Alpha of this female Clan. I acknowledge the Alpha of Thana."

Sasha heaved a sigh of relief, but Vayl's face went hard.

"But I do not submit my power to her.. The Clan does not offer her authority."

 

Chapter 294

"I will not submit my people," Vayl added more softly, "But I will share a meal with you. You will not take power here, but we can live in peace."

One of the three females behind her huffed in obvious disapproval, but Sasha and Vayl both ignored her.

Sasha blew out the breath she'd been holding, glad she wasn't going to be expected to fight this woman. Because she would lose, she knew. And in that case, she'd also lose all hope at gaining their respect.

"Thank you," Sasha said quickly. "I'm grateful. I don't expect you to… to shift the hierarchy for me. You have to sustain what you have here. I don't know how long you'll have to remain here after I leave. I just want to understand. To gain your insight if you have any."

Vayl looked at her with sympathy. "Sasha, you won't be leaving this place. No one who comes here leaves, except in death. I pray for Zev's sake that that isn't the end for you. But I hold little hope. There was one or two females very early on sent back. But they didn't survive, so now we are all to remain."

Sasha thanked her faintly, praying that her instincts weren't wrong, that she wasn't a fool to believe that the men hadn't been lying to her outright. That this really was a different situation than they'd seen before. But there was no way to know until she walked it out.

"I have… a different relationship with them, because I'm human," she said slowly. "I can't be certain, of course… but I pray that won't be my fate too. Or yours," she added, then scanned the rest of the females, including the crowd in the trees behind them. "I'll keep working towards gaining you your freedom, no matter what it takes."

Vayl sighed, her shoulders rising and falling slowly, as if she were sad for Sasha, but she didn't respond.

"If you'll share a meal with us, we'll take you to our… village."

Sasha nodded eagerly. But then Vayl looked at Nick over her shoulder. "He is not invited. We have no males among us. No reason for him to be there, except to do harm."

Sasha turned to find Nick standing with his hands in his pockets, watching them, his brow furrowed.

"They're going to show me the village," she said. "You have to stay here."

Nick sighed, but nodded. "I'll wait here."

Surprised by how easily he agreed, Sasha just turned back to the other females. Nick's response made her fear there were close watches kept on these places that perhaps even the Chimera didn't know about. But she didn't want to create further stress for them, so she didn't say anything.

"He trusts his technology to warn him if we step out of line," Vayl said quietly as they all turned and began to walk, Sasha hurrying to keep up with their long strides. "But he won't reach you in time if we should choose to kill you. You walk in on your own feet, Sasha. It's up to you if you walk back out."

Sasha laughed nervously, but didn't break stride. Zev's words about power and strength echoing in her head.

The truth was, she felt like she didn't have any choice but to simply walk this journey out. Killed by Chimera seemed preferable to becoming a slave in a science lab, which was the other most likely outcome of being here. So as the females parted ahead of them, sinking deeper between the trees and underbrush to leave room for the Alphas to pass, all their eyes flicking between Sasha and Vayl, Sasha just prayed.

What else could she do?

*****

Sasha understood why Vayl had hesitated when she referred to the village. In truth, the space where the females lived was more of an encampment. They passed a dozen different fires, each surrounded by tables and stools—usually made from tree stumps, or stones—and a few tents, or tarps thrown over tree branches. But it was clear that these were work spaces. Not where the women lived.

As the darkness under the trees deepened and the ground rose ahead of them, Sasha was shown two or three caves clustered in the steep rise of the land. This, she was told, was where the females gathered in poor weather, and where they slept.

Each cave mouth was just a little too perfect, a little too round. Sasha's skin prickled. Had the humans created this space for the Chimera? Literally formed it? The ground was rocky and solid, covered in undergrowth and vines beneath the trees. There was no hint of anything synthetic. And yet, something about the place lacked the true rugged, unpredictable nature of Thana.

Vayl caught her eyeing the caves and grunted. "We don't know if they were already here, or if they were made for us," she said quietly. "But they have served our purposes and kept us as safe as we can be here."

Those words sounded very ominous to Sasha, but she didn't push, allowing the woman to show her into the center cave, the widest one. Inside she found the most comforts she'd seen so far—dozens of alcoves and hollows in the sides of the cave filled with furs and small personal items. Wide fireplaces actually carved into the rock and dirt of the wall, with chimney tunnels to the open air outside. There was a lot more furniture here—long tables and even a few chairs, a massive carpet unrolled at the cave's widest point and scattered in pillows, and shelves and cupboards for storage here and there.

In many ways it looked like a children's fort—as if the furniture had been selected for its sturdy nature and base function, rather than its appearance or ability to create convenience.

Sasha felt like she'd walked onto the movie set of some strange world that combined cavemen with modern-day amenities.

She saw a full sink bolted to the wall with a narrow gutter carved out of the ground beneath it, leading all the way back to the mouth of the cave. Yet it was surrounded by metal pails of water, and the faucets looked rusted in place.

She was shown the Alpha sleeping quarters—little more than a shallow sub-cave at the end, with three different sets of furs laying on its floor. Then they walked back to the center of the cave where the crowd of females had gathered, some sitting cross-legged on the carpet, while others lined the walls and took stools and chairs at its edge.

Sasha was led to the lip of the rug where Vayl stopped walking and looked at the females, waiting for them to quiet. Sasha was about to ask what they would do there, but Vayl cleared her throat and raised her chin.

Her words pierced Sasha's skull like pennies dropped into a fresh pool of water, plunk, plunk, plunk, until she was left stunned.

"Well, you all saw and heard our exchange, and saw the response of Piss Pants.. What do you think?" Vayl said without looking at Sasha, her voice raised to reach all the way through the cave. "Are the prophecies true? Has the human come to save us? Or have we been deceived again? Will Sasha-don lead us home? Or is this only another ploy to drink our blood?"

 

Chapter 295

"What does she say?" a voice cried from nearer the cave mouth.

All eyes turned from Vayl to Sasha, who stood in the spotlight, stunned. "I… I don't know what you're talking about."

"We aren't ignorant to the human schemes," Vayl said tightly. "They farm us like cattle. But their efforts have slowed greatly in the past few months. So… do they plan to slaughter us? Or do you bring hope, Sasha?"

"Hope? I mean, yes, I bring hope, but I'm by no means certain—"

"Are you carrying Zev's pup?" someone else called.

"I… I don't think so. Not yet."

A murmur rippled through the gathered females and Sasha shook her head. "I'm sorry, I'm missing something. You said something about a… a prophecy? And blood? I don't understand—"

Vayl's eyes narrowed and she looked over her shoulder at the females that had stayed close when they were out in front of Nick and who all remained just behind her now. The women nodded.

"We have made the decision to take a risk on you, Sasha-don," Vayl said, as if the words were bitter on her tongue. "Because we are dying. Without help, we will not survive many more winters."

Sasha gaped at all of them. They looked far healthier than the females she'd seen in the building. And yet there was an air of being… threadbare here, she realized. These women were walking an edge. She was almost afraid to ask what they thought would take their lives. Because these women didn't look as if their bodies were failing.

"I spoke the truth when I said I want to help," Sasha said. "I'm here to try and figure out a way to… to get you all back to Thana. But I don't know anything about prophecies, or… I'm just here because I saw an opportunity and I took it. The males have wanted you back since the day you were taken. Everything they've done up to this point has been an attempt to win you back from… from here. When Zev took me there, he didn't know all of you had been taken. He'd only seen the females back at the complex—the ones that they made, and the… the ones they brought in for breeding. He hadn't realized all of you were here. He didn't know… when we both found out… it's our goal to get you out of here and safe, and back to the males. None one wants you here."

"Except humans. Like you." Vayl said.

Sasha shook her head. "That's not a human thing, that's a… these men are sick. They want things, plan things a normal human would call inhumane. They aren't examples of the best of us. They're examples of the worst."

"They are the only humans we've met."

Discussion sparked, back and forth, until Sasha raised her hands and pleaded with them to listen. "I don't know how much time I have. I don't to risk Nick getting nervous and coming in here looking for me. Please. The only way I can help is to gather as much information from you as possible. Are there any places you know that their security is loose? Any places you could breach the fence? Are there any times they leave you completely unattended? Any hints you have of ways you might get out of here with some help from the outside?"

But she met only blank stares, and shaking heads.

"They are very strong, Sasha-don," one of the women behind Vayl said after a moment. "The few who have attempted to escape alone have all died, or been brought back to us with their minds broken. We stopped trying after the first year."

"The fence is always in clear space, so we can't climb trees or the land to try to leap it."

"What about the owls?" Sasha asked. "You can't fly? It doesn't seem very high."

There was a high wail in the crowd, and a murmur that ran through the females on every side. Vayl's face went flat. "Our Owl sisters have been… clipped. Their wings cannot carry them. They cannot fly."

Sasha felt sick. She almost asked what had been done to those poor women, but she was a coward, afraid she'd vomit in front of them like she had with Nick the night before.

"I'm… I'm so sorry," she whispered, praying they could all hear her anyway. "I'm working, I promise. Doing everything I can to negotiate your freedom. They're changing their focus. They haven't had any luck breeding you, so they're looking for another solution. I'm working to convince them that having you back in Thana will work best for… for everything they're trying to achieve—"

There was a sharp intake of breath and Sasha stopped.

Vayl bristled. "You do seek to help them?"

"No!" Sasha hurried to clarify. "No, my goal is to keep them happy, to convince them I'm not a threat. That we're working together. And I will aid them in the ways they're asking for right now, because it won't harm anyone else. But ultimately… ultimately our goal is for the independence of the Chimera. We're just… I'm not certain yet how… You have to believe me, this opportunity came unexpectedly. I had to take it or burn that bridge with the humans completely. I took it. I'm certain I can do something. And what I learn while I'm here… I will get you out of here. I know I will. I'm just not sure yet how."

It was mostly true. She had an idea, but it was true that she wasn't sure it would work. And she didn't want to share too much with these females because who knew how many of them were informing for Nick and his team? Or how much technology was planted here?

She'd been honest with the men about wanting the females out. She knew if they were recording this she could convince Nathan that this conversation was only what she'd promised to do—to get the Chimera listening to her, working with her, to align with their common goals.

And that gave her an idea.

"If I can get you out of her," she said carefully, straightening her shoulders and raising her chin, "If I can get you back to Thana, back to the males… will you acknowledge me?"

Stunned silence met her proposal. But it was Vayl who stepped forward, her eyes bright and fierce. "Sasha-don, if you can get us released, I will submit my power to you. All of it."

Then she clasped her hand to her chest and bowed her eyes and head as Sasha had seen the males do for Zev. And the cave rustled and rumbled then as every female in the place followed suit.

Yet, when Vayl straightened the fierceness hadn't left her gaze.. "But if you betray us, I will bite out your throat myself."

 

Chapter 296 -

A trembling Sasha stepped out of the shadow of the forest when the sun was a little higher in the sky, to find Nick leaning back against the hood of the Jeep. He watched her approach and looked relieved when it became clear she was alone.

She stopped a few feet from him, aware that her hands were shaking, but completely unable to do anything about it.

Nick's face got very serious. "Are you okay?"

Sasha shrugged. "I don't know. That was… scary. They almost… Nick those women are not in their right minds. I don't know what you've been doing to them, but—"

"Let's get in the car and discuss it later. They're very sneaky. They might be watching or listening without our knowledge."

He turned to walk to the driver's door, but Sasha stood her ground and didn't approach the vehicle.

"No, Nick. We're going to talk about this now. When there's no one else here. I can't… how can you have such a state of the art complex here and yet they're living like cavemen? Those caves… it's like they're animals!"

Nick stopped in the act of opening the car door, instead turning back to face her, but he looked pissed. "They live that way because they prefer it. You might have noticed the Chimera have a different definition of "creature comforts."

Sasha hesitated. He was right, of course. She dropped her head into her head. "I don't know what to do," she whispered.

"About what?"

She jerked her head up to stare at him like he was blind. "Can't you see that they're dying?!"

"Those women are perfectly healthy—"

"In their bodies, but not in their minds. They just told me themselves, they don't think they'll make it through next winter."

Nick blinked. "They told you that?"

"I told them I was working against you, trying to free them. That I needed them to trust me, to tell me how to get them out of here. But there's no way out. From their perspectives, this is where they die. They're despairing, Nick. Literally, losing their minds. They believe anyone who tried to escape was killed, and anyone who complied with your program was taken. They're caged animals, Nick, just waiting for it to swallow them. You're going to lose them!"

Nick watched her face, expressionless. Examining her.

Sasha swore. "Test me with your little gadgets or whatever, Nick, it's the truth! They're dying, and you're just sitting here watching it happen. Tell me how that is a good use of these billions you're telling me you've spent?"

Nick's lips pressed thin and he turned away to stare at the distant mountains. "They might have really told you that. They might even think it's true. But I doubt it. I told you they're uneducated, but they aren't unintelligent. They're using you, Sasha. They can tell they can pull on your heartstrings."

"So? That doesn't mean it's not true. We have to get them out of there—they need to go back to Thana or you're going to lose them. They said more of them have died in the past year than in the two previous combined, is that true?"

Nick hesitated. "Yes, but it isn't large numbers—"

"Nathan said they can go back. You have to help them! We have to help them!"

"No, Nathan said you can go back—if you're not pregnant. He said they'd consider about the rest."

"That's such bullshit," Sasha sneered. "'Consider'. Bullshit. That's a bullshit word for never going to happen and you know it."

"That's my point," Nick said, shaking his head, his eyes flicking to the forest behind her.

"But why does it have to be that way? Because these men won't believe me? Fine, but they'll believe you! You tell them that they need to go back!"

Nick, standing next to the driver's door, tipped his chin as if she should go back to the forest, but when he spoke, the gesture was nothing to do with what he said. "You don't understand what you're dealing with, Sasha. The Chimera are a resource, that's all. If they can't serve their purpose, they're useless to us." Then he tipped his head towards the forest again and widened his eyes.

"I can't stand you and your… callousness!" Sasha shrieked and turned on her heel. "I'm going to go help those poor women—they don't deserve this! You guys can figure this out on your own, I'm not having anything to do with getting them killed—"

"Sasha, wait, please," he called, darting after her.

"No, this is bullshit! You'll protect me, but you won't protect them when they could all have Chimeran babies too? You people are assholes!"

She started to run into the trees, Nick on her heels, calling that he didn't want to hurt her, but that she needed to stop.

Then suddenly, he hooked her arm and whipped her around so her back was to the trunk of a large tree to her right.

She started to scream, but he clapped a hand over her mouth and leaned into her ear, hissing. "They're resources, Sasha," he whispered urgently. "If they don't earn their keep, they're useless. Yet they're still here. Even though they haven't had babies. What do you think that means?"

Sasha stopped trying to scream through his hand, but stared at him, her breath hissing in and out of her nose over his palm. Then he let her go and stepped back.

"I'm sorry, but just in case the camera could still catch it, I had to get you in here. The audio won't pick up this far away."

Sasha swallowed. "Get me in here… for what?"

"To tell you what you're stepping into so you won't make a mistake and get yourself killed. Listen to me, Sasha: The Chimera are a resource. An asset. They're a thing to these people. You think they're keeping them alive, keeping this whole complex going out the goodness of their hearts?"

"They're people," she insisted. "People that you all made! How does killing them slowly do anything but waste those "resources" you're so proud of?"

"Because they can be used, even when they're dying, don't you get it yet?"

"No! I don't!"

Nick raked a hand through his hair and swore under his breath. Then he turned back to glare at her. "We have seconds before I have to get you back out there, or they get suspicious, so listen fast: The breeding is secondary. It's preferable. Cheaper, and easier than making them. It costs less to keep them and breed them than to make them. But we can do it if we have to, and they're considering that, right now. Because if they can get babies from you and Zev, and if they can figure out how to breed Chimeran males with human females, they don't need the females to be anything but cattle. Resources, Sasha. Think. What do we do with resources? We consume them."

Sasha blinked. "But… what…"

"Their blood heals wounds, Sasha," Nick hissed. "Not just when you get a boo-boo on your finger. Real wounds. Diseases. Their blood can rejuvenate internal organs. It can heal massive wounds—the near-loss of a limb, or someone whose brain was damaged in a car crash. Just give some thought to what that means? Their blood can stop a delivering mother from bleeding out—or stop her underdeveloped baby from dying. The potential is literally endless.

"Imagine what people will pay for that. Imagine the difference in our society for the people who can access that? Imagine the power?! Wake up, Sasha. You aren't playing with scientists who are here for shits and giggles. They're staring down the barrel of immortality." He took a deep breath, shaking his head. "Do you get it yet? They believe the Chimera are the literal fountain of youth.. That they're going to make them gods."

 

Chapter 297

Sasha stood, back still to the tree, stunned speechless.

The picture Nick painted, the motives these people had… and yes, the plan. She could see it. It was like something out of a bad science fiction movie. But if these past few weeks had shown her anything it was that those stories perhaps weren't nearly as much fiction as she'd always believed.

His words kept echoing in her head.

They're going to make them gods.

Did these men really believe that? It made a sick kind of sense—why they seemed so cold and calculating about it all. The power they thought they'd gain.

Nick had been right, she hadn't seen how big this was. That scared her, though, because what else was she missing.

"So fucking creepy," she muttered under her breath. A shudder rocked her entire body and she didn't bother hiding it. Nick was a part of this. He needed to see that normal people didn't walk through the world thinking that this was okay.

But to her surprised, Nick to turned to look at her, his expression concerned. "I know that's a lot. Are you okay?"

"Of course I'm not okay. This whole thing is just… it's evil, Nick!"

"It's not evil. It's ambitious. There's a difference. I mean, you'll use a pregnancy to get what they want, why shouldn't they?"

"I'll what? You're crazy!"

"You said yesterday, you told Nathan, if they let you get back to Zev, don't ask you to harm anyone, you'll give them their Chimera babies."

"I… but…"

"You're the beginning, Sasha. With you here, they can smell how close this all is. If you get pregnant, they've finally got their answer about how to increase the numbers affordably. Once these men know what works, they won't swerve from it."

"Great, then lets get pregnant and they can let the rest of the females go!"

Nick snorted. "Fat chance."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying the only way you get them back to Thana is if it benefits Nathan and the Board. If you find something that makes their resource more profitable, or more efficient. But, if it turns out that you and Zev are the only future, they're done with the rest of them. They're expensive and not fulfilling all their needs. They'll be done."

"Done? With the females?"

"With all the other Chimera." Nick sighed, still watching the land ahead. "Stop telling yourself there's boundaries here, Sasha. The men who run this place don't see the Chimera as people. They won't free them into Thana out of the goodness of their hearts. They'll either harvest them, or kill them.

"Harvest them? What the hell does that mean?"

"Use what they can and discard the rest."

Sasha shuddered again. "No!"

"You don't get to say no."

"I don't care. I am saying no. If I'm going to be a part of this, returning the females to Thana is a non-negotiable."

"You're really overestimating the amount of leverage you have here."

"Am I?"

Nick stared at her. "What's making you so sure of yourself right now?"

Sasha glared at the forest. "You're saying me and Zev are the answer, right?

"Probably. That has yet to be seen."

"So… if we aren't here, they're screwed. They have to keep everyone else, and try to get them healthy."

"No, Sasha. If you aren't here, They find someone else for Zev and they keep trying. You can't win this."

"You said he can't breed with anyone else, because we're bonded now. He can only breed with me. If you need offspring from him, you need me. And only me."

Nick didn't answer. She could feel the cogs turning over in his mind.

Then he swallowed. "We have technology. We can harvest his sperm and force fertilization in—"

"If they could have done that, they would have done it. I'm betting they've tried it already and it either didn't work, or you got some of our friends who live in the forest that you're so scared of.

She sees him tense. He doesn't speak, but he's starting to smile.

"What?" she asked.

"Keep going," he muttered. "Keep following that trail."

Sasha didn't trust him, but she kept thinking it through anyway. "All their eggs are in one basket now, right? You've got your medical resource. You've got your process to build Chimera, but it's all too clunky and expensive to make it sustainable. So you need Chimera who can stay healthy and reproduce. And right now, it looks like me and Zev are the only way there. Without us, you're back and square one, because you have to recreate Zev, and you haven't been able to do that."

Nick just stared.

"It's even more dire than you think, Nick."

His eyes spark. "How so?"

Sasha rolls the dice. "If I'm not here, Zev's not here."

Nick frowned. "Zev loves you, Sasha, and the mate bond… I get it, his time will be limited. But—"

"No, Nick, you don't get it. We didn't just bond. We're ardent. We forged something—the Chimera called it a soulbond. I don't know what it is, all I know is that there's a piece of me that belongs in him, and a piece of him in me, and they are all certain that if one of us dies, the other does. Not years down the line. That same moment. We've vowed to each other and something happened. I can't explain it. But it's like our heartbeats are… linked somehow. If mine stops, his does. And visa versa."

Nick's face goes very serious. "You can't lie to them about stuff like this, Sasha."

"I'm not. Ask a Chimera who's never met us. Ask them what a soulbond is, and what it does. I don't know how you'd test for it, but I figure there has to be some physical markers. It doesn't matter, the point is, it's true. Whether you like it or not, it's true. You kill me, Zev dies. You kill Zev, I die.. I think… I think your people are now wholly invested in keeping both of us alive and healthy."

 

Chapter 298

Nick stared at her, but didn't respond. Then he looked around, back and forth, as if someone might be watching them. His face was tight. "We have to get back into the car before they get suspicious."

Sasha gaped at him. After all that, that's what he had to say? She wanted to scream—and they would be able to tell when she got back to the car? Ugh, it was like living in a fishbowl. She couldn't get away from these people! "So, they're recording everything?"

"Everything. Let's go."

Sasha balked. "How do I know there's no bug on you now?"

Nick shrugged. "Would it matter if there was?"

Sasha stared at him for a long moment, then she just gave up and huffed. "I guess not."

"Are you going to tell them everything you just told me?" Nick asked carefully.

"Are you?"

"I tell them everything, Sasha. You need to know that. I tell them everything." But he shook his head, very slowly.

Sasha gave him a flat look. "I think I need to talk to Nathan again."

"About this?"

"About this, and about the females. He seemed to think last night if I saw how they were living it was going to shut me up. Or that I'd think they weren't doing such a bad job after all. But I'm just more horrified. Do you people not pay attention at all to the mental state of the Chimera? Like, does that not even factor in for you? These women are all at breaking point. All of them. I don't care how much you pump them full of vitamins and give them good food. This life is unnatural for them, and it's killing them. If you try to do this to me, it will kill me too, and that'll kill Zev. If they really want to see progress, they have to be willing to make some changes."

"And you think you're the one to make that happen?" Nick raised a single eyebrow.

"I know I am." She couldn't explain why, but she was certain of it. "Because without me, they're screwed. I mean, how much time do Nathan and the others need? How much time would they give me to prove it? Because, seriously, if I don't live up to my end, they can go back in six months and do whatever they want. But until then, they need me. And once I am having babies, they'll really need me. I'm not going to have a healthy pregnancy while I'm worried about these women. And Zev's not going to be healthy while he's worrying about me. Would it really kill you all to put us all in a situation that benefits us? Like, for real? What do you lose? You've had the Chimera in Thana before. What do you lose by putting them back."

"Control."

Shasha shook her head, snorting. "According to you, if they decide to kill us all in Thana, they can do it without losing time or sleep. What does it matter if they're loose in this fucking "sanctuary" or loose in Thana? In Thana they'll be healthier. More likely to reproduce—you already know that that's true. And that gives you leverage for keeping them in line—keeping me in line. I don't want to see babies hurt. I don't want to see… I don't want to see my babies hurt. Give us a life, Nick. Let us live, and we'll give you whatever it is that you want." Except the Chimera as a people, she thought. Except control.

Nick stared at her, considering, his mind visibly turning over again. But he didn't comment. After a moment, he tipped his head back towards the vehicle and urged her to follow him. When he just kept walking, even without her, she gave up and trotted to catch up with him. As soon as she was alongside him, he spoke in a low mutter.

"You tell it to them exactly like that. Exactly what you just said to me. Paint the picture of what they get, okay? What's in it for them. And what it will cost them if they don't. Make sure they know that. But what you're talking about is going to cost money and time. So don't be surprised when they want their pound of flesh back in exchange."

"What pound of flesh? I can't control whether I'm pregnant or not!"

"No, but you can control whether you're trying. You can control how you care for yourself. And you can definitely control how and what you say about the humans and how the others comply. We aren't stupid, Sasha. I might not be inside your head, but you're pretty easy to read. If you can get the Chimera away from us, you will. I know that. They know that. The question is only whether you realize that we know. If you're up front with them about it—give them ways to keep tabs on you, make sure you all aren't fleeing into the forest or whatever, you might convince them.

"But don't get cocky. These men are utterly ruthless, and they have essentially endless resources at their disposal. They don't want to start again—especially the older ones. You have something they want. They have ways of making you get it to them. You'd be a lot better off if you'd give it voluntarily. My advice, jump before you're pushed."

"And if I don't?"

"If you don't, you and Zev are both dead. This program either gets shut down completely, or restarted. And don't believe they'll make the same mistakes next time."

"What mistakes?"

Nick sighed. "Allowing any chimera to believe that they have any kind of agency in their own lives. You think this feels like a cage, Sasha? You're starting to see… even the places they feel like they're free, they're really not. You get that, right? It's all a ruse to make them feel freer than they actually are. Allowing them the freedom of Thana was just an experiment, Sasha. If it fails, they don't just press repeat. We're all fucking dead.. And the next crew? They're dealing with a zoo, not a wildlife sanctuary."

 

Chapter 299

Driving back towards the complex, Nick seemed to be going slower than when they'd been on their way out. His brows kept pinching in, as if he was arguing something with himself. Sasha didn't push. She was still struggling to read Nick, to figure out if or when he could be trusted. And the truth was, talking to him about this whole picture was very different to speaking about it with Nathan and the other board members.

How was she ever going to convince them to give her what she wanted?

There was no point angsting about it, she realized. Either they would listen and do as she asked, or they wouldn't. Wetting her pants about it wasn't going to change anything in the long run.

Sasha stared out the window, watching the grass and distant trees pass the Jeep. It was a beautiful place out here. Remote. Though the cleared land felt a little too perfect to be natural, it was still real.

"Why do they call this the sanctuary?" she said, suddenly needing to have something else to focus on.

Nick huffed. "The idea was to have a place where the Chimera would be able to self-manage, like you just saw. We can easily pass them things that are needed. We can test and treat for medical needs. But other than that, they're left mostly to themselves. They hunt to subsidize the food we give them. We don't interfere with them more than is necessary for breeding and to avoid the issues I mentioned around that. It's loosely based on the idea of the wildlife sanctuaries all over the world—places they can live their lives, but where they're also accessible."

This place didn't feel like a sanctuary to Sasha. It felt more like a really big cage.

"But… they aren't even dressed in the way that's natural for them," she said. "Do you really think you've replicated their Thana lives out there? Because you haven't. They need a lot more space. They need an entire society—with males, and older Chimera, and… they just need so much more. This isn't a real life, Nick. It's a big cage."

"Well, it's what they have, and what they've survived in for the past three years—more, if you count the ones we made, or those that came earlier."

"So, there's more, right. The females I just saw, those aren't all of them."

"No, but the others serve specific purposes. They're being studied for specific traits or experiments. They can't be free, because they have to be monitored all the time."

Sasha stomach turned over again, remembering the made females that were in that apartment, and that hushed plea from their leader. "You're killing them, too, you know."

"Don't get too full of yourself, Sasha. You don't know anything about any of this. Stay in your lane."

"I'm not—"

"Those females know nothing except what we tell and show them. They've only barely even interacted with the other females."

"Then how do they know about Zev and the traditions—sharing scents, and stuff."

"Because we tell them," Nick said. "We aren't trying to mess them up, Sasha. We're trying to give them a purpose and help them understand who and what they are—and how they're helping us. The females love movie nights, did you know that? Does that strike you as a Thana Chimeran trait? No. But they love it. It's currency to them. When we want to motivate them, or get them to push through something, we offer them that. They're like children, in many ways. Very simple in their needs and in their drivers."

"Because they've never had a chance to be anything else!" Sasha cried, certain he was so wrong, but needing him to believe she believed him. "If you let them go to Thana—"

"If we let those females, who've spent their entire lives in climate controlled, human environments into Thana, they would be less than useless. Even more at a loss than you were Sasha."

"I… how did you know?"

Nick chuckled. "I didn't need to know. We've followed you for years. You're a city girl, Sasha. This isn't the environment in which you thrive."

"Zev is the environment in which I thrive," she muttered.

Nick chuckled again. "Don't be mad, I'm just saying, you know how it is to walk into a place and be completely out of your comfort zone. That's how it would be for those women, except even less. Their entire existences have been in our labs, and this complex. They don't know anything else."

"They want to. They know about Zev and Thana. I bet if you offered them the chance—"

"Yeah, and if you told a ten year old about the rain forest and all the creatures there, they'd want to go. But they'd have no idea how hard it was, physically or mentally. That's the thing, Sasha. You're right they've never had a chance to be anything else, but also, we don't know if they can be. They were all created for specific gene traits. Every month we discover new differences, new flaws, new strengths… we could study these people for the rest of my life and we still won't reach the edge of understanding their purposes and limits.

"That whole arena of learning isn't going to stop just to make you more comfortable. So you need to lower your sights if you're thinking you're going to include those females in your request to Nathan. It just won't happen. And if they start to think you're just creating obstacles, they'll stop listening. Be very careful, Sasha. You can't save all of them."

She wanted to argue. To make him see that the females could probably thrive in Thana—the humans could learn new things about them that way—but before she could think about how to frame that in a way that got the females into Thana without commitments to have the humans there, too, Nick's device started alarming.

He stopped the Jeep to pull it out of his inside pocket and tapped the screens a couple times, then stared at it for a long minute.

When he looked up at Sasha, his eyes were unreadable.

"What is it?" she asked, suddenly nervous.

Nick looked back down at the screen. "Looks like you're going to get your chance to talk to the Board. Your test results are in, and Nathan and Horace are on their way to meet us."

 

Chapter 300

Sasha stared at him, but after a moment Nick only put his device down in his lap and put the car back in gear.

"So?!" Sasha said, her voice strangled.

"So, what? You're getting what you want. An audience with the decision makers."

"I mean, what were the test results?" she said, exasperated.

"I don't know. They haven't told me. They just said they're in and we need to come back."

Sasha gaped at him. "How can you just sit there? Isn't this like the biggest thing they've done so far? What does it mean that they're coming? Does that mean they think I'm pregnant? Or that I'm not?"

"I don't know, Sasha," Nick said, utterly calm. "That's the thing with these men, they're almost impossible to predict. I've stopped trying."

"That's bullshit. You're a thinker, Nick."

"No bullshit," he said with a glance at her to the side. "I really don't know what that means, and I'm not going to speculate, because I can see reasons why they'd show up on both sides of that coin. I actually find it more interesting that they haven't just told me what it was. That speaks volumes."

"About what?"

"It means either they are certain I'll tell you, and they don't want you to know yet. Or they think you're going to respond poorly to the news. They're trying to avoid problems. But I could be wrong… Like I said, they're hard to predict."

Sasha shook her head and turned to look at the passing scenery again. They weren't far from the complex now. Her head was spinning. How should she play this? Businesslike, as if the whole scenario was just a transaction, which was clearly how these men thought of all this?

Or should she appeal to their baser instincts? Their guts? Their emotions—if they even had them.

She was still twisted up, swinging back and forth between options when they pulled up outside the main building.

There were two other cars there this time—a long, sleek, black SUV, and another Jeep. Black, too, and fitted out with all kinds of antennae and gadgets on its roof and clipped to the front of the windscreen.

Nick got out of the car and started towards the building, once again just trusting her to follow.

When she slid to the ground outside the vehicle and closed the door, she looked out towards where the light broke through the trees. The road that led out of this place, to that fence, then the highway, then back to Thana.

She yearned to be on that road. Even if she had to walk the whole way.

Her stomach clenched and she lifted a prayer to the God that she knew had to love Zev's soft heart and loving nature. That God had to help her, had to help them. This was all too much. She couldn't die here. But she couldn't leave all these Chimera here, either.

Help me, please… she pleaded. Then started towards the building as well, watching Nick's back as he opened the door and stood there, holding it for her.

As she passed through and into the perfectly controlled temperature and humidity of the building, she was reminded.

Just because something was easy, didn't mean it was good for you.

They could make these buildings and fill them with technology, and give chemicals that would keep a body alive, but that didn't mean that these females were alive.

It just meant they were breathing.

She wanted them to smile. And she wanted to see the faces of the males when they saw the females coming…

She rolled her shoulders back and lifted her chin. She didn't know how she was going to do it, but she was going to get these women out. As many of them as she could.

*****

An hour later, she sat at a conference table with Nathan, Horace, Nick, and a lab technician who'd spent the past forty minutes walking them through the genetics of Zev's creation, Sasha's DNA, how and why they believed the gene pool would mingle, and some interesting anomalies they found in Sasha's DNA.

"Anomalies," Nathan asked tightly.

"Yes, her DNA has changed since we last tested her."

Sasha blinked. "I've never had my DNA tested."

Nathan stared at her, and Horace rubbed his mouth.

Nick sighed. "We've had your DNA profile since the first day you and Zev touched, Sasha. Just in case. We started with hair and saliva, and we've built your profile over the years in various ways."

Sasha stared at each of them around the table, horrified. "That is such a… violation!"

Nathan shrugged. "We could have had you arrested on trumped up charges and kept you in prison for all these years so we could request your samples when we needed them instead. Would you have preferred that?"

"Those aren't the only two options!"

"They are in your case."

"You people are nuts, you know that? Actually insane!"

Nick made a soothing gesture towards her, but Sasha just glared. Nathan turned back to the technician, while Horace fiddled with his shirt cuffs and didn't meet her eyes.

"The anomalies," Nathan said calmly. "What are they, and what do they mean?"

"They mean something has occurred to flip certain genes in Sasha since the last time we tested her, which was… approximately three months ago. When she started dating that other male."

"I… what?!" Sasha gasped.

Nathan ignored her. "What's changed?"

"It's hard to say without knowing what caused the shift. We can assume the bond with Zev has had some kind of impact. She seems to be carrying… markers now."

"Markers?"

"A genetic map for… well, we don't really know. But certain points have shifted to match a Chimera, while others remain unchanged."

Nathan sat up, his brows high. "She's becoming Chimera?"

Sasha felt Nick tense in the seat next to her, but she sat bolt upright in her chair, staring at the technician. She couldn't be saying that… could she?

She opened her mouth, but Nick's hand appeared on her forearm and she cut off, turning to look at him.

He held her gaze and shook his head, then looked back at the technician who was frowning at the papers in front of her.