Triad 5 - Sex Me All Around Page 4

  seems that an ancient race experimented with a

  virulent virus to commit genocide on what we

  believe to be the Hienials. We believe it attacked

  the genes in our bodies that determine the sex of a

  fetus." Drace nodded to the other Drakonian while

  he continued with his explanation, "It seems the

  virus worked all too well. It attacks the sex

  determining genes in every shifter race. The only

  people who seem immune to it are humans. Since

  they cannot shift, they do not possess the affected

  gene. Either that or they possess a natural

  immunity to the strain."

  Damir glanced at Drace then nodded to his

  companion. "This is my best friend and second in

  command, Kaylen Di'nios." He looked past Drace

  to the transport. "You have your mate with you."

  It wasn't a question. "That is why you were so

  suspicious." He looked back toward Brandy who

  was already administering first aid to an injured

  woman. "You are lucky. She is beautiful. I don't

  blame you for being so careful with her safety."

  Drace looked back over his shoulder and

  smiled. "She is beautiful. I forget to notice that

  sometimes." He smiled at the incredulous and

  almost angry looks of the Draconian males. "But

  Brandy is not my mate. She is my sister." He

  shrugged. "My adopted sister, but still not one I

  could ever look on with lust. To me she is still the

  young frightened girl my father saved from

  certain death on a faraway planet. One that he

  swears is teeming with fertile females."

  Drace didn't miss the speculative looks the two

  men gave his sister. He wasn't sure he liked the

  idea of his little sister participating in the kinds of

  escapades he and Fury had when they were

  younger, but if these two men were ready to claim

  her as mates, he would not stand in their way.

  He turned back to the transport just as Kiri

  rounded the corner and stood in the doorway,

  glaring at him, her hands on her hips.

  "It's about time you returned for me." She

  raised one copper-colored brow. "Have you

  determined it is safe for me now or do I have to

  wait here in this sweltering transport twiddling

  my thumbs for another hour?"

  "We feel for you, sir," Damir said with a grin.

  "Her tongue is nearly as sharp as a Drakonian

  female's."

  She stepped from the ship to stand beside

  Drace. "What makes you think I'm his mate?" she

  asked stubbornly thrusting her chin in the air.

  Kaylan chuckled and pointed at Drace who

  stood looking extremely uncomfortable. He

  looked as though torn between hugging and

  chastising her. "Because only the sharp words of a

  mate can put that look on a man's face."

  Kiri's face turned a lovely shade of red at that

  comment and Drace laughed, joined by the two

  Draconian males. He decided he just might like

  these people.

  * * * *

  Kiri's face burned as she wished the ground

  would open up and swallow her. Why did men

  always stick together? Even when they knew

  nothing of each other they still sided with the

  males. She attempted to shrug off her

  embarrassment and moved closer to Drace. She

  wasn't sure why she felt more comfortable

  standing closer to him with these other males

  around, but she did. It wasn't as though she felt

  evil from them. On the contrary, she felt they were

  good. Very good. And they possessed a form of

  magic as well.

  She'd watched with her heart in her throat, as

  the two dragons dove from the air above Drace.

  They headed straight for him. Just before their

  giant feet touched the ground, they both shifted

  forms in midair to land behind Drace fully clothed

  and armored.

  When she stepped up beside him, Drace

  wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her

  close. She kept her usual panic at bay by telling

  herself that Drace would never harm her, never

  force her to do something she didn't want to do

  and he would never allow these two males to

  touch her either.

  Crossing her arms over her breasts, she put a

  hand to her throat and nodded at the other two.

  Her ire and courage suddenly deserted her and

  she smiled at them nervously.

  Soothing warmth spread through her mind. She

  darted a glance to Drace who still looked upon the

  other two males with a degree of suspicion while

  he protected her with his body.

  There is nothing to fear from us. We can even erase

  the horrible memories buried within your mind if you

  wish. We realize you belong to him...and another. We,

  meaning all of our males, will honor your choice.

  Her sharply drawn breath caught Drace's

  sudden attention. "What is wrong, Kiri?"

  She glanced at the two strangers and licked her

  lips. "They have magic. Did they tell you this,

  Drace?"

  "We haven't had the opportunity to say much

  of anything, actually," one of the Drakonians

  answered.

  "What do you mean?" Drace asked her, giving

  her his full attention. "Why do you think they

  control magic?"

  "Because they shifted instantly in midair and

  clothed themselves before their feet even touched

  the ground. And..." She allowed her words to

  drift off, unsure whether she should say anything.

  What if Drace took their attempt to comfort her as

  a personal affront? He would never survive a

  battle with two such large and fierce warriors--

  especially if they shifted into their other forms.

  How much power, how much pure magic did it

  take to shift into a form with so much more

  physical mass than the forms they usually

  possessed?

  "What else do you need to tell me, my love?

  You never need fear me in any way. Surely you

  know that."

  Nodding, she swallowed thickly. She didn't

  fear Drace. She feared for him. "They can speak

  into my mind." Her gaze darted over the city, the

  buildings not so different from her own. Their

  method of transport so similar she could have

  been on any other planet. "Each of them just

  offered to remove my memories of the many

  Hienial violations I have suffered." If they did that

  though, she would lose so much more--her

  memories of her son, and his mother Ryanza. She

  would also forget the other women--friendships

  born and forged in fire. She may even lose the

  inner strength she'd earned in the process. Moving

  back, she allowed Drace to step in front of her. She

  couldn't allow them to remove her memories.

  Without them, she wouldn't be the same. She

  would be a stranger, even to herself.

  The pained wailing of the wounded finally

  drew her attention and she looked out over the

  crash site. The ship lay on the ground, list
ing to

  one side. Large gouges were ripped from the side

  where it hit the side of a mountain in the distance.

  A long, mile-wide swath of destruction lay in its

  wake. Trees and buildings lay smashed and

  broken. A wide trench of ripped landscape littered

  with debris lay behind it.

  Women and children huddled together,

  cowering away from the monstrous Hienials as the

  creatures tried, in vain, to maintain a least a bit of

  order. It was impossible. Hope shone in the eyes

  of the captives as the mighty dragons flew over

  their heads, attacking the evil Hienials. The older,

  more hideous of the creatures seemed to have a

  perverse taste for torture. They wielded whips

  against their captives, even the children, until the

  dragons swooped down from the sky and grabbed

  them in their great claws, carrying them to the

  skies and a horrific end.

  The younger Hienials didn't seem to have

  acquired a taste for such abuse--yet. The young

  ones backed away from their older counterparts,

  alternately horrified and entertained by the

  violence that surrounded them. Kiri moved

  toward them, a whimper of understanding in her

  throat.

  Drace protested, grabbing her arm when she

  attempted to approach a young male who fell to

  his knees clutching his middle as he laughed and

  cried at the same time. "He is Hienial. He is not

  worth your time."

  Kiri turned, glaring at him. "Ryo is Hienial. Are

  you saying I should treat him with less kindness

  because of who his father was, how his father

  would have treated him if he'd been taken?" She

  shook his hand off with a scowl. "There is still

  good in him. If the Hienials have not destroyed all

  of the goodness in him, there is a chance to reach

  the human child still within." Reaching out, she

  placed her hands on the adolescent's head and

  closed her eyes.

  Searching through the torture, the humiliation,

  the boy had been subjected to as a `hideous'

  human, she poured warmth, love and human

  compassion into his soul. His aura became visible.

  Cloudy at first, it swirled with darkness, showing

  the evil the Hienial adults attempted to instill in

  him. Tears ran down her face as she saw his

  memories of them raping his mother continually

  in front him. She felt his shame, his feelings of

  utter despair that he was too weak and too

  frightened to stop those who attacked his mother

  until she'd gone completely mad.

  She left the boy unconscious, healing from his

  painful exposure to those who would claim to be

  his kin. Moving on to the next, she did the same.

  One after another, she healed the Hienial

  adolescents, ridding them of the evil inherent in

  the adult Hienials, while Brandy healed the women

  and children they had kept as slaves. The

  powerful dragons still flew overhead, dipping and

  swirling, ferreting out the evil adult Hienials as

  they attempted to hide amongst the boys.

  Kiri felt for the adults, exposed to evil for so

  long, they could remember no other way of life.

  She could find no goodness to cultivate in any of

  them. Every time she found one too far gone to

  heal and passed him up for another, a dragon

  would swoop down and end his life.

  "They merely put them out of their misery,

  Kiri," Drace said, his hand moving in soft soothing

  circles over her back. "You should stop this now.

  You have already helped too many. They will still

  be here tomorrow. You must rest."

  "No. I can't stop. I can't stop until I've healed as

  many as I can this day."

  "How will you know when to stop, Kiri? When

  you fall to the ground exhausted?"

  "If that is what the Lady Goddess has ordained,

  then yes, when I collapse. There is one out there,

  who must be saved. He is so close to being lost.

  When I find him, today's task will be through.

  Then and only then will I rest."

  She moved through the people huddled around

  her, healing as she went. Her energy waned as she

  continued to touch every Hienial she saw, insisting

  on healing their emotional and mental turmoil.

  After healing twenty-six of the hopeless

  creatures, she stumbled. Drace grabbed her by the

  arm and began to drag her back to the transport. It

  was then they heard the bloodcurdling scream

  that sent Kiri to her knees. She stood. Wrenched

  her arm from Drace's grasp and ran toward the

  horrible sound.

  Several Hienials stood around one of their own,

  torturing him. "You will kill when we tell you to

  kill!" They hit him several times with a laser whip.

  "You will reproduce with the females of your

  choice. They have no say in the matter!" Again,

  they whipped him. He fell to his knees and

  nodded his head.

  Kiri felt the goodness leaving him. The evil the

  others attempted to brainwash him with took over

  more and more of his consciousness. With every

  crack of the laser on his back, shoulders and legs,

  evil filled his mind. Their ideas began to take root

  and she screamed. "No!"

  The incredibly loud sound of the dragon's

  screeches over her head, and the flapping of their

  wings beating the air as they descended on the

  adult Hienials, made her duck as they swooped in

  and pulled the three into the sky. She blocked out

  the sounds of the screams and ran to the one

  kneeling on the ground. What little good left

  inside him slowly seeped through the holes in his

  mind where the pain receded to blessed darkness.

  She reached for him.

  Placing her hands on his cheeks, she lifted his

  head and stared into his eyes. "You will not lose

  yourself to the monsters. You are strong. Come

  back to us." She drew the pain from him, even as

  it filled her and she began to shudder from the

  weight of his burden. The welts of the laser whip

  grew faint as she returned the kindness back into

  his heart.

  Kiri's back and legs began to burn as his welts

  became her own. She sobbed aloud as she took his

  incredible pain inside her and returned it with

  peace and love. Her grip on the boy's face

  tightened when Drace would have dragged her

  away. "No! Leave me! He is the one."

  She stared into the boy's eyes. "I won't leave

  you, Keahi." She shook him. "Do you hear me? I

  feel the good in you. They haven't driven it out of

  you, yet. I feel our mother's goodness in you.

  What those animals did to her, to you, is an

  unspeakable thing." She hugged him, pressing his

  head to her shoulder. "She escaped them all those

  years ago and hid you here with us, with her

  people. Our mother knew your capacity to love

  would overrule their hatred, their evil. Her

  kindness liv
es within you." She placed her hand

  over his heart. "Here. It lives here. Come back to

  me, Keahi. Come back and love me. Love my son,

  Ryo. He also needs you. He will need your love

  and guidance in the years to come. He, too, is the

  product of those beasts. You must live. If you ever

  truly loved Ryanza, you will come back to me and

  love her son."

  Keahi's eyes cleared as a part of him

  remembered his half sister. Slowly, he raised his

  hand and ran a finger down her cheek. "They told

  me they killed you. They told me they killed your

  son."

  Tears streamed down Kiri's cheeks and she

  nodded. "They did kill Zahur. He wasn't whole

  and they killed him."

  Keahi guessed the rest. "And they ate him in

  front of you. Don't try to spare me the details, Kiri.

  My hate for them helps. They tried to teach me to

  despise you, to loathe the others. The more they

  beat me, the more they convinced me their way

  was true. It changed me, making me want to kill

  you and those like you." He squeezed his eyes

  closed and tears streamed down his face.

  Kiri dropped to her knees, still keeping her

  hands on him, still exchanging his pain for her

  kindness, her love. The evil she drew from him

  filled her, made her feel dirty. The oily sensation

  of pure hatred washed through her as she

  cleansed her brother of the taint of the Hienial

  deceit. They had almost convinced him that

  torturing those he'd once loved was a way to end

  their misery a way to cleanse their souls before

  death.

  "I love you, Keahi. I need you in my life. Do not

  fight the goodness within you. Embrace it," she

  whispered, before she collapsed into Drace's arms.

  * * * *

  Standing with Kiri in his arms, Drace nodded to

  the two dragon leaders. "Watch over him for me,

  will you? It seems he is to be my brother by

  bonding. I propose a friendship. I offer you the

  help of my people and my trust." He looked over

  his head at the still circling beasts above. "I can see

  you are strong, but I would still make a strong

  adversary or ally. I would prefer the latter."

  He looked down at the boy, who only moments

  before had small boils covering his body. As the

  evil that had begun to distort the youthling's good

  looks left his body, the boils and markings of a

  Hienial left him as well. One would think that

  perhaps the boy would be handsome once again.