Chasing Dare (11 page)

There! In the upper right-hand corner, he felt a slight give in the brick and mortar that he knew had not been there the day before. He pressed again and hid his smile when not only did it move, dust from the mortar cracking, fell from the top of the window to the ledge below.

Turning his back to the window, he rested his butt casually against the ledge and shifted just enough to clean the dust off. He wasn’t taking any chances that someone would notice the dust and re-fortify the window.

Balduen stood and flexed his arms again, still startled by the growth in his muscles in just the few days they had been held. He’d never been this big before, or felt so strong and powerful. Even the T-shirts and pants, that had fit him fine the first day were now tight, and getting tighter every day.

Now if he could just keep this feeling of strength and power and fight the drugs, he could get them the hell out of here, he thought, clenching his fists again in frustration.

He moved to the door to stretch, testing the frame around the door handle, looking for any give and finding none. The door was definitely not going to be an option.
At least right now
, he thought, checking the time on the TV again to see how long Dare had been gone. It had seemed like forever to him, but only two hours had passed.

Trying to take his mind off of Dare, he wondered again about how the drugs were affecting his beast and his control over it. There was no longer any doubt in his mind that the drugs were the cause of the rise of his beast. He needed to figure out a way to allow it to be released, but control it. He’d never heard of such a thing happening before though, and he had no idea what could happen if he tried.

His mind began to run through all the symptoms he had felt from the drugs. He remembered the initial rush of it flooding his system, completely taking over his bodily control. At first, he only felt the shaking in his body; the sound of the beast’s voice flitting through his mind.

Each time the drugs wore off he felt stronger, his senses much more attuned than before. And each time they administered the drugs, he regained more control over his body. The problem was that it wasn’t
him
in control.

Somehow, while the man part of him was incapacitated, the beast part of him was beginning to thrive. He knew that the beast parasite was embedded in the brain and wondered if it resided in an area of the brain that the drugs weren’t made to affect. That had to be it, or something similar because it was the only thing that seemed to make any sense.

He needed a way to use that to get them out of here. But how? He ran through the highlights of his life in his head trying to remember any story, conversation, anything that he may have heard that he could use to help.

Wait! His head jerked up as he tried to catch the fleeting thought in his head before it disappeared. The Tezarian’s! Allies from another quadrant, the Tezarian’s had a parasitic beast genetically similar to their own. However, they were not only able to live in harmony with their beast; they could use the abilities without it taking over the host. Which seemed to be the case with the Valendran beasts.

Damn!
He wished he’d paid a lot more attention when the Tezarian delegates last were on Valendra. Yeah, who could have thought that he would be trapped by the Relian leader’s son, an insane human doctor, pumped with drugs and with a possible mate who was being subjected to things he couldn’t think of without losing his sanity? If he’d had that foresight, he would have grilled the Tezarian’s on their entire history.

Feeling more useful now that he had a lead to follow, Balduen sat on the bed and leaned his back against the wall. Drawing his knees to his chest, he laid his arms across them, laying his head on his folded arms. His emotions had never been so out of control before, and he struggled to push them from the forefront of his mind.

His emotions were obviously being affected by the rising of his beast, stronger and deeper than he’d ever felt before, he fought against the intensity that robbed him of his ability to think clearly. He breathed deeply for several minutes, chanting an ancient relaxing mantra Valendran children learn in their early years.

Calmer now, he began running through every conversation he had ever heard about the Tezarian’s. There had been a ceremony that he’d attended with Scaden, who was assigned temporary liaison to a Tezarian delegate.
What was his name?
Dread hawk! He’d said that they speak to their beast regularly, like a brother… a friend. That they accepted its strengths and weaknesses and offered their own, providing a balance to beast and man; keeping the benefits of both.

Did he need to talk to the beast? Try to offer a peace deal or something? There were far too many questions, and not enough answers, but he needed something… anything that would get them out of here before Dare was harmed, if she hadn’t been already.

With the continued drug use, it was only a matter of time before he snapped, and his beast was set free. If he could broker some kind of truce with it, before it happened, he might have a better chance of ensuring it was done to their advantage. It would do them no good to release the beast when they weren’t able or prepared to fight. Taking a deep breath, he pushed aside his doubts.  

Beast? Can you hear me?

He felt like an idiot as he waited a few minutes to see if the beast would recognize that he had spoken to it. No response.
Could it even hear his thoughts, he wondered?

“Beast? We are all really screwed here, and we could use your help. Can you even hear me?”

He waited several more minutes for a response before launching himself off the bed in frustration and pacing the room again. Still nothing.

“Dare won’t make it out of here if we don’t work together. You called her mate. If that’s true then, please help me save her. For both of us. Can you give me some kind of sign that you can even hear me? That you’re listening? That you can even understand me?”

His frustration grew as more minutes ticked by without some kind of sign that something other than himself could hear his own thoughts. He mentally kicked himself for even trying this. How stupid was it to think that they could communicate with one another? Other than the random voice in his head that he associated with his beast, he had no idea if it was even capable of actual conversation or independent thought.

Genetic similarities did not mean that their beast had the same abilities as the Tezarian parasites. It was still his only hope of trying to stop the beast from being unleashed while they were unprepared. Even if it couldn’t communicate, if he could just make it understand that it needed to hide its rise until they could unleash it when they needed to, he would be happy.

Sitting back down on the bed in the same fashion as before, he again chanted until calm. He cleared his mind until it was carefully blank, before projecting nothing but white in his mind.

When he was holding the image without effort, he began to visualize Dare, eventually playing with the images in his head to tell a picture story to the beast. A story of the situation they were in and their need for it to hide its strength… for now.

He wasn’t sure, how long he’d played with the images in his head trying to show their plight to the beast, to make it understand. He knew hours must have passed when he saw the darkening underneath the door. Standing to stretch his cramped muscles, he became instantly alert when he smelled Dare, right before the drugs flooded his system.

“Please, don’t let them notice you!”
Balduen mentally begged his beast.

He was surprised when a slow, quiet growl rumbled through his chest before going silent.

Chapter Eight

Dare had never been happier to see someone in her whole life as she was when she saw Baldy standing beside the bed as she walked into the room. She’d been terrified that they would take him away or kill him while she was out of the room, and she was thrilled to see that he was still here and looked unharmed. Pissed off, but unharmed.

She immediately moved to stand next to him while the two Relian’s behind her came into the doorway. One heavily armed Relian stayed in the doorway watching them intently while the other placed the tray with their dinner on the bed, almost throwing the plates down in his hurry to get back out of the room.

Dare watched Baldy closely, hoping to see if he’d show even more progress in fighting the drug. After the day she had, she was really hoping that he would have some good news for them on their situation. She sighed, her hope deflating when she saw that other than the deep, dark-blue color of his eyes, he wasn’t even shaking. Not even a little bit.

As the Relian’s left the room, and the drug began to fade from her system, Dare lost her appetite. She just wanted to feel clean again and wanted a shower. A long, hot shower.

“Go ahead and eat, I’m not hungry. I’m going to get a shower.” She didn’t even look at him as she walked to the closet, grabbed clean clothes and went into the bathroom.

Balduen barely heard her words, his eyes silently tracking her as she went into the bathroom, and he heard the water turn on. He knew she was upset, but he couldn’t go to her, talk to her right now. He had made contact, and he was afraid that he would lose it when the drugs wore off, and he needed to learn what he could before they did.

He’d been stunned when he’d heard the voice in his head as Dare was coming up the stairs.

“I understand.”

Those two simple words had momentarily left him thoughtless before his hope soared. Scrambling to think, he said the only thing that came to mind.

“Is she really our mate?”
Balduen mentally kicked himself for not asking something more constructive.

“Yes.”

He felt the growl in his mind when Dare, came in the door, thankful that the beast wasn’t revealing itself. Dare’s condition made him want to do more than growl.

Although she appeared unharmed, her beautiful eyes looked haunted, her shoulders slumped. He ached to draw her into his arms when she moved to stand beside him.

“Brave mate.”
Balduen heard whisper through his mind.

“Yes, she is. We don’t deserve her.” He responded quickly, hoping to keep the beast speaking.

“I do.”

“Then help me get her out of here so we can both deserve her.” Balduen replied.

“Yes.”

“The drugs allow you freedom?” Balduen asked.

“Yes. Some. I am learning.”

“You’re learning how to control us while we’re affected by the drug?” Balduen asked, thinking it would be a good idea to try to establish a friendship with the beast. Like the Tezarian’s had with their beasts. If he referred to them as a team, maybe the beast would be more inclined to help and not run amok.

“Yes. For her.”

“Are you free only when the drugs are affecting us then?” He had to know if he was still in control without the drugs.

“Yes.”

“You know what has happened to us? What they are going to do to our mate?” Balduen asked, hoping the beast could understand. He didn’t want to try to put that in mental pictures for the beast.

“Yes. I heard the doctor speak.”
Balduen sighed in relief.

“You’re lucid even without the drugs?”
Balduen was shocked. He had no idea that the parasite had this level of sentience… clarity of thought.

The Relian’s had left the room, and he could feel the drugs leaving his system. He panicked when he knew that he’d lose communication with the beast. It was somehow comforting to speak to it, to know it understood what they were going through and wanted to help.

“What stops you from communicating when the drugs aren’t affecting us?” Balduen asked desperately, feeling the connection with the parasite begin to fade. He needed more time with the beast to find out what it could do. How it could help them. How to control it.   

“You.”

That was the last thing he expected to hear. And the last thing the beast said before his mind became silent again.
Damn it!
Now he would have to wait until the morning, when they brought breakfast, to try to talk to it again and find out what it meant.

He heard the shower turn off and waited expectantly for Dare to come out, desperate to see if she was alright. He had heard her crying in the shower again, but refused to invade her privacy.

He wasn’t sure how much longer he could stop himself though. The release of his beast was taking away his ability to remain… civil where she was concerned. His need to ensure her safety and well-being was beginning to take precedence over pride. His or hers.   

If they remained much longer he knew that he wouldn’t be able to stay away when he could clearly smell her pain and fear coming off of her in waves.

He watched as she came out of the bathroom, using a towel to dry her long hair. She glanced at him for a moment, giving him a brave smile before sitting at the end of the bed near the plates of food.

“I changed my mind. We need to eat. We need our strength.” Her voice was barely a whisper, but it spoke volumes. He understood that whatever had happened to her that day had only strengthened her resolve to get out of there.

Balduen wanted to do a human fist bump at her show of courage, but restrained the urge. Instead, he followed her lead and grabbed a plate and started eating, not caring what it was. Her eyes flashed defiantly as she stabbed a piece of meat with the spork and shoved it in her mouth.