Chasing Dare (18 page)

“Who are you? How are you speaking to me?” Dare whispered quietly as she tamped down her panic; desperate to find out everything she could before she spoke to Baldy about it.

“I am beast. Child of the beast of your father.”
The softly spoken words rang hollowly through her mind, almost shaking her concentration.

“That’s not possible, women are not born with a beast, only the males. Who are you?” Dare became more frightened, whoever or whatever had invaded her mind was lying to her.

“All offspring, are born with one of us. Those of us who are born unto the females remain dormant as we are not normally needed. We are also not allowed to form a connection that may end up causing jealously and turmoil with the male mate of our host.”

“What are you saying? That you just stay hidden and watch? My whole life? What the fuck!?” Dare wasn’t sure if she should be angry that she’d been cheated out of a beast like Baldy’s just because she was female, or angry that it just watched her like a stalker because it was afraid to make a mate mad if they became friends!

Oh hell, she’d fix that pretty easily by setting Baldy straight! She’d rather chat with the beast than know it just lurked quietly in her head. Damn! How many times did the beast think she was being stupid or ridiculous or could have given her advice! Yeah this was crap, and she wasn’t going to deal with this as well as everything else going on. She’d learned enough from Baldy’s trial and errors to make this work much faster.

“I’m naming you…," she thought quickly, “Thorn. What do you think?”

“I’m not sure. I never expected to be named.”
Thorn’s voice sounded surprised and slightly concerned, but Dare didn’t have time for uncertainties right now.

“Well, I think it’s an awesome name. Can you help me fight the drug? Get my ability back? Can you use my abilities for us while I’m under the influence of the drug?” Dare’s mind was working quickly trying to figure out what to ask while she could. She had no idea, how long she’d be able to communicate with Thorn and needed as much information as she could get.

“I am attempting to learn as quickly as I can, but I am much weaker than a beast with a male host because we were not able to establish communication while you were younger. The assistance of the Tezarian has helped us to communicate now.”

“As our bond and my strength grows I will be able to assist you the way your mate’s beast Ibix, assists him. It will take time.”
As Thorn spoke, he could feel the bond strengthening between them. He knew Dare could feel it as well when he heard her mind recognize the coolness of her brain where he was located.

“Why the hell do we get a beast if we can’t use one? What the hell, is the point of having you then? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not mad that you are there; I'm pretty pissed off that you’re there, and we could have been friends all this time. Wasted time. The drug would have never worked if we could have bonded. It’s stupid and could have gotten me killed. How many of us did you die helplessly with because you wouldn’t bond?” Dare was angry and frustrated. It was becoming harder to ignore the other voices when she let her emotions get out of hand.

“I do not know. It is instinct for us to go silent when the girl child develops. We stay in the background and assist in other ways. Times where I attempted to help you would be times you would describe it as your ‘gut feelings’ warning you. Like when I tried to warn you not to meet that informant before we were taken.”

Dare couldn’t help but hear the disappointment in Thorn’s voice. Oh, as if she freaking knew that sick feeling in her stomach had been him trying to warn her! How the hell, could her parents have neglected to tell her and her sister True, that they had a beast stalking around their heads?

That sick feeling of loneliness brought her back out of her angry thoughts. Wait… she thought, if Thorn is one voice, then who are the other two voices?

“That is part of the reason that the Tezarian decided to help build our bond. These are extraordinary circumstances. But, we are not alone. The Tezarian comes to help.”

Oh yeah… Thorn was trying really hard not to tell her something.

“What is going on? Who or what are the other two voices?” Dare demanded.

Dare waited long minutes while she waited for Thorn to answer her questions. When she knew he had left or refused to answer she decided to pick one of the other voices to try to talk to instead. She’d get answers one way or another.

“NO! Wait! Don’t do that. You… we can’t handle it ourselves right now. We need help before we try to speak to them.”
Thorn hated that the first conversation he got to have with his host was going to be one that would frighten her.

However, he knew how stubborn she was and knew there was no way that he could avoid telling her the truth without her running headlong into trouble if he didn’t. Finding his way to the new connection the Tezarian had made for him, he called to Ibix for help.

Dare was surprised when Baldy came into the shower doorway, towering over her as she sat on the floor. He was silent as he held out his large hand to her, a towel in his other hand. She allowed him to pull her slowly to her feet.

“What’s going on Baldy?” The air in the room was thick with worry as Dare looked nervously into his stormy eyes.

Chapter Twelve

“What are we going to do?” Dare held tightly to Baldy as she was overcome with fear and a sense of trepidation.

“The Tezarian who helped us, Dreadhawk, is on his way to us. He will know what to do.” Balduen had kept Dare in the shower, speaking low and trying to comfort her while he explained what he, and Ibix knew of their child.

The only thing that had kept her from losing it was hearing the outer door open and close as their captors brought their breakfast in the room.

“How is this possible? How do I know which beast belongs to our child? Why can’t I hear our child?” Dare was still trying to wrap her mind around being pregnant, the addition of the Relian abomination sharing the same space as her precious child was becoming too much to bear right now.

Thorn rushed the information of Dare’s fragile state to Ibix so her mate could help her. He felt helpless, more helpless than he’d been when he lay dormant in her mind, and he didn’t like it. Despite their lack of a bond, he had always cared deeply for his host, and he didn’t like her pain.

Now that they had started forming a fragile bond between them, he was more determined than ever to strengthen it as much as possible in order to help her and their offspring.

“Shhh, it’s alright Dare. Ibix is trying to calm his child so you can hear our child, but the other beast drowns out the both of them. We have no connection to it to communicate with it. It’s best for you to try not to speak to any of the voices besides Thorns until we can figure out a way to isolate the other beast.”

Balduen couldn’t believe that Dare was still keeping her composure. He wasn’t sure how. He was a mess right now and the only thing keeping him sane was Ibix, his connection to Dreadhawk and the fierce need he felt to protect and care for his mate and child.  

Dare cringed from the sharp stab of pain that flashed through her at Balduen’s words. It wasn’t her pain though, she knew that now. The strange emotions, the fear, pain, loneliness… all of it belonged to the two beast minds all trying to take over her child. Her son. The one that wasn’t even twenty-four hours old yet.

Placing a protective hand on her stomach, she wished they were out of here. Back with her father, where she would feel safe, and he could help her figure out what to do. Not sitting here trapped in a shower waiting for a different alien to show up and help her child.

“I want out of here. We need to get to my father. We can get hold of your people once we’re safe. Please Balduen. We don’t know what they will do when they find out that I’m pregnant, but not by the Relian’s.” Dare pleaded with him, unconcerned with her pride when she knew she wouldn’t be able to handle this much longer if they were still being held captive. She needed options, to know she had options, and she could have none of that here.

“We’ll leave tonight through the window, after it gets dark. Come, try to eat and we’ll rest together so that you’ll be ready to leave.” Balduen began to draw her out of the room when she stopped him.

“Baldy… it’s not… it’s not that I’m not happy.” Dare looked down, ashamed at her thoughts.

Balduen heard her thoughts relayed through Thorn to Ibix, and he grabbed her into a tight hug. Fear and worry for her were tearing him apart. Their child… their son… he couldn’t even think about the child right now when Dare was so distraught.

“Dare, I know. Stop thinking about it. We don’t have to deal with this right now. We’ll have plenty of time for that when we get to your father, and Dreadhawk arrives.”

“Right now, it’s just you and me. Ok and Ibix and Thorn. So let’s spend the rest of the day trying to help build your bond with Thorn. Maybe we can get your ability back as well.”

Balduen forced himself to smile through the pain he could feel emanating from Dare. From her stomach. His words were heard by his son and his son’s beast, as well as the other beast. The pain of his presumed rejection as well as Dares was crushing in its intensity, and he fought to breathe through it.

When Dare grabbed her stomach and hit the floor, Balduen realized they could not deal with the problem like this. It was too much emotionally, for any of them to take. The pain and fear of the young ones too great of a strain on the fragile bonds that connected them all.

“Ok, ok. Dare, listen to me.” Balduen had to force her to look at him, the emotions crippling her. When she was able to focus on him, he continued.

“Dare, accept them. Accept all of them for now, so that you keep the peace between them all until we can get out of here. Can you do that? Just think of peace right now. Peace between all of us. You don’t have to talk to anyone but Thorn and me, but just accept everything for now.” Balduen stroked her back calmly as he followed his own advice and tried to keep his mind filled with peace and serenity.

Dare calmed as the tumultuous emotions lessened their grip on her, the pain easing enough for her to take deep breaths. The more the voices and emotions calmed the easier she could project more quietness in her mind. Using that quiet, she tried to mentally project herself gently ‘shushing’ the voices.

Rubbing her flat stomach soothingly, she spoke to all of them in her head.

“We all need each other right now if we are going to survive and make it out of here. I need to learn to bond with Thorn now to help make that happen. No more yelling, shouting or fighting each other until we are all safe. How about that guys? Let’s all play nice with the only female since I’m already way outnumbered and overwhelmed.”

Feeling much more confident now that the pain and emotions weren’t overwhelming her and the pain in her head had eased, Dare stood back up and walked back into the bedroom. Balduen wasn’t far behind her.

Turning around to face him, Dare gave Balduen a small smile before sitting down to check out their breakfast.

Baldy watched in surprise as Dare calmly set out their breakfast for each of them. Just the little he had felt coming through his bond with Ibix, Dare and the three young ones had almost crippled him. It had definitely left him unable to think. He couldn’t imagine how much worse it was for her.

“No offense intended Ibix, but if this emotional mess is what happens with these bonds, then I can see why my people decided to sever the connection.”
Balduen couldn’t imagine how his people survived as long as they did with this kind of thing handicapping them.

“It’s not usually like this. The female’s beast remains dormant, which means there is not normally a channel for that communication. The only thing the mother usually experiences is the emotions of the child. Happiness or hunger, minor things. Nothing like this.”

“It was the fighting between the two beasts that opened the pathway through the child to her. They barreled through the boy’s fragile defenses that normally would have protected her from the voice of the beast. Once the connection was made, it became stronger the more they used it in their fight for control. Dreadhawk gave her the connection with Thorn in order to help her focus, and so he could help calm his offspring.”

Balduen knew by the sadness in Ibix’s voice that he was just as worried as he and Dare were about their child. It was hard for him to wrap his mind around the fact that his beast was a father to his son’s beast. He’d just found and claimed his mate, and here he was a father now as well.

His little family of just he and Dare grew in only hours to include Ibix, Thorn, Ibix’s son and his own son now. The moment the sadness began to hit them all; Balduen immediately stopped his thoughts and concentrated on building a wall around his thoughts and emotions so that they would be harder for the young ones to pick up on.

Balduen and Dare ate in silence, both wrapped up in their own thoughts and grateful for the current silence from all the little ones.

“It’s more intense because of the rapid gestation of the Valendrans isn’t it? The child is growing much faster.” Dare asked curiously; wondering if the child and the beasts inside of her could be detected with the doctor’s equipment in the lab, or if it were still too early.

“I know that the process only took five months for Scaden’s mate Cari, which is a normal gestational period for a Valendran. I do not know if it would be the same for all hybrids, but our medical officer, Amun, assumed that it would be.” Baldy wasn’t sure where her mind was leading her, but would be as honest as he could be with her.