GODDESS OF THE MOON (A Diana Racine Psychic Suspense) (32 page)

She pulled up a chair to face the two women. “
Y
ou know what you’re doing is wrong
.
”

Brigid switched the hungry child from one breast to another.
“How can this be wrong, Maia
?
Look at them.
T
hey
’re
beautiful
.
”

“But they were kidnapped
―t
aken from their natural parents who are grieving. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”

“This is for a greater cause,” Nona said
, cradling her infant
. “We love doing this. Father says we’re giving these babies part of us. We want to please him.”

“He’s using you,” Maia said. “You’re nothing more than sexual objects to him.” Both women stopped
, frowned
at Maia, and the worst feeling she ever had in her life
shuddered through
her.
Bile rose to her throat, and s
he pushed the
obscene
thought from her mind, unwi
lling to think the unthinkable.

They, like all the young women here,
had been
brainwashed by lessons taught from birth. Little girls were created to be goddesses of fertility, boys their gods, and pleasure their destiny. For the longest time, she and Dione did what
Silas
expected of them
―
yes, to please
him
―
but
they lived different
lives
than
the others. As daughters of one of the world’s richest men, they couldn’t be hidden away and trained
as
courtesans, like
the
rest of the women born of
the group
. They maintained important positions within their father’s compan
ies
. They were written about, photographed, admired. Their trips to attend Compton business
were
covers for the time they spent at the compound to give birth. They nursed their babies, held them, and loved them. Then
Maia and Dione returned home
to carry on with their lives
,
leaving
their
babies
to be raised by others
.
Home to Silas and Selene, the queen bitch
―
or witch.
She was both, but one thing she was
not
and never would be
―
she wasn’t their mother.

Maia and Dione
saw
their children
when Silas allowed
. By then, the babies had bonded with others who lived at the compound, teaching and indoctrinating them. They’d bonded with
her
half-sisters,
Maia
knew, and it caused a jumble of emotions, none good
.

Sure, Maia thought sardonically, let’s keep it in the family. Now their babies
had grown into
toddlers and kindergartners and school age
, a
nd Maia and Dione hardly knew them.

The only sister their children didn’t bond with was Anat, Selene’s first daughter. They didn’t because Anat
rejected
Selene’s teachings
,
refused to be a wet nurse,
scorned
the
Crane
god,
and turned her back on
the growing community of sexual hedonists.
Anat
was here somewhere, segregated. Maia didn’t know
where, but she would find her.

T
he babies suckling at the breasts of Nona and Brigid weren’t family. They were
s
tolen to enrich the genetic
pool
of the group and nursed
by strangers.

S
he had learned about the kidnappings only a few days ago
and
couldn’t comprehend
the
impossible.
Whatever she
’
d been taught
―
all her indoctrination
―
paled to what she now knew.

This must stop.

How long could her father explain her absence? He could say she died overseas and keep her here forever. Then they would
force
her
to
bear other children. No lack of willing sons.
One especially.
She would fail to reproduce, but they didn’t know that
.

No one in the outside world knew about Selene’s three daughters. Anat had
always
been a thorn in the side of
her parents. Now, with the twisted turn of kidnapped babies, Maia could only imagine Anat’s rebellion
.

Maia needed to find a way out of
the compound
. She
had
a vague idea, but the area
was
huge, bordered by rivers, mountains, and barriers of trees and guarded by men who
were
paid to keep everyone inside. The only way out was by air, difficult without the children, hopeless with them.

Her father never invited outsiders to his home. Diana Racine was not an ordinary person susceptible to group tactics.
What
was the group
planning?

She heard the key turn in the door
, locked only
to keep her
inside
. She hadn’t seen him in a while, and as hard as she tried to
rein in her reaction
, her heart pounded
when he
entered the room
. Still handsome, even with fine lines etched around his eyes and
mouth
.
Still with the
sexiest
,
self-confident smile.

“You’re a foolish woman, Maia. What were you thinking?” he said, locking the door behind him.

“Hello, Seth. Or have you changed your name?
Maybe to Apollo or Adonis, perhaps
?
”

His smile broadened, as if he found her
taunt
amusing. “Since we’ve been intimate, you can call me Seth. I find
name changing
pretentious.”

Maia’s full-throated, cynical laugh woke one of the babies.

“Now see what you’ve done?”
Brigid
said. “He was
in dreamland
and
you’ve awakened him.”

Seth exchanged the baby
sleeping
peacefully in Brigid’s arms with the crying baby in the crib. Brigid cooed and cuddled the infant, and
s
he quickly found peace at her breast. Seth stooped in
front of the sisters.
“You shouldn’t have gone
to the mission
,” he said. “What if someone was watching?”

“They weren’t,” Nona said. “We checked.”

“If the police
had that place under surveillance,
you wouldn’t have seen them. Now you have to stay here. It’s too dangerous for you to leave. You could expose everything. Whatever the
cops
suspect, they can’t prove a
thing.” He curled his index finger under Brigid’s chin and lifted her head. “Do you understand?” he said in a
knife-thin
whisper. “No more.”

“We would
never say anything,” Nona said.

H
e alternat
ed
his attention between the two
women
, his tone firmer.
“Do you understand?”

“Yes, Seth,” they said in
robotic
unison.

“Besides,” Brigid said
,
“
Father
told
us
we’d be here for a while.”

“
True,” Seth said
.
“
There’s plenty for you to do here.” He patted Brigid’s stomach and smiled
, then
rose
and took Maia’s arm
. “Come with me
.”

She looked back at her half-sisters, cooing over their charges, and shook her head. They were nothing but automatons. What will happen to them when this
compound
comes to the attention of the authorities? Where w
ould they go?

Maia followed Seth, noticing he didn’t lock the door after him. Why should he? Brigid and Nona weren’t
being held
here against their wills. “Where are you taking me?
”

Seth stopped, fixed his black eyes on her. “You haven’t eaten anything since you arrived
late last night
. You’re hungry, aren’t you?”

He must have heard the rumblings in her stomach. “Yes.”

“I thought I’d have the cook prepare you something to eat.”

“As long as you taste it first.”

“Maia, Maia
, d
on’t you trust me?” Seth’s patronizing tone always infuriated her, but she needed to be smarter now than in times past.

“
Not
long ago my food contained something that knocked me out. Nine months later I gave birth to a bouncing baby boy.”

“That’s because the third time you were difficult. You left me no choice.”

So it was Seth
.
Part of her breathed a sigh of relief;
the other
part felt sick
. “There’s always a choice.”

“I’m the father of all your children,” he said
,
“
b
ut making love is much better when it’s consensual.” He o
pened another door and held it.

When she started through, he blocked her way, coming so close she breathed in his scent, the same spicy fragrance she remembered, filling her senses. He cupped his hands over her breasts and massaged them. She felt them tighten, nipples protruding hard in his hungry fingers. She stared at him as if his contact meant nothing, even though her body quivered inside
. S
he didn’t remove his hand. It had been a long time
since he’d touched her intimately
, and he still w
ielded the same
sensual
power over her.

“Don’t fight it, Maia.
W
e were meant
for each other
.” He nuzzled into her neck and murmured in her ear. “You’re still the most beautiful, you know, and at your peak
of childbearing years
.” He drew back, smiling. “Admit it, you
wanted me as much as I wanted you
, and from what I’m feeling un
der your blouse, you still do.”

She brus
hed his hand aside. “You wish.”

She
’d loved
Seth Crane, then and now, and he knew it. She remembered that summer after the end of her home schooling. Her father consented, with a hundred caveats, to her wish to attend the fall semester at Tulane. First, however, she must sp
end the summer at the compound.

When barely a
teenager,
and she first set eyes on Seth, she felt an inexplicable pull. She tried to ignore
the attraction
because he was Selene’s younger brother, and she hated Selene. But his olive skin and black eyes mesmerized her. His strong muscled arms held her, hands stroking her body, while his mouth covered every inch of her skin, giving her pleasure she’d only
dreamed
about. He teased her, played with her for hours, bringing her to the height of excitement.
When
he entered
her
, the world exp
loded in unimaginable ecstasy.

The summer turned into more than a year when she got pregnant, which was the group’s plan all along. She put college on hold to have
Seth’s
baby.
Such a beautiful baby boy, with Seth’s dark skin and her bright blue eyes.
A
fter a few months,
they took the baby from her and she went back to school. A
repeat performance the summer before her junior year produced
a
daughter
. She co
uldn’t resist Seth’s magnetism.

“I want to see our children.”

“They’re beautiful,” he said, “especially
the girl. She looks like you.”

He moved into her, so close his hardness pushed against her. “Come here to stay, Maia. I’ve missed you.”

T
he words were empty
platitudes
, but he made them sound believable. She had loved
her
babies and had loved Seth in earnest, not realizing
at the time
that to him she was just another incubator for the new generation.