The Change: Episode one (30 page)

“
Do you want to talk to
them first or eat?” Baker sounded different, more… powerful
somehow.

I watched Candice shrug.

“
Either is
fine.”

The convict motioned toward the largest
tunnel to our right. “How about a short tour and then we’ll
talk?”

“
Agreed.”

Candice followed him and I stayed on her
heels, looking around in surprise as we went through the first
door.

C

I noticed the noise as soon as we moved
inside and assumed the humming was a power source. It wasn’t until
Angelica turned to Baker that I realized it was… and it wasn’t.

“
What do you use for power
that makes so much noise?”

Baker laughed. “That’s the sound of a rookie
getting inked.”

That had Angelica’s eyes running over the
rebel tattoo on his arm, and then the one on Baker’s neck that I’d
put there myself, years ago to declare him protected. Very few knew
about our code.

Angelica’s hands went into her pockets, and
she moved away from his slight smirk. Baker knew what effect he had
on women, always had.

“
We use the
river.”

They had a natural source of power, and it
made no noise to draw attention. Baker was smarter than I’d ever
given him credit for. I accepted it with shame it deserved.

“
We have nine areas. Three
are cooking, washing, and laundry. Two are dorms for sleeping. The
others are like this one.”

I didn’t stop my harsh grin as I looked over
his training setup. There were rope bridges and rock wall faces
with blue grips that gleamed in the natural light. The ceiling of
this room had a huge hole in the center, a jagged result of a
tremor that had cracked this part of the mountain. It kept nature
flowing through, and I could see they had wisely left the vines to
curl inside. Why try to deny the plant what it would eventually
have anyway? The effort was better spent on other, more realistic
goals.

On the uneven floor, there
were obstacle courses and workout mats with crates of equipment
marking off each individual spot. There were knotted ropes hanging
from the craggy edges, and wooden steps that went up for thirty
feet to curve around one entire wall before coming back down at an
incredibly steep incline. My need flared into a thousand tiny
pricks of heat. All over these training tools were
men, working up a sweat
.

“
I’ll be in the
hall.”

Angelica spun from the now-silent room with
a fast movement, and I let her go. There were forty well-covered
men out there. In here, there were fifty half-naked targets with
only slick skin to protect them. The scent of it was enough to make
even my eyes flicker, and Baker tossed an amused look toward
Daniel.

“
We keep cuffs in the rooms
for… guests.”

I turned to see Daniel flush and motioned
him back toward the door. “Distract Angelica if you can.”

I gave a pointed look that
said to do it carefully, and he moved out of my sight with a snotty
look at the rebel leader.
His spine
reappeared with Baker
, I thought,
delighted.

I turned back to the watching rebel males.
They had moved toward each other and the weapons lining the walls…
I couldn’t help flashing them another pink-eyed Games grin.

Now they were rushing for the knives and
chains.

Baker stepped forward with a look of
resignation. “She’s with me.”

“
Who is that?”

“
Baker?”

“
Baker’s back!”

A few of them had the courage to approach
us, but they didn’t run to him like I suspected they wanted to. I
understood these males were much more careful than Daniel. They
really had been trained. Questions began forming in my mind.

Baker let them encircle him as the others
had, and I saw he was being subtly moved away from me. Maybe he had
made some progress trying to prepare them. He spent long minutes
talking in low tones, and those listening darted quick,
disbelieving glances in my direction. The rest of them never took
their eyes off of me.

The room held no photos or anything that
could have been mistaken as a personal decoration, but a small area
in the corner with a stack of books drew my eye repeatedly. When
they weren’t eating, sleeping, or training, Baker had them reading.
Interesting. What had he thought they needed?

I moved closer to inspect
the small, well-worn stack and my lips curled upward. They were all
romance novels. He was trying to teach them to be men, considered
that more important than a normal education. Very interesting. What
exactly did Baker have going on?
Leading by
example, he was trying to exude that sense of complete calm and
control over the situation, and it impressed me. I’d known Baker
when he was a rebellious teenager bent on finding a way to take
down the Network, and this image didn’t really fit… yet in some
ways it did. It would seem he was fulfilling his dreams.

D

“
Is there anything I can do
for…”

I stopped when Angelica
spun around to face me, expecting the worst. I didn’t know her very
well, and I was more than a little leery.
I
wondered if she looked as dangerous to the other males as she still
did to me. She was smaller than Candice, with shorter black spikes
and paler skin, but I suspected there was a fire in Candy’s little
cousin to rival her own.

“
Yes.”

I blinked. “What?”

“
There is something you can
do for me.”

I had already tensed, and I tried to relax.
“Name it.”

“
Tell me how you do
it.”

“
Do what?” Clearly, I was
confused, and I watched Angelica master her impatience.

“
Help her control it. She
spends time around you, and she’s suddenly this rock of
indifference.” Angelica’s voice lowered, and she stepped closer,
drawing attention that had rebel males moving toward us.

“
I… When I pick a mate, he
has to be able to do that for me so I don’t hurt him!”

I shook my head at the trio about to
interrupt, noting the hulking forms of those they’d chosen for
security, and then ignored them.

“
I’m not sure.” I looked at
her, wanting to explain what I had no real words for. “She feeds
off my happiness… I think. Knowing I’m here - that she was able to
win - helps her when it gets bad.”

Angelica pinned me with a
pair of pink eyes. “How do I know the
right
Bachelor?”

It hit me then that she’d already gone far
beyond thinking about the Games, and my voice went up a level.
“What did you do, Angel?”

She shoved me against the wall, hissing
angrily, but it wasn’t the name that had her upset. “Tell me!”

Ignoring the rebels running off to find
Baker, I gently pushed at the arm across my throat, and she eased
her grip. I doubted she realized how strong she was. Most
Changelings didn’t. “I’ll try.”

She slowly moved back, and neither of us
responded to the yells of the men with the guns, nor the doors
opening or feet moving our way. She needed information I had and I
made sure she could hear me over the din.

“
They’ll feel it too, and
there’s no hiding that.”

She blinked, not expecting such a simple
answer. “Then… they want …?”

“
To be loved. As much as
you do.”

Hurting, she spun away from me.

“
The legends say there are
visions that spark up.”

Baker’s voice was more amused than upset as
she stormed by, and he shook his head at the near-panicked males.
“They’re just talking, stand down.”

Baker looked at Candice with a face that
held embarrassment, but also a meaning that I didn’t miss. What did
the rebel leader want from her?

“
Maybe we should stay
together for a while.”

Candice gave a short nod at his suggestion,
but her eyes were all over me. I wanted almost desperately to know
what she was thinking right then, but I had to settle for going to
her side as we joined Baker and his rebels for a meal.

As we went by two doors,
the rebel leader pointed out our rooms, and I noticed the handcuffs
on the wall with a red face.
Next to the
cuffs was a wide bed with no less than eight thin poles welded to
the sides. Spaced a few feet apart, I understood what they were for
and flushed darker.

C

“
They’ll feel it too and
there’s no hiding it.”

Daniel’s words rang in my head as we settled
on the hard steps of the huge arena to eat. At another time, being
here might have sent my thoughts to the Games I’d won, the blood
I’d spilled in other places like this, but all I could think about
was what I had just learned.

“
There’s no hiding
it.”

The look in his eyes as he’d said that!
Daniel loved me. It was only a beginning flicker - with the short
time we’d had, there was no way it could be more - but I planned to
encourage that tiny glimmer into a fiery explosion. I wanted him in
love with me, the way I was with him.

The realization stunned me. He was the
opposite of Baker’s dependable strength. Pale and ignorant of the
world. Quick to get emotional, and even quicker to find trouble.
I’d retrieved my mate, and it was an important moment for me. It
was that turning point from which there would be no going back. I
would spend the rest of my life trying to make him love me the way
I did him.

“
Stop drooling and listen,
will ya?”

Baker’s annoyed growl swung
my eyes from Daniel’s flushed face, and I let out a hiss of need
that sent those closest scattering.
There
were roughly thirty males in here with us now, all dressed in
t-shirts and jeans without the shadowy colors to hide what they
were - men. Everywhere I looked, hard bodies and wary eyes met my
assessing stare. They were healthy looking, and I stored the
thought. Baker had his strength in these men. Would he be able to
give them the courage they needed to go with that brawn?
Compared to these free men, Daniel looked happy.
Most of them were bigger than he was, healthier, but his face was a
mask of contentment that Baker couldn’t give his rebels, either.
They needed women for that.

I rolled my eyes at the fearful males. “When
I snap, you’ll know it.”

Baker chuckled again, and Daniel surprised
us both by joining in with a flushed smile. He was starting to
relax with us, to belong…

“
Candy…”

Baker didn’t know the name no longer held
any power, and he frowned when I didn’t react.

“
That’s it
then.”

I nodded. “Yeah.”

“
You gonna go sparkless on
me, too?”

That got a violent growl that even Baker
drew back from. “Never on your life!”

He flashed those stunning silver eyes at me.
“Then listen.”

“
I am.”

“
There are
500
of us.”

My mouth dropped open in shock, and I heard
Angelica move closer.

“
Most are at the safe
zone.”

“
You’re gathering an
army.”

Baker shook his head, silver eyes flashing,
and I braced for it.

“
I have one now. I’m trying
to
train
an
army.”

I knew then what he wanted me for, and I
opened my mouth to say no… “Sell me.”

Even I was surprised, but when he’d said
Daniel was changing me, Baker had been completely wrong. The
Network had opened the door to this whole other person that I was
suddenly very eager to explore. For this new world, I might be a
leader of a rebellion, of men! The thought was terrifying and
exhilarating, and I listened with an intensity I had been lacking
before.

“
My father escaped from a
Network auction and took refuge here. After he realized they
wouldn’t come into the vines after him, he began gathering other
runaways and male convicts set for execution. He started when he
was still in his twenties.”

That explained the high number. The man I’d
seen killed by the Network was at least double that age, maybe
triple.

“
He spent his life hiding
here, organizing safe zones for others like us. Word spread, and
now, when males escape, most try to find a zone. We only put them
in places the Network won’t go.”

My mind spun out a fast list of possible
locations for the main bunker with the other males, and the
Borderlands topped it. I confirmed my guess right away. “Yeah, the
guards don’t like dust, bandits, and mutations all in the same
place.”

Baker grinned in satisfaction, nodding. “I
knew you were the right one for the job.”

I frowned darkly. “I haven’t taken it
yet.”

He waved to a few of the timid males hanging
back. “Join us. She has questions only you can answer.”

The two who came over were Eric and Greg,
from our first meeting. Without the paint, they were both
incredibly beautiful. It was clear they had been abused, though,
and I loathed the scars across their arms and wide shoulders. Those
were defensive wounds, and I had little doubt their jeans and tank
tops hid more of the same.

“
Eric and Greg were broken
out after they were won. They’ve both spent their lives in the
Games, from birth.”

I studied them, collecting more information
from their appearances and reactions than I thought they’d be able
to tell me. Both of them were shaking, though Eric’s eyes held a
slight gleam that I recognized as need. It was hard to miss when
you spent so much time battling it.