"Anything?" Lucan's voice carried boredom and irritation over the coms.
"Nope, nothing over here on the East side." Brock answered. "Hey gorgeous, you look cold, shouldn't be out here alone either, monsters might get you." A female giggle carried to them.
"Well thanks handsome but I think I can handle myself." Niko replied.
"Fuck, stupid thing…." The com clicked off, but everyone else online burst into uncontrolled laughter.
"Clear over here Lucan. Wanna pack it in for the night?"
Lucan looked at Dante and checked his watch before responding. "Give it another 20 and we'll call it a night."
"You got it." Niko answered.
"So how are things going with Tess?" Lucan asked as they continued their walk.
"Eh, she wasn't mad at me. She was mad at Brock for making her feel like a fool, and pissed that she was so pregnant she couldn't do anything about the woman chasing her man." He chuckled. "We made up. I convinced her that there was nothing to worry about."
"I'm sure you did. Let's head back to the truck."
Dante nodded and turned in the direction they had come from. As he started back a whizzing sound of something being thrown just past his head shot past his ear and a loud thump sounded as his missing blade landed in the telephone pole 6 inches from him. The blade glimmered in the streetlight and he saw the word, "boo," written in lipstick on it. "Son of a bitch!" He grabbed the blade and spun to where it had to come from. Lucan was already scaling the side of the building as Dante spotted the woman from the previous night waving at him. When she caught sight of Lucan on the opposing roof she took off.
"Guys, we got her, rooftops, follow my GPS, damn she's fast." Lucan yelled through the com.
The men all responded and gave chase, working in a tight circle, surrounding their prey, trapping it. She darted in and out of the shadows, paying attention to each new pursuer that joined the party. When the fifth one joined she stopped taunting them and actually began to attempt evasion, her movements becoming more cautious and planned.
"Come on sweety, we just want to talk." Dante called behind her.
Rio and Niko joined the pursuit next appearing in front of her and she came to a sudden halt. She spun quickly, never leaving her back to one of them for more than a second.
"Why are you hunting me? Leave me alone. I'll leave town."
"Pretty tough now aren't ya? Should have thought about that before you stole my blades." Dante answered.
"Come on, I gave them back, no harm. Just bored, wanted to play for a bit. You did kind of deserve it after interrupting my dinner." The woman answered.
"Sorry beautiful." Brock answered and shot her with the taser gun. She dropped to a knee screaming at the sudden pain before pushing herself back up.
Her hand extended in front of her pleading. "Please don't, I'll disappear." She pushed out past the fangs that had extended with her anger.
Chase unloaded his taser on her next and she hit the ground curling up in the fetal position, but still conscious. Her body writhed on the rooftop and she rolled to her back trying to get up again. From his holsters Dante pulled his gun and shot her in the chest, just above the line of the ice blue corset she was wearing.
"I said don't kill her!" Lucan yelled as he rushed the form pausing when he saw the fuzzy dart.
"I didn't. Had my woman work up a tranq. dart this morning. She said it will put her down and give her a hell of a headache when she wakes up. I think she added the headache part on purpose." He smirked at the memory of Tess emphasizing the headache with a catty female tone.
"Good." Lucan pulled the dart from her and opened her jacket. "Sure enough, look at that, dermaglyphs, and she's covered in them." He lifted her over his shoulder. "Let's get her secure before she wakes up. Call Gid and tell him to get the cell ready."
-------------------------------------
"Can we kill the lights a bit please? My head is pounding." The quiet request surprised Keda and he obliged hitting the dimmer. Once the lights were down she rolled over on the hard floor pressing her face to the cool marble. She lifted an arm and pulled against the metal chains holding her, then repeated the same with one of her legs. "Well hell." Finally opening one of her eyes she peered at the man sitting on the other side of the bars.
He grinned. "Morning. Sorry 'bout the headache, Tess was kinda upset with you chasing her mate and all, put something extra in that mickey we slipped you." He leaned over to an intercom pressing the button. "She's up."
She moved to a seated position. "So how long?"
"Long till what?"
"Till you kill me?" She rubbed her head.
"Ha, girl, we're not going to that I know of, but it isn't my call."
"What do we got?" Lucan asked as he entered the room and hit the lights.
She jumped up covering her eyes and swaying on her feet. "Torture then eh handsome?"
He hit the lights again. "Sorry 'bout that."
"We were just getting to know each other. Thinks we're gonna off her. Told her that wasn't my call." Keda answered and leaned towards the cell his thumb motioning at Lucan while he whispered. "It's this guy here makes the call."
"Hello Lucan. Nice to meet you I guess."
Both men looked at her stunned. "How do you know my name?"
"You're too famous not to know. How's that breedmate of yours doing? She pregnant yet?"
Lucan growled and stepped closer. "What do you know of my mate?"
"Calm down handsome, no harm intended. Like I said, you're famous."
The rest of the members filed into the room.
"Okay, now I kind of feel like a sideshow."
"Well, let's get this started. Who are you?"
"Syn." She held out a hand to shake his, but was stopped short by the chains attaching her to the wall. "You know, I have a very Princess Leah kinda feeling going on right now. You know, from that Star Wars movie in the 70's." She crossed her arms and waited. "A gentleman with the backup of The Order would offer to unhook them."
Lucan stared at her for a moment and motioned to one of the men to unhook her. He nodded and walked into the cell. Keeping on his guard he undid her ankles first and then her wrists, pausing to hold one in his hand for a bit just watching her. After undoing the final one he walked out. "She's not going to try anything, yet."
"Thanks Tegan, nice meeting you too." She replied to his back which stiffened. "Yeah, you're just as popular as Lucan over there, but I expected…scarier." She shrugged. "Oh well."
"What are you." Lucan asked.
"Like I told your boys. I'm Breed."
"You're female."
She looked down pulling out the front of her corset and spinning around to try and look at her ass. "Yup. Good call."
"The humor will get you nowhere." He retorted.
"I don't know Lucan, we're enjoying the show." Brock mocked and pointed at himself and the two other unmated males.
"Fine." She winked at the three men as she pulled a chair in front of the cell door and straddled it backwards.
"I'm breed, like you, but female; rare, a real commodity. Here's a history lesson for you men folk. Did you really think that it was only male aliens who landed on this planet so long ago? There was a single female, my ancestor, not by much though, I'm second generation if you can't tell by the glyphs." She motioned at her arms. "She was slaughtered by the ancients before you came into existence. By then though she had passed on her genes to the humans and scattered her line, knowing her own end was coming she wanted to carry on her existence. We've been hiding and reproducing slowly over the centuries."
"Why did they kill her?"
"Why do men do anything? Power. Listen, this has been fun, but if you aren't going to slaughter me like my sisters then there is no point in me being here. Sorry about the bother, I was bored, stud over there was too easy of a target."
"Why were you feeding on that rogue you killed?"
She leaned forward, "I was hungry male, why do you feed?"
"Same reason woman, but why the rogue?"
She clicked her tongue and stretched her long leather clad legs out in front of her grabbing onto the back of the chair for support as she arched her back and stretched. "That's what we feed on… well not that exactly, but it works. Tastes terrible, but a lot safer than trying to hunt down Breed Males and feed from them, or Breedmates for that matter, since most of the known mates are held in the Darkhavens. The rogues work, they give me what I need to survive another night, and there are no witnesses when done."
"You feed off Breedmales?"
She smiled a quick twinkle sparking her eyes in the low light. "Yes Lucan dear. We feed on Breedmales, humans cannot support our needs. Breedmates are just as good, but as I said, even harder to get to than the males, you men keep your women under lock and key."
"Holy shit, we're a buffet for her, and we brought her in here." Dante stood up and walked to the cage door. "You're not getting out of there any time soon. There is no way we're letting you out to snack on us or our mates."
In a single breath she was in front of him. "Unlike most men, I can control myself enough not to eat you. I don't want your mates, or your men, I want out, I want to leave and have you forget I was here. The only reason I came to this city is because of the severe increase in rogue activity this last year or so." Her dermaglyphs were pulsating, getting hits of red in them, popping out from her skin more.
"Tell us about your breedmate mark." Lucan questioned again.
"Arggg!" She slammed a fist against the bars and was hit with a large electrical shock. "Ouch! Damn it!" Shaking her hand she sat back down. "That was a nasty trick."
"The mark."
"What did you do strip search me?" She picked at her nails. "Fine. We don't reproduce like you do. Oh there is plenty of sex involved, but no children, no birth. All breedchildren are males, just like you know. We reproduce taking a breedmate just like you, but it is different. We start as Breedmate, but over the course of a century or two, depending on how far removed we are from Her, we become breed, constant exchange of blood from Breedfemale to Breedmate changes us. My own conversion took around 125 years. My mate and I noticed my glyphs appearing about 20 years before our bond broke and I became fully breed. I stayed with her for another 10 years before she decided to take another mate and create again." There were curious looks and smirks between most of the men as they realized what exactly she was talking about.
"Your bond broke?"
"You know… I'm really not enjoying telling you all of this. We have existed only because no one knows about us, and in the course of the last night more than I am comfortable with have found out too many things."
Lucan didn't respond, he just nodded and waited.
When Syn realized he was not going to back down she continued. "Yes, our bond broke. It just happens; my blood could no longer sustain her, Breedfemales cannot feed from each other and gain sustenance. We still receive the sexual pleasure, but no bond and no nutrition."
Lucan nodded as Gabrielle walked in behind him. "I'm going to bed Lucan." She looked Syn over distaste and then dismissal flowing across her. "Will you men be joining your mates today or attending to…business all day?"
"We're almost done here." He looked up for a kiss and she played with a small silver pendant on her necklace before kissing him. Not a single person in the room missed the scent of her blood as she slid her thumb across his lower lip, nor did they miss Lucan's tongue snaking out for a taste and the slight amber color flash in his eyes followed by the drop of his fangs. "Female, you're going to kill me."
"Every night my Lucan." She touched his cheek gently and slipped her thumb into her mouth sucking softly as she gave him a look that would melt butter and walked out.
When he turned his gaze back to Syn his amber eyes met her silvered ones as she softly writhed on the chair. "Mmmm…she smells delicious."
"Stay away from her." He growled.
"I have no intention of encroaching on your territory Breedmale, simply paying compliments is all. Even you cannot deny what a glorious feast she must be." She clicked her tongue again and started pacing in the cage.
"I have other business to attend to. Someone will be watching guard at all times. Sleep tight." Lucan stood up and left, the others following behind.
Brock stopped before leaving and looked back at Syn. "Don't let the bed bugs bite gorgeous."
She rolled her eyes and sauntered over to the cot along the wall flopping onto it. "The bugs want me to bite them Breedmale."
"I bet they do."