Chapter 7
M'Rhinna lay on the floor of her cell, her hands folded and lying on her stomach. The floor shook slightly as her guards marched back and forth, the constant sound of their boots beating a sick lullaby into her mind. She lost track of how long she's been in this Hive, but she knew that the war was long since over and that the Lanteans had lost. They were either all dead, or scattered and hiding. She knew nothing of her own kind, only what the Wraith Queen had told her, and her word was hardly something to be trusted. The rhythmic sounds of boots against the floor lulled her to sleep, allowing her to escape to her only sanctuary: her own mind.
M'Rhinna opened her eyes as the sounds of marching disappeared. Sitting up, she looked around, but there wasn't a Wraith in sight. She got to her feet and the door to her cage opened. She knew she was dreaming, but she had a feeling that she wasn't the one in control of this dream. She didn't like not being in control.
A dense white fog filled the hallway as she left her cell, chilling the exposed skin of her arms and stomach. Shivering slightly, she rubbed at her arms as goosebumps broke out over her skin. There was a figure in the fog, a large figure coming closer. Now she definitely knew that she wasn't in control of this dream. Could it be another one of her kind trying to contact her? Had others of her people survived the war?
The fog parted as the figure got close enough for her to see. It was a man, large and imposing. His tan skin showed no reaction to the chill mist surrounding them. The shirt he was wearing was large on him with a deep V down the front, showing most of his chest, pendants on leather cords nestled in the sparse dark hair covering his chest. Soft leather pants encased his long legs, and a leather belt that was strapped around his trim waist connected to a holster holding a gun of some kind secured around his thigh. The sleeves of the shirt were rolled up showing a tattoo on his left forearm of rows of black triangles, a similar geometric design tattooed into the side of his neck, leather wrist cuffs fastened securely around his wrists.
Thick dreadlocks hung around his face and shoulders like a mane, giving him an animal like appearance. A scruffy beard covered his chin and upper lip and green eyes shone almost like two jewels through the mist. Altogether, he looked intimidating and fierce, definitely not someone you want as an enemy.
M'Rhinna found herself rooted to the spot as he advanced on her, towering over her by several inches, making him have to be well over six feet tall. Her eyes went to his chest, noticing the Wraith feeding scar almost hidden by the pendants. Gathering her courage, she touched it lightly with her fingertips, looking up at him. His large hands came up and cupped her face; hands callused from years of hard work and hard living. His body brushed hers ever so slightly and she was suddenly very aware of him as a woman, the heat from his body caressing her skin as he stood very close to her.
The blood coursing through the veins under his skin called to her, but she refused to give into that kind of hunger, not with him, he was special. His hands slid from her face to her neck, his thumbs fluttering over the pulse that was beating rapidly at his ministrations.
"M'Rhinna." His whispered his voice deep and dark. His tone making her think of hot, long nights and sweat soaked bodies. His thumbs pushed at her jaw line, tilting her face up to him more than it already was. Stooping at the shoulders slightly, he shortened the distance between them, meeting her eyes briefly with his own before his lips skimmed over hers with the barest of contact. Heat curled through her system and she found herself relaxing against him, becoming soft and pliant.
He suddenly broke away with a growl, drawing his weapon and aiming it off to the side, his lips pulled back from his teeth in a snarl. She looked and saw the Wraith Queen standing there looking very amused.
"Is he another one of your kind?" she asked. M'Rhinna pushed him behind her, his arm extending past her head unwavering as he continued to aim the gun.
"You will leave him alone."
"No, I would sense another one of your kind. He is human, but you've enhanced him somehow." Mindful of the gun aimed at her head, she didn't advance or make a move of any kind.
"I'm going to find her," he said, stepping around M'Rhinna to advance on the Queen. "I'm going to save her," he pressed the muzzle of the gun against the Queens head between the eyes. "And the next time you see me, it'll look something like this, I promise." The Queen snarled at him.
"Leave me to her; I can handle her on this battleground." M'Rhinna said.
"Are you sure?" he asked, not taking his eyes off the Queen.
"I'm positive." She said. "One more thing."
"Yeah?"
"What's your name?"
"Ronon Dex." He said and vanished from the dream. There was a slight wrenching as the control passed from him to her.
"I will feed on him in front of you." The Queen began calmly. "And as he dies, you will know it was your fault."
"I won't allow that to happen. You forget, the more I feed, the stronger I become. I guess we are similar in that way." She thrust her mind outwards and the Queen screeched in pain from the psychic attack.
Ronon woke gently from the dream but found that his gun was out, his hand wrapped around the butt in a white knuckle grip and the setting on kill. Peeling his fingers from the grip, he set it back to stun and slid it back into the holster. Mentally, he was exhausted from fabricating and controlling the dream, but physically he felt strong.
"Ronon…" her voice whispered through his mind and he felt her hand pass over his chest. Smiling, he sat up and got out of bed, putting clothes on and leaving his room.
M'Rhinna waited in her cell for the Queen's guards to come and get her, knowing the Queen was angry at her for the attack on her. She recalled Ronon's image in her mind and smiled. When she had contacted his mind, she had no idea what he looked like, drawn only by the strength of his mind and the fact that he would do what was necessary if the time came. He was incredibly handsome and exuded an aura of masculinity and strength that surprised her. Just being close to him had made her feel incredibly female, reminding of her of what she has lost these past countless years. She was one the strongest of her kind but she had felt small and delicate when he had towered over her. The way he looked at her…it made her feel wanted. She remembered his promise and her smile widened, holding onto the thought that he would fulfill it at any cost.
The Guards came for her and she got off the floor, the door opening. They grabbed her and dragged her roughly from the cell to face the Queen's wrath.
Ronon practiced moving from one place to another without taking a step for most of the day, stopping during the afternoon for his daily sparring match with John.
"How ya feeling, Chewy?" John asked on their way down to the gym and Ronon smiled.
"I feel great."
"Good nights sleep last night?"
"You could say that." He said shrugging and John gave him a quizzical look.
"What happened?"
"I contact M'Rhinna last night."
"You contacted her and not the other way around."
"Yup."
"Is that even possible."
"Apparently." Ronon said, retrieving the bantos rods. "I made a dream in her mind and controlled it, and came face to face with the Wraith Queen holding her when she decided to drop in right in the middle."
"How did that happen?"
"I don't know. She must have picked up on 'psychic waves' or something like that." Ronon said, twirling one of the rods in his hand after tossing John a pair. "I held my gun to her head and promised that I was going to kill her."
"Probably not the best idea, you know how Wraith Queens can get when you threaten them."
"You think I set up M'Rhinna for trouble?" He asked attacking and John blocked it.
"I think that the Hive is going to be more cautious now about their security." John said pushing away and going into a stance.
"If the Queen took it seriously."
"Very true, they are pretty arrogant." John said. "After all, you are nothing but an insignificant human."
"Got a point." Ronon said and they stopped their conversation as they went through a series of rapid attacks and blocks. "The Queen said that M'Rhinna…modified me somehow." Ronon said.
"And you believe her? She's a Wraith Queen."
"I don't know. I feel different." Ronon said stopping, the rods dropping down as he relaxed his arms and shoulders. "I know it should worry me after everything we've went through over the past couple years, but I feel fine."
"So did I when I was turning into that bug thing." John said.
"I'm not turning into a bug." Ronon said.
"I'm just using that as an example." John said defensively. "You feel fine now, but if big changes start to happen, you may not feel so great."
"The headaches stopped." Ronon said.
"That's one bright side, I guess." John said.
M'Rhinna grunted as she hit the ground after being thrown back into her cell. Her chest burned as it healed itself from the dissection the Wraith Queen had ordered. The scientist had wrapped his hand around her heart and begun to slowly squeeze it. The pain had been unbearable and she had found herself crying out, tinted tears running down her face as he literally began to squeeze the life from her. They had cut into her heart, poking and probing it as it beat. As per the Queen's orders, they had brought her to the edge of death and pulled her back.
"Next time I will not be so forgiving." She had said as she looked down at her on the operating table.
"This is forgiving? I wonder what would happen if I really pissed you off." M'Rhinna managed a flippant tone and the Queen snarled giving a look to the scientist whose hand tightened around her heart. M'Rhinna cried out, her body seizing, almost rising completely off the table.
She wiped at the blood trickling out of her mouth and coughed, clotted blood rising from her damaged lungs to taint her mouth. Curling into a ball, her muscles spasmed as she fell into a fitful sleep.
