Hey guys, I have an admission to make. The reason I am falling behind on my chapters is because I am writing a book I plan to try and put up on amazon . so, if it does happen I guess I will let you know. I will be making this an extra long chapter to make up for missing, so hope you enjoy it ^_^

Rebecca POV

I was groggy and my head hurt, like when I had a drinking contest with the guys down at the bar and woke up in my own bed without knowing how I got there. It was a throbbing aching pound that made you feel like your whole head was moving with each pound. I also had a horrible taste in my mouth, and some of my body was sore like I had either been dragged or thrown over a shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

I squirmed slightly, hiding the moan of discomfort between tightly closed lips, knowing that even though I was groggy and I couldn't remember much at this moment, feeling like this wasn't a good sign. Neither was the fact that ever nerve ending in my body was on high alert, and the hair on the back of my neck was standing on end. I found my wrists bound over my head with rope that itched and chafed like hell, but gave me enough leeway to kneel. The floor was cold on my legs, but the air around me was even colder, reminding me that I had decided to go on a walk of the grounds, and someone had taken me. It was in the middle of the fall, thanksgiving was almost here, and soon it would fall into winter and the world would be swallowed in cold and snow.

Why wasn't I shaking? Where was I? At the sound of shuffling material, I decided to take a chance and open up my eyes, but only a crack, enough to see what was going on. So that is what I did, ever so slowly, only to find that even opening my eyes had been useless, I was in pitch black, not a single shaft of light to guide me. I blinked, an instinctual reaction, as if that would somehow help, and froze when once again I heard the sound of shuffling material somewhere in front of me. I didn't know if the Grit's could see in the dark, but it was only logical that they were the ones who had yet again taken me. I leaned forward, straining my eyes to listen for the smallest of sounds to help me along.

It was then I heard the squeaking. Instead of freaking out I sighed, somehow knowing that the rats wouldn't bother me. And it didn't give me anything to tell me WHERE I was, some cave or something? I mean with the extensive woods around the grounds there had to some caves and whatnot. Go figure I just happened to get kidnapped by the one guy who knew where they were.

It was then I heard the shuffling of feet on stone, and for a fleeting moment, I was frozen, caught between the urge to continue to play dead or face the person who had kidnapped me. The chicken side of me was just getting the better, when the light came around the corner and blinded me. Blearily, I blinked, turning my face away, trying to get used to it so suddenly even though my eyes screamed and watered in protest.

"I see you are awake," that familiar female voice said, the one that I head heard when I was in the last facility. When I was finally able to focus on her, she was kneeling in front of me, working on what looked to be a burnt out fire pit. Looking up I noticed a small crack in the ceiling that let the smoke out. It must have only gone out recently.

Looking at the woman though revealed nothing fruitful at all. She wore a elegant mark of blue and white, a ceramic face that almost seemed to portray spirits. She wore a black cloth over the back of her head, hiding what color her hair was, and she even wore an all black garb and gloves, though I did get the impression of long elegant fingers underneath the black material. Under her nimble hands the fire sparked back to life, offering me warmth and closure. It was then that I found my voice.

"Who are you and what do you want with me?"I asked, though my voice didn't sound as bold as I was hoping it would have. It didn't sound meek either, but I wasn't fooling anyone with my lack of confidence. The woman laughed, a full rich sound, and I blinked, wondering how she could laugh when she had a prisoner mere feet in front of her. But then again, she was Grit, and if what Fortis had told me was anything to go off of, then this was a normal thing for them.

"My dear Rebecca," she tsked at me, I felt like biting her hand on blowing a raspberry, but I refrained from both only to keep my dignity. "Surely you have figured out something yet?"

"I know you want me because you want me to bear Kalin's child." I offered, trying to make it sound like that wasn't the only thing that I knew. But she laughed again, I knew immediately that there was no fooling this woman.

"Well, yes, but tell me, Little Bride, do you know why?"

That name had me bristling, all of me tensing.

"Don't. Call. Me. That." I grited out, unable to bear hearing the name that Kalin called me with so much affection rolling off of her tongue in such an easy way. Then it struck me, Kalin! Did he know I was gone? Did he know I had been taken or did he think that I had run away on my own accord? Oh, the heartache he must be feeling!

She tilted her head at me, as if my response surprised her, and then she spoke again.

"Well, do you?"

"Why do it matter?" I hissed, but she would not be deterred.

"Then I shall tell you." she said, pulling a large hunting night from the belt around her waist. It glinted in the firelight, and I felt my eyes grow wide and my body tried to lean more away from her, not liking the idea of that knife coming any closer that it already was.

"You see, you are very special to us. Not just because you are mated to the head of our enemy, but because you can also help our race in becoming more superior than they ever are or will be."

"You said 'our' I am not part of your race!" I sputtered, watching her carefully for any sudden movements. What she was saying was only halfway sunken in, my brain was more focused on the present danger.

"Your right," she allowed, nodding, and then running her finger along the edge of the blade that seemed to gleam with wicked sharpness. "You are neither my race no his, but a slight one of your own."

"What are you talking about? I am Thorian! I am a Thorian's Bride! I am Kalin's!" and I paused, my own words seeming to take affect on me. I was Thorian! I was Kalin's bride! My lips parted with the realization and I felt something painfully shift in my chest. Kalin was mine, as I was his. He was mine to love, mine to care for, and he had been waiting for me his whole life, as I now realized, I had been waiting for him. For the first time I felt love! I realized now I had never felt it before. I had never loved my parents, nor my friends, nor my siblings or lovers. I never loved anything I did, but some of them seemed to make me ache in a way I did not understand.

Tears welled in my eyes as I felt the love I should have felt for Kalin in the very begging overwhelm me, making tears run down my face. Tears of joy, of love, of realization that I could love.

But why couldn't I before?

The woman went on, not even noticed my change, my tears. And if she did she probably thought it was from fear or hopelessness.

"But that is where you are wrong. You see, you are neither, you are a mixture of the two with the genes we wanted picked out. Think of it like mixing the race of two dogs together to get the desirable traits."

"How can you say something like that!" I yelled, unable to believe she would compare me to something like that. "You can't just mess with people like that!"

"But you see, we can." she said coolly, tilting her head as if to appraise me. "You see, my race can give birth to female children, but the females are much different than Thorian women. We will never be human in any way or form. We have fangs, and we have the choice to drink blood to survive. But the males nor females cannot identify potential mates like the Thorians can. But that is where you come in.

"You see, you are the perfect blend of both races, the product of many failed attempts." the way she said it triggered something within me, and I gaped at her.

"Fortis's mother." I said softly, and she nodded.

"That is a case where the gene that stops Thorian females from having more children conflicts with the genes from the Grit's and instead of stopping her reproductive system, it puts her into a coma instead."

"How many?" I gasped, feeling my heart ache for all of women who were made at their hands.

"Many. But you see, you were perfect. Not only were we able to pick out most of the genes we wanted, but we were also able to infuse you with the blood from the Thorian prince, therefore guaranteeing that you two would be bonded together. Then it was all a matter of finding a couple who would take the embryo and take it to term. But that wasn't a problem."

"My parent's knew!" I gasped, feeling hurt overwhelm me. I was nothing more than a insemination to them?

"Of course they did. They were told that they could raise you however they wanted, but once we came to claim you they must relinquish their hold. But we never had to, you left them on your own and into a place where it would be easy to introduce you and Kalin together."

"What genes did you lock from me?" I gritted out, feeling more and more irritable by the moment. They had messed up my life from the very begging, took everything from me, all for the sake of their own gain. I didn't want to help them, I never would, they didn't deserve it when they abused lives so easily.

"Haven't you ever wondered why you never loved? Why you never got attached?"

"Thats not true! I love Philip!" I screamed, wanting to just shut her up. This was all their fault. All of it. Me being so numb inside, watching as Kalin's face twisting in agony because I told him I didn't love him, couldn't love him.

"No, you thought you did, you wanted to because you saw that is what everyone else around you was doing, showing affection. We never anticipated for you to learn to mimic so well."

Mimic?

Mimic?

The word hit me somewhere deep inside, and it hurt, it seared, and it tore me apart. Every word she said made me feel like nothing more than a cheap experiment that had somehow gotten out of its cage and everything I did was part of a experiment. Nothing I could ever do would be part of me own, it would always be something they found interesting, or something they thought was an outreach of what they had done to me before I had even had the life to make my own decisions. Everything had been chosen for me.

Everything.

I hurt, and all I wanted to do was go back to Kalin, to apologize, to have him hold me and love me like he did before I had said something to mess it all up. But now I didn't even know if I was going to be able to get back. I didn't know if I would ever see Kalin again while I was free.

But that would hurt him, and I refused to hurt him like that again.

"Why am I here?" I asked numbly.

"Well, you see, the plan was to wait until Kalin impregnated you, and then take you, to see if you fell into a coma, or, if you could even bare more than one child. After all that would make it easier, we would be able to disappear without having to deal with Kalin at all."

"What changed?" I growled.

"Your tacker died."

"My what!" I yelled, my head whipping up to look at her again. She shook her head like I was the most idiotic thing she had ever seen, and explained.

"There is a small plastic tracking beacon planted in your thigh. It was put there the last time we took you, but it seems to have malfunctioned, and we can't be having you run off and disappearing on us, now can we?" and with that she began moving towards me with that blade, that damn blade that was glinting like flames itself, but I was so horrified, I couldn't bring myself to try and move away from her. Everything was mind numbing, so shocking I didn't know what I was supposed to do with it. I needed Kalin, but I couldn't have it.

But then something Kalin had said to me suddenly made sense.

If you need me, call for me. At the time I hadn't understood what he had meant, but now that I untangled whatever mess that Grits had put me in, I felt it there, a instinct that burned bright. I felt the sting of the blade on my skin, but I paid it not heed. I had suffered worse, and I couldn't let her ruin my focus in case I was never able to do this again.

So, with tears streaming down my face, I closed my eyes and allowed my head to drop and my mind was float, reaching for the man I needed in order to live my life.

I only hoped he wasn't so angry that he wouldn't hear me.