Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 130081 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130081 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
“She went to try and rescue your younger sibling,” Commander Sylvania told him. “The plan was for her to slip in and slip out again unnoticed, but we’ve been listening on the com-link devices we wired them with, and I’m afraid that things have gone awry.”
“There’s no time to lose, then—I have to get to her!” Nate swung his legs over the side of the bed and saw that they were bare—someone had put him in a dark red hospital gown that opened in the back—he could feel a cool breeze on his backside. “I need some clothes,” he said. “And something else…” He wracked his brain, trying to remember. “A weapon—a special weapon!” he exclaimed, remembering. “The Goddess told me you were developing it—she says I have to take it. It’s the only way to defeat the AllFather!”
“Do you mean the Emotion Sonic Resonator?” Commander Sylvania frowned. “You’re certain you can wield it?”
“I haven’t met a weapon I can’t handle yet,” Nate said. He spoke with the confidence born of years in the Seals and then fighting the Scourge invasion. “Can you get me some clothes and the weapon? I need to get over there now.”
“I’ll call for some clothes but we’ll need to get the ESR from the lab,” Commander Sylvania remarked. She frowned again. “I’m still not sure you can handle it, though. You’re certainly strong enough to bear the weight of it, but can you sing?”
“Can I what?” Nate demanded, frowning at her.
“The ESR requires you to be able to sing. You see, we’ve recently learned that certain emotions have sounds associated with them—musical sounds. Those are what the ESR uses as ammunition. So you need to be able to sing to operate the weapon.”
Nate’s confidence suddenly deflated. To be honest, he didn’t have the greatest singing voice. He wasn’t tone deaf or anything, but he wasn’t particularly musical either. It just wasn’t his forte.
“I can sing,” a voice said from the doorway.
Nate looked up and saw a beautiful, curvy black girl standing there. She had troubled brown eyes and long, curly black ringlets. She was also wearing a dark red hospital gown that matched his own.
“Sonya, what are you doing up?” Commander Sylvania rushed over to her.
“I know this is going to sound strange, but a voice—a woman’s voice—woke me up,” the girl said. “She told me Davrik was in trouble and I needed to go get him. She…she said he might die if I don’t!” Her voice choked on the last words and she looked at Commander Sylvania with wide, desperate eyes. “I know we’re fighting right now, but I don’t want him to die!”
“He’s not going to die,” the Kindred woman said quickly, taking her by the shoulders. “Come on—let’s get the two of you dressed and then we’ll meet with the scientists developing the ESR.”
Nate just hoped they could make the meeting quick—he could still feel Lan’ara’s distress through the link they had formed when they Bonded and though it was muted, it was getting stronger.
His new mate was in trouble and he had to get to her!
SIXTY-TWO
SONYA
“So as Commander Sylvania apparently already told you, certain emotions can be voiced through song.”
Karl, the scientist, was a tall guy—a human, not a Kindred—with dark red hair. He was pacing back and forth as he lectured. Behind him were his Twin Kindred mates, statuesque women with curving hips and large breasts. Sonya thought they must be fraternal twins since one of them had black hair and black eyes and the other had brown hair and green eyes. All three of them were wearing white lab coats.
Nate, who had told her briefly that he was an ex-Navy Seal who was mated to the other Kindred they were going to save on the Father Ship, was friends with Karl, who was also best friends with the husband of Commander Sylvania.
The two men had hugged when they saw each other, but now the scientist was all business. As he spoke, he gestured to a blood-red crystal about the size of a small fist which was lying on a reinforced metal table in the center of the lab they were standing in. It was wrapped intricately in slender wires made of some softly glowing metal that looked like rose gold to Sonya.
It didn’t look much like a weapon to her—there was no muzzle or trigger like a gun. Instead, there were straps attached to it so that someone—presumably Nate—could wear it like a backpack.
“The ESR is capable of taking the emotion you’re feeling and turning it into a kind of sonic bullet—the stronger your voice and the emotions behind it, the stronger and more deadly the ammunition it will produce,” he explained.
“That’s where you come in,” one of the Twin Kindred—the one with black hair and eyes—said to Sonya. “I understand you’re a singer?”