Page 107 of Rescued

“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?”

“Yes—I’ve sung professionally,” Sonya said, but didn’t elaborate. Nobody in the room needed to know that the last place she’d sung was in the lounge of an upscale brothel.

A brothel Davrik saved you from—and then you turned him away, even after he risked his life for you, a reproachful little voice whispered in her head.

Sonya tried to push it away and concentrate on the present. She was going to save the big Kindred—rescue him the way he had rescued her—that was all there was to it. She refused to even think of another outcome.

“Nate will be wearing the device and will have direct contact with it,” Karl said to her, drawing her back to the present. “All you need to do is put your hand on his arm and make skin-to-skin contact with him—then sing your emotions as loudly as you can. His body will act as a conduit between you and the ESR.”

“Um…I don’t mean to be rude, but why does Nate have to wear it?” Sonya asked, frowning. “Why can’t I just wear it myself?”

Karl frowned.

“Well, for one thing it’s made from solid Vibronexium—one of the densest and heaviest elements ever discovered—it’s not even on the Periodic Table,” he added.

“Try and lift it,” the light-haired Twin Kindred offered. “Then you’ll see.”

Sonya walked over to the table in the center of the room and looked down at the ESR. It was only a little bigger than her hand—aside from the straps that had been attached to it—and it didn’t look too heavy to lift.

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