Braving Darkness: The Complete Series (Paranormal Scifi Romance) Read online

  Her feet still ached and stung from the sores. The scrapes on her back and legs had never been properly cleaned. Her body smelled of ripe sweat and fear, and her hair was full of grit and oil that she was sure made her distinctly unattractive.

  She looked in the box under Selina’s bed and noticed a similar box had been placed under her own. Cassie pulled out the box and found a change of clothes, a towel, and a new pair of boots. She gathered everything up, made her way through the dormitory hall, and found two doors, one marked for men and the other for women.

  She wasn’t sure why it mattered if the genders were separated. It didn’t seem to bother them to walk around naked whenever they shifted. In the women’s bathroom, there were three shower stalls at the back of the room.

  She sat everything down on a bench in a shower stall, shimmied out of her dirty clothes, and turned the shower on. The initial spray stung her wounds, but the pain soon subsided. She luxuriated under the warm water. After three days on the run and being rescued, or kidnapped, or whatever this was, the shower felt like a dream. The heavenly water loosened her sore muscles and cleansed her gritty skin.

  Cassie found soap and shampoo to finish the job, massaging shampoo into her hair and lathering soap over her curvaceous body. She’d lost some weight on the road, but had also gained new muscle tone.

  Once Cassie had finished her shower and dressed, she felt like a new person. She took her dirty things and put them in the box under her bed before going outside to explore the compound.

  Outside, the sun was just peaking over the eastern mountains, casting the compound in dim yellow and orange light. Cassie walked past the orderly lines of buildings and the vehicles parked in a disciplined row along the edge of the concrete lot.

  She stepped off the pavement into the low green grass and walked toward a wooden fence that penned in the compound’s livestock. A calf suckled at a cow’s teat as the mother flicked flies with its tail. The cattle didn’t seem mutated any more than the wildlife she’d seen on the road.

  She walked along the fence line until she came to a chicken coop. She watched the chickens clucking and scratching until Selina called behind her. Cassie turned around and Selina waved her over.

  Selina looked flushed and happy, panting slightly. Her dusky brow glistened with sweat and her dreadlocks hung around her bare shoulders. Cassie glanced down at her roommate’s slim, muscular body. She would never get used to all this nudity.

  “We’re back from the hunt. Got two bucks and a boar today. Rafe wants to see you in the terminal room in fifteen minutes. I’ll show you where to go.”

  Selina led Cassie to the front of the compound and pointed to the building where Cassie had met Rafe that morning.

  “What is this place anyway?” Cassie asked.

  “Old military barracks. We put in the fences and modified the barns. We’ve got the whole placed on solar power, and we draw our water from an artesian well. Our alpha is kind of an engineering and computer genius. Not many survivors live as well as we do.”

  “Did animals get mutated during the pulse?”

  “Nah, just humans. Don’t ask me why. That’s a question for Rafe. I’ve got to shower. See you later.”

  Selina trotted off toward the bunkhouse, her long dreadlocks bouncing as she ran. Cassie stood in the concrete yard, and slivers of fear shot through her chest and down her arms. She wasn’t sure she wanted to go back inside The Program any more than she wanted to defy the alpha.

  A group of shifted wolf hunters carried the fresh kill into an outbuilding next to the cafeteria. A buck’s glassy, black eyes stared at Cassie as its slack head lulled between a hunter’s teeth. She looked away, feeling nauseous.

  Rafe’s pack had taken her in, given her a place to sleep, and food to eat, but she didn’t know if she’d ever fit in here. They were survivors of the bombs, mutants, and she had spent the last five years in the comfortable surroundings of the dome.

  Cassie shuffled toward Rafe’s terminal chamber, peering through the door into the dimly lit gloom. She watched his strong back and broad shoulders as he connected thick ropes of cables from the central computer to a rusty dentist’s chair. Compared to the terminals in the dome, this place looked like a fire hazard.

  Cassie cleared her throat in an effort to get his attention in the least intrusive way possible. He turned to her, golden eyes glowing with inner fire. His lip curled in a slight sneer, sending shivers down her body. Her skin pricked as he crossed the room with inhuman haste.

  He stood before her, so close she could feel his breath on her skin and smell the scent of his body –– pine, musk, and the metallic undercurrent of blood. Cassie drew a breath, her round breasts expanding under her tank top as she looked into his eyes. His lips pursed and he grabbed her wrist.

  “Come. Let us begin.”

  Pleasure surged up her arm as he pulled her to a chair. Why did this exasperating, bossy werewolf cause her body to come alive like that? Cassie felt her heart pounding and tried to calm down as she climbed into the dentist’s chair.

  “I smell you showered,” he said, his nostrils flaring as he sniffed the air.

  “Uh, yeah. I found the shower.”

  “I assume our facilities were satisfactory.” He gripped her arm and swabbed it with alcohol that tingled on her skin.

  “Yeah, awesome,” she stammered.

  He produced a hypodermic needle that he pushed into her vein before she had the chance to react.

  “It felt great. The warm water…” The words trailed off into a whisper as the serum took effect. Rafe lowered the helmet over Cassie’s eyes and pressed electrodes into her wrists.

  “You smell good.” She heard him mutter as she drifted into The Program.

  Chapter 7

  She opened her eyes to find herself in an abandoned city. Massive skyscrapers thrust upward, piercing the gray sky that hung with misty clouds above.

  She could feel the cool humidity on her skin as she turned around, taking in her environment. She didn’t know this city. Maybe Chicago.

  She blinked, and a moment later, the city burst to life. People streamed down the streets. Vehicles zoomed past, and she had to dodge out of the way before being hit by one. The sky brightened and cleared to a deep blue with puffy white clouds high in the atmosphere.

  The sensations of the old world around her made her heart hurt. People talked on their cell phones and laughed in groups as they walked by. She stood in front of a wide concrete stairway that led up to a government building or museum. Water spouted from a fountain below where children playfully laughed or cried in their mothers’ arms.

  She meandered down the sidewalk, taking in the sights, sounds, and smells of the old world, trying to commit it to memory. The scent of food wafted through a door on a warm gust of air. It smelled of cinnamon and sugar. Her mouth watered, and she smiled.

  Music spilled from a shop along the sidewalk. The rhythm thumped in her chest, making her want to dance. Such a feeling of life pulsated through her body that she had to fight the intense desire to throw her head back and laugh.

  Someone screamed. Cassie flung herself around looking for the disturbance. The bright sky sliced open by oncoming missiles. Her heart pounded. Feeling the dread of those around her, Cassie stepped backward, nearly knocking over a tiny old man.

  People ran, screaming. But it was no use. The first bombs sent shock waves through the city. Buildings burst and toppled. People’s ears bled even before the blasts reached them. Cassie knew she was about to die.

  In the blink of an eye, the city was gone. She stood on the deck of a domed ship that sailed silently over the human city. Below, destruction reigned. The creatures aboard the ship regarded each other with quiet satisfaction. She looked down at her body and found she was one of them.

  “Level one, destruction complete,” said the captain on deck. “Carry out harvest procedures of genetic matches. Coordinates are as follows.”

  A list of longitude and latitudinal c
oordinates scrolled across the main screen of the bridge. Rage built in her chest, and she suppressed the need to scream and violently lash out at the murderers around her.

  Cassie’s mind rebelled, throwing her out of the scenario. She stood in the open field again, naked, the dome a hundred yards in the distance. Suddenly, she was inside the dome, watching a massive orgy of alien creatures and human girls. Their massive phalli pumped the young women’s flesh as their sharp teeth dug into the girls’ skin. Blood ran from the women’s necks and seeped from between their legs.

  Virgin.

  The collective mind of the creatures throbbed in Cassie’s brain. Cassie lay before one of the towering creatures, her legs open wide, her mind drifting away.

  Virgin.

  The creature’s mouth opened, revealing his sharp canines. He tilted his head back and lunged for her neck as his penis thrust forward.

  She screamed.

  Cassie found herself breathing heavily under the virtual reality helmet. The heat of Rafe’s body was close to her. A whimper escaped her mouth in place of the tortured cry that wanted to come out instead.

  “I’ve got a pretty good idea of what they want,” he said, raising the helmet from her eyes. “At least partially.”

  “How?”

  “I can see it on my screen.”

  “Does that mean Professor Weston could see?” The realization that Pyramid Corporation could see the hologram of her mother made a shiver of anxiety lurch into her stomach.

  “Probably. I don’t see everything though. It’s a vague picture. But the guys in the dome might have more advanced technology than I do. Most of this is pilfered.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “That’s all you need to know,” he said, fiddling with some cables then sitting in front of his computer screen.

  “You just saw inside my head, and you won’t explain how you can do it?” Cassie said, hopping off the chair. “You must know I’m not a spy at this point.”

  “Maybe, maybe not. That last scene was pretty convincing. Your heart rate went through the roof. Genuine fear and disgust. You’ve got the most natural ability with The Program I’ve ever seen. I’m really hoping you are what you say you are.” His golden eyes swept over her body and back to her face.

  “You are dismissed,” he said, turning away.

  “Dismissed?”

  “This is an army, Cassandra, not a pleasure camp. Move along.”

  She grumbled and turned on her heel out of the terminal chamber. His attitude both repulsed and attracted her, though she didn’t know why she’d ever be attracted to his dismissive attitude. The excitement she felt only made her angrier about his brush-off. Cassie wasn’t used to being treated like someone’s subject.

  Her head spun with confusion. She hated that he was not kinder, gentler, when every cell in her body seemed to scream for him to touch her. With everything that had happened to her in the last few days, she couldn’t understand why she would suddenly feel anything for a man, let alone him.

  Chapter 8

  Cassie passed a group exercising in the yard. Selina was among them as Neil shouted out commands. Cassie marched past, wishing there were somewhere else she could go, somewhere that wasn’t an army base for werewolves.

  “Ms. Kline!” shouted Neil. “Fall in. You’ll be training with this unit from now on.”

  Cassie gave him a guarded glare. She didn’t want to join their training. She didn’t even want to be here. Still, what choice did she have? Talk of cannibalistic zombies and witches didn’t give her a lot of confidence to leave. Since most of the human race was dead, mutated, or living in the dome, this place was as good as any.

  She dragged her feet toward the back of the group and found a spot in line. Neil’s brown eyes leveled on her. He nodded slowly then barked further instructions to the group.

  They went through a grueling exercise routine—jumping jacks, pushups, crunches, and they ended with practicing martial arts forms. By the time Neil gave them a break, Cassie was dripping sweat and panting.

  Selina handed her a canteen of water and patted her back. Cassie chugged down the water, sputtering and choking as it went down too fast. Water and sweat dripped from her chin, and she wiped it off with the back of her damp, gritty hand. She’d thought she was in good physical condition, but this routine proved otherwise.

  They were excused for lunch, and she followed Selina to the bathrooms to wash and dry her face before going to the cafeteria. They grabbed trays from the end of the line and worked their way along the cafeteria counter to receive their portion of pasta with meat sauce.

  They grabbed utensils and slid into a table with some other people from their exercise group. A girl with a smooth baby face and thick defined muscles sat across from Cassie. Selina introduced her as Bethany. She had blond hair, cut short on the sides but falling over her left eye and down to her chin in front.

  A young man sitting next to Selina introduced himself as Toby. He was tall and had long, lanky muscles, broad shoulders, and a mop of wavy brown hair. He had a cute face like a boy band singer.

  The fifth at their table was Clark, a tiny boy whose eyes seemed intelligent and calculating. He wore eyeglasses and stared down at his plate. He was smaller than anyone else Cassie had seen in the camp, but he’d kept up with the exercise routines. Clark’s slick black hair clung to his brow. His delicate features and pale skin made him look almost feminine.

  “How long have you all been here?” Cassie asked the group.

  Toby spoke up first. “I’ve been here for four years. Before that, we lived underground in a cramped fallout shelter in the desert. It sucked. Whenever anyone shifted, there wasn’t enough room for the body.”

  “Why did you go into hiding if you’d already been mutated?”

  “No one knew what to expect,” said Toby twirling his pasta on a fork. “We didn’t know if it would kill us or if we’d get worse. After a year, the radiation was gone. We came back out and moved to this place.”

  “The bunker belonged to Rafe,” said Selina. “He gathered the pack while the radiation was still heavy and brought us all there. He saved my life. I was on my way to soccer practice when the bombs hit. I didn’t have a cell phone or anything so I didn’t know about the evacuation. When I got to the field, the bombs hit. I spent days wondering before the radiation pulse. The first time I shifted, I freaked out and nearly lost my mind. Rafe found me a few days later, naked, huddled under an overpass outside of Phoenix in hundred-degree weather. That guy saved my life.

  “Back before the destruction, he’d been really wealthy from computer stuff or something. We were all very lucky he found us and took us to the shelter.” She had a sentimental look in her eye Cassie hadn’t seen before.

  Cassie went back to eating her food, relishing the flavors. When she looked up from her plate, she noticed Rafe had entered the cafeteria. A shiver went down her spine as she looked at his solid, masculine form. She frowned, hating herself for responding to him that way.

  He went to the head of the room and cleared his throat loudly to get everyone’s attention. His gaze ran over the pack as everyone went quiet.

  “As many of you know, we now have a human among us. Her name is Cassandra Kline. Cassie for short.” He looked straight at her, a twinkle in his amber eyes. Her face burned. Why was he doing this to her? She didn’t need to feel any more out of place than she already did. “Please make her feel welcome.”

  He stopped talking and walked out of the cafeteria with Neil. Cassie was mortified. She tried to avoid all the stares that were now pointed in her direction. The last thing she needed was to stand out even more than she already did. The feeling of not belonging intensified.

  She picked up her plate and took it to the kitchen before going back to her room alone. On the way down the hall, she saw Rafe standing by her door. Her muscles tightened, and a scowl curved on her lips. When she got there, he blocked her way.

  “What?” she said, as she tr
ied to get past him.

  “I want your stay here to be comfortable. Let me know if anyone gives you any problems.”

  “Aside from you?”

  “I’m giving you problems? You don’t like food and running water?”

  “If you want me to leave, then just say so.” She pushed past him into her room and closed the door, dizzy, her heart pounding. She didn’t know if she was aroused or angry or both. She flopped down on her bed and tried not to think about how trapped she felt. There was nowhere else to go. Nothing else to do. She had to stay here with this exasperating man who her stupid body found so utterly attractive.

  Chapter 9

  In a fuzzy dreamlike haze, Cassie walked alone through a garden. Roses of every color and variety bloomed around her. The intoxicating floral aroma filled her lungs and filled her senses with peace.

  She sat at a carved stone bench and watched the sunlight transform into the flaming colors of sunset as it glowed on the brilliant hues of the flowers. In her peaceful repose, she barely realized her mother had sat down on the bench beside her.

  When Cassie noticed her mother’s presence, she turned to her. Her mother smiled. Her dusty blond hair was brushed back into a beautifully detailed hairpin.

  “Where are we?” Cassie asked. Her words sounded submerged under water. “Is this The Program?”

  “What is The Program?”

  “A computer simulation.”

  Her mother laughed. The sound was like music lilting on the breeze. Cassie raised an eyebrow, searching for the punch line.

  “This is no computer simulation, child. This is an inter-dimensional rift. A world between worlds. Only a few can access it, even with The Program and the serum.”

  “Why am I here?”

  “All in due time, love. There are many challenges coming. Listen to the secret sense. It has been entrusted to you by the Counsel of the Seventh House.”