Page 8 of M.A.Y.A
Isaiah’s body tensed, and the energy around him electrified. He stood taller now, and there was a subtle aggressiveness in the way he leaned forward. “You lost me at different realities, but your captors invaded dimensions for resources? That sounds hostile to me, Maya.”
“It is,” she replied. “And they’ve succeeded. One by one, they found fertile dimensions and worked with other military organizations across the planet to invade, collect and destroy. They even captured different humans from those dimensions to study. Out of six dimensions, they have successfully hoarded resources from five of them. The only reason bunker portal six hasn’t been breached is because the lock on the door is different from the rest.”
“Then how did you get through?”
Her shoulders straightened. “I’m a crypto linguist. I used to work in the government archives before the wars, and I figured out the keycode.”
Isaiah rubbed a hand over his face. “Of course, my mate is a stubborn woman who knows crypto linguistics, too.”
“Mate?”
He waved a hand in dismissal. “We’ll get to it in a moment. Tell me the rest.”
Maya took a deep breath. She braced herself for the hostility, for the rejection. “The sixth bunker portal is located in New York City. In the remains of the Empire State Building.”
“Remains? Jesus…”
“As one of the lab automatons designed by the Coalition, my responsibility was to go on an expedition into the new territory, assess danger, and the resources available. I realized that this was how I was going to gain my freedom. With the help of a rebel scientist, I broke out of the Coalition’s lab, unlocked the portal door, and?—”
“And what, came here to hide?” Isaiah burst out. “Maya, say I subscribe to this…idea that there are alternate realities. That you are from a different dimension where people live underground, and the Empire State Building is in ruins.”
She scrambled to her knees. “It’s true!”
He held up a finger. “Fine, say it’s true. You breaking into the bunker portal is going to lead the enemy straight towards us!”
“That’s why we have to destroy it as quickly as possible.”
Her words seemed to stop him in his tracks. The intensity of his stare had her picking at the hem of the flannel shirt that fell to her knees. The fabric smelled like him. She wanted to lean her head to the side and take a deep sniff before wrapping her arms around herself.
“You want to what,closethe bunker portal?”
Maya nodded. “The people of my world destroyed the planet. Then they intentionally went out to destroy as many other worlds as possible that they could find for their own gain. I refuse to be a part of that destruction. I refused to let what happened to me happen to anyone else.”
There was another long pause.
“Maya,” he said slowly, and took a step forward for the first time since they began talking. “You do realize that this sounds like a hallucination, right?”
“Not as much as your story does with words like ‘shifter’ and ‘Alpha,’” she shot back. Maya pushed her fingers through her hair, and felt the stiff, dry, brittle strands snag against her knuckles. The ends brushed the small of her back. She stopped being vain about it, because it would’ve only been a matter of time before the scientists shaved her head again.
“Okay,” Isaiah said, his palms out as if in surrender. “How many people know about you jumping through this portal? Hell, how many people can get through?”
She shook her head. “No one else can get through until they unlock the portal door with the code I used. I remember shutting it behind me before I jumped in. Then I ran in the dark, and I believe I passed out after that. This is my first waking memory since entering the portal. As far as how many people know, only one. She’s a scientist from an alternate reality that was taken over by the Coalition for Political Peace. She wants this to stop as much as I do.”
“Son of a bitch,” he hissed. Another animalistic rumble echoed through the room, and Maya was startled enough to scramble back against the bed.
Before she could ask where the sound came from, her arm began to beep. She glanced down at it and saw the red light blinking against one of her monitoring markers. Her energy reserves were dangerously low.
“What is that? What’s happening?” he asked as he rounded the bed to stand next to her. His scent had the odd effect of calming some of her frayed nerves.
Maya held out her forearm so he could see the alert on the interface. “It’s my energy levels. They’re lower than optimal. I require rations. Do you…do you by any chance have any extra that I can consume?”
“Rations?” that line formed between his brows again. “Is that how bad your world has become? Your food is now in the form of military-like rations?”
“Ah, yes. It’s probably worse than you’re thinking to be honest.”
“I’m sorry,” he said, and the sincerity in his tone eased some of her embarrassment. “It’s neglect on my part to ignore your needs. Let me get you something from our kitchens.” He glanced around the room. “I’ll have to leave you here to contact members of my pack. Can I trust you to stay put until I return?”
She wanted to lie to him, to tell him whatever he wanted to hear so that she had the chance to run when he was occupied. Her days in captivity were over. Except the thought of leaving Isaiah right now felt…wrong. He hadn’t done anything to hurt her, and her instincts told her that she was safe with him. And that he could help her.
