She shoved her hands into her pockets and paced the bridge while she waited for everyone to arrive. She had a bad feeling about this and not just because she hated the Church. Which she did.
When the planets had first been colonized, a great deal of experimentation had gone into genetic modification, mainly using genetic material brought from Earth. The idea had been to make humans more suitable for the conditions on the planets, which weren’t always as hospitable as Earth. Later, the experiments had been extended just to make people stronger, faster, whatever they might gain from a particular animal or plant, or what the researchers thought they might gain.
When the Church had risen to power in the aftermath of Meridian, they had called for a purge of the GMs, labeled them abominations, and millions had been slaughtered. That was a couple of hundred years ago, and now any GMs kept out of the Church’s way. Mostly they were left alone as long as they maintained a low profile.
But some people still did the research in secret, believing it was the way forward for mankind, and the Church eradicated them wherever they were found. Tannis had always presumed her own family had been scientists killed by the Church, who then sold Tannis and her sister to the research station. But she’d only been four years old, so she couldn’t remember much of her family.
“Do you know what they want?” Callum’s quietly spoken question broke into her memories. She’d been avoiding looking at him; now she could feel heat steal across her cheeks.
Holy freaking Meridian, she was blushing. At least she presumed she was blushing; it wasn’t something she had ever done before. But she couldn’t stop remembering that only five minutes ago, the Leader of the Known Universe had had his hand down her pants. Wow. She squirmed at the memory. Her gaze dropped to those hands and her breasts tightened as she remembered how his clever fingers had touched her. She swallowed.
“Tannis?”
Her gaze flew to his face. “Sorry, what did you say?”
He grinned and his own gaze dropped to her chest where her nipples were clearly outlined under her T-shirt, and her face heated even more. Bloody hell, she’d better get herself under control before Rico got there or she’d never live it down. The nipple thing—maybe. The blush—never.
“I asked if you know what the Church want.”
She pried her mind away from sex. “Could be one of many things—Alex, Hezrai Fischer… Who knows with the Church—they’re all mad.”
“They’re calling us,” Janey said.
“Ignore them for a minute. I want the others here.”
Rico came in with Skylar beside him. Tannis crossed her arms over her chest. He gave her a quick glance but then crossed to stand beside Janey. “What have we got?” he asked.
“The Church.”
“Great. Have I mentioned—”
“Yes, you have,” Tannis butted in before he could really get going. Then wished she hadn’t as his gaze swung around. His eyes narrowed thoughtfully on her, before moving on to Callum and back to her.
“Are we interrupting anything?”
“Nothing that hadn’t already been interrupted. Where are Alex and Jon?”
“On their way.”
They appeared in the doorway. “What’s happening?” Alex asked with a huge yawn.
“Your old friends have come to play.”
“The Church? Why?”
“We have no clue yet. Now, we’re all here, so let’s find out shall we? Janey, put him on.”
“This is High Priest Temperance Hatcher, leader on the one true Church, seeker of the truth, loyal—”
“For Christ’s sake, just get on with it,” Tannis snapped. “Say what you want and piss off.”
There was a minute’s silence, though she could hear his heavy breathing on the other end.
“We want the bloodsucking spawn of Satan who murdered our beloved Hezrai Fischer.”
Tannis switched off the comm and turned to look at Rico, one eyebrow raised.
“Does he mean me?” he asked. “Why is it everyone seems to think I’m related to Satan?”
“I wonder,” Skylar murmured, and he grinned.
“Beloved Hezrai Fischer?” Alex said. “That’s a joke—they hated each other. I bet he had a dance on Hezrai’s grave. And we did him a favor. He would never have become High Priest while Hezrai was alive.”
Tannis switched the comm back on. “Well, you can’t have him. Anything else? Because if not, we have things to do, so good-bye.”
“We want our High Priestess returned to us. She is the bride of God.”
Alex edged a little closer to Jon, and he wrapped an arm around her shoulder, pulling her tight against him. The Church would have to go through Jon to get to Alex and that wasn’t going to happen. He would die first, and that wasn’t going to happen either—not on her watch.
She wondered whether they should tell them their priestess was now a werewolf. Would they still want her back? Somehow, she doubted it. Also, there was the little fact that the “Virgin Bride of the Everlasting God” was no longer a virgin—far from it.
“Sorry, that one’s a no as well.”