3013: SALVATION (3013: The Series Book 5) Read Online Free PDF Page B

tomorrow, we have a new lead to aid you with your current
mission, but we won’t waste time with that right now. What we need to speak
with you about is the potential issues the council brought up regarding your
involvement in this case.” He shot a glance at Regent Roman Newgate that had
the other man shifting uncomfortably in his seat.
    “Listen,” Regent Roman Newgate
began. “I’ve only been a damn council member for what, a week now? Obviously, I’m
still learning, and this isn’t something I’m used to doing.”
    “What exactly do you mean by
that, sir?” Skylar asked carefully.
    Regent Newgate blew out a breath.
“We’ve seen the reports about your...extraction from Tartarus when you were
young. The Alliance’s relations with the Tarins are sketchy at best right now,
and some of the council members are worried that having you involved in this
will damage the relationship we have cultivated with that planet.”
    Skylar blinked in surprise. Talk
about a what the fuck moment. So, she was going to be the downfall of an
entire treaty?
    No pressure or anything.
    As the surprise faded, anger
began to surface. “Respectfully, sirs. I don’t understand why something that
happened years ago would affect my ability to be a part of this investigation.”
    Regent Newgate heaved out a sigh.
“Officer Aris, you are half Tarin. No matter how much you try to ignore the
past, it’s going to come into play when your mission takes you to Tartarus.”
    “I don’t remember,” Skylar said,
struggling to keep her voice calm. Her heart was pounding in her chest so loud
it sounded like drum beats in her ears. “I did the testing...did all the
council required of me when I went through training to become an elite. I can’t
remember where I came from. As far as I’m concerned, I'm human. I choose to be
human.”
    Skylar had very few memories of
her life before she had turned twelve. She had been told she’d arrived at the
gates of the Hades Outpost on Tartarus, discovered in the back of a supply
wagon, battered and bleeding. It had been determined that she was a half human,
half Tarin hybrid child that had escaped from whatever hell she’d come from,
and the commander of the Hades Outpost had immediately granted her sanctuary.
    She didn’t remember her past, and
she didn’t want to.
    “Skylar,” Regent Spartan said,
his voice soft with sympathy. “I know you don’t remember, but it doesn’t change
the facts. Your mixed bloodline is what has given you your abilities and made
you a Class-A Conduit. It’s those abilities that concern us now. Conduits are powerful
and very rare, so most of the information on them have been kept classified,
but we know that they can become...unstable if not properly regulated.”
    “Regulated? Sir, I—”
    “The last two men you put down
are still in the medical unit, Skylar.”
    Skylar opened her mouth, then
closed it. She didn’t know what to say to that, hadn’t known she had injured
the men so badly. She’d just given them a little shock, just enough to make them
leave her the hell alone like as she’d always done.
    “Which is why the council has
classified you a liability,” Regent Newgate continued. “Because of that, a vote
was held. You are to choose a bonding pair, or this will be your last
assignment as an elite.”

 
    ***
    Chapter Three
     
    The silence in the room was
deafening.
    Skylar felt as if the walls were
closing in around her. There was a pressure on her chest that made it difficult
to breathe. Everything she was, everything she had worked for was being taken
away from her...because the council wanted her on a leash?
    “I don’t think I heard you
right,” Skylar said slowly. “You’re saying the council voted to rescind my
exempt status?”
    “No,” Regent Newgate said with
the shake of his head. “We are still allowing you to choose your own bonding
partners.”
    Well, isn’t that big of
them...
    “I don’t see why—”
    “Sex, Skylar,”