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loving parents . My father and mother had cared deeply for each other, and that was the future I secretly longed for. Most males were kept away from their children, but my mother had encouraged our relationship. I’d loved him… mourned him when Rankin ripped his throat out. That was right after I’d found them in the barn and started screaming.
    I’d always assumed her lack of control over the Change had caused my dad’s death, but it hadn’t mattered. I’d attacked Rankin in my grief and she’d taken me, in more ways than one.
     
    I struggled angrily, not afraid of the bloody woman with the red hair. “You killed him!”
    She shook me until I was cowered against her arm and then jerked me off the ground. I was held in the air above her while she stared at me.
    “You look remarkably alike…”
    I saw her again, claws plunging into my dad’s throat… Fresh hatred consumed me and I kicked out, catching her in the stomach.
    The breath flew out of me as she let go. I slammed back to the ground, head smacking the dirt and I immediately started to cry. It hurt!
    A second later, there was blinding pain in my head and I shuddered, eyes rolling back…
    “No!”
    Hard fingers grabbed me, held me close as I shook.
    “Don’t die!”
    The pain slowly receded, but flared again as Rankin stood up with me in her arms. I cried out as she bounced me roughly onto the horse and swung up in time to keep me from going off the other side.
    She jerked me back against her and kneed the horse as a dark field rose in front of my eyes.
    “You’ll be okay. The Network will see to you or I’ll give up their dirty secrets!”
    I felt pressure on my head and the motion of the horse under us, but little else. As I surrendered to sleep, her words went with me.
    “In time, I’ll have my William back - through you.”
     
    For the 15 years since then, the complex and Rankin had been my home, my family.
    I’d gone through the normal bachelor training under Rankin’s supervision, her conditions. I knew how to please a Changeling, but I’d never been fully taken by one. I was listed as pure, something the other males disliked me for. I was spared their required time in the renter’s cells, I was fed better, given more medical care… and I was defenseless against Rankin whenever she wanted me to practice my newly-learned skills while she wore the cuffs.
    She was so cruel! I often suspected she had more than one whore-in-training and I pitied those other males on the nights she and her bloody claws left my cell unsatisfied. Rankin had only recently gotten the promotion to the top of the guard food-chain. She had no intentions of breaking the rules by taking me fully, but if I wasn’t picked in the next 4 episodes, they would list my number and Rankin would buy me. I looked a lot like my father now… and she’d waited a long time to have him.
    The other bachelors in this lot assumed one of them would be chosen. Their pretty faces and submissive demeanors were obvious, but in my heart, I hoped Angelica Pruett would be different than the rest of the women who blew through here with their bloody fists. I was hoping she was like her cousin.
    I was terrified of the duty waiting for me if I was picked, but I was desperate. Enough to lie to my new owner or service her needs for as long as it took me to escape. I had secrets the rebels might need to know, and in exchange, I hoped they would let me stay with them until I was stronger. I hated the Network and the thought of gaining my life back was one that would give me the courage to follow through with my plans.
    From the small door-hole, I watched Angelica run a blood-crusted hand through those short black spikes and wondered what her thoughts were right then. Was she wishing she could come back in and snap? Did it matter to her if the bachelors were abused slaves? Would she kill me when she found out what I was doing?
    It would make things easier if the Pruetts lived up to the rumors I was