Mini Max Read online

  Born to stand out, she turns a life of obligation into a life she chooses… on Team Eight.

  Max was raised with a purpose, but her accelerated development had nothing to do with it. She was born to be a Demyani, a Girl Bringer. In a community full of men who could only generate boys, she produced a hormone via her passive presence that tipped the scales and made girl babies enter the families.

  Her extreme height and immense strength were secondary characteristics to her place in her adoptive family. She brought the girls.

  Life was routine, but she had a plan for her retirement when her family no longer needed her services. That plan was set on its edge when she meets an investigator from the Cluster Team Project. She is a candidate for Team Eight, but she has to strike a balance between being there for her family and going off-world to be there for everyone else.

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  Mini Max

  Copyright © 2019 Viola Grace

  ISBN: 978-1-4874-2621-7

  Cover art by Angela Waters

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

  Published by eXtasy Books Inc or

  Devine Destinies, an imprint of eXtasy Books Inc

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  Mini Max

  Team Eight: Origins, Book 5

  By

  Viola Grace

  Chapter One

  “I would like a Demyani that is cute if there is one available. One that looks like us.” Mrs. Zenacka looked at the administrator.

  The woman making notes looked up. “You have sons already, yes?”

  “We do. Four. We are ready for daughters.” Mr. Zenacka smiled and took his wife’s hand.

  “Do you have a lot of land to inherit?”

  The Zenackas smiled and nodded. “We are sixth generation farmers. We have inherited all that we have from my mother and the aunts who didn’t marry.”

  “So, you are content to divide your land among your daughters?”

  The Zenackas nodded. Mrs. Zenacka looked at the woman and said, “We are ready to take the next step as good citizens.”

  “Good. Well, you have passed all the investigatory levels, and as you cannot naturally have a daughter, a Demyani does seem to be the right path for you. You have plenty of property to divide, so you can take on the girls that she will spur in you. The moment you have had enough, have yourself altered so that the girls will stop. If you hesitate, they will continue. The Demyani that we have here are tremendously powerful.” The administrator got to her feet.

  “Shall we go and see if we can find one to fit your family?”

  The eager Zenackas followed the woman down the hall to where the soft sounds of snuffling babies could be heard. There were ten little cribs, every two attended by a nursemaid.

  “There are three candidates here with your colouring. There is this one.” She walked over and showed a baby who was tiny, pink, and looked timid.

  “This one.” The child was slightly less pink and perfect, her skin paler with a dark cast to her eyes.

  The administrator’s voice grew warm. “And then there is Maxuna.”

  Mr. Zenacka asked, “Why does she have a name and the others don’t?”

  The administrator moved and let them have a good look. The child was in robust health and a third larger than any other baby in the creche.

  “Is she a reject?”

  The administrator shook her head. “No, she is the youngest here. She was normal at birth, but she is the strongest, healthiest, and best-natured baby here. Her growth isn’t very peculiar. Her mother wasn’t sure who the father was but could definitely state that he wasn’t local.”

  That was code for off-world.

  Mr. Zenacka swayed. “Can she still be a Demyani with that pedigree?”

  Mrs. Zenacka looked at her husband. “What is wrong?”

  “The pheromones that she is already putting out are working on your husband. Any male within a twenty-foot radius will be creating girls after ten minutes. She is strong, powerful, sturdy, and everyone loves her. Even the most grumpy of nurses dotes on her. She is the perfect Demyani.”

  Mrs. Zenacka looked at her husband’s expression and the doting expressions of all the woman in the room. “We will take her, but must we keep the name?”

  “She answers to it, but by all means, wrap her in your family names. I am sure she will appreciate it when she is an adult. Now, we need to discuss her retirement package and the education that you will provide her with. She needs to be more than a daughter as her chances of finding a mate of her own are nearly impossible.”

  The administrator tried to shoo them out, but Mrs. Zenacka stepped to the crib and scooped up the child who was lighter than she looked. “Maxuna, we are going to give you a family name and a bright future. You are welcome in our home.” She pressed a kiss to the baby’s forehead, and instantly, her heart was given. This child would be hers, and she would herald in a wave of daughters.

  She settled the little one in the crib and walked out with her husband and the administrator.

  Back in the office, they sat and answered questions about their village and the fact that no Demyani had been there for the last six decades.

  “So, your neighbours will want to use her, but do not let her out of your sight. They can come into your presence with her, but do not let her go to their places for sleepovers and such. It isn’t appropriate, and she might lose her chemical signature for you. She will need standard and advanced medical training. Your daughters will need her there to have their own children. If your neighbours don’t respect the Demyani in your household, involve the law. The next generation will need her.” The orders and information were barked out, and the Zenackas signed on for each and every caveat.

  After two hours of explanation, the contract was signed, the money of the trust for Maxuna’s future was transferred, and the Zenackas had possession of their Demyani. Their daughter bringer.

  * * * *

  Max cycled home from school. Her younger sisters had gone in their brother’s vehicle, but she didn’t fit.

  She was passing the Medows’ farm when she saw the curl of smoke. She increased her velocity, and the cycle powered down the road, turning and twisting to follow the column of smoke as quickly as she could. When she arrived at the scene, she was horrified. Telios’s vehicle was on its side in the ditch, Water was coming in, and the vehicle had rolled, wedging her siblings inside.

  The engine compartment was smouldering.

  Max calmly parked her cycle, and she walked down into the ditch. She reached out and grabbed the door grips, grimacing when they came off in her hands.

  Tuning out the panicked screams was difficult, but she managed as she dug her hands into the crease of the door, and then, she pulled upward, tearing the front door wide open. When that was done, she grabbed
the rear door and pulled it free as well. Then, she started to pull her six sisters out one by one. Telios was already out and helping his girlfriend out of her seatbelt.

  “Everybody, get out of the ditch. Don’t wait here. I am not getting out of here until everyone is out of the vehicle. Go!”

  She repeated it to each of her sisters as she pulled them loose, and then, just to make sure, she opened the dented hatch by peeling the metal open. She scooped out all of the books and tossed them to the road. The flare of fire was licking around the engine, and she whistled sharply. “Stand clear!”

  A glance proved that they were all safe. She lifted the vehicle over her head, walked to the interior of the field line, found Lake Terranor, and she threw the vehicle as hard as she could. The unwieldy shape flipped end over end, but when the splash was final and the explosion followed, she was glad she had been practicing.

  Telios looked at her. “Did you have to throw it in the lake?”

  She nodded. “I did.”

  Her sister Mitska cocked her head. “Are you shorter?”

  Max looked down and saw that she was automatically holding onto her uniform skirt. She had shrunk several inches, if not an entire foot.

  “Yeah. It happens.” She shrugged. “Has anyone called Mom and Dad?”

  Telios flushed, but Niina nodded. “They are coming.”

  Max looked at her elder. “What happened?”

  “None of your business!”

  Niina cleared her throat. “Lemalia had her hand in his lap, and then, we spun over and over.”

  There were cuts, bruises, and two of her sisters were clutching one arm. Max looked at her older brother and his mortified girlfriend. “You were responsible for them.”

  Telios puffed up his chest, and he stalked toward her. “No, you are responsible for them. They wouldn’t be here without you. We were doing fine. We had everything in hand. Now, you are here, and then, the girls started appearing.”

  He reached out to shove her, and his hand thudded against her shoulder.

  She frowned. “Mom and Dad wanted them, wanted us. They went to the Demyani centre, negotiated for hours, and brought me home. Because of me, you and the others will be able to father daughters right off the bat. Well, if you are near me after you are married, but given how far Lemalia has walked since you started in on me, I doubt that it will be any time soon.”

  He flexed his hand, drew it back, and struck her.

  Max stood silent as he screamed while his now-useless and shattered hand flopped at the end of his wrist.

  The other girls were crying. Lemalia went to Niina and held her close.

  Max was still standing there when Telios started throwing up. She glanced over, and Mom and Dad were standing there, making sense of what they had seen.

  “You can hang up now, Niina.” Her mother smiled and nodded. “You did well.”

  Father stepped into the ditch. “What is wrong, Max?”

  “He broke his hand, Dad.” Max nodded.

  “I see. In the accident?”

  Lemalia filled in. “He attacked her. I didn’t know he could hit a woman.” She looked shaken.

  Telios lifted his head. “She isn’t a woman, she’s a freak! She’s a Demyani. If not for her, my brothers and I would have inherited.”

  His father shook his head. “No, if anything had happened to us, the property would have gone to your cousin Krystar. All of it.”

  Telios blinked. “What? Morring said...”

  “Krystar’s brother? He would benefit if his sister inherited a property this size. She would need someone to oversee it.”

  Telios was stunned.

  Max shrugged. She got nothing from the inheritance. This wasn’t her problem. She paused. “Telios, were you trying to injure the girls?”

  The guilty look on his features was enough of a giveaway.

  She heard Mom yell, “Max, don’t kill him!”

  Max picked up Telios, shifted slightly, and sent him off to join his vehicle in the lake. The lake was shallow. If he didn’t black out on entry, he would still be alive when they got there to collect him.

  Dad put his hand on her shoulder. “Thanks for aiming for the water.”

  She nodded. “You are welcome, Dad. I think we should go get him. He won’t swim well with that broken hand.”

  Her father’s eyes widened, and he looked at the cycle. “Can I borrow it?”

  “It would be better if I went with you.”

  He nodded, and they got onto the cycle and went through all the back lanes and between the crops. She drove, and soon, they were at the edge of the water. Telios had managed to haul himself out of the water, and he was lying on his back and sobbing.

  Dad listened as the entire plot came spilling out. Morring had been goading Telios, and Max knew her brother was not a particularly strong-witted man. He confessed to wanting to kill the girls and hating Max.

  Max shrugged. A lot of folks in the neighbourhood didn’t particularly like her. She was too big, too calm, too confident, and too smart. Her family had three times the number of girls of any family in the area, and her dad was an exceptionally proud man. His daughters had inherited wealth from every single female relative in the area, and some on other continents. Their family wealth had grown exponentially since Max had arrived. The Zenackas were considered exceptionally lucky, and all they had to do was take in one little girl to set the whole thing off.

  Max waited while her dad and Telios finished their talk and the begging for forgiveness had ceased. Telios was not going to remain at the farm much longer, and he would be glad to go. His father knew how low he was willing to sink, and there was no forgiving or forgetting some things.

  The truck rumbled up, and Telios and Dad got on board. Max led the way out of the lake pathways and out to the medical centre where everyone was going to need treatment. It was a silent gathering that disembarked from the large farm truck, and the girls filed into the med centre one by one. Telios was the last one to pass through the doors, and though his injuries were the worse, Max knew he was going to have to wait until every cut and bruise was attended to, no matter what the medics said.

  Max sighed and waited with the rest of her family in the waiting room, slowly getting larger as she relaxed. If this is what happened on her thirteenth birthday, she wondered what was waiting on her eighteenth.

  She really hoped no one died.

  Chapter Two

  Whistling to herself, she worked on the suspension unit of the vehicle on the hoist above her head.

  “How bad is it, Max?” The old farmer’s voice was tumbling gravel.

  “You have to stop using rocks as a highway. The treads can’t take it.” She smiled. No one called her Kiika, not even her family. She was Max and always would be.

  “Can you fix it?”

  “I have to check on our parts supply. If I can find a new tread and linkage, I can get this back to you by the end of the week, Marsos.” She rolled out from under the vehicle and stood facing the smaller man.

  He fidgeted. “Can you get it to me sooner? It is nearing harvest time, and I need it for collection.”

  She snorted. “Fine. Come with me to the yard.”

  She led the way out the back of the shop and into the scrap yard. Heaps of vehicles were stacked up in various stages of disassembly.

  “I think I have something with treads back here.” Max led the way to the rear of the lot and nodded when she saw the vehicles that had the same propulsion assembly as his truck.

  A few twists loosened the nuts that had rusted into place, and Marsos whistled softly. She hummed and removed the linkage before pulling the tread free and draping it over her shoulder. She headed back to the shop and smiled at him. “You can have it tomorrow.”

  He grinned and nearly skipped his eighty-year-old body out of the yard.

  She shook her head and hauled the tread back into her shop, setting it in place and quickly in
stalling the rim that would hold it before she started to shrink.

  She only lost a few inches, so she used her normal strength to tighten the nuts that would keep the tension on the tread.

  “Max, why are you still working?”

  Niina was a spry fourteen-year-old, and she was standing in the open doorway of the shop and glaring inside.

  Max chuckled. “I am almost done. I just want to get this done so Marsos can get back to work in the morning.”

  “Max, it is the engagement party! You need a shower, and then, you have to get ready.”

  Max groaned and finished tightening the tread. “Right. Give me five minutes.”

  Niina crossed her arms. “You have seven. Go. I will close the shop, and then, we will head out.”

  Max chuckled, made sure that nothing was left out and could injure anyone, and then, she sprinted upstairs to use her new gel shower, and then, she could get dressed.

  She put on her underwear and then slid on a dark blue button-down shirt. Her trousers were in charcoal and neat as well. Max grimaced. Everything she was wearing was masculine.

  A quick visit to her jewelry box set her up with earrings and a long silver necklace that hung down the shirt and made her appear slightly more feminine. Makeup wasn’t appropriate for a Demyani, so she headed downstairs in what passed for her party clothing.

  Niina, her youngest sibling, was standing next to the till and looking at the books.

  “Find anything interesting?”

  Niina nodded and smiled. “You have a head for business. I was afraid that folks would take advantage of you, but you seem to do fine.”

  “I do. Shall we go?” She waved her sister to the front of the shop.

  “Right. Don’t you have anything nicer to wear?”

  Max sighed. “Not since my last growth spurt. None of the other seamstresses in the area is comfortable sewing for me. Not since Miss Najon spread the word that I was after her fiancé.”