“I once thought the same as you do about risking everything for fame and glory. Now I serve the Goddess for the sake of love alone.”
“Love? Females have their uses, but love? Love is a weakness,” the first male said bitterly while the second male chuckled.
He shrugged off their opinions and refused to sigh over their wrong thinking. It was clear their minds and hearts were too set to be changed.
Still…
“Consider this one last caution. Over the long years of your life, you might find the weakness of love to be a better fate than dying without ever knowing the joys of true devotion when it is returned in kind. Truly, I would not wish an existence without love for my greatest enemy.”
Both males merely laughed at his inspired confession. They did not glance back at him, and that’s when he finally gave up. Not everyone could be saved. Losing young warriors, though, had always wounded his spirit the most.
He watched with great sadness as both males entered the portal and disappeared.
If they were lucky, maybe their souls would keep Artic’s company in the afterlife on Earth. At least those two misguided males would no longer spread discord among the other warriors. If their words were true—that they were the last of the dissenters—then Glacier’s primary military was safe once more.
Now he could only hope that Resig and Stark properly handled the situation he’d just created.
Chapter Nineteen
“Two more portals opened?” Topper asked in surprise.
In the newly enlarged nursery with enough room for both Berg and his kreela pet who was currently missing, Stark walked to the chair where his mate nursed his son. In one or two more growth cycles, Berg would become a genuine toddler and no longer a babe who needed to be carried. His son’s rapid growth was bittersweet for both of them, but losing his infant state was hardest on his mother.
“Thor has gone to investigate the portal that opened in town. The other is about five miles out of town on the road leading to Albuquerque. If another creature has been sent through the portal, it might even now be running loose in the desert. At least, the area it landed in was barren for twenty miles in all directions.”
“Stark, you need to investigate that desert portal yourself. If the men in black get there before you do, that would be bad. It makes me shudder to think of all the magic it will take to make them forget something as unusual as a kreela who can grow and shrink,” Topper said as she shook her head.
Stark sighed. It was a rare thing for him to do, but today his body needed a pressure release. “I would like to go check, but I don’t want to leave you alone.”
Topper chuckled. “Alone? I won’t be alone. Depending on what happens, I may have to go help Thor,” she said as she hefted their now enormous baby onto her shoulder to pat. “Take Jessica with you… and Kevin. Jessica knows how to shrink and this could be excellent practice for her. Frost and Lacey have several land vehicles, which will be faster and easier than running all the way out there. Some are even equipped for desert travel. You’ll be able to cover that twenty-mile radius with no problem at all.”
“Wonderful idea,” Stark said. “I can take Resig with me as well. He and Nia are just talking.”
“No,” Topper said, fighting an eye roll. Nia and Resig were doing a lot more than talking. “Leave Resig here. I must leave Berg with Nia if Thor needs me. And Nia might need protection. Mars and the other warriors are helping at the Snow Dome. They won’t be home until tonight. If I have to leave, I would prefer to have an armed protector here.”
“We do have a protector. Eeela is here. That’s why kreelas were originally domesticated. I don’t know what Icela used her for, but she seems tame enough around us.”
Topper nodded. “I admit that creature adores Berg, but it’s not like our son can command her yet. Nor will he be able to keep her from destroying the house if Eeela expands and tries to eat some random person who shows up here. And I really don’t want anyone messing with our house anytime again soon, Stark. It will take me weeks to sort out the expansion. Everyone meant well, but nothing is where it belongs. Chaos always happens when friends help you move.”
Stark grunted. “That’s an excellent point. I found my weapons hidden in strange places. If I hadn’t put trackers on them, I wouldn’t have known where they were being stored.”
“Just go and check the portal,” Topper ordered, shooing him with her hand. “This sudden burst of intergalactic travel activity needs to be halted as soon as possible. In a few minutes, I will pop into town and see what Thor’s found. When I return from doing that, I’m contacting your Goddess and the Fates. You can bet one of them knows what’s happening and why. If I find they’ve been meddling again, we will have words—strong words—strong magical words.”
Grinning at his fierce mate struggling to one-handedly tuck her beautiful breasts back into her clothes, he could well imagine what those strong words would be. Stark lifted his now sleeping son from his mother’s shoulder and placed him into his bed.
When Topper was completely dressed and ready to take on the world again, Stark took her into his arms and kissed her soundly.
“That better not be a baby-making kiss,” Topper warned after he’d turned her loose.
Stark laughed and kissed Topper’s forehead. “It was the kiss of a man who is overwhelmed with the awesome of his mate.”
Topper snickered against his chest. “Good answer, Alien.”
“I know. I’ve been practicing my marital diplomacy. Be careful today, Witch.”
“You be careful as well,” Topper ordered. “Want me to transport you and Jessica to Lacey’s?”
“I’d rather not have to fight being ill. It’s only a three or four minute Glacieran run from our house if Jessica and I cut through the fields and go around the town. I’ll carry Kevin. Jessica needs to put some muscles on her much longer legs anyway. At the rate that girl is growing, she will be as tall as Rime soon.”
Topper felt her throat tighten. Both her children were growing up too fast—and not just the normal too fast that most parents complained about. It unbalanced her in a way she couldn’t explain, but nothing brought on the waterworks faster. “I love you, Stark.”
Stark stopped at the door and turned to smile. “I love you more now than I ever have. We’ll get this all sorted out and then life will assume some semblance of normal again. I promise.”
Topper nodded and blinked back a few tears when Stark finally disappeared from her sight. “Damn Glacieran Baby Blues,” she grumbled as she grabbed a tissue.
She refused to be teary-eyed when she explained what was going on to Nia.
Thor saw him from a distance. The strange Glacieran warrior was glaring at everyone and had his weapon out. If one of the wolf teens shifted just to mess with him, the warrior would no doubt end up disintegrating the kid.
He should have warned Theo when he first saw the warrior, but the need to follow outweighed running to alert the dragon Sheriff and his dragon Deputy. Thor needed to purchase a phone that he could carry with him, but normal Earth technology rarely worked in Magic.
Following the Glacieran warrior as close as he dared, Thor saw the man stop and check his wrist unit before heading off in a direction that would lead him out of town. It was also straight in the direction that led to Topper and Stark’s house. He doubted that was a coincidence. Goddess only knew his friend had accumulated a lot of enemies in the years they were apart.
Thor winced when a flash of purple magic appeared near the Glacieran. The warrior turned and fired without seeing the cause. It happened so fast, Thor couldn’t see if his aim had been true. A purple lightning bolt suddenly shot through the air in retaliation. The Glacieran warrior fell to the ground.
“Topper!” Thor yelled her name as he ran to where she swayed on her feet. When he got to Topper’s side, he found her holding her arm, which was bleeding. The Glacieran warrior was motionless on the ground about six feet from her.
�
�Thank the Goddess you live. Now you need a healer,” he said to bravest female he’d ever known.
“It’s just a graze, Thor. Check the man I zapped,” Topper said, her gaze on the man. She could see now he was a Glacieran warrior, much like the ones routinely Stark trained. “His weapon firing startled me and I reacted.”
Doing as she ordered, Thor walked to the warrior and knelt. He felt for signs of life and found none. He looked at Topper and shook his head. “He’s gone, but it was a justified kill. The Glacieran shot you first. I was watching, but too far away to stop him.”
Topper hung her head. “Damn—I didn’t mean to kill him. He was just so close when he fired his gun.”
Thor rose from the ground and went to Topper. He took her in his arms as gently as possible and pulled her close to hide her tears of remorse from the onlookers.
Thor looked into the crowd. “Topper’s been shot by a plasma weapon. Fetch Nonny… and someone go tell Theo what happened. We’ll need his help to move the body,” he ordered.
Six people hurried off to do as he asked. Others started sniffling and crying. Kids were ordered away from the scene. The town didn’t normally see this kind of violence happen out in the open, in front of them, and in broad daylight. Their dragon Sheriff was normally very good at keeping Magic calm and peaceful.
Thor pointed at the body of the Glacieran warrior. “We need something to transport the body to Topper’s house after Theo finishes looking at the scene.” He watched as another group of six or seven hustled off looking for a cart or other transport. It would keep them busy until a few witches could come and handle things the way Topper would have.
When the onlookers were mostly occupied with tasks, Thor finally turned his attention back to the woman in his arms. He lifted her face and made Topper look at him. “A loyal Glacieran warrior would never brandish his weapon against so many innocents who he could see were unarmed.” He pointed in the warrior's direction. “That male, regardless of his youthfulness, came as an assassin—likely another of Artic’s brainwashed victims. You did the only reasonable thing you could do.”
Topper nodded, closed her eyes, and leaned once more against Thor’s chest. She knew Thor was right about what she’d done in self-defense, but what did it mean that Glacierans with dangerous weapons were now terrorizing her and her town?
Stark slowed his all-terrain vehicle and waited for Frost to reach him. Jessica was riding with him and Kevin was riding in some sort of basket seat behind Frost. They’d searched the entire portal area without finding a single anomaly.
Stark raised his face shield. “Let’s go back. Either nothing came through the portal, or whatever came through has moved on. The energy signal verified this was where it opened, but I doubt further searching will be useful.”
“Agreed,” Frost said. He lowered his face shield and waved as he shot off. They once more crossed the main highway and took to the desert on the other side. Eventually, they came to the trail they had taken to get to the location.
Dad? What are you worried about?
Stark smiled at his daughter’s mastery of telegraphing her thoughts to him. I wish we had found something. The unknown is always more worrisome.
Jessica patted his arm. I agree.
Stark put up a mind-shield and blocked the rest of his concerns from his child. Not finding something meant that whatever came through the portal might have had a goal or orders it was busy carrying out. If his daughter suspected his bigger concerns were now about Topper and Berg’s safety, Jessica would be magically transporting them both back to the house.
If nothing was the matter, Topper would demand he explain his current instinctive uneasiness, and he couldn’t to do that when he had nothing to say. He would rather return Frost’s vehicle and then return home the way they’d arrived. Magically transporting would only alarm Topper. She was still reacting to birthing hormones and was edgy enough as it was. No, he wouldn’t press that additional stress on her. Not without good cause.
She’d shared that Witch Narelle would return soon. That was more than enough worry for his mate.
Still…
Stark frowned and pushed the vehicle to the maximum speed it allowed.
Nia had asked him to find Berg’s beast. He searched the entire residence, then ventured outside to look. Resig finally found the kreela on the sidewalk facing the path that led into town.
The kreela was sniffing the air and complaining about what it smelled. It looked at him and whined in a sound that he imagined only the creature it emulated could make. Nia had said it was a canine species, and she called it a dog. He hadn’t had time to look up how to communicate with it. Lacking Stark’s way with animals, he nodded as he met the creature’s brown-eyed, worried gaze.
“What concerns you?” Resig asked. His eyebrows rose as the creature crawled close and leaned against his leg. Following nothing more than instinct, Resig put his hand on top of the creature’s head. He could feel its concern for all of them. “I am here to help you. We will not allow the babe to be harmed.”
The kreela leaned more heavily against him, then swung its gaze toward the wooded trail to town and growled. Resig pulled his weapon in response. Beast instincts exceeded Glacieran ones in his opinion, unless you were Stark. His friend, Stark, was an anomaly on any planet.
Resig looked down and found the creature looking up at him. “I’m going to patrol the grounds. Nia’s in the bath so it’s probably best if you go inside and guard Berg until she’s done.” The beast answered him with a single loud bark of noise rising from its throat. It huffed a little as if bracing itself for what had to be done and then trotted off.
While Resig was scanning his surroundings and deciding where to look first, he heard the door behind him open. He swung his head to see if the beast needed help, but the kreela had already gone inside the house. Did that creature open the door all by itself?
Shaking his head to clear such strange wonderings from his mind, Resig began his search of the premises, starting with the grounds around the house. He intended to end his search with returning to watch the trail. If some threat was coming from town to harm Stark and his family, they would have to go through him first. He’d solve the mystery of the intelligent beast later.
Resig walked around the Stark’s Earth residence with his weapon drawn and ready.
“General Resig.”
He heard someone call to him—one of his warriors—and turned just in time to see the flash of the warrior’s weapon firing at him. His weapon fired as well, but he couldn’t see where the blast landed because he was already falling to the ground.
Nia closed her eyes and tried to relax. A bath brought her temporary relief from Earth’s desert heat, so she made them a daily habit instead of a quick cleansing. She now had a private bath connected to her room that she could use freely. It was an indulgence that she did not have in her residence she shared with a female friend on Glacier.
Since Berg was well-fed and sleeping soundly, Resig had insisted she take her time. She wanted to accept his kind offer to watch the babe for her, but a wariness she couldn’t explain made her restless. Once she’d dressed, Nia retrieved the laser weapon she’d confiscated from Topper’s attacker on Glacier and tucked in under her shirt in the back of her pants.
She quietly left her amazing room and headed to the nursery to check on the sleeping babe again. She paused in the doorway and smiled when she discovered a watchful Eeela on the floor in front of the crib.
“I can see why the Goddess sent you, Eeela. You are a great protector. I think I will get a kreela to guard my own children one day,” Nia told the beast who whined in reply and softly thumped its long tail on the rug it was sitting on.
Assured of Berg’s safety, she looked for Resig but froze when she saw a Glacieran warrior coming down the hallway. His weapon was pointed at her and glowing from recent use.
“Resig,” she whispered as her heart hammered in her chest. She glared at the warrior. “What ha
ve you done?”
“I did what I intended,” the warrior said. He waved his humming weapon in warning. “Where is Stark and his female? This location is supposed to be their Earth residence.”
Wanting to stall and give Resig a chance to return—because she refused to believe he would not—Nia lifted her chin. “This is their residence, but they left to investigate the portal openings. They could return here anytime. Do I know you? You look familiar.”
“You do not know me because I have no use for a female who would share herself with a male like Resig.”
“Why do you show such disrespect? Resig is your commander?” Nia asked.
“Not by my choice,” the warrior answered. “Where are Stark’s children?”
“With their parents,” Nia lied. She wasn’t speaking more truth to him. He deserved her lies.
“Why would they take an infant with them to investigate a potential threat?”
“The baby had a growth event. He is no longer an infant. The child is unique—even for a Glacieran.”
“The child is a mistake that needs to be rectified. I will revenge my real commander and rid two planets of all abominations.”
“And risk your soul not going to the Goddess?” Nia asked.
“I do not serve that female. I serve no female. I can trust none to tell the truth.”
Nia sighed. “Trust is something that is earned by good deeds and right words. It is not earned by treason and murder.”
She would have added more, but Berg startled babbling in his baby speech. All Nia could make out was the name “Eee-a…” following by “Awwwww…” and giggles.
The warrior glared. “You lied. The children are here.”
“Only one and he is an innocent,” Nia said in Berg’s defense.
The warrior snorted. “No child of Stark’s could ever be innocent.” He aimed the weapon and cupped it in both hands. “Take me to the child or die now.”
Nothing Remotely Familiar (My Crazy Alien Romance Book 5) Page 14