Bean's Heart (Hearts of ICARUS Book 7)

by Phillips, Laura Jo

  “All of us, Bean,” Ria said. “We all stand together as one.”

  Bean felt soft warmth begin to enter her body from every point of contact. What they gave her was not power, though. Not exactly. Not in the usual sense.

  What they gave her, what flowed directly into her was love. Pure, unconditional love. Not only from Ria and Vari, but from Iffon, Pandora, and Star as well.

  Tears of joy ran down Bean’s face as her heart transformed the unconditional love they selflessly gave into the power she needed to protect those she loved in return. The shield thickened, the cracks vanished, and some of the pressure in her head eased.

  Sensing the renewed strength of the shield, the hybrids became enraged. They began slamming against it with renewed vigor and fury.

  Bean began to feel each hit, each thunderous slam of the hybrids’ bodies, each set of claws tearing at the exterior of the shield. The blood trickling from her nose became a stream but she hung on, refusing to let go or give in. The love of her sisters and their companions had given them more time. She would make it be enough.

  Her vision suddenly filled with soft, golden light and something inside of her…released. She could think of no other word to describe it. The sensation was soft, gentle, and painless, yet unlike anything she’d ever felt before. She couldn’t begin to identify what was happening.

  She tried to turn her head, to look at her sisters, or even down at herself, but found she couldn’t twitch a muscle. She couldn’t see anything either, other than the golden light that glittered before her. She started to panic, and was immediately soothed, though she didn’t know by who. Or what.

  The odd sensation continued to rise steadily up to her head, and then it vanished. The golden light faded and once again she could feel her sisters’ hands clasped in her own, the soft brush of Star’s fur, the barely noticeable weight of Pandora on one shoulder and the more familiar weight of Iffon on the other.

  She turned her head, relieved when it actually worked. She looked at Ria who was looking back at her with a stunned expression on her face that Bean knew she wore herself. Then she turned to look at Vari, who looked the same.

  “What?” Vari whispered, blinking rapidly as she looked around them.

  It was only then that Bean realized all of the hybrids were gone. There weren’t even any bodies left which was decidedly strange. Her shield was gone too, she noticed. When the Basulor moved to stand in front of them, where they all still stood together, they bowed low.

  Bean glanced at Vari and Ria, but they looked as confused as she felt. But Bean had learned a thing or two about interacting with people over the past few months.

  “Why are you bowing to us?” she asked politely.

  “I am Ba-shin, and we will explain,” the center one said. “But not right this moment. There are several hundred more hybrids racing toward us, and this space station is about to crash into the planet below.”

  “Kólasi,” Ria breathed. “How do we get out of here?”

  “We shall take you back to where your mates await you, if you agree. And we will answer the questions that flood your minds.”

  “We agree,” Vari said after glancing over her shoulder at the viewport.

  “You will see bright light,” Ba-shin warned. A second later, that’s exactly what they saw.

  Chapter 26

  The Dracon-Bats, the Katres, and the Falcorans stood in the Bihotza’s transport chamber. They kept their backs against the walls, and their gazes fixed unwaveringly on the transport pad in the center of the room.

  Later, they would all agree that standing on the Bihotza’s bridge, watching the action through the mission cams that Vari, Ria, and Bean wore, was the most difficult thing they’d ever done. Not because they felt they were particularly needed, or that their women didn’t do well. On the contrary, they did extremely well. When the other men and women watching with them chuckled, laughed, cheered, and shouted encouragement, they proudly joined in, though with perhaps a shade less enthusiasm.

  It wasn’t easy to watch Weeble attack their women, even though he bounced off of Bean’s incredible shield. They listened to the light banter between the sisters, saw its effectiveness in the darkening of Weeble’s face, and approved of the tactic wholeheartedly.

  They saw Ria and Star battle hybrids with a level of skill and ferocity that surprised them all. They saw Vari use her dairi to remove every Doftle from their path with ease. They watched Star pull a hybrid out of the air to protect Ria’s back, and they experienced deep satisfaction as the vile, sadistic creature called Weeble died. They saw Iffon cut through the flying hybrids like a scythe through tall grass, and they saw Pandora join him, destroying every one she could catch with her enormous claws.

  They saw the arrival of the Ruling Cache, what Bean called the Basulor. They saw the first moments of their last stand in the center of the space station’s control room, their pride in the women they loved so great that mere words could never be enough to express it.

  Then they heard strange voices in their minds, telling them to get to Transport as fast as they could. No one else heard the voices, but they all agreed with Zander Falcoran’s guess that it was the messengers, the Basulor Doftles, who’d spoken to them.

  Now they waited. Only a couple of minutes had passed but it felt like an eternity to each of them. Declan opened his mouth to speak, then fell silent as the warning shimmer that indicated an incoming transport appeared in the air above the target pad. A second later, the shimmer grew brighter, then vanished altogether, leaving a surprisingly uninjured group in the center of the room. Even Bean was free of all traces of the blood that they’d all seen pouring from her nose.

  Vari, Ria, and Bean released each other’s hands, then each of them flew straight to their men. The Basulor Doftles waited quietly, watching as the Lobo sisters were held, petted, soothed and loved by their mates. They exchanged small smiles between themselves, but remained silent, not wanting to intrude on the emotional moment.

  Bean leapt into Zander’s arms and buried her face in his neck while Zain and Zach moved close enough to press their bodies against hers. After a few moments, she raised her head and looked into Zander’s eyes.

  “I can’t believe it,” she said, smiling. “I didn’t fail.”

  “No, Ederra, you certainly did not fail,” Zander agreed solemnly. “None of you did.”

  “What does Ederra mean?”

  “Lovely,” he said, pulling her close again. “That’s what you are, inside and out. Lovely.”

  “You were magnificent,” Zach said, stroking her back. She raised her head again and smiled at him, tears overflowing her eyes despite her efforts to hold them back.

  “You terrified us,” Zain said. She turned her head to see him on the other side. “But we’ve never been so proud of anything in our lives as we are of you, love.”

  She leaned over to kiss him. “Thank you,” she whispered. Then she sighed deeply and wiped away her tears. After kissing each of her men once more, she turned to face the Basulor.

  “Everyone, these are the Basulor Doftles I spoke of,” she said. “I apologize, but I know only one of your names.”

  All three of them smiled and dipped their heads in a little nod. “I am Ba-shin, as I said earlier,” the center one said. “These are my sisters, “Li-Shin, and Re-Shin.”

  Bean smiled and dipped her head at each of them as Ba-Shin said their names. “I’m Bean, as you know. These are my sisters, Vari, and Ria.” Bean frowned. “If I rattle off all of our names will you be able to remember them? I don’t want to overwhelm you or make you think it’s necessary.”

  “Do not worry, Bean,” Ba-Shin said. “We know the names of your mates already, and are quite happy to meet all of them. We are especially pleased to meet your marvelous companions. Star, Pandora, and Iffon.”

  “Can you stay for a time and answer some of the questions we’re dying to ask or do you need to leave and oh! what about the other ships? Do you need help deal
ing with them?”

  Zander, Zach and Zain laughed at her ramble, as did the other men. Even the Basulor Doftles were smiling.

  “We would be most happy to answer any questions you have,” Ba-Shin said.

  “Let’s move this to a more comfortable room,” Declan suggested.

  “Good idea,” Vari agreed. “How about the observation deck?”

  “Perfect,” Declan agreed.

  Within just a few minutes they were all settled comfortably on the observation deck. The Basulor Doftle looked around with interest before settling on a small sofa while the rest of them sat on other couches and chairs in a wide circle.

  Once everyone was settled Ba-Shin spoke. “We can answer your questions, or we can tell you our end of events, then answer questions. It’s up to you.”

  “I think it would be easiest for you to tell us your story,” Declan said, then looked around to see if there were any objections. There weren’t, so Ba-Shin nodded, then began.

  “About twenty five of your years ago, a Seer of the Basulor saw the Doftles of what you call the Lost Tentacle. Further investigation proved that they were insane, which puzzled us as, until then, Doftles had never gone insane. As we turned the Colony toward your galaxy, we pondered the oddity.

  “As fast as we are able to travel, we were a very great distance away from here, which is why it took us twenty-five years to make the journey. The Seer, Ra-Chon, worked very hard for nearly fifteen of those years to discover answers to some of our questions. Answers that we will now share with you.

  “Some two or three years before the Lost Tentacle landed on the Xanti’s world, something crashed into that planet. What that something was precisely, Ra-Chon could not discern. Whatever it was, the Xanti did something with it. Again, what they did was never clear to Ra-Chon. The result of what they did, however, was clear. They released what you call Chaos.”

  “It’s an entity?” Vari asked, frowning.

  “It is, and it is not,” Ba-Shin replied. “Its nature is so alien, even to we who have traveled the galaxies for so many eons we’ve lost count, that we cannot define it. We can say only that it does exist, that it is dangerous, and that it has torn the very fabric of the universe itself.

  “Chaos grew stronger and stronger over the centuries, feeding off of the Xanti, and the Doftles of the Lost Tentacle which, we learned, caused their insanity. Over a period of several thousands of years it all but destroyed the people and civilizations of the Xanti’s home galaxy. It then moved to the Thousand Worlds.

  “The anti-chaos that was infused into the cells of the Lobo daughters was created by the Creators themselves.”

  “I thought it was only in two of us,” Bean said.

  “The anti-chaos was only in two of you, yes, but without the anchor, and the catalyst, embodied by the middle sister, the anti-chaos could not be released.”

  Bean, Ria, and Vari all looked at each other in surprise. “You say that like it’s been released and oh, that’s what that strange feeling was, there at the end, with the golden light.”

  “Yes,” Ba-Shin replied with a smile. “Having been created by the Creators themselves, unconditional love and acceptance was required to release it.”

  “There was certainly plenty of that,” Bean said softly.

  “Indeed,” Ba-Shin agreed.

  “So, the anti-chaos is no longer within us?” Vari asked, just to be sure.

  “It is not,” Ba-Shin replied. “You and Bean are now free to link souls with your mates.” Bean turned to smile at her men, as Vari did hers. They limited themselves to squeezing hands for the moment, however.

  “Where is the anti-chaos now?” Bean asked.

  “It has been freed to do its job, which is to conquer Chaos. It will take time for it to spread as far and as wide as Chaos has spread. But, wherever it touches Chaos, it obliterates it.”

  “Just as it obliterated all those hybrids?” Ria asked.

  “That only occurred because of the intensity of its release. Your love for each other gave it such power in that moment that it destroyed all evil close to you. The only effect it will have on physical beings from here on is to destroy any Chaos that works within them.”

  “Finally,” Vari said feelingly.

  “Yes, finally,” Bean agreed. “Now that Weeble is no more, what will happen with the other Doftles?”

  “That’s the problem we now face,” Ba-Shin, her smile fading. “The Colony needs time to recover and rebuild. Then we will seek out and destroy those Doftles who are insane, as well as the creatures they created. We can only hope that other factions of Weeble’s army do not find us before we grow strong enough to resist them.”

  “You are welcome to bring your Colony to the Thousand Worlds, Ba-Shin. You can orbit our world, Jasan. We will guard you, and aid you as much as we can.”

  “That is very generous,” Ba-Shin said, surprised. She looked at her sisters, then nodded. “We would be most honored to accept your offer, Declan Dracon-Bat.”

  “Excellent,” Declan said, smiling.

  “That means we don’t have to pelt you with every question we can think of right now,” Bean said, smiling. “Although, I would like to ask one thing, if you don’t mind.”

  “We do not mind, Bean.”

  “How did you come to choose me and Zaza to send your messages to?”

  “That’s simple,” Ba-Shin said. “You two were the only people we could find in the Thousand Worlds who were capable of receiving our messages, and who were honorable, trustworthy, and had the will and the means to do something with the information we had to share.”

  “Good reasons,” Bean said, smiling.

  “I also have a question, if you don’t mind,” Vari said.

  “We do not mind any of your questions,” Ba-Shin said.

  “About a year ago, a Doftle named Rodnil regained sanity enough to share his memories with me before he perished. Is there no way to cure the insanity of the other Doftles of the Lost Tentacle?”

  “Not long ago we would have been surprised that you’d want anything less than death for them. Now that we are more familiar with Jasani, through our contact with Bean, we are not so surprised. We are, however, curious as to why you’d want to save them.”

  “There’s been so much death already,” Vari said, “and your numbers are depleted because of Weeble’s virus. I think it would be a good thing all around if you could heal them and welcome them back.”

  “Yes, it would be, we agree. It grieves us deeply, but their insanity cannot be permanently healed.”

  “I’m sorry for that,” Vari said. “Is there anything else we can do for you right now?”

  “No, but we thank you for the offer. We would like to accompany your ships back to the Thousand Worlds, if that is agreeable.”

  “We’d like that,” Declan said. “Will you be ready tomorrow to leave or would you like more time?”

  “Tomorrow is fine, thank you.” Ba-shin and her sisters rose to their feet. “We thank you for aiding us this day. Because of you, we still live, the Colony still exists, and we have a chance to aid in cleaning up the mess made by those who were once our own.”

  “It works both ways, Ba-Shin,” Bean said. “Without your aid, we never would have made it here to begin with.”

  “Do you need the transport room, or can you transport without it?” Declan asked.

  “We are capable of transporting without it. Farewell.” Before any of them could respond, there was a sudden flash of white light and they were gone.

  They all sat quietly for a few minutes. Then Bean stood up and turned to face her men. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I think I’d like to soul-link with my men now.”

  Zander, Zach, and Zain all looked at her in surprise, then leapt to their feet with grins on their faces.

  “I think I’d like to do the same,” Vari said, then blushed. “I mean with my men, of course.”

  Chapter 27

  Three months later…
>
  Saige, Faron, Dav, and Ban speed traveled from their home to the front yard of the newest house to be built on Dracon Ranch. “I love this house,” Saige said softly, smiling as she took in the sprawling home built of oak and brick. Wildflowers grew all around the house, with large paving stones set into the blue grass to provide a path through them. There were birdbaths and feeders scattered everywhere, all of them carefully proofed against predators.

  Saige led the way up to the door and knocked. Bean opened the door almost immediately, looking beautiful in a blue and cream sundress, her eyes sparkling, her smile contagious.

  “I’m so glad you’re here first,” she said, stepping forward to kiss Saige on the cheek. She quickly kissed each of her fathers, nearly bouncing with excitement. Then she led them into the house, across the living room and into the kitchen where her men were waiting. She joined them, then turned to face her parents.

  “We have news,” she said, her hands clasped together beneath her chin.

  “News?” Saige asked, her heart skipping a beat with excitement that she had to fight not to show. She didn’t want to give the impression that she expected anything, just in case her guess was wrong. “Apparently it’s good news.”

  “It’s the best news ever, Mom,” Bean said, then laughed. “And you don’t fool me one bit, either.”

  “No?”

  “No.”

  “What’s the news?” Faron asked, not understanding why Saige suddenly had her hands cupped over her nose and mouth and tears in her eyes. His brow knit in confusion when Bean all but flew forward to hug her mother, tears pouring down her cheeks as well. Happy tears, since she was smiling and laughing the whole time.

  It wasn’t until Bean stepped back and Saige asked, “Girls or boys?” that he and his brothers got it.

  “Girls,” Bean said. Then Ban had her in his arms, hugging her tightly before pressing a kiss to her forehead. “I’m so happy for you,” he said, his voice choked as he fought tears of his own.

  “Thank you, Popi,” Bean said, hugging him back. Then she was in Faron’s arms, and then Dav’s before being carefully returned to the arms of her men.