Independents: Taoree Trilogy #2

by Michele Notaro

  He seemed a little tense at first, but he slowly relaxed and eventually rested his chin on top of my head and held me to him with the arm I was lying on. I could feel his own zheluangi on his wrist. Then I felt something in his chest. Some kind of deep trembling started happening, but no sound was coming out. It was more like a vibrating I could feel, not hear. At first I thought it was maybe coming from somewhere else, but I could feel it in his chest. Then I realized it was almost like he was purring, or at least something like purring. I assumed that deep vibration was one of contentment since that was exactly how I was feeling.

  “Wes is okay,” he whispered, “his surgery was successful.”

  I let out a sigh of relief and my serenity surrounded me completely. His purring-thing seemed to start vibrating until almost his whole body was pulsating. I wanted him content. I wanted him happy. I pressed farther into him, my free hand flat against his chest, feeling some ridges there, and my nose flat against his throat.

  We stayed like that for a long time. The entire time I could feel energy passing through our hands, and all the while he was vibrating. The feel of it actually made me even more relaxed, more at home.

  “Cal has Colt’s hat for you,” he whispered with a strange note in his voice.

  I gasped. I hadn’t even thought of that… and didn’t that make me a shitty person? Maybe I shouldn’t be leaning against Orr like this? But it felt… right. I needed the physical connection to him. I squeezed his hand and pushed my nose into his skin, then whispered, “Thank you, Orr.”

  “Of course,” he whispered back, holding me tight to him. I took the comfort that I needed—and wanted—from him and hoped that I was offering at least a little in return.

  We were like that when I heard a door open, instantly putting me on high alert. I tensed up, ready for an attack, but Orrean started rubbing my back and he whispered into my hair, “It’s okay.”

  I believed him, so I started to release the tension from my body and decided to remain where I was. I didn’t even bother to check who came into the room. How fucked up is that? I should have looked, I should have made sure there wasn’t a threat, but Orrean had said that it was okay, so I didn’t even care. I was more peaceful and content lying there in his arms than I’d been in weeks, so I was in no hurry to move and soon fell back asleep.

  ***

  “…means he woke up, right?” Wes’s voice made its way through my grogginess.

  “He could’ve just moved in his sleep,” Cal answered, though I didn’t know what the question was.

  “But he hasn’t moved the entire time,” Wes said, almost whining.

  “So it at least means he’s improving,” Nolan’s sure voice washed over me, making me smile against Orrean’s neck.

  Almost immediately, I felt that vibrating in Orrean’s chest again, making me think that he had woken up as well. I really didn’t want to move from my comfortable position, but I wanted my family to know that I was okay, so I groaned a little as I tried to blink my eyes awake.

  “Jeremy?” my little brother’s voice asked, making me smile again.

  “Hey, Wesley.” My voice sounded rough from being unused when I spoke against Orrean’s neck, because I still couldn’t really move, even though I knew I needed to.

  “Holy shit, you’re awake!” my brother exclaimed. “I told you he woke up.”

  “How you feelin’?” Cal asked, completely ignoring Wes.

  I took a deep breath, filling my lungs with Orrean’s cinnamony scent before slowly rolling onto my back. I was still using Orrean’s arm as a pillow and my one hand was still attached to his. I got a big chill on my bare skin when I moved away from him, so I actually scooted a little closer and pressed my side to his chest. Our legs were tangled and I didn’t bother to move them. Orrean’s cheek was resting on my hair and I could feel our energies running through our connected palms.

  I blinked a few times to bring Wes, Cal, and Nolan into focus. They were all looking at me through that weird clear plastic tube I was lying in, but each of them looked well-rested and clean. They had clearly bathed and somehow got new clean clothes. Cal’s blue-green eyes were sparkling so brightly that I had a sudden pang of longing in my heart for Colt, who’d had the same color eyes as his brother. Wesley’s brown hair had been shaved off, but his brown eyes looked happy, as did Nolan’s baby-blue ones. I blinked again at my brother, thinking I was seeing him wrong, but when I squinted my eyes, I made out the same weird tribal, swirling pattern tattooed around his left eye. Someone let my brother get a tattoo? What the fuck?

  I cleared my throat and blinked again at the bright white lighting in the all-white room, then said, “I’m fine.” I looked at my brother. “Did you have the surgery? Are you safe?”

  His face lit up with a smile and I felt instant relief as he said, “I did, and I’m Qiren-free. Everything is good, J.”

  I closed my eyes and breathed out, “Thank god.” I took a deep breath before looking at him and blurting, “What the fuck is on your face?”

  My brother sighed and rolled his eyes at me. “Of course that’d be the first thing you’d say. I got a tattoo, get over it. Can you at least get out of this tube before you start lecturing me?”

  I blew out an annoyed breath. “Fine.”

  “Fine.”

  When Orrean squeezed my hand, I turned my head a little and looked at him. He was smiling, but it somehow seemed to have a sad undertone to it, so I whispered, “Are you okay?”

  He nodded and squeezed my hand again, but didn’t say anything.

  I turned my attention back to the others and asked, “Do you know what all this,” I waved my hand in the general direction of the weird clear tube, “is? And why I’m inside it?” All three of them were suddenly looking around the room at anything except me. I narrowed my eyes at them. “What is it? What’s going on?”

  Cal still wouldn’t look at me, but he informed us, “You guys have been in there and unconscious for two weeks. Well, Orr woke up yesterday, but about two weeks.”

  “Two weeks?” I asked, completely surprised. Holy shit!

  Nolan cleared his throat. “Uh, yeah, two weeks. I’m gonna grab the doctor.” Then he practically ran out of the room like a bat outta hell, making me wonder what in the heck was going on.

  “What the fuck was that?” I asked, but no one would answer. “Cal, what’s going on?”

  Cal finally turned to look at me for a moment, then his eyes traveled to Orrean for a second before he looked back at me and answered, “It’s not something that we can explain. You’re going to have to wait for the doctor and then let Orr tell you what’s going on.”

  His strange answer made me look at the alien next to me, who also wouldn’t look me in the eye. As I examined him, that sad undertone started to become more and more apparent, making my anxiety climb and worry etch my face.

  Before I could ask again, the door to the room opened and a Taoree woman came in with Nolan following behind her. This Taoree was only about as tall as Cal, who was six-four, and had her black braid down to her ankles.

  She came right over to the clear tube, speaking in English, “Hello, I am Relandin. I am a doctor.” She looked behind me. “Hello, Orrean. It is good to see you awake.”

  “Hello, Rel, it’s been too long,” Orrean responded quietly.

  “It has,” she agreed before bringing her attention back to me. “You and Orrean suffered severe energy depletion. Both of your lights were critically low, to the point that a few more hours could have seen one or both of you dead. We had to put you inside the,” she patted the clear tube, “aluza in order to save you. We also had to alumiea to assure you both came back. I—”

  I held up my hand to stop her because I didn’t understand what she was talking about. Before I could ask what she meant, I had the sudden thought that maybe I no longer understood or spoke Taoree, so I intentionally tried to speak Taoree when I asked my question, “Jili estr alumiea isib Eo bo zun?” Apparently, I still spoke Taor
ee, which meant that alumiea didn’t have a direct translation.

  Before she could answer me, Wes jumped in, “Please keep speaking in English so we all understand.”

  I looked at him. “Sorry. I just said I don’t understand alumiea.”

  She gestured to my and Orrean’s bound hands. “I simply referred to binding your hands together.”

  “Okay,” I said uneasily because she had a weird look on her face that made me think that wasn’t the whole story.

  She nodded and continued, “Now that you are both awake, you will need to remain inside the aluza for about twenty-four more hours, at the very minimum.”

  “What about the zheluangi, is that going to make me fall back asleep?” I asked, showing the giant metal thing around my wrist.

  The doctor said, “I think Orrean already switched it down a level so it won’t force you to sleep, but it will still keep everything else at bay.”

  “Uh, okay,” I said, then lifted my bound hand in question.

  She nodded again. “Yes, you will need to remain alumiea.”

  Her voice did something weird on that word again, making me wonder exactly what it meant. I glanced at Wes and the others, and noticed that they were still avoiding eye contact with me. I had a feeling that they knew exactly what she was hiding. I looked back at Orrean, who was looking up at the ceiling, with that sad fucking look on his face.

  I couldn’t take it anymore, so I asked, “Okay, why are you all acting so fucking weird? Did something happen? Am I not going to be able to walk or something?” Before anyone could answer that question, a horrible thought occurred to me. “Oh god, is Mandy okay? Did something happen to her?”

  Orrean shifted suddenly so his face was only inches above mine. “No, no, Renuella, nothing like that. Everyone is okay, I promise.”

  I closed my eyes in relief and keeping them closed, asked, “Then what are you all avoiding telling me? Something happened, I know it.”

  When he didn’t answer right away, I opened my eyes only to find his closed. He whispered, “I will explain everything, I promise. Just wait until everyone leaves, okay?” He opened his eyes and started searching mine for something.

  His sadness was radiating off of him, so I reluctantly agreed with a whispered, “Okay.”

  ***

  All I could do was stare at Orrean in disbelief. Everyone had finally left and Orrean had just told me the craziest thing I had ever heard, and let’s face it, life had been pretty fucking crazy lately. But this seriously took the cake.

  I scooted back a little—not too far because of our connected hands—and turned to face him farther. “Let me get this straight. You think that you and I are… soul mates?” My voice sounded strained and disbelieving to my own ears.

  Orrean looked completely serious. “I don’t think, Jeremy, I know. You and I are Balu. Mates, soul mates, partners, lo—um, there are many names you could use, there is no direct translation in your language, but those are close.” He squeezed my hand, then the fingers of his free hand lightly brushed my cheek, making me close my eyes for a moment. “Our lights are one and the same, Jeremy. That’s why our lights can mix together, that’s why I can use your light and you can use mine. They are two halves of a whole. And our lights are just an extension of our souls.” His eyes were shining and his voice lowered to a whisper, “Which means our souls are two halves of a whole. We are connected on every level… not just our lights and souls, but linked in every way, everywhere, everything.”

  He placed his warm hand on my chest over my heart and I could feel his light reaching out to mine. It took my breath away. His purple eyes were endless as I stared into them and the warmth of his light wrapped around me… I could feel it embracing my entire being. He smiled gently at me. “So yes, Jeremy, in a sense you are my soul mate, though Balu is so much more than that and a much more accurate term.”

  I swallowed thickly. I didn’t want to admit that I could feel him… everywhere. So I just blinked at him. What in the hell is this? What the hell is going on? We can’t possibly be… whatever he thinks we are, right?

  He offered me a little half-smile. “I can see that you do not believe me. But if not Balu, then how do you explain our connection? How do you explain our energies flowing through one another as if they were already familiar with each other before we ever met? How do you explain how drawn we are to each other? I know you don’t like to admit it, but I also know that you can feel it. How do you explain our… dreams?”

  My eyes felt like they were going to bug out of my head. “What do you mean ‘dreams’?”

  He furrowed his brow, confused. “Our shared dreams. The ones where we almost always end up at the fence where we first met.”

  Impossibly, my eyes got wider. “No. No, no, no, no. Those were dreams. No. You were not there.”

  His facial expression changed to one that was hurt and he whispered, “Of course I was there. I met you there every night.”

  I closed my eyes. No, this is not happening. That wasn’t—couldn’t be real. I opened my eyes to glare at him. “You expect me to believe that you were somehow in my dreams?”

  He swallowed hard. “We’re usually by the fence, sitting against the tree on your side of the fence, not mine, but sometimes we end up in a field under the stars. No matter where we end up, it’s always night, and you told me before that you considered me your friend.” My eyes went even wider in surprise as he continued, “And the last one I remember, you told me… you told me you could never hate me, though judging by your face right now, I don’t think that was an accurate statement.” He started blinking a lot, but I ignored the moisture in his eyes.

  “How is that possible?” I whispered, half to myself.

  “Balu, Jeremy. You are my mate.” His voice was low and numb-sounding.

  I smacked his chest with my free hand. “How could you enter my dreams like that? Those were private thoughts, Orrean. You invaded my privacy. How could you not tell me?”

  “I thought you knew about the dreams,” he defended. “I knew you didn’t understand our connection, but I thought you knew about the dreams because we kept finishing our dream conversations when we would wake…”

  “What?”

  “You sometimes asked me things in our dream, then I answered when we woke… I thought you had figured it out. I’m sorry… I didn’t realize you didn’t know.”

  I could only stare at him with wide eyes.

  “Plus, you were the one that always brought me to you.”

  “What? What the hell does that even mean?” I was yelling now.

  “I did not invade your dreams, Jeremy, you always brought me to you.”

  “I didn’t even know that was possible, Orrean! How the fuck could I have brought you to me?”

  He huffed and fell back on his pillow, pulling my arm with him. I yanked my arm back, just because I could, and he huffed again, but didn’t pull his arm back over.

  After a moment of thinking about all the strange things that had been happening to me and realizing that just about every one was connected to him somehow, I started to think that maybe there was something to this Balu thing, even though I didn’t really think it was fair and I certainly didn’t want it.

  “Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t you tell me we were… mates, or whatever the fuck you wanna call it?” I finally asked at a normal volume.

  “Because I knew you would be pissed and not want anything to do with me,” he answered immediately and without hesitation. “I had to make sure you got somewhere safe. If I had told you, you wouldn’t have come with me.”

  That was true, so I didn’t say anything.

  After another long pause with both of us staring at the ceiling, I asked, “How long until we can get out of this stupid clear tube?”

  “About fifteen hours,” he answered numbly.

  “Great,” I huffed, then I closed my eyes and decided to spend the next fifteen hours sleeping so I wouldn’t have to deal with him.


  ***

  It was only two hours before we had yet another visitor come by our stupid aluza. As soon as I saw the guy, I knew who he was. He looked exactly like the jerk alien I was currently attached to. The new Taoree with dark-purple eyes, an angular face, pointed ears, and hair braided to mid-back, looked almost human. He smiled as he approached, seeming so much lighter and happier than his brother.

  “Hello, Orrean.” He nodded at me. “Jeremy, it’s nice to finally meet you. My name’s Ozias, I’m Orrean’s brother.”

  “Hey,” I said rather stiffly.

  I heard Orrean sigh, but I ignored it. Ozias, on the other hand, looked at his brother with concern. “You okay, Orr?”

  “I’m fine,” he responded in a voice that made it obvious that he was absolutely not fine.

  Ozias switched to Taoree. “What’s wrong? Feeling well are you not?”

  Orrean responded in Taoree without looking at his brother, “I am fine.”

  Ozias glanced at me before speaking to Orrean, probably assuming that I couldn’t understand him. “Your Balu is not happy? Is that it?”

  “He just learned of Balu. No, not happy at all he is.”

  “Is it because he’s human? He doesn’t feel the connection?” Ozias asked.

  “That’s not it, Ozias. Just leave it alone.”

  “But you need to figure this out. I cannot have it affecting your work.”

  Orrean turned his head to look at Ozias. “Of course that is what you think about. I have never let it interfere with my work. I’m not about to start now.”

  “If you cannot concentrate because of the human, I don’t know what we will do, Orrean. We need your expertise. You know this.”

  “Jeremy would never interfere. He has seen some of the things the Legion are capable of. Leave him out of this.” Orrean’s voice was low, but he sounded pissed.