“Marcus,” Ami warned.
“Rip it off quickly,” Taelon replied.
Marcus nodded. “Then I’m here because I’m Ami’s husband. Ami and I are married.”
Taelon’s gaze shot to his sister.
Ami winced. “I was actually hoping you’d get to know Marcus a little more before we sprang that on you.”
“You’re bonded to him?” Taelon asked, his expression stunned.
“Yes.” Giving up the pretense, Ami leaned into Marcus’s side and rested a hand on his thigh. “We’ve been married a few years now.”
Marcus leaned back and draped an arm around her. “I tried to make the ceremony as similar to a Lasaran bonding ceremony as I could. Seth is the closest thing to a father Ami has here. So is David. And Darnell is like a brother to her. So I sought their approval and pledged my love in front of them, vowing to always cherish her and protect her.”
Ami smiled up at him. “It was perfect.”
Smiling down at her, he dipped his head and pressed a quick kiss to her lips.
Taelon studied her. “And you’re happy?”
“Happier than I ever thought I could be.” Her face brightened with excitement. “And there’s more.” Jumping up, she hurried over to the door, flung it open, and disappeared down the hallway.
Marcus watched her go, then turned back to Taelon. “We really didn’t mean to thrust this upon you all at once. She’s just ecstatically happy that you’re here and is terrified you won’t approve.” His expression darkened. “If you don’t approve, do not make her cry. If you have a problem, take it up with me when Ami isn’t around. I won’t let you upset her.”
Anxiety pooled in Lisa’s stomach as she waited for Taelon to deliver a blistering response.
But Taelon actually seemed to relax a little. He was just opening his mouth to reply when Ami returned with Adira perched on her hip.
Taelon’s eyes widened as he sucked in a breath. His jaw dropped. There was no mistaking the resemblance between mother and daughter. “Riska,” he whispered.
Ami beamed as she stopped in front of the sofa. “This is our daughter, Adira. You’re an uncle!”
Chapter Fifteen
Taelon stared, speechless, at the child his sister held. She looked exactly the way Amiriska had when she was a baby.
Adira squirmed to get down.
The moment Ami lowered her daughter’s feet to the floor, the little beauty grinned big and toddled toward him with her arms outstretched.
Taelon released Lisa’s hand and rubbed both of his on his knees as he nervously contemplated picking up the child. Adira just kept grinning at him, bouncing on her toes with impatience when she stood before him. He visually consulted the adults. “It’s been so long since I’ve seen a child that I’ve forgotten what to do with them. How do I…?”
Marcus smiled. “Just tuck your hands under her arms like this.” He demonstrated how to pick up the toddler.
Taelon carefully slid his hands under Adira’s arms and lifted her.
She was so light! So delicate! He was awestruck, enraptured, and terrified all at once.
Adira giggled and kicked her chubby legs as she rested her hands on his forearms.
This was his niece! Since none of his brothers were bonded and both Lasaran and Secta medics had told them Amiriska would likely never conceive, he had never thought to have one.
He looked at Lisa, who smiled while she watched him and smoothed a hand over her belly. Nor had he thought he would ever have a child of his own.
“What do I do?” he asked desperately.
Lisa patted his thigh. “Just sit her here on your lap.” She showed him how to settle the child on his thigh and wrap an arm around her little back for support.
As soon as he did, Adira leaned into him and gave him a hug.
“She’s so small,” he said, his voice hushed and full of wonder as warmth spread through him. The last baby he had held had been Amiriska, and that had been decades ago.
Marcus grinned. “She used to be even smaller than that, if you can believe it. I was terrified the first several times I held her.”
Taelon ran a hand over Adira’s bright red curls. “She’s so soft,” he breathed. “So perfect.” He looked at his sister. “Riska…”
Blinking back tears, Ami smiled. “I know.”
“You were right.”
She nodded.
Adira straightened and patted Taelon on the chest. “Boo-boo?”
He looked at the others. “I don’t know what that means.” His translator was telling him boo was something Earthlings yelled to scare each other, but he didn’t think that applied here.
Ami cleared her throat. “It’s what babies and children call injuries.”
Adira patted his chest again. “Boo-boo better?”
“Yes.”
Lisa frowned. “How did she know Taelon had a boo-boo there? She left the infirmary before Melanie cut his shirt off.”
Ami and Marcus exchanged a long look.
“She’s a remarkable child,” Marcus said and seemed to carefully measure his words. “Lasarans are all telepaths and have even greater regenerative capabilities than Immortal Guardians do. But each also possesses another gift on top of that, which differs from person to person. Ami can detect each individual’s unique energy signature and can track it like a homing beacon.”
Ami motioned to Taelon. “Taelon can make people see anything he wants them to.”
Marcus nodded. “Gifted ones like us, Lisa, who are born with advanced DNA also possess unique gifts that ordinary humans don’t. I can see ghosts just as clearly as I can see you. And Seth tells me you’re psychic.”
Her eyes widened. “Are you serious? I really am psychic?”
“Yes. The first gifted ones were born thousands of years ago and had many gifts. Centuries and millennia of procreating with ordinary humans, however, has since diluted the DNA enough that often gifted ones born in the past century have gifts that are so mild they don’t even realize they possess them.”
“Wait. Are you saying I have advanced DNA?”
“Yes.”
She turned to Taelon. “This just keeps getting weirder and weirder.”
He laughed, surprised that he could do so under the circumstances.
Adira bounced in his lap and tugged at the front of his shirt.
Ami reclaimed her place beside Marcus on the love seat and leaned into his side. Taelon tried not to stiffen when she rested a hand on the man’s thigh and Marcus wrapped an arm around her.
Lisa’s words came back to him. Look at her while she explains everything to you. I mean really look at her.
He did. Though her nose was pink from crying earlier, she seemed content.
No. She seemed more than content. She seemed happy. Even he could recognize the love that shone in her eyes every time she glanced up at her lifemate.
The same love shone in Marcus’s eyes as he pressed a kiss to her forehead before turning back to Taelon. “Melanie, an Immortal Guardian physician who helped Ami through her pregnancy, believes that when Lasaran DNA blends with that of gifted ones, it unlocks some of the abilities that have been suppressed in later generations of gifted ones.”
Ami nodded. “Adira has so many special abilities we’re still trying to identify them all.”
Taelon smiled. “And it enables Lasaran women to conceive and bear children,” he said, so happy that all of this could actually result in something good for their people.
Ami bit her lip. “Well…” She glanced at Marcus, then Lisa, then Taelon, the happiness gradually leaving her features. “Not necessarily. I actually had a very difficult time carrying Adira to term. If Seth and David hadn’t constantly been on hand to help me, I would’ve lost her.”
Marcus’s expression sobered as he toyed with Ami’s hair. “Both Seth and David are powerful immortals with remarkable healing abilities. Both also love Ami like a daughter and made sure one or the other of them was always her
e to heal her and prevent her from going into early labor. That often necessitated healing her least once a day, sometimes three or four times. It was the most terrifying eight months of my life.” His eyes began to glow with amber light. “And when Ami finally went into labor, I nearly lost her.”
Ami reached up and cupped his jaw. “You didn’t lose me, sweetie.”
Closing his eyes, he pressed his forehead to hers. “But it was frighteningly close. You slipped into a coma and didn’t wake for days.”
Fear sliced through Taelon like a shard of ice, chilling him from head to toe. He looked at Lisa, who stared at the couple with dread. Ami had the greater regenerative capabilities of Lasarans and had barely survived giving birth. Lisa didn’t have that. She was an Earthling. And Earthlings were far more fragile. Wounds that a Lasaran would shrug off were often fatal for Earthlings.
“Oh!” Ami blurted. Her green eyes widened as she straightened and looked at them both. “No. Don’t worry. It won’t be like that for you, Lisa.”
Marcus nodded. “It really won’t. Ami had trouble because of the damage caused by the Gathendiens’ virus. Seth said Lisa’s pregnancy is fine. She’s healthy. The baby is healthy. He said everything is normal save the slightly swifter gestation rate of the babe.”
Taelon was shaking his head long before Marcus finished. “She’s been having pains. She said that’s not normal in Earthling pregnancies.”
“It isn’t,” Marcus admitted. “But it also isn’t a concern…” He dragged a hand through his hair and swore. “Ami didn’t want to tell you this but—”
“Marcus,” Ami interrupted.
He shook his head. “If it were me, sweetling, I would want to know, especially since he now looks as if he’s terrified Lisa won’t survive childbirth.” He met Taelon’s gaze, the amber glow in his brown eyes receding. “The pains Lisa was experiencing weren’t because she’s having a difficult pregnancy. She isn’t. The pains resulted from the connection you and your child share.”
Taelon frowned. “I don’t understand.”
Lisa touched the arm he’d wrapped around Adira. “The baby felt your pain when the butchers were torturing you. And she inadvertently transferred some of it to me.”
Horror suffused him. “I caused our baby pain? I caused you pain?”
“No!” she said hastily. “No. You didn’t. The butchers did. They were the ones who—” She broke off suddenly, an odd expression crossing her face. Glancing down, she lifted the hem of her tunic.
Taelon stared down at her lap as a wet stain spread on her pants down to her knees.
She met his gaze, swallowed hard, then looked at the others. “Okay. If that’s pee, I’m going to be totally humiliated.”
Ami leapt to her feet. “That’s not pee. Your water just broke.”
Lisa’s eyes flew wide. “What? I’m going into labor?”
“Yes.”
Marcus jumped up and dashed to the door so quickly he blurred. Flinging the door open, he disappeared down the hallway.
Taelon stared at Lisa, his heart pounding in his chest like a Lasaran tandor drum.
“I’m in labor,” she said in a breathy whisper. Her face paled as her eyes filled with fear.
“It’s okay,” Ami said with a smile. “You’re going to be okay, Lisa. You’ve got this. And I’ll help you. We all will. Taelon, you can put Adira down now. It’s all right.”
Taelon carefully lifted the toddler off his lap. As soon as Adira was standing steadily, he took Lisa in his arms and hugged her close. Panic stole every thought he tried to latch onto. He looked at his sister. “What do we do?”
He heard a door open down the hallway.
“Lisa’s in labor!” Marcus blurted.
“All right,” Seth said, his deep voice calm. “Don’t panic. Everything will be fine. Just help her to the infirmary while Leah and I dress.”
A blur swept into the room, then Marcus stood before them.
Taelon and Lisa both jumped at his sudden reappearance. How did he do that? How did he move so quickly the eye could barely register it?
“Seth said to get her to the infirmary,” he announced urgently.
Ami rose and took her husband’s arm. “Okay. Sweetie, you need to calm down.” She said it both gently and firmly, then frowned. “You’re shaking!”
“I can’t help it. My one and only experience with labor scared the shit out of me.”
“But it isn’t going to be like that for Lisa. You just told them that yourself.” She lowered her voice to a near-whisper. “And you’re freaking them out.”
He was. Marcus had apparently watched Amiriska give birth. Taelon didn’t know what the man had seen and experienced, but the fear and dread on his face now just multiplied his own.
Marcus issued a jerky nod. “You’re right.” He drew in a deep breath, let it out, drew in another breath, let it out. His shoulders loosened, then he nodded. “You’re right.” He forced a smile that didn’t meet his eyes as he turned back to Taelon and Lisa. “Apologies. I don’t know why I did that. Everything is going to be fine. Why don’t we move along to the infirmary?”
Amiriska nodded. “Everything will be okay. Really. Seth will make sure of it.”
But Taelon didn’t know Seth, so as he rose, he sent a mental summons to the head of his royal guard. Ari’k.
Yes, Prince Taelon, the Yona warrior instantly responded. He expressed no surprise or excitement at hearing from Taelon after three years of silence. His voice remained as free of emotion as it always was.
Relief filled Taelon. Once more, exercising his telepathy was effortless. Set course for my current location. Full stealth mode. As he rose and helped Lisa to her feet, he projected a mental map into his guard’s mind, showing him the exact location.
Setting course now.
Ready the med bay. We may need it.
I will see to it immediately, Prince Taelon.
Taelon wrapped a protective arm around Lisa and slowly walked her to the door.
Despite the lingering fear in her eyes, she smiled. “You act like I’m going to break. I’m fine, Taelon. Other than a nagging backache that’s been plaguing me ever since we arrived, I’m not in any pain at all. Look. Even the baby is fine.” She took his free hand and placed it on her belly. The baby kicked. “Wow. You’re shaking, too.”
“I can’t help it.” He cursed himself for not being stronger. But he’d just drekking found Lisa. He didn’t want to lose her.
Pausing, she drew him into a hug. “I’ll be fine. You didn’t see how quickly and effortlessly Seth healed your wounds. Now that the initial shock is fading, I feel confident that he can help me deliver our daughter safely.”
Closing his eyes, he rested his cheek on her hair and tightened his hold on her.
She grunted.
His eyes flew open as he hastily stepped back. “Forgive me, dashura. Did I hold you too tightly?”
Shaking her head, she gripped her belly and breathed in and out through her nose. “No,” she said, her voice strained. “I think I spoke too soon. I’m pretty sure this is a contraction.”
What the drek was a contraction?
Ami moved closer and wrapped an arm around Lisa. “It’s a birthing pain. They’re normal. She’ll be getting more of them, closer and closer together until the baby comes.” She guided them down the hallway and into a large room divided into halves, one of which served as a med bay.
A man and a woman stood inside, awaiting their arrival. Both wore all black. Neither appeared to be medics.
The male stood a few Earth inches taller than Taelon, while the female was a few inches shorter. Both smiled.
“I’m Seth,” the male said with a slight bow. “Leader of the Immortal Guardians. And this is my wife, Leah.”
The pretty woman smiled and waggled her fingers in a wave. “Hi there.”
Ami and Leah took Lisa’s hands and guided her several steps away. Then Leah reached up and yanked a curtain around them, blocking his view.
When Taelon would’ve protested, Seth held up a hand. “They’re just going to help Lisa out of her clothing.”
The sound of fabric tearing carried to his ears.
“Wow!” Lisa exclaimed on a laugh. “You did that fast!”
“I’ll do this even faster,” Leah said, a teasing lilt in her voice.
Again, Lisa laughed. “That is so cool.”
The curtain jerked back, revealing a grinning Lisa in a shapeless gown that fastened with a tie on one side.
Seth stepped back to give them room to help her onto the narrow bed beside him. “Our physician, Dr. Melanie Lipton, is at network headquarters. If you’ll excuse me, I’ll go get her.” In the next instant, he vanished.
Lisa gasped. “Holy crap!”
Leah laughed as she plumped a pillow behind Lisa and eased her back to rest her head on it. “I know. It takes some getting used to, doesn’t it?”
Seth reappeared, a brunette woman as petite as Lisa beside him.
She smiled. “Hi, Taelon. You probably don’t remember me. I’m Melanie. I’m a physician and viral researcher.” When she extended her hand to him, he grasped it and gave it a shake as he’d seen Earthlings do. “I helped Ami through her pregnancy and labor, so Seth asked me to lend a hand today. Is that okay with you?”
“That would be much appreciated, yes.”
“Excellent.” She blurred and dashed around the room. When she stopped beside Lisa, her black clothing had been replaced with a plain green, pocket-free shirt and matching pants. A long, bendable tool hung around her neck. “Hi, Lisa.”
Lisa smiled. “Hi.”
“How are you feeling?”
“Better now that I know I didn’t just pee my pants in front of everyone.”
Everyone but Taelon and Marcus laughed.
Taelon moved to stand beside Lisa and took her hand.
Marcus hovered nearby.
“Marcus, honey,” Ami said gently, “why don’t you take Adira down to play with Michael? You’re still kinda freaking out.”
Surprised that he had forgotten about the toddler, Taelon glanced around.
Adira peered up at the adults from thigh level.
The Lasaran (Aldebarian Alliance Book 1) Page 24