by Mikayla Lane
Chapter Twenty
Drago and Grai were still sitting on the floor when Tricia kneeled down beside her worried mate and kissed his cheek. “Our girl is fighting. She’s bonding and healing now. But, it will take a little time before we know if the bonding will be successful,” Tricia said worriedly, causing Grai and Drago to instantly be concerned.
Grai was the first to ask. “What is wrong?”
It was Lara who walked around the bed and stood in front of Drago and Grai as she responded. “We had a problem getting the bonding started. She lived in that damn house full of illusions for a long time and even though she did not have a beast at the time, I think it was beginning to alter her brain structure.”
“What Satalis is doing will have a broad reaching impact and if it is affecting the humans in the same way as the hybrids, we will have a major problem on our hands during the conversion,” Lara said with a sigh as she sunk down into a chair exhausted.
Drago interrupted Lara. “Will she be all right?” Drago asked worriedly.
Tricia gave his hand a squeeze and she smiled tiredly at him. “We’re doing everything we can to make sure she will be. It will take a few days, Drago. You need to get some rest for when she wakes,” Tricia said gently, hoping he would get some sleep. He and Grai both looked like hell.
Amun came around the bed. “I will let you know if there is any change in her life signs. Right now, she is stable and her body is beginning to heal with the help of the bonding beast. Physically, her prognosis is excellent,” Amun told them, hoping to ease some of their concerns.
No one was the least bit surprised when Drago and Grai both said, “I’m not leaving.”
Amun and Tricia sighed in resignation and Amun added. “I’ll get some comfortable chairs and another bed brought in.”
Grai leaned down to pick up his sleeping son from the bed and he looked at his mate with a questioning look, worried for the boy. Tricia just grinned. “He’s tired and sleeping. Don’t worry about us, we are doing very well,” Tricia said as she reached a hand up to caress his cheek.
Grai closed his eyes and enjoyed the feel of her touch while Drago looked away from the intimate moment, wondering if his Angel would survive the bonding.
Drago turned back around when Tricia patted him on the shoulder and looked between him and Grai. “You two will eat the food I will have sent to you and you will take turns bathing and sleeping. I will be back throughout the day and evening and if you don’t eat, sleep and take care of yourselves…,” Tricia let the sentence hang as she, Lara and Jax grinned at each other.
“We’ll be fine,” Grai said as he put Tristan into her arms and kissed her tenderly.
Tricia smiled at her mate, “Go speak to your sons soon, they worry for you and their sister and need your presence as much as Angel right now.”
Grai closed his eyes and nodded his head before watching Tricia, Lara and Jax walk out of the door.
Everyone just outside of Med Lab, turned when the women came out of the door. Tricia walked right up to Chris and hugged him tightly before she turned to the other boys. “Angel is healing and bonding with her beast. We’re going to make sure she’s ok guys. We won’t let anything happen to her,” Tricia assured them.
Jason stepped forward and asked, “Is it true she has a beast now? She’s one of the hybrids?”
The Dranovian’s looked at Lara and Tricia with worried faces and it took only a moment of sifting their energy for Tricia to understand why they were so afraid.
“Oh don’t you boys even dare to think such a thing!” Tricia said, horrified at their thoughts.
When all the boys looked away, Tricia huffed in frustration and Lara scanned the energy to find out what was wrong. She was a little surprised at what she felt and her heart broke for the brave Dranovian’s.
Hoping to ease their fears, Lara cleared her throat to get their attention. “Her last thought with her dying breath was that you would all be safe and get out of there unharmed. She loves you like true family and even though she will technically be a hybrid, she will be a Prime and will not be repelled by your Dranovian beasts.”
“There is no part of your sister that will turn from you and treat you any differently. You haven’t lost a sister, you gained a Prime laustio that will be a little more indestructible than she used to be,” Lara said with a smile, seeing the hope light up the eyes of the Dranovian’s who feared their sister would turn on them as all of their other people had.
Tricia wiped the tears from her eyes and began hugging her sons in turn while Chris held his baby brother Tristan for her. Liam picked Tricia up off of the floor and kissed her loudly on the cheek making her laugh before saying, “I’m not sure if a more indestructible Angel is a good thing, but I will be glad to have her back.”
The boys laughed and Reign asked, “So we have a new baby sister coming?”
Tricia laughed and grabbed Reign’s hand and placed it on the small bump of her stomach. “She is strong and a Prime, just like our Angel,” Tricia said as the baby thumped against Reign’s hand.
Reign looked like he was slapped upside the head when he felt the baby kicking in Tricia’s stomach. “She’s very strong! Holy hell, between her and Angel we’re going to end up grey or bald!”
Groans could be heard among the Dranovian’s as they each complained and grumbled but were secretly thrilled and excited to have another girl child among them. Chris, who held a sleeping Tristan to his chest, whispered, “I’ll take whatever we’re given, but I’d like to put in a request for another little guy like this one next time.”
Cole asked, “How is he? Is he speaking any more words?”
Tricia smiled and patted Cole’s arm with affection. “He’s doing wonderful. He misses all of you though. Now that everyone knows about you, there is no reason for you not to visit more often,” Tricia said while the boys all shied away from the suggestion, their minds replaying the standoff they had just had a few minutes ago, right here in the hangar.
Not wanting to frighten their pregnant, adopted mother, they kept silent, while Chris stared hard at the Valendran leader and the others warningly, hoping they wouldn’t tell her of their reception from their people.
“I think it’s a wonderful idea,” Ivint said to the surprise of the Dranovian’s and to Chris’s irritation. “Family is important.”
Chris, Liam and Reign glared at Ivint as Tricia smiled. “Good! Jax and I will get some rooms prepared for you…,” she began when Chris gently interrupted.
“Mom, we don’t want to be far from Angel, in case she wakes up and needs us. We’re going to camp out here…,” Chris said when Dread interrupted him.
“We’re standing in front of our ship and there’s plenty of room for us to bunk in there and even prepare our own meals. The Brazar, Viper and I will stay with the Dranovian’s while we wait for our brother’s mate to recover,” Dread said to the disbelief of the Dranovian’s while Viper walked over to the ship and released the cargo ramp so that they could easily get inside. And anyone in the docking bay could see the weapons lining the walls of the cargo bay of their ship.
Dread had no intentions of allowing Drago to be unprotected while he stayed by his wounded mate. Alliance or not, the reception they received was not acceptable to him and he would take no chances with the safety of his family and its newest member.
Lara smiled wearily at the determined men, understanding why they were staying and agreeing with them. She turned to Ivint and said, “If you don’t mind, I’m exhausted, could we debrief later and possibly speak here after we’ve rested? I think it would be best if we remained close by, in case Angel needs us.”
Ivint nodded his head. He understood why they were remaining close to their sister and Drago, and Ivint couldn’t say that he blamed them, considering how even he had reacted to their arrival. Ignorance bred fear and Ivint was tired of being ten steps behind everything that was going on with his people, this planet.
He couldn’t even be an
gry at Grai for keeping it a secret from them. Ivint couldn’t say he would have ever accepted the existence of so many Dranovian’s and the knowledge of why they were here any easier than he had today. And that was something he wasn’t proud of at all.
Ivint looked at Reven, Niklosi and Balduen and spoke privately to them through the Shengari’ before turning back to Chris. “Would you mind if I went in to speak to your father?”
Chris was considering saying no when the door to Med Lab opened and Grai said, “Ivint and Reven, please come in. We have much to discuss. Dread, Trick, Chris and Mikal, please come in as well.”
Chris waved his arm in front of him to let Ivint go first and he followed the Valendran leader into the room, then Dread and Trick with Mikal covering their rear.
Lara looked at Viper and sighed. “If I don’t go in there…,” she said when Viper smiled and kissed her quiet.
“I know. You keep everyone calm and cool in there and I’ll help these guys keep the peace out here,” Viper said before he lightly smacked her bottom and pushed her towards the Med Lab door.
Lara grinned and headed inside the now cramped room. You just couldn’t put such large men in any room and expect them not to make it feel smaller, Lara thought as she moved past the Dranovian’s to stand near the front. The room resembled the standoff that had played out earlier only on a much smaller scale.
Drago and Grai stood protectively in front of the bed where Angel was recovering, with Amun on the other side of the bed monitoring her body and brain functions. Chris, Mikal and the Tezarian’s stood on either side of Grai and Drago while Ivint and Reven stood alone, in front of them. Lara sighed as she pulled up a chair next to Ivint and sat down. At least it didn’t seem so crowded over here, she thought, trying to find some humor in the situation.
Before Grai could speak, Ivint broke the tense silence. “I understand why you didn’t say anything about this. I imagine that it has been very difficult for you and your children and although I can’t say that we can change anyone’s perception overnight, we can and should replace legend with knowledge so that our children’s children will never know the shame of the ignorance we suffer from.”
“In order to begin that process, I would like to learn more about your children, their abilities and how they ended up here. As well as what you have learned about the rogue hybrids and what may be causing so many anomalies to occur,” Ivint said, hoping that what happened in the docking bay would not have serious impacts on the alliance they had formed with Grai and his people.
Grai looked at Chris and Mikal, his oldest sons and when they nodded their agreement, he began to speak. “As you know, Dranovian is the name given to them from long ago and is the only word that anyone remembers from the original beast language.”
“It means Beast killer and as you are aware, that is what they do. My sons are your hybrids, the same as any of the females or other males that live among us. They are direct descendants of your crashed outpost personnel,” Grai said, seeing the flare of surprise in Ivint’s eyes.
“They are also the only people that I trusted to protect my mate when I found her. It was then that I told her who they were and she accepted them as our children,” Grai said when Mikal snickered.
“We started calling her Mom as more of a joke than anything, because as you can see, Chris and I are older than she is,” Mikal said with a huge grin.
“It doesn’t stop her from mothering us though,” Chris said with a loving smile.
He and his brothers adored their father’s mate and although they had been too old to mother when she came along, it didn’t stop her from treating them with the same love, concern and respect she showed Tristan. As far as they were concerned, she was their mother, no matter who had birthed and abandoned them.
Grai smiled as he continued. “When I realized who they were, I tried to gather as much information as I could about them so that I could help them understand who they were and why they were here. It became clear when we came across the first anomalous hybrid,” Grai said.
“It may surprise you to know that a Dranovian is nothing more than an anomalous beast itself. A genetic mutation that seems to occur in direct correlation to the number of your hybrids that go rogue,” Grai said while Chris grabbed his comm and started projecting names, dates and occurrences on the closest wall.
Grai smiled at his son and started to continue when Reven stopped reading the information on the wall and interrupted. “All of that is true? Those were all hybrids who did those things?” Reven asked in shock, unable to fathom that their people could have committed such atrocities unchecked.
Grai nodded sadly. “It’s different here. On the beast worlds, you are aware of a potential problem with the bonding and your people watch for it closely. The humans have no damn clue what is among them and have no idea what to look for. Humans see a child or adult female that has committed heinous crimes and they look for psychological issues.”
“Humans see dangerous personality changes and pump the hybrids full of drug and chemical cocktails that in some cases, worsen the problem and even cause the final break that makes them killers,” Grai said honestly.
“If you watch the world wide news outlets, you can see a serious uptick in the number of child and female killers. The largest percentage of them, are your hybrids. Male and female,” Mikal added as Ivint looked irritated.
“Enough!” Ivint said loudly, getting everyone’s attention before continuing.
“I understand why you are separating yourself from the other hybrids, but if I understand Grai correctly, you are also hybrids. You are also the children of my people and as such, you are also my hybrids,” Ivint said, causing Mikal and Chris to look away.
Ivint sighed. “My people may not be easily accepting of your presence only because they don’t understand. I, however, am beginning to understand all too clearly and fully accept you as our people. With the same rights and protections of any other hybrid or Valendran,” Ivint said before Chris turned fiery amber eyes to him.
“I do not require your acceptance to exist!” Chris growled angrily as Grai put a hand on his arm to calm him.
Ivint sighed and shook his head sadly. “I am sorry. That is not what I meant,” Ivint said, understanding Chris’s anger and hurt, but hoping they could get past it.
Grai interceded before the situation could spiral out of control. “The hybrid problem is increasing. For every three that we are able to save and bring home, we are finding at least one rogue and each decade those numbers are going up.”
Trick cleared his throat and spoke up. “We think that the illusions that Satalis is creating around the city are part of the reason for the problem. What we gathered from the illusions we deconstructed, it looks like he’s creating layers. Some of the layers attract the unbonded beast within the hybrid. The other layers build the foundation for the corrupted bonding and susceptibility to brainwashing.”
Mikal snorted and shook his head. “Those, like the original Devon, were turned into truly vicious killers with no conscience at all. She was the epitome of a soulless killer and not the first we’ve encountered,” Mikal said, agreeing with Trick.
Lara nodded her head. “He’s using the illusions to attract, trap and intentionally mutate the beast bondings in the hybrids in order to create his own personal army of gifted killers. Think of all the different talents among the hybrids you know, now think of those same gifts being used against the humans or even our own people.”
Chris cleared his throat and looked sheepishly at his father before adding. “We know that he is using them to blackmail government officials and to kill anyone he thinks is standing in his way. We found that out while Angel was pretending to be Devon.”
Grai turned angry eyes to his son. “Yes, explain to me how surveillance of the increase in rogue hybrids in the DC area turned into a years long personal mission being carried out behind my back?”
Mikal shifted his feet while Chris actually blushed before sq
uaring his shoulders and facing his father. “Angel went to school with a girl that worked at the Capitol Building, who had basically been bullied to death by Devon Sinclair. When we realized she was anomalous and tried to kill Angel as well, we terminated her beast.” The sadness in Chris’s voice was unexpected and Ivint and Reven were again surprised at the remorse the men showed for what they had to do.
Mikal added. “When the beast was gone, she lost it. She had killed so many, even her own parents and uncle… she couldn’t live with herself. She intentionally attacked Angel and when Angel defended herself… Devon lost her life. She thanked us for freeing her soul before she passed. A lot of them do…” Mikal said, his head bowed with sadness at the senseless loss of life. He was tired of finding the broken too late to help them.
Chris nodded at Mikal’s words. “Devon told us that her boss was the one who had forced the bonding and beaten her into submission until the beast bond formed incorrectly. Angel saw that the only difference between the two was some weight, hair and eye color and thought she could find out what was really going on by pretending to be Devon for a little while. We had no idea at the time, who the boss was or what was happening to the hybrids, but we knew there was a connection that we needed to find.”
Grai began to pace the small floor space available, his agitation obvious as he turned a disappointed gaze to his oldest son. “And you thought it would be ok to put your sister in danger like that without knowing what the hell was going on or what you were dealing with?”
Chris looked away and Trick spoke up to bring the conversation back to the issue at hand. “Now that we don’t have to worry about Satalis discovering our presence here, we can destroy the illusions he has created. That will at least prevent other hybrids from being caught in the web he created.”
“How?” Lara asked curiously.
“An illusion is nothing more than energy being transferred from other worlds to create a manifestation in this one. Using a targeted pulse weapon, directed at the heart of the illusion, will cause an electrostatic discharge that would nullify both energies and negate any effects of either. Leaving the area clean, with no remaining energy at all,” Trick explained.