Stolen Moments (A World Beyond Book 8)

by Michelle Howard

  ‘There has been a severe malfunction. Do you wish to report for assistance?’

  The mechanical voice broke through Joni’s panic and disorientation. She blinked, but something wet dripped down her face obscuring her vision. She tried to press the button for the emergency beacon, but her right arm flopped at her side.

  ‘Failure to reply denotes automatic contact for authorities. Please do not leave the incident site until a report has been taken.’

  “Kyele,” Joni moaned as everything grayed and went hazy.

  ***

  As soon as Team Two entered, Jaron directed Kyele to meet with Torkel in his office. Not an unusual request as his Unit Leader often wished to go over the details on a completed mission. The pleasure he felt at returning home vanished when Torkel rose from his seat at Kyele’s entrance.

  The downward curve of his mouth froze Kyele’s heart mid-beat. Then it pulsed and banged against his chest at an unnatural rate.

  “Have a seat, Kyele.”

  “Tell me,” he countered.

  Torkel’s gaze darkened, sympathy and compassion glinting from his brown gaze. “There has been an accident.”

  Kyele eased one of the knives he always carried from his thigh sheath and started to twirl it between his fingers. Everything was fine. Joni was out buying things for their baby. He’d checked the hover-car before he left then had Jaron go over it as well. It was mechanically sound. None of the other men were around which meant the other Chosens were fine as well.

  “Tell me.” The words snapped out with more force the second time.

  “I am sorry. It...is not good.”

  The blade clattered to the floor unnoticed. Had someone attempted to kidnap her again? Kyele’s throat locked. He licked his suddenly dry lips and choked out the question. “Is she alive?”

  Torkel hesitated and the small fissure in Kyele’s chest spread into a jagged crack that sent him to his knees, fists braced on the floor. The ache rocked through his body until nothing penetrated. His eyes burned, but the tears would not fall. He gasped, unable to draw air into his lungs. Not Joni. Not his tesa.

  Pain struck as Kyele tried to wrap his mind around what Torkel didn’t say. How was he to move on without Joni in his life?

  “Kyele! Kyele, I sent Dr. Maku ahead to stabilize Joni because we couldn’t risk moving her. We have to hurry if you are to say goodbye.”

  Kyele blinked and looked up at his Unit Leader. Goodbye? His brain stuttered. Confusion caused his voice to go hoarse. “What?”

  “We need to get you to Joni.”

  “Where?” Would he have to view her beautiful face in death to end this nightmare?

  Torkel placed a hand on his shoulder. “Not far from the market square. There was an accident. Medics are on scene.”

  He stumbled to his feet. Torkel’s words gave him hope. “She is not dead?”

  “No, but—”

  Kyele didn’t wait to hear more. He misted into his Spectar form, traveling faster than he ever had before to get to his Chosen’s side, all the while begging, pleading and bargaining with any entity listening. And in the end, he begged the one who mattered most. The one who’d promised not to let the darkness take him. “I’m coming, Joni. Hold on for me.”

  When Kyele arrived at the site, medics and their assistants crowded around an upside down hover-car. Beside it, two men followed a sheet covered hoverboard. Kyele’s heart tumbled to his stomach. He pressed a fist to his chest as he approached with staggering steps. He parted his lips to speak, but words froze. Nothing came out.

  “Jutak warrior Bastien?” The blond on the left asked.

  Kyele could only nod, his eyes burning with unshed tears.

  “Dr. Maku said to direct you to the second vehicle below.”

  Kyele glanced at the body. If Maku wasn’t here then this wasn’t Joni. Relief splintered inside of him, but he had no time to waste and raced off to find Joni.

  The scene below was worst than the one above. This second hover-car was totaled, the wreck almost unrecognizable for the damage that had been done. Gouges left jagged tears in the ground from the top of the hill to the bottom. Trees had been ripped from their roots and leaned heavily to the side, their trunks split into wooden spears. Imagining the event which could cause such devastation was a nightmare Kyele didn’t want to contemplate Joni experiencing.

  Dr. Maku knelt next to another blanket covered body on the ground and waved him over. Several medical professionals in their distinctive blue uniforms surrounded Maku. Kyele hurried forward and jerked to a halt when he spotted familiar bright red-gold hair. Joni. He choked and fell to his knees beside her. Her head tipped to the side, facing in his direction.

  Strict training kept him from reacting outwardly to her appearance while inside his heart shattered. One golden eye was swollen shut and the surrounding area was colored a vivid purple and red. Abrasions marred her cheeks in violet streaks puckered at the end as if something tore across it. He swallowed back bile at seeing her hurt like this.

  “Hey,” she whispered. Blood smeared her entire face in ghastly trails, a thin line trickling from her mouth and still, she found the strength to smile.

  It took two tries for Kyele to get the harshly rasped word past his dry lips. “Hey.”

  “She needs to be treated. Transferred to a med center,” Maku murmured, expression more grave than Kyele had ever witnessed.

  One of the health workers shook his head, regret shining from his gaze. Kyele’s soul shuddered but he forced himself to lock down the fear threatening to overtake him. Turning from the worker, he eased back the chest high blanket covering Joni.

  Nothing. He sat back on his haunches with a huff. He expected the worst. Instead there was nothing. No catastrophic injuries to explain the palpable air of horror and grief. She wore the same midriff baring top from earlier, her tanned torso smooth and clear.

  The barely noticeable curve to her belly reminded him of their child. Kyele gingerly placed his palm there.

  Suddenly, Joni coughed, her body arching in on itself. The movement left her whimpering, her distress flaying the flesh from Kyele’s bones. Maku called out medical terms and jargon to the others as he gently guided her flat on her back again. Someone slapped an injector in Maku’s hand and he depressed the plunger against Joni’s forearm. She gasped, paling further until her skin took on a chalky cast.

  Panic hit Kyele. “What is wrong with her?”

  Someone else moved the swath of hair from her neck. Just a slight adjustment to the matted red waves and gorge rose in Kyele’s throat. He couldn’t take his eyes from the morbid sight. A large piece of metal pierced the side of her slim throat, bright red blood splattered around the entry.

  Joni mumbled something he missed. Kyele leaned close to her face to better hear. “What?”

  “I love you,” she whispered.

  He kissed the lone tear as it slid down her cheek. “As I love you.”

  “I held on,” Joni murmured. “Just like you said to do in an emergency.”

  He smiled, but the sides quivered. Then he pressed his lips tight. “And I came for you. Always.”

  The lines on her forehead smoothed out. She arched a patent Joni brow full of cockiness. Except blood caked her brows from gashes on her forehead where projectiles had sliced at her delicate skin. “I was the best Chosen.”

  Kyele kissed the side of her mouth. Whisper soft. “You are the best Chosen for me. No other will own a place in my heart.”

  The rise of her chest slowed. Her breath caught and blood bubbled from her lips with her next words. “We were damn good together, Ky.”

  He nodded, taking a moment to speak beyond the growing lump in his throat. She kept referencing them in the past tense. Kyele had no intention of giving up on them. “Do you trust me?”

  “I’ve always trusted you, Ky.”

  Truth. She’d trusted him from the moment they met and never lost faith when he resisted the inevitable.

  “Close your
eyes, Joni. I’ve got you.”

  “What are you doing, Kyele?” Maku looked concerned as Kyele shifted and crouched over Joni. He braced his arms at the sides of her head, careful not to touch the metal.

  The minute her lashes fluttered closed, Kyele shifted to his Spectar form and allowed himself to flow into Joni. It was easy to destroy an enemy from within using his birthright. Only once before had Kyele used his abilities for a different reason. Like then, he merged himself with Joni in an attempt to save her life.

  His body seamlessly joined with hers. They became one, his Spectra form able to discern more like this. There was no other way to explain it. With the joining, he could identify...wrongness.

  Kyele let his gift guide him and his attention focused on the beacon of light at the core of Joni. Alive. She was alive and he fucking planned for her to stay that way.

  Drums sounded in the distance, each thump discordant. Fast, fast then double tap before resuming the manic pace. Disoriented, he hesitated in the thick darkness, unable to tell which way to go or what to do.

  Focusing all of his senses, Kyele drew closer to the large object pulling his attention. Joni’s heart. It lost its cadence and Kyele’s essence swirled around it in panic. Something warned him not to touch the precious organ though. Kyele turned his gaze elsewhere.

  The swish of water filled his ears. Kyele’s incorporeal form hovered, Joni’s life force all around him wavering as if her body would quit at any moment.

  So many injuries. All of it tugging on him to heal everything at once but he couldn’t.

  Anger surged through his veins along with fear. Focus. He needed to find the fatal injury site at her neck and fix it first. With that thought in mind, he searched the endless black around him, seeking to find the right path. If he couldn’t save his Chosen, the reason he woke each morning, then he might as well give up.

  Please. Please, don’t leave me, Joni.

  Something brushed against him. A warmth he didn’t usually sense without his corporal body. The heat formed a pattern and with time pressing on him, Kyele followed the stream to the source. As he drew closer, the heat became a blazing fire around a central point.

  Flinching, Kyele reached forward and surrounded the coiled knot. This, this was the source of the pain and the death reaper seeking to take Joni. He touched it with a firm grasp, intending to physically hold her to this plane if he had to. Kyele pushed with everything he had until the knot was out.

  Lightning crackled in an arc, blinding his senses. Kyele fought back with a blast of energy. There was only one thought on his mind.

  Save Joni. Nothing else mattered. He flowed deeper into the burning circle, increasing the merge until he became one with the fire hot hole left behind at the mass’ center. There were loose strands of red, white and black swirling everywhere. Kyele made frantic grabs for each, hoping to find a means of reattaching them wherever they belonged.

  Please, he begged. I need you, Joni.

  Each time he stretched the strands back to the knot, they stayed so he worked faster until no loose piece flowed freely. Upon completion, he hovered, trying to decipher if there was something more he could do. Stars exploded followed by a wave of black, throwing Kyele back. He roared in denial. His physical body tugged at his Spectar form, drawing him away.

  No! Not yet. He wasn’t done. He needed to be sure.

  “Kyele!” Maku yelled.

  Kyele jerked, his eyes opening to the night sky above. Joni! He rolled over to his side on a groan. “W-w-what happened?”

  Maku swiped his eyes on the shoulder of his shirt. His hands busily worked. “I don’t know what you did. It...you...I’m never going to assume anything when dealing with you, Jutaks.”

  Kyele pushed up. He was on the ground beside Joni. Her eyes were closed. She was still. So still. He stretched his hand toward her face. She sighed, breath stirring his palm before he cupped her jaw. Maku slapped a pressure bandage to the side of her neck.

  Kyele’s heart jumped. “Will she live?”

  Maku waved the medics away and lowered his voice. He nodded at the discarded piece of metal to the side on the ground. “Whatever you did worked. It pushed from her skin on its own. I have never seen such. I was able to get the bleeding stopped and gave her a sedative in addition to the pain inhibitor. Once we get back home, I can take care of the other minor wounds with the neutralizer.”

  Home. Joni alive was all Kyele wanted.

  Chapter 6

  Joni awoke with a groan and stretched. The bed beneath her was hard. Frowning, she opened her eyes and glanced around the all white room. This wasn’t home. Her heart fluttered as she shoved up to a seated position.

  “Wait, tesa.” A firm hand pushed on her shoulder.

  She’d know that husky voice anywhere. “Kyele? Why am I in the medic center?”

  Dark hair messy and green eyes drawn, he pulled his chair closer to the bed she rested on. “You had an accident. In the hover-car.”

  It all came back and Joni pressed a palm to her middle. “Our baby?”

  Kyele placed his hand over hers. “Safe. He is fine. As are you.”

  Joni dropped back on the bed with a relieved huff. “The other vehicle...it just appeared. I was driving safely.”

  Kyele squeezed her hand. “No one holds you at fault. The other driver died, but investigation shows mechanical failure. It caused her hover-car to slam into yours. The collision pushed you over the cliff.”

  Hearing it relayed in such a blunt manner sent Joni’s heart racing. That easily she could have lost all she held dear. A wet trickle tickled her cheek. Another followed. The chair squeaked and Kyele rose to join her in the tight, narrow bed. His muscled arms pulled her close until she nestled against his strong chest.

  Joni sniffled trying to draw on his strength. Kyele lowered his head to the top of hers and nuzzled her hair. “Do not cry. It hurts my heart.”

  “I knew you’d come for us.” Her first and last thought were of Kyele and those kept her from being as scared as she could have been. Forcing back more tears, Joni leaned back and smiled. “The day you and Arak rescued us is the best thing to ever happen to me. All I went through doesn’t compare to the good I have in my life now. I wouldn’t change a thing because it’s made me who I am.”

  ***

  As Kyele lay behind her on his side, he contemplated her words. With care in every move, he trailed a finger down the outside of Joni’s arm, flesh pebbling in the wake. Wonder, joy, emotions he couldn’t put into words filled him. Would his amazement ever get old? Again he brushed his fingertips over her. From collarbone down to her midsection he stroked ever so gently.

  “I love who you are.” It was getting easier and easier to say the words casually though there was nothing casual about his feelings. Kyele closed his eyes on an exhale and moved his hold to Joni’s waist. Nice and light, when he really wanted to squeeze her and hold on so that nothing could take her from him.

  “I see our patient is up.”

  Joni jerked in his arms as Dr. Maku entered the room. He stopped next to the bed and though he frowned at Kyele, he didn’t comment on his presence beside Joni.

  “Is everything really alright with the baby?” she asked breathlessly.

  Maku nodded and handed over his data pad. Kyele tipped his head down to see as well. On screen, they viewed the outline of a tiny form curled and hunched over.

  “This is the recording I made as soon as we brought you in. Your son is thriving and measuring on track when I compare him to Sylvie and Faye’s records.”

  Another worry dispelled. Kyele rubbed his hand over Joni’s belly bared by the shift in her position to accept the data pad from Maku. She traced her finger over the white outline on the screen. “He’s so tiny.”

  Kyele studied the small arms, bent knees and unusually large head. He was deciding on whether to question the size when the image blurred. Joni squeaked and twitched in his arms. Kyele caught her before she rolled from the bed to the floor.


  “What happened?”

  Maku leaned over to see where Joni pointed on the screen and a bemused smile creased his cheeks. “Yes. That is different from the others, but more due to your Chosen’s heritage than any problem with your pregnancy.”

  Kyele frowned until it hit him what had occurred. He chuckled and kissed the side of Joni’s face. “His Spectar form.”

  Even as he said it, the hunched body of their child reappeared on the screen. Maku pointed to a column of numbers on the side. “If you watch closely you will note the stats never fade when he does that. The scan is monitoring his vitals continuously. Like I said this was taken earlier. I can get a connector and show you real time.”

  Joni shook her head and gave Maku the data pad back. She settled in the bed. “As long as he’s fine, I won’t worry.”

  Kyele caressed the small bump of her belly. “My little Earthling.”

  She cupped his jaw. “The rest of this pregnancy will go smoothly. You’ll see.”

  Kyele would hold fervent hope that she was right. His heart could only take so much.

  Author Note

  I have to say that some characters become a favorite of mine the moment they show up on page. Kyele and Joni are such characters. It is a joy any time I get to revisit them or share an intimate moment of their relationship. Sometimes, I even learn something myself.

  If you’re new to A World Beyond and interested in their HEA, their full story can be found in Kyele’s Passion. You’ll also get to see their son and more information about Kyele’s parents and the heritage he references in their book.

  Michelle H.

  Moment in Time

  A World Beyond Novella

  By Michelle Howard

  Published by MH Publications

  Chapter 1

  The hum of activity and conversation echoed in the two-story lobby of the exhibition building. In a celebration acknowledging the birth of the Enotian military force and elite soldiers, the government facilities at this particular location were open to the public.