Dad Panther (Alien Guardians of Earth Book 3)

by Donna McDonald

  Gina snorted. “I am giving you no choice but to do so.”

  She felt no remorse for her harsh words as the entity calling itself Protector Lake turned toward the window.

  6

  Axel paced behind his mate with arms crossed as Sugar listened intently to Lake’s blade recounting the message he’d received from the fourth of their kind.

  His entire family was involved in some manner and was assembled in this room—all except his brother Caesar of Rodu who was sitting on the throne. Caesar’s future mate, Lyrica of Laith, sat by his side, deflecting minor questions while Caesar glared at anyone daring to ask anything more serious. His brother’s glare was the same as the original Rodu’s and therefore competent enough to keep the worst of the questioners in line. Sugar had teased Caesar about practicing it, but Axel suspected his brother had indeed done so.

  Axel’s glare came from his full Lyran mother. He didn’t have to practice anything. His glare was chilling and natural. It had only failed to inspire fear in one or two people. Sugar had never minded it—not even before she’d come to terms with the blade. Life with the sassy human was challenging but never dull.

  Lyrica of Laith, Caesar’s future mate was a full Lyran female. She was once Axel’s intended or at least their parents had hoped their mating would come to pass. To escape royal expectations, he had lived among the humans they guarded. They were irritating, disobedient, and unreasonable creatures, especially the females. The sentient blade possessed version currently carrying his children was the most contrary creature of all.

  How could Sugar possibly be thinking of going on a rescue mission when their children were due any moment?

  Axel stopped pacing when he noticed everyone had their hands over their mouths to stifle their mirth. Everyone except Sugar who was glaring at him fiercely. “I spoke my thoughts aloud, didn’t I?”

  “Yes,” a chorus of grinning people answered.

  Axel planted his feet and stared at his mate. “Well, I don’t regret doing so. You can’t seriously be thinking about leaving.”

  Sugar went to stand in front of him and crossed her arms as well. “Why didn’t you tell me Lyran females had their children moved to gestation units long before their pregnancies progressed this far? I think you wanted me to carry the twins to term because you wanted to make sure I stayed put. Go ahead, Axel. Admit it.”

  “I admit nothing of the sort. Their mother is human. We are having children the human way. I do not see what is unusual about our situation.”

  Sugar snorted and dropped her arms. “Don’t make me kick your Bad Panther ass in front of the family again for being manipulative. I’d probably fall on my own ass trying to lift my leg that high.”

  Physical balance now adjusted. Proceed as needed. Confirmed—Axel of Rodu is being Bad Panther again.

  She and the artifact had been discussing metaphors together lately and their odd discourse showed it. Sugar giggled at the sentient blade she carried trying in its own awkward way to help her out. Help wasn’t possible in this strange situation, but she appreciated the loyalty.

  No normal woman should have to face the decision she was facing. But what else could she do? Lake’s blade wouldn’t give him back control of himself. Rodu looked like a volcano about to blow sky high. She couldn’t send those two males off half-cocked with weapons drawn. Someone had to keep calm and not go all black dust crazy on the people trying to capture the last of the sentient blades.

  Sugar turned to Marta. “I would like you to transfer the children to Lyran gestational units as soon as we can. Can they both fit into one unit? I would hate them being separated after all the time they’ve spent together inside me.”

  Marta reached out and patted Sugar’s shoulder. “No worries, sister. Twins are not a Lyran occurrence, but Gina built a special unit just for your children.”

  Sugar turned to Gina. “How did you know I’d do this?”

  “I didn’t,” Gina replied sharply, glaring at the other blade hosts before looking back at Sugar. “It is my nature to prepare for the worst scenarios I can imagine happening. This one qualifies.”

  Sugar nodded. “Thank you, Gina. You look great, by the way. Did you have a date tonight?”

  “What I planned for tonight no longer matters,” Gina said flatly, turning on her heel. “I will go make some final checks of the dual unit. It is essentially a prototype. I agree with you about not separating the children from each other. That would be cruel.”

  Axel growled as his brilliant sister left the room, huffing in anger. He turned to Sugar. “Are you going to ignore my wishes so completely?”

  “Of course not,” Sugar said calmly. “Isn’t it your wish that our children be born safe and healthy?”

  Axel frowned. “Yes, but…”

  “Isn’t it your wish that I survive the birthing process and be restored to full health as quickly as possible?”

  “Yes, but…”

  “Then I don’t understand what the problem is in this situation,” Sugar said, tossing his words back.

  Axel grunted. “Our entire existence together is a problem in constant need of new answers.”

  Sugar nodded in agreement. “Yes, and I’m sorry there’s no one’s ass to kick over not getting your way this time.”

  Axel sighed loudly. “How many times do I have to tell you? Levity is not an acceptable way to propose a solution, Sugar.”

  Sugar walked to her mate, who looked ready to implode. She put both hands on his arms. “I don’t want to take them with me. We don’t know what the Creator blade can do. I need to know the children are safe. But I also need to collect the fourth blade before the wrong people collect it. You know I have to go.”

  Axel pulled Sugar close and felt his children kicking against him. He leaned away, looked down, and then put his hand over where they lay. “Stop that,” he ordered. “You are not to side with your mother in this matter.” The babies went still.

  Sugar glanced down, giggled, and then looked back up at him. “That’s some good talent there, Dad Panther. Guess we know who the disciplinarian will be.”

  Axel put his forehead against Sugar’s and listened to her laugh. She drove him crazy. He adored her like no other. “Must you do this?”

  Sighing, Sugar leaned back and met his concerned gaze. “All the sentient blades are awake, Axel. There has to be a reason. I can’t let the fourth blade fall into the wrong hands. I need to convince the host it chose to change her mind. Lake turned that blade down to take the one he has. Now the new host has declined it. I’m the one most versed in their history. They need my help to sort this out.”

  “I don’t like it.”

  “I know. I don’t like it either. But I love you. And I know you and your family will protect our children from whatever is coming that woke up the blades. That’s the only reason I can even contemplate doing what everything in me is screaming I must do.”

  “Very well,” Axel whispered. The concession stuck in his throat but he wouldn’t let her down.

  Queen Nyomi cleared her throat. “I’ve done most of the preparations for the welcome ceremony. We’ll keep this one limited to family and close friends. When the children of Axel are free of the gestation units, then we will do a larger celebration.”

  Axel nodded.

  Marta lifted Sugar’s arm and tucked it into hers. “Come, Sugar of Earth. Let’s get my nephew and niece out of you. This is a wondrous day. We welcome two new royals into our family.”

  Sugar nodded. She turned to her mate. “Axel, I’m letting the blade take me over before Marta starts. I don’t want to risk changing my mind when I see them.”

  “I understand. Do what you feel you must. The children and I will be here when you return to us.”

  “Thank you for understanding. You own my heart.”

  “I love you too, you frustrating Earth woman. But I’m not feeling as friendly toward that thing inside you. Go before I turn into Mad Panther again. I’ll be along shortly.”


  Sugar chuckled as Marta led her away.

  When Axel was sure his mate was too preoccupied with Marta to tune in to him, he went to the nearest piece of composite furniture and ripped it into pieces. He didn’t stop until it was a pile of mangled scraps at his feet.

  Nearby, his father put an arm around his mother. They both looked at him and nodded grimly that they understood. He felt immense gratitude that there were no more secrets between him and his parents.

  Never, though, had the burden of duty been made so clear to him. He didn’t like it—would never like it—when it came to the female he had claimed for his own.

  Axel breathed and said nothing for two minutes. When he finally spoke, it pleased him that his tone was almost back to normal. “Let’s get to medical. I think I’m calm enough to greet my children now.”

  He turned and looked at the boy who hosted the most progressive-minded of the blades. Unlike his father, who was truly one with the being he hosted, Lake Allen Wright faded back to let the sentient being in him take over completely.

  Axel knew full well whom he addressed at that moment… and its power. He just didn’t care.

  “My anger may seem irrational to you, but I will never fully accept my mate’s duty to the ancient being she hosts. The most I can promise is to not stand in Sugar’s way when she feels this obligated to follow its dictates. You can expect no more of me.”

  “We expect far less than you imagine, Axel of Rodu. We do not tamper with our host’s free will except in extreme situations. Rescuing the Creator is a worthy reason for your mate’s sacrifice. The Creator has more power than the rest of the blades combined. She needs our help.”

  Axel nodded that he’d heard before they all trekked out of the room.

  7

  Axel held Sugar’s hand even though his mate was not in charge of her body. He knew she watched from some place inside herself. He hoped she knew that he was physically there.

  “Host Sugar said to tell you she sees and hears all.”

  Axel nodded at the comment and squeezed his mate’s fingers.

  Axel heard the chants and the blessings, but his gaze never left his children as Marta lifted them free of Sugar’s womb. They were holding onto each other. Gina rushed to Marta’s side to help separate them while they protested. Each of his sisters laid a struggling child on a receiving cloth.

  Marta disconnected his son from Sugar and inserted a feeding tube into the birth cord. When Marta finished, she passed the boy to the Queen, who looked at the child in awe. His mother spoke ancient words of power over her new descendant. The room seemed alive with her verbal blessing.

  “Greetings, son of Axel who is my firstborn child of Rodu. May all who hear these words know you and your sister are heirs of Queen Nyomi. Welcome to the queendom of the Guardians of Earth, little one. Welcome to our family.”

  Then his mother, the head of the reigning Lyran royalty on Earth, held his son out to him. “Here is your son, Axel of Rodu. Thank you for adding him to our family. May he grow up to be as fine a male as you have turned out to be.”

  “I have a son,” Axel said in astonishment as he took the now squirming boy. He stared down in amazement. “You have my body but you look like your mother in the face, boy. Do you have her amazing mind too?”

  He whispered the question, smiling when his son murmured in recognition of his voice.

  Axel looked down at Sugar’s body on the table. “Thank you for my son, Sugar. He is as amazing as you.”

  He turned to his queen and his father. “Sugar and I have chosen names already. Our son is to be known as Ata Khalid. Sugar said Ata means twin in Rodu’s original language. Khalid is for remembrance of Rodu’s father who was beloved by his son. Rodu is also beloved by his children. May the cycle continue through my flesh and blood. His Lyran title will be Prince Kha of Axel.”

  “Welcome, Prince Kha of Axel,” they all said.

  Queen Nyomi turned to take the girl child from Marta. There was far more Lyran in the girl than in the boy. This did not surprise her since Lyrans were mostly matrilineal. Axel’s birth heralded the first male leader born in many thousands of years.

  The girl geared up for a squeal that Nyomi disrupted by blowing in the girl’s face. She turned to look at her son, who was watching her every move. “Only seconds into breathing air and your daughter is already angry. Her energy is very much like yours, Axel.”

  Everyone in the room laughed at the queen’s pronouncement, but Axel only smiled. He leaned toward his queen and held his son close to his sister. The boy seemed to shutter in relief, and the girl swung her arms out looking for her missing brother.

  When Axel saw his father standing nearby, he turned and held the boy out to him. Rodu gently took the child and turned away from them to look his fill. Axel knew his father attempted to hide the human emotions he was feeling. They all accepted his father’s intense emotionality, but Rodu preferred everyone to think he had little to none.

  Finally, his mother handed his other child to him. “Here is your daughter, Axel. Thank you for adding her to our family.”

  Axel took his girl child into his hands. He could feel that the children were different. The girl made a face in protest of being taken away from her brother again. “No crying,” Axel ordered in a whisper. “If you cry, your mother will fight her way to get to you. Soon you will be with your brother again. I promise.”

  Marta chuckled at her brother soothing his child and set about working on Sugar. “The wound is all but healing itself. At this rate, the sentient blade will heal Sugar of the birth within an Earth hour.”

  Axel glanced at his mate who was in a sleep none of them understood. Marta had not had to use any medication at all. “I expected no less,” he admitted. Axel tore his gaze from his daughter and moved it fully to his sister. “Thank you, Marta of Rodu, for all you have done for my mate and my children today.”

  Marta paused in her work and bowed her head. “You are welcome, brother. It is an honor to bring your children into the world.”

  “My children… these two amazing beings are my children,” Axel declared, studying his daughter’s pinched up face. He could feel her restlessness. This one was clearly like him. Sugar would likely remind him of that fact daily. He couldn’t wait. “In the presence of my queen and family, I acknowledge these children are both mine and say with conviction that I approve of them.”

  Gina huffed as she glared at Axel. “You approve of them? Such thinking would be offensive to the female you impregnated, brother. Be grateful the real Sugar is not present. She would argue with you while Marta closed her up.”

  “Why would Sugar argue over such a profound declaration of truth?” Axel asked in genuine surprise. “Our children are magnificent. I’m sure Sugar will approve of them as well.”

  “Thank you, Prince Axel, for confirming my suspicions. Males of all species are dense,” Gina declared as she rolled her eyes. Her brother’s declaration was offensive, but then she remembered she too was struggling in her communication with a human. “I’m sorry, brother. I’m sure you are right about your mate.”

  “I am always right about Sugar,” Axel said as he smiled at his sister. “And I accept your apology, Gina.”

  Gina snorted. “It was not an apology…”

  Protector Lake put a hand on her shoulder to stop the rant. “Allow me,” he said and then looked at Axel of Rodu. “It was not an apology. It was merely an explanation.”

  Gina glared at Lake, resentful that his blade continued to involve itself with her, but she did not argue back. She didn’t want to expose everyone to her personal issues, especially not at that moment. She turned back and made herself smile at her now smirking brother. “Did you and Sugar also name the girl, Axel?”

  “Yes. We did,” Axel said, smiling when his daughter turned her cheek toward his stroking finger just like her mother often did. “My daughter is to be called Ata Athena Nyomi. Her Lyran title will be Princess Athena of Axel. Sugar thought usin
g the queen’s name blatantly might be in poor taste, so we kept it to only Athena for public use.”

  When complete silence descended in the room after his pronouncement, Axel chuckled, a rare show of human emotion for him, but he was too pleased with his family to care. Too bad the real Sugar wasn’t fully present to see everyone’s shock. He would enjoy recounting it for his mate when he shared the events of today with her.

  Axel looked at his mother who he’d rarely seen so stunned. “Despite my initial resistance to the sentient blade inside her, Sugar pointed out to me that without Athena the Ancient, she and I would not be together. We met because Sugar merged with one of Athena’s sentient blades and people kept trying to kill her to get it. I became her guardian only because you demanded it of me. Our daughter would not be here in my arms without both my queen mother and Athena.”

  Rodu walked to his son’s side with his grandson sleeping peacefully in his arms. When Axel offered him the girl to hold, he smiled and shook his head before turning to his mate. “Are you okay, my queen? The girl requires your blessing on her name.”

  Nyomi’s eyes narrowed as she met Rodu’s laughing gaze. Her mate drove her crazy with his strange sense of Earth humor, which showed up only at the most inappropriate times. “I was just waiting for Axel to cease his bragging first.”

  Rodu lifted an eyebrow and smiled at her. “We will be here forever then because my eldest son is too much like me. His pride and pleasure in his children are too large to be kept inside.”

  Nyomi knew what her mate said was to appease her. She looked at the men holding the children and felt a soul deep gratitude for her abundant life. Never had she been as happy with her family as she was at the exact moment.

  She put her hand on the woman who had given Axel’s children their life. “Thank you, Sugar of Earth, for bringing this wonderful generation into existence. We welcome your daughter, Princess Athena of Axel and your son, Prince Kha of Axel. May both your children live long and prosper in my kingdom.”