“I admit I have fought that destiny in the past, but I would not turn it away now. When time comes, you can trust that I will do my duty.”
Nyomi reached out and stroked her son’s arm. “Of course, you will, Axel. When the time comes, the Lyran Guardians of Earth will all look to you as well they should. You are meant to lead our people just as Dr. Jennings is meant to host one of Athena the Ancient’s blades. You are both living out your destinies. It is best you accept that inevitability as soon as you can.”
“Axel…” Rodu began as he returned to their side. He cleared his throat. “My silence about my bond with a sentient blade wasn’t meant to be a secret I kept from you forever. I feared your reaction but I feared the reactions of others more. I hid the blade from everyone except your mother for as long as I could.”
Axel nodded, then bowed his head to his father. “There is no need to explain your actions. I understand completely why you hid such a powerful secret. If I could make it so, I would see to it that no one ever knew of Sugar’s merging with a sentient blade.”
Rodu sighed in resignation. It was a relief to know his son did not hate him and a burden to know his son now kept secrets of his own.
He put a hand on Axel’s shoulder. “Knowing the location of one sentient blade is a dangerous knowledge to possess. Knowing the location of two might be worse for you. I will continue to keep this secret to protect those I care for. This is why your mother personally oversees my regeneration. Marta has helped but even your sister was told lies to protect her.”
“Is knowing about the blade the reason Lord Garmin wanted you dead?” Axel asked.
“No. That Lyran wanted your queen for his own,” Rodu said, setting his jaw as he looked at Nyomi. “No one else will have her while I breathe. Your queen is mine.”
“Indeed, I am,” Nyomi acknowledged with a smile.
“But Lord Garmin knew you had a lot of power and he wanted it for his own. He told me that,” Axel concluded.
“This is not surprising. Power is what all greedy men want,” Rodu explained to his genius son.
Axel thought about his father’s words for a few minutes then shrugged. “Can I ask you a question about hosting the blade?”
“Anything. It is a relief to me that you finally know,” Rodu replied.
“How long ago did your blade find you?”
Rodu looked down and did the mental math. “Somewhere around twenty-two hundred years ago in Earth time, I think. I wasn’t a warrior then, Axel. I was an intelligent slave. My job was to prepare burial places for royals. The ancient pyramid I was supposed to turn into a tomb for Cleopatra VII collapsed with me inside. The stones that blocked the way were massive. I was left for dead.”
Axel looked at his mother. Her face was a mask of pain over the mere thought of his father’s death. Was that what love was like? It did not seem pleasant. He looked back at his father. “But you obviously did not die.”
Rodu shook his head. “No. Just before the air in the chamber expired, I found a glowing box with handprints on it behind a panel in one of the walls. I thought the gods had sent it to me as a gift to take with me into the afterlife. I began to pray for a quick and easy death.”
“I find it difficult to see you as such a…”
“Uneducated human?” Rodu suggested.
Axel shook his head slowly. “No… as such an innocent about the world in which you lived.”
Rodu chuckled. “Yes, I was indeed innocent. While praying for a quick death, I put my hands on the box. It exploded from my touch and the sentient blade joined with me. Within a few hours it got me out of the pyramid by nearly leveling the whole building.”
“Your story mirrors Sugar’s.”
Rodu shrugged. “My journey was strange to me. For reasons I still don’t understand, the blade wouldn’t let me stay in Egypt with my people. It would take over and move my body hundreds of miles away. I wandered the entire world for over a century while I went through what the blade calls symbiosis. As I traveled I did what I could to help the people I came across. It seemed to be what I was meant to do. It took a couple hundred years but eventually I became the warrior the blade obviously wanted me to be all along. This is the man who brought you into the world.”
Axel paced away and thought. “The sentient blade kept you transient to keep you safe, Father. It was a sensible precaution. For the nine months she was on her own, Sugar said people kept finding her no matter where she went. Those after her don’t know the origin of the power she carries but they still want the power for themselves. They feel about Sugar’s power the way Lord Garmin felt about yours.”
Rodu nodded in agreement. “Wielding the blade’s power is a burden for a human. The only peace I’ve ever known happened after I met your mother. However, me being in her life nearly destroyed the peace she had so carefully cultivated among your fellow Lyrans.”
Axel narrowed his eyes. “If the Lyran people knew you carried a sentient blade, perhaps they would have accepted you sooner.”
Rodu shook his head. “It was the not hosting the blade that caused Queen Nyomi problems. It was us declaring our love for each other to the Lyrans. I was human and Nyomi was Lyran royalty, but you were on the way and the truth could not be hidden. We had to protect our union and you.”
“For that I can only be grateful,” Axel said, bowing his head.
“Despite all those challenges, it is a profound truth that no one else has made me feel as safe as your mother has. I would die for Nyomi. Those among your people who accept our love understand my claim to her no matter what they believe about me personally. And they accept that you are their future leader. This is enough for me to be content. ”
Axel paced away to give himself a moment to think. He’d doubted many things in his life, but never had he doubted the love his parents had for each other. Their solidarity had become legendary among the Lyran Guardians on Earth. He looked at his father.
“You said they’d come back for Sugar. You are sure of this because you know from experience the people after her will never stop looking now that they know she possesses a source of unspeakable power within her.”
Rodu nodded. “Yes. That is why I felt the need to tell you my secret. I felt I needed to warn you.”
“Sugar would be safer with you two than she could ever be here with me,” Axel said.
“Perhaps,” Rodu said quietly. “And maybe I could ease the way for her transition to warrior if she was staying among the Lyrans at the palace. There were many times during my symbiosis period where I felt very lonely and alone. My father died during the initial year I went to live with Queen Cleopatra at the palace. I was only eighteen then and we were very close. He never knew I got that first important job, much less knew what I eventually became because of the sentient blade. But it was his memory that sustained me until your mother came along. Sugar and I remain very much human with human needs. As far as I can tell, the sentient blades do not seem to want to change the human natures of their hosts.”
Axel had to admit that the similarities in his father’s and Sugar’s story were uncanny. “Sugar quotes her dead father. He’s the male she thinks of when things get tough for her.”
“Likely because all other males have let her down. Dr. Jennings seems like a good woman,” Rodu said.
“I believe she is one,” Axel replied with a sincerity he hadn’t realized he’d felt until that moment. “She too is a reluctant warrior though I’ve never seen her equal in a fight. Why do you suppose the sentient blades picked two people who were not trained warriors? That is not the way Ancient Earth History reads.”
Rodu put a hand on his son’s shoulder. “Only because everyone is being too literal in their interpretation. All people are warriors, Axel. Each person battles through life in their own way. Fighting is not always about physical strength or weapons. It is often about bloodlines and emotion and empathy. It is about caring enough to do good even when it’s not easy to do it.”
Axel grunted. “This means what is generally believed about the sentient blades is wrong.”
Rodu shrugged. “Wrong is perhaps too strong a word. What is believed about the pyramids is also wrong from a certain point of view. It is human nature to doubt everything and think wrong things. The planet continues to turn. And all creatures on a planet play an important role in the universe. Your mother taught me that.”
“Yet Lyrans are not much better about accepting what is different from themselves,” Queen Nyomi said softly. She looked kindly at her son. “When you called Gina for help, we knew you needed to know everything to make the right decision about the Protector. That’s why we came to see you today.”
“What decision is there to make?” Axel asked.
“After hearing you talk about her with such deep affection, I think the most important one is not about her safety, Axel. The bigger decision is the one affecting your heart. You are our son. We will do what we can to help you whatever you decide is best for the female you are guarding,” Rodu said.
Nyomi touched her son’s face. “You have done well in caring for the new Protector while she’s been at her most vulnerable. But if you truly care as much as you seem to, you will have to let Dr. Jennings have the freedom she requires to become what she’s becoming. That’s going to be the hardest thing you’ve ever done. Trust me—I know.”
His parents left him rubbing his chest and feeling confused. He had no idea what the right thing to do was, but the thought of Sugar leaving his side caused both him and his cat to panic. He imagined his fear was every bit as great as the one the sentient blade caused in Sugar.
17
“Is she still sleeping that death-sleep of hers? Last time I came in her to check on her, she was moaning a bit.”
Axel shrugged as he studied the man casually leaning in his bedroom doorway. The wolf was very tall when human. He also had brown hair below his shoulders and sharp incisors in a white-toothed smile that he knew got Max whatever the hell he wanted from nearly everyone.
“Why are you still in my house? You’re done here, Maxwell. Go home to your pack. Be the alpha you were meant to be. Kick that selfish bastard’s ass that’s leading now and take over. I’ve taught you all I can.”
“I figured out my punishment was over when I was able to shift at will again. That’s some juju magic you got going on there, Prince Axel.”
“My sister, Marta, is a brilliant chemist. The antidote worked instantly. I put it on you days ago. Now go before I beat you to a pulp to amuse myself. And never tell anyone what you saw here. If you do, I’ll hunt you down and make a rug out of you,” Axel warned.
Max smiled. “A smart wolf never bites the hand that feeds him. Your woman fed me breakfast from your refrigerator and helped me catch a deer just because I listened to her sad stories. I might try to steal Sugar from you, but I’d never risk her life by snitching.”
“Stealing her is out of the question, wolf. You’d never live long enough to enjoy her. I’d kill you first.”
Max laughed at his caretaker’s threats. He knew his laugh sounded enough like his wolf’s chuffing to guarantee he’d irritate the brooding feline.
“Come on. I get it. Sugar can’t be left alone in this condition, but you can’t stay awake all the time either. I’m as nocturnal as you are, oh wayward prince. Rest with her and let me keep watch on you both. I’m in no hurry to leave. I’ve been prowling your parameters anyway. Nobody’s going to hurt you or your lady if I can help it. I think I proved that already.”
Axel moved his shoulders restlessly. “They cut the freaking power to two transmitters that bounced the wireless signals. I can’t believe the whole thing was all taken down so easily. We could have all been killed over disrupted wireless signals.”
“Stop beating yourself up,” Max ordered, crossing his arms again. “You’ll come up with something better. You always do. I’ve watched you upgrade that fence at least six times in the years we’ve known each other.”
“Yet it was breached anyway.”
Max chuffed and cleared his throat. “You’ve had plenty of visitors since the original attack happened and no one has tried again. Typical boys in black. They came. They saw the fence was back up. They left as quietly as they could. I’ve kept an eye out for them because I know eventually another set is one day going to get stupid enough to try again.”
Axel grunted. “Yes. They’ll be back. That’s why Sugar can’t stay here. I think she must be sending out some signal they follow. I need to get my sister, Gina, to figure it out.”
“Who the hell says she can’t stay here with you?” Max asked.
Axel frowned. “My mother.”
“Oh.” Max shivered. “Okay. Maybe she can’t stay. That is one scary feline you come from. Sexy as hell, but scary as shit.”
Axel snorted. “All females are sexy to you.” A corner of his mouth lifted. “Even my mother is not as scary as Sugar.”
“No. I will agree with that too. That whole black dust thing is the stuff of nightmares. Glad I was nice to her before I knew what she could do with those superpowers of hers.”
Max was silent for a while. He stared at the still brooding male who had once again stopped talking.
“What’s up with this female, Axel? You’ve bedded more women than most guys could ever dream about doing in their lives. You’re not sitting here staring at Sugar while she sleeps because she does the whole golden warrior from hell thing, are you?”
“No.”
Silence fell again after the one word was said.
“So…” Max prompted, rolling a hand to get Axel to continue. “I’m trying to understand this obsession you have with her.”
Axel let out a long breath. “Fuck—I’m trying understand it myself. I don’t know what it is. I like her, Max,” he admitted. “I don’t think I’ve ever liked a woman before—not like this anyway. Sugar’s crazy and nosy and charming with her stupid stories of her father. And at the same time, she’s the most intelligent female I’ve ever known, which includes my mother and sisters who all surpass the most brilliant of humans. But beyond her intelligence, Sugar is…”
“Fun. Funny. Sexy as hell. It’s probably a real rush to make a woman like her want you until she’s begging for it. I imagine she’s the kind of generous lover who gives as good as she gets.”
Axel growled. “Don’t say anymore if you value your life. Besides, it doesn’t matter. I can’t keep her. I can’t protect her well enough… and this,” he pointed to the bed, “is when she can’t protect herself. I couldn’t stand it if anything happened to her when she was like this. That’s what bothers me most.”
Max rubbed his nose and then scratched his head. “Well, dude. From what I’ve been seeing, you’ve been doing a pretty damn good job of looking out for her.” He pointed at the bed too. “Life is short though. At least crawl in there and hold her for a while. Give her something to hug other than that damn pillow. Seeing her hugging that pillow breaks my jaded heart.”
Axel watched Max leave. Telling himself the wolf had a point about life being short, he stood and stripped to crawl in beside her. When she felt him close, Sugar pushed the extra pillow off the bed and immediately turned to bury herself in his arms. His chest got uncomfortably tight. He wanted to run and it was all he could do to remain where he was. Yet at the same time, it would have taken an army to pull him away from her. His feelings for her were all contradictory.
“Axel?”
“Yes, Sugar. It’s me,” he whispered back.
Frowning at the way her whole body seemed to relax at the confirmation of his identity, Axel pulled her close and held her while she drifted back into a deep sleep.
But his eyes refused to close and block off the reality. His brain soon mapped out the logic. There was only one action he could take with Dr. Sugar Jennings, host of the Protector sentient blade.
He owed it to himself and the world he was helping guard to make sure she survived.
Sugar w
oke up hungry. She sat up in bed and looked around. Where was she now? This was not where she went to sleep.
And Axel had come to bed with her. He’d held her. Hadn’t he?
The damn recovery sessions always took time away from her. At the end of each hibernation period, she woke up feeling fine with no clue where she was or what had happened in the interim.
She looked around again. Had she been captured? If so, her current captors were way smarter than the rest had been because they’d given her somewhere wonderful to sleep.
Sugar slipped from the bed and found the bathroom after a quick search. After taking care of business, she searched the bedroom and found a closet full of clothes. Taking a chance, she looked in a clothes chest built into the closet. Inside the drawers were at least a dozen pair of new underwear all in her size. She could tell they had never been worn from the absence of all DNA on them—human or otherwise. Another search turned up matching bras.
Smiling at her good fortune, Sugar chose a set and some of the clothes from the closet. Backtracking to the bathroom, she saw her reflection in the mirror and winced. Her hair badly needed cutting. Her face could have used a little makeup.
There was a polite knock on the bedroom door. Sugar was more than a little nervous about who might be on the other side of it. Maybe her kidnappers were going to kill her with kindness this time.
“Come in,” she called nervously, heading out of the bathroom to greet whoever entered.
A familiar face appeared as he came into the room. She rubbed her chest in recognition… and then in disappointment. The artifact hadn’t had to explain. She knew this time.
“Hi, Rodu,” Sugar said in greeting, walking forward toward her fellow sentient blade host.
“Greetings. It is good to see you looking well, Protector. Your bed sent word that you’d finally arisen.”
“My bed talks to people here? Wow, I sure hope not,” Sugar said dryly, laughing at the thought of what it might have said if a certain cat shifter had been with her. She looked back at the bed, scanned it, and came up empty. No one but her had slept in it. Her bed wouldn’t be telling any interesting stories today. “I don’t suppose you’ve seen a wandering tomcat who scowls a lot, have you?”
Bad Panther (Alien Guardians of Earth Book 1) Page 11
