by Honor James
Kristjan held up a finger to her and tugged Luna, and by turn, Volker over to a corner. Both men stared down at her. “It’s your call, Luna. We’re here but we can leave if you would rather not know. If you want to know, know that we will be by your side through everything, always,” Kristjan said quietly.
“I have to know.” Luna turned her eerie moon-like eyes up to them, ones they hadn’t noticed before because the shine came out in the darkness. “I have to know why they gave me up. Why I was left without so much as a kiss my rumpus, kid. I was left in a coma and made to think I was human. I have to know why.”
Volker shot Kristjan a look and then nodded to her. She was right, she deserved to know it all. Sighing, he rubbed his hand up and down her arm. “You are right,” he said softly. “Show her everything, Charlene. It’s her life and she deserves to know it all.” Taking her hand in his again he squeezed and hoped they could all survive whatever it was they were about to find.
Charlene looked to the woman and there was a sadness in her eyes but she nodded. “Okay. And for what it’s worth, I’m so sorry,” she whispered.
Luna understood the woman’s words shortly after. If not for Volker shoving a chair under her ass she would have landed on it and knew it. She was clenching their hands as she read the files that had been buried under so much red tape and alarms that she was surprised that the woman got into them.
“Mercy,” she whispered. “So the markings are true. It’s a royal line handed from mother to daughter.” And she was the only daughter. The Spirytes were in a civil war for the throne and it was all because she was missing. It was being kept under total wraps from what the files stated, but all the same. “So the explosion was just an accident and when the Council realized who I was while I was out they created this false identity for me.”
They had stepped in and protected her as best they could, protected her but now her brothers that were still missing. “Is there anything on my brothers?” she asked. In the fog of her memories she could hear laughter, teasing from her older siblings. “My name really is Luna. Something about my eyes and the tie to the moon on that side of the veil,” she whispered suddenly. “Black was one of my father’s names. The true line name is that of my mother, but she always called me her little Luna Black.” Her mother had known which of the men had fathered her, she realized now.
Memories flooded her, pain hit her sharply but not because she was trying to force them, but from the pain of loss. “They are all gone, aren’t they?”
Charlene was nodding slowly. “After helping you escape your two brothers vanished. Right off the face of the Earth and any of the other planets behind the Veil too. They haven’t been seen or heard from since that day of the accident. You have a third brother but he was the distraction to get you away, he’s still being held as a pawn most believe in the event you had survived despite the reports. But your parents, all four of them, are…” She stopped and swallowed audibly.
Luna nodded and cried all the harder. She cried for a loss that had affected her once and now a second time. She felt it, the pain that was there. “Is he safe at least? My surviving sibling?” she whispered. She paused and then chewed her lip and looked up at her mates. “I don’t feel the others two are dead. I feel the loss of my parents, but I don’t feel that they are gone from this world.” She didn’t know how to explain it, at all.
Kirstjan was down at her side, balanced on the balls of his feet as he rubbed her back over and over. Volker stood on her other side, stroking her hair as she leaned into his hip and held his other hand in a tight grip.
“Last reports were that he was alive. His present physical condition is unknown,” Charlene said. “There’s been no sighting of him by forces of your royal lineage in over three months though so it’s impossible to say how he is currently.”
“How do we find them?” she asked her mates more than Charlene. “What do we do now? Do I return and demand that they find him, them? I don’t know.” She was so lost. She was swimming in memories that were flooding her the moment she saw the holo-images of her parents, her brothers. “We have to find them. They aren’t dead,” she repeated. “I know it.”
“Charlene, we need a copy of everything. Reports, all the documentation and what the council did to hide who she was from everyone,” Volker said. The woman nodded and turned back to the computers. He looked down at her. “We’ll go through all of this back at the safe house so we can pick it apart a little at a time. I’m betting, somewhere in there, is a clue we need to figure out where they may have gone to hide out when this all went down. If you say they are alive then they had a plan to hole up. We just have to figure out how to find them so we have more information on our side.”
“Oh, and I don’t know if this will mean anything, but there isn’t actually a plate in her head,” Charlene said. “They only told her that so she wouldn’t question why so much of her memory was missing. But according to this one report, her brothers helped bury everything deep so she’d be able to live out her life without the Spirytes in their corner of the world coming after her and force mating her to get the throne.”
“No plate?” Luna was trembling. “And why do I shock everyone? I mean literally everyone except these two. Even when in a coma the doctors had to wear special gloves so that I wouldn’t shock them. They all told me it was because of the plate in my head and the effects of the blast, but that’s obviously a lie.”
Charlene shrugged. “Look, I’m human, you’re Spiryte. From what I understand that means you’re magical. Maybe, and this could be right the fuck off the wall, but maybe it was a built in safety mechanism. And you wouldn’t shock your mates, even if you had no clue who you were, your subconscious mind would know them and protect them automatically. That whole primal recognition thing I’ve heard others of the races talk about.”
Luna nodded and sighed. “Sadly that makes a great deal of sense,” she whispered. “Yes, if you could give us as much as you possibly can so that we can find my brothers I would really appreciate that a great deal. I just know that they are all alive. I really do. I feel it in my heart. I feel the loss of my parents but not my brothers. I know all of them are alive.”
“I’m giving you a copy of absolutely everything we have,” Charlene told her. A small ding sounding and she spun around to the computers. “And we are done. All right then, this little guy has your entire life story on it from the moment you came through the Veil as well as what little we know about it on the other side previous to that. I gave you absolutely every odd notation, article, anything and everything I could that had any sort of mention that could be pertinent to you.” She held up the USB key and handed it over to Luna.
“Thank you.” She didn’t take the key however, she allowed Kris to take it and smiled. “I don’t want to chance frying it. Sorry. I also don’t want to chance hurting you because that’s just not right. I would feel terrible.” She looked up to Volker and asked, “Can we please go visit the Spiryte that you were talking about so that we can see if he can help me learn control?”
“I’ll give him a call once we’re out of here,” he said, tucking the USB into his jean pocket. “Thank you, Charlene.”
“No problem, thank you for the lifetime supply of jawbreakers.” She grinned. Then she looked at her monitor. “Oh, better get a move on. Morris is going to do his walk around in about ten minutes and I need to have the cameras back on regular rotation in case this is one of the nights he hits the boys’ room first. Sorry for the bum rush, but I have to kick your asses out of here.”
Luna smiled at the woman and gave her a slight bow. Then with her hands in her men’s hands they fled the warehouse.
Once back in their vehicle Luna was still trying to wrap her mind around everything. Licking her lips she sighed. “Do you think that your Spiryte friend will be able to help me?”
“Should be able to,” he said. He was pulling out his phone while Kristjan got their AEDA issue SUV moving. “Gav, it’s me, you aroun
d the house for a bit? Yeah, good. Can we drop by? Yup, all three of us. No, it’s probably best you don’t come to our location. We’ll come in the back way though so let Ax know not to kill us. What? I am not stopping to pick you up a pizza!”
“Actually, that sounds really good,” Kristjan put in. “I’m kind of hungry and I’m sure Luna could eat too.”
Volker was staring at Kristjan in a stunned, are you kidding me way. Then he looked to her and she had to give a little nod. Rolling his eyes he hissed, really hissed, at Kristjan. “Fine, we’ll stop for a pizza. Call that place by the house Gav and we’ll pick it up from there. Nothing weird though or I’ll take payment out of your hide. Don’t test me.” He growled and hung up. “One of these days,” he muttered.
“You’d never do it. Lilly would castrate you if you did,” Kristjan said.
“I don’t like weird.” Luna put in. “I like meats and cheeses but nothing weird please. Even if you have to order a separate one for me do it because I would gag if I saw a pizza with pineapple and stuff on it.”
“Pineapple isn’t a real fruit, it’s some freak thing,” Kristjan said. “And no one of the races would ever put human fruit on a pizza, it’s just not our thing. He’ll get something with a lot of meat since that’s Lilly’s preference so don’t worry. He’s just poking the fanged wonder again because he knows how to.”
Luna grinned. “That’s right, she’s pregnant isn’t she?” Oh the poor woman. Pregnant. “Does she know what she’s having yet and if it is a Spiryte or Vhampire yet?” She had no idea if that was even possible to know what the race of the child was yet, but she was curious.
“No clue yet, but it’s early enough that if it’s a Vhampire the need for blood won’t be apparent. If it is Vhampire she’ll likely have a few odd cravings for super bloody meat toward the midpoint, but not much more than that.”
“Are they both as doting on her as Lacey’s mates were on her?” She couldn’t think of their names but she knew that they had doted on her like crazy whoa. Everyone in the AEDA knew just how Lacey’s Luhpyne’s had reacted when she had been pregnant.
“Zhubin and Ansell,” Volker supplied. “Ax and Gav seem to be about the same. Protective and tripping over themselves to ensure her every whim is met before she realizes she’s even had a thought.”
Luna snickered and shook her head. “I think that it’s sweet. That they are so protective and caring. It’s so much more than what humans far too often do with their children.” Not so much anymore, but there was a time when a child was not as cherished as they were now. When anyone could have a child and just drop it off or throw it away, it had been a very sad time in human history. Something else that had been changed with the dropping of the Veil.
“It’s in our natures to be this way. If only we could teach the humans the same,” Kristjan said. “But at least there are now laws in place to protect the innocents more than the criminals. And those truly trying to do the right thing can get the help they might not have previously. The system isn’t perfect, but at least everyone’s trying to make it a little better each and every day.”
“Which is very good,” she said with a smile. “At least the babies that are being left at churches and hospitals are being placed with amazing homes. Homes that truly want the babies instead of the money flow that they would give them.” That had been a crowning achievement in her eyes.
“Everyone deserves to be loved and to know love. If you don’t love the next generation how do you think that affects the generations after? Hate can be learned, intolerance can be learned and so can their direct opposites. It’s better to teach a tolerant and loving generation than to have more hate and war in the future.”
“I couldn’t agree more.” Luna nodded at the words that he spoke. They were absolutely correct there. “The more love and acceptance that we teach the new generations, the more love and acceptance that will go out into the world.”
“Precisely.” He smiled at her. Shooting Volker a look he rolled his eyes where she could see the movement in the mirror. “So, my dear, what do you think we should do first once we figure out your little shock thing?”
“I think that we should go home and complete our bond?” she asked hopefully. “I very, very much want to be able to be yours in all ways. I want there to be that tie between the three of us so that you will always be able to find me and I you.”
The truck veered back and forth in a jerky manner and both men shot her incredulous looks. At least Kristjan put his eyes back on the road, though he did dart her looks in the rear view mirror over and over.
“Luna, are you sure?” Volker asked, staring at her. His expression was stunned, hopeful, and a little bit unsure.
“Yes.” She took a deep breath and nodded. “I want this. I want this but only with the two of you and only if it’s something that you want. I don’t want to push the two of you into something that you aren’t one hundred percent sure of.”
“We were a hundred percent sure the moment we met you, Luna. But you’ve only known us for—” He blinked. “Hell, not even two days,” he said quietly. “We would be honored to complete the bonding with our mate. But only if she’s completely sure.”
“I’ve never been more certain of anything before. I know that this is hard to accept but since I woke up I’ve been living in shadows and away from people. Now that I have people I can touch and be around I want to actually live. I can live with the two of you and I want everything that we can have. I want all of it. Every. Single. Part. I might have only known you a short handful of hours but I trust my gut and it’s telling me to take hold of my life and take the two of you into it. I want this. Christ, I need this.” She needed them.
Reaching over the seat he took her hand in his and squeezed. Nodding he looked to Kristjan who was still shooting her stunned glances. “I’d say the lady knows her mind and exactly what she wants.”
“I would too,” Kristjan agreed, shaking his head slowly. “But holy hell, woman. The next time you drop a fucking bomb like that don’t do it while one of us is driving!”
“He has a point.” Volker looked back at her again. “It would seriously suck to all die before we even get to mate with you.”
“Sorry but you asked what I wanted and I told you what was on my mind. I would think that the two of you would be very used to me just blurting out the very first thing that is on my mind at any given time,” she teased. “I seem to want to tell the two of you absolutely everything at all times.”
“She has a point.” Her Vhampire nodded, shooting her Ahnjel behind the wheel a dirty look. “You should damn well know better than to ask her a loaded question. She’ll always tell us exactly what she’s thinking, she’s got zero filter on that gorgeous mouth of hers.”
“Damn, you’re right, that was my bad.”
“Yeah, zero filter when the two of you ask me questions. Anyone else and I can hold out like a virgin on prom night.” She laughed. “Wait, wrong analogy wasn’t it?” Because that’s when most human girls lost their virginity, on prom night, right?
“You know, I’d swear she was drunk if I didn’t know for a fact all she’s had today was some water,” Kristjan commented in amusement, a grin curling his lips up. “I think we need to feed her sooner than later before she gets really goofy. And, thankfully, we are at the pizza place. Maybe I can con them out of some breadsticks for you to nibble on while we finish this jaunt.”
Luna wasn’t drunk, she was happy, confused, and having all of her memories rushing back at once. She was living and breathing through all that she had lost and lived, which was another reason she was determined to mate with her men now. “All of the memories are flooding back. There is no holding them back, no slowing them. I think that’s another reason that I’m just blurting whatever comes to mind.”
Volker looked to her again as Kristjan found a spot to park in and hopped out of the truck. “You’re remembering it all?” he asked, his eyes searching her face. “Everything you lost
from before the accident is coming a back finally?”
“Everything,” she whispered quietly. “Including those that want me dead. I can’t recall how to use the power inside of me but I can hear my mother whispering that something about when I was born and a prophecy with the moon? It’s all disjointed and jumbled. That’s why I am hopeful that your friend will know more about me and be able to put some of this in context?”
“We can hope, he’s from a pretty powerful family as well in the Spiryte realm so he would know better than most of us. We’ll see,” he murmured. Lifting her hand he pressed a kiss to her fingers lightly. “Either way, we’ll know soon enough. We’re only about eight minutes from their place.”
“Some breadsticks would be good. I am starving,” she said with a shrug. “That way I can munch on those while we are headed to their home so that my belly isn’t talking to them where I should be talking to them.” When she got hungry her stomach let her know by growling, loudly.
Chuckling softly he rubbed the pad of his thumb gently over her palm while they waited for Kristjan to come back out. It didn’t take him that long. And when he rejoined them he handed her a smaller box that, when she opened it, she found breadsticks with a couple of dipping sauces nestled in with them.
She opened the ranch dressing and broke a breadstick in half. Dipping it in she took a bite and sighed, leaning her head back with a silly smile on her face as she ate. “That’s what I needed. Food. Food is always a good thing.”
Grinning at her Kristjan handed the two large pizza boxes to Volker as he settled behind the wheel. “Glad you’re enjoying those. Just make sure you finish them before we get there otherwise we’ll have to share and explain why there are so few in the box.”
“Oh they won’t make me share. I will zap them if they try. Except for the pregnant lady. Her I won’t hurt and her I will share with but not the other guys.” She hoped she had that right at least. “She is pregnant, right?”
