by Mikayla Lane
Amun interrupted hoping he could help somehow. “What did they do? How can we fix it?”
Lara shook her head sadly. “He did not do this. She did this to herself to stop him from taking the information from her mind. There is nothing in your technology that can help her.”
Reven looked at Lara and demanded angrily, “What did she do?”
Lara stared at him unblinkingly. “She turned her own energy on herself. Just as we did, she combined her energy with his as he was attacking her mind, before he could pull back. It overloaded her neuro pathways until they were all destroyed so he could never find you.”
“He knew she wasn’t strong enough to fight him, just as she knew it. Jax did the only thing she could think of to save her family. All of you.” Lara said sadly, as her own tears for the courageous woman flowed silently down her cheeks.
“No!” Reven roared. “It does not end like this! Our life together does not end like this! You’re the all-powerful bitch around here! You fucking fix her now!” Reven roared in pain and anger as he clenched his fists.
Melina and Bayla sat up, both baring their teeth at Lara as Cal moved back towards the bed with a rumbling, throaty growl. Grai and the others tensed, while Amun remained oblivious, his eyes glued to his scanner as he ran the new scenarios through the computer, hoping to find a way to help his patient and friend.
Lara raised her hands, palms up and everyone could feel the calming energy overtake them. “Calm yourself. I said that Amun, and his technology couldn’t help her. I did not say that there was no hope. Your mate is very stubborn and what little remains may be enough to bring her back.”
Lara laid a hand on Reven’s arm and looked into his eyes to make sure he was listening and understanding her words. “What we attempt is not a guarantee, Reven. The damage is extensive. It may not work, or we may not be able to bring her back fully. Do you understand?”
Reven nodded his head. “If we give her a chance, she’ll do the rest. I know her… she won’t give up. She would never give up.” Reven didn’t care how slim the chance was; he wanted her back. Any part of her.
Ivint looked at Lara. “What can we do to help?”
Lara chuckled. “It is not you that I need. They are coming.”
Grai looked out into the docking bay and saw his mate coming towards them with Tristan in her arms; David was leading the way.
“Wait… what the hell are you going to do?” Grai asked with concern. He didn’t like that his son, and his mate were here.
Lara sent calming energy to him. “Do not worry, the only thing that will happen is they may become tired from using their energy. I promise you that no harm will come to your family.”
“Why Tristan?” Grai croaked out as Tricia moved to his side and squeezed his hand before going to the bed.
Everyone watched with watery smiles as Tristan met his mate for the first time. He sat on the bed next to her, and his eyes lit up as the smile spread across his face. Bayla gurgled and cooed happily as she waved her arms up and down excitedly before pulling him to her for a hug.
Lara smiled at the children before looking up at Grai. “Because he can balance the energy we gather so we do not do anymore damage to Jax’s brain. He and your mate are in no danger.” Lara assured him before she took one of Bayla’s hands in her own, placing the other on Jax’s head.
Bayla held Tristan’s hand while he let Melina take the other, until David, Reven and Tricia were the last in the chain of energy. When Grai stepped up, Lara shook her head at him and answered the question she knew he would ask.
“It is the love that Reven and Bayla have for her that will be needed to help bring her back. It is the only reason they will be able to help. No one else can. No matter what you think you see, do not interfere.” Lara said as she sent the order to Cal and the other animals to go back on alert. She couldn’t take any chances that someone might interfere.
Amun stepped back, unable to assist; he tried to help calm Grai while he recorded everything so that he could study it all later.
“I’ve set up scans on all of them and will watch them closely.” He assured Grai before turning his attention back to his scanner as it leapt to life.
The bed began to glow in a golden light, silver strands shooting through from the energy of the Prime. Reven and Bayla, shook violently for a moment before Tristan’s hand tightened on Bayla and the energy coursing through them lessened.
Lara found the small strand of Jax that still remained in her mind, and she used the energy of the others to help pull the strand. Grabbing it with her own energy, she traveled the strand and saw that very little was left. Most of the memories were gone and all that remained were the raw emotions that she had felt for those that she loved. It was enough.
Lara set to work, using the energy of her Prime to heal the burned connections in Jax’s mind. There were a few that were far too damaged to ever be used again and Lara carefully re-routed what she could into other dormant areas of her brain, trying to save as much of her functions as possible.
Once the connections were healed, Lara could feel Jax’s soul begin to come alive again and start to light up the new connections in her mind. Her determination to come back to her family was absolute and Lara had to shut her mind back down again to complete the healing.
With most of Jax’s memories gone forever, Lara pulled the memories and images from the minds of her mate, friends and her animals to help rebuild what she could. Jax would never have the intense emotion associated with the memories, but she would still have them instead of the emptiness.
The only memories that had remained were the images of her mate and children and the love she had for them. Using that love, Lara easily rebuilt every detail and memory of their time together, unwilling to allow a second of those precious moments to be taken from the brave woman. She’d given up far too much already; Lara thought sadly.
Lara worked for hours, re-building everything she could of Jax’s mind. Finally, after most of her memories had been reformed, Lara found the one memory that she had desperately wanted to find, one of the very few that had remained. She knew Jax would retain it.
Blocking out the other Prime around her, Lara pulled the memory from Jax’s mind and cemented it into her own. She didn’t need it to know who had done this to Jax. That identity she had known the moment she had touched her body and felt the residual energy.
No, Lara needed to make sure that Jax had no memory of the man or what he had done to her. And not just because if the memory remained, he could find Jax again. She needed to ensure there was nothing that any of them could use to find him or track him.
Pushing her anger and her concerns aside, Lara turned her attention to the beast who barely continued clinging to life. Each small pulse of energy that it could gather, it was sending to Jax in order to try to keep what was left of her mind alive.
There was only one choice left to save the beast and Lara did what she had to do in order to give Jax back as much as she could, of what she had lost.
Lara knew a lot of it was her own guilt that was driving her to fix as much as she could, to try to make up for the mistake that had allowed this to happen to begin with, but she didn’t care. She would fix it. And she would end the life of the bastard who did this.
She had hoped he wouldn’t return. That she would be spared having to kill him in this life. She should have known better. He wouldn’t escape this time. This time, she would end him permanently; Lara thought before she turned her attention back to the woman who should not have paid such a price to keep her family safe.
*****
Hours later, Lara pulled back from Jax as Bayla slumped over into Tristan’s lap, and Reven collapsed on the bed. Grai rushed to his son, who gently cradled Bayla’s head in his lap as he caressed her hair back from her face and hummed a song Grai had never heard before.
Lara leaned back and stretched her aching muscles before looking into Grai’s eyes and answering the question she knew he wa
s asking.
“They are fine, just exhausted. It took far more than I ever anticipated to help her. The damage was extensive.” Lara said with a sigh.
Amun interrupted. “She’s right; they are just passed out. But Jax… how the hell did you do that to her?” Amun whispered in awe.
Lara chuckled. “It took a lot of work and there is much that is missing that she will never be able to regain. Most of which we won’t know of until she awakens.”
Lara explained for Grai and the others. “We had to pull memories from all of you, in order to help rebuild her mind. What she will have is copies of your memories of events that you shared with her. Moments of friendship, battles and conversations… the things and the moments that mattered to her.”
“The residual energy that remained of her, will fill in the emotions she retained of those memories. It is not perfect, but it is better than the emptiness that was there.” Lara said as she tamped down her guilt.
Amun ran the scans again before looking to Lara and asking, “What happened to her beast?”
“He was in bad shape, and he could not recover in his previous state. I had to assist in his evolution in order for him to survive in the new pathways that had to be created in her brain.” Lara said simply, unwilling to admit to them the extent of the evolution required to ensure the survival of her beast. And Jax.
It wasn’t only her residual emotions and memories that would fill in the blanks in Jax’s mind. The new abilities of her beast would allow him to pull the energy and memories from others to help his host to rebuild what was lost.
Since they would only copy the memories and not take them, there was no reason that Lara could see to tell anyone the specifics of how it would work. She would make more detailed explanations to Jax alone when she awakened.
Grai hated the thought of taking Tristan from Bayla, especially when his son was caring for his young mate so tenderly. But Tricia and he both were exhausted, and Grai knew at some point that they would both be passed out like Bayla and Reven.
Grai waited until Ivint, and Disc were able to pull Reven’s prone body onto another bed that they moved up next to Jax’s before he leaned down to Tristan.
“Son, we must allow them to rest and regain their energy. Your brave mate is tired. I promise you will see her again later. Let’s get you and your mother to bed.” Grai said softly as he stroked Tristan’s hair back from his forehead.
Tristan lifted his head to his father then turned to Reven, who was slumped over the side of the bed, resting near Jax. With a flick of Tristan’s hand, Reven awakened with a start.
Looking around, Reven stared into Melina’s silvery blue eyes and noted the exhaustion in her face before seeing Bayla passed out in Tristan’s lap.
He looked to Amun and asked, “Are they all right?”
When Amun nodded his head, Reven looked at his mate and tried to form the words over the lump of emotion choking him. Instead, he rested his hand on hers and sent out his energy to find his love.
The tears flowed down his cheeks unchecked as he felt the strong pulse of energy running through Jax, and he looked up at Amun and Lara with hope.
Lara nodded her head before explaining it to Reven. “She will be fine. There are gaps in her memory that we may never be able to fill, but she is well and her memories of you, and her children are very much intact.”
“She may have problems with some things, but it is nothing that the patience and love of her family cannot fix.” Lara said as she gently squeezed Reven’s hand before trying to slip out of the door.
She wasn’t surprised when she was stopped by Grai, who turned his blazing gaze on her outside of the MedLab. “You and I are not done. I want answers.”
Lara sighed and nodded her head. “Not here and not now. I find I also need some rest. I will meet with you in a few hours.” Lara said before she walked past the animals now sleeping on the floor of the docking bay.
Grai shook his head as he walked back inside and saw that Tricia was gathering Tristan into her arms. Reven had left Melina and Bayla to sleep beside Jax, and he’d covered the three of them with blankets, before taking a seat beside the bed.
Grai put a hand on Reven’s shoulder and squeezed, looking into the man’s exhausted and tortured face; he vowed he would get answers as to what the hell had happened to Jax. There was much more to this than the bullshit that Lara had tried to feed them, he thought. He didn’t care what her abilities were, he would get some damn answers as to what had happened and who had done this.
Ivint nodded to Grai and spoke to him through the Shengari’ so he wouldn’t disturb Reven. “We will remain here with him, as long as he needs us.” Ivint vowed as Sacara sat next to Reven and held his other hand.
Grai nodded his head before holding his hand out for Tricia. He pulled her unresisting body close and the moment her exhaustion hit him; he leaned down and scooped her and Tristan into his arms.
He smiled when Tricia didn’t even try to argue and instead sighed against his neck. That more than anything told him just how exhausted she was. Tristan must have given the last of his energy to awaken Reven, because the boy didn’t move at all, even when Grai finally laid him in his bed.
Tricia collapsed on the bed before Grai covered her gently with the blanket and kissed her forehead. He looked into her beautiful face as he knelt on the floor beside the bed.
“I have to go.” He said sadly, even though he knew she would understand. The Gods had surely blessed him with the most patient and loving woman they could find.
Tricia looked into his concerned gaze. “I know. We will be fine. Don’t be too hard on Lara, there is much pain inside her over this.”
Grai shook his head as he stood up. “Sleep, my love. I will return soon.”
Grai headed back down to the MedLab and wasn’t the least surprised to see Reven sitting silently beside Jax with his hand holding hers.
Ivint and Sacara sat close by as Disc and Decano took up chairs near the passed out tiger. Grai shook his head, trying to think of how to get the tiger back into his enclosure without the damn squirrels letting him loose again.
The security of the sanctuary was now going to have to be overhauled in order to prevent the damn wildlife from running amok in town; he thought with frustration.
“It’s a lot more of a challenge than you ever expected isn’t it?” Reven said quietly, never taking his eyes off of his mate or children.
Grai wasn’t sure Reven was speaking to him until he turned his head to stare at him. Unsure what he was referring to or what to say, Grai just nodded his head and sat in the chair on the other side of the bed.
“I can feel her, but she’s different now. What happened to my mate? Where was everyone else while my mate was destroying her own mind to protect her children?” Reven asked, fiery anger glowing in his eyes as he looked across the bed at Grai.
Grai shook his head and looked away, unable to hold Reven’s accusing gaze. He had run the mission through his mind so many times; he knew it by heart, and yet he still did not know what had gone wrong. How they hadn’t known they were walking into a trap.
Grai looked up into Reven’s eyes and told him the truth. The man deserved it. “It was a trap. We were pinned in by fire. Jax made it around the building, and we thought that she was fine. There were no calls, no sound, or warning until we heard her scream. When we got to her…” Grai said, unable to finish over the lump in his throat.
The image of Jax laying on the ground, the blood pooling under her head had shaken him to his core. He’d seen far too many of his own die in battle, but seeing the vibrant and fearless warrior laying broken and motionless on the ground had cut him far more than he had expected.
“Who did this to her?” Reven asked through gritted teeth.
Grai looked into Reven’s blazing blue eyes and nodded his head in understanding. “He is yours when we find him. In fact, I need to leave. It appears the person with the answer to that question is attempting to slip
through the portal, and that is unacceptable to me.” Grai said with a growl before he disappeared out the door and broke into a run towards the portal room.
*****
Hours later, Bayla and Melina finally woke up. Although they were still a little groggy and tired, they were also starving and Sacara offered to take the children to the dining room to get some food.
Melina looked at the woman warily and shook her head. “We’re not leaving Jax.” Melina said, determined to be there when she awakened.
Sacara smiled gently at the loyal and tenacious girls before winking at Reven. “Sounds like someone else I used to know. I think I’ll go see what I can bring back from the dining room that everyone might like.”
Ivint stood to help her, but Sacara shook her head gently and looked towards Reven. Ivint understood and sat back down, to wait with his friend and be there if he was needed. It was long minutes later when Reven looked down at the floor and spoke for the first time in hours.
