by R. R. Banks
Ty paced through the living room of his house, pausing every few steps to listen closely to see if he heard the door to his shop opening. It had been several hours since Samira and Zuri had run off with Pyra to Ciyrs's shop to tell them whatever it was that she had figured out. He had wanted to go along, but she told him that he should go home and get some rest, that it could be a while before she was finished. He knew that there wasn't really anything that he would be able to do to help, but he hated being away from her and not even knowing what was happening. A few times he thought about checking in with her telepathically, but he didn't know what she was doing and didn't want to risk distracting her at a critical moment and possibly ruining her work.
He took a deep breath to calm himself. Pacing around the house and worrying about her wasn't going to do anyone any good. If he was going to be a part of this war, he was going to have to start with being courageous enough to face the demons inside him and take control of the part of his destiny he had run from for so long.
Ty glanced toward the door one last time, and then looked around the room. He would have to start with something small, just to make sure that he could even do it anymore before he tried anything more impactful. His eyes fell on a small plant that sat on the table across the room. It was a bioluminescent fern he often used as illumination at night when he didn't want to access the solar energy collected from the panel on his roof and stored in a small cell that would allow him to do things throughout the home like turn on lights and heat water for a shower. It was nearly morning, but it was still dark enough that the vibrant blue glow of the plant stood out against the shadowy room.
He concentrated on the plant, allowing his thoughts to etch it in his mind. The longer he looked at it, the stronger the outline against his thoughts became until it seemed that everything else in his brain had gone completely black and all he could see was the glowing plant. When he had isolated it enough, he imagined his thoughts sending invisible ropes out of his mind and encircling the plant. He pulled with his mind and the plant trembled. Suddenly a scream in the back of his mind made the plant stop moving and he fell to his knees.
Ty gasped for breath, trying to stop the shaking of his body and hold back the sharp tears that stung his eyes. The scream had been a memory, an echo that he would never be able to forget. He had heard it so many times in the years since it had actually happened and each time it had pushed him further and further away from the power contained within him. So far that now it seemed he may no longer be able to harness it.
"Ty?"
He had been so shaken by the scream that he didn't even realize the door to his shop had opened and Samira stepped into the living room. He lifted his head and looked at her. She ran forward toward him and dropped to her knees on the floor at his side, wrapping an arm around his back and tilting her head down to look him in the face.
"Hi," he managed weakly.
"What's wrong? What happened?"
Ty sat back on his heels and shook his head.
"I was trying to do something I haven't done in a long time. I was hoping that it might help the clan during the war, but I don’t think that I can do it anymore."
"Why?"
He looked at her for a long second. He had never told anyone about this before. No one knew what had happened or how it had impacted him as he grew up. Telling the story would be painful and make him more vulnerable than he had ever been, but if there was anyone in the world who he could be that vulnerable in front of and not feel afraid, it was his mate. As safe as he made her feel, she made him feel the same way and he was finally ready, for the first time in his life, to be completely honest.
"My father killed my mother," he said cautiously, gauging her reaction carefully.
"Intentionally?" she asked softly.
"No. He loved her with everything in him. He would never hurt her on purpose."
"What happened?"
Ty drew in a deep breath, held it for a moment, and then let it out. This was a moment that could define his entire future, something that could truly end everything he had built for himself as he grew up and after his parents died. Samira looked back at him with wide, innocent eyes veiled with worry and genuine, deep love.
"My father had a skill that other Denynso don't. It is extremely rare. In fact, since his death, there has only been one other who has had it. One day he was using it and he lost control. My mother happened to be in the path and it killed her. He died less than a year later. Everyone thinks that he got sick, but I know that it was the heartbreak of being without her and the guilt of feeling like he caused her death that eventually just stole his will to live."
"I'm so sorry, Ty." Samira paused and brought her hand to his back to rub it gently, "Will you tell me something?"
Ty nodded.
"Are you the other Denynso with that skill? Is that what you were saying that you don't think you can do anymore?"
Ty nodded again, feeling the tears building in his eyes again.
"I haven't used it since my father died. Almost 20 years."
"Use it now," she said.
"What?"
"Use it now," she repeated matter-of-factly, "Show me."
She said it with such confidence, such absolute faith that he would be able to overcome this massive challenge; it gave him a surge of determination. Ty stood up again and brushed the tears away from his cheeks. Forcing the sound of the reverberating scream out of his mind, he turned his focus back to the plant. The sun was coming up now and the glow was not as strong, but he let his mind etch it against his thoughts again. The ropes of concentration shot out of his mind and coiled around the plant. He forced his focus to sharpen and in an instant the plant rose up off of the table and flew across the room into his outstretched hand.
Chapter Eleven
I gasped as I saw Ty's hand close around the pot that held a strange looking plant. His eyes snapped to me and I saw his lips twitch before a smile curved them. He let out a short laugh as if he was completely shocked that it had actually worked. I smiled back at him.
"That was incredible!"
He laughed again and looked around the room. A moment later a cushion lifted off the couch and sailed through the air at him. He tossed it at me and I batted it away. Suddenly he took off and ran up the stairs toward his bedroom. I was so startled by his sudden movement that I didn't have a chance to react before I felt a tug in my belly. I looked up at him standing at the top of the stairs and met his eyes. He gave me a mischievous smile and the ground disappeared from under feet. I squealed at the realization that he was carrying me toward him telekinetically, but I barely had time to be frightened before he opened his arms and caught me.
I felt his heart pounding against my chest and his erection pushing into my belly. Wrapping my legs around his waist, I leaned in and nipped at his neck, letting my teeth sink playfully into his skin. I followed the bite with a long draw of my tongue. Ty growled and grabbed my butt in both hands, digging his fingertips into me. He started toward the bed, but I pulled my head back to look at him.
"I am so gross from that tunnel."
He made a moaning sound in his throat and turned, carrying me down a short hallway toward a room I hadn't gone in the night before.
"I guess I'm just going to have to fix that for you," he said.
He lowered me to my feet and I saw that we were in a large bathroom. There was a sunken tub in the middle of the room and a series of marble shelves that looked like a small staircase along the wall beside the tub. Several bottles lined the shelves and I noticed what looked like a soft sponge on the edge closest to the tub.
Ty went to work undressing me, carefully and slowly removing each article of clothing and showering the newly exposed skin with gentle kisses. When I was completely naked, he turned on the faucet and took a bottle from the shelf. He drizzled some of the liquid from the bottle under the faucet and the tub filled with bubbles. They shimmered with an array of iridescent colors and a sweet, sultry smell rose to me. I inhaled d
eeply and felt his hand come to mine. He led me gently down into the tub and held my hand until I settled onto the seat along one side. I moaned as the warm water came up over my breasts and I closed my eyes, allowing my head to drop back against the side of the tub.
I could hear Ty undressing behind me and a moment later he stepped down into the tub with me. He bathed me silently, using the soft sponge to tenderly remove all of the grime I felt clinging to my skin from my time in the tunnel and then the hours I had spent in the shop with Cirys, Eden, and Eliana. When he was finished, he placed the sponge on the side of the tub and I felt him settle back so that he sat on the seat beside me. His hand touched my hip and I let the feeling guide me over to him and then up into his lap so that I faced him, straddling his hips.
My breasts brushed against his chest and I felt my breath deepen. The water made our bodies slick against each other, and the concealment of the bubbles increased my excitement as I moved my body against his to compensate for not being able to see it. Ty held me close to him, his head tucked into the curve of my neck and shoulder as one arm encircled my waist and the other hand explored my back and shoulders. His breath was labored as I felt the tip of his tongue touch my collarbone.
"Can I bring you into the bedroom now?" he whispered.
I shook my head.
"No."
"No?"
"Here."
I rolled my hips against him and felt him twitch. He lifted me enough to touch the tip of his erection to my opening and then eased me down until I settled into his lap, cradling him deep inside me. I clutched at his shoulders, whimpering at the intense, full feeling. When I opened my eyes again, he was staring at me, the glowing orange of his eyes seeming to burn into me.
"Tell me again," he said and I knew exactly what he wanted.
"I love you."
He lifted me slightly and thrust hard up into me.
"Tell me again," he growled.
"I love you," I gasped.
"Again."
"I love you."
Ty suddenly stood and lifted me off of his lap. In an instant I was on my hands and knees beside the tub. I cried out as Ty's tongue slid across me, slipping between my folds and concentrating on the throbbing swollen bud at my core. He repeated the action and I arched my back, sobbing at the incredible waves of pleasure he sent through me. Suddenly he knelt behind me and entered me again, pushing all the way inside me in one hard thrust. He buried his hand in my hair and I felt the other hand go to my hip to stabilize me as he pounded into me. I whimpered and moaned with each deep stroke, the intensity of the feelings making it difficult for me to hold myself up.
His hand left my hip and slipped around so that his fingers dipped between my thighs and almost instantly the sensations overwhelmed me. I screamed his name and pressed back against him, accepting one final hard thrust as I felt his cock throb and spill into me. He bent forward, his arm coming up around my waist to support me as he kissed the back of my shoulder and along my spine.
"I love you," he murmured into my skin, "I love you, I love you, I love you."
When we could move again, we got up and walked slowly into the bedroom, drying off with plush towels before slipping under the covers of the bed to sleep off the long, exhausting night. I lay on my side so that he could curl around me, fully enveloping me with his warm, soft skin. I held his hand and rested it over my heart, reveling in the synchronicity of our breath as we fell asleep.
Chapter Twelve
"Are you sure you have to go so soon?" Ty groaned from the bed.
"Yes," Samira called to him from the bathroom where she was collecting her clothes from the floor, "I have to go back to my house and change before people catch onto the fact that I've been wearing the same thing since the morning after I got here."
Ty chuckled.
"You aren't going to stay there tonight are you?" he asked.
She stepped into the room and smiled at him.
"If I have my way, I'll never stay there again."
Ty crawled to the end of the bed and rested his hands on her hips so he could pull her close and kiss her.
"I'll tell the king and queen that they can consider that house vacant."
She grinned and kissed him again, lingering on his lips for a few moments before pushing him away as his hands started to travel to her breasts.
"Not now, Big Boy. We have things to do."
The statement was meant playfully, but it fell hard in Ty's gut. They had only slept for a few hours because they knew that the rest of the clan would be making their preparations and that every moment mattered. Suddenly he realized he hadn't even gotten a chance to ask her about what had happened in Ciyrs' office the night before.
"Did you figure out the healing potion?" he asked, climbing out of bed and heading for his bureau.
Her face lit up.
"I think we are really close. I suggested that we integrate some of the slime into the potion kind of like on Earth when doctors use small amounts of germs and viruses to create vaccinations. It gives the body the opportunity to learn to fight off that particular infection. I thought that maybe if we put the slime into the potion, it could counteract injuries and trigger the warriors' bodies to fight harder, speeding up their healing and protecting them from further injuries and reactions."
"Wow. You really are incredibly brilliant."
She flashed him a huge smile.
"That's what they tell me. Get dressed while I run to my house and change. I'll meet you at Ciyrs' shop."
An hour later Ty was walking up to the shop when he heard shouting. He started running, fear flooding him. When he burst into the shop, however, he saw that everyone was grinning and hugging each other.
"What's going on?" he asked.
"We think we figured out the healing potion," Ciyrs told him, "Thanks to your amazing mate, we are really ready for this showdown."
Ty crossed to Samira and kissed her.
"You are amazing," he agreed.
"What do we do now?" Pyra asked from where he stood against one wall, his hand rested protectively over Eden's belly.
The room fell quiet for a moment.
"We need to figure out who was helping Ullie," Samira said, "And I think that means going back to the tunnel."
"No," Ty said, "It was too dangerous the first time. You can't go again."
"We have to, Ty. There's no other way. I have been thinking about this a lot, and I am convinced that there is something about that tunnel that we don't know. It still doesn't make any sense that we only walked for what seemed like such a short time and then got so far away."
"Do you think there is some kind of portal or transporter in the tunnel?" Zuri asked.
"There might be. You said that the Klimnu have incredibly advanced technology on their original planet. What if they brought some of it here and put it in the tunnel so that they and whoever has been helping them can use it to get them to different areas of the planet more quickly?"
"If that underground forest that you found is some kind of Klimnu bunker, but they aren't the ones using the tunnel, how are they getting into it?"
Ty saw Samira's face get tense again like she was thinking through something complicated.
"I have a theory. It is outlandish, but it's all I have right now."
"Tell us."
Samira turned to Ty.
"Last night I had the warriors tell me everything about the Klimnu. What they are, where they come from, what they do, everything. Something that stood out to me was that they have the ability to look like something else when they want to confuse or manipulate people."
"That's right," Eliana said, "They did that to me."
"Me, too," said Leia.
"Me, too," said Eden.
Samira nodded at them.
"Zuri, I need you to show me exactly where you encountered that Klimnu. I can explain the rest once we get there."
The group left the shop and hurried toward the woods at the edge of the compou
nd. When they got there, Samira looked around.
"Is this how you got to the prison that you burned down?" she asked.
The warriors confirmed that it was and Ty saw a smile starting to form on her lips.
"Look, Zuri. Look around you."
Zuri looked around for a few seconds and when her eyes dropped to the floor, Ty saw them grow wide.
"It's an inverse," she muttered.
Samira nodded.
"A reflection." She turned to Leia, "Leia, do you see it?"
Leia followed the same path with her eyes that Zuri did and suddenly a hand flew to her mouth.
"I don't understand," Ty said.
"Neither do I," Pyra added.
Samira gestured at the trees.
"These are the trees from the underground forest." She pointed to branches overhead and the patchy leaves, "Those are what we saw as roots with bits of undergrowth around them. What we thought was water was the sky. And this," she leaned down and touched the thick moss and undergrowth that covered that section of the forest floor, "This is what we saw as the leaves that created the ceiling."
"It's a reflection," Pyra repeated what the women had said and Samira nodded, "What you thought you were seeing was wrong, but you were seeing something that was really there."
"Yes."
"That means," Zuri said, crouching down to touch some of the moss. She ran her hand across it for a moment, and then suddenly pulled it back, "Ero, could you pull this up for me?"
"Pull up the moss?" Ero asked.
"It shouldn't be difficult. Grab this edge and pull."
Ero did as he was asked and as soon as he pulled on the edge of the moss, it peeled away from the ground, revealing a narrow gouge in the ground shining around the edges with thick, clear slime.
Chapter Thirteen
I gave a mirthless laugh as the deep hole in the ground came into view. It was all coming together in my mind and I was watching it unfold in front of me. The warriors tensed around me as they all started to understand what was going on.
