by Mikayla Lane
Dante intentionally bumped roughly into Siggy and grinned.
“No shit, Sergei’s right. We’ve already had a few chats with some of these assholes on this list because they also happened to be associated with the dark prime. We need to go a lot deeper,” Dante said as he and Siggy started tapping on their comms.
Mikal let go of his father, and Grai turned and walked over to Chris, Lara, and Dread, who stood off to the side.
“No one goes anywhere without backup, and I want the sentry system online at all times. Take no chances with the safety of those children. I’ll keep you updated on what I find out,” Grai told them.
“Every 30 minutes?” Dread teased with a grin.
Grai just stared at Dread blankly before Traze came up and slapped Grai on the shoulder and jerked his head towards the door.
“Just stay the hell away from those labs. Preferably out of the US,” Grai said before he walked out of the door. Moments later they heard a craft take off.
Dread whistled low and looked at Lara.
“He’s a mess isn’t he?” he asked quietly, referring to Grai.
Lara nodded her head.
“Yes, he is. I can understand why though, and he’s right—we took way too many shortcuts at that lab, and we almost lost everyone. We have to make sure we try to stay the voice of reason in this, for all their sakes,” Lara said softly, watching the siblings and Tezarians dig through the new information.
“We got caught up in it. I won’t let it happen again,” Chris vowed.
He was pissed. At himself more than anything else. He should have kept his father informed and made them do a lot more reconnaissance before they let Mikal and Chance anywhere near a lab.
Chris wouldn’t make the same mistake again. Not when they had two small children, two teens, and an adult female to care for. Mikal needed them to help him and the others, and Chris was going to make damn sure that was what they did.
Chapter Thirteen
Mikal woke with a start and sat up quickly. He looked around his room, and when he didn’t see any reason for his sudden awakening, his sent his senses out to figure out what had startled him from sleep.
When he found what he was looking for, he yanked off the covers and flew out of the door and down two hallways before he slid to a stop in front of the open door to the medlab. He watched in silence as Chance held the small girl in her arms and tried soothing her tears.
“Is she OK?” Mikal asked Chance through their private mental path.
Chance nodded her head at him and sat on the side of the bed with the child in her arms. The small kitten peeked wide-eyed from between the child’s body and Chance’s.
“She had a nightmare. I heard her call to me in my mind. She’s very talented,” Chance said aloud, calling the child’s attention to Mikal.
The little girl turned to look at him with sad eyes, her small arms still clutching Chance in fear. Unable to stand seeing her distress and feeling it in her energy, Mikal stepped into the room and sat next to Chance in the bed.
“I used to have nightmares, too. After my dad found me, I’d have them for weeks,” Mikal admitted, noting the girl’s surprise.
“You were afraid?” she whispered softly with wide eyes.
Mikal smiled and nodded.
“I was terrified. I had no idea where I was or even if the man who found me was a good guy or bad guy. Luckily, my brothers were with me all the time. They helped me and loved me along with my new dad until one day the nightmares were gone, and I wasn’t afraid anymore,” he said.
The little girl sat up straighter and loosened her hold on Chance, looking intently at Mikal as the kitten crawled into her lap.
“Does that mean the people who saved me are my brothers and sisters too now? Will they protect me from the bad people?” she asked shyly.
Mikal’s heart broke at the sad but hopeful words of the small girl. Amun and Sergei estimated her to be only three years old, and he knew his siblings would be more than happy to adopt her as one of their own if they hadn’t already.
“Yeah, little one. They’re your family too now, and they will protect you from everything that’s bad,” Mikal said hoarsely.
Mikal wasn’t prepared for the child to launch herself into his arms, but his quick reflexes easily caught her and he held her close to his chest. Her next, innocent words threw him into an emotional tailspin.
“That must mean you’re my new daddy then, since you found me on the day I got my new family too. Just like you and your daddy, when you got your brothers,” she whispered into his neck, sending chills down his spine.
Chance gasped and Mikal felt like his heart had been ripped from his chest. He had no idea what to say to the child and was luckily saved from doing so by his chuckling brother in the doorway.
“I would really like being called Uncle Chris. In fact, I think our brothers would too. Now Angel, you’ll have to call Aunt Angel, but she’ll love that,” Chris said, coming into the medlab room.
Mikal was surprised when Declan and Luca came in behind Chris, each with a huge smile on their face.
“I think Uncle Luca sounds awesome,” Luca said with a grin.
Declan nodded.
“I think in my case it should be ‘Supreme Awesome Uncle Declan,’” he said with a comical face and waggle of his eyebrows at the little girl.
The little girl giggled while Chris and Luca snorted.
“Supreme, my a . . . ah . . . yeah, you know what I mean!” Luca said, stopping himself from cursing.
Mikal finally came to him senses and looked at his brothers.
“What’s up?” he asked, wondering why they were up so late.
“Nothing, I’m monitoring the sentry program and saw her having a bad dream and came to make sure she was OK,” Luca said with a shrug of his shoulders.
Mikal was a little surprised and turned to Chris to see why he was there.
“I heard a noise, came to investigate,” Chris said off-handedly, not looking at Mikal.
Declan chuckled and smirked at his two brothers.
“Lying ba . . . bad brothers. I’ll admit, I couldn’t sleep so I’ve been hanging around the hallway to make sure they’re sleeping alright,” he admitted.
Mikal sighed and shook his head, smiled broadly at his brothers and looked down at the little girl in his arms.
“See, little one, when I was first found and had those nightmares I was telling you about, it was these three brothers that would come in and comfort me every night and make sure I was safe. And just like real family, they’re here for you too. Just like me and Chance,” he said with a gentle smile, while his eyes silently thanked his brothers.
Chris gently mussed the little girl’s hair.
“You go back to sleep, little tyke, and when you get up you need to tell us what name you want to be called,” Chris said before he headed out of the room.
“I think you should pick ‘Pretty Little Snowflake Fairy’,” Luca said with a wink as he stood to leave.
Declan punched Luca in the arm and pushed him towards the door.
“That’s too long and even the first letters won’t form anything cool. You should pick ‘Beautiful as a Rising Dawn.’ Then we can call you Bard for short!” Declan said then kissed the top of her head as she giggled and left with Luca.
Mikal felt strange sitting there with Chance and the child, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized it was a really nice kind of strange.
“Well! I guess it would be a great time for you to go back to sleep!” Chance said as she stood and motioned for the little girl to move up the bed.
Mikal stood with her then walked the step it took to lay her down on the pillow. His heart melted as she smiled up at him, and he covered her with the blankets, making sure to tuck her in the way his father and brothers used to do for him.
Mikal leaned down and kissed her forehead, but when he tried to move away she grabbed his hand. Mikal stopped and turned to her with a gentl
e smile.
“Will you be here when I wake up?” she asked, her words reflecting the fear in her voice.
Mikal nodded his head and gently squeezed her tiny hand.
“Not only will I be here when you get up, but I’ll make the T’Alq famous pancakes for you for breakfast,” he promised.
Chance cleared her throat and took the child’s hand from Mikal.
“I’ll stay with you while you fall back to sleep,” she said, sitting on the edge of the bed.
Mikal nodded his head and slowly backed out of the room. When he hit the doorway, he turned to go back down the hallway and bumped right into his three brothers.
Declan held a finger to his lips while Luca and Chris pulled him down the hallway and out of earshot of Chance and the child.
“Let’s go. We got some information from Dad,” Chris said as he led them to the conference room.
Mikal should have been surprised when they entered the room, but he really wasn’t. Instead, his heart swelled with love and pride for his family and friends as he walked into the room and they were all there, looking as if they’d never gone to bed. On the wall behind the now up righted table was a live image of the medlab room where the females were being kept.
“There’s Daddy!” Elias shouted with a huge grin as they all started clapping.
Mikal felt his skin heat in embarrassment as several of his brothers slapped him on the shoulders and congratulated him on his new daughter.
Dree ran up and hugged him tightly for a second before she stood back and smiled at him.
“You’re going to be a great daddy!” she said enthusiastically.
Mikal held up his hands and shook his head.
“Thanks, guys . . . really. But you know she’s just confused, vulnerable, and doesn’t understand,” Mikal said as he sat down in one of the empty chairs.
“No, man, we know better than that and so do you,” Reign said with a grin.
Mikal shook his head.
“I can’t be a father with all this going on. We still have a dark prime to find when this is done,” he said, justifying why he couldn’t be responsible for a child.
Gun laughed and reached over to give Mikal a brotherly slap on the back.
“Yeah, and Dad had his father and brothers to deal with as well as trying to protect the Valendran hybrids. We turned out awesome!” Gun said.
“Dad also had all of us to help raise one another,” Mikal said, putting his elbows on the table. He really didn’t want to think about this right now.
“What’s changed? We’re all still here. Hell, there’s more of us to help now,” Grant said as he gestured to the Tezarians and Lara.
“We’re real familiar with raising a stubborn, strong female so we can definitely help,” Mir said as he dodged Dree’s teasing punch.
Mikal’s heart leaped at the thought of their ready acceptance to him having a family and remaining with them as part of the team, but he had too many doubts to consider it for long.
“I don’t think I would be a good . . .” he began before Chris cut him off.
“You’re thinking unattended again, bro. Quit it,” he teased.
“You think I’d be good at an instant family?” Mikal asked, terrified and excited at the same time over the thought of keeping the girl as his own.
The room erupted in laughter, and he looked at his brothers curiously.
“Dude, we were all an instant family! When I came along, there were already 23 of you!” Trevor, the youngest and last of the siblings said with a laugh.
Several other siblings called out how many there were already in the family when they joined it before Chris laid a hand on Mikal’s arm.
“If anyone knows about an instant family, it’s us. Who better to be her father? And her uncles?” Chris asked with a grin.
“And aunts, you jerks!” Dree shouted as Angel and Lara nodded their heads and huffed at being left out.
“Don’t forget Chance too! Before you walked in there and she called you daddy, she called Chance her mommy,” Deacon said with a sly grin as he tilted his chair back.
Several siblings chuckled at the shocked look on Mikal’s face while a few others said “Ooooh.”
Angel slapped Shane, the closest sibling she could reach.
“Some of you guys are older than dirt and still acting juvenile. Mikal, we couldn’t be happier for you,” Angel said with a grin.
Chris clapped his hands together to get everyone’s attention.
“Anyway . . . Dad sent us some information, and along with the archeological information we got from the first lab it makes a clearer picture for you,” Chris said as Siggy and Dante began projecting documents, images, and records on the wall.
“You guys were like the original myth, dude,” Siggy said with a chuckle.
“What?” Mikal asked, scooting closer to the table.
Chris took a deep breath and pointed to the wall.
“Dad’s people found another file on the hard drives taken from the last lab. Apparently, your people were once called the Hyperboreans. The Greeks believed that they lived beyond the North Wind, in a perfect land where the sun shone 24 hours a day. Sound familiar?” Chris asked Mikal with a grin.
Mikal’s mind whirled for a moment.
“Antarctica? Base Beta?” he asked incredulously, referring to the base discovered by Fiorn Erikson, an original outpost survivor that was recently found by Grai and the Valendrans.
Base Beta was the location where Fiorn had made contact with a man named Admiral Byrd. Fiorn was the first to make contact with the humans and a human government. It hadn’t gone well and Fiorn’s people remained at the ancient site in Antarctica, protecting it from the human governments.
Chris chuckled and nodded as Chance came in and sat down beside Mikal.
“It’s a safe bet. According to the reports, the DNA used for Alpha One and the females came from core samples the military took from a location several miles from Base Beta. The report says,” Chris said while Siggy changed the image on the wall.
“The archeological staff was able to trace the origins of the Antarctic portion of the map to Alexandria. The Greeks were said to have acquired it from emissaries sent from Hyperborea, and they were even mentioned in works by the greats such as Pindar, Herodotus, and Cicero,” Chris said as Siggy and Dante changed the images on the wall to match the information Chris was reading.
“What happened to them?” Mikal asked, his mind swimming with questions.
Chris scrolled through his comm for a moment then cleared his throat.
“Apparently, their technology and abilities led the humans to believe they were gods. When people began to worship them—and worse, kidnap the emissaries—the Hyperboreans retreated to their lands and weren’t heard from again. Their history was lost. Thing is, if they were the original inhabitants of Antarctica, then we know that at some point their land was covered in ice. A mile of it,” he said.
“If they were so smart, why would they stay there and let it happen?” Dree wondered.
“That’s a good question. It doesn’t make sense,” Elias agreed.
“Who says they stayed?” Shane asked.
“They got the DNA from beneath the ice. There had to be at least one body under there,” Declan countered.
Sergei shook his head.
“More than one. According to the files your father sent me, none of them are from the same DNA strand. Chance and the others are not related, and neither is Mikal related to any of them. They had to have gotten more than one strand out of that ice,” the doctor said.
“That’s all there is? We’re a footnote in mythology and history?” Mikal asked, surprised that there was nothing more.
He was grateful that they had learned what they had, but had hoped that there would be something more for him to go on, something that may lead him to other survivors or even his biological father.
If he’s even still alive, Mikal thought.
Chris chuckled
sympathetically.
“It’s a lot more than we knew before, but there is a little something else. It was assumed that your people were taken for more than gods at one point in time or another. There are references here to vampires, the mothman, fairies, djinn . . . if there was an entity that could poof in and out, fly, or shimmer in any way, it was considered related to your people,” Chris said with a chuckle.
“Vampires and fairies?” Mikal repeated in surprise, trying to understand the correlation.
Angel laughed outright.
“You’re kidding right? Just look at the two of you! With her long white hair and eyes, and that shimmering, creamy skin, Chance looks like a fairy princess!” she said, unable to believe Mikal hadn’t noticed.
“And your dark, shimmery skin and the way you can shift to air would seem just like a vampire to a human,” Jason added.
“Man, you’re the one who turned the awesomely dark vamps into sparkling, moody, metrosexuals. Thanks for ruining that,” Shane teased.
“I don’t change into a bat!” Mikal said, peeved that he’d be compared to a rodent.
“I vant to suck your blood!” Vladimir laughed in a mock Transylvania accent, baring his teeth to Mikal.
Shane and Trevor burst into raucous laughter.
“You’re a fine one to talk,” Haruki said, chuckling at Vladimir’s pantomime of sucking Mikal’s blood. “You share a name with Vlad the Impaler! The humans thought he was a vampire for sure!”
The laughter grew louder before Sergei whistled to get everyone’s attention.
“Keep in mind that all of the mythical creatures that his people have been compared to can fly. The human mind would see them beginning to shift then disappear, and their minds would assume they had wings in order to explain the ability of flight,” he explained.
“You really know how to kill the mood,” Shane complained in a huff.
“So, other than some myths, there’s nothing more?” Mikal asked.
Chris shook his head.
“Dad sent a file that he said that you could share if you wanted—” Chris began.
Mikal cut him off.
“Go ahead and read it; I have nothing to hide,” he said.
