by Mikayla Lane
Even though she’d seen him like this a hundred times over the last weeks, she’d never seen him completely naked with all of his injuries on display at once. The sight was more horrific than she could have imagined, and she covered her mouth with her hand as her knees buckled.
Traze caught her and held her while Grai grabbed a chair, pulled it up to the bed, and hit a button until Koda’s bed lowered. When the bed was at a good height, Traze gently helped her into the chair.
“Is he alive?” Emily whispered as she sat on the edge of the chair and lay her hand back on his cool arm.
“He’s very much alive because of what you went through in order to keep him that way,” Traze said softly as he squeezed her shoulder in support and gratitude.
Emily shook her head as the tears fell silently from her cheeks.
“That was Gibly, Elmer, and Tom,” she said before turning tortured eyes to Grai and Traze. “Gibly? Is he alright? Did he find you?”
“I fine,” Gibly called out from another bed close by.
Emily laughed through her tears when she saw the cat and waited patiently as Traze moved the bed closer to her. She put her hand on the bed beside the cat and felt a rush of happiness when he put his paw on her hand and flexed the pads of his paws as if to squeeze her hand.
“I’m so glad you’re OK,” she whispered through happy tears.
Gibly gave her a furry smile and patted her hand with his paw before he rolled over in the bed.
“I tired. Go back to sleep,” he said with a yawn.
Emily turned her watery gaze back to Koda and forced her mind to believe that he was still alive, even though he looked dead.
“He said you could fix his body,” she whispered, reaching out a trembling hand to touch him again.
She didn’t see Traze’s eyes fill with tears or the slight jerk of Grai’s head before Traze left the room.
“Emily, we can fix his body. Most of it. Our doctors think that when his pod hit a tree it caused the canopy to sheer off and sever his leg, but it hit him in the head first. There was substantial blood loss,” Grai said, laying his hand on his brother’s shoulder.
Emily’s mind spun with the information, trying to figure out what it was that Grai wasn’t saying. Then it dawned on her.
“He’s brain damaged,” she whispered brokenly.
“Yes. We won’t know the extent for another week. We have neurobands trying to regenerate what we can in his brain, and Lara was able to stabilize and assist his beast,” Grai admitted, wondering if she was indeed as courageous as he assumed she was.
Emily was shocked into silence, her hand squeezing Koda’s good arm as her mind tried to think of something, anything to help him through this. Finally, her fear turned to anger and determination.
We didn’t go through as much as we did just to give up now, she thought. I won’t allow it. Not when we’re so close to finally finding happiness.
“What do we have to do to help him? There has to be something. You can’t give up on him. We all fought too damn hard to give up now. Besides, Koda said you’re the man with plans on top of plans, so tell me the plan,” she demanded, wiping her tears.
Grai shocked her by bursting out laughing.
“I bet you drive him crazy,” Grai said with a grin. “In a good way. And yes, I have a plan, but I will definitely need your help to make it happen.”
Emily’s hope spiked, and she looked at Koda again, unwilling to give up on him. On them. She turned to Grai with a look of fierce determination.
“I’ll do whatever it takes,” she said, then looked back at the broken man that she loved. “Whatever it takes.”
“This isn’t going to be easy, and he still may never walk or talk again,” Grai warned her, not wanting to coerce her into staying and helping with an unbound mate who may never be able to interact with her.
Emily snorted then chuckled as she wiped away a stray tear.
“You’re kidding, right? Nothing about that pain in my ass has been easy from the second I met him and your crazy mom,” she said then gave Grai a watery smile. “But you and I both know he’s worth it. So if there’s even the smallest of chances, we have to try.”
Grai laid a gentle hand on her shoulder and smiled, sending up a prayer of thanks to his gods.
“I hope like hell that he deserves you,” Grai said, then pulled up a chair beside her to fill her in on what he had planned.
He was hoping that she would be able to add her own insights into how they could work together to help Koda through this.
*****
Lauren read the results a dozen times, but she couldn’t help but continue to stare at them. She couldn’t count how many times she’d run the same test and received the same results, and each time she struggled to assimilate the information in her mind. Finally, she turned to Amun.
“Remember that issue we were looking at with Mikey?” she asked, trying to keep her voice even. “I think you need to look at this.”
Amun moved over to the screen Lauren was sitting in front of and began to read the information.
“This can’t be right,” he said with a shake of his head. “Did you check the calibration of the equipment? Something could have happened when we ported it from the medship.”
“Check the calibration records,” Lauren offered, knowing what he’d find.
Amun checked the records and saw that Lauren had re-calibrated the equipment after each of the tests she’d run, and she’d done dozens of tests.
“This is . . . gods, I’m not sure what this is. Do you have any idea what the ramifications of this could mean?” he asked in shock, not really expecting an answer.
“We have to know for sure. We can’t guess on this; it’s too important. For all of us. We need the source,” Lauren suggested, knowing it wouldn’t go over well.
Amun winced at the thought and closed his eyes as he tried to think of any other way to get the confirmation they needed of the incredible test results. He sighed and looked at the results on the screen again.
“How the hell do we go about asking for that?” he wondered aloud, praying Lauren had an idea.
Lauren rubbed her hands over her tired eyes and smiled as she switched to a different screen and another set of amazing results.
“I say we let the family figure it out. I know I can get him to go along with it,” she said as Amun’s mouth hung open in surprise.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he breathed out as he studied the screen in front of Lauren.
“If you think about it, it explains a lot.”
At least it explained a lot to Lauren. It was all forming slowly in her mind, the pieces coming together to tell a new story. A new beginning for their people. All of them. It humbled her to think that she was a part of what could possibly be a historic moment for her people.
But they needed confirmation. It was too important to let go. They had to have the source in order to prove the theory swirling around in her head.
Amun flipped the screen back to the previous results and studied them again before turning to Lauren.
“We can’t tell anyone. Not even Grai until we confirm this. We can’t send this kind of panic through our people and end up wrong. Get Mikey to get us the source. When we can prove it beyond doubt, then we need to tell all of the Alliance Leaders,” Amun suggested, trying to think of the shock waves this information would send through the entire Alliance Forces.
“I’ll talk to him now. Hopefully, he can convince her to tell us,” Lauren said as she left the medlab and went to find her mate to throw one more stunning revelation at him. She just hoped he’d take it well.
*****
Emily looked up as Elmer and Tom came into the room carrying Joey. She squealed in delight as she left the chair by Koda’s bedside and made her way slowly to her sister.
“Hey now, you go sit back down and we’ll give you little Roo then,” Elmer said, holding Joey out of Emily’s reach.
“Yeah,” Tom a
greed. “Docs say it’s going to be at least a week before you’re strong again, so we’re not taking any chances.”
Instead of sitting down like they’d hoped, Emily threw her arms around both men and burst into tears.
“Hey, hey, hey,” Elmer said gruffly, feeling a little uncomfortable at the display of affection. “All this blubbering ain’t gonna make you better.”
Tom, still getting used to being able to touch again after so long, allowed his own tears to fall as he held Emily.
“I’ve wanted to hug you both for so long. I can’t thank you enough for saving us,” Emily sniffed, trying to stem her tears.
Elmer and Tom were able to gently push her into the chair and set a happy, but tired Joey in her lap and watched as Emily cuddled her close and rained kisses on her face. She stopped and laughed when Joey grunted in complaint.
“I’m so glad you’re almost back to normal,” she whispered, hugging her sister one more time.
“Grai explained everything to you?” Elmer asked, wondering how much she knew about Koda.
Emily nodded her head.
“I’m not giving up. I’ll never give up,” she said defiantly.
“That’s our girl,” Elmer said with a huge grin.
“Is he here?” Tom asked, needing to know about the man he’d come to like.
“No,” Emily said with a shake of her head. “But that’s good because it means he’s healing and no longer near death. Right now, it’s all in his hands until they can get his brain healed enough to start re-routing things.”
“It’s not going to be easy,” Elmer warned, not to discourage her but to make sure she understood what she was getting into.
Emily snorted and hugged a resisting Joey.
“Nothing is ever easy. But falling in love with him was, and that doesn’t stop just because he’s not perfect. I have no room to judge in that category,” she said, confidence exuding from her.
“He may never be able to talk to you . . . or even hold you,” Tom said softly, praying that wouldn’t be the case.
Emily turned determined green eyes to them, unaware that a familiar face and two new ones had come up behind her.
“Then I will speak for him and be the one to hold him instead. You . . . no, not just you. No one will ever convince me to leave his side or that there is no hope,” she said angrily. “I spent almost two months with a man that should have been dead before I ever got to him. It may have taken a group of us, a big miracle, and his own strength to keep him alive, but we can do it again.”
“Spoken just like that irritating girl under my window,” Mikey said, causing Emily to turn at the sound of his voice.
“Mikey . . .” Emily whispered as the tears came yet again.
He came over and pulled her out of the chair and into his arms.
“You look like shit,” he whispered as he held her tightly.
Emily giggled through her tears.
“I’d look worse if you hadn’t found us. Thank you,” she whispered back, her gratitude radiating from her.
“We need to talk about that. Come with me for a minute,” Mikey said as he led her over to an area of the medlab used for entertainment and helped her sit in a comfortable chair.
“Emily, this is Discorian and Crator,” Mikey said as the two men sat down across from her.
Emily could tell something was wrong and waited fearfully for what Mikey was going to tell her. She had assumed it would be Koda’s brother, Grai, who would talk to her about his condition and was a little surprised they’d chosen Mikey to do it.
“Just tell me. Has he taken a turn for the worse?” she whispered, wondering why Mikey wasn’t looking at her, just sitting there in silence.
One of the men cleared his throat and Emily turned to him, waiting for an explanation.
“This isn’t about Koda. Let me explain. Everyone calls me Disc. I’m a cousin to Mikey on his hybrid side, Crator a cousin from his Valendran side. We found out we were related not long ago and we went with him to find you,” Discorian began.
“Thank you,” Emily said, wondering if they wanted her to know they were a part of her rescue.
“Emily, I was adopted as a very small boy. I never knew my real parents or even where I came from. I have no memories of anything before my adopted parents,” Mikey said, looking at her strangely.
“I’m so sorry to hear that, Mikey,” Emily said gently, reaching out to place a comforting hand on his knee.
She was surprised when he grabbed it and squeezed it tightly as his familiar blue eyes looked into her own.
“Emily, my mate, Lauren, is one of the doctors in charge of your care and Koda’s. It’s standard procedure for them to run familial matches on newly discovered hybrids to help them find their families,” Mikey explained, staring at her hard. “I’m your brother.”
Emily just blinked, her mind momentarily blank and numb as the three men stared at her worriedly, as if unsure how she would react to the news. She slid her hand away from Mikey’s and just stared at him, her mind slowly beginning to catch up to what had been said.
“My brother died with my father,” she argued.
“Emily, I saw the test results. It’s true. I don’t know what happened, or how I ended up being adopted, but I am your brother,” Mikey said, wondering if he should have let Lauren come with him to do this.
Joey toddled over to them, followed by Elmer and Tom who fawned over the little girl. Undaunted by the two men trying to herd her away from the group, Joey walked right up to Mikey and put her hand on his knee.
With Joey’s gaze averted from Mikey, Emily had a clear view of both sets of eyes and was startled to see that they were identical. Mikey and Joey had their mother’s deep blue eyes. Her mother had always told her that she had gotten her father’s unusual green eyes.
“Can . . .” Emily cleared her throat, trying to remain calm. “Can I see the test results? Can someone . . . explain them to me?”
Mikey nodded and breathed a sigh of relief as he quickly called to his mate through the Shengari’.
“Lauren is coming now,” Mikey told her.
He couldn’t help but notice that Disc and Crator seemed relieved to know that someone else was coming to help them explain it all to Emily. Especially since none of them wanted to have to ask her what needed to be known.
Emily watched in fascination as Joey began to gesticulate wildly in the air around them, leaving behind shimmering golden sparkles that danced in the air.
“Hold, light bringer!” a voice boomed from behind them.
Emily turned to see a beautiful, winged man coming up behind them and her mouth hung open in shock.
“I am Tristan, and I apologize for startling you, my intent was to stop your sister from giving you a heart attack, not to give you one myself,” he admitted with a grin as he stood before Emily.
“Huh? I thought Tristan was the little boy . . .” Emily muttered as she stared at his golden wings carefully folded behind his back.
“I am,” Tristan said.
With a wave of his hand a golden light flashed and a small boy stood where the winged man was only seconds before. The small boy, his gaze averted, took Emily’s hand in his own while his other moved quickly. Another golden flash, and Emily looked down at the large hand now holding hers before she looked back up at the man.
“How do you do that?” Emily whispered, wondering if she’d lost her mind.
“I and your sister,” Tristan began, “are called light bringers. We command many other realms. Just not this one yet. This place, Base Beta, feeds us the energy we need to transition into our true forms. Mine is the one you see before you now.”
Emily looked almost fearfully at Joey.
“True form?” she asked, thinking of those creatures in that realm she was so afraid of.
Tristan chuckled and helped her to sit as he sent her calming energy.
“Do not fear. She, like me, is only a little older than she is in this realm. Other t
han that, there is no drastic change in her appearance to concern you. I have to warn you though, she is really excited about showing herself to you and talking to you,” Tristan explained softly, hoping to ease Emily’s concern.
“Talk to me? She can talk?” Emily asked, not daring to hope that her one wish would come true.
Tristan nodded and smiled broadly.
“She has a lot to say.”
“Can I really talk to her? And she’ll talk back?” Emily asked, her eyes pleading with the winged Tristan not to lie to her.
Tristan smiled and looked over at Joey.
“Go ahead, little warrior,” he said gently as he stood.
Joey’s hand moved so quickly that Emily couldn’t follow it. All she knew was that the golden trail left behind glowed until they burst, and in their place stood a preteen girl with long blond hair.
“Emily?” she whispered, her deep blue eyes twinkling. “It’s Roo.”
Emily gasped and jumped back in her seat in shock, her hand covering her open mouth.
“How do I know it’s you?” she whispered.
The girl took a tentative step towards Emily.
“You tell me the kangaroo story every single night, no matter how exhausted you are. You go without eating all of the time to make sure I have enough food. And it makes me laugh when you call me Joey, Joe, Joe and kangaroo hop with me,” she said, tears falling silently down her cheeks.
“Oh my god,” Emily whispered as she stood, seeing the baby sister she adored in the girl standing in front of her. “What’s your favorite cereal?”
Joey laughed and took another step towards Emily.
“Honestly, it’s those Apple Oatie OHs you got that one time from a trade. But I pretend to love that oatmeal, even though I hate the stuff,” she admitted, gently shrugging her shoulders as she grinned.
Emily put a hand over her mouth to stop from crying out as she remembered making that trade with a new couple who’d just moved out into the wilderness—one giant box of Apple Oatie OHs for four rabbits she’d caught.
As if reading her mind, Joey added, “Those four rabbits would have never given me the pleasure that sugary cereal did.”
