Saving Koda

by Mikayla Lane

  “May the gods help us all through this,” Ivint said, the seriousness of the situation affecting them all.

  *****

  Emily stood with Koda in front of the make-shift stage. Joey was playing with Tristan and his young mate, Bayla, under the watchful eyes of Tricia and Jax while Reven stared holes into Traze, who was sitting a few rows back with Melina.

  Emily fussed over Koda’s uniform, brushing off invisible lint until he took her hands in his own and kissed the back of them.

  “Why are you nervous when I’m the one who needs to speak live to millions of our people on several worlds?” Koda asked with a teasing grin.

  “I have no idea,” Emily whispered the lie.

  “You’re lying. Stop worrying about it. I do not care if anyone thinks less of me unless that person is you. Are you ashamed of me?” Koda asked, knowing she wasn’t.

  “Of course not!” Emily retorted angrily before lowering her voice. “You know better than that.”

  “I know. Trust me. I will come out of this stronger,” Koda assured her.

  When Grai, Ivint, Dread, and Ratoka came out onto the make-shift stage, Emily hugged him tightly then gently pushed him towards the stage and his brother.

  Koda spoke quietly with Grai for a moment before he stepped to the podium in the center of the stage. Traze tapped on his comm, and the room went silent as a live view of the main square on the Valendran home world came into view directly behind Koda. Moments later, the Zendarian and Tezarian home worlds also appeared.

  It only took a few moments for the people of the four worlds to become completely silent, waiting in anticipation for the shattering news that caused the Alliance leaders to call an emergency meeting.

  Koda saw Traze nod that it was time to start, and he cleared his throat, looking directly at Emily’s beautiful face for the courage to begin.

  “A little over two months ago, I was in a terrible accident. But in all honesty, it wasn’t the physical injuries that almost killed me, it was the silent ones because I was damaged long before then. Like a lot of you, I suffered in silence over the emotional and psychological scars I received from my past and the battles fought,” Koda said, keeping his focus on Emily’s proud and shining face.

  “I struggled through depression, feelings of inadequacy, and rage. Most of which was due to my own inability to open up to others about what I was going through. I felt that you’d think less of me. Hell, I thought less of myself. But I was lucky. I found the most amazing and patient woman, who helped me begin to heal along, with four pretty cool people who understood what I was going through.

  “The one thing I learned is how important it is to talk to someone who can understand. My promise to all of our people who have suffered in silence the debilitating effects of traumatic injuries, captivity, or post-traumatic stress, my door will always be open, there will always be an empty bunk on my ship for you, and I will always answer a call to talk when you need to talk.

  “We’re establishing a Warrior Web with the help of Traze to enable all male and female warriors and hybrids alike to talk openly, yet anonymously if you prefer. But if I thought there was shame in admitting you need help or just someone to talk to, I wouldn’t be standing in front of you right now,” Koda said, turning to smile at his beautiful mate.

  The crowd erupted in applause, coming to their feet and stomping until the combined sound was deafening. It took several minutes for the sound to die down and everyone to return to their seats. Koda cleared his throat so he could finish.

  “Our fellow human warriors, Sgt. Kit Mumford,” Koda said as Kit stood. “Lt. Jamal Washington, Sgt. Rick Baker, and PFC Bart Dobson are the amazing men who realized that the only thing our perfect society was missing was help for those of us who can’t pretend to be perfect anymore. They’ve agreed to join my crew and will head up the Warrior Web with me. Their doors will always be open to you as well.”

  Another round of applause and standing ovation later and Koda was almost done.

  “I can’t thank all of you enough for every good thought, every wish for recovery, and all your prayers. It’s the love that you sent me that helped me recover, and I hope you all will help direct that beautiful energy to the others among us who need it more than I do now. Thank you,” Koda said, stepping away from the podium.

  Grai was standing behind him and pulled Koda into his arms for a strong hug.

  “I couldn’t be more proud to be your brother,” Grai choked out as he tried to blink away his tears.

  Traze appeared and hugged them both for a moment before Koda slipped away from them and Grai stepped to the podium to speak.

  Grai looked out over the people in the Dillon meeting and took a deep breath as Lauren and Amun joined him on the stage, ready to help him explain things.

  “Together, we have witnessed and been a part of some of the most amazing and miraculous things. The news I have to share with you now certainly qualifies. Several days ago, our doctors made an incredible discovery. One that was verified extensively throughout the four worlds in order to ensure the results were correct,” Grai said, pausing briefly while the doctors put information on the screens in all four worlds.

  “What you are looking at right now is the future. The future of all four worlds. It is the DNA of a human woman. A regular human woman, who was impregnated by a hybrid male,” Grai said, pausing for a moment while people gasped and a few screamed.

  “The human woman went on to produce two highly gifted hybrid children,” Grai said as he looked at Emily and Mikey, “then was raped by a human and produced a human light-bringer child. I will turn it over to Dr. Amun Nassur to explain how these miraculous events occurred.”

  Grai moved from the podium and let Amun take over.

  “What we have found,” Amun began as Lauren helped put the images on the screen, “is that the human doctors recently discovered that male children can change the DNA in the brain of their mother during gestation by putting their own DNA inside of her brain. Based on that, we were able to discover that the beast in the male hybrid, when passed into the unborn male during conception, will consider the non-beast mother as a potential detriment to its own survival and that of the child.

  “Since the pathway is already present for the male to imprint its DNA on the mother, the beast travels this path and deluges the human mother’s brain with the chemicals and nutrients necessary to not only extend the mother’s life long past normal human standards, but it provides an immunity to disease as well, in order to ensure the survival of the child.”

  Amun saw the open-mouthed stares and the shock of those in the audience in front of him, and he rushed to finish, knowing that chaos would erupt soon after.

  “What this means is that, although a full-blooded male from Valendra cannot mate with a normal human, a hybrid male can due to the adaptation of their dual DNA. Because of this, a hybrid female can mate and reproduce with a regular human male as well. At this point, we do not have enough data to determine if a hybrid female will produce beast children with a human or not,” Amun finished as the people on all four worlds began to talk at once.

  Grai, Ivint, and Dread stood, each hoping to calm to people on their worlds. Finally, when no one would be quiet Grai roared, “Silence! Let us continue!”

  His burst of anger caused immediate silence as Lauren stood at the podium.

  “We understand that you have many questions, the first of which is why this impacts Tezaria and Zendar when you have no known hybrids on this world. But you do. Viper fle’ te’ Trugh is mated to a human prime, as is his brother, Drago. However, Angel was a normal human when Drago felt the mating pull towards her. This means that the differences in the Valendran, Zendarian, and Tezarian people enable the Tezarians and Zendarians to mate with any human, gifted or not,” Lauren explained as the two affected worlds erupted.

  “Calm yourselves!” Ratoka yelled out, thumping his walking staff on the stage loudly.

  Lauren rushed on during the
brief moment of silence.

  “We know that the Valendrans are still limited to the gifted, but the hybrids are not. We are continuing to learn about these new circumstances and will impart our findings to the Alliance leaders as that information becomes available,” Lauren finished, gratefully stepping back from the podium.

  Grai sent a prayer up for patience and stepped forward to try and calm the obviously stunned and concerned people of the four affected worlds.

  *****

  Mikal cuddled Charlie to his side as he put his other arm around Chance while his other siblings came into the main entertainment room for the big announcement their father was making with the Alliance.

  Everyone began taking seats around the comfortable sofas and chairs as a heavily pregnant Angel came waddling into the room, followed by Dree, both of whom carried several food items clutched to their chests.

  Liam and Drago stood immediately to help their mates sit as Chris and Declan ran in and jumped into a pair of recliners.

  “So, anyone get out of Dad what this was about?” Luca asked, teasing a glaring Angel by threatening to take one of the cookies out of the bag she was holding.

  “No, which really surprised me. Normally Dad will tell us before everyone else since we can’t go to these things,” Gun added.

  “Shut up! It’s starting!” Dree called out, holding out her bag of chips to Angel to share.

  Everyone watched in stunned amazement as the revelations unfolded on the vid screen in front of them, and they couldn’t help but feel the gravity of the situation. When the meeting finally ended, Dane stood and jumped in the air as he cheered.

  “What the hell is wrong with you?” Siggy asked.

  “You’re kidding, right?” Dane asked, his face beaming. “You can’t tell me that right this second you aren’t thanking the gods that Dad always taught us to use protection—not for us, since we can’t breed or infect them with anything—but for the female’s peace of mind. I don’t know about you, but I’m going to triple bag my junk from now on!”

  “What difference does it make? Dranovians can’t breed,” Luca argued.

  “But we’re hybrids,” Gun offered.

  “It doesn’t matter. There has never been a mated Dranovian in the history of Dranovians,” Luca countered.

  “But we’re not full Valendrans! No one really knows what the fuck we are! Look at Mikal! He’s a mutt of different things, and he might be able to breed; we don’t know for sure because none of us have ever been mated. Mikal’s mated too. No one thought we could be mated either,” Cade added to the argument.

  Only Declan noted how the blood drained from Chris’s face and his hands began to tremble before he quietly escaped the room in a hurry. As the rest of his siblings argued among themselves whether or not one of them could mate or breed, Declan had a feeling that he was going to find out pretty quick if it was true or not.

  Coming in April 2016

  Chris

  Chris T’Alq was the oldest of Grai’s adopted Dranovian children and shouldered the burden of caring for his siblings and keeping them in line, so when he and an old, close friend had a drunken night of fun together, he didn’t think anything of it. But then the calls and texts started, and he believed he was being shaken down by who he’d thought was a trusted friend.

  Quinn Williams had a terrible childhood, and the moment she turned 18, she left home to try and make a better life for herself. One night, she was rescued by the enigmatic and charming Chris T’Alq, and the two became inseparable friends. It was his friendship, strength, and kindness that got her through the hard first years of being alone. She never thought that one mistake would lead him to hate her and ignore her when she needed him the most.

  Driven to desperation, Quinn answers an ad for women in her situation with no idea that she handed herself and her baby over to the most dangerous man on the planet, the dark prime. Chris and his siblings will face their deadliest challenge yet to try and save the life of the woman he didn’t realize was his mate and the unborn child he never thought he could have.