Dad Panther (Alien Guardians of Earth Book 3)

by Donna McDonald

  Lake crossed his arms. “I thought Lyrans truly were our guardians. I feel betrayed. Do you?”

  Sugar nodded. “Yes. In more ways than I have words to express. I even feel betrayed by Athena. I feel like she could help us figure out this shit show if she just would. The only upside is the blades have at least all found each other. That could have taken years without Lyran involvement.”

  Lake swallowed hard as he nodded. “I need to tell you something. I’m sorry now that I ever went along with Lyrans in keeping stuff from you like where we’re located. It seemed like a harmless practical joke at the time they asked me to not aid you in finding out. Now I don’t trust why they did it.”

  “My blade is not like yours or Rodu’s. It’s learning along with me. It takes my side against nearly everyone. Axel is the only exception. Nyomi is wise to fear my reactions to information like this. My blade was upset today as well.”

  Lake nodded at her honest answer and thought how his blade let Gina put him on the floor. He drew in a breath. “We’re in Antarctica. The Lyran palace is in an underground alien base inside the Earth. They drilled through the ice to make it.”

  “You don’t say.” Sugar chuckled and shook her head. “All those rumors about aliens over the years—I thought they were only modern myths. I don’t think they’re that at all now. I think they are smoke from real fires.”

  “It’s not like we can unlearn the information. What do we do about it?” Lake asked.

  Shrugging, Sugar lifted a shoulder. “Your blade knew about the Lyran protocols. The Lyrans doing nice things for us doesn’t fool the blades. I feel like your Protector Blade was issuing a warning in the only way it could. But without the Creator Blade talking to us, we only have three-fourths of the blade story.”

  “Do you think Rodu will side with us—with Earth—after all the time he’s spent here?”

  Sugar nodded. “I’m hurt so bad that my body aches with it. Axel and I have only known each other a short while. Rodu just found out that Nyomi has been keeping things from him for over a thousand years—a thousand years, Lake. After all the time he’s spent here, the Lyrans must seem as much Rodu’s people as humans are. I’m sure his disappointment is greater than ours.”

  Lake swallowed hard. “So we’re all choosing sides then?”

  Sugar’s mouth twisted with the irony of it. “I think we’ve always been in that position. We just didn’t realize that the aliens who helped us could also kill us for some Lyran reason that satisfied alien logic.”

  “Do you think we can stop them if they try to wipe all human life from the planet?”

  Sugar shrugged. “Rodu and I can wipe the Lyrans and the palace from the face of this planet. But who will be sent to guard Earth in their place? Also, it would make us no better than the Lyrans if we killed them. There must be another way to deal with this. I just have to find it.”

  “Are we at a stalemate in their game?”

  “Not exactly, but I think circumstances leave only one reasonable action to take right now.”

  “What’s that?” Lake asked.

  “When Reva Hunter returns to a normal life on Earth, I’m leaving too. I plan to become her best friend and personal protector. I will continue to try to get the Creator Blade to come forward. If that doesn’t work, when Reva’s spirit leaves this world, I will retrieve the Creator Blade and help it find a host who will fight at my side to save this planet.”

  Lake frowned. He’d never seen Sugar so determined. “What about Axel and the children, Sugar?”

  Sugar rose and turned her back on the question. She didn’t want to think about them. She’d been avoiding thinking about them. “I guess Axel will have to raise them as Lyrans and protect them from his people. Maybe when the time comes to make an annihilation decision about Earth, the children will soften their half-alien father’s heart.”

  “You’re going to leave them here?” Lake whispered the question in shock.

  Sugar turned to face Lake. “I can’t play happy mother while my children’s father is planning to commit mass genocide under the right set of galactic orders. They’re safer here being guarded by him than running for their lives with me. What choice would you make?”

  “Okay, fine. When are we leaving? I’m not staying here without you.”

  “Really?” Sugar asked.

  Lake nodded. “Yes. Gina hates my blade. It probably would never have worked out between us. I think she’ll help us hide our frequencies, but that will be the extent of her involvement.”

  “Pack a bag of essentials and hide it in the library. In case we have to leave under duress,” Sugar ordered.

  “Sure. I’ll do it right now. Where are you going?”

  “To find Rodu and extend the invitation to leave to him as well. It would be best if we three stay together on Earth. It may take all of us to protect the Creator.”

  Axel cornered her during her search for Rodu and pulled her into the throne room. After running everyone else out of it, he finally turned to her.

  Sugar searched his face for regret. All she found was confusion. It was a typical reaction for him. He rarely understood why she was upset.

  “Do you want to talk about this new information you’ve received?” he asked.

  Sugar stared in disbelief. How could anyone be that dense? “What’s to discuss, Axel? You have a Lyran protocol to follow—a protocol involving all humans that you never said a damn word about to me. Imagine my surprise to find out that Prince Axel of Rodu, Future Lyran Leader of the Alien Guardians of Earth, has turned out to be far more ruthless than Bad Panther ever was.”

  Axel lifted both hands in the air. “Please stop dramatizing this. You’re having an irrational reaction to this piece of random information. Lyrans were put here to save the Earth, not to destroy it. We’ve been doing just that for a very long time.”

  “Save the Earth? Killing all the existing people and dropping some new cave men onto the surface doesn’t sound like a plan to save humanity.”

  “You don’t understand.”

  “No, I sure don’t. But I’m sure you consider your logic about murdering a whole race infallible. Well, I say fuck your logic. I’m not letting you kill us. You’ll have to kill me first.”

  “Use your rational mind, Sugar. Lyrans are not cold-blooded killers,” Axel said patiently.

  Sugar stopped her pacing and turned to glare. “How would you do it, Axel? Would you turn loose a biological disease to kill everyone quietly? Or maybe set off some weapon Gina creates that will disintegrate all organic matter like Golden Girl’s black dust gun? You’re a child of my world too, you know. How can you accept human annihilation as ever being okay?”

  Axel crossed his arms. “For thousands of years, Lyrans have made sure humans had all they needed to advance positively. I have been alive for over six centuries, and I have seen humans continue to move forward in evolutionary terms. However, I have also seen many humans turn their evolutionary advancements into something useable for war. You know some humans are turning others of their kind into hybrid creatures without their consent. We’ve fought them several times.”

  “But you could stop that kind of negative advancement if you wanted. Lyrans could use their advancements that could also double as weapons of war if you want to get philosophical about it,” Sugar pointed out. “You know who the bad humans are, where they exist, and practically what their next move is. Nothing is stopping you from stopping them except your own damn rules.”

  “Intervention is too much involvement. You get into laws, rules, and social structures. The moment enough humans accept alien involvement in their lives, then everything on Earth will change. Earth will become a planet that is greater than humans.”

  “Yes,” Sugar said, fisting a hand on her hip. “Peace on Earth might then become something more than a damn myth. Universal peace might be achievable too. I can see how that could be a problem because then Lyrans wouldn’t need their annihilation protocol.”

 
; “Lyrans are not idealists, Sugar. We are realists. We serve and protect Earth, but there is a price for that support even if we hope the people of Earth never to have to pay it.”

  Shaking her head, Sugar went to the door. “Then I’m damn glad I’m not a fucking Lyran because the Protector Blade joined with me to protect the Earth. We’re going to do it from my heart and not just my head. Logic be damned.”

  “Where are you going? You can’t leave the palace until we reach some compromise that allows us to move past this misunderstanding,” Axel said.

  Sugar stopped and looked back. “I wouldn’t advise you to try to stop me from leaving, Axel. That really would make you my enemy. And you should be far more concerned about your father. You and Nyomi have been lying to him for years, and he’s the one carrying the Destroyer Blade. He could blow us all up in an instant.”

  “My father would never harm us.”

  “How very idealist of you, Axel. Rodu was more shocked than I was. He’s been betrayed by his entire family—an arrogant Lyran family who considered him too naïve to trust with the truths they hid from him.”

  “They will reach a compromise. My parents love each other,” Axel whispered.

  Sugar nodded. “Yes, they love each other, but Nyomi’s love for Rodu is shallow and weak if she thinks the warrior she mated would stand by and watch her annihilate the people of Earth without fighting for them. The blades don’t work that way. Neither does real love. Both you and your mother need to go find some passionless Lyrans to mate with who will put up with your controlling shit because the humans in your life are never going to.”

  When his expression didn’t change, Sugar turned away from Axel and walked to the door without looking back. She whispered goodbye as she closed it behind her.

  17

  Gina walked with her father to the docking bay. “I have changed the voice controls to be yours. The place Axel found for you has a hangar for the airship. In stealth mode, the building will appear empty to anyone who looks inside.”

  “Thank you, Gina. Tell Axel I said thank you as well,” Rodu said.

  “Father?”

  He turned to look down and lifted a hand to his daughter’s human face without stopping to think of what she would think about the action. In appearance, Gina had taken her genetics from him, even though her mind was very much like her mother’s. So many times he’d checked his physical reaction with his children. He’d allowed them to become as Lyran and unemotional as possible. He wouldn’t allow that any longer—especially not today.

  Rodu leaned down and kissed Gina’s soft cheek and then pulled her into his arms for a hug. “Thank you for helping us, Gina of Rodu. I love you, daughter.”

  Gina nodded. Her eyes burned as she searched her father’s sad expression. “Can this not be resolved in some way?”

  “No,” Rodu whispered. “Because Lyrans do not understand the largeness of our human shock. We must take our strong emotions about being betrayed elsewhere to find relief.”

  Nodding reluctantly, Gina passed the first of two large packages to her father. “Here is Reva Hunter’s new information. Marta and I determined that she is now thirty-six. I have included a driver’s license, a new social security number, and information from several checking accounts where there is adequate cash for her to live modestly for the rest of her natural human life.”

  She passed the second of the two packages over. “This is the one for the rest of you. It has enough for you to get set up somewhere.” She pulled four amulets from her coat pocket. “Here are your blockers. I have further improved them. They should keep you all from being located.”

  “At the first opportunity, we will move the currency you have provided to an undisclosed location where we can live without Lyran scrutiny. Please do not track us, daughter. It would only cause more problems. Did you put any tracking devices on the ship?”

  “No.”

  “And you swear this is the truth?”

  Swallowing past the lump in her throat, Gina nodded. “Yes. You know the way home if you wish to return to us. I will continue to wish for that future outcome. You cannot expect me to do any less.”

  Rodu patted his daughter’s face. “I won’t. You’re far more idealistic than you realize. Do not hate your human side. Learn to understand it. I had high hopes your older brother was getting there, but his Lyran genes won out against his mate’s influence.”

  Gina shrugged. “I can’t believe Sugar is leaving her children. That is the biggest shock in all this. Humans rarely leave their young or pass the responsibility for them on to others. She was looking forward to receiving them into her life.”

  Rodu lifted a shoulder. “Yes, she was, but I understand her decision completely. She is forced to choose between saving their planet or being with them and hating their Lyran family. I think she wisely assumes that if they consider the children Lyran and not human, they aren’t in danger of being killed along with the rest of the people on Earth. She hopes they will not be part of any annihilation plan. I am now forced to wish the same for my children. Sugar the Protector sacrifices for a larger cause.”

  “Father, it’s not like Lyrans are Earth’s enemy. Why can none of the blade hosts see this?”

  “The Lyrans are not yet Earth’s enemies, but they could easily become just that,” he whispered. “Stop fooling yourself, Gina of Rodu. If you care for us as you profess, try to see it as we do. What we fear is real and possible. It scares us to the marrow of our bones. It is a type of logic ruled by the heart instead of the mind, but it is still logic.”

  When Rodu turned loose, he saw Sugar and Lake walking toward the airship with a staring Reva Hunter looking up at it in shock.

  “I can’t believe this is happening to me. Is that a real flying saucer?”

  “Yes, but the aliens don’t call them that,” Sugar replied to the woman as she guided her to the ramp. She stopped and nodded to Gina before accepting the bigger of two packages from Rodu. “Thanks for the assist in getting Reva settled. Tell Marta thanks for everything too. ”

  “Any message for Mother and Axel?” Gina asked.

  “I’m not talking to your mother. Nyomi lies too much. And there’s nothing I haven’t already said to your brother. Axel isn’t hearing me—as usual,” Sugar replied as she gently pushed a still gawking Reva Hunter up the ramp and inside.

  Gina swallowed when her father all but ran up the ramp behind them. There was no final goodbye, which shocked her a little. Did none of them regret leaving the rest of them behind?

  As she turned to look away, Lake moved in front of her. Blinking at the moisture accumulating in her eyes once more, she bowed her head tightly to him.

  “We’re all in shock at what we’ve learned,” Lake explained. “We were created to save the Earth. We didn’t realize it might one day be from the people who’ve been allegedly guarding it.”

  “You mistake the protocols as hard rules instead of guidelines meant for hopelessly extreme situations.”

  “And Lyrans have mistaken the impact of keeping secrets like that from beings created to do what the Lyrans have chosen not to do. You’ve given the blade hosts no choice but to develop their own set of protocols concerning the Lyrans. One of them will no doubt be about how to deal with the potential aliens if they start considering the annihilation of all life on Earth.”

  “Your explanation is logical, Lake Allen Wright. However, it does not negate the sadness I feel to know people I care about are leaving angry and upset. I would never go along with such an extreme plan.”

  “You feel like that now, Gina, but that’s just your humanity showing. A couple hours of listening to your queen rationalizing the decision would probably change your mind.”

  “I would have no choice but deal with it in some matter. I am second in line to the throne,” Gina admitted.

  “Well, let me leave Gina the hybrid alien with a bit of human optimism for her feelings when they get this dark. Things seem to have a way of working out t
he exact way they’re meant to work out—sort of like getting divine intervention from a neutral overseer when you need it most.”

  “Lyrans don’t believe in overseers.”

  “Humans do,” Lake whispered. “Goodbye, Princess. Help take care of your niece and nephew. I know what it’s like to lose a mother. It hurts a lot.”

  Lake dipped his head and gently kissed Gina’s trembling lips. He returned for one more kiss before pulling away and running up the ramp as it started closing.

  Gina moved numbly out of the engine’s blast range. She blinked through more tears as she watched her airship lift into the air. She’d given the best she had to make sure the people she cared about most had every advantage possible.

  Tears ran down her face and she did not stop their flow this time. An overwhelming sense of absolute failure owned her.

  As the airship exited through the channel to the outside world, a masculine arm slipped around her and pulled her into his side. She turned her face into his shirt and allowed the human weeping loose for a moment.

  “Did anyone ask about tracking devices?” Axel asked softly.

  “Yes. Father asked about the airship. I could be truthful,” Gina said through her crying.

  “Good,” Axel said. “There’s been enough lies. I was hoping you could avoid more.”

  “How’s Mother holding up?”

  “Brooding deeply,” Axel replied. “She sits and says nothing except that this is her fault. Mother blames herself for not being more honest with Father. I could say nothing in consolation because I think she was wrong too. But then again, I am just as guilty for not telling my mate. I should have told Sugar about the Lyran protocols before we conceived children of two worlds.”