I climbed into the military vehicle, medical bag in hand. I set it on my lap as Taryk pulled out of the lab's bay doors. I rubbed at my hands. I know they didn't have literal blood on them, yet. But the idea that I'd taken those lives, without knowing them, without being able to look in their eyes shredded me. I'd gone into medicine to help those who needed healing. Not kill those who threatened me and mine.And that's what it came down to. They threatened my family, Kiema, my life, my livelihood. I could live with the stain against my soul for that. For them. For us. For me."Okay, bro?" Taryk asked quietly from the driver's seat.I nodded my head, continued to look out my window."I'm here if you need me."I nodded again. He'd been there the first time I'd had to protect us this way. I knew he would be there every time it came down to us or them. I thanked Gaia for that. Even as I prayed I'd never have to protect us in this method ever again."Aeron is pulling himself alo
"Gather round, folks. Come one, come all. See the man who molests little girls, beats his adopted daughter, tries to kill innocents, and sells out to the highest bidder," Asher said as we frog walked Juan into Xander's kitchen.Kiema walked forward, rage in her silvery gray eyes. "Juan. How unpleasant to see you." She crossed her arms over her chest.Xander stood next to her.I could almost feel the insanity of need pulsing through my brother to lay into this man. I looked to Saint and Asher. They nodded almost imperceptibly. We let our prisoner go.Juan lurched forward, his hands raised as if to wrap them around his adopted daughter's throat.Xander pulled Kiema behind him, and then kicked Juan right in the face like he was trying to break down a locked door. The smaller man didn't even get a chance to change directions before he dropped to the floor like a sack of shit.Kiema crawled up Xander's back. "My hero." She pressed kisses all over him as she clung to his back.
"Why does Xander sound like a zoo escapee?" I asked as Taryk and I walked out of the elevator.The group on the couch burst into greater laughter.The scent of disgusting sweat, tears, blood, snot, and other bodily fluids I didn't care to catalogue caught my more sensitive nose. I turned to look at the pile of Juan laying on the floor."What happened to him?" I asked.Kiema lifted her foot in the air. A familiar boot was tied to the end of her leg. "Damn, Ki-Ki." I shuddered.Xander turned, made a cutting motion over his throat.I nodded."I got the Hold ready for him. You guys want to help me move him?" my twin asked.Ransom and Saint pushed up from the couch, draping the single blanket there over Kiema's body."I can help. I need to talk to you two," Taryk said."Just you and me, Ki-Ki." I jogged the handful of feet and launched myself over the arm of the couch. My belly landed on Kiema."Ouff!" She slapped my ass. "You're so heavy.""Cuz I'm a bear, baby." I
An odd glow began in my chest, almost as if someone had hugged my heart. I shifted against Taryk's cat. He huffed at me as if I'd irritated him. I rubbed a hand down his tail again."Will I get to meet Anda?" I asked Tenny/Saint."I do not see why not. But that would be a question for the goddess you host. You should be able to talk to her.""I saw her in our spirit plane, honey," Saint said as their eyes changed to show who was speaking. "I think she is the form you take when in the spirit world. She's also probably the one who's been helping you with healing and magic."I nodded. "That makes sense. It makes more sense than me having all this magic for no apparent reason.""Do not belittle your own massive gifts, Mate. To house one such as Anda, your natural born magic must have been quite high. She could not share space with a weak host. Her magic would have destroyed your body if you were unable to shelter her," Tenny/Saint said."You're the only one who has been inside
I moved around the island, kneeing Atlas' wolf form out of the way so I could stand by Kiema. Setting my hand on her shoulder, I tried to relax and will my tiger out.Nothing happened. Although I hadn't really expected it to, it was still a disappointment when it didn't work.Ten/Saint smiled at me. "Think of your tiger. He will be located somewhere in your body. Typically, I've been told, spirit animals feel either like a cozy cage or like a deep pit. You've always known this was in your body, you've just never had a way to access it. When your tiger pulled from your physical form the first time, it would have felt like a void of some kind. Made you itchy or uncomfortable even if you might not have recognized it as such at the time."I knew exactly what he was talking about. And he was right, I'd felt it my entire life. It felt like sticky gossamer threads that encased my whole being."Okay. I got it.""Close your eyes."I did so. I swear I could feel my tiger looking back
I could feel them, but I couldn't see anyone. It felt like, if I were a big room, someone was moving furniture around inside me. I felt furniture feet scraping over my belly. The nudge of something brushing against my chest, like a tall armoire just brushing the ceiling."Saint?"No answer."Xander?"No answer.I looked around the gray monotony of my landscape. It was as boring and comforting as an old blanket. I know Ten had wanted to check my magic, but I'd thought I'd get to be part of that exploration.I tried to find the fiery thread that marked me as a Spirit user. There was nothing here but the regular gray of the healing world I usually saw.I don't know how long I hung out in this place, but after a while I saw something shift, a subtle but definite movement. It was so far away I doubted my eyes for the briefest seconds. When it happened again, I knew I wasn't making things up in my boredom.The gray around me erupted into bright, startling color. I saw the for
I ripped Ten through whatever magic continuum we were in and landed us back in Xander's room.Ransom had Kiema's limp body cradled in his arms. The look in his dark blue eyes slayed me. I was just glad he was carrying our Kiema. If his hands had been free, I'm pretty sure I'd be dead. Or at least badly damaged."Your floor. Now." He stepped past me, his face hard, closed off."Oooo, Saint's about to catch it," Asher said as if we were back in high school and I got called to the principal's office.I pushed him as I followed after my brother and mate. I couldn't help the drop in my belly. Maybe Asher wasn't so far off the mark, because I felt like I was on my way to the principal's office.I climbed the stairs, unwilling to wait for the elevator to drop Ransom and Kiema off before coming back down to get me. Pushing through the stairwell door to my fifth-floor home, I took a deep breath. I still don't know what happened in Kiema's spiritual landscape, but I was about to catch
I tipped back against the wall on the opposite side of the Hold. I remembered when we'd dubbed the cell as the Hold. Good times. My government had decided I was too wicked to play with anymore. Suited me down to the fucking ground. My current prisoner was held against the floor under a net of electromagnets. He wouldn't be going anywhere. Unless I wanted him to."Hello, Juan. Imagine my delighted surprise when I came back to my place to learn that you had been beaten unconscious by the woman you yourself had beaten." A muffled groan was my reply.I leaned forward, hand cupped around my ear. "What was that? I didn't quite catch it.""'m gon kill at itch."His lips were so swollen his words were mangled.I tipped my head back, belly laughing until my cheeks ached. "Oh, Juan. You jokester, you. You're going to tell me exactly what I want to know, then I'll heal you. You'll be allowed to go on your merry way."He looked at me through swollen lids. The barest slit of bloods