Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
Derek
“Ready?” Alec asked.
I gave them a nod, knowing I had to trust them when they said it wouldn’t hurt.
I was still resting on the grass, snuggled into Nolen’s right side, as they all surrounded us.
Trise, Henriette, and Grovar, all touched some part of me, while Alec and Mia held their hands, connecting them all as they closed their eyes and began scanning me.
They’d been right about it feeling like wind against my skin. It wasn’t unpleasant, but foreign.
I let them work and enjoyed having a few seconds alone with my messy thoughts.
These people were the rulers of this world, and they were touching me.
Acting like I mattered. This being a dream would be so much more believable than the truth.
But I had to admit to myself how right it felt coming here.
Until the pain, of course. That had been awful.
I only remembered the darkness, the pain, the fear.
I wasn’t able to stop screaming. My heart felt like it was tearing apart, until a soothing calm came over me.
I was floating around in a pool of weightlessness, until I finally opened my eyes and found myself on the grass with strangers surrounding me. That had been such a scary experience.
“Derek?” Trise’s voice behind me startled me out of my processing thoughts. “We’re done scanning you.”
“Did you find what you were looking for?” Nolen asked.
“We did,” she replied. “Derek, your father is from our world.”
“Huh?” I questioned, hoping they would elaborate.
“It seems your father impregnated a woman from your world. We would have to believe it was his mate. Or he could have donated his sperm to try and see if his DNA would mix with the people of your world. We simply do not know what happened, only that half of your DNA is from here.”
“Did you find something else?” I dared ask.
“A little. But we need to look through your memories to know if what we found is true or not.”
I knew that meant it wouldn’t be good and they had to make sure before telling me about it. I wasn’t looking forward to it.
“My mother told me she used a sperm donor to conceive me,” I informed them, suddenly remembering that. So much from my childhood was lost to my trauma, but this I remembered.
“We figured as much. Remi also has the same DNA,” Alec told us.
“Wait, what? Does that mean that Remi is my brother?” I was fully present now.
“Half-brother,” Alec corrected. “But yes. We have yet to check all of the new mates from your world, but so far, you all share the same father. We haven’t told the others yet. We have a meeting later this morning, but seeing as you won’t be present for it, I figured we should tell you now.”
“Because we’ll be at the house you have for us?
” I asked, needing to know we were in agreement on that.
Not that I feared they would send me home.
Okay, I was a little afraid of that happening, but I also trusted these people.
They were my rulers now, too, and if my father had been from here, maybe my trauma was losing him?
He wouldn’t have survived without his magic, so maybe someone took it from him and I witnessed him die?
“Exactly,” Grovar grunted. “We should escort you there as soon as possible. You both need rest, and so do we before the meeting.”
Trise went to stand and gave us a warm smile. “When the meeting is over, we’ll come see you and tell you the rest of our findings. Grovar is right, you need rest.”
“And you think it’s safe to remove Derek from the ground?
” Nolen asked, his worry for me was both endearing and grounding.
With him by my side I knew I would make it.
I might never be fully healed, but I trusted he would love me even with my broken pieces.
He’d proven how much he cared several times already.
“He is. But he needs to touch you at all times. And I mean that. I don’t care if you need to pee.
No separating until after you’ve slept for a few hours.
You can test it then if you can separate for a few minutes, but not before.
You hear me?” Henriette stood with both hands on her hips, looking at us with a firm expression.
We both nodded, and together, hand in hand, we rose from the grass.
“Splendid. Let’s go,” Trise said, leading us to the house.