Chapter 30
CHAPTER THIRTY
Lila
“ H oly shit,” I mutter as we watch the live footage. Adorable miniature stegosauruses run around in a blind panic while Htaed chases them. Luckily for them, they are quite agile, so he hasn’t managed to kill any of them, which makes him even madder, but I’m sure it’s only a matter of time.
Connor jumps up and hurries to a nearby cabinet, opening it and pulling out two big tranq guns. He passes one to me.
He pats his pockets and frowns. “Shit, my swipe key is gone. Whoever attacked me must have stolen it, but why?”
He starts to leave, but Zeydan pushes off the wall. “Wait. Is there a way to see if anyone else accessed those gates?” he asks.
“Sure, just let me run the employee logs.” Connor returns to the console, placing his gun down before bringing up another screen.
“What are you thinking?” I ask him, and he points at the park map.
“There’s no way he would have made it from one side of the park to the other without getting distracted by something else.” He points at the two flashing beacons. He’s right, they are on opposite sides of the park.
“We had Htaed in containment because he was upsetting the other animals,” Connor explains, frowning at the information he’s reading.
“You’re right, someone must have herded him to the steggy paddock, and that would not be an easy task. Only someone who knew what they were doing could manage it,” Saxon says.
“So you think the break-in was staged to cover their tracks?” I ask, and Connor gasps.
“You’re right. Phillip used his card two hours ago. I’m not sure how I missed him when I did my rounds, but it looks like he was working in the steggy paddock, and Fiona was also with him.” He brings up some footage, showing them in a large, open, snow-covered space, kicking a ball around with the miniature steggies. It looks innocent enough.
“What are they doing?” Zeydan leans in to get a closer look, and Connor smiles. The time stamp shows it was an hour and a half ago.
“It’s weird. Ever since the circus went on hiatus, they’ve spent a lot of time here—a lot more than in the past. They taught the steggies to play a version of what they called Earth polo, riding on their backs and hitting a ball around.” He looks to Lila for confirmation, and she nods. “I think they were quite shaken when Htaed failed to perform and Viggy got out, and they were worried about losing their positions. They kept talking about needing to present you with another option.”
“Seriously?” I’m skeptical, and Connor swings around in his chair and looks at me.
“Yes, I overheard a conversation between them. They said they didn’t want to remain on Fluxx because they would be at their grandma’s mercy. I think Fiona’s exact words to Phillip were, ‘I’d rather live in Lila’s shadow than deal with Grandmother’s fury.’”
“If that was two hours ago, then they couldn’t have been the ones who hit you on the head,” Zeydan says as we leave the office and head out into the cold, Zeydan’s creatures leading the way.
“No, I don’t think so. But where are they now? I couldn’t see them in the footage,” Connor argues.
“If Htaed is truly uncontrollable, then they probably found somewhere to hide the minute they saw him. He is an intelligent creature, so he might hold a grudge,” Saxon suggests as we all run through the park, following Connor’s lead. We hear sounds of distress the closer we get to the enclosure. Luckily, it’s not too far from the sanctuary entrance.
“I’ve loaded the guns with tranqs, but if he is so far gone, maybe it would be kinder to put him down,” Connor says, looking at me.
“I can’t make that decision,” I argue, but Saxon disagrees.
“Lila, you are practically the CEO of Galaxy Holdings now. These are decisions you can make.”
“Well, it’s too late now. Let’s tranq him and get him back to his enclosure, and I can see if I can heal him. If his mind can’t be healed, then I’ll approve euthanasia.” My Celestian powers should extend to animals as well, but brains are tricky, which Link never fails to tell everyone when they question when Grandma will wake up.
I can’t stop the sob of distress that bursts from my lips when we enter the steggy paddock. There are injured mini stegosauruses everywhere, and unfortunately, Htaed succeeded in killing one and is making a meal of it.
“Shit, he’s definitely going to need to be put down now. He got a taste for them,” Connor mutters as he and Saxon take aim at the red and orange raptor. He’s so distracted by his meal, he doesn’t even notice us. Both of them fire two fast-acting tranqs into his flanks. He whirls around and snarls at us, but as he lunges, he stumbles and goes down hard, his eyes rolling back into his head as he collapses to the ground.
“There’s a sling in the enclosure there,” Connor points to a nearby building that looks like a barn. “We should be able to roll him into it, and the three of us can relocate him with your strength, Saxon, and your…” He trails off, looking at Zeydan, and I realize we didn’t introduce him.
“Shit, I’m sorry, this is Zeydan,” I tell Connor, who looks at the god with interest.
“Oh, hey, cool, like the god of earth. Did you know he created the animals on Reccedea? How appropriate to be named after him.” He chuckles, and Zeydan nods.
“Yes, I did. They are some of my favorite creations.” He crosses his arms, stares across the field, and whistles, calling his tails back to him. “It pains me to see them hurting. I will do what I can for the injured ones.”
He stalks off, and Connor’s mouth drops open, and he pales slightly. “ The Zeydan?” he asks, and I smother my smirk.
“Yup! Pretty impressive, right?” I don’t wait for his answer before I follow Zeydan, and together, we use our powers to heal as many of the steggies as we can. Before we get through too many, I hear Saxon call us from the barn.
“Lila, come quickly.” The urgency in his tone has me using my Vilaxian speed to race to him, Zeydan easily keeping up.
“I couldn’t smell them over all the dino blood,” Saxon tells me as he steps aside, and I gape in horror at the beaten forms of my two cousins.
I rush over to them. Both are unconscious and have deep lacerations. Phillip has a large, three-clawed gouge across his chest, which is oozing blood, and Fiona has the same across her face, through one eye and over her mouth. I feel nauseous just looking at her, and I’m not sure even my powers can fix her.
“Are they alive?” Zeydan asks as my healing powers activate, and I hold them over Fiona. Hers look more dire than her brother’s. Saxon strips off his shirt and passes it to Connor, who is kneeling next to Phillip, and he presses the cloth to his wounds.
“Barely,” Saxon growls in response. “Those are not the only wounds. Look at their arms. They are covered in bruises and small abrasions, like they were beaten by hand first before Htaed got to them.”
The power drains out of me, and Fiona’s wounds slowly close. Zeydan pushes Connor out of the way and tries to heal Phillip, but he only manages to stop the bleeding with his diminished powers. I’ll have to seal the wounds.
My well of power still drains very quickly, and I know if I heal Fiona completely, I won’t have enough left in the tank for the rest of the steggies and Phillip, so I cut off the power and look at Saxon.
“Call Xavier. Get him to teleport here and bring them both back to the mansion so Link can monitor them, and I can heal them fully after recharging. I need a few more of my battery chargers on hand for that.”
Saxon rolls his eyes playfully but pulls out the communicator to contact our warlock while I shuffle over to Zeydan and Phillip.
“I’m sorry I’ve been so unhelpful. I bring nothing to this family with my powers diminished so much,” Zeydan laments, staring at my cousin with frustration. I give his hand a squeeze before activating my healing powers and working on Phillip.
“That’s just not true, and I’m sure once Liliana wakes up, she can shed some light on that problem.” I think we’ve all resigned ourselves to the fact that my grandmother was once the goddess of life and has answers to a lot of our questions.
Once I get his wound to stop bleeding and I stabilize him, I try to wake him, but like Fiona, I have no luck. I release my power and sit back on my heels, looking at my new potential mate.
“Did you happen to notice that both Phillip and Fiona seem to be in the same kind of stasis that Liliana is in?” I ask him, wondering if he noticed when he was helping heal them.
“Yes, I noticed. It has the same magical signature. It’s like whoever did this doesn’t want them to be able to talk.”
“Why not kill them outright then?” a voice asks, and I startle, standing up to see my mist-covered warlock standing in the entrance to the barn.
“Holy shit, that’s the warlock,” Connor mutters. “You really do have some powerful friends.” He looks at me with awe, and I roll my eyes when Xavier corrects him.
“She has some powerful husbands.” He walks over and looks down at my two extremely injured cousins. “Someone worked them over good. I’m assuming the wreckage is all because of Htaed?” he asks. “You might want to move him. I think the smell of steggy blood may rouse him sooner than you hoped. I saw a talon twitch when I walked by.”
Connor jumps to his feet. “Fuck, I’ll tranq him again, and we can move him.” He hurries out of the barn, and Xavier lets his mist dissipate before he raises an eyebrow at me.
“Why don’t you just teleport him to where he needs to go?” he asks, and I frown.
“Because I don’t know where he has to go. I’ve never seen it.”
He shakes his head in disappointment, tapping the side of it with his finger. “Take the image out of his mind.” He nods in Connor’s direction.
I wince. “Yeah, but then I have to strip and change forms, and it’s cold.” I’m not ashamed to admit I whine. Sometimes these powers are more of a pain than they are worth.
“Babe, you’ve practiced accessing other powers of different forms, not to mention Celestians can teleport and read minds,” he reminds me, and I feel stupid, but then I double down.
“But I don’t want to run out of power and be useless.” I really do worry about this. Instead of having unlimited power, it seems to run out very quickly.
“Well, you have a husband and another potential mate who can help you refuel.” He nods at Saxon and Zeydan.
“But Zeydan can’t power me up because we’re not bonded.” I’m being deliberately stubborn now, but he’s pissing me off. I cross my arms and glare at him.
“I’m sure you can manage five quick mutual orgasms. He’s a god, so his recovery period has to be spectacular.”
“Why are you being like this?” I demand, getting really pissed off now. His tone is flat and bordering on annoyed.
“Because, Lila, your human sensibilities are limiting your potential.” He stabs a finger at the injured Skarrians. “You need to fix all your bonds and level up. What do you think the chances are that they should be dead so they couldn’t tell us who did it, but the attack was interrupted by a rampaging dino? What’s to say this isn’t all related to everything we have going on? Who’s to say you or, God forbid, the babies aren’t the next victims?”
“Why would they be involved?” I argue, but my heart starts to race. I haven’t even considered motive yet except they were assholes. I’m sure I’m not the only person they were nasty to.
“Lila, they are Adams adjacent. Until you appeared, they were touted as being next in line to inherit the circus. We’ve already suspected them of some dubious behavior, and their grandmother is highly suspicious as well. I think we would be stupid to dismiss this as some random attack. Just think about it.”
He is clearly pissed at me, because he doesn’t even wait for a response. He just teleports himself and my cousins.
I gape at thin air and rub the ache in my chest that I feel whenever one of my mates is angry at me.
“Ouch,” I whisper, too embarrassed to look at Saxon and Zeydan.
“While he was unnecessarily cruel in his worry, he’s also not wrong. It’s all been heaped on you, and the fact that you haven’t devolved into a gelatinous mess in the corner is admirable. You need to adapt quickly, though, and finally make that decision to assimilate to your new life. Part of you is holding onto the past. Zeydan says you are mates, and there is some piece of you that recognizes that, even though you are reluctant to admit it. It’s time to embrace it and become the woman you need to be to take down the Syndicate and Agent Smith.”
“I didn’t ask for any of this!” I shout, and I want to rage, but arms wrap around me, and I’m pulled against a hard chest, my wings pinned against me. Zeydan gave up his half naked ways to assimilate with the family, and I am sad to feel a couple of layers between us now.
“Deep breaths, Lila,” he whispers. His tight grip on me soothes me, and I sync my breathing with his. My eyes drift closed, and I listen to our hearts beat in unison.
“We know you didn’t, but that doesn’t change the truth,” Saxon says quietly. “I’m going to help Connor move Htaed and give you two time to heal the steggies.” I know what he’s saying without him saying it. He’s not only giving us time to heal the dinos, but also to fuck. God, why can’t they understand a girl likes to be wooed? I’m almost certain they all know this. So far, Tirrian is winning in the wooing stakes with all my new treasure. Who would have guessed that the asshole dragon would be at the top of the list?
“Can you manage without us?” Zeydan asks him when I stay quiet.
“Yes, we can use that.” He points to a small ATV with a trailer attached. I’m sure it’s probably used to clean poop or transport food for the mini dinos, but he’s right, they should be able to manhandle Htaed into it. He jumps on it and soon disappears out the double barn doors, leaving just the two of us.
“Are you okay?” Zeydan still has a tight grip on me, and I melt into him, enjoying the feeling of being held. Since day one, I’ve barely had time to stop and just take everything in, so I really cherish the few moments of peace I get between all the chaos.