3. Kian
KIAN
"The composites plant in Ohio is the sexier option." Shai flipped his tablet around so Kian could see the photos. "Carbon fiber layup, autoclaves. They have the whole setup. They've been making boat hulls for forty years, and the family that owns it wants out. On paper, it's perfect for airframes."
"But?"
"But it's a single-capability facility." Shai turned the tablet back. "You'd get beautiful shells and nothing to put in them. The motors, the battery packs, and the boards would still come from somewhere else, and there is a shortage of these components."
"I'm well aware." Kian leaned back in his chair. "What about the other facility?"
"The other one is boring, which is why I think it's the better option, even though it needs more work to get production started.
" Shai pulled up the second brief. "It's a small electrical appliance manufacturer outside Reno, family-owned, second generation.
They are losing money to overseas competition.
We will need injection molding for the housings, but they have everything else to enable in-house electric motor winding and a battery pack assembly line, because everything they make is cordless.
Light board assembly for the controllers and the chargers.
" He looked up. "With some modifications, it has most of what we need to make drones. "
Shai always started with the options he dismissed and saved the best for last, so Kian wasn't surprised that this was the better deal.
"I like it."
Shai smiled. "I knew you would. They also have a well-trained, loyal workforce, and that's almost worth more than the facility. It's not easy to find skilled workers these days."
Kian looked at the numbers, and they looked good. The clan was already assembling exoskeletons, so adding drones to their military capacity seemed the next logical step. They might even make a profit by selling what they didn't need.
Selectively, of course. He wasn't going to sell weapons to despots or terrorists.
It wasn't his mother's vision, and she was not happy about the clan venturing into weapons production, but she realized that without military power, her sphere of influence would keep shrinking and darkness would keep encroaching on what she had already illuminated.
"Draft the offer," he said. "Thirty percent under what they're asking, and let them counter."
"Already drafted. I just need to plug in your numbers."
Kian smiled. "I told you that you could run the clan's business empire without me."
Shai chuckled. "No, thank you. I like having you making all the final decisions and shouldering the responsibility. I'm happy with my advisory position and number crunching."
Kian's phone buzzed against the desk.
He glanced at it, saw Alena's icon next to the message, and picked it up.
Khiann is awake! Come!
For a moment, he just stared at the screen.
"Kian?" Shai sounded worried. "Bad news?"
"Not this time." He stood up. "Khiann's awake."
Shai's mouth opened, and nothing came out.
"Alena just texted to let me know she wants me to come to the clinic. I assume the Clan Mother needs me."
"He's awake," Shai repeated in a whisper, as if afraid to say it aloud and break the spell.
"Yes. Finally." Kian pocketed his phone, uncomfortable with Shai's display of emotion. "I was afraid something would go wrong with Khiann's recovery from stasis, and he wouldn't wake up, or that he would wake up a vegetable. It would have broken my mother's spirit."
That was more than he had intended to share with his assistant, but since Shai was so emotional, he figured it was appropriate.
When Kian rounded the desk, Shai stepped into his path and wrapped his arms around him. "I'm so happy for the Clan Mother."
He froze, standing with his arms at his sides, waiting for Shai to finish his entirely inappropriate display of familiarity. When the guy just held on, he cleared his throat and patted his back. "It's a joyous moment. She's been waiting a very long time for this day."
"Five thousand years," Shai said into his shoulder, his voice thick.
"I know." Kian patted his back again and disengaged from his arms. "I really need to go."
"I'm sorry." Shai stepped back and let out a shaky breath. "I know you don't like hugs."
"It's fine."
It wasn't, but he didn't want to be an asshole and say that.
A knock on the door reminded him that he'd asked Turner to come for a short strategy meeting, and Turner had rearranged his schedule to make it happen. Now he had to bail on the guy, and he felt bad about it.
When he opened the door, the strategist frowned. "Has something happened?"
"Something has." Kian smiled. "Khiann is awake."
For a moment, Turner didn't respond. Then he let out a breath. "That's good. That's very good. I was concerned. The Clan Mother is the heart of the clan. If she had lost him again, she might not have recovered, and the consequences of that would have been far-reaching."
Kian nodded. "I feared the same thing, but the Fates were merciful, and he's awake."
"I was trying to come up with a contingency for that," Turner said. "I realized that Alena stepping up to the position was the only choice, but she could never fill Annani's shoes. So I'm relieved, and I'm happy for the Clan Mother. I'd appreciate it if you'd tell her so."
Kian chuckled. "Alena can't fit into our mother's shoes. Her feet are too big."
As he'd expected, Turner didn't laugh, but Shai did.
"I apologize for bailing on you. Can we meet an hour from now?"
Turner shook his head. "I can't. I will let you know when I can come again."
"Please do."
Taking the stairs two at a time, Kian rushed through the lobby and pushed through the glass doors hard enough that they banged against their stops behind him. Luckily, the glass didn't shatter.
The café outside was full of people, and as he strode toward the clinic, faster than he normally did, every head turned, and then the murmurs began.
Everyone knew what was happening in the clinic's basement, so they were probably speculating about what could have prompted him to rush there, but he had no time to stop and tell them the good news.
Besides, he wanted to confirm it first.
Hildegard was coming out of the clinic's front door as he reached it, and she flattened herself against the frame to let him pass.
"Basement," she said.
"I know."
He took the stairs down, and at the bottom, pushed through the double doors into the converted operating room.
The ward was quiet, with Julian standing at the monitors, his back to the door, and Bridget bent over the far bed, a penlight in her hand.
Alena turned as he came through the doors, and she crossed the room, meeting him halfway and hitting his chest hard enough to rock him back on his heels.
"You came."
"Of course I came." He wrapped his arms around his sister and held on. "Is he still awake?"
She shook her head. "He was awake for about twenty minutes. His eyes were open and tracking, but he didn't seem to understand what Mother was saying to him. Nevertheless, he's in there. His gaze wasn't vacant, and he managed to communicate quite a lot with just subtle facial expressions."
That was a relief. If Khiann had woken up a vegetable, it would have been even worse than if he hadn't woken up at all.
He rubbed Alena's back, let her hold on, and looked past the top of her head at their mother.
Annani was sitting in the chair beside the middle bed, the same one she had occupied every day for the past three weeks.
She was as composed as ever, at least on the outside, and smiling.
She held Khiann's hand in one of hers. The other was pressed over her own heart as she watched him and Alena embrace.
The glow she emitted was stronger than ever, bright enough to illuminate the ward, and it betrayed how high her emotions were running.
"Alena." Kian untangled himself from his sister's arms. "I need to go to Mother."
"Yes. Of course." She released him and wiped under her eyes with both thumbs. "I'm fine. Go."
Kian crossed the distance to his mother and crouched beside her chair so their faces were level. He put one arm around her slender shoulders and drew her in, careful not to jostle the hand that stayed wrapped around Khiann's.
"Mother." He held her, and the sensation of her heart thundering against his chest belied the composure she was showing everyone else.
"I am so happy for you," he said.
She leaned into his shoulder and let him hold her for a moment longer before leaning away. Given the haunted look in her eyes, not all the news was good. He'd celebrated too early.
"What's the prognosis?" he asked.
"His mind seems intact." Annani addressed Kian's biggest fear first. "He looks at me, and there is a person behind his eyes, but he cannot speak and is frightened.
He doesn't understand what I say to him, not yet, but he understands the tone and tracks my face.
He is not empty. Whatever else the Fates took, they let him be who he was. "
"Then that's everything," he said. "The rest will come with time, patience, and physical therapy."
"He does not remember me," she said quietly, turning to look at her mate. "He looks at me as anyone would upon seeing me."
"With awe?" Kian supplied.
Her lips curved. "Yes. That and curiosity, mixed with gratitude, though I am not sure what he is grateful for.
Perhaps it is just for me sitting here, holding his hand, so he is not alone.
" She sighed. "He did not react to my name or to his own.
I told him who he was, who I was, and what we were to each other, and he looked at me with exactly the same expression.
There was not even a flicker of recognition. "
Kian could tell her to be patient and let time heal her mate, but he didn't say anything because his mother had not asked for practical advice. She just needed him to listen.
"I'm sorry," he said instead.
"Do not be. He is alive."
"I know, and we are grateful for that, but that does not mean we cannot be sad about what's missing."