Chapter 26
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Lila
When we return to the village, I tell Xavier to let Zilla down, and then I change to my Celestian form.
I heal the torn flesh at the end of Zilla’s arm.
I probably could have regrown it with my power, but she tried to kill me, so making sure she doesn’t bleed out before she can be punished is as kind as I can get.
I speak to a villager about harvesting opalescent gems for my new friend Shiny, and we return to the cavern to make sure he can get in and out.
He can, and I heave a sigh of relief. One less problem.
Xavier gives him some coins, and I will arrange for regular payments to go to him through Chief Zana.
Zala gets Shiny kitted out with a sling under his belly, and she was going to attach the ropes to one of her horses, but Tirrian insists on carrying the straps with his dragon.
Eventually, we are on our way. Xavier and Silac share a larnuk again, and I’m on the one I rode out to the settlement. Zilla is strapped onto one of Zala’s, and the one she rode is flying with the rest of Zala’s herd.
We are quite the procession back to the city, but I’m exhausted both emotionally and physically by the time we touch down at Zala’s family compound.
I’ve been replaying all of Tirrian’s words of rejection, not to mention Silac’s marriage arrangement.
I can’t seem to let go of the fact that neither of these men will be mine.
My mimic powers start to press me to change, insisting if I take their forms, they will not be able to stop themselves from becoming mine, but I resist with everything I have. I will not take away anyone’s will.
When we land, Chief Zana hurries out to greet us and frowns when he sees Zilla.
“What happened?” he demands, looking between us, but we let Zala answer.
She proceeds to give Chief Zana the whole story, and the way his eyes widen are comical when I remove my scarf from my head, showing him my hair.
Apparently this is my hair now. It’s permanently colored the same as my larnuk in my Rilunese, Skarrian, and Celestian forms. Who knows if it will carry over into other forms? Only time will tell.
Zilla was returned to her bubble of silence when she wouldn’t stop yelling profanities, and her father looks at her with disdain and disappointment.
“What would you like to happen to her? You are the wounded party,” he asks, sadness etched in his eyes.
“It’s not in my nature to condemn someone to death for their actions, though I know that is quite normal in the galaxy.
If she had come after one of my mates or my children, I may feel differently, but to be honest, I’m more vindictive than that.
Death is too quick of an ending. I’d like to see her suffer.
Jail her, and each week, we will send videos and updates on how amazing our lives are.
I would like someone to read out these stories to Zilla.
I’d also like her to be jailed in view of the bonding ceremonies.
I want her to watch people bond with larnuks every day, knowing she is never going to be able to. ”
“Whoa, that is a whole new level of viciousness. I love it.” Xavier adjusts himself when I say this. Obviously, I’m turning him on. I roll my eyes and shake my head at him.
“Thank you, Lila, you are most gracious, and I am forever in your debt.” Chief Zana bows to me, his hands pressed together in front of him.
“But what about her larnuk? Will it suffer?” I look at Zilla’s poor creature, who is still with all of Zala’s animals.
“No, we will return him to his original herd. As long as he is on the planet, he is close enough to Zilla to survive. We can’t sever the bond, but I have a feeling it will fade on its own.
Larnuks are honorable creatures, and Zilla’s behavior was most definitely not honorable, so I doubt the bond will survive her betrayal. He will be fine.”
“Good, now if you don’t mind, we will take our leave. I want to head straight to Celestia and heal my grandpa. Zala, will you return with us?” I’m not sure how we will fit her and all of her animals on our ship though.
“I will follow in my own ship. I assume the circus will resume once John has healed?”
“Not immediately. We have a side trip to Westalin planned first, and then we will need to rescue my grandmother. I will send you a message when we are to start performing again.”
“Sounds like a plan. I will keep Shiny here with me. He should be alright for a few weeks without you. If it changes, we will find you,” she assures me.
We say our farewells, and Zala drives us to the spaceport where we quickly board our ship and set course for Celestia.
Saxon
“Saxon?” Lila’s voice has me sitting upright in bed, looking at the tablet on the other side of the bed.
Nestled in the blankets between me and the device are three exhausted little cherubs who were a little hard to put to sleep this evening.
They miss their mom, and they made sure we knew all about it today.
After lots of tears and pacing back and forth, they finally fell asleep.
We put them together in my bed, and I said I’d take first watch while the others got some much-needed sleep.
They haven’t been asleep all that long, so I climb off the bed, using my advanced speed, and within a couple of steps, I’m snatching up my tablet and hurrying into the bathroom so it doesn’t disturb any of the babies.
“Lila?” My beautiful wife is on the screen.
She looks exhausted, she has tear stains on her face, and her beautiful dark hair is now a shiny, eye-catching, multicolored mass.
“Oh my beauty, I have missed you,” I say quietly, and she hiccups and wipes the back of her hand across her nose.
“Lila, what’s wrong?” My hearts starts to race with concern, and I feel my fangs drop and my body prepare for battle.
Something has upset my blood rose, and I will burn down the earth to make it all better.
“I miss you so much, all of you,” she sobs.
“I can’t wait until we heal Grandpa. I can’t be apart from you all anymore, and I can’t let Xavier wait any longer.
I have information about Grandma. We need to rescue her, and I will need all the help I can get.
All of that will mean I’m apart from you all longer, and I don’t want that. ”
Her words come out in a rush of information that I have trouble keeping straight, but the one thing I do understand is that she needs us.
Her tears flow freely, and she grabs a tissue from somewhere and blows her nose violently. “My emotions are all over the place, and I can’t seem to shake off Tirrian’s and Silac’s rejections.”
I feel my eyes widen with surprise, but thankfully she doesn’t see it in her sadness. The snake and the dragon? When did that happen? Add in the merman and that brings her mates to nine. Wow, okay, this is fine. Great, even more powerful men to protect our family.
“Oh, baby. They will come around. I’m sure they have their reasons why they are fighting the attraction marks, but they are being stupid and stubborn.
I have no doubt that they will come to their senses eventually and realize that being married to you is the most wonderful thing in the world,” I assure my blood rose, but I don’t think she hears it in her sadness. “And if they don’t, I will kill them.”
This gets her attention, and the tears stop flowing as a tentative smile stretches across her lips. “You would?” she asks.
“Of course. If you can’t have them, no one can.”
“Aww, Saxon, you are my favorite husband right now.” She’s beaming, and I feel my chest puff up in pride because I helped make her less sad.
“Now how about I pack our family up, we recall Broderick, and we all meet you at Celestia? That way we can all be together when John wakes up and we can go to Westalin together. I’m sure Xavier’s parents would love to meet their grandchildren, and our kids would love to wrap their new grandparents around their tiny little tentacles.
” I peer through the bathroom door to make sure our gorgeous little terrors are still fast asleep, and sure enough, they are.
I breathe a little sigh of relief as the last of Lila’s sadness drifts away.
“Yes, a million times yes. That would be amazing. We should have done that to start with. I never should have left any of you at home. We could have just left you on the ship, orbiting the planet. Will we need to recall the rest of the flight crew or is Bubby enough?”
She worries her lip with her teeth, and I growl, the urge to replace them with mine hitting me hard.
I’ll need to grab a bag of her blood when we are done with this call.
“No, the guys and I can handle anything that Broderick can’t do on his own.
Both Xavier and I have experience manning helms of big ships.
Maxsim, Echo, and Cas probably not so much, but they will be kept busy making sure the kids don’t get lost on the big ship, and Link will read a manual and be up to speed almost instantly. We’ve got this.”
“Are my rooms finished being redesigned? Is it going to be a problem if we take it now? I don’t want to put anyone out.”
“We got word today that the redesign is completed. It will be fine,” I assure her and see her heave a sigh of relief.
“Now go find our warlock and have him distract you from all of your worries. We will be reunited before you know it,” I promise her, and she waves goodbye and disappears from the screen.
I quickly send Xavier a message, explaining what just happened and that we will meet them in Celestia.
I ask him to fill me in on the Silac and Tirrian situation in case I need to make sure my swords are sharpened and ask why Lila’s hair is the color it is.
Hopefully he will reply as soon as he’s taken care of our mate.