Chapter 3
CHAPTER THREE
Xavier
Earlier
I huff in frustration as I hurry after the bear. I could feel how hurt he was by Lila’s comment, and I’m super annoyed at her for not realizing that all he wants is to be part of a family—our family. She’s either too dense to figure that out or too distracted by everything else that’s going on. It’s more likely, however, that it hasn’t even occurred to her that he may want that, because nobody has wanted her for most of her life—or not permanently anyway. She’s come so far since she discovered her heritage, but every now and then, her past rears its ugly head, making her act stupid.
“Ghosie, wait up,” I call. Even though I could just appear in front of him, I don’t want to startle him. He’s lost in his own misery. I don’t usually care so much about people who aren’t in my family, but if things go right, then he’s going to be a part of it eventually, so I need to make an effort.
The bear stops and looks over his shoulder, and I see tears glistening in his eyes. He quickly looks down, and I watch him wipe his face, so I pretend not to see them. “Hey…” I go to touch his shoulder but hesitate, knowing what will happen to me if I do. I drop my hand and sigh. “Fuck, man, I want to give you a big hug, but then I’ll probably end up humping your leg.”
Ghosie snorts, the sound a mix of amusement and misery. “That’s the story of my life.”
“Come on, I’ll walk with you. Look, Lila has a lot on her plate, and quite frankly, it probably hasn’t even occurred to her that you would want to stay.”
“But the attraction mark appeared on her body as well as mine,” Ghosie argues. “She knows this isn’t a one-way thing.”
I sigh heavily. “Yes, but you need to remember this is all still very new to Lila. Heck, it’s only been a little over a couple of months since she’s known about any of it. Someone who grew up Skarrian would recognize the attraction as what it is, but Lila has had so many that she thinks it will happen with everyone she finds attractive, and unfortunately, up until now, it has, but once she interacts with more people, she will realize it’s not like that.”
“I never thought it would ever happen to me. I’ve never known if someone was attracted to me or if it was a byproduct of my fur. I’m worried it’s the same for Lila,” he tells me as we step into the elevator, and I shake my head.
“If it was because of your fur, it would have worn off. The marks would fade if the attraction waned, and they cannot be circumvented by magic. Yours was still on Lila’s back when she was naked earlier,” I assure him, and he nods.
“Yes, hers is still on my back too.”
“Look, you’re just going to have to woo her. The little darling is delightfully unaware of how attractive and refreshing she is, so I suggest you inform her that you would like to stay on, request for her to find a job for you in the circus, and then seduce her. Prove to her that you want her not just for her ability to give you little ones, which will be one of her biggest fears.”
He looks at me with horror as the elevator comes to a stop on our floor. I gesture for him to follow me. I know he has his own room, but I don’t want him to hide and wallow in his misery so I’m going to tempt him with our rug rats. I saw the way he looked at them with longing.
“But, ah, er…” He sputters, and I shush him with a hand.
“You and I both know that’s not what you see in her.” I try to put his mind at ease, because I know that is not the reason he is attracted to her.
“No, I wouldn’t care if she never changed into her bear form again. I just want to be part of her life, and I would be perfectly content raising her children as my own if she would let me.” I want to smile at the declaration, but I don’t want him to think I’m laughing at him. I just love the fact that my wife has so many men who want to make her happy.
“It’s been hectic, and I don’t think that’s going to change anytime soon, so it’s going to be up to you to put yourself in her path. Now, I had an idea about how you can help her if you’re game,” I tell him as we get to our suite—the only one on this level after the ship refurbishment. I wave my hand in front of the sensor, and it reads my aura and opens to allow me in. I hear the chatter of little voices, and love washes over me as I take in the sight of Caspian and Echo sitting at the table with our babies. They seem to be having a meal, and when I look at the clock on the wall, I realize it’s definitely dinnertime.
“Daddy X.” Jack claps his hands and holds them up. “Fly,” he demands, but I shake my head.
“No, you need to finish your dinner first, and then I’ll fly you to your bed,” I promise him.
They love it when I use telekinesis to zoom them around the room. He turns back and starts shoveling food into his mouth, and Caspian mouths, “Thank you.” Both he and Echo look exhausted. I feel a little guilty that both of them keep ending up on children duty. We definitely need to make sure we spread it out a little better.
“Grab a seat,” I tell the bear and point to the table before going into the kitchen and getting us both drinks. I could conjure them, but I’d be as big as that slug of a merman king if I never did anything manually.
“You’re back!” Echo sounds relieved. “Where are the others?” He looks over our shoulders like he’s waiting for the rest of them to come in.
I wince, but my back is to them, so he can’t see my reaction. I don’t want to upset him, but Lila is right, I need to tell him about Maxsim.
“Teddy, so soft,” Cally says as I return to the table with a drink in each hand.
I slide one over to Ghosie, who sat down between the two girls. We leave a seat between each of the children, otherwise chaos will ensue if they can reach each other. Cally and Cordy are both running a hand through Ghosie’s fur on his arms, even though he needs a bath to wash the Madovian blood off him. Thankfully that’s farther up, and they can only reach his wrists, but he does gently pull away from them. He has this look of pure awe, and I can see by the way he clenches his hands into fists that he’s trying to stop himself from reaching for them.
“Here.” I hand him a drink, and he takes it.
“Girls, you need to finish your dinner if you want me to fly you to bed,” I tell them, and they reluctantly turn their attention back to their plates and keep eating. They are still trying to get the hang of the baby spoons, and more ends up on them than in their mouths, but they refuse our help. They are so independent already.
I sit down next to Echo and take a sip of my drink before putting my other hand on his nape, knowing he’s not going to like what I have to say.
“Shit,” Caspian mutters, and their anxiety spikes.
“Maxsim was injured. We were ambushed by Madovians who also had some Nelecs on their payroll.”
Echo pushes back from the table, and his tail and ears twitch in agitation. “Where is he? I need to see him.” His panic is bitter, and I have to force myself not to gag. It’s such a visceral reaction. I hate my wife’s mates’ negative emotions.
I leap to my feet and stop him by pulling him into my body and wrapping my arms around him. “Easy,” I murmur, stroking my hands over his back and sending him calming vibes. He sags in my hold. “He’s fine. Lila healed him as soon as she returned, and he is resting in the med bay. Link said you can go sit with him, but you need to be calm. Your alpha is fine. You need to remember stress is not good for your babies.”
His breathing, which was ragged, eases, and I feel his heartbeat calm as he takes a couple of deep breaths in and out.
“Is everyone else okay?” Caspian asks.
I look over Echo’s shoulder and nod at the kraken. “Yes, everyone is fine, though there was a complication with rescuing Lila’s grandma.”
“A complication?” he asks as Echo pushes away from me.
“I’m okay,” he assures me when I eye him to make sure. “I promise. I’m going to go sit with him, but tell us about the complication first.” He goes to the kitchen and pulls out one of the washcloths that we keep in the drawers for the kids. He rinses it under the faucet and then goes to Jack and cleans his face and mouth before removing the bib that was protecting his clothes. Once I’m reassured he’s calm, Ghosie and I explain what we found on the planet.
“So they didn’t find Lila’s grandma?” Caspian starts to gather the children’s plates as Echo cleans the girls.
“Lila’s new god informed us the being we rescued is Lilessa, the goddess of life, but I’m not convinced that Lilessa and Liliana Adams are not the same person,” I tell them, and Ghosie purses his lips and narrows his eyes thoughtfully. This is new information for him too.
“Actually, that would make sense,” he remarks. “Otherwise, why would the seer tell Lila that was where her grandma was? Tirrian assured us that the seer is never wrong.”
“But the Adams brothers hadn’t arrived at the med bay, so I’m not sure if my suspicions are correct or not.” I shrug. I’m sure we will find out once the others return to the room.
“But how is that possible? I thought they all grew up together.” Caspian puts the plates in the dishwasher before wiping the table.
“I’m not sure. It could be a number of things—implanted memories, reincarnation, or illusion. We won’t know anything until she wakes up.”
“Are you all okay if I leave now?” Echo asks. He was listening while cleaning up the kids, but I can feel how impatient he is.
“Go,” I tell him. “I’ll help Cas get the children to bed. I just want to talk to Ghosie about something first.”
Echo hurries out of the suite. I wave my hand, and the three little kraken babies lift into the air before I send them over to their playpen. “You can play with the blocks for a little bit while I speak to your teddy, and then if you’re good and quiet while we do that, he can help tuck you into bed,” I tell the children, and they clap and cheer. When I set them down in their playpen, they follow instructions.
I look at the bear, who is still covered in Madovian blood, and then at myself. I’m still sticky from the Nelec web residue. I wave a hand, cleaning both of us instantly. It shows how upset and distracted I was that I didn’t think to do that earlier.
“Come sit,” I say, waving at our lounge area. “You too, Caspian.”
I tell the kraken about how Lila inadvertently hurt Ghosie, and he rolls his eyes and shakes his head.
“She really is hopeless,” he agrees affectionately. “She doesn’t realize how appealing she is to all of us, not just her looks, but her soul.”
“Now this is my idea. We originally put off the basilisks by telling them we were doing auditions in this quadrant of space, because we didn’t want to advertise our real reason for being here.”
“Someone obviously found out though, because the presence of the Madovians was not coincidental,” the bear points out, and I nod.
“Yes, someone possibly overheard us talking and decided to make some money off us or we have a mole. I don’t think it’s anyone on this ship, but any number of us have spoken to family members, and I know Rick has been fielding inquiries from performers. If whoever stuck her there found out we were in this area, then it wouldn’t be too hard to guess we knew she was there.”
“That’s true.” Cas slides one of his arms along the back of the couch and winds a strand of my hair around his finger. Poor guy is probably a little touch starved or missing Lila and doesn’t even notice. He seems to be the one left behind all the time, but he never makes a fuss about it, so of course I don’t mention he’s playing with my hair. Plus, it feels nice.
“Anyway, we obviously didn’t do auditions, but with us being close to wrapping up everything we need to do, we need to look at restarting the circus, and we are down at least one act, probably two.”
“No Aquilians, but which other one?” Cas frowns and slides a little closer to me. He’s in humanoid form at the moment, and his thigh presses against mine.
“Well, the Vilaxians are a problem too. We’ve been summoned to appear before the queen and a tribunal, since those damn females won’t allow Saxon to dissolve their clan despite meeting his blood rose causing an automatic dissolution.”
“Crap, I forgot about them. What about Saxon’s brothers’ clan? Were they interested in staying on?” he asks, and I shake my head.
“I’m pretty sure they won’t be. They considered it beneath them to be circus performers. They were only here because the queen commanded it while Saxon was incapacitated, so that means we need to replace a couple of acts.”
“Don’t forget the lightning cats. We aren’t sure if they are returning or not. Echo won’t be able to perform anymore either,” Caspian reminds me, and my heart sinks.
“Damn it, that’s three big draw acts that aren’t guaranteed, which is where I suggest you come in, Ghosie. Lila is going to be too busy with all our personal stuff to even worry about the show. I suggest you approach the Adams brothers and take this off her shoulders. They have a list of applicants, acts that have expressed an interest in being a part of the circus, and while we are on Fluxx, you should arrange for them to audition.”
“Actually, Lila already has the list. It’s on her tablet in her room. I’ll grab it for you.” Cas pushes off the couch and leaves the lounge area, and I focus my attention on the bear. I can feel his excitement at my suggestion.
“I would be happy to do that for Lila, and it means I can spend more time with her during the auditions.”
I nod, resting my elbows on my knees. “Yes, and afterwards, you can sit down and discuss them and help her make a decision on whom we should employ. You’ve seen a lot of the galaxy and should know what is and isn’t popular, but whatever you decide, it needs to be Earth appropriate, and she can help with that.”
Caspian returns and swipes across Lila’s tablet. He presses a few buttons and then holds it out. “Put your paw on this,” he tells the bear, who quickly follows his instructions. The tablet scans it, and Caspian allows him access before handing it over.
“Now you don’t need to find one of us to open it for you. All the information is on there under an icon labeled auditions. Have a chat with Rick about when we’ll arrive at Fluxx, and maybe organize them for a week after we arrive. That should give us plenty of time to sort out Silac’s problems.” I’m so glad that Caspian is instantly on board without me having to explain anything, but then again, he also knows our wife the best by now.
“I don’t know how to thank you,” Ghosie says to us, taking the tablet from the kraken.
“Pfft, don’t even worry about it. We both know how stubborn and unaware our wife is. Don’t worry, we will work on her from our end as well, I promise,” I assure the bear.
He takes his leave, telling us he wants to get started on looking over all the acts, leaving the two of us alone.
“Let’s get these children to bed, and you can tell me more about this god,” he suggests.
“I’ll try, but Lila probably isn’t too far behind, so I can start, but she’s going to need you when she returns. She’s exhausted,” I tell him and wave a hand, picking up our babies who laugh and put their arms out like they are Earth planes.
“Well then, you better cut to the good stuff.” He chuckles, following behind as the babies make silly noises as we fly to the bedrooms. Hopefully it won’t take them too long to get settled, and I can tell the kraken about his wife’s new mate.