Lawked Flame (38 page)

Lorenzo hadn’t realized there were special clothes
to celebrate such a extraordinary time in life, and he brought a
couple of shirts for Benicke and himself. Gone was the somber,
sullen young man she’d met weeks ago. In his place was a vibrant,
confident Kee who wore a spectrum of colors and styles. If her nose
didn’t know better, she’d think someone had replaced her friend. He
had changed just that much and it was fun to see. It tickled her
when he mimicked her words and attitudes, especially out of
context.

He dropped the bags and flopped into the chair next
to her. “You’re right. No need to wait in the room alone, when I
can wait here.” He grabbed a fistful of popcorn, his new favorite
food. “When are you going to visit your mom?”

She looked at him, curious about why he was asking
about her mom. “I don’t know why?”

His brows rose to ridiculous heights. “Are you
seriously asking me why? She promised you another butter pound
cake. I want some. Better yet, get the recipe for Olga. I wonder if
I can duplicate butter on Lawkmeria? What do you think?”

Laughing at his babbling, she shook her head.
“You’re asking the wrong one. I’ve never been there.”

He took her hand. “But by the end of this week,
we’ll all be home.” He frowned. “Or at least those of us who want
to go home.”

His comment reminded her of Khayden’s and hers, she
supposed if she wanted to be politically correct, newest problem.
Some of the Lawkmerians refused to leave Earth. Khayden could
simply take them, but he planned to conduct a meeting soon to hear
their concerns. The idea of being in debt to Nature’s Mother was a
real deterrent to continued residence. But since they were forced
to stay, albeit on a part-time basis, she was sure he would figure
out something.

Initially, Clotho was hesitant to re-accept her
position. She felt she should pay some sort of penance for her
bungling of her assignment. Khayden assured her his anger had
passed. He understood what happened and allowed her to regain her
powers so she could continued to serve as his liaison.

The Good Mother thought it would be in her best
interests to keep the Harvens and the wards in place. Alayna and
Khayden would be moving to Las Vegas soon. They needed a place
where her family could visit and where people wouldn’t pay
attention if she didn’t age. She had her eye on a gated community
that would suite their purpose. The developer had went belly-up,
and many of the homes were half-finished. She figured they could
buy them and finish the construction. Afterward, they would only
sell to people who turned a blind eye on their strange
neighbors.

Lorenzo’s eyes lit just as she sensed Khayden. Their
Lawkes were home! She jumped into Khayden’s arms, and kissed him
long and hard.

As Benicke and his Kee grabbed their shopping bags,
the big man muttered. “I see now where you get that from.”

“
And you love it.”

“
Yeah, yeah I do.” The two men walked out as
she slid down Khayden’s front, grabbed his hand and dragged him to
the sofa.

She plopped onto his lap and placed her arms around
his neck. “I watched and you were magnificent.”

He smiled. “Really? Thank you, my heart.”

“
You seemed to enjoy kicking ass.” She grinned
at the light in his eye. He was catching on to her slang even
though he gave her a hard time about it from time to
time.

“
I think you are correct. I most certainly
enjoyed kicking their asses.” He pulled her head down on his chest.
She listened to the steady beat of his heart and relaxed. This was
home.

“
How different are things going to be on
Lawkmeria?”

“
I am not sure. We will need to wait until we
arrive to see how your body handles the air and water. A few Murlin
have been dispatched to begin testing the suitability of life
support for you and any future human Kees.”

“
You said something about my heart.” She
remembered exactly what he’d said to Mother Nature. It had kept her
awake that night.

He stroked her arm. “This organ is optional on
Lawkmeria. There are other ways to generate proper circulation. One
thing about Lawkes, our bodies are adaptable. The moment you walked
through the ward into the Harven, I knew your flesh had to be as
adaptable as mine. Otherwise, you could not have entered. That was
one of the coded, or embedded, requirements Clotho passed on to the
Good Mother that she was unaware of.”

She snuggled closer. “I’m glad.”

“
So am I.”

“
Have you decided who you will leave in charge
while we are absent from either place?”

He sighed long and hard. “I am thinking of promoting
Benicke to Regent in Lawkmeria, and Royce will continue as Regent
here. Both men fought hard today, almost as hard as you did
defeating the Geleet in the foyer that day.” Khayden paused and
leaned forward. His eyes were puzzled. She became concerned at his
delayed silence.

“
What’s wrong?” She stroked his
face.

“
The fight in the foyer when your father died.
Did you discuss what happened with anyone? I watched the
tape.”

She shuddered. “No. I want to forget what happened
that day.”

“
Benicke and his men arrived after the Geleet
kicked me, right? So they did not see your reaction to your
father’s demise.” He paused, his brow furrowed. He called
Aspen.

“
Aspen, did anyone else see the
tapes from the hospital fight?”

“
No. I verified they were from
that day and bagged them. I have not seen them, nor has anyone
else. Is there a problem
?”

Khayden inhaled. “
Yes
and no. I will talk to you soon
.”

Having listened intently to the conversation, Alayna
sat upright, watching Khayden. “What is it?”

“
The day after the hospital episode, before
you came to my office, I debriefed Benicke and Royce. Royce
mentioned the Geleet beating me after your father’s
death.”

Her brow rose, she hadn’t seen that one coming.
“Royce? But how would he know that?”

“
There were two human heartbeats when we
arrived at the hospital. Your dad was one.”

“
You think he might’ve been the other?” She
looked at him and then scoffed. “Come on, he’s like your…your right
or left hand. He wouldn’t…would he?”

“
The Geleet was always either a step ahead or
right with us. It bothered me that they knew you were my Kee within
twenty four hours of us meeting. Well, of me seeing you at the
store anyway. Who knew that information?”

She nodded, thinking he had a point. She’d never
believed Clotho would talk to the Geleet. The Good Mother was
different. Benicke and Lorenzo would never betray them either,
although she admitted her bias as far as Lorenzo was concerned.
Perhaps it was because she didn’t know Royce as well. She hadn’t
spent any time with him and couldn’t quite defend him as she would
the others. But it hurt her knowing how disappointed Khayden was
that someone he thought was his close friend may have betrayed
him.

“
Well, you have a point. He did know and I’m
sorry he’s someone close to you.”

He turned and looked at her. His eyes blazed green
fire. “I am glad to know who the culprit is. He has been successful
in blocking me from searching him deeply, but that will not save
him. I will discover if he has betrayed me within the hour.” He
stood and assisted her up. “You may come with me or I will tell you
of it later when I am done.”

It took her all of two seconds to decide. “I’m
coming with you.” He held her hand and they disappeared from the
den and reappeared in a large chamber with a stage. Khayden waved
his hand and two large chairs appeared. He assisted her to her
chair and sat in the other.

“
Royce, appear before me.”

The next second, Royce stood before them and looked
around the room, surprised. When he saw them, he bowed his head and
went down on one knee. She could smell his fear and nervousness. He
flinched, and then his body visibly shook until he fell to both
knees. She looked at Khayden. His eyes glowed bright green as he
stared ahead. She wasn’t sure what was going on and tapped into
their bond. It was all she could do not to gasp as she saw him
rifle through Royce’s mind, ruthlessly tearing down barriers,
leaving the man’s dark deeds plain for them to see.

“
So, you would be the Master Lawke,” she said,
her voice calm despite her rising anger. “You would destroy your
people—”

“
No! I would save them. They need strong
leadership. A Master untainted by humans.”

“
I see you have known of the Gramier's visits
to the Good Mother and have been disturbed by it for a while. Is
that why the Geleet became more vicious in the past fifty years?
Because you told them of a possible Kee?”

“
No! I needed help to save our people. They
said we could separate from you before we became tainted with the
humans.”

“
So the experiments with the Minthians, I see
your handprint all over it. You started it, and yet you killed them
without mercy. Never say you did what you did for my people, you
selfish bastard. You did it for your own greed,” Khayden
snarled.

“
No! There are more like me who despise the
merging of our races. They are not happy with this—”

Khayden stood, cutting him off. Alayna watched as he
searched Royce’s mind for the names of the people he spoke of. A
minute later, two older men and women knelt before them. The fear
wafted off the two couples in waves.

“
There seems to be a misunderstanding. Royce
claims that you as well, are under the impression this is a
democracy. That there can be some discussion as to my right to rule
with my Kee at my side. Let me set the record straight. Alayna is
my Kee and I do not care what race she belongs to. She is
mine.”

He spoke to her, and she took hold of the four on
the floor and rifled through their minds. They weren’t as
entrenched in their beliefs as Royce was. They had merely listened
to his conversation and agreed it would have been nice if she had
been Lawkmerian. Other than that, she found no deceit. She conveyed
her findings to Khayden and he returned them to their homes with a
warning.

He walked off the dais toward Royce. The other man
was trying to stand, blood poured from his nose as he took in huge
gasps of air. She moved to the edge of the platform so she could
see better. This was a different side of her Lawke. Gone was the
gentle lover. Instead, there stood the Master of all his people,
and he was beyond angry.

Standing in front of Royce, he grabbed him by the
throat and lifted him so they were eye level. Royce closed his
eyes. “You will look at me. Only a coward works in the dark to hurt
women and innocents.”

“
I am no coward,” Royce hissed.

Khayden released him and waved his hand. The blood
stopped and Royce stood straight.

Alayna groaned.
“No,
no, no, baby, this isn’t TV. You don’t need to give him a chance to
fight
.
He was wrong, betrayed
you, tried to get my family killed. On second thought, that bastard
killed my daddy, let me kick his ass
.” Even as she
spoke, she knew he wouldn’t listen. His anger was palpable, and she
knew he’d kept Royce alive so he could kill him with his
hands.

Men
.

Like the cocky fool he was, Royce attacked with some
weapon he’d pulled from his jacket. Khayden sidestepped him and
winked at her. Her man was enjoying himself.

Royce yelled and ran at him while his back was
turned.

She yelled, “
Watch
out
.”

The moment the weapon was in a downward thrust,
Khayden disappeared. Royce couldn’t stop the momentum and the
weapon lodged in his own side. He fell to one knee, his face
wreathed in pain as he tried to pull it out.

Khayden stood a few feet away, watching. His
face flashed from sadness, to anger, to fatigue.
“
Enough of this, I am ready for bed.
Tonight we rid our people of this traitor
.” After
sending her that thought, he blurred forward and punched Royce in
the face. The force of the hit was hard enough to break the man’s
neck, causing him to fall to the ground dead.

Alayna released the blue flame and sent it to
consume Royce. Khayden looked at her and smiled, although it didn’t
reach his eyes. She went and hugged him tightly, trying to take
away the sting of destroying someone he’d thought a friend.

“
Let’s go to bed, you’ve had a long day.” She
squeezed him tight and reclaimed her flame. The room was empty and
quiet again.

He moved forward and picked her up. They moved in
the direction of the bedroom and she smiled at how familiar
everything seemed. In less than a month she had stumbled into an
alternate reality, was claimed as the savior of a race she had no
idea existed, became pregnant within a week of meeting her Lawke,
unlocked his powers, gaining some for herself, and now lay
comfortably in the arms of this wonderful man who wasn’t human,
acknowledging that this roller coaster life was hers and she
wouldn’t have it any other way.

Tomorrow was a new day. She had no doubt there would
be new challenges, but for right now, she would rest with her
Lawke.

***The end for now****