Lawked Flame (22 page)

Clotho looked at her as though seeing her
for the first time. “If you were not a Kee, you would have died
instantly. The virus they released is very toxic and hundreds of
thousands have already died from it. Your body was rejecting it
even before the Murlins gave you the shot.”

Whoa, that was not what she expected to
hear. Stunned, she stared, mouth agape. “What?”

Alayna sensed Clotho had grown impatient
with her. Tight-lipped, she pinned Alayna with her silver molten
gaze as she spoke, her words clipped. “You are Other. Human and
Kee. I do not know how else to explain this to you.”

Thoughts bombarded Alayna. She asked the
first one that came to mind. “My parents?”

“What about your parents?”

“Are they other?” The question seemed
reasonable to her, yet since she had became lost in the forest a
few days ago, nothing logical happened in her world any longer.

Clotho’s shoulder barely moved in her
version of shrug. “I do not know. But if you researched, you would
find an anomaly somewhere in your line. Check his breathing.”

The switch in topics confused Alayna for a
moment until she realized the woman wanted her to check Khayden’s
pulse again. Palm flat on his chest, she waited for the beat. It
was stronger than before. Tension ebbed from her shoulders as she
waited for the next one.

“He’s good, still slow but strong.” She
placed a kiss on his cheek, pleased it was warm. “Have you seen
Lorenzo? The last time I saw him was during the fight at my
brother’s house. I want to check on him.” Stroking her lower lip,
she looked at Khayden, knowing she wasn’t going anywhere until he
woke.

“Can you call him?”she asked Clotho. A part
of her felt guilty for not thinking about him sooner. What if he
had died trying to save her?

“Lorenzo was in a battle with a few Geleets
two days past and suffered some injuries.”Her matter-of-fact tone
took a second to penetrate the jumble of thoughts already in
Alayna’s mind.

She gasped and started to leave the bed.
Clotho waved her down. “He has returned here to his quarters and is
doing fine. I think he counts it as an adventure and has enjoyed
recounting the events to any who would listen.”

No matter what anyone said, Alayna wouldn’t
feel better until she saw him with her own eyes and listened to him
say he was okay. “Good, he can tell me himself what happened. Would
you call him, please?”

“I can call him but he cannot enter here. No
one can. Master Khayden locked it down when he dismissed me
earlier. He opened a small window for me to enter and then leave.
That is why I am concerned.”

When the hell did Khayden do all that? And
why did he only call on Clotho and block anyone else from coming
in? It made no sense. Puzzled, she glanced at the older woman.
“You’re concerned because he locked the door?”

The are-you-kidding-me look the woman sent
set Alayna’s teeth on edge. She was trying to understand a lot of
new things in a short amount of time. The older woman needed to cut
her some slack. She tilted her chin and sent a cool look of her
own.

Clotho looked away and answered. “No. A
locked door is simple to open. But he locked himself away from
everyone. He has never done that. Plus, his power spiked
earlier.”

Alayna stared down at the big man lying next
to her as she mulled over everything she had heard. A chill swept
across her chest and arms at the thought of something happening to
him. “Maybe he trusts me to take care of him.” Her eyes rounded in
shock. Where had that thought come from? She watched the surprise
in Clotho’s eyes turn to pleasure.

The older woman’s grin blossomed into a
self-congratulatory smile as she stood. “I believe you are right.
Things are different now, and that is a good thing.” With a
half-bow, she vanished.

Chapter 17

Alayna sat on the leather sofa in her brother’s
family room waiting for her mom to bring the bowl of popcorn from
the kitchen. No matter how she’d tried to dissuade her mom from
making this trip, the woman would not be swayed. In spite of how
much she wanted her mom’s advice, she wasn’t ready to tell her or
anyone else about her alien lover.

Furtively, she glanced around
trying to detect Khayden or any of the other Lawkes protecting her.
After he had scared her half to death with that deathly sleep two
days ago, he'd awoken rested, but he hadn’t allowed her out of his
sight ever since. Together they had visited Lorenzo, and hearing of
the Geleets recent attack concerned her greatly. Ina short time, he
had become her friend and very important to her. Khayden assured
her that the counterattack had been successful. They had captured
one of the Geleet spies, and extracted valuable
information.

Khayden spent a significant amount of energy showing
her what it meant to be his Kee, definitely making up for the time
she’d been sick. Truthfully, she was a little sore in covered
places and welcomed this short respite, but wouldn’t have changed
the past forty-eight hours for anything. She had learned more of
his world, but most importantly, she and her Master Lawke spent
hours getting to know one another better. She was half in love with
the man, and that frightened her.

Her mom set the large red and gold
bowl on the table. “Here you are. I put extra butter on it. You
want a soda?” She bent and picked up a kernel that had fallen on
the table top and popped it into her mouth.

“
No thanks, I’m good.” Now that
her mom was here, she was grateful to see a familiar face. A
necessary reminder of her humanity, her roots, and her history.
Reaching over, she hugged her mother and kissed her soft cheek. The
smell of lilacs filled her nostrils, teasing memories from days
gone by.

Blushing, with a pleased smile, the older woman
squeezed Alayna’s shoulder before speaking. “That was nice. Maybe I
need to make you popcorn more often.”

She chuckled and leaned back onto the chair.
Engaging in idle chit-chat about family and friends, Alayna waited
for her mom to tell her the real reason for her impromptu
visit.

“
Sweetie, I had the strangest
dreams last week,” her mom said, her voice hesitant.

Alayna froze. After a second or
two she chewed the popcorn and tried to swallow around block of
fear. Scared that if she looked directly at her mom, the woman
would realize she was hiding something. “Dreams?”

“
Yeah. Dreams about you. One night
I dreamed you were happy and laughing. Another night, I dreamed you
were sad and sitting on a chair in an empty room. One night you
were twirling beneath the stars.” She chuckled.

Alayna chanced a glance at her mom and quickly
returned to munching the popcorn.

Her mother pointed at her. “You may not remember
this, but when you were a little girl, you played outside all the
time. My little tomboy, you loved dirt. You had these imaginary
friends and you would plant things to feed them. You had a real
green thumb, too. Once, you told me you planted some seeds so a
field of houses would grow. That way your friends would always have
a home.”

Stunned, she allowed the shock of
her mother’s words to filter through her memories. The idea of her
as a tomboy was disturbing considering she didn’t like roughing it
at all anymore. Alayna stared down at the mahogany table, waiting
to hear where all this was going. Idly, she wondered what happened
to that optimistic little girl.

Her mother’s breath hitched and
then she twittered. Her eyes crinkled as she took Alayna’s hand.
“You used to love to play in water. Oh my goodness. I would be so
scared, but you’d always say your friends wouldn’t let you drown.
You had a vivid imagination.”

Pinpricks flittered over Alayna’s
skin as the sound of rushing water and chirping birds invaded her
mind. A clear vision of a large pond with huge boulders off to the
side, set behind a two-story brick home suddenly jumped to the
forefront of her mind. Whose home was it? Frowning, she tried to
capture the wisps of memory as they teased her, staying slightly
out of reach.

Alayna stared straight ahead, trapped in a place
where her memories broke free and ran wild. “You used to watch the
fireplace all the time. I remember you said it was beautiful,
especially how the colors danced,” her mom continued.

In a flash, the scenery changed to a large room with
a fireplace large enough to stand in. Or at least that’s how it
seemed to her much younger eyes. The flames danced and frolicked in
front of her, lightening her heart. Even now, she could remember
the thrill of watching the blaze, the bright colors, and the
stories her creative mind developed.

“
They were beautiful,” Alayna
murmured, feeling warm. She wondered if Khayden were listening and
what he thought of her fanciful childhood.

“
Yeah, when you started talking to
the fire, that’s when my mom grew concerned.”

Surprised, Alayna tipped backward to see the wry
expression on her mom’s face. “Nana? Nana was upset I talked to
pretend people? I was just a kid. Why was she upset?”

“
You were ten and she thought it
was unhealthy that you preferred your pretend friends to real kids.
She wanted me to have you psychologically tested, even offered to
pay for it. We had strong words and stopped talking for a few
months.”

That knocked the wind out of her. Her nana, the
woman who had encouraged her to follow her own path in business,
had once thought she needed psychiatric help. “Wow, I don’t know
what to say. You never told me.”

Her mom patted her leg. “You grew out of it when you
were ready. Actually you became so serious later on, I preferred it
when you laughed and danced with your pretend friends. Which brings
me back to that particular dream. It was different.”

The heat of her mom’s stare sent a rush of
trepidation through her. She turned to meet her gaze. “What?
Why?”

“
Each time you spun around you
grew bigger.”

Confused, Alayna scrunched her face. “I was fat in
your dream?”

Looking at her fingernails, her mom shook her head.
“No. You were pregnant.”

At that announcement, the popcorn went down the
wrong pipe. Alayna gasped for air as she tried to cough up the
kernel. As her mom thumped her back, she sensed Khayden’s presence
even though she didn’t see him. If she didn’t breathe on her own
soon, he’d materialize, uncaring of the heart attack her mom would
probably have. Tears streamed down her face as the kernel finally
flew from her mouth. Slumping forward, she laid her head in the
cradle of her mom’s lap and cried.

Soft hands stroked her face and hair repeatedly,
soothing her. “Baby, I’m sorry. I know how much you wanted a baby
with that asshole. I shouldn’t have opened that door, even for a
dream.”

After a few minutes, Alayna pulled herself together,
but didn’t move. It had been years since she’d needed her mom like
this. Even after her divorce, she’d rejected all offers to return
home or to have her family come to her. It had only been recently,
when her nephew had asked her to come stay with them that she gave
in.

As the pain abated, her mom’s words shook her to the
core. “I wanted a baby,” she whispered. “How did I look? Was I
pretty? Did I seem happy in the dream?”

The hand stroking her face stopped for a few seconds
and then continued. “You were glowing, so happy, and you were
laughing again. I think that’s what struck me so hard. It was like
seeing my little girl again.”

Alayna scratched her nose and curled in tighter as
she snuggled on her mom’s lap. “I am your little girl. I just grew
up.”

A quick peck on her cheek sent tendrils of warmth
through her. “I know, sweetie. It’s just… this was different. The
dream I mean. It was so real, I woke up thinking…”

Leaning up, Alayna gazed at her mom. Really gave her
a thorough look. There were more wrinkles around her faded green
eyes, liberal streaks of gray blended into her less than full, dull
blond hair, but most importantly her mom looked tired. And that
scared her.

“
Mom? Mom are you okay?” Alayna
grabbed her hand. Even though she doubted she could tackle one more
thing on her ever enlarging plate, she needed to know what was
happening with her mother. Her mom was her rock and regardless how
selfish her reasons may appear, she needed this woman to be in top
form to help get her through the coming months.

Slowly, her mom turned toward her, taking a moment
to focus. “Huh? Oh, I’m fine, don’t worry about me.” Their eyes
locked for a moment. “Will you do me a favor?”

Alayna replied immediately. “Anything.”

“
First, tell me the truth, did the
doctors ever explain why you didn’t get pregnant?”

She bit her lip, thinking. “That
had always been the crazy part. I was fertile, and everything
inside me worked, there was no reason why I didn’t get pregnant. It
just didn’t happen. I’m happy now that I didn’t but at the time, it
was so confusing.”

Her mom nodded as though coming to
a conclusion. “Will you take a pregnancy test? I…I picked one up on
the way here. It would ease my mind. I mean…it was so real.” She
closed her eyes and muttered. “I’m not going crazy. But, it would
help to know it was just a silly dream and it meant
nothing.”

She held Alayna’s face between her warm palms. “I
haven’t been able to sleep through the night because of all the
dreams. Not just about you, but other things as well. There are
times when I think I’m losing my mind. But this is one thing I can
settle. Will you do this? I know it’s asking a lot after everything
you’ve been through—”