Page 142 of Border Control

With a deep breath, I reach out. Law-rah helps me stretch, but we can't go far.

Fortunately, we don't need to. Nevare's consciousness is scanning the depths of space.

‘DOM!’he yells, as if he's a new Apex unable to modulate his inner voice. His attention swings to me and he hones in, as fast as a blaster shot.

And just as deadly if he doesn't rein it back.

‘I can't control him!’Arik's faint voice rings out.

‘I can,’I say, setting my stance and pulling Law-rah into our shared mental space behind me.

But she resists, standing next to me.‘No. We can.’

There's no time to say anything more. Nevare slams into our home, and my knees buckle.

But we don't break.

‘Dom, Dom! I'm so glad you're back!’Flashes of excitement and swoops of joy fling Law-rah and me up and down. Her fingers curl around mine, faint nausea tracking up her throat, but she doesn't panic, doesn't pull away.

‘Hi, Nevare. Can you tone it down a bit?’she asks.

‘Law-rah! I… oh, yes, of course.’Mercifully he eases off, enough for us to catch a breath.

Sweat pours down my scales. I glance at Law-rah. Red faced and panting, she closes one eye and pushes a sweaty strand of hair behind her ear.

‘Dom, you've changed! You've got stronger.’

‘Have I? Truly, it's Law-rah who has improved the most.’

‘Yes, but… I mean here.’Nevare pokes something deep in my chest.‘It’s whole again. It was fraying before, unraveling. Whenever you tried to balance, it was like… pain only patched the cracks. Now you're built strong from the ground up, like the barn we made.’

I exchange a glance with Law-rah, who smiles at me, squeezing my hand.‘Power of love, I guess.’

‘Indeed.’Someone who understands me for me. Who accepts me as I am, and values me for it.

‘I've got so much to tell you!’Nevare says, before immediately dumping memories from the last few earth weeks on me. The completed barn, yes, and improvements to theRoadhouse, water from the lake, the warming atmosphere as the seasons shifted. It's a lot, and hard to parse.

I put a mental hand over Law-rah's head to shield her, but then the deluge slows to a trickle. I glance up. There's a psychic umbrella over my head, a shield to help protect me from Nevare's enthusiasm.

And Law-rah is holding it up for me.

As we get closer to Earth, her pocket rumbles. “Oh. Guess we got within signal range…” She pulls her contact device from her pocket. “Huh. John the barrister’s calling me. Weird.” She answers it, facing me and keeping herself open.

“Thank goodness!” I can hear the deep voice from here. “No one could reach you. Are you alright?”

“Yeah. Just… took a trip. To reset my head.”

“Where to?”

Her eyes flick to her planet. “Uh… Bali.”

“Cool, cool. Been there a few times. So, the inquiry restarts tomorrow, when can you get here?”

“Restarts?”

“Yes. I successfully got the judge to postpone until we could get you back.”

My beautiful mate swallows hard. “I… I was taken off the case, John. Morgan was doing something shady with Accu-care. I hit him, and that’s not acceptable, regardless of the circumstance. I expect I’ve been fired by now. How… how’s the inquiry?”