Page 6

Chapter Six

O ne minute Darik’s immobile unconscious body lay in the hospital bed as he had been for the past week and the next he was gone.

Nicole blinked and her mouth fell open, unable to believe what she was seeing. She screamed and her voice rose above even the beeping medical alerts from suddenly disconnected sensors. People rushed into the room, stopping at the threshold at the sight of the empty bed. Dr. Garrison rushed to Nicolle as her knees gave way and she collapsed to the floor.

“What happened?” the doctor asked as she and her nurse Rik helped Nicolle to the chair.

“I don’t know—he was here and then he was just…gone.” Nicolle could barely form words.

I’m here , Darik’s deep voice said in her mind, as a pulse of love flowed through the mate bond. I’m at the great stone circle, waiting for you.

Is this some kind of a trick? Nicolle asked, wiping away tears. I was so worried about you ? —

I’ll explain everything when you get here. I love you, mate, and I’m deeply sorry to have left without explanation. I have to speak to Aydarr and Jamokan now.

I’m coming. Nicolle rose to her feet and tore herself free of the people trying to help her. “I have to go, now,” she said as she pushed her way through the room full of people and made it out the door.

Aydarr was in the hall and he caught her arm. “We’re going with you,” he said, gesturing at Jamokan with his free hand.

“All of you?” Nicolle was dismayed to think her reunion with Darik was going to be a public event but more than that she was frantic to be on her way to him.

“Only those he’s asked for at this time,” Aydarr clarified. “You, most importantly of all.”

“Go ahead,” Jamokan said. “We’ll follow.”

Finally the Supreme Alpha stirred from the spot where he was standing, drawing Nicolle with him. They rushed out the door of the hospital and sprinted toward the forest path which would eventually lead them to the goddess’s stone circle deep in the woods.

“Am I going too fast for you?” Aydarr asked as they ran.

Nicolle was well aware he could go ten times faster on his own so she appreciated the fact he was accommodating himself to her slower capabilities. “I’m fine, thanks. Let’s just get there.”

She had no idea who might be following them and she barely registered the forest she was moving through or the guards who stepped aside to allow them to pass. She was sure Aydarr was lending her strength because even though she jogged and worked out regularly, she couldn’t keep up a sustained run this long without help. Nicolle kept checking the mate bond, which glowed shiny and golden again in her heart and sending her love through the links, repeating Darik’s name in her mind like a mantra.

You’re not angry at me? he asked as she ran to find him.

I know you had a good reason for whatever you did and you’re back now so no, I can’t be angry. Watching you in that bed all week and thinking you were going to die was terrifying . Maybe there was a scintilla of lingering anger deep in her heart for the ordeal he’d put her through but right now wasn’t the time to express the emotion. They could talk later.

Your mate can telepath to you or she can hurry to meet you, Aydarr said, a chuckle underlying his thought. Not both. Unless I carry her, this conversation needs to wait.

Nicolle realized she’d slowed to nearly a walking pace while telepathing and sped up. It was an amazing offer on Aydarr’s part, since Badari Warriors preferred not to touch another man’s mate. She knew he would carry her if she asked and they’d be at the circle in no time but pride kept her on her own two feet.

When she reached the entrance to the place of worship the Badari had constructed, Aydarr stopped and waved her on alone. “We’ll give you a few moments of privacy.” He turned to block those who had also been summoned and Nicolle jogged on by herself, grateful for Aydarr’s understanding.

Entering the stone circle, she stumbled to a halt, winded and stunned. Darik stood across the open space, on the platform. He looked tired and scruffy and she’d never seen anything like the fur kilt and boots he was wearing. A battered black leather satchel sat on the ground beside him and in his arms he was holding…a baby.

“Goddess knows how much I missed you,” he said, moving to meet her halfway.

They came together in a crushing embrace, although Darik was careful to keep the mysterious baby from being caught between them. He swept Nicolle up with his free arm and pressed a demanding kiss on her lips, which immediately became passionate, tongues dancing, bodies hot against each other, the pent-up longing mutually expressed in one long caress.

The baby made a sound and Nicolle drew back slightly to stare at the beautiful child. “Whose baby is this? How did you?—”

“Our baby now,” he said proudly. “She’s an orphan I rescued from the ancestors’ planet. I named her Mia and the Great Mother was kind enough to allow me to bring her through time.”

Nicolle let the remark about time travel go right by. She was riveted by the baby. “May I hold her?”

“Of course.” Darik’s smile was huge as he placed Mia in Nicolle’s arms.

She cuddled the child close and breathed deep of the sweet baby scent. Mia played with her hair and patted her face before laying her head on Nicolle’s shoulder and drowsing. Nicolle found herself instinctively swaying to soothe the baby. Darik put his arms around the two of them and gave her a big hug.

“I need to let Aydarr and Jamokan come in now,” he whispered. “I have a great deal to tell all of you.”

“Did you ask the goddess for a baby?” Nicolle couldn’t even imagine how a conversation like that would go.

“Not exactly but I suspect she took a hand in the events that led me to Mia. I asked her for something else, which she also granted but let me tell everyone at the same time.”

Nicolle sat on the platform step and rubbed Mia’s back as she napped. Her heart was full of joy, having Darik home and meeting the child he’d adopted on his strange trip. Love for both surged in her and along the mate bond.

Aydarr and Jamokan came to a halt in front of the platform, eyeing the family scene with astonishment.

“I’ve been to the world of the ancestors,” Darik said, raising his voice to be heard by everyone crowding close. “The Great Mother sent me there on a quest to solve a problem we weren’t even aware we had in our own time here. I’m to tell all the Badari what I saw and experienced. And I had the chance to rescue this child, now part of my family, and return with her to our time and place. Her name is Mia.”

“I welcome Mia to the combined packs,” Aydarr said immediately, placing one hand on the baby’s head lightly. “She is truly a daughter of Badari.”

“I welcome Mia to the canid pack,” Jamokan said, also touching the child carefully. “We’re honored to count her among our number.”

“We’re here to listen,” Aydarr said as Jamokan finished. “Did the Great Mother summon you to the grove then?”

Darik shook his head. “No, I stole a flyer and went there on my own to ask her to help me.”

Nicolle blushed, sure she knew what issue he’d risked so much to try to resolve. Therein lay the root of the problem itself, however, because he hadn’t talked to her about any of this prior to flying off on his own, attempting to fix their situation. Remembering all the things she’d said to him in the privacy of the hospital room, when she wasn’t sure if he could hear her or not, she resolved they would have those conversations again soon and not one sidedly either.

Beside her Darik was telling an incredible tale of his journey and the adventures he had. At one point he stopped and looked directly at Aydarr. “I met one of your ancestors, the high chief Javon. There can be no question about the fact you’re descended from him. The two of you resemble each other to a degree that you could be brothers. We had dinner together and he helped me refine the map I spoke of earlier. I have the map in my satchel here.”

“I look forward to hearing more of this man,” Aydarr said after a brief pause. “And the items you brought are treasure for all Badari. The artifacts must be safeguarded and properly displayed.”

Frowning Darik said, “The things that are Mia’s remain hers. They’re all she’ll ever have of her birth family and I can’t agree to give those away. This satchel is her father’s, for example, taken by me from their home. The map, yes the packs can have it, because the ancestors drew it for me and gave it to me, but not her treasures.”

“Perhaps we can compromise and allow things like the satchel to be part of the exhibit for now,” Nicolle said. “With the understanding they’re her personal possessions and she can decide what’s to be done with them when she’s older.”

“I have no wish to strip your daughter of her inheritance,” Aydarr said. “I’m excited on behalf of all the Badari packs to have actual, tangible historical artifacts of our past when we’ve never had anything before. Nicolle makes a good suggestion. The Pack Historian will consult with you.”

Oh yes, Nario’s mate Aliana will be beside herself when she finds out where Darik has been and what he brought back with him. Nicolle hid her smile . Let’s hope she doesn’t ask the goddess if she can go time traveling.

“Continue your narrative,” Aydarr said. “We’re in suspense to know the rest of your journey.”

Darik resumed where he’d left off and his small audience in the stone circle was utterly silent as he detailed his night being chased by the enemy and then his discovery of Mia the next day, continuing on to his trek with her, the battle with the alien predators and his final encounter with the Great Mother at the spring. At this point he removed the curious necklace he’d been wearing and parted the two crystal bottles, handing one to Dr. Garrison, who immediately wrapped it in her scarf and held it as if it were supremely fragile. Nicolle was glad to see the doctor’s caution after everything her mate had gone through to obtain the water.

He handed her the other one now, taking Mia from her so Nicolle could open the amethyst stopper and drink. “I want to take no chances with this water,” he said. “I want to see you drink this gift from the goddess before anything else happens.”

She took a sniff but detected no aroma. Lifting the tiny vial to her lips, she swallowed what he’d brought in one gulp. The water was cool on her threat and tingled a bit going down but there was no other effect Nicolle could identify. Hoping the trace elements would do what the goddess had promised Darik, she took Mia from her mate. Humming a lullaby under her breath she swayed a little watching the baby’s face as she lay dreaming. Whatever happened or didn’t happen for her and Darik in the future as far as having their own biological child, Nicolle was ecstatic about their daughter snatched by her mate from the turbulent times on the ancestral world. We’ll keep you safe , she thought. We’ll make sure you have a bright future.

When Darik finished his recitation of the adventures he’d experienced on his quest, there was silence and then Jamokan threw his head back and howled like the wolf his inner predator was, voicing his approval and support for Darik’s actions. Aydarr joined in with his own predator’s yowl and the other Badari in the small group added their voices while the human mates, Nicolle included, cheered and clapped.

“We’ll have to discuss how and when to have you share this tale with the combined packs,” Aydarr said when the acclaim died down. “I think it’s essential we do it soon.”

“I agree.” Darik stepped off the platform. “The Great Mother made it plain she wanted me to tell what I’d seen and done to inspire our people to fight on, and to ignite a new spark in their hearts.”

“And to give hope to other couples like us, who’ve been trying to have children,” Nicolle said, unable to allow this vital aspect of the trip to receive less attention. “There’s a future waiting for us which includes children.”

“More than a precious one or two born against the odds,” Dr. Garrison agreed, moving to join them. “May I suggest we take Mia to the hospital for a well-baby check before you take her home?”

“And a bath,” Nicolle said with a giggle. “She’s a bit grubby.”

“I did my best.” Darik sounded a bit offended.

“And you did great, honey, but I suspect there was a lack of soap where you were.” She patted his arm.

“Listen, doc, what we need is something to feed her,” Darik said, opening the leather satchel and extracting a bottle full of off-white fluid. “This was fresh goat’s milk yesterday, probably spoiling now but I think it’s what her parents were feeding her, based on what I found in their house.”

“Goats?” Nicolle asked.

“What passes for goats on the ancestors’ planet anyway. They sure kicked and butted heads like goats.” He rubbed his hip as if remembering a previous encounter with the feisty animals.

Dr. Garrison accepted the bottle with a smile. “I’ll certainly analyze it for the key components right away but if it sets your mind at rest a bit, Sandara and I worked out a baby formula before Hope was born, in case she wouldn’t nurse or there wasn’t enough milk. I’ve already ‘pathed the chef to mix up a batch of it immediately and send it to the hospital. She’ll probably deliver it personally to satisfy her own curiosity about what’s going on and where a new baby came from.”

Darik’s face was bright red and Nicolle wondered what on earth he was about to say. “I’d even considered asking Hainn and Jezari if Mia could have a bottle of her milk, to get us by until we could get formula.”

“Not a bad idea,” Megan said with no trace of embarrassment. “In fact if we do get a baby boom after I synthesize this water, we probably should establish a breast milk bank for emergencies.”

Knowing her mate was extremely uncomfortable with the topic, Nicolle gave him major kudos for bringing it up but it was time to shift the conversation. “All right then, shall we get ourselves and Mia to the hospital for her bath and checkup?”

Darik checked with Aydarr and Jamokan, who’d been conferring about the logistics of having an all-pack meeting for him to take everyone through his adventure. The Supreme Alpha immediately gave Darik permission to leave the stone circle. “The child’s welfare must be our highest priority of course. Do what needs to be done for your daughter and we can make plans with you later, telepathically if necessary.”

Hours later Nicolle collapsed onto the couch next to her mate in their private quarters. “She’s finally asleep.”

“A full tummy, a warm bath and cuddles did the trick?” he asked. “She usually wakes up two or three times in the night.”

“Good to know. The com system MARL fixed up for us earlier will let us know if she stirs at all. Otherwise I’d insist we have her in the bedroom with us.”

“Thank goodness Mateer and Megan were fine with lending us Hope’s baby things and the crib,” Darik said. “I have other plans for the bedroom tonight.”

“I’m in awe of you, rescuing her and doing the single parent thing for the last days of your quest,” she said.

“Mia’s a sweet kid and there was nothing else to be done.” He rolled his shoulders and got to his feet, extending a hand to her. “I know we need to talk about all kinds of things but?—”

“But not tonight,” Nicolle interrupted, taking his hand. “Promise me you won’t do any more solo trips to ask the goddess for help and I’ll promise you I won’t take any coms from the office when we’re on family time. Unless it’s Aydarr with an emergency.”

“Agreed.” He pulled her close for a kiss. “But we do have to talk sometime. Not talking was the start of our problems after we lost our baby.” Darik studied her face.. “I love Mia but I hope you know nothing will take the place of the dreams I had for our first child, fleeting though her possibility was. Mia and our future children will bring their own dreams with them to my heart.”

“Well said. I thought we were going to have a boy though.”

“I’ll defer to you on the point. Any healthy child will be a blessing from the Great Mother, in due time.”

Hand in hand they strolled into the bedroom. Nicolle looked around, surprised to find it unchanged from a week ago, when she’d rushed out to go to work and Darik had headed off to steal a flyer. “So much has happened in seven days,” she said. “It’s like time stopped in here though.”

He stripped off his tee shirt, which she always found incredibly sexy to watch, as his six pack of tight abdominal muscles came into view and the vee leading below his belt. “Keep going,” she said.

“You have too many clothes on too.” Bare chested Darik came to her side and pulled on her tee shirt. “Let me help.”

In a short time she stood in her bra and panties, which Darik admired with open appreciation as his arousal tented his gray sweatpants. He slipped one hand into the lacy cup of the bra and eased her breast out, thumbing the nipple. “So pretty, all rosy and perky for me.” An instant later he had the bra off and placed her on the bed. He divested himself of the pants and joined her, commando as usual.

Gently she ran her hand over the jagged red ridge of the scar on his upper thigh. “This must have hurt.”

“Like the seven hells,” he agreed. “The goddess completed the healing for me but said she wanted me to keep the scar as a sign of where I’d journeyed and what I’d accomplished. A badge of honor, she said.”

“Do you mind?” Badari didn’t usually scar except for the force whip marks on their backs from punishments in the labs when they’d been captives. She and Darik had their matching scars from being taken over by the parasitic neoChimmer for a time, until Darik had freed them, although since the marks were on her back she tried not to think about them.

Darik considered the question briefly. “No, since the Great Mother decreed I should have it. I don’t need reminding—I’ll never forget the fight with the predator. It’ll appear in my nightmares for years I’m sure. But if anyone else needs reminding where I was and what the stakes were, the scar is there. Aydarr said being marked was my punishment for stealing the flyer and causing all the uproar, so I was glad to get off so easily.” His laugh was deep.

“With what you did for the packs, he ought to have been grateful and nothing else,” she said, anger creeping into her voice.

“I love how you defend me, mate, but I did do wrong, taking the flyer and causing the Alphas to come find me. Aydarr has to maintain discipline. Have we talked enough for now?”

Now he extended one massive talon and hooked it into the side of the panties. Raising one eyebrow, he waited.

Nicolle sighed. “All right, I know how much you enjoy ripping them off my body. I just hate mending them all the time but we don’t exactly have a place here to get new ones. Kelli at Stores only has so much stock.”

“It satisfies the predator in me,” he said with a grin as he sliced through the strings, careful not to hurt her. He took a sniff before he tossed the lingerie to the floor. “Your scent has always made me hard, even since the first time we met.” Next minute he spread her legs and was putting his tongue to excellent use while Nicolle squirmed and tried in vain to fight off the orgasm he was working so hard to provoke. The longer she delayed the more the pleasure built until she couldn’t stand it any longer and allowed herself to go over the edge and ride the waves of sensation.

Darik watched her and as she came down from the orgasm, breathing hard, he moved so the tip of his cock was pressed to her folds. “I missed you so much while I was gone. I had the mate bond but it wasn’t active the way it is here, now.” Slowly he moved his hips and sank into her an inch at a time.

“I was so scared for you,” she said, clutching at his shoulders and shifting her body to pull him deeper. “Sitting by the bed all day and night, wondering if you’d ever wake up and if you did what state you’d be in.”

“You’re so tight on me right now, I love it.” He thrust harder and sheathed himself in her folds until he bottomed out. Then he pounded in and out, his face set in determined lines as he sought their mutual release.

Nicolle scratched his back, avoiding the ridged scars he bore as a result of their fight with the neoChimmer a long time ago and wrapped her legs around him to hold him closer. She welcomed his passion and the strength of his lovemaking. Darik wouldn’t hurt her and the ride was a wild one, every bit as passionate as the first times they made love, after escaping the Khagrish lab and being stuck in a small tent in a blizzard together. The mate bond pulsed and glittered in her mind’s eye and she sent fragments of her emotions through the golden links to him like small kisses. They were both sweaty now and approaching the climax. She lowered her head and licked the golden mate mark on his shoulder, savoring the warm salty taste of her mate’s skin. Perhaps the Badari blood she’d been transfused with had made her more of a predator herself than she’d realized but the fact she’d marked him and claimed him was incredibly arousing. He was hers and she wasn’t going to allow their bond to fray again.

She must have said it out loud, or maybe it traveled the mate bond, because Darik lifted his head and said, “Mine,” in a voice she hardly recognized before biting down carefully on her mate mark. The area was sensitive and the stimulus catapulted her into a mind-blowing release. Darik came with her, his entire body tight with the effort to give her satisfaction and claim his own.

She was screaming his name and he was grunting hers in a growl and it was one of the best moments she’d ever had in her life.

After the waves of sensation passed, Nicole lay exhausted in his arms and they kissed with gentleness. “I love you,” she whispered. “I never forgot that but I was in so much pain I buried myself in my work to try to escape and I shut you out. And then when each month passed and we didn’t make a baby, I got depressed and angry. But I needed to lean on you, not push you away.”

“I love you,” he answered. “I didn’t know how to reach you and I didn’t know what to do with my own sorrow and frustration so I did what Badari do, which is pushed it all inside, into a compartment in my head. The only trouble was I locked our love in there too. Or at least blocked it.”

“The mate bond tried to help us,” she said. “But it got so frayed—we have to take care of it now, nourish it with our love. No more hiding from each other, no more trying to be brave and unaffected. If I’m sad, you’re going to hear about it. And promise me if you’re any kind of emotional, you’ll tell me.”

“I promise, on my honor as a Badari Warrior.” He kissed her forehead and then her lips. “Maybe we should seal this agreement with round two.”

Nicolle was more than willing and she knew how fast Darik recovered. “Sounds perfect to me?—”

A wail came through the baby monitor com and both of them jumped from the bed, Nicolle yanking on Darik’s big tee shirt while he struggled into his pants and they ran to Mia’s room next door in the residence cave. She was wide awake and fussy but quieted as they came into her line of sight, before her little face screwed up into another howl.

Darik picked her up. “She’s wet.”

He carried Mia to the changing table and together they cleaned her up and dressed her in a new diaper and sleeper.

“Let’s take her into our bed, just for tonight,” Nicolle said as he was about to put her into the crib. “I know we have to be so careful with the baby in the same bed, not to roll on her but I’d like us to be together tonight.”

“She slept perfectly fine on my chest while we were on her planet,” he said. “My beast won’t let any harm come to her. Nothing would make me happier than to sleep as a family this one time.”

Hand in hand, with Mia securely in Darik’s grasp, they walked to their room and curled up on the bed. Darik put his arm around Nicolle, holding the baby against his chest and pulled her close. “I couldn’t ask for more than this, my woman and my child, all safe and secure. I’m thanking the Great Mother for her grace in allowing me to find each of you at the right time in my life.”

Nicolle cuddled up to him, enjoying his Badari body heat. “The same for me. We’re a family now. I feel blessed.”

He laughed. “Even if she did interrupt the evening we were having.”

“That’s what babies do, or so they tell me. We have a lot to learn about parenting.” Nicole shared his mirth and the baby stirred, making a mewling sound like a kitten. Finger to her lips, Nicolle shushed her mate before closing her eyes.

“We’ll do it together,” he whispered. “Always.”