Page 3 of I Dated a Holiday Hero (Blind Date Corporation #19)

H ever was hooked up to an IV when she woke up. Her mother was sitting next to her. “Why didn’t you tell me you had broken bones?”

“Torenne got most of them healed at the site. They blew my entryway up with me standing in it, Mom.”

“Shit. What did they want?”

“Just some repairs to a vehicle they were building to attack actives. It was very clumsy, and an active would have to stand in the middle of the road for that unit to be effective.”

“So, a decoy?”

“Yeah, but they didn’t expect the visitors who arrived at the party. And they were willing and able to let me die. The punctured lung was not getting better any time soon.”

“Punctured...” Her mother looked upset.

“Doc Torenne took care of it and the head wound.” She sighed. “I recognized one of the researchers from the lab, and he said he recognized me.”

“Oh, shit.” Her mother clutched her hand.

“Can we just tell everybody how you found me? Uradda has fallen, and my wings are out there somewhere.” She smiled. “They can’t take me away from you, Mom.”

Her mother smiled and brushed her hair from her forehead. “Okay. We will tell them if they ask, but only if they ask.”

“Okay. Time for secrets is over.” Hever sighed. “I find them exhausting.”

Dr. Torenne came in with a dark scowl. “Auntie, I need to talk to Hever about some things that came up during the scans.”

“I want to hear them.”

Hever looked at her. “Mom. I am closer to thirty than twenty. I can manage a physician consult. If she tells me anything surprising, I will ask her to let you in. Okay? Go get a coffee. Call Auntie Salmet. Anything.”

Her mother got up, kissed her forehead, and left the room with a glare at Torenne.

The good doctor took her seat and said, “She is always slightly hostile.”

“Only when I am in the room. I had the biggest crush on you when I was a teen. You were so pretty, and I didn’t feel like myself, so seeing you gain comfort with your body was super helpful.”

Torenne smiled and blushed a little. “I had no idea.”

“I know. No one did. Well, Mom figured it out.” She shrugged. “So, what did you find?”

“You had plastic surgery.”

“Yes. It was to make my face match Mom’s, so I would blend in a bit better with the family. It was important that no one guessed where I had come from.”

Torenne blinked. “So, what do you look like normally?”

She shrugged. “I can guess, but my face changed when I was a child. I don’t know what the adult version of me should have been.”

“Oh, right. Did you know you have multiple vocal cords?”

“Yup.”

“And that you are an omega?”

“Knew that, too.”

She sat back. “Huh. Here I thought I was going to surprise you.”

Hever shrugged. “Not much surprises me.”

“You are pregnant.”

Hever looked at Torenne, horrified. “That’s impossible.”

“Good. No. Just kidding.” Torenne laughed. “Can you imagine?”

Hever’s heart was thudding in her chest. “I haven’t taken a patron during a heat, so that did give me a shock.”

“Patron... you are with the BDC?” Torenne’s eyes were wide.

“Yeah, it seemed the best way to socialize without Mom catching on.”

“Did you?”

“Socialize? Yeah. There are always alphas searching for an omega in heat.”

Torenne blinked. “And have you?”

“No, not in heat. Not a risk I want to take. Getting a knot now and then was as much as I engaged in.”

The good doctor was sweating a little.

“Sorry. Too much? Overshare?”

“It is hard to overlap you with the kid who used to dance in front of the microwave as she waited for popcorn.”

“I still do that.” She smiled. “Your face says there is something else on that tablet.”

“Have you noticed your bones aching and your body being easy to break?”

“A little. Why?”

“You have lost a ton of calcium, but it isn’t a natural reduction. It’s like your body has been washed in acid from the inside out.”

“Oh. We had an accident in R when I am a monster, I can fight like a monster.” She looked at the good doctor. “This should have fixed it. I felt things exploding. Do you want to do another blood draw?”

Torenne nodded and scrambled to get a kit.

Hever downgraded herself to human and climbed back in bed. Her mom held her hand, and the doctor took the blood to run a test. “I will also have to do a new bone scan.”

“Yeah. I figured.”

Her mom touched her cheek. “I never thought you were a monster.”

“No, but it was hurled at me when we travelled, so I thought looking weak was safer.”

“Looking like me.”

“Well, the closer I could make myself look to you, the more I was accepted. Even by your family.”

She smiled sadly and kissed Hever’s forehead again. “You are always my little girl. From the moment I found you in that little boat, I knew you were destined for me. All the seers we ran into said the same. You are my little girl from the moment we met until the moment I die.”

Hever clutched her hands. “I have hoped you would say that but didn’t dare ask.”

Veradil smiled. “My life for yours, any day of the week.”

“Not if I have something to say about it.” Hever smiled.

Hours later, Torenne came in and said, “That is a very powerful transformation. Dark energy isn’t common, but you definitely have it. Heraina also has dark energy. She uses it frequently and can give you pointers if you need them.”

She nodded. “I have regular meetings with Hera now that she’s off mat leave and back to hawking our wares.” She looked at the doctor. “Can I go home now?”

Torenne nodded. “You can, but someone is hunting you, so remain under guard if possible. Maybe your patron?”

She snorted. “That’s doubtful. He lied about his origins because it is well known that omegas don’t want to hook up with Sethir. Not if they want to keep their lives and families.”

Torenne smiled. “Zera is very forthright that they are not allowed to take off with her omegas. The contract has to be worked out to the agreement of both parties.”

“Oh. Great. Good to know.”

Torenne asked, “Who is your patron again?”

“Krix. But it’s a very direct transaction.”

Torenne winced. “What does that entail?”

“More details than I want to spill between my mother and my doctor.”

Her mother huffed. “I can’t believe you did that.”

“I had an itch that needed scratching, and this is how I afforded the savings bonds for the nieces and nephews.”

“You are not Khytten, and you don’t need to meet men that way. I could introduce you to plenty of Sethir or other alphas.”

She groaned. “I don’t want my mother introducing me to a sexual partner.”

Veradil paused. “Oh, yes. I suppose that is right.”

Torenne blinked. “I am going to be outside, finishing the paperwork.”

“Thank you, Doc.”

The medical professional left the room, and Veradil got Hever’s clothing. She got dressed in the dress, leggings, and boots, and got to her feet. Veradil carried her coat.

They got the paperwork from Torenne, Hever got a careful hug, and Veradil shook Torenne’s hand.

They returned to the car, and Veradil asked, “Do you need anything else?”

“A new com. Mine got smashed in the explosion.”

“Hm. Fine. To the shopping district,” she ordered the driver.

“Yes, Ambassador.”

They drove further into the city and went to the com centre. Veradil was authorized to authorize a new com for any of her staff, so it was an easy thing for Hever to select a very boring unit and get it installed.

Veradil sighed. “Hever, you can afford much better.”

“Yes, but I don’t need it. This will do the job quite well.”

“You don’t have my flair for fashion.”

“Nope. I am a girl who likes getting dirty.” She babbled to ignore the pain of getting a new com installed.

The broken unit was removed and recorded, and the new unit was put in place. “Mom, that wasn’t the one I picked out.”

“Sue me. You are pretty, and I want you to wrap yourself in beauty.” Her mother smiled. “Consider it your gift to me.”

“I already got you a gift if it wasn’t blown up. I need to go to my house and get my holiday stuff, at least until I can get contractors in to fix the door and everything else.”

“You also have to be interviewed by the defenders for the whole series of events.”

“Right. What time is it?”

“It’s closing in on six.”

“Okay, so if they aren’t waiting when we get home, we can do it tonight.”

“Do you have any preference?”

“If we want a psychic reinforcement, Remark is pretty good. I don’t want Torun anywhere near me. If Titan has time off, I can definitely talk to them.”

“You mean him.”

“Them. It’s more polite.”

She flexed her hand, verified her com was working, and checked her backlog of calls. Zera had called her... a lot.