Page 9 of I Dated a Holiday Hero (Blind Date Corporation #19)

“We share parts of an origin story.”

“Oh, no way. Mom and Dad will be impressed.”

Wellin said softly, “We can’t tell them yet. We have to wait until I activate.”

“Sure thing, short stuff.” Keera ruffled his hair. “I can do secrets.”

“It’s not a secret, Kiki, it just isn’t time.”

Veradil paused. “Kiki?”

“Yeah, it’s a nickname.”

“How old are you?” Hever’s mother looked at the woman.

“How old do I look?”

“You look nineteen.”

“I am nearly thirty. Yes, my parents know I was older than declared. They didn’t care.”

“You were attacked a few years ago.”

Kiki paused. “Yes, but recent discoveries have allowed me to heal and stop using a projection field. I have a normal face again.”

Hever frowned. “What?”

“Oh, I was attacked by the same guy who got Hera, but I didn’t have the ability to burn them out myself. When they managed to kill him, Kritz made a treatment, and he helped me heal my features again.”

Wellin took her hand. “You were still pretty but unhappy.”

“That is true.”

Hever blinked. “I never knew.”

“I was the user of one of Kritz’s concealment fields, in combination with a compression suit that you developed.”

Veradil said, “Should you be discussing this out in the open?”

Kiki smiled. “Probably not.”

“Did you lose anybody?”

Kiki shrugged. “The first guy I ever loved. This was before the BDC was in Aksalla. The authorities made me disappear, and he didn’t look for me.”

“Maybe it was too much for him?”

“Maybe. Anyway, five years is a long time. We are going to hunt down those marshmallows, and I will see you at work on Monday.”

They hugged, and Hever watched them go. “You know, I never asked about her past.”

Veradil shrugged. “That is unlike you. Maybe they put a sliding block on her? They do that with witnesses. If someone thinks about them specifically, their thoughts slide away.”

“I don’t know much about minder stuff.”

“I know. No one does. Torenne’s father is notorious for sussing things out with a light handshake.”

Hever paused. “Oh, no.”

“Your crush? Probably well known to him.”

“Damn.”

“He hasn’t mentioned it so far. You are safe.”

“I already told Torenne.”

Veradil laughed. “What did she say?”

“Not much. She just stared and swallowed. I know I haven’t come up on her BDC roster, so I guess we just aren’t a match.”

“She doesn’t have a knot, hun, and I think that was something you asked for.”

“Oh. Damn.”

“Yeah.” Veradil wrapped an arm around her, and they walked to where their car was waiting. “Time to go home and gorge on the marshmallows.”

The driver took them home, and Hever sighed when she saw that Krix and Worro were waiting for her.

She looked at her mother.

“What? I didn’t call them. I wouldn’t want to wreck these nails.” Her mother laughed. “I will just take the candy inside. Don’t be too long.”

Hever got out of the vehicle and put her hands on her hips. “What? Zera hasn’t sent me anything, and you two don’t look like you hang out together.”

Krix frowned. “There was a notification. Your friend Keera was abducted during the lights tonight. Her brother called the defenders, and he is with their parents right now.”

“Why are you here? Why aren’t you looking for her?”

Worro said, “Because I can’t see her, and I don’t know why.”

“What does that usually mean?”

“Something is psychically shielded.”

“This is a weird coincidence. Worro, did you have a girlfriend?”

He frowned, and a hand went to his head. “No, of course not.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“Fine. We will do it the old-fashioned way. You are looking for a woman wearing a long blue dress, black leggings, a scarf, black boots, and she has my scent on her. Find that scent.”

Worro’s eyes went distant. “Got her. Krix, can you carry us both?”

“Yeah, of course.”

“Great.” He projected a map and showed him where to go. “There.”

Krix nodded, picked Worro up, and rose in the air before they blasted away.

* * * *

K eera was plodding along toward home. Her body was scratched up and covered with blood, but most of the blood wasn’t hers.

She heard a roar in the sky and looked up. She froze. It was Krix and Worro.

She swallowed and kept walking.

The defender and the retired guy stopped near her. “Miss Keera?”

She nodded. “That’s me.”

“Where are you going?”

“Home. I should be there in eight days.”

Krix stood in front of her. “I can get you there tonight. That way, your family wouldn’t worry.”

“Attend to your friend. He has a headache.”

She glanced, and Worro was hunched over, and he was rocking from side to side, clutching his head.

In the old days, when they were dating, she would have run to his side to help him, but she had gone through her recovery without him and had been bound from speaking to him. He had simply forgotten she existed.

Krix looked between them, his jaw flexed, and he picked up Worro and then grabbed Keera. With a burst of speed, he got them back to Z-Corp for medical treatment, with the defenders needing her side of things.

Keera let herself be examined. Her clothing was removed, and she was showered with filters to catch every trace of it.

Her family was notified that she was safe, but she was being interviewed at the time.

The defender Sgoth asked her what had happened, and she told him. “We were watching the lights; I felt a hit from behind, and then I started to droop. Hands grabbed me, and I was pulled to a portal base.”

“And what happened then?”

“I verified that there were no friendlies, shifted form, and clawed them all to death before starting to walk back to Aksalla.”

“Clawed them?”

“I am a polymorph like you. My possible career was curtailed when I was attacked by a serial killer and left shredded. Kritz and Zera made me an appearance generator, but I lost everything until Hera’s situation presented a solution, and I was repaired.”

“You were a defender?”

“No. I was still in training. I was Wildling.”

Sgoth leaned back. “I heard about you. Your partner went insane when you were injured, so he was retired.”

“I didn’t have a partner,” she muttered.

“You didn’t? The records said... oh, that kind of partner.”

“Right, well, he is after Hever, and I don’t blame him. She’s lovely and charming and happy.”

“And you are?”

“Done with the interview. They grabbed me to use me to get Hever to do something, and I killed them all. They grabbed me in front of my little brother, and that filled me with rage. There was no stopping after that.”

“No. I suppose not. Wait here.”

Worro was brought in a moment later with a minder at his side. She sat and waited.

Worro was in genuine pain, and then it suddenly stopped.

The minder was sweating. “Whoever put the lock on his awareness of you was very good.”

Worro gagged, and the minder handed him a sick bag.

Keera asked, “Should I go?”

The minder said, “No, his mind is full of you in horrible condition. He needs to see you whole.”

She shrugged and looked at him. Waiting.