“Come on. We have a daughter to rescue. Do you think once we get her back, she would like her own room? There is a spare at the end of the hall next to the nursery.” She tucks her armsinto ours, and we walk back to the elevator. She babbles on about Chloe, giving Brannock a chance to pull himself together.
I am so grateful to fate for putting this wonderful woman in our path. She is everything I wanted and so much more.
“I doubt she’s going to want to sleep in the nursery with the babies, but maybe she will want to sleep in your room,” she continues, and Brannock murmurs.
“I’m worried she’s going to be so traumatized, she’ll never recover.”
Lila pulls us to a stop and throws her arms around the male.
“She probably will be. Who knows what kind of treatment she has been suffering through? I know if we are patient and give her love and time, though, she will get through this. We also have the Celestian royal family in our pockets, and Queen Tabbris is not only an excellent physical healer, but she also excels in healing trauma of the mind.”
“How do you know this?” I ask her, surprised by the information. I knew they could heal bodily ailments, but I didn’t know about mental ones.
“I asked Mark. I’ve been worrying about the mental state of all the alien captives, but mostly Chloe’s. I’ve actually arranged for them all to spend time on Celestia to be assessed before they will be allowed to return to their normal lives. The royal family not only agreed, but they also promised to heal the captives themselves. When Chloe is ready, the three of us will travel there together and make sure she is okay too,” she promises Brannock, and he snatches her up and swings her around, tears streaming down his face.
“Thank you,” he whispers as he puts her down. “Thank you so much.”
I turn away for a moment, giving them their privacy.
She pushes him away, and her face is bright red as she starts toward the door again. “Now give me the four-one-one aboutyour daughter. I need to know what kind of bribes… I mean special things she may like before we leave Earth.”
I laugh at her less than subtle change of subject as we use the elevator to take us to our floor and head to our suite to get changed as well.
I’m pacing back and forth in our suite, waiting for the others, when there’s an alert at our door. I frown, looking at Saxon. “Are you expecting anyone?” I ask him, and he shakes his head.
“No. Cas, Maxsim, Silac, Nikos, and Link headed down to the circus to make an appearance. Echo is in the nursery with Kinga, getting the babies ready for bed, and Andre went back to their quarters to grab a change of clothes. His got wet while the kids had their baths. He got too close to the tub, and the krakens decided it was funny to splash him with water. He was dripping when he left.” Saxon chuckles.
I know Xavier and Brannock are fetching weapons for us from the armory, and Zeydan was up in the bio level recharging, muttering about not being able to wait until he has his full powers back.
“I’ll get it.” Ghosie appears from his room. He’s wearing the same protective leathers as us, and they cover his fur from head to toe to avoid any accidental seduction during the mission. The only bit of his fur that shows is on his face, and it’s kind of jarring to see him fully covered like that.
He activates the door, and it slides open. Magenta and Saxon’s cousin, Vanity, are standing there, holding hands.
“Ah, come in.” He steps out of the way and lets the two women in.
“Van!” Saxon gets up off the sofa and goes over to his clan sister. “Congratulations.” He gives her a big hug, kissing both cheeks before turning to Magenta.
“Welcome to the family, sister.” He hugs and kisses Magenta too, who blinks with surprise before giggling.
“Thank you,” Van says as Ghosie and I also give them our congratulations. “I am very happy. I can’t believe I was so lucky to find my blood rose.” She looks at Magenta with hearts in her eyes, and Magenta blushes.
“What’s going on?” Magenta asks, tugging her Vilaxian over to the sofa and taking a seat. They snuggle so closely together, they appear joined. It’s cute, and I can’t help but feel happy for them despite the danger we’re about to walk into.
“When did the pod leave?” Magenta asks.
“An hour or so ago,” I tell them. Magenta and Vanity haven’t been read into our mission, just because we wanted to keep it within our inner circle, but now that they are here, I think it would be the perfect time to include them, especially Vanity. She was Saxon’s second-in-command on his battleship when he was in the military. He must have the same idea.
“We are about to raid Area 51 and rescue Chloe, Brannock’s daughter, and all the aliens being held captive for their breeding program,” he explains, and both girls’ mouths drop open in shock.
“He has a daughter?” Magenta looks stunned. Obviously Lila hadn’t shared that little tidbit.
“They are breeding aliens?” Vanity growls.
“Yes. It’s one of the ways Smith was able to capture Brannock and make him wear the control collar he had on when he was first deported. He wanted him to spy for him and used her to manipulate him,” Saxon shares.
“He’s been feeding him information?” Magenta asks with worried eyes.
“Fake information,” I assure her. “Just enough to keep his daughter safe until we could return to rescue her, which is what we are doing now.”
