I just want to curl up in the middle of my Alphas, to just breathe and live and move on. But I can’t. Not when I see Warverian sometimes when I close my eyes.
“Itjusthappened, Lana. Don’t be hard on yourself. You need time to heal and to accept the new circle, but this will help you do both.” Onin pulls out a syringe with light pink liquid inside.
“No.” Kyte steps back.
“It willhelpher.” Onin looks at me with sad eyes. “I had to have something similar after…” He swallows hard. “After what happened to Tarinion.” He hurries on, “This is formulated for her. It will only last for a few days, but that might be enough time for her to adjust and to work through the trauma until it’s manageable.” His gaze drops, and I feel a pang of pity for him. He lost his Alpha. I can’t imagine what that would feel like. Just skirting the edges of that kind of grief makes me curl in tighter against Kyte.
“It’s okay.” I kick a little to signal Kyte to put me down.
He doesn’t. “I don’t know.”
“I can’t keep throwing up barriers and hulking out whenever—”
“Hulking out?” Jeren asks.
“Yeah.” I finally feel some of the tension easing away. “The Hulk is this character from theAvengers. He’s like a mild-mannered scientist who gets, I’m not sure, I guess hit with special radiation, so when he gets mad, he turns into this big, green version of himself that’s really strong and pretty much unkillable.”
“A Junarattan,” everyone else in the room says at once.
“A what?” I kick again, and Kyte finally lets me down.
“They’re a race of shape-shifters.” Master Harlan crosses his arms over his massive chest. “From a galaxy under fleet control. They appear somewhat like you. Bipedal, upright, that off-putting color of sand or putty. But when you anger them, they swell to a gargantuan size. Green and powerful.”
“You’re kidding me.” I can’t believe this whole time I thought Marvel made up all their stories. But no! Maybe they’re based on … reality?
“He’s not kidding you.” Onin still has the pink syringe in-hand. “I once had to inoculate an entire village of Junarattans against Rift Plague, and I can assure you, I was lucky to leave that planet alive.”
“Brave.” Master Harlan’s eyebrows lift as he looks at Onin.
Onin shakes his head. “I wasn’t alone.” He leaves it at that, and he doesn’t have to say more. His Alpha had been with him.
I step forward and hold out my arm. “If you think it’ll help, I’ll do it.”
His brow furrows. “I’m sorry, but it will sting going in. The formulation was rushed, but it will help for a time.” He sighs. “It will take me even longer to synthesize more, based on the compounds I need for your particular chemistry. This one will have to do for now. Eventually, it will wear off, and you need to be ready when it does.” He peers into my eyes. “Will you be?”
Glancing around at my Alphas and my friends, I draw strength from them. Even though my heart is pounding, fear is still balled in the pit of my stomach, and I no longer know exactly who or what I am, I have to take this step. For my protection and theirs.
So, I give him a decisive nod, then yelp like a scalded dog when he does the injection.
11
Kyte
“That’s too much. Pull it back.” I stand behind Lana, her hands out in front of her as she summons a golden barrier around Jeren and Ceredes.
“I can’t.” She trembles with the effort of trying to control her power. Even with Onin’s injection, her strength is barely bridled.
“You can. Breathe.” I rest my hands on her shoulders. Her body pulses with the energy of a budding star, but she has to temper it.
Jeren reaches out to touch the golden orb, then draws his hand back with a yell.
“It’s pure energy. Don’t touch it.” Ceredes shakes his head.
“I was just curious.” Jeren shrugs. “You can do this, Lana.”
“Kyte, back away.” Master Lintaru skates into the room, his gelatinous form gushing back and forth as he comes to a stop beside Lana. “She must learn to control the energy without interference.”
“She’s not ready for—”
