“This way. We need to go through a scanner to make sure there aren’t any tracking devices on us. I promise it doesn’t hurt and will be over very quickly.” He led her through sterile yet comfortable halls until he reached his destination, a comfortable-looking examination room. “You and Honor take off your clothes and put them in that bin. There are scrubs for you in the closet.” He nudged her inside, and Honor followed, looking over her shoulder at Sam, her face pensive.
“It’s okay,” Sam said. “Don’t worry.” He shut the door behind them.
Two guards appeared from nowhere to stand next to it.
Garrett walked into the examination room across the hall, already taking off his clothes. Sam did the same, and they tossed them in a bin to be burned. He was going to miss that jacket, but he had others.
“I’m first,” Sam muttered, walking through a door to the right.
“Fine.” Garrett followed into the other room as Sam strode right into a tall, green cylindrical-shaped machine, buck-assed naked.
The cylinder hummed and then closed before the outside layer began spinning around wildly. A beep sounded, and then the machine slowly spun to reveal the doorway again. Apparently Sam was clean. Garrett padded into the machine and waited. It started to hum and then spun around him. Cold air flushed against his skin, and then the sensor beeped.
His body relaxed. He was clean. The door opened on the opposite side, and he padded out to find Sam throwing black scrubs at his face. He put them on and walked barefoot out of the quiet room to a control room, where his uncle and aunt waited. Well, his uncle waited, while his aunt manned the machine, typing rapidly.
Besides the door leading to the machine room, there was a double door behind the console that accessed more medical rooms, and a side door that opened into a main hallway.
“Uncle Dage.” Garrett hugged the King of the Realm and smacked him on the shoulders. Then he leaned back. Dage looked good. Healthy. His hair was black, his eyes silver right now, and his body tight with muscle.
Dage then hugged Sam, clapping his back with a bone-crunching echo. Good thing their torsos were fused and impenetrable. “What trouble have you two gotten into now?”
Sam shrugged. “Wasn’t me this time.”
Garrett ran a hand through his thick hair. “I don’t know yet.” He leaned down and half-hugged his aunt, careful not to spill the grape energy drink at her elbow. It was the king’s one vice. “Hi, Emma. I take it Sam and I are free of bugs?”
She looked up, her eyes sparkling. “I love this new toy. Just freakin’ love it.” Then she stood and hugged him, her head bumping beneath his chin. “I’ve missed you.” She released him to hug Sam. “It’s so good to have you guys home.” The queen had long black hair and blue eyes and wore her usual outfit of jeans and a sweater beneath a white lab coat. She sat back down and studied the monitor. “Honor is clean. No bugs, trackers, tracking dust, or anything suspicious on or in her.”
The machine started to hum again.
Garrett leaned over his aunt’s shoulder to watch the report on the monitor. The beep was loud. “Dessie is fine?”
“Yep,” Emma said. “All clear. There’s nothing suspicious on or inside her. The Kurjans have new technology with trackers smaller than a grain of rice, but my machine can detect them. We also ran your clothes through a scanner and didn’t find anything.”
“They’ll be burned anyway,” the king said calmly.
Fair enough.
Moments later, Honor and then Dessie emerged through the doorway wearing smaller sets of black scrubs. Honor had met Dage and Emma before, so she hugged them both and moved to Sam’s side.
Garrett reached for Dessie’s arm and brought her forward. “Dage and Emma, this is Destiny Applegate.”
Dage scrutinized her and frowned, reaching out a hand for her to shake. “She’s—”
“Human,” Dessie finished for him, shaking vigorously. She looked adorable in the scrubs, which were at least two sizes too big for her, with the sleeves all but hiding her hands. “Yes, I know.Allhuman.Noenhancements.” She released him and smiled at Emma. “You must be my new doctor.” Her eyes were bright and her cheeks a lovely pink color, and the hint of tension in her voice had Garrett wanting to cuddle her against his side. But he refrained under his uncle’s too-watchful gaze.
Emma held out a hand to shake. She had a couple of inches on Dessie but wasn’t much taller.
Garrett cleared his throat. “Dage is the King and Emma the Queen of the Realm.”
Dessie paled. “Oh.” She gave an awkward curtsy and released Emma’s hand. “Your highness.”
Amusement passed across Dage’s immortal face so quickly Garrett almost missed it.
“Just Emma,” Em said cheerfully, sliding her arm through Dessie’s and tugging her away from Garrett. “Let’s take a look inside your head and see about that tumor, shall we? I have your other medical records but don’t really trust anybody’s scans but my own.” She drew Dessie toward the other side of the room and the double doorway that led to one of many medical bays in the main lodge.
Garrett could see the guards already at their posts when she opened the door. It made sense, considering Dessie was an unknown. “I’ll go with you.”
“No, I think you’ll stay here,” the king said mildly.
