Blue solace complete ser.., p.42
Blue Solace: Complete Series Boxset, page 42
-- Your father
Chapter 13
Morgan stood with Kiki and watched the small group of volunteers as they ran through the third basic move of the day – the uppercut. In the past week, all of the sixty-two volunteers had improved in hand-to-hand combat drastically. The Tammolians had lost their planet, their homes, and their families. Now, the able-bodied wanted to fight.
“Pela, work on your stance,” Morgan said. He watched the young nurse fix her stance and move back into the routine. Forty minutes later, he gave them a break. Kiki led a new group in.
He caught Pela before she left with the others, pulling her aside. “Pela, are you sure you want to be here?”
“I’m tired of being afraid,” she said. “I know my training is medical, but I want to fight. I want to stop that thing.”
“Pela, you don’t have to be a soldier to fight.”
“I know. I’m a field medic, Morgan. I’ve had it easy until this post. I should have been better prepared,” she said, looking at her feet. “I really liked Ron and Lolani. They were good people and were falling in love with each other. Now they’re dead. All I did was run, and running won’t protect my patients. It won’t protect this world or any other worlds that thing could attack. My dads and my little sister live on Rueal. That’s not too far from here. What if the Concords attack my home? Papa and Dad are both hybrids like Wyatt. The Concords want to kill non-humans.”
“I understand you’re afraid for your family, and the creature will die, I swear it, but you can help us more as a nurse, Pela.”
“I’m proud to be a nurse, but I’ll be proud to be a Charybdis soldier too,” she said, chin in the air. “I can and will be both. The stories everyone tells about your home are amazing. I want to stand up and be strong too.”
Morgan sighed and let her go. He felt worried for her and proud of her at the same time. He rubbed his stomach. Damn ulcer. The next class stood ready, and they started the more advanced routine.
“Morgan.” Estella ran into the training room. “Wyatt needs you. He read his daddy’s letters, and I can’t get him to stop crying. He hurts so much,” she said, tears falling down her own cheeks. “He helped me when I lost Mama and Daddy. Please, Morgan. We have to help him.”
Oh damn. Morgan left the Tammolian volunteers without another thought, vaguely aware of Alois stepping in to continue their training.
Wyatt was curled into a ball in their nest, his injured leg sticking out, his small body shaking. Morgan couldn’t bear to hear the sobs coming from his mate. He quickly curled behind him, mumbling nonsense in Wyatt’s ear. Estella curled against Wyatt’s front, her thin arms wrapped around his waist, and she hugged him tightly.
They rocked for minutes or hours, Morgan couldn’t tell. Morgan barely noticed when Kiki and Rune joined them, piling into the nest. Slowly, Wyatt’s tears slowed.
“I told him that he wasn’t my father. That it was too little, too late,” Wyatt whispered. “He loved me, adored me, and I just told him it was too late.”
“Kitten, you didn’t know,” Morgan said, his own voice thick with tears. He wished he had spoken more with Verion Morrick when he’d had the chance. Leti was the only one who had really taken the time to get to know the man.
When he’d died, it had just been the passing of a stranger to Morgan. To Leti, it had been the loss of a friend. He wished he’d known about Wyatt then. He wished he knew what to say.
“We can’t change the past, Wyatt,” Estella said. “The day the Concords attacked the village, Mama and Daddy fought. She was mad because he wanted to go out with his friends that night. They liked to play cards and drink. Mama wanted him to fix the back steps. They died and the last things they said to each other were stupid and spiteful, but I know they loved each other. They knew they loved one another.”
Wyatt kissed her forehead. “Thank you, sweetie. I know I can’t change it.”
“It doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt though. Daddy didn’t say anything to me before he left for work. Mama was grouchy all morning. I failed another math test, and she said that I was too smart to be so lazy. When the attack came, she didn’t have time to say anything except hide,” Estella said. “I think your daddy knew you loved him. That’s why he wrote those letters. He couldn’t say it himself. I read them with you, Wyatt, and he doesn’t say anything about wanting your love. He knew he had it.”
Wyatt interlaced his fingers with Morgan’s and Estella’s, then stared at their joined hands. “You’re right. He knew, but he didn’t get to hear me say it. Not since I was a kid. I wish I had known then. I wish I could tell him now.” He sat up. “If wishes were horses, right? Ugh. My head hurts. I’m sorry for being a big crybaby, guys.”
“Mourning your father isn’t being a crybaby, Wyatt,” Rune said, sitting up and kissing his head. “It’s normal, dork.” He smoothed down Estella’s wild curly hair. “You are one amazing girl.”
She stood, head held high. “I am. I’m going to go give Luna a bath and take a shower. I’ll go grab us some lunch after that, Wyatt. You need to rest,” she said, wagging her finger at him.
After she left, the four of them stared at each other.
“She really is amazing,” Wyatt said, “and bossy.” He cupped Morgan’s face in his hands. “You’re amazing too. Thank you for coming. I don’t know why, but I always feel better when I’m in your arms.”
“I’m out,” Rune said, standing and running for the door. Kiki laughed but quickly followed him.
“I feel better when you’re in my arms too,” Morgan said, placing a kiss on Wyatt’s nose. “I would do anything to make you feel better, kitten.”
“Anything?”
“Absolutely.”
“You would hug Nugget to make me feel better?”
“Okay. Anything but that.”
Wyatt laughed, and Morgan couldn’t help but smile at the sound. His mate was supposed to laugh and smile, not cry. He couldn’t resist kissing Wyatt’s smile.
When Wyatt’s lips pressed back and he wound his arms around Morgan’s neck, Morgan sank into his mate, doing his best to avoid Wyatt’s bad leg.
Morgan kissed his way down Wyatt’s neck but got distracted by those cute little ears. He nibbled along the lobe of one, then licked the pointed tip.
“Morgan,” Wyatt said, moaning and lifting his hips. Morgan couldn’t stop himself from rocking against Wyatt, relishing the feel of his mate’s hard dick pressing through his pants.
He reached between them and unbuttoned his pants, freeing his erection. He rolled the sweats down Wyatt’s hips, then wrapped his fingers around his mate’s dick, stroking him. His other hand gripped Wyatt’s thigh, spreading him a little wider.
“More,” Wyatt said, breathless. “I need more.”
Morgan moaned and gripped Wyatt’s ear between his teeth. His grip on Wyatt’s thigh tightened, and he pulled his uninjured leg up, their dicks rubbing hard against one another in fast motions. Morgan felt it coming. Everything inside him pulled tight, but he needed something to push him over the edge.
Wyatt spread his legs wide, wrapping his good one around Morgan’s hip. Wyatt’s smaller body pulled tight, and he screamed as he came, splattering against Morgan’s stomach and dick. He shuddered, body undulating, as fierce satisfaction filled his brown eyes.
His mate was far from plain, Morgan thought, coming hard at the sight of Wyatt’s satisfaction. He stayed wrapped around Wyatt, enjoying the feeling of rightness. The sun poured through the thick branches of the trees as the ship cruised through the forest, the light glistening off Wyatt’s wet skin.
A deep, deep peace filled Morgan, insulating him in gentle warmth. That wasn’t sex. That was something so much better.
“Wyatt,” Morgan said, giving his mate a gentle kiss. “Thank you.”
“Mmm,” Wyatt said, looking very sleepy. “We need to clean up.”
“You need to sleep. I’ll get you clean,” Morgan said and ran to the bathroom. He wiped himself down and grabbed a clean rag. He cleaned his beautiful mate, pausing to gently rub his round belly, and pulled Wyatt’s pants up. “Get some rest, kitten.” He tucked the blankets around his sleepy mate.
“Morgan,” Wyatt said, voice soft. The poor man was on the verge of much deserved sleep. “My belly is bigger than it should be at five months. What if I’m having twins? Would that make you run away? We don’t need to have eight kids. I can compromise.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Morgan said with a laugh. “If you are having twins, then we’ll deal. They’re part of you and that makes them my second favorite thing.”
“What’s your first? You really like your vibro-swords.”
“Selene gave them to me,” Morgan said. “They aren’t my favorite thing though. That would be you. Then the babies and Estella. Then my swords. See? I can compromise too.”
Wyatt was laughing as he fell asleep. Morgan watched him for a little while, watched his breaths steady and listened for the soft snore he knew was coming.
“There it is,” he whispered when he heard it. He kissed Wyatt’s forehead. “I love you, kitten,” he said, knowing his mate couldn’t hear him. “I love you so damn much.”
He made himself move. It was harder than it should have been. He left the room and almost stumbled over Kiki. The redhead sat in the hall next to the door. “You guys finished in there?”
Morgan blushed for the first time in years. “Please tell me you didn’t see or hear anything.”
“Luckily, I heard a moan when I started in and came right back out. My eyes don’t have to be bleached,” she said, tapping his ankle with her foot. “There was something I wanted to ask you. Wyatt would just cry all over me.”
Morgan sat next to her and waited. Kiki had gotten a lot better, but she was still far too quiet most of the time. She had thoughts swirling around her head, and Morgan figured it took her longer to tame them than it used to.
“I’m never having kids,” she said. “Joe and I never really planned to have them, and now, there’s no one I would ever want to have them with.”
“Never say never, Kiki,” Morgan said. “There’s no rule that says you won’t find another mate one day.”
“I don’t want another mate,” she said roughly. “I wouldn’t trade my time with Joe for anything, but I can’t do it again. He was my life mate.” She shook her head. “Anyway, I’m not having kids. Joe and I were both only children, and there’s no family left on either side.”
“Wyatt and I are your family now, Kiki. I thought we went over this,” he said and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.
“I know you are. That’s why I want to give you guys some things.” She held out a small key card and two gold rings. “These are our engraved wedding bands. I can’t keep carrying them around.”
“Kiki, no,” he said, thrusting the rings back toward her.
“You’ll get around to marrying Wyatt one day. I want you guys to have these. They’re full of love and hope, and I can’t deal with that now.” She wiped her eyes. “The key card is for a storage space. Joe and I had things we couldn’t carry with us because they were too big or too valuable. We never wanted to settle anywhere, not even on our breaks, so we bought the storage space. I can’t… I can’t go there again. We used to check in during every break. We would rent a room nearby and talk about the future, about buying a home one day. I can’t go there again, Morgan.”
He shook his head violently and tried to hand the card back. “Kiki, when we get off this planet, Wyatt and I will go with you. We’ll help you find your closure, okay?”
She ignored him. “There’s a bunch of stuff in there. There’s a Fire Veil diamond set that was my mom’s. My dad bought it a piece at a time, saving for years for each one. She adored it. There’s three pieces of vintage Havenite jewelry that’s been in Joe’s family for generations. There’s no one left to give it to. I’ve made notes on each item stored. I don’t want it to end with me. I want you guys to be able to pass it all down to your kids. They aren’t just things.”
“They’re memories,” Morgan said in awe. Everything his parents had was stolen when they were murdered. He had nothing from them to hand down to his children except memories and a few photos.
This was too much. Too precious. “Kiki, we can’t possibly accept these. You’ll find someone again. Your heart will heal, and you’ll want it all back.”
“No, I won’t,” she said. She snorted at the look he gave her. “Let’s say I do. I can always ask for stuff back. No problem. Please, Morgan. I know we’ll leave here soon. I can feel it. I want this settled first. I want you and Wyatt to have those things. They represent our hope and dreams of the future. I need you to carry that on, because I can’t.”
“Kiki…”
“I know what the future holds for me, and there’s no room for hope.” Her stubborn look told him he’d have no luck talking her out of this.
“I’ll keep them safe for you,” he said, giving in. “You will come back for them. I’ll get to tell you I told you so too.”
“Don’t hold your breath.”
“If you never want them back, I’ll let you gift them to our kids, okay? They’ll want to hear the stories from their favorite aunt anyway.”
She gave him a half smile. “Fine.”
“Kiki. It’ll get better. It’s only been a few months. You’ll heal. I know what the future holds for you too, and you won’t believe how beautiful it is. Wyatt and I will make damn sure of it.”
“How long do you think it’ll take you to ask him to marry you?”
“What? Why are we talking about that now? We were having a feelings conversation,” Morgan said, surprised at how much he liked the idea of getting hitched to Wyatt. Damn, the difference a few weeks made.
“Don’t panic, pretty boy,” she said, standing. “It’ll happen when it happens. Come on. Alois isn’t as mean to the trainees as you are. You need to toughen them up.”
Chapter 14
“Jody has the fleet ready,” Dru said, grinning widely. “They have a handy virus for the planetary defense systems and will take them out tomorrow morning. Then they’ll be able to get a reading on where the Concords are. We’ll strategize from there.”
“Finally,” Dashel said, whooping. “I can’t wait to see those Concords get crushed.”
“As long as that creature is alive, the Concords won’t be stopped,” Kiki said. “Your friends can bomb the whole planet, but that won’t kill it. We know now that it can take out cities instantly all by itself. Being in a ship won’t be any different than being in a house.”
Dru grimaced. “Damn it. You’re right.”
“What can we do?” Dashel gave them all a determined look. “We’ll help any way we can.”
“We need to find it,” Morgan said. “If we can kill it before Jody attacks, the Concords will be disoriented and vulnerable.”
“They’ll also be missing their most powerful weapon,” Lerais said. “Fuck. If we don’t kill it, the best-case scenario is it leaves the planet and goes somewhere else. That just puts others in danger.”
“We don’t know where it is though,” Quinn said. “Wyatt has the poison made, but how do we find the creature before Jody attacks?”
Hazel and Dru exchanged a look. Lerais frowned at his wife. “What do you two know that we don’t, sweet mama?”
“When Hazel and I were searching for parts, we overheard good old Uncle Jevio’s pilot talking with another man,” Dru said.
“The man said the command base was almost ready,” Hazel said. “The pilot asked how far it was from where they were at, and the man said it didn’t matter, because the city had its own spaceport. They would just fly in there.”
“Tammol only has three spaceports,” Dashel said. “The closest is in Synegana. The other two are almost a day’s drive away, in opposite directions. One to the east and one to the north.”
“This needs to be quiet,” Kiki said. “Two small teams only. One goes north and one goes east. The only hope we have is to sneak up on the creature. It sees us coming and we’re dead.”
“Morgan, you take Kiki, Hazel, and two Tammolian volunteers. You go north. I’ll take Quinn, Alois, and another two Tammolian volunteers. We have enough of the poison made to give everyone two injectors,” Dru said. “Our first priority will be finding him. If the situation allows for it, we kill him. If he can’t be taken out through stealth, then retreat. There’s no point in wasting lives.”
“We’ll need to leave as soon as possible,” Morgan said. He needed to say goodbye to Wyatt.
“Linc, please stay in contact with Jody as much as possible. She won’t be able to call again until they’re about to come. Let her know what we’re doing and keep us informed of the attack. Lerais, baby, I need you to take charge of our ragtag group here. Protect them.”
“You got it, love,” he said, cupping her cheek. “You need to be careful though. I won’t do well without you.”
Half an hour later, after locking Luna in his room, Morgan stood with the others in front of the two shuttles. Wyatt handed each team member two injectors.
“One should do the job, but two would be better,” Wyatt said, nervously. “While it looks human, it’s not, so this is experimental. Please be careful, guys.”
His eyes met Morgan’s, and he couldn’t stand the fear he saw.
Morgan strode forward, pulling Wyatt into his arms. He was half aware of Dashel saying goodbye to Rasha and the kids, Narin hugging Mayla, and Dru kissing Lerais. “Kitten, it’ll be okay.”
“You don’t know that. You didn’t see that thing in action. This is going to be next to impossible. I’ve only just found you, Morgan. I don’t want to lose you.”
“I’ll do my best to make sure you don’t lose me,” Morgan said. “I can’t promise to never die, but I want to live. I want to come back to you. I won’t take unnecessary risks.” He stroked Wyatt’s cheeks and wiped the tears away. Someone caught his eyes. Two someones. “Wait, what are they doing?”
