Before, Dragon and I had only battled a few dozen. These numbered in the thousands. "What the f**k?" I muttered to myself as I stared in disbelief.
"An entire planet deemed not worth saving, taken by the Ra'Ak and a good number of them turned," Radomir settled beside me, with Devin at his side. "The Ra'Ak find this amusing, transporting armies of their spawn to innocent worlds to wage war against us, hoping to injure or kill any one of us," he added. "We cannot allow a single one to escape, as even one can destroy the population."
"They've hidden Ra'Ak warriors in their midst at times, too," Devin sighed, shaking her head at the approaching spawn. They were a quarter mile away, and the fields around us were seething with their mass. We were being surrounded. "They hope to take us unawares, and they've nearly succeeded, many times," Devin added.
"Fuckers," I mumbled. Two huge birds flew over our heads—one a dark gray, the other white with black-tipped feathers.
"Crane and Gracie," Radomir nodded toward the birds. "They'll pop heads from spawn using their claws."
"Sounds good," I nodded grimly. "I'm going to mist. See ya." I misted away.
It was only seconds before the spawn attacked. The giant birds screamed overhead as they swooped in, taking heads. Drake, Drew, Dragon and three other Falchani warriors unsheathed blades and began lopping heads. A giant Snow Leopard snarled and leapt. A Black Gryphon screeched and attacked. A nine-foot Unicorn ran her deadly horn through anything that came close. I, claws forming only, swept through the advancing army, removing heads and leaving spawn to dust behind me.
"Baby, how did you get here?" Drew was running hands over me while Drake looked on, waiting for his brother to say whether I was injured. It had taken four hours to destroy the spawn army.
"Hey, I tried folding. It worked. I'm okay," I did my best to reassure my Falchani.
"Young Falchani, take your mate home," Karzac growled beside us. "She needs rest."
"We're going, then." Drake must have folded us; Drew lifted me up and I didn't argue—I was tired, just as Karzac said. I fell asleep in the shower while the twins cleaned me up—I couldn't keep my eyes open. And I slept most of the next day, too, before Drew woke me with a kiss.
"Dad says we're getting leathers for you and a tattoo if you want one," Drew gave me a lazy smile and kissed me again.
"No on the tattoo," I mumbled, thinking I probably looked like hell.
"You look beautiful. And unless you tell me no, I'm about to f**k you until you scream my name," Drew nuzzled my neck before kissing me again.
"You think so?" I mumbled between kisses.
"Oh, yeah," he murmured, his mouth settling on a nipple. He did. Twice, at least.
* * *
Drake and Drew were off sparring with their father and the other Falchani when I slid off the bed the following morning. It was the best I could do; I was a little stiff. A hot shower helped and I dressed in walking shorts and a tank top before pulling socks and athletic shoes onto my feet. It was Friday, I discovered, and I forced myself out my bedroom door, down a flight of stairs and through the maze of hallways that led to the kitchen. I was almost limbered up by the time I got there.
"Coffee?" Mike was there, puttering around the kitchen.
"Hi, hon," I said, sitting down at the island. "Coffee would be very nice." Jamie walked in while I sipped my coffee laced with cream and sugar. "Today is laundry day," Jamie grinned at me.
"You guys don't have to wait on me hand and foot," I said, looking at him and Mike. Jamie had an arm draped around Mike's shoulders.
"It's our job, and we like it," Mike informed me. "Do not thwart us in our mission to feed, clothe and clean." He had a fist in the air, like a superhero. That made me laugh. "Besides, you wouldn't believe how much we get paid or the health benefits attached or the vacation time we get," Jamie added. "Plus, we get to see shit that even sci-fi fans never get to see. I've even been folded here and there, a couple of times. You should see the beach house on their private planet."
"Uh-huh," I said. "And you now know that vampires and werewolves are real, too, I suppose."
"Oh, yeah," Mike sighed happily. He fixed breakfast for me while Jamie went off to collect laundry from all the bedrooms, including mine.
Five gates were taken care of that Friday. The Flakkar were nesting close together on those five worlds—large populations lived near them and were suffering losses, though the Flakkar nests were smaller in number than what I'd dealt with earlier. Seventy nesting pairs spaced across five worlds. I was exhausted by the time I finished.
A three-hour nap helped, but I was still groggy when someone tapped on my bedroom door. I got up to answer and was quite shocked to find Fox standing there.
"You know, I'm still coming to grips with the fact that Wlodek and Weldon ended up with the same woman," I said, inviting her inside. She sat down on a chair in the corner across from my bed while I dressed. She looked so cute, perky and young. I wondered how Wlodek felt about that.
"Weldon tells me you almost died saving his life, once. And Wlodek says you saved him several times."
"Yeah, well, Wlodek needs to learn when to hand out important information," I grumbled.
"He knows that now," Fox replied brightly. "He's worried you won't ever forgive him for that."
"Like Wlodek ever worried about those things," I said. "You ever stand in front of him while your life is hanging in the balance?"
"No. He scared me a few times while he still held the position as Head of the Council, though. He can be a little intense."
"Hmmph," I snorted. Fox smiled. "He regrets those things, Lissa. Very much. He still considers himself your second vampire sire."
"Yeah, well, I've already gotten the visit from Merrill, my surrogate sire. And I'm sure my actual sire wants to weigh in on all this as well." I hadn't thought about Griffin lately. Should I feel bad about that? And my parting with Merrill had been far from amicable.
"They care about you." Fox's words were simple.
"They have a funny way of showing it," I said. Jamie had placed a pile of clean clothing on the end of my king-sized bed and I was now putting all of it away in drawers and on shelves in my closet. I'd napped with it sitting on my bed. I know—how lazy was I?
"I didn't come to upset you, honest," Fox said. "I feel like I need to know you better. How about going with me to do some shopping? Kiarra's birthday party is coming up and I wanted to look for a gift."