Chapter Twenty

Caden woke to find Sage standing in front of the window. Her head was bowed, and her shoulders were tense. He got out of bed silently and went to stand behind her.

“What’s wrong?”

She didn’t hear him move, but he rubbed his mind against hers when he first woke. She was expecting to feel his hands on her and his voice in her ear, which is why she didn’t jump.

“I have two days left.”

“Meaning?”

“The sacrifice it’s supposed to happen in two days. That means Jim must have some type of plan in place to capture me.”

He slid his arms around her pulling her until her back was snuggled up against his chest. The words of comfort he wanted to give his were stuck in her throat. Jim and whoever was helping wasn’t going to stop until they found a way to get their hands on her.

“We’ll defeat them, Sage. I’m not saying it will be easy.”

She leaned her head back on him agreeing with what he was saying. However, it wouldn’t be easy. Jim was so determined that at times she was sure it would be impossible.

“What should we do until the big showdown?”

“I never finished showing you around.” He took her hand and led her out to the hallway that ran through his section of the house. He took her down to the next opening.

“This is my private living room. I can come here and brood without Xander bothering me.”

“I bet that doesn’t stop him, he simply talks to you in your head.”

“You officially get Xander.”

“Where’s the furniture?” There was a straight-back chair sitting in the middle of the room.

“I didn’t need any.”

“So far, we have to finish off the bedroom, get furniture and decorate the living room. What are the other rooms for?”

He led her into the room on the other side of the living room. “This room doesn’t exist.”

“I’m pretty sure I see it.” It was a bedroom not as big as the master, but she could see a son or a daughter loving the room. “It’s a room for a child.”

“We’re not allowed to have children.” His voice was soft.

“You’re on Earth now. You can have children. What about baby Jade?”

“She’s beautiful and so is Mia. You haven’t met them yet, but they make you want to have a child.”

“You love them.”

“Mia lives next door with her parents.” He ignored her statement and took her into the next room that was a bathroom. Then there was one more bedroom and a den.

“What do you do in here?”

He placed his hands against a panel and part of the wall moved away. “In here I can monitor the compound, space, and the planet. I have an alarm system for the house as well. I have a control room, and so does Xander.”

“What good does it do if you’re not here to hear the alarm go off?”

“I’m synced up to it mentally.”

She nodded and walked around the small space. Of course, he was synched up to it mentally.

“Our overhead barrier was down, and we were invaded. They took Mia.”

Aww, now that made sense to her. Mia wasn’t his daughter, but she and Jade represented something they were told they could never have, children. So, his incredible mind came up with a plan to make sure they were always warned if there was going to be a problem.

“I love your house.” She walked over to him and placed a kiss on his lips. “Now the question is, when are you going to feed me?”

“After you take the shower you're thinking about.” He ran his hand over her backside before he gave her a swat. Her laughter trailed behind her as she left the room.

After her shower, she walked into the kitchen to find Caden and Xander sitting across from each other not saying anything.

“Am I interfering?”

“I’m trying to convince Caden to start breakfast, but he refused to budge until you got here.”

“I have arrived breakfast can commence.” They didn’t deny that they were talking to each other. That made her feel like she was welcome although if she had to bet on it, she’d say they were talking about more than breakfast.

Caden walked over to her to give her a kiss before he made sure she took a seat.

“Any request?”

“Whatever you make is fine with me.”

“I’ll take French toast and sausage. Do we have any fresh-squeezed orange Juice?” Caden turned to look at his brother.

“What? You asked.”

Sage raised her hand, so she could laugh into it. “That sounds pretty good to me.”

“Be happy Sage is here.”

Xander raised his hand for a high five, and she relaxed on the chair. This was her new family.

“Sage, Caden mentioned you thought you only had two days left. What makes you think that?”

They were talking about her. This is what family did, they had your back.

“Did you notice the calendar on the wall in the living room in my old apartment?”

“I did. I also noticed that there was a date circled with a two by it.”

“The two meant it was his second choice. There is also a date circled next month; it's his third choice. It took me a while to tie the dates together. When I started thinking, I understood that the first date on the calendar was the day I escaped him. Eventually, it all fell into place.”

“We have two days to stop him.”

“How do you stop someone when you don’t know what they’re going to do?”

“You have to be prepared for anything.” Caden brought over her plate before he brought over his brothers and his. “I do have fresh-squeezed orange juice, although some of us shouldn’t get used to it.”

Xander tossed him a grin then ignored him. “Here’s what you need to know about Caden. When Ven came aboard our ship, there were those who thought his blue eyes gave away our position when fighting. They didn’t want to kill him, just blind him.”

“Being blind when you have to defend yourself on a ship designed for fighting was a death sentence.” Caden’s eyes were cloudy with the memory.

“Caden was on his way back to our shared room when he came across Ven trying to hide from them.”

“He was so small back then. I was amazed by him because I’d never seen a child. We are created grown when our eyes opened we are programmed with everything they couldn’t stuff into our brains during the process of creation. Ven was small just a little taller than my knees.” His lips lifted in a smile.

“You know that I can see through Caden’s eyes.”

She nodded.

“I had never felt so much fury pouring off him. I took a back seat in his head to see what was happening. That’s when I saw Ven, he was bloody. Four male had ganged up on a child. One had his claws drawn while the others were chasing him. They planned to pluck out his eyes.”

“Protocol stated that I call security. Protocol be damned.”

“He grabbed the first male and slit his throat like it was an afterthought because he was already reaching for the second male. They tried to taunt him hoping to distract him enough to get away. Caden loves to plan. I watched him fall back like he was going for Ven. When the first tried to edge past him, he caught him by the shin and skinned him alive before he killed him. The other two called security hoping it would save their lives. Security came. Two weeks later, they were both dead. No one knows what happened to them.”

She understood what Xander was saying, Caden didn’t stop until the job was done. He never let anyone hurt those that were under his protection. She was under his protection but so was Ven and Xander and baby Mia and Jade. When Caden loved, he loved one hundred percent.

Standing up she took the plates to the sink. “I was thinking about making something special.”

“I like the sound of that, will it better or as good as breakfast?”

“Better. I thought maybe we could invite Jessie, Cole, and Mia over for a little.” She was standing at the sink washing the rest of the dishes.

“They would like that.” Caden was sitting watching her.

“Where’s the flour?” She was opening cabinets looking for different ingredients. “Tell me you have chocolate chips.”

“I do. What are you making?”

“Chocolate-chip cookies.”

He stood and showed her around the kitchen, so she would know how he stored everything.

Xander stood and stretched. “I’m going to tell Mia that we are getting cookies.”

“He’s like a child at times.”

“You both are like children at times I love that about you.”

“Did your mother teach you to make cookies?”

“She did, but I also went to school for this. I’m a baker. You name it, and I can make it.”

“Was this the school that Jim tried to make you leave?”

“That’s the one, but I graduated with impeccable skills.”

He gave a low growl hating all that she endured at Jim’s hands. She placed all the ingredients on the table and walked him through making cookies.

“You enjoy this.”

“It’s hot work, but the reward is worth it. When you get to see the faces of those who bite into the treat you created, it’s marvelous. I’ve seen eyes roll back in joy, and men moan at the taste of the treat. I’ve watched children settle down, and parent's sigh with relief. Sometimes the only break a person gets is stopping to eat something sweet that takes them away from his or her life for a minute. I get to be a part of that. I enjoy it.”

He helped her put the first batch on the baking tray and set the timer.

“There is nothing better than hot chocolate chip cookies with cold milk.”

There was a knock at the door. “Come in.”

“Hi, Xander came around spreading rumors of homemade cookies, and this one started bouncing and hasn’t stopped.” Mia was in her mother’s arms talking about cookies.

Caden and Sage laughed.

“Take a seat. I’m waiting to see how many of us: Xander can fit in the kitchen.” There was a knock at the front door this time. Caden went to answer it while Sage took the first batch of cookies out and put the second one in.

“Cookies.” Mia’s voice could be heard through the house.

“Caden walked back into the kitchen with the Alphas following him. The betas came next, and the physicians followed them. Amelia and Lazzar came after them, she only knew who they were because they were carrying Jade. Jasper and Chase were there standing next to Eli, he was the scientist, Caden told her about. There was a female Kur’ik standing there casting looks at Chase.

Xander walked in with Ven by his side.

“I told everyone else they would have to wait for their turn. Although our Minx has a suggestion.” He turned to the female standing in the room. “Tell her what you said.”

“I don’t want to overstep. I thought if you were willing to teach others how to bake, then everyone wouldn’t need you to bake for them.”

“Teach them? Like a school with me as the teacher?” Sage’s eyes lit up the only thing she liked more than baking was teaching others how to do it.

“I could do that if we had small groups, but we would need a large kitchen and several stoves with multiple refrigerators.” She stopped not wanting to get ahead of herself.

“That wouldn’t be a problem. I would love for some of my people to learn how to bake. Caden has been known to give a cooking class.” Sage looked from Declyn to the Kur’iks standing in the room staring at her.

All of them had learned through trial and error, and she could see the excitement on their faces about the prospect of learning something new. She looked back at Declyn and saw the relief on his face that there would be another way for his people to occupy their time while becoming more familiar with where they lived.

She handed out cookies and watched the eyes of those that ate them and the smiles on their faces. Sage had already found love, now she found a home too.