Chapter Twenty-six

Tempest woke up but refused to open her eyes. She lifted her hand to rub her chest, her heart hurt. Was she dead? Did Bruiser kill her after his fight with the other male? It would make sense. Sadness flooded over her, there would be no sexy voice calling her menace. Was she in heaven or hell if those places even existed?

“Welcome back to the land of the living.”

She opened her eyes to see a male she never met before, he had black hair that looked like it had dark blue highlights to match his blue eyes. He wasn’t bad looking if you liked dark-haired males. She preferred blondes with blue eyes.

“Where am I?”

“You’re in my medbay.” Damon walked across the room to greet her.

“Damon? How? I’m dead.”

“Why would you think that?”

“Bruiser was going to kill me.”

“I think you’re one of the safest people on the planet.”

She turned to look at the other male in the room.

“I’m Nicolas Dare. The physician for my brothers Damon and I work together often.”

“I’ve met some of your brothers, they’re nice.”

Nicolas turned to stare at Damon before they started laughing.

“I told Aran the other day how nice he was. I’m still surprised I got out of there alive.”

She smiled at him. These created seemed to grow on you.

“Where’s Lucca?” She was blinking her eyes fast trying to pretend it was a casual question.

“Don’t move.” Damon walked over to her. “I’ve learned it’s just better to put mates in the same medbed.”

He gently turned her, so she was lying a little on her side, this way she could see Lucca lying beside her.

“You woke up before him.”

“I was sure you’d wake up first. Damon owes me.”

“What did you bet?”

“We never name our bets. I’ll wait until he gets something I want.”

“Doesn’t that cause problems?”

“I’ll just get it back on the next bet.”

She looked at them and saw friends, brothers, but not rivals.

“Will he be okay?” Her voice dropped not caring if they heard the concern and sorrow.

“He will heal and so will you. He’s sleeping that’s what his body needs and so does yours.” Damon turned her over before he gave her an injection. Her eyes closed, and she was out.

“What did you find?”

Nicolas pulled up several scans that hovered in the air in front of them.

“Her body is making connections accepting the new organ into her systems. When she was awake, her vitals were perfect. Her heart rate was terrific, and her body seems to be accepting her heart even faster as she moved around.

“Lucca seems to be the same, but he reacted to her voice when she woke up. His new heart seems to be expanding some, which will give him the capacity to move through time and space.”

“Their bodies are adjusting as if this was meant to be.”

“Damon, we can use logic and science all we want, but haven’t we lived long enough to know our lives have and always will confound them.”

*~*~*~*

“Do you have to keep it so dark in here?” Dante snapped his fingers bringing light to the room. He was in the throne room of The Darkness. “You wanted to see me?”

He was sitting on his own throne wearing a pair of black jeans with shit kickers on his feet. The boots add another three inches to his six five height. The tee he wore was mesh and the one earring he wore made him look badass.

“What are you a reject from a motorcycle gang?” The Darkness spit out with vile contempt.

“You should try changing your look every now and again. It might make you happy.”

Sparks of electricity flew from The Darkness to him. He looked at them, and they fizzled before they reached him.

“You’re boring me. What do you want?”

“You broke the rules.”

“When?”

“When you allowed Lucca to come back in time.”

“Lucca is my brother, but he is a fully grown male with a mind of his own. How did you think I was going to stop him?”

“It’s your job.”

“You may have confused brother with mother. He was and is capable of making up his own mind. Why is there a problem with coming back? Wait, is it because you didn’t want him to meet Tempest while she was still sane and had a personality that he would enjoy being around? Were you so concerned that you wanted her to be a dried-out husk of the person she is?”

“He belongs to me and so does she. I will collect.”

“You and what army?”

“The rules were broken the galaxy will stand on my side.”

“Darkness don’t make me stand up. You wouldn’t like me on two feet.”

“I want Lucca, and I will have him.”

Dante sighed and stood. “Part of your problem is that you keep going even after you’ve been warned.”

“One day you’ll be mine.”

“You also don’t stay focused.”

“Minions!” Three appeared in the room “Collect Lucca, he broke the rules.”

Dante waited until they left the room before he approached the darkness and picked him up by his neck.

“It wasn’t nice of you to send your minions off to their deaths. What was that? Oh, you can’t breathe.” He dropped him to the floor.

“They will bring Lucca back.”

“No, they will die at the hands of Damon and Nicolas, but you knew that.”

“You still have two brothers to go, but I’ll cut you a deal. If you surrender to me, I’ll let them go. What do you say?”

“You’re a bigger fool than I thought you were.”

“You’ll regret this Dante!”

*~*~*~*

“Menace?”

Lucca’s palm caressing the side of her face had her eyes opening.

“Lucca you’re awake.”

“I’ve been awake for a while, just waiting for you.”

“Tell me anything. Can I move?”

“If you're careful.”

She scooted over to meet him in the center of the bed.

“The walls are yellow,” she whispered while her hands stroked over his body reassuring herself that he was okay.

“Damon thinks they are better than white walls.”

“I agree with him. What happened? I expected to wake up dead.”

“Not from Bruiser, you’re the last person on the planet he would hurt.”

“That’s what Nicolas said, but I don’t know why.”

“I asked him; I begged him not to hurt you. He was already making plans to kill you. I thought his kind didn’t know what love was. I realized when he took over that he understood it better than I did. He believed it was better to die than to love, but menace you showed him differently. You touched him, then you placed yourself willingly in his hand.

“He couldn’t get over how tiny you were yet your soul, and your heart were massive. He became your sword as you destroyed Harold. It was what came next that earned you a place in his heart forever. You knew you were going to die, but you kissed his cheek anyway because you wanted him to know he was worthy of love. I love you Tempest with my whole being and Bruiser loves you. We both wanted you to know.”

She threw herself into his arms. “I love you and Bruiser and the rest of whoever is in you. I love you, Lucca. I want to spend my whole life with you.”

He took her up on that offer.

*~*~*~*

“What’s going on?” She watched as her and Lucca’s house was invaded with family. When the A’rouks and the Dares got together, the space that was too large felt slightly cramped.

“I promised you a cookout,” Rena told her as she hugged her hello. “I made potato salad.”

“I’m starving, and that sounds wonderful no shake for me today.”

They were in the back. The males had several grills going. The females were telling stories of their most daring escapes.

“You were hanging from a rope hoping not the fall on the person below you?” Tempest asked them waiting for someone to crack a joke.

“Exactly.”

“We were in this structure the guys made firing guns and hoping they didn’t forget about us.”

“As if I could ever forget about you.” Mick leaned over to give Jaz a kiss.

“You fought for us.” She felt her eyes swell with tears and had to get up and walk away.

“Where are you going menace?”

“Taking a small walk.”

“It can be overwhelming when you realize you have a family willing to fight for you.”

“This is amazing, and they’re yours.”

“They belong to us. Menace you helped not only me but my family. We were fractured for a while and didn’t know how to mend ourselves. Then you came along with your love, joy, and kindness. You also brought your problems, and together we began to work through them, and somehow my family and I started to work through our issues.”

“See even skinny girls can get it done.”

“You’re not skinny you’re a mini dynamo.”

“I have something for you.” She pulled out a small box. It felt like a lifetime ago when she was in the mall.

He took the box from her opening it. Inside was a ring made from a rare gem found on Bruiser's home planet. She took it out and held it close for him to look at it. Inside was a knight on a white horse. He placed it on his finger it was a perfect it.

“Tempest,” he had to clear his throat. “I can’t tell you how much this means to me.”

“Then show me.”

He took her into his arms and kissed her. She got lost in his kiss and thanked anyone who was listening that she waited for her white knight in shining armor.