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"I don't care what you say, Xanto. If my daughter were fine, she would have met me at my ship!"
Jamis, Taarig, and Cali had just entered her living quarters, where Jamis had gotten his first look at her floor-to-ceiling viewport. Taarig had told him about it but seeing it was still shocking. The anger and concern that filled the female's voice had pulled his attention away from the stars to yet another secret passageway he knew nothing about.
And Jamis was shocked again!
The power emanating from the female's words prepared Jamis for a being just as large. Instead, the female that exploded out of the passageway was tiny. She was even shorter than Cali, who only came up to his chest, but that's where their differences ended. She had the same frame, glowing brown hair, and topaz eyes of their Cali. It made Jamis’s heart skip a beat when he realized he saw what their future offspring with Cali might look like.
"Now, where is she?"
"I'm right here, Mom!" Cali quickly moved across the room and was in her mother's arms.
"Oh, Gods, Cali," Dakota whispered into Cali's hair, having pulled her down into her embrace. "Never do that again," she admonished. "I thought my life span was ending."
"I'm sorry, Mom. So sorry." Jamis was shocked to hear the emotion in Cali's voice. He didn't like it. It tore at his heart. There should never be a reason for his Lalla to cry. "I didn't realize that would happen."
"What did happen?" Dakota pulled back and ran critical eyes over her daughter. She couldn't see any obvious injuries, but there was something different about her daughter. She couldn't tell what.
"I'll tell you, Mom. I promise, but first, there's something more important I need to do."
"More important?!" Dakota demanded. "What could be more important than the reason you howled in distress?"
"Introducing you to my mates." Cali ignored her mom's shocked look. Wrapping an arm around her waist, she turned her so she could see Jamis and Taarig. "Mom, this is Star Base Commander Jamis Dexxirs," she gestured to Jamis, who gave Dakota a slight bow, "and Sub Commander Taarig Ynn," Taarig repeated Jamis’s gesture. "Jamis, Taarig, this is my mother, Dakota Baker-Wik'ax."
Cali was surprised when instead of being excited and congratulating them, her mother stepped out of her arms and slowly moved toward Jamis and Taarig in a predatory way Cali had never witnessed before. What the ruk?!
"Mom?" Cali asked carefully.
Dakota ignored her daughter and continued to advance on the two males, running a critical eye over them. "Are you two the reason my daughter shifted into her primal form?" Dakota's growl was as deadly as Cali's Beast. "The reason she was in such pain she howled for the universe to take her back?"
"That's not what I was doing, Mom!" Cali immediately denied.
"Oh, really?" Dakota turned and raised an eyebrow at her daughter. "Because that's what I heard. What we all heard."
"It was my fault she had to shift," Jamis told Dakota, and her eyes glowed even brighter as they shot back to him.
"And it was because of me that she howled," Taarig said, drawing Dakota's scowl.
"It wasn't the fault of either of you," Cali immediately denied. "It was Nalo's."
Dakota watched as her daughter moved between her and her mates. It revealed the depth of their bond and the lengths Cali would go to protect them, even as she argued with them. Dakota did the same with Caradoc and Paul, but that didn't mean Dakota wasn't going to get the answers she wanted.
"Explain," Dakota demanded, and three heads turned as one, each male putting a hand on Cali's hips to pull her back against them.
"There was a Si male who believed Jamis was responsible for his mate ending her life span," Cali began.
"I was," Jamis said quietly.
"You weren't!" Cali and Taarig said in unison.
"Did you threaten this female?" Dakota asked, her glowing eyes capturing Jamis’s. If that were the type of male her daughter had bonded with, Dakota would end him here and now.
"Of course not," Jamis immediately answered, maintaining eye contact with Cali's mother.
"Her family?" Dakota continued to question.
"No."
"Encourage her to end her life span?"
"No."
"Then I'd say this female was the one responsible for ending her life span," Dakota told him, relaxing slightly. She should have known her daughter was wiser than that.
"Perhaps, but it was the reason he shot Taarig and ejected Cali out an airlock," Jamis told her.
"You were ejected into space?!" Dakota’s gaze shot to Cali.
"That's why I changed into my Beast form," Cali told her.
"And howled," Dakota reminded her.
"No, that was because of me," Taarig corrected.
"You?" Dakota's gaze ran over him.
"His life span..." Cali's voice broke, but she forced herself to continue, "was ending."
Dakota's eye widened in shock. She now understood what had happened and what her daughter was saying because it was the same situation she and Paul had been in when Caradoc had found them. Still as powerful as Caradoc was, he couldn't have saved them if he wasn’t gifted the ability to heal, which could only mean one thing.
"You can heal," Dakota whispered.
"You didn't know?" Taarig frowned down at Cali. "But you said you're healing gift appeared two hundred years ago."
"When you were only a hundred and twenty-five?" Dakota hadn't thought she could be any more shocked or hurt. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"You know why, Mom," Cali told her.
"Wait," Jamis’s order had both mother and daughter glaring at him. "Are you saying you’re three hundred and twenty-five?" he directed the question to Cali.
"Yes," Cali told him.
"So, you're older than us?!" Jamis had never considered that, especially not when her mother looked more like her sestra.
"Am I?" Cali just shrugged her shoulders. "Age doesn't matter to a Zagreus."
"It seems you've been keeping a great deal from me, California Rose," Dakota pulled her daughter's attention back to her.
"Because I wanted to live my life the way I wanted to live it. Not the way my brothers do, always trying to earn Father's approval. It's why I embraced my Earthan side. It allowed me to grow into the being I wanted to be and choose my own mates."
"Oh, Cali, you can't possibly think..." the rest of Dakota's words were drowned out by an exclamation that had everyone looking toward the passage Dakota had used.
"Where the ruk is my daughter?" another even more powerful voice demanded.
"Paul," Dakota whispered.
Jamis watched as Dakota hurried toward the male just emerging from the passageway. He was tall, not Apre tall, but taller than Cali, which meant he came up to Jamis’s shoulder. His pants and loose shirt covered his arms and protruding stomach. His hair was shades of grey, and he had the facial wrinkles of an elder.
He was the Supreme Chairman of Wik Corp.
"What the ruk?" Taarig muttered, his gaze fixed on the couple. Then before their eyes, the wrinkles, grey hair, and extra weight disappeared and were replaced by smooth skin, glowing black hair, and a muscular body that his shirt's fabric retracted and conformed to. The Supreme Chairman pulled Cali's mother into his arms and kissed the top of her head as his glowing, topaz eyes scanned the rest of the room, coming to rest on the three of them.
"I told you to wait for me," he admonished Dakota.
"I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself, Paul Baker-Wik'ax," Dakota told him, stepping back slightly so she could look up at him.
"You didn't know what you were walking into," Paul argued.
"Which wouldn't have changed if you'd been with me. It just would have made a complicated situation even more so."
"Oh really," Paul raised an eyebrow at his mate.
"Yes, because you would have gone all Supreme Chairman, giving orders and demanding answers, instead of listening and acting like a dad."
Paul closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath, consciously reigning in his power because his Dakota was right. As usual.
"It seems you left something out when you told us about your parents," there was no censure in Jamis’s words or gaze as he looked down to Cali.
"I warned you it was going to be tricky," she reminded him meeting his gaze.
"Tricky is a bit of an understatement," Taarig murmured, pulling her gaze to him.
"You have no idea," she breathed.
"California Rose, you have some explaining to do," Paul said as he and Dakota crossed the room, taking in how Cali and the two males were touching. "As do your Commanders."
Stepping away from her mates, Cali placed her hands on her dad's chest as she rose on her toes to kiss his cheek. "Hi, Dad."
Jamis watched as one of the most feared males in the universe wrapped his arms around his daughter, their Lalla, and pulled her in close. There was no doubting the love he felt for Cali. It was in his every touch and look.
"You're okay?" Paul whispered in her ear.
"Yes, Dad. I swear. I'm so sorry. I scared you."
"Are you sure?" Paul held her at arm’s length and ran a critical eye over her. His daughter had always been beautiful, but now there was a special glow about her.
"Yes," she reassured him. "I wouldn't lie to you about something like that."
His gaze shot to the Commanders. "But you did about these two, it appears. You assured me you weren't involved with them."
"If you remember, I asked if you wanted to know, and you didn't answer." Cali maintained eye contact with her dad as she stepped out of his arms and back into Jamis’s and Taarig's, which immediately wrapped around her. "We were just getting to know one another then, so there was nothing to tell you. Since then, we've bonded."
"What?!"
"Now, Paul," Dakota put a calming hand on her mate as she looked to her daughter. "I'm sure Cali was going to tell us."
"I was," Cali immediately agreed, understanding her mother's look. "I just wanted Jamis and Taarig to have time becoming used to becoming Zagreus before throwing anything else at them."
"And we're anything else?" Paul questioned.
"As my mom and dad? No. As you being the Supreme Chairman? Yes."
Paul found he couldn't argue with that. He hadn't missed the Commanders’ shocked expressions when he'd entered the room, which told him Cali was telling him the truth. "I suppose I can understand that."
"It seems a male blamed the Commanders for the death of his mate. He attacked them, and Cali got caught in the crossfire," Dakota explained.
"Where is this male," Paul growled.
"Ended," Jamis told him. "He blew his head off but not before he shot Taarig and ejected Cali out an airlock."
"I'm fine, Dad," Cali quickly reassured.
"Our daughter can heal, Paul."
"Mom!"
"What?!"
"She had to heal her mate to keep him with her," Dakota continued as if neither of them had interrupted. "The way we were."
"She forced a melding?!"
"No!" Everyone in the room immediately denied.
"I'd never do that, Dad," Cali whispered, hurt that he'd think she would. "Taarig was shot after we'd already committed to one another."
"Cali..." Paul couldn't stand the look in his daughter's eyes or how she sank deeper into her mates' arms.
A blinding light suddenly filled the room, and Jamis and Taarig pulled Cali deeper into their arms, their bodies wrapping protectively around her.
"Where's my daughter!" the demand rattled the walls of the base and set off its destabilization alarms.
"Caradoc, stop!"
Jamis looked behind him to see Cali's mom rushing toward a floating ball of light, which quickly transformed into a glowing male that enfolded her in his arms. As it did, the trembling ceased, and the alarms quieted.
"Ruk, Caradoc!" Paul swore. "How many times have I told you, you can't teleport into a Star Base that way? It destabilizes the structure."
"Do you think I rukking care?" the still brightly-glowing male replied.
"Please, Caradoc," Dakota pleaded. "Calm. Cali's fine."
"Then, where is she?" he demanded but did as Dakota requested his glow dimming.
"I'm right here, Father." Cali pressed a hand to each of her mates' chests, and they finally allowed her space to be seen but didn't release her.
Jamis and Taarig watched the eyes of Cali's father turn to them, glowing even brighter while his body solidified. Neither of them had ever met a pure Zagreus before and what they had heard was insufficient. This being was tall, head-and-shoulders taller than them with thickly muscled arms and legs. His face was angular with pale skin similar to Cali's, but his eyes glowed crystal clear, not Cali's warm topaz. His shoulder-length hair was also transparent and pulsed with energy.
There was supposed to be only one Zagreus with hair that color.
"Cali?" Taarig asked.
"Yes, my Father is the Paramount," she answered his unspoken question.
"Who are these males that dare touch my daughter?"
"Father, these are my mates."
"You dare meld without my permission?!"
"Caradoc!" Paul and Dakota exclaimed.
"I didn't need your permission," Cali growled as she pushed her way from between her mates to confront her father. "Only Jamis’s and Taarig's. Unlike you, I asked before melding with them!"
Jamis watched the Zagreus Paramount's head jerk back as if struck before he steadied himself and his hands began to glow. "What have they done to you that you speak to me that way?"
"They've loved me!"
"Caradoc, calm down," Dakota pleaded, but when she reached out, he shrugged off her hand.
"No! Don't you see they've taken advantage of our daughter?!"
"They haven't."
"They have, and I won't have it." With that, he threw two energy balls, one at each male.
Cali reacted instantly, throwing up an energy shield that sent the energy balls back at her father, hitting him in the chest. Caradoc's eyes widened in shock as he stumbled back several steps.
"Caradoc!" Dakota rushed to her mate's side. "Stop!" she ordered as her hands ran over him, checking for injuries.
"You shielded. How is that possible?" Caradoc demanded.
"What?" Cali questioned sarcastically. "The Great and all-powerful Paramount doesn't know something?"
"Cali!" her dad reprimanded sharply. "Now is not the time."
"Really, Dad?" Cali continued to shield her mates as she looked at him. "After he attacked my mates? I think it’s a perfect time."
Paul was shocked at the amount of power glowing in his daughter's eyes. It'd never been there before, or was it something else she'd kept from them.
"Caradoc, you will apologize to our daughter," Dakota ordered. "Now!"
Jamis was shocked when the Paramount looked down at his mate and seemed to soften. Still, Jamis’s instincts told him to beware. A glance at Taarig told him Taarig felt the same way.
"If that is what you wish, my love," Caradoc lifted his gaze to his daughter. "Once Cali lowers her shielding."
"Cali?" Dakota looked expectantly at Cali.
"Not until I have his vow," Cali told her. She didn't trust her father not to attack again.
"My vow?" Caradoc growled, his eyebrows drawing together.
"To not directly or indirectly harm my mates."
"If that's what you need, then I vow," Caradoc spit out.
"A Zagreus binding vow," Cali elaborated, "that anything you cause to happen to my mates will happen to yours."
"You dare to threaten my mates!" Caradoc roared.
"You threatened hers first," Paul quietly reminded him, and while he was displeased that Cali's demand could put Dakota in danger, he was also proud of her because she'd done something only Dakota had been able to do. Back the Paramount into a corner. "Give her your binding vow."
Caradoc's eyes shot to Paul. "I will never vow anything that could potentially harm my mates."
"Only if you broke your vow would they be harmed," Cali told him quietly. "Are you planning to?"
"Yes, Caradoc," Dakota stepped away from her mate, a questioning look on her face, "Are you planning on breaking a vow made to our daughter?"
"Dakota..."
"You were," Dakota whispered, backing up even further. "You were just waiting for the chance."
"You want her melded with two Apre that you know nothing about?" Caradoc demanded.
"I want her to meld with the males she loves and who love her. Without all the turmoil and heartache we went through. Don't you?"
With a growl that had the base trembling again, Caradoc's gaze shot to his daughter. "You have my binding vow that I will not be the cause of any harm that comes to your mates. If I do, then it will also happen to mine." With that, destabilization alarms went off again, and in a blinding light, the Paramount disappeared, along with his two mates.