Page 135 of Galaxy Circus Act One

“Wow, I’m not sure what happened, but Lila’s whole physiology has changed. Her muscle and bone densities are bigger, and so is her heart. It looks like it grew to compensate for all the extra blood her body will make to feed you. Her stomach is also adjusting to digesting your blood. I think her body has kind of shut down while it does all that.” A thoughtful yet fascinated look passes over his features. The doctor side of him is clearly loving this new knowledge. “Other than that, it seems to be just exhaustion. She needs to rest, eat some real food, and maybe lay off the blood drinking for a few hours so she can recover.” He fists his hand and steps away from her before turning to face me. “We will have to monitor your blood intake and her vitals over the next few days. Vilaxians have two hearts to compensate for the extra blood production, but she doesn’t have that, and even though it seems to have grown, I’m not sure if it will be enough to keep her healthy. The Vilaxian queen sent me a few studies on non-Vilaxian blood roses. Sometimes the Vilaxian mate would have to supplement their blood intake by taking from others. That will be something you will have to discuss with Lila. I’m not sure she will be happy if you use a Vilaxian donor, so we may have to organize blood deliveries.” He stops and thinks about it. “Or she may be okay with you drinkingfrom one of her other mates. It’s something you will have to talk about, but for now, she just needs rest.”

I heave out a breath of relief I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. I was just going through the motions in an attempt to not think about the possibility that I may have hurt my mate during our bonding.

“Why don’t you climb into bed and rest with her? It’s five in the morning, and neither of you are needed right now.” He pats the bed next to Lila, encouraging me to get in beside her.

I frown slightly. I’ve never been a cuddler, but I guess I can give it a go for my mate. Then I remember something that happened back in the Adams brothers’ office, now that my mind is clear of the bonding frenzy. Fuck. “Is John okay?

Link sighs heavily, his brows pinching together, and shakes his head. “Yes and no. For now, he is in no immediate danger, but he has been poisoned. It is very slow acting and nothing I’ve ever seen before. I’ve settled him into an induced coma to slow down the poison’s track through his body, but it is beyond my capabilities to fix. I don’t know what it is, so I have no clue what the antidote is. Xavier also had no luck pitting his magic against whatever it is. He is going to need to see a Celestian. They are the only ones who may be able to help him now. Eric and William have decided to cancel the rest of the Earth shows.”

How will Lila react to this news? Guilt starts to eat away at me since I kept her away from her family for so long. Will she be mad at me?

Link pauses before clearing his throat. “Take today to rest up and connect with your new mate. Tomorrow, we’ll receive the detainee the Earth authorities are holding—William says Lila needs to know that process—and then we’ll leave Earth. We have a number of stops we need to make on our return to Skarr. It’s going to be a busy few weeks, and Lila is going to see things shenever imagined. She’s going to need all the support she can get, especially with no powers.”

I feel a smile cross my lips, and my monster preens within me. Link raises a questioning eyebrow. Smiling is not my thing, so I can’t help but be proud of how I helped my blood rose. “She may not have any powers, but she is no longer vulnerable. She has the strength, speed, and senses of a Vilaxian now. Not full strength, but better than she was. I will work with her on her self-defense. I promise, she is no longer as vulnerable as she used to be.”

I watch Link sag minutely, his own breath of relief audible to my ears. “Well, that is some good news. Thank you, Saxon. Thank you for protecting our girl.” He pats me awkwardly on the shoulder, and I decide to give the poor cyborg a break. I reach out and grip his forearm, shaking it in the Vilaxian way.

“I am honored to be her mate, and I look forward to getting to know you better,” I tell him formally, and a small smile lifts his lips.

“Alright then. I’ll leave you to it. When you wake, will you let us know? Eric and William want to be the ones to tell her about John.”

I swallow roughly but quickly agree, and he takes his leave. I pull back the covers and slide in behind my girl. She’s curled up on her side, and her breathing is even. When I tune into her heart, it is beating in a steady rhythm again and synced with one of mine. I feel a deep sense of contentment when I hear it, and I reach around her waist before snuggling into her back. I breathe in her delicious scent and sigh in bliss before closing my eyes. Vilaxians don’t need a lot of sleep, but I can certainly see the appeal of snuggling with one’s mate. I may just rest my eyes for a little while as I wait for my mate to wake so I can feed her real food. I can’t wait to discover all her likes and dislikes.

CHAPTER FOUR

Link

Ihurry out of the room, leaving the two of them to rest, relieved that Lila survived becoming Saxon’s blood rose. I go back to the medical room where John is being monitored. I don’t have anyone else in the hospital wing at the moment, so I haven’t erected a barrier around his bed to keep anyone out. Eric and William are still there, keeping an eye on their brother. The expressions of anguish and helplessness on their faces makes them seem closer to their actual age for the first time. The wrinkles on their foreheads and at the corners of their eyes are rarely visible, but with their pinched eyebrows and frowns, those signs of age are more prominent than ever from the distress they are feeling.

I desperately want to cure John, but even I have my limitations, as hard as that is to admit. I put those negative thoughts aside and focus on the present.

They look up as I come into the room. “How is Lila?” Eric asks, not giving me a chance to catch my breath, wringing his hands with worry.

“She’s fine. She and Saxon are now bonded, and she made the transition to part Vilaxian beautifully. Her body has adjusted to produce extra blood for Saxon,” I tell both men hesitantly, and William narrows his eyes.

“Whataren’tyou telling us?” he asks suspiciously, picking up on my nonverbal cues.

I sigh and take a seat on the lounge next to William. Eric is across from us in a single seat with John in a bed behind him. I have the bed set to scan his vitals every ten minutes and to sound an alarm if anything changes within that time.

“Nothing you need to worry about. Lila’s exhibiting more Vilaxian traits than I thought she would. Saxon confirmed she has developed their senses, speed, and strength as well as a taste for blood. Her muscle and bone mass has increased to compensate for the extra blood her body is now producing, and her heart has enlarged in size to cope with pumping that extra blood through her system. In short, Lila has taken on almost all Vilaxian traits. We will need to test her to see if she can fly.”

I hope ripping off the Band-Aid quickly was the right decision to make. They asked, and I answered as factually and as scientifically as I could. There’s still a lot to learn about Lila’s new traits, but I can’t treat her like a science experiment.

Eric and William exchange hopeful glances. “So does this mean that Lila is as fast and as strong as them?” Eric asks, a tinge of optimism in his voice.

“Yes, that’s correct,” I confirm for the two men who smile gleefully, Eric slapping William on his back happily.

“Well, finally some good news. We certainly needed some of that!” William exclaims, leaning back into the sofa, and I see some of the tension drain from his body. The two of them must have been concerned about how her bonding with Saxon was going to go. “That’s fantastic. We won’t have to worry about her so much now that she has those going for her. Now, we justneed her to bond with Xavier and have her memories and magic returned to her.”

The grandpas are ecstatic, and I’m happy for them. They have been so worried about John, furious that he’s been poisoned. We tossed around some ideas on how or where it happened, but we are clueless. I did find a small puncture mark on his hip, and I assume that’s how the poison was administered, but we’re still at a loss as to who it was or when it occurred. Thankfully we don’t have to worry about it being in the food or water supply. The type of poison is something I’m not familiar with, and my database is huge. Although I don’t want to put a damper on their good mood, I need to express my concerns.

“I can’t help but be worried about Lila. I haven’t done enough research into Skarrian matings, so correct me if I’m wrong, but usually mates take on some of each other’s powers, right?”

“Yes, that’s right,” Eric confirms, then he waits to see where I am going with my question.

“So far Lila has mated a shifter and a Vilaxian, and a warlock is her next possible mate.”

“Or a cyborg.” Eric winks at me. I’m not an eye roller, but I’d love to roll them now.