Page 183 of Galaxy Circus Act One

“I have never, ever uttered those words to anyone, and the only person I will be offering them to is Lila. The two of you never knew me at all if you think I wouldn’t do all that and more to protect her,” I announce, scowling at them as Estrella hurries over and helps Radella back to her feet.

“I’m not sure if any of you noticed, but I have moved my belongings to Lila’s suite and will be residing there from now on.” I turn my back on them, focusing on the remaining members of my clan.

“We are happy for you, brother, and wish you many glorious years with her and her clan. Our aunt will feel the same way,” Xenos assures me, and the others chime in their agreement, completely ignoring the other two. They will be shunned now.

What they did is unforgivable, but I make a note to warn the Adams brothers that they will need to feed elsewhere now and tokeep an eye on them. They can compel someone who might not be willing to give up their blood. I will ask Xavier to make anti-compelling charms for the crew so they will be forced to drink bagged blood until we can return to Vilax and get rid of them. Ideally, I’d send them home now, but I don’t trust them not to stir up trouble in court for my aunt. It will be better if we are there to back her and her security up when the mediation occurs.

“I know she will.” I nod my thanks, not doubting our queen. After all, there was a reason she ordered us to protect the circus, and I have a feeling I now know why that is, but how did she know?

Lila

My stomach sinks, and I step back. Does he not want this? Is he having second thoughts? Fuck, it hasn’t even been half an hour since I asked him to bond with me. Was I so crazy that he’s backing out?

“No, Lila, it’s not what you’re thinking. I definitely want to bond with you. Nothing would make me happier,” Link assures me, and I look up, scowling at him.

“Do you have mind reading capabilities that I don’t know about?”

He smiles and pulls me back into his arms as the elevator starts to move after he presses a button. “No, I haven’t suddenly developed mind reading abilities, but I am getting to know you. As much as I want to bond with you here and now, I need to becertain that your body is coping with the current new bonds and that if we go ahead with our own bonding, that no extra strain or pressure is going to be put on you and the babies. I also need to ensure that your own ball of Skarrian power is still stable and not being suppressed by your changes, and that your body is adjusting to the DNA changes that have happened.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, your body has basically rewritten your DNA twice in a short period of time. You now have the ability to shift into both half and full kraken form, not to mention the new and interesting addition to the internal walls of your vagina.” I smirk at the thought of the guys’ reactions when they feel my pulsing sucker powered pussy. Now that upgrade was definitely awesome. “As well as the addition of the babies in your womb, you now have a larger heart and denser bone marrow for extra blood production. The fact that you are still standing, let alone functioning, is kind of mind-blowing. I really want a Celestian healer to look you over before we add any more extras to your repertoire.”

The elevator comes to a stop at the right floor, and we step out before making our way to the hospital wing.

“But bonding with you will be different, won’t it? I won’t get anything from you.”

“No, but it’s still tradition for me to give you some of my nanobots, which I really want to do, and I don’t want your body to reject them.” My confusion fades, and I beam at him. He still wants to go ahead with this, and he’s just thinking of me and the babies. “Okay, I can be patient as long as you promise to move all your stuff into our quarters. I don’t want to be apart from any of you more than I have to.”

“That sounds like a fair deal.” His voice hitches slightly, and when I look at him again, his eyes are shining with emotions.

The clinic is quiet when we enter, but I hear a low conversation, which draws my attention. Not waiting for Link to guide me, I head over to where I can see my grandpas. I push through Eric and William and look down at Grandpa J. His normal golden skin looks sallow and pale, and while I know he’s sedated and being given painkillers, there’s a grimace on his face like he’s still in pain. I take his hand in mine, and his skin is clammy and cool.

“Oh, he doesn’t look good at all.” I look at Link, and I can see the helplessness on his face.

He sighs, running a hand through his hair before tapping one of the monitors surrounding John. “I’ve done everything I can. He’s stable for now, but it’s not stopping the poison from moving through his body. Thankfully it hasn’t latched onto anything else vital, and it seems to be happy swimming in his bloodstream. There is, however, a small amount of damage to his heart.” He points at what must be a scan of John’s heart. “This black section here shows damage, but I don’t think it’s life threatening. The antiviral mix that I injected him with, in the hope it might help, seems to be keeping it from progressing further, but it hasn’t eradicated it. I’m at a loss, I’ve never seen anything like it. To be honest, the toxin acts similar to nanobot technology. When a cyborg wants to change something on themselves, nanobots rearrange to form the desired result. Cyborgs’ entire bodies are made of nanobots, as well as living tissue, so for them it’s no big deal, but nanobots trying to rearrange cells that don’t contain the same tech just does damage. If it was straight nanobots, however, it would have destroyed the heart completely. It is like the poison has been mutated with nanotech that is programmed to mimic other illnesses. Does that make sense? John looked like he was having a heart attack, but his heart is one hundred percent healthy except for that small section that had the toxin on it. There is a small dark patch in his brain too, but it’sso minute that it might not have been obvious that there was something wrong.”

“Holy shit. He has been super emotional. We thought it was because we found Lila and the reminder that we lost Alina, Marcus, and Liliana.” Eric looks at Will who confirms what he said.

“It was very unlike him. He is the most even-keeled of us, and he is usually just quiet when he’s sad, but there were some outbursts that were very out of character for him.”

“Even the first day I arrived. Remember when he bungled telling me about aliens?” I remind them. “You thought it was just because he was so nervous and excited.”

“You’re right. So John could have been carrying this poison for a while.” William rubs a hand across his chin. “Eric, do you remember the day before Lila arrived? John was complaining about having a sore hip at dinner. He grumbled about the miserable weather in England and how he never believed it before when people said it affected the way they felt. I didn’t think anything of it because we aren’t spring chickens anymore, but what if that was when he was injected?”

Eric thinks for a moment before he slowly nods. “We had dinner with the crew, and we announced that we found Lila and she would be joining us and that everyone had to be on their best behavior. The three of us wandered around the dining room to get a feel for their reactions. It was only after that when we were on our way back to our quarters that he said something about the pain. I suggested he come see you, Link, but I guess once Lila arrived, that all slid to the background.”

“The pain probably went away too. If that’s the case, I’m almost a hundred percent sure that there is some kind of cyborg tech in the toxin. If that was any other injection site, the puncture wound would have faded, but nanotech injection sitesalways stay because if they have to be removed, then they have to be drawn out the same place they were injected.”

“Can you draw this out of him now?” I ask, feeling excited at the prospect, but my stomach sinks when Link shakes his head.

“If I try without knowing the exact combination, I could mess it all up. Only the person who created this can withdraw it, and unfortunately, it also means that there could be no cure. They could have programmed it to resist any tampering.”

The silence in the clinic is heavy as we all contemplate the fact that John might not recover from this at all.

“Lila, honey, this makes that other thing we discussed earlier all the more important. Maybe it would be best if we performed the ceremony sooner rather than later.” William sounds grave as he looks down at his brother, his hands clenched in the bedsheet.

“No. Not yet. Let the Celestians look at him, and if they can’t help him, we can revisit that discussion.” I don’t want to discuss the possibility that I may lose one of my grandfathers after only just finding them again.