Take Her to HeVan (Nephilim Book 6) (21 page)

“I guess I’m just looking for guarantees. This is a small town. If I’m going to jump into this relationship, I need to know they aren’t going to leave me. Even knowing them both for just a short time, I know how crazy that sounds. I don’t really think they would ever leave me and there aren’t any guarantees in life,” said Marla.

“I think I can safely give you a guarantee that these men will never leave you. You have nothing to worry about. However, if you want to talk to another female with more than one
Ankida
, I recommend you talk to Becky. She’s got two guys, like you,” said Tammy.

The two of them had left the upstairs and were making their way down to the kitchen where the men were. Joining them, they sat around the kitchen table. With Karlo’s help, Marla had added all the extra leaves to open the table out to its full length, so there was room for everyone. The six Nephilim who were going to be staying in the bunk house came in and joined them for lunch. Marla found out they were two sets of brothers. Two lucky women were going to get three men each.

Karlo and Charl made sure Marla was sitting between them. She didn’t have to ask for anything. They anticipated her every need. She barely had to feed herself. Luckily, they didn’t act all possessive in front of the other men
—
which was nice, she had no desire to feel like a bone some dogs were fighting over. Instead, the men were very respectful of her and she could tell they were also slightly envious of her guys.

By the time lunch was over and the kitchen cleaned up, Markus was ready to give them the results of her scan.

“I’ve checked over all the scan reports, and there is some damage to your heart. The good news is we can repair it and you’ll be good as new,” he said quickly, when Marla gasped and started to tear up.

“What’s the treatment? How do you repair it?” Marla asked.

“Well, how do you feel about a two or three week vacation? We need to use some Nephilim technology to repair your heart and we don’t have it here on Earth. Karlo and Charl will have to take you up to our space station. The medicals there can make the repair,” answered Markus.

“I’ll be in your hospital for a couple of weeks? It’s that serious?” she asked worriedly.

“Oh, no, most of that time will be spent traveling. The actual medical procedure will only take a couple of hours. Based on the Earth’s orbit around the sun, the space station is nearly at its most distant. That’s what will eat up the time,” said Markus.

“So long as I’m back in time to prevent my ranch from being auctioned off, then I wouldn’t mind taking a trip into space. We’ve got to wait twenty days after Jim Tucker serves Jake the snake before I can get the annulment and we can get married. We have time for a pre-wedding honeymoon. We’re not going to crash, right, it’ll be safe?”

Karlo put a hand on her shoulder. “My shuttle had been compromised by a criminal. You’ll be perfectly safe, we would never risk you.”

“Now that that’s all cleared up, I want to hear the story about Jake the snake and the annulment,” said Tammy.

Marla started telling Tammy all about Jake O’Brien and how he’d plotted to steal her land for the water rights. It was so nice to have another woman to talk to. She was embarrassed when she heard Charl ask if it was safe for her to have sex. She felt her face heat and worked to ignore the two men. It was when she overheard them making plans to leave right away, that she turned from Tammy to interrupt.

“Markus, if it’s safe enough for me to have sex,” she said, glaring at Karlo and Charl, “then it must be safe to wait a few days before leaving. I don’t want to go anywhere until the papers have been served, and we know Jake hasn’t filed to stop the annulment.”

Through all of their protestations, Marla remained firm. Normally, Karlo and even Charl, ceded to her wishes without argument. This was the first time they attempted to override her. She realized it was because they were concerned about protecting her. Still, she wasn’t going to let them simply dictate to her.

Charl came around the table in the kitchen and went down on one knee in front of her. He reached out and took her hands in his. “I know Markus says waiting won’t hurt. I understand why you want to wait until your plans are in place. Please, won’t you see this from our point of view for a moment? It’s our fault your heart is damaged. Your health and well-being is the single most important thing in our lives.”

“What about my happiness?” she broke in to ask. She knew if he kept looking at her that way, she’d give in. “You can’t keep blaming yourself for this. As soon as you thought there was a problem, you did something about it. I’m going to get angry with you if you let this hang over us. Yes, I need some medical care. Just remember, I’m going to be fine, good as new. I’m not dying or anything.” She looked over at Karlo and the others. “Right, Markus? I’m not going to keel over if I wait? My condition isn’t going to get worse?”

“Right now, the damage to your heart is minor. However, any heart disease isn’t something to disregard. Both Karlo and Charl are concerned for your well-being. My opinion is that four days won’t make a negligible difference in your health. I will be restricting your activities until you reach Far Star Station,” Markus explained again.

Chastised, Marla turned back to Charl. She leaned forward and kissed him lightly on the lips. “If it’s that important to you, we can leave right away,” she told him softly.

“Thank you. I’m being selfish and you’re generous to pander to my worries. We’ll wait and leave on Thursday. If you left sooner, you would only spend the time worrying and the additional stress would negate the benefit,” Charl said.

He gave her a kiss, and the three men left to check on the work on the shuttle. Marla turned to Tammy. “I will never, in a hundred years, understand men.”

“You’re going to have lots of practice,” said Tammy with a giggle.

Thursday, after spending four days training the warriors how to care for her alpacas, they were ready to leave. Markus convinced Tammy to stay for the weekend since they would have the house to themselves. Marla left with Karlo and Charl after introducing everyone as a friend to her dog, Rusty.

In addition to fixing the shuttle, the warriors would also fix the barn. That way, Marla could start harvesting the hay when she got back.

Going along with the plan, Mr. Edwards told his secretary that Marla was on her honeymoon, knowing the gossip would soon be all over town. Of course, the honeymoon was taking place before the wedding. They needed to keep Jake O’Brien from finding out about the annulment. If he believed Marla was already married, a marriage he knew to be invalid, he would sit back and wait to pounce. Then Marla would pounce back.

They drove to Boulder and then took a plane to Chicago, where Becky and her
Ankida
picked them up. When Marla met Becky, another vertically challenged blond with curves, she made another instant best friend. She was happy to be spending a day there before they drove up to Wisconsin. It gave her the opportunity to observe another polyamorous couple together. She also planned on a little woman-to-woman chat with Becky about sex and how she made it work being with two men.

After an enlightening evening at Becky’s house filled with girl talk, Ishme drove them up to Sanctuary. Markus and Tammy would be bringing the shuttle on Sunday. It would be repaired enough to make the trip from Colorado. Marla was just happy it was going to be out of her barn. Markus made arrangements for a larger transport to come and take the damaged shuttle away. They couldn’t afford to have it on Earth for an extended period of time. Having large, not-easy-to-hide objects chock full of advanced alien technology just lying around, was asking for trouble. But before that could happen, they had to take Marla. They would stash the vessel for a month or so. They tried to keep the space travel through Earth’s atmosphere to a minimum.

Becky’s sister, Sarah, welcomed them to the Sanctuary. Marla was getting a little freaked about all the women being pregnant.

“Wow, the baby stick hit you hard. You look like you’re about to pop; and Becky’s running a close second. I heard a lot of people near Chicago got pregnant pretty much all at the same time. Just in the short time we were in town, I saw more big bellies than a beer swilling contest,” Marla said.

Sarah laughed, even as she smoothed her hands over her own baby mound. “Poor Becky, she denied being pregnant until it was impossible not to admit it. Then she was adamant she was having only one baby when it was obvious she was having twins. Her
Ankida
finally got her to calm down when they reminded her she was a twin. That made it more normal for her.”

“I don’t really blame her. I’d like to think I was having babies when I was ready and not because of some pre-ordained goal of rebuilding an alien civilization.”

“Well, that’s not how I see it. I already love my babies and whether we stay here or eventually move to HeVan to live, they will be special to me and my
Ankida
,” said Sarah.

The two women discussed children a little while longer before the topic turned to Marla’s obsession with breeding alpacas.

Sarah had been intrigued to hear about Marla’s alpacas. She was always on the lookout for businesses to invest in and different things for the women at Sanctuary to learn about. The transport was going to arrive in the dark of the night. Sarah used the hours while they waited picking Marla’s brain about alpaca breeding. They decided it would be a good product for the Sanctuary to have. Marla promised to help them start up when everything at her own property was settled. If the worst happened, she had a place to move her animals to and a place to live. She knew Sarah would welcome them.

If she lost the land, she didn’t want to stay in Colorado and watch someone else take over what was hers.

She was asleep when the transport arrived. Karlo and Charl carried her aboard, wrapped in a blanket. Even traveling in full stealth mode, they still preferred to only land in the dark of the night. In the time since their first visit, they had mapped all of the observation sites on Earth and all its satellites. It was a matter of routine to avoid detection.

“Marla, wake up, honey,” whispered Karlo.

“No more, I’m tired,” she said, snuggling deeper into his arms.

“We’re about to lift off. I need to get you strapped in,” said Karlo.

“Huh, what?” she slowly woke up and looked around. When she saw where she was, she became instantly alert. “We’re leaving now?”

“Yes, we’re going to be lifting off as soon as everyone is strapped in,” said Charl, as he tightened her shoulder harness. The take off would be smooth so the extra straps weren’t really necessary but Charl wasn’t taking any chances with their precious cargo.

Marla looked around; this shuttle was bigger than the one Karlo had been in. There were rows of seats in this main cabin. It reminded her of first class seats on an airplane, only with extra safety gear. The harness actually made her feel better.

“How come we’re not wearing space suits? Who’s flying the ship? You’re not going to leave me alone, are you?” she babbled out her worries.

“There was an explosion at the gate station. Many of the women didn’t feel comfortable staying there until all the repairs were made. This vessel brought them back to Earth. Don’t worry, the station is secure. We wouldn’t take you there if it weren’t. The women who left are scared because they were there when it happened.”

He decided not to tell her about the fatalities the station incurred. She would find out eventually, after her heart had been repaired. For now, he was happy Armus Hend had been captured and was on his way back to HeVan. He knew about Justyn claiming the Mok Tar ritual of justice and only wished for a moment that he could observe the fight.

After they took off on the runway they had added at the back of the Sanctuary’s property and had left the atmosphere, Karlo got up.

“I take it the captain has turned off the fasten seat-belt sign and it’s safe to move about the cabin?” Marla quipped.

“Come on, I’ll take you up to meet the pilots and you can see what the Earth looks like from space,” Karlo said, taking her hand. Charl stayed behind and started the process of converting the seats into beds. It was the middle of the night for Marla and she needed her rest.

When she came back, the beds were ready and the privacy screens were up. He was rewarded when Marla invited him to cuddle with her in her bed. Karlo would have to wait for the next night.

After Marla was asleep, Karlo made his way back to the cockpit. He wanted to speak to the pilots because they were from the same house as Dax and Dray Gartha. Did they blame him? He had been with Armus Hend when that traitor to their people had attempted to blow up the station. Thank the Goddess for Commander Suzanna. It was her distrust of the Councilman that saved so many lives. If he had had half as much suspicion then, maybe Cathy Faulkner and her
Ankida
Dray would be with their child and Dray’s brother, Dax. That the babe still had one parent was cold comfort.

Manx Gurta and his brother, Korat, were in the command chairs when he arrived. The shuttle was on autopilot now that they had passed the moon and the two men were playing Fizzbin, a popular card game amongst the warriors.

Manx looked up when the door opened and he smiled. “Trust you to fall on your feet, Karlo. First you’re added to the list of the fallen and then you come back to life with a
Join
. I’m jealous; she’s a beautiful woman.”