“Bite me,” Reklig said before casting a worried—almost panicked look—at the baby completely oblivious of the distress he was causing the poor Scelk.
It would take another three days, when we had all but lost hope, for the adults to finally unfold. It had saddened me that it should have occurred when Stran had, at long last, given in to sleep. He had spent an unhealthy number of days watching over the remaining Creckels in the basement, filling the room with his pheromones. In truth, had my beloved Brees not all but beaten him out of the dark space and back to the surface for some rest, he might have still been at it. For a moment, I considered waking him, but decided against it. Since the Creckels wouldn’t be responsive for a few more days, there was no point interrupting his much-needed slumber.
After giving them the stimulant, we started bringing them out to the surface. Doom and Reaper were taking care of the last couple of Creckels left in the basement. In the meantime, Jessica and I were busy adjusting the glucose and protein mix for the creatures. Each of them had greatly varied needs, unlike the younger Creckels who had been pretty equal in their overall state.
A sudden shout nearly made me jump out of my skin. I abruptly turned around, stunned to see the high-pitched sound had come from Stran, it had been so human sounding. He was staring at one of the unfolding adults named Leyi. While I had rooted for all of the Creckels to make it, she had held a special place in my heart for being a true survivor. The vicious scar from the side of her neck all the way to the middle of her stomach spoke volumes about how she’d barely escaped death.
Stran sniffed the air and took a couple of stumbling steps forward, his head shaking from side to side in denial. His steps accelerating, he closed the distance with the female before stopping dead in his tracks. Time appeared to stand still for a second or an eternity—I couldn’t say. And then, Stran emitted that soul-wrenching keening sound again, but this time with such pain I thought my heart would shatter.
Seeing him jump into the makeshift tank, right on top of the female almost made me rush forward in a panic. Water splashed around them, a large amount of it spilling out onto the ground. For a split second, it looked as if he was attacking her, going for her jugular. But Stran wrapped himself around Leyi, both of their bodies forming an almost perfect sphere, despite her still being comatose.
Seconds later, the sweet and spicy scent of mating pheromones wafted towards me. At the same time, a rumbling sound, almost like a purr, but more melodic reached my ear. My jaw dropped as I recognized a slightly different version of the mating song I’d heard from my modified Creckel friends.
“No way!” I whispered in disbelief.
“What the fuck is going on?” Reaper asked with a concerned look on his face as he emerged from the base with one of the adult Creckels. “Do we need to split them up?”
I shook my head, tears welling in my eyes. “Stran is calling out for her to come back to him. Leyi is his mate.”
All heads jerked towards me with disbelief.
“That’s not possible,” Jessica said, shaking her head, just as Doom was coming out of the base with another adult Creckel. “Stran’s mate died on his homeworld long before you were even born… or me for that matter.”
“What?” Doom exclaimed, stiffening, his gaze jerking between Jessica and me before locking onto his lifelong companion still intertwined with Leyi.
“She is Stran’s mate,” I reiterated forcefully. “Creckels do not embrace another that way except for their mate. Those pheromones and that song are also reserved for a mate.”
“But… how?” Doom asked. “Stran saw her and their offspring die during the war.”
I shook my head. “I do not know about their offspring, but he didn’t see her die. He only saw her nearly die.” I took a deep breath and ran nervous fingers through my hair as I reminisced. “When she was abducted on Dreija, Mother said the Kryptids were taking as many of the Creckels as they could, alive, wounded, or dead. The goal was to mend all those that could be for the experiments, sacrifice those who couldn’t be healed to the riskier stuff, and use the dead ones to study the biology of the Creckels or harvest organs.”
I looked at Leyi and slowly shook my head remembering the first day Mother had started working on her.
“Leyi was supposed to be part of that last category,” I continued. “The Creckels had traveled here in stasis. Mom was shocked to realize Leyi was still alive when she took her out. She was so severely wounded though that saving her would have been nearly impossible. But then she noticed that she was pregnant.”
“WHAT?!” the entire team simultaneously exclaimed.
I nodded. “Mother knew she had to save her, but she couldn’t do it right then, not with the General breathing down her neck. So, she put Leyi back in stasis for nearly nine years. I was five years old when my parents took her out and started working on saving her. They only succeeded because they had learned so much about Creckel biology by then.”
“Damn,” Doom whispered, his face reflecting the same shock everyone else felt. “But… what of the baby?”
I stared at him before smiling. “Babies,” I corrected.
Without further explanation, I walked to the tank where Stran was still wrapped around his mate and crouched next to them. He was slowly rolling from side to side, reminding me of a pendulum.
“Stran, release her,” I said in a gentle voice. “We need to give her some treatments to help her wake up faster. And there’s someone you need to meet.”
The Creckel ignored me. I wasn’t even sure he had heard anything I’d said he was so lost in his mate. Pushing my thoughts into his mind, I told him to come meet his sons. The rocking movement stopped, as did his mating chant. I repeated the images again, and this time he lifted his dragon head to look at me. My throat tightened painfully at the sight of tears streaking down from his dark blue lizard eyes. I had only ever seen a Creckel cry once decades ago.
Forcing the words out of my mouth despite how constricted my throat felt, I gestured with my head towards Martha and Madeline. “They just finished giving your sons their first feeding.”
Stran emitted a choked sound that could have passed for a sob. He rubbed the tip of his snout against Leyi’s, then licked her terrible scar with his forked tongue, before untangling himself from her. Martha and Madeline, looking as emotional as I felt, presented Stran with his sons. Although they’d technically been born twenty-five years ago, the twins had stopped their growth at the age of five when they’d gone into hibernation and were now the size of a three-year old human.
Although groggy and still not fully aware, the young Creckels seemed to recognize a bond with Stran as he rubbed his scent on their faces and seemed to converse in that growly tone with them. Lying on his back in the most vulnerable position, he took each of his sons from the two Soulcatchers and cradled them on his belly. They curled up on top of him, and he slowly rocked back and forth, holding them with his front paws and his broad, flat tail resting over them like a blanket.
The towering silhouette of Doom suddenly blocked my line of sight. Startled, I looked up at the team leader, blown away to see the tears brimming in his large, black eyes devoid of sclera. He cupped my cheeks.
“You and your parents have given my best friend—my brother even—the greatest gift I could have ever dreamt for him,” Doom said in a voice filled with emotion. “I and the Vanguard can never thank you enough. We are forever in your debt.”