Chapter 31: "Mistress"

Birgir:

Onyx was in live labor like you saw many times in movies, feet in those straps, knees bent exhaling large huffs of smoke. Watching her face tint dark red as the Doctor between her legs, “Fucking Lucky Bastard”, held a beautiful little girl up before handing her off to a nurse.

“That was Heilani.” Onyx’s hands signed as her eyes glinted a bright hue of swirling purple onyx.

My daughter was the first born of the three.

“Fuck Yeah!” I jumped up in a dark exhale, pumping my fist into the air with a triumphant glee of emotion.

Laughing erupted around me as I watched Ailana then Keilani arrive with the same amount of joy, because those were our daughters, regardless of who deposited their seed to which egg, but “ours”.

“If he’s acting like this with their birth, then watch out boyfriends.” Mom rolled her eyes at the break in statement with the same muffled roll of the words.

“Says the woman, who literally freaked out, when we told them about joining the Marines.” Davyn laughed softly as he held up his hand in disbelief.

Onyx snapped her eyes to us, standing with a smirked tilt.

“Marines? You never mentioned the Marines. Why now?” Her hands signed smoothly as she had this “Do you not trust me?” look etched everywhere.

“Onyx, we served eleven years ago, each with a six year contract and we left, taking over the merger and acquisitions department shortly after.” We all held her gaze as Davyn and Mikkel stood on either side of me with soft smiles, watching as her eyes swirled with an anger and sadness.

Jun and Dirk had these weird expressions on their faces as they looked between us.

That’s when I noticed the slight glaze that washed over her eyes.

Soldier’s called it the “Million Mile Stare” because your physical body was present, but your mind was just that “Million Miles” away in some locked up recess of your brain.

It happens with any major trauma, or life changing event that scorched a mark in your brain like a ticking-time bomb, waiting for a certain annoyance, or tick to trigger the flood. This explained the expression on Jun and Dirk’s faces, realizing she was triggered but stood silently on alert to see how she responded.

“Onyx baby.” I spoke calmly with a soft firmness as I placed my hand on her shoulder, flinching with her slightest jerk under my palm.

“Jesus, Jumpy much.” Mikkel tsked in my ear with a side glance of annoyance.

“Dude, now is not the time.” Davyn whispered behind his shoulder as Onyx’s eyes blinked then scanned around the room with a questioning brow.

The glassy look, gone and replaced with those beautiful onyx orbs that could suck the air straight out of the room. Jun went to speak but Onyx held her hand up with a soft wink.

“Baby, did you have flash backs?” I spoke firmly but with concern, because her eyes bounced rapidly like she had drank too much coffee.

“Yes.” Her voice cracked, holding her fingers to her throat as she grabbed the bourbon from my hand, downing the amber liquid in one breath.

Shaking her head quickly at the sudden burn, gulping down what looked like sandpaper by her scrunched up face. Exhaling as she placed her hand to her hip, flopping it out then back to her hip with a pained expression.

“Okay. So, when I questioned you about the Marines… this rushing sound and throbbing ache erupted into images of Vietnam. I was a Field Nurse assigned to the Marines…things are still a little foggy, but I know something happened and I was captured with my other Dragon members.” Her voice was raspy like she had a bad case of laryngitis but was slowly working the vocal cords.

We stood in shock as she fought to wake-up her vocal cords with another glass of bourbon Davyn handed to her with a soft smile. She inhaled a sharp breath, taking the bourbon like a champ as everyone watched her in excitement to what else she remembered.

“I was a… Marine Field Nurse in the deepest shit possible.” Her eyes darted around the room as she took a deep breath, sitting down on the sofa.

We let out a weird purring growl, watching our parents and grandparents perk a humorous brow at our response. Onyx smiled softly as she patter the sofa next to her.

“It’s still a jumbled mess but little pieces fall into place as I go, and things have started making sense more.” Onyx laughed softly as she rubbed her throat to sooth the coarseness that came with her voice rasping to life.

I guess, now we pull off the band-aid and fill everyone in on our current situation with the mission. Davyn and Mikkel gave me a reassuring nod as we took deep breaths.

“Okay. So, as you know we are former Marines, on occasion we are called in for special operations that have failed.” I paused quickly as Onyx nodded her head in understanding, while everyone inhaled deep breaths trying to not look obvious.

“The phone call, earlier was our Major filling us in on a mission, departing at zero hundred tomorrow night.” Davyn grumbled as his hand slid over his face, dropping his head back against the sofa.

“How many days?” Onyx’s voice was shaky with a hoarseness as her eyes skimmed over us with a swirling heat in her gaze.

“Five days, Angel.” Mikkel looked at her with a softness as the fury raged silently behind his eyes.

“Okay.” She spoke softly as everyone snapped their gazes at her in disbelief that she was taking it so smoothly.

Fuck! Smoothly wasn’t the word. Calm, an eerie calmness stilled over her.

“You have a duty to protect, and I have a duty to care and nurture our girls into respectful young ladies.” She smiled brightly, tapping her warm palm against my thigh as she stood to give us a kiss.

“What are we, “Chopped Liver”?” Byron laughed softly as he stood in the doorway with Lea holding two sleeping toddlers on their shoulders.

“LEA!” Onyx cracked weirdly as her eyes glowed to life with a bright smile.

“Girl, I have missed you more than you realize.” Lea smiled softly as tears rolled down her cheeks.

Byron slipped Zara from her shoulder, allowing the two to hug in a deep embrace.

“Still “SMOKING”.” Lea exclaimed loudly as her hand cracked Onyx’s ass cheek with a loud muffled crack of skin.

“Not bad yourself.” Onyx snipped back playfully, returning the ass smack with her own cracking wallop.

Onyx turned to Jun, waving her over as Lea smiled brightly with those piercing silver-hazel orbs as Jun approached her timidly.

“How about “us” guys resume this meeting in our office.” Davyn laughed darkly as we nodded in agreement.

Placing gentle kisses to Onyx and Lea’s cheeks, pointing to the office as we slipped into the soundproofed room.

Laughing lightly as Pap and Dad put some kind of shooting show on, clinking their glasses together with bright smiles. Byron man hugged us with a small nod, passing out fresh whiskey, joining the “Old Men” on the couch as they drooled over the Ruger AR-556 with custom laser sight and extended mag.

“I think I found my “Mistress”.” Dad chuckled darkly, clinking his glass with Pap nodding in agreement.

Laughing erupted in the room, easing the tension building knowing we were leaving the girls. Dropping my head back on the sofa back, listening to the ladies laugh down the hall.