Chapter 2

I lay there with my eyes closed, taking an inventory of how badly I’d drained myself this time. I hadn’t over done it in fifty years, maybe more. I didn’t feel ill or dizzy, so maybe not as bad as I thought. A faint beep registered, what the heck was that? Opening my eyes, I brushed my hair off my face, noting it was slightly grey still. Jolting, I sat up fast. I looked at the monitor beside me and then to the I.V. pole, then to the needle stuck in my arm. A hospital.

OMG. I couldn’t be in a hospital.

Taking a deep breath, I focused to try and make the beeping slow back down. I looked around. No windows. Crap. Okay, so I was in a hospital hooked up to an I.V. and heart monitor, all bad news for me. If the nurses came in to check on me and saw that my hair had changed color… I was in for the rest of my life, with tests and prodding. I wasn’t feeling that at all. I stared at the thin bracelet around my wrist and wondered what that monitored. I took it off slowly and watched the monitors. Nothing happened. I dropped it beside me on the bed.

Shifting, I swung my legs over the side of the bed. I still had my clothes on, so that was a plus. Nothing was more awkward then trying to escape with your butt hanging out of a hospital gown. I stopped all movement when I spotted the table. On it sat my surujin, gloves and what I was pretty sure was a jam sandwich and glass of juice. My backpack was on the floor beside it.

WTH??

I stood up, making sure the monitor and I.V. didn’t disconnect and alert the staff. The door was open a few inches. I’d have to move fast once I pulled out this needle and took the pads off my chest. I glanced back at the table—and the sandwich. Shaking my head, I decided that nourishment would have to wait.

Voices in the hall had me freeze where I stood, like a statue.

“How’s she doing?” A man’s gruff voice asked.

Shivers went down my spine. I didn’t know how I knew this, but I was positive it was the man I’d healed.

“Everything seems normal.” A woman answered.

“Alona, I watched her hair turn to white. That is not normal.” He scoffed.

“Well, aside from that and her eyes darkening, everything checks out.” She sounded pleasant. “How are you doing?”

He made an annoyed sound. “I’m fine. Wasn’t as bad as I’d thought.”

“How’s Quinton’s savior doing?” A man asked.

“She’s not my savior.” Quinton growled.

“She’s still resting but seems to be fine.” The soft-spoken woman said.

“And the family, how are they, duchess?”

Duchess? My nurse was royalty? That was—odd.

“They’re doing as well as can be expected. Liza has them at one of the safe houses until we can find out why Willis Hubert wanted them.”

Someone snorted. “I think we know why he wanted them.”

“Bastian said they have Alterealm DNA. It’s faint but there.” Another male answered.

Alterealm? Was it possible? I hadn’t heard that name spoken in one hundred and twenty years. Not since my mother had passed away. So that left me wondering if they were the people my mother had warned me about. One had dark eyes. I held my breath trying to decide if I should bolt out the door and make a run for it. Logic predicted I wouldn’t get far with the number of voices outside the door.

“Ah, and how long can we expect Bastian’s company, brother?” A jovial male asked.

“He’s not budging until he speaks to our mystery guest. Says he needs to know how she came to be.”

“What does that mean?” A woman asked.

“We’re not entirely sure.”

“Michael and Arius guarding Nathas?” She sounded amused.

“Yes. Keeping Autumn and Paisley off him is quite the task I’m told.”

“Never a dull moment, my newfound family.” Yet another male’s voice.

Someone snorted. “Happy to keep you entertained, Emil.”

“Everyone stay out here, we don’t need everyone hovering when she wakes up.” One of the first voices said.

Eyes wide, I realized they were coming in. I backed up to stand behind the head of the bed putting as much distance as possible between the door and whomever was coming in.

Two very tall, and handsome men stepped into the small room. They had pale blond hair and were identical, except for one having a goatee. Their eyes were not dark. They looked familiar, then I realized why. I’d heard them described for many years. I knew who they were. My mouth dropped open and it felt like my heart flipped inside my chest. “Blond and beautiful.” I whispered. Stepping out from the bed, I bent at the waist and bowed my head. “Your Majesties.” I held the position as my mother had told me I must do until they acknowledge me.

“We’re famous.” The one said. “And beautiful.”

A hand touched my head lightly. “Rise.” The other one said without a trace of amusement in his voice.

I straightened up and looked at them, biting my lip so nothing inappropriate would fly out of my mouth. I was standing in front of Alterealm’s twin kings.

“How do you know who we are?” The one without the goatee asked.

“My-my mother told me all about you and Alterealm.” I decided to stick to the truth. Did kings still behead people? Yeah, the truth was best.

“I see. Where is your mother?”

I looked from one to the other, wishing the one looking amused was asking the questions instead. “She died a long time ago.” I whispered.

“I’m sorry to hear that.” His tone was softer.

“Was she a resident of Alterealm?” The other one asked.

“Yes, your majesty.” I nodded.

“Have you ever been here before?”

I looked around the room. “We’re in Alterealm?” I heard the beeping speed up. Reaching down, I pulled the pads off my chest so it would stop monitoring me. I stepped over and flipped the machine off.

I was in Alterealm. Finally. Safe from my father’s people. I spun around and pointed to the device I’d taken off. “Is that a porter? Mother described them, but it looks nothing like that.” I rolled my eyes. “Of course, your technology has probably advanced times ten by now.” They were both giving me an odd look.

“It’s actually a stabilizer.” The one with the goatee held up his arm, “this is a porter.”

I nodded. “Of course. You’d want to make sure I didn’t die when you brought me over.” I stopped and looked from one to the other. “Thank you, and so you know, I spent thirty years trying to ferret out someone from here to bring me over.” I smirked. “Your people are very discreet, and I never found one.”

“That’s good to know.” The serious one gave me a serious look. “That we’re hard to detect over there.”

I nodded again. I looked at the I.V. and then pulled it out and hung it over the bag. “So, now what? Do I have to pass a test or something to be a full citizen?” I heaved out a loud breath. “I can’t believe I’m finally safe.”

“Safe from whom?” The one with the goatee asked.

I wished I could remember which one was King Troy and which one was King Chase. I blew out a breath, not sure how to explain anything. “From my father’s people.” I decided again the truth was probably best. “My mother told me to avoid them.”

“Who is your father?” The stoic one asked.

I opened my mouth and closed it. “I-I don’t know. They took him before I was born.” I was getting identical looks from them.

The serious one nodded, then looked at me. “Let’s start with your name.” He motioned to his twin. “This is Chase and I’m Troy.”

I felt honored and bowed my head slightly again. “I’m Reagan. Well, actually my given name is Rea, but I changed it about a fifty years ago to blend in with more modern trends.”

He glanced to Chase, then back to me, “and your last name? So we can locate any relatives if they’re still living.”

I opened my mouth, then snapped it shut. “I don’t know. Mother and I used Hayden, but I think she made that up.”

He pulled his phone out of his pocket and started typing something.

A man pushed between them and came in. It was the one I’d helped. I paused for a moment to look at him, now that he wasn’t bleeding all over the place. He was just as beautiful as his kings were. His brown hair had auburn highlights in it, as it fell across his forehead. For some strange reason I wanted to go touch it. His eyes were brown with lighter flecks in them. They were very pretty eyes, although I’m sure he’d scowl at me even more than he already was if I were to voice that.

“And this is our brother, Quinton.” The one said with a smirk.

I rushed toward him and reached out, then saw my bare hand. Turning I grabbed my gloves and put them on quickly. “How are you doing?” I went over and pulled his shirt up. “I didn’t realize how deep it went or I would have just closed it so you didn’t bleed out…” There was no mark on his side. Had I done that? No wonder I was drained. It wasn’t the first time I’d healed with too much oomph when my adrenaline was pumping.

He stepped back out of my reach.

I looked up to see his dark brown eyes looking at me like I was the strangest thing he’d ever seen.

“You did that?” Chase looked at Quinton, then back to me. “You healed him with your hands?”

I reluctantly looked away from Quinton and nodded. “Yes.” I shrugged. “Don’t ask me to explain it, I don’t understand it.”

“Did your mother have the ability?” Troy asked. “A skill such as that would be easy to trace back to your family”

Family. Could it be possible I had relatives? I shook my head. “No. She said she was unlucky with no special talents.”

“Perhaps your father did?” Chase asked.

I shrugged. “Not that I know of. I don’t know a lot about him, just…” Surely it was safe to tell them. “My mother said if I encountered anyone like my father, with eyes as dark as coal—to get away from them and never look back.”

They gave each other a quick look.

“Interesting.” Troy said.

“Why did your hair go white?” Quinton blurted out.

I touched my hair, that was almost back to brown now. “Oh, I didn’t realize how bad your injury was and expended too much energy.”

He studied me with a hard expression. “Don’t touch me again.” He spun on his heels and stomped out of the room.

“Well,” Chase looked at the door, then back to me, “I apologize for my brother’s abruptness.” He smiled at me, “thank you for helping him.” He inclined his head to me.

“Your brother,” I remembered the royal family my mother had talked about. I made an o with my lips, “you have many brothers.” I smiled.

“Too many some days.” Troy said and rubbed the back of his neck.

“Excuse me,” a man with black hair stepped into the room, “I have to go help Rena pack up.” He didn’t look pleased with this. “I probably won’t be back until after breakfast.” He stopped and looked at me. “Emil.” He bowed his head briefly, “thank you for assisting my brother.”

Another brother. That explained why he was so nice to look at. “Reagan.” I took a short breath. At some point it was going to sink in that I was in Alterealm. The Alterealm. There was no guarantee my reaction would be pretty. I would probably be more like a screaming fangirl.

He gave me an abrupt nod, then glanced to his brothers and left the room.

“What’s with Quint? He just lit out of here like his butt was on fire.” A tiny redheaded woman came in.

Chase grinned, “He didn’t seem receptive to the idea that Reagan healed him with just a touch.”

“Just add that to the list of his strangeness lately.” She smiled at me. “Hi, I’m Bethany.”

I smiled back.

“What strangeness?” Troy asked her.

She gave him an exaggerated look. “You haven’t noticed that we see him less and less lately? Or that we never see him unless we’re eating, fighting,” she shrugged, “or planning?”

Troy looked over her head to Chase then back down at her. “I hadn’t noticed.”

“Big shocker there.” A blonde woman came in. “I can’t stall Bastian much longer.” She glanced to me, gave me a quick once over then looked up at Troy.

Troy heaved a sigh. “We’ll deal with Bastian,” he motioned to me, “Rea’s mother was one of ours.” He looked at the woman again, “we’re going to need to call a meeting to discuss her intriguing history and appease the Solrelm Prince.”

Solrelm? Maybe it was part of Alterealm and mother had never mentioned it.

She nodded. “At the meeting room?”

Troy nodded. “See if you can get Autumn and Paisley to leave the cells too, Daxx, and then Michael and Arius can attend.”

Daxx grinned. “I’ll see what I can do.”

The kings turned and walked out of the room in unison.

“This is Daxx. Troy’s mate.” Bethany told me.

“Oh,” I bowed my head, “your majesty.” When I straightened, Daxx was scowling at me and Bethany was grinning.

“That will be enough of that.” Daxx mumbled.

“We’re very informal most of the time.” Bethany told me.

I filed that information away. “Who is the Solrelm Prince?”

“Bastian.” Daxx answered as she went over and picked up my surujin. She looked over her shoulder at me. “That was something, when you used this.”

I shrugged. “Run-away is my method of battle. Anything to postpone a fight.”

She smirked. “You’re going to get along with Crissy really well then.”

A tall blond man rushed through the door. He stopped abruptly and looked at me. “Your hair was blueish-grey.”

I nodded slowly.

“I’ve been seeing you for weeks.”

I opened my mouth, then closed it and looked at Daxx, she shrugged. “Okay.”

A woman came in. “He has visions.”

Which explained it, but not at the same time.

“I’m Kara,” she motioned to the man, “this is my mate, Rafael.”

Rafael. I knew that name. I bowed at the waist quickly.

“Uh, stop doing that.” Daxx said.

I straightened.

“So it’s true.” Rafael crossed his arms over his chest and grinned down at me. “You are one of ours.”

I went over and picked up my backpack and put it on. “My mother was.”

“Which means you are.” Kara smiled at me.

Daxx pulled her phone out of her pocket then sighed. “We have to get to the meeting room, Bastian is getting impatient.” She handed me my surujin. “Have you ever ported before?”

I took it and quickly dropped it into the pouch at my side. “No.”

“It sucks.” Bethany said then vanished.

Eyes wide I stood there looking where she had been. “Where did she go?”

“Meeting room.” Daxx held out her hand. “Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and hang on.”