14. Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fourteen

S aKura grabbed Jenna and ran for the front door. Cleo was a beat in front of him because he stopped for his mate. When they threw the door open, they saw several air-to-land rockets had hit the ground around the house and there were two more coming.

Jenna shouted. What else was there to do when death was coming for you? She stopped mid-wail when she saw Cleo change forms from behind. Her tail was out, and she grew larger. Cleo spread her hands to the side while her body shook. Those incoming rockets were being held at bay, but she could see what it was costing Cleo.

Her eyes lifted when the sound of an impossibly loud vehicle thundered up the road. She looked up to see the black Hummer Bella swore by. It had saved her life more than once over the months. Rakha jumped out and made his way to SaKura. Together they stepped towards Cleo, forming a dark web between them. When they passed Cleo, the web passed through her body leaving her standing there as if it never happened. They walked around the area where the rockets were trembling in the air. The net grew taller until it covered the rockets like a balloon. When the web was closed, they stepped back as it shrank, bringing the rockets together.

Thad, who she hadn't realized was there, grabbed Cleo. SaKura grabbed Jenna and Rakha. They were both protected by his expanding body. The rockets went off. The air pulsed with a concussive force from the explosion.

"Cleo, Thad," SaKura said.

"All clear," Cleo and Thad said.

SaKura slowly released his mate and brother. He backed up as they stood tall.

"I need someone to tell me what happened." Jenna was staring at the spot where the rockets and the net used to be. There was no sign of either now. Nothing, not a hole in the ground or scorched grass. There weren't rockets or net pieces. It was like it never happened. She turned to look at the land around the house where the rockets collided.

"Cleo isn't old enough to hold off the rockets for long and she's not ready to fix the structural damage the first two did on her own. I guess you can say I put her through a masterclass," Thad said.

Jenna was biting her lip, trying not to smile. If she weren't sure that Cleo hadn't lied when she said Thad was her father, this would have proved it. The sheer pride coming from him about his child did Jenna's heart good.

"I held the rockets at bay until I had help. My dad helped while he was checking out the structural damage."

Jenna shook her head, not trusting her voice. There was a possibility she might scream again now that her brain was catching up to the reality that someone tried to kill her. Someone. Had. Tried. To. Kill. Her. Nope, it didn't sound better if she said each word one at a time.

Her eyes locked onto SaKura. It was hard to pick the real hero here since they all worked together. That didn't stop her breath from hitching when she thought of him being blown to smithereens.

He leaned down and kissed her. It didn't matter who was watching. If his mate's heart was going to race, he wanted it racing for the right reason. When she melted into him, he knew his job was done. Now it was time to give her an explanation.

He looked over at Thad and Cleo. Thad nodded his head, reinforcing what SaKura thought. The watchers knew about the royal family.

"This is not common knowledge," SaKura said. He was looking into his mate's eyes when he said it.

Jenna mimed zipping her lips, then she took her finger and made a cross over her heart. "I'll take your secrets to the grave."

He believed her. His mate proved that she was worth her weight in precious materials and beyond. How would she feel when she realized that gold lined the Diza streets? To them, it was common but elegant looking.

"The seat of power and protection on Diza lies within the royal family. That is why we believe the Tan-ge went for our females. With Traure being the crown elect, it was easy to see the power that lies within her. They believed that the royal females held the power that protected the planet. To be safe, they targeted all females. Our abilities are varied and many. Rakha can manipulate form. I can do it, but it will drain me for a day or more. Together, he and I can form the net you saw. Anything within that net won't survive, nor will it harm anyone outside of it. The net will compress whatever is caught in it until it's broken down into its basic elemental state. When it's done, the net will open a…" He stopped to look at Rakha.

"Wormhole is the closest earth word."

"It creates a wormhole to a dark matter universe where it disperses and causes no trouble or interference with the universe." He finished like he never took a break.

"Wait, just wait. You're talking about wormholes and dark matter universes." Her tongue tripped over the last. "Like it's an everyday happening."

"For us it is." She nodded her head but couldn't look him in the eyes. Things were getting serious. SaKura being the crown elect was something she spent time actively not thinking about. Thanks…

"Who did this?"

"That arrow holding a thick piece of paper to the ground may give us a clue." Thad's voice was more sarcastic than she was used to hearing. He pointed to the other side of the house, where there was a copse of trees.

Jenna went to get it before Cleo was in front of her. "I know you're not thinking of going over there. You're the only one of us who is human." Cleo put her hand on her hip, reminding her too much of Bella. Jenna gave a deep sigh and threw her hands up in the air. She refused to think that Cleo was right. Being human was not a liability, it was a fact of life.

Cleo pulled the arrow and the attached piece of paper out of the dirt. Jenna would feel better if Native Americans had targeted her, but she knew better.

"The arrow is beautiful. Look at the tip and the aerodynamic of the design," Cleo said. She held it up for everyone to admire it. Jenna was more concerned about the note.

"What does it say?" She pointed to the thick parchment. It wasn't card stock, it moved too easily, but it was thicker than she was used to seeing with common paper.

Cleo held the paper up. Humanity against monsters is giving you a warning. " Take your…" her voice petered out. Thad took the paper from her.

"Take your whores and bastard children and leave our planet if you want to live. We can take care of any alien force coming for us, including the monsters trying to get a foothold on our planet."

Jenna looked at SaKura. Would they leave? He had the power to make that call. Royalty, the crown elect. If she stayed with him one day, she would be queen. Now she was a princess or a consort. She didn't think there was a difference in his mind. Her sister was mated to a royal. What kind of shenanigans was she opening herself to?

"Would you like me to withdraw our people from your planet?"

Was he asking her? Please let him ask someone else. Maybe Bella was here, and she hadn't seen her? Nope, he was staring at Jenna, waiting for an answer.

"Shouldn't you ask Madame President?" President Lincoln wasn't her favorite after everything that happened. The woman's hands might have been tied, but she could have managed everything better than she did. That was one of the reasons she was okay with throwing her under the bus. If there was time, she'd drive the bus and run her over before backing up and doing it again.

"This isn't political, it's personal. I'm asking my mate, my consort, and my council if she wants me to leave her planet. I'll take away the force that I have patrolling your airspace and keeping the Tan-ge at bay. The fate of your planet is in your hands." He cupped the side of her face.

No pressure, none whatsoever.

"What I want is to borrow the Hummer so I can go see Bella." She held her hand out and Rakha dropped the keys into her hand.

Jenna pressed her hand to the center of SaKura's heart before she went to the van. She wasn't wearing shoes. There was a part of her brain that noticed that minor aberration. She ignored it, started the Hummer, and took off.

The drive to Bella's place was a blur she couldn't remember. All she could think about was what SaKura asked her. Jumping out of the Hummer, she ran to Bella's house like the weight of the world, or the hounds of hell were chasing her.

"Jenna?" Bella met her at the door, her hand laid protectively on her baby bump. "Where's Rakha and Thad?"

Right, she scared her sister, who was expecting the males in her life to stroll through the door.

"They're at my place. Everything is okay. I just needed to see you. Rakha let me take the Hummer so I could visit you."

"The men are okay, but you aren't." Bella hugged her hard before leading her back to the living room.

"What happened?" The temptation to say it was nothing made Jenna bite her tongue. "Did you know that the little space between your eyes crinkles before you lie to me? It's a tell you can do nothing about."

Darn it. At least she now knew how Bella always knew when she wasn't telling the truth. She sighed and settled into the oversized chair.

"Tell me everything. Have you ever thought of the fact that children are parasites living off your body? It amazes me that we're left alive at the end." Bella threw out random thoughts, rambling to give Jenna time to get her thoughts together.

"Since I know that you love being pregnant, I'm going to suggest you've been having a hard day."

"You have no idea. People are so… You didn't come here to talk about me, go on."

Jenna could have argued with her but decided not to. She told Bella everything that happened, starting from early this morning. Then she pulled out the thick parchment and showed her that to back up her words.

"Humanity against Monsters," Bella said. She got up and went to the bureau that had plants on it. The front of it had several drawers. She opened one and came back with a piece of paper. Jenna took it to read.

"I have you in my sights. It's only a matter of time before you and the monster spawn you carry are dead and lying at my feet, signed Humanity against Monsters." Jenna read the note and shivered. Someone had threatened her sister.

"Jenna?"

"No," she snarled, unaware that her gray eyes radiated a purple light. "Threatening me is one thing. I've been there and done that. Threatening my sister and my niece or nephew is a step too far." That was the reason she eventually found the courage to leave her father. He was threatening Bella, and she couldn't live with that.

"Do you think humans are behind this?"

"If not humans, then who?" Bella said cautiously. She'd spent a lot of time thinking about it. She wouldn't put it past humanity, but it reeked of more.

"Shit!" Jenna's cursing got Bella's full attention.

"What's wrong?" Bella asked, running her hands over Jenna. "You're burning up."

"Get back Bella. Call SaKura." Jenna clutched the chair arms to stand. She stumbled her way out the front door, making Bella swear she'd go to the back of the house and stay away from her.

She crumbled onto the lawn with the knowledge that her life was about to change again if she lived through whatever was happening to her.