Chapter 83

Ashaya knew they had made a mistake, the moment Kaleb appeared right beside Alja's chair. And of course he brought with him a telekinetic shield that didn't allow any of them to even come close to him. But that wasn't the worst. The worst was: the children were still working on Alja, touching her, inside the range of that shield. Her son was right in front of her eyes and yet totally out of her reach. And possibly he was in the claws of a monster.

"Keenan!" Her scream sounded simultaneously with Dorian's "What the fuck! I knew we couldn't trust him!"

Dorian and Clay were already pushing and fighting the invisible wall that separated them from the children. But Kaleb didn't even seem to see the children, nor anyone else in the room, anyone but Alja. His eyes were focused solely on her still empty face. "Alja?" he asked, his voice trembling.

"We have to get the children out of there!" Talin called out even more desperate than Ashaya. Then she whispered: "Noor, Keenan get here!" Maybe Kaleb wouldn't notice if they left his shields.

"Don't be angry mommy. I called him," Keenan stated with utter innocent calm, not leaving Alja's side. "He needs to be with her."

That was when Kaleb finally looked at the children. And everyone in the room froze. Even the changelings stopped attempting to get inside the shield or make any sound. No one wanted to do anything that might trigger aggression in the man they all knew to be at least borderline insane by now.

But there was no aggression. Kaleb only stared at them confused for long seconds before he uttered: "I thought Alja called me."

"No, I did. When we were inside. I pulled that string, your special link," Keenan explained, showing not a hint of fear or insecurity, as if talking to Kaleb was the most natural thing in the world. "You're her special friend. You know that don't you?"

Kaleb nodded, his eyes almost pleading with the small boy in front of him. "Yes, she's very special to me."

Ashaya held her breath. Silent tears spilled out of her eyes. But she didn't dare to move.

"Then you need to be with her, even if she's not there right now," Keenan continued. Not looking at Judd and Sienna who had teleported in on Ashaya's distress call.

"She's gone?" His voice was barely more than a whisper. But the children understood. Simultaneously they both lifted their small hands to each grip one of Kaleb's bigger ones.

Several of the adults in the room couldn't suppress a gasp. Judd put a hand on Sienna's shoulder. She'd only intervene if it was absolutely necessary. But the children didn't even seem to notice. They just looked very serious and compassionate.

"We don't know. We did everything we could. We wove her head all back together. But it's like…"

When Keenan hesitated, Noor finished his sentence: "It's like there's nobody at home."

The simple words of the kid tore Kaleb apart. They described precisely what he felt when he dared to test the connection that somehow still tied him to Alja's empty shell in a torturous way. There's nobody at home.

And softly like a whisper, one of the threads of Alja's web dissolved.

It only made the others pull tighter, cut harder. He couldn't fall now, not in the presence of those children, who held his hands like that could give him any comfort.

He had never hurt children. Never but that one time. And the truth was, he wouldn't have forgiven himself, if he had hurt any of them badly or even killed them. But that guilt, it hadn't seemed to matter when he'd seen Alja in mortal danger. Now he knew better. It had mattered. It still mattered. He could have been a better man. And for her he still had to try to be. So he couldn't even let the children see his hopelessness. He forced a smile and reciprocated the pressure of their hands on his. "Thank you. Both of you. You really helped a lot." Finally he lifted his gaze to the others in the room: Psy, humans and changelings with varying emotions from panic to anger frozen on their faces. "I will take this secret to my grave. But it's good to know the world has a future like them."

Then he vanished with Alja, as if he'd never been there.

The children were surrounded by their worried parents within seconds. Ashaya pressed her son so close, he complained about not getting enough air, obviously completely unaware, why the adults were making such a fuss.

Only later when they were preparing to go home, Noor and Keenan kept clinging to each other as if they expected to never see each other again. So they decided they'd all spent the night at the home of their alpha's family, where Sascha could have an empathic eye on the kids and they could discuss what had happened.

When they got in the car to drive there Keenan even started crying. And even though display of any kind of emotions was encouraged in the pack, her brave boy rarely did it. She and Talin sat in the back of the car, Noor on Talin's lap and Keenan between them, while their mates occupied the front.

"Don't be afraid," Ashaya whispered to her son. "That man won't come back again." She tried to reassure him, but felt nothing close to secure herself.

"I'm not afraid of him." Keenan's voice sounded far braver than he looked. "I'm sad for him. Alja was his special friend and now she's gone. I think he will never be happy again."

She gave Talin a worried look over his head. But the other woman looked just as helpless, the girl on her lap already fast asleep, exhausted from the work they'd done. "What do you mean, when you say special friend?"

"Her special friend," He repeated simply but continued, when his mother still didn't seem to understand. He sounded almost annoyed at having to explain something that seemed absolutely logical to him. "The one she plays special games with, games they only play with each other."

Another idea shot through Ashaya's mind: "Keenan did you see any adult stuff in there?" Oh God, why had no one ever thought about what memories the children might access when they used their healing ability?

Keenan wrinkled his little forehead. "Adult stuff? No, we don't look at the stuff in her mind. I just carry Noor, while she does her weaving. That's where she knew that Alja had a friend. She knew him through her mind."

"Noor could look outside her mind?" Ashaya felt another surge of panic. Kaleb had assured Judd that Alja was shielded absolutely airtight from the Net. Otherwise they wouldn't have let the children close to her.

Keenan gave a small sigh at her continued questions. "No of course not. No one can reach in or out of the shields he made for her. They're really strong." His eyes widened with admiration, as he said it. "But nothing can shield the special link. Noor just knows she has a special friend, because there is that link."

"Can you tell me how that link looked? Or can you even show me?" Keenan had already learned to transmit telepathic pictures on demand.

But he shook his head now. "It doesn't look like anything. It just feels. He's always with her. Like Noor and I. He's like really, really important. So he's still there with her – even though she's not." He made a pause, his face saddening once more. Then he yawned. "Mommy, can I go sleep now? I'm really tired."

"Of course you can, baby. Sorry, Mommy kept you up so long," Ashaya answered, stroking a hand over his hair.

Usually Keenan would complain about her babying him. But now he just cuddled into her and closed his eyes, one of his hands still wrapped tightly around Noor's. And Ashaya wondered. Could the child have been talking about a mating bond? He was determined Noor was his mate even though none of them were changeling. But no, Psy didn't mate each other. Keenan was probably just exhausted and his child mind trying to explain something he couldn't understand.