Her Commanders - M.K. Eidem Page 0,109

words prepared Jamis for a being just as large. Instead, the female that exploded out of the passageway was tiny. She was even shorter than Cali, who only came up to his chest, but that's where their differences ended. She had the same frame, glowing brown hair, and topaz eyes of their Cali. It made Jamis’s heart skip a beat when he realized he saw what their future offspring with Cali might look like.

"Now, where is she?"

"I'm right here, Mom!" Cali quickly moved across the room and was in her mother's arms.

"Oh, Gods, Cali," Dakota whispered into Cali's hair, having pulled her down into her embrace. "Never do that again," she admonished. "I thought my life span was ending."

"I'm sorry, Mom. So sorry." Jamis was shocked to hear the emotion in Cali's voice. He didn't like it. It tore at his heart. There should never be a reason for his Lalla to cry. "I didn't realize that would happen."

"What did happen?" Dakota pulled back and ran critical eyes over her daughter. She couldn't see any obvious injuries, but there was something different about her daughter. She couldn't tell what.

"I'll tell you, Mom. I promise, but first, there's something more important I need to do."

"More important?!" Dakota demanded. "What could be more important than the reason you howled in distress?"

"Introducing you to my mates." Cali ignored her mom's shocked look. Wrapping an arm around her waist, she turned her so she could see Jamis and Taarig. "Mom, this is Star Base Commander Jamis Dexxirs," she gestured to Jamis, who gave Dakota a slight bow, "and Sub Commander Taarig Ynn," Taarig repeated Jamis’s gesture. "Jamis, Taarig, this is my mother, Dakota Baker-Wik'ax."

Cali was surprised when instead of being excited and congratulating them, her mother stepped out of her arms and slowly moved toward Jamis and Taarig in a predatory way Cali had never witnessed before. What the ruk?!

"Mom?" Cali asked carefully.

Dakota ignored her daughter and continued to advance on the two males, running a critical eye over them. "Are you two the reason my daughter shifted into her primal form?" Dakota's growl was as deadly as Cali's Beast. "The reason she was in such pain she howled for the universe to take her back?"

"That's not what I was doing, Mom!" Cali immediately denied.

"Oh, really?" Dakota turned and raised an eyebrow at her daughter. "Because that's what I heard. What we all heard."

"It was my fault she had to shift," Jamis told Dakota, and her eyes glowed even brighter as they shot back to him.

"And it was because of me that she howled," Taarig said, drawing Dakota's scowl.

"It wasn't the fault of either of you," Cali immediately denied. "It was Nalo's."

Dakota watched as her daughter moved between her and her mates. It revealed the depth of their bond and the lengths Cali would go to protect them, even as she argued with them. Dakota did the same with Caradoc and Paul, but that didn't mean Dakota wasn't going to get the answers she wanted.

"Explain," Dakota demanded, and three heads turned as one, each male putting a hand on Cali's hips to pull her back against them.

"There was a Si male who believed Jamis was responsible for his mate ending her life span," Cali began.

"I was," Jamis said quietly.

"You weren't!" Cali and Taarig said in unison.

"Did you threaten this female?" Dakota asked, her glowing eyes capturing Jamis’s. If that were the type of male her daughter had bonded with, Dakota would end him here and now.

"Of course not," Jamis immediately answered, maintaining eye contact with Cali's mother.

"Her family?" Dakota continued to question.

"No."

"Encourage her to end her life span?"

"No."

"Then I'd say this female was the one responsible for ending her life span," Dakota told him, relaxing slightly. She should have known her daughter was wiser than that.

"Perhaps, but it was the reason he shot Taarig and ejected Cali out an airlock," Jamis told her.

"You were ejected into space?!" Dakota’s gaze shot to Cali.

"That's why I changed into my Beast form," Cali told her.

"And howled," Dakota reminded her.

"No, that was because of me," Taarig corrected.

"You?" Dakota's gaze ran over him.

"His life span…" Cali's voice broke, but she forced herself to continue, "was ending."

Dakota's eye widened in shock. She now understood what had happened and what her daughter was saying because it was the same situation she and Paul had been in when Caradoc had found them. Still as powerful as Caradoc was, he couldn't have saved them if he wasn’t gifted the ability to heal, which