The Lasaran (Aldebarian Alliance #1) - Dianne Duvall Page 0,89
baby he had held had been Amiriska, and that had been decades ago.
Marcus grinned. “She used to be even smaller than that, if you can believe it. I was terrified the first several times I held her.”
Taelon ran a hand over Adira’s bright red curls. “She’s so soft,” he breathed. “So perfect.” He looked at his sister. “Riska…”
Blinking back tears, Ami smiled. “I know.”
“You were right.”
She nodded.
Adira straightened and patted Taelon on the chest. “Boo-boo?”
He looked at the others. “I don’t know what that means.” His translator was telling him boo was something Earthlings yelled to scare each other, but he didn’t think that applied here.
Ami cleared her throat. “It’s what babies and children call injuries.”
Adira patted his chest again. “Boo-boo better?”
“Yes.”
Lisa frowned. “How did she know Taelon had a boo-boo there? She left the infirmary before Melanie cut his shirt off.”
Ami and Marcus exchanged a long look.
“She’s a remarkable child,” Marcus said and seemed to carefully measure his words. “Lasarans are all telepaths and have even greater regenerative capabilities than Immortal Guardians do. But each also possesses another gift on top of that, which differs from person to person. Ami can detect each individual’s unique energy signature and can track it like a homing beacon.”
Ami motioned to Taelon. “Taelon can make people see anything he wants them to.”
Marcus nodded. “Gifted ones like us, Lisa, who are born with advanced DNA also possess unique gifts that ordinary humans don’t. I can see ghosts just as clearly as I can see you. And Seth tells me you’re psychic.”
Her eyes widened. “Are you serious? I really am psychic?”
“Yes. The first gifted ones were born thousands of years ago and had many gifts. Centuries and millennia of procreating with ordinary humans, however, has since diluted the DNA enough that often gifted ones born in the past century have gifts that are so mild they don’t even realize they possess them.”
“Wait. Are you saying I have advanced DNA?”
“Yes.”
She turned to Taelon. “This just keeps getting weirder and weirder.”
He laughed, surprised that he could do so under the circumstances.
Adira bounced in his lap and tugged at the front of his shirt.
Ami reclaimed her place beside Marcus on the love seat and leaned into his side. Taelon tried not to stiffen when she rested a hand on the man’s thigh and Marcus wrapped an arm around her.
Lisa’s words came back to him. Look at her while she explains everything to you. I mean really look at her.
He did. Though her nose was pink from crying earlier, she seemed content.
No. She seemed more than content. She seemed happy. Even he could recognize the love that shone in her eyes every time she glanced up at her lifemate.
The same love shone in Marcus’s eyes as he pressed a kiss to her forehead before turning back to Taelon. “Melanie, an Immortal Guardian physician who helped Ami through her pregnancy, believes that when Lasaran DNA blends with that of gifted ones, it unlocks some of the abilities that have been suppressed in later generations of gifted ones.”
Ami nodded. “Adira has so many special abilities we’re still trying to identify them all.”
Taelon smiled. “And it enables Lasaran women to conceive and bear children,” he said, so happy that all of this could actually result in something good for their people.
Ami bit her lip. “Well…” She glanced at Marcus, then Lisa, then Taelon, the happiness gradually leaving her features. “Not necessarily. I actually had a very difficult time carrying Adira to term. If Seth and David hadn’t constantly been on hand to help me, I would’ve lost her.”
Marcus’s expression sobered as he toyed with Ami’s hair. “Both Seth and David are powerful immortals with remarkable healing abilities. Both also love Ami like a daughter and made sure one or the other of them was always here to heal her and prevent her from going into early labor. That often necessitated healing her least once a day, sometimes three or four times. It was the most terrifying eight months of my life.” His eyes began to glow with amber light. “And when Ami finally went into labor, I nearly lost her.”
Ami reached up and cupped his jaw. “You didn’t lose me, sweetie.”
Closing his eyes, he pressed his forehead to hers. “But it was frighteningly close. You slipped into a coma and didn’t wake for days.”
Fear sliced through Taelon like a shard of ice, chilling him from head to toe. He looked at Lisa, who stared at the couple with dread. Ami had the