Chapter 5

• “There’s a pattern.” Crissy said softly.
• Victor looked down at her, appearing to wait patiently for more.
• She pointed to Daxx and then me. “We were all in the system.” Taking off her backpack she opened it while talking quietly to herself. “I need to look in my book, maybe I can piece more together.”
• I realized then that the others weren’t really paying attention to her.
• The big hearted one, Quinton, I think his name was, got up and came down to sit across from me. “I can’t imagine what you’ve gone through, over there and not knowing who you really were.”
• “You have no idea.” I glanced around at the others trying to decide how much to share in order to find out more. “Crissy said her friends,” I waved my hand toward the others, “were like me… how like me?”
• He smirked. “Your eyes turn to what color?”
• I leaned back in the chair and studied him for a few more seconds. “Red.”
• Grinning, he waved his hand around, “then you’re the same as all of us, except Chase and the girls.”
• I turned to look at Chase, his eyes were bright yellow. He shrugged.
• “I see.” I clasped my hands in my lap for a moment and thought about that. A whole group, possibly even culture, that were like me. Maybe my mothers’ stories weren’t delusions after all. “My mother spoke of my father, saying he had to get permission and arrange for her to go back with him.” I glanced at him. “I guess she wasn’t imagining it.”
• The cute one, Rafael, sat down. “There’s no way he’d be denied bringing someone over if there was a child.”
• I cleared my throat softly. “He didn’t know about me. My mother found out after he left to make arrangements. He never returned.”
• “When was this?” Michael asked, not looking so hard and cop-like now.
• I took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly. “I was born after the war,” I looked around for a reaction, “the first one, during the influenza pandemic.” Mentioning my age didn’t even phase them. Which was a strangely comforting thing, I realized, to not be the oldest being in the room for once.
• The twins both swore at the same time.
• “During the transport ban.” Michael said looking to Victor, who nodded.
• “Transport ban?” Daxx asked.
• Her man leaned closer to her and wrapped his arm around her. “During the outbreak, we had to ban inhabitants from crossing over, we’re just as susceptible to disease and have many humans living here.” He glanced at his twin. “We were trying to protect our own.”
• My heart started beating twice as fast in my chest then it should. I held my hand over it, hoping to slow it down. “Are you saying my father couldn’t come back to my mother?”
• “It’s quite probable.” Victor told me as he stood up. He started undoing buckles and then took the large swords off his back and hung them on the chair and then shrugged out of his jacket.
• My heart jumped into my throat and I scrambled off the chair in a very ungraceful way and pointed to his arm. Covering my mouth, I shook my head. It couldn’t be. “Where—why do you have that tattoo?” His eyes were green…
• He held out his arm and looked at it and then to me, confusion on his face.
• “Oh,” Crissy jumped up and pulled her arm out of her jacket and held it out, “we both have it. See.” She held out her arm.
• Shaking my head, I backed up. It couldn’t be.
• Victor paused and looked at me. “I can assure you, my mark is very recent and I have never had any dalliances on the other side.”
• “Alona? Did your mother have one? A tattoo down her arm?”
• It took a second for it to register that Chase was speaking to me. I looked at him, still not sure if I could speak and nodded my head yes.
• “Shit.” He looked at his twin. “They were mated.”
• “Wouldn’t he have told someone, so he could go get her?” Michael asked looking angry.
• Victor shook his head looking upset as well. “I would think he would. Even with the ban, that would have been allowed.”
• “They couldn’t have done the blood rite…” Troy mused quietly, “without it, living apart that long would…”
• “Cause one to slowly go insane? With long bouts of depression?” I asked, trying to stay calm. I didn’t understand much of what they were talking about, but I did grasp one thing. My mother hadn’t been lying.
• “Yes.” Troy said softly, compassion bleeding from his every pore.
• Daxx looked like she was going to cry. “I can’t imagine it.”
• “Even if he’d been over there illegally… any of us would have allowed him to go back to find his mate.” Quinton looked to Victor, “Right?”
• Victor nodded, a very thoughtful expression on his face. “Did your mother ever tell you his name?”
• I shook my head. “Not that I remember. All I know, is that I have his eyes.”
• “Michael, go talk to the doctor and see if there’s any record of a male displaying symptoms of a mate loss during that time, hopefully he keeps accurate records. Also, get him to pull the history of all males we lost during that epidemic.” Victor turned back to Troy. “Do you still have records for any that applied to bring someone over during that period?” He glanced to Chase, “either of you?”
• Troy rubbed the back of his neck. “We do, but I can’t see him having applied and being denied whilst bearing the mate’s mark.”
• “Is there a chance he did go over and got sick there?” Daxx asked.
• “We’ll have a record if he didn’t return.” Victor said, then dropped a quick kiss on Crissy’s head and walked out of the room.