The Lyons' Pride (The Phoenix Initiative Book 1) by Wolf Marisa & Kennedy Chris

Author:Wolf, Marisa & Kennedy, Chris
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Seventh Seal Press
Published: 2022-08-09T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

Houston, Earth

Exhaustion hounded his joints and thoughts, and Joel left his small room on the transport for only the most pressing of necessities. He was halfway through the starport before he realized he’d never sent Allyson a message letting her know he was on his way back.

He’d started recording one half a dozen times, but every time he got to the part of saying “I” instead of “we,” his voice had stopped working, and he’d closed the message to sleep for twelve hours rather than struggle to finish it.

So he wasn’t surprised when no one answered his call—he wasn’t even sure what local time was, at that point—nor even when he got to their building and no one was waiting in the lobby. He blinked heavily, fed in the appropriate codes, keys, and numbers, and stood in front of his door for five minutes or three hours.

He’d have to tell Allyson that Mari wasn’t coming home. Sera had barely been grasping object permanence of her favorite toys when they left, so explaining to her…

No, that wouldn’t be hard. Not until she could speak more than a handful of words and started asking questions.

Then it would be the hardest thing in the world.

The next hardest thing, at least, after moving through the days without Mari. After losing her. After leaving Karma with Peepo smug and triumphant behind him. After…

He shook his head, the weight of it too much for his neck, and palmed open his door.

Their apartment was dark. It was late—he was fairly sure it was late—so he put down his bag carefully and leaned against the wall to take off his boots. Socks were quieter, better not to wake Allyson and Sera. He stood squinting in the living room for a few more minutes, then crept to the kitchen to turn on the light over the cooktop. The kitchen was clean, although there was a slate and a vial on the table, and he started toward them before deciding he needed to at least see Sera’s face, peaceful and asleep, and untouched by the shitshow of a galaxy around them.

Something worth doing all this for.

He padded across the apartment, pausing every time the floor creaked under him, and eased her door open. Some of the heaviness left his shoulders as he breathed in the smell of baby powder. It was strong enough he had to rub his nose to keep from sneezing—Allyson must have spilled some. He couldn’t fault her for that—wrangling a small Human was as much work as wrangling logistics for a merc company, sometimes.

A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth as he moved closer to his daughter’s crib, the skin tight from a lack of use these long last weeks. He leaned forward, hand reaching for the blanket—odd, she wasn’t supposed to sleep with a blanket—

Air expanded until his ribs scraped against his chest, and the ringing in his ears rose so sharply he was momentarily dizzy.

“No,” he whispered, in the foolish lingering notion he might wake his baby.

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