The Empath : The Alterealm Series Book 3

My stomach rolled and I knew he’d done whatever it was they did to bring us to the other side.

“Just keep your eyes closed for a second.” He said softly.

“I’m not sure… oh, Raf, you’re back.” I heard Daxx.

Opening my eyes, I stepped back, regretting that as the movement brought a wave of nausea with it. I realized we were in the big dining room, and quickly sat in a chair and put my head on the table.

“Alona? Are you all right?” She was now right beside me.

“Yes.” I took slow breaths trying to breathe through it.

“Her system is very sensitive to transporting.” Rafael informed her.

Lifting my head, I looked at him. “I’m sure most bodies have difficulty adapting.”

“I got so dizzy sometimes when I was getting the hang of it.” Daxx said and then sat down.

I noticed her large mate standing behind her. “I spoke to my stalker and he gave me this.” I set the card on the table, then noticed I’d crushed it in my hand when Rafael had brought us back. Flattening it, I glanced to Troy. “If I’m interested in working with others like myself, I’m to call, Lou, at this number.”

He reached around Daxx and picked up the card. “They give out cards?”

“That’s what I said.” Raf chuckled.

Troy flipped it over to look on the back. It was blank.

“It should say team bad with a logo on the other side.” Rafael told him with a grin.

Troy set the card back on the table and straightened. “I’m—I have no words. I can’t believe they’re handing out cards.”

“Sorry for my absence, dears, Ira was a bit under the weather the last few days.”

A shorter woman with strawberry blonde hair twisted up in a chignon came into the room. Waves of loving emotions swamped me, even from this distance.

“I didn’t even know you could get sick.” Daxx said sounding amazed.

“It happens, love, we’re still susceptible beings over here.” She stopped and looked at me. “Hello, dear, I’m Mitz.”

“Mitz, this is Alona.” Rafael informed her.

“Oh, the one Crissy kept seeing.” She paused and looked at me carefully. “Stomach doesn’t like transporting? I have some tea that will take care of that.” She gave me a nod.

I offered a weak smile. “Anything to settle my stomach would be lovely.”

“Is Ira back on his feet? The guard house doesn’t run nearly as well without him.” Troy asked her.

She nodded. “He’s fine. He was just being a man, love, nothing to worry over.” Turning, she went back through the door she’d come out of.

“What does that mean?” Troy asked.

Daxx snorted and then smiled at me. “Males tend to exaggerate the slightest sniffle.”

Troy frowned. “I’m sure you’re mistaken.”

Laughing, she got up and patted his big chest. “Of course, a king such as you, would never exaggerate anything.”

“Does anyone ever use their office anymore?” The cop-like brother came in waving papers in the air. “I went to Victor’s, Leone’s and yours,” he pointed to Troy, “they’re all empty.”

Rafael waved his phone in the air. “That’s why they invented these little things so you can call people instead of chasing them down.”

“Why were you looking for us, Michael?” Troy asked while hugging Daxx.

He stopped and looked at me, and then down to the papers in his hand. “I didn’t know you’d be back so soon.”

“She called for backup and managed to get us a lead all in one night.” Rafael informed him, grabbing the card off the table, he held it out to him. “Team bad is handing out cards.”

Frowning, Michael took the card from his hand and looked at it. “They’re giving out cards? Well, at least we know their intelligence is not a priority we need to worry about.”

Crissy came racing in the door. “Your back! I was so worried. When I’d seen it, I wasn’t sure, but now that I see you, I am.” She nodded very excitedly while looking at me.

“Deep breath, Crissy and tell us that with the missing pieces, please.” Daxx told her.

I felt somewhat better knowing I wasn’t the only one that didn’t understand her.

“I saw Alona’s eyes, only now that I see her I know they weren’t her green eyes, they were the same, but different.” She smiled. “And a little piece of a paper.” She frowned, then her eyes widened. “Oh, and a cave glowing orange… only I think that’s just lighting and it’s not really glowing and may be more of an old alley then cave...”

I looked away from her to see the others were taking every word she said very seriously. I didn’t even know what she was telling us.

“Hey.” She almost hopped over to Michael and pulled the card from his hand. “This is the piece of paper that was in my head. The numbers are the same.” She smiled at him. “How did you know?”

Michael looked from her to Daxx, “Call everyone. Now.”

Daxx nodded, she already had her phone in her hand when she paused. “Chase too?”

The men in the room exchanged looks.

“He needs to be kept up to speed.” Troy said finally.

“Okay,” she mumbled, “but he’s going to be cranky, us waking him up early, again.”

I glanced at Rafael. “I feel like I’ve missed something quite important.”

Grinning, he sat down in the chair beside me. “You get used to it.” Patting the chair on the other side, he looked at Crissy. “Sit and write down anything important we need to know.”

She nodded and pulled her backpack off. “I was in my tower after Daxx left and it came to me all at once.”

I watched for a few moments as Crissy began scribbling in a notebook. “At some point, someone will explain whatever she said, yes?”

Rafael nodded. “Yeah. Once we translate it.”

Whoever could translate that, I wished them luck. At least, while she was scribbling in her notebook the emotions weren’t pouring off her.

“Here you go, love.” Mitz came in carrying a cup. “This will settle the body nicely after shifting it over here.” She gave me a sweet smile.

The only time in my life I’d felt the emotions she was giving off was when my mother used to hold me and hum softly at night. I took the cup and smiled. “Thank you.” I meant it too, not just for the tea. In a world too full of people, I spent most of my time trying to build barriers to block out emotions I didn’t want. Feeling one that made me remember love and caring was an emotional wave I was in no hurry to rid my system of.

Michael and Troy were on the other side of the room now talking quietly, looking at the papers he’d been waving around.

Arius and Leone came in, both dressed as Victor had been, dark leather and large weapons. I had to wonder if we hadn’t gone back in time to a more medieval period. Either that, or this war they were fighting was grossly and personally violent, unlike the push-of-a-button battles today’s society thought normal.

“Victor will be here shortly.” Leone said as he shrugged out of the series of straps holding the weapons on his back. “We had a few trying to lay claim to the farms on the other side of the wasteland,” he shook his head. “No idea why they’d want those.”

“The ones on a three-year rest?” Troy asked

Arius nodded. “Yes, those.”

“Private or commercial use?” Troy asked crossing his arms over his chest.

Leone sat down and rubbed a hand over his short hair. “Pretty sure for commercial use.”

Troy didn’t look pleased with that. “They’re on a rest period for a reason. If we don’t let the nutrients in the soil replenish, we’ll have the wastelands all over again.”

“That’s what happened to the wastelands?” Daxx asked setting her phone on the table.

“More or less.” Arius answered, and then he saw me and bowed his head. “Welcome back.”

“Do we need to increase patrols? Maybe set up a new squad, with everything else we’re chasing… do we need to have someone else deal with the lands?” Troy asked looking every bit a ruler now.

“Are you insinuating we can’t do our jobs, brother?” Victor asked walking in with long strides. He was all in black leather again, minus the swords on his back.

“I would never assume such a thing.” Troy told him.

Victor nodded and walked to Crissy and glanced at what she was writing in the book. Leaning down, he kissed the top of her head and then straightened. “For what purpose was this meeting called?”

Rafael leaned back in the chair and looked up at him. “It’s kind of a mix n’ match of what Michael discovered, little sister saw, and Alona was given.”

Victor studied him for a moment and then looked to Troy. “Perhaps someone with a grasp of the English language could tell me.”

Mitz came in carrying a tray with a small mountain of sandwiches on it. “I’ll be back with coffee.” She set it down and left again.

“Perfect timing.” Quinton said as he walked in and went right to the food. Grabbing a few he sat down. “Struck out on that tip for the location of more followers.” He said not looking at anyone.

“It was deserted or entirely wrong?” Victor asked and sat down beside Crissy.

“Deserted.” He answered between bites.

“It’s like they’re moving from our side to the other side now on a regular rotation to keep us guessing.” Arius said as he helped himself to the food.

I had no idea what they were talking about, so I chose just to sit there and remain invisible. I leaned closer to Rafael. “At some point, something someone says will make sense to me, yes?”

He chuckled. “We can hope.” Shrugging he grinned at Daxx. “Sometimes I don’t even understand.”

I doubted that, but it was sweet of him to try to put me at ease. I took another sip of the tea. I’m not sure what blend it was, but it was helping my stomach a great deal. Later, I would enquire as to the leaves used. With nausea being something that plagued me often, it would be nice to have this on hand.

Chase appeared in the doorway that Mitz kept going in and out of. His hair was mussed like he’d been sleeping. In his hand was a large steaming mug, most likely full of coffee. “You know,” he looked around slowly at the men, “if you were decent brothers, you would let a king sleep occasionally.” He huffed out a breath and walked in, taking the first chair he came to. “My captains seem to be running my half of the realm more than I am since Marcus went rogue and ruined my sleep schedule.”

Troy rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s been trying for everyone, Chase, but it’s not that early. You’d be up in a few hours.”

Chase took a sip from his mug and then gave him a half nod. “I had trouble sleeping…” he waved his other hand around, “brain decided analyzing life was more important.” Raising his cup, he paused when he looked at me. Setting it down he sighed. “Now I know I’m exhausted when I don’t even see a lovely woman in the room.” He smiled at me. “Welcome back, duchess.”

Daxx snorted. “Uh oh, you’re stuck with us now, you’ve been nicknamed by the royal flirt.” She pointed to Crissy, “meet cutie and I’m kitten.”

I glanced at her with wide eyes. “I’m not sure about either of those, but I am most definitely not the duchess type.”

She laughed again. “Says the woman who was texting me from her pent-house.”

“As entertaining as all of this is, could we please get to the reason we were called here? I have a few leads I’d like to look into before this day is done.” Victor said sounding annoyed.

“Oh my gosh.” Crissy’s head popped up and she looked at me. “I think you were the baby I saw.” She looked to Victor and then Daxx. “I told you, after my text about it.” She exhaled a loud breath. “It makes sense now.”

I know my mouth was open, but I honestly didn’t know what to make of that. I glanced to Daxx and then Rafael.

He shook his head. “It gets easier.”

Mitz came in with an urn and set it on the table and then brought a cup to Crissy. “Just give a shout if you need anything. I have to get the kitchen straightened up after being away.”

“Thank you, Mitz.” Troy said and then sat down and motioned to the others to sit. “First, Alona spoke to the man that’s been following her and brought back something interesting.”

Rafael picked up the card and held it out. “He gave her a card and told her to call the number if she wanted to work with others like her.”

“You’re serious?” Chase said over his cup. He glanced at me. “You what, just went up to him and he gave you a card?”

I nodded. “I wanted to know why he was following me, so I asked.” I motioned to Rafael. “Rafael was there in case I required aid.”

Chase gave his brother an odd look for a few moments. “You thought that was a good plan? Put her in reach of someone like that?”

“I warned her how far to stay from him, and I was literally five steps away, watching the entire time.” He defended his choice.

Chase’s jaw clenched, but he inclined his head and then took a sip of his coffee without speaking.

“I can’t believe they’re handing out cards.” Quinton said, pausing a sandwich halfway to his mouth. “Is there just a number?”

Michael snorted. “No, brother it says to find us follow the trail of bread crumbs. Of course, it’s just a number.”

“Can we trace the number?” I asked. I didn’t know much about such things, but it was in the movies often enough.

“It will most likely be a cheap burner, but we can try.” Michael said, then glanced to Troy.

“I’m guessing if it’s not Alona calling, the call will be dropped and the number will vanish.”

“Are you saying we need to use her as bait?” Chase all but hissed at his brother.

Michael gave him an odd look. “No, I’m saying if they’ve been following Alona, gave Alona the card, if it’s not Alona on the other end of the phone it becomes a new dead end.” He huffed out a breath. “I know we woke you, but stop being like a bitchy fifth grader.”

Chase glared at him. “I am nothing like a child.”

Rafael chuckled quietly beside me. “You know being an only child sounds appealing sometimes.”

Shaking my head, I glanced to him briefly. “I can’t say these many siblings would have been welcomed, but being only one is quite empty at times.”

“Let’s just come back to the card and what we’re doing about it. If she calls him back too quickly, they will be suspicious, at least I would be after having to chase her down.” Daxx suggested softly. “I want to know what Criss saw. She’s put us in the right place at the right time before, I have faith that wherever she saw is where we need to be.

Victor nodded. “Your thoughts about the card seem most likely.” He placed his arm around Crissy’s shoulder. “Tell us what you saw, heart.”

She smiled up at him. “The card, well, it was a piece of paper with numbers to me, but they are the same numbers.” She tapped her notebook, “I wrote them down before I left the tower so I wouldn’t forget.”

Victor kissed her forehead. “You never forget anything.”

Crissy sighed, “that’s true. I thought I’d seen Alona’s eyes, only it wasn’t hers, which is good, because they looked angry and hollow, can eyes look hollow?” She frowned for a moment, “but they were the same other than that.”

Everyone turned to look at me. I didn’t know what that could mean. “My eyes always look like they are now, as far as I know. Perhaps a little less confused, but the same.”

“I don’t think she was seeing your eyes, but a relative with eyes the same.” Michael offered and then tapped the papers he’d been carrying. “I was searching empty offices because I found out about your father.” He glanced to Troy, who nodded. “In the time during the transport ban, we only had one male go over and not return,” he held up his hand before anyone could speak. “Yet, the serial number on his transporter has been used since then.”

“What does that mean?” I put my hand on my chest, not sure if I wanted to know more. My heart was already speeding up.

“He went over looking for your mother and didn’t come back for months, but the transporter was not returned, and then it was used a few years later.” Michael rubbed and hand over the scar on his face. “In the chaos of the ban and preventing the sickness from spreading over here, somehow it was completely overlooked.”

“Didn’t we lose several of the guards that monitor the landing rooms to the sickness?” Arius asked with a solemn tone.

Victor nodded. “We did. They were exposed when others came back and exposed them. It was a few weeks before we knew it had happened.”

“That would explain not keeping track of all the devices.” Chase said quietly, but his eyes didn’t leave me during the whole conversation.

“What…what your saying is my father did apply to go back, and went to find my mother.” I could barely form a sentence. Everything I thought I’d known was wrong. “My mother left the city, she left word with the building caretaker, for when he returned…” I covered my mouth with both hands and stared at the table before me. He had returned. The room was silent, no one spoke or moved. I tried to process the fact that my mother had died waiting for a man that couldn’t find her.

I looked back to Michael. “You’re certain it was him?”

Michael nodded. “It is the only application for a male to bring his true mate to Alterealm.”

“And his name?” Was this really happening? Was I going to finally know after this long what my father’s name was? I had asked my mother many times and each time I did it caused one of her depression periods, so I had given up asking. Even as young as I was, I somehow was able to grasp that it hurt her to speak his name.

“Levi.” Michael said close to a whisper.

I covered my mouth with a shaking hand. “I need a moment. Excuse me.” I pushed back from the table and went out the closest door. I found myself standing in the long hallway they had brought me through when Crissy had spontaneously hijacked me to this world. I just stopped and stood there looking down the long hallway. My father’s name was Levi and he had wanted my mother, maybe he would have wanted me also.

I felt someone come up behind me. “Alona?” It was Daxx. “I’d ask if you were all right, but I understand the shock all this must be.”

A tear rolled down my cheek. “I thought my mother was insane and made up this story to make it acceptable that she’d conceived me out of wedlock.” I wiped the tear away. “I’m normally not the weeping type.”

She stepped around so she could see me. “I’d be bawling my eyes out if I were you.” Her emotions were genuine. “I didn’t know either of my parents.” She tucked her hands in her pockets and I was thankful she wasn’t the hugging sort, or I would have crumbled completely. “I would give anything to know why they gave me up.”

I nodded. “I, at least, had my mother for ten years.” It wasn’t much, but it was more than she had. “I can’t go back in just yet.” I cleared my throat and tried to compose myself. “Is there a chance he’s alive still, is that what they were getting to?”

“I’m not sure, but if Crissy saw his eyes, then I would say there’s a chance.”

Closing my eyes, I exhaled slowly. “This is so overwhelming.”

“I understand that. I grew a tattoo on my back out of nowhere one day, and then five years later I find myself here as the prophesized huntress and queen of Alterealm.”

My eyes popped open and I looked at her, even more surprising was she was telling the truth. “I suppose you understand quite well then.”

She nodded and then smiled. “Someday I’ll tell you the whole story.”

“There’s more than that?”

With her eyes huge she nodded again. “Yep and some days I still don’t believe it happened.” She pulled up her sleeve to show me her mate tattoo. “But it’s not like I could forget.”

I found the crushing pressure on my chest easing. “I’ll be sure to have plenty of wine on hand.”

She snorted. “A few shots of JD would help too.”

Taking a deep breath, I exhaled slowly. “Thank you. You would think with my age, I could take news like that in stride, but it swamped me for a moment.”

“I’ll throw you a life preserver anytime.” She grinned. “How old?”

I exhaled sharply. “Ninety-eight, and I hate saying it out loud.”

She laughed. “Yeah ’cuz you look soo old.” She rolled her eyes. “At first glance, you look twenty-nine, tops.”

I frowned. “Really? That’s depressing.”

Motioning to the dining room, she smiled. “I’m really anxious to find out where Crissy saw. It usually means I get to go kick some ass.”

I turned to go back in. “You fight with the men?”

“Damn right I do.” She went back in the room.

“Interesting.”