“Positive,” Becca assured her. “Besides, we’ve got a shuttle to catch. Are you guys going to stay here in the guest quarters at the HKR for awhile?”
Tess nodded and made a face. “For tonight, anyway. There’s no going back to the cabin. Not after Pierce…well, not right now. Not sure what I’ll tell my friend Di when I go see her.”
“So she’s getting better?” Becca asked.
Tess smiled. “Much. So much that she told me she didn’t want to see my face until I’d tied up any lose ends in Asheville.” She shrugged. “But there isn’t much to tie up, really.”
“Okay. Well I know Sylvan is still trying to get your ban from the Mother Ship revoked. There’s another council meeting today and I’ll call you before you leave tomorrow to give you the news.”
“All right.” Tess smiled but she could feel Garron’s growing impatience through their link. “Look, we’d better go.”
“Uh-huh.” Becca started laughing again. “All right. Go on, then. Have fun.”
“We will,” Garron answered for her. “Farewell, have a safe journey back to the Mother Ship.”
Before any of the others could answer, he was striding swiftly away, taking Tess with him. She waved over his broad shoulder and Becca, still laughing, waved back before she and her husbands went to find the shuttle that would take them home.
“That was rude you know,” she told Garron with mock severity even as he started to kiss her neck. “Very rude to just pick me up and carry me off like some kind of a…of a caveman.”
“But the cave was where we bonded,” he objected through their link. “I thought you liked the cave.”
“That’s not what I meant.” Tess giggled and then moaned when he found a particularly sensitive spot on the side of her neck.
“Then what did you mean?”
“Never mind.” She gave up, not caring about anything but being with him. “I’ll explain later. For now, just take me to bed. I think I want a little more ‘bonding time’ as Becca put it.”
“My pleasure, lin’del,” he growled softly through the link. “And soon it will be your pleasure too. I’ll see to that…”
Tess was sure that he would.
End
Epilogue # 1
"So they're all bonded and happy now?" Kat asked, taking another bite of strawberry delight cupcake.
"Perfectly. They couldn't keep their hands off each other." Becca grinned, remembering how Garron had carried Tess away almost in mid-sentence.
"I'm so glad." Sophie smiled and wiped pink crumbs off her nephew, Daniel's rosebud mouth. He was toddling everyplace now and he seemed to love Lauren's cupcakes as much as the rest of them.
"We didn't get to know them long but I'm glad they got together." Liv was holding her niece and nephew, Kara and Kaleb, one in each arm. Both of them were looking up at her with wide, wondering eyes. Kara's were ice blue like her father's and Kaleb's were green like Sophie's. It was too soon to tell about hair, though—they both still just had little blond wisps on the tops of their heads that hadn't grown out yet.
"These guys are adorable." Becca tickled Kaleb's cheek and he turned his wide green eyes on her. "Can I hold him?" she asked.
Sophie laughed. "Help yourself—just be sure you stay close to Liv when you do. I swear they scream bloody murder if you even take them across the room from each other."
"I'll be careful." Becca put down her cupcake and held out her arms for baby Kaleb. She noticed that his gaze went immediately to his twin sister when she took him. But when he saw that Kara was still within sight, he settled with a contented sigh into her arms and gave her an adorable toothless grin.
"Awww," look at that." Kat smiled. "He likes you."
"Yours are going to like me too if they ever come out," Becca said teasingly. "Seriously, how long until you're due?"
"I'm past due," Kat groaned and put a hand to her hugely swollen stomach. "Seriously, they're killing me."
Liv frowned. "Is that normal?"
"It is according to Sylvan," Sophie said, feeding Daniel another little bite of pink icing from her finger. "He says sometimes Kindred pregnancies can be prolonged for thirteen months or even a little longer."
"Ugh, don't remind me!" Kat exclaimed. "I'm so miserable. If it wasn't for Lauren and her baked goods, I don't think I could go on living."
"Where is Lauren, anyway?" Liv asked. "She just dropped off the cupcakes and ran. I hardly even got to see Ziza."
"Having a spa day with her mom, the lucky un-pregnant girl," Kat said. "Ugh, why has everyone had their babies but me? Why must I be so eternally pregnant? I feel like I'm carrying triplets or something in here."
"The tests would have shown that—wouldn't it?" Sophie asked. "I mean, you only got two flowers and they only heard two heartbeats, right?"
"I've been studying Kindred obstetrics and it gets complicated with Twin Kindred pregnancies sometimes," Liv said. "Sometimes there's a shadow twin."
Kat grew pale. "Don't talk about that! That's bad luck when I'm still pregnant!"
"Sorry, Kat-woman," Liv said quickly. "Let's talk about something else—you never told us where Tess and Garron are going to live, Becca."
"Well, I think they wanted to come back to the Mother Ship," Becca said, tickling the baby's cheek again to see his toothless little smile. "I know for sure they don't want to go back to the cabin where Garron, er, ate Tess's ex."
"As in killed him or actually ate him all up like the big bad wolf?" Kat asked.
"Ate him all up. Even his gun, apparently," Becca said. "And Tess had to watch the whole thing. She's over it now but she's not exactly anxious to return to the scene of the crime."
"Can't say that I blame her," Liv remarked.
"Well, they're bonded now," Kat said comfortingly. "So I'm sure Chancellor Terex will have to lift the ban on Tess and let her come back aboard."
"I don't know…" Sophie looked troubled. "Sylvan is trying but he says that the Chancellor…doesn't seem like himself lately."
"I wondered about that," Liv said darkly. "He seemed so strange when he came out of that coma."
"Well, I'm sure being in a coma changes you," Becca said. "I just hope he'll change his mind about Tess. I really like her."
"She seems like a sweetheart and I know Truth would like to have his younger brother near," Liv remarked.
"Well, we'll know soon," Sophie said. "I think Sylvan is talking to Chancellor Terex right now."
"Fingers crossed, everybody," Kat said. "But before you cross them, somebody hand me another cupcake. Chocolate this time, okay?"
Epilogue # 2
“But they’re bonded now—she’s his bride.” Commander Sylvan leaned across the large, smooth desk, his handsome face concerned.
“I understand that, Commander.” Terex/Ur put a suitably concerned look on his own face. “But I cannot reverse my ruling for one warrior without reversing it for many. We are not calling brides from Earth right now—how will it look to all the other Unmated Males if I allow…what was his name again?”
“Garron.” Sylvan appeared to be gritting his teeth. “Or, G’ron, now as I understand it.”
“Yes. Whatever his name is…” Terex/Ur waved a hand dismissively. “Anyway, how will it look if I allow him to bring his new bride on board the Mother Ship while all the other males are denied?”
Actually, Ur knew exactly how it would look—like one warrior was being favored over another. And the last thing he needed was a mutiny on his hands. He wanted the anger of the Unmated Males turned squarely on Earth, where it belonged—not on him.
“That is another issue we must discuss,” Sylvan said. “The Unmated Males are growing restless. The ones that are dream sharing especially—they want to claim their brides. We must start calling brides from Earth again.”
“But if we allow our own males to call brides, we must also support the claims of other factions,” Terex/Ur pointed out smoothly. “We must allow our Dark Kindred brother, who is dream s
haring with Senator Hastings’s daughter, to call his bride as well.”
Sylvan shook his head. “That, at least, shouldn’t be a problem. Tess—the same human female you refuse to allow back on the Mother Ship—actually met with the male who is dream sharing with the Senator’s daughter. His name is Six and he told her that he was not planning to call her after all.”
“What?” Terex/Ur could barely suppress his anger. He’d been counting on the conflict between the Dark Kindred and the senator’s daughter to boil over into a witch’s brew of anger and hostility. Only that morning Senator Hastings had placed another irate call to his viewscreen. He had assured Terex/Ur that if his daughter was taken, he would consider it an act of war.
“And I’m not just talking about a personal war,” he’d said, his face growing red with anger. “I’ll take it to the World Council and get it pushed through. You may have a mighty arsenal of weapons, Chancellor but the united governments of Earth have been developing some pretty devastating weaponry as well. And we have the entire planet at our disposal. We’ll knock you out of the sky!”
“Oh, I very much doubt that, Senator,” Terex/Ur had replied smoothly. “But have no fear. We are not calling brides from Earth…at the moment. Though if we start again, your daughter will likely be one of the first called.”
The call had ended with anger and vitriol on the senator’s part and satisfaction and glee on Ur’s. And now Sylvan told him the idiotic male wasn’t planning on calling his bride?
“When did this happen?” he demanded. “Why wasn’t I immediately informed?”
Sylvan raised an eyebrow at him.
“Why, Chancellor Terex, you sound upset that a global crisis has been averted. Senator Hastings is a powerful male on the World Council. If he called for war with the Kindred because his daughter had been taken…”
“Of course I’m not upset.” Terex/Ur tried to school his features into a smooth, blank slate. It wouldn’t do to have the fool of a Kindred suspect him. “I simply want to be kept informed of all such important happenings. It is your job to inform me, Commander Sylvan.”
“Which I am doing now, Chancellor Terex,” Sylvan replied icily. “But can we get back to the business at hand? We must start calling brides from Earth again before the Unmated Males mutiny.”
“Let them go to the Pairing House.”
“That is no longer a viable option. Most of the Pairing Puppets are broken and the technical team which specializes in their care has somehow been redeployed away from the Mother Ship.” Sylvan frowned. “I do not know by whom.”
He didn’t know because Terex/Ur had taken care to cover his tracks. He’d been very careful in the slow but regular decommissioning of the Pairing Puppets and the redeployment of the team that fixed them. And at the same time, he’d been stoking the fires of Senator Hastings’ rage. He wasn’t about to let Commander Sylvan ruin all his hard work.
“I’m sorry,” he said blandly. “But we are not calling brides from Earth right now.”
Sylvan frowned. “But the Unmated Males—”
“Will simply have to keep their shafts in their trousers a little while longer,” Terex/Ur said, frowning. “That is all, Commander Sylvan. You are dismissed.”
“But—”
“I said, you are dismissed. Is that clear?” Terex/Ur frowned at him.
Sylvan bowed stiffly. “Understood.”
“Good. Then leave my office. I have things to attend to.”
The other male turned without another word though his anger was clear in the stiff set of his shoulders.
Ur frowned as he watched him walk out of the office and the door swished shut behind him. Commander Sylvan would bear close watching. Should he expel him from the High Council? But, no…that would cause too much suspicion. Besides, Ur was a firm believer in keeping one’s enemies close.
In the meantime, he had more pressing matters to attend to. Such as how he could provoke a war between the Kindred and the humans when that fool of a Dark Kindred, Six or whatever his name was, had decided not to call his bride after all.
And yet…Terex/Ur steepled his fingers on his chest and leaned back in his chair, considering the possibilities. And yet, how often had a Kindred who had begun dream sharing with a female actually foregone the chance to call her voluntarily? After living among them for awhile—and living inside one of their bodies—he knew their internal drives quite well. Possibly better than they knew themselves.
If Six was being driven to call a bride, his urges to come and find her would be strong. In fact, the Kindred mating instinct was stronger than any other they had—even the will to live. That was evidenced by the stupid way a Kindred warrior would so easily give up his own life protecting or defending his bride.
So maybe…maybe this Six simply needed a push—a little nudge in the right direction. Of course, he might be worried that his need to call a bride would be construed as having illegal emotions, which would be grounds for termination on Zeaga Four. Ur knew all about that—he had been studying the Dark Kindred—or the Enhanced Ones as they called themselves—from the moment Senator Hastings came to the Mother Ship complaining that his precious daughter shouldn’t be claimed by one.
Terex/Ur tapped rapidly on his desk, raising the viewscreen. Rapidly, he placed a long distance—a very long distance—call to Zeaga Four. A blue screen appeared and a smooth, mechanical voice began to speak.
“You have reached the service of One, the Mouthpiece of the Collective. Do you care to leave a message?”
“No. I must speak to One at once.”
“That will not be possible. One does not take outside calls.”
“He will take this one. This is the Chancellor of the High Council of the Kindred of the Mother Ship.”
There was a pause in which Terex/Ur straightened his official robes. Then the blank blue screen dissolved and a Dark Kindred of around the age of Ur’s stolen body appeared on the screen.
One, the Mouthpiece of the Collective, was scarcely distinguishable from the machines he served. He was shaved completely bald and the top of his skull had been replaced by a clear plexi-steel cap which showed multiple wires and electrodes embedded in the pulsing pink and gray matter of his brain. In addition, both eyes had been enhanced with black ocu-scopes and his ears were thin silver fans, no doubt designed to collect low and high frequency sounds inaudible to the Unenhanced. A black plug emerged from one nostril and both arms had clearly been replaced—one was completely metal and the other ended in a claw. His mouth—which was the only unenhanced thing about him—was a thin, bloodless slit. He looked at Terex/Ur completely without emotion.
“Yes, Chancellor?” His voice was without inflection. “Why do you call on me when our factions have not spoken in many cycles?”
Terex/Ur leaned forward a little.
“I have a deal which I think may be beneficial to both our peoples.”
“You have my interest. Go on.”
“Are you aware that one of your number is dream sharing with a human female from the planet Earth? The planet the Mother Ship is currently orbiting?” Terex/Ur asked.
A slight frown creased the slit of a mouth.
“That is not possible. We of the Dark Kindred have foresworn ourselves of all contact with females. In addition, each of us is implanted with an emotion damper to curtail the need to call a bride.”
“Nevertheless one of your number—a male called Six—is dream sharing. It is causing…much consternation among the humans who inhabit Earth.”
“Six, is it?” One nodded. “That would explain much. He came to us as an adolescent instead of being grown in the artificial womb tubes. Perhaps his emotion damper has finally begun to fail.” He looked at Ur. “What do you wish me to do about it? I refuse to have him purged without adequate proof. He has become very useful to me—a protégé of sorts.”
“No, no, no—I do not wish you to purge him,” Terex/Ur said hastily. “On the contrary—I wish him to come and claim his bride
.”
The thin, bloodless mouth creased into a frown again.
“Impossible. The Enhanced Ones do not call brides.”
“This one must,” Ur insisted. “The current political climate demands it.”
“I thought you said the dream sharing was causing much consternation? We of the Zeaga Four do not seek war with another planet.”
“What if the planet in question was rich in heavy elements needed for advanced circuitry?” Terex/Ur raised an eyebrow at the Mouthpiece of the Collective. “Not to mention that the humans are a genetic match with Kindred. There are billions and billions of fresh DNA samples waiting for you here.”
One frowned. “We collect many samples from the various sentient beings who visit our medical barges. But it is true that not many are suitable for genetic mixing.”
“All of the inhabitants of Earth are suitable,” Terex/Ur said enticingly. “And I can guarantee you free access to them. All you have to do is come and take them.” He raised a finger. “But it must be at the right time. First Six must claim his bride and bring her back to Zeaga Four for their Claiming Period.”
“Impossible,” One said again. “The Unenhanced are not welcome to the surface of our planet. She would have to be modified or enhanced in some way to step foot on Zeaga Four.”
“So much the better.” Terex/Ur tried to hold back a grin. “The more enhancement the better in this case.”
“What of her emotions? Is she a feeler?”
“I am certain she is—all these humans are.” Terex/Ur grimaced. “But do you not have special dispensations for such entities?”
One nodded slowly. “We do. But she cannot stay here indefinitely flaunting her emotions. It might cause…problems. Eventually, if she wished to become a permanent inhabitant, she would have to take an emotion damper implant.”
“Of course she would.” Terex/Ur could scarcely keep from rubbing his hands together in glee.
One raised one thin, pointed eyebrow.
“And this is the ‘deal’ you mentioned? I must allow Six to claim a bride and in return you will grant us access to the Earth’s natural resources and the humans’ DNA?”