Chapter Nine
Kodran stood by the enormous arched doorway of the room where Rosamund would be sleeping that night.
Rosamund didn’t know if she was pleased or relieved that the next part of the traditional Draell mating ritual called for her and Kodran to sleep in separate rooms.
Apparently, there was a very specific list of events in what the Draell called theLamori. The Lamori tradition, roughly translated by Kodran, was what happened after a woman proposed to a clan leader.
She could see the twinkle of amusement in his eyes as he said that. She snorted.
“That again? If we’re going to be technically correct, Dot-R proposed to you.” Dot-R was already in Rosamund’s room, with her hand pressed against a power panel on the wall, recharging herself.
“Not interested,” Dot-R said at the same time Kodran said with a grin, “She is a bit young for me, so I’m going to stick with the heart’s fire that I’ve got.”
“That’s very romantic,” Rosamund scoffed.
“No, the romantic part comes tomorrow.”
“What happens tomorrow?”
“I shift into my Draell form and fly you to our…there is no word that translates, but it is like a honeymoon cabin, where we—” he glanced back at Dot-R. “—spend a couple of days and…get to know each other.”
“I know what you mean!” Dot-R yelled. “Despite what my parental units think, I am not a child!”
“A couple of days.” She took a deep breath. “When we come back, will the medical part of your mission be done?”
He nodded. “Yes.”
“Then if I wanted to return to Agora, I could?”
A smug smile tugged at the corner of his full, sensuous mouth. “You will not want to. But yes, you could if you wished. But you won’t.”
“We’ll see about that.” Rosamund tried to sound stern, but failed. She leaned in and whispered to him, “Do not come and visit me in my dreams tonight.”
He bowed low. “As you wish. I will see you in the morning.” He turned and walked away, leaving her feeling achy and unsatisfied. She’d won, right? He was leaving her alone. He wasn’t trying to force this impossible relationship on her. For now.
Disgruntled, she showered and went to bed, where she tossed and turned for hours. Doubt gnawed away at her.
Kodran was hiding things from her – big, important things. And she was worried about that Draell woman with the scarred face and arms, and her child. She could not imagine Kodran hurting a woman and child – after all, he’d intervened on Agora and threatened a lion shifter who was abusing his family even when they were from a completely different species and had nothing to do with him.
But what were they so frightened of? Where were they now?
And why was Darfan so dead set against her being with Kodran? The Starcrossed Dating Agency’s sole purpose was to fix human females up with alien mates. Darfan, as CEO of the new branch of Starcrossed, would get an enormous bonus for any successful matings. So for him to be so adamantly against it, there must be a really good reason.
And…and…despite all that, the thought of flying back to Agora, or returning to Earth, without Kodran, made her heart throb painfully in her chest.
It felt like forever before she finally fell asleep. And immediately she woke up again and climbed out of bed.
No, this was a dream, because she was walking through the wall. And now she was in Kodran’s bedroom.
His room was much the same as his quarters on the spaceship, with the same enormous round bed draped in silvery silk, but here the floor was smooth flagstones. They felt chilly against the soles of her feet, and she thought absently how odd it was for a dream to be so detailed. She padded across to one of the gold-and-red woven carpets that were scattered across the floor.
Kodran was lying sprawled on his bed, naked. “What took you so long?” he asked her, sitting up with a grin.
“I told you not to do this!” she protested.
He gave her a mock-wounded look. “Do what? You said not to come to your room. It is you coming to me, and I did not cause it. You came to me because you wanted to.” A slow smile spread across his face. “And because you are welcome here.”
“Is this going to happen every night?” she asked him, pinching herself on the arm. “Ouch.”
