Page 16 of Doran

“Yep, that’s me.”

He peered around me, his lips turning down when he saw only Sweetie.

“Where are the kits?”

Well, crap. No one had told him.

“They’re coming to join us once the house is ready for them,” I replied brightly, trying to not show how much I missed them. “They’d said it would take two weeks for the house to be built.”

His expression cleared. “Ah. Yes, well, they just finished the private residence and shared public rooms part and will be done with the tenants’ rooms by this evening. So, once we put the things you brought inside, everything will pretty much be ready. Kelran is having the guest room furniture delivered this afternoon, and my brother and I will put together the beds and hang the curtains once they’re finished.”

“What remains to be done for them?” I asked, curious.

“Bathroom sanitary ware and its plumbing, as well as adding the light fixtures.”

“Oh. If I’d known, I’d have gone ahead and brought the kids. I wasn’t expecting it to be finished until next week.”

He nodded. “Bob had the machines run all night, which he doesn’t usually do due to potential noise disturbance, but the sheriff and his family will be our first lodgers, so it became necessary. They have yet to decide on their house.”

“Well,” I said with false cheer as I followed him to where workers were unloading our household goods onto trailers with some sort of open topped truck thing pulling them. “My parents will be bringing them, and I thought we could have a small wedding while they’re here. Just us and the kids and my parents and I guess your brother, unless you have more family who will want to come.”

He nodded. “My sister and parents would like to be there, I am certain.”

“Great. Then, um, we can decide where to have it. Our backyard or living room maybe? I want it to be simple. And is there a justice of the peace or whatever who can marry us?”

“I do not know what that is, but I will ask Khaelor. He will know if we need the priestess or if Johree can perform the required ceremony.”

Priestess?

“I don’t want a priestess,” I blurted out, imagining an alien religious ceremony that would push Mom into asking why the colony didn’t have a church with a pastor who could have married us instead.

Doran merely nodded and helped me into one of the truck things. “This is my flitter,” he said, handing me Sweetie. “We’ll go as soon as everything is loaded.”

I nodded. Our furniture and other belongings had made it to the Fleet in time to be loaded onto the Silver Horizon. It was all good quality stuff, purchased while I was still married to Harold, so I’d not wanted to leave it behind. I’d purchased new sheets and lightweight quilts for the beds, though during retail therapy with Tyrone. I’d also picked out the curtains I'd wanted, which Xero had forwarded to Bob, who’d placed the order with the general store. The quilts were actual patchwork ones, purchased from a small store which sold handicrafts. I’d gotten one for my bed, and one for each of the kids’ beds.

Mine and Doran's bed, I corrected myself. And the week is half over, so pretty soon we’ll be getting busy in it.

My cheeks grew warm at the thought, and heat pooled in my belly. There were going to be zero problems in the bedroom department, at least. Not from me, anyway.

10

DORAN

The lack of scales, tail, and wings did not diminish her beauty in the slightest. In fact, she was the most beautiful being I’d ever seen. My feet had hurried towards her as soon as I’d entered the customs area and spotted her, as if drawn by a magnetic force. That pull only became stronger as traces of her scent filtered through all the dust, oil, and metallic smells that filled the area. She was most definitely my star-granted mate, and I was determined to make her the happiest female alive.

“I hope the bots got everything right,” I said nervously as I drove the short distance to our new home. My gums were tingling and I probed them with my tongue. My venom sacs felt tender to the touch, the glands that fed them swelling in preparation. Soon they’d be full of mating venom, and wouldn’t go down until I’d claimed her.

She glanced up from where she’d been staring at the canine in her lap. She’d done that since the moment I’d handed her the animal, her flushed cheeks slowly fading. Had it been embarrassment over some imagined slight to me over refusing the priestess? Or merely shyness at finally meeting the stranger she found her and her kits’ future suddenly tied to?

Our kits, I corrected myself.

Her mouth hung slightly open now, her eyes shining as the smile that suddenly wreathed her face made it to her eyes. Her beautiful, beautiful brown eyes, which got the most adorable little crinkles in the corner when she smiled like that. I found myself wanting to see her do more, just so I could stroke her face and trace every single one of them. Now was not the time for that, however. We’d only just met and it was far too soon, despite our week being nearly half over. I was willing to wait to the very last hour if that’s what it took to make her comfortable. I’d have agreed to wait past that and let everyone assume we’d consummated our mating, but biologically speaking, that was a bad idea. Not only because of the primal mating urges I’d started experiencing, but our scents would give us away to anyone who came within an arm’s reach of us, other than perhaps a human.

“It’s better than,” she breathed as we came to a stop. “Oh, just look at it! And it even has a darling little sign over the porch with the name of it, shaped like two dragon wings!”

“Or Dragonii wings,” I offered, letting mine free with a grin as I alighted from the flitter.

“Oh, wow,” she replied, looking at my wings in what could only be awe. “Seeing Prince Johree’s on the TV was one thing, but up close, they look even more magnificent.”