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“Now we’ll just have to demonstrate that to command at the High Rookery,” Agor added drily. He smiled sweetly, however, when she glanced over at him in alarm. “It’s nothing to worry about. We just need to perform in front of officials so that they can see with their own eyes that matings between our species is, in fact, possible.”
“Wait. I feel like I’m missing something here.” Jill pressed her fingers to the bridge of her nose. “Are you telling me that there is an official standpoint regarding Geminidae-human matings?”
“Not official,” Brydis interjected with a sharp look toward his twin, who grimaced apologetically in return. His expression softened, however, in the next moment when his gaze turned back to her. From behind him, scarlet and gold wings unfurled and stretched so that they semi-closed around her, his warm feathers brushing against her skin as he cocooned her. “It wasn’t something that we wished you to feel anxious about when a quick meeting should be all that is required to settle any and all doubts,” he rasped.
“That there are doubts alone kind of makes me nervous,” she admitted, though she surrendered trustingly into his offer of comfort and leaned into his embrace. “What if they decide that we aren’t mated?”
Agor scoffed. “Then they are idiots, which they are not. They may try to save face and spin things so that they don’t appear so blatantly wrong, but they’ll see the truth of the matter. They’re already curious, which is why they tried to intercept us.”
Jill’s head shot up, her entire body stiffening. That didn’t sound good at all. “They tried to dowhat?”
Brydis hissed venomously at his twin, but Jill slapped his chest, bringing his attention back to her as he looked down at her in shock.
“Don’t be pissed that he’s telling me things that I need to know.” She narrowed her eyes up at him, wanting to look tough so he understood how serious she was and that she was in fact mad that they had decided to keep things from her, but quickly softened as he stared down at her imploringly. Sighing, she gave him an exasperated look. “I understand that you both feel really protective of me—and as far as I’m concerned, that’s great—but don’t try to hide important information from me. We are a team, and I need to know what to expect.”
“In all fairness, Ididplan to tell you so that you would be prepared. Just not quitethatway,” he muttered, darting a dark look to the male at her other side.
Her lips quirked as she watched the interplay between them. Life will definitely never be dull between the two of them. Whereas that might have felt exhausting to her before, she found that it added to their charm. They were lively and completely and honestly expressive with their feelings. It was refreshing to not be kept guessing even if there was something chaotic to all of it. Yet, just being with them—and perhaps due to the merger of their taliazon—she felt more alive than ever with them.
“Now… when did this attempted interception happen?” she asked, casting a quizzical look toward both of them.
Brydis ran a hand over his aquila in a gesture that looked so human that she nearly smiled with the memory of her own father wearing a similar harried look.
“Just as we entered the foothills of the mountains. The High Rookery is there—a grouping of several rookeries and outlier buildings for the command and the officials governing our territory. There are also several battlement complexes for avrhast bonded unmated males of the warrior class and rookery keepers attached to it, as well as complexes for the unmated females. These of course are built around common facilities used by the females and rookery keepers for their own work and training. That a small unit lifted off from one of the battlements makes it likely that a unit of warriors were purposely stationed there. They were waiting for us.”
“And we simply just outflew them,” Agor volunteered with a laugh.
Her eyebrows flew up as she glanced back and forth between them. She knew they were powerful but even that was difficult to imagine. “How—?”
Brydis shook his head with a look of fond disgust directed at Agor. “We didn’t outfly them. We disobeyed orders and had a significant lead on them, which made it difficult for them to apprehend us.”
The male in question shrugged his wings. “Same difference. Regardless, it was the right decision, and I fully agreed with it. When they approach us properly, then we can introduce them to our talia,” he bit off, his expression of casual amusement withdrawing to show a glimpse of menace lurking beneath it. He smiled cheerfully once more and hugged her with one long wing, dragging her closer to him so that he could wrap his arms around her. “All in all, you have a few days before you have to worry about dealing with them, since wingboys will be following all the proper procedures.”
“You do recall that you hated being called a ‘wingboy,’ right?” Brydis asked drolly.
“Of course. But I am a rookeried male now and don’t have a problem with giving the rest of them the moniker. Besides, we both know I was far from a model warrior. Which is a good thing because otherwise we never would have met our talia,” he added with a pleased smile. His hands skimmed down her back in a delicate touch as his claws lightly traced her spine. “Now that’s settled, and seeing that you are so enamored with your new home, are you ready to see more of it?”
“Seeing how I’m not exactly dressed to do anything else, that sounds perfect,” Jill agreed.
To her amusement, Agor didn’t seem to have any intention of releasing her from his embrace. Instead, he lifted her higher in his embrace and carried her as they headed toward one of the doors on the ground level.
“Agor!” she shouted around a giggle and was greeted with masculine laughter from her mates.
“You might as well not fight him,” Brydis observed as he followed them. “After being separated for so long, it’s impressive he’s set you down for as long as he has. It takes a while for rookeried males to find a balance between what instinct demands and what our responsibilities are. I may not struggle as much as he does, but I’m not immune to it either. As for your clothing—we will have it picked up with your belongings. During our flight here, I made the necessary contact, and we should have everything in a day or two.”
“I guess I’ll just get comfortable being practically naked around here then,” she joked. She peered up at Agor. “You guys did say that the rookeries were difficult to find, so it’s not like we’re going to have unexpected company, right?”
“Correct,” Agor murmured happily.
Her lips pinched thoughtfully as she relaxed into the gentle sway of Agor’s gait. “So what about the rookery keepers? I get that they learn all the responsibilities for upkeeping the rookery but what do they do with themselves until they are mated?”
Agor shrugged his wings. “Various duties around the High Rookery that utilizes their skills with management, construction, design, and so forth. They are placed in positions where they utilize practical application of what they learned until they mate. This is similar to how rookeried males, or rookery guardians, serve as warriors first for experience in patrolling, guarding, and so forth.” He dipped his head in his twin’s direction. “For all that Brydis loves that stuff when it comes to our own rookery, he would have been bored stupid doing the repetitive shit to the whim of superiors breathing down his neck.”
“Because having superiors of our war unit breathing down my neck—usually for something stupid you did—was all the more preferable,” Brydis retorted with a chuckle.
“Kept life interesting at least,” Agor agreed. “And this is the dining area,” he announced as the door in front of them opened and he stepped into the room beyond it.
Turning in his arms, Jill peered around the room curiously. It almost appeared as cylindrical as the main part of the rookery except that one side curved inward, following the shape of its shared wall like a bean. Like the main living space, it had a small hearth on the opposite side of the room and a modest table in the center of the room with a set of four chairs placed around it. Possessing the same dark stone walls, it was lightened a bit with the numerous lights placed around the room, including a main fixture over the table. There wasn’t a lot else, but it gave her plenty of ideas for ways that she might be able to work with it and make the space more her own and homier.
