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And he loved her for that.
He loved her. And that realization brought a new, rich pattern to the taliazon that glowed around and between them. A look of curiosity and surprise crossed their mate’s face while Brydis eyed him speculatively before turning a fond gaze to her once again. He was certain his twin would get there soon with that realization. It was impossible not to fall in love with her. The taliazon made it easier and quicker to forge that connection with her, but he knew without a doubt that even without the taliazon, he would love her just as much. He’d boasted confidently of it before when speaking to Zherist but now he knew it in truth and in his hearts that he would have been able to fall completely in love with her even if she’d been incapable of taliazon.
She was the essence of the dual hearts beating in his chest. Because of that, he would destroy anything that tried to take her from him or harm her in a way. He vowed it quietly to himself as she smiled up from the antics of one of the pups in delight, her loosened hair falling in wild brown curls around her face.
How he loved her.
Chapter28
Jill smiled to herself as she pushed the egg around in the pan. The aroma of it frying in the hot butter—such a ridiculously simple thing that she’d experienced nearly so often—was oddly satisfying to her. But then it didn’t take much to put a smile on her face as of late. Despite her conceived need to be in control, having the decision taken from her thanks to the instinctual needs that came with the alien taliazon was probably the best thing that could have happened to her. It relieved from her the burden of being responsible for making the right decision and the worry about making a mistake in choosing wrong. There had been no choice to agonize over, and it was liberating. And because of that, she was actually happy and not just struggling to get by day after day.
It was a strange thing, but she didn’t regret it. It was impossible to when she had a pair of mates that fate just handed her who were devoted to making her happy—even going as far as approaching the nearest farm and purchasing butter and eggs despite their own revulsion over the idea of consuming them. Well, Brydis went in a rare change of roles since typically he was the one who remained home with her, but even Agor acknowledged that his twin has better social skills when it came to certain niceties. Chuckling softly to herself, she side-stepped Duke as he chased one of Waylo’s discarded feathers past her ankles. The elder grifalc made a wheezy sort of huffing sound as the pup’s antics strayed too close, but Waylo simply flapped his wing, sending the feather skittering in another direction as Duke shrieked and ambled after it.
She supposed she should have expected that they would consider it odd since their species apparently were hatched, but Agor curling his lip at “eating the unborn” had been so comical that the memory of it didn’t fail to amuse her. Yet, despite their initial reluctance, it surprisingly didn’t take them too long to come around to the idea once she started cooking them. She’d been more surprised that Geminidae didn’t really have a true breakfast meal. Introducing them to human breakfasts had been her pleasure and one that quickly landed her on breakfast duty, which she honestly didn’t mind.
She liked contributing in the kitchen since Agor and Brydis orchestrated the other meals without complaint. While eggs were the first offering that they discovered pleasure in, that was quickly followed by oatmeal, pancakes, and French toast with some thick slices of leftover Geminidae bread. Another trip to the farm procured bacon and sausage, which both males proved to be a huge fan of. Despite that, as of late, she’d been working to incorporate Geminidae foods into their meals, which had proved to have interesting results. Often in a good way. Especially when it came to the spices.
Sprinkling a spicy powder over the eggs, she grinned triumphantly as she plated them. The spicy powder—the name of which she could never seem to quite remember—had quickly become her favorite among those she’d found in the kitchen, and one that happened to be particularly delicious on eggs. She set thick slices of bread of Geminidae loufal grain on the plates. Everything on the plate was a perfect medley of flavors from both cultures even down to honey that she drizzled over the bread, courtesy of the engineered bees being reared all over Ganymede by human farms.
Raw, organic honey, which had come to be an expensive commodity on Earth with the decline of suitable spaces for apiaries, was shockingly in ready supply—and with it bottles of mead that had been plentiful in Rhapsody. This was all due to numerous hives kept planet wide. Since there weren’t any native insects on the terraformed moon-planet, each farm was required to have a designated apiary to keep plant life, and the farms especially, producing. In result, the honey was one hell of a pleasant pay off in exchange that seemed to particularly delight Geminidae tongues.
At least that much was a reliable export back to Earth for the farmers, though the large quantities available would probably not fetch a significant price. Perhaps they could find a competitive market among the Geminidae to bring up Earth’s prices to something fair. As it was now, everything was determined by the marketer at the port who inspected and bought product for the Earth market. Everyone on Ganymede was subject to whatever price was set.
It wasn’t fair that Earth set the prices, but unless all Ganymede joined together, she didn’t see anything changing. Even many among the higher ups in Rhapsody—those who did not own their own interests—were stationed there as representatives of Earth’s interest.
As she tightened the lid on the honey jar and put it back in the pantry, a shiver stole over her as she felt the shift and swell of the taliazon, indicating the approach of her mates. It was such a pleasant feeling that she stood there for a moment and allowed herself to drift in it only to be jolted to the present when warm wings folded around her and Brydis’s nose buried against her neck and the heat of his lips stroked over her skin as he pressed a kiss there.
“Good morning, talia,” he murmured.
Jill turned in his embrace to press a kiss against his smiling lips in return. “Good morning. I trust you’re hungry.”
“Always,” he rasped. “But it will have to wait. You’ve gone through so much trouble that I believe I would very much enjoy the morning meal you’ve made too.”
“Uh huh, I just bet. Well, let’s see to the stomach first and then we can consider other hungers after we’ve digested.”
Snickering, she nudged him out of her way as she turned out of his grasp and made her way back to the counter where she pulled the lid from the warmer sitting beside the stove. The bacon she’d crisped was still as warm and fresh as they’d been coming off the pan thanks to that bit of technology.
“I believe I smell bacon,” Agor announced as he strolled into the room, his wings fluffing and resettling as they folded gracefully behind his shoulders once more. Peering over her shoulder, he clutched a hand to his heart in exaggerated joy that sent her into another round of laughter. “It is bacon! My love, how happy you make me… and you as well, talia,” he teased as he pressed a kiss to her temple.
“You and your stomach,” she chided playfully as she swatted him away. “Go sit down and we’ll eat.”
He gave her a charming grin as he dropped into the nearest chair and watched as she finished readying their plates. “It’s hardly my fault. You’re the one who introduced us to such foods. Before, we would have eaten whatever was left in the cold box from the previous evening’s meal. You have spoiled us—for which I’m eternally grateful, as I would be happy to demonstrate.”
He gave her a bawdy wink that was only half jest. She knew exactly how lustful the male was. Both of her mates seemed to possess an endless hunger for her that she never failed to reciprocate, her own desire matching the call of theirs. It was glorious and her belly clenched just a little at the tantalizing offer being extended to her. Although they’d made love well into the night and even upon rising, all it would take was a word from her and they would quickly make a second meal of her.
Fuck, it was tempting. Except the duties around the rookery never seemed to end. The sooner they got on them, then the earlier they could enjoy a quiet evening together. After a long day, she didn’t even miss the busy atmosphere and hubbub of the city. Tending to the kennels would keep her busy enough until Brydis called her in for the afternoon meal, after which she helped him tackle cleaning and straightening the rookery before retiring to the kennel again to feed the grifalcs their dinner. She’d even begun working with the older pups as she utilized the Geminidae network to learn commands. Jill had never considered herself possessing a particular knack for working with animals. She’d never even had a pet. Animals and children had just been things that she’d stayed clear of, but as she worked with the pups and watched them take to her lessons and grow, she caught herself more than once imagining what it would be like teaching her own children and passing down a mingling of cultures and traditions.
A movement in the corner of her eye drew her attention, and she smiled as Waylo stretched and stood with a low, raspy chirp of interest. He completely ignored Duke, who hurried excitedly after him in hope of a new game and rubbed his shoulder affectionately against her leg. Pressing her lips together in a kissy gesture, she dropped a greasy strip of bacon down to the grifalc, which he snapped up with considerable speed before prowling out of the kitchen with a twitch of his long tail.
“You’re spoiling him,” Agor observed with an amused shake of his head. “I hope that the entire kennel is not in similar condition.”
“You know it’s not,” she rebutted with a smirk, as she knew very well that he bragged about her work to Brydis. Setting his plate in front of him and then placing the other in front of Brydis, she nodded toward the fare. “Eat up. I know we all have a lot to get done today.”
Brydis nodded as he took a large bite of food and a look of bliss rushed over his face. “Very true,” he agreed upon swallowing. He pointed a fork toward Agor. “The sensors have shown that the flock has drifted higher up the mountain along the western boundary of our territory. You’ll be out there all day moving them.”
Agor groaned. “I swear the entire flock just enjoys testing me. It’s supposed to sleet today, too, according to the weather forecast.”
“Another rain is due to arrive,” Brydis agreed as he scooped up another mouthful. “I will be spending the morning inspecting all the closures and make sure that everything is locked down and ready.”
