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Brydis would have smiled if he wasn’t thinking the same thing himself.
Chapter37
Diane’s door flung open, and Jill’s friend stared at her in wide-eyed disbelief before hauling her inside the apartment and into a tight hug.
“Oh, thank fuck, Jill. I’ve been watching all the craziness that’s being going on and when I heard of the explosion…” she shook her head in bewilderment. “I was so worried.”
“I’m okay,” Jill assured her in a whispered rush, “but I can’t find Agor and Brydis. I was separated from them and the other Geminidae I went to port with and now the whole area is sealed off while the Geminidae faction holding it waits for response in negotiations from Rhapsody officials. It’s a nightmare. I didn’t know where else to go. You also now owe the transport twenty-five fifty,” she added, hooking a thumb toward the driver looming behind.
Diane’s concerned gaze didn’t stray from her for even a moment as she fished out her credit and scanned it over the driver’s pad before sending him away with a dismissive flick of her fingers.
“You did exactly the right thing.” She assured her. In the next moment, her lips thinned. “You do realize that this incident has suddenly opened up options for you, right?”
Jill’s brow furrowed in confusion, and she shook her head. “I don’t understand.”
Diane grasped both of Jill’s hands in hers and looked earnestly into her eyes. “You can leave. Because of the sudden conflict, Earth is issuing return visas for anyone who has been here under the six-month health allowance. In fact, you get priority consideration to settle on Mars.”
“What?” Jill slowly pulled her hands away and stepped back as she shook her head in denial. “I can’t just leave.”
“Sure you can,” Diane murmured and, at a masculine sound of protest, issued a sharp look at the two Geminidae males who had crowded into the living room with them. Though their wings remained fluffed in agitation, they quieted as Diane’s attention returned to her. Meeting her eyes once more, she smoothed back the curls hanging wildly in Jill’s face. “You said so yourself that you came here just to get a chance for something better. Earth is practically handing you that. Think of it—Mars! You could start over and not only been on a warmer planet but have a chance at a much better life than the one you came to. You have nothing compelling you to stay here.”
Jill regarded her friend in shock. It was surprising enough to know that Earth was even extending such an offer to evacuate as many humans caught in a vulnerable position as possible with the infighting between Rhapsody City and the Geminidae. Diane was right—it was a huge opportunity. Settling on Mars had been beneficial and even profitable for so many people. If she’d been offered that opportunity at any time in the course of her trip to Ganymede, she would have snatched it up immediately. She might have even been able to persuade herself to do so over the weeks she’d waited in Rhapsody. But now?
She shook her head mutely.
She couldn’t. There was no way she could leave.
“You don’t understand. I can’t leave. I can’t leave them,” she clarified in a choked voice.
Diane’s head tipped as she peered at Jill speculatively, but she shushed her males as they suddenly began to talk at once. “That’s pretty strange coming from someone who was so reluctant to admit wanting to spend her life with a Geminidae pair. You always insisted that it was just impulse—something that was compelling you and tugged at you constantly. If that is all it is, I think enough thousands of miles would finally quiet that.”
Jill’s jaw hardened, everything within her screaming in denial even as her heart clenched painfully nearly to the point of shattering at the thought of never seeing her mates again. It wasn’t just an alien thing or something that she was thrown into due to unfamiliar alien customs and instincts.
“I love them,” she whispered. She lifted a hand and swiped at the touch of scalding heat on her face and was almost surprised to find that tears were falling freely from her eyes. Wiping her eyes, she looked at her friend imploringly. “I love them and right now, I feel lost without them. I haven’t been able to feel their taliazon since the explosion, and I don’t know what to do. All I do know is that I’m not leaving them. I want so much more of the life I’ve begun with them.”
The smile that suddenly bloomed on Diane’s face was all the warning she got before she was dragged into the other woman’s arms again and squeezed tightly.
“You have no idea how glad I am to hear you say that,” Diane whispered fervently into her ear. “You deserve all that happiness, Jill. I’m so happy that you finally opened yourself to the possibility and allowed yourself to fall in love.”
A choked giggle escaped Jill and she leaned heavily into her friend’s embrace. “I still have no idea what to do.”
Drawing back, Diane steadied her and gave her a conspiring look. “Well, you did say that the Geminidae are holding the port while they await negotiations. It just so happens that I have my own pair of mates right here who can do far more than we could.” She glanced over at her males, her smile growing as they looked at her devotedly with more than a hint of possessiveness.
“You would have us bring another avrhast pair to our home?” a bronze male with orange plumage drawled.
The hard note in his voice didn’t seem to faze Diane who responded with a teasing smirk. “I expect you to mount a heroic rescue and reunite Jill with her beloved mates—males who aided us in coming together, I would remind you. And I know that you will because you love playing hero and receiving all the rewards that comes with it, Finity.”
The males rumbled in response, the green one pushing closer toward the other’s side. They exchanged a look and at the nod from the green male, the bronze male inclined his head in turn as he drew back in the direction of the door. “You are correct on all counts. I do not like the idea of having other males inside such a confined place as this rather than guests in a proper rookery, but we will do it all the same. For you. And out of respect and gratitude for the males and their mate,” he uttered as he tipped his head in acknowledgement in Jill’s direction. “Indeed it pleases us that she wishes for a true union with her mates. It gives me hope that you will cease playing your games and finally be persuaded to leave this place for our rookery.”
Diane stepped closer to him, her head tipping back as she looked up at him and ran a finger down several long feathers of his wing. “A loving reunion of mates might make me sentimental enough to be persuaded,” she murmured.
“We will return with the males. Will be in contact by comm if any problems arise,” Finity growled as he dropped his head in a brisk nod and swept out with his twin on his heels.
Jill watched them leave in confusion and stared at the shut door for several minutes as she tried to work out exactly what game was being played out before turning a curious look on Diane.
“For all of your ‘embrace the romance’ attitude, I never would have believed that you would wait so long before flinging yourself into a life with a pair of males devoted entirely to you.”
Diane grinned slowly. “Oh, my reticence is mostly for show. It keeps them guessing and the spice alive between us since despite this whole taliazon mating thing, I’ve demanded to be convinced properly with the romantic courtship I deserve. Besides, they like thinking that they are winning me over. It’s our secret that I would’ve gone to their rookery that first day without complaint if either of them had just carried me off. Though it’s actually kind of sweet that they were so considerate of my feelings.”
