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“Then you may sit,” Khalla bit out. Then her shoulders dropped with a long exhale. “They are not true siblings. They share no blood. Although rare, there is no taboo about this among our people. The bond ofstellarumcannot be broken by anything other than death. Alek and Nova will be together,” she said, like her word was law. And in many instances, it was.
Alek faltered back a step, reaching blindly for my hand. I reached up and entwined my fingers with his, pulling him closer until he sat on the side of the infirmary bed. The stiff mattress dipped under his weight, and I used his nearness to wrap my arms around his bicep.
“Thank you, Mother.” Alek dipped his chin, a sign of respect and gratitude. The bright med bay lights reflected on his silvery horns as he bowed his head.
“Yes. Yes, thank you!” I agreed heartily, using Alek’s arm to pull myself into a sitting position. His touch, his claim, ran so deep in my bones, my blood, my soul, that I couldn’t imagine a future without him now that I’d had a taste of his devotion.
“Nova,” Dad’s voice broke as he faced me, “are you sure? Is this really what you want?”
I sat up straighter, fighting my unease at seeing my dad so out of sorts. But there was nothing I could do to make him comfortable with this. He’d just need time to acclimate as he had when his job sent him away into the stars and Mom left us. Dad was tough, and he understood there were strange things beyond human culture, like his new bond with Khalla.
“We may have only just met, but there’s a lifetime ahead of us to figure this out. This bond runs deeper than anything else I’ve ever felt, Dad. Alek is mine, and I am his.” It felt right to claim him.
“Well,” Dad hooked his thumbs in his belt and blew out a resigned breath, “I have enough strategy training to know when I’m outnumbered and beaten. And Nova, you’re smart enough to know what’s best for yourself. If this is what you want…. I’ll try to give my blessing when I’ve settled down.” He acknowledged Alek then. “Until then, I’m sorry for what happened.”
“And I’m sorry for the—” Alek swirled his finger around his eye, nodding at Dad. Though a thread of male pride glinted in his shifting gold and blue iris. Enough for me to roll my eyes.
“Water under the bridge,” Dad waved off. His gaze flicked to me. “I seek your forgiveness too, Nova. I’m sorry for how I acted when I walked in.” The color drained from his face as he mentally relived the moment.
Red hot embarrassment scalded my cheeks. “Let’s just forget about that and move on, yeah?”
He made a gruff noise of assent in the back of his throat, then turned to Khalla. “I’m very sorry for my actions, Khalla. I don’t mean to disrespect you.”
She elegantly raised her hand to him. “You will make it up to me. Now come along, Hector. Alek’s suppressant won’t last for long, and he needs to get it out of his system or else this will be a very long, excruciating trip for all of us.” Then the senator bowed to me and Alek. “You both have my blessing. Goodnight.”
“I love you, Nova,” Dad said on his way out the door.
“Love you too, Dad.”
Alone with Alek, under the harsh med bay lights, I exhaled every ounce of the brittle air in my lungs. “Well, that’s not how I imagined that going.”
Alek leaned back on the bed with me, curling around me like a protective, oversized cat with his tail swishing over the blanket. “We’ve passed the danger. Now we can simply be together, starlight.”
“Good. I can’t wait to figure it all out with you. We’ll have hurdles to overcome. Our lives are very different, but I know we’ll find a balance.” I took his larger hand into my own and traced the pad of my thumb over the sharp point of his claws. “You’re mine.”
“That I am.” Alek kissed my temple. “And you are mine. My Nova, mystellarum, my starlight.”
Epilogue
7 years later
The sprawling planet of Endorn, the heart of our galaxy and home of the senators, featured gravity defying skyscrapers, streams of ships and speeders darting through the air, colossal gardens on balconies and rooftops with diverse plant life from hundreds of different planets, and massive windows that faced it all.
I’d left Earth six years ago after twelve excruciating months of figuring out long distance. Things improved when I moved into my first apartment with Alek on the Forest Moon of Endorn, but settling down in a new place always took time.
And Endorn had so much to see and do at all hours of the day compared to the forest moon we’d recently left behind. With a vast population of humanoids and aliens that numbered in the trillions, the city-planet never seemed to sleep, and the flashing lights never ceased.
Alek had won his senatorial campaign months ago, and we’d moved away from the Forest Moon and into a Senator Penthouse on Endor. Between the lights and Alek’s voracious appetite, I was exhausted and physically spent. More so when we celebrated his win and broke in every surface of our new residence.
He was familiar with Endorn; the galactic hub of technology, culture, fine arts, education, and politics. It was where he’d learned and flourished, gaining an understanding of all he could from Khalla in between frequent trips to the Dragaken home world.
So, he was used to the lights of ships flashing by at all hours. To no surprise, it took me several months to get used to sleeping on the city-planet after the move. I needed darkness to sleep, or I became an unpleasant monster. I thought I’d have to buy a sleep mask to find rest.
My first few nights were miserable until Alek revealed that the dimmer switch by the curved window walls in the penthouse fully blocked out exterior lights when turned all the way down. I would have slept for a full day with the window blacked out if not for my mate returning from a conference in the middle of the day and waking me up—he couldn’t help himself when he slipped into bed and found me naked under the blankets.
Since Khalla had retired, returning to the Dragaken home world with my dad, our days and nights were busier than ever. Between my job as Director of Holo-Communications and Alek’s role as Intergalactic Senator, our time was stretched thin with conferences, summits, forums, votes, and elegant dinners with whispered political alignments.
That never stopped mystellarumfrom making time for me or inviting me along to every event just so he could hold my hand—or show me off as he liked to put it. In turn, Alek attended my work events, purposefully caressing my ankles with the tip of his tail until I was a dripping mess by the end of the night.
