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She shivered slightly as the heat of our activities faded, and I pulled the blanket up over her.
“And for you?” I asked. “All of that is noble and grand, but there had to be a more personal reason.”
“Are you saying I’m not ‘noble and grand’?” She glared at me for a few seconds, and then her expression broke into a grin. “Yeah, you’re right. Ididwant to help restart humanity to help humanity. But I also wanted to be one of the people to do it. If humans were going to have a grand adventure, I didn’t want to miss it.”
“They couldn’t have chosen a better leader.”
Her eyes softened. “Thanks.” Then she yawned, her eyes widening in surprise as she clapped a hand over her mouth with a muffled, “Sorry.”
My hand stroked down her back. “The mating heat takes a lot of energy.”
“And here I thought it was the multiple orgasms,” she teased, laying her head on my chest right over my heart.
“Those too.” My lips twitched, and I continued to caress her back in long, slow movements. “Go to sleep, my soul’s breath. I’ve got you.”
She settled more fully onto me with a soft sigh and one last clench around my knot.
I followed her into sleep, secure in the knowledge that when we woke, we would be mate bonded.
Forever.
Vivv’s whole body jerked on top of mine, and I came awake as my knot shifted inside her in a ripple of pleasure.
“What is it?”
“Max says people are here. They fell from the sky on ‘long strings.’” Her eyes met mine. “They’ve got your mother.”
Frek. “Tell him to stay hidden.”
Vivv’s muscles tensed, and she eyed me warily. “Who is it?”
“I imagine the authorities have caught up to us.”
Loud voices teased at the edge of my hearing, my mother’s rising above the others. “No! You will not disturb their mate bonding! Have you no decency?”
“Mate bonding?” A booming male voice said with derision. “You’re the one without decency to say that a Zaarn coupling with an animal is anything like our sacred fated mates!”
“Definitely the authorities,” I whispered.
My mother was putting her entire political career on the line to protect us. My heart ached with old pain. To have spent so many years wondering if she cared only to find out like this that she did. It was both blessing and curse.
I shifted my hips, feeling the tug of my knot against the tightness of her entrance. “We’re still locked together.”
“How much longer?”
“I don’t know, precisely,” I said. The mating bond tugged within my chest with an awareness of her presence, but it hadn’t finished forming yet. The valoree trees still glowed, but the first touches of dawn tinted the sky overhead. We’d slept most of the night, at least. “But it shouldn’t be much longer.”
“I sure as hell don’t want to meet them lying down.”
I grunted agreement and sat up, pulling her legs around my waist so we sat chest to chest. Then I tucked the blanket around her, the thought of anyone else seeing her naked making me growl. “I can stand up like this, but the blanket might fall off.”
“Get me one of the shirts.”
I snagged it for her, and she let the blanket drop so she could push her arms into the shirt’s sleeves. When she sealed the front, the back fell over her ass, covering her from view.
Just in time.
A group of Zaarn strode into the clearing, led by a male I knew only from videos—Senator Glovar, my mother’s main political rival. He had a regal face and bearing that he used when addressing the public, but the disgust twisting his features at this moment left no doubt as to his true nature. He was a pompous ass who wanted to isolate Zaar from the rest of the seven sectors completely. As if Zaar ignoring the other alien species meant they’d ignore Zaar. Fool. The Grug would conquer the planet unless we had allies.
