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Eventually, though, Ulrek caught on. The little minx was doing it on purpose. “Just you wait,” he murmured, just for her ears. “I’ll have you bent over this table with your ass in the air before you know it.”
She shuddered and pretended not to hear, but the scent of her arousal filled the air.
As they cleared the table in preparation for the final course, Delaney slid off his lap. She exchanged several glances with Tahra, and then cleared her throat. Everyone turned to her.
“I know it’s not customary for the female to give the male a mating gift, but I got one anyway because…well, I wanted to, so there.”
A gift? For him? In Tallean culture, it was the male’s job to shower the female with many gifts throughout their mating, starting on the day of the celebration, should the couple decide to have one. The traditions varied from planet to planet, colony to colony, but most lacked the formality and rigid customs of a human-style wedding.
Apparently, in human weddings, they danced after the food, not before, which did not make sense to him. Wouldn’t you want to work up an appetite?
“Is this some human custom I didn’t know about?”
Delaney shook her head. “I just really wanted to give this to you, and it happened to be delivered today, so…” She shrugged. “Here we are.”
She and Tahra went to one of the doors and opened it. Ulrek smelled it immediately: the intoxicating fragrance of kima flowers. They wheeled out a gorgeous potted specimen in full, magnificent bloom.
There was a chorus of “ooohs” and “aaahs,” but Ulrek couldn’t make a sound as the scent filled his lungs. This scent encapsulated all the happy memories of his youth. He stood and stepped toward the plant, joining Delaney next to it.
It smelled even better here with her delicate perfume mingling with the flower, and instead of fixating on his past, he looked to his future.
“Thank you.” He wrapped her up in his arms. “Thank you, my Star. This…this is perfect.”
Delaney looked up at him, her soft brown eyes sparkling. “I’m glad you like it. I just hope I can keep this thing alive.”
“I have complete faith in you.” He pulled her off her feet to nuzzle, and she wrapped her arms around his neck. The nuzzle turned into a kiss.
“Hey! Mind the plant,” Tahra exclaimed, wheeling the rarity back a few feet to safety.
Ulrek was done waiting. He considered for a moment just taking her right here on one of the tables, but the next room over had nice soft couches and giant floor cushions. He guided her legs around his hips before releasing her from the kiss.
“Honored guests, please enjoy your meal. We’ll be back shortly,” he announced as he strode to the door with Delaney giggling in his arms. “I have a mate to please.”
Epilogue
Ulrek
Ulrek never thought he’d retire. He’d always expected to meet his end in a ball of flame. But these days, theRevengeno longer terrorized Dominion vessels. He’d considered gifting it to their son, Derek—a portmanteau of both his and Delaney’s names that was conveniently also a real name in her language of English—but there were better vessels now. TheRevenge, once one of the best ships credits could buy…or, in his case, steal… was now just another outdated ship.
No matter. It had served them well, and his crew were all set up to live out the rest of their lives doing whatever they pleased.
Even if Derek had wanted it, it would be a few more years before he’d be ready to run a ship of this own. He’d finished his schooling and was currently learning the ropes working on one of the other ships in Ulrek’s fleet—though the fleet technically wasn’t his anymore, but belonged to his holding company, New Horizon Corporation.
Delaney had insisted they not hand their son everything on a silver platter. Their offspring was going to work, she said, just like everyone else did, and when he proved himself worthy and inspired enough good males and females to work for him, then and only then he’d get a ship to captain. If that was what he wanted.
He found Delaney in the garden doing what she loved. She had lines on her face now, and her hair was streaked with gray, but she was still the most beautiful female he’d ever seen. It never failed to amaze him how lucky he was to have found her.
Next to her was a pair of rambunctious dragus pups. Some crazy human on Reka 5 had started breeding them years ago to help guard against wild dragus attacks. The pups had white patches on their fur and floppy ears, traits that differentiated them from their wild cousins.
Through their years of travels on theRevenge,they’d raised both dragus pups and Earth dogs on the rowdy ship. But for protection, dragus was best.
“How’s the garden coming along?” Ulrek asked as one of the pups—they hadn’t named the pair yet—started digging up a plant she’d just put in.
“No. Argh. Bad boy!”
Delaney scooped the creature up. It was huge in her arms, and when it struggled to be let down, Delaney had to let it go. It went right back to digging.
“Great, except they keep trying to ‘help.’”
