by M. K. Eidem
"And I've missed you," Dakota said, and as she held her daughter, she silently vowed she'd never allow so much time to pass without physically seeing her again.
Jamis and Taarig looked from their mate to each other, then slowly followed her down the ramp, scanning the area for possible threats.
"Jamis. Taarig." Dakota hugged each one as they stepped off the ramp. "It's so wonderful to see you. Welcome to Diter."
"Thank you, Dakota. It's an honor to be allowed to visit."
"Allowed?" Dakota gave them a fierce look. "You are my daughter's mates, which makes you family and Diter your home! You never need permission to come home. Now," Dakota wrapped an arm around Cali's waist and turned, "let's go up to the house. We can have some refreshments while we wait for Paul and Caradoc."
They'd landed their ship on a platform that seemed to hang out over a cliff with only a white, stone path connecting it to the land beyond it. The path wound through a well-tended garden filled with flowers and trees from across the universe. It led up to the terrace of a palatial structure.
"Dad and Father aren't here yet?" Cali questioned carefully.
"Not yet," Dakota said as she handed each of them a glass of wine. "Paul wanted to be here to greet you, but some last-minute problems at Wik Corp have delayed him."
"The Zolia matter?" Taarig asked, which had Dakota's eyebrows rising in surprise.
"Why yes," Dakota answered. "I wasn't aware Paul had discussed the situation with you."
"He and Dad talk constantly," Cali informed her mother as she eyed her mate. "Although I didn't know it had anything to do with the uprising on Zolia."
Taarig just shrugged. "It wasn't something I thought you'd be interested in."
"Something you didn't think…" Cali began.
"Only because it involved the boring and tedious details of housing and health requirements the miners were demanding to return to work," Taarig said quickly, hoping to ward off the fight he saw building in her glowing gaze. It had become one of his favorite things, raising his mate's ire so that he could exhaust it in bed, or against the wall, or in the pilot's chair, but he didn't think Dakota would appreciate him fucking her daughter on the terrace, not to mention Paul and the Paramount.
Cali's eyes narrowed on her mate but let it go, at least until they were alone, and looked back to her mom. "What about Father?"
"Well…"
"Caradoc will be arriving shortly," Paul said, walking out of the house.
"Paul." Dakota hurried over to her mate, who lifted her into his arms and kissed her.
"They always greet each other like that. Whether they've been apart a day, week, or month."
"If it's been a week or month, I do more than kiss my mate," Paul told them.
"Paul!" Dakota slapped his chest playfully but didn't deny it.
"So, I take it there is a secondary landing platform," Jamis stated, drawing the attention away from Paul and Dakota.
"On the other side of the house, yes," Cali told him. "It's large enough for multiple ships when the entire family is home. This one just happens to be Mom's favorite." Cali gestured behind her to where their ship was.
"I can see why," Taarig told her. "It's a beautiful approach."
"It is," Dakota agreed, holding Paul's hand as they returned to the table, and she handed her mate a glass.
"Hmm," Paul hummed, taking a sip looking at Cali. "This is some of the wine you sent us from Earth."
"It is. We had to search for something close and finally found it in Iowa at an Amish Colony."
"Those still exist?" Dakota couldn't believe the religious society had survived for so long.
"In a few locations," Cali told her. "It was astonishing to see how simply they live when just an hour away is an ultra-modern city with a spaceport."
"Especially when they are aware of the rest of the universe," Jamis said, remembering how his and Taarig's appearance hadn't surprised them. "They just choose not to embrace it."
"Earthans can be stubborn that way," Paul stated, then looked up just as a ship came into view and flew overhead. "Caradoc's here."
"Wonderful."
While her mom sounded happy, Cali heard the determination in her voice. They all knew this meeting was going to be tense. After all, Cali hadn't had any contact with her father since he teleported off Star Base Twelve. It didn't take long for the Paramount to come striding out the same door Paul had.
"What is going on here?" Caradoc growled, causing Jamis and Taarig to tense and move to stand between Cali and her father.
"Now, Caradoc, don't be that way," Dakota ignored her mate's fierce scowl and kissed him, just as she had Paul.
"Don't think you can distract me this way," Caradoc murmured against her lips.
"I'm not trying to," Dakota denied as Caradoc set her back on her feet. "I'm just greeting my mate as I usually do."
"You neglected to inform me we would have visitors. You know how I feel about that."
"They're not visitors," Dakota argued. "They're family, and it's time for this nonsense to stop."
"Nonsense?" Caradoc growled. "Nonsense?! She threatened my mates."
"Only after you threatened hers," Dakota reminded him. "I'd hoped you'd realize this on your own and reach out to our daughter, but you haven't. So, I am. I love you, Caradoc, but I am going to have a relationship with Cali, Jamis, and Taarig."
"As am I," Paul said as he moved to stand next to Dakota.
"So, the question is, are you or do we exclude you from that part of our lives?"
Jamis watched Caradoc closely. He'd never heard of anyone challenging the male this way and their life span continuing. What he saw shocked him. Caradoc Wik'ax, the Paramount of the Zagreus, the most powerful and feared being in the universe, looked hurt.
"You…" Caradoc looked between his mates, "would do such a thing to me?"
"You'd be doing it to yourself," Paul told him. "You've always said you'd do whatever it took for the three of us to be happy, and this is one of those things. Cali is our daughter, our only female. She is also the first of our offspring to mate and with two males who can not only provide for and protect her but who I've come to respect greatly. You would, too, if you spent some time getting to know them instead of fixating on how you first met."
Caradoc's gaze slowly traveled over the five beings standing before him. His mates side-by-side in a united front while Cali's mates stood slightly in front of her, their energy surging, and he realized it was because of him. Because they thought he might harm their mate, his only female offspring, and the being he loved as deeply as his mates. It brought into sharp focus everything his mates repeatedly said over the last hundred years.
He was Caradoc Wik'ax, the Paramount of the Zagreus, but that didn't mean he was infallible, and in this, it seemed he'd made a grave mistake.
Slowly he moved toward his daughter, only pausing when Jamis’s and Taarig's energy ratcheted up to a level that many pure Zagreus were unable to achieve at any age. It reinforced just how wrong he had been and how he should have listened to his mates.
"I mean your mate no harm," Caradoc told Jamis and Taarig quietly. "She is my daughter, and while I've given you no reason to trust me, I vow on my mates’ lives that I will never intentionally harm her."
Since melding with Cali, Taarig and Jamis had learned just how sacred that specific vow was and how powerful. It had them relaxing and stepping apart so Cali could step forward.
Cali said nothing as her father eliminated the distance between them, then gasped as he dropped to his knees before her. "Father…"
"I must beg your forgiveness, little star. I over-reacted when I believed your life span was in jeopardy, then again when I learned I knew nothing about the males with which you'd melded. While I don't know what I did to cause you to turn against me, to me, you have always been my little star, and my life span will end before I allow anyone to harm you."
"Oh, Papa," Cali's eyes had begun to fill with tears at the endearment she hadn't hea
rd since she'd pushed her father out of her life and automatically used her childhood name for him. By the time he finished, tears flowed down her face, and she flung herself into the arms that always caught her, her face sinking into the crook of his neck.
"My little star," Caradoc whispered, tears running down his cheeks. "I am so sorry I attacked your mates."
"You only wanted to protect me," she murmured.
"I went about it the wrong way," he admitted.
"I love you, Papa," Cali pulled back so he could see the truth glowing in her eyes.
"And I love you, little star." Slowly they rose and drew apart, although Caradoc kept a hand on her lower back.
"Papa, I'd like to introduce you to my mates," Cali said, and there was no missing the happiness or pride. "Commander Jamis Dexxirs and Sub Commander Taarig Ynn."
"Former Commanders," Taarig reminded her, then he looked to Caradoc. "We resigned our commissions."
"I know," Caradoc told him. "While I may have stubbornly not contacted my little star, it doesn't mean I haven't kept track of what was going on in her life span. You both refused promotions that would have allowed you to become members of the Coalition Council. Why?"
"Because that would have put Cali under even harsher scrutiny than she was after the Marsala incident," Jamis told him. "Plus, she'd have to sell The Brink, which she wasn't ready to do."
"You put her needs first," Caradoc nodded his approval.
"Of course, she's our Lalla," Jamis told him.
"Then, as long as you do that, you'll never have a problem with me. Welcome to our family." After a long moment where the three males silently gazed at each other, Caradoc turned to Dakota. "Now, what is there to eat? I'm starving."
The meal was delicious and surprisingly entertaining as Caradoc and Paul told Jamis and Taarig about how the universe was before they were born. At the same time, Jamis and Taarig regaled them with stories of the battles they'd been in and what they'd discovered while exploring the universe with Cali.
"Really?" Caradoc asked, leaning forward on an elbow, resting his chin on his knuckles. "You actually saw a Floppy-eared Wupu?"
"On Cetune-12, yes," Taarig told him. "Why?"
"Because I believed them extinct after the planet’s last cataclysm; nearly three-quarters of the planet was decimated."
"How long ago was that?" Jamis questioned.
"Let's see, not that long ago," Caradoc thought back on it. "Two, three thousand years?"
Taarig choked slightly on his wine and wondered if he'd think two thousand years wasn't that long ago someday. "Well, it's a beautiful green and blue planet now, full of life."
"I'll have to pay a visit to Cetune-12 then. It used to have vast mineral resources that are rare in the rest of the universe."
"We ran planetary scans," Taarig told him. "We'll transmit them to you."
"Wonderful, perhaps we could travel back and explore it together." He looked around the table. "All of us."
"Umm," Taarig trailed off and looked to Cali.
"Yes, well, about that." Cali looked from her mates to her parents.
"What's wrong, Cali?" Dakota asked, reaching across the table to take her hand.
"Nothing's wrong, Mom. I vow." Cali squeezed her hand reassuringly. "It's just that we've decided that it's time for us to establish a permanent home."
"That's wonderful," Dakota said happily. "Have you decided where? I hope it's close by, although wherever it is, we'll always come to visit."
"We haven't quite decided on a planet yet, but whichever one we choose, we were hoping you could help us quickly build because… you see…" Cali sucked in a breath then quickly said, "We're going to have our own little star."
Absolute silence reigned around the table as Jamis, Taarig, and Cali waited for her parents’ response, and Dakota, Paul, and Caradoc tried to process how the universe had just changed. Dakota was the first to respond with a shriek of excitement that had the males flinching as she rushed around the table to hug her daughter.
"Oh, my Gods! My baby is having a baby! I'm going to be a grandma."
Paul saw Jamis’s and Taarig's confused looks and said, "Baby is an Earthan term for offspring, and a grandma is a female who's offspring has offspring." Jamis and Taarig nodded their understanding. "It also means we," Paul gestured to himself and Caradoc, "will be grandpas or grandfathers depending on which term you want to use."
"You look wonderful. How are you feeling? Have you had morning sickness?" The questions flew from Dakota, and Cali could only laugh.
"Thank you, and I've been feeling wonderful, not sick at all."
"Sick?" Taarig’s and Jamis’s concern-filled gazes both shot to Cali. "Why would you be sick?"
"It’s something that can occur when an Earthan female is with child," Dakota told them. "It's rarely life span-threatening, just inconvenient and uncomfortable."
"It was surprising to me as well," Caradoc told them quietly. "Dakota only had it severely with our first offspring, Krad."
"Which I'll always believe was because my body was still adjusting to our melding," Dakota said. "Cali shouldn't have that problem."
"I have been a little queasy," Cali admitted, much to the surprise of her mates. "Mostly when we're entering or exiting an atmosphere."
"Why didn't you say something?" Jamis demanded.
Cali just shrugged her shoulders, "Because it never lasted long, and I didn't want to worry you. You've both been so concerned since we discovered I'd conceived."
"This is something you should have told us," Taarig growled. "How are we supposed to care for you if you don't tell us there is a problem?"
"It's not a 'problem' just 'inconvenient' as Mom said."
"Still…"
"Enough," Dakota said and looked between Jamis and Taarig. "Cali's right. This is normal and nothing to be concerned about. And you, young lady," Dakota fixed her gaze at her, "should have told your mates. This baby is theirs too. They have the right to be included in every step of her or his development."
"You're right, Mom." Cali looked to her mates. "I'm sorry. I should have told you, and I vow I will when it occurs in the future."
"Yes," Jamis growled, pulling her into his arms, "you will."
"You should build your permanent home here on Diter," Caradoc spoke for the first time since Cali's announcement, and everyone looked at him in stunned silence.
"Caradoc…?" Dakota murmured questioningly. While all their offspring had been raised on Diter and were always welcome, Caradoc had allowed no other residences to be built on the moon, claiming it interfered with his ability to protect his mates.
"It makes the most sense," Caradoc told her. "Our daughter will need her mother during this time. I remember how much you wished for your own when you were with offspring. There is a beautiful location on the other side of Diter. So, you'd only be a quick flight away." His gaze shifted to his daughter and her mates. "It will also allow us to be involved in your little star's life span. If that would be acceptable to the three of you."
Cali felt her eyes begin to fill again and blamed it on all the hormones racing through her system. This gift she'd never expected. They'd only come to Diter to try and resolve their issue with her father, let them know about her condition, and hopefully gain their assistance building their home. Now they were offering them so much more.
"Taarig? Jamis?" she asked, looking to her mates.
Jamis and Taarig didn't even need to speak to one another. They both could see how much their Lalla wanted this, and as long as she was happy, they would be. Jamis, who was the unofficial leader of their triad, looked to Caradoc.
"We would be honored to accept."
About the Author
Michelle has always loved to read, and writing is just a natural extension of this for her. Growing up, she loved to extend the stories of books she'd read just to see where the characters went. Happily married for over thirty years, she is the proud mother of two grown children and a grandmother
of three beautiful grandchildren. You can reach her at [email protected] or visit her website at http://www.mkeidem.com for upcoming books.
Additional Books
Cassandra's Challenge: The Challenge Series, Book 1
Victoria's Challenge: The Challenge Series, Book 2
Jacinda's Challenge: The Challenge Series, Book 3
Stephanie's Challenge: The Challenge Series, Book 4
Grim: Tornians Book 1
A Grim Holiday: Tornians Book 2
Wray: Tornians Book 3
Ynyr: Tornians Book 4
Oryon: Tornians Book 5
A Grim Pet: Tornians Book 6
Ull: Tornians Book 7
Nikhil: Kaliszians Book 1
Treyvon: Kaliszians Book 2
Kirall's Kiss: Kiss Series Book 1
Autumn's Kiss: Kiss Series Book 2
Supreme's Kiss: Kiss Series Book 3
Foreign Language (Italiano)
Grim: Tornians Italiano Vol. 1
Una Grim Vacanza: Tornians Italiano Vol. 2
Wray: Tornians Italiano Vol. 3
Foreign Language (Françcais)
Le Baiser de Kirall (La série des Baisers T.1)
Le Baiser d’Autumn (La série des Baisers T.2)
Le Baiser Suprême (La série des Baisers T.3)
