“You will address her as magvedorsha,” the guard growled.
Elglor scowled. “Very well, magvedorsha. What do you want?”
A cold smile twisted her lips.
“I am here to pronounce your sentencing.”
Elglor heaved himself back to his feet and glared at his cousin.
“I am to wander Vrol in exile unless I find people to give me sanctuary. I know the laws as well as you, magvedorsha.” A bitter snarl twisted his lips but he refrained from speaking any further.
Goral tilted her head to the side, the jeweled net stretched over her skull glinting like fire beneath the sun as she chirped deep in her throat and then shook her head.
“I fear it will not be so easy on you. You have done far more than break our laws. You have upset the balances between our people and the spirits of our ancestors and those of Vrol. The elder seeress can confirm.”
Muttering under her breath, the seeress returned her attention to her bowl and twisted it in her hands, her eyes narrowed as she looked down at the signs revealed and then smiled.
“You speak truthfully, magvedorsha.”
An anxious hum rose up from the gathered Vrooduk people. Elglor, however, stared back with an impatient look of boredom.
“What does this mean to me? Exile me already so I may leave this city.”
“Oh, we shall.” Goral laughed. She stepped back and took one of Deena’s hands, extending her other three arms to grip the hands of other females until they were like a web of power.
Elglor blinked and for the first time Deena noted a look of concern on his face.
He was worried. He should be.
The chant began as a quiet singsong pulse of power from Goral as she bade the spirit of their mighty ancestors and of Vrol to take the debt owed in the torment of Malefekoigr. Goral’s magic flowed with an energy not unlike the mild warmth of spring. It was both alien and yet familiar to Deena’s senses as it drew her in. Perhaps Goral had been correct that there was some shared ancestor from a time forgotten.
The magic of other females began to wind through as the spell bonded the threads of power together. Her own magic slipped from her as she joined her voices to theirs. There was a pause as many of the females dropped the rhythm of the chant when her power merged with theirs, the weave surging uncertainly, but then their voices regained their strength, stabilizing the spell.
Deena was distantly aware of the deep growls of the males behind them, the ends of their spears striking the paving stones before the paliad. To her surprise, she could feel Oigr standing behind her, and she instinctively pulled some of his latent strength to add to his power. He stiffened for a moment but then relaxed and yielded.
His energy rushed into her, coursing through her veins. She worried, for a moment, that their combined power would run wild, obliterating the work of the spell. Refusing to allow that to happen, she gripped her power with all the strength of her will and bent it once again to her command. The spell swelled within their web, expanding and growing brighter.
At the other end of the courtyard, someone had opened a gateway on the dome, revealing the true vivid hues of the desert on the other side. A warrior prodded Elglor forward and the male fell to his knees.
“No, cousin, do not do this. I beg you.”
Goral did not respond. Her countenance did not soften for even a minute. Deena watched as the magvedorsha raised her arms and cast the spell with a sweep of her hands. The power severed from Deena as the spell ripped through the ether toward Elglor just as he was expelled from the city. It swirled around him in a maelstrom until it thinned and dispersed. Deena wondered if perhaps the spell had failed, until she saw it, the glimmer of the spell embedded like markings on his red flesh.
Then, there they were. The wind began to howl, and Elglor whipped his head from side to side, screaming as he saw the very things that Deena had witnessed. The door slid closed as the maddened Vrooduk ran into the desert pursued by the spirits of his torment.
Chapter 12
THE PALIAD WAS CALM now. Deena and Oigr had enjoyed a wonderful meal with the company of Goral and her mate Melglog. It had been sweet watching the siblings catch up on all the years they had been apart. Deena suspected Oigr of bending the truth a bit here and there so not to tarnish his sister’s idea of him too much. She could feel the guilt radiate through their bond.
Ever since she’d connected to his energy, she felt him on a deeper, more intimate level. Now, she understood what he’d spoken of, the delicate harmony between their spirits. It brought with it a completeness, and the stirrings of a true and lasting love that would grow over their lifetime together.
Goral led them down the corridor to one of the rooms she’d prepared for them. Her eyes darted to them continually as she tried not to smirk. Oigr glanced at his sister and sighed.
“Okay, out with your thoughts before they burst from your head,” he said with a grunt.
Goral laughed, her eyes crinkling up into pale yellow slits.
“You know me too well, brother. I was just going to say that you realize I take full credit for this.”
She swept her hand between them with a smirk. Oigr stared at her.
“How can you make such a claim? We created the bond.”
“True,” Goral conceded with a tiny nod, “but I hastened the final elements of the bonding. Well, everything except the final step,” she amended, making a face. “As much as I love you, I’m afraid that one you’ll have to do on your own. But for everything else, yes, I take complete credit and you may thank me by naming your first-born after me.”
“Goral...” Oigr growled in exasperation.
“Okay, at least name something after me. Really, you are no fun, brother. Just as serious as ever,” she said with a laugh.
They stopped in front of a large door, and Goral turned to them and gripped their hands in hers. “Have a most blessed and restful night, and may the spirits bless your bonding.”
She leaned forward and kissed Deena and Oigr on their cheeks before turning around, the voluminous fabric of her dress floating around her as she continued back down the hall. Deena turned to face Oigr. Desire and love shone in the depths of his bright gaze. He lifted a hand in a courtly gesture and bowed to her.
“Are you ready?”
He was asking for everything in that moment, and she was more than ready.
Her heart beat audibly in her ears and a shiver of excitement zipped down her spine. She reached forward and placed her hand in his. With a gentle tug, and a heated smile upon his lips, he pulled her after him into the room.
She didn’t see much of the room as they entered. Their mouths had found each other in the dark, and her consciousness dropped into the realm of sensation. The feeling of his mouth upon her, the mingling of their energy with every touch, and the four hands gliding over her body as they stripped her of her clothing... It sent her into another world of being where there was no him and her; there was only them. It was truly as if, despite their bodies caressing each other in the dance of love, they were one being, a pulsing vortex of light and heat, a crescendo of power strumming through them.
Deena tightened her grip around Oigr’s neck, desperately trying to sink her body into his. Seemingly in answer to her silent demand, his lower arms lifted her thighs around his bare hips even as he continued to tease her with his upper hands. They stroked down along her back to her tailbone, dipping playfully along her asscheeks before they swept up and teased her nipples between his forefingers and thumbs. The fire that swept through her made her rock forward, and he thrust his hips up so she slid over the silky hard surface of his erection.
Moaning against his mouth, she twisted her hips so the head of his cock slid between her folds and bumped at the swollen nub of her clit. Oigr snarled, his fingers tightening against her flesh. Then, as if consumed by some undefinable instinct or passion, he growled and hauled her into the next room.
Entwined together, Oigr dropped them onto a soft b
ed that molded to cradle Deena as he worshipped her body. His mouth was everywhere, the hot, wet oasis of it sliding over her breasts, dragging on her nipples, and sliding over the soft curve of her belly. Everywhere it landed sent spirals of desire radiating through her from each epicenter. She crooned low when his mouth found her clit and her hips shot up, though she didn’t get far because his arms clamped down over them, pushing her bottom back onto the bed as he devoured her. Then he pushed a thick finger deep into her wet channel.
Deena shuddered, her fingers gripping the bristles of his mane as she arched her hips against his hand. The warm tingle within her cunt unfurled and shot through her in a powerful orgasm. A tone surrounded her like a resonant vibration, but she dismissed it when she felt the press of his body against hers.
She was barely coming down from her orgasm, her pussy still spasming, when he thrust into her. His cock was thick and hooked upward at an angle with a bulbous head that rubbed against the most sensitive spots inside her. Choking on a sob of pleasure, she tightened her grip on him again, energy winding through her, tightening like an ancient choreographed dance through her veins as her pleasure prepared to ignite.
He flexed his hips, driving deep inside of her and sliding out again before once more thrusting home. She met his thrust as his hips pumped against her, pistoning in time to her cries and pleas. She needed more. She dug her fingers into his shoulders as she whimpered. He took the cue, and his thrusts quickly gathered strength until he was slamming into her and she cried out into his neck.
He growled against her skin, his breath coming out in heavy pants.
“You are mine.”
Deena agreed on a gasped moan.
This seemed to insight his mating frenzy. His hands cradled her hips more firmly against him as he rutted into her, the angle bringing his shaft to graze along her clit on every stroke as he buried himself as deep as he could go.
With one hand, she gripped his rough mane and ground out one word.
“More.”
Oigr snarled with elation and pulled her bottom up onto his thighs as he pressed their bodies together, his sex deep within her. Inside her, she felt something strange as his movements seemed rougher as the friction became more and more exquisite. He swelled inside of her. Deena threw her head back in ecstasy as she felt his cock lodge deep within her like a stopper. It dragged against her walls, rubbing back and forth as his pace quickened into a rut that made her gush around his member as her cunt tried to take him deeper.
Leaning forward, he panted into her hair, his hips jerking with quick strokes before surging as deep as he could go. Deena arched her hips up to meet him, exploding at the peak of her climax, riding high into the ether as if surrounded by a sonic boom of power. Her scream was echoed by his roar. His cock twitched within her, spurting warm jets of cum inside of her.
Falling from her climax, she heard him whisper hoarsely, “I love you.”
Threading her fingers into his mane, she was aware as the pieces of their connection came back together, strengthening the bond she’d felt between them. She blinked gratefully, hugging his slick body against hers.
“I love you too.”
THEY LAY TOGETHER. The hour must have been late but neither of them was inclined to sleep. They spoke of everything they could think of, sharing memories of their lives before they met and their dreams for the future.
After a time, Oigr fell silent, and Deena turned to face him.
“Do you desire younglings, Deena?”
Her breath caught and she slowly exhaled.
“I did,” she admitted, “but I’m getting older now. Besides, you’ve raised Nazzek. I’m sure you’re at a point in your life where you don’t want babies around,” she joked. “I’m content with it being just us.”
His brow furrowed but he didn’t answer. He stroked her arm and hip with two of his hands as he considered her words.
“I would not mind being a father again, eventually.”
Her brows winged upward.
“Eventually? You do realize that I’m on the older end of the spectrum for babymaking,” she said, laughing.
Oigr slanted her an amused look.
“When your translator was implanted, they likely gave you all the standard galactic vaccinations. Although Vrol is not part of the Union, we try to keep the medical codes. One of the vaccinations corrects premature environmental stress on the body. This particular vaccination has the side effect of extending the fertile period as well as one’s life span a bit longer than you might have enjoyed on Earth without it. We have plenty of time,” he said, pressing a kiss into her hair.
Deena smiled in the dark. They had one hell of a future ahead of them.
She groaned as she thought of the mess waiting for her at home. Oigr shot her a questioning look.
“I’m going to have to do so much cleaning when we get back home. I hope Brutus didn’t get into the chocolate. It’ll make him horribly sick. He’s such a good dog, but he’s been alone for days. He has a self-feeder, but I don’t know how long that would last without being refilled. I never tested it,” she said. “Not to mention that I have no idea what I’m going to do with all that candy. It was for the trick-or-treaters.”
Oigr smirked. “I recall. That is why I set the bowl on your porch under the light before I took your Brutus with me for my crew to care for while we were absent. I wasn’t certain about the care regulations for human animal companions, and so I delivered him into care of Nazzek’s mate Nikki. He is well cared for, and the chocolates I am sure have long since passed into the bellies of younglings.”
She tightened her arms around him gratefully. “Thank you.”
His yellow eyes shone warmly down on her.
“I do regret that you missed your Halloween.”
Deena snorted.
“Please. I was kidnapped by an alien, experienced alien magic, saw terrifying new beings I’ve never seen before, and helped light an effigy in Goral’s house against mischievous spirits. This whole experience has been one long Halloween.” She chuckled as she curled into his side.
Oigr laughed and wrapped his arms tighter around her. He was her birthday wish and her Halloween treat all in one wonderful package. She couldn’t wait to see what the future brought.
Epilogue
DEENA GENTLY TOUCHED the soft pale-green scales of the newborn Indivi. The baby had a cap of white silky hair on her head and a pair of tiny crystalline horn buds. Little Nirri really was the cutest thing. Nikki leaned back in her bed in the maternity ward as Nazzek hovered around her, unable to decide if he should be tending to his mate or attempting to wrest his newborn from Deena.
Being a new daddy really had an impact on Nazzek. It had become obvious the further along Nikki got in her pregnancy, but now it was truly rearing its ugly head. The agreeable male had become highly territorial when it came to his mate and offspring. Not that he wasn’t still a complete sweetheart, if a bit too impulsive at times. No, since his daughter’s birth yesterday, he seemed beset with an urge to snatch his mate and offspring away and hide them. The instinct confounded even him.
It took a long, irritating comm call that likely cost a fortune from the hospital to Indesh to get to the root of the problem. Apparently, the planet had some recent problems with the issue of possessive fathers. It had been so many years since there had been mates and newborns on the planet that the younger generation hadn’t been prepared for the instinctive impulse hardwired into their species. With the first round of births, everyone was suddenly in a state of panic. It had taken some remarkably patient elders to educate all the unnerved new fathers.
Deena still got giggles over it.
In the past, Indivi mated pairs denned together in secluded burrows within their homes after they birthed their young. The den was typically crafted for the comfort of the new mother and infant who rarely left it. The father only emerged to complete certain tasks and find food. The first several months were a vulnerable time, and so a male’
s instincts often turned overprotective.
It was cute. And anytime Nazzek cast a narrowed glance at her, Oigr’s dark glare halted any problematic behavior. So Deena got to cuddle the new baby for a few minutes while Nikki was pampered by her mate before relinquishing the little female back to her parents.
The entire time she cuddled the baby, Oigr’s warm gaze never left her.
When Nirri lay once again content against her momma’s breast, Deena settled beside Oigr on the couch in the room, folding herself into his warm side. He grunted with pleasure, one arm wrapped around her as his fingers stroked across her belly.
He leaned down; his breath was warm against her ear as he whispered, “About our previous discussion regarding a youngling...”
Deena couldn’t help but grin.
Author’s Note
NO DOUBT I LOVE HALLOWEEN. With this book I wanted to bring together the things that are loved about the Mate Index books and give it a special spin for the holiday. A little bit of Halloween magic. In some ways it plays with being both a SFR and a paranormal romance. I hope my fans will find it just as entertaining as I did when I wrote it!
I hope you return to visit the last of the crew for his solstice novella A Gift for Medif. On Valentine’s day we will run into the crew again when they are enlisted to help a Lorgor captain kidnap the female he loves.
In the meantime...Happy Halloween!
S.J. Sanders
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