by Viola Grace
She didn’t have much time to admire his smile. His kiss met her lips with a passion and conviction that stunned her.
Being held against him sent her mind reeling. He wrapped one arm around her while his other hand slipped his fingers between hers. Her hand felt complete, no open wounds, no crystal cuts, nothing but his fingers with hers and the pulse of his palm against hers.
The light took on a softer ambiance. A romantic ambiance.
When Apolan raised his head, she gasped and leaned her head against his chest. Her heart was pounding, her skin was hot and her body was rapidly coming alive. She licked her lips. He tasted like wild berries and male.
Apolan released her hand and wrapped both his arms around her waist. He pressed a kiss on top of her head. “Hello, wife.”
She looked up and smiled. “Hello, husband. Does this mean I get a raise?”
He laughed, “You can get anything out of me you wish, but we will need to consummate our union within the week, or the pain you felt will begin to wrack us both. We are now two halves of a joined power, but until we actually join our bodies, the link is incomplete. It will begin to degrade without completion.”
“I suppose it is time to leave then.” Daphne looked toward the exit, but it was gone. “What the hell?”
Apolan looked around and examined their environment. “Fascinating. It was said that the chamber confirmed all matches, but I was not aware that it was this determined.”
She looked around frantically. “That room wasn’t there earlier.”
He smiled, “Then the chamber must want us to enter it.”
Apolan kept hold of her hand, leading her into the new chamber. There was light, there was water and there was a bed made of thick moss, the white flowers interspersed throughout.
She got nervous at the sight of the bed. As much as she wanted to seal the deal with Apolan, it was still too soon.
Fully clothed, he tugged her onto the bed and wrapped his arms around her. “Rest for a bit, Daphne. The blood exchange will continue to move through our systems. When the chamber lets us out, I will wake you.”
Unsure of what to say, she turned her back to him and snuggled in his arms. The flowers crushed under their bodies gave off a scent that relaxed Daphne until she rested in the arms of her new husband.
Apolan watched Daphne succumb to the effects of the bride flowers. Her body was being rewritten on a cellular level, and it was bound to cause her some trouble.
With her eyes closed, he could finally free his delighted grin. He had thought it would take weeks to win her to his side, but he hadn’t counted on her link to her world.
Not only had his bride brought him to the one place that the Nine had been looking for for five years, but also she had done it innocent of its true purpose.
The power that the crystal had used bound them together. No matter where Daphne went, she would be able to track him and he her. Once they consummated their connection, their minds would join the linkage that their bodies were now working on.
The Forest folk or people of the trees were linked to the green and growing spaces in the universe, and it seemed to him that Daphne had already been headed down that path.
He sighed and tucked her close against him, the press of her curves delighting him. His third-generation Gaian trusted him enough to sleep in his arms. From the moment he had authorized Daphne as a server for the reception, he had been obsessed with her. The talent for hiding in plain sight that she exhibited was as much a part of her personality as it was a true psychic demonstration. She could not only shut her own body’s outward signals down, but she could reach into the minds of those she was avoiding and force them not to see her.
Perhaps one day, she would trust him enough to tell him about the day that the Tokkel took her family, but he could wait. It was traumatic enough for a warrior of the Nine to face the hideous beasts in battle. He could only have imagined the trauma of a woman who had never expected to see creatures of that nature landing in ships.
Her files showed no family to claim her or help her through it. The Gaian settlement had been in such disarray after the initial attacks that they had been unable and unwilling to help the survivor left on her own.
Apolan was going to give Daphne whatever she needed, whether it was psychological, physical or financial. His family own five harvest worlds where they kept the plants happy and the animals healthy. It was peculiar for him to have been born a farmer and ended up an ambassador, but the Nine council wanted a presence on Gaia that was in tune with the planet. No one had any idea that a simple Gaian had beat them to it.
He stroked her rich brown hair away from her face and admired the jewellery that she wore each and every day. His great grandmother had worn that same earpiece when she met his great grandfather. Dilora had not been too fond of Jenyak when she met him, but she adapted quickly. Their love had eventually become a Leoraki legend—two contrasting souls that had managed to find common ground.
Apolan closed his eyes and embraced the feeling of his body synching to Daphne’s. He was hoping that he and his Gaian would repeat that very admirable tradition.
Chapter Eight
“Daphne, the cavern has let us out.”
The low voice in her ear sent shivers down her spine. “Hmm?”
“Come along, my bonded mate, before it changes its mind.”
Hands pulled at her, helping her to sit up. She opened her eyes to see Apolan’s concerned face near her own. With a sense of wonder, she lifted her hand and saw the thin pink line crossing three fingers. “It wasn’t a dream.”
He sighed and lifted her in his arms. “No, it wasn’t. Come along. I don’t know how long we have been here, but we need to get back to the surface.”
She leaned against him, her head spinning and senses overloaded. “Sounds like a good idea.”
With her eyes closed, she could still feel the exact moment that he entered the glade once again. Her smile was genuine, and her breathing came easier. “That’s better.”
“You feel it too?”
She chuckled. “Oh yes. There is a reason that I never moved to the settlement. Nothing feels as good as this.” Daphne opened her eyes and looked up at the starlight streaming into their one small part of the forest.
He set her on the floor of the flying platform and checked the chronometer. “Oh, thank goodness. It is the same night. We were only underground for a few hours.”
She smiled and slowly got to her feet. “Is that all? It felt like the beginning of forever.”
He turned to her in surprise. “Daphne, are you all right?”
She took a step off the platform and walked a few feet away before she turned to him. “You hear them all the time, don’t you?”
Understanding lit his eyes. “I do. You can hear them now?”
Daphne looked into the dark of the forest all around her. Thousands of trees whispered to her in greeting. Congratulations were offered in low murmurs. Not congratulations for the bonding, but for the small bit of evolution she had just undergone. They considered it the height of sophistication for one of her race to understand them.
She giggled, euphoric at the thought that she could understand the forest in which she lived.
“You can commune with them tomorrow. I regret to disturb your first moment with the forest, but we need to report both of our discoveries to the Nine.” He gently wrapped an arm around her waist and steered her back to the platform.
The forest’s consciousness thrummed through her, and she swayed gently, humming to herself as the song became part of her.
Apolan watched her with a smile on his lips. “You were almost there on your own, you know. There was only a slight nudge needed to push you over the edge.”
She grinned at him, “Thank you for nudging me.”
He sighed, “You have no idea how I want to answer that.”
She snickered, a happy giggle that continued until they landed at the new embassy building.
Daphne
sighed. “Why are we here?”
“We have to register our union with the Nine. It is important that we lock it in with the registry office as quickly as we can.” He held his hand out and escorted her through the guards watching the front doors.
The Wildings lifted their heads and sniffed at the couple. “Ambassador. Congratulations on finding of your bride.”
Apolan smiled, “Thank you. Daphne Harrow Leoraki is about to be registered.”
She clung to his hand as the Wildings very obviously scented her.
“You may want to complete the union. It could become awkward if her people object and bad for her if you wait too long.”
Apolan nodded his head and continued to pull her further into the new building.
Daphne asked quietly, “What did he mean?”
“Each race of the Nine has its courtship rituals. The Wildings and the People of the Air trigger a heat in their mates. The Shadows put a piece of their darkness into their prospective mate that grows to fill her. The Forest people are more subtle. We match our minds to that of our chosen companion using a mechanical means. It is a little bit sneaky, but we get by.”
She paused as they entered his private quarters. “What do you mean mechanical?”
“A small bit of resonance technology that routes conscious thought through our minds until our mind shifts to match that of our mate. It’s complicated, and I am not sure about why it works, but my family has one of the best acquisition records for perfect matches. I suppose part of it is luck, but most of it is instinct. The moment I met you, I knew that you were the one for me, and I brought out a family heirloom.”
She blinked, wide-eyed as she touched the earpiece. “This is a machine?”
“It translates for you by running what you hear through my mind.”
She wanted to take it off, but her hand didn’t move. “It’s an heirloom? Your family always hijacks brains?”
He took her hands and stared into her eyes. “I did not hijack, I simply learned the patterns of your mind and helped you to learn the common language of the Nine as well as anything you thought about learning. We also only use the mechanical means with women not born of the Nine. My great grandmother was from outside the Nine, and while she challenged my great grandfather, they lived happily for a very long time. The earpiece that you are using was designed for her.”
She blinked in surprise. “Your great grandmother?”
He smiled, “I will tell you all about her, but first, we have to register our union. Come with me.”
At a loss for words, she walked with him into his private study. He sat in the chair and to her shock, the moment he had made the call to the ship, he yanked her into his lap.
A com officer was on the other end of the visual, and he looked at them in surprise. “Ambassador Leoraki, how may I direct your call?”
“I need a conference call between the historical archive and the registry office.”
The com officer looked a little confused, and his wings fluttered. “That is an interesting combination.”
Apolan’s voice was wry. “I am aware of it.”
The officer’s cheeks darkened, and his fingers moved across the keyboard. “Connections are being processed.”
A moment later, the screen was split, and they were looking at two people. One of the Stone people was staring at them from the left and Forest person was on the right.
The Stone representative cocked his head. “Ambassador, what can I do for you?”
“Registrar Yessik, I would like to register the bonding between myself and the Gaian, Daphne Harrow.”
The grey man frowned, “I thought you were going to wait until our garden was operational.”
“That brings me to the reason that I am also speaking to Archivist Utasi. My mate found the original bonding cavern, and the crystal has bound us together already.”
The woman with the nut brown skin, hair and eyes looked excited. “You know where it is?”
“I have been there, and I will give you the coordinates when you come down for the celebration next week. I will expect that you bring what you need and that you take care not to disturb the area. It is a sacred space, and we must treat it as such.”
Archivist Utasi nodded and smiled. “It will be an honour just to scan the place where so many of our people began.”
“It has missed your people.” The words came out of Daphne’s mouth before she could stop them.
Everyone involved in the conversation paused and stared at her.
Apolan caressed her arm. “Has it, Daphne?”
“It has. All those lives bound together in its presence, and then, you went away and my folk have not seen it, nor are we ready to use it. Well, most of us cannot use it. There are a growing number who can and will, but they are not here yet.” Daphne felt a pressure on her mind, and Apolan caressed her arm in a slow pattern.
“Are you speaking for the forest, Daphne?”
She frowned, “No, for the cavern. It is the heart of Gaia after all.”
The archivist was rapt, as was the registrar. The attention that she was getting made her uncomfortable, so she did what she did best—she hid.
Snuggled against Apolan’s chest, she held tight to him and pulled herself in. She heard comments and felt Apolan’s body vibrate as he spoke.
The room went silent, and he pressed a kiss to her forehead. “We are alone again. You can come back.”
She looked up at him and smiled. “Sorry. I wasn’t expecting that.”
“The conversation or being used to speak for a five-thousand-year-old consciousness?”
With nothing in her field of vision but him, she cupped her hand around the back of his neck and drew his mouth down to hers. “Yes.”
Chapter Nine
“Daphne, are you sure?” His hands were stroking her back as she pressed kisses across his face and down his neck.
“As sure as I can be. I need to be with you, Apolan.” Her hands stroked the heat of his body, the rigidity of his muscles and the smooth texture of his skin.
Apolan didn’t need to be told twice and swiftly took her to his bedroom, setting her on the edge of the bed while he removed her clothing with feverish intensity. His clothing followed hers into a heap on the floor.
As he moved over her, stroking, waking, caressing, she shivered and returned each touch with one of her own. While the Forest folk looked to be made of bark and moss, they felt wonderful.
Apolan took care with her, bringing her to the edge of sanity before he moved over her and joined them. Their connection went from tenuous to flaring life as he surged into her, and her body surrendered to the sensations he woke inside her.
Her mind chanted to her as her heartbeat slowed in the aftermath, For better or for worse.
Dawn was streaming through the skylight when fingers caressed her shoulder. “Good morning, dearest wife.”
She smiled and blushed, turning into his arms. “Good morning, husband. What is on your agenda today?”
“You are the only item on my agenda, though I believe I have something for you.” He rolled to his knees, and he had a box in his hand.
“The crystal chamber forced my hand, but we would have ended up here eventually. While my folk are known for their patience, none of us have had to deal with a Gaian before, and so my self-control was waning quickly. This is the earpiece that my great grandmother wore every day of her mated life. While the one creates a link, this one shows any and all members of the Nine that you are taken.”
She smiled and opened the box. It was indeed the matching earpiece, set with the same tiny stones. Apolan helped her set it in place, and once it was, he pressed a kiss to her earlobe and then worked his way down her neck.
Daphne sighed happily and relaxed into his arms. She was naked next to a stranger, but right now, the last thing she wanted was to hide. It might not be self-confidence, but it was a good first step.
One week later…
She was standing next
to Apolan in the receiving line and accepting the congratulations of every dignitary of the Nine that was willing to walk on Gaia.
When Mayor Tetra paused to shake her hand, he surprised her. “Daphne, I knew that you didn’t fit in with Gaian society, but I didn’t know why. This has explained much, and I can only wish you and your husband the best of luck in your role as representatives.”
“Thank you, Mayor Tetra. I have been lucky as well. My parents gave me what few children ever have, a chance to find out what I was. I know what I am now, and it is a relief to find a man who accepts it.”
Apolan’s hand ran over her back, and the emerald silk was no barrier to the heat of his skin.
The mayor gave her a look, “You don’t mind that he is an alien?”
Daphne drew a deep breath that brought many masculine gazes to the cleavage exposed by the dress. “The Nine evolved here. They are of Underhill, just as we are of Gaia. This soil shaped us all. They have merely come home after a long trip.”
Slow applause began just at the edge of those who could hear her voice. It was the Wilding representative that began it, and it spread in a wave through the party.
The mayor faded away as she was introduced to members of the Nine who were interested in seeking out Gaian mates. They had been drawn to the warship not knowing where the battle with the Tokkel would take them, and now, they were in orbit around their ancient home.
If fate had brought them this far, they were not going to disappoint her.
Apolan held her close as they danced. Each step brought them closer to the exterior, and in a rush, he grabbed her hand, and they rushed out into the night.
She laughed as they rushed into the newly completed gardens. “We are missing our own party.”
“They will go on without us. I need to show you this.”
The privacy-garden attendant let them pass.
