by Juno Wells
The males loved his speech. Several burst out laughing, when he said they were too young for mating. They understood him to be too old for mating. Everyone stayed for a short time and left with the rising of the sun.
Bradon took his new love mate to his chambers, and they snuggled in bed for a long sleep. She had been a good sport about all the hassle involved with becoming his bond mate. The little human had endured a very long day for his sake, and he was not about to tax her for intimacy.
They woke well past midday, and he taxed her several times. She wasn’t even joking about being an accommodating girl. She welcomed him with open arms. They loved, talked about their overly contrived life, and loved some more. By the time the priests brought food, they were both well past starving. It was a lovely precedent to model the rest of their lives on. However, Bradon had one question bearing on his mind. A question he had a mind to have answered. The perfect moment presented itself.
It was when she cupped his face in her hands. In return, Bradon twirled a lock of her blue hair around one finger, tugging it hard. “Ready to tell me your secret, kitten? You know how I hate being out of a loop.”
She bit her bottom lip, clearly trying to cover a smile. “The expression is out of THE loop, my sweet.”
“You are stalling, my sweet.”
“What do you want to know exactly?”
“I wish to know how you managed to pull my stone from the millions of bits of debris orbiting our planet.”
“Maybe it’s fate.”
Tracing her lip with one finger, he replied, “Perhaps it is divine providence, yet I think it is not. You will share your secrets with me. We are as one, now that you are my Queen.”
Rolling her eyes, she nipped at his finger. “Your planet has a revolving magnetic resonance. The striated stones you believe to be magical each resonate at a different frequency.”
“This has been theorized by our scientists before.”
“My sister is an engineer. She and some of her friends from the engineering unit developed a machine capable of pinpointing the exact frequency of each stone.”
“That explains nothing. You would have had to possess my stones to know which one to match it to and it would have taken longer for my stone to randomly drift by your grappler.”
Glancing down to her hand, she turns around a ring on her finger and I recognize it as being one from my collection. “Ralon gifted me with this. He told me his ancestors kept a bit of your stone and made this ring for his future Queen to wear. We used it to home in on your frequency.”
Shock tore through his gut as he realized what the ingenious humans did. “You used your machine to draw my stone to your grappler?”
Nodding, Grace moved to sit up. Leaning back against the top of his bed, she drew her knees up to her chest and rested her arms on top. “I think the power of the stones is real, but I wasn’t willing to leave it all to chance. I wanted you, and I normally get what I want.”
The kitten she’d gifted him with clawed its way up the bedding and rubbed itself along her leg. He could well believe this female normally got what she set her mind on.
Her matter-of-fact statement made him smile. “I’m pleased you cheated to make me yours, but what of all the other females who are stuck with whatever stone they pulled?”
A sly grin morphed onto her face, accompanied by a slightly smug expression. “We all talked about it. Most of the women didn’t have any idea who they wanted to marry and were willing to let the stones decide. The last dozen or so were pretty particular, since they’d already fallen for a specific gentleman.”
Shocked all over again, he guessed what they’d done. “They sent word to their males and they sent a bead from their necklace. The females used the bead to locate the matching stone in orbit.”
Nodding, she shrugged. “Power to the people, I say. Or in this case, power to the females.”
Searching his mind for how he felt about the humans corrupting their long-standing rituals, Bradon couldn’t say he was angry. It seemed like ancient traditions colliding with modern times, resulting in an improvement to benefit all. Now, females had more choices than ever before. They could simply choose for themselves without using the stones. True believers could just rely upon their instincts. And females wishing a sure outcome could use the new human device to seek out a particular stone. He could not see a way for the new system to be corrupted, because a male had to donate a stone from his own closely guarded necklace for the woman to use, thus ensuring it was a mutual bond. It had a check and balance system built right in.
Grace’s voice drew him from his internal musings. “Are you angry with me, Bradon?”
He smoothed his hand down the tiny kitten, liking the way it turned its face into his palm and rubbed him back. Glancing up to catch her eye, he spoke. “Haven’t you heard? My namesake is Bradon the Wise for a reason. I can see the wisdom in many situations others might find fault with. It pleases me that you devised a way to make certain I became your mate. You honored our traditions and gave our females a new tool to use when selecting a mate. I don’t think it will take long for your secret to get out either.”
Twisting her finger into the thin fabric of their bedding, she stated, “I’m worried that not everyone will approve.”
“I will command that they do.”
“You’re being silly again.”
Grinning, he amended his statement. “I will explain to my people the benefit of your gift to our females. I’m sure few will see it as a disadvantage.”
“Really? It’ll be that simple?”
“You are my happily ever after, as I am yours. My people may not approve of all our decisions as regents, but they respect our right to make such decisions. All will be well.”
“So, we’re really doing this twenty awake and forty hibernating thing?”
“I will please me greatly to have you at my side for all times.”
Slipping back down into his arms, she teased him gently. “Yeah, you say that now. Let’s see if you still feel that way in a thousand years.”
Leaning his forehead against hers, Bradon whispered, “Our love will be for all times. Never doubt that, my sweet.”
“You have beautiful eyes. Did you know that?”
Remembering her saying that the first night they met, a quiet joy filled his heart. Brushing his lips across hers, he murmured, “All the better to see you with, my dear.”
Grace burst out laughing at his reference to one of her human fairytales. He loved his new human mate and had made it a point over the last year to learn how to tickle all her funny bones. Bradon didn’t see that ever changing.
When her hands smoothed over his leathery skin, for once he didn’t worry that she though him strange. Grace was now his mate. She’d fought for her right to be at his side, and he would shelter and protect her until his dying breath.
More books by Juno
Alien Warrior’s Captive Bride
Baby for the Alien Invader
