seems to be unique. The symbion healed my injuries and it
obeys my commands. We are one."
"No. It cannot be permitted." Arilani continued her
struggles, but Jidar ordered the guards to hold her more
tightly.
"It cannot be undone. The symbion has chosen its host.
We may not interfere."
"My liege." Zara dropped to her knees in front of Jidar and
assumed the submissive position. "I pledge my loyalty and
my life to you, if you will accept me as a member of the
tribe."
Namara clapped her hands. "Yes! Of course."
Jidar made a noise, similar to clearing this throat and
raised a brow at his mate. Namara bowed. "Forgive me, my
liege."
Jidar smiled at Zara. "As Namara says, yes. Of course."
Someone cheered, whether human or Icarian, Caleb
couldn't tell, but every voice in the crowd followed suit.
Finally, he found the strength to move, and he ran to Zara.
The group parted, and he offered his hand so she could rise
from the sand.
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"My liege," he said. "I know I made a commitment to the
breeding program, but I respectfully request that I be offered
to this female as her mate."
Zara broke into a wide smile and threw herself into Caleb's
arms. "I will accept, my liege."
Jidar seemed overwhelmed for a moment and he frowned.
"I ... cannot make that decision right now. At the moment, I
must deal with Arilani."
Namara cast her husband a pleading glance, but he
dismissed her silent question with a flick of his wing tip.
"Later, my love. We will discuss mating later."
Jidar stepped back and addressed Arilani as the guards
holding her forced her to her knees.
"You have been accused of violence against one of our
tribe. Do you confess or deny this charge?"
"She is not one of our tribe. She is a human who stole my
mate."
"Arilani, do you confess or deny?"
"I deny her accusations."
"My liege, the symbion healed my wounds, except for this
one." Zara stepped forward and bared her neck to Jidar.
Caleb fought to control a surge of irrational jealousy as he
watched his leader lay curious, probing fingers against Zara's
skin. "This is where she injected me with the tranquilizer."
"She found Zara's clothes," someone said, and a rustle of
whispers surrounded them. "Did she take them when she
attacked you?"
Zara glared at Arilani. "No. She stole them while I was
sleeping, didn't you? Then she came back when Caleb was
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gone and told me he was dying. She convinced me to fly back
here with her, but instead she drugged me and dropped me
into the ocean."
Jidar reached for Arilani and clamped his hand tightly over
her shoulder. At first, from the pained expression on her face,
Caleb thought Jidar might have been trying to snap her neck.
Arilani began to sob. Finally, Jidar released her. "Her
symbion confirms this. Together they plotted to remove Dr.
Abbott as a rival for Dr. Faulkner's affections." The Icarians
arranged behind him gasped and wings ruffled in indignation.
"For the crime of violence against a member of your tribe,
compounded by the crime of denying your actions, I sentence
you to one cycle of exile, to begin immediately."
Arilani bowed her head. "I only wanted a child, my liege. I
wanted to save our race."
For a second, Caleb almost felt sympathy for her. She
seemed bereft and broken.
Then she raised her head and snarled at Jidar. "But you
were too cowardly to accept an easy solution from the
humans. Your stubborn insistence on the old ways drove our
race to extinction. When the last Icarian dies childless, you
will be to blame, Jidar. You have destroyed our race!"
"Take her away now." Jidar's voice was low and
preternaturally calm, though even Caleb could see the spark
of pain in his eyes. Arilani's accusations had struck a raw
nerve, and the leader couldn't hide the fact that deep down,
he did hold himself responsible for the dire situation his
people faced.
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Guilt washed over Caleb. He should have offered then to
mate with any willing Icarian female, but he couldn't. He had
Zara in his arms, and she was the only woman he wanted,
even if it meant giving up his wings.
Rather than allow Arilani to fly herself, her guards drew
her to her feet and launched themselves into the air with her
limp body dangling between them. All heads turned to follow
the progress of the three through the air.
When they had disappeared among the towering nearby
islands, Jidar sighed and turned to Caleb and Zara. "I will
consider your request. Until I have made a decision about the
breeding program I ... will not forbid you from spending time
together."
Though Caleb understood the gravity of Jidar's statement,
he planned to enjoy every moment he had with Zara.
Together they bowed their heads to their leader and, after
fending off the anxious questions of their colleagues, he
steered his woman away from the crowd and down the beach.
Once they'd left the group of researchers and Icarians
behind, Zara stopped walking. She turned to him, her eyes
sparkling with unshed tears. "By rights, Jidar should assign us
both to Icarian mates now."
Caleb took Zara's face in his hands and brought his lips to
hers. She tasted of the ocean and sweet desire. "I know, but
he can't stop us from loving each other. No matter what
happens, Zara, I will love you forever. Come home with me
now. Even if you'll only be mine for a day, I don't want to
waste a minute of it."
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Zara smiled and kissed him again. "Your bungalow is in the
other direction."
"That's not my home anymore. Let's go where we belong."'
"I belong with you, Caleb. I love you and I always will."
Together they leapt into the air and let their wings carry
them on the warm air currents to the distant aerie they would
always call home.
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Chapter Seventeen
Zara lowered herself to the alor down pallet, careful to
spread her symbion wings to the side to avoid crushing the
delicate feather shafts.
Above her, kneeling between her thighs, Caleb spread his
wings as well. "You are the most beautiful thing I've ever
seen," he whispered, gazing at her. "How will I ever keep my
hands off you if you're going to be walking around naked all
the time?"
She smiled and reached for him, eager to pull his muscular
body down over hers
. "Let's talk later about how you'll keep
your hands off me. Right now, I need your hands on me."
She sighed and guided his searching fingers across her
flesh. Sparks of arousal drew her nipples tight and made her
clit pulse for attention as he ran his hands up her thighs, over
her belly and up to her breasts. He caressed her, rubbing his
rough palms over the puckered tips until the friction made her
squirm.
Her wingtips fluttered, and moisture pooled in the soft
folds of her pussy. If she didn't have him soon, she'd die. Her
symbion demanded fulfillment and made her desperate for
control. Now she understood Caleb's urgency and why, when
they'd been here in this abandoned aerie before, he hadn't
been able to control his desires.
The need for release consumed her. "Caleb, please!"
"Patience, both of you." He grinned wickedly. "You need to
learn to master your symbion."
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"Later. Fuck me now. I want you—have to have you."
He laughed and fell upon her. Everywhere his hard body
touched her, her skin tingled. She shuddered with the wanton
pleasure of just having him stretched over her, his chest
rubbing her sensitive nipples, his thighs spreading her and his
erection nudging her weeping slit. She slid her arms under
his, enjoying the feel of his wings against her arms. With a
sigh that became a gasp, she used the movement of her hips
to guide him inside her and she groaned when he seated
himself deeply with one long thrust.
"Caleb!"
"Shhh ... easy, my angel. You'll get what you want." He
reached up to brush hair from her eyes and placed a deep,
sensual kiss on her mouth.
"I already have it. I'm not sure I can give it up."
"We'll stay here like this as long as we can. Jidar will have
to come and get us himself when he wants to assign us to
other mates."
Zara's throat constricted at his words. She couldn't bear to
think of the man she loved in someone else's arms. "Don't
talk about it. Just love me now, while you can."
Caleb obeyed. He began a slow, sensual rhythm that had
her writhing beneath him, begging for more. Her body tensed
and she wrapped her legs around him to draw his cock deeper
inside her. She cried out when her orgasm began, rising up
from deep in her core and taking over her body, cell by cell.
Symbion hormones flooded her, heightening every
sensation and making every need more acute. She'd never
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felt this way before, never needed anything so badly as she
needed him.
If she could have merged with Caleb as she had with her
symbion, she would have and held him forever so no one
could ever take him away from her.
Above her he stiffened, his muscles clenching with the
effort to hold back his own release and give her a few more
seconds of pleasure.
Finally, his climax hit. He growled his triumph and allowed
the release, pumping hot arrows of his seed inside her. She
clung to him while his body shuddered, every one of her
feminine muscles squeezing tight to milk him of his desire.
His wings shivered, attesting to the pleasure of his symbion.
Claiming a mate was the pinnacle of the creature's existence,
a moment of ecstasy made so much more intense by the fact
that it had turned all its other senses over to its host.
While Caleb held her, his cock still pulsing and hot waves
of her own orgasm still ebbing and flowing through her body,
Zara gave herself over to her own symbion and experienced
its joy along with hers. Her heart raced with it, each beat
tightening her pussy around Caleb's still hard erection. She
was more than one now, more than just Zara Abbott. She
was human and alien and she was part of him, part of the
man she would always love. She cried out as her body peaked
again, unexpectedly, and when she looked up into Caleb's
eyes she saw his symbion had taken him over as well. This
time the change didn't frighten her at all. She welcomed it
because it was the most natural thing in the world.
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Not long after, they lay panting, holding each other with
their wings wrapped around them both like blankets.
"We are one," Zara's symbion told her. "We are all one
now."
"I'll never let you go," she told Caleb finally. "We'll find a
way to stay together."
"We'll do whatever we have to." Caleb pushed himself up
with his arms and stared into her eyes. "I'd fly into the sun
for you."
She cupped his face in her hands and kissed him. "I'd
never ask you to. All I ask is that you love me in any way you
can."
He grinned. "I can think of a lot of different ways to love
you."
Zara laughed and opened to him again, eager to enjoy
every moment they had before they surrendered themselves
to the needs of their adopted people. Whatever happened,
she had her man in this moment and that was what she
would cling to forever if she had to.
One week later
Caleb and Zara waited in the great room of the royal aerie.
They had both assumed the submissive position before Jidar,
wings folded against their backs, tips pointed to the ground,
their arms extended along their sides.
The leader of the Icarians stood before them, and to his
left also on her knees, Namara waited almost as eagerly for
his decree.
After a week spent mostly in bed with Caleb, Zara was
exhausted. Her legs were weak and her entire body
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pleasantly sore. She reveled in the feeling, and she'd hold on
to the memories as long as she lived.
Today, once again, she faced losing Caleb, but this time
she was ready. She could share his body with another female
if she had to, because she knew she would never have to
share his love.
Jidar spread his wings and addressed them, his voice
echoing off the stone walls of the expansive aerie. "Dr. Caleb
Faulkner and Dr. Zara Abbott, you have pledged your loyalty
to me and agreed to accept my decrees as law. Is that
correct?"
They both nodded. Zara spared a quick glance at Caleb.
He'd never looked so handsome, so perfect. Her heart ached
for wanting him, but she was prepared to accept whatever
Jidar ordered them to do for the good of the Icarian people.
"You have each agreed to accept a mating bond as I see fit
to assign to you."
Again they nodded in unison. Zara's heart began to race.
Today she might be given to an Icarian male and expected to
bear him a child. A frisson of anticipation began in her wings
and she tamped it down. Her symbion wished to rebel against
Jidar's decision, bu
t she would not allow it. They had made a
vow to help a dying race, and they would uphold that vow, all
four of them.
"The decision I've reached has not been an easy one."
Jidar paced before them as he spoke. Beads of sweat formed
on Zara's upper lip and dripped into her slightly open mouth.
She tasted Caleb, who had so recently kissed her before they
entered the aerie.
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"I have taken into consideration Dr. Danson's
recommendation that the original breeding program proceed
as planned. He has assured me that Dr. Abbott's experience
with the symbion bond is what will be the norm and that Dr.
Faulkner's more painful joining was an anomaly in part
caused by the illness he carried."
Please, please, please. Zara recited a small prayer in her
head, partially drowning out Jidar's words with her desperate
thoughts.
"I have also considered Namara's insistent opinions on the
matter of mating and upholding the long-held traditions of our
people. The formation of Icarian families has been the
cornerstone of our civilization for centuries. Mating bonds are
unbreakable. No one raises a child alone on Icarus, families
do not separate and reform with new members who have
been broken away from other unions. What is decreed by the
leader, remains unchanged."
Zara bit the inside of her cheek to keep from prostrating
herself on the ground and begging for Jidar's mercy. She
knew he was trying to say he would not consider artificial
insemination or any form of egg and sperm donation for his
people. He only wanted individuals who would agree to the
joining and raise their offspring in proper Icarian fashion.
She and Caleb were doomed to watch each other given in
mating bonds to others.
Before the first of her tears could fall, Jidar continued.
"It is precisely because of those old traditions that I have
made the decision I have. Beginning with Namara, I have
agreed to allow artificial insemination, though only with
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already mated pairs. My mate will bear the offspring of a
human male, and I will raise the child as my own."
Zara's head shot up and she met Caleb's startled gaze.
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