“Of course not.”
Despite her protests, Aidon rose with her in his arms.
His grandfather immediately came to his side. “Is something wrong?”
“We decided to take my ship to the city. Can you stay with Hanna now?”
“I’m not a child,” she protested, but both males ignored her.
“Of course,” Tanor said immediately. “This lot doesn’t need me to enjoy themselves.” He called a farewell to the others as he bent to pick up Trouble. The war beast snarled at him, and he laughed, but Hanna noticed he waited until she reassured her pet before he actually picked him up.
They set off along the riverbank to Aidon’s house, her house now as well, and despite her protests, she enjoyed having Aidon carry her, feeling his muscles flex against her as she snuggled closer. She pressed a kiss against his neck, and then another, and he groaned.
“That is unfair, saachi. You know that I cannot respond until I return.”
“It will give you something to think about while you’re gone.”
“You will never be far from my thoughts,” he promised as they came in sight of the house.
A little shiver went through her as she realized how close Chotgor and his males had been. Aidon reluctantly let her down.
“I will return as soon as I can,” he promised, his arms still around her.
“I know.”
“You’ll be fine. My grandfather will take care of you.”
“Don’t worry, I’m not afraid.”
And she wasn’t, she realized. Even if he had been leaving her by herself, she wouldn’t have been afraid. As long as she and Aidon loved each other, she had nothing to fear.
One last lingering kiss and he was gone. Despite her newfound confidence, his absence left an ache in her heart. She sighed, turning to Tanor and smiling ruefully.
“Now I know how you felt all those years, watching him leave.”
“But you know he will return quickly.”
“I do. And we can keep each other company while we wait.”
He inclined his head, and the two of them went to start their vigil.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Even before Tanor looked up from his writing to say casually, “The boy’s coming,” Hanna knew that Aidon was on his way. She and his grandfather had been sitting on the deck over the river. Tanor was working on his journal. He had reluctantly revealed to her that he was documenting the history of the village. He recorded everything—hunts, harvests, folk tales. He had lineages extending back countless generations along with most of the births and deaths in the village.
She had decided to adopt his example, focusing on everything she was learning about the surrounding plant life. However, she preferred using Aidon’s tablet rather than writing everything by hand.
Restlessness had haunted her all day. Aidon had been gone for two days now, and she missed him more than she would have believed possible in such a short time. Even Trouble didn’t seem like his usual happy self. Perhaps picking up on her unhappiness, he prowled restlessly around the house and never settled anywhere for long.
But as they sat on the deck, something changed. It was almost like the jungle told her that Aidon was coming. Had she somehow caught his scent?
She didn’t care. All she cared about was that he was back. Flying through the house, she reached the edge of the clearing just in time to see him coming up the river path. He was running too, and he caught her effortlessly as she leaped into his arms.
“I’m so glad you’re back. I missed you so much. What happened? Is everything all right with Hirogi?”
“She’s fine,” he said shortly, then cut off her anxious questions with a hungry kiss, forcing her lips apart so that he could explore every inch. She writhed against him, already reaching for his hard cock, when Tanor coughed behind them.
“I’ll be on my way. Glad you’re back, boy.”
Heat flooding her cheeks, she pushed at Aidon until he reluctantly let her slip to the ground.
“I’m sorry, Tanor. We got a little carried away.”
“He’s going to carry you away all right,” Tanor said dryly.
“Thank you so much for staying with me. You’re going to come back and visit now, aren’t you?”
Tanor looked over her head at Aidon.
“You would be welcome,” Aidon said. “But I need a few days to reconnect with my mate first. Perhaps a week.”
The flicker of emotion that crossed Tanor’s face was almost too fast for her to catch, but she saw his thankfulness. He coughed.
“I’ll make sure you hear me coming. Just in case a week isn’t long enough,” he said gruffly.
She reached up and kissed his cheek, velvety and covered in swirling colors, glad that he no longer felt the need to conceal his true form.
“Thank you, Tanor.”
He cleared his throat again. “You’re welcome, girl. Glad you’re a part of our family.”
As he passed Aidon, Aidon extended his hand, and the two men clasped arms.
“Thank you,” Aidon echoed. He slipped his arm around her as they watched Tanor disappear up the path, then turned to her, his eyes gleaming. “Now, my mate. You’re all mine.”
“Wake up, saachi,” Aidon whispered, kissing the shell of her ear.
She pried open an eye and saw that it was still dark outside.
“It’s too early,” she groaned. Aidon had spent most of the night making love to her. In the few brief periods when they hadn’t been locked together, he’d fed her and they’d played with Trouble while he’d filled her in on what had happened in the city.
They had arrived to find Hirogi unharmed. One of her captors had already died from a mysterious illness, and they’d easily eliminated the other. Aidon had shaken his head admiringly as he’d recounted the tale.
“It seems as if Pardorians aren’t the only ones to use poison.”
“Hirogi isn’t Pardorian?”
“No, she’s an offworlder. They have to live in the city for now because she works at one of the medical centers, but she is obviously quite at home on Pardor.”
“So am I,” she’d reminded him.
If the rescue had gone so smoothly, she’d wondered why it had taken him two days to return to her, but before she’d been able to ask, he’d started kissing her, and the question had disappeared.
Now he was smiling down at her, and even in the semidarkness of predawn, she could see his eyes gleaming.
“Do I have to get up?” She yawned sleepily.
“I suppose I could carry you the entire way,” he said thoughtfully, and she laughed.
“As tempting as that sounds, I guess I can make the effort.”
She hurried through her morning routine and emerged to find him waiting for her, his travel bag over his shoulder.
“We don’t even have time for breakfast?”
“Once we get there,” he promised.
They walked hand in hand through the jungle, Trouble scampering around their feet. Aidon had tried to leave him behind, but he had whined so piteously that he had shrugged and agreed to let him come.
“You won’t be able to go all the way with us,” he warned the war beast.
A faint glow on the horizon indicated the coming dawn as Aidon stopped at the base of an enormous tree. Hanna’s extended arms barely covered one side of the trunk.
“Now we climb,” he said calmly.
“You have to be kidding. I couldn’t even climb a tree on Earth, let alone climbing this monster.”
“Don’t worry, saachi. I’ll carry you.” He bent over and motioned for her to climb on his back. She had done so once before when they’d been escaping Chotgor’s mansion back on Hothrest, but this tree was considerably taller, stretching up until she could barely see the top.
“Are you sure about this?” she asked.
“I would never let you fall, my mate.”
With a reluctant sigh, she climbed up on his back, putting her legs around his
waist and winding her arms around his neck. He took hold of one of the big vines that reached the forest floor, and Trouble whined anxiously.
“I told you you wouldn’t be able to come the whole way,” Aidon said as he threw Trouble a bone almost as big as the pup. “We’ll be back in a little while.”
“He always seems to understand—oh!” She yelped as Aidon began to climb. He didn’t hesitate, scrambling nimbly up the vine until he reached the lowest branches of the tree. She realized that between the length of his hands and feet and his claws, he was perfectly suited for the climb and tried to relax.
“War beasts are renowned for their intelligence. That’s one of the reasons they were so desirable,” he said, his breathing as steady as always.
Only once did she make the mistake of glancing down. Despite the thick foliage, she could tell how far they had climbed already, and her stomach protested. After that, she squeezed her eyes shut and just concentrated on the secure feeling of Aidon beneath her.
There was a sudden jolt of movement, and then he straightened up as if he was on a flat surface.
“All right, saachi. You can let go now.”
“Are you crazy?”
“It’s fine, I promise. Open your eyes.”
She reluctantly opened them and gasped. They were on a large platform with nothing above them but the wide-open sky, already streaked with rose and gold. The ground beneath her feet felt soft and yielding, and vine-covered branches formed a chest-high barrier around the edge of the platform.
“What is this place?”
“It’s a cravan’s nest. An abandoned cravan’s nest,” he added hastily as her eyes widened. “They only ever use them for one hatching.”
Her pulse still beat rapidly as she went to join him at the edge of the nest, but the view that greeted her wiped away her fears. They were high above most of the trees, and the jungle stretched out before them like an ocean of green and gold, reaching all the way to a distant mountain range. The sky above them was growing steadily lighter, more colors adding to the glorious display until first one, then the second sun peeped above the horizon.
“So beautiful,” she whispered.
“Yes,” he agreed, but he was looking at her rather than the scenery. “Look around, saachi.”
She cast a confused look around the nest and saw little hints of blue start to appear. The blue spread, opening into a multitude of delicate blossoms until they were surrounded by flowers, beautiful blue flowers with a heavenly fragrance.
“Are these saachi flowers?” she whispered, almost afraid to breathe in case they disappeared.
“Yes, my mate. I promised you that I would bring you to see them.”
She stroked a cautious finger across one of the fragile flowers, delighting in the silky feel of the petal.
“I can’t believe that when you saw me in that cage, you thought of something so beautiful.”
“You are far more beautiful,” he said and kissed her.
As the sun rose, he made slow, careful love to her in the bower of blue blossoms, the petals falling on her naked body and their scent surrounding her. Afterward, they lay curled together looking up at the sky. The suns were high enough now that the rays fell across their bodies, striking golden sparks amid the fiery red of her hair.
I look like Rapunzel, she thought idly, remembering the golden-haired heroine. The gold in her hair seemed to intensify, and suddenly the red was gone. The fiery strands had been replaced by long golden curls.
“What did you do?” Aidon sat up and stared at her.
“I don’t know. I was just thinking that my hair looked blonde, and all of a sudden it was.” She stared at him in shock. “Does that mean I can change forms now?”
“At least a little.” He reached out and stroked her hair, then shook his head. “Change it back, please. I prefer seeing you as you really are.”
She blushed and concentrated on her hair. It was a little bit more difficult this time, but she managed to change it back.
“Much better.” Aidon rewarded her with a kiss and was starting to pull her down into the nest again when he tensed.
“What’s the matter?” she whispered.
“A muri. It’s only a small one, but they usually travel in packs.” As he reached for his knife, she followed his gaze to a sleek black head that was peeping over the edge of the nest. As their eyes met, it made an excited sound and started to climb in. Aidon’s hand closed around his knife just as she recognized the creature’s eyes, and she threw herself at him.
“No! It’s Trouble!”
He froze and watched in astonishment as the little catlike creature pranced over to her and rubbed his head against her stomach.
“He’s too young,” he said at last.
“You mean you knew that he could change form?”
“Of course. I just didn’t expect it to happen so soon.”
She rolled her eyes at him. “Trouble is an exceptional war beast, aren’t you, sweetheart?”
The muri purred and butted her playfully with his head, and she laughed.
Aidon watched his mate playing with her war beast and took a deep breath. He had one more piece of news for her.
“Hanna,” he said softly, and she looked up and smiled at him. “While I was in the city, I went to see a doctor.”
Her eyes widened. “What happened? Was the head wound worse than it looked? Are you all right?”
“I’m fine, saachi. I went to see him to find out if the operation was reversible.”
“The operation?” She frowned at him, and then tears sprang to her eyes. “You mean the one that made it impossible for you to father children?”
“That’s right.”
“What did he say?” she whispered.
“That if I want—that if we want—it can be completely reversed.”
“We could have a baby together?”
“Would you like that?” he asked, watching her face.
“Oh, Aidon. More than anything.”
She threw herself at him, covering his face with kisses and leaving him in no doubt about her desire to carry his child.
After that, there were no more words, and Trouble scrambled away to the far side of the nest with a disgruntled mewl.
His passion finally sated, Aidon rolled to his back and tugged Hanna against his side as he stared up at the wide blue arc of the sky. A vast contentment filled him. He had his mate next to him. He had the prospect of a child. But more than that, he had a home. This tiny female from another world had given him that. He was home at last on Pardor.
Epilogue
One year later…
“Your son is feeling greedy today.” Hanna laughed as Aidon swung up on the deck to join her.
She was sitting in the shade nursing Negel, Trouble sprawled at her feet, and, as always, he was filled with happiness at the sight of his mate and his son. The procedure to reverse his sterilization had been successful—so successful that she had become pregnant within a week after they had returned from the city. While they were there, they had stayed with Naiz and Hirogi, and even though she had said she enjoyed the company and exploring the city with him, she had been the one to suggest that they return home.
“You don’t wish to stay longer? Or perhaps, to live here?” he had asked.
“No. It’s nice to visit, and I’d like to come back, but I prefer our home and our jungle. Besides, I want to keep learning about the plants.”
And so they had returned. Even when it had come time for her to give birth, she had decided to remain in the jungle. At least she had agreed to go to the village for the delivery, and he had found surprising satisfaction in presenting his son to his people. People who celebrated with him, uncaring that his child was of mixed birth.
“How were Ralard and Laara?” Hanna asked now.
“Very well. They asked after you and Negel. I promised we would go and visit later this week if you’re feeling up to it.”
“I’m just fine.” S
he rolled her eyes at him. “Giving birth didn’t turn me into an invalid.”
“Of course not. But Negel is very demanding and it is the hot season.”
He stroked the soft head of his son, and the baby shot him a suspicious look as he suckled hungrily. Negel’s coloring was perfectly Pardorian, but his eyes—he had his mother’s saachi-blue eyes.
“Don’t worry, little one,” Hanna said with a mischievous glance up at him. “Daddy isn’t going to take away your milk. At least not now.”
He reached down and cupped her other breast, teasing the distended nipple until a drop of milk appeared, then carrying the sweet liquid to his mouth. He did enjoy the changes in her body brought about by childbirth.
“Later,” he agreed and saw her eyes heat.
“Now stop distracting me and tell me how your meeting went.”
He grinned. “They are in agreement.”
“That’s wonderful. This is going to be a great thing for Pardor.”
“It’s just a trial,” he warned.
“At first. I’m quite sure it will be successful.”
Ironically, Chotgor had been the one to give him the idea. Pardor’s chief source of trade was currently the raw materials that grew in such profusion in the jungle. It had occurred to him that some of the natural remedies made from other products of the jungle might represent an opportunity to diversify and bring a higher return.
Hirogi had developed a process for standardizing the ingredients while Naiz had made the initial contacts with a few trusted traders. Now some of the villagers had agreed to gather ingredients. It wouldn’t force any changes to their way of life, but it would help to provide them with what they needed to protect that way of life.
“And how was your day, my mate?”
“Your son decided to spit up on my latest drawing of the pitchat plant.”
Hirogi had introduced Hanna to a friend of hers who taught at the university, and Hanna was providing illustrations for a botany textbook the professor was publishing.
“Why is he always my son when he does something you don’t like?”
“Because my son is a perfect little angel, of course.”
Hanna and the Hitman: A SciFi Alien Romance (Alien Abduction Book 8) Page 18
