Nathan frowned. “Huh?”
“Like I said, long day,” Gabriel told him.
“How do poker, beer, and snacks guaranteed to have zero nutritional value sound?” Nathan inquired in an offhand tone.
“Give me fifteen minutes.”
“You can have thirty,” Nathan told him. “I need to pick up a couple of things from my ship.”
* * *
Ecaterina returned to the cabin at midmorning the next day. Not because she had any intention of forgiving the stubborn pig she was married to, but because none of the men had shown up for rehearsal that morning, and she needed his help tracking them down.
The smell of stale alcohol and fried food hit her sensitive nose before she set foot on the path to the cabin door. Ecaterina covered her nose and mouth with her sleeve and approached the cabin with trepidation and more than a little guilt at having left Nathan to drink himself into a stupor.
She paused at the door, hearing unfamiliar snores from inside.
Curiosity took over, and Ecaterina went inside to find out if she was mistaken. The cabin was a mess. The surfaces were cluttered with empty beer and liquor bottles and room service trays. It also looked like someone had set up a makeshift wrestling arena in the center of the living area.
Her investigation of the food processing unit yielded a mod she knew was only available from Bad Company, meaning Nathan. Someone—Nathan again, she presumed—had the unit produce enough of the special liquor that could affect those with nanocytes to knock a vampire on their ass.
Clearly, she was walking through the aftermath of a guys’ night, which explained the smell, but what about the snoring?
Ecaterina listened carefully and followed the sounds through the cabin. She found John asleep in the bathtub and Scott and Eric in the hallway leading to the two bedrooms. She turned to go into the kitchen and found Michael feeding beans into the old-fashioned coffee grinder. He offered her a bleary-eyed smile and mumbled something approximating “good morning” as she passed the breakfast table, where Gabriel and Trey were face-down, using their arms as pillows.
“Good call on the coffee,” she whispered, continuing on to the den, where she found Nathan and Kai fast asleep, propping each other up on the couch.
Ecaterina smiled and poked Nathan’s knee with her foot. “Wakey-wakey, sleepyhead.”
Nathan’s nose twitched, and he opened one eye a fraction. “Hey. You don’t look like you’re mad at me anymore. Am I out of the doghouse?”
“You are out of the doghouse,” Ecaterina told him. “With me. Char? I can’t say.”
“She’ll forgive you,” Terry Henry called as he passed, dripping wet from his swim in the sea. “But I suggest you find a high-end jeweler if you want her to forget.”
Kai woke up at the sound of his grandfather’s voice, groaning when his knees collided with the table. “Owww, my head.”
Terry Henry shook his head at Kai, grinning. “Serves you right for drinking so much, knowing you don’t have the nanocytes to take care of the consequences.”
Kai massaged his aching head tenderly. “I think surviving how much we all drank last night is proof my nanocytes work just fine.”
“I hear you.” Nathan clapped him on the back in sympathy, causing Kai’s stomach to turn a somersault. “I think a bear shit in my mouth while I was asleep.”
Ecaterina shook her head in despair. “Have you all forgotten there is a wedding tomorrow? Up! Shower! Now!” She shooed them out of the den. “There will be time for breakfast if you’re quick getting dressed.”
Epilogue
Kai’s nerves skyrocketed when the dunes came into sight in the distance. He slowed, suddenly certain he’d lost the ring.
Christina stopped walking and looked back at him. “What are you doing?”
Kai’s fingers brushed the reassuring cube in his pocket and he smiled, holding out his hand for Christina to take. “Admiring my favorite view in the whole universe?”
Christina laughed. “You can admire it some more while you eat my dust.”
Kai gave chase as Christina sprinted over the sand with her laughter trailing in her wake. He could never catch her unless she let him.
Christina showed mercy as the dunes began to rise around them, vanishing from sight, only to spring an ambush on Kai without warning. Kai went down willingly when she t-boned him, using his weight to send them rolling down the dune in a tangle of arms and legs and lips.
They ended up with Christina straddling Kai, her fingers laced with his.
Kai looked up at her dusted with sand, her hair wild, and he loved her. “I’m going back into the Pod-doc. I’m going to find out if I can get my Were genes activated.”
Christina scrambled off him in shock. “What made you come to that decision?” she asked, scrutinizing him. “Where were you last night?”
Kai grinned. “Would you believe getting blind drunk with your dad?”
Christina couldn’t suppress her reaction. “How?”
“I had a little help from your godmother, and your mother, and my grandmother, but in the end, it came down to him understanding that there’s no length I wouldn’t go to for you.” Kai took the ring box from his pocket and opened it, going to one knee. “Our friends and family are waiting on the other side of these dunes for us. Bethany Anne bought out every wedding-related store in the known universe. It’s time.”
Kai held up the ring. “Christina Bethany Anne Lowell, will you marry me?”
Christina nodded, tears in her eyes. “Yes. A thousand times, yes.”
Kai put the ring on her finger and got to his feet. “We have to hurry. The ceremony is in two hours, and your mother and Alexis are waiting for you in your dressing room.”
“Dressing room?” Christina echoed, captivated by the way the diamond in her ring caught the light. “Wait, you said Bethany Anne was one of the wedding planners? Tell me later.”
They moved.
Christina got through a whirlwind of hair and makeup in a daze. Similarly, she browsed the array of dresses Bethany Anne had for her to choose from and picked one on autopilot.
It mattered what she looked like in her photos, of course, but the important thing was that the insurmountable obstacles to her and Kai’s marriage had been removed.
She fully intended to get the whole story from Kai—just as soon as she got that ring on his finger and it was too late for her father to change his mind again.
It was obvious Nathan wasn’t going to change his mind when she met him outside the ballroom and he embraced her, crying without shame. “I’ve got the ship running. It’s not too late.”
“I’ll be fine, Dad.” Christina waved his fussing off, claiming he’d mess her dress up when it was her eye makeup she was worried about. “But you and I are going to have a conversation if I find out you had anything to do with Kai’s decision to explore becoming a Were.”
Nathan glanced at the ballroom doors. “Is that the orchestra?” He held out his arm. “Time to go, sweetheart. Kai is waiting to be knocked out by the sight of you in that dress.”
Christina slipped her arm through Nathan’s. “Thank you for being here for me, Dad.”
Nathan swallowed a choking sob that contained as much joy as it did sadness at letting Christina go. “You deserve the happiness you held out for. Kai is a good man.”
Christina lifted her veil and started fanning her eyes to stem the tears and save her makeup. “Dad, stop! I can’t walk down the aisle looking like a panda, for crying out loud.”
Nathan guided her to the doors, which were opened by two resort workers in tuxedos. “You look beautiful.”
Bethany Anne lifted her hands when the doors were opened, and the orchestra switched to a lilting arrangement of the Wedding March.
Kai turned from his conversation with Bethany Anne, Terry Henry, and Kaeden when Christina entered the room. He suddenly forgot how to draw air, she was so beautiful in her bridal gown, radiating happiness.
How
in the hell had he managed to persuade that ethereal angel to spend her life with him?
Kaeden nudged him in the ribs, chuckling. “Breathe, son. Can’t take your vows if you’re unconscious.”
Christina paused at the threshold to gather her composure, taking a moment to be amazed by everyone who had come out to celebrate, by the décor, by Kai looking almost edible in his dark tailcoat and dress trousers. “I can’t believe it’s really happening,” she murmured.
“Believe it,” Nathan told her lovingly. He met Bethany Anne’s direct gaze and gave her a minute nod as they stepped onto the runner.
Tina and Alexis fell in behind Christina as she began her procession. Christina didn’t notice. All she saw was Kai.
Kai took her hands when she arrived at the end of the aisle, too emotional to speak.
Bethany Anne wiped a tear away and spread her hands in welcome. “We have come together to celebrate the love between Christina and Kai and the path they have chosen to take together. There is no greater power than love. It unites us and holds us together, and without it, we are lost. Join me in wishing them a future filled with hope, happiness—”
“And plenty of grandchildren.” Char was heard by everyone with enhanced hearing.
“If that’s what they wish for,” Bethany Anne agreed as the chuckles ebbed. She glanced at the couple, who were still holding hands, gazing at each other through Christina’s veil. “Do we have the rings?”
Kaeden and Tina stepped forward and handed the rings to Christina and Kai.
Bethany Anne smiled. “Then let’s begin. Do you, Christina Bethany Anne Lowell, take this man, Kailin Walton, to be your husband?”
Christina nodded, her voice breathy as she spoke. “I do.”
Author Notes - Michael Anderle
April 2, 2020
THANK YOU for reading our story! We have a few of these planned, but we don’t know if we should continue writing and publishing without your input. Options include leaving a review, reaching out on Facebook to let us know, and smoke signals.
Frankly, smoke signals might get misconstrued as low hanging clouds, so you might want to nix that idea..
The Queen is back in the Federation, and she isn’t willing to take prisoners. You need to see the enemy for who they are, then get off of your ass and help or get out of the way. Anything else will get you bitch-slapped upside the head.
Or your head is slapped right off your body. That would hurt… Well, for a micro-second.
Bethany Anne is dealing with her children being all grown up, and she is dealing with it. Unfortunately, she is also pushing a lot of emotions under the covers. I have to ask the question, “How many recognize that she lost many years of motherhood to these damned Kurtherians?”
I do.
The responsibility to make the right decision never stops the anguish of the loss in our lives, and it won’t in hers. We might not see it play out like a Baba Yaga situation, since she does have her children, but somehow, someway, BA will have to have a moment of sadness as she closes the door on holding her daughter or grabbing her son when they were young.
The sadness is shared.
Diary week of March 29th to April 4th, 2020
Someone help me. I’m starting to look at Blender and Unreal Engine 04.
I shouldn’t be doing this!
When LMBPN LLC was formed, it was always about becoming an entertainment company, one that started with books but was able to expand from there.
So far, we have expanded to audio and translations. We have over two hundred of our stories in audio books as LMBPN Publishing, and hundreds more on the way from partners such as Dreamscape, Podium, and Tantor Publishing.
We have over twenty (20) German-translated books and will publish another twenty-plus translations this year alone. (Go Jens and team!)
But, I’ve been working on projects using 3D assets for a few years, knowing that somewhere in the future, I want our company to be at least producing short animations. Now, with so little to focus on outside of being home, I am looking at all sorts of opportunities.
And I shouldn’t.
Every good business needs to be able to focus and focus hard on what they do. So, for me, I need to focus on continuing to build our authors, series, backlist etc. etc. and not personally get down into the nitty-gritty working on the software.
However, I am sliding back to my roots. You see, before all of my writing books and publishing, I was a programmer, and before that a creative artist (wannabe – I couldn’t draw a straight line without a ruler to save myself.) I just downloaded the latest Blender software to my laptop last night. Then, in a crisis of concern, I shut it down after about two minutes of playing and went back to YouTube videos.
I can’t afford to play with the software. If I do, I will look up in a few days and realize I am the backlog in the company.
During this time of isolation, I am playing with all kinds of technology, dreaming up where I will drive LMBPN towards in the future, and how we will provide you our readers with new ways to engage with our stories, our characters, and each other.
I have no plans for building games (I’ll let other companies work that angle), but everything else is still on the table. We have over a hundred days of books in the pipeline. Our authors, artists, ops team, editing team, and social teams are hard at work to make sure you have the new stories you want to get lost in.
Then, in the future, I want to bring those stories and those characters to you in new ways. LMBPN’s tagline is “Disruptive Imagination.”
Why?
Because I like to blow shit up. The same-ol’-same-ol’ doesn’t work for me. I get bored.
And now, I’m bored in real life, too.
So, let me stretch for a moment and then imagine I’m handing you something as you hear me say, “Here, hold my beer…”
The future is just getting started.
I am grateful to you, our readers, who consume our books.
Ad Aeternitatem,
Michael Anderle
Obsidian Detective
Two Rebels whose Worlds Collide on a Planetary Level.
On the fringes of human space, a murder will light a fuse and send two different people colliding together.
She lives on Earth, where peace among the population is a given. He is on the fringe of society where authority is how much firepower you wield.
She is from the powerful, the elite. He is with the military.
Both want the truth – but is revealing the truth good for society?
---
Two years ago, a small moon in a far off system was set to be the location of the first intergalactic war between humans and an alien race.
It never happened. However, something was found many are willing to kill to keep a secret.
Now, they have killed the wrong people.
How many will need to die to keep the truth hidden?
As many as is needed.
He will have vengeance no matter the cost. She will dig for the truth. No matter how risky the truth is to reveal.
Available now at your favorite bookseller
Books By Michael Anderle
For a complete list of books by Michael Anderle, please visit:
www.lmbpn.com/ma-books/
All LMBPN Audiobooks are Available at Audible.com and iTunes
To see all LMBPN audiobooks, including those written by Michael Anderle please visit:
www.lmbpn.com/audible
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k you for reading books on Archive.
Return Of The Queen: The Kurtherian Endgame™ Book Eight Page 27