The master healer produced a small tool and showed it to Sandy. “This will help you feed your young one. It will allow him to eat breast milk, which is best for him.”
“How do I use it?”
One healer raised the head of the bed, while Gabin showed her how to attach the adapter to her breast. Darm passed their son into Sandy’s hands, and he took to eating like a young bird to his mother’s beak.
Tears rolled down her face, and she laughed at Darren’s expressions.
****
A knock at the doors brought Darm’s head up. He glanced at Sandy, smiling at the fact that she was finally getting much-needed sleep.
Gabin went to the door and opened it, waving someone in.
Sakkra strode into the medical bay, smiling weakly at the sight of Darren in the bionette. “I take it your son is doing well?” he inquired.
“Very well, thank Sakkan.”
“Good. Good.” He glanced at Gabin and raised an eyebrow. “Then perhaps our master healer will see fit to release the lock-in before change of shift?”
Gabin went red-faced, mumbled apologies, and set to work releasing it from his work station. Darm chuckled at the oversight. In the rush of the birth, none of them had been concerned with anything but the most pressing concerns.
Sakkra ambled to the shield, peering at Darren through the light antiseptic mist within. According to Gabin, he would require nearly three months of isolation time within the sterile field and daily medications to build his fledgling immune system and respiratory system for longer than that.
But Sakkra’s concerns were more mundane. “We have no cuzta or training wraps for a babe so small. I will see if we have any warriors skilled in fabrication on Earth. If not, I will send for smaller cuzta from Sakk, and we’ll use the human equivalent of training wraps.”
Darm nodded. “My thanks for your help.”
“I will make a general announcement this morning, when I tell the men your good news.”
A smile pulled up at Darm’s lips. I have a mate. I have a son. He would be the envy of the consulate.
“The main medical bay is yours for the duration. The consulate will be using the battle bay.”
“Is that necessary?” The battle bay was smaller and less equipped for everyday use.
Sakkra sighed. “It is prudent. As it is, everyone will want to offer gifts and prayers for the young one. We will have to keep order by insisting on medical lock-in for the three of you and high sterilization protocols for everyone and everything moving in and out.”
Darm nodded. “I understand.”
“Good. I should get going then.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
Darm hesitated, then erased the fourth message he’d started to compose. He’d tried issuing an ultimatum, but the thought of his mother reading it had been more than he could bear. Pleading for their acceptance made him seem weak, and that would never do. A dismissal of his parents’ opinions before they were fully formed was hurtful and presumptuous. A clinical recitation of the facts had proven no better.
How do I do this? Now that Sandy and Darren had been properly claimed as his own, he couldn’t put this off any longer.
He’d never had difficulty speaking to his parents before. That thought made him reexamine his approach to telling them about the choices he’d made.
They are my parents. I should speak to them as I always have.
That in mind, Darm turned to the console and started typing a new missive.
My dear mother and sire,
My life has taken a wondrous turn of late, and I hope you will accept this blessing as I have.
A young match came to the consulate. She’d encountered an Earth-born Sakk-descended male, and they’d conceived a young one between them. Like many human males, the sire has no appreciation of the gift of mate and young. Rejected by the sire and by her own nest, Sandy came to the consulate—unprotected and bearing, seeking shelter in return for whatever work we would offer her.
Over the several sa-sen she has sheltered in the consulate, I have been her personal guard. I have protected her, soothed her Kahdi, and won her affection. She is a beautiful and loving woman, and we mated only yesterday.
Being late in her term, mating sent Sandy into early labor, and she delivered a fully-winged son. Though he will require close observation of the healers for an extended period of time, he is strong and determined. In many ways, he reminds me of you, father. I have claimed Darren as my own, as we both love him dearly.
I realize you may not accept these choices. If you can, I would like to bring Sandy and Darren to our ancestral home on Sakk when our son is old enough for such a journey.
If you cannot accept them, I will grieve your loss and remain on Earth with my beloved family. My place is with my mate and son.
May Sakkan keep you in health and safety, always in good cheer.
Darm
Darren fussed from his bionette, and Darm let out a soothing coo.
My place is with my mate and son. He sent the message to the ship leaving comm range and hurried to his son’s side.
****
Three and a half months later
Darm entered their quarters with the tray of food and slid past the partition. He smiled at the sight of Darren noshing at Sandy’s full breast.
“Would you like me to feed you?” he offered. Again. Darren ate often, and it coincided with meals with regularity.
“No. He’s nearly done.”
He set the tray on the bedside table and fluffed Darren’s hair feathers, whispering a prayer for his strength and health. They’d only been released to their quarters a few days earlier, and Darren was still under constant monitoring.
“Oh, there’s a blinking light on the comm board. I don’t know what it means.”
Darm looked up, his heart stuttering at the blinking blue light. A message. It must be my parents’ reply. It surprised him that it came so quickly. They must have had luck in sending a message back on a far-flung vessel nearly the moment they’d received his.
“Darm? Is there a problem?”
“Not at all. I just have to check the message queue.”
She made a faint sound of agreement, and he took his leave to the main console in the sitting room. His hands sweating, he punched up the message.
My dearest son,
Mother. Was it bad news? His mother rarely wrote missives.
Your sire and I were most surprised by your message. We wish you would have trusted us with news of your mate as you grew to love each other. I only hope you avoided doing so as not to raise the family’s hopes for your happiness without return. It would pain me to think you feared our rejection so completely.
Oh, but his mother did know how to chastise him. Thankfully, he could honestly tell her he’d been unsure if Sandy would ever choose to mate.
He went back to the missive.
Preparations have begun to welcome Sandy and young Darren to the ancestral home, with your sire’s usual military precision. We await news of your arrival.
May Sakkan bless and keep you all.
Impatiently,
Your sire and I
He commed the healer in charge of Darren’s care.
“Is there a problem, Captain?” he asked urgently.
Darm switched to Sakk for his reply. “How soon will my mate and son be able to travel to Sakk?”
“I was not aware Sandy had made that decision.” His voice was guarded.
“I mean to ask her, but I need to know when they will be allowed to travel before I do that.”
The healer hesitated. “On the next monthly transport, I should think.”
“That soon?” He’d expected a longer wait.
“Is that a problem, Captain?”
“No. Simply surprising.”
The healer chuckled. “As always with a young one, Captain. Good day.”
“Good day.” Darm closed the comm and hurried back to Sandy.
****
/> Darm came through the curtain, smiling widely.
“Good news?” she asked, settling Darren back in the bionette that monitored him, day and night.
“I believe so.”
Sandy settled on the mattress and lifted the plate of food into her lap. “Tell me while we eat?” She was ravenous and had been since Darren’s birth.
Darm settled beside her, but he didn’t reach for the food. Sandy took a slab of the sweet cornbread off the tray and added it to her plate. She loved it, and it seemed the cooks made a batch every day, whether the men were eating it or not, just for her.
“What would you think about going home with me?”
She was abruptly glad she hadn’t started eating yet. She might have choked at that question. “To Sakk?”
“That would be home,” he teased, but there was something sad in his eyes.
“You have family there,” she guessed. Strange that they’d never discussed that before.
“We all do. Yes.” He didn’t add that she didn’t have family on Earth. Darm didn’t need to. As her personal guard, he’d probably read her file in detail.
It’s true. Then why did the idea of leaving Earth bother her? “When will we be leaving?” I have Darm and Darren. That is home.
But Darm had family and friends on Sakk. Was that why she was afraid to go with him? Was she afraid his interest would wane if there were competitors for his affections?
Or maybe that his family wouldn’t accept her and Darren?
“We can leave as soon as next month, but I thought the month after might be more prudent. For Darren, of course.”
Sandy nodded, relieved that he didn’t mean an immediate departure. “Tell me about your family.”
His smile was soft and wistful. “My sire is a gruff old feather beater. Uh...master general. Retired.”
She nodded and took a bite of the bread.
“My mother has the voice of Uumae...Sakkan’s most beloved wife.”
She swallowed the food. “She’s a singer?”
“Not as a profession, but it is an interest of hers.”
“Any brothers and sisters?”
“An older brother and an older sister.”
“So you’re the baby of the family?”
He scowled at her.
Sandy found she enjoyed teasing him. “If your sister is older, that means she’s already—”
“Mated? Yes. For seven years now.”
“Is your brother?”
He sighed. “No.”
“I thought men typically... They said the older men had first...choice.”
“Not on Earth. A few older males are chosen to come here, but the majority are young men. Daff wasn’t one of the older males chosen to come to Earth. He won’t be eligible to take a prize match on Sakk for at least five more yans. Knowing Daff, only a prize match will do for him. Or at least a level two match, if he mellows a bit.”
Sandy worked at that. “Will he be jealous that you have a mate?”
“Very jealous. Insanely so. Why would you ask that?”
She smoothed the nursing cazta. “I don’t think...”
He waited patiently for her to finish her thoughts.
“I’m not exactly a prize match.”
His cheeks darkened, and his jaw tightened down a notch. “Any man would be honored to have you on his arm.”
“I notice only two were interested.”
His eyes widened.
“That’s why you and Zave were assigned as my guards. I suspected it might be something like that, but Amy confirmed it for me.”
His gaze flicked to Darren and away again. “Any man here would have gladly been your mate.”
“But not with Darren.” Tears stung at her eyes.
“They are selfish cowards. That is no fault of yours.”
“Will your parents be upset about Darren?”
“They’re already preparing for our arrival.”
“What?” He wasn’t serious, was he?
“The blinking light was their reply to my announcement of our mating. They are preparing and waiting for news of our arrival. If I know my sire—and so well I do—he has already requested a full report of Darren’s condition and his needs. He may have already arranged for a bionette or bio crib to safeguard him at our home. He has also probably requisitioned a continuous monitor.”
“Like the one Amy wears?”
“Precisely.” A smile pulled his lips up into a bow. “All children are precious gifts.”
“Then why would the other men be afraid to accept him?”
Darm sighed deeply, and his smile faded. “Not all parents are as accepting as mine are.”
“So...you knew they’d be okay with this?”
“Not at all. I hoped they would be, and I was correct.”
Forming words to answer that was difficult.
“Sandy? Is something wrong?”
She shook her head. “I was just thinking...”
“Yes?”
“That was incredibly brave of you.”
He laughed heartily. “I told you they were cowards.”
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Five weeks later
“You’re crazy.”
Darm smiled. “I’m serious. You can have anything you want. Not just for Darren. For you.”
“What do I need? Honestly, Darm.”
He sighed. He wished he could understand why she so resisted the concept of her mate stipend. “I didn’t ask what you needed,” he reminded her gently. “What do you want?”
Sandy looked around at the store, seemingly stunned. Her hair had been tamed into presentation curls, and she looked glorious in the floor-length nursing cazta and tova gloves.
“Toiletries?” He waved the way to them from memory of the store plans he’d studied.
“I like the ones at the consulate. Are those available on Sakk?”
Darm nodded. “They are imported monthly from Sakk. Clothing?” He motioned toward women’s clothing.
“But tova is so comfortable.”
“Candies? Delicacies?”
She smiled. “Unlimited chocolate? I’d get fat.”
He laughed. “I doubt it, but I would not mind if—”
“Well, well, well... Knew you had to be lying about that brat being mine.”
Darm turned toward the strange male’s voice, tensing as Sandy dropped back a step. Taking her lead, the guards closed on their position.
The male wore a faded pair of jeans with scuffed boots, a studded leather belt, and a button-down collared shirt with the sleeves cuffed to the elbows. His black hair feathers were cut short in the back but long enough to partially cover his bright blue eyes.
Darren’s eyes. Sandy was correct. He does resemble a wingless Zave.
“You have something to say to my mate, human?” Darm knew the male’s name, but he had no respect for the man. Why act as if he did?
Zeke scowled. His gaze trailed from Darm to Sandy and then down to Darren. She moved a step to the left, hiding Darren behind Darm’s wing.
How quickly she has come to adopt a Sakk female’s behaviors.
“The kid isn’t yours, either,” Zeke announced.
He would have believed Darren was Zave’s, but that is immaterial. “The son of my mate is my son.” And I will protect him as such. Try me, human.
The young warrior at Darm’s right shifted to a battle stance, a subtle threat that any trained soldier would be sure to note and respect.
Heedless of it, Zeke continued. “Probably thought she couldn’t get knocked up by one of yours. Joke’s on her. Glad I didn’t fall for the little slut’s game.”
Wings ruffled around them at the insult.
Darm calmed himself. Nothing could be gained by him ending up in a human jail cell. “Ravon, take the detail with Sandy and our son. Find her chocolate. I will join you shortly.”
Sandy touched his back with a shaking hand, then retreated, surrounded by Sakk warriors. One of them stay
ed, despite his command. Darm shot him a questioning look, and the warrior tipped his head. Ravon had likely ordered him to stay to keep Darm out of that jail cell.
When Sandy was too far away to hear them, Darm addressed Zeke. “Were we on Sakk, I would kill you for calling my mate a wanton. As it is, I will tell you something you need to know.”
Zeke curled his lip in disgust. “And what would that be?”
“You sired my son. You are a strong Sakk descendant, just as Sandy is. It is the only way to produce a winged babe, as you have.”
His eyes narrowed. “I don’t buy it. I want DNA tests before I cough up one thin dime for the brat.”
Darm couldn’t have stopped his wings from ruffling if he wanted to. And that was the last thing he wanted. “I support my son. Your...assistance is not required.”
“Then why tell me this?” he challenged.
“I find it amusing that you are now in the same position I once was. You are unable to reproduce with a fully human woman. Less than one in seven hundred on Earth are compatible with you.
“You had a compatible woman that loved you and her son for the asking, and you threw them away. Now they are mine. Such a gift comes rarely in life. You may never find it again.”
Zeke’s face went crimson. “Hundreds of women come to the consulates every day.”
“They do. And they come to find honorable, attentive mates. By Sakk law, your actions have labeled you unsuitable to take a mate. The Sakk will test you, if you wish. They will not help you find a mate.
“Of course, since you threw away one child, the loss of more may not matter to you. You may feel I have done you a favor by—”
“But I have a son. You said so yourself.”
“No. I have a son. You have nothing.” Saying it brought a fierce satisfaction. “Go find women to fill your bed. Maybe luck will favor you twice.”
Unexpected Mates (Sons of Heaven) Page 29