Energy and glowing happiness zinged through him, and Zical wanted to laugh and talk and make love to this precious woman. He wanted to cherish her for the rest of his days. Most of all he wanted her to be happy.
“The Perceptive Ones would approve of you and your female. Plus, you’ll be pleased to know the Zin have not penetrated this galaxy. The Jarn are free. Your people are once again safe from attack. Now, I will take you home.”
Every atom in Zical’s body wanted to insist that Dora marry him, but first he had something important to say. “Dora, I love you. When I thought I’d lost you, it was if I’d lost the best part of myself. I love you more than life itself. I don’t care if you spend all your days linked with Ranth. Just give me your nights. I want to spend the rest of our lives together. If you aren’t certain, I’ll wait—as long as necessary. Just give me the opportunity to prove how much I love you.”
Her eyes gleamed with happiness. “I’d like that.”
“Which part?”
“The part where you prove to me how much you love me.” She giggled, used a psi thought to turn her suit transparent. “In fact I wouldn’t mind at all if you started loving me right now.”
She was so beautiful, this spirited, loving woman, that she stole his breath away. When she cocked her head at a mischievous angle and licked her lips with a provocative grin, his heart sped and his blood quickened, as he waited for her next saucy comment.
She grinned. “There’s something you should know.”
“Please, don’t tell me you miss life as a computer,” he teased.
“Of course not. Computers can’t make love.” Her grin widened. “But I finally figured out that I love you, too. I always have and I suspect I always will. Loving you is hardwired into my brain. I can’t seem to help it. So it’s a damn good thing that you love me back.” She playfully teased his lip with the pad of her forefinger. “However, I have a few … concerns.”
“Concerns?” he growled into her ear. “Like what?”
“Rystani men like to take control.”
“So?” He clasped her waist to keep his hands from roving, but touching her seemed to cause his sizzling nerve endings to recall the stimulation from the Sentinel’s mind scan. The alien machine always left him aroused and Dora’s wriggling, her words of love, all combined to make him burn for her.
“Sometimes a woman likes to be in charge,” she warned him, her eyes sparkling.
“She does?”
“Oh, yes.”
Following Rystani custom was no longer as important to him as keeping his woman happy. Oh, she hadn’t agreed to marry him yet, but she’d already given him her love. For now, her love was plenty and would keep him a very happy man.
After trying and failing to give her his sternest expression, he chuckled. “Let me make sure I have this right. You want to take charge of our lovemaking?”
“Yes.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
He laced his hands and placed them behind his head, a smile teasing his lips. “So, go ahead. I dare you.”
Epilogue
Eight and one-half months later …
“PUSH.” MIRI instructed Dora.
For months Dora had been impatiently waiting for this moment, for the birth of her and Zical’s twin daughters. With Miri standing between her draped thighs and the healing circle that was Tessa, Kahn, Shaloma, Etru, and Kirek surrounding her head and shoulders, Dora was cocooned in love.
She’d finally admitted to herself that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with Zical and had consented to marry him. He’d accepted that she would always feel a special kinship with computers and claimed he loved that part of her, too. He’d shown his acceptance of her differences when she’d refused to follow the Rystani custom of wearing the bands, and he’d married her anyway. Dora understood that his kind of acceptance was rare and precious, and loved him all the more.
Her husband now stood proudly among their family unit, with his hands on her shoulders, rubbing her with loving encouragement. Since Dora had born the discomfort of carrying the babies for nine months, Rystani custom required the male to take his mate’s pain during the birth.
However, the fathers found the agony easier to bear when it was shared among the family unit of the healing circle. So although Dora had no discomfort whatsoever, the three men, Zical, Kahn and Etru were bearing the childbirth pain through the psi link. Although Kirek had begged to be included, his father had protectively insisted that the boy’s body was not yet strong enough to share the agony of labor.
Her abdominal muscles contracted again and Zical grunted. Kahn’s lips pressed tightly together and Etru winced. Wishing to end the men’s pain, yet unwilling to risk harming her babies by pushing too hard with her psi and her suit, Dora gave a little experimental squeeze.
“Dora, use more force,” Miri gently instructed.
“But not too much,” Zical cautioned, obviously willing to bear the pain to ease his daughters’ way into the world, and Dora’s heart swelled with pride.
He was a good man, a wonderful husband, and he’d be a terrific father. As a computer she’d picked him out, knowing he was special. But as a woman, she loved him with all her heart. As his suit barely kept up with the sweat on his forehead, as he bore the pain of childbirth for her and for their children, she’d never loved him more.
Linking her psi with Shaloma, Tessa, and Miri, Dora reached out a mental link to her daughters. Come little ones, she crooned. It’s time to begin your lives.
The contractions increased in frequency, coming upon one another so fast that Dora could no longer have spoken if she’d tried. She was simply working too hard to spare any extra energy beyond the process of gently urging the girls from her body.
For some reason, despite the love surrounding their babies, the wonderful scent of fresh flowers, the dim lights, the encouraging Rystani melody, the girls wanted to remain in the womb. Not yet born, they already exhibited distinct personalities through their psi, one sensitive and shy, the other defiant in spirit. Despite Dora, Tessa, Miri and Shaloma’s encouragement, the babies refused to cooperate.
Kirek’s hand tightened on Miri as he linked and added his special encouragement. Come on. You have a wonderful mother waiting for you.
And a brave father, Dora added.
Tessa’s mind linked and fed in more encouragement. Friends are waiting to greet you and bestow their blessings.
Dora might not feel any pain, but her body stretched to accommodate her children. She cajoled, coaxed, pushed.
A new life entered the world.
Miri gently removed the firstborn, placed her in a suit that automatically shrank to her tiny size, then cleaned her. Dora reached eagerly for the baby, even as she gently urged her second daughter into the world. Miri took care of the details while Dora marveled at her daughters, two perfectly formed girls with alexandrite eyes.
Even as Zical protected her from the last of the birth pain, he grinned at her in proud, happy, and excited exhaustion. “You are amazing. These children are—”
“Going to be my best friends,” Kirek proclaimed with a solemn face and a mischievous wink that took Zical aback and made Etru chuckle.
Then Zical tousled Kirek’s head. “They will be lucky, indeed, to have you for a friend.” His eyes raised to the two men who’d helped him through the labor pain. “I am lucky to share this moment with both of you.”
Etru nodded with relief. Kahn clapped him on the shoulder, and their women smiled as Zical’s gaze quickly returned to the twins. One cuddled sleepily, sucking her thumb. The other stared at him curiously. Dora handed him the baby who was awake.
He took her gingerly, and Etru showed him how to adjust the infant to a comfortable spot in the crook of his arm. “Are they supposed to be so tiny?”
As if his daughter understood, she stretched her little fists, slapping his chest as if to say, “Of course I’m perfect, can’t you tell?”
Fascin
ated by the babies, Kirek obviously didn’t want to depart with the others. But Miri took his hand, insisting the new family needed some time alone, and Dora assured Kirek he could return and visit soon.
After the others had departed, Zical wiped a stray tear from his eye and cleared his throat. Dora lifted her gaze to his, her eyebrow arched. “Yes?”
He leaned down to her, protectively cuddling their daughter. “Happy?”
She gazed back at the man she loved with all her heart, the man who had given her two amazing daughters and a life where she felt … complete, wanted, needed, adored, cherished, and loved. “When I was a computer, I had emotions, but … they were never so intense. I feel as though I’m about to burst with happiness.”
“Oh, you’re bursting all right … with milk.” Zical chuckled, kissed her brow, his gaze dropping to her breast where her daughter had wriggled and latched onto her nipple.
As her milk let down and she nursed first one hungry daughter, then the other, Dora enjoyed the loving warmth in Zical’s gaze. She’d created her body because she’d wanted to have sex with him. Although sex with Zical was terrific, the best part of being human was to love and be loved.
She’d gotten so much more than she’d ever wanted and had no regrets about becoming human. Out of billions of people, Zical was her soul mate, the man she’d always loved. To feel such joy, to experience such love, was worth giving up her immortality. She had no doubt she’d made the right choice to become human. Rather than spending an eternity alone, she looked forward to a lifetime with Zical and her daughters.
(Please continue reading for more about The Rystani Warrior series and Susan Kearny)
The Rystani Warrior Series
The Challenge - Rystani Warrior 1
The Ultimatum - Rystani Warrior 3
The Quest - Rystani Warrior 4
About Susan Kearney
Susan Kearney used to set herself on fire four times a day, now a USA TODAY BESTSELLING author, she does something really hot—she writes romantic suspense and futuristic romance. She can apply the old rule of “write what you know” and never run out of ideas for characters and plots. An All-American and professional diver, expert in martial arts, sailor, real estate broker, and owner of a barter business as well as women’s fitness center and three hair salons, she has enough material for a lifetime.
Kearney has written historical, contemporary, and futuristic romance as well as romantic suspense and science fiction for publishers such as Harlequin, Tor, Grand Central Publishing, Simon and Schuster, Berkley, and Belle Books. Kearney has won career achievement awards for paranormal and romantic suspense, as well as Telly awards for her videos. She’s given workshops at national conferences on the business of writing as well as on plotting, characterization, and world building.
A native of New Jersey, Kearney writes full-time. She resides in a suburb of Tampa—with her husband and Boston Terrier. Currently she’s plotting her way through her fifty-fourth work of fiction. You can reach her through this web site: www.susankearney.com
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