“Has the edict been drawn?” Taliquant asked.
“Not yet, sir. The Magistrate of Battle is arguing that you have proven your capability to protect them, and he is using the Debayluth attack as proof. He does not want to expose his allies. He is trying to find Ethram and Ballion. He wants a transmission of the log proving they acted on your behalf to locate your mate. He also wants to warn them that the Magistrates may have sent the royal guard to find them to make sure this does not happen. Some of the Quistar’s warriors are moving the procurement ship back off planet to throw them off."
“No one wants a war, yet. The Magistrate of Battle has cracked the hierarchy armor, questioning the illegal search of the Quillant, but even if the two Magistrates are asked to step down, the damage has been done. The hierarchy will still try to obtain her unless you have claim.”
“Thank you, Major. Keep me posted.” As the Major wandered back to his post, Zulien said to Taliquant, “I was hoping those two pompous fools would have followed their stolen treasures and been off planet in hiding by now.”
“They’re planning a war?” Miranda asked nervously. “Over me? Zulien, you have to stop them. This is insane. Maybe if I explain to them that I don’t know any information that can hurt them, they’ll leave us alone.”
“Miranda, you have already told us you know how to rebuild the altars. You hold knowledge you are unaware of. Make no mistake: there will be war. We would just like to control the timing of it.” Zulien stroked her shoulders, waving calmness into her.
She turned and looked up at him. “Zulien, I need to speak with Tempest alone for a few minutes.” Miranda placed her hand on his muscled forearm. “Please. You can stand on the edge of the clearing watching us,” she smiled. “I would like that.”
He could drown in her smile. “Of course, Miranda. Tali, we need to give our mates a chance to talk." The warriors moved away.
“I wish they would say girlfriend or fiancé,” Tempest griped. “I can only think of one thing when they keep calling us mates.”
“That is what we are, Tempest. For so many years, I’ve asked the goddess to help me find a place and people who would welcome us. I think we never found it back home because it was not there. This is her answer.”
Tempest stroked her sash and glanced for Tali. Confident he was close, she turned her attention back to Miranda. “You feel it too, Tempest. I don’t care how upset you act, I know you do. You can’t stop searching for him, and I feel the same way about Zulien. All he has to do is be near me, and I feel safe. And, why aren’t we scared? We’ve been abducted by aliens, for goddess sake?”
Tempest began to really think about what Miranda was saying. “It’s because we belong here. It feels right, somehow. Even that talking lizard guy didn’t freak me out for long.”
Miranda laughed. “I fainted the first time he spoke to me,” she confided.
“So, you think we should go along with this joining stuff?” Tempest asked.
“Ask yourself this. Would you rather be sleeping alone tonight, or safe beside him?”
Tempest visibly trembled and searched for Taliquant again.
Miranda touched her arm to get her attention. “I think that is your answer. To be truthful, the thought of being with Zulien has not been far from my mind since I was in that sleep.”
“I dreamt Tali was with me. At least, I thought it was a dream.”
“No, they saw us for a short time when we were on Ethram's ship.” Miranda held up her arm. “They gave us these scarves so we would remember they were thinking of us. I think it was really difficult for them to let us go, and they’ve made sacrifices to try to adjust to our ways. It is never going to happen. With these feelings we’re having, even we can’t do it our way.”
Tempest kicked her foot in the grass. “To be honest, I’ve wanted to jump the big guy since I laid eyes on him.”
“Then I think that is what you should do. He adores you, Tempest. If you could see how hard he is trying to please you. You’re driving him nuts,” Miranda laughed quietly.
“And it’s going to stay that way. I don’t like that ‘Once we’re joined, I have to take orders from him? Crap,” Tempest muttered.
“No one thinks that will happen. You’ve made quite an impression. Let’s just go back to our little suites, and let what happens, happen. We can decide in the morning where to go from there,” Miranda suggested.
“Well, I guess we can’t spend all night out here, and I’ll just wake up with the big guy pawing me anyway,” Tempest conceded.
Miranda walked over to Zulien. “I think I would like to lie down now.” They walked arm in arm back to their building.
Tempest strode towards her chamber and looked over her shoulder. “You coming, big guy?” Tali ran to catch up with her.
Miranda walked over to the joining pallet and anxiously sat down. “Show me how the light thing works.”
Zulien sat next to her. “Think about how you want the room to look, and push that energy towards them. Take my hand.” Miranda did as he asked. “Now, think of the light dimming. Think of the shadows and look at the walls and the ceiling.”
The light slowly dimmed to a faint lavender glow. “Dimmer?” he asked.
“Maybe a little bit,” she replied nervously. The lights dimmed further.
Zulien put his arm around her and she laid her head on his chest, relaxing until she heard Tempest screaming.
“Tali, it looks like the strobe lights of a disco in here. I want the damn walls off.”
“But, I want to look at you. Your eyes flash fire. Your skin is the color of the moon.”
“And your butt is going to be kicked, if you don’t shut them off. Now.”
Miranda sighed and Zulien kissed the top of her head and whispered, “I am glad you are mine. I do not like that you are afraid of me, Miranda. What can I do?” he whispered.
“It is all right, Zule. There have just been a lot of things to get used to. Where I come from, people get to know each other, and they do things together, before they…join. I’m just nervous, but I’ll be fine.”
Zulien tilted her chin and looked into the liquid pools of her blue eyes, lit by the moon. His mouth came down on hers, and the Atlantian ancestry she tried to deny took over. The sensation of his tongue sliding into her mouth caused instant juices of desire to flood from her tightened channel.
Zulien smelled her arousal and groaned into her mouth as her arms tried to circle his broad back and pull him closer. His hands were buried in her long, wavy tresses.
He pulled back and looked at her. Her eyes were filled with anticipation and her bottom lip trembled. She stood and lifted the caftan over her head. Zulien quickly removed his clothes and pulled her on top of him, thrusting his tongue back into the warmth of her mouth.
The sparse curls on his chest tickled her nipples and sent more throbbing heat to her core, causing violent, tight contractions at the emptiness. Miranda felt like she was going to explode and thought, Cripes! All he’s done is kiss me. His tongue skated across her teeth and left her mouth.
He laid her back on the pallet and leaned over her, his dark mane forming a curtain around his face as his mouth lowered to her breast. She balled her fists in his hair as his teeth nipped one protruding bud and proceeded to suckle and tickle her nipple with his tongue.
She gritted her teeth, sucking gulps of air in a light hiss. His hand traveled down her stomach to the soft, damp curls of her sex. A finger slipped along her warm, wet folds and she reached blindly to stop the agony.
“I can’t. Zulien, please, I can’t.”
It was far too late for that. The denial and sacrifice that had been building for days erupted in him, and he took the small wrist with the scarf and raised it over her head. After circling the bedpost with the sash, he grabbed her other wrist and secured it to the other end.
Miranda began crying. “Please, Zulien, I can’t do this. I thought I could, but I can’t.”
He whispered in her ear
, “Shh, my mate. You are safe.”
She whimpered as his kisses trailed to her weeping cleft. On the first stroke of his tongue, her hips rose off the bed and she gasped. He wrapped his strong arms under her thighs, spreading her while she continued to shudder and cry softly, as his tongue lapped her warmth.
Instinctively, he knew she was all right. The passion boiling to the surface of his little mate frightened her, but she was all right. Zulien was ecstatic. At first, he was nervous at the thought of pleasing the Celestial, but their mating gene was strong, and the room was permeated with their musk.
Miranda twisted her useless arms and turned her head into the pillow. His tongue found the tight bead of her clit and she sobbed as her clenching channel tightened with need. She did not want to do this, but how badly she needed it. She felt her contracting core strain at the emptiness, and her mind exploded.
A vision of her standing in front of a great glass pyramid with her warrior at her side threw her into a trance. She was wearing a sapphire robe, and their hair was moving with the wind. There was a crescent and a full moon lighting the darkness.
She felt him enter her with a lunging thrust and she wrapped her legs around him. He was her warrior, her protector, her mate, and her mind cleared enough for her to feel him inside her, his long length filling her.
Her walls grabbed tightly, but his strength was great enough that he could pull and plunge, satisfying his claim on her. He held her hips and thrust deep, swearing oaths at the grip of her sheath. Never was there a woman such as this, and he felt his sack tighten and knew he was going to cum. He felt the heat of his seed rise and spill into her, and he yelled his triumph.
Miranda screamed at the heat of his fluid, his bucking hips causing her to climax again. The vision this time was of an infant lying in a cradle with the phases of the moon, suns and stars carved into it. Whether it was a boy child or a girl she did not know, but when she came out of the trance, Miranda knew she was pregnant.
Zulien collapsed to the side of her. He stopped shuddering as she came out of her trance, and after quickly untying her wrists, he pulled her up to him and rested her head on his slick, bronze chest. He stroked her side until she calmed.
He finally whispered, “You are all right?”
She turned her head and kissed the sweat on his chest. “I am all right, my mate.”
CHAPTER VIII
There were smiles and celebratory toasts in Ethram's quarters. The warriors’ triumphant yells left no doubt the joining was completed, and the Major and guards in the field glanced at each other, grinning. Their worlds would be saved.
The weary parents made their way back to the shuttle. Zibula asked the Major to contact him when the mates left their joining chambers, and he wrapped his arm around Zalana. “This is a happy occasion, my mate. I am so proud of our son.”
Miranda woke to sunlight, curled into Zulien’s side with his strong arm holding her close. She felt at peace, and her small hand worked its way between them and rested over her womb.
Zulien shifted awake with her movement. “Are you okay, Miranda?”
“I am fine, Zule.” She looked up at his handsome face. “We will be fine. I know I belong here, and I understand some of what I am supposed to do.”
“You had a vision?” he asked in awe.
“Yes, and you were standing beside me. It is all right, now. You are where I am supposed to be.”
Zulien blinked rapidly. It would not do for his mate to see her protector weep with joy. She snuggled into him, running her fingers over his chest. They lay in silence for a long time, until Tempest's predictable shriek pierced the dawn.
“I don’t care, big guy. I’m hungry. Maybe on your world you don’t eat, but this girl wants food. Now.”
“Please do not rise,” Tali begged. “We are warriors, and the joining can last for days if we want.”
“Then you will be joining with a decayed corpse. I’m starving.”
Zulien bounded off the pallet. “Miranda, this is true? You will decay if you do not feast now?”
Miranda shook her head. “I suspect no faster than you would, Zule. Tempest is ruled by her stomach.”
Zulien was unconvinced and would not take the chance. He picked up her caftan, pulled her to her feet and dressed her. “We will feast now.”
“Well, I guess I would like some more juice.” She took his hand and they wandered over to Tempest's chamber. “Tempest, Zule and I are going to the other building to get some breakfast. We’ll see you there.”
“At least someone knows how to treat their mate,” Tempest huffed.
Tali quickly dressed and pulled her in the direction of Ethram's quarters.
The Major saw the couples as they walked across the yard. What the dremont are they leaving the joining chambers so soon for? He placed the promised call to Zibula.
“Did you see all of them?” Zibula shook Zalana awake as he hastily got dressed. “No one looked ill? We are on our way.”
Zalana rose and yawned. “What is wrong?”
“They have left the joining chambers.” Zibula knocked on the guest room door. “We need to get back.”
As the shuttle sped towards the temple, Zibula assured them the mates were all right. “The Major has no idea what happened. He said Zule and Miranda were holding hands and Tempest was not shrieking at Tali. They just left the chambers and wandered over to the procurer’s quarters.”
On approaching Ethram's quarters and Zibula prepared to knock, they heard Tempest. “Tali, sit still. You look like a stray dog. Yes, I know, my eyes flash with fire. My fist will flash with thunder if you do not sit still.”
Zibula looked at Terena, then knocked, and Zulien opened the door. “Good morning, father, mother.”
Miranda peaked under his arm. “Good morning. I was just making breakfast. Come on in. Have you eaten yet?”
Whatever the anxious parents expected to see, it was not Tempest trying to comb the knots out of Taliquant’s thick curls while the Celestial prepared a feast on the morning of her joining.
At first, the mothers were too shocked to move. Zalana finally sprung into action. “Miranda, please sit. Terena and I will prepare the feast.” Maybe a feast on joining morning was a ritual that had been forgotten. Maybe it was a feast prepared by the mate in honor of their joining. Zalana did not know what to do.
“It’s cool. I am just making pancakes. I found some sweet, sticky stuff that makes good syrup.”
Zulien looked up from a stack of flat bread covered in pillachi juice and shrugged. “It is delicious. I wonder why we never thought of it.”
Taliquant held up a dripping forkful and Tempest leaned over, devouring it. “I can’t imagine drinking this syrup like juice, can you, Miranda?” She smacked Tali on the head when he tried to follow her sweet voice. “Sit still.”
“No, I like the nintine juice much better. It makes good pancake syrup, though.” Miranda had braided her hair in a rope and tied it with the offering sash.
She placed a plate of the feast in front of Zibula. “Don’t forget the syrup.” She flipped another pancake.
Zalana was mystified. Now, the Celestial offered her mate’s father the feast. She finally had to ask. “Miranda, if I am not following protocol, I apologize. This has been forgotten.”
Miranda spun around. “What are you talking about, Zalana?”
“Were we supposed to prepare a ritual feast on your joining morning?” Zalana looked down at her lap, completely embarrassed.
“Ritual feast? Oh, for goddess sake. It’s just breakfast, Zalana. Tempest and I were hungry. We’ve only had a little nintine juice since our procurement.”
“Then you will be going back to the joining chambers?” she asked.
Tempest laughed. “I am sure we’ll be going back to the joining chambers.” Tali beamed. “But, not until after we get that altar set up. I want to make sure it’s ready for tonight’s ritual.” Tali’s face fell again.
“I can’t wait. If e
ver there was a time to bless the goddess, it would be now,” Miranda agreed.
Miranda placed a stack of pancakes in the center of the table, and place settings in front of Taliquant’s parents, Zalana and herself. “Dig in, guys,” Miranda said as she plopped onto Zulien’s lap. They each took a flat bread, and Terena gulped as she poured a small amount of pillachi juice on it. After one bite, she reached for more juice and another flat bread.
Miranda sat comfortably on Zulien’s lap while she ate. She was sipping some of the unusual juice while the group talked and got to know each other.
Zulien nuzzled his mate’s neck. “Miranda had visions at our joining pinnacle,” he announced proudly.
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