by Maira Dawn
Sonora's eyes widened. "The instant, uh?"
"The instant. Mother probably has everything arranged already."
Sonora laughed as she stared at Ian. "You're serious!"
He waved his hand. "I'm sure your mother had some input too."
"Ian! Give me a moment to breathe."
Ian changed his high-handed tactics and instead pulled her closer, murmuring in her ear, "You have a whole lifetime to do that." He lifted her face to his. "I have waited so long for you, mourned you thinking I had lost you forever. Please be mine, my heart. Be mine the instant you can."
Ian locked eyes with Sonora, not letting her go. She swam in the grey depths, her heart melting at his words. Everything he said was true. She had almost wrecked this man.
Ian knew the moment she gave in. His eyes gleamed as he gave her a triumphant smirk.
Sonora smacked his chest and wagged a finger at him. "Not the instant. I hope that was not literal. But—"
"Within hours."
"Within days, and I get some input too!"
"Thank you, Edinara.” Ian picked Sonora up and sat her on his lap, joyfully planting one small kiss after another on her face.
Sonora giggled and reddened as she tried to free herself, throwing a glance at the laughing driver. She trapped Ian's face between her two hands, but that only encouraged him to become more serious. Cradling Sonora in his arms, Ian lowered his lips to hers.
She enjoyed Ian's attention but would only allow so much in front of an audience. She slid back into her place beside him.
"Atlantis will be in view any minute, and I don't want to miss it."
Sonora held her breath in anticipation. This was it. Her new way home, and she didn't want to miss a moment of it. This time she would enjoy the city in all its splendor. Appreciating the man beside her instead of worrying over who or what he was.
A faint sparkle started up ahead. Sonora grabbed Ian's hand and held it to her. She glanced at him, her blue eyes as brilliant as the glow of Atlantis.
"Look! We are there!" She shifted in her seat to get a better view out the large side window.
Ian curled his large hand into her small one, a warmth filling every inch of his body. This moment is what he had waited for, longed for. He was taking Sonora home, his Intended, his beloved, his heart.
Fifty-Four
Not Problem at All
Chapter Fifty-six
Five days later, Sonora stood at one side of the Atlantis Memorial Garden with Ian at the other. The glow of pride filled her chest as she saw him in his dark-blue pants and jacket. He’d never been so handsome, so majestic. She could easily see him, years from now, filling a seat at the council. And it was clear, from the many nods of approval, most of the Atlantians did too. She smiled. Her human heritage wouldn’t hurt him one bit.
The room was bursting with the sight and smell of thousands of colorful blooms. It was as if every flower was forced to perform for this special day. Sonora raised her multi-colored bouquet and drank in the scent, giggling. Knowing Atlantians, they had some almost-magical way of doing that.
She’d learned a lot about them these past few days. Yes, Atlantians were somewhat arrogant and judgmental when it came to humans. How many times had her family surprised them with their quick intellect? There was so much to learn. But they were also extremely hospitable, generous, and caring. It was sometimes comical to watch them struggle with the different sides of their own nature.
Her own husband-to-be was a perfect example. So sure anything Atlantian was superior but unable to bring himself to degrade humans now that he cared for so many of them.
Sonora waited for the music to start the bride’s tune, her father beside her. Ian and his family had allowed a mixture of both cultures. Aleena and Azurine had worked together to blend them seamlessly and developed a budding friendship in the process.
Her father would walk her down the walkway, and they would add traditional human vows to the Atlantian ones. One said after the other. This way, both the bride and groom understood the full weight of the pledge they took.
Ian had chosen her dress, as was the custom of his people. She carefully ran a hand over her hip. He couldn’t have done better. Light blue, the color of the sea on a sunny day, it reflected all the bright flecks in her eyes and enhanced them. She wasn’t sure what the underlay material was, but the overlay was of the finest, hand-created lace with some areas as thin as a web. It was amazing.
When she had opened the box, her heart almost stopped, especially when she noticed the Orca clan’s design running in darker thread down the arm. She’d cried happy tears, and Ian beamed as he held her. But that hadn’t been the end. The sapphires she wore, an Orca heirloom, were now hers. Necklace, earrings, and even some small ones woven through her blonde hair. Every time Sonora moved, she sparkled.
The song started, and Mike held out an arm to his daughter. “I love you, Sunny.”
Sonora sniffed back her tears and nodded. “I love you too, Dad.”
“Never thought we’d be doing this under a ton of water.” Mike eyed the ceiling nervously. He still wasn’t used to undersea living.
Sonora patted his hand. “It’s okay. This place has been around a long time and it will continue on for awhile longer, I’m sure.”
She looked up the aisle. Ian’s intense stare beckoned her toward him. One step forward meant a whole new future. Bright joy flared through her as she moved toward her true love.
Ian’s heart leaped as Sunny seemed to float down the center aisle left open for her. The others were filled with happy family and friends. Any with reservations over adding humans to Atlantis had gotten over it in the last few days.
He sighed. Five long days of getting this Joining orchestrated while he had to wait for what he wanted. The women just laughed and told him he’d appreciate Sunny more. They’d wanted a week. He countered with three days and didn’t budge until Sunny had looked at him, and he’d drowned in her blue gaze. He’d given in to five, but could give no more. The men gave him understanding looks.
Those women had taken almost every minute of the time he allowed.
Sunny stopped on her way to him, to kiss her mother and hug her grandfather. Blake had not been incarcerated on his return. The council was true to their word. He worked for the city, which he seemed to enjoy. Ian had again addressed the council asking for Blake to remain a clan member, but they couldn’t see their way to that. This seemed to bother him more than Blake. How Ian would have loved for Sunny and her family to have four clans behind them even if he was continually assured the Orca would be enough.
At the dais, Sunny stopped at the bottom of the three stairs, looking up at him under her lashes. Ian gasped, his body warming. Her beauty was almost too much for him.
She turned and kissed her father and passed her bouquet to her sister. He’d asked her to take her vows as an Atlantian woman would, her hands joined with his. He reached out to her, both with his hand and his heart, to help her up the steps.
Sunny shivered and smiled as she sensed him. It was getting more comfortable for her now, and he wouldn’t hold back on this special day.
Sonora stumbled slightly on the top step, tightening her hand on his, and made a face. “I ruined it!” she murmured.
Ian shook his head. “No, Edinara. Your stumbles endear me to you. And it allows me to rescue you, even here in the safety of our kingdom.”
Sunny chuckled, then pulled in a breath as his hand slid around her upper waist. “I’ll be sure to need a lot of rescuing if you hold me like this.”
The officiant cleared his throat and began using a mixture of each language. When the time came to make their vows to each other, Ian slid his fingers through hers. A friend stepped up and tied a dark-blue ribbon shot with silver around their clasped hands.
Ian’s words were confident and sure, loud enough for the entire assembly to hear. Sunny started three times before chasing away her nerves. A little infusion of courage pushed her way from Ian helped. In t
he end, each guest clearly heard each promise, as was the Atlantian way.
There were no rings to exchange. The Orca clan tattoo Sunny would get tomorrow proclaimed she belonged with Ian now, and he would get an addition to his. They did exchange a kiss. A human tradition Ian had no problem with. Neither, it seemed, did the audience. They broke out in applause.
Sunny moved toward the stairs, and Ian reached for her. “The ceremony is not completed yet.”
Her mouth formed an o, and she went back to her spot.
Butterflies seemed to attack Sonora’s stomach. This was all they had talked about, what else was there? All she could think was, please don’t let this be something weird. Why didn’t he prepare her better for these things?
Ian was handed a large bowl. He dropped to his knees in front of her, holding the bowl for her inspection. She looked everywhere but him, hoping someone would tell her what to do. But Ian demanded her attention. His ‘look at me’ was clear.
So she did. Looked at his face and then cautiously looked into the bowl. She frowned.
Ian nodded.
She reached toward the bowl, then away. “I’m not sure—”
The officiant announced, “The contents of the bowl represent this man’s courage, and his ability to support this woman. She will now examine it.” He made a scooping motion and winked at her.
Sonora smiled and dipped her hand into the bowl filled with shark’s teeth of many sizes and combined with jewels of every color. She let them fall from her hand, sparkling on their way back to the bowl. It seemed a small part of the ceremony to her, but she sensed Ian’s nerves. She saw the uncertainty in his gaze. It was important. “This seems like a lot,” she whispered.
“It is a massive amount,” the officiant murmured. “Now, you must accept them. Take them from him if you plan to stay with him.”
“Of course, I plan on staying with him! Why do you think I’m here?” Sonora worked at keeping her voice low.
Ian’s body shook as he tried to hold back his laughter.
“It is a tradition. You may keep them or give them to your family.” The man raised his voice for the entire group. “The wealth in this man’s hands is substantial. It will be a protection for any who hold it. The teeth, though having no monetary worth, loudly proclaim this man’s courage and strength. They are the remnants of the great whites he has felled with his own hands.”
Sonora didn’t think twice. She bent and kissed Ian, taking the bowl from his hands. “Of course, I’ll take it,” she whispered. “No need to be nervous.”
She turned to the audience. “Dad?” When he stepped up, she handed him the bowl. Mike took it and nodded at Ian before returning to his place.
She moved back to her new husband as he rose to his feet. Love, pride, and joy swirled through him and she could feel it. “Now, are we done?”
“Now, we are done.”
Frowning, Sonora tipped her head. “Ian? You’re glowing, like really glowing.”
He smiled and tipped his head to the audience. She looked out at the many faces. Each Atlantian glowed from white to light-blue to some extent, though none of them as much as her new husband. “What’s happening?”
“Well, I suppose now that I understand what makes us Atlantian, I should say it is our added DNA. But instead I will say what we have always believed it is, what it feels like. Unbelievable joy and ultimate happiness dancing together. Do you not feel it?”
“Of course, I’m so, so happy and—oh!”
The emotion Ian shared with her was far beyond any she’d ever felt on her own. No wonder he was glowing, she soon would be too. “Ian, this is—this is—”
He leaned toward her and raised an eyebrow. “This is nothing. Later, I will teach you how to really glow.”
Sonora giggled and grabbed his arm, shyly looking at him. “I look forward to it.”
“As do I.” Ian wrapped his arm around her. “Now, let us eat, and do this dancing you are so fond of.”
At the end of the celebration, Ian and Sunny said goodnight to all their guests. He picked her up and carried her out of the dining hall as she waved to everyone. A few steps out of the door, Sunny said, “You can put me down now.”
Ian bounced her in his arms. “I like this human tradition.”
“I see that. But it’s not meant for all the time.”
“Yes, just through doors.”
“Well, not all doors. Just the one we left, and our own.”
Ian hmphed. “Maybe I will carry you all the time.”
“That would be impractical.”
“Not for me.”
Sunny laughed. “Think about it, Ian. It’s highly impractical.”
He shrugged, barely containing his laughter. “I say it is not. And I will not put you down until I desire to do so.”
Sunny stared at him, her brows raised. “Are you teasing me? You are teasing me.” She slapped him on the shoulder.
His body rocked with amusement. “You are so entertaining when your eyebrows go up like that. I cannot help myself.”
At their home, Sunny turned the knob, and Ian kicked it open. He took a big step over the threshold. “There. Was that done correctly?”
“Very correctly. Perfectly.”
Sunny wiggled out of his arms and started to walk away. Ian grabbed her hand and softly said, “Where are you going?”
She blushed and looked at the ground. “Just to, you know, get changed.”
Ian tugged on her, wrapping his arms around her when she landed against him. “No. No, you are not. You are staying right here with me.”
His gaze roamed her flushed face, and he bent her back over his arm before bringing his lips to hers. Warmth and then fire raced through both of them, separately and together. Each felt every flame licking at the other. By the time he was finished, Ian was supporting her.
“Now,” he said. “Do you have a problem with that?”
Sunny reached a hand to his neck and tugged him back to her. “No problem. No problem at all.”
Fifty-Five
Save The World
Major Kenneth Woodward sputtered a laugh. You could have knocked him over with a feather when the King of Atlantis walked in his office.
Not really a king, he guessed, but my, my, did he look the part. All gussied up in that blue lightweight armor, striding into his office like he owned the place, his own squad of warriors at his side.
Jorah. That's what he said his name was. He’d given Woodward his next mission before he went back to the ocean.
Take the cure for this god-awful disease to the proper place. Get it distributed to the people. Save the world.
What self-respecting military man wouldn't want a mission like that? Isn't that what they all lived for? An honest-to-goodness save-the-world mission?
Major Woodward sputtered a few more times. He wished he could've completed this one.
It seemed a good idea at the time. A small detail would be sent out to move the cure from the base in South Carolina to the medical facility in Virginia. A large convoy would attract too much attention.
The word was out. Atlantis existed and was the answer to the disease destroying humankind. The President had been sure it would be too dangerous to make a big deal of taking the cure the few hours north. Small and quiet was safer.
Until it wasn't.
Just past the Virginia border, less than an hour from their destination, it happened. A large group of confused, aggressive Infected rampaging the countryside attacked the army Jeep ahead of the Major's.
Whatever the Infected threw into that vehicle was the end of that car full of soldiers in an instant. An explosion and fire made sure those brave men would never grapple with the AgFlu.
The Infected had come after the Major's Jeep next. The Major had pulled the case with the cure close to him. His brawny arms closed around it like steel bands as the soldier driving the Jeep weaved around the road trying to get past the crazed group of Infected fighters.
Another explosion to their side and an unfortunate turn toppled the Major's Jeep. Woodward was quick though. With the help of the one conscious soldier, they exited through the window, which was now above them, pulling the case with them.
The two stood on the vehicle towering above the milling crowd below. The Major tried to get their attention, tried to tell them what he held in his hands, that it could save them. But his pleading couldn't be heard above their frightened screeches and angry screams.
With regret, the Major ordered the soldier to fire into the crowd, and he did the same, hoping they would scatter. But the mob was too large and too angry to care.
Instead, they swarmed the Jeep, pulling the soldier and the Major to the ground. The two military men fought them off, grabbing the case and running for the open field alongside the road.
One tall man with glassy eyes picked up a large tree branch and swung it, striking the soldier who ran for his life beside the Major. Injured, perhaps dead, he dropped to the ground.
The tall man pulled the gun from the dead soldier's hand. He shot toward the back of the still moving Major. He missed. Grimacing at his marksmanship, he passed the gun off to the short man beside him and ran after the military man.
Major Woodward shoved away the voice berating him. A bad feeling had haunted him about this mission from the get-go, but he’d ignored it. After all, what choice did he have? How did one turn down a save-the-world mission?
But when he felt a sharp sting to his leg and the limb stopped working as it should, when he stumbled backward, dropping the case, and felt a tremendous pressure push through the middle of his body, he knew he should have listened to his gut.
He should have had the largest convoy he could muster.
Now he sat on the ground, the same branch that impaled him also held him upright. The Major tried to huff out a warning but even though his mouth moved, no sound came out.
"What is this? Why is it so important?" the tall man sneered as he kicked the case containing the cure.