He smiled and glanced at her arm. The cast covering it was the only thing she was wearing. The feel of her nude body pressed against his was still exciting, even now, after their passion was spent.
“I was just a little worried . . .”
She nuzzled him, pressing lips against his throat. “If you keep this up, I’ll have you committed to a rest home. I swear, if I discover I’m marrying a fretful codger . . .”
He met her lips with his own, and they spent some time in a long, lingering kiss. When it was over, Kralik’s smile was the relaxed and assured one she treasured the most.
“Fine, fine, forget I asked. Speaking of which, how’s it coming?”
Caitlin frowned. “Well, most of the preparations for the wedding are set.” She snorted. “And don’t bother telling me—again—that your side of it is all ready to go. Smug frickin’ generals with their ready-made staffs, and what’s there to do anyway except get a ring and a tux and a best man? Rafe did agree, I assume?”
Kralik nodded. Caitlin’s frown deepened. “I’m the one with all the grief. The worst of it’s Tamt. I think I’m going to have to ask the whole damn Jao taif to help me hold her down while we get her fitted for a maid-of-honor’s dress. She is not going to wear that damn warrior’s harness!”
“Good luck,” grunted Kralik. “I predict they’ll refuse.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Caitlin said gloomily. But not too gloomily. Kralik’s hands were starting to wander again.
“You decrepit old lecher,” she said happily.
The Rebels
Awkwardly, Willard Belk advanced into the human-designed room connected to Aille’s command center at Pascagoula which his human service and aides used as a lounge. Tully, Rob Wiley and Rafe Aguilera were sitting around a coffee table littered with newspapers. A fair number of the newspapers had coffee-stain rings decorating their already-garish multi-colored pages.
Tully cocked an eyebrow at him. Willard shuffled his feet a bit.
“I just came to say I’m sorry I helped them put that locator on you, Tully. While back.”
“Don’t worry about it, Will. Ancient history. The name’s Gabe, by the way.”
Belk nodded and glanced at the table. “I see you already saw them. D’you think—I mean . . .”
Aguilera chuckled. “Do we think the Jao will go on a rampage? No, Will, we don’t.” He gave Wiley and Tully a sly look. “Even these Lost Cause fanatics aren’t worried about it. The Jao on the base are buying even more of these rags than the humans are—and getting those of them who can read English to translate, while they all sit around and gossip about it.”
Wiley pointed a stubby finger at one of the tabloids. The Terra Tattler, that one. “Mind you, Yaut did have a fit when he saw the headlines. But I think he was mainly just pissed because they seem to have got it right.”
“From what we can tell anyway,” added Tully, grinning. “Nobody will know for sure, except the taif elders, until Aille finally emerges from the kochan-house with whoever-it-is.”
The former rebels and collaborators, now allies, studied the headlines.
“Me, I hope they are right,” pronounced Aguilera. “She is one fine lady.”
Aille’s Mystery Bride Revealed!
Exclusive to the Tattler!
Photos and Story Inside!
The Mates
Aille advanced toward the entrance to the mating pool, forcing his posture to remain steady despite the new and unsettling emotions rippling through him. Until this moment, he had steadfastly refused to speculate. But now, it was impossible not to begin thinking about his hopes.
Sternly, he told himself to set those hopes aside. His first-mate would be whomever the elders selected, for those reasons which seemed valid to them. Aille’s personal preferences were irrelevant. Such was the Jao way with marriage, and Aille did not disagree. Whatever else about humans he had come to admire, he still found their notions of “romance” sheer superstition. Marriage was far too important a matter to be left to the vagaries of emotion.
Still . . .
He would have other wives, selected over time by the taif’s elders, as his first-mate would have other husbands. But always, by custom, the first-mates would remain the center of the marriage-group. Whichever female waited for him in the pool, she would be, for the rest of his life, the most central person in his existence.