“Wow…” Emily shook her head. “That’s so…Terminator.”
Kate snickered. “Yeah, but Sarah Connor ran away from her terminator—you got bonded to yours.”
Emily laughed. “You’re right. Except Tragar isn’t a soulless robot bent on my destruction.”
“I was at first, you know,” Tragar said seriously. “Thank the Goddess I took time to study you and didn’t just take that bastard Two’s word that you were dangerous and worthy of termination.”
“If he hadn’t sent you after me, I’d be dead now,” Emily reminded him. “Either another assassin would have killed me or I would have gone through my Tenrah with no one to help me and died that way.”
“How did a Khalla wind up down on Earth, anyway?” Kate asked. “Rone tells me they’re extremely rare, even here on Rageron.”
“They are. And we have no idea how Emily got to your home world,” Tragar said.
“I do know I was adopted,” Emily put in. “But I don’t know who my birth parents are. My adopted mom told me I was orphaned when I was just a baby and that’s how they got me.”
“However you got to Earth, you were nearly killed there by Two’s orders,” Tragar growled. He curled one big hand into a fist. “I wish I could find him and make him pay.”
“I’d feel a lot better if he wasn’t still wandering around the universe too,” Emily admitted quietly. “But I know you can take care of me, sweetheart.” She smiled at him.
“Oh, Two is long gone now,” Kate said, patting Emily’s hand soothingly. “Dead weeks ago—so you don’t have to worry about him anymore. Commander Sylvan—the new Kindred High Chancellor—told me he personally saw his body.”
“He’s not dead,” Tragar said flatly. “Or if he is, his evil intensions live on. I received a call from one claiming to be his representative. He had all of Two’s codes and claimed he was acting on his direct orders. That was only a day ago.”
“Crap,” Kate muttered and Rone frowned.
“That’s disturbing. I’ll need to let Commander Sylvan know at once. In the mean time, I would keep a close watch on Emily.”
“Don’t worry.” Tragar put an arm around her shoulders protectively. “I won’t let her out of my site.”
“Even with you right beside her, it might not be safe,” Rone cautioned. “Don’t let her start her duties as Khalla until this matter is resolved.”
“Speaking of that, is it really set in stone that I have to go touring all around like some kind of rock star?” Emily put in. “I mean, even though I’ve changed a lot that really isn’t the kind of life I want for myself. I didn’t ask to be a Khalla—I just want to go back to my old life as a kindergarten teacher.”
“My Khalla,” Tragar said gently. “I don’t want to ruin your dreams but you look completely different from the female I stole away from Earth. Not just your hair and eyes—you’re taller as well. Considerably taller.”
“I’d put you at close to six foot,” Kate said, looking up at her appraisingly. “Normal for a Kindred—not so much for Earth unless you’re a Swedish supermodel.”
“Okay, so teaching may be out but I still have to talk to my family,” Emily said stubbornly. “I know I can convince my sister Anna of who I am and she can help me talk to our mom and dad. I can’t just let them think I was abducted and killed somewhere. That’s cruel.”
“We will go back to Earth to speak to your family,” Tragar promised, squeezing her comfortingly. “But we cannot go just yet. There is the fifteen day feast to get through in preparation for our joining ceremony.”
“What? Fifteen days?” To Emily it sounded like an eternity. She loved Tragar and she was very happy with the way things had turned out but she was homesick, damn it! And she didn’t want her family to have one more day of worry or one more sleepless night wondering what had happened to her.
“It’s tradition,” Tragar said firmly.
“Well, it’s a stupid tradition,” Emily snapped. “I don’t see why we have to wait fifteen days to get bonded or married or whatever it is! They were eager enough to marry me off to Daro before and I barely even knew him!”
“That was because you needed a chosen mate badly—you were about to enter the fourth stage of your Tenrah,” Tragar explained patiently. “But tradition states that in order to show reverence to the Goddess, a Khalla who has already bonded to a male must serve a fifteen day period of waiting in the Temple before her joining ceremony. Besides…” He frowned at her uncertainly. “Don’t you want to have a joining ceremony with me? It was my understanding that most females enjoy such things.”
Kate took Emily’s hand and squeezed it gently.
“It’s not that she doesn’t want a big wedding—she’s just missing her family. They’re probably worried sick right about now and she doesn’t want them to be in any more pain wondering what happened to her.”
Emily shot her new friend a grateful look.
“Thanks, Kate. You’re right—that’s it exactly.”
“Please don’t worry about your family, Khalla,” Rone said formally. “We’ll send a message to the Mother Ship asking them to contact your parents and sister at once. We’ll let them know you’ve been found and you’re well and happy.”
“Well…” Emily sighed. “I guess that will be okay. Thank you, Rone.” She looked at Kate hopefully. “And will you guys stay for the ceremony? I know I haven’t known you long but well…I kind of feel like I have. Like we’ve always been friends.” She blushed a little at the embarrassing admission but Kate just laughed.
“We did have kind of an instant connection, didn’t we? That happens sometimes with someone like me.”
“Kate has the Knowing,” Rone put in and Emily could hear the note of pride in his voice. “She has an affinity for people who are a little…different.”
Tragar raised an eyebrow. “Such as a Wulven Kindred like yourself? Tell me, if you don’t mind speaking of it, how long did it take her to tame your Beast? And weren’t you worried that you might hurt her during your first bonding? I know that Wulven can get a bit…wild in their fur-forms.”
“It wasn’t necessary for me to claim Kate in my fur-form,” Rone said, a bit stiffly, Emily thought. “Because of her gift she was able to get acquainted with my Beast without ever seeing me as a Changed one.”
“Really?” Both Tragar’s eyebrows went up now. “I didn’t even know that was possible. Does that not result in an incomplete bond?”
“Our bond is just fine,” Kate said calmly. “I got to know Rone’s Beast without ever having to meet him in person—he likes me a lot.”
Tragar frowned. “But I thought the Beast of a Wulven kind had to be fully tamed by the female he intended to mate—if you’ve never even met him face-to-face how—”
“A-hem.” Emily cleared her throat loudly. She didn’t know exactly what they were talking about but it seemed to be a sensitive topic. Time to change the subject. “So is that a yes? You’ll stay for my wedding…er, joining ceremony?”
Kate shot a glance at her man and Emily could tell they were having a private conversation through their link. Then the diminutive girl smiled and nodded.
“No problem. We can send Saber and Kaylee back to the Mother Ship and we’ll stay here with our ship in orbit around Rageron. Then we can take you back to Earth ourselves. How does that sound?”
“It sounds wonderful.” Impulsively, Emily leaned over the table to give her new friend a hug. “Thank you so much,” she whispered into Kate’s riot of red and gold curls. “If I can’t have my sister here, I’m glad I have you.”
“Well, you have to have somebody to talk wedding stuff with,” Kate said, returning the hug.
“I suppose I could ask Lit’aal to help too,” Emily said thoughtfully, sitting back. “But I have an idea she and Daro are going to be pretty busy planning their own joining ceremony.”
“Oh yeah, those two are thick as thieves.” Kate giggled. “You should see them…sneaking around and making
eyes at each other. I think they’re still afraid to let everyone know how they feel because of that awful old Mother Chundra.”
“I know—she goes out and hand-picks the candidates for the Khallas-to-be but then if they don’t get chosen, she expects them to live a celibate life and never be with anyone ever again,” Emily exclaimed. “It’s completely unreasonable.”
“So I gathered from the way Daro and Lit’aal have been mooning over each other,” Kate said dryly. “That really is a ridiculous rule, though. Why shouldn’t he find somebody else if he doesn’t get picked by a Khalla?”
“It’s not a direct ruling of the Goddess, I don’t think,” Rone remarked. “As for as I can see it is a tradition which has been in place for as long as Mother Chundra has been in power here at the Temple—which is nearly a hundred solar years.”
“Wow—she’s older than she looks,” Emily remarked.
“Speaking of the High Priestess, how is she taking all of this?” Tragar asked, frowning.
Rone shrugged. “As well as can be expected, I guess. She’s agreed not to interfere with the two of you but she point blank refuses to perform your joining ceremony.”
“Good!” Emily exclaimed. “I want someone I like to officiate. And someone who likes me.” She looked thoughtful. “Actually, Lit’aal is a priestess—maybe we can have her do it.”
“Great idea.” Kate smiled. “And then maybe you can use your influence as a bonded Khalla to make sure she gets to be with Daro. Maybe formally release him as your chosen mate and say that you’ve found another and you want him to find someone too.”
“What a good idea!” Emily exclaimed.
“Oh, I’m full of ‘em.” Kate picked up another of the pie-cakes. “Right now my main idea is to eat another one of these little things although it’s probably going straight to my hips.”
“I like your hips,” Rone murmured, giving her a hot glance.
“All right now.” Kate made a shooing motion though Emily could tell she was pleased with her mate’s flirting. “You’re acting like we’re the newly bonded people at the table. Emily and Tragar are the ones that ought to be eyeing each other’s hips…along with other things.”
“I certainly agree with you there,” Tragar murmured, his eyes half-lidded as he looked at Emily. “Have you had enough to eat, my Khalla? Perhaps you find yourself hungry for other things now?”
The look in his golden eyes made Emily’s heart race. Suddenly her breasts felt full and her nipples ached. Between her legs, her pussy was swollen and hot.
“Yes, as a matter of fact, I am hungry,” she purred.
Kate laughed and shook a finger at her mate.
“See what you started?”
Rone gave her a lazy grin.
“As though a Khalla and her newly bonded mate need any encouragement.”
“We certainly don’t,” Tragar said. “Do we, my Khalla?”
Before Emily could answer him, he stood and swept her into his arms in one swift motion.
“Mmm, Tragar!” she protested halfheartedly. “You’re so bad—where are you taking me?”
“Back to the breeding suite,” he growled softly. “I’m hungry, my Khalla and you are what I hunger for.”
Emily nuzzled her face into his throat, breathing in his dark, spicy bonding scent. Her entire body throbbed with desire and she knew she needed to be with her man again…feeling him fill her and fuck her and breed her for hours, renewing and strengthening their new bond all over again.
As Tragar carried her off, she heard Kate laughing.
“Okay then,” her new friend called. “We’ll see you guys in a day or two.”
Emily couldn’t answer—she was too busy kissing Tragar’s throat. But she didn’t think Kate would mind…
* * * * *
“Well?” Y demanded. “You saw how it went. The second Verrak assassin is dead and the Khalla is securely bonded to her mate and extremely well protected. There is no way to get to her now—your plan failed, Master Two.”
“Fool!” his Master raged inside his head. “You know nothing! Did I not tell you I have plans within plans?”
“And what is the plan now?” Y asked blandly.
“If you would ever stop your yammering for a moment and let me think—ahhh!” The Master snickered evilly. “Wait—I have it now. It is not too late—not too late at all! There is still a way to separate them and be certain they will never be together again.”
“How?” Y tried to keep the skepticism out of his voice but didn’t quite manage it. He might not know much of the universe but so far it seemed to him that every plan his master had made had been a dismal failure.
“We need a little help from the old witch—”
“Her again?” Y protested. “You saw what happened last time. She cast her spell—we even watched her feed the Khalla female’s hair into the fire—but still she refused to drink the Black Milk.”
“She did warn us that a Khalla’s mind is unpredictable and strong,” Two reminded him. “Besides, she is only part of my plan. We will also need some inside assistance—one of the disgruntled priestesses should do nicely.”
“But how will you contact them?” Y asked. “And what will you do once you have?”
“We will also need several pieces of equipment that I believe are available only on the defunct Scourge Father Ship,” the Master said, ignoring his question.
“I thought the Kindred had destroyed it when they killed the AllFather,” Y objected. He had been learning as much as he could about the Kindred race in his downtime lately, since they were his Master’s enemies.
Master Two made a noise of negation. “Wrong. They towed it out into deep orbit around the Earth’s moon. We have plenty of time to get there if we use the correct wormhole—fifteen solar days to be exact.”
Y shook his head. “I still do not understand.”
“Of course you don’t. But you will, my dear Y. Oh, you will…”
Chapter Thirty-three
Emily’s heart was thumping in her chest as she stepped into the Sacred Grove exactly fifteen days later. But this time, instead of pounding with dread, it was beating in a quick, light, joyful rhythm. Going to be married today! she thought and heard Emallia echo the joyous emotion.
Emallia rarely spoke up anymore—she really didn’t have to since she and Emily were one person now. But occasionally Emily could feel her thoughts and emotions, always in perfect sync with her own. It should have felt strange and wrong but it didn’t. Just like her bonding with Tragar and her new outwards appearance, it was natural and right in every way—just part of being a Khalla, she supposed.
Looking down the wide aisle between the green and purple trees, Emily couldn’t help contrasting this ceremony to her other joining ceremony—the one where she had almost been forced to join with Daro.
Emily was wearing the same dark red robes with gold embroidery and Daro was still there, at the end of the aisle as he had been before. But this time he was standing to Tragar’s left as his best man. He was smiling but it was clear he only had eyes for Lit’aal, who was standing at the end of the aisle looking extremely nervous about officiating. That might have something to do with Mother Chundra, who was standing behind her glaring daggers at her back.
The High Priestess still wasn’t happy at not getting her way and she hadn’t been shy about letting Emily know it. Frankly, Emily wished she hadn’t had to invite the awful old woman at all, but it really couldn’t be avoided, considering they were having the joining ceremony in the Temple where she was still the head honcho. Emily comforted herself that at least Turra wasn’t there. She really didn’t need two mean priestesses scowling at her while she was trying to get married.
Rone was standing to the right of Daro, serving as a second groomsman and also keeping an eye on the High Priestess and the other two members of the Holy Council who were standing on either side of her. Kate, acting as Emily’s maid of honor, was walking behind Emily, as was the tradition her
e.
At the very end of the aisle, behind the nervous Lit’aal and the angry Mother Chundra, was the huge statue of the Goddess. Emily couldn’t help wondering as she paced slowly down the grass lined pathway in her bare feet, what the Mother of All Life would think of all this—if she was really real, that was. Of course, she had prayed to the Kindred deity when she was trying to save Tragar’s life but she’d been desperate. At that point she would have prayed to anyone.
“Mother…” Emallia whispered and Emily felt her joy and reverence as she gazed at the huge statue with its stern but kindly face carved in the purest white marble. Perhaps there was something to the Goddess after all—her Kit’tara certainly seemed to think so. The Mother of All Life…a goddess who watched over her children and loved them and cared for them always. It was a beautiful idea, even if it was just theology.
The priestesses of the Temple were lined up along the aisle between the green and purple trees, just as they had been before and as Emily paced towards the waiting Tragar, she heard their happy and admiring murmurs. Most of them had turned out to be really nice as she got to know them. They, like everyone else here, were simply pawns—forced to follow Mother Chundra’s unreasonable demands. Emily heard from Lit’aal that she was a kind of hero to them now—she had stood up to the High Priestess and gotten away with it. They were in awe of her and not just because she was a Khalla.
She reached the end of the aisle and turned to face Tragar. He was wearing a deep red shirt and his black leather trousers and boots and his long hair was pulled back to the nape of his neck. He had a serious expression on his face but there was joy in his golden eyes. A joy so great it spilled over into their link and made her heart sing when she looked at him.
“My Khalla,” she heard him think. “So beautiful…how did I ever become so fortunate as to win you? The Goddess grant that I may be worthy of your love and forgive me for turning my back on her so many years ago.”