- Dar'ax -

The tall woman in white says more words in her alien language, and then Heidi puckers her lips, grabs my head and pulls me down to her. I get the idea and kiss her passionately while all the others are looking and laughing and making happy exclamations, slapping their palms together to make noise.

“We're done,” Heidi says as she disengages. Then she takes my hand and we walk a few steps away from what I immediately recognized as an altar at the beginning of this astoundingly short ceremony.

I'm confused. “Done?”

“We're married now. You're my husband, I'm your wife.”

“That was easy,” I state and take her into my arms. “I thought it would be harder to marry a woman. Not that I ever thought I'd find one, of course.”

“The wedding is easy,” she laughs. “The hard part was finding me and getting me in the mood to say 'yes'. I don't think that was too easy for you.”

I nod slowly. It seemed effortless to me, once I'd made the decision to go to her and not to the Nusin.

I look at the rest of our tribe. My new tribe.

There are five women here, apart from my beloved Heidi. Just the existence of one was hard enough to wrap my mind around. But six? Six women on Xren? And nobody knows except me, Ar'ox and Jax'zan?

Certainly they have an alien look to them. No fangs, for one thing. But they're so blatantly, immensely, almost exaggeratedly female that it just makes them more exotic and enticing.

But the others pale in comparison to Heidi, my Mate and wife. I can't take my eyes off her. Her face shines with a warm glow, her dark eyes seem to sparkle behind the transparent stones and her voice and touch soothe me and help me focus on the here and now, and not the past.

I can't believe how long it took me to realize that she was my Mate. My old mission clouded my mind and made it dark. Then she came like the sun, and finally she was able to chase the clouds away.

My breath sticks in my throat when I think of how close it came to never happening.

I grasp her cool little hand, so slender and soft in mine. But like the rest of her, there's a toughness inside that I'm not sure if she even knows about. I saw her face the swarm of irox standing up, not cowering. I loved her then, more than I can ever say.

I hold her close and smell the flowers in the little bunch she has. Ten flowers. One for each of us, and then the last one for their friend who died.

She goes up on tiptoe and kisses me. “I'll just go and talk to the girls. Girl talk.”

She releases me and sends me a look over her shoulder, full of promise.

Jax'zan comes over and grabs my forearm. “Well done, warrior. They're costly to get, these women. But when you have her, your life is never the same.”

“Indeed,” Ar'ox agrees. “You'll find life to be brighter and easier. And sometimes much harder.”

“But only briefly,” Jax'zan laughs. “And you know they have their way of making us feel good.”

“I do know,” I say, because I think I know what he means. “The mating. It is miraculous how well suited a woman is to that. I wonder, is it true that a woman can function much like a Lifegiver? I mean, it may sound ridiculous. But I seem to recall from what my shaman told me that in the age of Women here on Xren, there were no Lifegivers.”

“It is true,” Ar'ox confirms. “My Emilia will give birth in a certain number of days. We have successfully mated, she says. Apparently there's a child growing inside her right now. And inside Sophia, Jax'zan's wife. Observe their pleasant roundness! Some of that appears to come from their function as breeding pods, in much the same way as Lifegivers. It is most mysterious.”

“Did Emilia tell you how the child will be born?” Jax'zan asks.

Ar'ox glances over at his wife. “No. I wondered, but I found it tactless to ask in case it is too much of a holy female secret.”

“Then brace yourself, warrior. You are aware of the slit, of course. Well, the baby will be squeezed out of that. With the head first.”

Ar'ox goes pale, and I also feel the blood draining from my face. “But ...”

“Yes,” Jax'zan continues with obvious satisfaction at the shock he's giving us. “A baby, just as large as the one that we have all seen lifted out of an open Lifegiver, will be forced in its entirety out of the small slit.”

“There are no petals that open?” I say, aghast. “There is no way to pick the baby gently out of a large opening?”

“There is not.”

I look over at Heidi, trying to envision a baby coming out of the tight slit that will often squeeze my manhood so pleasantly. “It can't be possible. I mean, the child growing inside her is hard enough to imagine. But the slit is very small! I've seen Lifegiver babies. Their heads alone ...!”

“It is a horrific idea,” Jax'zan agrees. “And my Sophia will be the first to experience it.”

“Then we will all watch it with interest,” I state weakly. And then another thought hits me. “Do they die, perhaps? Is that their important function, so important that it kills them? I mean, they can't possibly survive such a horrendous thing happening to them!”

Now it's Jax'zan's turn to go pale. “Holy Ancestors!”

He walks quickly over to his wife and whispers into her ear. She smiles and says something, and then I can see Jax'zan almost collapse with relief.

He straightens and comes back. “They usually survive it,” he says knowledgeably. “The baby also. Apparently the slit can expand greatly, although it seems impossible to me.”

“Very well,” I say, glad that Heidi will not be going through that any time soon. “It will be interesting to watch your wives doing those things.”

“And your wife will not?”

“No, no,” I laugh. “We have only mated perhaps twice as many times as I have fingers. And there was never any particular ceremony or chanting before. Very simple matings only.”

Ar'ox scratches his chin. “I don't think any specific ceremony is needed. Apparently a woman can become with child from even a single mating.”

My jaw drops. “But the Lifegivers ... when a man donates his seed ... the shaman ...”

“Yes,” Jax'zan says, “there is always a ceremony when a Lifegiver is seeded. They must be primed and prepared. But I understand that with a woman, it's not strictly necessary.”

The blood drains from my face for the second time in as many minutes. I stare over at Heidi. She looks much the same as ever. But she might be ...

I have to know. I walk over to her, and she looks up at me with light in her eyes.

I clear my voice. “My love. We have mated.”

“I see.” She's very serious.

I suddenly feel very uncertain. “Haven't we?”

She puts her hand on my chest. “I'm almost sure that we have.”

“And now it appears a woman can be bred in that way. With mating.”

“Does it?” Her eyes have a glint of mirth in them.

I glance over at the other men. Have they been joking with me? But they look as serious as ever.

“So I'm told. Is it true?”

She smiles up at me. “A woman can become pregnant from mating with a man, yes. That is only way it can happen.”

I look her up and down. She looks the same as ever, but the pleasant roundness Ar'ox talked about is present in spades. “And are you ... I mean, we have mated many times ...”

“Actually,” she says and takes my hand, “we were just talking about that. I had to check with Sophia and Emilia about certain things. I was going to tell you later, but it might as well be now. Yes, Dar'ax, my love, our mating has been successful. And I am pregnant. Probably. A little too soon to say for sure, but the signs are there. With Xren warriors as fathers, the signs come very early.”

The world spins around me and I have to steady myself on a rock. “Then ... a baby ...?”

“That's the idea,” she says and holds me. She's still smiling, but there are suddenly tears in her eyes. “A baby made from both of us.”

I thought marrying Heidi would be the most extraordinary experience in my life. But now my mind explodes with even more joy. “A baby? A child? From both of us? And you will not die during the birth?”

She squeezes my hand. “Hopefully not.”

I can't help it. A huge roar of happiness escapes from my throat and I take my new wife into my arms. “Really? Is it true?”

She laughs, a laughter so happy and loud and unrestrained that I've never heard anything like it. “Yes, my love. It's true!”

Everyone around us is cheering and laughing, and I know I've found my tribe at last.

Finally I put her down. Very gently, because somewhere in her there is a baby growing. A baby to prolong the Bykri tribe. Maybe forever. “Then my mission is complete.”

Her eyes sparkle. “That's what you think. No, love, this is when it starts.”

I've never heard more blissful words.

I lean in to kiss her, and she places her hands on my cheeks and kiss me back, so passionately it takes my breath away.

“I love you,” I state.

“And I love you,” she replies easily.

“We'll never be apart again.”

She kisses me once more, not needing to say anything.

That is as it should be.

Because it is as I knew it all along: She's mine.

- - -

© 2017 Calista Skye

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Make sure to catch the Epilogue at the end of the book!

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