“Where are you guys? Ms. Wilder is going to be here any second,” Ivy said, coming out of her bedroom only to find everyone waiting on her.

“Ms. Wilder is already here, slow poke,” Riley joked. “And from the look of you, all I can say is thank God the walls are soundproof.”

Henley snickered. “Gerri’s surprise was that good, huh?”

Ivy rolled her eyes, but the grin on her face gave it away. The other two looked at her expectantly, but maybe it was better to keep this one quiet. “Wow, you clean up good! I love that orange maxi dress on you, Ri. It really brings out your skin and eyes,” Ivy said, ignoring Henley’s question.

“Nice evasion, Vee. Maybe if Riley and I behave ourselves, Gerri will give us a surprise, too.”

Riley laughed. “I don’t blame you, Ivy. I was never one for kiss and tell, either.” She glanced down at her dress. “Thanks for the compliment, though. I had to cut about a foot off the bottom, but that’s about par for all my clothes.”

“I’m just the opposite. I’m stuck with big and tall for the rest of my life—” Henley stopped mid-sentence when her eyes flicked to the window with a grin. “And Goldilocks said, ‘This one’s too big.' Well, fuck Goldilocks. Looking at what’s walking around down there, it looks like I’m just right!”

Gerri burst out laughing. “You guys crack me up. And yes, if you behave, there might be a surprise in store for you, too, eventually.” She pushed herself up from the couch and straightened her lustrous silk sheath that fell to her ankles. “Let’s go. Time, tide, and the king wait for no one.”

They walked into the garden and Ivy stopped, her eyes falling immediately on the blonde standing by the end of the table with her hand pressed into the small of her back. Tears pricked and decorum be damned, she wasn’t waiting another second.

“Cass! Cassie!” she called across the gathering.

The woman turned, her dove gray eyes so like Ivy’s searching for the source.

“Over here! Cass!” Dress or no dress, she darted across the lawn, dodging people and servers. “Cassandra!”

Her cousin’s face lit up and she squealed at the sight of Ivy rushing toward her. She flung her arms out and the two women embraced, holding tightly.

“Oh my GOD! I can’t believe you’re really here! What did Gerri do? Knock you over the head and drag you through the worm hole?” Cass laughed, stepping back with tears on her cheeks.

Ivy shook her head. “Nope. My inner adventure junkie got the best of me. I put my life on hold and threw clothes in a roller bag and surfed the worm.” She looked down at Cassie’s swollen belly. “Look at you! You’re huge!”

Cass laughed. “Surfed the worm? I gotta remember that.” Rubbing her belly, her face flushed, embarrassed but proud. “Large and loving it. Wasn’t that what we said growing up?”

“The Grimaldi girls. More to love. Yup.” Ivy hugged her again, but then gave her a playful butt smack. “Why didn’t you let me know you were knocked up? I had to find out from my least favorite person.”

“Hey, I resemble that remark.” Gerri chuckled, walking up. “Cassandra, love. You look radiant.”

“Doesn’t she, though?” a masculine rumble said from behind.

Cass held out her hand and another tall, handsome shifter slid his arm around her small shoulders. “Talen, you remember my cousin, right?”

The large bear of a man looked at Ivy, his eyes studying her before inclining his head. “It’s a pleasure to see you again, Ivy. We didn’t get much of a chance to talk on Earth, but Cass has told me so much about you, I feel as though I know you well.”

Ivy spared a look for her cousin and laughed. “Likewise, but I can only imagine what she’s told you. All lies, I’m sure.” She winked.

Talen’s laugh was gruff and sexy, and the way his eyes sparkled, she liked him already. “They certainly know how to grow you big out here in the cosmos.”

He chuckled. “I know. Cass tells me the palace is like Texas on steroids, whatever that means.”

She grinned. “There’s a saying back home. ‘Everything’s bigger in Texas.’”

“Why?” he asked, looking between them.

Ivy shrugged. “No clue, but it certainly fits.”

Cassie hugged Talen around the waist. “Isn’t he amazing?”

Gerri pursed her lips and Ivy caught her “I told you so” look. “Okay, I admit it. You were right. Cass is happy as a clam at high tide and I’m glad.”

Talen cocked his head with a smirk. “Good. Now, I don’t have to send you off into deep space.”

“Tal! Quit it.”

Ivy looked at her cousin and laughed. “Deep space to deep six the meddling cousin?”

He nodded. “Yup.”

“Hey, I thought you came with two other girls?” Cass asked, looking around the courtyard garden.

Gerri nodded. “They’re talking with Alivia. In fact, I’d better scoot to make sure they’re not causing Karel problems. Those two have been tag-teaming me for a week.”

The older woman moved off, her elegant form walking across the warm grass.

“She’s something else, isn’t she? Since I got here, she’s been my lifeline to home, but now that you’re here, I hope I won’t need her as much.” Cass’s eyes found Ivy’s and locked.

Ivy looked from her to Talen and then she inhaled, letting her breath out slowly. “I put my life on hold, Cass. Not on stop. I can’t stay forever, no matter how much I’ll miss you.” She looked around at the purple forests and the lush mountains against the azure sky with its twin suns. “Don’t get me wrong. This place is extraordinary and I can’t wait to explore, but I have to go home at some point.”

Disappointed, Cassie nodded, letting out a quick breath. “I know. But you can’t blame me for hoping.”

“Cass, don’t.” She reached out and touched her cheek. “I love you so much. Please don’t be sad or you’ll make me regret coming.” Talen’s eyes were on her, and despite his humor and friendly manner, she knew he was taking her measure.

“You can stop with the hairy eyeball, Talen. I didn’t come to upset Cassie, but I’ve never lied to her and I won’t now. I have every intention of staying a while. I fully intend to be the godmother to that beach ball she’s carrying, so you’re not getting rid of me that fast.”

Cassandra threw her arms around her cousin’s neck and plastered tiny wet kisses on her cheek. “Thank you, thank you, thank you! I can always count on you, Ivy!”

She laughed. “So, what’s there to do around here beside watch the eye candy walk by?”

Cass snorted. “I know, right? When I first got here, my tongue was practically hanging out of my mouth. Like New Year’s Eve on Planet of the Hotties.”

“Hey!” Talen complained, pressing a kiss to Cassie’s temple. “Remember who you’re mated to.”

She gave him a playful shove. “Like I’d ever want to forget.”

“Not when you have your own hunk-a-BEARnin’ love!” Ivy snorted.

Cassie rolled her eyes. “Oh my God, you did just not go there.”

“Yup. I gotta say it’s just a little unnerving to have so many men so easy on the eyes, especially all in one place. The only time you get that back home is at an escort convention. It’s got to be something in the water.”

Cassie laughed, but then her face paled and she winced, grabbing her belly. “I think I’d better sit down.”

Ivy lurched forward, her hand on Cassie’s arm. “What is it? What’s happening?”

Talen scooped her up in less than a second and carried her to a reclining chaise under one of the purple perimeter trees. “She’s been getting contractions since before we left the north. The doctor says it’s to be expected since Cassie is—” his words broke off.

Ivy straightened from Cassie’s side, her eyes flashing as she stared down her cousin’s mate. “Since Cass is what?”

He looked at Ivy. “Human. There is a small chance the last stage of pregnancy could be more difficult than usual because of her small size.”

Cass chuckled, rubbing her belly. “Imagine that, Vee. I’m considered small. You should hear what they say about Gerri!”

Ivy ignored her cousin’s attempt to change the topic. “Difficult how?”

He ran a gentle hand over Cassandra’s hair, letting the gold strands slip through his fingers. “The delivery. Because of my size and the differences in our genetics, she’s supposed to be resting and quiet in these last weeks.”

The scene from The Fly ran through her mind again, but she squashed it immediately. She looked at her cousin. “Did you know this was a possibility all along? Are you in any danger? Tell me the truth, Cass. I mean it.” Her mouth went dry. This was her worst fear about childbirth coming true in living color. Extraterrestrial purple to be exact.

Cassandra shrugged. “There’s always risk for any expectant mother. Even back home.”

Ivy threw her hand in the air. “Yeah, but back home they’re not giving birth to alien offspring!”

The gathering went silent and Talen groaned. “Can you please try to keep your earthling hysteria to a minimum? I won’t have you upsetting Cassandra. It’s bad enough she wouldn’t take no for an answer once we got word you were coming, and now that you’re here it should be happy times. Not playing twenty questions.”

Ivy smirked, eyeing him before shifting her gaze to her cousin’s laugh. “I taught him that,” Cass said. “He’s actually getting pretty good at our slang.”

“I bet.” Ivy slid her eyes to Talen before looking back at Cass. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

Cassandra nodded. “Yes, mother hen. I’m fine. I’m just very pregnant and tired with swollen feet and Braxton hicks.”

“Okay, Dr. Spock, maybe speak English for the simple human, okay?” Ivy snorted.

Grinning, Cassie took her cousin’s hand. “Pre-term contractions. They are perfectly normal and human moms get them all the time. During most pregnancies, you can’t even feel them, but—”

“You’re not most pregnancies,” Ivy finished her sentence.

She nodded. “Exactly.” Cass glanced at Talen and then caught sight of Gerri walking over again. “Will you explain to my cousin how this is all going down once my water breaks, please? I know what she’s thinking. She’s probably got visions of The Fly in her head.”

Gerri burst out laughing. “Oh lord, are you two related. I’d almost think you could read each other’s minds, you’re so cut from the same cloth.” She looked at Cassie laid out on the chaise and her grin faded. “I know it’s going to be all right, and when I say I know, you know I mean it, but I think you should rest and give yourself a chance to recover from the trek in from the north. I know Alyx sent a transport, but it’s still a change in pressure and gravity. You need to stabilize yourself, so don’t argue.”

Cassie nodded. “I agree. Nothing is more important that keeping me and the baby safe, but I won’t have Ivy hovering around my bed for a week. She didn’t travel light-years, literally, to be my nursemaid.”

“Cass, are telling me you want me to go home?” Ivy stared at her cousin, incredulous. “If that’s your plan, then I’ve got news for you. I’m not ready to give up the view around here and I’m not talking about the purple trees. I haven’t sampled the local flavors and you know what I mean.” She winked.

“Stop trying to change the subject, Vee. I won’t have you cooped up for the week it’s going to take to stabilize me.”

“It’s only a week. I sat with you longer than that when you had the chicken pox and didn’t want to be seen outside the house. I’m the one who kept you company, remember? We binge-watched movies for two weeks until you stopped scratching and your spots cleared up.”

“We were fourteen, Vee. It’s not the same thing.”

Gerri lifted a hand. “Girls, stop. I think I have a solution to both your concerns. I have a client on Galaxa that has asked me to come over while I’m here. I’ll be gone about a week. I think the perfect solution is for Ivy to come with me. She can explore Galaxa and satisfy the adventure junkie she’s going on about, and you get to rest up for when she comes back. After that, you and Talen can show her around this part of Nova.”

Talen nodded. “I think that’s an awesome idea.”

Gerri looked from one girl to the other. “What do you two think?”

Ivy didn’t look at Cassandra. Instead, she looked across the lawn to Henley and Riley laughing with Alivia. “They look like they’re happy enough with Liv’s situation. I guess that gets you off the hook, eh, Gerri?”

“You’re evading my question, Ivy. As to Henley and Riley, yes, Alivia set them straight. In fact, I invited them to come with me to Galaxa as well. It seems their decision to force my hand and bring them here basically unannounced caught Liv and Karel at a bad time.

“Liv’s birthday is in a few days, which explains the timing of Riley’s visit to my office. Since birthdays are more an Earth thing, Karel planned a skiing vacation or them in the Ice Mountains. They were to leave tomorrow. I suggested the same solution for them as I did you. So, see? It was meant all around.”

Cassie smirked. “Looks like you’re outnumbered, cousin dear. C’mon, go! You’ll have so much to tell me when you get back. I’ve never been to Galaxa. You’ll have one up on me on an interplanetary level.”

Ivy met her cousin’s smirk with one of her own. “That’s low, Cass. Using my own competitive nature against me.” She turned to Gerri and cocked her head. “Didn’t you say something earlier about the shifters on the sister planet being bigger and hotter?”

Gerri laughed. “You can’t remember the one bag rule, but that you remember.”

She shrugged. “Better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it.”

“Well?” Cassandra waited. “If the others are going, too, why not? I’ll be here waiting for you when you get back.”

Ivy looked at both Gerri and Cassie and exhaled, nodding. “Okay. I can’t fight both of you. Plus, Cass is right. I’ll have one up on her.”

“Good.” Gerri nodded. “We leave tomorrow morning, so you have all day and tonight to visit and catch up. Now, let’s eat. Alyx put out an amazing spread, and I’m starving.”