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  “Positive,” Becca assured her. “Besides, we’ve got a shuttle to catch. Are you guys going to stay here in the guest quarters at the HKR for awhile?”

  Tess nodded and made a face. “For tonight, anyway. There’s no going back to the cabin. Not after Pierce…well, not right now. Not sure what I’ll tell my friend Di when I go see her.”

  “So she’s getting better?” Becca asked.

  Tess smiled. “Much. So much that she told me she didn’t want to see my face until I’d tied up any lose ends in Asheville.” She shrugged. “But there isn’t much to tie up, really.”

  “Okay. Well I know Sylvan is still trying to get your ban from the Mother Ship revoked. There’s another council meeting today and I’ll call you before you leave tomorrow to give you the news.”

  “All right.” Tess smiled but she could feel Garron’s growing impatience through their link. “Look, we’d better go.”

  “Uh-huh.” Becca started laughing again. “All right. Go on, then. Have fun.”

  “We will,” Garron answered for her. “Farewell, have a safe journey back to the Mother Ship.”

  Before any of the others could answer, he was striding swiftly away, taking Tess with him. She waved over his broad shoulder and Becca, still laughing, waved back before she and her husbands went to find the shuttle that would take them home.

  “That was rude you know,” she told Garron with mock severity even as he started to kiss her neck. “Very rude to just pick me up and carry me off like some kind of a…of a caveman.”

  “But the cave was where we bonded,” he objected through their link. “I thought you liked the cave.”

  “That’s not what I meant.” Tess giggled and then moaned when he found a particularly sensitive spot on the side of her neck.

  “Then what did you mean?”

  “Never mind.” She gave up, not caring about anything but being with him. “I’ll explain later. For now, just take me to bed. I think I want a little more ‘bonding time’ as Becca put it.”

  “My pleasure, lin’del,” he growled softly through the link. “And soon it will be your pleasure too. I’ll see to that…”

  Tess was sure that he would.

  End

  Epilogue # 1

  "So they're all bonded and happy now?" Kat asked, taking another bite of strawberry delight cupcake.

  "Perfectly. They couldn't keep their hands off each other." Becca grinned, remembering how Garron had carried Tess away almost in mid-sentence.

  "I'm so glad." Sophie smiled and wiped pink crumbs off her nephew, Daniel's rosebud mouth. He was toddling everyplace now and he seemed to love Lauren's cupcakes as much as the rest of them.

  "We didn't get to know them long but I'm glad they got together." Liv was holding her niece and nephew, Kara and Kaleb, one in each arm. Both of them were looking up at her with wide, wondering eyes. Kara's were ice blue like her father's and Kaleb's were green like Sophie's. It was too soon to tell about hair, though—they both still just had little blond wisps on the tops of their heads that hadn't grown out yet.

  "These guys are adorable." Becca tickled Kaleb's cheek and he turned his wide green eyes on her. "Can I hold him?" she asked.

  Sophie laughed. "Help yourself—just be sure you stay close to Liv when you do. I swear they scream bloody murder if you even take them across the room from each other."

  "I'll be careful." Becca put down her cupcake and held out her arms for baby Kaleb. She noticed that his gaze went immediately to his twin sister when she took him. But when he saw that Kara was still within sight, he settled with a contented sigh into her arms and gave her an adorable toothless grin.

  "Awww," look at that." Kat smiled. "He likes you."

  "Yours are going to like me too if they ever come out," Becca said teasingly. "Seriously, how long until you're due?"

  "I'm past due," Kat groaned and put a hand to her hugely swollen stomach. "Seriously, they're killing me."

  Liv frowned. "Is that normal?"

  "It is according to Sylvan," Sophie said, feeding Daniel another little bite of pink icing from her finger. "He says sometimes Kindred pregnancies can be prolonged for thirteen months or even a little longer."

  "Ugh, don't remind me!" Kat exclaimed. "I'm so miserable. If it wasn't for Lauren and her baked goods, I don't think I could go on living."

  "Where is Lauren, anyway?" Liv asked. "She just dropped off the cupcakes and ran. I hardly even got to see Ziza."

  "Having a spa day with her mom, the lucky un-pregnant girl," Kat said. "Ugh, why has everyone had their babies but me? Why must I be so eternally pregnant? I feel like I'm carrying triplets or something in here."

  "The tests would have shown that—wouldn't it?" Sophie asked. "I mean, you only got two flowers and they only heard two heartbeats, right?"

  "I've been studying Kindred obstetrics and it gets complicated with Twin Kindred pregnancies sometimes," Liv said. "Sometimes there's a shadow twin."

  Kat grew pale. "Don't talk about that! That's bad luck when I'm still pregnant!"

  "Sorry, Kat-woman," Liv said quickly. "Let's talk about something else—you never told us where Tess and Garron are going to live, Becca."

  "Well, I think they wanted to come back to the Mother Ship," Becca said, tickling the baby's cheek again to see his toothless little smile. "I know for sure they don't want to go back to the cabin where Garron, er, ate Tess's ex."

  "As in killed him or actually ate him all up like the big bad wolf?" Kat asked.

  "Ate him all up. Even his gun, apparently," Becca said. "And Tess had to watch the whole thing. She's over it now but she's not exactly anxious to return to the scene of the crime."

  "Can't say that I blame her," Liv remarked.

  "Well, they're bonded now," Kat said comfortingly. "So I'm sure Chancellor Terex will have to lift the ban on Tess and let her come back aboard."

  "I don't know…" Sophie looked troubled. "Sylvan is trying but he says that the Chancellor…doesn't seem like himself lately."

  "I wondered about that," Liv said darkly. "He seemed so strange when he came out of that coma."

  "Well, I'm sure being in a coma changes you," Becca said. "I just hope he'll change his mind about Tess. I really like her."

  "She seems like a sweetheart and I know Truth would like to have his younger brother near," Liv remarked.

  "Well, we'll know soon," Sophie said. "I think Sylvan is talking to Chancellor Terex right now."

  "Fingers crossed, everybody," Kat said. "But before you cross them, somebody hand me another cupcake. Chocolate this time, okay?"

  Epilogue # 2

  “But they’re bonded now—she’s his bride.” Commander Sylvan leaned across the large, smooth desk, his handsome face concerned.

  “I understand that, Commander.” Terex/Ur put a suitably concerned look on his own face. “But I cannot reverse my ruling for one warrior without reversing it for many. We are not calling brides from Earth right now—how will it look to all the other Unmated Males if I allow…what was his name again?”

  “Garron.” Sylvan appeared to be gritting his teeth. “Or, G’ron, now as I understand it.”

  “Yes. Whatever his name is…” Terex/Ur waved a hand dismissively. “Anyway, how will it look if I allow him to bring his new bride on board the Mother Ship while all the other males are denied?”

  Actually, Ur knew exactly how it would look—like one warrior was being favored over another. And the last thing he needed was a mutiny on his hands. He wanted the anger of the Unmated Males turned squarely on Earth, where it belonged—not on him.

  “That is another issue we must discuss,” Sylvan said. “The Unmated Males are growing restless. The ones that are dream sharing especially—they want to claim their brides. We must start calling brides from Earth again.”

  “But if we allow our own males to call brides, we must also support the claims of other factions,” Terex/Ur pointed out smoothly. “We must allow our Dark Kindred brother, who is dream s