Venin reached out and took her hand.
With calm deliberation, she turned her palm down and pressed it to his hand, weaving their fingers together.
“I am his choice and he is mine. While I would enjoy your approval, it is not necessary to my decision.”
The Avatar started to grin, pink and azure fighting for supremacy in his eyes. “That is my Iris. A better great grandniece there has never been.”
She grinned back at him, their family resemblance becoming clear as their identical dimples formed in the smile.
She turned to Venin and kissed him with Hyak and Keroa watching. It was a declaration that would be over the planet in a matter of hours. Keroa-Uli was an inveterate gossip and everyone knew it.
Taking the crystal to the Morin cavern was a strange manoeuvre. Teddi was only too happy to be ridden, but Iris felt naked without her normal blades. Venin and the Avatar had recommended not carrying blades.
“Do you know what to do?”
She looked back at Venin from his place behind her on the rhesh. “I am going to guess at what to do and hopefully it will wake the men who planted their genes all over my world.”
“Right. What are you going to say to them?”
“I have no idea.” Her honesty made him blink. He dismounted and held out his arms for her to slide off the saddle.
They had spent one night together, trying out their relationship. Iris still had stiff muscles in unaccustomed places and a mating mark on her neck. Getting off Teddi’s back was more difficult than it had ever been, but she didn’t regret one moment of the previous night.
His hands had learned every inch of her and she had returned the favour. His skin was marked with scars and for the first time, she had realized that his job and his life had been far more active and brutal than he had let on.
She let him hold her and slowly lower her against his body. She sighed as memories of him inside her, the heat and texture of him surrounding her wove through her consciousness. The memory itself was distracting as hell.
“Are you ready?” Venin’s words were a dark whisper in her ear and a repeat of what he had said before he joined them the night before.
“I am. I have the path in my mind. Stay close.”
He did as she said and followed in behind.
It was getting less strange to have her dreams bleeding into her everyday actions. The melted-stone wall of the sealed cavern was a temptation just calling her to destroy it with a pulsing green glow.
Grinning, she extended her blades and sliced an archway that would allow both her and Venin easy access. Once the initial arc was drawn, she stabbed the centre of her makeshift doorway and it shattered under her psychic onslaught.
“Only someone with both Keroan and Morin genes could do this. Ingenious really.” Venin’s admiration was obvious.
Settling the crystal against her spine, she followed the green path as it trailed through the volcanic caverns created so long ago.
A huge, open space caught her by surprise. “Wow. This is…wow.”
In the centre of the room were eight ten-foot crystals and each one contained a male of the Morin species.
“You know, a few of these might even be my grandfather.” She smiled and walked in a wide circle around their prison.
“This is amazing. The Morin on Azon managed to live and die in a normal fashion. To see these men frozen in time, it’s amazing.”
Venin was observing and finally, Iris saw the curiosity that had driven him to do what he did on a daily basis.
“They aren’t frozen in time, they are frozen in space. Keroa has been keeping them updated on the passage of time as well as the current state of the Alliance.”
Fidgeting for a moment, she found the spot she was looking for and knelt on the floor. The crystal slid from her shoulders and she withdrew it from the leather pouch that Hyak had provided.
Its base actually dug into the floor as she settled it into place and she smiled nervously at Venin when she placed her hands on the surface. “Well, here we go. Any last words?”
“Good luck and I will be here if you need anything.”
She nodded and in the instant before she stabbed her mind into the crystal, she considered the journey that the men had made, their lives on Keroa and the effect that they had had in shaping her people into the creatures that they were today.
With the past in her mind, she switched her concentration to the future and released her ancestors with a tremendous push from her mind.
The first crack made her jump, but seconds later, chunks of crystal were sliding to the ground and the Morin were free to fall over on their own.
Venin moved to assist the men, but all eight of them focussed on her.
In a low tone, she murmured, “Venin, please get over here and stand next to me. The look in their eyes is not one that I am comfortable with from men I am related to, no matter how distant the relation.”
He returned to her side and helped her to her feet. His nostrils flared and he caught on immediately. His teeth and claws made an appearance, his ears twitched and tail lashed.
She sighed as his arms came around her and the sight seemed to have the desired effect on the Morin. The men downgraded their lust from ravenous to polite interest.
Venin spoke, “Welcome to the modern age, ancestors of Keroa.”
The first of the eight men with long white hair and pointed ears, bowed low. “Thank you for waking us. What is the state of Admar?”
Iris blinked in surprise while Venin filled in the information of the ancient home of the Admaryn. The Terran woman, Sarah Marks, who now owned it. She had been the first of her kind to walk on Admar and the descendant of the race who had almost been driven to extinction by the alien race who had preyed on them. The planet of Admar had been forfeit for their actions.
“May we communicate with them? I am sure that I speak for all of us when I say that we would welcome a home after all these years.”
Venin nodded but kept his arms around Iris. “I am sure that it is possible if you are up for a bit of a walk. There is only one communication centre on Keroa and it is in the Citadel base.”
The man smiled. “Lead the way. I am Irion, by the way. Captain of the Admaryn ship, Rekko.”
Venin inclined his head. “I am Venin Nulin vi Akerol. This is the prime hunter of Keroa, Iris Markee.”
She found herself in the peculiar situation of hiding behind Venin while they walked as a large unit out into the sunlight. The other Morin men were still eyeing her, but the ferocious look of her companion was keeping them at bay.
She took her position on Teddi and he walked alongside the men as they made their way to the Citadel base. Venin informed the men that no fraternization with the local females would be tolerated and as the women were all related to the Morin, it was an unsavoury mix.
“Our children lived?” Irion was smiling brilliantly.
“They did. And mixed with the rest of the population within six generations.” Iris smiled, “At least I know where the hair colour comes from now.”
Irion looked at her, really looked, and he grinned. “Well met, daughter.”
She inclined her head from her perch on her rhesh. “Well met, Father.”
The other seven started to speak at once. They wanted to meet their children as well, to see if their genes were visible.
Iris sighed and waited as Venin explained that their aggressive seductions had created mixed feelings about them in the population.
As she watched her man try to calm down the men of Admar who had taken the name Morin when they had been forced from their home, she smiled quietly.
They had a life of adventures looming in front of them and sorting out her family was only the start.
She might not like travelling for work, but hunting with Venin was an adventure she simply could not pass up. Her new adventure would begin today.
About the Author
Viola Grace was born in Manitoba, Canada where she still resides today. She really likes it there. She has no pets and can barely keep sea monkeys alive for a reasonable amount of time. In keeping with busy hands are happy hands, her hobbies have included cross-stitch, needlepoint, quilting, costuming, cake decorating, baking, cooking, metal work, beading, sculpting, painting, doll making, henna tattoos, chain mail, and a few others that have been forgotten. It is quite often that these hobbies make their way into her tales.
Viola’s fetishes include boots and corsetry, and her greatest weakness is her uncontrollable blush. Her writing actively pursues the Happily Ever After that so rarely occurs in nature. It is an admirable thing and something that we should all strive for. To find one that we truly like, as well as love.