Rhoe’s Request (4 page)

“Of course, you were on duty when she entered the planetary defense corps.”

Rhoe was bemused; her homecoming was a little skewed after three months away.

Lagala laughed, “Well, let’s start the party. Our little egg is finally home!”

A cheer went up, and friends and cousins surrounded her. She was urged to her home and into some festival clothing. It was time for a party.

“I hope you do not mind, the captain is staying with us.” Her father was in her room as she finished brushing her hair.

“I do not mind. Mother has told him that there is to be no fraternizing between the ranks.”

Her father grinned, “We are all equal here, Rhoe. What I want to know is what do you think of his being here?”

She looked at her father and considered her words. “I think that during the holidays, there is nowhere better to be than in this settlement.”

He stroked her hair. “Well, little egg, that is what I thought you would say. Welcome home even if it is for a few days.”

“Father, you have not called me little egg in years.”

“I have not missed you for years. The longer you have been away, the more I have missed you being little and close to home. You are still my little girl and more so with every day you are away.”

She brushed tears from her eyes. “I miss you too. Now, who is entering the water races?”

They walked out to the common areas where Hiiron was helping the other young men erect the scaffolding that would support a number of events and banners. Rhoe had her arm through her father’s, and they spoke quietly while they walked.

“You are staring, Rhoe.”

She blushed and blinked. “Was I? I have just not seen him out of uniform before, he looks…taller.”

Her father laughed. “Taller, huh? He is a decorated pilot, comes from a large family and enjoys shifting on his days off. He also is fascinated by your skills and very interested in finding out the identity of your other parent. You have not told him.”

“I have not.” She smiled as Jeeka ran up to her and gave her a red rose. “Thank you, Jeeka.”

“My sisters says that you can have a whole rosebush if you keep bringing men like that home.” Jeeka blushed and ran back to her sister. A gathering of teen girls were watching Hiiron and giggling.

Rhand was laughing. “It seems that you have brought a popular attraction to the settlement.”

“I didn’t bring him. Mother ordered him here.”

“She would not have done that without reason. I have been convinced for a very long while that your mother can see through time. She said that I would see her again on the day that I took you home, but since I knew she was planning another contract child, I took my wounded soul and I brought you home to fill my heart.”

“If it makes you feel any better, she speaks very warmly of you too, Father.”

It made her smile to see the flicker of hope on his face.

“Father, do you know the circumstances of the second daughter?”

“She never told me. I haven’t spoken to her since the day I brought you home.”

“I have done some digging, and when that didn’t turn up anything, I simply asked her. My half-sister has a full family. She has two parents who were unable to bear a child. Both parents were in planetary defense, so she offered one of her eggs to them and carried that child to term. She has never had a relationship with the other father aside from a clinical intervention.”

“She wasn’t his lover?”

“No. I am guessing she was yours?”

He didn’t answer, and it was answer enough. He may have had a breeding contract with her, but Colonel Whisk was his mate, and his heart knew it. Rhoe smiled sadly.

“Well, from what Hiiron has told me, his family is fairly conservative. No luck for me there either. The flightless swans are not much in demand.”

Her father stopped them in the centre of the crowd. “Don’t be stupid. Hiiron has already asked me for your hand the moment that you are out of the planetary defense.”

“You are selling me off one part at a time then?”

He snorted and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I can’t keep you all to myself, so I will begin with allowing him a bid for your hand. We will negotiate for the rest of you later.”

She was tugged away by the young women who wanted to know all about the men in the corps and how they looked out of uniform.

The young men were all gathered around Hiiron and asking him about the ships.

It was quite the start to the celebrations.

Rhoe sat next to her father as the shifting competitions began. The women were first, changing from dark and pale skin to dark feathers. The rest of the competition was a swim to the far edge of the lake and back.

The winner was given a necklace, and she admired it happily.

The coordinator organized the men, and those wearing clothing dropped it.

Rhoe couldn’t help it; she memorized every line of Hiiron’s body, every mark and birth line that nature had gifted him with. His hair was braided tightly down his back, and the heavy cable hung to the base of his spine.

She didn’t even see the other competitors as they lined up and shifted into swans, sailing swiftly across the water and back.

Hiiron beat the nearest male by two yards. He shifted back into his walking form and picked up his robe. When he covered the muscle and sinew that filled him with grace, there was a regretful sigh from the ladies in the audience.

The rest of the events were a blur leading up to the midnight feast and the dancing. As was tradition, Rhoe and her father started the dancing, and after they had made one round of the dance floor, other couples joined in.

Rhoe returned to her seat and stifled her yawn. She had been up since dawn, and while she loved being home, she was exhausted.

“Dance with me?”

She looked up to see Hiiron was standing at her elbow.

“I am a little tired. I don’t know if I will be a good partner.”

“I have seen you behind the controls of your ship. I trust your balance.”

She bit her lip and slid her hand into his. “Your own risk, Hiiron.”

He smiled. “I am willing to take the chance.”

Once on the dance floor, they moved together, swaying and shifting against each other.

Hiiron broke through her fascination with the feel of him against her. “You have grown up in a strong community.”

She smiled. “That is one word for it. The women are all my aunties and cousins, real or assumed. There is no privacy here, but there is a lot of love.”

He chuckled and bent to press his forehead to her shoulder. She heard a gasp, but she mimicked him, with her head to his shoulder. Swan courtship was officially started.

They remained on the dance floor, twisting formally in moves that came naturally to her.

Hiiron smiled, “Just like watching you fly. There is no thought, just action.”

“Is that a good thing?” She was walking with her arm around his waist and his across hers, their pace slowly moving them in the centre of the floor.

“It is the best thing.”

Rhand walked next to them and cleared his throat. “Everyone else has gone to bed and there is no music. Time for bed. Separate beds.”

Rhoe blushed, and she paused with her arm around Hiiron’s waist. “Alright, Father. We are on our way.”

Hiiron shifted his grip until he had his arm wrapped around her back, and he walked her toward her home.

At her bedroom door, he pressed a kiss to her lips that ceased when Rhand cleared his throat. “Goodnight, Rhoe.”

“Goodnight, Hiiron. Pleasant dreams.” She backed away and closed her door. Rhoe exhaled sharply and fanned her face with her hands. If she was going to have to put up with five years of courtship, she was going to go up in flames. So, why couldn’t she get the grin off her face?

She wore festival clothing for breakfast and was halfway through her hot cereal when a sharp sensation speared through her collarbone. It was the pager.

Hiiron sat up at the same time, and they both got up and ran.

Rhand caught up with Rhoe on her way to the skyrunner. “What is it?”

“Attack on the base. I am guessing that I know why the colonel sent our ships away.”

“You can’t go into battle. You don’t have the training yet.”

They were at her ship, and she palmed the hatch. “I suppose I will have to learn quickly then.”

He grabbed her arm. “Rhoe, you can’t do this alone.”

She looked up when she heard the whine of the other skyrunner. “I am not alone, but he will be if I don’t get my ass in the sky. Please, Father.”

He looked at her, and he must have seen the determination she felt. “I am on my way to the base. You are not in this alone.”

She gave him a quick hug and stepped into the skyrunner. “See you there, Father.”

Headset in place, she sealed the ship and lifted off. “I am right behind you, Hiiron.”

“Good. I thought you were going to finish breakfast first.”

She smiled at the voice in her ears and mind. She set about catching up with him, and her lighter weight and faster reflexes had her next to him in no time.

“There are four ships, they have attacked the base and crippled the hangars.”

“Understood.”

They had fifteen minutes at top speed to get to the base, so she warmed up her weapons and cleared her mind. She was going to fight on instinct.

The incursion ships were swarming the base, blasting randomly. Rhoe took the ones on the left, Hiiron took the ones on the right. The skyrunners did their job, their weapons systems worked with precision and fragments of the alien vessels scattered across the defense base.

Pain was rippling through Rhoe, and it was not hers.

A one-man ship settled near the wreckage of the hangar. Rhoe set her ship down next to it. “Father!”

“I feel her too, Rhoe. This way.”

Rhand forged his way through the wreckage, and Rhoe was right behind him. She helped up a few staff members who had been knocked down when the rubble fell, but her focus was on the pain that she was feeling. Her mother was quite the broadcaster.

They made their way into the administration wing, and she heard her father’s cry. “Yedana!”

She heard the response. “Rhand, what are you doing here?”

Rhoe entered the colonel’s office and watched as her father lifted chunks of rock off the colonel’s form.

“Rhoe, I will lever this up, you pull her out.” Rhand started to move the stone, leaving Rhoe to run forward and rescue her mother.

Yedana hissed with pain as she was pulled free of her prison. The moment she was free, Rhand dropped the rock and picked her up. “I have waited a long time to hold you again, Yedana. This was not how I had envisioned it.”

He carried her out, and Rhoe was about to follow when Hiiron rushed in. “I just saw the colonel. Are you all right?”

She blinked. “Of course I am. Why?”

“She told me to check on you.”

“Oh. Well, my father is taking care of her. I am hoping that she will be fine.”

“You are close to the colonel, aren’t you?”

The pain that her mother was feeling was swamped by a tenderness that bordered on heat. “Way too close.”

Despite her mother’s injuries, Rhoe knew that her parents were making out. Part of her was intrigued, but another part of her reared its head. “Ew.”

Hiiron looked at her as if she was a little insane. “Help has arrived. Every near settlement has brought in supplies and medics.”

“Great.”

“That means we have a moment alone.” He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her, using the ruins of the building to hide them as he pressed her to the wall and ravaged her mouth.

She leaned her head back when he pressed his lips to her throat, and she groaned as her instincts took over. Her mind sank into his, weaving their thoughts together.

She felt him shaking against her, and her body rippled with pleasure when the linking became complete.

“How did you…” Hiiron stared down at her, his dark eyes wide with wonder.

“Instinct.”

He sighed and pressed his forehead to hers. “I have always admired your instinct. This is going to complicate matters. We were supposed to have a nice, slow courtship.”

“Tough. Slow is for those who aren’t creative.”

His smile was wary. “I am going to catch hell for this.”

“Why? Neither of us is in uniform.”

He chuckled. “You have a point. Next time we both have leave, would you like to visit my home?”

Fear suddenly speared through her, and she knew he could feel it.

“What is it, Rhoe?”

“Your people might not embrace a half-breed as your wife.”

“They will adapt or we will simply move to your settlement. Your father has already agreed to allow me to immigrate.”

She laughed and wrapped her arms around him. When a medic popped his head in, she blinked at him. “I tripped. He is catching me.”

The medic grinned. “That is quite the grip.”

Rhoe looked down, and she was pinned to the wall, her legs around Hiiron’s waist and her arms around his neck. She winked at the medic, “It was a heck of a fall.”

The man could be heard laughing down the hallway.

The pain of Yelana’s injuries faded from Rhoe’s mind. “The colonel is under a medic’s care. We should check on her.”

“If she is with a medic, she is fine.”

She prodded him, mind first. He sighed and released her, letting her feet touch the ground.

In a moment, she was out the door and following the traces of her parents through the damaged areas and out to a medical tent.

She found her mother’s mind and touched it briefly. It welcomed her, so Rhoe went in search of her parents. Rhand was sitting at her mother’s side. Rhoe quirked her brow at Rhand, and her father nodded.

Yelana grunted, “Cracked ribs, broken leg and it would have been a lot worse if you hadn’t arrived. Sorry about the broadcast.”

Rhoe knelt next to her mother’s side. “I am sorry it took so long, Mother.”

“You came to get me when I needed you, daughter.”

Rhoe felt shock ripple through her mind, followed by wry understanding. She looked back at Hiiron and smiled, “My family, meet my husband.”

Rhand blinked. “What?”