Demascus broke the silence.
“What gives you the idea you have the authority to make sucha demand or go against a Council edict?” he asked as if he were offended onbehalf of all of the Councilmen sitting around the table. Unfortunately, whenhe said this, Poppy noticed some nods to his statement from the jerks on hisright side.
“Council members, I would not go against a ruling if I feltit was the correct one to make for the good of our race.” Linking his fingersthrough Poppy’s, Wheaton smiled reassuringly. “This match is perfect in everyway. We are compatible and have developed feelings for each other that wouldmake it impossible for our match to be dissolved.” Moving his gaze from one manto another and meeting their stares head-on, he then continued, “We are alsophysically compatible as well and it is in not only our best interests but theinterests of the breeding pact to keep our union as binding.”
A Council member whom Poppy had yet to meet watched her withkind eyes and addressed Wheaton. “Physically compatible? Does that mean thatyou have had sexual relations with your bride?”
As if realizing that he had asked a very personal question,he then shifted his attention to Poppy. When Wheaton stiffened at her side,Poppy stroked her thumb along his palm to let him know it was okay.
“Miss, I am sorry for the personal questions. Let meintroduce myself. My name is Kain and I am a brother to Wheaton. Most of us arewanting this program to work while others still have concerns. This mistakewith the matches is a major concern for the entire program and has given usdoubts if this is the best way to approach the breeding of our race. We arehesitant to let your match stand. All indications are pointing to Wheaton beingmatched to another female and you even had another warrior match. The originalprofiles were designed to find our most compatible mates and I cannot see how,if the system made a mistake, you would be happy to stay with Wheaton.”
Poppy could see the kindness and understanding on Kain’sface and figured she was now allowed to talk considering that he had spoken toher directly.
“Councilor Kain, I am unsure how the system made a mistake.From everything that Wheaton and I have learned about each other, we know weare compatible. It was an adjustment at first but once we got over the hurdlesof a new relationship and started communicating, we realized that we cared foreach other. We had developed feelings for each other, strong ones.” ShootingWheaton a smile, she continued, “I know for sure that there is no one else forme. Over the past couple weeks, we have bonded and if I were to leave him, Idon’t believe I would ever find another person to make me feel as he makes mefeel.”
“Feelings. Ha,” Demascus scoffed. Gesturing around the room,he raised his voice as if trying to get the group on his side. “I am sure thatyou feel sexual attraction.” He smiled snarkily at Poppy. “The profiles do notmatch though. There cannot be any other compatibility other than a physicalattraction that you feel for Wheaton. Whatever he feels toward you is mostlikely due to being without a female for such a span of time. He simply needsto spend some time in the Pleasure Sector to cure himself of these feelings hehas for you.”
“Do not speak to my bride in that tone of voice,Demascus!” Wheaton seemed not only angered that Demascus had dismissed theirmatch as based on sexual attraction only, but to say that Wheaton needed to“get laid” to cure himself of their attraction was offensive.
Poppy could feel Wheaton’s hand shaking in anger by the timehe finished biting out the sentence. She wanted to punch the guy out herselfand easily imagined Wheaton shared the same feelings but didn’t want do it andget into trouble.
“Poppy and I have made our decision,” Wheaton said flatly.
“Not so fast, Councilor Wheaton,” Demascus interrupted. “Youhave no grounds to keep your union intact. The decision has already been made.”
“The Council is unable to interfere with our decision. Wehave brought along Poppy’s liaison and she has the paperwork to support us inthis situation.” Gesturing to Valerie, Wheaton handed her the floor. Obviouslyhoping this would be the final argument that they received, he sat back in hischair.
Half the Council members had understanding on theirpreviously unreadable faces. The others appeared as though they would followDemascus out of sheer fear.
Poppy waited for Valerie to speak. Valerie seemed unfazed bythe abundant amount of jackasses in the room, scanning the room and smiling atthe men in front of her while she readied the paperwork that would hopefully pulltheir fannies out of the fire.
“Council members, according to the trial period clausewithin the contract that everyone has signed, you are only able to remove Poppyfrom Wheaton for the following reasons…” She started going through the contractand pointed to the paragraphs that held their saving grace.
Poppy could tell that the wind had left Demascus’s sails butwas positive he wasn’t finished. He no longer seemed to be searching forbackers but instead Poppy could see the wheels turning in his head as he triedto come up with a reason to get rid of her.
“And so according to your own paperwork, Poppy is here forgood. Unless the honorable Phaeton Council is willing to go back on a vow.”Valerie ended her speech with another smile.
A couple of the Councilmen were grinning back at Valerie andgiving her appraising glances. Out of the corner of her eye, Poppy noticed thatThorne didn’t seem to be too happy about the attention Valerie was getting.
“I concede that you seem to have found a way to keep yourtrial period intact for the time being, and for your human to stay on theship,” Demascus started.
“Thank you, Councilor Demascus.” Wheaton stood up, hisrelief obvious.
“Please let me finish what I was saying, Council MemberWheaton.” Demascus leaned back with an expression that made Poppy want to smackhim. “Since we had already
