I didn’t like the idea of this being broadcast. If Central Command was right, we had opened ourselves, and Earth, to invasion—re-invasion—by the Alveron Horde, simply by broadcasting so often from Station 21.
But Central Command disagreed with my assessment. They were quite certain that both humans and Khanavai needed the distraction that another mixed-species wedding could bring them.
So I stood in a brand-new uniform chavan, waiting for my human bride. My team stood in Khanavai guard formation, ready to back me up if her family intervened, as tradition dictated. I repressed a snort at the thought. I had asked Amelia if she wanted to wait until her parents could arrive for the wedding, and she rolled her eyes. “God, no. We can go visit them someday. Maybe. If they behave.”
As I shifted from foot to foot anxiously, I thought of that morning, after we left Vos’s Medical room.
It would be burned in my memory forever.
Amelia had taken my hand and tugged on it, so we fell behind Cav and Natalie. As we passed the station garden, she stopped at the bench where we had discussed her fears of marriage the day before. There, she turned to face me, taking both my hands in hers and staring up into my eyes.
“Yes,” she said.
“Yes?” I repeated, afraid to even hope that she might mean what I thought she did.
“I will be your mate.” She waited for me to respond.
But I couldn’t. Emotion clogged my throat, kept me from saying anything at all.
“Have you changed your mind or something?” If not for the light dancing in her eyes, I would have assumed her question suggested she was worried.
I shook my head. “No.”
“Oh, hell.” She reached up and rubbed behind her ear. “Is there something wrong with my translator? Are we back to yes-and-no questions only?”
A smile spread across my face. “No,” I said.
This time, she laughed aloud. “So you’re willing to marry me?”
I nodded. “Yes.”
“Today?”
“Yes.”
She laughed again and shook her head. “Okay. But you have to tell all our friends. I need to make sure you can actually talk before I agree to any lifelong kind of thing.”
I joined in her laughter, and we turned to catch up with our friends.
Now, my heart pounded as the music began to signal the start of the ceremony.
Natalie and Mia came in before Amelia, dropping petals on the floor in an odd act of floral destruction.
Human customs really were very strange.
Then Amelia stepped into the doorway, vidglobes floating around her, and I gasped.
She could have shown up in the same jeans and the strange, streaked shirt that almost matched her hair, the same clothes she’d worn for much of the time I’d known her, and I would have thought she was the most beautiful female on all of two worlds.
But in a long, satin ivory dress, with her hair curled into tiny ringlets and adorned with white and blue k’feldaflet flowers, she absolutely took my breath away.
Cav stepped up and offered his arm to escort her the short distance to me.
Drindl and Plofnid took up the rear of the tiny procession, both wearing blue, as well—Drindl in a dress similar to the other bridesmaids’, Plofnid in a perfectly tailored, blue, miniature, human-style suit.
At the last minute, Dr. Javant pushed Vos Klavoii in on a floatchair.
The ceremony itself was simple—a mix of a human marriage rite and a Khanavai mating ceremony. As the senior officer attending, Commander Gendovi officiated as we promised to love and honor each other. And in the Khanavai tradition, we swore to protect one another, allowing our infinite love room to grow.
When it was over, Commander Gendovi told me I could kiss my bride, but he was too late—I had already started.
Afterward, Plofnid and Drindl rushed out while everyone else was congratulating us, only to return with a small army of station employees bearing a table, chairs, and a meal for all of us to share, including an astounding number of bottles containing a pale, fizzy Earther alcohol.
Amid the festivities, Commander Gendovi turned to me. “I had a conversation this afternoon with Command Central,” he began. “And we have a proposal for you.”
I tilted my head to indicate my interest. “Yes?”
“We are considering opening up a permanent station on Earth for a Khanavai diplomatic corps. We think you might be a good fit to act as our military liaison.”
“Me? Really?”
The commander’s eyelid shivered down in a barely perceptible wink. “We would also like to have a Special Ops presence there.”
Amelia leaned around me to speak to the commander. “Would this be a long-term posting?”
“Why yes, yes it would.” Gendovi smiled, a tad smugly.
I glanced at my new bride, checking with her before I replied, but I already knew the answer. “I would be happy to take the position, sir.”
Later, as we danced on the small floor Drindl and Plofnid had arranged to provide, my new mate—wife, in Earther terms—whispered to me, “So tell me about this mating cock of yours?”
I grinned. “Well, for one thing, it only appears after the first orgasm—and only with our one true mate.”
“I think you should show me.”
“I agree.” I took her hand and announced our departure. We were followed by a shower of floating soap bubbles—another strange Earther tradition—and then finally, Amelia took off her shoes so we could dash back to our quarters.
As soon as the door shut behind us, she began kissing me passionately, deeply. Her fingers ruffled through my hair and I slipped my hands behind her waist, hauling her up against my chest with a hot growl of desire.
The embrace was perfect. Even as my craving for her swirled through my veins, my mind was clear.
We fit together. Like a perfect puzzle.
Gently, I pushed her toward the bed, my pulling her closer to me, my lips teasing against hers to deepen the kiss even further. My tongue slipped from between my lips and flicked at hers, demanding entry. Her mouth opened to accept me into her, her
