Page 65 of Darren

She nodded and smiled up at him. “Yes.”

He withdrew gently and pushed in again, starting a slow rhythm that felt so right. It felt right with him. He sped up, their mutual need building until they found a fast pace. She shattered again, hugging him to her with her arms round his back. His thrusts became ragged, and he shuddered with a final groan, then went still.

“I don’t want to crush you,” he murmured.

He moved to her side, and they lay like that for a while catching their breath. He kissed her forehead and each cheek, snuggling up to her, putting an arm round her and holding her close.

“Aelanna?”

“Hmm?”

“I never want to be parted from you again. You are my soul, my life.”

She kissed his cheek. “We won’t be.”

That was fine by her, she had found home. He had found his fated mate, and she had found her forever love and the father of her children.

Epilogue

Darren asked Aelanna, would she like an Earth ceremony or a Dheltan one for her wedding? Since she didn’t have access to the format or the words of an Earth ceremony. She chose a Dheltan one for Darren’s sake.

A couple of weeks after he proposed, she discovered she was expecting Darren’s youngling, and he wanted to have the ceremony at once. Joel offered to take them in the Pioneer to the Dheltan enclave on the other side of the planet from Jila, the capital.

Darren had plenty of friends, his brothers, Nayli and Kora, of course, Joel and Prosperity, and the ship’s Dheltan crew. Aelanna invited all the girls along, hoping it would help make them feel more at home.

Along with his brothers, Darren transferred to the emperor’s personal guard at the palace, and Gorkorlox gave him four days leave to get married. The truth was, the brothers were heroes for saving the girls. Lero’s efforts in single-handedly holding back the Drek in the corridor as they tried to reach the girls’ rooms, and Darren and Blayze’s quick thinking in the goods hold, had blown into a story about saving the Pioneer from hordes of enemies, just the three of them. They took the praise in their stride; that’s how they faced the world, but if went to anyone’s head, they didn’t show it.

Gorkorlox was as different from Crukugs as chalk from cheese (Aelanna had to explain that one). He respected Dheltans and admitted to the brothers, privately, of course, that they were useful because of their appearance. They were not just pretty faces, he told them with a wry smile, but theycontributed to the empire because they had warm blood and were good fighters. They had proven themselves by getting the girls unharmed from Ohiri to Drypso, a dangerous route.

Darren and Aelanna returned to Jila a married couple. He had found his fated mate, and she had found hers, and started their family, all from having the courage to get on a spaceship to a destination unknown.