9781631055577NiKohsChosenMichaelsNC (17 page)

Hope you’re making plenty. I brought
home a surprise guest.

He
felt her
alarm.
I
haven’t prepared anything special! Can we delay the meal an hour?

Relax, ViShe. Family company. Someone
who’s missed your wonderful meals.

Oh good.
He heard the relief in her voice.
In
that case, I will set another place setting. And close the do
or.

Don’t you dare. I’ve already explained.

“I’m
assuming you already moved your travel case to your old room?” NiKoh pulled out
his computer pad. “You should go see your grandmother. KiRah is having the
entire family over in two days for the Feast of
AnDoh.”

“I
will. If you don’t mind, I’m going to go see a friend first. I’ll go see
Grandmother afterward.” OkVei started up the stairs.

NiKoh
chuckled, heading into his home office. Home five minutes and already making
plans to see friends first.
Can’t sa
y I
blame him. That was usually the first thing on my mind during vacations from
the Academy. Say hello to the parents, then rush off to see BeSai or one of my
other friends.
A thought struck him. Could OkVei be seeking out his
Chosen? It would explain the
facial hair, the more
mature attitude…but at the same time, so did his explanation of his time on the
space center.

NiKoh
was further suspicious a few moments later, when OkVei came down the stairs in
a fresh tunic and slacks, his hair visibly wet. Would
he
have changed and wet down his hair in order to see one of his male friends?
NiKoh suspected a female was the reason. With a pang, he realized OkVei was
only a year younger than he was when he found BeSai as his Chosen.
He
is growing up. Am I ready for t
his?

*
* * *

GiNae
sagged against the wooden boards of XaDie’s stall and wiped perspiration from
her eyes. The temperature had soared over the past twenty-four hours, and since
there was little wind, the air felt heavy and sticky. She placed the pitchfor
k with the other tools and bent over the water trough,
pouring the cool liquid over her head, gasping with the sudden chill.

“GiNae,
I’m so happy to see you haven’t changed a bit.” A familiar male voice caused
her to whirl around.

“OkVei!”
With a shriek, s
he leapt into his arms. “When did you
arrive home? Oh, I’m so glad to see you!” GiNae felt herself being twirled
around.

“I
arrived only an hour ago.” He kissed her cheek, sending shock waves through her
body.

GiNae
felt her feet touch the ground. She drew
in a short
breath while jerking her head back, feeling his hands span her waist. “Oh!”
Recognition jolted through her. OkVei’s face, so much like NiKoh’s, stared back
at her, but with little puffs of facial hair under the chin. “
You?”

OkVei
nodded, his ha
nd curving her cheek. “Are you
disappointed? I’ve been having—”

GiNae
pecked him on the lips, then sighed when the arm around her waist pulled her
closer. The fingers on her cheek moved to cup the back of her head, and she
felt her lips being nudged apart
by a very welcome
tongue. She relaxed and answered his kiss, marveling at this turn of events.
Is
OkVei my Chosen, rather than NiKoh? Oh gods, yes! This feels so right, oh my
gods…I don’t want him to stop!

OkVei
ended the kiss and smiled down at her. “I ho
pe you
will forgive me for what took place several weeks ago.” He pulled her close and
nuzzled her ear. “That nearly killed me, but I couldn’t bear to see you suffer
like that. I’m looking forward to playing with that thing RaKel got you.”

GiNae
squeezed h
er eyes shut, mortified. “Oh gods no….you
saw
that? I can never face you again. I’m
so embarrassed!”

His
arms moved in small circles around her back. “Don’t be. You appeared to be
having a wonderful time.” OkVei’s tongue traced her ear and GiNae shuddered.

“Don’t
you dare stick your tongue in my ear, or I’ll knee you like I did when you were
twelve.”

“I
remember. How’s this?” Gentle teeth nibbled her lobe, sending shivers down
GiNae’s spine.

“Yesssss…Oh,
that feels wonderful.” GiNae hugged him, then planted
a small kiss on his neck, then drew away. “When did you grow this?” She tugged
on the purple fringe under his chin.

OkVei
smiled. “My failed attempt at looking more mature while on my Security
rotation.” He took her hands. “When will you be finished for t
he day? I can only have a week before I need to return to
the station, and want to spend as much time with you as possible. Plus, Aunt
KiRah’s having the entire family over in two days for the Feast of AnDoh.” He
kissed her fingers. “With your permission,
I’d like
to formally announce our intention to Pre-Bond.” OkVei swallowed as his face
flushed sky blue. “Do you feel the same way?”

“OkVei...”
GiNae gripped his hands and took a deep breath. “I am so glad it’s you, not
NiKoh. Bonding, though…I don’t know.
I don’t want
children, I don’t want to give up working here…I don’t think I’m mate
material.” Unexpected tears pricked the back of her eyes. “Are you sure?”

“
Ginaresh…
” OkVei smiled. “I’m not through with my
training, and I would never ask you to give this
up.”
He gestured around. “Besides, I know you could never join me on the space
station. You hate heights.” They both laughed. “I want to Pre-Bond, that way we
can be together while I train, and maybe when I get assigned back on TriJupe,
then we’ll know mo
re about what we want. What do you
say?”

GiNae
swallowed. “I think that’s a good idea.” She leaned forward and kissed his lips
again. “Would you like a tour of the place? I’d like to introduce you to RaKel
and my animal friends.”

“Lead
on.” He gestured and
bowed, causing her to laugh.
Grabbing his hand, she took him to the pasture, where both
panneis
came running toward her when she
whistled.

XaDie
nuzzled her pocket, causing OkVei to recoil.

“It’s
okay, he knows I carry his favorite treats.” GiNae pulled
out the sweet yellow vegetable and held it in her palm
while the animal picked it up with his teeth.

“How
can you let its mouth get so close to your hand?” OkVei moved closer. “Aren’t
you afraid of being bitten?”

“I
would never do this to a wild one.” GiNa
e patted
XaDie’s long nose and pulled another from the same pocket. “It takes several
weeks of training and trust. Do you want to try?”

OkVei
held up both hands. “No, no. You go ahead.” He took another step back when the
pannei
snorted. “What was that?”

Gi
Nae laughed. “He sneezed. Maybe he’s allergic to you,” she
teased, feeding the treat to the animal. Dusting her hands, she turned to go.
“Come on. The others are much smaller.” She spotted her favorite
catois
running toward her. “In fact, here’s
one now.”
Bending down, she scooped up the tawny,
sleek body and curled it into the crook of her arm. “CheYel, this is OkVei, who
has been to outer space. Would you like to explore his station up there?” She
stood up and turned to OkVei.

The
catois
looked disdainful
ly at him, then
climbed up to lay around GiNae’s neck.

OkVei
looked startled. “I didn’t think they liked to be handled.”

“Not
all of them do. They are very independent and don’t like to be confined. But
CheYel has developed a fondness for riding on my shou
lders.”
She laughed. “Apparently, he has no desire to be adopted by you.” GiNae
scratched between the soft ears and continued walking. “The
dogas
pen is over there, and we have a few
bitres
in
the infirmary, as well as two small
dirbres.
Did RaKel tell you
I’ve adopted a small
dogas
?”

OkVei
stopped suddenly, sucking in his breath. “Wait a minute. My father, NiKoh
SiLah, has let a
dogas
in the house? Are you sure we’re
talking about the same person?”

“Yes.”
GiNae nodded. “He had a small pen and little house
built
just for SkiRee. I think it was your mother who was against having animals
around. They would have been destructive to her garden. That’s why NiKoh had
the pen built where none of her botanical plots are located.”

OkVei
nodded. “That would make sense
. Speaking of my
father, we probably need to speak to him also.”

“I
agree. At least now I don’t need to go before the Elders, to ask for the
dispensation.” They had reached the building, and GiNae carefully unwound
CheYel from her neck, placing him on the
ground.
“Your father was wise to delay going before them.”

“What
are you talking about?”

“The
dispensation. When I thought NiKoh was my Chosen, the idea was so revolting to
both of us, and the only way I thought of to get us out of it was for him to go
to
the Elders, explain why this wasn’t going to work,
and they would grant us a special dispensation.” GiNae paused for a breath. “I
wanted him to go immediately, but he said to wait until the end of M
u’
S
om
.” She flung her arms around his neck.
“See? It worke
d out perfectly.”

“You…”
OkVei blinked. “I can’t believe you thought my
father
was the one. You’re positive he’s not?”

GiNae
kissed him, delighted when his tongue tangled with hers. Pulling away, she
smiled. “The thought of kissing you is so much more appe
aling than kissing
NiKoh.”
She shuddered at the thought. “Believe
me, this Maturity thing has been a strange experience. You look so much like
him….and there was no facial hair in any of the dreams. The dreams!” She backed
away. “Please tell me you’ve had
them?”

He
took her in his arms and looked into her eyes.

Gi’che’lo’vey…I can hardly wait to feel
your soft skin on my actual fingertips, to touch you all over…kiss you all
over…I
don’t
have a lot of experience, but so far, I like what I have seen. Especially here.
His
palm slid to her waist and with one finger, traced the fabric where his thigh
touched her pelvis.

A
jolt flew up GiNae’s body where he touched her, felt her own face
heat with color as she observed OkVei’s eyes darken and
his face stain with blue. “Oh, OkVei.” She closed her eyes as his lips covered
hers.
Yes…this feels right.
She felt her body soften against his
when a gentle clearing of a throat caught her by surpri
se.

Wrenching
herself away from OkVei, GiNae’s eyes flew open as she observed RaKel in the
doorway, an amused smile on her face.

“I
wondered if he found the barn. See? Maturity has its perks.” The grin on her
face grew wide as she moved toward them. “Would
you
like the rest of the day off?”

“Oh
no, that’s not necessary.” GiNae tried to push OkVei’s hands from her waist,
but he held firm. She settled for stepping in front of him and attempted to
ignore the fluttery feeling when his palms rested on her hips.
“I can finish up. He’s going to be here a week. Oh, this is
OkVei, by the way, of the House of SiLah. OkVei, this is my friend RaKel.”