Meridian Warriors: Xander and Des (11 page)

They were sexy and she could feel the pull
they explained was the mating pull. It was strange to feel so
connected to two men she had just met, but it was true. She was
getting used to it, and was finally ready to ask them about the
mating. Alex and her friends had been talking about the mating and
none of them knew what to expect. It seemed like it was going to be
something weird.

She was worried since they were shifters that
they would have to exchange blood or something. Alex just wasn’t
sure if she could do that, it was a little creepy.

Des walked in the room looking refreshed
after showering. He worked out before they were done with therapy,
so he would and could help Alex if needed. Which had only happened
once but it made the men freak out. She had been in the shower and
slipped knocking her shoulder against the wall.

Unfortunately, she had screamed loudly.
Xander and Des heard her and had come running. While tears streamed
down her face, they had helped her get out of the shower and into a
robe, and then made her sit while Des went to get Sage to check her
out. It was silly, but since then, one of them was always on hand
when she had to shower.

They were also very overly-protective when
any of the other Warriors came too close, they pulled her away. It
was frustrating. Sam and Gabby were feeling the same thing, but the
men had a hard time listening. Which was why she as going to talk
to them about the mating today. What the mating entailed and meant
for them.

“Alex wants to go to the lake,” Xander said
and looked at his mate. They had been frustrated about not being
able to claim their woman, and Xander was losing patience.

Des looked at Alex and asked, “Why?”

“Because I want to see it, and from
everything you have told me, if we go there I can really see you
shift. Plus, I just want some answers about a few questions,” Alex
admitted and finished her work out. She stood and looked at the men
and watched as their expressions turned from suspicious to excited
and she felt a warm tingling flow through her.

“Awesome, okay, so get ready and I will make
the plans. Alex, I will be in calling distance if you need me,” Des
said and Xander stopped his workout and stood.

“Okay, we can leave in thirty,” Xander said,
stopped beside Alex, and pulled her to him. She grinned.

Over the last few days they had also began to
touch her more. She liked it, and it made her much more comfortable
when they did things like this. Xander wrapped his arms around her
and looked down at her. She wanted to giggle when she felt Des come
up behind her and share in the embrace.

Xander laughed when her face flushed in
embarrassment. “Why are you so suddenly shy, sweetheart?”

Alex took a deep breath, looked over her
shoulder, smiled at Des, then looked at Xander, and sighed.
“Because you both scare the shit out of me,” she whispered.

Xander went to let her go, but she hung
on.

“Not like you physically scare the shit out
of me. I mean this whole mating thing scares the shit out of
me.”

Des kissed her gently on the neck and then
set his head on her shoulder and said, “Well, what exactly scares
you?”

“The whole mating and being together forever.
Where would we live, I don’t think I could stay down here forever,
I mean, I have my apartment and my stuff. I would need to talk to
some people. I can’t just disappear forever,” Alex said.

“Okay, let’s get cleaned up, go to the lake,
and we can have a long talk about things when we get there?” Xander
said, smiled, then bent his head, and gently kissed her on the
lips.

When he pulled back she frowned,
when were
they going to take this farther.

“But make no mistake, you will be our mate.
We will figure this out, you were meant for us.”

***

When they walked out of the medical building,
she got her first look at the city.
It was amazing
. Their
homes were made of logs, but they had a lot of windows. Des
explained that Rosul had equipped all of their homes with the same
windows that were in the hospital floor. She had a hard time
thinking she had been in the hospital for the last two weeks. So
much had happened, yet it was exactly the same.

Cash and the techies had been monitoring the
web, and her father was looking for her. He had even gone as far as
to tell one group she was having psychological problems. Alex had
been so angry when she saw—the men thought they were going to have
to tie her down. She threw things around until she was finally worn
out, and then cried herself to sleep with them all around her.

“So you have golf carts?” she asked and
stepped out onto the sandy ground. It was solid, as if it was
packed down from so many people walking on it, but it was still
sand. She laughed and then twirled around.

“Yep, we each have one, and they have worked
on them. We can get over fifty mph with them. We didn’t need a car,
we only have to go a few miles, and if we need to expand our
city—we can. That is the cool thing,” Xander said and they got into
the little cart.

“So let’s get the tour over with,” Des said
and they showed her the buildings and then showed her exactly where
the new mates’ house was—already almost done. There were thirty men
working on it and they waved at him and grinned when they saw Alex.
She loved the style of homes they all built, they were ‘A’ framed
and beautiful.

All of the men had been introduced to her and
the others, a few at a time until they met them all. Of course, it
was going to take longer to remember them. She laughed when she saw
the small flower box in the front of the house. As she looked
around, she noticed all of the log homes had flower boxes, though
none of them were planted.

“What is the deal with the flower boxes?”
Alex asked and pointed.

“That is our females’ tradition, when we are
fully mated, the female mate would plant her favorite flower, and
every year after on their mating day they would plant a new one. It
was a sign of respect in our culture, and part of our mating. We
have a lot of traditions,” Des said and they continued.

Winding around the town to where Casius's
house stood and she smiled. Gabby would love it, as Sam would like
the one next to it that was Cash and Rosul's home. They went
through a gate and up a hill, she gasped when she saw the huge
house before her.

“This is the King’s home,” Xander said
quietly.

“But I thought you lived in the main building
complex?” Alex said and looked around in awe. It was gorgeous; the
light colored log home was a three level ‘A’ frame and the entire
front held windows that looked over the city. She could see two
wings coming off each side.

“We have never lived in the house, it is
meant for the King and his consorts. In our culture, huge balls
were planned for every occasion and in our culture, we like to
celebrate. The Queen is the cornerstone of our culture; she handles
all of the issues with the families. We never thought we would have
a female mate, and didn’t want the house unless we had one.
However, the men built it because it is part of our culture, a
symbol if you will. Now that we do have a mate, we will begin
making plans for furniture to be moved and the place made ready for
us,” Xander said and Alex turned to look at him curiously.

“When are we supposed to move in and begin
all of this stuff?” Alex asked with her hands suddenly on her hips,
she refused to be told what to do. That was one thing they were
going to talk about, Alex was an independent woman who would not
stand for being told what to do. She was strong, and would be a
good mate, but she would not be a slave.
What the hell?
She
actually thought about mating. She knew that she was going to be
lost when they settled all of this stuff.
What then?

“Let’s get moving, we can talk about this
later,” Des said smoothly and led her back to the cart.

She finally noticed a small picnic basket and
blanket on the back of the cart.
Wow, Des had been busy while
she was in the shower
.

They drove in silence as they rounded the
backside of the King’s home and descended toward the water, she
could see the small lake from the top of the hill and kept her eyes
on it.
Hmmm, it was right behind the King’s house. She bet they
had a great view
. The wall that was a barrier between them and
the ocean lay before them, she wanted to laugh because of how
nervous she was.

Just the thought of these walls cracking was
nerve-racking if she thought about it too much. How would she
survive if somehow it failed, she was a human, with Meridian blood,
sure, but still all things pointed to her being adaptive to the
surface, she had lived there for her whole life.

When they pulled to a stop, Alex sat
awestruck at the site, the lake was larger than she thought, and
the men had actually decorated around it with what looked like
water-based plants.

“How are they alive?” she asked with wonder,
the beautiful plants grew small flowers that looked like water
lilies.

“They are from our home planet. Some of the
men figured out a way to make them grow. There is water feeding
them from the lake, the only place these will grow is right here by
the water’s edge.” Xander explained. One of them was in charge of
packing and replicating plants and animals from their planet. They
were waiting to show Alex their version of a dog, there were only
two so far, but they were a male and female and soon they would be
in breeding season. They all had a good laugh about the plants
until one of their men was able to make them grow.

“This is amazing,” Alex said and still sat
there, the lake went right to the edge of the barrier that
separated them, she could see it ripple as fish swam pass, and she
gasped. “What if they hit the wall?”

“They bounce off, no big deal, the only time
one of the fish are killed, is if they somehow swim through our
underground cave and hit the doorway, nothing can pass through
there without being of Meridian blood,” Xander said. “We have been
down here for three hundred years. I really don’t think the walls
are a problem.”

Alex tapped down the anxiety that was flowing
through her.
Damn it, she needed to get a grip.
Stepping
from the cart, she looked around and took in the view, on one side
was the backside of the King’s home up above them on a hill, which
stretched from one edge of the wall to the other. They were
basically alone; no one would be able to see them unless they
wandered over the hill. She looked back and stared wondrously at
the light that shown out to the ocean to allow them to see the
fish, some of them were huge. She had no clue there were that many
fish down this low. From all they learned, most fish didn’t come
down here because of the cold water. She turned to ask the
question.

“They are attracted to the heat from our
source, the water outside of the city is about the same temperature
as it would be toward the surface, our source is powerful, but ends
before anyone would find the temperature change,” Des said.

Together they took the blanket out and spread
it right at the water’s edge. She smiled when they helped her sit
down and then unpacked food and wine.
Wow, this was the first
she had seen of alcohol
.

The men laughed at the expression on Alex’s
face. “Why do you look so surprised, we told you we had everything
down here. Hell, if we wanted we could open a store with the
surplus we have, we just don’t have anyone to run it,” Xander
said.

They chatted about simple things while they
ate, like, how they watched the change of the humans over the
years. She found it so interesting, especially to learn one of the
Warriors had written everything down for them since they came. They
had their own version of history books. One that would make the
humans shocked if they learned what the Meridians actually
shared—it was amazing.

“So let’s get down to it.” Xander said when
they were finished, “You have questions and we have answers, so
fire.”

Alex laughed at the way he said it, waving
his hand at her as if he was prepared for whatever she threw at
him.
Fine, she would ask a hard one first
. “Do I have to
drink your blood when we mate?”

Xander paused with his mouth open, a
surprised look on his face like that of a fish as he opened and
closed his mouth.

“Wow that is unexpected, and a little
disturbing.” Des frowned.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Xander
bellowed.

“Hey, I read books, shifter books, my
favorite is the werewolf ones, they bite their mates so they can
bond!” Alex yelled back and the men looked shocked.

“What books are these?” Xander growled.

“Well, you know, like romance,” Alex said
under her breath, this was her one secret passion, reading her smut
books when she was traveling was awesome, at least she got some
real romance somewhere.

“Romance? Okay, well you will have to share
some of those with us,” Des said as Xander sputtered about not
needing those anymore.

“To answer your question, no, we do not have
to exchange blood. When we bond and claim you, our exchange of
fluids begins the bond, and then we mutter the traditional words of
our home planet,” Des said and laughed when Xander kept muttering
about blood.

“What are the words?” Alex asked.

Des sat back, looked at Xander, and waited,
“With my heart, my body, and my soul, I share my power, my life,
and my love.”

“That is beautiful. So the mating entails?”
Alex said, feeling more comfortable.

“We both make love to you and then we bond,
the power will begin, then the stronger our bond will be, some
people don’t feel it until they speak the words, while others feel
it when their skin touches. It is different for everyone, although
I am pretty sure that our bond will be strong. I have already felt
it, the stronger the bond, the happier the couple, and the longer
life together,” Xander said.